Discuss : is ffxiv in trouble

[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.

[ChrysOCE]

Well, that was horrific

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

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.

Using twitch metrics for xivs health is a terrible idea. 8ys never been popular on twitch. I don't know anyone who watches XIV streamers. Anyone. Heck, no one I know watches XIV content at all.

[strawberrycake]

i hope i never meet some of these forum people in game. like i've been reading wall of texts from certain people for years, and they're still here. YEA the game is MID at times but just quit for 10 months like i did. nobody's forcing you to put your credit in and resub.
inb4 people reply to this and be like "lol. can hate the game and still play it!!111 " just..why are you like this

So people shouldn't try and fix the game they put this much time and money into?

[Jojoya]

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.

Not everyone agrees on what the problems are or if they're even problems. What one person enjoys is bound to be hated by another.

Stream views aren't a good metric for a game that's intended to be played by all, not played by a few and watched by the rest. Most players aren't going to have a clue what's to be found on Twitch (or care) because they're playing the game instead of trying to watch others play.

Playing for an entire expansion is pretty much the same experience you're going to get with any other MMORPG played for an entire expansion. I don't get why so many think that only FFXIV suffers from patch cycles. Every MMORPG out there has its content lulls as developers work on the next content to be released. Those with less time to play will stick around longer as they continue to work on getting the rewards they want. Those who enjoy repeating the content for whatever reason will stay. Those who have gotten what they want and aren't interested in repeating the content will take a break to play other games until more content is released.

FFXIV has its flaws like any other game but that doesn't mean that the game isn't enjoyable overall to hundreds of thousands of players. Those players are normal people for the most part. There will come a point when they get bored with the game and move onto new ones. It doesn't mean the game has gone bad. It means the player was ready for a change.

FFXIV isn't going to be disappearing any time soon. How long you continue to play is up to you.

So people shouldn't try and fix the game they put this much time and money into?

People need to learn that time and money spent on a game is for satisfaction of the moment only, just like any other form of entertainment. It is not an investment that's supposed to yield future benefits.

That's not to say suggestions for improvements shouldn't be made but we shouldn't come to expect that those suggestions will be implemented. What happens with a game is outside of our control.

What is in our control is whether or not we will continue to play. Play a game because you enjoy what it is, not what it might be. You're only adding stress and frustration to your life if you stick around because you think it might be something different eventually. Do other things that don't frustrate you, then return once the game actually becomes what you were hoping for.