If you're unhappy with this game then unsub... forever.

[Zabuza]

There seems to be a trend in AAA gaming nowadays. Maximize profits while putting in minimum effort. I've watched the metamorphosis of gaming from passion projects to psychological warfare on the customers. For some time, it seemed CBU3 was immune to this, but things have gradually changed over the years. Our voices now go unheard and if you think I'm wrong after everything we've seen, you're fooling yourself. I have been around since beta and have seen this gradual, downward descent. What we have now is a game unrecognizable from that which allowed it to flourish in the first place.

The beginning

When Yoshi-P first took over the reigns of this dying world, he decided to put it out of its misery and start anew. Taking on the monumental task of developing an entirely new game while evolving the current dying 1.0, Yoshi-P pulled off what many thought was impossible. He kept the old fanbase of 1.0 while successfully creating an entirely new MMORPG that would draw in new players to a fresh, exciting world.

I remember CBU3 actually creating polls on the forums, if you can believe that, asking players what it was they wanted to change in FFXIV as it currently was. What did they want added, removed, modified? I'd never witnessed such dev engagement before. I bought into this game because I saw developers who earnestly wanted their game to succeed and it did. More so than they anticipated. They deserved it because they poured love into their product and engaged with the playerbase. Even afterwards, all the way up until Stormblood, Yoshi-P would occasionally pop into the forums and directly respond to player concerns. Although this gradually lessened until it disappeared completely. Now devs do not respond at all and even our community representatives do not deign to speak with us. Trolls run rampant because they know how to skirt the forum TOS, but it is obvious to everyone that they are trolls or bad faith actors. These forums are now the wild west and our only response to pleas for moderation or dev engagement is tumbleweeds drifting by.

The ripple effect of nerfs.

This is where the first cracks started to appear. As early as Heavensward, players were complaining that the game was too hard. They were outraged that Steps of Faith, an MSQ, actually required some teamwork and coordination and not just mindless button mashing. So after the incessant outcry, the developers caved and it was nerfed. Players were then unhappy with the Alexander raid, claiming it was too difficult. So the devs acquiesced yet again. I remember 'In from the Cold' being the most fun I had in an MSQ in a long time. I actually almost failed it! So of course, that was too difficult for players because they didn't want to fail. They wanted to succeed the first time with ease. And so that too, was nerfed. That however, was still not enough. Now we have a 'Very Easy' difficulty option for duties just in case it was still too hard. All of the duties now, including 'Expert' are a complete joke and a snoozefest, which is soul-eroding when combined with what I'm about to touch on.

The neverending routine

We all know the drill by now. The formula that does not deviate. Every expansion, we get our large chunk of MSQ followed by dungeons, trials, and our 8-person raid. We are given our tomestone name and told which dungeons we must grind repeatedly for the new shiny. The number of tomestones required per item rarely changes, and the method does not change. Grind the last boss of the normal raid once a week to get a weapon, which then after a certain amount of weeks can be traded in for an improved weapon. Or you can run an Extreme for a weapon. Run roulettes to accumulate tomestones for your armor. If you want an improved version of said armor and weapons, then run Savage a certain amount of times to get your books(if you have bad luck) and trade it in for an item.

.2 and .4 patches are a repeat of this. New normal/savage raid released. New armor/weapons released. Repeat the very same process that is outlined above.

.1, .3, and .5 patches. Alliance raid is released. New armor which is largely for glamour purposes. You can roll once per week.

Combine this with the difficulty nerfs I outlined above and these roulettes, including the expert roulettes, are incredibly boring and mind numbing affairs. I've seen tanks solo a boss when the healer and both dps die. It's really sad.

In addition to this, we are thrown bread crumbs for content. Nowadays, you can finish the MSQ and raid series in 5-6 hours WITH watching the cutscenes. And we wait 4.5 months between patches for that?

The homogenization and dumbing down of classes.

I can't decide of the devs did this because players thought this was too hard, or if this was their way of 'balancing' the classes without them having to put in the effort to balance while keeping them unique. Either way, many classes are now basically the same candy in a different wrapper. Rotations were dumbed down to 'make it easier' on the player. Healers are practically insignificant. When pleading to Yoshi-P for help, he told them to 'go play Ultimate' if they wanted to have fun playing a healer. They took Kaiten away when literally no one asked them to and they refuse to put it back, regardless of player outcry.

