My first 72 hours since being gone for two years...:(

[Selsix]

I'm a bit confused. You say that a distinct and separate leveling system like Eureka had is archaic. But then you praise Bozja which had...a distinct and separate leveling system?

Apparently he doesn't consider ranks in Bozja to be a leveling system (it is).

[TheRealMadruck]

I have several points to address and will do my best to respond to everything since I posted this yesterday.

First, allow me to clarify some of the apparent confusion regarding my issue with Dawntrail's exploratory missions versus my example with Shadowbringers and Bozja.

Yes, Bozja and the Southern Front had its own type of leveling system with ranks that granted specific buffs to your health, damage, and so forth. However, let me be very clear: You cannot level up a normal job in the current expansion using this content like you could in Shadowbringers. I thought I had made this clear in my original post, but I should have provided more clarity. The only ways to level jobs from 90 to 100 are dungeon grinding, FATEs, or the same routine we had during Endwalker.

Dawntrail has nothing like the Bozja system. The leveling system built into this exploratory mission is self-contained, and those levels/buffs do not carry outside of that instanced zone. You simply cannot level any jobs from 90 to 100 as you once could from 70 to 80 in Shadowbringers. This is a fact! That was my original point.

This expansion's exploratory mission is identical or very similar to the one we saw during Stormblood, and they did not need to bring it back again. You may disagree, but I can guarantee there are countless players who do agree that it would have been nice to have alternative leveling content, similar to what we had in Shadowbringers, as that content was massively popular, and the subscription numbers during that time prove it.

Now, let me address the comments I made regarding how FFXIV is emulating Dark Souls or Elden Ring. This article, from June 2024, shows Yoshi-P himself directly stating that the influence for Dawntrail was heavily inspired by his crew playing both Dark Souls and Elden Ring. Even if the game is not 100% as hard as those titles, they factually influenced many of the fight designs in this expansion, and to say they did not is disingenuous.

The article is here: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/ff...brutally-hard/

This is the intellectual dishonesty I've come to expect from many of the hardcore defenders of the game who dismiss any criticism of the current design. No, FFXIV is not an exact one-on-one copy of either of those games, but these defenders try to play it off as if this latest expansion was not designed with these influences, running counter to what we've previously seen with FFXIV over the past 12 years. Again, we have Yoshi-P's own words as evidence, but they seem to be ignored simply because the new content is not at the same extreme difficulty level as Elden Ring or Dark Souls. Every game has telegraphed attacks, yet to pretend that Dark Souls or Elden Ring isn't on a completely different level of telegraphed attacks is astonishing.

Let me also be blunt: on the very server where I currently reside, I would say almost 75% of the Free Companies (FCs) that once existed are no longer there. If you want to argue that this is due to people moving servers, or all these FCs just collapsing, or some other potential reason besides the state of the current game being a problem... again, I don't know what to tell you. I am reasonable enough to accept that a few of those indicators might play a small role, but when +/-75% of the FCs on my server disappear, and you can actually check the formation dates of many of these companies and see that they are post-2024... I'm sorry, all potential reasons should be considered, but I would argue they are not the primary reason for what I have experienced.

[Hanzz96]

Now, let me address the comments I made regarding how FFXIV is emulating Dark Souls or Elden Ring. This article, from June 2024, shows Yoshi-P himself directly stating that the influence for Dawntrail was heavily inspired by his crew playing both Dark Souls and Elden Ring. Even if the game is not 100% as hard as those titles, they factually influenced many of the fight designs in this expansion, and to say they did not is disingenuous.

The article is here: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/ff...brutally-hard/

So your proof is a game journalist sloppy article about something Yoshi P said about the game that has been translated out of his native language? Hmmm...

Even then the article clearly states that Yoshi P thought the game was too stress free and that the development team wanted to add a sense of accomplishment after a hard earned victory into casual content and compared it to the feeling you get when beating a minor Elden Ring boss. To say he made the game souls like is disingenuous and just factually wrong.

