Is it finally my time to end my journey?

[Jeeqbit]

I decided that more breaks would help, but they never really did.

Although breaks help in some cases, it was pretty common throughout Endwalker that breaks weren't helping people. A big part of the reasons brought up were lack of social content, such as Bozja and the Firmament in Shadowbringers, which made the game feel alive and like you were playing it with others. Instead, Endwalker had us soloing Island Sanctuary, Variant Dungeons, taking 5 seconds to complete our relics, no field operation, and we could double down on soloing by using duty support for dungeons etc.

Those issues are being addressed with the "Island Sanctuary"-like content (Cosmic Exploration) being social again, and a Field Operation like bozja being added.

Roulettes never felt satisfying to finish in a day

They feel satisfying to me personally, but expert roulette specifically gets boring due to the lack of variety and being the same dungeons for almost a year in some cases. I've also ended up just switching jobs to make them more fun lately.

grinding relics just seemed impossible with how much luck I had to get with finding other people.

Think you'll need to clarify which steps you are stuck on here. You can recruit in Party Finder also because others are usually doing relics too.

Doing hunt trains never really appealed to me either, as I don't know what sorts of rewards they'd give me.

Level 90 ones give you your weekly Comedy tomestones. All levels give you Causality and Poetics. Level 90 ones give you a currency you can exchange for the currently best materia. From older hunts you can exchange for minions, a Wyvern mount and Aetheryte tickets (for free teleports), among other things. From level 80 and 90 hunts, you get Sacks of Nuts, which can buy mounts, minions, orchestrions, wings, items to augment your tomestone gear to max ilvl, and materia.

There are also achievement mounts from killing thousands of A ranks (from hunt trains) and S ranks (not related to hunt trains), including a tiger mount, a triceratops mount and a victor mount (which is the little garlean dog you fight sometimes).

Now I just feel like I have nothing to do.

Lack of things to do has been an issue for people in Endwalker if they don't raid (for people who raid, there's been more raid content than in any expansion). You could try out the extreme, savage or criterion content, although there's not much time with the expansion coming out.

I haven't bothered to do the most recent patch's story, and I just can't find myself to care anymore.

Patch story is not usually all that good. You may as well do the new expansion's story at the end of this month, even if you quit after it's done. From what I've seen from the media tour, it's going to be a great story.

Warrior actions seems fine. Nothing of note, just fine. That's how I've felt about xiv a lot recently, I'm just extremely apathetic.

That's how Warrior has made me feel as well. It's a really easy job and when you're doing hard content, that's useful, but when you're doing roulettes it gets boring. Try Gunbreaker or some other job, branch out. It helped me a lot lately.

I still feel as though I'm always playing solo, or just extremely distant. Never really a big part of the community, just a person orbiting.

That's definitely something you can solve by doing content that involves other players: hunt trains, farming fates for the FATE mount, you see hundreds of the same players also farming these things.

You can also try out the older Field Operations like Eureka and Bozja, or get to their large-scale raids BA and DRS which are still organized regularly through discord servers. They just call mechanics in discord but you're doing the content with 24-48 other people.

Alliance Raids, easy as they are, do have 23 other people there with you.

There's also nothing to really be afraid of with trying out Extreme trials. They are high-end content, but it's not like you won't clear it after trying to prog it for a day or so in Party Finder. It's the lowest tier of difficult content, and you interact with others doing it.

[Malthir]

Apologies if there's bad grammar in here, I'm writing this pretty early in the morning.

For the the past 4 years, I used to say that ffxiv was my favorite game. I just to be super passionate about it, and seeing the EW trailer got me so hyped. Though I started to take breaks, and I started to drift apart from my FC. I decided that more breaks would help, but they never really did. Roulettes never felt satisfying to finish in a day, grinding relics just seemed impossible with how much luck I had to get with finding other people. Doing hunt trains never really appealed to me either, as I don't know what sorts of rewards they'd give me.

