Face it, this game is in maintenance mode now, i.e. managed decline

[TeresaFortell]

Forspoken is unironically better than this expansion tbh.

Has the bar been set this low now that we are comparing the expansion to that?

[Kaurhz]

Has the bar been set this low now that we are comparing the expansion to that?

Yes it is.

[Hallarem]

Yes it is.

You are legit going to have the Square Enix staff zoom on this comment as "positive feedback" and make Forspoken 2

[Kaurhz]

You are legit going to have the Square Enix staff zoom on this comment as "positive feedback" and make Forspoken 2

The sad part about this is, they are probably already deciding where else to invest... Probably anywhere that isn't this game.

To be clear... I don't think Forspoken is good, and people can meme on it all day long, but to be honest Dawntrail is just as bad.

[TeresaFortell]

The sad part about this is, they are probably already deciding where else to invest... Probably anywhere that isn't this game.

To be clear... I don't think Forspoken is good, and people can meme on it all day long, but to be honest Dawntrail is just as bad.

They wrecked the story after Endwalker, and it was at such a high point. It's pretty amusing how, once the story is criticized, everything else in the game falls apart.

[Kaurhz]

They wrecked the story after Endwalker, and it was at such a high point. It's pretty amusing how, once the story is criticized, everything else in the game falls apart.

I think it's just one of those... Breaking point situations... e.g., a person may be more than happy to ignore other flaws in a game and look on the overall product more favorably if something in the game is doing well that they like... In this discussion case, story for example... They may be willing to overlook issues with content if the story is good... Same vice versa..., some people may overlook an atrocious story if the gameplay is good....

It doesn't really surprise me, as the game has always been touted as having a really good story, so for me people reacting this way is very... on-brand.. I just see it as... Everything had been falling apart for a long time (A matter of opinion, obviously), but there's always been small little vestiges in the game that people have managed to hold onto... For some people that was story, for some other people it might be something as simple as deep dungeon, achievement hunting, or crafting.

[MakoEyes]

Took a look at a gameplay video of Forspoken.

Gotta say, looks generic & boring AF.

[brinn12]

You're ignoring some important context here. They increased the timeframe of each of the major patches. So to release it after 24 months would require releasing it a lot sooner after 7.5 than they normally release a major patch even. The timeframe between final patch and expansion has generally always been longer than the timeframe between major patches, about 5 months until they increased it for Endwalker release.

I think you may underestimate how much they were actually pushing themselves to meet the 24 month timeframe as well, and the intent of it taking longer is to increase breaks, reduce burnout, and increase producitvity and consider the health of employees. This was likely also the case for major patches due to them having a wider variety of content types than they used to.

I remember they said how meeting one of the deadlines was going to be really tough and I think it must have been prior to Shadowbringers they said that, but they were going to do it anyway and crunch hard to keep it in summer. Then they flat out couldn't with Endwalker due to delayed contracts, remote working issues, etc. No doubt it was comfortable having more time so they seemed to stick with it.

So if they released it in November, that would be about 6 months after 7.5, similar to their previous timeframe of 5 months afer the .5 patch.

Huh? I'm not ignoring anything, the first part on bold is exactly what I am criticizing. They shouldn't have done that. The second part on bold is also very hard to believe, but we all choose what to believe in, I guess. It's not like SHB, EW and DT were much more profitable than the previous expansions and had longer patches, right?

[Chasingstars]

Forspoken is unironically better than this expansion tbh.

Unless CBU3 shutters like Luminous Productions did with Forspoken, I am pressing X to doubt.

[Mercury_Grey]

Hop over to fresh new 10/10 games like Forspoken

YOu do know that maintanence mode implies a few things:
1) no expasions
2) no new cosmetics would be added to teh shop
3) it would only be patches
want a real example of maintanence mode? Heroes of the storm