Dawntrail BROKE FFXIV Player Count Record [NO SPOILERS]

𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗣 𝗠𝗘 𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗬𝗢𝗨. 𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧 𝗢𝗡 𝗣𝗔𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗢𝗡: / quazii
FFXIV Dawntrail just broke FFXIV player records.
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𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗖𝗘𝗦 𝗨𝗦𝗘𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗢
eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...
gamerant.com/final-fantasy-14...
imgur.com/DRTFz2Z
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𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐄 𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋𝐒
Twitter: / imquazii
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[@edatihtiaz8018]

Considering this was the highest player count of any expac and how smooth the login was this time, id say they did a amazing job.

[@k.vn.k]

And yet a small number of people keep posting online that DT was the worst expansion. The less denominator rule the world.

[@luckytanuki5449]

​@@k.vn.kthose two have no correlation at all... I'm of the opinion that dawn trails story is awful, that doesn't mean I'm not gonna log in to play it. See how that works? You can not like something and still engage with it, just like I'm doing with you right now 😘

[@k.vn.k]

@@luckytanuki5449 Nowhere I say the minority who hate the stories stop playing, not with the subs they have paid. Seeing you are just taking words right out of my mouth, let me tell you something very obvious: I am of the opinion that DT story is beautifully written.

[@luckytanuki5449]

@@k.vn.k That is literally what you implied dude. Original comment said "Lots of people are logging in to play and the experience has been smooth" you say "And yet people are complaining about the story as the worst expansion" That implies that people wouldn't be logging in and playing just because they didn't like the story... Which is clearly false given my own time playing it...

[@k.vn.k]

@@luckytanuki5449 Then you have a bigger problem with comprehension, buddy.

[@hkoizumi3134]

The launch was so smooth, naysayers thought we had less people playing than ever. As funny as that may sound, that's the testament of their amazing launch.

[@aeolussvichi7680]

The most I’ve had to wait in the queue was maybe 30min on Friday only. All other times it was no more than 5min, even in the weekend of EA. They really did a great job for this launch 👍

[@sinom]

Yeah the first hour or so after release was around 30 mins of wait time but after that queues have basically been non-existent

[@TknoelTellsStories]

That wasn’t quite the experience my sister and I had on Aether, lol. Friday thru Sunday was pretty heavy queues ranging from 1200 to over 3000 at one point, with our longest queue time being about 45 minutes. That said, the number did go down starting Monday and by the time DT officially launched, queues were fully back to normal. I was super impressed!

[@vtxshiva]

@@TknoelTellsStories Even 45 minutes is nothing in the grand scheme of things. I remember almost every previous expansion having queues anywhere between 7k and 13k and sitting/waiting for 2-5 hours. I did entire streams on launch week of just chatting and watching the queue go down. There were even patch days with 45 minutes queue times. In almost 20 years of playing MMOs, this has to be, bar none, and by far, the best launch week I've ever experienced.

[@midgardo4]

not if you were on aether..here queues were 2h long or more

[@TknoelTellsStories]

@@vtxshiva Duly noted! This is our first expansion so our only comparison was the tales of Endwalker woes we heard from other players, lol. I was by no means saying it was a poor launch, only that it wasn’t the breezy queues for us that some people seemed to enjoy. As I said, I was and still am impressed with how well they handled it overall!

[@pinsandscrews6459]

My friend and I are working through DT together, and both of us just find vistas in the game where we both just stand there looking out and around, much like I would do when road tripping IRL. So yes, I absolutely love the graphical upgrade!

[@saintjayme]

DT has shattered my expectations, I was expecting SB level story and content but I got way more than that! I played sage for faster ques and I was in tears having so much fun healing.

[@Seraphima249]

Dawntrail is for sure the most fun i have had in the game ever since i started playing in Heavensward. And i can confirm the smoothes launch ever. I barely know anyone who had any login Queue at all. Really outstanding job from Yoshi-P and his team

[@Naoto-kun1085]

@@Seraphima249 They really put their best into this!!

[@kirigherkins]

Wow, I actually thought DT had fewer players because the servers have been so smooth. I really enjoyed the story because it reminded me a lot of Fire Emblem, and the difficulty spike in normal content has had me actually excited to do roulettes again as a casual player who can't do raids. Really looking forward to the new deep dungeon and field exploration.

[@JustinK0]

it was because of the cloud servers.

[@dreamer6737]

So far I’m very positive. Graphics makes XIV shine like a new game, I love it. Tural is beautiful and I looove the new zones - and the music 🙏🏻 Viper is fun, and the story is good so far. I’ve heard there’s lots of surprises in the story so looking forward to that. I’m SO invested 🎉❤

[@anydaynow01]

Totally agreed, the graphics boost at 4k max graphics was amazing! And it didn't even tank my system still running on an FX9590 room heater. Towns with a lot of folks can get a bit slow at times but actual combat is perfectly smooth!

[@nucah7880]

I don't think these numbers surprise me to be honest. With EW being as good as it was and how each expansions player base has increased I expected DT to be like this. What I'm more curious about is if the player base sticks around and how that looks over the next couple of years. I've been playing since HW and I've never seen the community so divided. Even though it's early and not all the metacritic reviews are out gaming reviews and player scores are currently ranked lower than ARR.

[@michaelwhite253]

Its literally because people did not enjoy having wuk lamat for the entire expansion. Ms.Butterflies-for-brains. We definitely should not have backed her politically. She should have seceded to koana 100%.

[@freshskittles92]

i looked through metacritic reviews earlier today and a lot of them are 0s and nonsensical hate about having a trans VA I stg. It's not even about the game for a lot of them. I think Wuk Lamat isn't the best char and can be kind of annoying at times but holy shit people HATE her VA lmao

[@thorleif8872]

@@freshskittles92 Yeah, a lot of "critics" on steam are "Muh, FF14 woke cause trans VA mememe"....such a bullshit -.-

[@ExceedProduction]

Especially since it is so easy to criticize Wuk Lamat without making it about her VA at all. It's just another problem on the pile. I dislike her VA because of the flat delivery, not because it is trans.

