"Play other Games" and what comes next

[Gurgeh]

So...
Subbed and played for (over) 4 years straight. Had a wonderfull time taking three years to get form ARR to end of ShB , 'just' in time for EW.

I've now unsubbed twice in... well 2 months. Unsub, wait a month, resub, and unsub at the end of that month's sub.

I've posted before about why I left the first time. (all friends gone after clearing but discouraging EW Exs and huge difficulty jump, 7 week Singularity unreal prog burn out, casual drought of EW, and then the DT MSQ and almost a 'promise' of more drought. Having to tear up estates and leave remaining hope of those friends to flee a Chaos DC with few people ever logged on who even all casual unlocked. And only a promise not to expect cross DC PF for now.)

This time, I only came back for a reason not related to the game. At the end of the day I have intermittent motor control issues, and I needed to test that. Gaming is a good way to see how well I am. But hey while I'm here lets clear Ex3 and try Chaotic (Well you can imagine how that went for someone who'd rather help people clear Icicles for the first time, than join a moody Ex farm abandon group. Something for which I get not a single Helio tome, not 1 gil. And people wonder why I'm gil poor.)

So I'm off to play other games. So when will I be back?

Well, I'm not paying £9 month sub+retainer just for some single Extreme.
I'm not paying £9 for some single alliance to sleep walk four times in the month.
I'm not paying £9 to spend any time farming boring casual rouls for gear with no social connection to keep me going, and not even a medium term reason to do anything. I don't care what content I need its tomes for gear for.
I'm certainly not investing heart in building connections because why will I stick around then if I'm not now.
I've got no pride in my little lala character now. So, there is just no grinding to collect anything I care about. Not minons, certainly not glam, not mounts, not emotes, not relics (see glam). My char is dead to me, this needs to be a divorce. Best thing. I'll just keep our meetings cordial if we have to meet.

So wait and save stuff up?
I don't find any casual stuff fun once party average item level hits around min+10 (if that)
I'm not interested in any High end content that's not still in the High end tab. (see item level)
Also, I basically only like fights if I can first take them as far as possible blind. I don't know how easy that is to do once a fights been out so long its dropped off high end.

continued...

[Gurgeh]

So what would I be prepared to come back for?

Think of how much a months Nextflix costs and what you get to consume for that. Think of the experience you get from an offline £30 indie game 'with no social'.

I'd come back for one of those Ex instances for about £7 absolute MAX not another 99p more. But, I need to be fully condifent I can get fully geared as though I'd never left. Which I can't be bothered to let anyone 'prove' to me is how the games gearing works. E.g. if Latest Tome gear and enhace and materia is what I could conceivably be wearing, thats what I need. Weapon too. 1 weeks gearing. 2 weeks prog. 1 week margin. And I don't have more than 2 hours a night to spare.
Honestly even without a cap, I just don't want to do any OPd casual instances. Not even 7 days worth. I'll do each instance once. New instances only. That's it. I'm logging in getting it done, and getting into Ex prog where there is reason for me to engage with at least some fellow players.
I might come back for normals, but the only reason to do them more than once is to gear. But gear for what now? I'm not paying another £10 for the 1 Extreme that comes after it. And I'm not saving it up to do it with others when its no longer high end.
This is not my world anymore, and I don't want to log in and "just spend time in it".

Well that can't happen.

I just cant imagine how this is going to work, now that the social part of the game is gone, and I'm not developing my character and all I've got left is 'playing' the encounters, and some OP casual conent that I don't really enjoy without the social and feeling 'invested' in the community/sprouts etc.

Why did I post this? In case SQX might be concerned there are others like me, and finding out empowers them to want to change something.

Take care all. Loved you. (for the second time)

[Kaurhz]

Honestly, I would say a lot of people that are still subbed, are subbed largely because of friends.

For myself personally, I probably would have gone on a long-term hiatus by now, if not for the fact of friends that I still have that are still playing and progressing. I think when it comes to most things that the developers try, I feel like they are largely creatively bankrupt, and/or directionally/strategically confused. - What I mean by this is from 1 expansion to the next, they don't seem to know what side of the fence they want to go for, or at the very least seem wholly incapable of balancing what they produce with the feedback they receive.

