Bizarre burnout

[Theodric]

Unfortunately the game is, over time, becoming more of a visual novel on many fronts and simplifying a lot of game elements. There's a lot of flash and nostalgia bait but once you're all caught up it's easy to fall into the habit of wondering what, exactly, you're logging on to do. Especially if your time is limited/other games are competing for your attention.

At any rate, don't be afraid to take a break if needed.

[TaleraRistain]

I can't shake the feeling whenever I play that all I'm doing is for nothing

Isn't this basically any game ever? Unless you game professionally, it doesn't pay the bills. It's a way to spend your free time in a way that you enjoy, like any other hobby. So maybe sit down and think about what doing things for something is and what that something is. And then think on whether XIV gives you that something or not. Maybe it still does in some ways and you can focus on enjoying those. Maybe it's not and it's time for a break. A break also doesn't have to be forever. You might go indulge in something else and then come back, refreshed and ready to pursue that something again.

For me, my "something" about gaming is fun. I can feel that fun in many different ways. Sometimes it's tied to accomplishments. Sometimes it's tied to things that are a lot more laid back and chill. If I think about logging in that night but the idea doesn't seem fun, I just do something else that night. Our lives are far too short to spend our free time being stressed or unhappy. Many of us have plenty of that nonsense through work.

[Kuzonoha]

I have a similar story.

I too, mained Summoner before Endwalker. I too hate the rework with every fiber of my being. Almost a year later I still struggle with an job crisis. I played SMN and Monk through the 6.0 story, then dropped SMN to focus on Samurai, then they removed Kaiten, which made the job significantly less fun for me, so dropped it and switched to Dragoon. Then they mention they're going to rework the job, so I switched to Monk and mostly play that now, though I switch to Dragoon every now and then since they delayed the rework to the next expansion. While I played all of these jobs, enjoyed them for a time, can play them at a fair level, I don't love any of these jobs. Not like Summoner.

I feel you, OP. I too question the direction that this game is going in terms of combat and balance. Thankfully, I found plenty of other reasons to continue playing this game whether it be friends, the story, the characters, the world. These things I love. My advice would be to take a step back and think about why you play this game. Is it just the battle content? Is it something else? I too, have been playing this game for a very long time and accomplished almost everything personally I want to in terms of past content so I get it...while I will always have a home in this game, I make an effort to pull back and enjoy other games since this game allows for it.

Be well, OP.

[PharisHanasaki]

It's been even worse lately with all the negativity with dark knight and machinist. It really makes me feel that the huge surge of players that came with EW drove ffxiv to the boiling point of just making crappy decisions that benefits nobody.

My feelings exactly. Was just talking about this about two days ago with my FC mates.

To add, the new influx of players came with their own playstyle that just makes the game not fun anymore. Healers don't care about healing, they just want to get a great parse, so people are dying to lack of heals everywhere. They got mods that tell them where to go, watch guides religiously, completely bloat the screen with waymarks that are not necessary, and cry if you wipe once. Like this is fun at all.

And, I can't count the amount of times people join a fresh prog only to leave after one wipe with the excuse "Oh, no, emergenceee", "My fish is drowning". Like, did you not read FRESH prog lmao.

Anyways, that was just one example, it's not the only one, people just don't wanna run content for fun. When I saw the clip of that dude yelling to their static, I just thought they were taking a GAME way too seriously, they made it a job basically. This is not WoW, nor is it anywhere as complex/hard.

[Raoabolic]

Anyways, that was just one example, it's not the only one, people just don't wanna run content for fun. When I saw the clip of that dude yelling to their static, I just thought they were taking a GAME way too seriously, they made it a job basically. This is not WoW, nor is it anywhere as complex/hard.

To be fair, bad people yelling at their static/fc/guild is nothing new. Even back in EQ there was ol' Tingole crying about the newest raid, lol.

[SentioftheHoukai]

Many have already suggested something to this effect, but go ahead and take a break if you feel you need it OP. No shame in that, and frankly SE and FFXIV is showing signs of going the way of Blizzard anyway, at least in the realm of story/expansion quality and dev feedback integrity. Other than the sexual harrassment shite, of course. They may not be as bad as Blizzard or Bungie, but don't let those already coming out of the woodwork telling you how that part of your post was wrong or inaccurate fool you... They're getting there, slowly but surely. The signs are there.

