We Found the TRUTH: The Numbers Behind FFXIV’s Explosive Growth

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[@steel5897]

FF14 is the only MMO, or live service even, that I can think of that feels like a complete cohesive experience with a beginning, middle, but no end (or rather, many ends to different story arcs, and new story arcs all the time). It's like the best of both worlds, you can go back and play it from beginning to current content without feeling like you missed a beat, just like a single player game, but you still get the benefits of constant content updates. Other studios really should take not, but apparently they don't.

[@rnglillian8081]

A really big thing for me as a newer player who's in earlier content (about halfway through HW rn) is how they are constantly going back and polishing older content. Really shows they care about me and my experience at every point of my play and not just caring about me when I'm at the current end game content and I really appreciate this

[@ArmageddonEvil]

Yeah, they should take note. >.>; But no, they are after the next fad and not looking at FFXIV's consistency until they are almost on the brink of collapse.

[@Shiirow]

the one game where the end game is, you can do everything, you can do one thing, or you can do nothing and its perfectly fine.

[@thomasmcmanus8307]

Honestly it really is the best online experience And it actually feels lived in

[@ruimouzinho]

Yes

[@dreamer6737]

FFXIV deserves its success. Good developers, good game, good community. 🙏🏻

[@AsaelTheBeast]

SE has it's fair share of problem- the CEO in particular is kinda of an idiot. But the company has a lot of good talent in it too. Well, I suppose we'll see how things go.

[@liberalismisahatecrime4385]

It's a good game and the developers seem to understand the kind of MMO experience they're going for and it's pretty unique, kudos for that. The community though is way overhyped and it's nothing special, it's just online pypo doing dumb bish pypo things same as any other MMO.

[@AQWninjanani]

@@AsaelTheBeast thank god the ceo has no say and cant touch any game that creative business 3 creates and releases

[@Kailspars]

I want to thank you personally, Matt, for preaching FFXIV last year. I started because of your glowing praise of the game. I had played WoW some time around 2009 and didn't really want to get into an MMO, but you did give it a good sales pitch. I don't regret I gave it a try in the least.

[@jordiattencia4948]

I was also brought in by Matt. I had given up on mmos but I figure I'd give it a quick try. Never unsubbed since

[@Frosthowl93]

I was completely dropping out of the MMO sphere. Late classic wasnt doing it for me. A little peer pressure and positive news coverage from a credible source changed everything for me. Guess who the credible source was.

[@zagorim7469]

I feel like Matt might have played a big part on why asmon tried the game which ultimately brought several thousands new players. It's like he had a huge influence and asmongold was the proxy that allowed his message to get delivered lol.

[@serisothikos]

I remember how 3.2's raiding content quite literally broke the endgame structure of this game. In several crucial ways, 3.2 represents the start of the wide cultural shift from "raiding is endgame" to "endgame is what you want it to be."

[@raianabedin4300]

any idea where I can read up/watch more about this? this feels like history that I'm missing out on at this point

[@Salt_Mage]

It wasn’t 3.2, it was earlier in 3.0. With the advent of Normal/Savage modes. Gordias Savage was notoriously overtuned, which caused raiding communities to collapse in on themselves due to the lack of cross world parties. That’s why Gilgamesh is overcrowded - it was *the* place to be if you wanted to raid on NA datacenters.

[@SaraHungary]

@@raianabedin4300 MrHappy has a History of raiding video. It was made late Stormblood but it is quite accurate what happened with raiding during ARR and HW.

[@DeadEye364]

@@raianabedin4300 Mr. Happy has a fantastic video covering the history of FFXIV's raiding

[@FlareKnight2]

I burned out in 3.2, due to raiding and the standard of what most of the raiding guids were pushing for a gear check and the tuning of a lot of the raids being over tuned.

[@Phex1]

I love that every time you do a duty roulette you get the "a player is finishing this dungeon/trial" message. Nothing more fun then watering the sprouts.

[@Underhaven]

Love seeing more videos hosted by Matt.

[@KLGChaos]

He'll probably do most of the FF vids from now on. Michael has been lost back to the abusive husband that is Blizzard for now. And we know that once they have you, they won't let you go.

[@AlexVriairu]

@@KLGChaos It's so sad, he was free.

[@Cybertech134]

@@KLGChaos Expects you to pay for many things and spend all your time on it. Blizzard is definitely an abusive wife.

[@shawnhayes6938]

@@KLGChaos Once you get a hit from the copium, it is hard for some to let it go. Sadly. I am thinking of trying Dragonflight myself. But I am not soooo quick to pre-order it or buy. I know the bullshit that Blizzard does to make players come back. I am not so quick and so eager to come running. For now I am just watching and seeing what Blizzard does and how they respond to the player base. Long story short....I don't trust Blizzard. After Diablo Immortal I see them like a dirty and sleazy mobster boss. Just best NOT to trust them.

[@imperiumdei2281]

Yesss more Matt videos

[@sethharrison2284]

Currently doing Eureka and even after 3 years, the instances are jam packed with players and thriving. I hardly ever get an instance that doesn’t fill up. This is even during a “content drought.” FFXIV player base is just massive and filled with so many sprouts running through the game for the first time. It’s just such a healthy MMO design philosophy.

[@TheGraveyarder]

good luck with the pagos grind mannnn 🤣

[@sethharrison2284]

@@TheGraveyarder already passed it! I didn’t find it too bad, definitely the worst zone to navigate tho. Those sleeping dragons got me on several occasions

[@yaninaayalaherrera8956]

@@sethharrison2284 exactly just commented that but about Bojda cos it'd the same. Last night it was Wednesday and I decided to go do some Bodja and it was full of people, on the middle of the week and on the weekends is just poppin and that is years old side grindy content. Loads of active players even on the "hidden" zones

[@sethharrison2284]

@@yaninaayalaherrera8956 yeah I think if you look at the Endwalker main city population as a barometer of player pop, it’s definitely misleading! A lot of players are just spread out across the game completing different content and not just sitting in the cities.

[@Sneedmeister]

yeah ive been playing a lot lately because of the moogle event and have noticed TONS AND TONS of sprouts in the world. More people are trying this game than ever before

[@Vaeltis]

That 2.5 million number is very possible because South Korea is also on its own server and not counted, so if we take that into consideration, it could be that little bit to push it into that 2.5 million guess pretty easily

[@DarthDarrik]

China and South Korea getting their own cosmetics every now and then implies to me they at least have decent enough populations

[@shutup1037]

@@DarthDarrik but korean prefer their f2p p2w game to work mmo than sub fee, and the last time I see their most played games in top 10 XIV isnt there, while pvp games are pretty much given to take some spot in top 10

[@anaalvensleben789]

Don't forget that the free trial players! They won't be counted by the census including people that only play ffxiv for the minigames in Golden Saucer, iirc the mmo is literally in the top three mahjong clients in Japan. That tens to hundreds of hours of content without being counted as an 'active player' and is the reason why Lucky Bancho had to exclude characters under 61 without an FC. And lodestone profiles can be hidden. Between that, SK and China, I think 2.5 mil is a comfortable number of players.

