Endwalker is the Worst FFXIV Expansion I have played

[@doctorcis3510]

As a player that finally reached endgame only recently for the first time, I've been having a great time and feeling like I have tons to do. But looking back, very little of what I'm doing is EW post patch. Old Relics, leveling jobs, finishing all yellow quests, collecting. If I had all that done and was dependent on just EW post patch, I'd probably would feel way different.

[@michaelsherwood8239]

finishing all yellow quests youre a gamer. i salute

[@amazingj4173]

I have 3k hours and rarely touched any yellow quests lol

[@carlomen12]

Been feeling the exact same way. I was honestly thinking that maybe i was missing something because i always heard of these big post DLC "events" essentially and didn't see that after endwalker.

[@icebarrage_iwc]

yellow quests? homie i got 9k hours and not touched those shits. you're wasting your time.

[@WickedSensei]

I've done almost every yellow quests :( but im a story guy so I enjoy them lol@@icebarrage_iwc

[@InbetweenGamer]

I’ve played most of this expansion solo, my friends have all dropped it. Also taken the most breaks I have during this expac.

[@Disapointedmellencol]

you could make freinds with active players lord knows there are plenty, heck some of my besties I met in PF

[@kamitorings]

all these people and these guys still choose to be alone.@@Disapointedmellencol

[@k1rzen]

@@Disapointedmellencol its not that easy to make friends, you need to find people that you click with, or cant bother looking for new friends etc

[@ishirutaekakura308]

Probably afking in limsa right now! @@Disapointedmellencol

[@GoatOfWar]

@@Disapointedmellencol Doing what? Afking in your shitty glam together in Limsa?

[@chromedbadger]

"We want you to play other games" is missing " but if you stay away too long we'll destroy your house."

[@LightSummoner84]

Ostrich policy, our game no longer contains enough content that lasts over time go play other game but paid a ff14 subscription, but besides you have 45 days before your land is demolished, frankly given the deplorable state of the patches, and the next extension will be released in a minimum of 9 months after the October 3rd patch they should disable housing demolition as a commercial gesture, FF14 has become a game of emptiness.

[@PetroklosZDM]

The new unique thing of post Endwalker are the Criterion Dungeons, and it feels so odd that they're not *the* thing to be doing for your EW Relic.

[@bangbangg8697]

yeah ff14 needs to have more challenges or achievement grinding

[@DawnAfternoon]

@@bangbangg8697 Nah man FF14 has more than enough challenges, what the game's missing is the casual/midcore grind.

[@bangbangg8697]

@@DawnAfternoon hmm yeah what i meant like maybe they could add a super cool mount or outfit if we kill x boss x amount of times, or like reach floor 100 of deep dungeons without dying. Something to strive for. U can count these challenges as grinds. Anything like that or w.e, a goal basically.

[@davidbernardino8109]

I really wish Criterion dungeons actually had decent rewards. An idea I really like that Xeno made, was it should have dropped savage equivalent gear. That way, it helps everyone from casual to hard-core raider and it would potentially get more ppl nto trying new content like said raiding.

[@bangbangg8697]

@@davidbernardino8109hmm maybe ff14 just needs to revamp obtaining gear but thats a long shot. Maybe even revamping how gear works so there are different builds for each class but that will never be the case how definitive stats and skills are in ff14. It's not like Gw2 or anything.

[@ojosama]

Even if people don't agree with your assessment I think this is an important discussion to have.

[@jemleith3263]

My FFXIV play rotation is to jump into the new expansion 1 month after release. Finish MSQ. Come back a year or more later, do all the new MSQ and trial quests. Log out until next expansion. I subscribe for 3 to maybe 4 months from expansion release to a new expansion. I was also a 1.0 player, and a die hard FFXI supporter, so my expectations/enjoyment in games is arguably different from others.

[@magus9180]

It is an ongoing discussion in the forums already. But this makes it even more public and that is really important.

[@Cuthawolf]

Agreed, totally.

[@RisqueBisquetz]

People seek to have big group activities in an MMO, and being lacking in that can be fatal to the overall player base. Hopefully Dawntrail will provide more in that aspect.

[@hatemeister]

There are many mmos that are played almost entirely solo, even ffxiv is a solo game with multi-player elements all the, way through the story. I don't think that's the problem.

[@shakeweller]

Is it, that's the main reason people play that genre. @@hatemeister

[@halfbakedn00b]

Agreed. One of the big things is that mmos are played for social interactions and engaging with others. Sure, ffxiv has always been a story driven game, but I've always felt this sort of engagement factor with others. People willing to talk and interact with each other, do crazy content, and joke around or simply be social. Might be a me thing, but despite more people being around, no one really does much with anyone or talk to you, unless they absolutely have to. Not even saying a simple hello. They want you to be a voiceless npc or be stoic themselves. I feel a bit more alone now than when my server was a small pop server everyone dunked on. I like that more people are engaged with ffxiv, but it also seems like more people want to loose the mm part of mmos these days.

[@DongsMBM]

I personally feel its the lack of game contents. it can either be group or solo activities, you just need something to do. theres not much that you can do at this point of the game. I never bothered with moogle treasure hunts as I usually dont give a shit about the rewards. I never did any of them. but now? I thank the twelve that theres finally something to actually play! Thats how desperate I am right now, craving for anything at all from the game

[@ElZamo92]

Sure, but that’s a literal year away, in the meantime we will get one more 24 man raid, one dungeon and one trial…

[@MrJoyShow]

My friends and I have been very much in this same boat. We're largely more on the casual side, and we basically lived in Bozja during Shadowbringers. We never had a shortage of stuff to do there, and in previous expansions the relics would largely serve as a way for us to get through between patches. This time, however, there's always that awkward moment where someone will ask, "Is there anything else we want to do?" after doing our token roulettes and it's met with ho-hums and polite ways of saying "no, not really", and we all slowly log off. It's happened way more frequently in Endwalker than any other expansion so far, and we've all been playing since Heavensward. I almost lost my house the other day because I lost track of how long it'd been since I'd logged in and went to it, and I'm wondering if I should just relinquish it so I can unsub without worrying, and at least give someone else a chance at owning one. I look at my barren friend list with rows upon rows of offline players, and I can't say I'd be able to show it to anyone anyway. There's just so little to keep players playing, that even the whole 'make your own fun' side like RPing or events are largely not even feasible either, because again.. you look at your friend list and are basically treated to a graveyard. This can't keep going on if we're meant to have "10 MORE YEARS" of this game.

[@pengwinsRus]

You say there's no shortage of stuff to do in Bozja, and I guess I just don't get that. After doing each FATE like 5 times, I was kind of over it.

[@maharaja101]

This is exactly where I'm at. Also put a lot of hours into Bozja but there isn't anything like that in EW. It had a good amount of stuff to grind for and a nice balance where it was more engaging than normal mode stuff but also not so difficult that you needed a static to enjoy it. EW doesn't really have anything interesting going on for it (for me). Island Sanctuary is incredibly low effort, you just check in and do your daily thing that takes 5 minutes. Variant/Criterion doesn't have much longevity either. The relic is just tomes. I'll naturally log back in for Dawntrail when it drops but I really hope they will shake things up then.

[@minakatahizuru]

If it gives you worry and you think about it unsub.

[@-cat-..]

​​​@@maharaja101You go in daily? I'm in like once a week lmao, I just set up the next 5 days of spreadsheet and leave (if you even feel like it, because there's nothing worth buying more than once)

[@LucyPyre]

you're right and u should say it. i think ffxiv players are huffing mad copium rn and it's sad to watch. i think it's fine to expect and want better from a game we've dedicated so much of our time and love towards. the endwalker patches have done literally nothing to make me want to log in, and it's the first time i've ever felt this way about xiv and it's sad

[@Slipfish]

Its kinda funny to watch both extremes in fan bases play out in real time right now. XIV has arguably its worst expansion (IMO, anyway, Shadowbringers was peak shit) while WoW has its best xpac since at least Wrath, maybe ever. And on one hand, the XIV community is so toxicly positive they baby-rage at Zepla for bringing up a fairly measured critique of it. Meanwhile, the WoW playerbase is so toxic and negative, all they do is doom post. MMO players are just incapable of a healthy, reasonable middle option where they give credit for things their game does well and, in a mature and responsible way, let the devs know when they aren't happy. And that makes me sad. You aren't toxic, or mean, or unreasonable if you say 'Hey, I don't think this xpac is up to your usual standards and I would like you to do better in Dawntrail.' Yoshi-P is the man who did the impossible and brought a dead MMO back to life; I promise he will understand.

[@temperedglass1130]

You mad Bint

[@xbon1]

But endwalker itself was amazing

[@Slipfish]

@@xbon1 I, to put it kindly, was not impressed. But I'm happy for you that you enjoyed it.

[@xbon1]

@@Slipfish then u ain't the target audience. it was a massive critical success on launch even if the subsequent patches didn't add as much as people wanted.

[@TwodeeTwodimensional]

The framing makes Zepla look like a real life lalafell 😂

[@alder96ontwitch88]

Haha yeah it really does

[@sepsam4556]

LMAO I can't unsee it

[@hitmongg]

It's the lack of bun ears, normally they would fit in the frame lol.

[@WubstahWulf]

thats because she is a real life Lalafel

[@debrucey]

It’s boomer parent using Zoom framing lol

[@Sazandora635]

This is honestly the first expansion where I've felt so burned out and at a loss as to what do that I've just...not logged in for a week or more at a time. I've done basically everything significant except for the ultimates (Which are fundamentally unappealing to me due to the effort/reward ratio involved), so the only thing that's really left at this point is...relic/achievement grinds, except EW didn't add anything of substance in that regard like Eureka/Bozja did. The fact that the 2.0-6.0 story arc is over and the current filler arc is failing to hold my interest in any significant capacity really isn't helping with my investment in the game, either.

[@DoppelgangerTH]

I think you summarized it quite well. We have an ARR situation with building new story arc, story is quite bland (and its ok), while also getting subpar side content...

[@Keldiur]

@@DoppelgangerTH this is not building, we might be tying up a thread started in ARR with the 13th. There is very little build up for the groundwork and I feel it will be left for Dawntrail. The 13th will be solved or severely delayed into another expansion. Both outcomes will feel rushed and incomplete with very little connectivity to the next expansion and hardly any influence on the reflections ark they are trying to set up.

[@DawnAfternoon]

In SB and ShB, you stop playing the game because to stop yourself from burning out of the game. In EW, you stop playing the game because there's nothing to do in the game. Those two are very different reasoning and people love to conflate them. Taking a break because there's too much things to do is a good sign. Taking a break because there's nothing to do is something else entirely.

[@SORROWCODE]

To me it really seems like they could've used the 13th shard as Endwalkers Bozja as a setup for us going into the 13th full on fixing it like we did the 1st in an expansion after Dawntrail

[@cr4sher7]

Exactly, that's a great idea! We definitely more Eureka/Bozja type of content in FF XIV. That's what would make me come back :D

[@brycemoose7026]

13th instanced zone would be awesome lol

[@BriLee0000]

This woulda been awesome. Imagine a fate with cloud of darkness again? But its EX and there's however many people get into the fate. That would be so fun. Can do a doggo unchained fate. Could even incorporate bosses from the tower into fates. That would be so fun.

[@SaveMeXenu]

@@cr4sher7 As a Triple Triad collector, if they add more Eureka/Bozja and put cards in it, I will unsub.

[@GhostAeonWolf]

@@BriLee0000 no... you know who likes to recycle all the old bosses from story and raids? ActiBliz. And then they screw them up. Just to farm people who want to see them again.

[@KansaiNoRyu]

saw this earlier ""We don't want you to feel forced to log in" mutated into "There's no reason to log in, you can safely sit on Twitter and Discord"" facts

[@NZGamester]

Considering for a lot of people Endwalker is their first expansion (after a big influx of players just before it) there are a lot of players who are having a ball myself included with doing all of the content from previous expansions in between savage tiers. The problem is that the long term players have already done a lot of this so are the ones who suffer, doesn't matter what product you make, keeping your long term customers is 100% the most important thing and they've really dropped the ball there

[@SpydersByte]

Im a longterm player (since 1.0) and to be fair to Square how fast can they realistically pump stuff out and still maintain quality? Considering the amount of content they have a faster update schedule than most of the other mmos I play and Im fine with those too. Longterm players are always going to take breaks, I dont think the devs can really control when that happens very much. Nor do I think whose online and whose offline should figure into how good an expansion is, thats pretty ridiculous, there's nothing they can do about that and the content is the content whether 100 people are running it or 100 thousand.

[@timbrady1176]

@@SpydersByte In reality, Endwalker actually has MORE content than previous expansions. The problem is the content delivered has low playability and replayability. The difference between the previous 2 expansions is that those had tons of replayable MMO group content. Endwalker is the boring solo expansion

[@custardpup6385]

@@SpydersByteThey are making more money from this game now than they ever have from it in the past and they have plenty more people on the team developing this game than they have previously. FFXIV is the most profitable FF ever. There is literally no excusing their laziness and money-grubbing. They put all their resources and time into poorly designed content that doesn’t keep the players around. You don’t need to lick their boots, they know exactly what they are doing.

[@Keldiur]

@@timbrady1176 I would even kill for new Company ranks or ARR/HW relic grind. Something for any kind of rando group content. Maps and Hunts were blown through faster this expansion as well. Eureka and Bozja have had a revival because of the people who missed it as current content. The MMO enjoyer are there and not anywhere in Endwalker.

