Dawntrail has been my second favorite expansion !

[MitsukiKimura]

however, I think the majority of the player base didn't quite understand the concept of the overall story.

You mean the part where we felt like our entire existence felt meaningless throughout the entire story? Because I for sure did not enjoy it. Wuk lamat being captured then next area she single handly beat him and his minions made a ton of sense. I wanted to pray she wouldn't show up in our final battle but guess what? No explanation she's just there. I assure you nothing would of changed if we never came here.

[Basteala]

You mean the part where we felt like our entire existence felt meaningless throughout the entire story? Because I for sure did not enjoy it. Wuk lamat being captured then next area she single handly beat him and his minions made a ton of sense. I wanted to pray she wouldn't show up in our final battle but guess what? No explanation she's just there. I assure you nothing would of changed if we never came here.

Eh I don't mind her arc with Bakool Ja Ja. Bringing in all his minions at the end was kind of a disservice to him but realistically, this is stuff we as the WoL did as well.

I wouldn't have minded it if Wuk Lamat took a step back after the trials, and the second half was more about Krile, and our own adventure with her. Unfortunately, as we both know...that didn't happen.

[Daralii]

It’s like they struck a mine of gold back in ShB when they try out that theme then try to replicate all that glory without understanding why they worked.

Typical corpo approach, tbh.

There's a reason the MSQ's final dungeon has been reliving the death of a civilization 4 times in 3 expansions, 6 if you want to count each world in The Dead Ends. "Amaurot was extremely popular, so let's keep doing it."

[TeresaFortell]

There's a reason the MSQ's final dungeon has been reliving the death of a civilization 4 times in 3 expansions, 6 if you want to count each world in The Dead Ends. "Amaurot was extremely popular, so let's keep doing it."

Sooner than later, the formula has to change because for each rendition, it gets worse and worse and can never top the quality shb had.

[FasaiLeFaye]

This story is really turning into a gripping saga of the concept of life and death and most people who are college age and younger than me have not experienced great loss of someone they love and might have missed the deep meaning of the regulators or turning off the terminals in living memory.

Here's the thing - that "gripping saga" that you only happens in the latter part of the story. The first half of DT was a Wikipedia article disguised as a walking simulator. There was no tension, no mystery, and nothing really to do besides listen to Wuk Lamat and others essentially be tour guides. They telegraphed the ending for the Rite of Succession in the first section (I did the bird people first) and with the way that these stories go, the stakes were non-existent.

Yes, I'll agree that the Alexandria saga was significantly stronger than the Rite of Succession but that only eats up the latter part of 7.0. We need to slog through levels 90-96ish or so before we actually get a gripping story.

On a side note, given how 7.3 will most likely play out, I'm actually convinced that the devs got the story order wrong. The strongest STORY order of events should've been:

- 6.x patches as the Rite of Succession
- 7.0 should've been the entire Alexandria arc up to and including 7.3
- 7.x patches should've been Zero and the Thirteenth

Yes, I know why that would've been impossible, given the way the game was developed but I feel that it would've given us a better story overall.

[Emitans]

The problem with "sometimes, you have to let things go" as a theme is that we have been beaten over the head with it so many times in the MSQ (hello, the entire thing with Ascians) that it's just annoying at this point.

The second half of 7.0's MSQ was speedrunning the entire Ascian saga in 2 zones. Once you notice it, you can't unsee it.

[Shinku_Tachi]

The second half of 7.0's MSQ was speedrunning the entire Ascian saga in 2 zones. Once you notice it, you can't unsee it.

AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! It's true! OMG!

I mean, I don't even hate Dawntrail like many of the folks here... but looking back... wow. I can totally see it now!

[Daralii]

AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! It's true! OMG!

I mean, I don't even hate Dawntrail like many of the folks here... but looking back... wow. I can totally see it now!

Living Memory is also an inverted Ultima Thule, both what you're doing during the MSQ and the shape of the "progression spiral" towards Meso Terminal/Absolute Horizon.

[PharisHanasaki]

I did not hate Dawntrail. But 7.1 was a train wreck.
I could deal with the shaky ending to 7.0, and the absolutely nefarious VA on the MC this expansion.
But 7.1 was like a slap on the face from Yoshi P. He got an abundance of feedback on Wuk Lamat, and went like "No, you got her wrong! We must continue to rub her on your face so you get to see WHY she's wonderful!" I'm like, is this really THE Yoshi P?

Also, what is with the gibberish-sounding names this expansion? Tturohhetso? Ihuykatumu? Like I can't remember a single name for a dungeon boss, or maybe one. There was a longer one at the end of 7.1, but I can't even google it because I can't remember anything other than it having an H. And I was called the FFXIV wiki by my in game friends because I remembered every single detail of this game without the need to google. I get it, I'm mexican, this expansion is supposed to take place somewhere foreign. Everyone speaks English for some reason, but can't have decent sounding names for stuff? I'm used to reading/hearing indigenous languages, but this got to the point of being ridiculous. 7.1 was a total flop for me. Took a 6 month break for the first time in almost 10 years. The only reason I'm back in the forums is because 7.2 seemed like a glimmer of hope for this expansion. Really hoping 7.3 keeps the momentum.

[Raraka]

Has anyone noticed that whenever someone says DT’s battle content is such a step up it’s that it’s always a step up from EW which most people agreed was pretty terrible outside a narrow band of the playerbase (mostly melees)

It’s like they dug themselves a hole, fell into it then climbed back out and now people are acting like it’s a grand achievement

Shhh, if we dont clap and celebrate them for doing an acceptable job this time, at least once daily, they will lobotomize it back to EW design /s