The real reason there are even subscribers in 2024

[Jokerz_93]

Mods are also mediocre since the ones that create them do it however they want and they are too different from the "vanilla" models.

I think you should definitely check the mod website to re-evaluate your opinion of “mediocre” and “too much different from vanilla”, especially if you look for bodies like Bibo’s and TBSE’s.
They also had the hands and feet remeshed to something more…human-like.

[GartredZW]

Explain why you have to do hunt trains or Expert over and over again for six to seven weeks to get BiS for Ultimate then??

you cap out on weekly tomestones by doing Expert roulette four days in a week.
That's hardly a grind. It's only slow because of the time gating. And unless for some reason, your BiS is some bit of crafted gear that has to be pentamelded, you don't need hunt trains either.

[Colt47]

Let's be really honest why there are people even subscribed to FF14 in 2024:

It isn't because it's a video game, or because it's an MMO. It's not even a good RPG anymore. Go play Divinity Original Sin 1&2 or Baldur's Gate III if you actually want to play a good RPG. And if you want fun JRPG combat? FF7R has that. Story? Lol. For the first time it's actually worse than WoW's.

Let's all be honest. The reason why people are even "playing" FF14 in 2024 isn't because people are "playing" the game. It's because FF14 has the best suite of third party, ToS-violating tools that help you look your best in screenshots. Or the best in different custom poses. Or the best while they're all unequipped and you're doing gods know what down there while staring at those unequipped characters.

It's also because FF14 has the best drama. Desolance? Xeno? Arthars? Healer strike? Wuk Lamat? Need I go on? It's always a fun time to be in the FF14 community because every other day some human interest story will organically pop up that lets people get a huge whiff of what absolute human depravity looks like.

And it's also because you can find your e-girl or e-boy on some steamy Discord and get dating while sitting on each other's lap (both catgirl ofc) on the Limsa Lominsa Lower Deck Plaza bench under a tree right to the left of the marketboard. But really it's all just Discord and using FF14 to heat up your room.

Who actually subscribes to FF14 for a video game after all?

The shackles are the housing system and weekly roulettes. The 450 tome cap is there to both stop people from over doing it, and also stop people from walking away since if someone doesn't cap they can't exactly go over 450 tomes on another week to make up for it. The custom deliveries and what not are built that way as well.

[Striker44]

Square Enix has been a laughing stock of a company for years. It will never get better. Dawntrail will likely be the last expansion for many people before they switch to a different game. The “other MMO” is coming back and its newest expansion has good reviews.

Doubtful. Every expansion will be the "last one" for some segment of the population, while other players will simply rotate in (or back in) and take their place. People doomsayed to no end trashing EW, and what happened? Yeah, DT had the highest pre-sales ever for FFXIV, even beating EW which had been inflated by the "WoW exodus." People will also continue playing multiple games, including FFXIV as one of them.

Square Enix is so incompetent that it likely doesn’t realize how important roleplaying and modding are to its bottom line.

They absolutely do realize that. Why do you think they "outlaw" modding, but look the other way at so many of the mods that exist unless people are mind-bogglingly idiotic and openly broadcast that they use them? Entire modding communities exist within FFXIV that SE recognizes is beneficial and lets alone.

It’s a sad company that only exists to remake old titles, which were made with actual talent.

This is the one part I can half agree with. I wish they would stop with the remakes, especially FF7, which to me is the most overhyped and overrated game in existence. The new titles are still made with plenty of "actual talent," though, they're just made in a different style that simply may not appeal to the same people SE's older games had appealed to.

Now that they killed off the classes and all the old content that made the game great, FFXIV no longer deserves its “mainline entry” status.

They haven't "killed off" anything. Classes still have their own unique flavors, and every single piece of content made for the game is still playable (unlike certain other "popular" MMO's that either completely destroy and remake their world, rendering the "old content" physically gone from the game, or put it in a "content vault" where it's - again - literally inaccessible). FFXIV still has all of the old content available, and most certainly deserves its "mainline" status.

It’s now a small app for making your avatar like IMVU. Fans have added more content to the game than Square Enix has in the past four years.

Oh, please. Comments like this just shred credibility on anything and everything else. The hundreds of PF Extreme and Savage groups, Hunt trains so large they're lagging servers, ~60+ hours of new content released in 7.0, etc.. Seriously.

Though I should ask, now that you've gone from the fake "cheerleader" posting to the utterly bitter posting, and saying things like your opening two sentences...why are you even here? Go play a game you'll actually enjoy (seriously).