For what it's worth, I don't think there's a care in the world. If there were, they wouldn't need to be asking why peoples' friends are unsubbing or not playing the game.. I say this because if they cared they would have discovered the reason well over 4-5 years ago.

[OlafQuintessa]

Honestly, I would say a lot of people that are still subbed, are subbed largely because of friends.

For myself personally, I probably would have gone on a long-term hiatus by now, if not for the fact of friends that I still have that are still playing and progressing. I think when it comes to most things that the developers try, I feel like they are largely creatively bankrupt, and/or directionally/strategically confused. - What I mean by this is from 1 expansion to the next, they don't seem to know what side of the fence they want to go for, or at the very least seem wholly incapable of balancing what they produce with the feedback they receive.

For what it's worth, I don't think there's a care in the world. If there were, they wouldn't need to be asking why peoples' friends are unsubbing or not playing the game.. I say this because if they cared they would have discovered the reason well over 4-5 years ago.

Same here - I took a break for a few months and only decided to come back at Christmas because some friends were still playing. Agree that the devs just seem creatively bankrupt and only know how to follow a formula, both story-wise and content-wise. A response like "Just go and play another game" is really missing the point too. There are so many people who love ffxiv and have had great times playing it in the past. They want to play more. It's not just people moaning, it's simply that people want to have a good time again.

[BigCheez]

Honestly, I would say a lot of people that are still subbed, are subbed largely because of friends.

For myself personally, I probably would have gone on a long-term hiatus by now, if not for the fact of friends that I still have that are still playing and progressing. I think when it comes to most things that the developers try, I feel like they are largely creatively bankrupt, and/or directionally/strategically confused. - What I mean by this is from 1 expansion to the next, they don't seem to know what side of the fence they want to go for, or at the very least seem wholly incapable of balancing what they produce with the feedback they receive.

For what it's worth, I don't think there's a care in the world. If there were, they wouldn't need to be asking why peoples' friends are unsubbing or not playing the game.. I say this because if they cared they would have discovered the reason well over 4-5 years ago.

I wish I could say I was still subbed because of friends. My FC Discord is active all day with 20+ people chatting and hanging out in VC but there are rarely more than 2 people online in XIV.

I've said it a million times, but I'll keep saying it until they actually do something about it:

The exploration zone and relics needs to start by x.1 at the latest.

We get extreme trials, savage tiers and ultimate to keep the people who engage with them going for a while, but for the average player - there is legitimately no content that lasts more than 2 or 3 days until x.3 and most people have already given up and gone into hibernation until the next expansion by then. The amount of content that we get over the course of an expansion isn't exactly ideal but the issue is massively exacerbated by the order in which it's released.

[Reimmi]

Honestly, I would say a lot of people that are still subbed, are subbed largely because of friends.

For myself personally, I probably would have gone on a long-term hiatus by now, if not for the fact of friends that I still have that are still playing and progressing. I think when it comes to most things that the developers try, I feel like they are largely creatively bankrupt, and/or directionally/strategically confused. - What I mean by this is from 1 expansion to the next, they don't seem to know what side of the fence they want to go for, or at the very least seem wholly incapable of balancing what they produce with the feedback they receive.

For what it's worth, I don't think there's a care in the world. If there were, they wouldn't need to be asking why peoples' friends are unsubbing or not playing the game.. I say this because if they cared they would have discovered the reason well over 4-5 years ago.

I'm only perma subbed because i don't want to lose my mansion and i'm financially stable enough to justify that
I still log in every day to make a bit of gil here and there but it's really not worth the sub price

[CVXIV]

if you spent as much time making gil as you do baiting the forums, you'd be a gilionaire
seriously, it doesn't seem like you enjoy ffxiv at all, so what even brought you to the game in the first place
if you're not willing to engage with anything, or try to make meaningful connections to other players then what's the point

[Dastan]

People really misunderstand that quote. This is not a game meant to drop content every month. There's a reason why stuff only comes out 4 months at a time and tbh they could take even longer if they wanted to. When you are tired of playing this game, yes, it is probably wiser to go and do something else in your life. This game is really not meant to "no life" it, and yet we see people with complaint after complaint about the lack of content. They just don't want to do that. That's what the decision is. So you can continue complaining or literally use your time for something else. The devs don't want people to play until the point of becoming frustratingly exhausted. If you are not having fun, nobody is going to hate on you for leaving. That's the point of them saying that.