[@Vaeltis]

@@anaalvensleben789 lol yeah, i forgot that people use FF14 as solely a Mahjong sim XD

[@emanueledimatteo2052]

@@Vaeltis ahahahaha really? i tried to do those minigames but i suck at them, and there are a lot of players only for that? that's amazing!

[@lethargicwizard]

Shadow bringers was the first expansion launch since Yoshi-P joined the board of directors at Square Enix. They really ramped up marketing for ShB, I was seeing more ads for the game everywhere than I ever had before. I think that helped a lot

[@josharrow1111]

not to mention that one commercial with tom holland 🤣

[@FulmenosQuiesce]

That follows my own experience. After 5.3 I told myself that there was a LOT of story I didnt remember and started the game over again... I've been taking my time with it (up to stormblood at the moment) and I swear I've been falling in love with the game all over again.

[@user-rk2xi7iw9k]

Started playing it last month and man I’m in love with it and even as a single player purist it’s quickly becoming my favorite FF game I’m only few expansions in and I’m very hyped for shadowbringers/endwalker.

[@Cellybeans]

hell yeah! welcome to eorzea! If you're on the NA data centers I'd be happy to help you clear any old content! I'm on Sargatanas/Aether and Coeurl/Crystal. =)

[@dreamer6737]

Watch out so you don’t get burnt out by all msq ;) But the more you invest in the game the more amazing it gets :)

[@natebroadus8474]

FFXIV's population is so difficult to accurately gauge, just because of the way different data centers are run, and because of how many console players there are vs PC ones. That said, I still get queues during peak hours, and the only time the world feels even slightly empty is if I log in at 5-7am. Even then, I can find people chilling out in Gold Saucer for a quick Slice, or get a group together for DF. It's crazy how much the game has grown.

[@kingsaxon]

No you dont get queues at peak time anything under 100 isn't a player queue and that is a known fact

[@Rakka5]

I don't think that the growth last year should be credited to Asmongold only, there was a MASSIVE influx of new content creators, especially ex-WoW players around that time. Jesse Cox was finishing Shadowbringers, Rich was finishing Heavensward, Preach, Nobbel, Pint was starting MSQ...hell, even Bellular too. Sure Asmongold is the largest of these streamers, but not the only one that had effect on player numbers.

[@keiichimorisato98]

Also the fact that WoW had an extremely long content drought, the fucked up gearing and skill systems, the fumble that was 9.1, and the lawsuit the followed mere days after 9.1 launched. It was a perfect shit storm.

[@pluna3382]

Agreed. Asmongold definitely has some impact, but more than anything he rode the exodus wave. He didn't cause it. It's kinda annoying how much people bring up Asmongold when he was an effect, not a cause.

[@berniecat8756]

Yup I had no idea who Asmongold was when I started playing

[@dloathi]

@@pluna3382 Yeah I definitely remember the reason Asmongold even considered playing was because there was so much buzz around FFXIV.

[@TheScout241]

For me the one person that got me to go back to ffxiv was Rich Campbell (another member of OTK)

[@volantblade2024]

Bellular and team have quickly become some of my most watched creators in the past year Some of the best feelings is when there’s 3 videos from all of their channels posted at once just for me to watch. Hell I even spend my entire Friday watching the podcast because it’s so damn good Keep up the good work!

[@sgt391]

I feel the same. Every video is so well made and they still have time for lives

[@edgarlarios4718]

There's a podcast?

[@volantblade2024]

@@edgarlarios4718 yes on bellular main channel every Friday

[@Mattznick]

recently started watching the channels and have been wondering who this guy is. Is he a friend of Bellular?

[@sgt391]

@@Mattznick Bellular's raid leader iirc. They work together as well

[@quixadhal]

One of the things I love about FFXIV is that I never really feel pressured to "rush" to "endgame". I came back to the game after a long break a bit after Shadowbringers launched, and I rolled a new character to remember how to play it.... and then I dusted off my old character and am still playing that one today. I'm not even up to Shadowbringers content yet, and am happy that I can still run dungeons and do quests, even though I'm so far "behind". Making a game where you don't throw things away, and where even brand new players have a reason to want to play the WHOLE game, rather than just level boost past it all, is a wonderful thing.

[@saltywings41]

I played up to shadowbringers and then left. The thing is though, I feel like I am not missing out right now, I can leave FF14 and then when I am not burnt out or whatever, I can step right back in and enjoy the game just as much as if it were actually the time the patch came out for the most part.

[@lilbigbozo]

As someone who migrated to FF14 from WoW that is the greatest blessing of FF14, the game will always welcome you back no matter how long you go inactive.

[@77wolfblade]

Plus you can go back to old content. Thanks to the roulette system.

[@yanipheonu]

I actually took a break during 6.1 and played the new Destiny Witch Queen expansion and it's so crazy how much better XIV is for taking a break. With Destiny, it was fun, but they wanted way more grind to catch up with the power grind, and they really don't do much to keep you caught up with the story. When I came back to XIV? No problem. It's like I never left. So nice.

[@MichaSennin]

we have someone in our FC that does that. She comes back only when a new patch hits, crafts her stuff makes millions of gil does old content like mount farming beast-tribes ect and leaves. she only tackles "new" content when there is a patch that is ahead of her current progression. She's been playing for 5 years and she never felt burned out. The power of 14 man ...

[@CybersteelEx]

@@MichaSennin same. played in ARR came back during 5.3 and you know what, maybe ill take a break and come back in another 5 years

[@iceman3317]

I think you need to take into account that before Asmond began to play, a number of other people had begun to play. Blizzard began to have problems and then E3 announced that FF14 had become one of the most popular MMOs. Yeah Asmond helped for sure, but E3 is what pulled the trigger and them mentioning it. Because I started thinking about trying it again in May of last year and then E3 mentioned it and I began to play in June.

[@marajango]

From what I remember the big wave of WoW refugees started around Fan Fest in May 2021. People got so hyped about EW it created such big waves that a lot of WoW streamers noticed. While WoW players were malding about no new patches and SL in general, they were looking over to the FF14 community like "Dafuq they doin ova der".

[@StarGazerTom1991]

I stopped playing WoW during 8.1, but I kept an eye on the game and some big names like Asmon & Preach to see what kind of state it was in. When the Harassment Allegations very much first came out, lots of players and streamers were disgusted and quitting WoW. And there was mumbling of "Try FF14". I dont exactly remember where or how I heard about 14 but I decided after being disappointed with wows inability to improve but craving an mmo to play, I'd give it a shot. This was before Asmon even mentioned about considering playing it. So I hopped on, did the research when it was downloading. Learning about 1.0's failure and 2.0's rise from the ashes; about just how passionate the devs were. Checking out fan fest content. By the time the game was finished downloading, I was ready to give it a fair shot. I was roughly about the end of ARR when I bought the complete edition and pre-ordered Endwalker. I hadn't even finished HW when I decided to use my keys to fully register for the game, I'd already been wildly impressed. Give or take around the same time I'd finished ShB, Asmon announced he was going to give the game a try. It's a shame he's stopped playing, maybe he'll continue playing again some day, but I've long since found my new home in Eorzea. So yeah, absolutely Asmon had some effect on the new player wave, but there was already a huge wave of new players looking to move on from WoW by that point.

