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

[TheRealMadruck]

It’s been a very long time since I posted anything on these forums, but I wanted to share my perspective on the first 72 hours back in this game after they announced that Beastmaster was going to be a limited job.

I’ve heard it all before—people saying that my excuse for not wanting to play this game anymore is really goofy or dumb. And that's fine. But from my perspective, FFXIV adding in another limited job on top of an already existing system was, to me, one of the biggest blunders in this MMO and it just took the cake for me two years ago. But that’s neither here nor there; I just wanted to give my outlook on what I’ve experienced coming back into the game.

I was a huge and massive fan of Shadowbringers, and one of the motivating factors for me to come back for Dawntrail stemmed from me being gone for those two years and potentially wondering if I was wrong—if my reaction leaving, simply because another limited job was introduced, was overblown and over-exaggerated. And to be 100% honest with you guys who may read this, it wasn't.

Now, let me get the positive stuff out of the way first. I really enjoy the aspects they announced about freeing up clothing options, which again gives players more flexibility to express themselves, something everyone should have a right to do, especially in a video game such as FFXIV. And I’m not going to lie, there are many aspects to the game that go back to the beta in 2013 which I miss and that other MMOs unfortunately don’t have. The story, the ambience, the music, the job system—all these things culminate to what makes FFXIV be FFXIV.

Yet, since I’ve already mentioned I was a big fan of Shadowbringers, one of the first things that really got me potentially trying the game again was the hint of new open zones, similar to what we had in Shadowbringers with the Bozja and Southern Front content. But I came to discover through other websites and videos that yet again, Square Enix has decided to copy an old and, in my opinion, archaic notion they once did in Stormblood: a completely distinct and separate leveling system.

Sincere question, Square Enix: Why? Why give us nearly two expansions and three and a half years away from some of the best content you have ever created at the peak of your subscriber base? That content in Shadowbringers was one of the driving factors that kept me subscribed. Yet, for another expansion and another two and a half years, we have to rely on doing nothing more than dungeon grinding or FATEs—the same repetitive formula over and over again. Do you guys not comprehend that this is one of the driving factors of why people went away, and for small other tidbits, tend to be the final nails?

But let me continue, as honestly, in some ways, it gets worse. I didn't expect the Free Company I belonged to would keep me on the roster on the server I was on, and I just thought maybe I could rejoin them even if I'd been gone for so long. Do you know what surprised me when I logged in for the first time? It wasn't that I was no longer part of a Free Company—which again, that's a gimme—it was that the Free Company I belonged to, nearly 300-plus active players, all with individual characters, were all gone.

Not one of the members of the Free Company I once belonged to is in existence. Now, to be fair, a lot of them could have transferred to another server or changed their name... but the very Free Company that I belonged to no longer existed. I might not be a hardcore raider, but they were. They were all gone... their house, all gone. 300 players that were hardcore fans of Final Fantasy XIV just gone. What am I supposed to take from that? What could have caused the dissolution of so many players in such a short amount of time? Maybe someone who comments can give me an answer because I don't know.

But allow me to get to the crux of why I made this post. Many of the people that read this who are hardcore defenders of Square Enix will attack me, will say bad things about me, or ask me for my gil as a form of a joke, or say, "Go play some other game," or offer some other type of rebuttal they tend to do if anyone disagrees with their perspective of how FFXIV is supposed to be the ultimate game.

Do you know why so many people are still playing Final Fantasy XI? Do many of the people reading this know why that game is still alive after 20-plus years? It's because the system makes sense. FFXI is a well-structured game... and in FFXIV's current state, it isn't. Again, you can disagree, but I needed to share my perspective on a game that I spent 10-plus years of my gaming life on.

To conclude, games change, and FFXIV is not the game I once spent who knows how many hours on one character. Instead of going the direction that Final Fantasy XI once did to satisfy their player base, people like Yoshi-P and his staff—who, to their credit, have done amazing work with this game—instead of implementing new systems into the game or making comments in an interview saying that this game is too easy (which in many ways it is)... all they want to do is copy things like Dark Souls or Elden Ring, which is not Final Fantasy. To this day, I will firmly believe that Final Fantasy XI, no matter what version you play, either on a public or private server, is where the true Final Fantasy experience for an MMO still exists. And before you go and say, "Why don't you go play Final Fantasy XI," I still do, and I just ended a session just now before I even started writing this.

