DT: State of the Game

[Blixie]

I’ve been reading in most of the DT threads here, and there are pieces of good discussion going on in numerous threads, but there are too many threads to track, too much overlap in the discussions, and far too much garbage to wade thru. I created this thread out of exhaustion and with a meager shred of hope that enough people might post organized, thoughtful feed back to make it worthwhile.

Scale 1-10 (10=Totally Happy. 1=Totally Unhappy)
Top concerns, with #1 as what’s most important to you.

Happiness Rating: 2

1. Job+ Encounter Design
These two things can never be effectively separated. Fun fights and satisfying jobs are a fundamental requirement. You’ve done significant damage or outright destroyed a scary number of jobs, including the entire healer group. When I quit this game, on-going failure in this area will be the primary reason.

Fix Healers or retire the trinity. Period.
Revert the BLM changes.
Parity across the Tank group-> Ridiculous imbalance is ridiculous.
etc

2. Graphics Problems
Give us the settings we need to resolve the eye-strain, motion sickness, and lighting issues.
This is a deal-breaker for many players.

3. Failed MSQ
“Willing suspension of disbelief” is the critical element in storytelling.
The DT MSQ is an epic fail.
The writing and execution are just plain bad.
They not only failed to make us believe, they insulted our mental and emotional intelligence, and made people downright hostile toward the main character. It feels a bit like players put more thought, time, and heart into their critiques of MSQ than the SE teams put into creating it.


I was hopeful for DT until they announced the changes to BLM. I almost left the game when they gutted AST and the exciting gameplay and flexibility of BLM is what saved me. I have no interest in any of the remaining jobs, either because they’re broken too, or in some cases just not my thing.

I used to spend a lot of time in game. Even when I couldn’t focus on serious progression, I hung out in places I like, did a little crafting or gathering, or rearranged the furniture. Nowadays, I’m logging just long enough to check my retainers and feel sad before logging out again.

I did not buy the expansion on my alt accounts and I haven’t spent money in the cash shop since the BLM changes were revealed. If my hope is not restored somehow, it won’t be long before I cancel my sub and move on.

[BabyYoda]

MSQ is the needle that broke the camel's back

People would be OK if there is a ARR level story

[TBerry]

MSQ is the needle that broke the camel's back

People would be OK if there is a ARR level story

Right. Or Stormblood?

[RinaB]

I agree with OP 100%. Why is drk so shit? They fixed sam and viper in 1 patch yet ignore drk for 4 years. The story sucked my left toe and I can't take the lizard enemies seriously with their giraffe necks

[Mondschnee]

It's true that we have many threads on this topic, so I'm always worried that some of the feedback might get lost.
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-full-spoilers <- This thread is very comprehensive and also has linked to other very valid feedback!

The japanese playerbase has a single thread with a lot of valid feedback as well. They have done a great job pointing the flaws out. If you're curious: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...81%84%E3%81%A6
Running it through google translator is often times enough!

Mentioned feedback is story focused. Most flaws have been pointed out fairly well. The fact that Yoshi-P still failed to address core issues pointed out in our criticisms is worrisome for that reason.

[Lyndina]

Tbh ...Stormblood was good compared to DT. I rather take 10 Lyses then 1 Wuk. At least Lyse wasnt the main focus of every quest.

[Striker44]

See, the thing is, at the micro level, all we have are opinions.

For example, my own current happiness rating with the game is probably around an 8.5 or a 9. I have a lot of fun playing PLD, SCH, and RDM. Heck, I've actually found myself enjoying leveling DRG 90-100 when I usually just do that class for the sake of seeing the melee DPS role quest. So for me, jobs and encounters are in a great place.

The graphics update for me is a whole lot of nothing. Graphics aren't really something that particularly draws me in (or pushes me away, for that matter). Gameplay, story, and music are the big ones to me.

And the DT MSQ? I'd rate it a solid 8, and given that it doesn't have much to build on, the highest I would reasonably expect possible would be a 9. (My original thought on this was 7 out of 8, but Living Memory I enjoyed enough I had to step the rating and the max up one.) There's a few things here and there that underwhelmed, but overall I very much enjoyed the story. And the raid series has started off great, too.

Now, if we truly want to talk "state of the game", what we need to do is look at the macro level. What is the playerbase as a whole doing. In-game, hunt trains are filled throughout the week, there's still FATE farming groups going around DT on a daily basis, and when I checked a couple nights ago on Aether there were just over 150 high-end groups recruiting in PF. We also have the only large-scale data available through Steam charts, and they show the one-month retention rate for DT is right on par with every other expansion, and the average number of people logging in daily is currently among the highest its ever been, with the only exceptions being the release month of DT itself and the brief super-spike we saw from the "WoW exodus" a few years back. But the population is 3-4x higher than it was during the HW and SB days, and about 50% higher than it was during ShB, with HW and ShB often being viewed as top-tier expansions. Point is - the "state of the game" is very healthy right now.

It's possible it is just time for you to move on. The average person today will work ~12 different jobs during their career, changing them about every 4 years. It's a natural human need for change. Some of us have been playing this game for ~10 years now. For some of us, it's just natural to need a change of scenery.

[Savagelf]

this why i suggest to doing story tell beta testing this way they use feedback for play base. i even throught about put out video how i would do dawntrail

[Hyperia]

Mentioned feedback is story focused. Most flaws have been pointed out fairly well. The fact that Yoshi-P still failed to address core issues pointed out in our criticisms is worrisome for that reason.

When the Devs don’t talk about something, it’s a good indicator that the issue is very polarizing, not only with the players but the Devs as well.

Just as with healers, I have a feeling that they will find ways of creatively dodging or ignoring questions from the fans and media on this.

They know it’s bad but if they pivot too hard on this, there will be consequences for them with their staff internally.

Just like with politics, when people go silent, it’s really bad. How bad? Well, how hard they avoid the questions will tell you.

[BunnyQueen]

Boop

The state of healing is so fucking bad. I now mainly play WoW because SE can't balance shit, at least over there I spend 60+% of the time healing, sometimes as much as 80% based on the fight. Only reason I play this at all anymore is because my wife plays the game. I started as a healer, but after I reached Stormblood MSQ I stopped needing to heal the tank as much, as the healing went down so did my enjoyment of healer. Tanks not needing to be healed as much is why healing isn't fun.