Is no one happy?

[Theodric]

People who are happy are usually just playing the game and this is the majority, the really loud minority gathers here to cry about the latest changed with which 99% of the playerbase is actually happy with but yeah trolls have to spread their hot takes everywhere here. Glad the devs don't listen to the NA forums, cause it doesn't represent the community in any way at all.

Declaring the 'majority' of players to be happy and with no complaints of note unlike the 'haters' was exactly the same sort of gaslighting that led people to declare that WoW wasn't on a downward spiral and that everything was fine despite shifting from a global phenomenon with ten million active players to a quivering wreck too scared to publicly declare its number of active subscriptions.

People generally don't speak out with negative criticism because they hate the game. It's usually done because they're invested and would rather not see another major MMO repeat the same predictable pitfalls that WoW fell into.

As an aside, this isn't solely the 'NA' forum. It encompasses many voices from players from various European countries and elsewhere. It strikes me as rather bizarre to brush off such a broad range of posters as 'hAtUrZ' on that basis alone!

[Amenara]

Glad the devs don't listen to the NA forums, cause it doesn't represent the community in any way at all.

I mean, the devs not listening to the NA forums is why MCH still has ping issues years later.

There is legitimate criticism on the forums of issues with the game, just because you think it is fine the way it is doesn't mean it can't be better and I imagine that is where the majority of the feedback on the forums is coming from, a want for the game to be the best it can possibly be.

[TheMightyMollusk]

As an aside, this isn't solely the 'NA' forum. It encompasses many voices from players from various European countries and elsewhere. It strikes me as rather bizarre to brush off such a broad range of posters as 'hAtUrZ' on that basis alone!

People are so used to the (admittedly earned) stereotype of Americans being angry complainers that we get blamed for everyone else's complaints too.

[Ranaku]

Declaring the 'majority' of players to be happy and with no complaints of note unlike the 'haters' was exactly the same sort of gaslighting that led people to declare that WoW wasn't on a downward spiral and that everything was fine despite shifting from a global phenomenon with ten million active players to a quivering wreck too scared to publicly declare its number of active subscriptions.

People generally don't speak out with negative criticism because they hate the game. It's usually done because they're invested and would rather not see another major MMO repeat the same predictable pitfalls that WoW fell into.

As an aside, this isn't solely the 'NA' forum. It encompasses many voices from players from various European countries and elsewhere. It strikes me as rather bizarre to brush off such a broad range of posters as 'hAtUrZ' on that basis alone!

It kinda is just the NA forums, i know the truth hurts pal. Most of the XIV players are just going about their day enjoying the game, forums and social media will always be the minority of players who go out of their way to troll and spew out their hot takes.

And trust me i can read (and write) in english, german and even a bit of french and japanese and i can tell you that the NA social media platforms are the only ones that are crying like the final final fantasy days are upon us. Neither EU nor JP has players with such a need to cry their virtual eyes out on forums etc.

So yeah if you are the only one crying about a imaginary "problem" that just revolves around you i would suggest checking if that game and the core philosophy behind it is still for you. Better than trying to project your minority views so hard on the devs that they make changes for what...1% of the playerbase who balls their eyes out about the latest changes?

[Martynek]

Incoherent rambling, crybullying, and gaslighting

Relax ok buddy?

[Minarisweet]

Seeing how determined a lot of people are to silence other people in the forums honestly makes me sad... constant invalidation and attempts of ridiculization. All of this for what? the sake of a billion dollar company? a japanese director that they don't even know personally and actually WANTS feedback to make the game better?

I don't know, but I feel its very ingenuine to be defending every decision of a company as if it was your personal friend and then neglecting other people that you could actually befriend.

[Vryn]

We started an FC, and we are genuinly happy and excited to play the game.

On forums, it's all doom and gloom. We are having fun. Why doesn't the ffxiv forum community reflect that.

Overall, this is a great expansion. Came back and did ARR, which so much better, do the rest.

It's a game, have fun. I love you all!
FF6 Sabin

Let me put it this way. You are still in the honeymoon phase. I've been playing the game since 2.0, and so have many others, so we know if something is worse or better. Now many things in the game are better, such as visuals and PVP; however, many things aren't, such as tanks, healers, combat simplification, housing, ToS, customisation, basic Ui/UX systems, toxic positivity etc.

The more you play the game, the more you understand it, and the more you know, the more likely you are not to like something. The sayings Absence may make the heart grow fonder, and familiarity breeds contempt is true.