I had such hopes for this game; I saw such potential for this being the MMO that Final Fantasy deserves as a franchise, but I don't feel that way anymore. I feel that FFXIV has become nothing more than a theme park MMO built on Dark Souls-style gameplay, a cash shop, and a group of creators that never want to take risks. They just want to play it safe... the same spirit that drove them to recreate Final Fantasy XIV from the ground up from 1.0 no longer exists. And that, for me, is the saddest fact from a person who spent thousands of dollars on this game.

[Jeeqbit]

from my perspective, FFXIV adding in another limited job on top of an already existing system was, to me, one of the biggest blunders

We all knew it would happen though. They had teased Beastmaster long before (when Blue Mage was announced I think?) and it was pretty obvious they were thinking of it as a limited job even back in Stormblood, so it was hardly unexpected.

Square Enix has decided to copy an old and, in my opinion, archaic notion they once did in Stormblood: a completely distinct and separate leveling system.

I don't see the problem with this. It's a progression system. Without a progression system, there is potentially nothing to do whatsoever. It's not like leveling is hard or takes long. It never has, in any field operation. Only someone with 1 hour to play per week could think this and even then they'd manage it before the next patch.

They were all gone... their house, all gone. 300 players that were hardcore fans of Final Fantasy XIV just gone.

It is possible they changed world or data center, as you said. If you can find some of the characters from it on the lodestone, you may be able to see which world or FC they are at now.

What am I supposed to take from that? What could have caused the dissolution of so many players in such a short amount of time?

According to Lucky Bancho stats, there are around 400,000 less concurrently active players than there were prior to Dawntrail, so it could be related to that. Nevertheless, on my own friends list, virtually everyone I knew even since Heavensward and Stormblood is still playing now, so I can't relate to everyone's experience of their FC deserting the game.

Do you know why so many people are still playing Final Fantasy XI? Do many of the people reading this know why that game is still alive after 20-plus years?

To a certain extent, long-running MMORPGs do remain alive due to sunk cost. The longer they have been running, the more "past players" there are to eventually return for "nostalgia". Many games continue to exist even in bad times due to this, such as WoW and Runescape, which even in the worst times did not die, purely because of returners. FFXIV is the same, and remains strong in large part thanks to the constant supply of returning players such as yourself. Thus, regardless of FFXI's structure, it would remain alive due to that and sunk cost players.

It's because the system makes sense. FFXI is a well-structured game... and in FFXIV's current state, it isn't.

The main issue is that FFXIV is aimed at casual players with only a few hours to play. A lot of content is one-off. You do it quickly and then it's done, which makes sense because this is how most people play games - they do its new DLC then switch to the next game. Whereas other MMORPGs have complex systems that you can make use of again, and again, and again, and it's fun and unique each time, due to the complex systems and factors - such as the holy trinity mattering, the relevance of social interaction and things like elements, interesting stats and interesting situational actions.

It's worth noting that a lot of FFXIV developers used to work on FFXI. They know exactly how to design the game like FFXI, and it is a choice that they do not, because 1.0 tried to replicate FFXI in a big way and it was a failure, and they don't want to repeat 1.0. They are trying to reach for a "future of gaming" vision as they see it (which currently seems likely to take inspiration from mobile MMOs), rather than trying to look at FFXI.

[FeyFavilla]

That is actually shockingly close to the experience I had after taking a break at the beginning of DT. My circle was not big but a lot of people I knew seem to only be doing maintenance, aka checking in on events and then leaving again. It stands to reason that, because of the housing system, there are actually a good chunk less players active than we can see via external software. I am currently in the unenviable position to be long-term sick so I spend a lot of time online to distract from the pain and I have been watching the population go from absolutely dead to populated in the main cities for about 2-3 hours and then just dying again every single day. I suspect most people are just doing their dailies and then leaving again, either for venues or out of the game entirely. I know there have always been high traffic time for this reason but the emptiness everywhere is depressing. Playing an MMO in which you only see people around daily quest givers and capital cities... may as well play a single-player game at that point.

The only comfort I can offer is that the post-MSQ content is actually decent. It's nothing world changing but compared to the base game it is a breath of fresh air. If you are willing to give it a shot (I hate the way they did the mechanics so I stay away from raids, that is something you will need to check out for yourself) follow along the blue quests to grab some of the new content. The writing is at least better than the rest and the music slaps. The variant dungeons are kinds fun if you are still missing some and we are getting another soon so if the comic-book style is not a turn-off that will likely be fun. Maybe exploring the glam changes and new content coming with the patch will alleviate some of the pain you are feeling looking at the current state of the game?