[@SpydersByte]

@@custardpup6385 thats completely ridiculous. It's a cash cow and thats all theyre after and therefore theyre deliberately trying to sandbag their own success by being lazy and poorly designing content? Yea, makes total sense dude. The game's massive success is because its bad and the devs are bad. Ok.

[@HGRezende]

Adding that aside from Bozja/Zadnor there was also the Firmament which was bustling with people and full of great community moments. And also, even if people were out doing Heavensward fates, or Ivalice raids for the relic weapon it was a community moment, you would see activity in party finder related to it, the chat during alliance raids would be discussing their progress to get the relic, it is a community experience, it is a moment you have a story to tell. Grinding tomes is just boring and is isolating, everyone already does it every day, and the max you'll get is a "o/" and a "gg", and you'll move on. Endwalker patches, after 6.1, really just felt a little sad.

[@CWFDSmokeEater]

Hmmm the day they removed Kaiten is the day it started going downhill, who would have thought

[@MrJoyShow]

I'm glad you brought up the Firmament, because that was another type of content I feel was sorely missing from Endwalker, and not a lot of people bring it up in these discussions.

[@ThaPinkGuy]

​@@MrJoyShow I was one of those people that said "They'll bring it back" and as the patches rolled on by... The copium I was huffing wasn't strong enough anymore and I gave up in 6.3 for any interesting crafting content. Literally as I type this I'm doing Grade 4 expert recipes I thought I'd have to rush before the "firmament update."

[@MrProg-ey3tl]

@@CWFDSmokeEater Kaiten is the key to all of this 😳

[@yanipheonu]

​@@CWFDSmokeEaterit really says a lot that a) they haven't done anything at all to improve SAM save some bug fixes and range changes since then and b) people still miss that move

[@rynfiaryn]

I would be more invested in the patch story if it involved Cylva and Unukalhai. Zero is fine, I guess, but I'm more invested in Vrtra and Azdaja... And Golbez? I hope there's some kind of amazing twist in 6.5 cause he's currently extremely boring.

[@Kango234]

YES, THANK YOU! The void quest in ShB was my favorite storyline in the game and when I heard they were investigating the void I thought they would be involved. I understand that you have to do the role quests to experience that story, but I think they should just change that. I don't know if that means putting that into a separate questline that combines all of them so that people can play through it easily, or they just roll those characters into the MSQ and you get their story through flashbacks or whatever. Pretending they don't exist is just a stupid idea and they already set a precedent by making the Crystal Tower so integral to the MSQ.

[@tomanadawnstar5078]

​@@Kango234I was initially happy when the post-EW MSQ started to be about the 13th. I thought 7.0 would be about it, too. But apparently, nope...

[@yanipheonu]

The worst part is original Golbez actually was kinda interesting. Interesting origin, with a more cunning plan. He tricks you many times. XIV Golbez sits in a chair and acts like a generic bad guy.

[@droppedcombofiend2707]

I'd be more hopeful, but we got what I think as supposed to be the big twist last patch. When we see Golbez isn't actually Golbez.

[@Reshapable]

@@yanipheonu As a massive ff4 fan... what? Golbez was none of that. I won't go so far as to call him boring but he's just a bad man doing bad things and eventually you discover for pretty bad reasons. You don't even "meet" him until the end of the game and his only traits are guilt and anger, the basics of basics. The vader twist wasn't interesting because it lacked all of the necessary material to make it a twist, so it was just a weird reveal. What little characterization he has beyond that came well after 4 and... suffice to say it wasn't any better than what came before. And 14's Golbez tricks us too. Or at least plays us. In a much more interesting way than "I stole your gf" and "I re-mind controlled your best friend". And he does it for legitimately "good" reasons too. He is WAY more interesting in 14. But admittedly less cool. In 4 he had several displays of raw power, in 14... he summons minions. So... no not perfect.

[@Azerth]

Endwalker was the worst FFXIV expansion you'd played... SO FAR.

[@OldManInternet]

I feel like Endwalker was a combination of CBU3 and YoshiP playing it too safe, and the devs being pulled to do FF16. Hopefully they notice the lukewarm reception to EW and take some chances, since coasting on the success of Shadowbringers can only take them so far.

[@riahka1357]

I was happy but also disappointed that devs didn't have a courage to kill some of the main characters. Anyways, Estininen is still alive and that is the most important part :D

[@socram3254]

My problem with it is that the content of EW is fine, but the issue is that there's very little replayability. When a new patch launches I'm done with the content in 2 weeks which is not good enough for a subscription MMO (and I can't unsub btw because I have a house). I started playing in Stormblood and in both SB and ShB I didn't feel this way.

[@Dharengo]

See, this is something I can somewhat get behind. Although it doesn't bother me as much since that's not how I engage with content, I can easily see that the content is there, but people for some reason or other lack the drive to engage with it. I think this is the problem that needs to be discussed more, rather than some alleged lack of content.

[@DoppelgangerTH]

@@Dharengo more cool mounts, more glam, more exploratory zones. Boom, you got high retention and high engagement rating.

[@Dharengo]

@@DoppelgangerTH How? How does boring ass grindy content that people only complain about make the game better?

[@Tamipriest]

Its the first expansion for me where im feeling like im not in a hurry, i would do latest raids and farm out the gear there ( im not doing extreme raiding ) but this time i take much more time with it

[@umngyr]

Personally, i think it's nice to feel like i have time to catch up with all the ton of stuff i haven't done yet :)

[@Tamipriest]

@@umngyr to be honest the content im doing is not that super hard, but i still like it, im mostly fashion hunting or fishing and i discovered the crafting for me recently too, something like EX or Ultimate content is something that does not interest me mostly, i do the older EX trials with some friends sometimes when we want to do some mount farming

[@Skyverb]

Same. Just doing much more casual stuff the times I do log in. And I used to raid heavily (Savage,and Ultimates). But haven't had desire to start the grind all over in EW. Kinda wanted different things to look forward too. But for me it was very early EW that kinda lost me tbh (like after I beat the story and stuff).

[@casualcarvalhogaming3249]

For me, I found it very convenient, taking my time doing stuff without feeling any pressure. Actually, I feel that the content completes in a very natural way.

[@Keldiur]

Its great everyone here likes how casual the game has become. Yet to me, my casual gaming was playing the game when I could to work towards something. You just need to open up PF to realize that there is no one doing group world activities. At least on my server Malboro, there are not fates, maps or any group activities outside of Extreme or higher farm groups. There is very little except to grind the old content for the social/grinder gamers. And to be frank, we do stay subbed longer and interact with the shop more than most groups. I hope, even if relic grinds go back to ARR/HW style, that there is something to be rewarded for the time put into the game. The EW Relics are getting thrown into a pile on my main. I already have 6 maxed with all classes base one. Its just not fun to me.

[@EhhmmmNo]

FF14 players a couple years ago: "Man I sure am glad the game doesn't force you to play it all the time!" FF14 players now: "Man I sure wish the game forced me to play it all the time!"

[@Jubanni1998]

I feel the same i think shadowbringer was so gripping and had such a huge stand alone character that everything after is gonna have a hard time. I wasnt as hyped for endwalker and felt more like okay lets see where it ends and after 6.0 i feel theres nothing really grasping me anymore. i can look for new things to do but its more i need to look to have fun than having fun exploring a whole new world and its story or waiting for the next nier raid

[@bendonatier]

For me the frustrating thing about EW's patches have been how little incentive there is to do content again. Island sanctuary is done after a few hours of hitting rocks, or days of doing nothing. Variants are one and done, unless you're using them for tome grinding.

[@nx6448]

Did you clear TOP, king?

[@bendonatier]

@@nx6448 not for lack of will, but my static is struggling to keep a critical mass of players.

[@Keldiur]

@@bendonatier you are finding less people because the gateway to high end content was actually the exploratory maps. There is now a gap of MMO content between ARs and Extremes, something that takes dedication and a social aspect to get people to form bonds to go towards harder content. Even if they made the zone maps more appealing to grind would work towards this goal. Its either hard content or solo content in EW. The group content is done in a month if that, and if it even exists in the first place.

[@bendonatier]

@@Keldiur no I'm struggling to find people because my friends are depressed adults with a dozen commitments each. We have the people in theory, and many of them under the assumption we will do it together but none of us have schedules as conducive to raiding, and many of them are burnt out, leaving me "the friend that isn't burnt out who logs in sees no friends online". I've thankfully been sinking my teeth into bozja, but I just got my bike. At least I've still got some relics I want and maybe a duel for one of the titles.

[@siritachi31]

To me it makes literally 0 sense that they say "We don't want people to feel they have to stay in the game" But I literally have to or my personal house will be destroyed.... And they are removing content and phoning in parts like Relic where personally I thrive doing relics. Also thank you so much for mentioning the trial storyline!!! I keep telling people that we literally are missing an entire side story we could be having, we literally have less content than before and no one seems to even notice

[@Eversoul12]

ive noticed them slowly remove features every single expansion since stormblood. Its getting really barebones now. There are way too many people defending this practice too.

[@557deadpool]

​@@Eversoul12at least Bungie is honest about it and why they do it, like wtf

[@BrodyWoelke]

They need to kill ff14 and just start a new mmo, game needs more forced and optional multiplayer, ability to do msq with friends in the same party, include difficult optional content with good rewards, and they need to make this game an mmo again, I’m tired of paying a subscription for a online single player game and sadly I don’t believe they can do much more with this game especially since the main scenario is built off of the horrible ff14 1.0 content from the original games release.

[@aaronstewart3352]

Honestly, this patch stretch comes across to me the same way the economy generally works: it takes about 2 years for a major event to affect it. In this case, Covid. I was surprised at how efficient 14 rolled out during the height of the pandemic. There was only the slight delay, but overall, it was a far better launch than Stormblood. I think the chickens are coming home to roost now-problems compound. Between a smaller work force, to hybrid work, to continued sickness, to in tandem work on 16, the shoe had to drop eventually. I think that’s where we’re at now. Just be patient-I’m honestly hopeful that Dawntrail will be the point that they iron some of these problems out.

[@thoma9410]

This actually makes a lot of sense and is something I hadn't thought of.

[@tylorhobbs8920]

That makes a lot of sense, and honestly, given that there's always tradeoffs, I expect this is also a spot that got hit by that a lot too. Namely, they'd had to focus a lot on 6.0 itself, and 7.0 needs a lot of focus because that start for a new plotline needs to be polished. Meanwhile, while I won't call this filler, it is basically a standalone plotline. We'll probably get something new to flow from it later, or other callbacks, but for the most part it really has a feel that it's its own thing.

[@karelposedi]

Tell me this if it was only covid how come they made ff16?? Why should we be fine with our ffxiv content be cut in short because of another game that we have to purchase separately aswell as a new device ps5 to play it??? How come content that was skipped in Shb (DSR, EUREKA ORTHOS,HILDY) and pushed into EW and its felt even more droought then Shb?- btw all those above were indented for Shb. Why coudnt relics be something similiar to hw or arr systems- as conclusion to 10 years farm the overwotld of ffxiv????? So bozja/eureka effect of playing mmo would be fullfilled?

[@aaronstewart3352]

@@karelposedi did I say anything about it being only Covid? Did I mention anywhere in my post that you “had to be fine” with the situation? Please dial it back a few notches, hun. I was giving my opinion, not telling anyone else how to feel, kthx ☺️

[@saemitatsuya8419]

There was also FFXVI which was under the Creative Business Unit 3, which means they had to split their resources.

[@retromastery7010]

One thing to understand is that those "Flaws" you are talking about, aren't really "Flaws" for many people. In fact, those are arguably "Strength" when compared to other MMO. Because think about it for a sec, we're in an era of gaming where A TON of other live service games are constantly competing for our time, it always seems to be about "Retention" this, "Retention" that and how to keep people INTO the game rather than just making great content that people actively wanna play. And as someone who's in bed with multiple other live service games, I can't tell how friggin' LIBERATING FFXIV has been for me. In the same way that Warframe has been. Because YES, both Warframe and FFXIV are very much alike in that aspect, they don't pressure you to log in constantly and a lot of their content is "One and Done" and crazy varied, which is what sets them apart from the countless other Live service games out nowadays. And also, you seem to be extremely positive about the "Relic Journey"... But you do realize that people, with almost ALL of the relic "Journeys", have literally BITCHED about how much of a pain/grind it was to get them in the first place... right? Literally, go on the FFXIV forums and reddit and type "Relic Grind", I guarantee you that you'll see MANY upvoted posts talking about how the "Relic Grind" is a bitch and that it goes on for way too long. (which I personally never really agreed on, I love the journey leading up to them) And you also seem to hold Eureka in high regard... Even though that content specifically has been and continues to be scrutinized by the playerbase even to this day. And for Island sanctuary, I'm actually glad that they've tried something like that. Because one of the strength of FFXIV, is the sheer variety of "endgame" style you can partake in, unlike games like Destiny 2 or WoW where the game funnels you into combat content and combat content ONLY. FFXIV has the balls to actually try something completely new and different from the usual formula. Something that both Blizzard and Bungie are deathly afraid of even doing. So yeah... that's about it when it comes to my thoughts on the matter. while I get your points, I can't say that I personally agree with them, FFXIV has always been a Final Fantasy game first, MMO second, and that "balance", for better or for worse, is one of main driving factor that incentivizes many to actually try and stick with the game in the first place. Some of you might not like it, but that's what the game is now going for, and it's actually working.

[@nhazul5928]

The gameplay should be a priority. Jobs are feeling all the same and that needs to be adressed in 7.0 imo. Tanks and Healers especially and as an RPG fan the lack of complexity is boring me out

[@drummermg131]

hmm. Maybe I'm just still too new at both tanking and healing, but I don't feel that at all. I'll take your word for it, though.

