The Devs need a much needed thanks!

[Silverbane]

You want to capitalize on a global market and take advantage of global money? Gotta take the good with the bad.

No, they don't, because people like you and Lustre keep paying for subscriptions anyway.
Your actions speak louder to them than your words, and that's as it should be.
I don't care why you keep paying, and they may not either.
They probably pay way more attention to revenue numbers than forum posts.

I don't judge you for continuing to pay for an experience you appear unhappy with.
It's fine: keep complaining and keep paying, even if the latter moots the former.
You do you, and I appreciate your continued contribution to SE's profitability.

[Avoidy]

No, they don't, because people like you and Lustre keep paying for subscriptions anyway.
Your actions speak louder to them than your words, and that's as it should be.
I don't care why you keep paying, and they may not either.
They probably pay way more attention to revenue numbers than forum posts.

I don't judge you for continuing to pay for an experience you appear unhappy with.
It's fine: keep complaining and keep paying, even if the latter moots the former.
You do you, and I appreciate your continued contribution to SE's profitability.

This is actually fair. Despite my earlier post, there are actually things I -do- enjoy about the game enough to just ignore smaller things. But the live letters are just an area where I'm consistently let down, and it wouldn't even be hard for them to improve it. They've even shown that they could do it; they simply choose not to, and you're 100% correct in that there's no incentive for them to do better since me, you, and everyone else here continues to throw money at them as long as the rest of the game is good enough.

The moment a better game comes out though, they're in trouble.

[Silverbane]

The moment a better game comes out though, they're in trouble.

This is true for every product. And smart companies understand this, and adopt a strategy of "cannibalization" --
using the revenues from their current successful product to develop the product that will replace it.

Which frankly is what I hope will happen with the FF franchise.
I don't want them to forever continue to patch and extend their decade-old game engine.
I don't want them to forever continue writing stories under the constraints of a decade of canon.
I want them to start from scratch and create a new FF MMOJRPG, a "17" to be to "14" what "14" was to "11."
And as with 11 and 14, I want them to keep the servers up for 14 when they do.

[Avoidy]

This is true for every product. And smart companies understand this, and adopt a strategy of "cannibalization" --
using the revenues from their current successful product to develop the product that will replace it.

Which frankly is what I hope will happen with the FF franchise.
I don't want them to forever continue to patch and extend their decade-old game engine.
I don't want them to forever continue writing stories under the constraints of a decade of canon.
I want them to start from scratch and create a new FF MMOJRPG, a "17" to be to "14" what "14" was to "11."
And as with 11 and 14, I want them to keep the servers up for 14 when they do.

I'm hoping this is the case, but watching their company squander funds on failed Marvel spinoffs and talk of NFTs makes me wonder. Legit sometimes feels like the XIV devteam is anchored to Square Enix's poor financial decisions, but whatever. I'm out!