What's with the forums?

[Bonoki]

The forums have become a misery hub, and honestly, it’s not surprising. People need a place to be heard. If you air your frustrations on Twitter, the so-called 'positive, wholesome' community will shut you down in a heartbeat. That leaves the forums as the only spot where negativity and frustration can breathe. It gathers here because it's been pushed out of every other space. For those who feel unsatisfied, there’s no safe space left to vent, except here. It also helps that there is the slim fateful chance that the devs might see your post or have it relayed to them. Thus fueling things as well.

[Gember]

...

I believe you are focusing too much on the MSQ when it comes to forum behavior. Yes, Dawntrail's MSQ isn't liked by a lot of folks on here compared to Endwalker. However, many do like the dungeons, trials, and raids. I could list off a few more, but that is not the point of this discussion.

The discussion is mainly about how the forums can compile a bunch of negative feedback at times, and it can look rather daunting to even want to talk to some people in here. Especially for those who are new; like the OP for an example. I was new to the forums back at one point, and it was a lot like what the OP was feeling. There was a bunch of complaints and troll posts on the front page, with few topics that were neutral in between. Endwalker was no better. The community here feels bi-polar compared to the players I talk to in the game itself. Players here were complaining about things that I didn't know was a problem, and were getting at each other's necks about it. Not 100% mind you, but it comes off strong to the player who was oblivious to the game's "problems" until they started digging for other people's feedback.

This has been the case for years, and its nothing new under the sun.

Part of the reason is because people like you can't help but making YET another topic just to show off your 2 cents despite there is already a full cookies jar of it.

Look at your thread tittle, look at your post. Do you think it makes the forum more positive or even more miserable?

I always love people who love to address problem by becoming the problem.

I don't think the OP is at fault here for wondering why they keep coming across threads on the front page that is usually full of complaints, or troll posts. They just want to know why its like this, and there is no harm in asking.

[CuteBucket]

I think conversation could become so much more productive if people could separate their own personal opinions from objective facts. For example, I have no doubt that you care deeply about this game. However, what you really want to see is not for the game to truly improve (objectively speaking), but rather for it improve for you. The same thing any one of us views as an improvement could just as easily be seen as a disappointment by someone else. If we could make that distinction, we might start realizing how comments like this inherently come off as telling other people they are "wrong" for enjoying the game as it is.

How is me asking Square Enix to fix broken DC travel, fix messed up character faces, and move away from an embarrassingly bad story (as supported by tons of negative reviews outside of this forum) only asking to improve things personally for me? Two of those three problems I listed in my original comment didn't even exist before Dawntrail came out.

When this graphical update has left so many people (nearly 200 pages of posts and 400+ more pages from the JP side) upset about the changes, and another group of people unable to play the game for as long or at all due to eyestrain from the new graphics, yes, I believe that is a real, objective problem that goes far beyond just me and my wants. Some minor facial changes could be seen as subjective, but maybe the devs shouldn't have promised us that they were going to preserve the look and feel of our characters in that case?

When every day that I log in to play with my friend and all of my Dynamis friends bemoan the DC travel restrictions but I'm the only one who goes on the forums much, and once again I see many people with the same problem, a problem that did not exist before 7.05 and does nothing to "fix" the issues with Dynamis being dead and may even be making it worse, I don't think I'm asking for something to be changed simply improve my personal experience. It's not a one-to-one "an improvement for me is a disappointment to someone else."

And lastly, no, someone criticizing the game in good faith absolutely does NOT come off as "telling other people they are 'wrong' for enjoying the game as it is." That's your own insecurity and your own issue to confront in yourself, don't project that onto me. I'm very personally attached to some characters in this game and don't like seeing them get trashed, so you know what I do when I see it? I add that person to my ignore list and don't go into threads where I know I may be upset by the discussion. If you loved the Dawntrail MSQ and/or Wuk Lamat, don't go into the places that say right on the door "We don't like the Dawntrail MSQ and/or Wuk Lamat."

[Fawkes]

Most people come here because they think that the devs will read their complaint if they post it here.

[BabyYoda]

Most people come here because they think that the devs will read their complaint if they post it here.

I have never felt that until recently and I start losing faith after DT release

[sindriiisgaming]

I mean people demanding staff members be fired over mild grievances, claiming there's some kind of conspiracy to ruin the game,

if this is about bryer then we have pretty good reason to ask her to be removed

[AureliusIX]

I'll admit, I haven't been here that long, but why are the forums so... miserable? I get that people come here to give feedback, but it feels like some people see it as permission to be as toxic as possible. To be clear, I'm not talking about just any criticism. I mean people demanding staff members be fired over mild grievances, claiming there's some kind of conspiracy to ruin the game, portraying anyone who isn't as negative as them as idiotic, that type of thing. I guess what I'm trying to say is at some point, there's a line between criticism and entitlement. Have the forums always been this way? Even before I set up my forum profile I heard they have a reputation.

I completely understand where you’re coming from when you're talking about the negative atmosphere on the forums. I too can feel becoming frustrated when a place that should be for constructive discussion and shared enthusiasm becomes dominated by negativity. However, you can't deny this negativity is a symptom of deeper concerns a lot of us have within the community, particularly when we're feeling that our feedback isn’t being heard or addressed by the developers.

The frustration many of us are expressing comes from a place of love for the game. When something we care about doesn’t meet our expectations, it can lead to a lot of emotional reactions. We, that is the community have grown to expect a certain level of quality and responsiveness from the developers, this is down to the game’s history of being incredibly player-focused by this I mean YoshiP and the devs have been very aware over the years of how important to maintain player satisfaction. When those expectations we have aren’t met, it can feel like the developers are distant or not as transparent as they have been in the past.

The concern a lot of us have about a lack of developer reassurance could be tied to a few things that I'll try to outline:

Communication Gaps: While the development team does communicate, sometimes the timing or content of these communications doesn’t fully address the community’s concerns. For example, updates might focus on upcoming features without directly addressing ongoing issues or player complaints.
High Expectations: Final Fantasy XIV has set a high bar with previous expansions and content updates. When new content or expansions don’t resonate as strongly with players, it can lead to disappointment, which manifests as negativity.
Community Feedback Loop: Negative feedback, when not acknowledged or addressed, can snowball. Players might feel that their concerns are dismissed or not taken seriously, which exacerbates frustration.

To put simply, a lot of us have love for the game but we're getting very frustrated with the current direction of the game and lack of communication.

[AureliusIX]

To add on to my previous post:
that frustration is difficult to express when you can't discuss this on reddit, or twitter or many other places without being shut down by people who take legitimate criticism of the game to be a personal attack. This is one of the only places left people can express that frustration they have.

[Ramiee]

It's negativity bias for a forum made for feedback. There's better places for positivity such as Reddit and twitter when discussing XIV, if you don't like the critical negative forums I suggest moving on to greener pastures.

[Havenchild]

Ultimately, it's specifically a lack of forum moderation and not funneling feedback into specific existing threads that creates the wall of spam and negativity as people keep making their version of the same topic. The lack of moderation caters to these narcissistic people who suffer from main character syndrome and have the failing brain capacity to not use common sense and post in one thread.

The irony about the forums, which are far more cynical, is that a majority of people here think their opinion is the general sentiment in game, where unironically the general populace tends to have a far more positive attitude about the direction of the game overall.

Fact of the matter is, you are not allowed to even post things you enjoy about DT on the forums either as your thread gets overrun by the negativity bias and lack of moderation.