[@jtabox]

@@drummermg131 Yeah, if you just play normally, and maybe once in a blue moon read some guide about a class ability or mechanic, you get quite comfortable with tanking and healing pretty fast. And then it kinda becomes obvious after a while, that every tank and every healer play almost exactly like every other tank/healer, with slight variations. Tanks especially, at this point my tanks' keybinds do the exact same things: mitigation on short cd at around 25 sec with heal/shield, job specific super-mitigation at 30% every 2 mins, role actions every 2 mins, 1-2-3 combo and a spender for ST or 1-2 and a spender for AoE, and a high damage ogcd. Tbh the devs have already said this is their deliberate choice for the job design going forward, simplify and homogenize. It's their game and their vision of course, but I can't help but feel they'll need to backtrack a bit at some point, because I can't see this continuing for a long time. Either that or they'll have to follow WoW's paradigm of borrowed power, where every job gets new abilities to play with every expansion, but loses them when the next one comes.

[@Crowens]

You'll notice it soon enough, especially tanks, they all have a 90 second cooldown, a 120 second cooldown, tankbuster mit, invuln, raidwide mit, and role actions, sometimes you'll get something unique like DRK not having a 90 second and instead having a 60 second magic mitigation along with oblation and Paladin having cover and wings but that's really about it, once you learn to mitigate with one tank you can pretty much play the others no issue. @@drummermg131

[@Xebesa]

A problem for me which kind of turns me off is there isnt really any agency in terms of RPG elements. Like there's not talent trees to pick and choose and there really isnt a noticeable difference in performance when it comes to gear and stats like ok the number is bigger but it doesn't feel tangible. Like me playing my class is identical to anyone else playing the same class, in WoW my talent choices really reflect my play style there is no expression in FFXIV when it comes to gameplay.

[@kevinsaladar2745]

Its been always like this, if the game is too hard players will complain and SE will make it easier then players will complain again because it is too easy. Same like before when you cant do anything because you need a party and queing takes too long, players complained then now they made it more solo mode playing but still players complain. Sometimes, players just need to take this game not too serious. Take a break and come back when you feel like playing again. A true Warrior of light never loses its echo! I started the game 2.0 and big respect to all Legacy players from 1.0 who up to now never complained and never criticized the Game.

[@Icycrits]

Also, your point on Eureka and Bozja is a really good perspective on why its so sorely missed. I think the bigger issue at hand is that overworld content in XIV is complete garbage. Hunts are not enough content to justify these massive zones that are insanely underutilized. Why doesnt CBU3 bring eureka and bozja to the overworld instead of having to create entirely new zones hidden away from a majority of the playerbase? I feel like Dawntrail is a great opportunity to do that.

[@gamermasterL]

Yea the overworld really is underutilized, its empty and dead. FATEs and hunts aren't really much, its like the barest minimum.

[@Mari-pf8tm]

It's funny to read this Title after playing DT which is absolute trash.

[@khmatrix]

SE needs to mix things up and implement things to promote socializing and grouping up with people. Not just another Bozja but in the regular Overworld too, something that can come and go like beyond just hunt trains. I'm so surprised the "variant/criterion" dungeon isn't something super flexible to promote grouping and get different rewards.

[@shizachan8421]

I feel like they could take notes from WoWs current casual open world content. I mean, it isn't the most social when you basically just join a LFG party and spam down an event, but it is casual open world content tailored to be engaged in with a group and it offers relatively good rewards for that level of content, lfr level equipment that can be transformed into the Raid-Tier as well as lots of mounts, cosmetic transmogs and pets.

[@llamatoddtv]

I've been feeling this since 6.0, I haven't been very inspired to play aside from a few collabs or folks asking me to help them out. Could be a me problem or just burnout, but I'm not too interested in the MSQ or much else, while the ff4 fanservice is neat, it hasn't captivated me like Shadowbringers did. I'm not saying there isn't stuff to do, I'm just not excited about doing anything, so a break playing other games will do a lot of people some good.

[@marcuscorvin9998]

Yeah but she hates it when people suggest to play other games because "she's afraid players will get addicted to them and not come back". So yeah, she'll condemn other people playing other games, then go play Classic Hardcore WoW on her alt channel. 😂

[@temperedglass1130]

You probs are enjoying more time being a furry.

[@mooserocka522]

I felt like this since end of storm blood

[@Naoto-kun1085]

I agree, why should you stick to playing only one MMO all the time? That'll just burn you out quickly. It's better that they left out the relic grind to give everyone a chance to avoid being burned out before the new story saga

[@Chamira]

yea i miss having the trial series like the weapons or four lords. For myself i think it is partially the lifecycle of my playthrough. I started playing heavily in stormblood, so had alot to do in SHB even with the droughts. But having no exploration zone like bozja and eureka and no grindy relic certainly hasnt helped (and i was looking forward to another restoration event too).

[@FireHam]

the post-expansion msq IS what was supposed to be the trial series. Seriously. Yeah.

[@Jade-nn3bn]

I started in late shadowbringers and it still is a content drought. I've done all the relics for ninja, machinist, and gubreaker (mostly separate for different expansions), I've done all the endwalker patch content as it came out, I've done all the previous expansion raids, I've even fully leveled blue mage, and i don't engage with current tier raiding because I hate the lockout system. For me there is nothing left to do but glam and gpose. The game is severely dry on content right now and the only thing currently engaging is the 10th anniversary tomestones event.

[@purplepineapple7893]

I guess Im confused. Isnt this normal? Ppl take breaks and come back. The difference here is that ALOT of good games are out and we are playing those as well. We arent QUITTING ff14, just taking healthy breaks. But I won't lie. I do want some interesting things for the game to shake up the formula of patches.

[@joshuapaige5728]

I definitely agree for the most part that the recent patches haven’t done enough to keep me interested, and that’s why I’ve been doing a lot of old content that I probably missed or never made time for in the past. Like I recently cleared Baldesion Arsenal for the first time and it was a blast. We definitely need more large scale content that brings multiple players together because I think that’s the most fun you can have in this game

[@LeonStarcrest]

This, 1000%. I also did Eureka and BA for the first time ever during this dry period and WOW was it a pleasant surprise! Super fun for sure and a real treat for a casual andy like myself. :3

[@joshuapaige5728]

@@LeonStarcrest yeah I cleared Eureka a while ago but only recently went out of my way to do BA because I heard you needed to set a good amount of time aside to do it. I’m glad I finally made the time for it because it was a lot of fun and I wanna see more things like that in the future

[@matthiassneyers2627]

I am a casual player and I would say that I do feel alone more all the time, and I think it's because we aren't forced to do content anymore in group. It's easier to just solo it, because well the NPC's are not gonna berate you for bad tanking. XD (not that that always happens) but the fear of it and having a choice to do it solo can contribute to that factor.

[@rhael42]

players aren't gonna berate you for bad tanking either, unless you're a jerk about it

[@davidbernardino8109]

I'm surprised ppl actually even use npcs. This game is hugely forgiving of "bad" players already so if ppl still have fear as you say, then they have some issues.

[@Svabby]

​@rhael42 I tried playing the game, and there are some nice players, but most players I partied up with would just troll me over and over again. I don't have any friends that play the game so it's mainly solo play for me.. which sucks.

[@matthiassneyers2627]

@@Svabby I'm so sorry to hear that. I too have trouble making friends or finding some people I can play with. 🤲 I hope you'll find some people you can feel good with. And if you by any chance are on the chaos data center, you can always add me. I'm open to new potential friends ~Setti Galaxy@saggitarius

[@matthiassneyers2627]

​@@rhael42 I have to disagree with you, I have seen friends and myself being confronted with people who can't accept you die even if you are new to the dungeon. It doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen.

[@jeffbezos3200]

I think Endwalker’s real problem was that it was an ending. Most other expansions wrap up with plenty of loose threads…Endwalker doesn’t have that. I love this game and play it every day, but the post content feels meaningless because it’s a completely separate story from the one we just did and it looks like it’s going to wrap up and leave Dawntrail as its own thing. Since Dawntrail is the official beginning of a new era, I think the content will better set up cause it can just lead into the next expansion and thus take more liberties. Putting all the trials in the post EW MSQ was also a mistake…and Zero sucks as a character. We’re ten years into this game, I don’t need to see someone learn how to trust for the first time, it’s a watered down version of Thancred’s arc in Shadowbringers. The story for the expansion was phenomenal but the post stuff had nowhere to go and feels insignificant, tl;dr

[@ChipotleKanetsu]

Because, as Zepla said, it's side-story crammed into MSQ for less effort. If it was a regular trial series it would be on the interesting side. Same with Hildi merged with relics. Hildi was good BECAUSE it was optional content.

[@mosley3485]

Endwalker's problems have little to do with the story. There's just nothing to do. Shb gave us relic weapons to work towards, Bozja and the firmament. Endwalker gave us relics that are completed automatically in the background if you play the game for a few weeks between major patches and island sanctuary which plays itself in the background if you log in for 10 minutes per week. Sure, you can parrot the "Yoshi-P said it's ok to unsub" rhetoric, but that doesn't make the game more fun and people mass unsubbing actively makes the game worse for the few people left who do still want to play. The game is just completely and utterly devoid of meaningful content at the minute.

[@DeusGamez]

no loose ends? i think you're forgetting not all ascians are gone lmao just the main ones disappeared oh and zodiark's aether can still be used as a threat too XD

[@fredy2041]

Wrong, the problem of Endwalker is not the MSQ

[@ChipotleKanetsu]

@@fredy2041 yeah, the problem is you guys defending the subpar MSQ and content

[@MarcoMeatball]

Ya I’ve found post endwalker content insanely boring. I think it’s also the come down from Endwalker msq - such a big moment in the game. I totally share your perspective.

[@belnova12]

Preach! You hit all the marks. Agreed 100% and it's so sad cuz I love this game but have no reason to play right now. Very disappointed in the rewards, the way you get the rewards, and lack of (fill in the blank).

[@idowhatiwant3557]

I don't think it was EW that ruined the game. The game started to go down hill during ShB post patch content, and that is also when classes become overly homogenized. EW felt like an extension of ShB with lazy content, horrible class design, and lack of lasting content. The only content that was lasting was Bozja and if we want to be honest it wasn't even that good, literally just fate grinding. The only reason people ignore ShB is bozja gave them more to do at the time, which again was just fates, and the post patch MSQ wasn't dog shit. The devs should have been called out long before EW released.

[@BazzFreeman]

For me, a huge SF/F reader, it's the story in FFXIV that's most important for me. These post patches felt like the classic "breath before the storm"... lets, just hope Dawntrail isn't another Stormblood. As far as I'm concerned, Shadowbringers was the finest piece of content in any game, closely followed by Heavenward.

[@Spritus3241]

honestly, this is my only hope/gambele for 7.0. if the rule proves true of great expansion > bad expansion, > great expansion > etc. then 7.0 should deliver on being the heads to this massive tails. I hold no other expectatioms, so if it fails that's it i feel.

[@DeusGamez]

i have some bad knews for you.. if you dont keep up with fanfest an what the devs say basically its all but confirmed that Dawntrail will be no different from endwalker in terms of content. its all still going to be the same boring shit they've been feeding us for 11 years now so my advice to you is dont waste your money wait until dawntrail is done like completely dont even let anyone try to pressure you to return until 7,5 cause chances are you will get bored and start asking yourself why you even login or bother to keep a sub

[@rosebliss2625]

I don't think its burn out I think its boredom. At least for me. I logged in on patch to try the new deep dungeon when it came out and me and my partner only did about 20 or 30 floors. We never logged back in to finish that content. Same situation with the criterion dungeon we got recently, ran it twice then never bothered with it again.

[@WaltRBuck]

Those two things don't necessarily exist separately. They can't, but very often one leads to another either way.

[@GoatOfWar]

There's no reward structure.

[@dreaue7932]

rewards are nice but if the content bores you then a nice reward won't make you like the content more, personally im enjoying the content we have and the new stuff like island sanctuary and variant dungeons and think people are just getting burnt out@@GoatOfWar

[@GoatOfWar]

@@dreaue7932 How can one be burnt out from not playing the game?

[@rosebliss2625]

I'd love to play more FFXIV but most of the content added in endwalker I don't find interesting enough to stay logged in when I could be playing Baldur's Gate or another game. I'd love to have a reason to log back in and spend my day off work enjoying 14 but when I get on I don't have much to do which makes me feel bored, not necessarily burned out because I don't feel I have played enough this year to feel burned out. @@WaltRBuck

[@iamed.]

Honestly yeah, I basically pop in a few times a month mostly on patch days, and that's basically it for EW. The lack of things like bozja, ishgard restoration, "long form" content, etc have definitely left a hole that hasn't been filled. I'm kinda hoping its in part because they've been going back through the game and old content, refreshing it, adding QoL changes, standardizing markers, working on graphics updates, etc. Stuff that is *also* important and in my opinion absolutely needed for the game to do, but doesn't really give me a reason to log back in more. That may just be a cope, but whether that's the case or not, I can survive with that justification for post EW content. However if that continues on into Dawntrail and it's patch content, it will feel like that has become the new standard, and I think that would be a massive mistake for the game. I hate to say it, but if this is the new standard going forward I'd probably be likely to just preorder whatever the next expansion is, catch up on patch content in the month before, play the expansion launch, then unsub until the next expansion launch, repeat. I know people already do that and always some will, but if the game winds up encouraging more people percentage wise to take this approach, I worry about the impact it will have on the game.