[@nucah7880]

​@@thorleif8872to be fair, there's a ton of people who are critical of the game in their review and then also give the game a 10 lol. It feels like the game is getting review bombed in both directions lol

[@gunting]

From the SteamDB concurrent player count we were few thousands shorts of players on Dawntrail, but don't forget that we didn't have Xbox players at that time. So we might actually have record number of online players if we aggregate all the platforms

[@natebroadus8474]

I really don't want to spoil anything, so I'll be as vague as possible. I'm at the level 95 zone, and so far I'm enjoying the story. It's what I expected it to be. We're on a continent where nobody has even heard of the Warrior of Light. We're just an adventurer again, not the big hero whose ego everyone is ready to polish. I like that. The story has been good. The dungeons, music and trials have been SICK. No joke, this is my favorite expansion for music. The moment I stepped into Shaaloni, I was home.

[@Maria_Erias]

I really do like the fact that we're here as an advisor and helper. We're getting to fill in the role that the Scions have always filled in for us. It's a nice break from being the Warrior of Light.

[@FragmentedTV]

@@natebroadus8474 I loved the story till about 95, its a downfall from there

[@natebroadus8474]

@@FragmentedTV that's funny. 90-94 for me was a slog, and everything since Skydeep Cenote has had my full attention.

[@Sorakovu]

Had long logs at the beginning of early access but now the log is very fast, loved the msq, graphical upgrade and omg those dungeons and trials are amazing! Im enjoying this expansion too much

[@zoomie5948]

I love Dawntrail so much. It was beautiful, fun, had an amazing story, the voice actors were elite and logging in was smooth from friday on. Never had a issue. It was such a gift and I look forward to where we are going in the future.

[@sweepingtime]

I went into Dawntrail with lowered expectations, and IMO I felt that I could have gone into DT with raised expectations and still come away impressed. If I wanted to summarize DT, it would be that the devs wanted to inject freshness into a long-running game and succeeded quite well. They were able to give the game a new look with the graphics update. They put an insane amount of love into the new areas. They were able to do a lot of interesting things with game mechanics. They made me care about most of the new characters. They could do so many things and make the game feel almost fresh again, and that really is impressive. So it comes to me as no small surprise that with all these impressive feats of game design that the game is getting a somewhat middling score on aggregate sites like Metacritic.

[@dafire9634]

Theres a ton of spam 0 scores on metacritic because wuklamat EN voiceactor is trans

[@Naoto-kun1085]

@@sweepingtime I feel the same, I love the direction this game is going! I don't put much value into Metacritic scores, especially since they gave ARR and HW the sane score an StB is 1 point above them...

[@Edge2177]

Thanks for the coverage!

[@Mrlaged]

I on the whole like the msq. But it suffers from the same pacing issues that every other expansion has suffered from

[@Poldovico]

I think if every expansion has the same issues, they are not issues. At that point, they are an intentional feature that you just happen not to like.

[@LeonardoJ037]

Ffxiv can do no wrong!!!!!!!!!

[@LeonardoJ037]

​@Poldovico no one is allowed to make any criticisms of ffxic EVER!!! IF SOMEONE DOESNT LIKE IT THEN THEY JUST DONT GET IT!!! REEEEEE!

[@Poldovico]

@@LeonardoJ037 bruh

[@guitalex2005]

My closest friends, my wife, and I all decided to data center travel away from Aether (Jenova) the night before maintenance to go to Dynamis. I scouted the servers and went to the server with the least busy Limsa, which seemed to be Maduin. Queue 2 minutes after release was 70. It never went above 30 after that. We stayed there a week and a half and now queues in Jenova are normal. I am glad they let us do that and it made a huge difference.

[@dafire9634]

The MSQ is probably the most mixed people have been yet(also likely because the game wasnt nearly as popular during stormblood) but the legacy of that expac was also "the best battle content yet" and it seems to be this expac is going there as well, so im not too worried about the health of the game in that respect

[@xTyith97]

I see a lot of discourse around the MSQ but I just don’t think the hate it gets is warranted. There are genuine pacing issues in the first half, but the characters are all very well written and we get really deep insight to the different cultures of Tural. The premise of the story is to follow Wuk Lamat to the rite of succession and it was never marketed at anything different, very low stakes, as they stated many times. The fact the WoL takes a back seat is very much intentional and I don’t see anything wrong with this - even the scions aren’t pushed too much to the front, presumably because they had such heavy involvement in the previous expacs that any new player who skips the story and starts in DT might wonder why certain characters are being pushed hard to drive the plot. I did feel Wuk’s VA felt a bit lacking in performance but as a character I love the positive vibes she brings. I’d happily rate the initial story an 8/10. I can’t rate the expansion fully just yet as we do not have all the patch content so my overall impression will have to wait until closer to 8.0

[@k.vn.k]

We who love the game don’t tend to post online. Don’t forget that internet is the only place for complaints to rant, that’s why it’s all you see.

[@nekogami87]

>genuine pacing issues in the first half I mean, after what we went through with SB, I can' t really call that issues XD, but yeah it could have been better.

[@ZestyTime233]

Honestly i have no issue with the story plot itself, i really like the concept and i'm invested on that level. i just wish the focus on characters was more balanced. I knew we'd see more of Wuk Lamat overall since we're her babysitter and all that -- but so far i've seen next to nothing of Krile aside a few lines here and there, and the most Erenville interaction we've had are one or two fetch quests. I really wanted to learn more about both of them (especially Krile with how long she's been around), and with how much the devs showed them off i was expecting more than what we're actually getting, so i can't help but feel disappointed in that regard. I'm halfway through MSQ so i can only hope things will balance out soon 🙏 it's my only gripe about DT so far~

[@KainsAddiction]

​@ZestyTime233 No, she's not our babysitter.... we serve no purpose at all. Like why are we even here? That's ignoring the gact that Wuk is the most annoying character in 14 history AND they got a dude to voice her. Fail fail fail

[@ZestyTime233]

@@KainsAddiction​​⁠i said it feels like we're [her] babysitters :') Like, i assumed we'd have some mentorship thing going on with her, training and sharing advice from our own experiences and whatnot, but it just feels like we win fights for her and just nod along with every naive thing she says - it's painful 😭 my WOL is a snarky fellow so the fact every dialogue choice is super enthusiastic and friendly kinda sucks... i DON'T wanna be here actually xD

[@Sniperbear13]

i gotta say, the launch was actually really well handled. they really helped with the Congestion by basically making one newest DCs the only ones accessible. the highest number in the que i saw was during the Early access when the servers went live on my home server(which is a server that often time gets marked as Congested). when i traveled to Dynamis DC, there was basically no que. im looking forward to the post launch patches.

