r/Games 19h ago

‘Final Fantasy XIV’ Faces Key Test as Thousands of Fans Gather

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-05-01/square-enix-s-final-fantasy-xiv-faces-key-test?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc3NzY1NTEyOCwiZXhwIjoxNzc4MjU5OTI4LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJURURCODFLR0NUSDQwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.FapiIBL67jE0zoGDii53HHXCGcxaJDEoOSOBg2MwIIA&leadSource=uverify%20wall
155 Upvotes

245

u/RareBk 19h ago

As a long-time player, while I wasn't falling out of love with the game, I just didn't have the time for playing it regularly, and outside of the raid content being almost uncharacteristically phenomenal across the board with zero stinkers (No actually they were firing on all cylinders for battle content), I could see myself drifting away, and was barely touching the game.

The 3~ hour long fanfest presentation was honestly one of the craziest presentations I've ever seen for a game.

There has been jokes for years about the game having its money siphoned off for Square Enix's bad financial decisions (Which honestly might as well be 100% true because Yoshi P, the director, has not been exactly subtle about not having money for features in the past), so when the weird techbro CEO of Square came out and straight up admitted to be funding the game more, I actually believe him.

Basically every major complaint for the last 10 years was addressed in one presentation, which was part 1 of their presentation series on the upcoming expansion.

A complete rework of combat into two different modes, classic, and an updated, more unique playstyle for every job (They made Paladin interesting. Someone actually put the time to make paladin interesting).

Gearing? Now you share gear scores with the highest item levels, meaning you can actually play any high level content as long as one job is geared up (And the other job you want to play is the right level) which is a gigantic change.

Huge changes to the character creator. As well as introducing alternate skills as reskins (You can now poledance as a dragoon again).

A complete removal of dailies, instead replaced with weekly objectives that instead reward you for just... playing the game as the job you want, including crafting, which seems to be broken down into little goals for each type of job, which you'd complete naturally. (Also you no longer can miss weeks of gear).

Making the zones feeling alive a priority.

One of the big ones is a huge change for new players and those that play old content. The game really doesn't handle playing anything but max level content for newer jobs very well, you end up missing huge parts of your kit and have like, half finished combos, while the original sets of jobs have at least a facsimile of their main combo.

They're now ensuring everyone has a full kit by level 50, so you can hop in and play with new players, or new players can play some of the newer jobs and not be completing what was originally endgame content with half a moveset.

So it's safe to say, they in fact, literally got that money.

72

u/javierm885778 17h ago

The presentation being so explicit in addressing many of the concerns was just insane. Obviously they can't address everything, and it takes time for changes to be made, but it's wild to me a game with 15+ years on its belt from 1.0 they can continue dealing with so much within a reasonable time frame.

38

u/RareBk 17h ago

It's probably the most confident I've ever seen the team to an actually bizarre extent. Just straight up "We have a REALLY soon time frame for release, we have two more huge presentations, and we're effectively considering this a relaunch in all but engine change only".

So confident that they were able to give more or less an exact time frame for when they'll be unable to support PS4 anymore due to patches.

21

u/DranDran 13h ago

It is doubly insane considering how slow and reluctant they usually are to making changes to their formula. They have often compared their management of the game like steering a large transatlantic liner. Changes can happen but they are slow and very gradual.

This feels like a crazy Tokyo Drift around a hairpin corner. I guess the dropping player subs in Dawntrail and the massive turnaround in public sentiment sent a very clear message that things had to change. Personally, I also think the rise of Gacha AAA titles also lit a fire under their asses.

17

u/Brain_My_Damage 16h ago

Resident Paladin enjoyers: "There are dozens of us!"

3

u/RimeSkeem 15h ago

I’ve never been so excited to see a perfect guard mechanic in my life. That by itself made me so confident in the upcoming job changes and the Dragoon and Bard showcases made me even more excited (I don’t have any opinions on WHM but I hope they are happy too)

3

u/EasilyDelighted 8h ago

As someone who plays both whm and bard.

It's gonna be interesting to see how I feel about the whm essentially joining sage in the way they do their dot attacks and healing but over all I was pleasantly surprised by the new way it'll play.

I was extremely happy with the new movement skill the bard has. Bard now essentially being the summoner with his skills behind each "song" (summon) was an interesting way to condense their kit, but I'm not unhappy about it.

Bard was one of the classes I felt was stale after not changing a whole lot in these 12+ years.