[@zagorim7469]

I'm pretty sure there was a trend of wow players coming to FFXIV before asmon (i joined 5 months before) but his stream just gave it a huge boost. Suddenly it went from a few new players starting every day to server queues in the middle of the biggest content drought (not as big as on endwalker launch but still). You could say the wow exodus escalated quickly when he started.

[@nanopixel6460]

I think another way to interpret the fact that a small percentage has cleared the latest expansions is a good thing, and a testament to how much other content other players can engage in that is not just the MSQ and Raiding Endgame. I am an example of this, I have 1800 hours and I am still just in the beginning of Endwalker despite starting last October just a few months before EW's release and I know many others like me. And that 1800 hours hasn't been taken up by doing side-quest, raiding, or PVP, no. It has completely been filled up by me going to social events in-game, talking to friends, and partaking in housing and the games club scene. I still have *alot* I have not done yet and I love it.

[@qamarqammar7629]

I know other players like you - I think this is more common than some realize.

[@TheAsenkah]

Somewhat similar but maybe not as much just in the social side, but I originally played in ARR, came back in June 21 and now sit at 2300+ hrs and I'm still working through ShB MSQ and not even into the post 5.0 content. I've only recently put some time into pvp with CC and the revamp so most of this is me on old mount farms, getting a house and decorating it, hitting a few clubs, hunts, treasure maps, firmament and crafting jobs, beast tribes, gold saucer and chocobo racing, playing songs on BRD in town or at social settings, etc. The list of stuff to do is just enormous. The one thing that might nudge me to move a little bit faster on fitting in more MSQ is to get into Island Sanctuary for the mandra mounts. Though I suspect the next xpac will be announced before I set foot into EW.

[@jeremiahprice4654]

I love seeing Matt take the camera. He's been growing to this point for a while. Well done you guys! keep the team growing.

[@Idiotboxxx]

FF14 has quickly become one of my favorite games of all time

[@MrGoesBoom]

Been playing on the weekend for a couple weeks now...I think besides the story one of the things I'm really enjoying is that there's lots of stuff to do besides the MSQ, and the game even encourages you to take your time and not worry too much about endgame ( and not so they have time to scramble and get something half assed out like certain MMOs have been doing ). I'm sure I'm bound to run into parts that just don't interest or work out for me ( no such thing as perfection ) but so far it's working great at keeping me interested and entertained. The lack of pressure to hit max level and be raiding at the end is really nice.

[@thatcow86]

And half of the endgame isn't even raiding. It's enjoying the game as a whole.

[@specialnewb9821]

ShB being the giant spike is exactly what I expected. I have been playing FF since 1990, but was one of the "FF MMO is not FF!" guys back in FF11 era. Shadowbringers is the first time FF14 became a big enough deal to really show up outside the MMO gaming space after the 1.0 disaster. The story was held up as the best FF story since 10 by the gaming media and analyzed and written about.

[@fionamb83]

The SB story wasn't my favourite I have to say, until the patch quests (fuckin love the patch quests), but it has some of the best trials and the raids are amazing. Even the 24 man raids, I get so hype if I get Ivalice in alliance. More thunder god

[@specialnewb9821]

@@fionamb83 Yeah sorry I meant ShB not SB. SB is underated if a bit stiffly presented but they really do seem to have upped the gameplay

[@earvindinoso7689]

@@fionamb83 Yeah, same here. The story didn't hit that much but the Azim Steppe chapter, living or at least learning about the Xaela clans there is a huge treat. I love it when we explore about the cultures of different races living in our star. The raids, dungeons and trials are the best content in Stormblood, by far. Nothing could beat the Dungeon Boss theme there, so far imo (Triumph).

[@QuintemTA]

@@specialnewb9821 You can edit your comment to correct acronym or just put Shadowbringers to avoid any confusion.

[@pipz420]

Sadly I predict the game falling going forward. As a long time ff fan and player of both ff11 and ff14. The amount of time I put into per expansion is very limited in ff14. Yes ive put more than 1000 hours into FF14 but there is a lack of content that matters to me. This leads to be unsubscribed most of the year. If you want a single story experience sure its great and gets to be long. FF11 kept me engaged with tasks and community working toward goals even in between expansions. Back then alot of people had barely beat the 1st expansion by the time the 3rd expansion came out. But I never didnt feel engaged. At this time ive beat endwalker and don't have any drive to return to ff14 in the near future. Sure I could come back but unless some drastic is done I will and even then it might be for 2-3 months? Won't ever get a dime of my money on the cash shop. I am a FF fan who sleeps to FFmusic at night and am looking for a mmo to play if that makes any sense.

[@wackywarrior001]

When you play FF it feels like a game , nothing feels forced . It felt like every time they added to the game something was added .

[@katarh]

I've had friends who left during Heavensward come back recently. For one of them, it was because her son is finally old enough to be in school, so she doesn't feel obligated to stay in 24/7 mom mode any more. Both she and her husband quit MMOs when they had their kid, although neither left gaming entirely.

[@sitnspin1819]

One of my mates left during Heavensward and came back two days ago!

[@fanmadeobscurity9240]

My one concern is that we'll start to expect **too** much from it. The constant mindset of "it just keeps going up!" might set us up for a result that doesn't match our expectations, which we'll take out on the devs, which will stress the dev team out, which will cause their fire to create for us fans to dwindle. EW ties up the initial saga, which means the story will essentially start at square one--which I hope we understand has a very low chance of topping how hyped we were heading into EW by virtue of being a new start. Also, with Yoshi-P and the CBU3 team working on FF16 simultaneously, so it's going to be a tough time on their side. Anyway, all seeds of doubt aside, I love this game as much as the next fan, and I'm so happy to see its well-earned rise to popularity. Without a doubt, XIV has set the tone for quality in today's gaming scene.

[@AlesSimoncia]

they have been working on XVI since 2017 and they released shb and ew, i think they will be just fine.

[@shutup1037]

this is true, story wise they need to build up again from square one after EW

[@XMAlek]

​@@shutup1037 If i remember right yoshi-p first round of interview / live letter after endwalker release they started planting hints of what is next since stormblood. So i'm not too scared of where this is going.

[@Cellybeans]

I think it's good to check our expectations regularly! I think the game will hold steady for a while, have the occasional dips here and there but I think most people understand that player counts are cyclical and there will be dips and rises naturally, so hopefully people stay chill when the growth slows down.

[@heroasterfal2675]

There is a 'pressure-release valve' that the devs can turn to when expectations get too high. It wouldn't be a full fix, but they can talk to the players in a livestream and share what the team is feeling. That communication is a significant portion of why this game has become so beloved, meaning they should have some degree of protection from player backlash so long as they keep communications going.