[@notoriousotaran8015]

This sounds like good Yoshi PR, to be honest. Story quality of Dawntrail aside, I'm supposed to believe that every expansion launch aside from Dawntrail has had less players than ARR? That more people were playing on Day 1 of ARR than Day 1 of EW? How is that even possible when a few weeks ago we went over a chart that showed EW launch was the most money FF14 has ever made? I dont know something aint adding up. Seems like there's more behind this claim, but to expand on it would take away what he's trying to imply here.

[@dale7326]

i doubt the DT is popular for sure, doesn't seeing that many and not really different from EW

[@rezzyn94]

WoW will always be my favorite game but I'm having a blast in Dawntrail so far. Some people are whining about the story but I was ready for a more chill story. Saving the world every 10 minutes was getting old lol

[@uguucat4700]

>saving the world every 10 minutes Lol, lmao even

[@rezzyn94]

@@uguucat4700 ??

[@WVER-gc2fs]

Ngl, my friends and I were pleasantly surprised that there weren't any long queues! They did amazing for this launch, and I'm glad this is the case even with these peak numbers. I was already bracing myself to not be able to play smoothly for the first week. 🤣

[@phantomvox951]

Im an old person and been playing 14 for 8 years. Im really surprised why so many ppl find the expansion boring and woke. Ive been having a lot of fun and dont even find Wuk Lamat annoying. I dont know maybe its me because Im old or ppl are over critical. I just love the game and helps me forget for a moment my real life struggles.

[@UTO7]

There's a significant dicrod brigade going around flooding anything to do with the expansion with negative comments. You can tell because the comments usually have nothing to do with the video or anything said

[@k.vn.k]

We who love the game don’t tend to post online. Don’t forget that internet is the only place for complaints to rant, that’s why it’s all you see.

[@LeonardoJ037]

​@@k.vn.kare you kidding me? There are 100x more ffxiv apologists than complainers,

[@MeraBun-rg2uq]

The master hate comes from people who consume games like locusts anyway and have forgotten to enjoy something. Dawntrail tells a great story and has equally great new characters. Don't always look at what others say but experience a game with an open mind :o).

[@Tholapsyx]

An adventurer, no matter how heroic, cannot directly intervene in foreign affairs w/o the blessing of their leaders & people. This is a key tenet of the Scions' philosophy since ARR. It's crazy to think that the WoL could be central to DT story even in the 2nd arc without Wuk's involvement, esp given Wuk's character. Not to mention if the WoL handles the crisis in the 2nd part and she does nothing, her worthiness as Resolve would b in question. Also Wuk & Koana coruling makes perfect sense. Even with his development, his people skill pales in comparison to Wuk. To b an effective leader, they don't just need to be smart, they need to make people listen.

[@thesunthrone]

EXACTLY! We may be a hotshot back in Eorzea, but people of Tural know nothing about the WoL. To them, we're just some merc with an oddly menacing aura. The whole point of the expansion's story is also self-governance, taking in advice from outside but only if it does not dilute the local customs and way of life. We're just there to make sure no world-ending disaster happens, but other than that, we let the folks find their own way, even if we might disagree with it.

[@RoboChocobo]

@@thesunthrone These are all good points, but you can't forget that player satisfaction comes first. If the story isn't delivering the right stuff to the players then the devs opted to tell the wrong story. They should have gone back to formula.

[@Tholapsyx]

@@RoboChocobo I can't think of a new story beat where we can relax/chill out at a new place and still be the center of the story. How do we sideline the local people at this new place? That either requires Hollywood level of bad plot that I do not want, or another reality ending threat. We already defeated one and most of us wanted some chilling out. This is ARR/StB situation all over again. These kinds of stories are needed, not just for worldbuilding, but for slowing down & establishing new threads where we can escalate to world-saving again. I suspect the bigger problem is that people don't like Wuk, so adventuring with her is a chore, same as with Lyse. I've come to notice that most people don't like the goodie over-eager archetypes (Lyse, Minfillia, BG3 Wyll, now Wuk). Even while I personally dont dislike Wuk, I relates more to Koana.

[@thesunthrone]

@@RoboChocobo And here's the rub - so many players are asking them to DITCH the formula. Over and over, every patch lull, every wind-up to a new expansion, it's always countless posts and videos in the line of "ohh man I wish they'd take risks and experiment"... And then, when they DO experiment, it's always met with "no, not like that".

[@RoboChocobo]

@@thesunthrone going back to formula means starting over at the base level of a project, not slavishly replicating a prior work.

[@CetteSara]

On your last point about the game looking/feeling different, I agree a lot. I've gone back into older raid alliances and the lighting makes such a difference! Syrcus Tower looks gorgeous!

[@ryanadams2671]

The game is now on Xbox so player numbers are naturally going to be higher as it’s their first full expansion. Let’s not forget that. They also updated the game graphically as well as updated glamour and some class issues and added some nice QoL features. The new zones and cities are incredibly beautiful and fun to explore and the dungeons are tougher making a lot of players happier as old dungeons were snore fests. It really is a great expansion and I for one look forward to what’s coming in the few large patches throughout the expansions life.

[@KLGChaos]

I have mixed feeling about the story. Some I like, some I didn't. I was fine with Wuk Lamat. The story is around SB level for me, which is also fine. I really liked SB and that crew as well. I really only had two major gripes. The first being the WoL not having an arc. I'm ok with being support, but this was the first expac where you're just kinda in the background and have nothing to do except carry things or be a sword arm. It felt like they wanted to lean into the mentor role more, which would have been great, but they didn't know how to handle it with a more silent protagonist. Having more lines for the WoL would have gone a long way towards building that relationship. My only other gripe was that despite liking Wuk Lamat, she was ever-present, to the point that other character arcs like Erenville and Krile suffered for it. It lacked balance and she came out as a Creator's Pet. That said, the graphical update, the zones, the boss fight design, all were marked improvements and a ton of fun. I also really liked the themes of the expac.

