These forums are weird

[Tanis_Ebonhart]

1) Churn. FFXIV has a steady player growth due to new players coming in to replace old ones that leave (Source: Lucky Bancho). Except, the old players are still here and make criticism about why they leave. The new players have no need to complain since the game is free and they have no investment.

2) A lack of places to talk publicly about the game. Balmung Ul'dah has a /shout chat that's similar to these forums in its opinion on the game, but conversation is filled with sex and ERP so you might have not seen it.

3) The "sweet and friendly" paradox. FFXIV has fostered a culture where people are extremely nice up-front due to the censorship from GMs and the overall need to be agreeable in order to make friends and do content. Negative comments are left to other sites like the forums. I have met some forum posters in-game and they have never said a negative thing about the game there. Of course, this is an anecdote, but it's just as true as yours.

4) You do not have a class that is level 90. This means that you don't have experience in endgame raiding or activities that other people do. You have nine years of mostly single-player, "solved" content to do by yourself to keep yourself occupied. Plenty to do. Once you finish it, then what? Perhaps a "break" to "play other games" like Yoshida suggests? Many of us have already taken a break. We pay monthly in the hopes that someday we can have something to do in our favorite video game, which is this one.

A single-player game is fun for your first play-through, but after you finish it, then it's over. Why are we required to pay monthly for this? We were lured to FFXIV in the hopes that it would be an online game similar to WoW, Fortnite, Minecraft, Apex, GW2, PSO2, OSRS, etc. that has a persistent online community. That's what it was from 2013-2022 before the big single-player shift. You don't know what that's like. Now we've lost our favorite game and many of us are still in shock and bewilderment that it could fall apart so quickly.

It takes a lot for us to piece our (personal) lives back together again. Eventually we will, and we'll leave this place so you can have the game all to yourself. While you idle and play other games, of course.

I'm not sure why you personally attacked me multiple times in your post. What did I do deserve that?

[caffe_macchiato]

I'm not sure why you personally attacked me multiple times in your post. What did I do deserve that?

You are not FFXIV. It's time that we realize our roles as consumers of a product made by a corporation for profit. If we fail to establish barriers between ourselves and the product, we become victim to a parasocial relationship whereby our money no longer has value.

As for #4, please refer to #1 for the definition of "churn" in this context. A player's longevity determines their position in the product lifecycle.

Shadowbringers already happened, and was massively Successful, contrary to any belief here on the Forums.

Shadowlands was notorious for encouraging players to play other games more so than any expansion prior. Sound familiar? Those who beg others to leave might have an issue when, seeing how Dragonflight is now, there isn't anyone left.

[VelKallor]

Tuesday's my last day.

Uh huh...so you arent even going to play the patch you keep saying isnt worth it. Your loss.

After this patch those of us after the actual story of the game's world and not some bland crossover with FFIV have nothing left to grip us and there's no repeatable content scheduled for the whole rest of the expansion.

Theres plenty..it just doesnt suit you.

Can't wait to see what happens to the population of this game in the coming months. Exodus would be an apt word for the effect I anticipate

Nah I dont think so. Many will leave because everyone thinks the way you do. Ever stop to consider the fact YOU may be wrong?

, despite having very much hoped for the opposite in what should have been an expansion that encapsulates all the excellence we used to enjoy for the past 10 years.

Ive had a blast. Look forward to more.

Sorry you didnt.

Congrats. You won. Unless a miracle happens and the game does a 180 you won't be seeing me or any of the posters you would rather see doing something "more happy and healthy" around because a combination of the game's shortcomings and the community that defends them has driven us out.

Oh, the drama......

[Kes13a]

Tuesday's my last day. After this patch those of us after the actual story of the game's world and not some bland crossover with FFIV have nothing left to grip us and there's no repeatable content scheduled for the whole rest of the expansion. Can't wait to see what happens to the population of this game in the coming months. Exodus would be an apt word for the effect I anticipate, despite having very much hoped for the opposite in what should have been an expansion that encapsulates all the excellence we used to enjoy for the past 10 years.

take care, I hope you enjoy whatever you do in the interim, but see you in a couple months when you return

[DiaDeem]

There's like 30 people constantly posting here at most. You can find more people in a single Limsa/Ul'Dah/Gridania instance. Don't trust these forums. Get the popcorn though.

[Equitable_Remedy]

Seems like a stark contrast of those inside the game. Everyone's so nice and positive, and the story generally seems to be well liked by the players.

Then I come here and it seems like every topic on the front page is just negative, angry, or bitter.

What's the deal?

Forum posters are a small, self-selecting, non-representative sample of the player base. That's all.

[TheGrimace]

The Final Fantasy XIV General Forums

Abandon all hope, ye who enter.

[DiaDeem]

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

Shadowlands was notorious for encouraging players to play other games more so than any expansion prior. Sound familiar? Those who beg others to leave might have an issue when, seeing how Dragonflight is now, there isn't anyone left.

Ok, FFXIV has been saying it for nearly a decade, and the game only grew.
What does WoW: Shadowlands failure have to do with FFXIV, which has only arguably had 1 bad Expansion, which WoW arguably had 4?
(I dont remember the actual number, but hey, people like to be dramatic now, and then in retrospect say it wasnt that bad / it was good)

[GaiusDrakon]

You are not FFXIV. It's time that we realize our roles as consumers of a product made by a corporation for profit. If we fail to establish barriers between ourselves and the product, we become victim to a parasocial relationship whereby our money no longer has value.

It's perfect really. The best way to succeed in a capitalist society as a corporation is to act like you're on the side of the consumers and pretend to be best buddies with them. Yoshi P is far better at this than most other devs. While many corporations fail at this and make cringe ads and what is obviously corporate virtue signaling (like all the Pride flags), sometimes there are savants that succeed and enrapture many fans.

Really you can't even blame these people, Yoshi P is too good at his job.

Maybe one day when consumers in the gaming space realize that corporations are your enemy and not your friend, we would get better quality products.

For now, we just have to watch these savvy firms manufacture an image of themselves as something beyond capitalism, selling products that are more than mere commodities to make customers feel like they're engaging in more than a transaction, and therefore willingly pay much more for much lower quality products.

It's not even ironic at this point to say that 80% of FF14 players are paypigs with Yoshi P as the findom papa.