[@twelfthknight]

FFXIV has achieved something that all media - definitely not just MMOs - struggles to come close to, which is content of such consistent quality that's earned the confidence of its players for its future. In gaming in particularly that's exceedingly rare, but for a game with an ongoing and robust narrative it's even rarer... look at what happened with Bioware for instance and how several missteps can crater the trust with your audience.

[@shutup1037]

other games want you to spend time on them everyday, with absurd grind to make you unpaid worker

[@sethharrison2284]

Seriously, it’s miraculous what they did with the story. The fact they outdid HW with ShB. Then IMO outdid ShB with EW (or at least very close). And SB, while the weakest of the expansions story wise imo, is still a great story. Especially the patches.

[@zenixvampirchik652]

@@sethharrison2284 but EW isn't even truly finished yet, so there's more to come. I'm curious on how island sanctuary will influence active players numbers or if it will influence them at all

[@sethharrison2284]

@@zenixvampirchik652 my guess is island sanctuary will bring back/retain a lot of the players who play the game more casually or for the story.

[@HitodamaKyrie]

It's interesting. I finally started playing FFXIV in May of 2019, which is right at that point where it started growing before Shadowbringers, but I had no idea about any of that. I knew next to nothing about the game. My reason for playing was actually from FF15. There was a FFXIV tie in quest where you meet a miqo'te and fight Garuda. I was replaying FF15 for the royal edition changes. Doing that quest inspired me to try out FFXIV after I'd finished my replay of FF15 and I've since put in well above 5000 hours into FFXIV.

[@VioletShinobi]

The community content for FF14 does a ton to drive player retention too. So many people just chill and hang out, either in major cities or player houses. This just ads an exponential effect to any growth. The more people you throw into a positive social system, the more people will want to stay, or get their friends involved.

[@Elongated_Muskrat]

I pick it up once every other patch and play for a bit. I never feel FOMO like WoW where you feel like you have to be sprinting out of the gate every expansion or patch. The game is chill, the community is chill and you always have something to do. The wheel isn't reinvented every expansion and the old content is made relevant so new players are always supported by vets.

[@ruimouzinho]

This game is so good. It’s the only game I play. I sometimes spend a week without logging in, but I always come back. I don’t even know how to express this feeling.

[@Zlei.]

It's interesting for sure. I was one of those people that played every Final Fantasy besides the online ones. Honestly, just thought the MMO couldn't have a large focus on story as that is what drew me to the single player FF's. Then all the stories started coming out and well... I played through all of the game and have been thoroughly convinced.

[@Leife22]

During Covid, I had 30+ hours a week to play games, which was then wow. Now, im lucky to get 10-15 hours a week. I agree that FFXIV has facilitated to my changing availability, and to a healthier lifestyle. I'm also still surprised the number of players running around during a content drought. Definitely feels like a healthier experience.

[@XMAlek]

TBH content drought is only if you are an overachiever. With Past content there is still have sooooooo much to do (like for example the necromancer title)

[@Ryotsu2112]

Lucky, I shifted to working from home for 2 years so Covid didn’t really give me more time to play games. On second thought, I guess I was pretty lucky to be able to keep my job and do that.

[@berniemargolis4288]

The thing I like most about FFXIV is that their dev team seems to respect players regardless of their chosen playstyle. They don't fall into the traps that Blizzard's dev team does where they listen to one very vocal section of the playerbase and change the game to exclusively suit them at everyone else's expense. A case in point is the decision to remove RDF from WotLK Classic despite every online poll indicating that almost 70% of players want it. Their disingenuous response is that players can experience RDF in retail, but that ignores the fact the WotLK RDF provided a currency that players could collect to upgrade gear, while retail's RDF provides gear on par with quest blues. In the meantime, FFXIV's duty roulette is alive and well, and somehow the community remains strong despite Blizzard's misguided belief that RDF destroys communities and social interactions. I may not have 600 gear in FFXIV, but I'm fully decked out in 590s, and when I feel extra motivated, I can gather the nuts required to upgrade that gear to 600. Unlike WoW, FFXIV doesn't place an insurmountable wall in my path just because I don't want to participate in high end raiding or timed dungeon runs (which transformed from exclusively being challenge modes for prestige cosmetics to being the only path to high end raid gear outside of Mythic raiding) on a daily basis.

[@CaineAsguardian]

I started my FFXIV experience at it's lowest point, by these numbers. I took my time, watched the cutscenes, got carried through Alexander for gear, and after all was said and done I was genuinely hooked. I loved going through the story and never having that sense of "I have to play or I'm gonna fall behind." I feel like even without speaking to many people I'm part of a good community.

[@andros4538]

As someone who was there, I can tell you that HW was the low point of the games popularity because of its endgame. Back then the "endgame is whatever you want it to be" mentality was not as robust as it is today. Gordias and Midas almost destroyed the raiding community due to how much more difficult they were than the Coil raids. The majority of players were not ready for the difficulty spike and a huge number of raid teams broke up. There was no cross server play, so all the raiders flocked to raid servers like Gilgamesh, leaving many servers as ghost towns. The Crafting systems introduced were also tedious. Crafters had to grind weekly tokens for gear upgrades that could only be used on one crafting job and the specialization system made it much more difficult to omnicraft. Overall the endgame just wasn't very fun until SE started to fix alot of the main issues in late HW. After that it just took some time to rebuild the community.

[@ericmoll1530]

Iirc process was: cap out on weekly scrip, buy tokens, use those tokens to get a 5 minute buff for gathering that revealed special nodes in specific areas, farm items from those which were then turned in for the items you actually needed to craft with. And since some were hidden items there was never a guarantee you'd get the quantity/exact type you wanted. And I believe there also was no universal gear set for crafters/gatherers until 3.3, each had their own unique gear so you had to farm and meld 11 sets of gear to be an omnicrafter for 2* and 3* gear. And don't even get me started on the rotations, what a cluster that was! Though iirc that was also when whistle while you work was a thing which was fun for completely breaking the crafting system until they removed it. Also needing crafted accessories to meld hit if you were a healer. That was also fun. They saw healers doing dps during coils and decided to balance savage around that, but forgot to give them a good way of doing dps that wasn't a massive pain in the ass! Sorry, just enjoying reminiscing about how things were back in HW, it was a very different era XD

[@Ashtari]

Not going to lie, I know a monk who still twitches any time Pepsi man is brought up.

[@Exteliongamer]

I remember the difficulty spike during that time 👀 I was like wtf and was getting ptsd doing raids 🤣

[@theimmoralcookie6344]

This game has really never went down. It's steadily gone up and the construction of the content and expansions prove that. It's not like WoW where a previous expansion had better functions than a current one. FFXIV keeps building on their expansions and their core systems that have been around forever.

[@kaakrepwhatever]

This is the kind of content I really enjoy watching. Keep on this track, Matt! I feel like what happened was they looked at their numbers and saw the game's performance was week. Then they started asking hard questions about what they were doing wrong. What could or should be doing differently to improve the graph for the future? Actiblizzard is still asking themselves, "What's wrong with the playerbase? What can we do to make them conform?"