[@FehrIsFair]

I heard a lot of "need to login" in the video. I think the difference between ShB and EW, is I WANTED to login to ShB because there was content I WANTED to do. I only login to EW because there is nothing I WANT to do.

[@santhkun856]

@ZeplaHQ Being a long-term player as well, I feel collectively people are looking at things through rose-covered glasses when thinking about prior expansions. The post-EW story has been lacking for sure but it's also the end of an era (no pun intended). We also knew going in that there would not be a large-scale area akin to Bozja/Eureka, etc., and that SE was going to supplement that with other content. Doing a quick review of Shadowbringers vs. Endwalker literally the only difference in content is not having a Bozja area and getting numerous other additions in its stead. I also don't see any significant player drop outside of the norm that happens every patch/expansion. Party Finder is as robust as ever (including for 'High End' Raiding), you can travel to another DC if you're struggling to find a group for a particular piece of content, and queue times are the same as they have been in every prior expansion. I understand/agree that large-scale content helps build a sense of community, but it's certainly not required to keep the health of an MMO strong. I will end with I am a more casual player and still play WoW and other games so nothing wrong with differing perspectives. ( Kell Rikun - Leviathan -- na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/6887276 ) Shadowbringers - 5.1 - Alliance Raid 1, Beast Tribe, Dungeon, Trial, Blue Mage Updates, Craft/Gather Updates 5.11 - Alexander (Ultimate), Ishgardian Restoration 1 5.15 - Blue Mage Updates 5.2 - Raid Set 2, Chronicles 1 (Trial), Dungeon, Beast Tribe, Relic Weapon 1 [Bozja], Craft/Gather Updates 5.21 - Ishgardian Restoration 2 5.25 - Crafter/Gather Tools 1 5.3 - Alliance Raid 2, Beast Tribe, Fuax Hollows (Unreal) 5.31 - Ishgardian Restoration 3 5.35 - Relic Weapon 2 [Bozja], Crafter/Gather Tools 2 5.4 - Raid Set 3, Dungeon, Chronicles 2 (Trial) 5.41 - Ishgardian Restoration 3 5.45 - Relic Weapon 3 [Bozja], Delubrum Reginae 5.5 - Alliance Raid 3 5.55 - Relic Weapon 4 [Bozja] Endwalker - 6.1 - Alliance Raid 1, Duty Support 6.11 - Dragonsong (Ultimate) 6.15 - Beast Tribe, Hildebrand 1 6.18 - Data Center Travel 6.2 - Raid Set 2, Trial, Dungeon, Taturu 1, Island Sanctuary 6.25 - Hildebrand/Relic Weapon 1, Beast Tribe, Variant/Criterion Dungeon 1 6.3 - Alliance Raid 2, Dungeon, Trial 6.31 - Omega (Ultimate) 6.35 - Deep Dungeon, Crafter/Gather Tools 1, Beast Tribe, Hildebrand/Relic Weapon 2 6.4 - Raid Set 3, Dungeon, Trial 6.45 - Blue Mage Updates, Variant/Criterion Dungeon 2, Crafter/Gather Tools 1, Hildebrand/Relic Weapon 3

[@hennyzhi2261]

I've slowly started to feel the same way as I've started to log into FF14 for the social aspect more and less for the content itself (and the former is still dying as people leave the game due to the state of it). It's okay to want more from the franchises you love, and I really do think despite the challenges of development it would go a long way to reach that middle ground between try-hard engagement and Laissez-faire events if they just broaden the scope of what it means to play an MMO. Incentives are dying? Worried about changing the balance of the game mechanics? Then give unique customizable options for completing objectives that can only be gotten from these regularly occurring new events. We've seen small bits of this like the umbrella fashion item, so why not just go all in and bring back belts - bring any number of small, yet extremely personable items. Do you as a player want more Bozja, Zadnor, Eureka etc. content vibes where everyone is in a massive instance doing stuff together? Why not make instanced events you can optionally join in any of the old areas of the game where you complete various party-game esc challenges by working with strangers? And you get a little bit of gil + the small potential for unique mounts tied to each zone? It's like a gold saucer vibe but it can be spontaneous and something you pick up along your journey in FF14 rather than be the meme where the world is ending but you gotta stop to do a triple triade tournament because you want to rub it in your friends face that your better than them at a children's card game. There are ways to use low resource and pre-built resources to create content that is novel. I hope they find and nourish that type of thing in-between the droughts where I have no doubt they are putting in the effort to make "the next big thing"... but sometimes it's enough if comfort food is on the table - especially when you want to keep people subbed and anticipating the real meal.

[@redstrawsii]

I can definitely understand the frustrations you've expressed, and I do think that there is cause to worry for the health of the game. But I think it's unfair to say that they've made the decisions they have out of laziness. I think the issue for people like me - who have been around since HW, or even earlier, is that there certainly has not been a lot for us to chew into as MMO content. You're right, the lack of an area like Eureka/Bozja is very telling, even if the reception for the former was *extremely* mixed in its first debut. Criterion dungeons were a giant disappointment, I have not personally had any interest in doing Mt. Rokkon since the first, and I have done the new deep dungeon exactly once, tried to do 11-20 and got hit with a queue wall that I just couldn't be bothered to overcome. It sucks. But I also recognize that CBU3 were saddled with another big project in FF16 - and while I'm glad some people are enjoying it, I still feel like it was definitely a possible mistake. EW shows signs of that strain, and I cannot say that FF16 personally holds any interest for me for the time being so it's really just a lot of nothing. But you can't convince me that being spread between two major projects wouldn't force some corner cutting and shortcut-taking. And why wouldn't they? At the end of the day if they didn't ship out patches, and they didn't ship out FF16, they'll eat the heat for it. This is not a lazy developer problem, this is a "being saddled with too much work" problem. *Edit:* I was a bit heated and couldn't hold this back through the entire video, and you do bring this up later than I'd watched before making this comment, and that's on me. But I do think you're being kind of dismissive of the work being put on the developers. I do think that people who already have gone through the main quest and have been through several expansions are overlooking just how much groundwork they're laying for the future in Dawntrail and onward. The MSQ overhaul, making it more approachable for new people, the graphical upgrade coming up, these things will hopefully be big wins for bringing in new people. Is it hard for us as the old guard to appreciate that? Sure, and I recognize that frustration, I have it myself. And I have some worries still that it won't be enough going into Dawntrail - even with the easier access, the MSQ is still a massive undertaking for any new player. Their decision to make Stormblood part of the free trial alleviates some of that worry, but it's still a worry I have. At the end of the day, I'm not saying that I disagree with your complaints. But for lack of evidence outside of what the player experience is like, I just think it's incredibly unfair to characterize their failings in EW as laziness.

[@redstrawsii]

For what it's worth, I agree with your criticism that Variant/Criterion could have been linked to the relic grind instead of the dissatisfying method they chose on. And I was also hoping more than anything that they were going to make the new Deep Dungeon into something more than it ultimately was, something more roguelike, like you said. So I'm right there with you that Endwalker could have been more - whether it meant delaying Criterion for more polish on the reward, or cutting the deep dungeon, or moving some content around to make the stuff we did get more valuable in terms of replay value. I had high hopes off of the back of Shadowbringers that they were going to elevate the game further, and I ended up being disappointed. I do legitimately hope it's going to get better, too.

[@anteprs7908]

fact

[@professorbean5791]

Maybe copium, but I'd *prefer* not to think it's "Laziness". Part of me does struggle to believe Yoshi's insistence that FFXVI's development had no impact on FFXIV's patches. Either way, The 6.0 post patch content has just felt so empty and "Going through the motions." A new dungeon and a few new boss fights in the form of Raids or 24 mans every 5-6 months just isn't doing it anymore. Deep dungeons and Criterion/Variant dungeons aren't really it in the long term either. Also... Sorry, but the extended patch cycle time suuuuuucks. It made sense when Covid hit, but I honestly thought we'd have gone back to shorter cycles by now. I'm still incredibly excited for the new Expansion, but I really, really hope 7.X patches are a lot juicer then what we've had in Endwalker.

[@XKT633]

I have noticed that a lot of plots on my homeworld are up for sale. I have noticed this on a lot of other servers too. I'm experiencing that a lot of people have stopped doing this current savage tier as well. A lot of people have stopped progging Ultimates. There has been a lot of competition in games this year but still is kinda concerning for FFXIV.

[@Forest_Pixie]

Yes, I noticed this as well. There’s about 5 or so plots open on just 1 ward. I never looked at any of the others, could imagine there was more

[@cammokyle]

Happens in every single mmo at the end of a patch cycle. People will stop playing for about 6 months. Always been this way

[@CardhouseAnimal]

To me it's most significant that we haven't gotten an area like Eureka or Bozja, that's what brought me back online working towards the relic. In EW they pretty much give them to you for free. I was so looking forward to getting the new relic with my friends in another long grind like Bozja with cool raids and stuff but we got nothing. I don't even see why we didn't get one new area. Shame.

[@metalgearbear9748]

Eureka and Bozja have been some of the most fun and memorable highlights of FFXIV.

[@ultimatecalibur]

I don't think the Relics needed a zone like Eureka or Bozja. They just needed a grind that wasn't just "grind uncapped tomestones." The EW Relic questline was originally presented as a return to the style of ARR and EW questlines but ended up "grind uncapped tomestones to buy turn in items." While both did have tomestone grinds those steps were separated by interesting (for a lack of a better term) longer alternative grinds.

[@UltimaKeyMaster]

Because that's what islands are. They're your open zone content. They're just a different open zone content.

[@Crowens]

Lmfao@@UltimaKeyMaster

[@YotsuyaNight]

@@Crowens We can laugh but OP is right, I'm almost certain it was made "in place of" Bozja, although it being solo, non-combat content made it basically irrelevant to a large extent. Sure it was fun side-grind with nice rewards, but not at the same scale.

[@TheYoMandude]

I had to put this down a bit thanks to life and caught up to Golbez fight. I sat in que for almost 45 mins on a Friday at 4pm Central to finally get through it. I don't think I've ever had a main story fight take sooooo long. I figured it'd be a bit because I was behind but damn. Same thing happened when I moved during Shadowbringer's era and still had that pop in 5-10 mins

[@Disapointedmellencol]

you may have been on the wrong server remember different servers have different amounts of folks doing stuff at any one time and if an EVENT like the summer one the rising or Moogle tomes was happening then that effects MSQ times by ALOT, pro time, use PF over DF during events to get MSQ done)

[@RyuSaarva]

Sounds like you tried to get a que searching for french players only, because that fight will not take a long time to pop, those are extreme fight pop times with a single dps.

[@TheYoMandude]

I was on PLD and Im on Siren. I dunno what to tell ya lol maybe 4pm Friday is just a bad time to msq lol

[@RyuSaarva]

@@TheYoMandude Being a tank does not really help you to get a duty pop when we have low amount of healers.

[@timbrady1176]

@@TheYoMandude they are just coping lmao

[@Otacanthus]

There's just nothing to do. I've played FFXIV since ARR and it's been a consistent problem I feel. There's just not a lot of actually interesting side content that you can do whenever you feel for it. Raids needs scheduling and for you to be more hardcore. Treasure hunts need scheduling Deep dungeons aren't for everyone and need scheduling or for you to want to be hardcore. Eureka and Bozja have the overworld problem like Hunts, where you just go in a group of 300 players from fate to fate, enemy to enemy, and kill it in a few seconds to minutes.The main gameplay being catching up to the rest of the people instead of actually like, enjoying the game. Variant dungeons I feel came way too late, didn't feel like a big deal, and also has deep dungeon syndrome. The more casual content feels more like chores since it's not that you want to do them, you're required for tomestones or xp. Like what more is there, hardcore crafting and gathering? Minmaxing teleports to reach rare spawns while gathering? Play master mode crafting with a system so complicated and gear demanding that I still have no clue how people do it? There's easier crafts and gathers too but like, I got like 100 red dye to get my own dye, still not used up. There's fishing too but I really want to like, use the combat mechanics in the game. Blue mage is probably what ended up being the most fun activity that's not just grind ilvl for raids. But it being an expantion+ behind, it doesn't really feel fun since you've already seen it a bilion times. Together with me only really wanting to play ninja, so being forced to play a mage for the fun extra content isn't really my jam. I often stick around every expantion even if I need to make my own fun. I got everything to max level in shadowbringers because of that. But it's just the same thing over and over. And none of it is permanent. Most of the things in the game is just easier to achieve or irrelevant once a patch ticks over. Other than looking cool, collecting pets and mounts, it feels like I'm wasting my time with a system built around hardcore raiding. Why do you get ilvl? Raids. Why do you raid? Get ilvl. Why get more ilvl? To do the next raid/ultimate earlier. Why do any side activity not related to that? To get weekly tomes for ilvl. Will the ilvl I have now matter next patch? Only if you're after world first. Idk, I just feel like I want to play the game. I don't even think the patch story was bad, but after that, then what? Do chores for relic weapon? Raid? No thank you. I'll just wait for more story.

[@Adrian42451]

One of the things that stood out for me was the lack of things to do in the endgame of EndWalker. If you have already done savage and gotten your gear/done the extremes for your totem/mount trade then it feels like nothing left to do aside from what anyone would do like lvl a class up. Mind you I already do the stuff I said above along with having my combat classes all to 90 (including BLU at 80) and I have most of the crafters done already. But lvling is just something you can passively through dailies/weekly stuff. I really wish we have something like Eureka or the Bozjna Southern front like we did in Stormblood and Shadowerbringers to keep me busy doing something. At least the relics had me doing something. But dont get me wrong, I guess its nice that they arent as insane to grind out for this time but man it really leaves you with nothing to do. So I kinda feel bad for other players who only play casually too since if they dont do savage or extremes its even less stuff to work with. Not saying EndWalker is "bad" but I can see Zepla argument on it being kinda the "worst" expansion so far with the lack of things to do. Overall still loved the story for EndWalker and im still playing the game everyday still, But I wont deny that this expansion has been a little bit of a snore but maybe that was due to Covid and such which did affect a lot of things. Hopefully DawnTrail gives more stuff to do.

