FF14 player count reached the lowest point in 4 years. We lost 75% of the playerbase.

[Jason_Ashford]

It isn’t desirable to lose 110% of your competitors customers that they conveniently dumped in your lap

it's also unrealistic to assume players are going to stay subbed when there's very little to do for people in the end game at this time. the long term content wont be here until 7.35, and a lot of people choose to take a break between major expansions because they dont care about raids and such. WoW has also been doing better with their game so more people want to go play that atm.

we shouldn't start doomsaying when the game has a history of low activity during this time period.

[Striker44]

It isn’t desirable to lose 110% of your competitors customers that they conveniently dumped in your lap

Hard to say. WoW may be a "competitor," but it's not practically the exact same thing like shopping at Lowe's vs. Home Depot. FFXIV and WoW may both be MMO's, but they have very different designs and very different target audiences. WoW a long time ago went all in on the e-sports scene and views questing and leveling as more of an inconvenience where the end-game is really what matters; FFXIV emphasizes the journey itself, the story, the RP scene, etc. and has a much friendlier playerbase in-game as a result. The "exiles" from WoW didn't come here because they actually liked FFXIV; they came here because they were leaving WoW and we're the only other real destination that exists in most people's minds.

Long story short - they were never going to stay, and it's actually quite impressive that a sizable portion of them stayed as long as they did. FFXIV would have had to radically and fundamentally change the game if it wanted any hope of keeping them long-term, and even then it may not have worked (while simultaneously crashing its own game). From my view, FFXIV made the right call in staying true to what makes FFXIV what it is.

tbf endwalkers story is also pretty bad. people like it because its the conclusion to the story. but that is all it is. they took everything the story had and ended it.
its more of a checklist to end things than an actually well-written story.

TBF, every expansion is terrible according to the forums. SHB is widely viewed as the "best" expansion, but it also seriously retconned a lot of the previous lore about the Asicans, Sundering, etc.. If you were around the forums during the SHB days, guess who was posting the most...yep, the people who didn't like the retcons. Then EW came along and retconned some of the retcons. It's widely viewed as the 2nd best expansion, but likewise just got trashed here on the forums. Now that DT is the current one, it gets ****ped on while EW gets the praise it never got when it was current. It's just human nature - people come here to complain, while those having fun are more likely just playing the game itself.

[BlisteringFrost]

Hard to say. WoW may be a "competitor," but it's not practically the exact same thing like shopping at Lowe's vs. Home Depot. FFXIV and WoW may both be MMO's, but they have very different designs and very different target audiences. WoW a long time ago went all in on the e-sports scene and views questing and leveling as more of an inconvenience where the end-game is really what matters; FFXIV emphasizes the journey itself, the story, the RP scene, etc. and has a much friendlier playerbase in-game as a result. The "exiles" from WoW didn't come here because they actually liked FFXIV; they came here because they were leaving WoW and we're the only other real destination that exists in most people's minds.

Long story short - they were never going to stay, and it's actually quite impressive that a sizable portion of them stayed as long as they did. FFXIV would have had to radically and fundamentally change the game if it wanted any hope of keeping them long-term, and even then it may not have worked (while simultaneously crashing its own game). From my view, FFXIV made the right call in staying true to what makes FFXIV what it is.



TBF, every expansion is terrible according to the forums. SHB is widely viewed as the "best" expansion, but it also seriously retconned a lot of the previous lore about the Asicans, Sundering, etc.. If you were around the forums during the SHB days, guess who was posting the most...yep, the people who didn't like the retcons. Then EW came along and retconned some of the retcons. It's widely viewed as the 2nd best expansion, but likewise just got trashed here on the forums. Now that DT is the current one, it gets ****ped on while EW gets the praise it never got when it was current. It's just human nature - people come here to complain, while those having fun are more likely just playing the game itself.

You and I have very, VERY different experiences of the playerbase in FF14. I see even more toxicity just passively watching a chat on an average day than I see in WoW in a week. It's not to say nobodys Toxic in WoW. Just open Trade chat and you immediately have 30 reportable posts right away. But when most of FF14 playerbase is showing toxicity as soon as they open their metaphorical mouth it's not a good look to those of us who actually see it.

Ignoring it, or pretending it doesn't happen because most of the reasonable or, perhaps, smarter players just don't talk generally doesn't mean it isn't there.

