How FFXIV state change from ShB to DT?

[Striker44]

True, this here is not the majority but:

This is the official place for feedback and normaly the devs look at the forum first or at least should be. Also it's not just the english forum.

I don't get your last point though. They don't have data ingame on how people liked the story. only data on how many people engage in other stuff.
The enjoymend of the story is purely subjective and you have to to it anyway.
Or was that just an overall example?

Yeah, it was just an overall example of sorts, more the idea that the dev team has far more information available to them than any of us come close to knowing about. At the end of the day, they're a corporation out to make a profit, so I'd wager if they're making certain decisions it's because the full data they have at their fingertips says it's the way to go. Combine that with human nature making people more likely to "speak up" when they have a complaint vs. when they're satisfied with something, and it's very easy to do something like look at the online forum and get a skewed view of what the actual playerbase at large really thinks.

This last part will be pure speculation, but as an educated guess I would say there could well be ways for them to estimate "liking" the story. For example, comparing characters' playtime to achievements earned based on MSQ progress could quickly identify what portion of players are skipping cutscenes (a potential indicator of dissatisfaction). Again, just speculation, but put out there as a caution against viewing what one sees on the forum as necessarily indicative of the wider playerbase.

[Voidmage]

Yeah, it was just an overall example of sorts, more the idea that the dev team has far more information available to them than any of us come close to knowing about. At the end of the day, they're a corporation out to make a profit, so I'd wager if they're making certain decisions it's because the full data they have at their fingertips says it's the way to go. Combine that with human nature making people more likely to "speak up" when they have a complaint vs. when they're satisfied with something, and it's very easy to do something like look at the online forum and get a skewed view of what the actual playerbase at large really thinks.

This last part will be pure speculation, but as an educated guess I would say there could well be ways for them to estimate "liking" the story. For example, comparing characters' playtime to achievements earned based on MSQ progress could quickly identify what portion of players are skipping cutscenes (a potential indicator of dissatisfaction). Again, just speculation, but put out there as a caution against viewing what one sees on the forum as necessarily indicative of the wider playerbase.

Hmm yeah ok, I understand.
truth is I don't think they do that kind of deep data sampling or that it is reliable because too many factors go in (players taking a reak but liking a story, players not skipping but fast reading, etc.) but maybe they have some kind of way.

As someone who has to do with customers in a big setting like with Porsche and Apple I have to say though negative feedback is very important, maybe even more important then positive feedback.
The ones being positive come back the ones that are negative may leave. That happens and is nothing new, sure and is not that "bad" for lack of a better word. But the louder and bigger the negative feedback get's the more dangerous it becomes.
I really don't see this reception of Dawntrail as a small minority. A minority sure but if we take playerscores, Content creators, different social media gatherings and gaming magazines in consideration its probably more around 30-40%. That's quite large.
Square has now the risk of losing those players and as bad as that would be they already may have a problem with pr right now.
DT had a mixed reception no matter the end numbers of happy players. That's a score that will stay on the internet and it is a "stain".

I agree with you that this here is probably not changing the minds of Square but I would bet money that they definitely have some meetings right now regarding all that.

Sorry for the long post. The second part was mostly just my mumbling.