Hi Gamers!
Listen, the sensationalist headlines are technically correct, but they are entirely misleading and pure clickbait. FFXIV is losing players (for right now) and there are a few reasons why. But none of this is a bad thing for the future of the game, and FFXIV is not in danger of any cutbacks or closures because of it. Sure, Dawntrail had it’s problems, but an underwhelming expansion does not a dead-game make.
So what’s the deal behind all these videos and articles?
I give my take on in it in this video. Thank you so much for watching, and be sure to like/subscribe if you enjoyed it and would like to see more FFXIV news/opinions and guides.
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If only clickbait was bannable it really should be, I just block and move on.
As a solo player I really shouldn't complain about this popular idea of 'come again when you feel like it'. Then again, this makes it way less likely to be active with people you like having around because everyone overlaps every now and again but rarely for long
As a player why should we care about how many players are in the game? More isnt always better from a player perspective. The community of FFXIV was great even when it was smaller.
Servers are still congested. Housing wards are still full. Lonely catboys are still seeking companionship on Party Finder.
Destroying mods with the graphics update honestly did kill a huge portion of the social side of the game, and many still havent come back at all. With most mods still not back up and working, many social venues have stayed closed. This i feel has much more to do with the player drop off than anything else.
When you shut out half the audience with a pc narrative designed for 6 year olds… you lose players. Especially a game designed around the story. Shocker..
Considering we are in a content lull and they only released a harder version of 24-man content on top of dropping a nuke on the modding scene with the expansion QoL and visual updates I can understand why some people are taking a break. Also Marvel Rivals and POE2 recent dropped, WoW Classic Anniversary servers are going, people are going to be checking out other games during the down time in XIV.
It's not clickbait, its from a source that always does these kind of population checks around patch releases.
Likely for a few reasons:
– Outside of high-end content, there is not that much to do right now. This could change with the field operation that we'll later get this year.
– Cloud of Darkness Chaotic is fun if it works, but very, very questionable and not fun if some random player wipes us for the 100th time by not standing in their tower, competing in tiles PvP, or messing up looming. In party finder at least. Getting 24 players that are good enough is rough, I moved on the moment I had all loot and never looked back. Don't intend to do this fight again and I assume it will be dead content within a few months at most as more players finish their grind. Maybe some Discords will pick it up and host events every now and then. This fight, along with other pieces of content that players rarely do these days (such as criterion dungeons), need to be unsyncable in the future. If nothing else, then to preserve the longevity of the content.
– We're in patch content now, the MSQ is not as prevalent as it was in 7.0. MSQ-only players might not come back until 8.0.
– Comparing Dawntrail to expansions that could build on a story that started all the way in 1.0 might be a bit unfair, but it did leave some things (a better story, imo, or rather better writing and pacing. The story had potential, they could've done more with it) to be desired compared to the best parts of the game. I can see players leaving because of that.
That said, don't think the game is dying anytime soon. And it's fine if players take a break every now and then.
I was unaware of content creators making videos about how the game is doomed. Which is probably a good thing. It's not true and I'd likely not even click on those anyway.
fair weather players, either they've been playing so long everything is done or they don't care about alternate content. Leves are a 5 plus year thing on their own. people just want the main content and then they go back to COD or whatever thing they came from. rather the toxic part timers be gone anyways.. expansion release was horrible with all the people with attitudes coming out of the woodwork.
As a 1.0 beta and legacy player:
FFXIV runs on a cycle of hype and downturns. It has since it inception. Each hype brings new people in and courious returning players. Each downturn brings its detractors out from under the woodwork to declare the doom of the game.
It's a continious swelling and filtering process that has done well for the game's growht for over 10 years – and it hasn't stopped yet. I predict that we are at the start of a new, larger cycle, so our downturn will be the largest yet since 1.0, and likely won't pick back up until the larger arching story picks up steam again in five or so years, with small swells that will keep things going along. This is A Realm Reborn all over again. History will likely repeat itself in some form as the game finds a new audiance and draws back in returners.
As we are in a more seasonal downturn, expect the following –
Statments that the game 'never was that good'
People with negative politcal biases taking pot shots at their favorite things to hate.
People who will point at any piece of content they wanted and is not there, or did not want and is there, as THE definitive source for all FFXIV's woes.
And of course, ardent defenders that can't take a lick of critisism that may actually help the game improve.
In short, nothing new here folks – resume your normal gaming habits and stay/return as you see fit. I've always had and on-again-off-again approach to FF games and it's worked for me. I'll be back once my interest in the game picks back up. Hope to see you there.
The real killer for the game was Endwalker and its complete lack of non-instanced 4 man content. No relic grind worth a damn and no field ops and no endgame crafting zone meant almost everyone I knew stopped playing the game. Despite how awful the Dawntrail MSQ is, everyone agrees that the battle content is good and a new field op and DoH/DoL endgame means that people will have a chance to actually be social again. The only real problem is that the 3 month patch cycle, which was promised to be 4 months, has turned into 5-6 months and if the new content isn't up to snuff then the giant wait between patches WILL hurt the game.
As someone who is as of typing this not in game but otherwise actively playing Final Fantasy XIV when I have time, I am in no way concerned that people leaving for any reason is indicative of the game dying because when I log on and am playing, I see and hear people in game, some of them doing things in Heavensward, which is what I'm playing through. I've watched some of those videos and they bring up some valid criticism about not only Dawntrail, but Final Fantasy XIV as a whole, but guess what? Not only do expansions to an MMO not all need to be absolute bangers, I'm looking at you, second Sharandar campaign in Neverwinter, but even less played games like Neverwinter when compared to juggernaut MMOs like WoW or Final Fantasy XIV or games which see a period of decline in player base still see people who log on and play every day. Maybe that's someone who loves it to pieces despite the missteps, or they're someone like me who doesn't always play and had periods of not wanting to do certain things, Crystal Tower raids, and not being able to play. And then with games this popular, there's almost always people who start playing during the slow times or less popular expansions in addition to the people who start due to the hype of a popular expansion. The player base is dropping, sure, but as someone who does take breaks to play other games, Dragon Quest III HD-2D for example, I can tell you that once a game has its hooks in you, if you like it enough, you will go back to it eventually. But I don't uninstall if it's a particularly large game or have it modded, it's a hassle to reinstall the game or at least the mods.
I stopped playing because Dawntrail is god awful. I'm sure I'll be back, just like I've come back before when I've taken breaks.
It's not a bad thing.
Except it's the only game financially supporting the company.
Community The game is dying,no seriously it’s dying!!!! Me playing since A realm reborn. Getting my popcorn for the next drama to unfold….
Jokes aside I played the game already when it was less populated,still was fun and we already had enough players to enjoy the game back then. We will be fine:)
Oh im so glad that i never did eureka or bozja, because now after 3 years of playing, doing bozja for the fist time has been fun, just be ready to sink 4 mil on the logos crystals, so that zone 3 is a smooth ride in eureka
the content is boring predictive lazy slop with dance to the rythym fights while
classes are not unique anymore they take all
the earnings and fund other projects and refuse to innovate upgrade and thats a fact
If a MMO does not provide enough content for a stable player base to stay than its a failed MMO. Most people want to invest a lot of time into a MMO and basically make it their main game which FF14 with DW has failed to do. Most people wont be back as they are stuck now in other better MMOs.
I don't understand how Veilguard being bottom of the barrel, excuses for what Dawntrail did in their MSQ.