The difficulty of Normal Content in this game needs to increase.

[Midareyukki]

And this is why FFXIV will remain as-is, probably will get worse, and OP will likely just get more and more frustrated. More people will simply defend whatever they get because FFXIV is beyond criticism. Raiders are a small minority that’s ever-shrinking thanks to the drought. The post-Endwalker decline of our gameplay-centric MMO has been met with applause and acclaim. You might not find a problem with this, and that’s okay! Raiders will find a better game to play, and you’ll still be able to pay $13 a month for…whatever this is. Rest assured, business will continue as usual, for better or for worse.

Honestly? Macchiato's right.

The game does release stuff for raiders who usually just clear the thing and are done with it apart from weekly reclears.
Casual content is often pretty boring and reliant on awkward gameplay mechanics (Island Sanctuary having a jank gathering system, Blue Mage having little application, Eureka/Bozja being FATE zones, Variant Dungeons having no decent incentive to be ran past the one reward...).
And even minigames are pretty niche, such as Chocobo Racing or Triple Triad. Nothing that has a larger application outside the Gold Saucer.

Meanwhile housing is pretty niche, mostly just there for decoration. And roleplaying aspects are rather limited. And in an MMO, the roleplaying scene is usually a major component for some people. Interaction with the lore and the game should be embraced... yet there's really not much outside of the chat, glamours and some emotes that provides further interactivity.

Whenever we need some form of "content" that keeps people engaged, it almost always has to be something to be worked toward rather than a feature. And that "something" is content that needs a lot of time to be developped. Meaning we have to wait for months for something new.

The only feature we do have that goes along more or less what I'm thinking? Bard Performance. That's all. And there's a lot we can do in a similar vein.

Not participating in the harder stuff of the game and enjoying oneself at clubs isn't inherently a bad thing. But other MMOs do at least complement the rest of this content with features, on top of also having a relatively robust raiding scene. Ours doesn't have that, it litters the game with side-content you need to work for rather than appreciate the stuff in the game itself, while raiding is intermittent.

Then again I myself raid very little, so what do I know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'm just a nutjob who reeeally wanted AST to have an actual divination feature, just as much as how Bards can play instruments. We know the Deck of Sixty exists. I'd just rather not have to make it from scratch on my own to use for my friends when I could actually show them what I'm drawing.

[Kaurhz]

Snip.

I don't entirely disagree with the point being made - But in oft' cases this point is often a precursor for "Develop more content lul" - I don't think the game has an issue related entirely to the content 'volume' as it were, just the incentive to replay said content, with many systems arguably being disconnected, when they could be meshed into one, or combined to create something more substantive. e.g., combining Eureka/Bozjan system with something such as Deep Dungeon, or conversely introducing the gathering and crafting concept of Island Sanctuary into Deep Dungeons, or just dungeons in general, to create something that entices players to interact with and explore their environment a little more, even if this concept is as simple as 'fish in the small river in Brayflox and obtain a key' - In this sense, incorporating dungeoneering into the players' experience.
[Edit: Substance equal to or greater than this above paragraph is scarce an opportunity because people are more concerned with whether people agree with them or not, and not really questioning why people disagree with an outlined criticism]


You can develop as many systems as you like, but if the underlying Philosophy is to just give players a 1-off experience, or a weekly experience to provide them with something irrationally streamlined, then no amount of content volume is going to scratch that itch. Hence why I find myself disagreeing with a lot of posts, and this is precisely why I also find myself seeing their reasoning as reductive. e.g., not disagreeing with the underlying point as such, just disagreeing entirely to the solution of the outlined problem - and when you have people posting garbage like "People will defend what they get" - It stifles a lot of productive debate that could come from the problem, in favour of something seemingly more 'chamberish' <- This point I don't necessarily see entirely applicable to this thread, but there are absolutely many threads where this is applicable.

[Midareyukki]

I don't entirely disagree with the point being made - But in oft' cases this point is often a precursor for "Develop more content lul" - I don't think the game has an issue related entirely to the content 'volume' as it were, just the incentive to replay said content, with many systems arguably being disconnected, when they could be meshed into one, or combined to create something more substantive. e.g., combining Eureka/Bozjan system with something such as Deep Dungeon, or conversely introducing the gathering and crafting concept of Island Sanctuary into Deep Dungeons, or just dungeons in general, to create something that entices players to interact with and explore their environment a little more, even if this concept is as simple as 'fish in the small river in Brayflox and obtain a key' - In this sense, incorporating dungeoneering into the players' experience.

I understand and also agree. I'm on record for wanting Eureka/Bozja to have incorporated Treasure Maps, after all

As well as the whole "Deck of Sixty for AST pls" thing.

Overall, I don't think what we have is bad. I think what we have is often left unfinished, when it could kinda do well enough with ideas from other stuff we've been having as detached features.

I'm mostly thinking of the game as how FF12 did some of its sidequests. It being a solo-focused game will naturally also have a large focus on the gameplay elements. But to me, they've been incorporated into a major portion of what FF12 was about: exploration. You were rewarded for straying off the dictated path. You were rewarded with extra areas and sidequests if you decided to do more than what the game told you.
It's why I love the concept of Variant Dungeons. They just needed better rewards.

So to me, the problem with "volume" is less so "omg we have too much and it all sucks", but rather "We have a lot, which is good, but they're simplistic. We can do better with what we've got."
Hence why I mentioned how casual content is lacking. If you notice, I say "Eureka is a FATE-only area" = can do with more stuff in it. "BLU has no application past a challenge log and carnivale" = it has potential, expanding upon it would benefit it. As well as giving more features in the same vein as Bard Performance, which don't require combat gameplay mechanics or working toward a reward to be reaped. Simply features that allow players to have fun and experiment with without it becoming necessarily "outdated" after a while. It's not just volume, but how robust the content is.

Otherwise, one thing I enjoy? POTD. Deep Dives were the absolute bomb for me. Gameplay at those levels is just unenjoyable for me at the moment, otherwise I'd definitely keep doing it nowadays. Because I had to work for something, yes, but it had more than just the obvious grindy levels.