I used to play xiv because I liked the story, and the sense of adventure (also the mounts lol). Now I just feel like I have nothing to do. I haven't bothered to do the most recent patch's story, and I just can't find myself to care anymore. The last time I was truly excited for something was one of the latest patches for the hildebrand quests, since they're my favorite quests in the game. Even though I haven't been having fun, I still remember xiv as one of my favorite games I've played. Shadowbringers was one of my favorite stories in a videogame, period. Having that experience was worth all the sub-money and fantasias I've spent alone. I just wish I could have fun with xiv again, but I just feel like there's nothing to do, and I don't know if another 3 months of a break is gonna fix that.

My two IRL buddies are super hyped for dawntrail, and honestly? I couldn't care less. Warrior actions seems fine. Nothing of note, just fine. That's how I've felt about xiv a lot recently, I'm just extremely apathetic. I know its the game that I still consider to have some of my fondest moments in gaming, but it doesn't feel like that anymore. It feels like I'm back playing destiny 2 after beyond light, where I was just going through the motions of playing the game, not really enjoying it.

I'm not sure if I can truly enjoy xiv again. I would love to, truly I would. But even though I've met loads of great people through this game, I still feel as though I'm always playing solo, or just extremely distant. Never really a big part of the community, just a person orbiting. Whereas I can hop into a game of deep rock galactic and have some of the most hilarious and deranged conversations I've ever had, all while having a great time playing the game.

If anyone has a solution or just some advice, I'd love to hear it. I know I should just listen to what I truly feel about xiv, but I'm just not sure if I should stick around if dawntrail somehow wows me back into xiv.

Just cancel your sub and try other games for awhile, it's not worth looking for fun in a game, if you're not being grabbed or enjoying it just quit it's better for you mental overall. If enough people also feel the same SE will get the message and either shut the doors on FF14. Or make them change, hopefully in a direction that brings back joy to the game.

[Mostly_Raxus]

"past 4 years"

*Join Date: Apr 2022*

wat?

[Carin-Eri]

"past 4 years"

*Join Date: Apr 2022*

wat?

Surely that's the forum join date?

I mean, mine says Feb 2022 but I started playing December 2021.

[Jeeqbit]

"past 4 years"

That's forum join date. People can have joined the game prior to that but not made a forum account.

[TaleraRistain]

"past 4 years"

*Join Date: Apr 2022*

wat?

Forum join date. I've been playing since 2014.

[Turtledeluxe]

FFXIV is modeled like a single player game outside of a handful of exploratory zones and PvP. The rest of it is very one and done, disposable feeling imo, even if you're in a group. Mileage can vary if you're into high end content to earn gear that really only helps you with one type of content (Ultimates). There's not much to XIV outside stories and RP (that lasts very long term I mean).

It's really confusing right? When modern games are pushing out story and gameplay content, trouncing XIV's revenue. They seem quite interested in just dumbing down an already stale and non competitive (in the live service/ subscription based games) formula.

[Ravenblade1979]

Most people quit quietly and not make an announcement on the forums like it's a airport departure. I'm mashing X to doubt

[Crustyman]

I just wanna make sure I can still get some fun out of xiv. If not then I'll just stop playing, but if I can then that'd be nice.

[Evergrey]

Maybe FFXIV simply isn't what you're currently after when it comes to enjoyment.
There's nothing wrong to put a once beloved game to the side and jump onto something else, something that feels fresh and enjoyable.
This however doesn't mean that the passion might not ever return.

Just don't force yourself into playing if it'll only end up feeling like a chore rather than enjoyment.
Don't let the good memories of the game turn into boring ones. That'll just make it so that the little passion that's left will die out sooner.

There's nothing wrong with putting a once beloved game to the side and jump onto something else that might feel fresh and exciting.
And who knows, maybe down the road you'll feel more excited to jump back into FFXIV and see what's happened while you were gone.