Why this Live Letter Matters

[hunkygladiator]

even the generally happy-go-lucky big content creators have been complaining about no grindable content and the Relics being a tomestone freebie

You can quote me on this. There's a 50% chance Yoshi P will address this issue and if so he might apologize, he's going to say "we wanted a story-based relic/accessible relic/relic anyone can get with any content" but he will not be addressing the real root issue that people want exploratory zones or some combat equivalent.

They have adeptly dodged questions like these for nearly a decade at this point.

Every time they answered questions on healer concerns they've dodged it like this. They simply don't want to explicitly say "we heard your complaints and we disagree/don't care".

Yoshi P is first and foremost, a savant at PR and customer relations.

[Semirhage]

"toxic casuals", which is super rare unless you're being a jerk to people, and is also FAR less destructive to a game than toxic elitism is since it's inclusionary rather than exclusionary.

Is it? Or is it simply favoring one toxic group of people over another? True, toxic elitism trends toward being openly mean to other people, but if FFXIV's community is anything to go by, toxic casualism is a breeding ground for smug passive-aggression. I don't find all of FFXIV's community's TOS-sanctioned sneering and snotting about "endgame raiders" from people jealous about other peoples' accomplishments to be inclusive -at all-.

[CelestiCer]

It is of utmost im-importance !!!
B-b-because our lord and savior (Yoshi-P) will f-finally (sniffles) talk about the 6.1 negative f-feedback back in April 2022 (ob-obviously) and mention how they are going to reinstate our Kaiten!! N-not single shred of doubt in my mind you hear!! (big nods) mhm.


(PS: post not sponsored by ChatGPT, brought to you by Emotional Damage and KaitenCopium)

[Moebious]

I'm not sure what they can do to make 6.4+ anything interesting, they have no Eureka/Bozja like content in the development, unless they do a big change to how variant/criterion functions, to give it the deep dungeon-esque, "rogue-like, variable and repeatable" gameplay content/rewards, which this expansion desperately needs more of.

I'm looking forward to how maybe the raids might be, and I wonder how they'll even bother to make the Extreme worthwhile, with relic weapons around.

I'd like to be pleasantly surprised by this live letter but honestly I'm expecting little to nothing, since its too obvious by now that they are focusing all their development resources on ffxvi or maybe counting money from their moggy station items.
If they address some issues or reflection regards of this expansion, so it at least feels like they are listening to concerns, it might be easier to look more hopeful for the future patches. But at the moment it very much looks like there won't be anything interesting/spectacular until everything's done with their other ff project, which is kinda sad. :/

[aveyond-dreams]

If they address some issues or reflection regards of this expansion, so it at least feels like they are listening to concerns, it might be easier to look more hopeful for the future patches. But at the moment it very much looks like there won't be anything interesting/spectacular until everything's done with their other ff project, which is kinda sad. :/

That's the main thing. There have been several instances of...attitudes that are not conducive to giving the impression of listening to your playerbase like the infamous April 1st 2022 live letter when earless Hrothgars were unveiled. FFXIV cannot afford more instances like that, not when this many people are wondering who is listening and who was listened to that brought the game to the barren state it's in now.

[Dorito_Burrito]

That's the main thing. There have been several instances of...attitudes that are not conducive to giving the impression of listening to your playerbase like the infamous April 1st 2022 live letter when earless Hrothgars were unveiled. FFXIV cannot afford more instances like that, not when this many people are wondering who is listening and who was listened to that brought the game to the barren state it's in now.

You don't genuinely care.

[UkcsAlias]

But at the moment it very much looks like there won't be anything interesting/spectacular until everything's done with their other ff project, which is kinda sad. :/

The problem is that island sanctuaries, which could have been quite some extensive content, simply wasnt that, its extremely dull and repetetive, and features barely anything to do. Even for those who like gathering, the rewards arent even nearly worth it (effort to value conversion rate is absolutely horrible). If they involved content that required for example combat, and other special events, it could have worked. But it simply wasnt that.

The only way IS can be revived would be if it contains content for the DoW/DoM. Even if its just special boss fights like BLU has, where later levels unlock more of these fights, it can do quite a bit. As those fights could give special rewards which then in turn can interact elsewhere (relic weapon requirement, special ingredients for certain housing items, special glams, rewards that benefit IS again to unlock more, daily/weekly challenges). But that obviously requires a massive change (which they dont seem to want to do because of ffxvi). And in the end, its probably very similar to variant dungeons anyway.