[@densha63]

Hello! I will agree with you here. So far, I love the story in all its entirety, but I just can't vibe with Wuk Lamat as much as I want to in comparison to some characters who were with you on for a shorter time. I'm feeling like Wuk Lamat was similar in a sort of way to Lyse Hext way back in Stormblood. Even after finishing the 7.0 MSQ, I still feel not as attach to her as I would hope but the rest really did vibe for me. As for Erenville and Krile, maybe will see more on post-expansion patches since the formatting of the expansion will be the same as those pre-Endwalke expansion were x.3 is the true ending of the major expansion. And I would agree the graphical update elevates the overall aesthetic. The dungeon mechanics are more fun and challenging as well and not just your usual "walk-in-the-park" kind of difficulty :D. The trials were insane as well :D Even for a normal, I love how confusing the mechanics can be XD So I'm kind of expecting more now for the upcoming alliance raid and raids. And also looking forwards for the contents these expansion patches have to offer.

[@k.vn.k]

Yeah but from what I can see only 10% don’t like it. The thing with minority, they are usually the loudest, while we who love it just enjoy the game without posting online.

[@densha63]

@@k.vn.k yeah, i agree. If you look at the Steam feedback, it is kinda insane that I just wanna laugh at those who score the expansion pretty low for some absurd reason 😂😅.

[@k.vn.k]

@@densha63 exactly makes me wonder who are the genuine reviewers and who are just trolling.

[@jrtime228]

I'm gonna be honest based on experience here. The people I have seen comparing the storylines of individual expansions have not been people who play for the story. And the fact that you put so much into saying "i didn't care much for the story" as well as the fact that you ended your post with, "but everything else was alright", makes me think that describes you too. I enjoyed every bit of the story, flaws included. And I can say the role of "silent mentor" makes sense atm because the WoL has literally saved existence and any further development would find FFXIV turning into a FF knockoff of the Dragonball series.

[@NepaliGamer]

i was amazed how the launch was so smooth, hardly any queues.

[@philipc05]

Really been enjoying my time with the expansion and the graphics update is very appreciated! 👍

[@J3dotgg]

People leaving negative reviews based on the story alone are being really disingenuous IMO. The zone and PvE content this release are unmatched.

[@dafire9634]

Theres a whole downvoting brigade on metacritic and steam, putting 0 score reviews only because the EN VA of wuklamat is trans

[@omegaxtrigun]

I’ve really enjoyed it overall so far (currently in the last zone). Nothing I can really complain about. I really enjoy the change of tone to something lower stakes. Learning about all the cultures of Tural has been very enjoyable. I know some ppl dont really like Wuk Lamat but I like her a lot.

[@vince.6503]

Bro even being on Xbox and having the crash issue which through me into Qs at peak player times…. Dawntrail launch was amazing, Dawntrail IS amazing. Been loving it and was so happy to be able to play early and have a full weekend to immerse even despite the issues

[@christafart4202]

I am half way thru shadowbringer and this is where i left off years ago and im pretty happy with how it looks.

[@LeonardoJ037]

Wuk Lamat is on screen at all times. If she's not on screen people are asking where's Wuk Lamat?

[@walkseva]

I work nights so my login times are vastly different from the average peaks, but even during the prerelease days, I only saw a 2k wait once; all other times have been sub-50. Definitely the smoothest launch of all I've experienced in 14.

[@SMNtheNight]

I absolutely LOVED Dawntrail, so this isn't super surprising to me personally, but definitely an incredible achievement for the team!

[@Abyssionknight]

There was a 2k queue the first day of early access, but otherwise my queues have been at the normal levels. If they actually have record high levels of players right now then they must have done some insane improvements to their servers.

[@greyknight627]

I feel DT is a solid 7.5 out of 10. I don’t quite put it in the Stormblood category, but it certainly isn’t on level with Shadowbringers (not that I expected/wanted it to be). For me there are a couple of issues: 1. Wuk Lamat. Like her character or dislike her, she was overused. I frankly saw little need to include her in the story after the competition was complete. In fact, her involvement in the 2nd half of DawnTrail in my opinion cost us good ample story time with Krile and Erenville. She wasn’t needed with Sphene, and she continued to comment on how the inter dimensional shard system was over her head. I feel like she’d be a more solid character had she not be involved to the degree she was in the Alexandria arc. 2. The WoL role. I do NOT need our character to be central in every story, that gets boring. What I prefer to see (in instances where other characters take center stage) is that our role is handled well. Going back to Wuk Lamat, we’re just hired muscle. Considering how inexperienced and young she is, it would have been great to see us be a mentor to her (giving us the chance to use our various experiences past to help guide her). I realize this is difficult, because FFXIV is not a choice-based game with multiple avenues, but it just felt like we were relegated to a wall flower this expansion. 3. Limited other character involvement. As I mentioned in 1. above, the over use of Wuk Lamat meant we didn’t get time with other noteworthy arcs like Erenville and Krile. When the 2nd half of DT was under way, the game makes you think the Scions will briefly reunite. While it technically happens, we see little change or interactions. I was sort of hoping it’d be a temporary “let’s get the band back together” with all the banter and feeling of reuniting with friends we hadn’t seen in a while. While it was good we got some G’raha’Tia moments, others like Y’Shtola, Thancred, and even the twins felt as pushed to the side as the WoL. All in all, I like DawnTrail. Unlike Stormblood, I will remember good chunks of the story and journey here (I struggle at times to piece together the SB story as it was so long and uninteresting). It was not a home run expansion, but I also didn’t need it to be stellar like ShB or EW. I would still recommend it to friends, but I cannot deny it has faults.

[@Darth0Prince]

You put in words what I was thinking about but couldnt pinpoint. There is too much Wuk Lamat in second half. It doesn't mean I want her gone entirely or anything like that, but it felt too much. And in the final trial I felt kinda cringe how she almost copied Gaia/Zenos and again made it about her. Of course with how hard they invested in her arc it's logical to push it in second half too, but it was overdone imo. I'm almost ambivalent about WoL's role in DT. I wanted just a bit more. Like a couple scenes where it shows how scary they're (like the grandpa in HW's ending moment). Maybe more mentorship-like scenes. But I did like how they gave WoL a couple of whimsical opportunities to have fun.