To be fair, bad people yelling at their static/fc/guild is nothing new. Even back in EQ there was ol' Tingole crying about the newest raid, lol.

Damn, Tigole is not a name I thought I'd ever hear again. My regret is already manifesting.

MMOs are a constant work in progress. Learning to accept that helps with adjusting to whatever happens next. People like to complain about CBU3 and how it's handling things. Frankly, I've seen so much worse from companies like EA and NCSoft. It's funny how people think I'm some kind of shill or something. The truth is I'm as jaded as they come. I don't think they're perfect, but they're definitely doing far more for this game than others have. The communication and consistent delivery of updates is better than anything I've seen. I didn't even want to play another MMO because I was so burnt out on actual shitty developments and seeing games sunset. Someone just as jaded and picky as me was having fun here, so I tried it out. I was pleasantly surprised. The only stress I ever really have here is dealing with other players, so I make sure to take my breaks from them.

Funny you mention NCSOFT, I've been playing Guild Wars 2 a fair bit in recent days to take the edge off of my FFXIV depression, haha. It's far more colorful and welcoming to explore, anyway. Also, why do I get the feeling this is about the Jessica Price debacle?....

[Deveryn]

Funny you mention NCSOFT, I've been playing Guild Wars 2 a fair bit in recent days to take the edge off of my FFXIV depression, haha. It's far more colorful and welcoming to explore, anyway. Also, why do I get the feeling this is about the Jessica Price debacle?....

I know nothing about that. I was just disappointed by their offerings and how games like Auto Assault never really stood a chance. Publishers barely gave devs much time back then to really put out a working product and many suffered for it. That's the other thing that got me curious about XIV because they actually stopped what they were doing to try again and it's held on for 10 years. I've never seen anyone like Yoshi hang around in a high position like that for too many years.

[Arrhin]

I think a lot of us have been there, or currently are. I've played since ARR launch, sub has never lapsed not once. I have at times played taken mini breaks to play other gamers whilst still logging in say weekly to enter my house to avoid demo, and checking out MB, maybe some retainer ventures etc. I once raided pretty hard, did all my roulettes every fekkin day, but no more. A few years ago I started levelling my crafters and gatherers, got into high end crafting, glams, side story stuff. What I'm saying is you don't need to abandon XIV entirely if you don't want, perhaps explore other aspects of it, or as I do still sometimes play it low-key and do some single player stuff. Sometimes I just watch youtube and hang out with IG friends while I do irl housey stuff. If you still find yourself gravitating away that's fine too, take a real break, come back next expac if you want.

[Deveryn]

FFXIV has become a game where all I can do is log in to turn in leves and wait for the day that SMN becomes even half the class that it was in FFXI, but my trust in job design/combat has reached such a low that it wouldn’t surprise me if the class somehow lost abilities coming into 7.0.

Diofield releases this week and I was able to pick up Octopath Traveler on PC for half off on steam. Unlike the people who will doubtless come in here trying to paint you as somehow in the wrong or recommend content that doesn’t appeal to battle oriented players, I’m not telling you to “go play something else” as I detest when people throw that in my face whenever I complain - I’m saying that there are a lot of better games than Endwalker that we should be playing especially with how far the standards of gameplay and writing have fallen here. Keep speaking out, and keep pointing out how other games are doing things better than FFXIV is right now.

I admit I skipped over this because I thought it was another story rant. It's nice to see there's a little more to this, but it's the same old deluded posturing. Child please. You are the supposed authority on quality in gaming, yet somehow the actual numbers and overall health of the game seem to say otherwise. You are absolutely telling someone to go play something else. If you detest people throwing that in your face, consider stopping with that nonsense.

The SMN bit made me chuckle too. SMN will fully be what it was in XI because that flexibility is not there. The best part is the fact that the rework actually put us closer to that version and all the other version of that job in the franchise. This is closer to the summoner I signed up for, not that janky pet class that was a combo of conjurer and necro.

All games have their appeals and their flaws. It's up to each individual (not you) to figure out what works best for them.

[PharisHanasaki]

To be fair, bad people yelling at their static/fc/guild is nothing new. Even back in EQ there was ol' Tingole crying about the newest raid, lol.

Yeah, you're right, bad people is not exclusive nor new to ffxiv. But I still feel people are taking the game too seriously, and overprepare even for the most casual content. A lot of people demanding others to watch guides for content, like even Labyrinth of the Ancients, no joke. That's not something I used to see prior the new influx of players.