There has not been a single major patch without a critical issue since Endwalker.

[Arzalis]

There has been a steady decline in quality ever since ShB released. It was really small things at first but it's gotten worse and worse. It's very obvious FFXVI has been taking up more and more development resources over this time period.

And yes, before someone brings it up, I realize COVID happened and a lot of companies had to figure out how to work through that. The trend started before then though and has persisted through to now.

[hunkygladiator]

There has been a steady decline in quality ever since ShB released. It was really small things at first but it's gotten worse and worse. It's very obvious FFXVI has been taking up more and more development resources over this time period.

And yes, before someone brings it up, I realize COVID happened and a lot of companies had to figure out how to work through that. The trend started before then though and has persisted through to now.

The usual rhetoric is that what they don't give us in quantity (since FF14 has had content drought issues for years), they give us in quality and spend their time polishing what they have. This is now quickly shown to be a complete falsehood. We are getting neither quantity nor quality.

[EaraGrace]

There has been a steady decline in quality ever since ShB released. It was really small things at first but it's gotten worse and worse. It's very obvious FFXVI has been taking up more and more development resources over this time period.

And yes, before someone brings it up, I realize COVID happened and a lot of companies had to figure out how to work through that. The trend started before then though and has persisted through to now.

Harrrrdddd disagree. People were complaining about SHB not that long ago. That PvP was terrible, that it had unbalanced Bozja which people complained about for the entire expansion, a relic grind that pleased neither the ones who wanted a grind or the ones who didn’t want one, Delubrim, the Nier raids and storyline which barely anyone finished, the delay of DSU, release of Viera and Hrothgar which everyone complained about, no male viera, dungeon per patch reduction, the problems with voice acting in 5.4, job homogenization, complaints about the cash shop, no deep dungeon or equivalent, complaints about trusts making the game single player, etc. etc.

I don’t see the quality drop.

[LisSquid]

I don’t see the quality drop.

People are spinning honeyed words about SB now, even though that was the most blasted expansion to date.

There's a lot to complain about - and we should! because we all want our game to be good, and squeaky wheels get grease - but there's no feedback less helpful than "it's bad, fam." I see the general core systems getting their due attention and care, but more side activities get bungled left and right. Which is just historically how things have always gone.

[Vahlnir]

Harrrrdddd disagree. People were complaining about SHB not that long ago. That PvP was terrible, that it had unbalanced Bozja which people complained about for the entire expansion, a relic grind that pleased neither the ones who wanted a grind or the ones who didn’t want one, Delubrim, the Nier raids and storyline which barely anyone finished, the delay of DSU, release of Viera and Hrothgar which everyone complained about, no male viera, dungeon per patch reduction, the problems with voice acting in 5.4, job homogenization, complaints about the cash shop, no deep dungeon or equivalent, complaints about trusts making the game single player, etc. etc.

I don’t see the quality drop.

Other than Bozja and related content (in my opinion), you listed most of the more legitimate complaints that were made and continue to be made, which sort of indicates the complete opposite of the point you are trying to make. Unless your post was sarcasm, then carry on.

[EaraGrace]

Other than Bozja and related content (in my opinion), you listed most of the more legitimate complaints that were made and continue to be made, which sort of indicates the complete opposite of the point you are trying to make. Unless your post was sarcasm, then carry on.

Point being that EW is not unique for those suggested problems, and those claiming the game has recently struggled are we wrong. Given that EW has so far avoided or addressed several of the problems that plagued SHB, I’d say things are fine.

[Vahlnir]

Given that EW has so far avoided or addressed several of the problems that plagued SHB, I’d say things are fine.

Not really. Most of these problems still exist, regardless of whether they were present an expansion ago or not. As far as the state of the game is concerned, things are probably considered fine by a lot of people, but that doesn't mean it is all sunshine and rainbows and magical unicorns.