What does FFXIV lack?

[Drimn]

XIV has an identity. Well, it had more of a unique identity before Shadowbringers... But it's current identity is simply being a "PlayStation Home" with a story. But replace PlayStation with Square Enix.
The game does have original lore in it, but by and large it exists to advertise Square Enix's other products. It's literally Square Enix virtual Disneyland.

Unfortunately, I think this is the case, but that's more because SE had no idea what to do with the success they had during COVID. They still don't. There's no vision, no innovation, no real thing you can point to and say "This is what makes FFXIV unique and worth playing." Yoshi-P's captaining a ship with no rudder and no sails. I really don't have any faith in things changing too much with 8.0, either. I worry that after 7.0 being such an unmitigated disaster, they're going to play it safe and pander rather than try to recapture what made people get into FFXIV to begin with.

[CapaxInfiniti]

This game lacks a dev team that's willing to do something that hasn't already been done before.

The content cycle is so "safe" at this point, that you can predict how the entire expansion is going to play out just by the very first few weeks.

You already know the kind of content each patch is going to bring. You know when you'll do trials/dungeons/etc. You know how the zones are going to look and feel. You know how the quests are going to feel.

You know how each job is going to play. You know exactly how the same tired, boring, dull 2 minute meta is going to feel.

There's nothing to look forward to that's going to be new and unique and exciting. There's no risks that are going to be taken.

It's going to be the exact same excuses over, and over, and over, and over. Every single time. Telling you how they can't do this, can't do that, can't provide this.
Can't fix housing, can't change the meta, can't add stuff, or job balance, etc mid-expansion. Endlessly.

The game is so stale at this point that it's no longer "stale". It's petrified.

[Voidmage]

snip

I don't want to sound rude or dismissive and genuinely want everyone to have fun with the game.

But no one gets walled in the MSQ.
You either have trusts which now even have a "retry" at bosses, get help clearing by others like an MMO is supposed to or you can set the difficulty for solo missions to easy.
Taking a second try or a third with trusts isn't a shame. Even raiders sometimes die to dungeon mechanics but the ability to actually do fail is part of the fun a video game brings.

At the end of the day this is still a video game, players are already level 100 and at one point a game should ask for the basics.
DT dungeons aren't really harder than Stb ones back in the day. Faster yes but at the same time far more forgiving regarding the needed job execution.
No one in their right mind bats an eye if you make a mistake in a dungeon or trial (outside the WoL QTE or not using tank LB there).

That said though, I am of the opinion, like I said before, that we have a bit too much focus on hard content right now while normal content is thrown in like the unwanted child.
I simply don't agree with the notion that the normal content is in any way too hard.
I played too many video games in my life to think that.

[Aidorouge]

I don't want to sound rude or dismissive and genuinely want everyone to have fun with the game.

But no one gets walled in the MSQ.
You either have trusts which now even have a "retry" at bosses, get help clearing by others like an MMO is supposed to or you can set the difficulty for solo missions to easy.
Taking a second try or a third with trusts isn't a shame. Even raiders sometimes die to dungeon mechanics but the ability to actually do fail is part of the fun a video game brings.

I did, I absolutely got walled during the MSQ at various points. I couldn't just bring NPCs for Crystal Tower, Susano, Hades, or Warrior of Light, I needed to find other people that:

1. Actually existed and were willing to do it.
2. Weren't going to get mad if I failed something and died.

Suffice to say both of these things were in short supply, with Dynamis being so dead I was FORCED to data center travel for everything only to then mostly run into people who were not nice and patient at all (especially on Aether). It was bad enough getting kicked during Ivalice, as that was side content I guess I didn't "deserve" to be in given my skill level, but getting kicked over Seat of Sacrifice? Which I NEED to do in order to just see the damn story? That was the exact moment I lost what little trust I had in the playerbase and just wanted to use NPCs for everything because it was clear I wasn't playing an MMO anymore, if I ever was.

But like I said, NPCs aren't available for all mandatory MSQ content, and even the changes they made to Trusts with the "Willful" buff was added AFTER I had already finished Shadowbringers, so it wasn't something I could rely on back then. Not that it matters if I once again get stuck on an MSQ trial in EW/DT and have to once again rely on other players who clearly don't want to deal with me and get upset at anyone failing on "easy" content in EW, or will have a good laugh when I get filtered in DT's harder stuff.

