Now that the game is dying can we just have bots for all content?

[Lorika]

I find it ironic: The devs bend over backwards for the hardcore players but the game STILL in decline despite keeping them ‘happy’. Gee, I wonder, who the real customer base is. Could it be the people that <gasp> enjoy the story?

The story?
Since the end of HW, the story have become more and more meh.
The story become more and more Shonen-ish... the story was also casualised.

[CalvinDescoles]

I find it ironic: The devs bend over backwards for the hardcore players but the game STILL in decline despite keeping them ‘happy’. Gee, I wonder, who the real customer base is. Could it be the people that <gasp> enjoy the story?

i would say people that enjoy "everything" and not only 1 good thing over a pile of garbage are the reason of the decline.

[Arohk]

The myth that there is any ounce of skill in raiding in this game has been dispelled countless times,

what would you consider "skill" in a video game then?

[Arohk]

I find it ironic: The devs bend over backwards for the hardcore players but the game STILL in decline despite keeping them ‘happy’. Gee, I wonder, who the real customer base is. Could it be the people that <gasp> enjoy the story?

The so much praised "story" is ony a fraction of the game , and i guarantee you that a lot, if not most people who play this game on a daily basis dont care much about that part at all, especialy when the writing is so childish and naive like in Dawntrail.

The game is in decline because there is a complete lack of inovation, they pretty much never rework or update old systems or improve QoL features.
They are just very lucky that there is just no real competition in the MMO sector right now.

[xbahax92]

I dont think the OP's reason is player population, they're tired of coordinating mechanics. Why bring up player population now?

We've been playing with group content since the days of Coils, back when FFXIV wasn't the most popular MMORPG. Even during Alexander and Omega, the player population wasn’t exactly booming.
The only difference from the past, we have to many DC's now and players are scattered around. So people are literally forced to DC travel to raid. And hey, the feature exists!

So I honestly dont understand the idea of people wanting to solo Extreme or Savage content with bots?? That kind of mindset would lead to everyone just doing their own thing, why do you play MMO then?

Sorry to say, but if the game's not for you, you gotta move on.

[itachi-otsutsuki]

This sort of mindset is beyond frightening. Go play elden rings or something. FFXIV is an MMO. Also for someone who says content is 'easy' without providing any proof that they cleared anything. Typical.

[Zyzden]

I would even be willing to pay extra for this feature, even if it only worked on prior expansion content. I really want to do every old fight in the game level synced but do not care to spend hundreds of hours (combined across all the content) wading through PF recruitment and slow filling parties for decade old content.

[Rolder50]

The logic somewhat checks out in that you have very little interaction with the people in your group. Doing the dance with 7 humans or by yourself is going to amount to the same thing. The hard part is finding a group of 7 people who learn the dance at the same pace.

[Zelda206]

(My statement here is directed mostly to how the game got to the state where bots are preferable to people)

If we are to follow how Square operates these days, it's under a fundamental rule that drama creates money. Even if it's CBU, it's still under jurisdiction and it has slowly shaved off complexity in favor of a modern audience.
It's a possibility that their endeavors with how Dawntrail was made and has oozed its content and enduring issues both-parts are part of that strategy:
Introduce the bare minimum to keep the subscriptions valid, little piece by piece, and bloat the store with new cosmetics for that bulk-cashgrab. Rely on the community to split its sides while the company continues to print money and shave off even more in the wake of their growing mobile audience.

Who can say? General consensus isn't terribly pleased with the state of things as they are now, and many haven't been pleased since Stormblood.

[Zeekdober]

Might as well just have bots in everything. That way all the instanced content can match the open world content, just infested with bots like roaches under the floorboards.

Seriously if we're going to talk about bots let's talk about how absolutely embarrassing it is for MMORPGs like FF14 and WoW to just have bots operating out in the open without a care in the world. It's actually annoying seeing mobs spawn and then hearing that stupid Lalafell attack sound under you.