Why this Live Letter Matters

[DrWho2010]

Whatever aveyond thinks he's going to get, isn't going to happen. There will be no deep bowing or apologies of any kind.

[Saraide]

I doubt this live letter really matters. Games as big as this just die off.

[Khryseis_Astra]

This Live Letter is going to be about 6.4. I doubt we’ll hear any major details of plans for the next expansion until after the Fan Fests.

[CStrife912]

The thing is if they dont respond to anything then their metrics indicate that the problem isn't as big as people make it out to be. They have the tools to track player engagement/retention and if they are seeing decline in aspects they would of looked to the forums or discord or reddit with their teams that are purely there to gather feedback or research the market for what others are doing in the genre. I just can't imagine this Live Letter really doing much to what Aveyond wants and I don't think at the same time they should. Peoples likes or dislikes have shown to be wildly on either side of the fence. It is pretty much the same 3-4 negative posts fighting the same 3-4 positive posters and just butting heads with the odd user here and there.

7.0 matters....6.4/6.5 do not...their content and roadmap was done well over a year ago...whatever is here is set in stone. No wild last minute changes would be happening here is my best bet.

[CNitsah]

The thing is if they dont respond to anything then their metrics indicate that the problem isn't as big as people make it out to be. They have the tools to track player engagement/retention and if they are seeing decline in aspects they would of looked to the forums or discord or reddit with their teams that are purely there to gather feedback or research the market for what others are doing in the genre. I just can't imagine this Live Letter really doing much to what Aveyond wants and I don't think at the same time they should. Peoples likes or dislikes have shown to be wildly on either side of the fence. It is pretty much the same 3-4 negative posts fighting the same 3-4 positive posters and just butting heads with the odd user here and there.

7.0 matters....6.4/6.5 do not...their content and roadmap was done well over a year ago...whatever is here is set in stone. No wild last minute changes would be happening here is my best bet.

Yet I hope this won't be ignored. It might not be a problem watching metrics, but people are obviously not happy. I don't expect, any drop by 7.0, but if 7.0 doesn't deliver and 7.1 follow the path of 6.3/6.4, I can see a big decline in the game happening in the future. Player don't just leave when something they don't like happens. It's a longer process, and despite what the vocal few people say, the general concensus is that the game did mostly deliver in up until the 6.X patches. It's just that they have to address the problem, or actually notice it. I still hope that dull period is due to the graphical update and the rework of old dungeons. I mean, I you think about it, it's more 5 or 6 dungeons by extension they had to do. I also know that sometime, rework something can be as time consuming than doing something from scratch, and that could be one of the reason why the patches feels so dull, because part of the ressources are attributed to less visible work. But if it's a new design philosophy, it's really worrying.

[Fiel_Tana]

I also know that sometime, rework something can be as time consuming than doing something from scratch, and that could be one of the reason why the patches feels so dull, because part of the ressources are attributed to less visible work. But if it's a new design philosophy, it's really worrying.

If it is due to less visible work it'd be nice if they said something. One of the reasons I liked this game so much was the seeming openness of the dev team to admitting errors or even just explaining to clear up confusion or bad feelings. That seems to not be happening now, so either I had rose-tinted glasses on before or things have changed.

[Stormpeaks]

ngl there is going to be nothing "amazing" at the live letter, it'll be the same thing as usual, nothing else, if you put your expectations high you are in for a massive disappointment

[Minarisweet]

They've all mattered its just more people are noticing how lackluster the game can feel. Me and my friends would look foward to each shb live letter for glimmers of hope for the game and now you are doing the same too. The devs have reached a point where they can put bare minimum effort in the game and it will still be popular so people dont really care if the content we get is good or not, I have no hopes anymore just gonna enjoy whatever they get to put out every 2 or 3 years if there is anything.

[Jeeqbit]

what some players are looking for now is direct assurance that things won't continue the way they have this expansion.

They will. They plan an expansion's patches before the expansion even releases. They showed us concept art for Island Sanctuary before Endwalker even released. They told us the whole (obviously vague) plan at the very beginning of the expansion. That is why it won't change. To change an expansion's patches, you need to be asking before the .4 or .3 patch of the previous expansion. After the .3 patch is when they begin working on the next expansion, after all.

Soon we will begin getting details of the next expansion, so now we are reaching the point where the plan for the next expansion is decided and feedback is realistically going to need to pertain to that or it's a wasted effort.

The time has come to admit that somewhere down the line, some wrong turns were taken. But as before, this isn't to say that things are beyond any hope of salvation. The promise of the return to exploratory zones for next expansion for instance, restoration content, or similar systems if spoken now would at least give those who lost trust the impression that someone out there is listening and seriously considering peoples' concerns.

Perhaps, but I think this is more likely to occur at a fan fest live letter, where they actually discuss the next expansion.

short term solutions could include revamping the reward structure for Variant/Criterion dungeon in a massive way, the immediate shift for 6.45 and 6.55 relics to specific content such as those dungeons or other battle content, and adding more appealing rewards to Eureka Orthos such as alternate weapons, gearsets, or even gil rewards.

Those things we could see in the next live letter, I suppose, because they are minor changes.

[Tizzy_Tormentor]

If you're expecting much from a patch LL, you're setting yourself up for disappointing, it will just be the usual faire. Anything that really matters will be coming in the LL's leading up to the next expansion, so the ones during and after fanfest.