All The Doom Threads Are Strange To Me

[Rhael]

Nobody is arguing the game is actually dying, but people are arguing the game they want to play is dying, which is a totally different argument

The game I want to play died over a decade ago. FFXIV is just currently the only viable substitute. FFXIV has always been extremely anemic when it comes to content. It's why I took a long break for the middle third of every expansion cycle from ARR through ShB. The fact is, this discussion is only getting so big just now because the massive influx of new players the game received during ShB simply didn't encounter this problem until now. Now that they've been here for a few years and the veil of being a new player has been lifted, they're seeing the game as it actually is. It shouldn't have taken a decade for this discussion to happen, - and I'm amazed it didn't happen earlier (such as way back mid-hw) - but here we are.

[Yuella]

They're the minority. You can see from the 3 fanfests that the fanbase is still very strong.

[MagiusNecros]

Blue Mage casts Doom

[KageTokage]

Achievements could be a decent activity to keep people interested longer if they actually had long term cumulative achievement point rewards.

As things currently stand you only need a couple thousand achievement points to clean out the shop then suddenly 90% of the achievements are now pointless fluff.

[Erzaa]

What less content does Endwalker have? I've been reading for months about how Endwalker has less content, it even made me excited to be able to catch up when I saw that, but I just recently reached the patches and from what I see it's the same amount of content as any other expansion.

Shadowbringers didn't have a Deep Dungeon but had Bozja. Endwalker has Variant Dungeons and a Deep Dungeon but no Bozja/Eureka area, Island Sanctuary, and now we're getting a new Allied Tribes quest and Hildy's back, both of which were missing in Shadowbringers. Every other piece of content is the same. If anything, there's more content in Endwalker than there was in Shadowbringers, it's just less grindy.

[Supersnow845]

What less content does Endwalker have? I've been reading for months about how Endwalker has less content, it even made me excited to be able to catch up when I saw that, but I just recently reached the patches and from what I see it's the same amount of content as any other expansion.

Shadowbringers didn't have a Deep Dungeon but had Bozja. Endwalker has Variant Dungeons and a Deep Dungeon but no Bozja/Eureka area, Island Sanctuary, and now we're getting a new Allied Tribes quest and Hildy's back, both of which were missing in Shadowbringers. Every other piece of content is the same. If anything, there's more content in Endwalker than there was in Shadowbringers, it's just less grindy.

The point is volume and quality of content

Let’s say you have zero interest in any side grind for Bozja (notes, DRS, emblazoned etc) the time taken to get to the end of bozja’s story alone is more content than the entirety of EW’s patch content offers

[Erzaa]

The point is volume and quality of content

Let’s say you have zero interest in any side grind for Bozja (notes, DRS, emblazoned etc) the time taken to get to the end of bozja’s story alone is more content than the entirety of EW’s patch content offers

Yes, and as someone who absolutely despised Bosja and Eureka, but suffered through them anyway, and love Deep Dungeons, I consider the quality this expansion superior. It is quality over quantity, I agree. I prefer a good story I can complete, chuckle, cry, finish it and the focus on stuff I can complete on my own time.

Bozja and Eureka are not quality in my opinion. They're months of grinding for what's essentially a glam, it's quantity, not quality. But I didn't come to the forums complaining constantly that they should be removed or that the game is devoid of content and dying, because it's not.

It may not be content others want to do, but that's a matter of personal opinion and I fully understand that. But, Endwalker doesn't have any content and the devs are lazy and the game is dying, is disingenuous.

People are well within their rights to come to the forums and complain and ask SE to add more Bozja/Eureka exploratory zones, but they should be honest about what they're complaining about. It's content they don't enjoy, don't want to do, or they're miffed because they binged in a week and it's not months of kill mob for currency or repeat FATEs and Notorious Monsters for some glamour item.

And I'm not saying Endwalker is by any means this perfect expansion. The story had pacing issues, the follow so and so quests were really annoying, bringing back the horse-nosed cockroach, the most boring, one-dimensional villain as the finale. But Pandemonium's story was great, even if all the fights before the last one were a bit easy, Variant dungeons are quite fun and relaxing, the Deep Dungeon grind to +99 is always fun for me, I'm looking forward to the Alliance Raids next, and Hildy (because I really enjoy screwball comedies), and overall, when they're all done, relaxing and just working on my little Island until the next expansion.

[AnotherPerson]

What less content does Endwalker have? I've been reading for months about how Endwalker has less content, it even made me excited to be able to catch up when I saw that, but I just recently reached the patches and from what I see it's the same amount of content as any other expansion.

Shadowbringers didn't have a Deep Dungeon but had Bozja. Endwalker has Variant Dungeons and a Deep Dungeon but no Bozja/Eureka area, Island Sanctuary, and now we're getting a new Allied Tribes quest and Hildy's back, both of which were missing in Shadowbringers. Every other piece of content is the same. If anything, there's more content in Endwalker than there was in Shadowbringers, it's just less grindy.

It's the type of content catered to the audience.

Stormblood has Eureka and Deep Dungeon. Ivalice raids back in the day were hard enough to be considered a step up from casual, but not to the extent of extremes.
Shadowbringers had Bozja. Nier raids back in the day is also considered a step up from casual, but not to the extent of extremes.
Endwalker has Island Sanctuary and Deep Dungeon. Island Sanctuary is a solo activity for the most part and is completely casual.

If you look, compare, and contrast, the difference in the content is the audience it caters to.

Eureka catered to large groups of players and had a difficulty hovering somewhere between casual and extreme. Deep Dungeon catered to a small group of people for a high difficulty long dungeon.
Bozja catered to large groups of players and had a difficulty hovering somewhere between casual and extreme. Alliance raids catered to players who wanted something a bit more challenging than casual content with more players, but nothing as time consuming like extreme.
Island Sanctuary catered to solo playstyle and is completely casual. Variant dungeon catered to a small group of people and is casual.
Criterion dungeon & Criterion Savage dungeon catered to a small group of people and is high difficulty content that requires Savage gear / BiS.
Endwalker's alliance raids catered to a large group of people, but the difficulty is akin to casual. It much lower than the previous alliance raids on launch. This expansion's alliance raids showed mechanics one at a time before actually doubling the mechanic up instead of making it chaotic. Compared to wiping and struggling with previous alliance raids, the alliance raids I've been in barely struggled as much when going in blind.

There's nothing equivalent to large group of players with a difficulty hovering somewhere between casual and extreme. Endwalker came with plenty of content, but it is targeted to casual or high-end, and in different numbers. There's nothing in Endwalker for players who want to play with large groups and have a difficulty above casual and with good recovery, but not to the level of mechanics of extremes.