MMO addiction

[Jeeqbit]

Do you think CS3 is still coasting on the goodwill of A Realm Reborn's launch? I think they are, atleast a little.

Among newer players, definitely. They often read the context on wikipedia or watch the Noclip documentary and so they start fresh with that context, whereas older players may have had time to let that wear off.

During the Rising, they always say they want to continue to innovate and make an enjoyable world for the players, but it feels much less genuine recently.

It doesn't feel like it's not genuine. It's more like they are just flat out slow at certain things and don't necessarily define these things the same as everyone else does ie. an enjoyable world would mean more instances, not changes to the open world.

the slow release period for major updates is causing me increased concern, especially given the lack of midcore content.

Their response to that has consistently been that we'll get it "soon" ie. in the 7.2x patch. People may not like that it takes until then, but they have been consistent in saying it (not to mention it was predictable due to their formula).

It has begun to feel as though behind the scenes they're not taking Quality Assurance checks

You are aware they have over 100 QA testers according to their credits (and I've seen them recruiting even more) and that they spend those months squashing bugs from thousands down to a few hundred or less? And the ones that remain of note are listed in "Known Issues" at the bottom of the patch notes. This was all explained in one of their development panels - it's not as if I'm making it up.

Idk why I find it so much harder to make friends in this game. Is it cuz im older? who knows lol.

It's not because you're older. People of all ages make lots of friends in this game. At the end of the day, you either know how to make friends in this game or you don't - age has nothing to do with it.

I made a post recently about ways to find social interaction. I've written such posts occasionally through the years https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...=1#post6626688

[RyoXander]

It's not because you're older. People of all ages make lots of friends in this game. At the end of the day, you either know how to make friends in this game or you don't - age has nothing to do with it.

I made a post recently about ways to find social interaction. I've written such posts occasionally through the years https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...=1#post6626688

Thanks for that read. I have come to the conclusion that the reason I "find it hard" to make friends is because I just don't care enough. I'm burned out from MMOs and really only casually play this one due to my "loyalty" to the Final Fantasy franchise. I have a bunch of wonderful friends on other games I play that are (at least for me) more fun. I dislike the mundane combat system in this game so there is little incentive to try to want to make friends to clear content with.

Like I said, thanks for the great read cuz it did help to clear things up.

[genuine_stranger]

Do you think CS3 is still coasting on the goodwill of A Realm Reborn's launch?.

In a way, yes.

This is just my personal take, so take it with a grain of salt.

I think the most goodwill came during Shadowbringers when FFXIV’s popularity exploded during the WoW exodus. That’s when the NoClip documentary gained traction, and content creators were praising the game to the skies. It felt like FFXIV was everywhere, with both big and small creators talking about it. With the track record of FFXIV’s earlier expansions and Shadowbringers’ quality, the dev team and direction looked incredibly promising. People bought in—and honestly, I think they were right to.

Then came Endwalker. While it was financially successful, it was also divisive and burned through some of that goodwill. The lackluster patches that followed only made it worse.

Now we’re at Dawntrail. Again, it’s financially successful, but it’s burned even more goodwill. At this point, I think most of it is gone. Sure, people will check out new expansions and return for patches, but unless CBU3 makes some big changes, the player numbers are likely to keep declining.

If you look at the SteamDB stats (which is really the only accessible source for tracking player activity), the player count is more or less the same as it was four years ago.

It seems like SE might have found a “happy medium,” where they can toss out mediocre expansions, churn through what’s left of the player base, and rely on that core group to sustain their income. Eventually, they could shift to maintenance mode with minimal updates while keeping the online store alive.

[Jeeqbit]

I think the most goodwill came during Shadowbringers when FFXIV’s popularity exploded during the WoW exodus. That’s when the NoClip documentary gained traction

Before that documentary, a lot of us had goodwill already, just because we ourselves knew the history anyway. The game had just been remade and the answers trailer played upon launching the game as a constant reminder of that, and from my perspective in ARR, every story patch was better than the last and that continued right up through Stormblood, culminating in Shadowbringers, where it hit diminishing returns.

