How is this allowed?

[Mawlzy]

I hate to tell you, but you are 100% wrong. It is mostly combat focused. That is the game's core. There is no way to progress in the game without interacting with the combat system. You probably still mistake this as some kind of second life game or something.
The role playing refers to the gaming genre. It means you develop your character by upgrading the level or gear or stats. It doesnt really mean "role playing" like pretending to be something or someone else.
That roleplay stuff you mean has never been popular. Only since i would say around shadowbringers these people started popping up. Sure there were some before. Probably even during ARR but it was a very small part of the community.

I've never met anyone who started playing FF14 because they'd heard the combat system was good, largely because it isn't.

[Kishin12345]

I've never met anyone who started playing FF14 because they'd heard the combat system was good, largely because it isn't.

It was great though! You mightve missed the glorious HW times. Truly you had to make so many more decisions about the rotations. I and my entire FC started playing for that reason. But on the contrary, i never heard about anyone starting this game for RP reason either

[Red-thunder]

It was great though! You mightve missed the glorious HW times. Truly you had to make so many more decisions about the rotations. I and my entire FC started playing for that reason. But on the contrary, i never heard about anyone starting this game for RP reason either

HW was glorious. There's a reason back then in Idyllshire people talked about rotations, about opti, about raids, and just generally banter with each other. Something you never see anymore in FF14.

I miss the days when you don't even know if you can finish Mhach or Dun Scaith without running out of the timer. That led to good memories. The game felt like an actual game, and you're playing with actual people.

Now lmao, now it's just ERP

[TemporalFruitsAndVeggies]

It was great though! You mightve missed the glorious HW times. Truly you had to make so many more decisions about the rotations. I and my entire FC started playing for that reason. But on the contrary, i never heard about anyone starting this game for RP reason either

You're somewhat conflating job design with combat. FFXIV's combat has always suffered from an egregiously long global cooldown and janky netcode that limits the types of mechanics they can use.

In any case, re: the greater thread, I don't see ERP as all that much of an issue. Just don't AFK in Limsa? I barely see any of that stuff. That said, as long as FFXIV remains the premier destination for it, it's gonna be here to stay.