Feedback while I can.

[Zairava]

Maybe this will reach the dev team, maybe it'll actually help, maybe neither will happen. Maybe you won't agree with what I have to say here, that's fine. I just want to put leave my voice here while I have the chance because my days are numbered since I'm no longer subbed to the game. I don't really want to sound all "doomer" or whatever, but it may come off that way.

I tried, man. I tried my hardest to keep my motivation to keep playing this game but I just can't. Even just to do dailies and that's it, but no luck. Not even friends or my sibling playing was enough to keep me going. It's etching really close to the point where I can just no longer care.

Jobs
I can't take the endless streamlining and simplification of jobs. None of them feel unique or special in any way except maybe Black Mage and Pictomancer (From what I've heard, I'm not going to resub just to torture myself leveling it). It's all just a different variant of burst every one or two minutes with a different coat of paint. Viper didn't even last a 3 days before changes got announced.

Dot's keep getting removed, maintenance buffs keep getting removed, anything with actual flavor just continues getting axed. No execute abilities, either. If they're so boring then design them in the kit in such a way that doesn't make them boring. WoW does this with several classes and specs.

The gameplay itself is just horrifically monotonous and dull. I hate saying this when when I initially joined it was some of the most fun I've had in mmo, but I cannot stand this boring class gameplay anymore. When I swap jobs I don't feel like I'm bringing something else to the table that actually matters that that job in particular provides, I just feel like I'm bringing another version of the job I was already playing. I'm continuously biting an overcooked chicken with no seasoning. When the pvp version of your classes are more fun and diverse to play than your pve variants in an mmo where pve is the general content focus point this is a blatant sign you've taken a wrong turn.

And another ginormous problem I have is how bloody long changes to the jobs actually take to roll out and how untransparent they are beforehand. Where you have to wait until the next expansion to see any changes with any actual meat to them. And if they flop or aren't good? Have fun waiting another 2 to 2 1/2 years I guess. It feels like shit.

Content
Content takes absolutely forever to come out, we're still several months away from even getting the field zone.

I will say the general fight design is being improved, I enjoyed them a whole lot more so far than Endwalker's even as someone who hasn't pugged savage since 5.2. However once you learn the fight it still becomes incredibly scripted and you begin to rely on your job to fill that gap, which...see my above section.

We're getting what's essentially EX alliance raids with 7.1 and it's something I've long requested for as well, but it's such a crappy time for me personally to finally be getting it, when I've lost nearly all my motivation to play the game.

I might come back to see how the field zone feels, but that's about it unless sweeping changes come to the jobs. And I know that isn't happening anytime soon.

Story
I did enjoy DT initially but when looking back through it I had much, much more problems with it. I'm not a story focused person regarding MMO's and there's countless other threads regarding this issue with people who can put them miles better than I ever could.

What I will say is, though...This insistent doubling down from Yoship on Wuk Lamat being some great character is some of the most tone-deaf I've seen him, and that's including with job design. The fact he refuses to acknowledge the fact that she just isn't a good character and that's why a large majority of people will put her as their least favorite character is honestly doing more harm than good.

Wrapping this up
Again, you can disagree with me, that's fine. I'm glad you still can and will continue to enjoy the game. However, at some point I just need to call it quits. I'm not going to sacrifice my mental health giving them money for a product I've faithfully supported changes for for years just for it to never improve the gameplay I've left feedback for. Maybe one day I'll have a reason to come back, maybe one day I'll be eating my words, and I hope I will. I want to see this game be better and stronger than ever. I just won't be playing the game before it happens.

Best of luck guys, intend your devastation.

[Avoidy]

I was just talking to my friend about this the other day. I never know what dps job to play anymore because they all sort of feel the same to me. And that's the best case scenario. In the worst case, the job feels worse to me and I don't want to play it anymore, period. And this is coming from someone who ran Aglaia over 180 times when it released, and did delubrum reginae probably over 300 times while it was current. I can do the same thing over and over again for a while before I'm tired of it. But these jobs, man. idk. They wear thin real fast.

[Jeeqbit]

The job uniqueness is an issue. Fortunately they've acknowledged. But they aren't gonna address it until 8.0 (2 years and a bit) so it's certainly worthwhile unsubbing until then if you can't handle how it is now.

As far as content coming out, realistically it's hard for anyone to produce content that frequently. Take subscription services. Getting new stuff for any given series every month for any franchise rarely happens because the writing, filming and editing takes time. Same with games.

I think what people really want with content is for the content they do produce to be done in a way that can be played long term like Field Operations, rather than completing it once and being done with it. Mechanic randomness plays into that as well.

[Supersnow845]

The job uniqueness is an issue. Fortunately they've acknowledged. But they aren't gonna address it until 8.0 (2 years and a bit) so it's certainly worthwhile unsubbing until then if you can't handle how it is now.

As far as content coming out, realistically it's hard for anyone to produce content that frequently. Take subscription services. Getting new stuff for any given series every month for any franchise rarely happens because the writing, filming and editing takes time. Same with games.