[@Keldiur]

Even if they went back to ARR/HW relic grinds, or make fates or world content like Hunts more rewarding could be a replacement. Just something that takes time to do for those who lack skill or want to play the game as an MMO. All we can do is voice our opinion. If the game continues to only offer hard group content or just dailies and time gated activities, Imma head out and find another MMO again. Good while it lasted.

[@itsspookie]

FFXIV is in the state it's in because the community refuses to criticize or hear any criticism towards the game.

[@sadmiqoxiv]

I complete EX grinds on release, i raid savage on release, I level all my jobs to max (including crafters) in the first month of an expansion. After 10 years of XIV (as of 5 days ago), i finally have no reason to continue playing the game. There is no reason to log in and do things, because it feels like a complete waste of time as there is no progression for my character. Where is all the in-between content? Are we expected to run the same 2 dungeons in roulette every single day for 8+ months? XIV has become an MMO that caters to NON-MMO players. People that play XIV are to blame, as they do not want to interact with other people. These people need to go play other games, and let XIV be an MMO.

[@enderfawx3063]

​@@sadmiqoxivI see where you're coming from but I don't think that's a healthy mindset. I think there just needs to be more reasons to interact with others and the only content that really does that is Ultimates due to the need to be consistent. I've gone through making a new character about 5 times now for different data centers/being too broke for server transfers and recently the queues have been awful for trying to actually get into content as a new player. When you do, you're usually playing with people doing roulettes. This is because the game pushes the solo duty support option in front of your face before you ever get a chance to queue up with other people. There should be no reason that there's duty support for the most accessible dungeon, sastasha. They are training new players to be antisocial. The duty support feature should be a toggleable feature that is off by default to incentivize new players to interact with others.

[@sadmiqoxiv]

@@enderfawx3063 but then you run into the other issue. What reason is there for somebody like myself, who actually plays the game and is up to date with all content and has maxed jobs, to even participate in roulettes? I don't need tombstones, I don't need gil (been sitting at a gil cap since shb) and I certainly do not need experience. There are a lot of people in the same situation, where the games core gameplay loop is 'just go help others' and none of the content matters to us. We get literally nothing out of playing the game regularly, other than extreme disappointment that a multibillion company cannot invest another 500k or so into developing more endgame content for the game that is literally carrying their annual profits. It's just the sad state of gaming, you can get away with giving players the bare minimum and milk the player base for profits. There has been more new content added to the mog station this expansion than actual earnable rewards in game.

[@ArmoredPandaa]

I told people that the endgame will be lacking without Eureka/ Bozja. It was the main thing I did besides Raiding in the last two expansion and having nothing to replace it this expansion was really painful.

[@loomingdeath1758]

Yeah too bad people were complaining about Eureka and Bozja =_=

[@cooliod00d]

I think it's okay to be honest. Some people will like Criterion, some won't, but at least SE is trying different things with every expansion. Something I'd really like to see them add is more "overworld" content though. Give me a reason to return to old zones aside from just doing an ARR relic or getting those old zone Hunt achievements.

[@loomingdeath1758]

@@cooliod00d Thats a legit fair way to look at it. Im not big on how xeno or zelph explains there views but I can straight say thats just how we all view the game. :3

[@NguyenNguyen-ve4gg]

Yeh these filthy casual asked for easy relic. Well that's what they get. A lazy af relic sidequest.

[@marfur9]

I have played since january 2014 on and off, and have had multiple burn outs BEFORE getting into the endgame of their current patches. I finished endwalker 2 weeks ago and for the first time im caught up to the endgame without being burned out and im having a blast. Sad it is during the same time a lot of people are burnt out, but I'm more invested and in love with the game now than ever before

[@lissaliss6716]

Give it a few weeks..

[@Keldiur]

I would not say a few weeks. Yet probably a month. Unless you find a static to do all the Extreme and above content, you will run out of things to do quickly. Im sitting on a pile of Relic weapons. There is nothing for the MMIO player to work towards. I have grinded all I need from maps. Im sitting on a pile of gil and unless I want to sit in Limsa, there is no one basically anywhere... except the old Exploratory maps. Those actually have gotten a population increase. Too bad Im done with them for the time being... but if I am to come back before 7.0, you will find me in them again. Its the content I enjoy, a group of random people working towards a goal.

[@Zeik56]

I've played every expansion day 1, except Shadowbringers (post expansion SB burnt me out out and I didn't come back until 5.1), and I've had about as much fun with Endwalker's post expansion content as I ever have. Which is to say, there's enough to keep me coming back every few months, but the post expansion long term gameplay loop is still not really that good. There has never been enough actual good content to justify a permanent sub. But let it build up for a few months and you can have a good time catching up before putting it down again and playing something that rewards your time better. I just recently resubbed again and I've been enjoying my Endwalker catch up experience. Maybe I'm just in the right mood, but I'd rank my time with the game right now pretty high how compared to many of my experiences over the years with post expansion content, which often left growing bored before the month was up. That being said, there is a big difference now, because I actually have some semblance of a life. I can't no life the game for a month any more, so it takes me longer to burn through content.

[@lissaliss6716]

@@Zeik56 you never had to no life the game. Never, once. And people saying and defending the current fire they have going within the game blindly are the biggest part of the problem. I am a single mom of 2 that works full time and supports my family and makes sure they have a good life, never once have I struggled to accomplish what I want to accomplish. It's highlighted in this video. Stop giving the excuse of they want you to take breaks, because all that aside, at this point it's more like they just advocate for people just not playing their game at all.

[@Zeik56]

@@lissaliss6716 What the hell are you talking about? I never said anything about anyone else. I'm talking about my own experiences with the game and my own life. I'm not excusing anything, I'm saying my experiences with the game has led me to want to take breaks from the game, because the post expansion experience has never been that fun. I'd love to see them improve the post expansion experience to give me a reason to play more, but they aren't going to accomplish that by doing anything they've done in previous expansions again. Stop trying to project your frustrations on to other people. You don't get to dictate other people's feelings or experiences.

[@Reinshark]

20:13 Can anyone tell me with a straight face they didn't know exactly what the trial bosses would be in ShB as soon as the trial series started? "Wow, there's a DIAMOND weapon, too? In addition to the three other gemstone-themed weapons that were ALSO in other FF games? What a 'huge story moment'!" I also don't think the "four lords" of StB were all that much of a surprise. I think it's fair to criticize that we didn't get a separate story arc for the trial series, but the idea that the trial series represents some huge twist-ending where we don't know who the bosses will be has NEVER been true.

[@Ciruya]

I stopped playing sometime in 6.1. I've kept telling myself since 6.2 came out that I'm excited to get back into the new content... eventually. Even now, I think about it a lot. But logging in every week or two just to lose another housing lottery isn't very motivating. I haven't seen any new glam or hairstyle I am particularly interested in trying to get. Your point on Bozja and the current relic grind really hit a chord with me too. And finally the fact that I 'hear' that my datacenter's queues are basically dead and I'd have to travel to do any content sounds disheartening. So I can't speak too much on actual content, but I do feel very similarly regardless.

[@beegibbs]

Yes, party finder has absolutely suffered. My husband and I recently logged back in to do the most recent patch content with a friend, and our PF is damn near empty. It didn't take long to fill once we put one up ourselves, but no one is putting up groups because there simply aren't any being started anyway.

[@Orih9]

I feel the same way. Job design has been really disappointing in Endwalker, especially with the healers for me. I used to love healing and only played as a healer, but Shadowbringers and Endwalker have made the role boring and unfun. I've still been able to enjoy DPS jobs, but I wish I at least had the option to play something like Stormblood Scholar. I was hoping Sage was going to be that, but it didn't accomplish that at all. It just felt like more of the same. Content as well has been almost unanimously one-and-done type content. These are good ideas, but the execution of these ideas was lacking. Relic weapons aren't one-and-done per say if you are interested in getting multiples, but there's no charm or engagement in farming for them. And I think the decision to have every step just be a tomestone dump really represents the apathy that is Endwalker, because I cannot think of a more apathetic way to approach relic weapon farming in this game. I still really love this game and have been here since ARR, but I'm just really sad to see how this expansion turned out. I'm really hoping the more vocal disappointment with job design and content design is heard and that Dawntrail will take us out of this dark age and into something new and refreshing.

[@boogz1725]

TOTALLY AGREE!!! I want to see a mad crowd when I play MMOs. Thats the worst past of WoW is that sharding has made it a solo experience when you arent in the city and its depressing. Same is happening in FF. You nailed it. MMOs are social games for people who arent social IRL.

[@jeremywright9511]

Well Dawntrail takes the cake

[@C.Cer.]

Fell in love with XIV cause of " Samurai Gameplay ". Tried all Jobs, its the job I love playing, only for Square to homogenize it with Kaiten removal / Tenka Goken Circle / AutoCrits / 2min Meta... through excuses that didn't justify it like button bloat. " Just go play Ultimate " is something I never cared for. I care about the Job being engaging over the content. Keep my Job fun? and I'll find any piece of content no matter how boring? more fun. Make my Job braindead, boring, unengaging, simple... and automatically I will find all the boring content that much more boring, mhm...

[@hahaepic4165]

based, their decision starting in stormblood to make every job "streamlined" and not fun to play in favor of scripted dance raid is the single most braindead decision I've ever seen.

[@DawnAfternoon]

@@hahaepic4165 In their defense Stormblood actually did things pretty well with making the jobs "streamlined", most jobs that were hilariously unplayable in HW was fixed and the raids are very much welldone even to today's standards. The problem is they kept on doing it into Shadowbringers and Endwalker. It worked for HW>SB because half the classes in Heavensward were actual meme to play and use. But in SB>ShB that ratio of unusable class dropped to like 1-2 classes at best, and ShB overcorrected like 10 different classes with their oversimplification.

[@hahaepic4165]

@@DawnAfternoon depends on which job, bard, dragoon, dark knight were butchered in their streamlining during stormblood. paladin was insanely good and warrior was busted still, scholar, astro were good too but those tbh didn't change much.

[@DawnAfternoon]

@@hahaepic4165 I'm sorry but EVERYONE hated bard mage lol, it deserved to be butchered and ironically enough the SB era of BRD is easily the best iteration of it. Also Dragoon barely got butchered in Stormblood, tf? Solid yes on Dark Knight though.

[@hahaepic4165]

@@DawnAfternoon Not our bard, he loved that ish. They could've just made a non-casting bard. bardmage may not be the best, but they're the devs, their job is to iterate and make it better. instead these devs only know how to "Rework" but straight up deleting jobs and replacing them with smth else under the exact same name

[@Osteichthyes]

Judging by the title, I'm going to guess that this is just a rant video guised as a critque. Let's begin our own critique of the video and see how it fairs. 11mins in, and I feel so vindicated. People wanted low man challenging content, the devs provided it and now everyone complains.This takes resources away from the large exploratory zones. People wanted a new Deep Dungeon, we got one, still they complain about no exploration zone. Something has to give. 13mins in, and now I'm frustrated. People complained INCESSANTLY about not being able to gear up multiple jobs, specifically, the weapons. The devs provided it in the form of relic, and everyone complains....again. 16mins in, they didn't "remove" anything, it was never planned because people wanted some new and different. Hence, Variant and Criterion, Island Sanctuary, and the new Deep Dungeon. Results are mixed. 18mins in, this is so painful to hear. This is nitpicking at the HIGHEST level. if I hear the words "It's shameless, they don't care, it's low effort". This is no longer criticism, this is just an attack. The Trials are part of the MSQ. And? Does this mean that they are terrible? Would it make a difference if it was a side story? I don't think it would. 20mins in, speculation and more attacks on work ethic because of a subjective opinion. I'm losing braincells and patience at this point. 23mins in, something really interesting said here "it didn't do what it was meant to". This is a point that really needs to be explained, not glossed over, what was the expectation that you were looking for? What are aspects that you would have liked to see that would have created that replay-ability or desire to engage with the system? 24mins in, the best part....gets the least time thus far. This really is just a venting video isn't it... 25mins in, Deep Dungeon needs something more...but can't explain what she wants from it. Hard to adjust thing in a way that people will enjoy if they don't know what they want. "Make it more Roguelike" isn't very helpful. 27mins in, says Variant/Criterion is a "half measure", doesn't mention anything other than rewards being lacking and impressively saying the same thing four times in a different way. They aren't good enough, they don't want to adjust their rewards structure. Though does make a good point in that Variant would be a good place to have relic rewards come from, which is a good suggestion. 28mins in, really getting tired of hearing "There is no incentive". If you need an incentive to be doing an activity, were you ever really enjoying it? There is no rewards in the majority of fighting games, but people play those games simply for the fun and the joy of improvement. "Do task, get meaningful reward" doesn't sound like fun to me, it sounds like a job. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ My own thoughts: Some of the more vocal members of the FFXIV definitely cannot take criticism, just as a lot of the vocal "criticism" isn't actually useful or constructive. Without proffering a solution, it gets really hard to understand where people are coming from. A lot of the complaints in this video were extremely unhelpful and felt more like frustrated venting and personal attacks. When a person says that "They don't care for the reason, it isn't an excuse" indicates that they weren't being open to outside information. Calling the devs lazy and half measured isn't useful and just makes them feel worse and feel less inclined to explore new things, because the last time they tried, prominent members of the community personally attacked them. It breeds toxicity and resentment. New things become terrible to design for, things that were creative and fun turn to doubt and anxiety. It's the reason why I left the game dev scene. My passion turned into loathing. Most developers will take criticism if it is both informative and valid, especially if it is founded in a basis of understanding. I get the feeling that a lot of the complaints can be summed up as "The content that has come out during Endwalker has felt as though there wasn't as much engagement as other expansions. A lot of the new things they tried just didn't land, or came out with flaws that really prevented them from reaching their full potential such as relic being behind a single player quest line, instead of a multiplayer focused line. For instance, Variant Dungeons are places that have been locked up for ages and contain both relics and knowledge previously lost to time. This esoteric aspects would make for a logical and thematic place to obtain the components that Godbert required to upgrade the relics. During the next expansions, I think they would better served focusing on fewer unique pieces of content, but making them more community focused where playing together on a large scale is a core component, and integrating them better with previously established systems". It's dry as hell, but it identifies an issue, and proposes a solution. It's why I make posts like this, so that hopefully people with issues can potentially see another side of the argument, or a shortcoming within the arguments they are presenting. Unfortunately, posts like these will also get a large amount of hate and negativity. It is my hope that people will start being more mindful of how they are presenting information. "Lesson #19: Your audience is good at recognizing problems and bad at solving them" - Mark Rosewater - Magic: the Gathering: Twenty Years, Twenty Lessons Learned

