Questions about your reception to Dawntrail

[Brynne]

[*] When did you start playing?

1.0 beta

[*] Will you play DT at launch, and are you looking forward to it? Why or why not?

Yes, I'm super hyped for Dawntrail. I can't wait for more story! I'm dying to see all of my favorite characters again, plus some new ones too. I also really want to try out Pictomancer, as it looks super fun, and the graphics update looks amazing! Really looking forward to it!

[*] Did the media tour sway your decision, and do you think there's any way you'll change your mind before DT actually comes out?

No, I was already excited and I'm still excited after seeing the media tour stuff. I main SMN and I'm one of the few on this forum who likes the changes they made to it. I'm looking forward to getting Solar Bahamut!

[HappyTrees]

When did you start playing?

2017

Will you play DT at launch, and are you looking forward to it? Why or why not?

No. I didn't like Endwalker's story, and I'm wary about Dawntrail. The gameplay is looking rough, and depending on how the story goes I might just peace out this expansion and hope things get better in 8.0. My sub runs out early July and I'll make a decision once the spoilers come in.

Did the media tour sway your decision, and do you think there's any way you'll change your mind before DT actually comes out?

No. If anything, it's made me more wary.

[MagiusNecros]

Heavensward.

They rushed the story and didn't set up any framework to give the player agency to be excited for the next expansion.

They also are doubling down on the much loathed 2 minute meta and combat remains largely the same. Underwhelming overall.

Only here for Dawntrail for Pictomancer as it is a dynamic Job Class with it's systems. Viper seems to be largely on-rails.

[noumen0nn]

Of the pre-launch periods I've seen since I started playing the game in StB, I feel like this one is the first with this many people either uneasy or straight up apathetic to the newest expansion. I haven't seen reactions as polarizing on the short time I've been using the forums, so I got curious.

Hopefully it'll be a good way for Squenix to gather data on both what is keeping the satisfied party here, and what is pushing the unsatisfied party away.

• When did you start playing?
• Will you play DT at launch, and are you looking forward to it? Why or why not?
• Did the media tour sway your decision, and do you think there's any way you'll change your mind before DT actually comes out?
  

• mid-Shadowbringers, caught up to MSQ in 5.4 iirc
• I will play DT at launch, but I am not looking forward to it. I'm generally unhappy with the changes (read: simplifications) to my favorite jobs, especially Dragoon and Black Mage, but not enough for me to switch. However, the real culprit is the graphics update; my WoL still looks uncanny and I'm dreading DTs release and losing the current version of her.
• The media tour confirmed and worsened my feelings towards the trend of this game gutting job design; otherwise I didn't care. In all honesty, I've been avoiding watching/participating in pre-launch media as not thinking about the incoming changes is helping me maintain my sanity.
  

[Amaya-Asha]

When did you start playing?

Playstation 3 beta tester

Will you play DT at launch, and are you looking forward to it? Why or why not?

My plan is to get on during early access to look at my character see how much it's changed. Seeing face-4 female Miqo'te lip gap removed I'm kind of disappointed but the overall look is nice. Really looking forward to new adventure and story after 10 yrs of playing.

Did the media tour sway your decision, and do you think there's any way you'll change your mind before DT actually comes out?

No. Media tour just adds into my usual hype and worries for a new expansion. I plan to play regardless of the media tour.

[miraidensetsu]

When did you start playing?

Around 3.3. By the end of Heavensward.

Will you play DT at launch, and are you looking forward to it? Why or why not?

That's the plan. But I play as healer since for too many years and at EW I kinda started to change out from healing. I am yet playing as WHM main, but EW changes for healers made me afraid to continue healing. And that spoiled every chance for me to be excited with DT, since in my mind S-E will double down the attack on healers and make them irrelevant. I'm more gloom and doom than excited, to be honest.

Did the media tour sway your decision, and do you think there's any way you'll change your mind before DT actually comes out?

I doubt there will be any significant change on healing roles before 8.0. And even then, I highly doubt they'll do anything different than double down on making healers even more unneeded. So, no.

S-E devs are in comfort zone. for Yoshi-P, being easy to implement is better than innovation. This game won't have any drastic change.

[Fellgon]

wen did you start playing?

I started playing in ARR around 2017 way before first expansion. Way before game been launch on ps4.

Will you play DT at launch....

Yes i will im very exited about this new expansion and i been following news about this game in some youtube chanels. Im interested the way skills will work like pvp skills.

Did media tour sway your desision...?

Im very satisfied with the new content anounces. Ill still going to play this game regardless opinions in internet.