Someone asked what point people are trying to make here? Yes player numbers are down and DT wasn't the best but everyone knows that. The thing is every MMO has a bad expension or two its a fact of life. WoW had Warlords, BFA and Shadowlands that all weren't great. Nothing is perfect forever and long term games will stumble. But its very annoying to people who still love the game when people come here to complain about absoutley nothing (such as leveling in OC and Beastmaster) and harp on about how the game is sooo bad. If you don't like it fine. But I'm sick of hearing these bizarre complaints. If you don't like it no one is making you be here.

[SyferU]

Now, let me address the comments I made regarding how FFXIV is emulating Dark Souls or Elden Ring. This article, from June 2024, shows Yoshi-P himself directly stating that the influence for Dawntrail was heavily inspired by his crew playing both Dark Souls and Elden Ring. Even if the game is not 100% as hard as those titles, they factually influenced many of the fight designs in this expansion, and to say they did not is disingenuous.

The article is here: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/ff...brutally-hard/

This is the intellectual dishonesty I've come to expect from many of the hardcore defenders of the game who dismiss any criticism of the current design. No, FFXIV is not an exact one-on-one copy of either of those games, but these defenders try to play it off as if this latest expansion was not designed with these influences, running counter to what we've previously seen with FFXIV over the past 12 years. Again, we have Yoshi-P's own words as evidence, but they seem to be ignored simply because the new content is not at the same extreme difficulty level as Elden Ring or Dark Souls. Every game has telegraphed attacks, yet to pretend that Dark Souls or Elden Ring isn't on a completely different level of telegraphed attacks is astonishing.

Well now you are being disingenuous. In the article it doesn't say anything about heavily inspired, especially not the difficulty since the article said this:

In the interview with PC Gamer, Yoshida went on to say that you'll probably see most of Elden Ring's influence outside the combat encounters.

[ItsKylos]

I do want to mention that many people that are disagreeing with you in this thread are some of the most vocal in critiquing the game for it's flaws. These are not FFXIV defenders, but quite the opposite. I mention this because you are not engaging in the conversation because you are under the notion you are talking to white-knights, when in fact, you are talking to the opposite.

People are also allowed to disagree with you. Considering a lot of people have complained the game has gotten simplified, too easy, etc., and we just started seeing the return of the usage of a brain cell in the casual content, I'd like to see the game heading the direction of upping the difficulty WHILE still keeping it casual (not a repeat Forked Tower lol). People are allowed to disagree with me, but casual content is easy to me in an extreme degree. Other FFs have implemented more of a challenge while still being considered casual, FFXIV can do that as well.

Know I still wish you well in your current journey in FFXIV or any future journeys you take part in, but when you start a thread, people will agree and disagree with you. Ignoring them and not taking them into account is the same behavior of the white-knights you have disdain for.

[Valence]

I do want to mention that many people that are disagreeing with you in this thread are some of the most vocal in critiquing the game for it's flaws. These are not FFXIV defenders, but quite the opposite. I mention this because you are not engaging in the conversation because you are under the notion you are talking to white-knights, when in fact, you are talking to the opposite.

People are also allowed to disagree with you. Considering a lot of people have complained the game has gotten simplified, too easy, etc., and we just started seeing the return of the usage of a brain cell in the casual content, I'd like to see the game heading the direction of upping the difficulty WHILE still keeping it casual (not a repeat Forked Tower lol). People are allowed to disagree with me, but casual content is easy to me in an extreme degree. Other FFs have implemented more of a challenge while still being considered casual, FFXIV can do that as well.

Know I still wish you well in your current journey in FFXIV or any future journeys you take part in, but when you start a thread, people will agree and disagree with you. Ignoring them and not taking them into account is the same behavior of the white-knights you have disdain for.