[@anacreon212]

This means somewhere between 1/2 and 1/3 of the player base are sprouts. Which also kind of shows that the game is healthy since it keeps getting an influx of new players to make up for the players who take a break.

[@chiekokurokumo]

I was part of the Asmon bump. Don't ask me why but the YT algorithm brought me Asmon, though I didn't play WoW. I saw him playing FF14 and fell in love with the aesthetics and the fact that there were catbois. >^_^< I was hooked. Been playing for almost a year now, and I finished MSQ because the story was just that good for me. Now I'm trying other stuff out--other professions, tribe quests, savage tier raiding... things I never expected to do a year ago. I found myself caught up in FCs (some worked, some didn't), but each time, I was amazed by how lively the social scene is (even if it isn't my thing most of the time). Honestly, there is so much to do, and the game is fairly well-rounded. It's no surprise then that I've gone on to try to get my siblings and friends into it... Just want to share the love.

[@dragoneatery]

I feel this data as well. I got into ff14 mid-cycle in Shadowbringers. Now the game has retained me and I'm logging in a couple of times a week to do stuff.

[@davidloya4691]

people say theres nothing to do.... people with all jobs and professions at max level, all relqs, all mounts, all minions, best in slot item and all savage and ultimates cleared........ maybe they really need to go play something else

[@riddert4966]

Yup, people that say theres nothing to do are either playing the wrong game or should take a break from the game and play something else indeed!

[@demacherius1]

Matt is such a good presenter. You can realy feel his positivity.

[@Brofisticus]

For me, its all about the story. I have to deal with cross-continental ping, so high level raiding isn't something I've even considered, but I can still experience everything in what is probably one of the best RPG storylines I've seen this decade. It produced some legitimate emotions. From a quip to a dead man while you're down on your luck, to the dread that your closest will fall by your own hands, this game did not disappoint.

[@navyrayne]

As a 1.0 legacy player that's been here for this entire grand adventure, this couldn't make me any happier. This is just amazing. The future is bright for us.

[@yaninaayalaherrera8956]

We are between parches, the feared "content draught" yet last night deecided to go do Bodja which is years old content and there was a lot of people there on a Wednesday middle of the week, Castrum kept spawning and a lot of the players were sprouts. Loads of new players they stated the free trial before or after endwalker stuck around and are now reaching endgame

[@112Famine]

I had to stop playing because of family an emergency around patch 3.2. I came back in August of 2021 because I wanted to get caught up before the launch of Endwalker & take my time & enjoy the game. Every last person in my very old Friends List & Linkshells that logged in were also coming back for Endwalker. Every last one of us had the same reason, We came back to finish what we started , we were there at FFXIV:ARR launched, & we wanted to see the story we missed & have the story-line come to its conclusion. Involving the story, I'll remember it for the rest of my life, yes it is that good. It is all about the journey, so do yourself a favor, when it comes to the MSQ, read all of the text, do not skip reading any of the MSQs, or any of the blue quests. If you're just starting out make a character you can relate to, one you can connect to, it will add more to the story, you will hate it if you have made a silly joke character, this isn't your normal role playing game, make a character you can be proud to call yours. When I came back people asked me a few times if I started playing because of Asmongold, & my answer was always, "Who or what is that?" And the 2 dozen people I spoke to that came back said the same thing. 80% of my old crowd quit because they had a baby or two. One person who was playing WoW knew who he was a twitch streamer, they said he's a un datable (accept gold-diggers), unwashed, 120 pound, balding, 38 year old man, that lives in his parents attic, but has made millions streaming. I hope what he told me is right, I do not know the man, if any of that is not true, let me know & I'll correct it... People can be cruel to those who have more wealth or followers.

[@IKIGAIofficial]

Well deserved success. Great devs

[@theangriestpigeon4403]

I think one thing that really adds player retention is honestly the playerbase. Lone wolf character but will bum around popular areas. Shy guy irl, so walking up and going, "wanna raid?" is oddly daunting to me, even more so than MT'ing with randos. Obviously, some people recognized me and those cursed extroverts start talking to me. Next thing I know, I have a group of people who say hi to me every time I log in. I never have that with another game besides FFXIV. Now, speculation on the future, I can see the playerbase dropping a bit after Endwalker because, well, the next expansion will be all about set-up rather than pay offs, which is why ShB and Endwalker are so good. Years upon years of buildup leading up to satisfying pay offs.

[@OldManInternet]

The fact that I can take a few months off to play other games, and come back and feel like I can hop right back into it is pretty refreshing. In WoW, if I ever stop playing for any reason in an expansion, I'm not coming back until the next expansion, because even with the catch up mechanics in place, there are just too many hoops to jump through and too much crap to deal with to get back into the endgame. It also doesn't help that my favorite part of the game was M+, and while the seasonal affix does change, you're still running largely the same dungeons patch after patch, so I would be putting in a bunch of work to catch up to essentially do the same activity again. I think the new approach to the M+ rotation is a good idea, because it would solve a pain point for me. But simply removing pain points isn't a reason to get me interested again. There is a lot of new stuff in 6.2 that I'm really looking forward to, and based on that and the other patch features they've already mentioned in the live letters, I can look down the road of Endwalker and have confidence that there will be plenty to do. I always did wonder why the first patch felt like it didn't have as much content because they usually wait till the .2+ patches to start releasing the exploration zones/deep dungeons/other content, but based on the fact that only half of the people have finished the MSQ, it actually makes sense why they wouldn't rush to push this kind of content out right away when a lot of people wouldn't be able to do it yet. Great video!

[@ReyOfLight]

I got into FFXIV through watching a friend stream it a bit and the option of playing with the free trial which is very extensive for F2P. I started the game on April 1st (or well, night to April 1st) and went full game in May and I play for hours most days. ARR was good, Heavensward was nice but slightly confusing, Stormblood was amazing, Shadowbringers totally blew my mind, and now I’m in Endwalker and I just can not believe how good the game is! The attention for details, the pretty environments on the maps, the music on different maps and how it evolves as you progress (Ultima Thule is one such place, I’m now often opting to be by the Omega base when queuing for dungeons because of the music there) I can even listen to FFXIV music when not playing the game because the music is just amazing and it’s hard to believe it’s just a game soundtrack. I love FFXIV and am so glad I started playing and that I bought the full version of the game. Yes, it has the monthly cost but you get quality both when it comes to game performance and new content, it’s worth every penny! And the community in FFXIV is pretty awesome as well, by far the least toxic community I’ve ever seen in a game, people take the time to explain if someone is new and don’t get annoyed if someone watches the cutscenes etc. I also love that you don’t have the pressure to play a lot every day if you don’t want to or have the time, it’s totally fine to play a bit more sporadically as there aren’t constant events and when there are events you don’t need to do it daily for a set amount of days, this helps prevent burnout as you just don’t miss out if you take a day off from playing or even a week of not playing. FFXIV is imo the ultimate game. It just has it all!