The drifting of the creator

This is prevalent in the new release of FF16. RPG elements and complexity are all but absent from it. The game holds the player's hands at every chance. It doesn't even let you play the hard mode until you've beaten the game. It's assumed that players are too irresponsible to pick the difficulty they want to play and they'll end up picking something that's too challenging for them and then be unhappy. The decision has to be made for them. The Quick Time Events should be called Slow Time Events with how much time you get. The cherry on top is that when you finally beat the game and play Hard Mode, it doesn't even seem any more difficult. I was still able to get through the game with minimal difficulty. Why was FF16 released in this state?

Yoshi-P's attitude towards players has started to shift since the days of Realm Reborn. Back then, he gave more credit to the playerbase. He asked for their opinion and engaged with them. Don't get me wrong, I'm not putting the full blame with Yoshi-P either. The players have worn him down. The incessant shouting for nerfs anytime he released anything remotely challenging convinced him that players want mindless button mashing and they hate complexity. The years of negativity have worn him down to not wanting to engage with the playerbase any longer. While he won't say it outright, the actions seem to imply that he doesn't think much of the playerbase nowadays. They need their hand held because they can't handle it themselves. That is why FF16 is the way it is.

The increased monetization

No game with a monthly subscription should also charge you money for items. I don't care if it's 'only cosmetic' or not. While it may be a less aggregious offense, it's still double-dipping. But why should they stop? The players have clearly shown through their wallets that they condone these practices, regardless of complaint. They'll happily continue to thrust their money into the pockets of SE for these cosmetic baubles and SE will be only too happy to oblige. Actions speak louder than words. You can't complain about items being on the mog station when you're continually endorsing it with your purchases. If you want it to stop, then players have to unite and 'go on strike' so to speak and stop purchasing these. You can shout until your voice leaves you, but it won't make a difference.

Conclusion

SE and yes, even CBU3 is a business. Their goal is maximize profit and over the years they have become increasingly corporate in their attitude. Corporations do not care if you're unhappy with their product, so long as you keep buying it. Ask yourself, if a restaurant served you the most bland and tasteless steak, can you imagine going there again and again to keep purchasing it? To give that restaurant your business? What if they refused to give you steak sauce unless you shelled out an additional 5$? Can you imagine a restaurant full of people going there and continuing to buy their food with that being the case? Isn't that insanity? So then how is it that we've reached this state when it comes to games? How is it we continue to complain about how unhappy we are and yet purchase their products and fall into their traps ad infinitum?

We shout ourselves hoarse to be heard and yet our actions and in this case our wallets, speak louder than our words ever will. The corporations do not care about our complaints because they are nothing but empty threats.

'Must I spell it out for you? No one is listening. No one at all!'

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

That's a wall of text that wasn't needed to just say "If you don't like how things go just unsub" but ok.

[Renalt]

Although I agree...let people do whatever they want. No amount of posts or threads will EVER get them to say "You know...they are right". Best to just concern yourself with just that. Yourself.

[Payadopa]

Although I agree...let people do whatever they want. No amount of posts or threads will EVER get them to say "You know...they are right". Best to just concern yourself with just that. Yourself.

It isn't wrong to try and educate people.

[RitsukoSonoda]

Nah. If you're unhappy and you know it, clap your buttcheeks...

[Zabuza]

It isn't wrong to try and educate people.

Precisely. The state of AAA gaming nowadays and also FFXIV's current situation is not solely the fault of the developers. The players contributed to this through lack of awareness when it comes to their actions. It is not wrong to engage in an earnest attempt to increase that awareness.

[Stormpeaks]

ok but who asked

[Renalt]

It isn't wrong to try and educate people.

I've been here long enough to know that people resist education of any sort. Well most do. The ones that should heed the advice will not. Best to move on and forget them.

Nah. If you're unhappy and you know it, clap your buttcheeks...

I'm happy but can I clap my cheeks anyway?

[AwesomeJr44]

ok but who asked

Yeah, I can't seem to find them.

[Zabuza]

ok but who asked

I wasn't aware I needed to ask for someone's permission before making a forum post. Many don't ask you to make the posts that you do, but you do it anyway.