[Turtledeluxe]

They are - for a simple reason that has been documented: the internet tends to encourage negativity. It's not a question of intelligence or anything like that: it's more a question of environment, and the fact that our brains are made to react to negative stimuli in a more violent way. The ffxiv forum is not alone. I have... mixed memories of the wow forums, where legitimate criticism often went hand in hand with personal tirades that went off in all directions. Add to that the fact that some people stop coming at all because of the negativity around them - and you automatically filter out all the optimists.

Saying that a forum is representative of a population is like saying that an IRL social venue is. It won't be true, because access to that social space is determined by a set of criteria (social, economic, cultural) that establish an initial filter.

Having said that, I'm looking forward to DT. I'd like to take this opportunity (and this is more of a request for confirmation than anything else, I have a doubt): are we really going back to a narrative cycle like the one we had between ARR and Endwalker? Not a stand-alone expansion?

This is just you misapplying the data. We might react more to negative threads but that doesn't mean forums are inherently negative. Hope this helps!

Also it's nothing like a music venue which is limited (mostly) to a local population, variating prices, and a fixed location. XIV and the forums are global and have a subscription based economic entry point required to participate.

Like I said l, it's a common shaky logic people use basically to discredit forums it's easy to do because the game churns on and players are playing, seemingly content. But if we actually stopped and asked everyone in game, "Hey what do you think about healers and x people are saying on the forums?" you would probably get a mixed reaction similar to what you see on the forum.

So for example if forums say 50% unhappy with healers, 30% happy, 20% just don't care...there's not a real reason to assume the general game population won't skew the same way if asked.

[AnimaAnimus]

So for example if forums say 50% unhappy with healers, 30% happy, 20% just don't care...there's not a real reason to assume the general game population won't skew the same way if asked.

That's how polls are done too. They never ask every single person who can participate, that would be absurd and impossible. They ask a portion and extrapolate the data from there. We also do not have an upvote/downvote system, like sites such as reddit, twitch or youtube, which skews to the positive since ppl do not want downvotes and want views and subscribers. Therefore they tend to either say something nice or nothing at all, making it an even more unbalanced than here until in inevitably becomes an echo chamber which makes those sources even less reliable unless you are trying to have your positive biases reinforced. It also makes the forums look super negative in comparison.

The big issue that comes to my mind when someone complains about the forums being too negative is that online we are missing key elements of our communication, body language and tone. So, even when you type in something that isn't really that negative or argumentative, it can sometimes be taken that way due to the lack of those two things. And since those posters are not talking in rainbows and unicorns some ppl see something they do not agree with an automatically assume the poster is being negative. This is also why constructive criticism is sometimes just viewed as criticism. Saying the forums skew to the negative may feel that way to some users simply because they are either used to the echo chambers of reddit, youtube and twitch, or because they do not agree with what is being said and automatically make the assumption that person is being negative, when in fact they could be just stating facts as they see them, posting with good intentions about something they see as detrimental to the game or just expressing an opinion that is different. Which is a big problem with the internet in general these days.

[Turtledeluxe]

That's how polls are done too. They never ask every single person who can participate, that would be absurd and impossible. They ask a portion and extrapolate the data from there. We also do not have an upvote/downvote system, like sites such as reddit, twitch or youtube, which skews to the positive since ppl do not want downvotes and want views and subscribers. Therefore they tend to either say something nice or nothing at all, making it an even more unbalanced than here until in inevitably becomes an echo chamber which makes those sources even less reliable unless you are trying to have your positive biases justified. It also makes the forums look super negative in comparison.

The big issue that comes to my mind when someone complains about the forums being too negative is that online we are missing key elements of our communication, body language and tone. So, even when you type in something that isn't really that negative or argumentative, it can sometimes be taken that way due to the lack of those two things. And since those posters are not talking in rainbows and unicorns some ppl see something they do not agree with an automatically assume the poster is being negative. This is also why constructive criticism is sometimes just viewed as criticism. Saying the forums skew to the negative may feel that way to some users simply because they are either used to the echo chambers or reddit, youtube and twitch, or because they do not agree with what is being said and automatically make the assumption that person is being negative, when in fact they could be just stating facts as they see them, posting with good intentions about something they see as detrimental to the game or just expressing an opinion that is different. Which is a big problem with the internet in general these days.

Indeed. The healer strike comes to mind. People probably read it and think "Ah, a haven for negativity". But really it's a lot of players who simply want the game to be better. Strikes have a negative association and attract attention, sure. Negative headlines attract attention just the same. But the reactions to those negative statements can be and usually are mixed.