[@thesunthrone]

Yeah, the user is really good at giving feedback, but the developer needs to have the good sense to understand that most of that feedback is really just noise. It is frustrating for sure, because while veteran player insights are valuable, they themselves must also understand that they are jaded and numbed by the virtue of being veterans. You cannot do the same thing for thousands of hours and have it feel just as good as when you started. And when it veers into the territory of praising the past things that you complained about when they were current (Eureka/Bozja, no 4man content etc), there needs to be a clear understanding that the veteran now sees them as positive mostly because they themselves have forgotten their negative emotions and only the positive memories of overcoming those grinds remain. To a veteran, the memory of past suffering they got through is now a funny story, even if at the time they were utterly miserable. Ultimately, MMOs just are about intrinsic motivation first and foremost, and the developer's task is to provide as many possible avenues for a player to want to pursue. Players will always run out of things to do regardless if objectively there are still things to do, because it is their intrinsic motivation that vanes with time. And the longer a veteran plays an MMO, the harder it is to be motivated. I think another compounding effect here is the expectations of a content creator. Slower patch cadence with less big things to talk about mean more stress in coming up with video content, and that in turn leads to dissatisfaction and resentment.

[@Cetaey]

This is the first expansion where Ive actually have had no interest in coming back for patches, wanted to do the relic but turned out that became a joke this expansion so didnt come back for that class design to me has also gotten more boring so I dont really know what to do anymore

[@samsmith9370]

I understand your frustration and I feel it, too. But I'm hesitant to call these people lazy considering they are working a full-time job just like me (and waaay above my skill level). I really wish you hadn't accused them of being lazy. They just finished a 10-year story arc and made it clear that this was the end of the story arc. I fully expected the game to be different after Endwalker because of that alone. Yeah I wish there was more content but I also appreciate that this team busted ass over COVID and other hardships to deliver the brilliant expac that they did. It makes a lot of sense for the content to be slow right now. Even now, the next expansion will not be as grand or full of conflict and content as previous ones, it seems. It's sad, but not something I would degrade others for. Personally, im still paying to play because ive got lots of fun stuff to do. It's not the usual, but I find it fun nonetheless.

[@Matthew-ij3zm]

Honestly, Endwalkers had some incredible highs and I think that my overall experience was very positive. However, I did find myself kinda burnt out at the end and I haven't felt like returning to the game for the patches. I was hoping the concept and teaser for the next expansion would make me super excited for what's to come but... it didn't. I guess I was hoping that there'd be at least a big time gap between expansions because EW felt so much like closure, y'know? I don't think I like the idea of casually continuing the story from where we left, surrounded by the exact same companions at (seemingly) the same age, looking the same, acting the same... I don't know, EW just made me feel like I was done and it wasn't the most fun expansion to play, so I was hoping for a bigger overhaul in all aspects of the game. EW simply didn't leave me wanting more. Especially if it's more of the "same".

[@garbagebandit5934]

It's almost funny how they went out of their way to say "the Scions are free agents now, and they all have their own missions to take care of, so now it's time to strike out on your own!" and then like a patch later, we're immediately back to saving the world with the Scions. Don't get me wrong, I like them, but come on. Speaking of, it was also very cool of them to imply that we're taking a break from world-ending threats and just having an honest-to-gods adventure for a change (they even baited me with a treasure hunt) only to toss all of that into the Dawntrail bin and force us to deal with the Filler Squad.

[@-cat-..]

I expected patch msq to solely build up a story to lead into 7.0 because there really arent any loose ends to tie up like in previous expacs but literally nothing has hinted at things we might do in 7.0 Like the comment above mine says, Golbez's Goons feel like an isolated side story, not the main scenario And we all know in 6.5 we're gonna fight Zeromus and win, because its just that obvious, and this side story has thus far left us with 1 new character and 0 loose ends to explore in future

[@drummermg131]

@@-cat-.. Yeah. This is where I'm at, too. So we wrap up this 13th stuff and then what? We'll be literally in the middle of 6.5 and we have absolutely no clue how we end up kicking off Dawntrail's MSQ. I hope it's not rushed. I hope it's not just "so much for our first attempt at a break and vacation! Let's try again." I feel like EW is having the exact opposite problem that SB had. For me, SB 4.0 was alright, but its patch MSQ content had me absolutely glued to my computer chair (and going through it emotionally). EW 6.0 was solid, and the patch content has literally done nothing for me. I'm staying current so I'm not behind, but it's whatever at this point.

[@Sneedmeister]

so you invented your own head canon and then got mad because SE didn't deliver on the random shit you invented in your own mind?

[@Matthew-ij3zm]

@@Sneedmeister No, that's not what happened and no, I'm not mad. You seem mad, what's with the attitude? I'm pretty good. Done with the game until some exciting patch comes up, but having a lot of fun with different games. Cause, y'know, it's a good time to be a gamer. Not an XIV gamer, to be sure, but a gamer.

[@nauscakes1868]

They need a 'maps' type content where you can level up characters. Or make fates better. Just something social you can level 1+ at, that's not limited to end-game.

[@RaddyC]

There’s no good reason for FATEs and side quests to not reward way more exp. And tomestones if you do them on a level capped job

[@Keldiur]

@@RaddyC all their "world" content need better incentives to do. Heck, the best way for Sages and Reapers to level was Bozja. Not map fates, or quests. Not even hunts. Doubly so now since no new relic has the option to be grinded in the world like that.

[@vrahnkeneisenbach9148]

My issue with the game's development philosophy for a while now is that they introduce a lot of cool, unique ideas, but they introduce them as dead-end pieces of content that entertain you for a short amount of time and then you're forever done with them, instead of integrating them directly into the core gameplay loop. To an extent, I think it's good to have branching paths for how to approach the game, as I think that's partially where ff14 has found its success in the first place: there's something for everyone, but it's definitely possible to spread too thin. I can only hope they're simply testing ideas out and will integrate some of the more successful ideas down the road.

[@Pers0n97]

A bunch of branching paths that all lead to a dead end after a very short walk is a good way to describe FF14 tbh. I haven't played that much of it, but I remember getting very into Chocobo racing even as a low level player. I very, VERY quickly managed to get the perfect breed for my chocobo, got the pimped chocobo gear and... that's it. I was rather sad to see how shallow the system was, and how abandonned it felt. Very few race track, mechanics that could easily be refined into something way more interesting but are still left as they are. There is nothing worst than getting investing into something and realizing that it was just a mirage all along. I did the same with fishing too. Having alternative activities is great, but if you don't do anything with it it's just going to occupy you for a bit and that's all.

[@Ixidor13]

This. FF tried many things but is a master of none.

[@Kaiyuni]

To be fair I kind of appreciate that a lot of features are just cool little things to do because if you integrate new systems into the core gameplay loop over and over you suffer from what's called "feature creep". You see this in games like path of exile for example where there are so many things to do and understand in the game that it is borderline impenetrable by a new player. Again using PoE as an example I actually played PoE a decent bit when the game first came out and a few years following it. I came back in the past year as part of the diablo 4 hype (just to scratch that ARPG itch) and the moment I hit the end-game systems I was utterly floored. I had no idea what I was doing and it would take me literal hours upon hours of dedicated research just to discover the correct *direction* to go.

[@Pers0n97]

@Kaiyuni you don't need to make them core feature, just come back from time to time to add new content to them and do a rework once in a while. Chocobo racing is the perfect example of that. It could have been so much more, just with a new track every expansions and a proper update to the mechanic would have gone a long way to make it a real game inside the game rather that a half form thing you can clean fast and never look back.

[@Ixidor13]

Exactly this. You do not need to over engineer everything. Example: Everyone knows how Island sanctuary works at the moment. How do u make it better? - Remove the crap 1-1-1 gathering, make things more fun, add a social aspect to it, etc etc. We have housing? Make it slightly more social! add little games that make people visit you, smaller customizations for quality of life, improve farming. Gold saucer? - Improve the rewards of ur machines for christ sakes. I dont wanna gamble for 10-20 MGP or whatever.

[@txmits507]

Tired of long timegated gear grinds, savage wings and trials, where one person goofing a mechanic means a group wipe, bored of static 2 minute rotations, and absolutely done with ability bloat. WoW had better gearing this expansion, but it could really use some ff style wings and trials. But there are so many games that released recently that are fun, so FFXIV needs to start tweaking said a bit faster. WoW and FF can get lost with their pipelines of content that have been decided for years. That's not how you're going to keep players.

[@DontGiveUp_Skeleton]

It's says something that for me the most memorable part of the post story content was the easily missable side quest about the back stories of the bosses you just killed. The early patches painted so much potential but as you said it's predicable, mcguffin chasing now.

[@TrollFaceLaunch0]

What side quest?

[@DontGiveUp_Skeleton]

@@TrollFaceLaunch0 Shadowed Pasts Radz-at-Han X: 4.8 Y: 11.9

[@jtabox]

@@DontGiveUp_Skeleton Yeah that questline should've been at least blue quests if not msq. It was pretty easy to miss and was one of the highlights (if not THE highlight) of the void characters' story.

[@Crowens]

I was so damn excited for the start of the storyline, I still had faith even when people felt it was filler content and it won't matter, like no that's ridiculous. How can a storyline based around the void be filler? That's an area tied heavily into many key players of FFXIV, the Ascians, the Allagans, the voidsent, the First Brood, they're going to use it to tie up the final loose ends we have or setup the next big expansion, there's no way it'll be lackluster. Then 6.4 came out and absolutely nothing happened and then the setup for 7.0 is in an entirely separate storyline, what a damn letdown.

[@jtabox]

@@Crowens Lol ikr? When i finished 6.0 i was very satisfied and at the same time very sad because the story felt so good i didn't want it to end. As if I had been in an amazing party and now it was time to go home. Then, in 6.1, when it became apparent that we'd be dealing with the void and the whole 13th, I got super hyped again. There's so much material and potential that at first, I thought we'd only be dealing with the void intro in 6.x patches, and then have 7.0 deal with the void (or some consequence of us going to the 13th). Then as the story progressed, and we were like dispatching every obstacle in our way with breakneck speed, I was like "ah shit, this is going to be a Garlemald, isn't it...". And then 6.4 MSQ came and snuffed out every hope I had that this isn't filler content after all. We got the "oh, Zodiark left a void fart before he died, and it's much more powerful than he was, so much danger!!!"-villain that will cease to exist before 6.5 ends, together with the whole void story arc. With Garlemald and the 13th (and the void), ShB and EW could've easily been a trilogy of expansions (and their patches) that deals with literally everything in FFXIV so far. Instead, we get Dawntrail, which personally didn't exactly hype me up. I know it's way too early for any kind of judgement regarding DT, and I know that at some point we would need to conclude this whole 2.0 story arc. It's just that there's so many things that could've come out from both Garlemald and (especially) the 13th/void story arcs, so many stories to be told, and now that train is gone.

[@AllanTheRobot]

I absolutely love criterion. It feels like it's meant to appeal to me in particular, I'd been asking for actually hard 4 man content for years. And it's so hard for me to play it, cause I just can't find other people who care. You'd think it would be easier to find 3 other people instead of 7 for savage, but it's been practically impossible since all the good raiders only want savage for the rewards and prestige specific to that.

[@nelieltu9730]

Too bad the rewards are shit. Bozja/eureka had far more to offer and instead we get dungeons with low tier rewards.

[@dragonmares59110]

I would gladly do criterion...but there is no rewards. They could have at least put a gear upgrade token weekly for people who don't do savage.

[@SubduedRadical]

@@nelieltu9730 It does kinda show people aren't interested in "harder content" for "the challenge". They're only interested in rewards. All the people saying all the time they do it for "the challenge", we now have seen most of them were lying. Notably, some few AREN'T. There are people doing it because they really did want challenging 4 man content for its own sake. But so many clearly didn't want a challenge for its own sake, they wanted better and faster rewards than other people.