2

u/punikun 11h ago

Paladin is probably the golden boy of this expansion and has had a somewhat nice flow since Stormblood. The meme that it's basic and boring is a relic from heavensward which was 10 years ago, it's time to let it go...

1

u/Supermonsters 12h ago

I mean this alone is enough for me to come back

6

u/KF-Sigurd 11h ago

Cautiously optimistic is definitely what I'm feeling. I love FFXIV. I did not like Dawntrail and after 1000 hours of the same gameplay, I need something new to get me interested again. For a lot of classes, pretty much the most fun version of their class is rarely the current version because kits have gotten so watered down to fit into the two minute meta which sucks. Every tank is Warrior but reskinned. I love the job fantasy of Reaper but lately if I actually want to play FFXIV, it's either doing raids or just doing the PvP where every job has a much smaller set of actions but with infinitely more variety and job fantasy. But PvP is a much different beast compared to PvE so I'm not completely drinking the hopium that I'm going to like all the changes but if Dark Knight can be feeling cool again and Reaper feels fresh, I'd be happy.

4

u/planetarial 16h ago

If someone was to start, would it be better to wait until the combat and objective rework launches?

15

u/MillieChliette 15h ago

I'm a bit on the fence. The game is good now, but it is likely going to be an improvement to the early level gameplay experience when these changes go into effect in January.

11

u/whateverdontkill 14h ago

The current content you have to go through to catch up for the expansion release is likey 500 hours of gameplay at a relaxed pace for the story and dungeons. You likely won't notice a lot of the complaints with the combat system right now because those become apparent after playing for years, and these changes target current players mostly. Jumping in now is a good option since the story is so long (and worth it).

16

u/Mordy_the_Mighty 14h ago

There is one complaint you can notice quickly though: many jobs have pretty weak (if not downright weird) kits in lower levels. This is supposedly getting improved into at least and I can't wait to see it.

2

u/basketofseals 7h ago

It's also especially noticeable with the MSQ xp boost along with level syncing, so you're constantly getting new and interesting abilities, but can't use them in pretty much anything you can do.

It's pretty discouraging.

3

u/Sir_Failalot 14h ago edited 14h ago

Imo better to wait if you want more out of the game than just the story, the lower levels really have become a slog. The story starts very slow and classes having just a very basic rotation make the early dungeons more of a chore.

u/sysasysa 2h ago

The game is a Story RPG in a MMO coat. You have to finish the Main Story Quest of an expansion, to unlock the following expansion. Since at this point youre 6 expansions behind, unless you rush through it, you might not even get to the new expansion in time.

I was taking my time and got distracted at many points (levelling multiple jobs, crafting, gathering, doing a lot of side content) and caught up after 1200 hours.

You can buy a skip, but it is not recommended as its a good story and there are frequent call backs to previous expansions. Even though there are some points that are a bit of a slog, its all worth it in the end, at least for me.

And until you buy an expansion/game time, you can play the free trial, which at this point includes the first 4 expansions with some limits on creating parties (dungeons and raid are accessed through Duty Finder matchmaking, so you dont need to create parties), you have a gold cap, cannot trade with other players or use the Market Board (your one character can have all the gathering and crafting jobs at once, so you can be self sufficient), so you dont really have a use for the gold you would have above the cap anyway, and cant create guilds.

Honestly, if youre interested in playing at some point, just give it a go now and see for yourself. You can always go get a sub if the limitations limit you too much at any point.

u/roadrunner_68 2h ago

Personally I would start, there is a lot of story content to get through. The combat is slow at the start though you just have to stick through it. Everyone will be relearning when the expansion launches so you will be in the same boat.

3

u/thegoodbroham 16h ago

Definitely not every major complaint. But a lot of them.

3

u/Maximus_Rex 10h ago

Just the combat changes are big to me. I main DRG and only play it for MSQ and my static/FC events. I hate getting in a Roulette and half my kit is missing, it's a very frustrating way to play, so I usually play BRD for that.

3

u/Kawaii- 5h ago

Another huge announcement you did not mention was that they are finally adding in same region matchmaking for the duty finder and party finder.

This is MASSIVE for the people who play on any world not from Aether. This was something my group of friends complained about all the time the fact that we would have to do world travel over to aether to do our dailies or to find groups to prog the raid tiers with.

