The slow decline of FFXIV, a summary.

[Wilford111]

It used to be that on the forums the goalpost was that player numbers are increasing.

Then last year it became that "it's still higher than Shadowbringers".

Now I guess the goalpost is "player numbers are higher than Heavensward".

Please stop own goaling lmao

I'm not goalposting anything. I never said either of your quotes.

[Supersnow845]

I'm not goalposting anything. I never said either of your quotes.

Your point was literally “DT is still higher than HW”

Like that isn’t a remote flex, that’s an admission of complete abject failure in one expansion

[Lium]

Also people keep forgetting that the ShB influx was a mirage. SE didn't do anything to deserve it. It was all because WoW flopped.

I mean, the story in Shadowbringers was amazing. There’s a reason all those WoW players flooded this game which has a completely different focus than WoW. They could’ve gone to any other game, but they came here.

So, saying SE didn’t do anything to deserve it is disingenuous at best. To this day, FFXIV remains the #1 alternative game for many WoW players.

And it is still the second most popular MMO on the market.

[Red-thunder]

I mean, the story in Shadowbringers was amazing. There’s a reason all those WoW players flooded this game which has a completely different focus than WoW. They could’ve gone to any other game, but they came here.

So, saying SE didn’t do anything to deserve it is disingenuous at best. To this day, FFXIV remains the #1 alternative game for many WoW players.

And it is still the second most popular MMO on the market.

They came, and they left within one xpac. Wow what a good job.

[Lium]

They came, and they left within one xpac. Wow what a good job.

Which is more than you can say for every other MMO out there. And let’s not forget the primary reason they came here to begin with. It was because their game sucked.

And FFXIV remains quite popular.

[NaoSen]

Which is more than you can say for every other MMO out there. And let’s not forget the primary reason they came here to begin with. It was because their game sucked.

And FFXIV remains quite popular.

Yes it was during Shadowlands, widely considered one of the worst expansions, players were giving feedback, blizzard not listening and the story was definitely the worst.
Their next expansion, Dragonflight blizzard did listen and is considered the best expansion by many with current one, The War Within on track to beat event that.
Now you have people leaving for WOW with the graphic style being the hinderance, I know plenty more who would have jumped ship if wow was the same style as FF.

FF is "quite popular" but subscribers are going down whilst WOW's gained millions since its lowest point and still gaining.

Dawntrail is literally the Shadowlands of FF

[Red-thunder]

let’s not forget the primary reason they came here to begin with. It was because their game sucked.

There we go. It wasn't so hard was it?

[Lium]

There we go. It wasn't so hard was it?

Right. But they could've gone anywhere else. They chose to come here.

[Mawlzy]

Right. But they could've gone anywhere else. They chose to come here.

"Anywhere else" is somewhat limited, no? Like when I quit EVE Online because I hadn't been outside for 3 weeks, to me the two obvious MMO choices were WoW and 14. And I didn't like the WoW artwork.

SQEX definitely deserves credit for placing FF14 in that go-to category, but it also feels increasingly that FF14 is getting by on its reputation rather than its current content.

[AvoSturmfaust]

Right. But they could've gone anywhere else. They chose to come here.

There arent many MMOs out there anymore with a good population so no not really, the best decision based on playerbase was literally FFXIV