7.2 MSQ opinions (spoiler obviously)

[Windfire]

Better then 7.0/7.1 but given the bar was literally in hell, not that hard to beat. /shrug

[xbahax92]

Kinda bland and cheap tbh. I'll elaborate the things that kinda turned me off:

- We get struck with a big lightning bolt when Calyx and not-Speen tries to kill us, and then we STAND THERE and Wuk Lamat STANDS THERE while they exposition and Speen is all smug at us and shit talks us? We just stand there and do nothing? Goodbye immersion. Don't try to defend this as "you were too weak" because in the scenes immediately after this we walk and move around just fine as if it didn't happen and no one shows any concern that all the power in Sol9 was redirected into our dome
- Right before the trial we once again stand around and do nothing while the villains 2 feet away from us take their time to do something evil and terrible. If this didn't happen every expac then FF14 wouldn't have a story ever tbh
- They couldn't just call the trial boss Beatrix could they
- It also messed up the cadence of the story to be like "here's your government mandated dungeon. Oh yeah you're supposed to get a trial too here have that right after lol"

Most of your issues would be less noticeable, if they'd do more solo duties. We had 0 in this patch and honestly, they had so many chances to add one. But instead they went with their 1. Dungeon > 2. Trial > End Patch formular.

I really dislike it.

[Papayatar]

I didn’t have too many expectations for this patch since the ones before it were not too engaging (or seem uneeded in MSQ looking at Koana’s “side story”), so I was pleasantly surprised this was pretty good. Not amazing but def shows they’re making more steps in the right direction without taking steps back.

7.2 feels like we should have got this earlier though. Either somehow part of initial MSQ or as an earlier MSQ patch. It feels in and out of place at the same time. But maybe because it feels like switched writers or properly figured out how to tell the story they want to tell without handholding and 25/8 Wuk Lamat lol.

Adding my two cents that this is the level of Wuk Lamat we should have gotten from the get go. IMHO she still seems out of place for S9 stuff (I get her connection to Endless Sphene and Gulool Ja but those are meh) and I’d prefer Koana just for the sake of him maybe having a better grasp of some of the convos. But overall the fact she’s really only shown when needed and isnt overshadowing us is nice. I think the only time I had an issue is when Sphene specifically asked us to keep the crown and WL had to also ok it too for some reason.

Also! I’m really surprised we didn’t like check the crown or anything before we let Sphene take it. Just a quick glance over from Shale and it’s just safe for her to have? Calyx is running on all logic/playing chess so I don’t think he gave it to us out of the kindness of his heart.

[Papayatar]

I don't think they CAN just kick him out. Eternal Sphene transferred her military rights to Zoraal Ja, and Zoraal Ja gave them all to Gulool Ja. That cannot be overridden by the system or else Calyx would have done it already. The baby would have to willingly give up those rights to someone else. Maybe he can pass them along to Real Sphene?

Isn’t that essentially what happened though? Gulool Ja temporarily didn’t have the King’s Authority when the S9 bots were going out of control. They at minimum confirmed he got it back because he said he disabled the bots ability to use weapons.

It’s not using them for another invasion but it showed Calyx could change the access whenever he wants to. He just waited now because the plot said it was an opportune time to do this.

[MatchaokaCha]

A vast improvement overall, but the antagonist is a walking anime trope that needed more time to bake. It's like experiencing Zero all over again: the expressionless countenance, the monotone voice delivery, the background lore. I honestly would've liked a Disney villain more. Give us a Disney villain song Soken!

[Catwho]

Isn’t that essentially what happened though? Gulool Ja temporarily didn’t have the King’s Authority when the S9 bots were going out of control. They at minimum confirmed he got it back because he said he disabled the bots ability to use weapons.

It’s not using them for another invasion but it showed Calyx could change the access whenever he wants to. He just waited now because the plot said it was an opportune time to do this.

Calyx can, but the people of S9 can't do that.

[Azurarok]

Definitely had me wondering if they changed writers, or at least got Ishikawa or so to do some heavy editing. The story beats and characterization rarely ever felt natural this expac until now. Like the role quest ending in 7.1 had me seriously questioning the morals of the writer, it was disgusting. I really like real Sphene and even Wuk Lamat felt more dependable than she ever was before (not a particularly high bar I suppose but still).

I could kinda tell what they were going for with the characters in 7.0 and 7.1 but that's about it (except Zoraal Ja, 7.1 probably was meant to do that but they totally missed it and I still have no real idea on what was up with him). It felt like they were stitched together from a rough outline with notes someone else handed to the writer

[LittleArrow]

<SNIP>

I couldn't agree more with this post. I wanted to come to share my opinions as well. I'm a thoroughly disgruntled FFXIV player. I've supported this game through 1.x up until Dawntrail. This is the one expac I didn't pay for the collector's edition and I 100% regret pre-ordering it. There was absolutely no need for it. I was the biggest fan of Wuk Lamat in the beginning and I literally cant stand any scene that has her in it. The writers destroyed so much of this game's logic that has been detailed with extreme specificity to the point of nauseum. (For anyone curious, this youtube channel has been incredible at pointing out the flaws and positives of the expansion. I HIGHLY suggest you check him out, https://www.youtube.com/@durantes).

With all of that said, I want to make a few things clear from a very very disappointed and down right angry FFXIV player in regards to 7.2:
1. I don't want Yoshida to quit, retire, relinquish his role as producer of FFXIV. The complete opposite, I want him to focus solely on XIV or its successor (though he has refuted any suggestion of making a XIV-2 or the next FF MMO). He pulled this game out of the absolute gutter and supported incredible talented staff that made FFXIV the 10yr juggernaut it was. It's extremely obvious he has either not played the game at all or is so distracted he's handed off most of the decisions to his staff who are not capable of doing what he's done for the game.

