Discussion about the longevity of the game

[Mokawic]

As we all know the game has been going strong for the past 9 years and with each expansion a whole standalone games worth of content is added, which makes me wonder about the concern of new players trying out the game and being scared off by the sheer amount of content to go through.

Its natural for older players to move away from the game and eventually stop playing but there's always new players that replace them which has been even more the case recently with the surge in popularity leading up to Endwalker, but I can't help but notice that there are those that shy away from even trying the game because its an MMORPG; I understand that CBU3 is addressing some parts of this issue by making MSQ duties soloable but the fact remains that content will only pile on top of itself until at some point it could create a wall preventing new players from coming in and the game slowly loses its player base.

If they plan on keeping the game going for another 10 years I was wondering if there are any ways they can mitigate this because I can't see - however appealing the content may be - for players to want to start playing the game a few years down the line or even now when there's so much content; I mostly relate this to when people shrug off watching shows like Game of Thrones or One Piece no matter how much people say how good they are just because they don't want to dedicate so much time to watching it all, and I understand that in the case of shows it may not necessarily apply to a game like FFXIV because people may see the mediums as different in how people consume them but at the very least its an example of how people can feel about the game at a point when content is so stacked its daunting for new players to get into it.

So in general I'm asking for peoples opinions on the matter, maybe I'm overthinking it or misunderstanding something or people could lead me to think in a different direction but this has been on my mind for a while and I just want some takes from others.

[Renalt]

People still play FF11. Do whatever you want with that information.

[Raskbuck]

I think they are laying down the blocks to make the whole game a solo-friendly experience through the use of Trusts. Much like it happened with FFXI; where the whole story and leveling can be done with NPCs.

If I had to guess, they are future-proofing for when the game falls back into maintenance mode while they work on a different - and more modern - project. But if that's the case, we shouldn't hear about that until much, much later.

[Kranel_San]

But if that's the case, we shouldn't hear about that until much, much later.

If SE survived into the far future, we're definitely will get a new Final fantasy MMO but right now I don't see any coming up any time soon. Probably 8-13 years later.

[Mokawic]

I don't mean retaining any player base but rather maintaining it at the scope it is now

[Illmaeran]

I don't mean retaining any player base but rather maintaining it at the scope it is now

It's inevitable that the player base will get smaller over time; it's simply the natural progression of these games. Given the recent posting of Steam log-in info, the baseline average amount of play has been fairly steady since HW. What we've seen more of are larger amplitude peaks and troughs which amplify the sense of gain and loss as people come back for new content and leave shortly after. Is this sustainable in the long term? If we go off the data shown, possibly; we'll likely see a reduction in peak/trough amplitude with a slow decline in regular players once we get past the final expansion.

If they make a new MMO, all bets are off.

[Neoyoshi]

People still play FF11. Do whatever you want with that information.

It's some telling insight.

[Kaurhz]

One of the biggest ways they can mitigate this issue is by giving lower-level players, particularly those later down the line to actually have something to strive for, particularly in the open-world content area, this could be by trying to develop open-world dungeons. I'd love if they could innovate or expand on the long and forgotten Emergency Missions from Diadem, or even by expanding systems like the Shared FATEs over to ARR/HW/SB.

They have already made starts with the duty support feature, but they definitely need to do more otherwise.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

I think its silly to think players would be scared off by having things to do, Especially when the game is designed for you to be able to do it at your own pace.
You ruin your own experience and journey by being scared to commit to it. MMOs, Movie Series, Book Series, TV Shows & Anime Series, and even other Game Series are a time sink. If you want to get to the end and see what the fuss is about, you need to be willing to put the time in, like everybody else before.

I dont personally think FFXIVs longevity is at risk because of New Players having ALOT to do. Its more dependent on if the game Continues to be fun and exciting and offer a good time overall. Either in Content, or MSQ Story. For me...so far, I think this game has a Bright 10 years ahead, as long as they dont make any GRAVE mistakes that would turn off their community as a whole.

[Myrany]

Never underestimate how many people there are who are not rush to endgame and LOVE the fact that they have enough content in front of them to last years. I for example seriously started playing about 4 years ago. I just finished 4.0 content for the first time last month. Now I have been bitten by the solo POTD bug. I figure that is good for a solid 6 months of playing. Eventually I will get more of the MSQ done.

The people that are put off by huge amounts of MSQ to be done in my own observation are those that think endgame is the only part of the game worth playing. For them there are skips that can be used.