Events need a massive overhaul

[Yshnal]

Other than the crossover events, most of the “story” is just “slice of Eorzean life,” and that’s fine. I’m also fine with the gameplay being fast and easy. But the rewards could be better…

This. I've always liked FFXIV's take on events because they are small side stories (which somewhat continue from one year to the next, instead of being static and boring) that are fast to complete and usually not grindy at all, so I can finish them without the FOMO preventing me from doing other things in the game (or out of it) if I want to. I hate being stressed doing an event that's supposed to be fun.

And I also agree that the rewards have been disappointing sometimes lately. Not in regards to the quality, which is something that can be a matter of different tastes, but in regards to the quantity or extreme simplicity in several cases.

I could also add another complaint related to how the rewards worked before the cash shop, but that's something that I complained about aplenty and I don't want to get back in the same neverending discussion. But I still haven't forgotten about what you did, SE!

[ty_taurus]

In general, I think FFXIV's events are and have always been extremely dull and disappointing. I come back from playing games like Star Rail and Genshin that have events taking place constantly. Some are small little, special challenges. Some are large, feature fully voiced stories, and are filled with entirely unique game modes. And others are somewhere in between. We just had an event in Star Rail where you got to become a bartender and prepare drinks for monsters basically with a mixology system relatively complex for what is essentially a tiny piece of side content. These events give out lots of character development materials, regular and premium currency, a free copy of a character or an exclusive weapon.

Meanwhile FFXIV has you stuck in ARR zones with like 30 minutes of unvoiced dialogue and some kind of FATE that you do once, and that's most of FFXIV's events for maybe a single emote, piece of furniture, or if you're lucky, a mount. FFXIV doesn't need to run events constantly like those games do because there's a lot more long-term content within the game itself, and I'd argue the game doesn't really need events at all to be fun or successful. But if we're going to run events, then I'd hope that they feel special and memorable. They should feature a much stronger story and content quality that makes these things feel like events you don't want to miss. Sometimes we get something that feels a little more exciting than the usual, but it's exceedingly rare and barely a step up from the norm.

[Khryseis_Astra]

But that's the thing: the quality of rewards is a bit subjective to the player. You didn't like the Pheonix Riser suit, but plenty of other players LOVE that thing. And you think Moonfire has the best summer outfits, but personally I can't stand a lot of them because female versions always end as glorified lingerie which I'd never wear. Everyone's tastes will differ, and the very fact that not every reward will please every player is why they vary them.

Oh I get that… but the difference is only getting maybe 1 or 2 outfits a year and possibly not liking either, versus getting them with every event, and hopefully at least one of them is useful to you.

The problem with housing items is that they breed resentment for any player without a house. If an event gives outdoor items, you're screwed if you don't have a house. It goes into storage to satisfy the "maybe someday" itch (so you don't get stuck having to buy them off the store if you want them later), but then every time you look at it you feel resentful that "someday" is not today. Resentful that you were "rewarded" with an item you legit can't use. You've pitched the idea that emotes and mounts can be less frequent, but those are the rewards any player can use.

Well that’s definitely in my top 3 things this game needs to improve on! Everyone should be able to have a house, whether that means they fire up some shiny new cloud servers for extra wards, and/or add a new residential district, and/or they finally add an instanced system to offset the ward plot scarcity. Dawntrail will be the expansion of the graphics update… really hoping the next update will be to housing and glamour, two other systems sorely in need of an update. In the meantime, at least Island Sanctuary gives space for the outdoor items…

The overall problem with providing a whole outfit for every event is how much work that is. There are quite a few events through every year. If you offered outfits for all of them, you'd run the well dry really quickly. That's not even touching on the amount of work it takes to create the glam in the system: designing the look in the game physics, fitting it to each race, styling it for each gender, determining how it will interact with dye colors, etc. That's quite a lot of work to take on in order to do an outfit for every event.

Other than the dye colors, they’re going to have to do that kinda work for an emote too. I mean, I’d totally like an outfit, housing item, emote and a mount for every event, but I’m trying to be realistic. lol

I’m sure nothing would please everyone all the time. But when some of these events are the only new thing to do in between patches or waiting for an upcoming expansion, people want to feel like it’s worth it. The more rewards they can squeeze into every event, the better.

[Ardeth]

I just wish events weren't monitized for the future. Imagine a world where SquareEnix wasn't a greedy corporation and you missed last years whatever, and this year, it's coming back, and you can earn it again. I get the idea of every year we gotta make a new one, but it's more in service to that cash shop than us the players, and it shows.

[Hyperia]

I am REALLY hoping that all of the content we received between 6.1 to 6.5 was so light is that they were focusing everything they had into their soft reboot of the game in 7.0. Time will tell, but we do know that the B team was working the patches with the A team working on something else for 2.5 years. Yoshi has been constantly saying that they were not working on FFXVI so I will take him at his word and hope they are working on something special. With 1.5 months left until 7.0, we will know soon.

[1313]

What we need is more stuff like mogtome events. Where we can work towards a goal, and get unique rewards. Like Yo-Kai, even though I'm not a huge fan of most of the weapons, or any of the mounts, It's still something to do, and gives a sense of accomplishment for putting in some work. Events in most other games I've played have had tons of useful rewards, and ffxiv really falls short in comparison.

[Ravenblade1979]

It's like people forget the literal influx of new players

[Arkdra]

How much effort goes into a seasonal event is directly proportional to how far away that event is from the next expansion. The farther it is, the more all out they go. The closer it is, the more barebones it's going to feel.

[TaleraRistain]

Just as a counterpoint: I think some of the issues you raise are a matter of preference. "No good glams in x years for event x" is a pretty subjective take - though I agree that whenever a seasonal event comes up without a new outfit or mount it can feel like a bit of a bummer.

That said, I much prefer FFXIV's "quick and easy" seasonal events where there's at least some changes to it from previous years. Having to run the exact same event 70 times in a week for a 0.1% chance at the reward you want for 20 years and NEVER GETTING THE REWARD in certain other MMOs has given me a pretty strong and favourable opinion of FFXIV's events by way of that comparison alone.

Pretty much this. I'm perfectly content with the more bite-sized events in XIV than having things in other MMOs reoccur but never actually managing to get the reward. I do the little quest here. I get my goodie. I'm happy.

[Kuroka]

Meanwhile FFXIV has you stuck in ARR zones with like 30 minutes of unvoiced dialogue and some kind of FATE that you do once, and that's most of FFXIV's events for maybe a single emote, piece of furniture, or if you're lucky, a mount.

I can life with the events as they are, more or less... though id want some better rewards/grind... BUT that really drives me crazy, idc for new players, we got more then those old Zones now and its time for some Ishgard, Kugane or even Sharlayan event. Heck half our events are from those places yet we dont celebrate em there...