My problem with FF 14

[Miguel85NYC]

1. Holiday events are the most boring events I seen in FF14. We wait a whole year just to get a 10min quest line... really???? In other mmos you get content that last for weeks and get more than 1 reward.. FF14 is the weakest

2. Leveling has gotten extremely boring in FF14.. All you do is Read for 2 hours and get to do a dungeon that last for 15 mins and back to reading for another 2+ hours.. Zones feel bland and boring. mobs dont pull a threat..

3. Dungeons, 2 packs, 1 boss and repeat.. how is this fun? Its the same thing over and over... WoW dungeons are fun because anything can happen and getting to the boss can be challenging



Fix those issues

[Jeeqbit]

1. Holiday events are the most boring events I seen in FF14.

I agree and I think the reason is because they are yet more story in this story-driven game, when they could just be more gameplay-oriented. The worst part is the events used to be better sometimes.

The best ones I remember involved a haunted house with tricks you had to work together to overcome and find the password and there was a higher prospect of failure than any normal dungeon content in the game. The same happened the first time they released the Valentione's two-person dungeon, where again, you could actually fail it and feel salty toward your partner, and in that moment, know that you aren't a match. For the Rising, we once did a recreation of the 1.0 calamity which was a duty. Before Bard music, we had an early preview of that system in one of the events.

Yet often they are an afterthought and sometimes they don't let us re-run these older, successful versions of the event and they don't make any new versions of them anymore really. Just some little sob story. The sob stories are alright, it's just, we get plenty of them from all the other quests in the game and the events could just be, events, instead of stories. "The event is now, want to go hunt some eggs?" We don't need a story attached to that, and I dread bothering with the little sob story when I've got other stuff to do in the game.

But here is the thing. It's a minor issue. The events aren't running most of the time and it is only a frustration for the few hours I'm doing it. So this is really a minor issue to me.

2. Leveling has gotten extremely boring in FF14.. All you do is Read for 2 hours and get to do a dungeon that last for 15 mins and back to reading for another 2+ hours..

I don't really agree with this. Leveling is something I look forward to each expansion. I get to play all the jobs again, being put into random dungeons I've not done for ages, with random players of varying skill levels, juggling rotations and mechanics I'm not used to. Even leveling through FATEs can be fun honestly, especially if it's in a party where you're chilling talking to them.

Zones feel bland and boring. mobs dont pull a threat..

I think the zones look amazing. I agree that mobs could be more threatening, but they only made them threatening in Eureka (pre-Echo btw) because it was trying to recreate the feel of traditional MMO design and they didn't want the modern design outside it to be like that. So it is how it is. They don't want to go back to the "open world mobs are threatening" thing.

3. Dungeons, 2 packs, 1 boss and repeat.. how is this fun?

Well it's consistent. It can be fun while still using that formula. It's just making the trash mobs have interesting mechanics like they have in older dungeons, and making the bosses fun, really.

Its the same thing over and over... WoW dungeons are fun because anything can happen and getting to the boss can be challenging

The difference is that WoW is not realistically getting new players because of its reputation of being too neckbeardy to get into (install 4347858954 required addons and grind for eternity just to keep up). Their focus is on returners that understand the game.

In contrast, FFXIV gets new players all the time and SE's aim is to make sure a new player, who has no idea what they are doing, can get through the dungeon and progress the story, since many people literally just play for the story then quit.

[Kaurhz]

I liked the zones this expansion, honestly. But yes, they are devoid of all threat which sucks... Flying also ruins the exploration element... I understand the convenience of flying for side content like gathering, FATEs, and Hunts... But that isn't going to stop me from disliking it.

Holiday events need to be a lot more substantive, even if it is just padding it out more.

Dungeons... Honestly the community are largely in part the reason for this.

[RaideDuku]

1. Holiday events used to take longer, usually due to a token system that you had to do special fates or some sort of repeatable quests to get. There was even a Moonfire Fair event where you had to craft fish and chips to turn in with actual crafting. However, people complained that it took to long, and like most times when CB3 listens, the cursed monkey paw's finger curled and we got what we got.

