What can SE do to make FFXIV "Noticed"?

[Churchill]

FFXI (before the Lv75+ increases) was never starved of content, it had tons and it had constant updates & expansions, it only started to slow down as it hit around 6 years old.

FFXIV will continue to pump out content after 2.0, they'll most likely be expansions and constant game updates for at least 5-6 years and if the playerbase remains large even longer

That's just simply not true lol. SE created roadblocks to slow down content, it only seemed as if it was constant.

From an NA perspective, we joined a game (on PC) that was already midway through its second expansion. Nothing was released during this time until COP. We were playing catch up, leveling, etc.

By the time COP came out, and with it, Dynamis/Sea, most of us had 1x75 job, maybe more. We were still working on City missions, Zilart Missions, other jobs, subjobs, gil, gear, spells, etc. When COP came out, it was very difficult to progress through because of the headache of the level cap restriction (Fights were challenging, but made more challenging due to the fact you had worse gear, less abilities/spells/power due to level restriction)
-As farming Sea became stale, Limbus was released. Again though, this content was extended due to the nature of farming it. 3d wait, 15d cycle for Omega, 21d cycle for Ultima for inefficient groups. People were still catching up to Sky at this point as well, so it seemed like there was plenty to do but this was all RNG, artificial roadblocks to content. Content wasn't being released, it was being replayed.

Then we had ToAU which launched, if I remember correctly, with Assaults but not Nyzul Isle or Salvage. Same story, people were still catching up to Sea/Limbus/Sky, midway through the expansion Nyzul and Salvage were released. I don't need to mention the 25 runs to see 1 Askar Korazin or 300 runs and never seeing a Machas Coat. Then Mythics were released, requiring 50,000 alexandrite - a number SE specifically stated they felt was an accomplishable goal for all players, and that Mythics would be for those who couldn't acquire relics. They later reduced this to 30,000 alexendrite (much more reasonable right? lol)
-Then we got Odin, which at launch, required everyone to have all 9 feathers on a 3d wait, 30d cycle each Odin. At the time, it also required at least 18 people, with many shells needing many more. A logistical nightmare to say the least.
-Then ZNMs, which were their own form of pain in terms of farming zeni. I don't need to mention Pandemonium Warden.

Then WoTG, which took 3 years just to release the story.

To put it in perspective, this would be like FFXIV releasing a few new jobs, Crystal Tower, and 1xAV/CC set of dungeons every 2 years and saying "have fun". That's not worth 12 bucks a month.

[Duelle]

Post

Wow, you too, huh? Something else that elongated things really was the cockblocking along the way, which added to the frustration of some.

The best gaming companies out there have mastered the art of neuroscience driven emotional cutscenes. Skyrim did a particularly amazing job at it.

Agreed.