The issue with Dawntrail and importance of 8.0

[ViinaS]

As we are all aware (I think) Dawntrail has and most likely will continue to have massive issues.
Those were extensively talked about on other threats before, so I'll just skip over it.

• Lack of non-raid Content
• Bad MSQ
• Bad depiction of characters
• Very formulaic
• Stretched Patch Cycle
• Devs turned tonedeaf
• EN localization group taking too many freedoms
• Lack of long-lasting content

These things caused a decline in population, but even more pressing I think is that it heavily damages the image of FFXIV and devs.
People turned more critical and are not longer willing to ignore most issues (unless Reddit and Social Media of course, those people are beyond help).

All in all a lot of goodwill and trust was lost.

And that's where the importance of 8.0 comes in.

8.0 Can not be lackluster/bad like Dawntrail is. It also can't afford the luxury of being mid.
They keep saying 8.0 is going to be the expansion where they plan to rework all classes.
Frankly I don't trust them to actually commit to that.
Their recent changes to jobs have been either lazy or destructive to fit them into the 2 minute Meta.

So that's one point that is very important they manage to do well.


Then there's the usual content an expansion brings. MSQ.
They need it to be a hit. No way around that. If that fails flat on its face they are in for a very rough time and given how long one expansion lasts nowadays I don't think another bad MSQ is something FFXIV will survive in a healthy state.

Finally they have to throw their release cycle formular in the trahs and finally adapt and adress the issues that plagued it.

So I'm gonna say it:
8.0 is most likely gonna be FFXIVs breaking point
If the devs screw it up I don't think FFXIV will be able to recover from it. FFXIV isn't WoW, I doubt it can take 2 bad expansions back to back.

The devs really have to strap in and deliver on their claims and promises.

My following take now is completely subjective and only speaks for me, but:
I don't think they will be able to. I think they will stick to their formular and screw it up.

[Basteala]

I agree that they can't afford for 8.0 to be a miss, but...EN taking too many liberties? What happened this time? What'd I miss?

[PorxiesRCute]

I agree that they can't afford for 8.0 to be a miss, but...EN taking too many liberties? What happened this time? What'd I miss?

The people who say this will never bother explaining what they mean.

I can think of a few examples, but I doubt that's what they mean? Like:

* Haurchefant's characterization, but that was four expansions ago
* Midgardsormr's dialogue when you first meet him being way more ominous in English than Japanese, but that was also four expansions ago
* The DRK storyline was completely changed, but that was also three-four expansions ago
* English voice directors not giving proper direction to the VAs -- not just Wuk Lamat, there's also the infamous example where Colin Ryan was told to "make a noise" but didn't know Alphinaud would be falling into water when he made that noise; there's also the absolutely garbage voice direction the Mage Soul and Pugilist Soul in P9 were given; but this is, again, a voice direction issue, not a translation issue
* Too many silly puns in quest names? Those are quest names. They barely matter. The silliest ones are usually the ones that extra don't matter, like sidequests and FATEs.

Mind, if there are actual examples, I would love to see them in place of the vagueposting this topic always attracts.

[Jeeqbit]

The people who say this will never bother explaining what they mean.

What they mean is that when they put the Japanese text into Google Translate, it's not the same as the English Localization.

But of course there is a reason for that. The Japanese version makes references to Japanese culture that we would not understand because of not being Japanese. The idea of referencing Japanese culture and history is to "create emotions" for the player to feel. So if you read a reference to Japanese culture and don't know what it refers to, then it doesn't evoke an emotion.

To solve this issue, localization teams try to refer to culture that the relevant language readers understand in order to evoke similar emotions that the writers were intending the player to feel. To make sure this is the case, they consult with the writers directly to make sure they are evoking the intended emotions and conveying it in the intended way and ask them multiple times in different ways to make sure they got it right, particularly for the MSQ.

[Supersnow845]

I still don’t know why they still refuse to actually move anything around and are still committing everything to the nebulous future beyond their immediate plans

Like they could win everyone back basically right now by moving some of those job reworks forward into the 7.x patches and show us NOW what 8.0 will complete

Instead they ignore us, We stew in our annoyance and build up 8.0 as this magical healing balm they are never going to live up to and the population collapses in real time

If they have a pipeline that stops this it’s obviously not working. Is “population is collapsing” not a valid reason to deviate from their structure?

[Carighan]

Like they could win everyone back basically right now by moving some of those job reworks forward into the 7.x patches and show us NOW what 8.0 will complete

Yeah but c an you imagine player rage if the next two savage tiers are cancelled, for example?

It'd be healthier for the game, for sure. But the tears would completely flood the server room, short-circuiting everything!

[Lilapop]

Yeah but c an you imagine player rage if the next two savage tiers are cancelled, for example?

It'd be healthier for the game, for sure. But the tears would completely flood the server room, short-circuiting everything!

Oh, no! Poor raiders!

Anyway.

[Exmo]

Nah Dawntrail was great. Don't worry about it.

[NegativeS]

Nah Dawntrail was great. Don't worry about it.

[FemmeFatale]

Nah Dawntrail was great. Don't worry about it.

Dawntrail isn't perfect but it's is vastly better than ARR.

I swear Dawntrail [REDACTED] riders don't know their arse from their elbow.

Something something ''Reviews for Dawntrail don't count'' something something, yeah yeah yeah, whatever helps you cope, darling.