A detailed criticism (the good, meh and bad) of Endwalker thus far

[Zairava]

The title basically explains the purpose of the post. Do note I will express frustration in some points here, because I focus a lot more on those in MMO's. I'll list the good first. For the love of the twelve go in with the mind that some points are going to be subjective, and that there will be spoilers for 6.X MSQ. I cannot comment on savage raids above a surface level because I haven't completed the savage tiers, but I did watch those along with ultimate prog. I can't really comment on Island Sanctuary beyond what I know from my sibling, because the content isn't to my taste.

The good:

The MSQ: I don't remember everything, but I do know I enjoyed 6.0 fairly well. I'm not a lore nut and I don't focus on what may or may not be a plot hole (like being able to teleport to elpis freely even after everyone's memory gets wiped except for ours. This is probably just for gameplay reasons).

• My main criticisms of 6.0 is that I really didn't like the final boss's execution. I liked the fight, but I didn't like how the big bad to end of the Hydaelyn-Zodiark storyline was just thrown to us.
• My other main criticism is to stop with the fake deaths. I get it appeals to people, but after a certain point, it stops to mean anything when you can just assume or guess they are going to come back so it's meaningless to get upset about it. Looking at you Y'shtola.

The music: Does this really need explaining? The music, par for the course, is fantastic. Loved it!

Variant Dungeons: Excellent side content with reasons to go back. Glamour, emotes, etc. Whether it's profitable or you just haven't got it yet, or both. Scales with the amount of people so it's good to go in solo OR with a group. I would like to see the actions perhaps expanded upon in the future, but what we have now still feels nice when they need to be used.

• My only criticism of this is that you can only small pull. I can guess some reasons why this is the case, but it should at least be an option to pull 2 packs.

Hildibrand Quests: This is hit or miss depending on the person, but I personally enjoy the Hildibrand quests because of the absurdly goofy humor. (yes, somehow Hildibrand being in the ground for the nth time via X method is still funny for me). And honestly, this is the most I've enjoyed Hildibrand since I believe...the ARR quest chain? I hope we get a continuation in the next expansion!

The meh:

Patch MSQ: The story itself feels like filler, because it is. This is why I didn't expect that much from it from the getgo because we knew this beforehand so I knew what to expect. It serves what it's supposed to be pretty well. It took a while, but I feel like Zero is growing as a character as of 6.4. I can't stay I cared for her until this point, but that was probably the point.

?Island Sanctuary?: From what I can tell, it's good content when your progressing at your own pace, but there isn't much to do with it once you're actually done getting to the max rank, and as of 6.4, decorating with the outdoor furnishings. Though that alone can vary for longevity depending on how often people redecorate it.

Normal Raids: With this current tier of normal raids being the best on by far in my opinion, they didn't really captivate me that much otherwise. They were servicable, and I'll get deeper into the encounter design topic shortly.

The Bad:
As they say, it's easier to point out flaws where they are than it is to see the positives. Unfortunately, for some of these, the negatives outweigh the positives.

Encounter Design and damage intake: The same mechanics with different cast bars and names. Nothing feels that unique anymore that makes us go "Woah! I've never seen that before!". I understand there's a limitation to the amount of different mechanics people can come up with, but it doesn't feel like there's been anything fresh in story content for a while.

• The damage intake in normal mode content is too low even for first go-throughs, despite healers having a LOT of healing tools at their disposal. When you start power creeping it, it gets even more apparent. There needs to be better scaling, or something, that makes up for this. Vulnerability stacks on paper should cover this, but when you need to mess up for that to even be a negative, it does nothing to actually remedy this.

Normal mode difficulty: This might fall on deaf ears because the want is to appeal to as much as the casual playerbase as they can, but dear Halone it does not have to be so mind-numbingly easy. A good middle ground, I feel, was way back during Ridorana Lighthouse. Current level cap content should not be a complete cakewalk on launch to the point you can just be falling asleep at your keyboard and still complete it, especially the alliance raids. Current content doesn't need to be EX or savage level, but it needs to be harder, it just doesn't feel fulfilling to complete right now. The power creep makes this problem worse.

• Why bother putting in dps checks that you would actively need to go out of your way to even see? Why put them in if we can just plow through it? Making it easily beaten when people are alive but grueling when people aren't doesn't make it a dps check, it makes it a body check.

