Thread: Endwalker is the lowest point of this game since 1.0

Originally Posted by Thurmnmurmn

Considering the story is the main selling point of the game, that would be why you see it being brought up more often. Dismissing that is disingenuous when talking about the game.

That being said, yeah the end game content this expansion has been lacking. A ton of updates for the new player experience though.

Okay then, explains why I’m currently having way more fun in ESO with lore bits, exploration and adventure.
Because in FFXIV so far, there is literally 0 exploration or sense of adventure. It’s way too railroaded, so many parts of the map are not used and either a background for 2mins of MSQ/Tribe dailies or FATE grind (which seems to be only done the first weeks of an expansion, then forgotten).

It’s a pity because the game has really good maps, if only they were used for something.

When it comes to EW story, at the time I was playing it I thought it was great. Now that I've had some time to stew on it and think about it, I've found it to be kind of meh. Lots of weird contrivances in the plot and the like.

The patch story has been pretty dull though.

For me I put Endwalker at like 3rd place so heavensward, shadowbringers, Endwalker, stormblood then ARR. I also treat Endwalker as it’s worse if you take the story on it’s own but it’s better combined with shadowbringers it’s sort of like how avengers endgame isn’t a good movie but it’s made better if you combine it with infinity war. In regards to the content types and gameplay I feel Endwalker has definitely gone for variety and that’s been refreshing it’s just as of yet lacks long term rewards for running said content. I feel of relic had a zone to explore or required more to do then just tomes people wouldn’t be as critical.

I also feel Endwalker has done so much foundational work (for better or worse with dungeon redesign or boss mechanic changes) then any other expansion on top of consistent QoL they have really honed in on the new player experience and for the most part it’s a lot of great changes. Just sadly with their finite resources and team size it can come across like endgame players got shafted for them reworking core elements for new players but for me personally il take that hit and won’t say much unless 7.0 follows the same trajectory.

I think it’s probably HW>ARR>=SHB>STB>EW
The tonal shift around level 61-63 is something the story just didn’t recover from. It’s also not fun just showing up and almost being guaranteed a clear. The stratification of content is not particularly healthy in my eyes.

Originally Posted by fulminating

I think it’s probably HW>ARR>=SHB>STB>EW
The tonal shift around level 61-63 is something the story just didn’t recover from. It’s also not fun just showing up and almost being guaranteed a clear. The stratification of content is not particularly healthy in my eyes.

Thing is I only feel HW and ARR stuff was considered "hard" due to lack of player experience with the game. 6+ years in normal content probably won't feel as crazy to said person/people. There's also the savage debate ofc but thas for a different camp than myself these days.
EW to me has hit a nice sweet spot. You aren't steamrolling
everything but you also aren't full wiping often either. I can at least say (in my experience ofc) EWs set of raids have killed more than most, even to this day. Shoot p12 is still a bit of a block for me at some parts idk what it is xD
But I'd say if strat is what you're after the game clearly puts out where you'll get it from. Savage, Unreal, Ultimate.

As for the tonal shift that's for the better imo. Many things in ARR and even some aspects of HW are very one dimensional. Not something I particularly care for and that pivot was smart. The pivot has only helped make the game more n more successful so I couldn't objectively call it bad even if I wanted

Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

The newest Extreme is a lot of fun. I recommend trying it!

Once you learn it, don't join prog parties because they will always get stuck on some of the mechanics and it'll be draining. But it's only draining because this is a harder fight to learn than some of the other extremes. Once you've got it on farm, it's a lot of fun just to farm it.

It is both great and absolutely terrible.
It's great that it has some teeth to it and feels engaging, but every 2nd mechanic is simply an 8-man body check. This leads to your weakest link quickly becoming a brick wall to your progression because there is literally nothing you personally can do to compensate for them, that is already annoying in savage so I really don't need it in extreme as well.

Originally Posted by fulminating

That is a factor too of course, but I think the simplified rotations and their bloated potencies have not really been of benefit, particularly in old content. Storm’s eye for example was 270 potency and by 5.5 hit 420. Currently it’s sitting at 440 caster potency which is greater still I think, but could have that backwards. It just doesn’t seem to have any benefit to me, particularly for those who want to dip their toes into higher end content. The extreme step up in difficulty and personal responsibility from none to some in a lot of cases is quite stark. I find the normal & alliance raids most fun on day 1, the former before everyone has a chance to outgear and do it without thinking.


Funnily enough that’s how I’d have described the more recent entries, everything collapsing in under the weight of friendship and saccharine veneer. The more* grounded world before it became a theme park for the centre of the universe. Yeah the ff3 raids were in arr, but I like ff3.

That's fair. I think old content really can't be helped when it comes to that. Tbf in that respect you have 2 years to do it while it's relevant. Generally most will be unsyncing those though some do min ilvl (which is quite fun, should do some if you haven't yet).
Alliance week 1 I'd say is the best yeah. Having that room for error and seeing possible alliance wipes is fun. Naturally that luster will be lost as time goes on.

Not that second portion I find interesting. I can't point to poeple like Hades, Hermes, Venat, Zenos or even the story surrounding one dimensional. The very fact EW is so controversial (here at least) kinda tells me it's far from one dimensional. Friendship has been present since the dawn of 14 so I can't personally use that as a point against the game. Youll always be stronger with friends, that's just statistics. The world now is still very much grounded, the scope is just wider imo (Considering we have different worlds now).
Also shame your ff3 bias (I'm joking lol)