re: Any FF 14 players left around here?

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Hoping it gets better but Dawntrail has been extremely meh to start

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I have enjoyed it. Better start than Stormblood and ARR. Granted im only near the first primal fight I think. Nothing crazy has really happened and how I ultimately will feel depends on the pay off.

I think a lot of the early stuff is just all that character building and world setting. I had some character concerns at first but really finding myself enjoying the other competitors. I’m really intrigued by how the story will play out and set up the future.

While I didn’t need the graphics update it certainly has made the game better. I really like the new zones so far and the music has been solid for the most part.

I do hope it starts to pick up the pace and start teasing some more mysteries. I know they will.

I could get past the Endwalker trod through 83 because I knew the chess pieces still in play and had something to look forward to. This one’s a lot tougher. I also cannot stand Wuk and have no interest in her success

People have been saying the 2nd half is much better. I hope so. The experience so far just feels like we’re getting Creative Team 3’s B squad the whole way. And after the content gluts of the past 2 years I find it inexcusable

Let me know if things get better and we have more to look forward to. Having been there from the start I do value your opinion

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I could get past the Endwalker trod through 83 because I knew the chess pieces still in play and had something to look forward to.

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I totally understand that. My hope is that they give us some chess pieces to have fun with and to play with as far as the path forward.

I have to keep reminding myself that ARR had to play its role in establishing the story moving forward. I get the same feel this expansion. If they are planning a multi expansion story arch then the foundation needs to be established and clear. Granted I’m somewhere between 30-40% through but I just get the feeling that this expansion is merely a necessary step in the overall plan for the next arch.

I keep comparing this to ARR because I know you HAVE to start a new arch in some way shape or form and imo this story arch when compared to ARR is done wayyy better. Now I understand some of that is because….the team and the budget is greater…but to lay a new foundation for an arch that may last 3-4 expansions…dawntrail can’t compare to the likes of Heavensward, Shadowbringers , and endwalker. The only thing I should compare it with is ARR and nothing more.

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I also cannot stand Wuk and have no interest in her success

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I felt the same way since the patches but as dawntrail has progressed I have come to enjoy her company more and more. She begins to change for the better imo. She lacks many skills/desires her competitors have but carries a desire so important to her and her world that there are lessons to be learned for everyday people.

I appreciate this dev teams ability to really hit home with a lot of their messaging. In a world full of DEI, SJW, woke bullshite….here comes FFXIV with a message more profound and impactful than many games I have played over the years.

All I need from dawntrail is for it to end with a desire to know what happens next.

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. I also cannot stand Wuk and have no interest in her success

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She's awful. I hate her. Seriously making me consider changing the VA languages lol

Gameplay changes and content is still fantastic, but story has been meh and I do not like or care about any of the new characters.

Graphics/lighting update is great and the new dungeons and trials so far have been a big improvement but Wuk is literally turning me into a cutscene skipper again.

There is so much fricking content in this game. I'm going to end up over 1,000 hours, I can already tell.

I have to give props to the team for how smooth the Dawntrail launch has been. The only queues I experienced were during peak times (I am on a popular server), and I only had to wait around 30 minutes. Once in the queue, I never got disconnected and forced to the back of the line like in Endwalker.

If you look at this expansion purely for the content it provides (new raids, dungeons, trials, etc), it's solid.

The MSQ would never have lived up to Shadowbrings or Endwalker, so it's for the best that it doesn't even try.

It feels like FFXIV is in that post-WoTLK phase where the major story arcs that have been building since launch are all concluded and the writers just start pulling stuff out of their arse because the game still makes money. Regardless of that, I do have some concerns regarding the quality of the writing in general compared to what came before.

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For now

It feels like the game's been in trouble ever since the team started pulling double-duty with XVI and I'm not sure it can be turned around. XIV has been the only thing keeping SE afloat and for some reason they've dramatically lowered re-investment as they blow money elsewhere. The pace of and amount of new content gets slower and smaller. Things like PVP and housing are still a total disaster - that simply shouldn't be possible

I think we see a massive fall-off for 7.x

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I play FFXIV fairly casually. I'll dump a lot of hours after an update or expansion but otherwise move into other things, so I may not be most qualified to say, but regarding pace of content, it seems on par with what they have produced up to this point. 5-6 post-expansion patches that introduce new raids/dungeons along with a post-expansion story / lead into next expansion. I don't know if there's any evidence to suggest that SE is investing less into CBU3.

Post-Endwalker did have less grinding for gear than previous expansions, so players would quickly gear up and run out of things to do. That seems less of an issue with the amount of content and more of an issue with the amount of effort.

No one is playing FFXIV for pvp, and I think it'd be a waste of time to try to improve that. As for housing, I totally agree. Not sure why they can't just bite the bullet and do instanced housing.

I think the development of FFXVI had a negative affect especially on a lot of the post-Endwalker content, so hopefully now that it's out of the way, they can focus on FFXIV once again.

There will be a post-expansion lull, but I don't see a "massive" fall-off. At this point, I don't know if FFXIV has more subscribers than WoW, but with WoW's playerbase split between retail and classic, FFXIV feels in a better state than most any other MMORPG, especially compared to ESO or GW2 which, outside of World of Warcraft, would probably be its closest competition. I trust CBU3 far more than I do modern day Blizzard.

I think what they may need to do going forward is shake up the expansion format a bit. Every single expansion since Heavensward has been 6 dungeons, aether currents, and a very cutscene heavy MSQ without a lot of combat. The number of dungeons/trials may even be the same for all I know, but I haven't counted them.

Add more gameplay to the MSQ. I don't mean more "follow the NPC" missions or "find the hidden object," but find ways to let us maintain control of our characters while the story plays out. Give us more combat outside of "run to purple circle and kill 2 enemies" or solo duty.

Add some new feature or mechanic exclusive to the expansion. WoW does this all the time (sometimes for better or worse), but the key would be to not abandon it after the next expansion. FFXIV has always done a great job at keeping old content relevant.

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The pacing is kind of meh. Have been doing a couple hours of MSQ here and there and then mostly gathering to make some gil as the markets hot right now. Made about 7mil in two days just from gathering alone.

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You can buy a motorcycle mount for 7 million gil in Section 9.

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Made about 7mil in two days just from gathering alone.

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How do you make 7 million from gathering?