[@peakakupo]

I am that percentage of the player base that hasn’t reached endwalker. Tbh I reached shadowbringers last week. In the back of my mind I know that’s the expansion I must experience but what I love about ff14 and it’s at this point this happened to me . I am actually distracted doing other things, for example I went from tank to leveling my healer class. Chasing mounts , helping 3 of my family members to catch up with me , this week ofc getting those moogle tombstones. Oh have i have i mentioned I got my first apartment, became a gatherer, fisher and carpenter to make some Gil. There’s this house I want almost at 3 mil. I focused for a week unlocking allegiance raids I missed and dungeons from previous expansions . Oh I tried eureka for a week too. So in the end I am doing what I want , having that freedom to take my time and enjoy all the content provided. I would say this Endgame isn’t defeating the game to me I think I’ve reached what I consider the true endgame and that’s the fact I am invested In this world roaming freely daily having fun , exploring , discovering , helping , farming, raiding , listening to that ishgard song . Yep I’m that guy. Eventually I’ll beat msq, but for now I’m just free to have fun in my way and pace. This is the first game I’ve ever had this experience with and I’m honestly happy with that.

[@MsSjofn]

I started playing the February before Shadowbringers came out, because Twitch Prime gave me a free copy of that-time-frame's version of the starter edition. Back then, my server was empty enough that I just ... wandered up to a housing plot and bought a house once I had the money. It had even depreciated to the minimum price! I'm glad I got to see the game right before its population started to really ramp up, because housing crisis aside, it's just really *nice* seeing how full the server is now, how there's always a ton of people around, even at weird hours. The game deserves this love, and I'm happy it's getting it.

[@Celis.C]

18:12 I guess Matt is called Michael now. Your pacing was excellent in this video, great job!

[@Pravaification]

Whoever edited the red exploding barrels into the Shadowbringers trailer deserves a raise!

[@SamRocher]

Nice video! I started a few months ago after having only played prior to A Realm Reborn. Totally blown away by how much the game changed, the currently quality, how much content there is, and how lovely the player base is. So much effort has gone into it and it is so well done! (I did struggle a bit with the initial main questline, but it got much more compelling after level 35 and just kept getting better with each expansion.)

[@ardentdfender4116]

It took me about an entire year slowly but consistently playing FF14 from start in A Realm Reborn thru the entire MSQ to end of Endwalker and I really took my time and enjoyed the entire journey. I remember starting Dec 23rd 2020 on trial after I quit the short few months of WoW Shadowlands. Finished ARR after about 2 months then took a break to play a few months of Valheim till the summer when Blizzard imploded. Started Heavensward and MSQ straight into Endwalker Launch and straight till the end. By then it was about a year on my on off and on again journey. Been on much of a break last couple of months due to real life work commitments.

[@jtspender]

My theory about 5.3 based on anecdotal evidence about is that it was actually so *good* that a lot of people were emotionally exhausted and decided to take a break at the same time for 5.4 and 5.5.

[@TaranTatsuuchi]

I personally intentionally stopped after 5.3. It was the tie up part of the 5.0 series, before getting into the next expansion build up. Leaving all that build up for the launch, so I wouldn't have to get to a cliffhanger and wait.

[@idminister]

well 5.3 was a story patch, not a raid patch, nor an ultimate patch and the nier alliance raid was meh, the raids themselves were fine but the story was disappointing.

[@jeanschyso]

Storm blood early was insanely popular, but people stopped because of PS3 removal and Raubhan extreme didn't help at all. Then it built back up over time. That's what I remember from Stormblood release

[@Nuuccii92]

With my FC it kind of supports some of this - we've got a bunch of people returning from leaving at the end of SHB around when most companies got people back from working from home or just out of lockdowns AND even those that have played almost every month since before Endwalker 2 of our officers and I'd say 60% of our members are on SB or early ShB but they enjoy the game with the old raids/dungeons/content and more =) It's amazing :D (Many especially the officers have level 90s already one had two level 90s and hadn't even completed Heavensward cause she dungeons with the FC so much XD

[@0xzi]

"That's what happens when your MMO has content" OOF SIZE: LARGE It's so wild how much Yoshi P respects his playerbase instead of fighting them for 7 years straight

[@TheLordDracula]

1. Yay a full Matt video! 2. Would love to see if you can find similar levels of data for other MMOs do some comparisons between the trends in them. WoW, EVE, GW2, ESO, etc

[@marks2807]

What I remember around the time I started was Tom Holland in his yard training to be the Warrior of Darkness. I wonder if having a celebrity advertisement with the Dark Knight front and center in those adds got more attention to this game right before Shadowbringers.

[@kutark]

It's really quite hilarious seeing a lot of our arguments that we've been making for literally a decade or more against the WoW model of "restart every 2 years". SO SO MUCH pushback, now. I used EverQuest as the examples at the time, but i feel FF14 is a better example. Essentially this is showing that invalidating 90% of the content, the players effort, the players gear, etc, is DUMB AF.

[@harleyemmerson979]

I played the game on launch on ps3 but my parents didn't realise there was a subscription and weren't willing to pay understandably, however now I've been subbed the past few years and I'm so glad, i always remember that first time i played with such glee, absolutely adore this game and its community

[@25xxfrostxx]

I started last June, I started an alt last month because my first character is an omni 90. I've clocked 3614 hours in the past year. It's amazing what you can accomplish when enjoyment is the primary focus and not raw profit.

[@Zadamanim]

4:42 Stormblood didn't have high concurrent players because the game was literally broken when it came out. A lot of people were stuck in what has been called Rauban (Extreme) where you need to talk to him to progress, but the server was swamped and would fail to start the solo duty that followed. Some people decided to click on him for days hoping to get in, some formed lines, but many decided to not log in concurrently and just play through it later.

[@noneayourbusiness5149]

The Shadowbringers Trailer hooked me because of how many moments my jaw dropped as I exclaimed "What?!" in surprise, confusion, or pure curiosity as to what in the world I was being shown. "What sayest thou, Master Matoya?" - "um... what?" "... I promise you, Minfilia." - "WHAT?!" "... become the Warrior of Darkness." - "WHAAAAT??!!!??!!" Also, I was REALLY hoping they were going to give us a mechanic to hot-swap jobs mid-battle. I still think that would be an amazing feature to add to the game, even if it was only allowed in specific content areas.

[@ToastyCoyote]

Ah yes Gordias and Midas the raid tiers that at some points were mathematically impossible

[@NibelungJ]

Can you provide more details of the history? I'm one of the new players that joined at the extended free trial, and while I heard stories about ARR raiding scene, Alexander is a mistery to me. Feels like people who were active at the time want to forget what happened then, for some reason.

[@cmerk100]

To be fair, back in those days we had not actually gotten into the mindset of healers being major contributers to DPS. We were actually playing wrong at the time during those tiers. Back in ARR people played like wow where healers really did sit around not dpsing and focused entirely on healing and making sure they had high MP before throwing in the occasional dots or attacks.