[@julien-kun5273]

People even used to say "Shadowbringers" is the worst expansion, bad, that they stopped playing because of it etc. Shadowbringers! The perhaps strongest of them all! It's the usual with every expansion.

[@DonaldTurner]

it was truly a testament to their paying attention, their caring!

[@KalanosYT]

The story is easily one of the weakest we've had. The locations and vistas are great though, and the dungeons and trials have been amazing as well so that's certainly a plus.

[@patheticbadger3478]

Happy to hear that the expansion has been performing well! Dawntrail has been such a treat so far for me. Not only has the end game dungeons and trials been some of the best in their respective "content type" we've ever seen in FFXIV, which makes me exited for the raid tier. The story also surpassed my fairly high expectations. The level of world building seen in Dawntrail is among the best I've ever seen, regardless of media. Tural after one expansion feels more fleshed out than Eorzea lmao. Which is an amazing feat and the dev team should be proud of what they have accomplished. But also the story covered some fascinating concepts, and the "nuggets" they can pull on in future stories that have been laid in Dawntrail so far seem to have a lot of potential. The villains/antagonist of this expansion also were very well crafted and interesting. Overall, I'd rank Dawntrail as my second favorite MSQ (only counting the X.0 patches) behind Endwalker. If including the X.3 patches, I'd rank it equal to Shadowbringers, in other words can't decide between them lmao.

[@ruthnovena40]

I liked the story.We got lore and a understanding in one patch of what was going on there is I feel subtle writing in this story the journey of Wuk Lamat., Koana Baakool JAJA Erenville and Krile.

[@Anime_darkwing]

i only had two long log in times (over 3k wait) the first was when the pre patch launched (within the first hour) and once after a server crash (which only happened once) otherwise ~300 was the highest i saw during peak times

[@KAvanAlten]

Congratulations for them of course, but I cannot believe that the cricitsim will not affect this at all. I can imagine a sharp decline, hopefully to slowly climb up with 7.1 if that MSQ goes in the right direction. And if the side content is nice as well. I so do hope that the Arcadion is more than what they teased us so far, because people really need distraction from their MSQ dissapointment.

[@ZestyTime233]

The longest wait i had was 30min, as soon as the servers opened for early access -- which was super impressive considering all the horror stories i heard about endwalker 😲✨ Ever since, it's hardly been any different than my normal queues. Absolutely thriving on the new graphics update, you can really feel their new technology working, in that even the biggest maps don't feel nearly as barren as they used to - Kozama'uka is may favourite for this reason, it's just so lush~! 🌴🌺 And i REALLY love the new dungeon and trial fights; the mechanics feel fresh and creative, and actually managed to kill me a few times before i figured them out 🤣✨ Looking forward to completing MSQ and trying out the extremes! 🎶

[@nekogami87]

The update on lighting makes the world so much more vibrant, it was really worth it imo. It' s been a while since I had that much fun in dungeons AND trials too (still can' t believe I died that often lol, had to actually focus for once). Story wise, from what I' ve heard the immersion experience changes a lot depending on your VA language choice (I play with JP voices), looks like the EN version is a little bit of a miss this time. Imo, I do like the story and don't really mind the role we have in it, it kind of feels like, what SB should and could have been (main grips of SB being the pacing outside of HIngashi part that I hated, and Lyse that I still hate to this day because of how the character was written during SB story ... )

[@Bunstonious]

These are my thoughts. MSQ: I think that there has been some discussion about the MSQ and I actually don't agree with a bunch of it. I think that people are being critical for the sake of being critical and I think that the way that the story is laid out is pretty good, the way it's told is pretty good and my only complaint is that I think they tried to cram too much into what feels like the 2 parts of the MSQ. Theme: I don't like the theme of the first city at all (gives me Dazar'alor vibes :( ) but I adore the second city and I hope they expand on it and its story. Dungeons: They're all bangers. Every single one of them. I don't know who is responsible for the dungeons but the Dawntrail dungeons are some of the best story dungeon content i've seen yet. Loving them! Can't wait to farm them for my trusts. Trials: Look, i'm mixed on this. I adore the fact that they have added duty support to all the dungeons besides the last one, as a DPS and an RP player this definitely made me happy to see, but the lack of duty support in the last one was really noticeable and the queue was huge :( Mechanics: Memory mechanics are absolute hell for me, and layering up to 3 mechanics queued up is extremely difficult for me. I hate them and I dislike their use in the expansion. I also dislike that many of the mechanics have short cast times or are quick and so I find it a challenge to get out of them many times. It just feels unfun banging my head against a brick wall. I'd love it if the Duty support could continue to a wipe or complete rather than instant reset :( Solo Duties: I have said it before and i'll say it again, duties where you need to play as a story character shouldn't exist... Period. I spend a lot of time playing and setting my character up and to be thrust into playing some stock character that isn't me, I detest it. I wish they would stop doing this. My wife even had issues with the one in Dawntrail on VERY EASY! Seriously, this was WAY overtuned in general and the fact that very easy isn't a cake walk just feels wrong to me, they really need to address it so that less skilled people can get through the story (and also those that don't like doing this crap). This is the one big wet blanket on the whole expansion imo. Graphics: Honestly I didn't really notice it being improved per se, but the world has always been gorgeous in my eyes and now is no exception. Launch: This is the smoothest launch of a live service game I have ever been a part of, ever! Congratulations to Yoshi-P and team. Now... The elephant in the room... Let everyone region travel, even Materia players >:-/ I'm looking forward to see what they do, hopefully some more midcore content is released and I really hope they start developing official ways to measure your own metrics so we can improve rather than relying on 3rd party tools. That's all I have.

[@emerelle3535]

Ok, hearing that, I am REALLY suprised. The game runs so smooth (no queue at all. I even missed the early access and started on July 2nd, because I was busy with FF7 Rebirth Platinum). So I guessed there were less players as on Endwalker-Launch but apparently their measures to avoid queues did work out perfectly fine. :O Oh! Of Course... Xbox-playeres are new, they weren't there before. x) But yeah.. I'm on PS5 and for me so far everything works perfectly fine. (Unless for the PSN-Plus free Aetheryte-Favorite, but I can live with that, that it says 'expired' from time to time, even tho it is not.)

