Is there a point in caring about the game?

[User202503201232]

The developers do not listen. They sweep critical, harmful real life issues under the rug. A stalking plugin? Oh no no no, instead of fixing the issue we'll just tell people to pwease don't do the third party needful pwease!! :3

They seem to hate when you don't play the way they intend you to. What did nonstandard BLM even harm? It barely gave any DPS increase. Why was it gutted over and over again? Why did they need to go out of their way to neuter player expression when casual BLM players will not even know about it? Why do they kill off niches that players enjoyed, one by one, bit by bit, from Summoner to healers, from crafters to Dark Knight, from Machinist to Black Mage? Why do they hate players who sought depth in the gameplay?

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 isn't the first time. Remember when he was playing Zelda?

Why does the team seem to deflect criticism that there is a lack of content by telling you to play other games? Why has a meme become an unironic official policy? Why do even the developers seem uninterested in making FF14 the best game it can be?

And on that front, why do they make unsubbing so difficult? Isn't the official policy to play other games after all? Why do they artificially induce housing shortages? Why do they space out the threadbare content in convenient four week intervals? Why do they still impose such a strict weekly lockout on tomestones and make alt gearing difficult?



And surely people want to sub because they want to live in Eorzea. But why have they removed the mysteries of the world? Why did they wrap every plot thread neatly with a bow in EW and DT? Why have they gone from the nuanced, complex portrayals of Yotsuyu and Emet Selch to the shallow writing in Dawntrail? They say they have a "dungeon package", a template that they religiously follow to the letter. Why do they now even have a MSQ package? Why did we get Amaurot four times in a row? Why did the Dead Ends, Abyssal Fracture, and Alexandria all tick the same checkboxes of (1) dead civilization, (2) nostalgia, (3) through the villain's PoV? Why did we get a plot of learning to let go for four arcs in a row?

As for the "dungeon package", why do they recycle the same template again and again in all forms of its content? Why do they make nothing but DDR raids? Don't they remember raids like O8S and A6S where CC and heal checks were mechanics in their own rights? Why have they funneled themselves into a single template? Why have they made PotD three times in a row?

Why have the developers ended the Q&A threads? Why have the developers not said a single word about the state of healers? Why did Yoshi P tell healers unsatisfied with the role to "go play Ultimates"? Why does it take a potential legal disaster for them to even comment on the stalking plugin?

Why are they working on three projects at the same time? Shouldn't they have come back to FF14 once they're done with FF16? Where are the resources going? Didn't they promise to "spare no expense" on FF14 going forward? Do they really not have resources to make headgear for Viera and Hrothgar? Do they really not have resources to make more content each patch?

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?

[AshtonCrowe]

7.2 is the last chance i'm giving the game till 8.0 and if 8.0 is bad i'm not coming back.

Already at point where i'm gunna be watching 8.0 instead of playing cause they ain't seeing a dime till i know it's good after the rugpull of dawntrail.

Those 7.2 new contents better be SSS tier, Especially since my server already dead so even less incentive to stay if its garbo

[User202503201232]

7.2 is the last chance i'm giving the game till 8.0 and if 8.0 is bad i'm not coming back.

Already at point where i'm gunna be watching 8.0 instead of playing cause they ain't seeing a dime till i know it's good after the rugpull of dawntrail.

Those 7.2 new contents better be SSS tier, Especially since my server already dead so even less incentive to stay if its garbo

Frankly you could probably just take advantage of the free login periods to do the MSQ, try out the exploratory zone, and do the raids. Unless you do Savage/Ultimate I'm not sure there is enough content to last more than a couple free login periods anyways!

[ForteNightshade]

Frankly you could probably just take advantage of the free login periods to do the MSQ, try out the exploratory zone, and do the raids. Unless you do Savage/Ultimate I'm not sure there is enough content to last more than a couple free login periods anyways!

The irony is you could have waited until 7.2 drops to purchase Dawntrail, which is currently on sale, and still had enough time to catch up on everything from 7.0 to Crescent's release in 7.25. Excluding raids, of course. That's how shallow the casual content has been. And yet if you look at Xeno or Zepla's video or comb through XIV's subreddit, you'll still found people staunchly defending this game. Heck, I've been arguing with someone today who insisted it's impossible to have finished all the casual content in Dawntrail specifically by now. Which is downright laughable, especially when they added "even if you played for 10 hours a day."

It's remarkable the lengths people will go to defend this game.

[Catwho]

The irony is you could have waited until 7.2 drops to purchase Dawntrail, which is currently on sale, and still had enough time to catch up on everything from 7.0 to Crescent's release in 7.25. Excluding raids, of course. That's how shallow the casual content has been. And yet if you look at Xeno or Zepla's video or comb through XIV's subreddit, you'll still found people staunchly defending this game. Heck, I've been arguing with someone today who insisted it's impossible to have finished all the casual content in Dawntrail specifically by now. Which is downright laughable, especially when they added "even if you played for 10 hours a day."

It's remarkable the lengths people will go to defend this game.

10 hours a day could probably have done it, but there is a lot of 7.0 specific stuff I still didn't accomplish, because I took my time and got all my classes to level 100 first.

Ugh, I really need to go back and finish those FATES..... the bicolor gem grind is real.

[Jeeqbit]

...all that aside, I still enjoy the game. I don't have a problem DDR raids, and have been enjoying the new jobs.

But many of these things have always struck me as being unable to code well or problems with procedures. To even implement flying in ARR or glasses on Hrothgars, for example, they had to do it behind Yoshi-P's back without approval.

The problem with jobs is not having a choice between simple and sophisticated versions of their gameplay and that they didn't replace any of the old dysfunctional systems with new, better ones. In a way they are willing to add new systems that work better through the elemental wheel, Logos Actions, Lost Actions and pomanders, but they are in restricted content.

[User202503201232]

behind Yoshi-P's back without approval.

It used to be quirky but now we have to really wonder whether this studio is ever capable of doing anything outside of what Yoshi P's spreadsheet tells them to do.

Logos Actions, Lost Actions and pomanders

Sure, but other than Lost Blood Rage 5.5 WAR, these actions can't really salvage the hollowing of job identity and depth anymore. Even with these actions, modern jobs are still far shallower than their HW and SB counterparts. They definitely need to find a way to let simple and sophisticated versions of gameplay coexist, but it does not seem that they are interested in that, at all.

[IndraSyngiwyb]

I'm honestly wondering the same thing.

I used to be beyond obsessed with this game. I have literally 56 GB worth of screenshots I've taken from this game. I could sit in Gpose for hours because I loved the game, loved the world, and loved the characters.

And Dawntrail felt like my loyalty was being rewarded by shoving my face into a pile of chocobo dung, all the while the person doing it is trying to convince me it tastes like Sohm Al Tarts and smells like roses.

Neither of the patches or live letters since have eased that feeling. It still feels like they're doing the absolute bare minimum while trying to act like they're giving us something groundbreaking.

I'm tired, boss.

[Jeeqbit]

It used to be quirky but now we have to really wonder whether this studio is ever capable of doing anything outside of what Yoshi P's spreadsheet tells them to do.

I've wondered that too, that maybe he made a rule against it after all that.

Sure, but other than Lost Blood Rage 5.5 WAR, these actions can't really salvage the hollowing of job identity and depth anymore.

Unfortunately true.

They definitely need to find a way to let simple and sophisticated versions of gameplay coexist, but it does not seem that they are interested in that, at all.

I wish they would see that.

[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.