Is it time to Sunset FFXIV?

[Bitmoar]

Also, if the game is so congested, why is there a free log in campaign? That smells of low log in numbers.

The congestion is their ham-handed solution to PF and population issues. Sunsetting the game is a huge overreaction to the issues they're facing, though lol

[Sensui]

Actually, what we're seeing here is the same cycle that has occurred for years, and yes, 4 months after release is plenty of time for a patch lull.

This is only because it is what we can expect from Square. It doesn't make it reasonable.

As consumers, we have been beaten over the head, over the last 10+ years, that releasing games half finished is OK! You can just buy the rest of it later when we release is as a DLC! Layer in more micro transactions, and what used to be a full complete game that you could buy for $49 99 (inflation aside) is now $200 still kinda half baked garbage spread out over 3 years. Looks pretty though. Kinda.

[Hallarem]

I used to be apart of the crowd that said that the "Go play other games" was such a chill approach, and removed pressure from you. Don't get me wrong, its good not to lock you hostage, but an MMO is meant to be played and its job is to keep you engaged because you are paying a SUB FOR IT. You are PAYING MONTHLY for it. If this was a free to play game I would be totally fine with this kind of content. "Just take a break dude, play other games." Not even starting on the lack of QoL, and systems that need polish / updating.

Ah yes, abandon your FC, community and friends that WANT to play the same game and WANT to enjoy content in it? That's single player mentality, and I swear this game is doing it's best to become a single player game instead of arranging things for the community to do together and creating systems that drive people together.


But then I realized it was simply for the reason that this game has barely any if any evergreen content, the gearing is not fun, stats lack any sort of nuance, materia is just for show, the leveling process is not a journey its just a chore of spamming same content over and over. The game is extremely alt unfriendly.

Go play other games = We have nothing of value to offer to you in a long term in our cycles and our systems are flawed and extremely surface level, please go enjoy games that do things better than us instead of us focusing on making our systems better.
The game won't die, it's 2nd only to WoW in numbers and both have their own crowds and some bounce between the two. No other MMO can compete against these. WoW has the gameplay cornered, FFXIV has the visuals and story...ish (Not so promising after EW and DT) and will continue along that path with the graphics being SLOOWLY updated.


I treat the game as it should be, an rp simulator. The gameplay has 0 meaning, the open world has 0 meaning aside from being pretty to look at.

[Mortex]

That's called burnout my dude.

I would say that if the game has interesting content that is designed for long time value that burnout normally is not that severe. Like it’s kinda ironic wow has too much grind while ff 14 has no good grind. Plus ff 14 is a story game and at the moment has the worst story it ever had ( I would argue even 1.0 had some cool moments while DT makes me go “Huhhhhh ????” In a number of moments. Wuk as a “main character” is just soooo boring and is just a black hole sue that can do nothing wrong and a decent number of strange plot choices and weird pacing on top.

Like I’m just here for the next ultimate and patch atm and stay subbed cause I do weeklies and help at the weekend people in the raids. But other then that I really have nothing fun too do in the game.

[Supersnow845]

14 is not in a position it needs to be sunset. Think RuneScape 3 has been “dying” for 15 years and has been overtaken by a game that’s functionally nostalgia bait for its own fanbase (OSRS) yet it’s still not even close to being sunset. It still has years of planned content ahead of it. 14 has had one bad expansion and a few sequential expansions of relatively stale design

HOWEVER

The game does seem to be reaching a point where if it doesn’t innovate in some way it’s going to experience a mass exodus soon. The “go play other games” mantra is tired and old at this point, telling someone who WANTS to play the game but simply has no content to do to go play other games doesn’t fix the problem and calling it burnout is just a flat lie

I’d say the game is getting decently close to a precipice but it’ll be totally fine if I can be pulled back by the end of 7.0, people in the future will just see it as a little poor speed bump like shadowlands. We haven’t hit our “evolution of combat” phase yet

[Havenchild]

This is a typical example of someone who I find tiring to interact with in this community, doing more harm than help to the extent that Yoshida himself is asking players to please don't quit so where these people got the idea telling players to quit would help FFXIV I do not know unless they are trolls. If your response to people who are airing their criticism and complaints is to simply dismiss them, that your response is to tell people to quit guess what is going to happen? They will quit and the player numbers reflect that reality, FFXIV is trending downwards you don't need to believe me look it up for yourself.

Finally here is YoshiP's own comment (albeit translated) asking players not to quit the game to not give up, to not retire to trust that content is coming, this is from PaxAus an evening with YoshiP.
https://i.imgur.com/ymLlDLM.png

Incorrect. My response is telling people to stop complaining ad nauseum now and instead vote with your wallets. Idk how you think continuing to spend money on a game you actively dislike and feel the devs aren't listening to you on is somehow the avenue to get your voices heard but I got news for you, that's a pretty idiotic move. If you want to see change, be the change they need to see and reflect on by leaving the game.

If more complainers did that, not only would the forums change for the better, but the game may genuinely improve.

