Let's be honest.....
If I was inactive since 2.4 and I wanted to come back and see they've introduced a relic and I look up the steps and they strike me as ODDLY FAMILIAR to what I last did before I quit, I can immediately talk about every single in detail, without having to play. Does it matter if I grinded out obsolete Alexander or not? Or actually did a fate? (Darkscale fate is unique!...let's forget that Svara Fate is the exact same since 2013 without the gear drops..no no it's not..there's something else fighting it aside just us!..oh you mean an NPC like in numerous other FATEs since 2013?) and so on? By the way - it's oddly familiar the Alexander run count (800 total) is the same non-bonus light farming when you do the math of farming Alex Floors, Tome purchases and Beastment currency farming.
Time commitments or not, this game really isn't designed with lasting content in mind, and no matter how many times I state "why I play", it's always wrong because I don't praise the game because quite honestly, the VERY FACT you have some of the more hardcore "this game is perfect" people actually upset as well and finally to a point of "ok this is silly now I thought things would change" speaks volumes. Whether or not you're easy to satisfy is a completely different story, but it's been half a year since Heavenswards.
What has changed? What has this game brought? I mean, whether someone wants to agree with me or not is moot, but an expansion is supposed to expand and change the game. Why in the name of holy **** was I sent into Temple of Qarn Hard Mode? Something COMPLETELY unrelated to any current lore being an OPTIONAL DUNGEON to begin with? Why am i touching ANY 2.x content for 3.1+ content..? Stuff like that, no matter how much you like that, can be agreed is silly.
It happened in XI where you went back to older areas, sure..but majority of ToAU content for example (sticking with the XIV overall timeline) had me do things in ToAU..related to ToAU. It didn't tell me: "Hey, remember that dragon you killed for rank 3 in 2002? Go farm it."
Quite honestly though, this game is too extreme with it's vertical progression. There's nothing wrong with vertical progression as long as there's some horizontal to break it up or slow it down, but now SE is to the point of OBSOLETING CONTENT upon the same patch. That's is AMAZING in all its own for the wrong ways. Then the relic wasn't retrofitted after the TWO TIME DELAY to be more up to date where most people playing (even you, Thayos) are - i170 base weapons to i200? 170 is nothing, why did it start there? It's obvious 170 was meant to be at the start of 3.0 and it's why it uses the same model as the Eso weapon.
My key difference is, if SE were to fix content, they'd do it too late and "fix it" in a way that is meaningless. Why do they even have to fix Diadem when they could have done it right the first time? You know, "we worked hard on Heavensward, which is why we took a months vacation."...why did the Relic quest not utilize Diadem, expansion content? An expansion using Expansion content? It's fine to enjoy the game or be easily pleased, but this is why I'm noticing even the most dedicated players just say "i'm done"..not on Chocobo, no...not on Sargatanas..no...I'm talking about even on Balmung, the most populated NA server.
Every other server had a noticable hit after the relic came out because it started with Heavensward: "Okay...we grinded out 2.0-2.57 to death and now there's an expansion coming out that's stated to COMPLETELY CHANGE the way you play the game because of skillspeed and spell changes, oh and new rotations! Flying mounts! So maybe there will be flying content since they emphasis flight so much!...Alexander is going to be amazing! Maybe something like coil but a story/normal mode for people who just want to see the story without the coil difficulty? Bismarck and Ravana will be epic!.....Okay that was lackluster.....maybe 3.1 will change things because it's the first major update of the expansion, and Diadem will come out which has Flight involved and it kind of seems like Dynamis, so it's going to be amazing......okay...........that was lack luster too........ughh....well relics will finally come out will change things since yoshi promised me (as he always does!) it won't be like the zodiac questline and the power will be equal to the grind, surely he won't have us do Atmas again since he has more than enough feedback and even commented on that no one liked it and even he himself had trouble getting them........okay I'm done, break time or completely time to let go.."
Basically, it's a build up that finally snapped some people, even the most dedicated (I do read the official forums and actually communicate with people in game on each server I play on..I keep tabs because I actually like to see, FOR MYSELF how the game is doing because I actually put in the time and effort in every aspect of it (except for RP as I'm not an Rper, but my brother and cousin are, so I watch their RPs and OOC comments and even see coalitions have asides about the state of the game that equals my views (they could do so much more.)"
"This game will never be what you want" is always kind of a sad thing to say because, the game "I want" is a game where SE shows they know how to create an MMORPG, have creativity and actually use the talents of their developers in meaningful ways instead of shoving us off into obsolete content and call it new content. This is why people were initially pissed off with Abyssea and Wings of the Goddess in XI because it reused similar zones but it was BRAND new content even if one was an alternate reality or the past. WotG had slow development because of 1.0 as well.
Despite that, you never once heard SE, or any other developer, state they can't do something because the servers would crash. Why do people accept that excuse so they don't have to add content? Why are people buying into the PR to buy more retainers if we want more inventory space? This game is a F2P heaven without the F2P development attached to it. GW2 had an AMAZING expansion..and all we did was buy the game and be about our way..no sub fees....nothing. They have a cash shop but if their cash shop is the reason for that amazing expansion pack, what about XIV's cash shop ANNNNNNNNNND sub fee?
So the game I want it to be? An MMO that shows love and care went into it. If that's clearly too much to ask for, honestly don't be surprised if in the coming months you see more and more people leave or go on extended breaks because of disappointment because when you think SE and FF..you think far better than we've gotten. Not everything worked in XI but they sure as hell seemed to have done so much with it despite being hindered by the PS2. "XIV has way better graphics! A way different battle system!" all the more reason XIV should be superior in every way. The whole purpose of the Luminious branch engine for XIV rather than go to Unreal or something was because it's an engine SE is already familiar with and for ease of development (per their own words during Beta.)
So will things change in 3.2? Sure there's always the possibility things will dramatically change and the game will be revived in many areas that need it. Is it likely? Not really..since when you shovel your money into SE's pockets for doing almost nothing, why do they need to change their ways? So many people play for their friends more so than the game, which is why even on the OF and reddit you have people who say if their friends left they would leave as well. Are people wrong because someone disagrees? No, because we're in the current state we are now because SE seem intent on sticking to what they did since 2013 even though if this was any other game, people would be far less accepting. Look at WoW's current state - Blizzard ****** up and they're suffering for it, is it going to die? It possibly could, but is very obviously bleeding out? Yes, yes it is.. But if it was Final Fantasy XIV, people would be giving Yoshi hugs and saying the game is perfect.
Why didn't relic utilize expansion content? Why was it the same content, they promised it wouldn't be? Yoshi went on record to say it will NOT be like the zodiac quest grind...yet here we are. I think a post on reddit said it best:
"The honeymoon period is finally over for a lot of people."
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