Have the devs responded to Dawntrail reception?

[IvoryHawk]

They don't respond to anything like this until very far down the line when it's looking back at XYZ, "Exclusive interview with Naoki Yoshida about his journy with FFXIV thus far" type deal, where he might make a passing comment about how he was reading posts about the disdain for something, but it will just be that if anything, they'll learn from this though, seeing as this is the "experimental expansion".

[TaleraRistain]

It's not even Square. Corporations celebrate their success and avoid remarking on failures. Admitting fault admits you made a mistake and hence, admits you know you should have done something else.

If you want 'acknowledgement' of the issue, pay attention to what's said and what isn't said. The closest the devs will come to it is remarking that 'We are pleased to see players are enjoying the gameplay of Dawntrail' while remaining quiet on the story aspect for the next few months, if not longer.

Their Twitter account put out a video today and it was very telling that bits from reviews were either from smaller outlets and or they included phrases from larger outlets that mentioned gameplay or visuals.

[Striker44]

Their Twitter account put out a video today and it was very telling that bits from reviews were either from smaller outlets and or they included phrases from larger outlets that mentioned gameplay or visuals.

The gameplay/visuals thing makes a lot of sense, though. The biggest thing they hyped for this installment was the major graphics update, and they've also made repeated mention of gameplay changes. They likely also realize that with DT being the start of a completely new storyline, it's by its very nature not going to be as "fantastic" as ShB and EW were. So they focus on things that are central to this installment...

[angienessyo]

I don't see why they would. If Square Enix didn't openly say anything about something like Forspoken I don't see them saying anything about some people not enjoying the story in DT.

[Darnuss]

Only bad part is the MSQ, but the MSQ is the least relevant aspect of the game in the grand scheme of things - You can have the best MSQ possible but once it's done it's done, and if you don't have engaging end-game content in a MMO people won't keep playing, and a dead MMO is a bad MMO.

My brother in christ the MSQ is what sells the game, FFXIV is the most casual MMO in the market, why do you think CBU3 keeps homogenizing and dumbing down the jobs? So a baby could play it, last year people were bitching because some cool cosmetics were locked behind savage content instead of being in the mogstore. Lol

[Bobby66]

nothing for them to say, some people liked it, some people didn't. those that didn't are vocal, those that enjoyed it don't see any reason to argue with y'all. WL was fine, the VA direction was so-so, but Sena was great. Gulool was awesome, Koana was a nice character. Was cool to finally find out what happened to the lalafell who disappeared from the South Sea Isles and makes me wonder if Emet actually went to the Golden City or just heard about it. Glad Krile got some closure, I liked Wuk Evu so much.

Yeah. I have enjoyed my time greatly with DT the MSQ was fun I love the energy of Wuk but I am also into that character trope like luffy and naruto.

So they made a game where some people like it other don't. Not everything a game developer creates has to bea 10 out 10 master peice to everyone.

[Somnolence]

Wonder how far they have planned everything and will be able to adjust.

Even JP character popularity poll does not have Wuk Lamat in top 10, so its clear she needs to be benched Lyse style and story to rely on more popular characters or something new going forward.

[Vahlnir]

Wonder how far they have planned everything and will be able to adjust.

Even JP character popularity poll does not have Wuk Lamat in top 10, so its clear she needs to be benched Lyse style and story to rely on more popular characters or something new going forward.

I'd be content to have an alpaca follow me around instead of Wuk. At least they are relatively quiet. Or even a pet rock that I can talk to on my own terms.

[CaptainLagbeard]

Wonder how far they have planned everything and will be able to adjust.

Even JP character popularity poll does not have Wuk Lamat in top 10, so its clear she needs to be benched Lyse style and story to rely on more popular characters or something new going forward.

They do generally plan ahead with the story, but considering the near universal dislike for wuk from every community they might be scrapping those plans.

[Alchemii]

They do generally plan ahead with the story, but considering the near universal dislike for wuk from every community they might be scrapping those plans.

Every community except Reddit and Twitter.

Side note: They posted a video on Twitter showing the glowing (and cherry-picked) reviews they got from mostly no name outlets. Do with that information what you will.