Intro
Before Patch 7.4 is released, there are a couple of news-worthy things that have been spoken about in FFXIV, and I will talk about a couple of reactions I agree with from Reddit.
So, according to the current lucky_banshos_census, the player went way down to StormBlood levels, meaning 2019 levels lol haha.
OK, Soo, I will break this user comment into 3 sections and share my thoughts.
The Best Argument from one user
#1
Unlike 2020-2022, there are actually PLENTY of other games you can play other than XIV that offer much better experiences, whether in terms of gameplay or story. Sometimes, both bc they let the quality decline so much for years, and since EW, they reduced the quantity of content too. But unlike what you probably hoped, catering to people who don't want to play the game isn't healthy for the game, and people who "go play other games" are not going to come back to the game if they don't find any reason to.
My Thoughts on #1
I don't think Cosmic Exploration and Occult Crescent did anything that great for the large player-based, and maybe it did? However, you kinda have to look at that time around Island Sanctuary and Variant/Criterion Dungeons came out. It was an odd time for it. I was excited until it was released.
Island Sanctuary received a bad reputation because the hype around it created expectations that were never met. At a time when housing options were completely full, there was also a capacity limit for bringing friends along, which was frustrating. Players had to grind to earn rewards, but they didn't really get to utilize the concepts or features that were introduced. Instead, it often felt like a repetitive grind leading to rewards. After two months of effort, many players, including myself, quickly lost interest in it.
It ultimately felt flat.
That's why, after 6.3, they have never ever mentioned updates or new things. That's why this year, Patch 7.2 had Cosmic Exploration release as a direct replacement for Island Sanctuary as a gathering event, joining players to gather things around in space and gain rewards.
Variant/Criterion Dungeonswere also pretty much in a bad wrap as well, since players wanted better rewards. That might change when 7.4 is here. And despite wanting to go do Variant Dungeons get the Spy suit, I might do it even though I keep delaying it further and further lol.
#2
Why would you pay a sub for middling to decent 2-3 hours story every 4.5 months, full of just walking back and forth, when you can do the same with other free games and update a similar amount of story every 6 weeks instead of 19, that tend to have more gameplay content than XIV in a similar time frame.
My Thoughts on #2
I agree, I just think it would be cool or fucking great to have daily login events or something that pops up and says, " Hey!!! We got a special event going on or a Story that pops up every week, and it renews every Tuesday? You know? Or like have a better Fate's systems for all levels to gain more interesting rewards and a small story surrounding the factions and the people?..
But as Square Enix is, I have high doubt it since it just costs money lol. Pretty sure it's just gonna cost money running something this small in the basement.
#3
They need to step up, plenty of competitors, even if not mmo, that will snatch their players if they just keep the pace of content update slower than a backyard snail. Graphics update alone isnt going to bring new players either if you consistently piss off long-time players. But yoship will probably keep quadrupling down on the "accessibility" (read: dumbing down and simplifying everything instead of actual accessibility) in hopes the game will somehow attract the mythical super casual general audience who only plays games with balls or guns in them.
My Thoughts on #3
Quantity over Quality didn't really save 7.0 at all !!!!!
#4
The final Reddit post is really interesting and something that I mentioned about the Chinese market taking over Japan in some capacity in the online gaming market. Since Square Enix shut down most of their mobile games, they turned to Tencent, which has somewhat of a grip on the asian market regarding online gaming through PC, console, and mobile gaming markets. FFXIV Mobile is somewhat of an oddball since it's a separate game and entity from the mainline FFXIV story, but they are completely restarting with a Relm reborn on the mobile.
One comment said He won't be able to do that because Genshin, Honkai, Wuthering Waves, and others regularly release new content to keep people playing. A concept that appears to be entirely alien to YoshiP.
The Future/The End/TLDR
You May Feel that I been naturally shitting on FFXIV and Yoshi-P, and maybe I am lol... Like people had the chance to say Fuck you, bring FFXIV back, or give us more of it!!! Lol at Anime Expo California. You may tell me why the heck Am I still giving money to this stupid game dummy!!! Well I still like playing this game lol. It's the only game that I casually play. But I want this game to get better or do better lol lmao haha