Seasonal events in FFXIV are bad.

[Altina_Orion]

Not offensively bad. Just... soulless. They're two yellow quests, a quick cutscene, and a maybe a glam or emote if we are lucky. Fifteen minutes of content, tops.

And sure, they’ve always been lighthearted. But somewhere along the way, they stopped feeling like events and started feeling like chores with a costume attached. No group duties. No gameplay. No reason to interact with it once you complete it.

What’s wild is that they could be more. This game has tried before with a haunted house during Halloween, or Valentione’s Ceremony, where players had to work together to solve a maze and match memory cards. These were light, playful glimpses of what seasonal content could look like. But they were one-offs: quick, shallow, and with no reason to return. Other MMOs build seasonal events around progression, currencies, or replayable activities. FFXIV shows sparks of that potential, but never follows through. It's frustrating to see something that could be so much more just quietly fade after one run.

I’m not asking for the world. I’m just asking for something worth showing up for.

Other games at least try. WoW brought back a whole dungeon as a raid for its 20th anniversary. Was it perfect? No. But it was ambitious. It was something. FFXIV doesn’t need to copy that, but it wouldn’t kill Square to give us a reason to log in that isn’t just “get your item before it hits the Mog Station.”

And yeah, these events aren’t the core of the game. But they’re still part of its rhythm. They decorate the cities. They show up in the Lodestone, get a blip on social media, and become the backdrop for countless screenshots. They matter. They’re chances to celebrate the world, the community, the stories we’ve been part of for years. Right now, they just feel like a checklist.

FFXIV is better than this. That’s why it’s disappointing.

[YovelaLindswood]

Unfortunately they listened to the vocal minority of players saying events were too long to complete so they made them short soulless events over in 10 mins.

[Asari5]

they somehow only listen when its about making their work less....

[Raikai]

Wait, but they used to be really good, at least until Shadowbringers, I think. I used to alternate here and on WoW and I clearly remember that I thought that XIV had the upper hand with events, because they were never the same, while in WoW the seasonal celebrations were static as a rock not even new rewards.

In XIV, I remember one Saint's Wake bringing the Haukke Manor as an instance for the first time, or the Valentione with the duo mini duty. I do remember having a lot of fun in the horror that was failing at one year's Starlight celebration choir (screams from hell), which was a minigame on its own. Yeah, they can bring back some of those (Which they do sometimes alongside whatever is new) but hardly impacts as the first time. Today yeah, just a couple of quests that are often uninteresting with a cutscene.

It's kinda wild to me that many of the complaints we have nowadays are the result of change (for the worse) because it was once good enough.

[Kisshu]

But aren't you excited to rerun the Ninja Warrior course again as part of the summer event, for god knows how many times now.

But at least they need to stop using the same setup and plot for near every single event.
1: Talk to event NPC, there's an issue, go talk to this person who has a problem.
2: Talk to the NPC and hear about their issue/sob story.
3: Talk to other random NPCs
4: Talk to the NPC with a problem, discuss a solution
5: The solution works and everyone is happy
6: Return to the event NPC for your reward.

[YovelaLindswood]

they somehow only listen when its about making their work less....

Its just a coincidence it keeps happening I assure you.

[Birdbrain]

Most have been feeling rushed and by-the-numbers, like they started banging them out at crunch time. Occasionally the writing will hint at wanting to segue into something interesting but it never goes anywhere. The Valentiones event went something like

NPC: "We could stage a fake sword fight to draw out Elusive Elezen Lady!"

Me: Ok cool, an Ishgardian duel sounds neat. Would be fun if we could partake in it, even fight other players in a quick silly minigame or--

NPC: "Oh there she is, looks like we don't need to do anything interesting at all. Thank goodness. The end, here's your emote."

[Valence]

Wait, but they used to be really good, at least until Shadowbringers, I think. I used to alternate here and on WoW and I clearly remember that I thought that XIV had the upper hand with events, because they were never the same, while in WoW the seasonal celebrations were static as a rock not even new rewards.

In XIV, I remember one Saint's Wake bringing the Haukke Manor as an instance for the first time, or the Valentione with the duo mini duty. I do remember having a lot of fun in the horror that was failing at one year's Starlight celebration choir (screams from hell), which was a minigame on its own. Yeah, they can bring back some of those (Which they do sometimes alongside whatever is new) but hardly impacts as the first time. Today yeah, just a couple of quests that are often uninteresting with a cutscene.

It's kinda wild to me that many of the complaints we have nowadays are the result of change (for the worse) because it was once good enough.

The manor one is often fondly remembered and I believe it also comes from that it was used more than once. But I do think the best we've had in terms of ambition was the Tam Tara instance that played like a creative dungeon.
Of course I also miss Riggy (bring back Riggy), as even little things like Riggy EggHunter were an unexpected surprise.

[Altina_Orion]

The manor one is often fondly remembered and I believe it also comes from that it was used more than once. But I do think the best we've had in terms of ambition was the Tam Tara instance that played like a creative dungeon.
Of course I also miss Riggy (bring back Riggy), as even little things like Riggy EggHunter were an unexpected surprise.

I'm going to be real, I do fondly remember the tam-tara one as well, but I also think that the tam-tara one still didn't live up to its potential. I would compare it to Disney's Haunted Manor ride, where it's a neat little experience, but has no value beyond the first time you experience it. I feel like events in other MMOs and even single player/co-op titles still do it better. I kinda look back on the tam-tara one and think to myself "Ok, but why go through the effort of creating this for a one-time experience." Also, just spamming two duty actions on it was fairly shallow.

[Arrius]

Interesting that WoW has been mentioned, where their seasonal drops also include event dungeons that come with a very low change of getting the new items, with a slight higher chances on the first try, account wide.
And if you are doing it, each day, which apparently provides are slight stacking bonus chance for the new drops, you might end up empty-handed from this all regardless.

I should know, since I wanted the spectral dog, Arfus, from their Halloween Event since it was added to the loot pool in 2023. And got nothing to show for.

And you can bet many players share their frustration with it.