And even then, the issue of IS is that its massively timegated instead of being actualy properly grindable content that is fun to do (instead of contant grinding for resources, things like fates are more dynamic). This timegating wouldnt be an issue if at least it didnt feel that artificial (fates can be a limitation as well, but have a more common spawn rate which allows people to do duties between them in case all of them were done).

I think IS is the reason we are currently facing a lack of more dynamic content. And because its too DoL oriented, its not something easily changed either.

And by now, even if they had an idea for such extensive content, im certain they will just wait for 7.1, as when 7.0 is released, all 6.x content is instantly becoming mostly obsolete as the new expansion is then where it is all at.

[Absimiliard]

The only way IS can be revived would be if it contains content for the DoW/DoM. Even if its just special boss fights like BLU has, where later levels unlock more of these fights, it can do quite a bit. As those fights could give special rewards which then in turn can interact elsewhere (relic weapon requirement, special ingredients for certain housing items, special glams, rewards that benefit IS again to unlock more, daily/weekly challenges). But that obviously requires a massive change (which they dont seem to want to do because of ffxvi). And in the end, its probably very similar to variant dungeons anyway.

Something like the monster arena in FFX might fit the island well on the DoW/M interaction front. New monsters being added to the arena roster based on catching X number of different animal types would certainly be a good way to tie it in. It would also be a good opportunity for them to test the proverbial waters on extreme/savage-level solo challenges, hopefully with appropriate rewards.

Given they've said before they want to make FFXIV the kind of game you can go through solo or in a group, I figure overtuned solo challenges are a bit of an inevitability. So, that in mind, why not use a monster arena on the island to start figuring out scaling and experimenting with mechanics combinations that will work against solo targets without automatically killing them?

[aveyond-dreams]

The problem is that island sanctuaries, which could have been quite some extensive content, simply wasnt that, its extremely dull and repetetive, and features barely anything to do. Even for those who like gathering, the rewards arent even nearly worth it (effort to value conversion rate is absolutely horrible). If they involved content that required for example combat, and other special events, it could have worked. But it simply wasnt that.

The only way IS can be revived would be if it contains content for the DoW/DoM. Even if its just special boss fights like BLU has, where later levels unlock more of these fights, it can do quite a bit. As those fights could give special rewards which then in turn can interact elsewhere (relic weapon requirement, special ingredients for certain housing items, special glams, rewards that benefit IS again to unlock more, daily/weekly challenges). But that obviously requires a massive change (which they dont seem to want to do because of ffxvi). And in the end, its probably very similar to variant dungeons anyway.

And even then, the issue of IS is that its massively timegated instead of being actualy properly grindable content that is fun to do (instead of contant grinding for resources, things like fates are more dynamic). This timegating wouldnt be an issue if at least it didnt feel that artificial (fates can be a limitation as well, but have a more common spawn rate which allows people to do duties between them in case all of them were done).

I think IS is the reason we are currently facing a lack of more dynamic content. And because its too DoL oriented, its not something easily changed either.

And by now, even if they had an idea for such extensive content, im certain they will just wait for 7.1, as when 7.0 is released, all 6.x content is instantly becoming mostly obsolete as the new expansion is then where it is all at.

It was bewildering that around the time Island Sanctuary launched there were some players who were quite opposed to including battle content for it...despite the inclusion of it taking absolutely nothing from them should they wished to continue with the rest of Island Sanctuary's activities. Naturally I support adding some fights to it, given that even games like Stardew Valley have some sort of battle component to them.

Overall though I think that we may have been better off if Island Sanctuary was just individual outdoor housing for everyone, more customization like biomes etc rather than the stuff they added to it that in the end seems to all be accomplished by interacting with the mammets.

[Kazhar]

There's nothing to expect from this Live Letter. They will talk about the content which was announced more than a year ago (+ BLU), a trailer which will pretty much tell everything that's going to happen storywise if you pay attention and the biggest surprise we could ever hope for is another wave of QoL changes (and maybe a random cosmetic addition or two)

The Live Letter itself isn't going to make or break the game.