There is at least two different sides to people criticizing the game for its flaws. One side is mostly satisfied with the current model and just wants more difficulty in baseline content. Another side is completely dissatisfied with where said difficulty has been shifted to and doesn't really like the direction of the content nor is really interested in seeing baseline content becoming more difficult.

Of course there is also intersecting opinions between those two and nothing is binary depending on who you ask.

[Gwenkatsu]

Imagine leaving in Shadowbringers, then returning to Dawntrail I hope you like Tacos!

Then again, I'm not quite sure what you're trying to prove here.
Population is down, most people will agree on that. Your guild being gone or not is just anecdotal evidence, other guilds may strive right now - who knows?
Dungeon mechanics have changed, whether that's for the better or the worse is up to anyone playing the game.
And throwing random terms around (souls-like, or the ever popular hardcore/midcore) will never get you anywhere, and is a certain way to have any discussion derailed in 0-time.

At the end of the day, FF14 is a game like a lot of other games out there. Find one that you like, and enjoy it.

[CCheshire]

Yoshi-p says alot of things, and he's an expert at talking about vague but hopeful ideas for FFXIV.

Also, I've actually played through EW and up to the current patch update in DT and there's nothing "souls-like" about the gameplay and they are even planning to add buffs for the Duty Support that will boost the player if they die too many times instead of forcing you to restart the battle but it will reset with each new boss.

Yes, you can read tons of negative reviews and doomer content instead of playing the game, I guess. Also, is the "intellectual dishonesty" where I point out how you based your thoughts on articles but refuse to engage with the actual content that you paid a sub for and claiming 75% FC are gone on your server meaning the end of times for what seems to be the 110th person with this unique thought here.

[Valence]

I sympathize and also think there is style inspiration taken from souls games, if just from memorizing attack patterns and reacting to them accordingly in gameplay that's not dissimilar to action games - dodge, stand where you have to stand, else you take damage or die. But that's not the whole picture either.

I also can understand why people would get annoyed by the clear lack of creativity and innovation from the dev team that seems to be hellbent into serving the same formula. And I do understand that when you pay for a service live game you also kinda expect to see your favorite type of content come back every expansion though. So ultimately it ends up being whether or not you're disappointed with said content and want it to change or not.

[Brandr]

In my previous comment I guess I didn't emphasize enough what I thought is the main part:

You have many, oh God so many, valid reasons to quit FFXIV.

BUT, strangely, everything OP said is either a straight up lie or dishonest, stinking of AI generated text.

The reason I affirm this is because nothing OP said would make a human being quit any game.
The game is different? Really that different? Has the gameplay and rotations that different from when he left, back in ShB? If he had said he left in Heavenward, I'd agree, but it was in Stormblood that the new homogenized rotations began.

Another reason he gave is FCs died. Unless this is your first MMO, it shouldn't be any surprise. Shadowbringers was in July of 2019, SIX WHOLE YEARS AGO. My God, dont you know people chance hobbies, change games, peoples lifes changes! People leave FCs, whole FCs change games together, people go to college, start jobs, have kids, get tired of gaming altogether... So many reasons to stop playing a game...

No human being would be remotely surprised by that.

The other point was Souls-like stuff.... Of a content OP says he didn't even played himself, he says he HEARD OTHER PEOPLE saying... Worse: game journalists... Man, we're in 2025, you should know better that since "7.2: too much water", not a single word of a game journalist is worth any second of your life.

Again, there are many valid reasons to quit FFXIV, I have quitted and came back, but none of OP says is valid. If you wanna quit, just quit.
If you really need that Pat in the back and someone saying "Yes, I see your point, you're absolutely right!", give us a true reason. There are plenty!
"My friends don't play anymore", that's a good reason.
"I don't like what they did with my favorite job",
"My server is empty", "Another game does better what I like the most in a game", "I lost my job, don't have money to pay my subscription", "Now I feel like playing single player games", "I am in a phase of my life that I can't play games/MMOs", "Wuk Lamat bad".
All valid reasons, and many more.

But what you doing is just lying.