I'm Frustrated with FFXIV's New Direction

[Gaddes]

Tuliolala and Raz was all sunshine and utopia like, while Sharlaya was neutered from what we had been teased about earlier with their assassinations.

I think, at least for me, Radz-at-Han gets a pass because it's a very unique circumstance. I thought it was believable that Radz-at-Han would be prosperous and thriving because they basically have a cheat mode enabled with a nigh-immortal dragon as their leader. With that you get dragon's protective power, and more importantly consistency (since he can oversee changes and evolution of his nation over centuries). But more important than that, it being a successful nation really set up an effective narrative shock once everything goes to shit with the Final Days. Seeing it do a complete 180 shift to absolute chaos and ruin is a lot more of an "oh shit" jaw-dropper than if the nation was already problematic or in dire straits. Had it been that, then it wouldn't be such a visual shock honestly... the dramatic shift is one of the things that I think still makes the Vanaspati dungeon so visually arresting to me even now.

[Hallarem]

Still think Zenos was a bit of a leftover dishrag with no real reason to be there except fan service. I think it was a bit of an asspull, but it is what it is. Wasnt a huge fan of the "edge of the universe" jump the shark either. It was random, but as rushed as EW was. At least its better written than Dawntrail

[DoomRyder]

Still think Zenos was a bit of a leftover dishrag with no real reason to be there except fan service. I think it was a bit of an asspull, but it is what it is. Wasnt a huge fan of the "edge of the universe" jump the shark either. It was random, but as rushed as EW was. At least its better written than Dawntrail

Endwalker is only happening at all because he teamed up with Fandanny and starting wreaking havoc on Eitherys.

[Taytay]

Unless Wuk wants to get an actual job that doesn't involve being a nepo baby and start paying my subscription fee, I absolutely do not want to be a supporting character to her story.

[HeyMcFly]

I would have accepted how rushed and disconnected the story felt, how sphene was just a nice emet-selch.
What made me start to dislike everything truly, was why were the Scions there? And why did it feel like they no longer cared for the WoL or as if we didn't save them in Ultima Thule? I'm sorry but I ship my catgirl with Thancred and DT gave me NOTHING.
Why was Krile made the poster child for DT but given very little in terms of the spotlight she actually deserved?
It should have been Krile we followed, not Welcome-Mat.

[genuine_stranger]

Not only do some of them forget, some of them deliberately ignore these facts and sidestep that arguments with essays about what Wuk Lamat's story-arc is supposed to be, implying we are all idiots.

This begs the question of WHY they defend this MSQ so much. It can't be just 'bad taste'.

Want to understand people who play MMOs?
Look at them from the viewpoint of being in a relationship, it makes more sense.
Especially if it's a toxic one.

Boy will you find similarities.

[Hallarem]

Its a desperate cling because theres nothing else to move onto. I clung to WoW for ages without complaining until I quit before shadowlands. I had tried FFXIv back at Heavensward, but Praetorium and Alphinaud made me cringe.

So this time I wont stick too long if its clear they are just going through the motions and ruining the story on the side while not innovating. But also this time Ill shout as much as I can to see if any of our shouts go through the crowd and reach the devs. Maybe, just maybe there will be changes to the stale gameplay and systems, and jobs and the story gets back on track.

As a Final Fantasy series fan, its always been about innovation, but right now? I feel gatekept by the devs. Insert meme/reality about a crunky engine they need to work around, but some direct communication besides. "Its difficult, please look forward to it/please give us more time" would be appreciated. If 8.0 is the same formula or a mini dripfeed and the patch content doesnt give any meaningful QoL Think its an unsub.

[At0msk]

The direction of this game has been going in the wrong direction ever since SB, ever since they began removing job interaction and complexity and identity. The MSQ has shifted quite heavily away from it's roots of political maneuvering and some actual nuance in favour of... what? Friendship is magic and fist clenches? Hamfisted attempts and philosophy that require at least a whole expansion + post patches to properly explore but are never given time and room to germinate. It's not all bad but most of it is. What gets me the most is that these changes were spurred on by making the game more accessible and less intricate for a majority who would never have an interest in getting better at playing it no matter how easy you made it for them. Take ARR, people complained first coil was too easy, so second coil was very challengeing and people complained about not only that but the fact that it didn't have a story mode. Third coil was laughable by comparison and people complained AGAIN demanding harder content. Well, they got it with HW, the gordias savage was so hard it all but killed the raiding scene but there was a story mode now, right? Soooo... next came the knee-jerk overcorrection moving into SB - that said, i think SB was probably the best content the game ever had to offer even if i didn't like the shift the game took going into that expansion.

Unfortunately its been downhill from there ever since and over the years i've been accused of all sorts of things from it "not being my game" to "do you hate fun or something?" and I'll say this as my parting comment; A game--especially an MMO--lives and dies on it's integrity and i'm sorry to say that FF14 has been lacking integrity for a very long time. I don't expect it to return and especially not if Yoshi-P isn't hands on with the steering. He's clearly working on other projects and delegating to untested devs. But what can you?