[@lynk5207]

They did a great job better launch experience than ew. This was a breath of fresh air. Going back to roots of being an adventurer imo.

[@vbun4662]

I'm mostly positive for the expac overall. While I think the narrative is the weakest we've had this time around the rest of the game still shined through. The zones were all beautiful, the world building was well done and I liked the introduction of new universe mechanics. I don't hate Wuk but I think she was overused to the point of suffocating the rest of the cast and hopefully they give the playerbase a break from her. XIV is interesting as a game because expansions aren't carried by their own hype, they're built up by the hype of what came before. EW was so good that DT was only ever going to be record breaking. I'm curious to see DTs legacy.

[@dafire9634]

I think DT will have a good legacy if they keep up this quality of battle content, same as Stormblood

[@chikoskiii7767]

crystal player here! crystal is empty af because i’ve only waited max 2 minutes to log in lol

[@warm-heartedreaction6191]

yeah it really great i really like it

[@aceandrews7778]

People called endwalker to be the worst expansion because of its content and now suddenly dawntrail is the worst because of its divisive story? What? I loved endwalker through everything, dawntrail has been a blast, no matter what they do people are never happy such is the life of an mmo.

[@JustinK0]

the minority that complain are the loudest. im sure the vast majority enjoyed them, i know i did.

[@KoNekoNoUta]

I learn my opinion is the only truth to myself. I do not need other people’s opinion to validate my taste. I love Endwalker through and through, it is the best story I have ever experienced, gameplay wise it’s not bad either.

[@Naoto-kun1085]

@@aceandrews7778 Those haters will never be happy, can they even be called "fans" if all they do is complain about how much they dislike the game?

[@oliverurbanik9647]

I Agree - the Launch was fantastic. No longer Queues then on most days and not much of lag issues - only one connection loss during the first dungeon. Smoothest launch of an Expac I have ever seen. The MSQ was .. odd. I agree with most here, that Wuk Lamat was a bit overused. But this might be because i felt, the MSQ was a bit.. rushed. Some of the plot elements were a bit to fast concluded and should have gotten more time. And yes, the Scions came to short - felt the same. Overall it was ok, but I myself didn't expected an Expac on the Level of ShB or EW. It was ok, and lets see where the journey goes.

[@soulous6001]

Xbox joins the fray

[@Kiobao]

I love the zones, the aesthetic, vibe and content of Dawntrail so far, however, I really don't care for Wuk Lamat, her NA VA, or how much they were involved. I loved Kriles story and enjoyed erenvilles. The story over all has been mixed to OK for me. probably my least favorite, and I personally liked Lyse more, even if they character assassinated her. The game looks a lot better too. I'm even enjoying going back and changing hairstyles to see how they are improved lol.

[@lookitsgordo]

Unfortunately there's no innovation in the MSQ, and the writing feels VERY sloppy at times. Its been extremely difficult for me to spend any amount of time on the msq itself.

[@Abyssionknight]

When it comes to class skills, I think a lot of people that play a lot of FFXIV forget how bad most players are compared to them. A lot of people struggle with the MSQ solo battles (the whole reason there's so many difficulty options if you fail), and most people never even try savage content or ultimates. Many even struggle with the normal versions of raids. Simplified class kits are just better for the overwhelming majority of players. I think Picto is a great example of a class that's good for casuals and more experienced players. A casual basically just has to hit two buttons, and sometimes paint, and they'll be fine for the MSQ. Skilled players though have that skill expression of weaving in their painting and lining it up with burst windows. I think it'd good to have reaction passed classes, and maybe even good to have positions remain in as an optional bonus rather than a requirement for a skill, but most people are not good enough to play those classes effectively and simply won't try them.

[@akaiYaMa9]

I gotta admit the best part of this expansion so far has been the huge influx of players to dynamis. Can finally play content on my own DC 😂 [Spoilers] Storywise i felt like the queen was really just an attempt at doing another Emet Selch. Which makes total sense considering emet is not only one of the best ffxiv villains but possibly one of the best villains ive ever seen in a game. But i couldnt shake the feeling that "havent we already seen all this before with the Ascian's (endless), emet (sphene), and hydaelyn (warrior of light)?" Gameplaywise i think it definitely is shaping up to be the best expansion. It feels like they turned up the dungeon/extremes difficulty and just feels all around more fun and challenging. The graphical update was alot better than i thought it would be. Duel dye slots. New jobs. Its been a really good expansion so far.

[@voyddd]

An amazing launch comparing this to other online service games these days. I have to admit though my SeriesX crashing every 3-4 zone transitions scared me a bit...

[@dafire9634]

Xbox players are getting 10free days of gametime to alleviate these issues which should have been fixed in yesterdays hotfix

[@majikku702]

Might be just me, but there's nothing truly different... new MSQ... dungeons... trials... what's really groundbreaking and new? I don't really care for the new jobs, because queue times for DPS are still long AF. I feel like I'm playing another Pokemon game with the same routine/system existing since day 1.

[@cloudstrife2131]

msq is an absolute howler, but i'll trade it for the new battle concepts

[@lanisolfire5692]

im an asthetic player only i dont care about the numbers behind damage and all that and i can tell that picto does to much damage i cant see them not nurfing its damage

[@IBeJaMz]

Talk to Wuk Lamut …again

[@ReaverPrime]

During early access, the longest queue I had was 31. On launch day, it was 85. Whatever voodoo they did behind the scenes really worked. 😊

[@isegard2957]

what server you are on ? I'm on europe chaos data server spriggan world and man we have 3k-4k queue on early access launch day but other than that very smooth

[@ReaverPrime]

@isegard2957 Hyperion. A legacy server that is always classed as Congested. That's why I praise their voodoo.

[@user-ch7pp8gm4n]

Well, the rumors "next patch of FFXIV is always best patch" seems still true to me.

[@PrincessBubblegum]

I ended up enjoying the msq in the end

[@patheticbadger3478]

I loved it, honestly might be my second favorite X.0 MSQ behind Endwalker. Then again, Frieren is my favorite anime and both Dawntrail and Frieren seem to share a lot of their "most common criticisms".