2. Do you mean leveling, or MSQ? There's a difference. As far as zones go, you're nuts. DTs zones have been the most interesting geographically since... ever, really. Totally agree on the lack of danger in the open world, though. Caves and stuff should be no fly zones. They got the tech. It's in the game now. They could have at least a little area in each zone be a bit spicy. Would have to have a reason to go there. Maybe special token drops to buy stuff with or something.

3. Given what they give, I don't want dungeons to be super difficult. DT dungeons are rightly where they need to be. Mildly engaging. What they need to do is have a Eureka/Bozja area right at the start at the endgame for an expansion and added to every patch That way folks that have time to no life the game have something to chew on (no shade, I used to play that way, back in the day)

[Supersnow845]

1. Holiday events used to take longer, usually due to a token system that you had to do special fates or some sort of repeatable quests to get. There was even a Moonfire Fair event where you had to craft fish and chips to turn in with actual crafting. However, people complained that it took to long, and like most times when CB3 listens, the cursed monkey paw's finger curled and we got what we got.

2. Do you mean leveling, or MSQ? There's a difference. As far as zones go, you're nuts. DTs zones have been the most interesting geographically since... ever, really. Totally agree on the lack of danger in the open world, though. Caves and stuff should be no fly zones. They got the tech. It's in the game now. They could have at least a little area in each zone be a bit spicy. Would have to have a reason to go there. Maybe special token drops to buy stuff with or something.

3. Given what they give, I don't want dungeons to be super difficult. DT dungeons are rightly where they need to be. Mildly engaging. What they need to do is have a Eureka/Bozja area right at the start at the endgame for an expansion and added to every patch That way folks that have time to no life the game have something to chew on (no shade, I used to play that way, back in the day)

The DT zones are pretty and well proportioned unlike some of the giant bowl zones from HW/SB/ShB but there is still nothing to do in them

There is like a rotation of 10 fates, maybe a world boss and like 2 of those 2 fates are a chain. Then there is nodes for crafting that work exactly the same as they always have

Then there is………..nothing

Why do we even have an open world if it’s nothing but a pretty backdrop for an MSQ that barely uses a 10th of it

[Jeeqbit]

There is like a rotation of 10 fates, maybe a world boss and like 2 of those 2 fates are a chain. Then there is nodes for crafting that work exactly the same as they always have

Then there is………..nothing

They added hunts, treasure maps and sightseeing logs for this reason in ARR and continued this in expansions. And they are used for hunts and maps regularly.

Why do we even have an open world if it’s nothing but a pretty backdrop for an MSQ that barely uses a 10th of it

Sidequests usually cover the rest of the map.

[coreydies]

I haven't really played any other MMOs to compare FF14 Holiday events to, but in other live service games like gacha games they have huge events that would blow anything FF14 has out of the water. FF14 does that occasionally but wish it would do it more often. Maybe much more decorations and outfits/weapon transmog to buy with exclusive tomestones sort of like moogle events but more often.

I'll also agree leveling is very boring up until you get to the field operations. Not sure how great Eureka is for leveling, but Bozja is a blast, even having maxed multiple jobs. Before you take a level 71 job into it it's just spamming dungeons and roulettes which is pretty boring. Challenge logs until level 30, dungeon spam until 71, then Bozja until around 90, then Aglaia until like 95. Endwalker's missing field operation is sorely felt, can't wait until Dawntrail's so leveling jobs from 91 to 110 next expansion is way less excruciating and dare I say fun again.

[Jojoya]

1. Holiday events are the most boring events I seen in FF14. We wait a whole year just to get a 10min quest line... really???? In other mmos you get content that last for weeks and get more than 1 reward.. FF14 is the weakest

2. Leveling has gotten extremely boring in FF14.. All you do is Read for 2 hours and get to do a dungeon that last for 15 mins and back to reading for another 2+ hours.. Zones feel bland and boring. mobs dont pull a threat..

3. Dungeons, 2 packs, 1 boss and repeat.. how is this fun? Its the same thing over and over... WoW dungeons are fun because anything can happen and getting to the boss can be challenging



Fix those issues

While I agree they're over too fast, some of the holiday events in other games go to far to the opposite extreme and end up very grindy with a lot of RNG involved. They also don't always release new rewards so when you've already gotten everything, there's no reason to do them the following year. MMORPGs in general need to find a better middle ground for seasonal events.

