FF14 player count has fallen off a cliff and is now at 2019 levels (3/16/2025)

[Aneshda]

As much as I'd like to support the sentiment, I'd wager a lot (like myself) were thoroughly unhappy with the state of the game before we even considered looking at the forums and feedback to see if there was anything hopeful about Dawntrail (which there seems to be a semi-medium scale of people holding out for 8.x, which is not a good sign for anything 7.x related in spite of a lot of hopefuls waiting for 'that next patch' to fix the inherent issues of Dawntrail as a whole--nay, the problems with the gameplay that began late-Shadowbringers).

I think the truly drastic changes came with the new CEO. Even in the live letter where he was introduced, you can see in Yoshi's face that something isn't right. This also coincided with the announcement that Final Fantasy would be playable on Xbox with Dawntrail. Perhaps Xbox players are used to something completely different, and to make the game more appealing to them, everything was briefly simplified and trivialized. The fact that Yoshi plays Zelda in the live letter says a lot. I think Dawntrail is the result of people at SE and CBU who hold positions they shouldn't be in. People who only see profit at any cost, but not what makes a game tick. To turn things around, SE and CBU need to make drastic changes.

- Exciting MSQ with decent enemies, not the Disney format we're currently using.
- Reasonable job balance. If necessary, remove one or two unnecessary spells or attacks, but make the jobs unique again. I've noticed that lately, whenever I play a healer, I'm completely confused and have to take a closer look at which job I'm playing. The same goes for black mages and summoners. Everything feels the same.
- More side quests like Elpis or Werlyt, and please bring back the "While in..." part.
- If SE doesn't know what the players want... If you have a forum, start a poll in the general forums asking what players want. Pick 5-7 things and let the players vote. Blizzard does this from time to time. This way, players feel included and heard, even when things aren't going so well.
- Not every player has to complete every single piece of content. Players are different; some want easy content, others a challenge. If you take both approaches and provide 50/50 content, then this is a way to make the game more interesting again. This way, players can move in a direction where they feel comfortable, and when it comes to the hard content... there's no shame in failing and trying again. What happened to the players back then who spent nights trying over and over again to overcome a certain hurdle on the Super Nintendo? Or players of other consoles, before all those cheats? Back then, the word "giving up" didn't exist. It never occurred to us. But if a game suddenly becomes completely simplified for no reason, what's the incentive?
- And for goodness' sake, SE and CBU, the next expansion should be called "Rising from the Ashes, Garlemald's Return"!

[Zarkovitch]

Biggest flaw of this game was always the RPG first MMO second. If the story is so ass, then MMO cannot carry it to get new players. Anyhow, 7.2 will bring the players to do content be happy about it for few months.

[localareanetwork]

I don't know what happened to that sub but man, it's just full of people trying to one-up you and make dumb thought-terminating cliche quips. That sub is honestly insufferable even when I agree with them. It's just clapback culture central.

Lol this is all of Reddit. It's a shitshow, website wide.

[Lordsem]

<3

@yoshi

Please don't let them down Yoshi.
- Don't let them spend months to years making friends, only to watch that community disintegrate as it leaves for the raiding DC they innocently didn't know was a thing, so never joined. (Not what happened to me, not directly)
- Don't let them make lots of friends then struggle to queue instances as they get further, because the lion's share of people still logging with that content unlocked not RRPing, are raiders, who have left for the raiding DC they are not on.
- don't let them make lots of friends then lose them, because those friends got bored once they hit end game, because because the shocking learning cliff to extremes or the god awfully balanced unreal scared them away, and there wasn't anything to do, but boring ARR instances, again because the end gamers, left for the raiding DC.
- dint let them make friends then have to watch them leave because even when they hopefully came back to try something challenging, you were waiting to greet them by jeering at them with another Savage Chaotic or savage level Criterion, on Static requiring Deep Dungeon
- have enough self awareness and empathy, to when they are trying to keep their community together, to both tell that community to go "play other games"
- don't sit there watchinh them bounce around happily in idylshire, knowing that when they get to SB the zones are going to be dead, also knowing even now how much better idylshire is on the raiding DC.
....

Don't worry. As of now, I'm staying and I'm currently looking forward to the end of ARR. I'm excited to see what awaits me afterward.

So far, I haven't played a single dungeon with others. I really like the feature of playing dungeons with NPCs first. This way, I can learn the mechanics at my own pace.

I won't be turning my back on the game anytime soon. Especially since, due to work and family commitments, I won't be reaching the endgame anytime soon.

However, I'm currently so addicted to FFXIV that I'm already sad about not being able to play next Tuesday evening due to the patch...

[ReynTime]

Biggest flaw of this game was always the RPG first MMO second. If the story is so ass, then MMO cannot carry it to get new players. Anyhow, 7.2 will bring the players to do content be happy about it for few months.

The game has almost as little RPG elements as Final Fantasy XVI and that game barely qualifies as one.

[Absurdity]

Biggest flaw of this game was always the RPG first MMO second. If the story is so ass, then MMO cannot carry it to get new players. Anyhow, 7.2 will bring the players to do content be happy about it for few months.

I'd argue it isn't even RPG first, MMO second.
Where are those supposed RPG elements they focus on?
We have no build crafting or skill checks (unless you count the occasional "git gud" memory check), we have no party management (unless wrangling randoms into loosely following the same goal counts), we have no elemental weaknesses/strength or crowd control to exploit, no choices to make to influence the story of your character or even the outcome of a conversation, stats are incredibly basic and gear choice can barely qualify as a "choice".

Is it a JRPG then? Now that's a lot harder to determine since that genre is so muddled that it's difficult to even define it in the first place.

[User202503201232]

I'd argue it isn't even RPG first, MMO second.
Where are those supposed RPG elements they focus on?
We have no build crafting or skill checks (unless you count the occasional "git gud" memory check), we have no party management (unless wrangling randoms into loosely following the same goal counts), we have no elemental weaknesses/strength or crowd control to exploit, no choices to make to influence the story of your character or even the outcome of a conversation, stats are incredibly basic and gear choice can barely qualify as a "choice".

Is it a JRPG then? Now that's a lot harder to determine since that genre is so muddled that it's difficult to even define it in the first place.

FF16 is the ultimate expression of a barebones RPG. So much so that even GoW is more an rpg.

I have to wonder whether CBU3 actually wants to make RPGs at all.

[Kazuke_Miso]

Lol looks like Zepla just saw the LB numbers too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC64b2KLIqs

[Xephna]

Biggest flaw of this game was always the RPG first MMO second. If the story is so ass, then MMO cannot carry it to get new players. Anyhow, 7.2 will bring the players to do content be happy about it for few months.

Where's the RPG?

[ReynTime]

I'd argue it isn't even RPG first, MMO second.
Where are those supposed RPG elements they focus on?
We have no build crafting or skill checks (unless you count the occasional "git gud" memory check), we have no party management (unless wrangling randoms into loosely following the same goal counts), we have no elemental weaknesses/strength or crowd control to exploit, no choices to make to influence the story of your character or even the outcome of a conversation, stats are incredibly basic and gear choice can barely qualify as a "choice".

Is it a JRPG then? Now that's a lot harder to determine since that genre is so muddled that it's difficult to even define it in the first place.

It barely qualifies as jRPG. Those more than wRPGs or cRPGs have a lot more focus on combat mechanics and character loadouts. The only thing XIV has in common with jRPGs is linear storytelling, limited player expression and the fact the WoL in spite of how this game is marketed is a pre-stablished silent character you just happen to choose the appearance for.