I think what people really want with content is for the content they do produce to be done in a way that can be played long term like Field Operations, rather than completing it once and being done with it. Mechanic randomness plays into that as well.

This would be a valid point if they didn’t constantly slow down the content cadence over time

EW had longer patch cycles than ShB it less content and ShB had longer patch cycles than SB with less content. Now DT is looking to be even longer and they still can’t figure out making your first patch the longest and shoving all your repeatable content into the deep patches doesn’t work; especially when the story is garbage

[Sinstrel]

I think what people really want with content is for the content they do produce to be done in a way that can be played long term like Field Operations, rather than completing it once and being done with it. Mechanic randomness plays into that as well.

I think that although this is true, it is a byproduct of what I really want. And what I really want is for the content they create to be fun plain and simple. Bozja's lost action system is fun, Eureka's atmosphere and feeling of danger and adventure is fun, Crystal Conflict is fun, ergo they can be played long term for me. I don't care at all about any of the rewards any of these pieces of content have, I que in because it's fun.

The vast majority of the gameplay in general lately has been one-and-done for me because it just isn't fun after I've done it once. Fun is different for everyone, but games that do manage to create fun are usually the games that zero in on what type of experience they want to deliver with the game they want to create and perfect it. Helldivers 2, World of Warcraft, Baldur's Gate 3, Super Smash Brothers, all of these games provide a very specific type of experience that is fun. They aren't for everyone, but a LOT of people enjoy each of these. For XIV, it's main fun factor was it's story driven narrative that had everyone excited throughout the MSQ, bursting with suspense and speculation about what would happen next in the coming patches/expansions. I remember re-playing the MSQ of ARR-ShB three times because it was so rich, to go back and pick up all the nuance and lore I missed so that I could try and speculate about what was coming next. But they insult my intelligence with this Dawntrail MSQ. This "world building" was a complete joke, and very little to speculate about. The avg age of players of this game is probably around 30+ yrs old, yet the story felt written for an elementary school children's audience.

The problem I think is this "theme park" approach being taken these days. The game has plenty of stuff to do, but very little of it is well done. There are a few folks who have insane amounts of fun with variant dungeons, island sanctuary, etc. But if Dawntrail's world-wide reception is any indication... this game isn't fun anymore for a lot of people. Even China's reception of Dawntrail's recent release (for them) was extremely poor.

I watched my sister playing her Pictomancer in leveling roulette Halatali and literally only have 1 button. This is gameplay in 2024?

[Ritsugamesh]

It's a sad read, partly because it is another one of our own stepping away from a lack of satisfaction and partly because I've been on the same cusp for months now. I really hoped Dawntrail was the revitalisation they had talked about, the fresh entry into a new decade of FFXIV, a new world, more risks and innovation. We got absolutely nothing of the sort. The exact expansion plan copy/pasted from HW to DT. Even the marketing - 'SCIONS DIVIDED!!!' was a total joke. One drop of a boulder in an early dungeon and after that we're all best buds again. I actually feel lied to and cheated by this expansion honestly.

I agree that content takes time but other MMOs put out plenty more at a greater pace and with less funding than FFXIV. Furthermore, if people are enjoying the moment-to-moment gameplay the content cadence matters less, but the job situation is so unbelievably dire that we can't do the same daily roulette locking half our kit away and be happy anymore. I certainly can't.

All my friends have dropped off, my FC the last other login compared to mine is 20 days, next closest 60, and the only content I can do now is solo deep dungeon, PF content to get gear that literally won't matter in a few months (not that it matters now because everything is easily completable without top gear) and daily roulettes to get tomes to... Get gear to... Complete the same content a little bit quicker. There's just nothing to be excited about that isn't a far-off horizon in a years' time with no information about what the feature will be. I'm fully expected island sanctuary 2.0 - huge talk up, a giant island, exploration! No, enjoy your spreadsheet resource manager. What in the hell are we doing SE??

[Wojnar]

I really hoped Dawntrail was the revitalisation they had talked about, the fresh entry into a new decade of FFXIV, a new world, more risks and innovation. We got absolutely nothing of the sort. The exact expansion plan copy/pasted from HW to DT. Even the marketing - 'SCIONS DIVIDED!!!' was a total joke. One drop of a boulder in an early dungeon and after that we're all best buds again. I actually feel lied to and cheated by this expansion honestly.

I have the same thoughts, it was CP2077-level marketing.

[Valence]

We're getting what's essentially EX alliance raids with 7.1 and it's something I've long requested for as well, but it's such a crappy time for me personally to finally be getting it, when I've lost nearly all my motivation to play the game.

... Until you learn that this is not an EX alliance raid, this is a single EX boss with 24 players.

[Volgia]

... Until you learn that this is not an EX alliance raid, this is a single EX boss with 24 players.

I appreciate the boss, but kind of miss the opportunity to have a true 24 man EX alliance raid. Would have done the uneven patches a lot of good to have something like that to works towards.