Plus, the direction of the game is different. It was very focused on the MMORPG crowd in the early days, and now it's focused on a more single-player audience. There isn't enough high-quality modern content that's long-lasting. For example, the dungeon design is very outdated and linear. It looks excellent and does fit with the story, but dungeons from WoD have better layouts than you have in 2022 FF14. the lack of improvement does alienate long-lasting veterans like myself. We have had to wait for half a decade-plus for basic features such as PVP to be updated, and even then, such problems as glamour plates and retainers should have been resolved within a few years, but we still have them 6yrs later.

Broken Promises add up over the years, and eventually, you're just sick of the devs apologising and then not doing anything for years. Hair customisation is an excellent example in this area.

People talk about this in-game but in closed circles because the community is quite insular. Because you can't trust people in this community not to be offended by anything because they will be, and interacting with them is not worth it, and the game isn't hard enough to the point you need to recruit a ton of people to do even savage. You cant pug a current mythic in wow, but you certainly can a savage.

This game just doesn't respect your time when it comes to gear grinding you might as well leave and come back in the point 5 patches. You will be just as good as everyone else after two weeks max doing 1-2 hrs a day of roulette.

The game has fundamental issues that have not been addressed in a reasonable timeframe, and they add up. The recent housing disaster is just an example of this, and it will worsen as the game ages. People were asking for a graphical update in Heavensward. Even those on the PlayStation were asking for it, and no just because it's an MMO doesn't mean they can't handle it most games are massively multiplayer.

For example, a big thing with Square Enix is creating highly exploitable systems. Instead of fixing the system to stop the degenerate behaviour, they threaten you, which doesn't promote an exemplary game environment. When you're in PVP and can't even type the words hello, it makes you feel like you are being controlled because they are scared, and at that point, it just makes you dislike them more. It's ridiculous.

[MintnHoney]

Glad the devs don't listen to the NA forums, cause it doesn't represent the community in any way at all.

I've mentioned this in other threads, but they actively request that people provide feedback on the forums. So if you really believe that they don't look at anyone's feedback, then, cool, you're saying that they're liars, which would be worse than them looking at feedback and just ignoring it. The NA forums represents parts of the community, and you really shouldn't believe otherwise or else you're lying to yourself and probably others.

Furthermore, this is the sample that they really have to work with. Most people who are dissatisfied with the game will just stop playing, no questions asked, while many others, still, will say nothing because they don't think that they have a voice or just don't want to rock the boat because someone (like you, perhaps) might try to guilt or shame them.
You also have no means to determine how the majority of the players in the game feel about any one thing, because there's no way to actively talk to every player in the game or reach out to them reliably, not even considering how many of them will actively avoid saying anything to anyone else for any number of reasons.
So, unfortunately, outside of the game is all they really actually have to work with to determine feedback.

But sure, let's think about why they don't really listen to feedback. I can almost guarantee that it has nothing to do with the "quality" of the feedback, because they wouldn't be stupid enough to expect professional feedback from all of their customers, especially considering how much of the game they lobotomized for players.
I would say, if they're really not listening to feedback, it's probably because they're too busy listening for social media outrage.

[Liam_Harper]

Seeing how determined a lot of people are to silence other people in the forums honestly makes me sad... constant invalidation and attempts of ridiculization. All of this for what? the sake of a billion dollar company? a japanese director that they don't even know personally and actually WANTS feedback to make the game better?

Sadly it happens in literally every game, no matter how badly that game might be doing. Some people just like feeling morally superior and labeling someone else as "whiny" and "entitled" while painting yourself as positive, open minded and appreciative seems like a good way to achieve that. But in reality it's stifling someone else to create an illusion.

There is nothing wrong with being unhappy with the game. If the forums seem to be all doom and gloom, maybe there's actually a problem and it would be a good idea to address it. I never understand the logic of "yes, it's all doom and gloom but everything's actually fine". WoW used to do that all the time, coming up with all sorts of reasons of why complainers were a loud minority and everything was going well ...until their game fell to pieces.

The forums do not represent the entire population, but while the players who are happy are playing the game, many more people who are unhappy are simply not playing anymore. I see players in my friend list or FC go inactive constantly. While the game certainly isn't dying, for every complainer there are a considerable number of silent leavers.

[Nizzi]

It would be very good for my sanity if some of the more fanatic members of this community would come to understand the cognitive dissonance in saying that the majority on this forum doesn't matter because we're a minority in the community, while also stating that there's some mythical silent majority that all disagrees with us, they're just all in places where there the developers don't say to leave feedback.

It's funny how this mythical silent majority will always perfectly agree with whatever views the poster themselves hold!