[@jonathanborba9280]

@@NibelungJ During that time frame, there was very little side and extra content to do outside of the raid. They hadn't established the standard things that show up in the current game. 5.0 to 5.2 was just the raid, 5.1 had some extra content came out (diadem), and it had very mixed reception so many people just didn't do it. On top of all that, the first 2 tiers of heavensward were brutally difficult. Content was basically gear locked, 3rd boss and 4th boss in raids were completely impossible with week 1-3 gear to even the best groups, and the average groups were stuck on 1st or 2nd boss, so were getting no extra gear to help progress. Raiding was also a much worse experience in general. Cooldown didn't reset when you wiped, so if you even wanted a chance at the dps check you got to wait 2-4 minutes. TP was still a thing, so if you died as a melee, not only was your damage reduced from weakness you couldn't even use abilities. Bosses could still crit, so your tanks would get 1 vuln stack from a missed mechanic (damage downs weren't the norm in savage yet) get crit and just drop dead. To put a TLDR, lack of content except the raid, brutally tuned gear locked progression, awful raiding experience due to old mechanics.

[@ShardtheWolf]

@@NibelungJ just what he said. The raids were so hard, you needed to play absolutely perfect to win. Harder than our current ultimate raids even. The problem was that it was such a tight dps check, even a bit of lag could make it impossible to beat the dps checks.

[@maracaegrizzley8734]

It's also interesting to note that Shadowbringers dropped *during* Battle for Azeroth. I'm not up on patch numbers, but whichever patch it was where the "story" (what there is of it) put the eyeball on the player's forehead that they could choose to remove (I did, as fast as I possibly could) was at ABOUT the same time period as the 4.55 patch of Stormblood leading into Shadowbringers. I know because *that* was the patch that caused me to yeet my Dwarven Priestess OUT of Azeroth and INTO Eorzea. So I was one of those "new players" who arrived just prior to Shadowbringers dropping in July (I think I started in April, give or take a couple weeks). I had *always* complained about the lack of a clear MSQ in WoW zones. I didn't even really care about one for the whole expac, I just wanted clear *zone* stories so that I could piecemeal my way through to Loremaster on my Alt Army. Finding FF was... in the beginning it was terrifying because I don't do transitions or New Things well AT ALL, but after about a week I realized that I was *home* for the first time since my character had last run through Rivervale and Misty Thicket in Norrath (EverQuest). WoW's death throes have been ever widening for a WHILE and I tend to think that Battle for Azeroth might have set off, if not the first, one of the bigger waves of refugees looking for somewhere else, someTHING else to play. Something not so hyperfocused on funneling people into the endless treadmill of an "endgame". It's just interesting to me to look at those two games side-by-side in how numbers have developed over time. Because nothing happens in a vacuum, so to speak.

[@Dwesk]

I started playing pretty much a year ago, late july, completely by myself on a whim, stuck with the trial for almost two months (should've bought it at least a month earlier looking back). And I love how the game while grindy, it's not overwhelmingly grindy, and it let's you focus on what you want to focus. It took me almost six months to catch up to current tier endgame but the beauty is, even when I was still on trial, I was already doing ARR end-game which was Bahamut Coils, while continuing to prog MSQ at my own pace and doing various other things that the game had to offer even while you're not in current endgame. By the time I finished Endwalker I have already cleared most EX trials as well as all of Alexander Savage raid series. Amidst reclearing p1-4s and chipping away at Omega Savage raids I have also found out Eureka and Bozja are a thing... Of course I got myself lost in Eureka and realized there were also communities built around BA and it once again blew my mind that there's 48 man raids with challenging content with proper fresh boss gimmicks and raid lead organization that you can't find in any previous content, same applies to Bozja's DRS, some of the most fun I've had in the game. The game definitely took a lot of my time in these last 12 months but I'm currently a battle/trade mentor with most jobs nearing 90, finally progging my first Ultimate and I think outside of the pre-Cataclysm WoW, there's no better MMO out there and there won't be any time soon. The best thing about it, is the fact that the game actively gets better, they are trying to make the worst expansion less of a slog and by the time you're towards end of Heavensward you should be properly hooked by the story, which starts peaking by Shadowbringers and gets even crazier in Endwalker. You can feel the quality of content the game "unlocks" for you every expansion cycle and it keeps you wanting more. Even just thinking about 6.2 changes I'm getting antsy and excited for things to come because I know outside of the next savage raid tier I'll be able to sink my teeth into whole new additional systems. I wrote a lot but that's not even mentioning all the more casual/social aspects of the game and boy that's a whole other can of worms and fun...

[@burtwonk]

I played for a couple weeks when ARR was first launched. I liked it, but holy crap, I recently came back and finished the whole MSQ and it’s really mind blowing how good it is now. It’s really astounding.

[@writtenworlds]

It makes me happy that a company is succeeding when they actually deserve it. You really can't hate this success story.

[@bobsmith-ov2ku]

It's crazy to think that I don't play everyday but I subscribe every month because when I am playing the game I'm enjoying myself and when I don't log on everyday I don't have FOMO. It's a nice feeling and that is why FFXIV is my home now

[@myhr2320]

As much as I love the FF14 game design philosophy, truth is, I think it is overwhelmingly optimistic to think that such a model would be adopted industry-wide, and it is because the other models, based on FOMO, retention mechanics, P2W, are vastly, vastly more successful. FF14's success does not prove that its model is the best, unfortunatly. But it does prove that it can work well enough on such a big scale. In other words, hard work and long term support will never generate as much profit as the exploitation of the human weaknesses. But it is viable, it is sustainable. This is FF14's merit : being able to stand toe to toe with immoral practices. It doesn't mean its model will "win", in fact, it is a lost battle. But it means it can thrive, and it's up to us, the players, the audience, to make sure it stays that way, for as long as it is deserved.

[@Ryotsu2112]

Been playing since 1.0 in 2010. I take a multi month leave from the game at least once a year, come back for big patches and expansion launches, which is the exact same thing I did with FF11 starting in 2002, and WOW starting in 2004. For the longest time I was playing FF11, then stopped for a bit and went to WoW, stopped and back to FF11, back and forth until around 2010 when I quit FF11 for good at the start of FF14. The thing is, I always come back after a hiatus, but lately I’ve been playing single player games instead of WOW during my downtime from FF14 (hard to find the desire to log into that game for years now). I’ll be definitely resubbing soon to get ready for FF14’s new Animal Crossing Stardew Valley island content next month. I think it might be one of the biggest surges in activity to date when that patch drops.

[@lilpixie25]

Loved having Matt doing this! Hope to see you more often! And I would like to see more

[@balazsszucs7055]

I wonder what the data spike will look like when 7.0 arrives with the graphics updates.

[@Sonotoddity]

It would be interesting to see a comparison to patch drops between WoW and XIV to see how those drops in players are effected. Good video and informative!