[@Naoto-kun1085]

​@@patheticbadger3478Definitely agree, the journey has been quite enjoyable and the characters are quite lovable!

[@brycemoose7026]

After the slog up till the lvl 95 dungeon it definitely gets better

[@PrincessBubblegum]

@@brycemoose7026 my other complaint is them leaving the other scions and tataru not show up throughout the quests

[@nekogami87]

@@patheticbadger3478 I didn' t think of Frieren, but yeah, it actually make sense. probably one fo the reason why I enjoyed it quite much.

[@elkitesaga999]

Viper aint bad. Yes a lot of buttons, it troubling for people doing those high end content. Other than that, if you're doing it in dungeon it is smooth.

[@nelieltu9730]

New jobs, Trials, dungeons all are top tier mate, msq ehh could be much better.They should just delete Wuk lamat and make Krile and bunny boy the mains.

[@soulous6001]

Smn was my main 😢

[@m0o0ntecrist08]

[@Ulticutie]

First half was very boring, second half was really good, if first half had less quests and maybe an extra dungeon I think it would've been alot better to digest

[@michaelstiller2282]

I didn't buy DT yet. Just because i already have too much i want to do. The graphical overhaul is no small accomplishment. Maybe they didn't have enough time to create the story telling the way they had in visioned. Like building a house. If your still framing it. The final coat of paint is going to look bad. Even some of the dual channel armors look like they were rushed. Quantity and not quality because its not a small job to do.

[@RoboChocobo]

There's just no way they went all the way to early Alpha without anybody noticing the story wasn't fun to play through.

[@k.vn.k]

The story in DT is amazing. We who love the game don’t tend to post online. Don’t forget that internet is the only place for complaints to rant, that’s why it’s all you see.

[@rouradcanine]

personally I really loved the story for DT

[@crashzone6600]

I would say the raid at the end of the MSQ is cringe. I dont see it being popular among players, and infact i can see many people abandoning the duty just because they dont want to do it. I also have problems with the second half of the MSQ. The people they wanted me to empathize with i simply couldnt, and the people that they wanted me to feel sorry for, i couldnt. I found myself wanting to rush through it just because i wanted it to be over already, and i think that is a consequence of bad storytelling. Most of the plot was predictable, so many of the moments that were supposed to be big reveals, ended up being completely lackluster. Wuk Lamat was frankly annoying in many instances, and she ended up grating on my nerves toward the end. I think it was mostly because she was trying to force the player to align with her morality, and how she is feeling and that means she can become antagonistic toward the player if you dont align with it. For the most part it feels like your trying to do your job as hero, and then you have this person that comes to nag, and you just want to tell them to go away to let you work.

[@LookingForSomethingMissing]

They need to fixed those micro stutters on some windows users

[@BaithNa]

How will Zepla and the haters try to flip this achievement?

[@Spectacular_Insanity]

The story is… okay. A solid 7/10. Not great, not terrible. I’m just going through it without really engaging with the story in too much depth. It’s like eating junk food… it’s there, might as well. I’ll probably play the MSQ then cancel my subscription until the 7.5 update.

[@Tokera]

Viper is fine the way it is!!!!

[@MudkipsAreEpicWin]

It doesn't make sense to make a job easier for newer players when you are required to put in a minimum of 1k hours just to unlock it. They need to stop making them so easy, but also stop doing whatever they did to monk this expansion.

[@The_Catman]

It's not required to play 1K hours. In FFXIV, getting to max level with your first job is a breeze. You get maxed even before Heavensward is even really started.

[@jerymarika]

did not enjoy dawntrail, tried to give it a chance, but it feels like I'm just forcing myself to play, so I think i'll just quit :/

[@TsuchiGamer06]

No Spoiler but I love the MSQ. We're the Badass Mentor/Friend and this story has so many twists and turns. It admittedly starts out slow (I actually enjoy it) but that 2nd half is BONKERS

[@MarekGamer76]

I am in the group of people who are not a fan of Dawntrail. 1. Wuk Lamat is painful to listen to and I don't care that the VA is trans, I care about the dialogue and the way she sounds. It is like nails on a chalkboard. I just ended up turning off the volume during most cut scenes. Her dialogue is way to sappy and she acts like a valley girl. 2. The MSQ was brutal with all of the walking. Go all the way across the zone, then come back halfway (we don't want you to use the Aetheryte). Now go all the way back, ask this person a question, then back across the zone again. Over and over and over. It felt like the meaningless walking just never ended. Also, many of the MSQ quests were things that would typically be added in as a side quest, it was a lot of filler along the way to stretch things out. 3. I'm not that bothered that we are not the main focus, but it also felt like our role was fairly meaningless. There was nothing that required the WoL, we just happened to be available. The story was definitely more relaxed and chill, until the very end when they decided to make it about "saving the entire star". I will give them props for how well the servers scaled and the general lack of queue times for getting into the game.

[@sndman55]

No the hate is definitely warranted. Worst Expansion ever. The MSQ is absolutely terrible. Its like they have no idea what made Heavsward, shadowbringers and even endwalker good.

[@SterlingHyde]

personally imo they should slow the fights/game down... needs to be more like FF11. the fights are just too damn fast pace. there no ownership, you dont feel proud of what your doing, because everyone is pretty much doing same thing

[@FingerPuppetSarcasm]

i loved the whole expac. Idk how people got so emotionally violent over not being the center of attention in the story.

[@cyphi474]

Well thats exactly why is SB considered weakest expansion. Still, in DT player gets at least some attention, not just riding along like in SB. If someone, its Scions who are completely pointless from story perspective. They have some moments, but if they were not there, nothing would change. Maybe even better if they were not there at all(besides Krille). Story would get more streamlined, imo.