[@georgesmirnov6600]

@@SubduedRadical Not necessarily? If the content is exclusively for "challenge", then once you complete the content once - the "challenge" aspect is gone. You have beaten the content and there is no reason for most people with this mindset to do the content. And without the rewards, there is no other incentive to keep doing this content over and over. As a result - less players participate in the content and its getting harder to form a party for it. Me? I don't mind doing content several times without the rewards just for the content sake. Hell, my raiding experience mostly consists from doing old fights with my static. But that's just me. And I am very sad, that I am forced to do Criterion Dungeon in first 2 weeks, because afterwards - its unbelievably harder to find people willing to do it.

[@-cat-..]

I tried variant and hated it. Never done criterion but Variant is literally just "kill a single add pack (no wall to walling) with 4 damage sponges, repeat 5x, fight the same mid boss with one slight difference, then more trash, then one actually interesting fight" Running the same dungeon a dozen times for some slightly different scenery and a different endboss just doesnt interest me, at least with farming normal dungeons I can pick up tricks and optimize them

[@Muzangetsu]

TL;DR - Far from the worst expansion, more like "least grindy" expansion. I agree with a lot of the points made but calling it the "worst expansion" you've played isn't quite right. Specially considering you've played WoW. Warlords is by far the worst in that sense. EW is easily the least grindy but not the worst and i feel like that point is made in the video without directly saying it more so than making a point of it being the worst. If we're talking just XIV then Hevensward would be the worst expansion, bear with me. Story in HW was fantastic, not the worst in that aspect. Stormblood was the worst story wise. However, everything else in HW was just not good and almost sank the game again. Raiding was the worst it's ever been, to this day the alliance raid is the worst of them, diadem was a failure not once but twice, crafting was annoying, job balance was bad and for some jobs it was the worst they have ever been (looking at you, Summoner). Funny enough the relic was decent at least. IIRC it was Yoshi P that said they had the most falloff in player retention during HW. I feel the island sanctuary bit was a rough take. We knew going into it that it was gonna be some kinda farm simulator, they said as much before its release. Anyone who thought it would be something else was just lying to themselves or misinformed. Also, comparing it to garrisons in warlords isn't a fair take. Beyond it being personal instance content there is no comparison. You can totally ignore the island and not miss out on anything beyond some mounts and glam. Most people I've talked to that do island content enjoy it and those that don't just don't like that type of content which is fine. I really feel like this should be titled "least grindy expansion i have played" which would be more accurate. Content that's there is good but it simply doesn't have a long life span and we are missing some things. We do have variant dungeons, its just not enough content to cover those missing (trial side story and a eureka/bozja equivalent). There's not as much content like we've had in the last two expansions, which again i feel that point was made in the video but not directly stated. i do 100% agree that the relic is garbage and easily the worst relic "grind" by far. Variant dungeons are good content that needs some tweaking but for a new piece of content they're on the right track and its fun, but again, it doesn't have a long life span. The alliance raid has been fantastic and same can be said about the savage raid. I agree on the point that them working on XVI might be a factor when it comes to the lack of long term content but i don't feel it caused this expansion to be bad or the worst by a long shot. I will say its funny how the next expansion is suppose to feel like a "vacation" when EW patches feel more like it. Which isn't a bad thing, not amazing but not bad. We just finished saving the world and then some and now we have a slower period where the story focus is more on the characters and us moving on from all of that while transitioning into a new grand adventure. We just got used to these big epic story moments over the years so it can seem in ways that this story isn't as impactful or interesting in contrast but that doesn't make it so. Speaking of the story, and i mean no offense by this, it seems like a jaded take. Not everyone has played or recently played older FF's so saying the story is predictable isn't a blanket statement by a long shot. Even if you are someone who has played them and you have an idea whats coming its still fun seeing how they get to that point and enjoying a new take on those story beats. I can see where for some it might make it less impactful but then again those same people would be saying the same about a major chunk of the game. This game is a FF theme park and you can say the same about other elements used from older FF's. With that said that makes this take a bit odd to me. I will say the story isn't perfect or the best the games been but it's not bad and most the points made towards it in this video are, as i mentioned, odd. Overall i feel like there's a bunch of good points and if i touch on all of it I'll end up writing a book. I'll wrap up by saying, as long as this is a one off thing or something they do at the end of a huge story arc like we just had then it's not a huge deal. However, if going forward this is the norm then i can see it being a problem and causing players to lose interest due to gaps in long term content. Though I'm not too worried about that considering the amount of content they've teased coming in DT. I really do believe the two major factors at play that have made this expansion less grindy is due to them working on XVI and them taking a slow period after a decade long epic. I will add that i by no means think this expansion is perfect or the best and they could of done better but it is far from the worst. I still can't get over how lame the relic grind is (hildy is great though).

[@lloroshastar6347]

I dunno, I think maybe Endwalker from the perspective of someone who plays the game almost every day all day may be 'mid' but as a casual player who isn't a completionist and really just likes to have solo fun with no commitment to anything I'm finding it to be great overall. Honestly the most bored I was with the game was back in ARR, most of the game content was simple, the rotations are easy and the story was the most 'meh' it's ever been, ever since I've loved the game, I haven't played Dawntrail yet though and I'm a little concerned by what I've heard especially as it seems to be heavily weighted on whether or not I like this Wuk Lamat character, but Endwalker I'm loving it, but then I don't try to do everything and I only got the game shortly after Shadowbringers, plus I take breaks to play other games, do some hobbies, live my life spend time with my loved one's. For me it's just not a concern as someone who doesn't make the game my whole life.

[@SlugmaChops]

I just started playing again since AAR came out. Started a new character and leveling has been fun. It's rare to run into people in the wild. All the fates I've done have been solo and have only really gotten social interaction in the public areas. And I'm on leviathan which always has a queue when I log in. I'm still enjoying myself and glad I don't really need pressure to level (though I want some of those minions from the event)

[@RyuSaarva]

That is not an actual que, it's some kinda protection system from ddos attack so the servers won´t crash, but yea after ARR there has not been many reasons to do level 1-70 fates since square buffed dungeon EXP multiple times but did not do that for fates or combat leves.

[@SlugmaChops]

@RyuSaarva I stopped even doing fates I wound up leveling like 10 higher than I need for msq so now I'm just running through that. Gets lonely until I do a dungeon but even then out of the 6 dungeons I've done I've only had a talkative group once. Hopefully they start getting their shit together and bring the open world back. Right now the game feels like warlords of draenor but at least with a good story and good leveling experience (could be because I'm playing bard for the first time) I've always really liked ffxiv but I'm seeing a lot of the problems people have with it and I'm only level 39

[@RyuSaarva]

@@SlugmaChops People do not talk with randoms in videogames anymore, they use discord for that and ignore all ingame social features. The only way you would get social parties regularly is if you join some special groups and do content with premades who care about socialising.

[@cyruzx]

Maybe I'm going at this the wrong way, but for me it just feels like everyone is just kind of satisfied and in rest mode a bit after the main story finished up. I have the same feeling now as I did when it was just ARR. It's fun, but there isn't enough hook in the story to be a banger right now. Everyone I know is just super pumped for dawntrail and are using this time to play other games and just have fun somewhere else for a little while.

[@cyruzx]

As much as I would like quality content at all times it's just not reasonable to expect that. I expect the developers to also go on "vacation mode" after they've committed to, and completed an epic 10 year story. As a huge fan of the game, I would prefer that they take whatever time they need to write and develop the same quality story that we've had so far. The good news is i'm also just a gamer. So one of the things I love about FFXIV is I get those opportunities to step away from the game for a while and enjoy a ton of other things. Yoshi P himself even advocates for this. Also, if they couldn't take the financial hit for a few months while people live a life, then maybe there are far deeper problems with the company.@gsa95

[@The_Catman]

​@gsa95this is a developer's problem. We are players, customers. We work for OUR interest. Asking developers to find me excuses to fund them when I'm not engaged is superfluous. It is their job. It's not healthy? It depends. If the flux of people resting is bigger than the flux of new players...yes. It seems not the case. If it becomes the case, it will be their job to get us back. And they know. It's not healthy FOR PLAYERS to pose these kind of problems to themselves. If you are bored, log out. FFXIV will survive you taking a break. You, and your engagement, on the other hand, will not survive years of forcing yourself on something that bores you only due to toxic attachment. A lot of people should not ask themselves why YoshiP can't understand he needs them (he knows ans is competent enough to so his job). They should ask THEMSELVES why they NEED THIS GAME SO MUCH to be uncomfortable with a normal drought? Streamers? They basically live by sucking money from the game. Their distress is understandable. But normal players? I am seeing the same behaviour that led the WOW community to the sorry state it is stuck. A lot of people get from the game things they should not ask from a game. And no game can keep the pace with that.

[@The_Catman]

@gsa95 you are not being forced to engage with roulettes. You are not forced to pay the subscription. You are not forced to play. Stop playing! YOU. ARE. BORED.

[@The_Catman]

@gsa95 But are you enjoying your time playing the game, or not?

[@The_Catman]

@gsa95 what the hell are you saying? Nobody took away content from you. You just COMPLETED it. And it's funny, because annoyed and bored in my language...are the same word...but that's details. And being pissed about it is even less understandable. It's a game. You are BEYOND bored, you are pissed. Why do you still engage with something that, by your own admission, reached the point of pissing you off?! You are literally making your day worse. You are literally angry at a videogame and at videogame developers. I sincerely can't understand why you have the solution to all your problems with it ("Go do something else until I really have fun doing stuff in the game) and still log in. Still pay. To be pissed off. And I'm the one with the positive opinion here. I can assure you the game has the same amount of content if not more. Not every expansion has the same formula. Bozja and Zadnor are not exact copies of Eureka (lucky us...we all had those "Can someone ress me please?" nightmares to not level down, or not being able to help your friends because too much level disparity was harmful to both), even if we can agree they are an iteration on the same idea. But in exchange with that, ShB had no iteration of the Palace of the Dead type of content, and some people, me included, enjoy that (I enjoy both, but whatever) EW is simply the expansion where they decided to put more new things than old. Variand, Criterion dungeons, and Island Sanctuary. They are entirely new ideas. Yes, they still need time in the oven, like EVERYTHING IN THIS GAME DID. Every newbie ever in this game experience the game going from ARR to EW and can see blatant changes, evolutions and regressions, from expansion to expansion. Yes, I too, as I said, liked ShB's endgame content MORE than EW, I don't care for the rewards, and I'll wait to log back in to do all of that once, have fun, enjoy the story, and good bye. But the difference between you and me is that I did not torture myself for 2 years straight on something I currently don't have will to do. I'm incapable of being pissed off by this game because I STOP PLAYING WHEN THE ONLY CONTENT REMAINING IS THE ONE I DON'T CARE ABOUT. And as you liked the old content more, I can guarantee there are tons of players loving the new stuff. I know them, I see them, I'm in contact with them on a daily basis, and they are all but alone in this. You are letting this strange attachment you have with the game poison your relationship with it. I can guarantee you every X.3 to X.5 patch cycle has been like this. The new cards are all shown, everyone has decided what they want to do with the content, some love it to death, some like it just enough to give it a go, and some DESPISE IT. From my point of view, and the statistics known, the game is better than ever. There are more players now than during ShBs patch cycle. They just focused on targets they never focused on before. I assure you another Bozja will come out. OF COURSE. Because it's popular. Just wait. The old content is still there anyway. No one took it away from you. You just went through it. It's a videogame. Stop playing something that gives you negative emotions! You have just one life! Really!

[@mojoboingo1744]

Personally I just felt a sense of completeness after Endwalker. It might have been the patches themselves, but I just had the sense it was time to move on.

[@Sneedmeister]

thats like saying you finished The Fellowship of The Ring and went "its time to move on from LOTR". The hydaelyn/zodiark story is done, but there's still much more story to be told.

[@ShatteredAngel17]

@@Sneedmeister Yeah a 10 year old story that has been the biggest focus has concluded. It's a brand new chapter. A squeal of sorts. It's a fine time to stop if they feel it, there isn't a pressing cliff hanger that needs resolving right now, even more so after likely how 6.5 is gonna end.

[@yanipheonu]

​@@Sneedmeisterhonestly, Endwalker felt more like Return of the King. All the major antagonists are dead or gone. The world is no longer ending, and is not in any obvious danger. Stakes have never been lower in the world. Writing a book after that would be difficult....

[@Sneedmeister]

@@yanipheonu no actually ARR-Endwalker was more like the Silmarillion. Grand Stories of Gods fighting Gods deciding the fate of mankind and the universe going forward. Dawntrail is more like The Fellowship. We're gathering people to our cause and there's a threat on the horizon that we can't totally comprehend yet.

[@jtabox]

@@Sneedmeister what incomprehensible threat are you talking about? not sure if we saw the same Dawntrail trailer, but the most threatening thing in it is the fact there will be disagreement amongst the scions at some point. which i'm pretty sure will be resolved before the end of 7.0 MSQ, if it's not just a red herring to make the DT trailer feel dramatic. also, wasn't the fellowship of the ring about dealing with the big bad of the whole franchise (the ring and sauron)? what exactly did we do in endwalker?

[@GameGod77]

Just throwing in my 2 cents in as a free trial player: I understand 6.0 was the end of a grand narrative, much like Avengers Endgame for the MCU. And in a similar way, what must follow is the setting up of a new story, so there's going to be a lot of downtime and establishing new characters and because they essentially have to build up to something great again, the story will feel underwhelming until it gets enough gears in motion.

[@zefflick9475]

This is a good take, it echos alot of how i feel about the state of the game and direction we are heading.

[@anteprs7908]

most ppl dont feel that way however

[@zefflick9475]

@@anteprs7908 I'm happy for them. ^^

[@anteprs7908]

@@zefflick9475 and I hope you get to love the game once again .