I also did indeed struggle with solo duties in Stormblood and Shadowbringers, specifically any time they made me control different NPCs and ESPECIALLY when I had to heal while doing DPS because I'm not adept at being a healer. People can say all they want about how healing is so simple you can't fail but when you've never actually done the role before, you under and overestimate when you're supposed to do one thing or another and then people end up dead and it's undeniably YOUR fault. (Also AOE heals don't seem to work on NPCs in solo duties for whatever reason, and that's a large part of what makes healing players easier to manage in other content.)

And failure's fine in a single player game, but in a multi player one practically nobody has tolerance for that, not even in normal content it seems, and I myself don't like being dead weight that has to be carried across the finish line. It's better to just avoid other players in this game most of the time because I don't want to be a burden and nobody would want to put up with me anyway.
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No one in their right mind bats an eye if you make a mistake in a dungeon or trial (outside the WoL QTE or not using tank LB there).

Yeah, well, guess who failed the QTEs on their first try of Undying Gasp and Seat of Sacrifice and then got accused of being "another R-word or troll from Dynamis"...

They were unanimous votes, and certainly soured whatever "big damn hero" moment the developers were going for in the cutscenes when I finally cleared them later on knowing my Warrior of Light is such a massive screw-up they died on "baby mode" mechanics. (Though even the story its self makes us out to be such a useless weakling without NPCs to bail us out that I question why we're still considered the main hero of the game.)
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That said though, I am of the opinion, like I said before, that we have a bit too much focus on hard content right now while normal content is thrown in like the unwanted child.
I simply don't agree with the notion that the normal content is in any way too hard.
I played too many video games in my life to think that.

Maybe not hard for you, but I've definitely had problems, and at first it was just "ah well, I'll just not worry about this piece of side content" but then the MSQ kept cranking it up too and soon enough I didn't have much of anything to do or became discouraged from trying further.

There's just something so absolutely unforgiving about FF14 compared to literally any other MMO (or real-time RPG) I've ever played, and something about the community that's equally unforgiving when failure inevitably happens (outside of their pro-gamer static I suppose). The game constantly demands perfection of some kind that I'm just not capable of and there's no hands reaching out to pick you up and dust you off, they're reaching out to throttle you for causing a wipe or making something take longer than it should have because you wasted their time that you were never "entitled" to.

[Wildmagick]

There's just something so absolutely unforgiving about FF14 compared to literally any other MMO (or real-time RPG) I've ever played, and something about the community that's equally unforgiving when failure inevitably happens (outside of their pro-gamer static I suppose). The game constantly demands perfection of some kind that I'm just not capable of and there's no hands reaching out to pick you up and dust you off, they're reaching out to throttle you for causing a wipe or making something take longer than it should have because you wasted their time that you were never "entitled" to.

Hey, I started playing a bit before Dawntrail came out and the new player learning curve is still fresh in my mind. Luckily I had far better experiences (mostly) with other players, but I believe you when you talk about the bad experiences you've had. I just want you to know that there are still people in the game that are patient and nice. Making mistakes is normal, even for experienced players. I'm sorry that things were soured for you.

I'm on Excalibur too, and if you ever need someone to do things with, I'm happy to help.

[LeCorbeaux]

I couldn't just bring NPCs for Crystal Tower, Susano, Hades, or Warrior of Light, ...

Frankly, the MSQ variants of most of those (maybe not the Crystal Tower) should be solo duties anyway. This works better with how the story is told, too. Before we fight Nidhogg for the second time, we are explicitly told that we're doing it solo, for example, and before Susano Alisaie also tells you you're on your own. The current ones can be kept as side content.

[NegativeS]

Devs who play their own game. Based on the abysmal state of balance and how supposed 'evergreen' features are regularly abandoned, I wouldn't be surprised if nobody at SE plays FFXIV outside of testing new content

[Ultran]

Something that WoW has no issue with doing: Bringing in NPC's and story beats from side content. If the player has not done it, he can ask that NPC to either tell him who he is or what story he was part of. Instead Squenix is treating all their side content as if it never really happened? Why? If people do not know an NPC or their story, they can either do it or have to accept that they will not understand parts of it. Why are they harmstringing themselves so hard with their attempt at keeping everyone on the same stage and page of the story? They have so many interesting story arc with interesting characters that just languish along. The whole story arc with the 13th could have been so much more interesting if they brought in our buddies from the 1st, but nope, can't do that, because gods forbid people would have to read up on stuff they skipped.