2. This patch was absolutely a step in the right direction. I would not suggest for anyone that has quit to come back, there's just not enough change yet. However, for the first time in almost a year, I have a very small amount of hope. I have hope that someone has stepped in and took over the writing / dialogue of the game. The scions still don't feel like those long trusted friends that they did in previous expansions, but they also don't sound like lifeless Wuk Lamat cheerleaders anymore either. Our Warrior of Light isn't back to the questioning, savy, and independent player-character they grew to, but they also aren't just chasing Wuk's tail to tell her great job over everything either. The new Sphene is incredible. Absolutely, you don't need an entire expansion to build an engaging and fleshed out character. I cared more for Sphene and wanted to help her more than the entirety of that stupid succession story with Wuk. Sphene is flawed - she's scared, insecure, confused, but she still knows right from wrong and her heart is still for her people. A negative is the WoL walking right into known traps, and it is getting old. I'm so sick of the writers not being talented enough to put my WoL into plot circumstances without just outright making my WoL an idiot and not being able to tell the obvious.

Overall, 7.2 s the best piece of content besides the 8-man raid and the 24-man alliance raid for almost a year. Real Sphene is a huge hit. I really care about her and the writing was done well, not the best, but loads better than what we've gotten. I'm sick of reading - well they can't get rid of Wuk entirely - yes, they absolutely can. We can be the envoy for the kingdom. If they trusted us to put that stupid character on that broken throne then they can absolutely trust us to take care of relations regarding Alexandria. The fact that the killer of their beloved Queen is allowed to just walk around their kingdom, despite the circumstances, is still one of the absolute dumbest things in this entire games history of writing. Wuk needs to be cut completely. She adds absolutely zero value to the story and actually takes from it with how ridiculous her presence is. The writers destroyed the story for Wuk, if they hope to repair, she needs to be completely removed first.

Either way, good job on doing better with this patch, but this is far from fixing what Dawntrail broke. After taking almost a 1yr break, it makes me happy to see there's some small glimmer of hope things can get better, but please work harder for your playerbase, not for virtue signaling or government money.

[Mika_Tohka]

2. This patch was absolutely a step in the right direction. I would not suggest for anyone that has quit to come back, there's just not enough change yet. However, for the first time in almost a year, I have a very small amount of hope. I have hope that someone has stepped in and took over the writing / dialogue of the game. The scions still don't feel like those long trusted friends that they did in previous expansions, but they also don't sound like lifeless Wuk Lamat cheerleaders anymore either. Our Warrior of Light isn't back to the questioning, savy, and independent player-character they grew to, but they also aren't just chasing Wuk's tail to tell her great job over everything either. The new Sphene is incredible. Absolutely, you don't need an entire expansion to build an engaging and fleshed out character. I cared more for Sphene and wanted to help her more than the entirety of that stupid succession story with Wuk. Sphene is flawed - she's scared, insecure, confused, but she still knows right from wrong and her heart is still for her people. A negative is the WoL walking right into known traps, and it is getting old. I'm so sick of the writers not being talented enough to put my WoL into plot circumstances without just outright making my WoL an idiot and not being able to tell the obvious.

I agree, but at the same time, i really do fear, that this Cylax, is just gonna ruin it all, him and Simulant Sphene, is just cartoon villians, with a plan that is, offcourse Sphene's Endless failed, so we are gonna do the same, but this time it is gonna work, because he can apparently can fix the problem she encountered, even through he has not been able to fix himself, after 400 years, which also should have killed him.

I really loved this new Flesh and blood Sphene, she is just what we need, and really lit my interest for the game again, and i really wanna find out, what is gonna happen, but then as soon as we meet Cylax, i can just kinda see we are going towards, Sphene taking on her old memories, and that is gonna make her a villian again, or that makes her wanna become the queen again, and both just seem like the lazy way to go, and it is just gonna ruin this entire expansion, i really hope i am wrong, and that we are done with Cylax in 7.3, and we go towards helping Sphene, getting back on her feet, and finding a life goal, would love for her to join Scions, maybe she ends up as the new class that will come for next expansion.

[Kozh]

I agree, but at the same time, i really do fear, that this Cylax, is just gonna ruin it all, him and Simulant Sphene, is just cartoon villians, with a plan that is, offcourse Sphene's Endless failed, so we are gonna do the same, but this time it is gonna work, because he can apparently can fix the problem she encountered, even through he has not been able to fix himself, after 400 years, which also should have killed him.

I really loved this new Flesh and blood Sphene, she is just what we need, and really lit my interest for the game again, and i really wanna find out, what is gonna happen, but then as soon as we meet Cylax, i can just kinda see we are going towards, Sphene taking on her old memories, and that is gonna make her a villian again, or that makes her wanna become the queen again, and both just seem like the lazy way to go, and it is just gonna ruin this entire expansion, i really hope i am wrong, and that we are done with Cylax in 7.3, and we go towards helping Sphene, getting back on her feet, and finding a life goal, would love for her to join Scions, maybe she ends up as the new class that will come for next expansion.

It will be pretty damn ironic if real sphene joins the scions, and then in 8.0 she gets well written character development while Krile is once again left in the dust.

but my prediction is she will be alexandria's queen again. Would love the be proven wrong, though.