[Gurgeh]

People really misunderstand that quote. This is not a game meant to drop content every month. There's a reason why stuff only comes out 4 months at a time and tbh they could take even longer if they wanted to. When you are tired of playing this game, yes, it is probably wiser to go and do something else in your life. This game is really not meant to "no life" it, and yet we see people with complaint after complaint about the lack of content. They just don't want to do that. That's what the decision is. So you can continue complaining or literally use your time for something else. The devs don't want people to play until the point of becoming frustratingly exhausted. If you are not having fun, nobody is going to hate on you for leaving. That's the point of them saying that.

I think your right. And I'm not sure I've seen it that clearly before. Thank you.
It's why my friends left too at the end of the day. And that's the way it should be for the same reason.
(Got this nagging feeling if joined Light rather than chaos, that this wouldn't have happened. Though.)

Cyrus, you've spent too much time on Reddit, twitter, and Farm parties, and it's made you cynical.

If you've thought I've sounded rather too upset and emotional. Yup. That would be accurate.
I'm cynical too. Not because of twitter though.

[Gurgeh]

I think your right. And I'm not sure I've seen it that clearly before. Thank you.
It's why my friends left too at the end of the day. And that's the way it should be for the same reason.
(Got this nagging feeling if joined Light rather than chaos, that this wouldn't have happened. Though.)

Replying myself because I just found a hole in the "it's all a part of the grand design to create a game that your not supposed to 'no life'" theory.

I pretty much no lived DT MSQ. But I didn't just login in preorder release day, and then do nothing but MSQ. I took breaks of 1/3 day here and there. Went to bed on time. Kept helping my sprouts with their content. Did FATES 'organically' every time I found one while getting between A and B for my MSQ (did about 20 yellow side quests max if that in the way).
And when all was done I finished MSQ on 27 of July I think I worked out, and you know what "I REALLY ENJOYED DAWNTRAIL EXPANSION". No not best MSQ. But actually ok. I enjoyed the world, and the vibe. And the first was like a goddamn holiday abroad. It felt great. I stopped to spend 10 minutes gposing at every 'vista' and viewpoint I changed on, there were soooo many great ones. XIV has always been more than just the story. And DT was THE BEST expansion for some aspects . Very little of EW maps made an impression on me save the moon (I thought bunyville was just very meh). And some of them still feel almost irrelevant.

I've been criticised a lot on this forum because I took 2 weeks off work and how could I not be ready for at least week 3 of savage. Well I didn't plan ahead. Never occured to me I'd need to. Just assumed that was for day1 minIlvl racers.
Again, I assumed MSQ > start farming Normalraids > (just do the crafting stories in between previous) > re-unlock most mentor (try and enjoy the awful stories) > prog Extreme > Savage. And you'll reach the savage in time for about start week 3 savage with the other 'savage' casuals. But no. No crafters finished, and not enough Gil. (And no friends still subbed) And yes I was doing every roul but MSQ, like I always did, all custom deliveries like I always did.

No I don't think it's part of their grand plan. The only way to have content after casual is savage. And if you want to be any part of savage's 'shared' experience THAT'S when you are expected to 'no life' it.
You can either immerse yourself in the world, chill, add enjoy MSQ. Or you can skim read your way through an optimised MSQ, min/max your crafting , and be part of Savage.', but not both. Not unless you REALLY No Life it.

Nah they've not thought it through. They've slapped it together. They are getting casual all wrong to chase the solo gamers who just wants to mash 'A', and maybe convert to RP along the way, and they've transformed it into a really boring 'game'.
Meanwhile their other brain is chasing Savage WoW noLifer culture, and the two are incompatible making it really hard to 'transition' from one part of game to the other with every patch.
It might be why PF has starkly different the vibe it has. Not as much good influce broad spectrum gamers as there could be. It's not so but a lot "MY goal" gamers.

Yeah it's thinking of mine that has evolved this morning. And I might change my mind tomorrow again. But I'm feeling pretty convinced by this.

In the mean time that poster is right. Things are the way they are It is just a game. That might be what Yoshi means , "just move on".