[@MesaMynx]

" Endwalker is the Worst FFXIV Expansion I have played" ... Dawntrail; " hold my beer. "

[@MrChiefjc]

Relic Weapons in previous expansions required a good bit of grouping up to complete and were a large bit of content.

[@denshaotoko42]

And also painfully grindy, I'm really enjoying a relic that doesn't require weeks for each progression step. I'm not a hardcore player, I can play maybe 3-4 hours a week (real life is hard), so this, especially tied in with Hildibrand, has really made it very enjoyable for me to get a relic.

[@RyuSaarva]

@@denshaotoko42 mmos are not for you if you only play 3-4 hours a week and neither are most single player games either.

[@wyred]

@@RyuSaarva Feel free to play some Korean super grinder MMO if you want to waste all your life on a game. ;)

[@Henurisongs]

@@RyuSaarva are you really gatekeeping a fucking game that is targetted towards casual play?

[@jaysea838]

@@denshaotoko42 I do think prior relics were painfully tedious and a glow was hardly worth the effort. The EW relic (for me) was the polar opposite (as in dead simple) which also made the acquisition lacklustre. But I do understand your point entirely and at least super casual players have the option that won’t take them months to complete.

[@StreamingTearsband]

Currently, playing 6.x feels like I'm stuck in the Conclusion/Epilogue. The game feels like its ended, and without any exciting content, its going to stay that way until 7.0 refresh.

[@nezunskyfire292]

Honestly, I felt this conversation. I just don't feel the drive to play as much anymore. As much as I would complain to myself about every relic grind, I kept logging in 'cause there'd be more people around to comla- talk to about the new relic stuff. Also, it feels like no wants to talk anymore. The last handful of times I've logged in to do some stuff, all dungeon runs were really quiet. It feels very lonely, like how dungeons in Warcraft did.

[@jn5328]

It's so frustrating that when any of these points are brought up people immediately call it burnout. I've been talking about these exact same issues for about 2 years now, and EVER SINGLE TIME people just brush it off as "oh you just have burnout play other games". It truly isn't burnout because I WANT to play and I absolutely adore this game to bits but the content being added is so... unmeaningful to me. its either super short or adds no actual interesting reward loop. its been the same thing for YEARS. I really hope that they can expand upon criterion and variant dungeons to make it more intergraded into our daily gameplay, or just offer something of value to make it interesting to replay. Roulettes are so stale at this point.

[@kennys6288]

Amen. I’ve felt burnout during ShB but short breaks always did wonders. Month long breaks in EW have done nothing.

[@adognamedsally]

Yeah, the post patch stuff was pretty mild after 6.1. It started off pretty strong but it kinda evaporated towards the end. I get the sense that the devs want to move on to a new storyline where they can build up tension again coming off of the conclusion to the previous story. I've been playing a lot of solo deep dungeon and doing ultimates and that has kept me pretty busy so I don't feel like there's nothing for me to do. But I've literally never set foot in island sanctuary. Criterion is fun and so is Orthos, but the lack of player engagement with those things does make it less exciting to do unless you have a group for it.

[@kaypygamez9596]

Yeq it's pretty sad. It feels like at this point I only login because of my house which is sad. My friends don't login and I feel like the only thing I have to do is dailies and I can easily do that the last 3 days before reset.. at this point I've made 4 alt characters because there's NOTHING to do.. idk what to do anymore. Feels pointless, I still love FFXIV but.. it feels pointless

[@TheShadyElf]

Playing since 2016 and my interest in the game fell of a cliff after I finished Endwalker MSQ (which was fantastic). If it's burnout, it's not like what I've experienced before where I'd recover in a month or two. That burnout was also due to trying to do too much all at once. Evaluating whether or not I want to continue with FFXIV going forward, we'll see if there's anything interesting in the remaining fanfests. But if it's going to follow the exact same formats as what has come before, I may have to strongly consider dropping this (and honestly live service games in general may have to be given the boot from my gaming). I appreciate you making this though. I know how much you like this game, and it helps to have the bigger voices expressing concerns/criticisms like this because like you said many in the community cannot accept criticism of the game at all.

[@zellcrs]

wow veterans, "first time?"

[@Dracounguis]

Yes really. Didn't wow have like 18 months of no content 1 time? These breaks between content in 14 are nothing. Add to that a lot of the dam was probably working on 16, the new graphical updates, and I'm sure other things we don't know. And I'm not really surprised that, for instance, the relic weapons don't have a big event to go along with them.

[@kiteblaze6241]

Lol

[@thesunthrone]

Yeah lmao, they think this is content drought... Sweet summer children.

[@zellcrs]

I do not think a drought is her complaint? More that the spark is wavering, which is something wow players I felt have dealt with many a time. I was groaning at the comparison of garrisons to island, garrisons were required, island is not.

[@nKe.]

Endgame is very boring when the only thing to do is savage/ultimate

[@jamieorourke1744]

Hate to ask the obvious but could people just be underwhelmed about the appearance of the relic weapon? I have heard some people just complain they werent happy with how it looks.

[@dferrari6794]

EW is not bad. We are having an Avengers endgame situation here. We fought dispair at the edge of existence and saved the universe, we reached the end of our journey. What now? We are at the filler arc while we wait for the next journey to begin.

[@Pay_Me_No_Mind]

With the relic, I feel there were many mistakes. You can be done with the next step before it's even out (hoard tomes). Unless you craft or sell tome mats, the tomes used for the relic have no other use, so it's like you "might as well" use them for a relic or they are wasted. You don't have to have a quest active to earn towards a relic, just start the quest, have the mats, and done. And the worst one: In 7.0 these relics will all just be 6000 poetic dumps.

[@robertcortes5361]

All aggression towards Zelpha is completely unwarranted. At best you can disagree, but shouting at her that everything is perfect is going make her dig her heels further that she's being gaslighted by the community. I really don't know if there is a conversation here yet until the next patch (I know everyone predicted it while not pretending to know what was coming) and furthermore it's the worst patch for her from Sb to EW. Which she recognized post video that this might be something she should have emphasized more in this video.

[@dragonsswarm1987]

I wonder if the Devs are burned out, overworked and/or spread thin? A lot of things can go wrong behind the scenes without anyone noticing.

[@lunavara5268]

Just to clarify how little content there has been in EW. I was feeling burnt out around December, so I took a break. I came back to the game mid August, over 9 months later. When I got back, there was 1 new dungeon, 1 new trial, 4 raids, and a variant dungeon. That's an abysmal amount of new content for 9 months. It has been 2-3 weeks since my return, and apart from mindlessly grinding the relic steps that I have missed, I feel like there is simply nothing to do, nothing to keep me here. I feel like I am just falling out of love with this game, not because I want to, not because I am bored of playing, but because there is just nothing to do. With reports that Square made $500m+ profit, from FFXIV alone, in the year that Endwalker was released, this shallow and lite amount of content is just not acceptable in my opinion. There has been 3 Destiny 2 seasons in this time period, with multiple seasonal activities, dungeons, raid, new weapons and amour, real events with their own game modes. Destiny has it's own problems, but I am just using it as a comparison. It has had about 3-5x the amount of content released in the same time period as FFXIV, and that is just sad.

[@darkkratos2000]

"That's an abysmal amount of new content for 9 months" you forget to say for you. Meanwhile other people had fun with newly added Ultimate, island Sanctuary Update, new Deep Dungeon, Housing, RPing etc.etc.etc.

[@lunavara5268]

@@darkkratos2000 The general consensus here is the same for literally everybody that is not a total defender and dick rider of Yoshi and Square. You are so desperate to defend, that you called sanctuary and housing "content".. I've played for years, already had a house, there was ZERO added housing "content" in EW, stop reaching. Island sanctuary is spending less than one hour to unlock the new mats, hit some rocks, upgrade some stuff... then passively afk level up with workshops. It has also generally not been very well received, with many, many players not happy about the trade off of getting island in exchange for a eureka/bojza type area. If complaints can not be heard, and everyone rushes to the defence of the game all the time, no positive changes will come. That is how WoW ending up going down the toilet. Keep defending Square doing the bare-minimum to get your money and time, and they will keep doing it, and even get worse.

[@darkkratos2000]

​@@lunavara5268 May this new content not to the taste of a few people? Sure. Nobody say it otherwise. They tried something else and maybe failed it. Who are we in our bubble to say something wasnt received well? The few idiots on the forum crying about everything? Content Creator with their parasitic audience relationship circlejerking their own opinions? I would call Criterion / Islands a failure after seeing the iteration of it in the next Addon. We can even argue that they are too slow on reacting to feedback but thy never hit new shiny things with the first release (look at Diadem) But sure if you and Zepla wanna keep calling them lazy because they didnt cater to parts of the game you liked before. Go ahead. Thats contructive critism we need. No wonder they dont care about the NA/EU audience if everything is just baseless insults.

[@polk-e-dot8177]

One of my major complaints is the push to make it solo-able. Why would anyone engage if they can do the whole game alone.

[@jaysea838]

Because engagement was (still is most of the time) low and they needed a means to keep people playing. I wouldn’t have made it through EW if I had to rely solely on queues.

[@TheOneGreat]

​@@jaysea838You can keep the trusts but incentivise group play. But XIV doesn't do that. So weird. It's an MMO.

[@ParaSergi55]

FR, if you wanna play alone you have 13 other mainline FF games that you might enjoy more.

[@jaysea838]

@@TheOneGreat 💯At the very least have rolling rewards instead of tomes that most people have an over abundance of or can get more elsewhere. I spend anywhere between 25-50% of my time helping random PF queues clear old (but new to them) content because I know how much of a grind waiting around is. (And playing with the AI works but they are trash lol 😂). Engagement is a huge problem with this title esp considering the installed user base. I still enjoy the ex / savages / ultimates but even those can be hard to find parties for depending on which one. I haven’t looked into a static but I also understand “I” am not the player the devs cater to.

[@benoitrousseau4137]

@@TheOneGreat This is my main issue with duty support and the reason I hate it. If they want to catter the MSQ to those solo JP andies they're trying to get info XIV have fun with it, but can they at least incentivise sprouts to NOT use duty support on their first run? There's a lot of FCs out there that are willing to welcome and help new players but SE literally makes it more convenient to play alone with bots during the MSQ. WTF are they thinking?

[@LobsterFusion]

Endwalker is my first current expansion so I have no idea how it compares to the previous expansions. And maybe that’s why I haven’t noticed the lack of content because I already have so much to do. Levelling alt jobs, checking out old trials and raids and side stories. Sucks people don’t have as much to do though. Hope it’s a better time for people in Dawntrail.

[@Rataldo20]

thats exactly why you dont feel that. you dont have something to compare it with

[@undercoverspy123]

You also probably aren't turbo online since previous expansions, I swear everyone in this video comment section put in thousands of hours and says "I have nothing to do".

[@stormdrain23]

I know this is an older video but I have thought a lot about this and I realized what it was for me. I call it the “Post-Endgame Effect”. After Avengers Endgame, my interest in the MCU waned almost completely. I have been apathetic about what came out after Endgame. For me the story ended and I was satisfied. I’ve had a similar sort of mentality after 6.0. For me, the story ended with the end of Endwalker. I was happy with where we landed. It’s taken me until the 6.3/6.4 story to start feeling a sense of excitement again. Before that I was like “I’m done; I’m content” so I took a LONG break. BUT I had not even really thought about how the archfiends should have been a side story series and that they were shoehorned into the MSQ in exchange for a side series. Then I realized I was looking for the trial series but not finding anything. When you mentioned that I was like “omg”

[@AurizenDarkstar]

I heard someone state this the other day, and I have to agree. It's also the fact that we're not having to deal with a worldwide pandemic anymore. When we were going through Shadowbringers, we were in the depths of the pandemic, people were pretty much stuck at home, and we had FFXIV to play. This isn't to say that the game has gotten bad, only that we had nothing else to do prior to Endwalker, so a lot of us were playing a LOT more. As you said, a part of it is definitely mid-expansion burnout, but a part of it is many players are now going out and about and doing things other than playing the game. But that's just my opinion, take it for what it is. :)

[@BasedZiddi]

The Scions never fail and they are never in danger. The first expansions you felt like anything coupld happen, but now they are all invincible and never make mistakes. When a new character is added I always feel like they are being added so that something bad can happen, because nothing is going to happen to the core group.

[@HassanNur]

I figured the end of the EW msq meant it's time to meet a new cast but Dawntrail shows they are all back and we know they won't die lol I am down but I was happy with how the msq set up bye scions.

[@fireraid9173]

Seems the writing team is too scared to write off or kill any characters so now we have a massive bloated cast with so many toons just standing around for nothing. Some like thancred and urianger completed their arcs so they literally are just around to be mannequins.

[@StrongGreaved]

@Anonymous-vw4xci love this idea

[@Flaws_]

Glad I'm not the only one who's been feeling this way. I want to have reasons to login daily or at least weekly but the game barely gives me any excuse to even keep my subscription going right now. It's sad. I've been playing tons of other games so its not like I have nothing to do but I wish FFXIV was a continuous part of it.

[@DoppelgangerTH]

The only reason to keep my sub is housing. I don't want to lose that house after all the pain I had to go through. But with each inactive month I feel like I'm getting closer to stop caring about pointless virtual property that I don't really use even when playing once in a while

[@SaltyEike]

Ive been doing a sub on/sub off every other month. I'm not gonna get Dawntrail for two months because I'm still casually going through Post-Endwalker MSQ. There is no hurry. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go play Columns on the Sega Genesis