Difficulty of normal content.

[MakariaZofura]

Honestly, even in this thread, something like 95% of people like the new content in terms of the combat, but it seems many people have issues with the story.

Some of this is just naked transphobia, which is just BS.

Some of it is because the WoL is not the center of the story. TBH our story arc has been completed and we have to be a mentor because there really isn't a credible threat out there for us.

Some of the criticism might be for cultural pluralism, to which i say, what game have you been playing? FFXIV has always been about anti-imperial cultural pluralism from the begining.

Some just didn't like a Simple Shonen tournament arc story. Wuk Lamat is basically furry naruto, and that's ok.

It's also very hard to followup Shadowbringers/Endwalker that dealt with deep exitensial themes with tremendous empathy, which might have created some of the best stories and most nuanced perspectives i've ever seen.

IMO dawntrail story was fine, it wasn't bothersome at all. IMO the combat was great and refreshing and I'm HYPE for savage, but if anything Dawntrails lesser (but still very good) reviews is probably about the story and NOT about the combat.

[Dovaah]

Some of this is just naked transphobia, which is just BS.

I wish people would stop bringing this up as a way to shield any criticism towards the voice acting. Some of the voice direction is plain bad, Bakool Ja Ja and even some of the scions have weird intonations in their voices. Wuk Lamat is brought forward a lot cause she has the most lines and screentime.
When she has to shout, her voice doesn't follow and her appearance in the last trial took me off because that "Sphene" was just awful.

The MSQ would be way better if the quest structure wasn't:

- Speak to Wuk Lamat
- Speak to Wuk Lamat again
- Speak to Wuk Lamat yet again
- Speak to 3 villagers

They need to change things up or they're gonna bleed out players.

DT has a lot of mid things going for it but thankfully, the fights aren't it. If it was, this expansion might have been worse than ARR.

[elshogoso]

I wish people would stop bringing this up as a way to shield any criticism towards the voice acting. Some of the voice direction is plain bad, Bakool Ja Ja and even some of the scions have weird intonations in their voices. Wuk Lamat is brought forward a lot cause she has the most lines and screentime.
When she has to shout, her voice doesn't follow and her appearance in the last trial took me off because that "Sphene" was just awful.

The MSQ would be way better if the quest structure wasn't:

- Speak to Wuk Lamat
- Speak to Wuk Lamat again
- Speak to Wuk Lamat yet again
- Speak to 3 villagers

They need to change things up or they're gonna bleed out players.

DT has a lot of mid things going for it but thankfully, the fights aren't it. If it was, this expansion might have been worse than ARR.

Growing up on vanilla/tbc wow probably lowered my standards way too much for me to not see much issue with that.

I mean, questing in MMOs was always dull but at least you get the current ones done quickly, and you're not fighting overworld mobs for like 20 minutes to get 15 bear butts that have a 10% drop chance from the bears. I also find that current quests follow pretty much the same formula they have been following in this game since forever. FF14 is pretty much the most formulaic game of all time after all.

[MakariaZofura]

I wish people would stop bringing this up as a way to shield any criticism towards the voice acting. Some of the voice direction is plain bad, Bakool Ja Ja and even some of the scions have weird intonations in their voices. Wuk Lamat is brought forward a lot cause she has the most lines and screentime.
When she has to shout, her voice doesn't follow and her appearance in the last trial took me off because that "Sphene" was just awful.

The MSQ would be way better if the quest structure wasn't:

- Speak to Wuk Lamat
- Speak to Wuk Lamat again
- Speak to Wuk Lamat yet again
- Speak to 3 villagers

They need to change things up or they're gonna bleed out players.

DT has a lot of mid things going for it but thankfully, the fights aren't it. If it was, this expansion might have been worse than ARR.

I don't disagree with you on this quest structure being boring. At least it's way better than ARR