Something needs to be done about .X5 content cycle

[XtremePrime]

I know they're trying to pad the patch lifecycle to keep players subscribed and whatnot, but I just can't even with this.

The biggest selling point of this patch was the new deep dungeon. So then why is the deep dungeon relegated to a minor patch that is 2 months ahead from the initial patch release?

For me who doesn't do EX or Savage, I did the MSQ and the new Alliance Raid and now I guess I'll just idle for 1 month until 7.31 (Not much interest personally in cosmic exploration, but the new delivery is something to do I guess!) and then idle for another month until FINALLY we get to try out the much expected Deep Dungeon.

Is it just me or does this feel just bad overall? Because 7.3 gets announced, some excitement builds up only to then be instantly let down by "oh btw, it's actually 2 months after the release" when quite a lot of the patch release hype/excitement died down and makes patches feel like they don't actually last 4 months, but rather 6 months because you constantly get reminded it's just 2 months AFTER the patch is launched.


And the issue is this is not just contained to 7.35. For me (personally) 7.4's selling point will be the new variant dungeon, which 1000% will also be part of 7.45 so 2 months after its release.


Sorry if this post is a little rambly, just wanted to let this off my chest, and hopefully hear some of your opinions (if you agree or disagree and why) on this matter
Have a lovely day, forum peeps! <3

[Jeeqbit]

Well some people are busy learning then farming the new extreme trial or farming the new PvP series (and yes many casual players do this and a new map was released for it). I've been doing both. A lot of people also farm hunts around this time, and many others aren't completely finished with OC or Cosmic yet. For that reason, I'm sure it's out of consideration for the people who are doing the content that they released in 7.3.

I'd say they might be learning the Unreal trial but my experience with it so far is it's a 1-pull-to-clear. If you can do the normal version of Seiryu you'll probably get through Unreal.

I really don't think SE worry too much about subscriptions. If they did, it would definitely be a lot worse, because I remember WoW did it way worse to the point people fled to this game over it back in Shadowbringers. Also, if they were doing it for subs, it's not as if it's working for them considering the dropoff since Dawntrail release.

[ovIm]

It certainly is not just you, i can tell you that I am unhappy by the drip feed as well.

My guess would be that either they overestimate how much the contents of this patch can keep the playerbase entertained realistically (imho 1 month delay for content like that would be better), or that the devs do need those extra two months for the last bits of fine tuning.

[Jeeqbit]

or that the devs do need those extra two months for the last bits of fine tuning.

They also put unreleased content through more rounds of testing and reduce the amount of bugs from 1000s to a very small number. I believe that the ones they find out about last minute but run out of time to fix, or that weren't the biggest priority to fix, are listed in "Known Issues" at the bottom of the patch notes, so sitting on content for a while is a QA strategy as well, according to one of their development panels.

[Kaurhz]

They need to do something about their entire patch cycle, let alone just the .X5 cycle, to be honest.

[ovIm]

They also put unreleased content through more rounds of testing and reduce the amount of bugs from 1000s to a very small number. I believe that the ones they find out about last minute but run out of time to fix, or that weren't the biggest priority to fix, are listed in "Known Issues" at the bottom of the patch notes, so sitting on content for a while is a QA strategy as well, according to one of their development panels.

that is what i meant when I said fine tuning, we are talking about software development, after all. Testing, bugfixing, adjustments, etc.

[Ephremjlm]

Naw it's not just you. I would have been down to try the new deep dungeon but i'm not gonna resubscribe for it, as i'm also annoyed that it was heavily marketed but not coming out for two months. OC was originally what I was looking forward to and that was kinda a bust so I unsubbed and came back for the FFXI raids. But aside from that, I probably won't have anything i'm looking forward to until BLU and BST comes out, then the last FFXI raids, and I guess we'll see what the update to OC looks like.

Just take Yoshi P's advice and unsubscribe. This has been his recommendation for years, and the house they built brick by brick. You shouldn't feel bad about it at all and you shouldn't feel obligated to pay your hard earned money to something that isn't providing you with the value you are looking for. You will for sure get comments of people telling you that there are things to do in the game, but they might not get that those things don't interest you. This game makes a bunch of different kinds of content but without the proper volume of things to do so inherently this is going to be an issue for a lot of people.

[brinn12]

SE's recent financial reports are the answer to your thread. They've always been spreading content as much as they can to make up for the lack of content overall, while relying on weekly lockouts and the housing system to keep people subscribed. Of course, that wouldn't work forever.

Considering that an expansion cycle is 6 months longer now, other issues are aggravated, and SE is struggling really hard to retain the playerbase. Some people will still defend the company and cope that this drop was expected due to Covid or the WoW exodus, but it's clear they are turning a blind eye to all of the veterans leaving the game, after countless of content flops and out of touch interviews by Yoshi-P.

[Xapapetsu]

Even people running the extreme don't have much to do, the new extreme is pretty easy, to the point I an average raider cleared it in about 30-35 pulls blind. I agree with you, I wish they would have dropped the deep dungeon in 7.3 instead of 7.35, because I don't know if I'll have time to clear it before the next savage tier.

[Hyperia]

My daily routine is about 15 minutes with the weekly taking an hour. The rest of my evening is spent playing other games.