You're not talking about leveling. You're talking about the MSQ. There's a lot of different content to choose from when it comes to leveling (provided you've advanced far enough in the MSQ to have unlocked it). This being a story driven game, the formula isn't likely to change.

Strange how I've heard the opposite about normal dungeons from content creators that play both FFXIV and WoW. They find normal WoW dungeons excessively easy compared to FFXIV. It's only once they reach the middle keys in M+ that they start finding the WoW dungeons more challenging. And by the time you get to those, you're done leveling and focused on the end game gear grind.

Anything can happen was true of many of the original Vanilla WoW dungeons but they're just a memory now. Blizzard ended up streamlining them and later dungeons (unless they changed dungeon design since I quit at the end of Legion). Even when I was still playing, you knew what was going to happen for boss mechanics and players had figured out a most efficient route (including what trash had to be pulled and what could be skipped). They weren't anymore engaging than FFXIV dungeons by the time I quit.

It's doubtful that anything here is going to change substantially when it the game appears to be mostly meeting expectations in the JP player base. It is a JP game, not a western game after all. My advice will always be to seek out the game a provides what you enjoy instead of expecting a game to change to please you. Paying for and playing games that aren't enjoyed sends the wrong message to the gaming industry about what games players want to be seeing on the market.

Why do we even have an open world if it’s nothing but a pretty backdrop for an MSQ that barely uses a 10th of it

Imagine the lag and other issues if the open world zones were packed with content so huge amounts of players were always congregated in them. What is common at hunt trains now would be a minor irritation in comparison.

That's why MMORPGs began turning to instanced content instead of having everything open world. The game would literally (for a change) become unplayable for many players and that would cut deep into the revenue stream for the gaming corporations as those players quit.

It's the technology available and affordable to the average consumer that holds things back for MMORPGs. WoW really isn't any better when it comes to the amount of content available in open world zones, they just do it differently.

[Valence]

In contrast, FFXIV gets new players all the time and SE's aim is to make sure a new player, who has no idea what they are doing, can get through the dungeon and progress the story, since many people literally just play for the story then quit.

I don't think an unchanging formula has much to do with new player retention... Especially when even Yoshida said it was not likely to change specifically because it's a matter of chain productivity to be able to churn more in less time than anything else?

1. Holiday events used to take longer, usually due to a token system that you had to do special fates or some sort of repeatable quests to get. There was even a Moonfire Fair event where you had to craft fish and chips to turn in with actual crafting. However, people complained that it took to long, and like most times when CB3 listens, the cursed monkey paw's finger curled and we got what we got.

They were a boring, uninteresting grind. Glad they're not anymore. I'd rather have the devs put their resources elsewhere if it's just to get this.

The only good ones were the haunted manor events, and especially that one that got us into a modified spooky instance of Tam Tara with special objectives, which truly felt like a new dungeon with different gameplay on its own.

[Khryseis_Astra]

The best ones I remember involved a haunted house with tricks you had to work together to overcome and find the password and there was a higher prospect of failure than any normal dungeon content in the game. The same happened the first time they released the Valentione's two-person dungeon, where again, you could actually fail it and feel salty toward your partner, and in that moment, know that you aren't a match. For the Rising, we once did a recreation of the 1.0 calamity which was a duty. Before Bard music, we had an early preview of that system in one of the events.

The haunted house was really cool, and I like that they’ve been bringing back the mansion area with the NPC masquerade each year. It’s a great gpose spot! I would’ve loved to play that Rising duty, but that was before my time. Those are the kinds of things I like to see in the events, along with new emotes, furnishings and outfits. The outfits could use some more variety though… I think we have like 4 variations of a traditional Santa suit now. The upcoming All Saints Wake event is a step in the right direction.

I’m not really sure what else they could add to make it more interesting… I think they’re trying to strike a balance between those that want to just get it over with quickly so they can collect their rewards and those who would rather have a more involved event.

Maybe they could have different mini games with 7 days worth of rewards, but you could earn them any time over the usual 2 weeks or so of the event. So it would encourage you to log in more often during the event, but you still wouldn’t miss anything if you couldn’t be there every single day. And to be clear, I don’t mean taking a five piece outfit and spreading each piece out over the event either. More like day 1 - outfit, day 2 - emote, day 3 - furnishing, day 4 - fireworks, etc.