FF14 has even brought peoples attention to the notion of Toxic Positivity more than anything else has in recent history of internet culture. Especially after the release of Endwalker where 25% of the story is LITERALLY an entire civilization being toxic-positive to a guy with depression, which almost destroyed the world.

[RedLolly]

You and I have very, VERY different experiences of the playerbase in FF14. I see even more toxicity just passively watching a chat on an average day than I see in WoW in a week. It's not to say nobodys Toxic in WoW. Just open Trade chat and you immediately have 30 reportable posts right away. But when most of FF14 playerbase is showing toxicity as soon as they open their metaphorical mouth it's not a good look to those of us who actually see it.

Ignoring it, or pretending it doesn't happen because most of the reasonable or, perhaps, smarter players just don't talk generally doesn't mean it isn't there.

I've played for 12 years and can count reports I've made on one hand, and I've never been confronted by a GM. This always concerns me when another player mentions their experience has been this bad when so many of us never see that. I send random tells all the time if I see a sick glamour or some such. It's never an issue. Ever.

But I've also never touched WoW. For years it was the fear of it being vile towards me, a woman, but nowadays it's just genuinely that it doesn't look as enjoyable to me since I care way more about lore and story and Blizzard is all over the place with that. I got annoyed by it in early Overwatch (which was supposed to be an MMO) being so messy and disjointed and that's just gotten worse over the years.

[Kohashi]

Long story short - they were never going to stay, and it's actually quite impressive that a sizable portion of them stayed as long as they did. FFXIV would have had to radically and fundamentally change the game if it wanted any hope of keeping them long-term, and even then it may not have worked (while simultaneously crashing its own game). From my view, FFXIV made the right call in staying true to what makes FFXIV what it is.

A great portion of the people complaining nonstop in these forums are past WOW players. You will very often see them also mentioning how WoW is the superior choice in every single aspect, especially class design, yet they are still here playing FF14.

[Alice_Rivers]

The game does have a history of low activity in the middle of the expansion but that history shows us that it never drops below the numbers of the previous expansion before and starts improving with the .3 patch.

[Supersnow845]

Let’s just ignore players who never played WOW but also acknowledge WOW turned itself around and that FF could have learnt a thing or two and maybe learned it before all the WOW players vanished. I’d like to see some sweeping changes in this game and if those sweeping changes were also there to attempt to hold the WOW players then that in my eyes is a good thing

The notion of “purity of the 14 experience” that people seem to have is just stupid. If you have a large playerbase change you work to incorporate the new playerbase, that’s part of the evolution of a game. You don’t dig in your heels and go “put up or shut up”

Nor is the older 14 playerbase remotely unified on the idea that 14 shouldn’t change and that only WOW players wanted it changed

[Daralii]

Let’s just ignore players who never played WOW but also acknowledge WOW turned itself around and that FF could have learnt a thing or two and maybe learned it before all the WOW players vanished. I’d like to see some sweeping changes in this game and if those sweeping changes were also there to attempt to hold the WOW players then that in my eyes is a good thing

The notion of “purity of the 14 experience” that people seem to have is just stupid. If you have a large playerbase change you work to incorporate the new playerbase, that’s part of the evolution of a game. You don’t dig in your heels and go “put up or shut up”

Nor is the older 14 playerbase remotely unified on the idea that 14 shouldn’t change and that only WOW players wanted it changed

The ideal XIV experience is one where only a single person hasn't unsubscribed. That way there's no worrying about toxicity or the people that had their souls irreparably poisoned from contact with WoW, and no fear of their complaints reaching the developers and ruining the flawless state of job design.

[syldon]

SE really just needs to just talk to the players who have quit early. There is a lot of guestimation going on here. Why not get a response from the horses mouth instead.

[Infindox]

it's also unrealistic to assume players are going to stay subbed when there's very little to do for people in the end game at this time. the long term content wont be here until 7.35, and a lot of people choose to take a break between major expansions because they dont care about raids and such. WoW has also been doing better with their game so more people want to go play that atm.

we shouldn't start doomsaying when the game has a history of low activity during this time period.

There isn't even much long term content in 7.35. Deep Dungeon with the new system is nice, but most people will do it once or a few times, then leave again. Daily society quests until you finish them, Hildi quests which are done day one, and the Monster Hunter collab, which is just two different fights.
Not trying to doomtalk about the game, but a big issue is how they drip feed the content lately. And the content that was supposed to be "the big thing" failed miserably.