Job Design and the 2-minute meta: No, the 2-minute meta has NOT helped anything. There is no problem it actually solved. Players who do not care about it, will not conform to it. They will not press it on cooldown, they will not do it properly. They will play the job they like playing as they like, pressing abilities when they like.

• The two minute meta actually makes it harder to conform, which may be a possible intent. However, if you die, it makes it impossible to get yourself back in unless you purposefully delay your strongest cooldowns which results in a net loss, so you are perpetually no longer able to use your abilities when everyone else uses their raidbuffs. The consequence of death should not be forever screwing you out of timed raid-buffs. This wasn't a huge problem before Endwalker, since we had raid-buffs off of the 1 and 2 minute, but now EVERYTHING lands there in that time-frame during the 2-minute burst. Which makes another problem..crit reliance and variance.
• If the good direct crits or not can be the difference between clearing or a wipe, that is an issue. Spread out, it isn't as big an issue as the reliance on them is reduced, but when the most potent of them is in one strict window every two minutes, you've basically restricted all of that dps into that one single time-frame, so it ultimately feels worse. You get stuck between feeling good because you got big hits or terrible because your most potent GCD's hit like a wet fart and you know that can be a problem later. The only solution to this if remained is to make every single big hitter ability perform a direct crit automatically, and that's inherently boring because it makes the ever growing problem of jobs beginning or already feeling far too similar, MORE similar.

Job Design itself: Who are you actually trying to cater to here? Misshapen chair put it best. https://youtu.be/1d_fMH9Lwvs
I would put a timestamp but ultimately the entire video is worth watching.

The players who do not care about the rotation, will NOT care if they perform it right. No amount of simplification to any system is going to change that. The players who cry about things being too hard to optimize will not stop until that job cannot be simplified any further, leaving absolutely NOTHING for the players who enjoy some sort of complex design and choices that actually matter.

You are sacrificing job identity and removing systems the players love about jobs in the name of balance, which the 2-minute meta seemed to make harder, and will always need some form of rectification over the course of an expansion. You are making the jobs feel worse to play, and for what? You have received an insurmountable amount of feedback against the removal of Kaiten from people who enjoyed samurai with it because it added, if minor, nuance to the job. To list one thread that lists many a thread:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...Kaiten-removal

And we in turn received nothing. What is the entire point of asking for this feedback from us if you will not respond to this feedback? Are you reading it but are just deciding to charge full ahead with your changes that some people didn't ask for to begin with?

Criterion Dungeons: Did you not see any of the feedback and suggestions provided when so many people listed that the rewards are lackluster and don't allow longevity? Not everyone is a mount farmer and Materia is a beyond lackluster reward, we already have a surplus of method to get it with hunt trains being a far superior and easier method to gain said materia. The actual dungeons in themselves seem to receive good praise, but the rewards, again, don't bring longevity or much reason to continue running it.

Relics: I like the look of a lot of the current stage's weapons. Kudos to the design team on those!
However there is the runt of the room...the acquisition method. I cannot express enough how incredibly lackluster it is that, yet again, it is still just a glorified tome weapon. I don't even dislike the fact that you can get it with tomes, I dislike the fact it is the only method of receiving the weapon. Like with some Bozja steps, you should be able to get them via another method. Otherwise, it's mostly just a side hustle while from doing your daily roulettes.

I get it, it is irritating and tiresome to see a surplus of people posting in bad faith, but those people will always jump at the opportunity too. Those people will always exist. It is an unavoidable truth that these people will post to troll. I don't know how it feels on your end, but if you can steamroll through the feedback and suggestions provided and say nothing, I'd say you can ignore those people.

I don't post this massive wall of context because I hate the dev team or the game. It seems to continue to grow with every expansion, and I want nothing but to see this game thrive, but this expansion, while it has some good things in it, gives me room for concern.
Right now, as a veteran player, it just doesn't feel like the game gives me a reason to actually keep playing it, even as someone who plays mostly solo (though I enjoy Eureka and Bozja-type content). It feels more like it doesn't want me to, frankly. Not even past my daily roulettes or weekly resets. Thats just...it. I'm not going to pay for something I'm going to spend a majority of my time talking to people is Limsa on, I can do that for free on virtually most apps and in person.

And before I get told "then just unsub and play other games", I already have. Currently enjoying Dragonflight on WoW.