What is FFXIV lacking?

[Alyssasidhe]

I actually see a lot of potential in the game. The only thing that upsets me is the lack of purpose and direction. There is the sense of foreboding and foreshadowing, like something dark and dangerous is on the horizon, but as of yet there seems to be no real idea as to what is going to happen or where the game is going. It feels like time is frozen. That's the only thing I find annoying.

[SuzakuCMX]

Atmosphere, players, and a few tweaks to the system (Such as crafting, distinction between the classes [which is hard because there is no job system], and guildleves/behests/guild tasks).

Most of all I think it's lacking in content. There isn't much to do once you hit Rank 50 and complete the few sidequests but farm for gil, hunt NMs, do the occasional events, and .... repeat Behests/Guildleves/Guild Tasks. It needs a lot more end-game content, but I think that'll come with time so I'm not worried about it.

SO...yeah I think atmosphere, because most of what I listed above are already under development right now.

[rianshima]

After playing tonight I think me and my friend decided to go back to ff11, we did our 8 quests each in about an hour, one 1 a day new bulliten board quest, and than just walked around for a little bit staring into open uninhabited landscape. In ff11, there was a reason to level up ( subjubs, main jobs) and a reason to travel outside your town (juno for chocobo quest) not to mention a million other things. FF14 needs too much, if something is so broken than sometimes it cant be fixed. im so sad that ff14 turned out this way. At least ff11 is still around,

[Peregrine]

FFXIV is lacking focussed design and has too many generic features, from pat jobs, to stale levequests, to unimaginitive or simple quests, stats that are bland and powerless, repeated terrain that creates sprawl and not scope. It just seems that the developers are asking "how can we relase as much as we can while doing as little as possible?" Well you make a pat game with pat jobs that have pat stats and perform pat repeatables for pat advancement while adding pat quests for pat rewards and killing pat NMs for pat gear (1.17 excluded that was a great patch if only the game could back up how great it could be with jobs that are interesting and stats that matter).

Because when you just make safe, 40th percentile content that doesn't really do anything or matter in any higher function, you can pump out a ton of it. FFXIV, in response to having woefully inadequate content at launch, seems to have chosen a lot of 40th percentile content over a little 90th percentile content.

No one seems to be asking how they can make a 90th percentile, AAA game. They're just going through the motions of padding a pat MMO with more pat as if it wasn't even trying to be a great game--that the goal is something less.

FFXIV lacks a primary focus on quality content in favor of the mediocre, expected, and generic. It does not aim to beat expectations before being prodded. It aims to eventually get around to them after being reprimanded. Not only does FFXIV have to start meeting expectations without having to re-do it or be reminded of it, which it is not doing now, but it has to start acting like a Final Fantasy on its own without us having to drag it kicking and screaming. It has to start being 90th percentile on its own volition or it will never be good.

The task board and similar content is beginning to define the game. Lots of motion. Not a lot of game.

We'll see how companies, jobs, raids, battle engine, and stat overhaul goes. If any one of those represents more pat 40th percentile content instead of the 90th percentile that the game is expected to be, game will be dead by its 1 year anniversary. If we can't even get XIV to meet us half-way to what we originally expected, then it just doesn't want to be that good of a game to begin with and doesn't deserve this support we're giving it.

I think that for the last 3 years, Square Enix forgot that they're in the business of making AAA games, and it took the release of a 4/10 and 5/10 FF back to back to shock them back into putting videogames first. Unfortunately they haven't spent the last 3 years thinking about how to make great games. That's what XIV lacks, ultimately. No one paid it enough attention from the start, or cared to make it great. They just...figured it would work out.