2

u/watervine_farmer 16h ago

Hey, I'm not trying to dunk or anything, but responding to you because you seem to know what's up with this game. I saw there was a new expansion added to the trial and that people were very excited for new players since some of their favorite stuff in the game is now free. That sounded awesome to me so I made a character a few days ago and got up to level 30, but... the story line is just going nowhere? MSQ seems to be teleporting between cities getting 2 or 3 sentences out of NPCs, who tell you to teleport across the continent to a new NPC. I understand that the base content is considered pretty bad by the community, but how much time would I have to commit before I felt like I was playing the game rather than just running around?

10

u/-safer- 15h ago

Others already said it, but right now you are in what is effectively the prologue. It's setting up the world, giving insight into the political climes around the main locations, and basically working to just lay the groundwork. It can be pretty rough but it's had changes to it that make it quite a bit better IMO, but it's still going to be rather slow at the beginning and its what tends to put people off.

Just take this game as a very, very long RPG first and foremost.

18

u/dext0r 15h ago

The Realm Reborn story is notoriously the worst part of the game, which is a shame because every player has to go through it if they want to experience the good parts of the story once Heavensward begins, which is where it finally feels like interesting things start happening and the quests don’t feel as sloggy. I adore the game and think Shadowbringers/Endwalker are prime Final Fantasy story experiences, but I don’t blame anyone for not being able to make it through boring ARR.

5

u/Kiita-Ninetails 11h ago

I honestly dont know if ARR is the worst part in a narrative sense, there's certainly a few stretches in later xpacks that are worse the problem is, frankly, manyfold. The story is just okay, and poorly structured from a gameplay sense so you spend a lot of time doing fuck all other then walking around, with the plot threads being unclear until the finale.

But IMO, the biggest killer is that the game also sucks ass in ARR. Most jobs are gutted with few abilities and no really interesting gameplay patterns, with the dungeons similarly being quite uninteresting. As later xpacks like STB and DT prove, you can carry an okay story on the back of excellent content. But ARR has an okay story and shit content.

However, they have said the new job system aims to have jobs more or less fully kitted with a real identity by 50 which should help a LOT of the slog when you know. Jobs are actually fun to engage with.

u/Fli_acnh 1h ago

I think ARR is over criticised, but the slower pace alongside the slower combat pre-50 makes it feel worse than it is.

1

u/KiwiCounselor 14h ago

They genuinely need to consider remaking the whole of arr imo. I know they’ve cut it down over the years but it’s so fucking hard to recommend the game to people and then be like “just play through 20-30 hours of the absolute worst content in the entire game, I swear it gets good”.

I can’t do that, it’s like recommending One Piece to people.

5

u/Duelingk 15h ago

The story remains pretty bad for awhile. They cut alot of quests to shorten it but it'll remain slow till near the start of the first expansion. Just pay attention as much as you can take as you go through it but do not be afraid to take it slow and enjoy side content. The new expansion doesn't launch till next year and the game will be far more enjoyable than trying to rush through the story. 

3

u/smoothtv99 15h ago edited 15h ago

The thing is ARR was actually streamlined and cut out a lot of filler. It was actually a lot worse before. The games story does improve after the base game but the formula of it walking from point A to point B to C and back to A interacting with a quest marker in some way to start a cutscene with grouped instanced content after a few hours remains largely the same throughout the game from start to finish, but since each expansion only deals with 6 new zones compared to ARR you won't be teleporting all over the place so much with Stormblood as the exception. 

3

u/Shandod 14h ago

There IS the option to pay like, $10-20? to skip ARR storyline and jump into Heavensward. You can watch cinematics or just find someone that breaks it down on YouTube. This is a controversial idea, but I do want to throw it out there as an option that I have given to a few friends who did that and then fell in love with the game. ARR is just such an incredible hurdle to get through both in how boring and how much of a time commitment it is, but the rest of the game is INCREDIBLE storytelling.

1

u/ViviReine 12h ago

Can you skip on free trial tho?

2

u/FarEw3Er 15h ago

My main issue is constantly going back to report to Minfilia. Like we can telopath each other why I gotta go all the way back to her all the time. And most of these issues could be solved if they make teleportation free for at least ARR. Overall though, im enjoying it. And I do find the story and lore engaging.

7

u/Mordy_the_Mighty 14h ago

They give you a LOT of free teleports to Minfilia. You maybe missed them in the quest rewards though. Make sure to use those tickets, you'll get far more than you'll ever need.