From there, the sort of dungeons we get like Ghimlyt and Holminster Switch with garleans parachuting and villagers fleeing is just the norm and continues to be. It's amazing, don't get me wrong, but it hit a point where it's hard to particularly say the next dungeon with events happening in the background and top tier fantasy music is a big improvement. But I'd like to believe it's just due to diminishing returns.

I think the Noclip documentary was just useful for teaching newer players about the history and giving them the same feelings towards the developers that I had in ARR.

[genuine_stranger]

Before that documentary, a lot of us had goodwill already, just because we ourselves knew the history anyway. The game had just been remade and the answers trailer played upon launching the game as a constant reminder of that, and from my perspective in ARR, every story patch was better than the last and that continued right up through Stormblood, culminating in Shadowbringers, where it hit diminishing returns.

From there, the sort of dungeons we get like Ghimlyt and Holminster Switch with garleans parachuting and villagers fleeing is just the norm and continues to be. It's amazing, don't get me wrong, but it hit a point where it's hard to particularly say the next dungeon with events happening in the background and top tier fantasy music is a big improvement. But I'd like to believe it's just due to diminishing returns.

I think the Noclip documentary was just useful for teaching newer players about the history and giving them the same feelings towards the developers that I had in ARR.

Yeah, I should’ve clarified that I was talking about newer players who didn’t experience the journey the old guard went through, but -> ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I’ve had a similar experience, though, as I slowly made my way through the game. The story and world kept growing on me as I progressed through the expansions, culminating in ShB. I started playing around 5.1 or 5.2 (can’t remember exactly), but I took my time with everything and ended up catching up close to or right during the WoW exodus. Diamond Weapon was actually the first EX I farmed. Good times, lol.

The NoClip documentary made me appreciate FFXIV even more.

Then EW happened, and honestly, it just frustrated me with how they handled the story. The silver lining, though, is that it pushed me into a new hobby: writing stories and creating my own worlds. It’s a steep learning curve, but it’s super satisfying to figure out concepts, religions, societies, and how they all interact.

So... yay?

On the downside, the more time I spend writing, the more I notice some of the asspullery (or retconning?) writers use to justify new MacGuffins, plot armor, or other nonsense in stories, lol.

[genuine_stranger]

It doesn't help that it wouldn't be the first time they've done this, as this was basically what ended up happening to Final Fantasy 11.

So perhaps the reason Square-Enix is in no rush to steer Final Fantasy 14 away from the rocks is because they know already that they can crash into them full steam ahead and as long as there's enough people to keep the lights on, they're perfectly content with however many people drop off and never come back. And FF14 might be in an even better position to maintain that sort of maintenance mode because as far as I know, FF11 doesn't have a cash shop and modding community to maintain a stable number of people that will literally buy and subscribe just to stand around somewhere to chat and look pretty.

Throw in a mobile game to further grab up money for minimal effort and it's like we're going thorough some kind of "anti-1.0" era where Square-Enix literally believes they don't need to try anymore and have nothing to worry about no matter what they do (or don't do rather).

Honestly, I think the future of FFXIV will hinge on how well the mobile version performs. The potential install base for the mobile version is several times larger than PC and console combined. If it takes off, Square Enix could easily shift focus, rehash HW - DT, and sell them all over again, letting the retail version limp along until the mobile version catches up.

And then, who knows? People are often more willing to spend smaller amounts on store items in mobile games. I speak from personal experience.

If they market it right, it could end up with something akin to Genshin Impact but with a mandatory monthly fee on top.

[Azurarok]

How many threads have we had now telling people to unsub and whatnot since DT's dropped?

[genuine_stranger]

How many threads have we had now telling people to unsub and whatnot since DT's dropped?

Well, you see, we like to have a little circlejerk here. Just as things start to calm down, someone (like you, in this case) drops a snarky comment, which fires everyone up again. And voilà—a new thread is born, and the cycle continues.

[genuine_stranger]

Bruh, it just hit me.

Trusts would be absolutely perfect for gacha pulls. Think about it - different, limited-edition characters, some with boosted damage or utility, incentivizing meta units so you can clear everything solo without ever needing other players.

Kudos, Square Enix. Truly, kudos.