Thread: patch 7.2 or next expansion

Originally Posted by Kaurhz

So, I will probably admittedly stay subscribed regardless, mostly because of friends, rather than the actual content itself. This is reason enough for me, personally. So I know the below may ring hollow for some..

But as far as looking exclusively at the content... 7.2 will really be the last chance for me, where the last sliver of optimism goes away. It's just generally not healthy to keep with the line of thinking "Maybe next expansion will be better". I would just rather treat this as something to hang with friends, whether that's helping them with content, or just having laughs on a mutual game... Rather than an actual game where I come here exclusively for the content.

I used to play exclusively for the content, regardless of what friends I may have made, but these days I am almost playing exclusively because of friends. It's just a state of... Not a very good game, but an OK social simulator (if you manage to make friends).

I think that's fair, if you don't enjoy the gameplay, just the social aspects of it, then it's not really worth the money for you. I think a lot of people need to ask themselves did they ever like the gameplay of FFXIV or we're they only playing because they liked the story and the social aspects. If it's the latter, it doesn't matter what content sqex puts in the game, they'll never really be happy content wise because it's not fun for them.

Originally Posted by Xapapetsu

I think that's fair, if you don't enjoy the gameplay, just the social aspects of it, then it's not really worth the money for you. I think a lot of people need to ask themselves did they ever like the gameplay of FFXIV or we're they only playing because they liked the story and the social aspects. If it's the latter, it doesn't matter what content sqex puts in the game, they'll never really be happy content wise because it's not fun for them.

I think I am able to make a reasonable decision on what is worth the money, frankly. But setting that aside...

There are plenty of people who enjoyed the gameplay of this game, far far more than they did the social aspect. This is the situation I was in for the better part of 6-7 years. I remember way back getting this game precisely because of how fun doing Coils looked when watching. The enjoyability of actually doing them myself, when I got the game, levelled everything up (albeit on another long-gone character). Then getting completely hooked on crafting, where it was not treated like a subsystem as a gameplay quota, but something with an engaging, immersive and frankly unique experience among other games that I've done crafting on. For them to slowly turn it into the most mundane experience ever, from removing ingenuity, to tossing WWYW down the drain, despite it actually being one of the most advanced and interactive systems this game had. Just for them to go back and make changes under the most inane logic ever such as "We want people to explore this a little more, rather than looking up other peoples' macros, etc.,", whilst simultaneously neglecting the very fundamental aspect that people are and will watch guides, no matter how simplified the system.

Story was secondary to me for a very long time, then as everything else just got reduced to a hollow existence, of only being because of gameplay quota, rather than any actual depth or meaning with it.. Then I started to appreciate the story more, when I wasn't, for example rushing crafters... Then we eventually met the story of this expansion, where at every avenue it feels like the writers are trying to insult the intelligence of people consuming the story at every passing opportunity, because apparently we need the story reiterated to us several times within 6 cutscenes, despite the very fact they pulled this off well with the Endwalker recap at the start. Then story took a back seat and I just appreciated the social element more.

Originally Posted by Xapapetsu

patch 7.2 is doing things right.

Starve a prisoner, and he'll thank you and kiss your feet when you throw him an overcooked, unsalted steak

I know right, everything is perfect with this game. I don't know why people are complaining.

Originally Posted by Neft

but it's not just the content that needs to be fun and enjoyable, even if it's not inovated on fully, it still needs to be fun and enjoyable and honestly some of yall need to sit down and think of something that YOU think would be innovating as in a unique never before done idea in X genre or in general (yeah, it's not easy).

This argument is flawed. An idea doesn't need to be totally unique and never seen before to be enjoyable. I'll name a few things that would help the current state of FF14, and I'll even do it without mentioning the sorry state of MSQ.

1) Better distribution of Casual content: ie relic, field ops, housing, optional dungeons, variant dungeons, deep dungeons, etc. Putting it all on a .2 patch while frontloading savage, ultimate, etc, for the minority of players is bound to piss off the majority. The few over the many is never exactly a popular notion. A lot of this content feels down in its quantity too compared to past expansions. Not great, bob.

2) Bring back threatening mob melee, and cut back on "gotcha" mechanics. Most content is braindead for tanks, and either braindead for healers, or frantic (if DPS keep getting smacked around). Damage is very feast or famine right now, and they need to do something about that again.

3) Come to think of it, AoE spam is a BIT too high, and basically requires every caster to be made into a pseudo caster simply to play the game. They had a nice balance in STB and SHB and need to go back to that.

4) Address overly tedious or unreasonably punishing micro. Most black mages can probably post a manifesto about the issues with Flare Star--even if I like the idea of a payoff for executing well in theory. I don't know how RDM is in DT, but I know in EW the OGCD drift and the clashing of fixing that vs keeping mobility CDs was really obnoxious.

Even with all the other problems DT has, and they are numerous, the biggest problem I find is that the core gameplay simply isn't as fun as it was in the past. Every fight feels the same. A lot of classes feel very similar (at least within their roles), and the ones that dare to be different pay in other ways.

Originally Posted by Xapapetsu

The problem I'm seeing with the community is asking for something then being upset when they're given what they ask for. How many of you remember endwalker patch content? How many of you asked for an expansion zone?

I personally didn't. The only thing I've always asked for is for SE to make their base gameplay bricks actually engaging. A tall order, I know.
I have the feeling you're conflating completely different audiences and players into the same imaginary group. No wonder said group looks conflicted and self contradictory.

Originally Posted by Valence

I personally didn't. The only thing I've always asked for is for SE to make their base gameplay bricks actually engaging. A tall order, I know.
I have the feeling you're conflating completely different audiences and players into the same imaginary group. No wonder said group looks conflicted and self contradictory.

I mean if you're not part of the group that I described then you're in clear. You're free to complain about whatever aspects you see are a problem. My biggest issues are the people in the community who are asking for specific content then complaining about it when they get it. It would be fair if I complained about a crafter and gathering zone because I could care less about that content and will probably never engage with it, but I also won't complain about it since I know people are excited for it. For me it's useless content, but it's good for other people in the community.