How to Restore Confidence in FFXIV

[Absimiliard]

Ok then why are you still playing and subscribed then?

I'm not playing anymore. The only reason I even log in now is as a favor to a friend that can't play at the moment. They're concerned their FC will fall into the wrong hands - or worse, they'll lose the house.

That said, you appear to conflate lack of trust in a game and its developers with complete lack of interest. I obviously still care about the product on some level, otherwise I wouldn't engage with the forums at all. I just happen to believe I see which way the wind is blowing.

[Atelier-Bagur]

I'm not playing anymore. The only reason I even log in now is as a favor to a friend that can't play at the moment. They're concerned their FC will fall into the wrong hands - or worse, they'll lose the house.

Well ok then, at least thats a valid reason. Carry on

[EorzeaWanderer]

My dream is that our expectations are subverted and we get a new continent as a single, contiguous map, and not just exactly six new squares and two towns.

This probably won’t happen for technical reasons, though, so at the very least I would like a single, well-developed, geographically connected set of new maps (NOT only squares) that give us the illusion of something grand, a place we can travel through. Heavensward did this the best so far. Endwalker was six isolated squares, no feeling of cohesion with the new zones, either among themselves or with the old zones.

My second wish is to have characters that sound like real people when they talk. Even supposedly “fun” characters like that “wild” Thancred sound academic and unnatural. Whoever wrote the dialog in Limsa in ARR took some risks and different dialects are a lot of fun. We need more of that, not legions of characters who speak like they are reading their professor’s thesis out loud when they talk about anything at all. Many, many times character conversations make me feel like I am at work. “Let us each tend to our respective tasks!” That is not what I want to feel.

Gameplay-wise, my wish is that they do not devote any resources to new content that can ONLY be soloed. Island Sanctuary is exactly this. I am happy to have things soloable, but all content should be something you should be able to meaningfully group with others in, or benefit from their presence or contribution. IS can even be fixed to incorporate such features. We need more things to do with each other.

[TheGrimace]

Still loving the story, but I am becoming very jaded by the lack of effort in long-term content. Relics becoming an afterthought is the thing that set me off most. V&C Dungeons are really cool, but without proper rewards, Sil'dihn Subterrane has died off and Mount Rokkon will fare the same. They need to rethink longevity of content for the good of the game because chucking everything behind tomestone grinds is lazy and uninspiring.

[ZephyrMenodora]

Spend about five minutes reading the forums to get your answer.

In my opinion a lot of that is ranting and the sort that now makes my eyes glaze over after years of it here. I liked this OP as it was a lot calmer and more thoughtful and organized in his thoughts.

[Deceptus]

The first step in fixing a problem is admitting there is a problem to begin with.

Until Yoshi-P does that, there's zero hope at the moment.

The game is stagnating.

[aveyond-dreams]

The first step in fixing a problem is admitting there is a problem to begin with.

Until Yoshi-P does that, there's zero hope at the moment.

The game is stagnating.

Apparently he was in Milan today. Perhaps when he comes back he can have a look at the feedback we've posted.

[kpxmanifesto]

Perhaps when he comes back he can have a look at the feedback we've posted.

Haha, that's optimistic, but one can hope.

[AwesomeJr44]

Here are some of the things that can be done to begin restoring my confidence in the game:

1) Admit that the recent content has been lackluster, and promise to fix things

If the devs realize and admit that the 6.x patches haven't been up to snuff, and they promise to do what they can to make things right, that would be a HUGE step in the right direction. Even just acknowledging that there is a problem is better than ignoring it like they're doing now.

2) Show that FFXIV is their main priority

Throughout these patches, it's felt like the main priority of the devs has been FFXVI. They need to show us that they still have passion for FFXIV, that they still care about this game. Why should I care about FFXIV if the devs don't?

3) Stop sanitizing the story, stop making it childish, establish proper stakes, and make characters I can invest in

The story as it is now is too clean and childish. The scions and their friends are objectively correct all of the time, none of the scions themselves are forced to deal with lasting consequences, they are all untouchable and invincible, and the story itself is becoming more childish. Gone are the times where you could view the story with nuance and make your own opinion. In Endwalker, the scions are portrayed as objectively correct perfect heroes in every situation, and if they ever get into trouble, they'll get out of it without any scars to show for it as Thancred put it in Ultima Thule. The only people to suffer any consequences are side characters and the villains. Let the heroes fail. Let them actually suffer the consequences of their failure for more than 5 minutes. Then their eventual return to glory will actually have impact and feeling behind it. Make the characters people I can actually invest in, and I will begin to care about the story again.

Also, stop making the MSQ childish. The kind of childish humor we've been getting with things like the lopporits belongs in the Hildibrand questline. Please keep it there.

4) Make better raids

I am a raider, thus the main thing I'm going to care about are the raids. However, both Abyssos and TOP have been terrible experiences to play through. Asphodelos was a really good tier, so if the third Pandaemonium tier is of similar quality, then I will be satisfied on this point. As has been said previously, one way to do this is to make the hitboxes smaller. Having to plan ways to get uptime as a tank or melee is part of the fun. I want to fight a boss, not a target dummy. The difficulty also needs to be fixed. P6S and P7S were way too easy to be fun. I also never want to see anything like TOP ever again. Ever. This is something that they could easily fix in 6.4.

5) Make better side content

The side content for 6.x has quite frankly been a dumpster fire. Island Sweatshop is dead, Criterion was DOA, Orthos is just a copy pasted PotD/HoH, and there is no sustainable content to keep people around. Where is the replacement for Bozja? I'm not even talking about a new exploratory zone, but where is the thing that is meant to fill that void? We're more than halfway through the patches and it's nowhere to be found. Something needs to fill the void left by the missing exploratory zone.

Relics also need to not be something you buy at a vending machine. Relics are SUPPOSED to be grindy. They're content that's supposed to fill the time between patches. I'm not sure where the idea came from that relics were meant to be for turbo casuals, but they are not. They are an alternative to savage weapons that require time instead of skill. Bring back actual relic content.

6) The community stops trying to shut down criticism

This one is different than the rest as it's not something the devs need to do, but the community itself. The FFXIV community is too steeped in toxic positivity. The community needs to accept that the game isn't perfect, that it can improve, and that criticism of the game isn't something that should be instantly shut down or derailed. Without criticism, the game cannot grow, it will stagnate, and it will eventually die. This is not purely an Official Forums thing. This change needs to occur not only here, but on other sites such as Reddit as well. The community at large needs to take a massive chill pill. Nothing can change for the better if the community tries to suppress it.

7) Listen to feedback and be more open with communication

I have saved the most important for last.

Listen. To. Feedback.

I cannot stress this enough. When the community is asking for something, listen. Why did people for years need mods just to see what kind of damage an attack was? Why do people still need mods just to have a proper death recap? Why did it take years for Living Dead to be a decent cooldown? It is very apparent that the devs aren't listening to the community if it takes this long for feedback to reach them. Yoshi P shouldn't be shocked to hear that the community has been asking for something when they have been for years. And something else that is just as important, be more open with the community. If there is a problem with implementing something, tell us. Don't act like the problem doesn't exist, hoping that we shut up about it.

There are other things that can be done, but these are the ones I've thought of right now.

[aveyond-dreams]

...

Yes to all of these things.