[Swordsman]

Ultimately, the white knights reap what they sow. They defended the worst of this games choices over the years, and now the game they supposedly love is falling off like never before.

And surprisingly, some are still in a state of denial about this. There are players that will white knight for the multi-billion dollar company till their last breath.

Well since they can't figure out their own "spaghetti code" as they call it and blame it for every single problem they have, maybe it's time they actually do something about it and start working on a new game.

Yeah it would probably work wonders for their intentionally poorly designed netcode too provided they upgrade some of the server architecture along with it.

[Daeriion_Aeradiir]

Also, if the game is so congested, why is there a free log in campaign? That smells of low log in numbers.

They did free login campaigns during EW, the period of time in this game's history that had the *highest* active player counts based on the LuckyBancho census data recorded throughout the expansion.
There was even one during the leadup to EW (happened around July-ish iirc), which was when the huge player explosion was occuring so login numbers were already at highest recorded levels even before the campaign launched.

Whether they whip them out or not is not any indicator of low login numbers. They whip them out during periods where they believe they will have the most impact, like directly before & after Expansion launches, after larger patches, etc - these periods are often when people on the fence are most persuaded, so giving them a small taste will often convert many of them back into a month or two's sub.
It's business strategy 101, especially with live service/continued service products. Similar principle to companies giving discounts, it's an enticement meant to strategically strike.

[Archeron]

FFXIV doesn't innovate. The game is stagnant, they're not taking risks. It's the same formula every time. Linear story, meaningless dialogue options. Six zones, Two cities, Duties at levels _1, _3, _5, _7, _9, _0. Literally EVERYTHING down to fates, aether currents, quests - It's a carbon copy of the last expansion. This time with an insulting story with a "Mary Sue" stealing the spotlight at every oppurtunity, and our favorite characters being shoved aside. The difference this time being that SE has no excuses for what they've delivered. They had ample time, and resources to make Dawntrail something fantastic. Something amazing. Something new, exciting. But they chose to present us with another rinse and repeat expansion.

They need to take risks. Innovate on what they've built. Throw the formula that's been used for the last several expansions out the window. Dawntrail was supposed to be a new beginning. Why not implement meaningful dialogue choices? How about seperate pathways the story can take before they ultimately all meet up at the end? Why not break the 6 zone, 2 city formula? There are so many things they could do, but won't. They're just not interested in taking risks, and it's making the game stagnant, and stale. Ontop of that, the patches (Especially during Endwalker) were devoid of meaningful content. Patch 6.3, for a casual player may as well have been an insult for all the content it added, or lack thereof. Hope you were looking forward to another Island Sanctuary update! Wheee! When you experience these patches, and how light they are on content, you struggle to justify staying subscribed to this game (Especially if you're a veteran player with thousands of hours). The week PR responses they've given out suggest that they don't even understand why the community has issues with Dawntrail to begin with. They just aren't equipped to improve the game if you asked me.

The reality is that our feedback is not being considered by the dev team, and the only way to send a message to them, is by sending the message to their shareholders and exectuvies. Vote with your wallet. If the sub isn't worth your money anymore, unsub. If you don't want to unsubscribe , but still send a message, make sure the subsciption is the ONLY thing you are paying them for. No mogstation, no merchandise, don't attend live events, and ignore their live streams. When social media engagement drops off, that is a big warning sign that their game is really dropping off.

I don't think they even have the resources to produce another MMORPG, XIV is all we've got for the near and distant future.

[BabyYoda]

I used to be apart of the crowd that said that the "Go play other games" was such a chill approach, and removed pressure from you. Don't get me wrong, its good not to lock you hostage, but an MMO is meant to be played and its job is to keep you engaged because you are paying a SUB FOR IT. You are PAYING MONTHLY for it. If this was a free to play game I would be totally fine with this kind of content. "Just take a break dude, play other games." Not even starting on the lack of QoL, and systems that need polish / updating.

Ah yes, abandon your FC, community and friends that WANT to play the same game and WANT to enjoy content in it? That's single player mentality, and I swear this game is doing it's best to become a single player game instead of arranging things for the community to do together and creating systems that drive people together.


But then I realized it was simply for the reason that this game has barely any if any evergreen content, the gearing is not fun, stats lack any sort of nuance, materia is just for show, the leveling process is not a journey its just a chore of spamming same content over and over. The game is extremely alt unfriendly.

Go play other games = We have nothing of value to offer to you in a long term in our cycles and our systems are flawed and extremely surface level, please go enjoy games that do things better than us instead of us focusing on making our systems better.
The game won't die, it's 2nd only to WoW in numbers and both have their own crowds and some bounce between the two. No other MMO can compete against these. WoW has the gameplay cornered, FFXIV has the visuals and story...ish (Not so promising after EW and DT) and will continue along that path with the graphics being SLOOWLY updated.


I treat the game as it should be, an rp simulator. The gameplay has 0 meaning, the open world has 0 meaning aside from being pretty to look at.

You actually said it 100%