[GraceHorizon]

There's just something so absolutely unforgiving about FF14 compared to literally any other MMO (or real-time RPG) I've ever played, and something about the community that's equally unforgiving when failure inevitably happens (outside of their pro-gamer static I suppose). The game constantly demands perfection of some kind that I'm just not capable of and there's no hands reaching out to pick you up and dust you off, they're reaching out to throttle you for causing a wipe or making something take longer than it should have because you wasted their time that you were never "entitled" to.

You have my deepest sympathies for your bad experience. I have had my share of obnoxious partymates, and my time coming up through the MSQ was pretty rough. I would have quit in post-Heavensward if I hadn’t been able to use Warrior’s survivability as a crutch. I’ve gotten better at the game since then but it has been a long process. I do make sure to make allowances for struggling new players, especially when I’m healing and in a position to keep them alive and on their feet as much as possible. If I were still playing actively I would offer to help you through duties, but I’m only logging in for a few minutes a day to manage my retainers as I sell my stuff off and wind down in an orderly fashion before my sub expires.

[Aidorouge]

You have my deepest sympathies for your bad experience. I have had my share of obnoxious partymates, and my time coming up through the MSQ was pretty rough. I would have quit in post-Heavensward if I hadn’t been able to use Warrior’s survivability as a crutch. I’ve gotten better at the game since then but it has been a long process. I do make sure to make allowances for struggling new players, especially when I’m healing and in a position to keep them alive and on their feet as much as possible. If I were still playing actively I would offer to help you through duties, but I’m only logging in for a few minutes a day to manage my retainers as I sell my stuff off and wind down in an orderly fashion before my sub expires.

I originally started on Dynamis myself (Maduin), and ended up having to do some much content unsync and solo because there just wasn't enough people available or willing to get through the game. It's only made more awkward by people trying to insist my experience would have been "so much better" if I could have just had a "new player auto MSQ skip" into Endwalker (which is when I started). But... not only would that have not done anything about the lack of people to play with, but I would have had zero things to do anymore because, well, it was already skipped over and I would have had no attachment or understanding of anything in Final Fantasy 14 to keep me here.

I came in wanting a journey with the supposedly "nicest and most welcoming" MMO, not a WoW-esque "only endgame matters" raid simulator as that was part of why stopped playing WoW in the first place; The world and lore didn't matter anymore and other players only saw you as an expendable asset to farm their endgame content.
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Hey, I started playing a bit before Dawntrail came out and the new player learning curve is still fresh in my mind. Luckily I had far better experiences (mostly) with other players, but I believe you when you talk about the bad experiences you've had. I just want you to know that there are still people in the game that are patient and nice. Making mistakes is normal, even for experienced players. I'm sorry that things were soured for you.

I'm on Excalibur too, and if you ever need someone to do things with, I'm happy to help.

Thank you, I appreciate the offer, and there have been other friendly individuals who have reached out before as well, but I still get hung up on the idea of "wasting" somebody else's time in this game that I've never made good on those offers before.

I've even tried being helpful myself back when I was on Dynamis, but starting around Stormblood, I lost a lot of the confidence I had to explain fights or escort people through them when I was still failing a lot of STB/SHB content myself so I wasn't really in any position to be helpful anymore.
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Frankly, the MSQ variants of most of those (maybe not the Crystal Tower) should be solo duties anyway. This works better with how the story is told, too. Before we fight Nidhogg for the second time, we are explicitly told that we're doing it solo, for example, and before Susano Alisaie also tells you you're on your own. The current ones can be kept as side content.

I wish we had solo MSQ versions for a lot of things, but then that causes people to start screaming about "casuals dumbing down the content" even when you specifically try to explain that it would be a separate version that doesn't touch the original.

Unfortunately, Square-Enix does in fact reduce the difficulty of the dungeons they make Duty Support/Trust capable, which only inflames the before-mentioned screamers to go "SEE!? SEE!? WE TOLD YOU CASUALS RUIN EVERYTHING" and then its like I'm expected to feel guilty when Square-Enix made a decision I had zero input about because I would not have wanted the original versions of the dungeons removed.
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If anything this game is one of the most beginner friendly MMO's for new players to that genre.

You're right, we won't agree on this.