[@The_Catman]

To be fair, rarely the WoL is the main character. They managed to do it in ShB and EW due to all the relationships the player had developed with the characters of the Scions and connecting Emet Selch to the protagonist original incarnation. So, since everyone was speaking about you all the time, you felt like the main character. In reality, from HW to EW, Alphinaud is almost always the one taking all the important decisions and imprinting a direction to your actions. He's just written to never recognize his own efforts in favor of your minor inputs and fights. Rarely, Alisaie and Lyse and a bit of G'Raha took his place to build their characters, masquerade your nature as a perpetual tag along, or because the expac was their story, even if the story itself admits it only with Lyse's case. Now that everything has been reset...they kinda can't use these tricks so they opted to not do it at all and make you a participant of someone else's story openly. They will build characters and relationships, and in about 2 expacs, everyone of these characters will start talking like it's always been about you all the time even if it still an illusion...and you just di what THEY tell you. It works...but it needs time to build it back.

[@omegaxtrigun]

@@cyphi474So we’re just disregarding all the times where the Scions helped not only in combat but also with their connections and various expertise? lol okay bud.

[@TorManiak]

I don't think it's because of that those people don't like the expansion's story. Some really just don't like Wuk Lamat and Erenville and think they're boring/annoying, which their omnipresence as "the main characters" makes them much harder not to hate for these players(kinda like Lyse). Couple that with certain missteps from Stormblood being here too, and I can see why it's mixed, even if I enjoy it personally.

[@mattfletcher2270]

"Emotionally violent"??? I don't know if you're confusing your words but there's no such thing.

[@sasakijung]

Just finished my MSQ, this took me 9 days since EA (6 hrs a day) ...I would say I really really like Dawntrail Story. It may not surpass Heavensward, Shadowbringers and Endwalker (well it build-up for 10 yrs) but....Dawntrail, if you truly understand what writer tries to tell you, you will not regret every second of it, truely. I think many may not understand even why but still many will understand and appreciate the time they spend in the MSQ. Criticism will be all over the internet soon, but I'm not regret every step I cross my time in Dawntrail.

[@milengenov2388]

Wouldn't say. Huge marketing campaings! That is the reason. MSQ lacks a lot even the second half is not that great. Both jobs are fun. This is a huge WIN. Zones are dead empty. Hige LOSE. Music is Ok. Solution Nine was expected to be something epic and got to be just aesthetically pleasant and that means there will be no mcuh atteention dragged in. Nothing else. Remove the DoH/L NPCs and this zone will completly empty. Dungeons are very good. Trials are EPIC. But we haven't seen the raid yet. The launch was smooth but it is not adding much value. Overall my score for DT start is 5/10. That is not bad but the noise and attention around this expansion was/is huge and SE had to bring much more to the table.

[@WorldinJeopardy]

Glad to see positivity in the comments. My boyfriend has been telling me how negative people have been on DT and it makes me sad. I loved the chill vibes of DT with our WoL taking a backseat and watching a woman grow into a great leader. We just got done saving the entire star! We deserve a little fun xD Plus the dungeons and trials have been a complete joy. I don't think there is a single dungeon I dislike, unlike past expansions.

[@no_way_I_care]

:3

[@Dranni21312]

Not surprised at all. After mediocre EW post patch content and barely any reason to log back in for such a long time, combined with anticipation for the new graphics update, people were hungry for the new FFXIV content and to finally play the game again

[@JustinK0]

ew patches were awesome and so is FF4 which is the basis of it, wtf are you smoking?

[@occiderisaethiopissa3702]

The problem is for MSQ without too much spoilers, it banks heavily on you liking a certain character and if you don't then you're stuck with a character who has supplanted you as the main character. It was very jarring, especially how it felt so undeserved as well, I would have been happy it it were Krile or any of the Scions even Ereneville because we've known all those characters for a long time. Even with Yda/ Lyse who was argubly the main character for Stormblood we knew of her since ARR (1.0 for some people) so there was build up and time we had spent with that character. Whereas this new character we've known her for all of 5 minutes since the very, very end of Endwalker 6.55 and is now the main character. I honestly don't know what they were thinking.

[@wojnr]

Honestly Erenville's mom would be a better choice. Interesting and good looking character, great VA. The problem is that it would be basically female Crystal Exarch 2.0 and people would complain again. I agree with everything except Erenville, he is not a type of person I would go on adventure with. Krile would be much more interesting. I find her story rushed, it had potential to carry the expansion without Wuk.

[@warm-heartedreaction6191]

lyse less devolopment than wuk they give wuk screen time bc not want to be like lyse but people still hate it anyway so it whatever i see peole love wuk so much too so it subjective

[@dafire9634]

The whole premise of the expac was "help this person throughout the entire ordeal" so it was not out of nowhere like you say, However i do agree that wuklamat was too overused

[@siyrean]

While it didn't have the highs of EW, it also didn't have the lows. I think people forget that EW was carried by Elpis and the finale, the rest of the msq was average to horrible with Lopporats destroying all momentum. I came out of DT going "it was alright" with very steady pace throughout. No lopporates, no trolley, no post ARR nightmares, just not the super highs some of the other expansions hit.

[@Lyachos]

msq was absolute dogwater

[@yuina88]

Dawntrail MSQ is garbage and Wuk Lmao sucks

[@Cadugaming]

No. Dawntrail is a disappointing trash, these numbers will go down fast the next weeks

[@mocmeo4425]

I think people are too harsh on the story, while im mostly someone who stuck with ff14 for battle design, which has been excellent from the first look, the story, while not a masterpiece on the level of shadowbringer tells a story loss and learning to accept it, as well as treasuring the moment you have with the people you love, to me, this story is very human and resonate deeply with me

[@wojnr]

Graphic upgrade and all the marketing is doing the job in terms of numbers. Some new biomes and hubs look very impressive. Even old content looks much better. That also makes more people want to give the game a chance and old players to come back. Launch was very impressive, also the best in mmo for me. Story is meh, Stormblood 2.0 with more annoying Lyse. I'm also not a fan of job changes, new are fine but nothing special. Battle content slaps, already much much better than in EW. Music is usually great, sometimes feels a little off.

[@RoboChocobo]

It's going to be very challenging for them to convince/ trick new players into suffering through a second Stormblood MSQ once word gets around. Unless some absolute masterpiece drops in 2 years, I suspect players interested in experiencing ShB and EW will stop there.

[@wojnr]

@@RoboChocobo Yep, there is also a problem of spending 400+ hours to get to a next possible masterpiece. They must add option to skip the first saga if they want to keep new players coming.