[NailBach]

people who enjoy mmorpg without grind ?

and people who want to post on the forums asking why people are still subbed. Oh the irony

[Voidmage]

Doubtful. Every expansion will be the "last one" for some segment of the population, while other players will simply rotate in (or back in) and take their place. People doomsayed to no end trashing EW, and what happened? Yeah, DT had the highest pre-sales ever for FFXIV, even beating EW which had been inflated by the "WoW exodus." People will also continue playing multiple games, including FFXIV as one of them.

I disagree on the player population thing.
EW had the WoW people but DT surfed on the EW hype.
Long time will show if DT can stand on it’s on legs.

Other than that I agree.
FF14 will not die for the next several years and probably not even decline.
DT story sucks but many (me included for the foreseeable future) stay while being miffed about it because the rest is still good and many years of playtime were sunk into it.

The biggest thing is probably also that there is no real competition.
Wow can be big again but it has another target audience for a huge part and for me and quite a number of others is uninteresting because of art style and narrative alone.

Guild Wars maybe but I don’t know the status of it since I heard rumors of Guild Wars 3.

Personally I think the only ones who could become a danger right now would be Hoyoverse with the huge financial playroom they have would they develop an mmorpg.
But I don’t see that and if there is none they can exist peacefully besides FF14.

The worst thing for ff14 right now is that it can become widely known as mediocre.
If it has nothing anymore that makes it stand out than people might spent less in it. Less subscription (just waiting for expansions) less mog station and so on.

[LianaThorne]

I disagree on the player population thing.
EW had the WoW people but DT surfed on the EW hype.
Long time will show if DT can stand on it’s on legs.

Other than that I agree.
FF14 will not die for the next several years and probably not even decline.
DT story sucks but many (me included for the foreseeable future) stay while being miffed about it because the rest is still good and many years of playtime were sunk into it.

The biggest thing is probably also that there is no real competition.
Wow can be big again but it has another target audience for a huge part and for me and quite a number of others is uninteresting because of art style and narrative alone.

Guild Wars maybe but I don’t know the status of it since I heard rumors of Guild Wars 3.

Personally I think the only ones who could become a danger right now would be Hoyoverse with the huge financial playroom they have would they develop an mmorpg.
But I don’t see that and if there is none they can exist peacefully besides FF14.

The worst thing for ff14 right now is that it can become widely known as mediocre.
If it has nothing anymore that makes it stand out than people might spent less in it. Less subscription (just waiting for expansions) less mog station and so on.

Hoyo wouldn't make an MMO, Tower of Fantasy proved that a gacha based MMO would not work well for a majority of people. Launch scandal aside it's not a fun concept in the long run as someone who does still semi-regularly play it, as you're basically required to get multiple copies of characters to even push large damage numbers. Feels weird in an MMO environment where gear/skill should ultimately be the defining factor of how strong you are, not how large your wallet is/how lucky you are.

[TBerry]

Modern FF14:

Most people don't see this on their screen unless they run Mare.

It's kinda sad when people are just so used to mods that they can't see anything beyond that anymore.


For me as an RPer and casual Crafter/Gatherer, it's... that. RP, crafting gathering.

[Voidmage]

Hoyo wouldn't make an MMO, Tower of Fantasy proved that a gacha based MMO would not work well for a majority of people. Launch scandal aside it's not a fun concept in the long run as someone who does still semi-regularly play it, as you're basically required to get multiple copies of characters to even push large damage numbers. Feels weird in an MMO environment where gear/skill should ultimately be the defining factor of how strong you are, not how large your wallet is/how lucky you are.

I know HoYo probably won’t make an mmo (even though I think they are the only ones who could combine good gacha with it without it being predatory).
It was just an example of the fact that there is actually no one who can really be a competition to ff14 right now because all others are too different, be it art style or storytelling.
I’m not saying Hoyo is better but that ff14 could actually learn from looking what other games do in some aspects.
And as sad as it is. When I compare Wuk Lamat to any of the Fontaine characters she falls flatter than the earth in some tinfoil brains.

FF14 actually needs competition in my opinion but there is none and that’s the big danger.

Most people don't see this on their screen unless they run Mare.

It's kinda sad when people are just so used to mods that they can't see anything beyond that anymore.


For me as an RPer and casual Crafter/Gatherer, it's... that. RP, crafting gathering.

This may be an unpopular opinion but in my eyes mods are part of the problem.
The people just fix stuff like hats themself instead of demanding that from the devs.
It’s crazy how fast the community can throw out good looking hairstyles while the devs can only be bothered to half ass one every few years.
When was the last time we got a good looking hairstyle? Bozja?

Those pictures while creepy are just the most extreme.
If my time with Skyrim modding is any indication then most people mod only little things like ears, makeup or hair, maybe some outfits but normally not like in those screenshots.

[Edelgarde]

This is actually true. Someone had to say it. Thanks for being based.