I hope you find some of your old friends again, that genuinely sounded awful. And if not, I hope there will be a new FC you can make memories with should you choose to stay.

[ItsKylos]

I want to say that while I absolutely adore what I've experienced of Final Fantasy 11 and I'm excited to return to Vana'diel with it's upcoming free login campaign... I don't think players will take as kindly if FFXIV became FFXI 2.0. While it's anecdotal, people in my friend group have tried FFXI in the past and couldn't get into it. Many of my friends are also young blood that joined in SHB/EW that would simply not enjoy a FFXI-style game. It's a shame, really. I feel it's more important for FFXIV to forge it's own identity rather than to copy the past (WoW or FF11) or mobile RPGs. It can take elements and repurpose them, but it should not be a carbon copy.

What happened to your FC is a shame, but many people do move on to other FCs after a while. I've personally made the move to another FC. Considering your FC company disbanded, your ex-FC mates probably moved on. It could be because of Dawntrail or because drama ensued (with the amount of nightmare FC stories I've heard, it's possible).

Do feel free to update us with how your journey goes . It's not all bad, I still feel there's some fun to be had with the new content including the raids, but it'll vary from person to person.

[Hanzz96]

I'm very confused at you stating that FFXIV has "dark souls" like gameplay because it doesn't, like at all. I'm going to assume that by referring to it as "dark souls style" you are meaning combat that doesn't have an easy mode and that if you want to master you have to engage with on some level.

The base 2.50 GCD roll over is quite slow and very forgiving of mistakes, jobs have never been simpler and the only difference in combat is that aoes are a little quicker but at its core FFXIV combat has absoutley 0 soulsborne DNA and is a dance that if you learn, practise and remember enough becomes muscle memory. You just need to put in a tiny amount of effort and die a few times.

Quitting because of Beastmaster isn't just odd its plain stupid. Why would you quit because we are getting MORE content. Make it make sense.

There are many things want with occult creasent but the leveling isn't one of them. Its basic progression system. Do you know why every RPG ever has had a leveling system where you gain more power as you progress? Because its simple, understandable and rewarding. SE doesn't need to reinvent the wheel here just for you. Once again very odd.

As for your FC maybe the moved DC's? Maybe they found a more active DC because people like you left? May they are also on a break?

Overall sir FF11 is right there. Go play it. This isn't an airport no need to announce your departure.

[tsuchii]

FC's don't just get dissolved, they decay over time.
If the FC leader doesn't login after a certain period, the next person who logs inherits the master leadership.
The same goes for the house, the house gets inherited by the new master.
Even if that FC had 512 members, but none are active to inherit it, it's going to get removed.
I've seen FCs with hundreds and hundreds of members with like under 20 active members. I'm not saying yours was but they exist, those ones that spam invites and attract people who did not stay in the game.
So yea, it's not Square dissolving the FC, it's its inactivity.

[Ath192]

We need a proper successor to FFXI, the UI and graphics are too outdated for me at this point, however, the gameplay style is eternal imo.

[Selsix]

Do you know why so many people are still playing Final Fantasy XI?

...There aren't. FFXI has quite literally never been popular. Every measurement of the population has always been INCREDIBLY low, -laughably- low even compared to titans of the industry like WoW, XIV, Runescape, etc... even if you use its peak for the comparison.

Note that I'm not even hating on XI, I had a good time playing it back in the ToAU days. If however you think it currently has a large playerbase or EVER did you are huffing some premium copium my man.

[Ath192]

...There aren't. FFXI has quite literally never been popular. Every measurement of the population has always been INCREDIBLY low, -laughably- low even compared to titans of the industry like WoW, XIV, Runescape, etc... even if you use its peak for the comparison.

Note that I'm not even hating on XI, I had a good time playing it back in the ToAU days. If however you think it currently has a large playerbase or EVER did you are huffing some premium copium my man.

You do know it was Square Enix's most profitable game until XIV took the crown from it not too long ago correct?

I don't what popular means to you but it definitely was more popular than any other product square ever made besides this one.

[Selsix]

You do know it was Square Enix's most profitable game until XIV took the crown from it not too long ago correct?

I don't what popular means to you but it definitely was more popular than any other product square ever made besides this one.

I blatantly stated what I mean. In the context of MMOs, it was never a popular game. It has always had a very low population. The fact of whether it has been profitable or not is irrelevant. Obviously it has always been profitable or it wouldn't still be playable, they would have shut it down. Profitability has nothing to do with how popular it was/is compared to other MMOs.