Discuss : is ffxiv in trouble

[MistakeNot]

So the context is a little self explanatory but if requested I can explain in detail.

Given the way the game currently works right now using stb/shb and ew as a point of reference. And what we've seen on dawntrail thus far. Do you personally think the game is in trouble or in danger of failing/deing due to it.

No, the game is not in any trouble or in danger of dying any time soon.

Eventually it will of course grow unpopular and die, if only because that's the fate of all games. But it won't happen during the next several years unless the devs screw up really badly.
Is FFXIV perfect? No.
Can it be improved? Sure, but what one person thinks is an improvement might make another person lose interest altogether. So deciding what should be done to improve it is not so easy.

[Jeeqbit]

Does no one think, "Yeah, it kinda sucks for the players who are getting screwed over every time the developers do a simplification rework." I really don't think the ends of more players playing a job justify the means of ruining that job for the people who loved it, and stuck with it. If people can't handle it, make newer, simple jobs then.

I think that used to be their mindset but by their own confession in live letters/keynotes they decided it would be better to make them all easier to play going forward.

Personally, I think the ideal solution would be just a toggle that makes the job more challenging like Stormblood, where Darkside/Blood of the Dragon/GL4 turn from traits into buffs you maintain, Sidewinder increases in potency from both DoTs, more positionals and other technical differences that reward playing it well.

Do you not feel insulted, that SE thinks so little of the majority that the game needs to be dumbed down?

I don't feel insulted by that but rather I wish they would listen to and collect feedback better. The fact the forums can universally talk negatively of the 2 minute burst, alliance raid ilvl cheesing and other common topics, but there is no acknowledgement of this until a content creator makes a video about it or a rare journalist that isn't out of touch brings it up in an interview, is what I wish would be improved.

Because of how stupid they think everyone is? How absolutely unable they are to do basic actions?

Based on what I've seen in videos and from some players, I can't say they're entirely wrong about the old classes being too much for some players. But improving the default settings would help (such as turning on Legacy movement).

How unengaged and flaky they must be to give up if they don't win immediately and all the time? Doesn't that bother you at all?

It does bother me when there's no consequence. There is hardly any normal or solo content in the game where it feels like there's a genuine risk of me losing.

Sometimes I spawn Nunyunuwi (S rank) solo in Southern Thanalan, because there is a genuine risk I will allow a FATE to fail and have wasted an hour of my time. And it feels like that is almost the only risky content in the game that feels good when I succeed at it. It's clearly not intended for you to do it solo and that's the only reason it's challenging and keeps me on edge.

Exactly, they chose a side when they didn't have to.

Mayyybe. I did see the Tornado kick thing on Monk as not-intuitive, for example. I think another example of a good change was Dancer's flourish buff not overwriting all your procs anymore. I also liked the removal of Heavy Thrust and Impulse Drive. Although I liked the tank stances a lot, 50% of people using only tank stance and 50% of people using only DPS stance wasn't good for the game.

However, I think they went overboard with these changes. DPS stances that work like DRK's could have stayed by being used at the same time and tanks should have double downed on their own unique ways of survival ie. WAR shouldn't shield like DRK, PLD shouldn't regen like GNB. All of these could have stayed:

• DoTs being up buffing an attack on BRD and SMN
• GL4 and Blood of the Dragon
• The removed positionals could have stayed
• Warrior's and Samurai's cones
• Unique versions of stuns and rampart could have stayed

I think the changes have been good, there are just areas they went overboard on. Part of the problem hasn't just been making them easier either, it's been players (even on these forums) complaining "my class can't do what their class can" leading to them being the same.

If they disagree, how about telling us then? Why guess?

As I mentioned earlier, it would be good if they at least communicated enough that an issue brought up on the forums for years doesn't require a content creator to cover it to make it get addressed.

Newer players are easier to please because they don't know any better. They didn't have a game they liked rug-pulled.

That's another way of saying what I said tbh.

Just because something is changing, doesn't automatically mean I'm going to hate it.

True, but over the course of 10 years (which is a long time), the chances are you're not going to like 100% of the changes, and eventually enough of the ones you don't like take their toll on the happiness with the game. Even if you like 95% of the changes, in raw numbers, that 5% you don't like could be a lot.

