This game used to have a fun playerbase. What happened?

[lotlizard]

It was over a decade ago that I made some of my most lasting friendships with some of the most interesting people online. We were bound by a thread of whimsy and a love for all things final fantasy. The social engine of an MMO with the foundation of one of the best RPGs of all time? FFXIV was a mecca for people like me. The seasons breezed past us as balance changes went up and down and expansions came and went. That last part gets kind of fickle though. With new expansions comes a new playerbase, and by the looks of it..... yikes. These days, it feels like like those who want to enjoy the worldbuilding and gameplay mechanics of the final fantasy universe were put in the backseat. Instead, all you have to do is take one look at limsa to see where we've landed. People who have trouble asking for extra ketchup packets are now making cliques over funny numbers on the bad website or acting like this is second life with catgirls. All I'm saying is you don't need to go to Gridania to touch grass. Feel free to step outside, that doesn't cost a monthly subscription.

[MistakeNot]

What happened is that the game got popular, and that meant that "everyone" wanted to play it. Just wait a few years, and much of the locust horde will have moved on to the Next Popular Thing.

[Aldath]

What happened is that the game got popular, and that meant that "everyone" wanted to play it. Just wait a few years, and much of the locust horde will have moved on to the Next Popular Thing.

They've been saying this for three years...

[freekyfreezer]

"I don't like the players of this game anymore so you all need to touch grass" Great thread, my friend.

[Cylla]

What happened is that the game got popular, and that meant that "everyone" wanted to play it. Just wait a few years, and much of the locust horde will have moved on to the Next Popular Thing.

I don't think that means much honestly.
XI had the most amazing community back during it's prime years. You met the most amazing people and made lasting friendships. However, when XI fell out of it's prime years and people started moving on to different MMO/games, the community got smaller and quieter. You don't find as many amazing people anymore, even though the horde of people are gone. You will find a good person here and there, but not so much as it was in prime years.

I see XIV being much the same way. Once it falls out of it's prime, people will move on, the community will shrink and become quiet. Finding people to play with and or connect with gets a lot smaller.

[GrizzlyTank]

The fire nation attacked.

[ValynS]

most of what I see/experience actually in game is still okay, forums/social media/anything "outside" of game seems a lot worse lol

[Larirawiel]

The WoW refugees went back to WoW. xD




Cheers

[Kaurhz]

A lot of this comes down to the current design of the game and many QoL features.

Like, you can actually QoL the soul out of a game and community building.

One such example is.. Everyone likes the crafting change from Endwalker where they delayed savage so people could craft - Which is nice for people, but it does also actually take out the networking part of a game, because you wouldn't need to network with people to get the gear. Because why would you when you can either do everything yourself, or get it far, far cheaper from a market without the need to connect to get things on premium.

Same thing with queues.... Why would I go to a part of the open world to queue for something when I have this glorious thing called a duty finder to queue from absolutely anywhere, including Limsa. This is something people don't understand about the 'Limsa AFKers' -- Many of them actually have no reason to leave a city state because the game rarely requires or even asks for it.

[JimCasey_RF6]

We currently have the healthiest playerbase in the history of FFXIV, from my point of view. Watching it continue to grow and become more diverse is quite inspiring