The real reason there are even subscribers in 2024

[OliverQ]

I've been watching my friend play World of Warcraft: The War Within Early Access.

The game looks pretty, they also seem to be focusing on the story (the quality of which I don't really know), but I don't really feel the urge to try it out or drop my FFXIV sub for it.

Anyone else try it yet?

I was tempted to try it. I haven't played WoW since I think BfA, but I was an avid player for a long time and started when the game first released. My main hesitation for trying it again is the player base is insanely toxic, you need too many mods to do anything, and the graphics are too cartoony.

[Ayan_Calvesse]

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??

Is your definition of a grind having to earn currency?

[Ayan_Calvesse]

Calling MMO's "dead" would be inaccurate, but it's also very evident that they're well past their "golden age" or heyday. Back when WoW hit the scene and made it huge, MMO's were *the* thing for people of all ages to play, and rather importantly younger gamers. Today? There's very few teenagers and college kids playing MMO's compared to 15-20 years ago. MMO's are now primarily the home of gamers rapidly approaching (if not already in) middle age, and the "new blood" is heading to other things like MOBA's and mobile games. That's important because it means studios are going to be *very* hesitant to pour the amount of resources you need to make an MMO into a new venture at this point.

I find this is actually a fun observation of social norms - the newer age group is less prone to forming common communities and are not really as into long-term development buit rather prefer the quick fix and rapid growth; consuming and discarding. So MMO players tend to stick with the people they play with over and over versus MOBA players which might form small clicks of 5-8 folks and then just have a massive list of friends they play with once and a while and they just do all content in the roulette system of their game of choice.

[Gaiinahat]

I play FFXIV simply BECAUSE it's a subscription game. For $15/mo, it's a damn good one at that.

I've played a lot of MMOs over the years starting from EQ1. One thing I've noticed is that whenever a game switches from a subscription to a Free-to-Play (a.k.a. Pay-to-Win) model, it completely ruins the game EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. without fail.

I refuse to play anything that requires micro-transactions to advance.

[Nikki]

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?

You actually make it sound so sad and creepy lol.

I am gonna give it straight to you brother. If you pay monthly sub just to ERP in a video game you are just a big time loser in real life. Now i am going to sanitize myself. I feel dirty for just clicking on this thread.

[Vinter]

Compared to what? MOBAs and various shooters rule the show these days, even more so among the younger generation.

Yeah but do you want to play a game with a bunch of angry tweens throwing around racist slurs because you're not optimising and they've deluded themselves into thinking they're somehow going to make pro one day by playing ranked? Miss me with that trash. I'm glad League and Valorant exist so we have a cage to put those animals in. Let them be sweaty tryhards over there, away from us decent normal folk. We should all thank the gods they're not playing MMOs.

[gllt]

You know this game is called the FGC retirement home right?
Sweaty abnormal tryhards like myself come here to turn our brains off (easy to do these days with the direction the game has been going in)

[TaraShiro6]

The best opinion in this thread omg

[TaraShiro6]

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.



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.



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.



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.



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).

I strongly agree with all of these points

[Mercury_Grey]

you call that grind ? How innocent you are

Maybe he should try the insanity of doing relic grinds days before a new expansion or 7.x comes out. Really gets grindy when you gotta farm hundered or thousands of fates total for certain relics