Live Letter LXXXVI 86 Discussion Thread

[SkankyRoe]

I did Pagos back when it was current and even with the zone filled with people, sometimes someone couldn't get a raise when trying to do the quest spot near the griffons because no one would risk going up there and also getting killed. Deleveling is a really outdated MMO concept and I can't believe after the backlash and not having it in Bozja they actually brought it back.

It likely got brought back due to their usual habit of misinterpreting player suggestions in the most baffling ways.

[Zelda206]

There are two simple fixes that can be done to re-engage and meet the terms by which the liveletters acclaim:

1. Learn and improve from the Dawntrail writing and content delivery; slowest, smallest and lackluster execution across the board. Didn't satisfy or live up to expectations by which the audience was set mostly due to promises made by Mr. Yoshida & Co. Dawntrail could have been amazing without the "gonna die in the matrix" cliche and even further still if every character we were forced to endure had a father/daddy issue. If you step back a bit, EVERY "important" character we were presented to or at odds with had an issue regarding their paternal guardian and either wouldn't shut up, or had nothing much that could be said until it was too late to care.

2. Increase the intensity of the Jobs themselves and reintroduce complexity into them; the Jobs being simplistic make every fight beyond them insignificant or simple in turn. A simple fight can be difficult if your attention is split or if you are forced to commit more energy into combos. If you increase the intensity, the players that put very little effort into preparation will get a nasty but necessary shock and will either step up their game or quit and complain on the forums about 'how hard' FFXIV is. Across three different MMORPGs (I've tested WoW for 10+ years, GW2 for 10 years and FFXIV for 3-4 years), FFXIV is the most thoroughly-easy when you apply yourself a little at the current level in this current year of 2025. I've mentored across all three, I've taught fundamentals and basics and each time it comes down to the cooperation and communication of the player itself, not the game solely. Veterans of any MMO will eventually grow weary of the same cycle, so I imagine complexity has to be the key into keeping those players engaged rather than try to gamble with a new batch of players and sacrificing the old. Retaining players and nourishing new ones to live up to the very message of "perseverance & struggle" every single expansion presents is something I fear the narrative and team have forgotten.

I have no doubt that the buzz-words (I have no other means to describe them; apologies) in the liveletter will fail to appeal to those that have been holding out since Shadowbringers for meaningful change or a return-to-form on their Jobs and the unique complexity each one used to give. It feels like yesterday that I mastered MNK and it was suddenly changed all too soon to something that was far easier to follow. I feel less accomplished with the simplicity and less inspired to struggle. I suppose it's a struggle to balance the game, but I wish the playerbase overall was challenged more in battle and in their Jobs as a nudge to endure and improve themselves. The work output and reward are both rather lacking in Dawntrail (to an embarrassing degree), and we can only wait and see what will actually be delivered. My thoughts and hopes go out to the team; I hope things improve and regain semblance of what Reborn's promise impressed upon its community. It's a shallow hope, but a hope nonetheless.

[ZephyrMenodora]

Eager for the new 8 mans as I loved the first set of them. Also interested in the crafting zone.

I don’t like any of the new sets so I’ll continue to wear what I have been since StB.

[Hallarem]

It seems like they are just going to smile and joke through every liveletter like theres been no backlash for anything. Would love to have some actual transparency and ROADMAPS, like.. I dont know. A lot of other games and devs.
I'm not expecting a funeral dour atmosphere for LL, but I mean, they COULD atleast give us something to... yes.. LOOK FORWARD TO.

They should just say something like "Yeah about those hats, we are still working on them, I dont think we can promise them for another year or two"

[Wilford111]

Let me tell you, Frontline is about to get 100x worse. I don't know what they are thinking, adding a skill like Comet to casters, but Frontline is already suffering from Salted Earth / Bahamut spam. Can you imagine Comet on top of all of that?

[Exmo]

Let me tell you, Frontline is about to get 100x worse. I don't know what they are thinking, adding a skill like Comet to casters, but Frontline is already suffering from Salted Earth / Bahamut spam. Can you imagine Comet on top of all of that?

That's a fair point. One consolation is summoners won't be able to pop bahamut and comet at the same time, so comet might just function the same as summoning bahamut (ie. we're no worse off than we are now). Without knowing what other role actions are available, for the time being I'll just have to hope you're wrong.

[Gurgeh]

I'm not sure what the live letter could have done to excite me, but it didn't.
I'll just wait to see if/when I decided to turn my sub back on a whim.
At this point I want to see massive change to the main content loop probably. I don't know.
Still hate the timing, 1 week then savage already.
It's simple, now my friends have unsubbed the game isn't fun, as in unsubbed, I'm not making any. When I was subbed everyone so logging in was doing savage.
There were no social sprouts.
Now I'm unsubbed there is zero chance of making new friends. When I resub I wont be expecting to stick around desk the relationships week be very shallow.
Nothing in this letter exited me. Who knows why. I don't.

[arstoka]

I feel similar sentiments to those already expressed. There isn't really anything in the Live Letter that has excited me. The new Bozja/Eureka content looks interesting I suppose but it's still a ways off.

None of the glam showcased is really interesting to me. I'm not excited for the story; I really just want it to be over and done with at this point as I am very much in the crowd of people who did not like Dawntrail's story as a whole.

Perhaps its because of the slow patch cycles or Dawntrail's story as a whole just dissolved most of my excitement for the game.

[Wasselin]

The tomestone gear looks so cool! I love the healer set. The FFV job gear looks great too, I just hope it doesn't come from the raid.

I'm glad the occult crescent looks pretty and not muddy and ugly like Bozja.

Cosmic Exploration looks interesting although I'm not sure about how technological it looks.

I'm intrigued by the MSQ and really interested in where it's going.

I'm not sure I like the idea of mounting while moving or jogging in town. Why do we need to go so fast all of a sudden after all this time?

[DiaDeem]

I'm tired...

I don't have the energy to hate on a video game, and though I still love the game, I'd honestly rather go find fake Scions that are actually sylphs than deal with whatever's going on with fake Sphene. Relics take too long to arrive, Variant dungeons are nowhere to be seen, and I honestly wish patches would arrive two weeks earlier as they once did, and I'm someone who's spammed all kinds of content in the game.