[@Kiobao]

For me it was the endgame. My class in HW , and most of my favorite classes, were no longer fun to me. hW had great quality stuff but not much variety in things I wanted to do. The relic grind was super tedious. Storm blood brought eureka and I will say that was my FAVORITE bit of content to do and the community and atmosphere I had. I largely didn't play a lot and took breaks until .2 of stormblood iirc. Also the theme and the aesthetics weren't for me. Shadowbringer I played more of though. Xiv is often a seasonal game afterall so quite a lot quit and return only for story. Maybe coming back for odd patches but usually just even ones. Happens with a lot of people I know and I always hear it talked about in discord and communities I'm in.

[@MadaoAU]

I finally got my wife to play FF14 with Endwalker after she was kind of done with PS5 games. Now she is the one thayt brings me in when there is content drought. We will always do some dungeon, level up another job, doing dailies, she has reached a point that she is doing even stuff that i never did. Can't wait to get her to try the harder content with the new dungeon system. I started FF14 at the end of Stormblood, because i was about to move to Australia, but WoW does not do transfers from Europe to NA. I'm really glad i got to play this game. It's so fun, and the gearing feels like my favourite part of TBC. great stuff.

[@willythemailboy2]

I didn't get a COVID break; I was essential to everyone else getting a COVID isolation break. At the time I didn't mind but now I wish I'd had the time to play FF. I hear so many good things about it.

[@velho6298]

It would be crazy to think that FF14 would be the top 1 MMORPG today in 2012. Now even WoW is in second place or even third which is so easy to see from the humble behavior change from the team.

[@mirasolovklose3888]

I am above 60 and not in an FC. I started in Aug 2019, finished 3.0 and now working on relic weapons for ARR, HW and SB. Also trying to catch up on the optional Dungeons, Raids n stuff.

[@Fenril76]

Love this video, thank you for taking the time to bring it all together.

[@Megumi-dz1mm]

I started playing ffxiv between 3.3 and 3.4. I started playing when the game was at its lowest and I had no idea since I was on one of the popular servers. The only clue I had that the game was losing players was during one of the patches, they actually merged servers because apparently some servers had become ghost towns and back then, partyfinder was only server wide, so if your server was dead, you literally couldn't do any group content.

[@shd_samurai9676]

I know multiple people who are still in Stormblood. These numbers are going to be crazy come 7.0

[@thesunthrone]

The thing about FFXIV that contributes to a lot of its success is that every new player has 8 years of game to go through. No other MMO can say this with any degree of seriousness, but thanks to the way dungeons are scaled in FFXIV, you always get to experience every single dungeon and raid in the game (with Coils being the exception) very close to how they were intended. And that is massive, for every new player of an MMO to be able to get into the loop of what the veteran players did back in the day. Same goes for profession content, the relevancy of which is tied to the housing system that always ensures a demand for a vast spread of items and materials (when Ishgard housing was available, there was a sudden spike of demand for HW materials for example). Also helps that the game has genuinely engaging story and amazing soundtrack, and a world design that allows you to see other players moving about (mostly in the cities), and you can see why it is able to retain so much people.

[@Sam-mi6cz]

I dunno, I think the ginormous and frankly grotesquely long (currently) MSQ really hurts the majority of peoples' engagement, especially when you factor in the massive gap in quality between the MSQs of ARR/HW and SB/SHB/EW. Most people i know who regularly play view the MSQ as a chore and whilst not saying it's outright bad, admit it's presented horribly and isn't fun to do, especially when it's so unfathomably long. The actual gameplay and content of FF is second to none MMO wise but the sheer tediousness and length of the MSQ genuinely nearly made me quit on multiple occaisions as it was locking me out of so much content.

[@lorafrost9628]

Would love to see you dive back into that spreadsheet, Matt! Great video, thanks for the analysis :)

[@WingTzu343]

Great analysis. One thing to remember is external factors. Even if a game does everything right and is a hit, if the competition around it is stiff and the timing doesn't line up, it can overshadow a lot. This is especially true in the MMO genre where there is a LOT of investment players put into which game they play. FF14 has the HIGHEST investment requirement out of any MMORPG I've played. It was so worth it, but that high investment cost them my subscription for a while before I finally came around.

[@Kairamek]

I think you nailed it in the conclusion. Success is when opportunity meets preparation. Covid and Asmon were the opportunity, but they did the preparation before hand.

[@MalkavX]

This was a great video. So few content creators go into data analysis like your guys do. Keep Thema coming.

[@shawnhayes6938]

We need a new King to rise up and make players happy with a game. And No...it isn't Blizzard.

[@ericmoll1530]

First off, I wanted to say thank you for the great video, it was fascinating to see how the population in FFXIV has changed over the years. Having been around since patch 2.4 it's been quite the journey! Second: It is a god damned crime to cut off in the middle of "In the Balance", how dare you!

[@Tessa_Ru]

I'm like, seeing all the solo FF fans finally giving the game a shot after sneering at us for years that it can't be a good FF game because it's "just an MMO." Some of me is happy because ff14 is finally getting that recognition in the fandom, but i also am judging those people that it took this long to open their minds to it. 😅

[@yaninaayalaherrera8956]

I'm one of those ppl not gonna lie. Took me years to give it a shot because I never liked MMos. I always say I'm an Ff player not an MMO player but really glad I tried it cos I love it. And I even started embracing the mmo aspect. I would never play another MMO though not interested. I have the best of both worlds already.

[@shizzlebizzfizz]

"thats what happens when your mmo has content" and not only that but having a story so compelling and engaging to the point that it will always stick with you for the rest of your life. it almost feels like its my duty to always log in to this game and play it for a bit

[@AuroDHikoshi]

It doesn't expect you to do that... It wants you to go away for bits...

[@shizzlebizzfizz]

@@AuroDHikoshi I know I'm just saying is all. When a game so incredible like this gives you such an unforgettable experience it just feels like I need to repay it somehow

[@Zaqster]

I started playing in the summer of 2021, I got all combat jobs to 80 before EW launched, and all crafting jobs to maybe around 60 or something, I did a ton of the content and dived pretty deep, after EW I took a break for a few months. Now I'm back and been having a great time catching up on all the stuff I missed like mount grinds from the extreme trials and whatnot.

[@thrashinuva]

Absolutely please talk about this more

[@andrawisnu9955]

Something about FFXIV just retains me. Even if I'm not playing as actively as I were when I started playing two years ago. I haven't been able to keep up with the savage raiding, having not very many people to play with and a generally difficult life schedule to work it into. But then they came up with CC, which was a nice thing to do while I wait for the next savage tier. And I know I can always do the current tier later even as I know I'll be prepping for the upcoming in the coming weeks. For some reason I just don't really feel bad about paying my sub. Probably because I also know that I can unsub and come back later and I'll have a nice single player experience, or once I convince my friends to play it with me. Good game this.

[@Teclo25]

Matt, I really appreciate your XIV videos. This one and the one about the battle system really take a closer look at the truth and core of the game and what makes it so special. Thank you !

[@reyennarhel2505]

This makes sense. 5.2 is when I joined and this game changed my life/saved my 2020.