One of my best friends in this game started in 5.4 (I started in 3.3 for reference), brought all of his friends from other games with him, and they hate the direction the game is going. Why do you have to pigeon hole people in your statements, and not treat them like they are individuals instead of a hivemind? Oh no, the Heavensward players are complaining again!~

I'm not saying that people who started in 5.4 can't be unhappy. It is just plainly obvious that people who played since 3.0 are more likely to be because they have had more of what they once knew taken away, so it's easier to use 3.0 players for emphasis.

Returners don't make the game more fun to play. They are a metric, and a source of income for SE.

True. Although to a degree they make it fun in a dungeon because a first-timer is more likely to die and mess up mechanics and forget stuff, and that makes it more interesting. And that was honestly the case many expansions ago because dungeons weren't exactly that hard even then.

keeps getting talked down to by the developers, and by you.

It isn't my intention to talk down. I'm just having a conversation/debate on the forums tbh.

Why do you need to support them for screwing over me and my friends?

Because it's not night and day for me like that. I can support them whilst making reasonable suggestions and polite criticisms.

[DiaDeem]

Anyway, here's this dude enjoying the game for the first time.

[ChrysOCE]

Anyway, here's this dude enjoying the game for the first time.

Probably an AI generated video. There's no such thing as actual humans on youtube anymore...

[DiaDeem]

Probably an AI generated video. There's no such thing as actual humans on youtube anymore...

His actual daughter made him a literal handmade logo for his channel


And I think it's really sweet.

[ChrysOCE]

His actual daughter made him a literal handmade logo for his channel

And I think it's really sweet.

AI generated.....

I kid I kid

People (myself included) do enjoy FFXIV. Even if there's a not insignificant portion of the player base (myself included) not impressed with the direction and recent content/design.

[DiaDeem]

AI generated.....

I kid I kid

People (myself included) do enjoy FFXIV. Even if there's a not insignificant portion of the player base (myself included) not impressed with the direction and recent content/design.

[DiaDeem]

Anyway, don't get me wrong:

I'll be the first to mock crap such as how abandoned some duties feel, as well as other issues that I have with the game.

But from that to acting like it's doom and gloom and that the game is in some kind of trouble just baffles me, and I find it rather ridiculous.
No matter what they do, someone will complain about something, so all they can do is make a decision and make the best of it. I could make some kind of long post about how I believe XVI and COVID probably had a real impact on Endwalker, but the truth is that I don't have any hard proof of anything, and I personally just don't like murky speculation.

The game is fine. Can they keep improving it? Of course. I just think it's ridiculous to act like the game is imploding, particularly when you compare it to online games that are actually imploding like the ones I mentioned in a previous post.

[Carin-Eri]

The game is fine. Can they keep improving it? Of course. I just think it's ridiculous to act like the game is imploding, particularly when you compare it to online games that are actually imploding like the ones I mentioned in a previous post.

Agreed. I mean, thinking about what you said about "proof", there are some clear signs of a game that is truly in trouble.

Thinking in terms of the game I used to play (STO):
- Bugs -some game-breaking - that don't get either acknowledgement or attention, let alone fixed

- content amounts to one new episode, worth about 45 minutes of play-time, every five or six months.

- Studio brought out by another studio - one that places more emphasis on smartphone games and is considered to be the 'retirement home' for games which can be left on maintenance mode but still make just enough money to justify keeping the server lights on

- Staff from former studio leaving for pastures new left, right and center and those who remain making no secret of the fact that they're looking elsewhere too. Granted the new studio may recruit into some of those posts, but the replacements are going to have their work cut out for them

- Hyper-emphasis on selling expensive (£250 - £300) bundles of items and gamble boxes - there is literally a 'sale' of some sort every week, indicative of the fact that they're committed to a smartphone game business model

- They've doubled-down on the FOMO based events to make the login metrics look better

- The moderators on the official forum of that game banning anyone who has anything even remotely negative to say about the game, and making it very clear that only the white knights were welcome in that echo chamber, although I gather even one of those was banned for commenting that the CM never visits their forums

- Formerly well populated social areas within in the game itself all but empty

- The CEO of the former studio posting a, what basically amounts to Fire-fighting, thread on Reddit due to the departure of one of the more important (and popular with the players) Devs.

I'm not going to say that I think FFXIV isn't in trouble - as has already been said, have no proof of that - but again, when you look at a game that IS in trouble it does put things into context.

[strawberrycake]

Directing away from the topic doesn't change all the very VERY in our face problems that this game has. Like yeah it's not dying but as with all FFXIV video/stream content, it's just people who havent seen what playing for a whole expansion looks like or lame Djs and venues clogging up twitch.