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

[Supersnow845]

And people shouldnt forget one thing we are currently at the same situation as in every expansion before, the time between Expansion Release and x.2 where the Content drops was always dry as hell, now with a bad Story and the fact that long term player already did every old content the playernumbers drop even more, give us 7.2 and you see how much the playerbase starts to get up again

its the same in every damn expansion, when do people finally understand it?

You know what’s different

The story was trash so the playerbase cratered and the longer patch cycle means it craters harder

[AvoSturmfaust]

You know what’s different

The story was trash so the playerbase cratered and the longer patch cycle means it craters harder

yea thats why i said the story is bad and we are now at a point where even old content is done, so the playerbase drops even more

take me as example, i did so much stuff with my main even the damn triple triad mount (which was such a huge pain) i even finished the choco breeding etc etc etc

[Valence]

its the same in every damn expansion, when do people finally understand it?

**It's been the same since Stormblood.

[Red-thunder]

I’m here because I believe FF14 can always improve.

Those with little faith and lesser fire won't be. I'll be here shielding the last spark from going out.

It's actually a cult at this point.

[Striker44]

We were going to lose WOW refugees

That’s only a given if you do what 14 did……..absolutely nothing at all

If a competitor dumps half of thier customers in your lap for free you move heaven and earth to keep them not throw up your arms without even trying.

Not trying is just the name of the game at the moment

No. It's a given that you're going to lose them unless you seriously change major things about your game. By the time of the "WoW Exodus", it's population had dropped from an all-time high of around 12 million active players during WotLK to about 1/6 of that. That's still a ton of people, but it was well after they went all-in on the e-sports scene with M+, Arena Tournaments, and the like. The kind of player that was still around to be part of the exodus has a very different gaming profile than the kind of person that FFXIV was designed for (consider how widespread toxicity is in random groups in WoW compared to being very rare in FFXIV). To "keep" those people, FFXIV would have needed to change what it is at its core to be sufficiently similar to WoW, because most of those "refugees" still enjoy playing WoW-style games at heart. Again, they didn't come here because they loved the design of FFXIV; they came here because they were protesting something about WoW and we were the only other "hot" game on the market (plus had a few streamers come over - again a big difference).

The story was trash so the playerbase cratered and the longer patch cycle means it craters harder

I'll ask again - how has the playerbase "cratered"? Someone posted the Steam charts. At this point (8 months after expansion release), the average number of daily logins has declined by ~40%. At the same point in EW, it had declined by ~49%. At the same point in ShB (largely considered the "best" expansion the game has had), it had declined by ~39%. I see nothing outside the normal cyclical nature of the population occurring.

[Clockworks]

No. It's a given that you're going to lose them unless you seriously change major things about your game. By the time of the "WoW Exodus", it's population had dropped from an all-time high of around 12 million active players during WotLK to about 1/6 of that. That's still a ton of people, but it was well after they went all-in on the e-sports scene with M+, Arena Tournaments, and the like. The kind of player that was still around to be part of the exodus has a very different gaming profile than the kind of person that FFXIV was designed for (consider how widespread toxicity is in random groups in WoW compared to being very rare in FFXIV). To "keep" those people, FFXIV would have needed to change what it is at its core to be sufficiently similar to WoW, because most of those "refugees" still enjoy playing WoW-style games at heart. Again, they didn't come here because they loved the design of FFXIV; they came here because they were protesting something about WoW and we were the only other "hot" game on the market (plus had a few streamers come over - again a big difference).



I'll ask again - how has the playerbase "cratered"? Someone posted the Steam charts. At this point (8 months after expansion release), the average number of daily logins has declined by ~40%. At the same point in EW, it had declined by ~49%. At the same point in ShB (largely considered the "best" expansion the game has had), it had declined by ~39%. I see nothing outside the normal cyclical nature of the population occurring.

Everything is fine I see nothing wrong here - Striker44

[Xrono_Amber]

But I digress back to Maelstrom Negativity. Constantly dwelling on what’s wrong fails in achieving good results - because once the complaints are known, complaining about it more doesn't change anything.
You stop being constructive in critique and you start forming a tumor in your own community that kills off all enjoyment of the game in good faith. Listen to some of these comments, oozing in bad faith.

The beatings shall continue until the quality improves. You want to know why? Because critics are often the most ardent fans of the game. You may not agree with the quality of their criticism or their wishes, but they are interested in improving the game. And most of the complaints are not new. Speed of content release. The length of content. The amount of content being released. The customization of races. The user interface. Even buying of the game is a quest, unclear to whom it is necessary. But when criticism continues year after year with no reaction or response, people become apathetic. And apathy is the death of the game. Not fierce love, not ferocious hate. Apathy.

FF14 became popular and we received a lot of WoWfugees during the pandemic.
We were going to lose them eventually.

Now ask yourself the question, why did we lose them all? If the game is great, why didn't this horde of people stay in it for long? Yes, of course any game loses its audience, it's inevitable. But for single-player games it's natural, since it's a one-time purchase. MMOs are supposed to keep people engaged. Maybe not literally every day for a year, but at least most of that year. The number of potential new players is not infinite. And having lost this huge influx of players almost completely, I honestly don't know where this game will continue to get new ones to replace the departing veterans. Games rarely die in one fell swoop. But if players feel that they are dissatisfied with the game and the game doesn't want to change, that's the beginning of the end. Why do you think criticism has become such a popular opinion in this particular expansion? Because complaints about the quality of the story were added to the criticisms that were already there. And the story is practically the only piece of content designed for casuals, the largest category of players~

[DPZ2]

The problem with Steam statistics is that they only report the number of active players at any given time that access the game through Steam.

What they don't report:

How many Steam players remain subscribed but are not logging in every hour of the day?

How many of that "average number of players" are the same players every hour of every day.

How many Steam players with active subscriptions were off playing Black Myth: Wukong during their "average number of players" time slot on any given day.

[Nadda]

words

The question is what is the constructive use of your negativity spiral?

You're not being constructive anymore - Constructive critics want to see the game improve and offer solutions.
The Criticisms are known what are you bringing new to the conversation out of all this stamping of feet and gnashing of teeth?

All you're doing is cultivating a group of like-minded negative thinkers stewing in the juices of an impudent rage, killing all joy and good faith like a tumor.
Malicious negativity festers, creates an echo chamber, and drives people away.

The potential for new players is infinite and you're killing them off with self-fulfilling dread. You are the toxic seed of all Apathy.
When a community is flooded with people repeating the same doomsday rhetoric, it doesn’t inspire change—it just makes people stop caring altogether.

The issues with the game are known to me. I just have more faith and patience that's the only difference.

[missTori]

I did the valentiones event on Crystal-goblin the FIRST DAY it came out. I couldn't believe how few people were in old gridania. A lot of people are getting bored with the game.
In my case, if I had actual friends to play with, then i wouldn't want to quit all the time. I've played this game a LOT..since end of 2019. taken a lot of breaks.