Is there a point in caring about the game?

[Kaurhz]

Honestly..?

I am really beyond caring.. Whether it stays as it is, or whether it gets worse.. I'll 'play' when I have friends that are logged in that have stuff to do, outside of that I'll just play other games; games that respect not only themselves but the players engaging with them. Some people meme about this, but a lot of players that are currently playing, are playing because of the people they have met on this game (and those that still play), as opposed to because it actually has good gameplay.

I don't really think there's anything they can do that will hook me as a player like I was in HW/SB, or even ShB. I'm fairly confident in saying that the game is largely direction-less... They don't know the type of player they want to target. Had this small debate the other day, and the argument of "Not being the target audience" cropped up.. But when you think about it, the game actually doesn't have a target audience.. It just yoyos between different audiences, and in doing so they spread themselves far far too thin of making anything substantive.

Then if you really think about it, for a really really long time, all they've done is thrown stuff out, see what sticks, and then incorporate it into their incredibly rigid formula with no deviation whatsoever, and with content that doesn't stick, they just abandon it all together and leave it to the wayside.. They would never look back on the days of HW where they merged exploratory zones for both gatherers and combat.. Figuring out how to do that properly would be too much work, or how they could make it work for that matter. Same thing with the Coven weapons, people didn't like those... They didn't bother to think why people didn't like them, instead anything even remotely resembling that sense of progression has been permanently stripped from the game, with their continuation of rigid gearing.

Sure, many of them were bad systems at the time, but they absolutely could have worked if they tried, and not only that it still had benefit of the doubt for having something to explore, to try out.. They've completely replaced that element with a stale and rigid formula because they are too afraid to fail -- But ironically what they fail to realize is this is the very thing that will end up making the game struggle.

[Catwho]

I ask you, dear FF14 player, is there actually a point in caring about the game? Are the signs not clear? Do you wish to continue being exploited?

I've said it before, it's okay to fall out of love with a game. There hit a point in FFXI where I realized I wasn't having fun any more and I quit cold turkey. I think it was in the middle of Seekers of Adoulin. Yeah, I quit without ever finishing the story of that expansion, because I realized I wasn't having fun any more.

But I didn't tell everyone else that they had to quit FFXI. There are still people who played right on through, and continued to have fun, who are STILL PLAYING IT TO THIS DAY even though it's barely receiving any updates at all!

That's what baffles me. I moved on and found a different game to play (XIV.... and for a brief shining moment, Wildstar - RIP) and let those who were still enjoying XI do their thing.

That's what it means to stop caring - you stop interacting with the game, the community, and everything about it. No point any more. Done and dusted, you've moved on.

The fact that people are constantly making complaint posts here tells me ya'll DO still care. That's not a bad thing! But keep in mind that some of us are still having fun, and we're going to keep right on playing even if you don't think we ought to be.

[CNitsah]

Why does Yoshi P say, over and over again, that there are games out there to play?

"14 isn't going anywhere, so don't forget your monster hunter life"

This is the thing that frustrate me the most. XIV always had respect for the time to spend in the game, to not force you to spend a lot of time if you didn't want it. BUT it always gaves things to do to people that actually wanted to spend more time.

FFXIV respected your time, while giving you the possibility to engage further, dive deeper (which is something MMO players are known for).

Now, they transformed their "we give you possibility to go do other things if you want, and it's not gonna hard to catch up when you come back" into "we give you very little to do, so go play other games". The game design mentality that we all respected has become an excuse for the limited content - or rather, devout of shelf life (whatever the reason is).

Everytime I hear Yoshida say something like this, it feels like an insult to mmo player in me : I'm just asking to engage a little more than the current content allow me too. I've been a mmo player for 20 years, and seeing the guy that once achieved the perfect balance between being an mmo and being playable by adults with an active life is maddening. Sure the 7.2 will at last try takle the some of the problems, but please, stop saying that : it only shows you don't understand the core of your playerbase, the people that once stayed when the game was at its worst and litterally carried you to the position where you are today. Stop spitting in the face of your core players, because you now have enough other type of players to survive without them. It's litterally one of the time where saying nothing is better than opening your mouth.

[Rithy255]

Not really right now, my care went out because they don't really care about the existing playerbase.

[Zarkovitch]

Why so Doomy, take snicker of content.

[Red-thunder]

Sure, many of them were bad systems at the time, but they absolutely could have worked if they tried, and not only that it still had benefit of the doubt for having something to explore, to try out.. They've completely replaced that element with a stale and rigid formula because they are too afraid to fail -- But ironically what they fail to realize is this is the very thing that will end up making the game struggle.

It is so sad that this is probably what happened to everything in terms of design in this game.

This game seems to be just permanently stuck with DDR raids because it got praised the most. So they just funneled themselves into this lane....

I don't know how they can even improve the game when they seem to just not have a vision at all. They don't have the passion.

When I have passion for something I'm not afraid to go out there and express it even if I get slammed. Because I have something to express, something to show the world.

There is that basic human yearning for passionate creative expression, that is so strong as to overcome the fear of criticism and failure, that seems to be missing from FF14.

[Kaurhz]

It is so sad that this is probably what happened to everything in terms of design in this game.

This game seems to be just permanently stuck with DDR raids because it got praised the most. So they just funneled themselves into this lane....

I don't know how they can even improve the game when they seem to just not have a vision at all. They don't have the passion.

When I have passion for something I'm not afraid to go out there and express it even if I get slammed. Because I have something to express, something to show the world.

There is that basic human yearning for passionate creative expression, that is so strong as to overcome the fear of criticism and failure, that seems to be missing from FF14.

I would bank on it this having been the case.. They were venturing into a lot more risks.. and even when they do take 'risks' in modern times, it's giving the most barebones systems without actually learning anything, and just fitting it into the rigid weekly login cycle (one of the issues with Island Sanctuary).

I am honestly not even fussed if they do or don't improve it. They've honestly had long enough, and the sheer lack of communication just puts me in a position where I wouldn't really want to go giving it a second chance... Even games like Runescape, for some of the absolute atrocious decisions they float around, they at least have the common courtesy to actually poll their players, for as little 'depth' that game has, it was actually refreshing to go back to it.

8 Years ago when they first started with the idea of deep dungeons, my immediate response was "Man it would be so cool if they could combine something like this with other facets of the game to create a dungeoneering experience.. All we got since then were Magicite additions, a few buff minions, and Orthos which didn't even last 2 weeks before it was barren. But hey, I wonder what name they'll give Pomander this time around

[Heavenchild]

I really do still care. But maybe I should not...

[MuraBoy]

I swear to Hydaelyn that the 8.0 rework is probably going to be the last Bastion for me...

Not that i'm gonna stop playing if things go south, but i'm going to say goodbye to being subscribed every single month or almost, and i'll move to another online game with better combat/class design AND systems that feels modern, like Retail WoW or something.

[GartredZW]

I swear to Hydaelyn that the 8.0 rework is probably going to be the last Bastion for me...

Not that i'm gonna stop playing if things go south, but i'm going to say goodbye to being subscribed every single month or almost, and i'll move to another online game with better combat/class design AND systems that feels modern, like Retail WoW or something.

"oooh boy. Just 2 more years of this, and then I'll do something drastic, like take breaks from the game occasionally."