Quote Originally Posted by Daeriion_Aeradiir View Post
What are you even on about.

Lucky bancho's censuses are about as accurate info as we can get, and even if we use the absolute latest one that occurred last month smack dab in a drought period between major patches, EW has only lost 34%. (1.7 million at start of expansion vs 1.13 now as of August). But even this metric doesn't paint the whole picture, as this exact same dip has occurred every single expansion by similar %s at this point in the expansion's lifecycle, minus SHB's outlier situation with the WoW exodus. This also ignores that every major patch this expansion, including 6.4 had about 1.3-1.4 million active characters, even when the censuses right before them had dipped to the similar 1.1-1.2 mark.

And this is just the data we can gleam. Speaking bluntly as a former game dev in the AAA industry, Square has access to statistics and data that paint a far better, clearer picture than any of us could ever speculate. Let me give you an industry secret: your feedback is literally irrelevant.
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I've said it before and I'll repeat it over and over: literally the only feedback you could ever provide that will ever matter is when you vote with your wallet and leave. Data is so powerful in this modern day that the voice of individuals is literally irrelevant. FF14 was profitable when it had 1/3rd the playerbase it does today, they don't need everyone to be subbed 24/7 to be immensely more profitable than they were in expansions past. At this point, you either agree with the direction FF14 is heading in and enjoy it for what it is, or you cut your losses and move on. They're targetting the majority gamer market with the streamlining of this game, and its paying off immensely for them; they have no reason to course correct when every last piece of data this industry has acquired the past 8 years has been pointing in the exact same direction they're currently traveling.
Well said, I am afraid you will now be subject to a barrage of insults from those who are bitter at this point. They will of course disguise these insults as I care about the game critics so they think they can insult with impunity. Most sane people however know the difference between insults and constructive criticism. Seriously, somewhere in their delusional thinking they have to see that they are not privy to all of the data so they can only speak for themselves not for the masses.