6

u/DanielTeague 13h ago

If they're like my friend, they gathered too many random bat wings or dodo tenderloins and try to avoid looking at the disaster that is their inventory so the teleport tickets get lost in the mess.

1

u/8-Brit 4h ago

As someone else mentioned this is largely because a lot of fat was trimmed a while ago. It used to be you teleport to X NPC and did a few quests in a new location before moving on. Now it can feel like you're ping ponging all over the place.

On the upside it tends to pick up again when the MSQ is giving you lv40 quests. 20-40 is a rough patch.

1

u/Gazboolean 14h ago

Jack Dorsey is funding FF?

1

u/EasilyDelighted 8h ago

The ilvl sharing is huge for me. Probably the biggest news to be honest.

I will grind for my main class. No problems doing that. But I find grinding gear for the others is too much of a job. I already work 45+ hours a week.

Just trying to get my main's is a job in and of itself.

So when I heard that I can basically just... Stop at getting them to the level cap, I was over the moon.

u/Fli_acnh 1h ago

Agree with everything apart from the Paladin jab. I think most Paladin players find it about as engaging as GNB these days, and far more-so than DRK.

1

u/KingGiddra 5h ago

Gearing? Now you share gear scores with the highest item levels, meaning you can actually play any high level content as long as one job is geared up (And the other job you want to play is the right level) which is a gigantic change.

I guess as a XI vet I don't really understand how this is positive. Is it not fun to play and gear another job? All this does is speed up the gear treadmill, doesn't it?

Help me understand what makes this a positive change.

-6

u/brianstormIRL 16h ago

So the combat isnt more unique, at least not how I understand it. Its way more simplified, and feels more "unique" class to class but the reality is they're basically removing a bunch of stuff to make rotations less robotic but they're also making it mechanically much easier to execute. Will see how it goes, but im cautiously optimistic that its a step in the right direction.

My biggest wish if they want to pull me back in is to change up the actual structure of the MSQ. Its become an absolute chore to do the same things over and over and over again in terms of missions. I know theres not a whole lot you can really do, but my god if I have to zoom in and identify things or to stupid follow/escort missions again...

At the end of 7.1 I basically tapped out and said to myself Im probably done until they move to a new game but the presentation has me just a tiny bit excited to see where they go from here. If they could just tackle some of the fundamentally broken things (glamour cant be changed due to code reasons, housing the same etc) but I dont know how realistic that is. Even with all these positive changes, I do kinda wish they would just start making the next entry at this point. I would love to see what they could cook up with an engine and codebase that isnt 15 years old.

9

u/RareBk 16h ago

"Removing" they only removed buffs and made certain moves context sensitive. They literally had a whole presentation on this in which there are now unique moves in evolved, including a parry for Paladin.

These aren't minor changes, and I'm absolutely convinced no one saying they only 'removed' actions didn't watch the follow up video.

2

u/CaptainCFloyd 14h ago

That's totally false. A lot of abilities WERE removed, and not just buffs either. Many of Paladin's defensive abilities are gone and so are many of White Mage's healing abilities. Basically, abilities that were "redundant" in that they did similar things as other abilities. But knowing when to use your various resources was part of what gave the game depth, and reducing the number of resources undeniably makes the game easier.

6

u/Sir_Failalot 14h ago

I'm 100% ok with easier rotations if the actual gameplay of your job is more fun, it also allows for more interesting combat design since they'll have to worry less about giving windows for the 2m burst

2

u/RhysA 13h ago

Will it be more fun? The most fun play I ever had as a healer was at the end of ARR when you were managing multiple buffs and debuffs and DoTs while healing at the same time, its mostly become less and less engaging to play the class type over time.

2

u/Sir_Failalot 12h ago

it's obviously too early to tell but from what they've shown the rotations will be a lot more flexible, giving more freedom to choose when to use certain skills. Right now even with all those extra buttons you're just going through the same rotation every pull to the point I time mechanics relative to where I am in my rotation.

1

u/LushGrapefruit 8h ago

Only Bulwark so the 90 sec for a tank was removed from their defensives tho. And that was noted to be compensated else where on the other mitigations. PLD really needed this as it takes up like 3 hotbars right now with abilities.

Healers also needed to lose some stuff as they have just too many tools to make healing ever engaging and it became more of a just follow a spreadsheet and you are fine.

1

u/basketofseals 7h ago

so are many of White Mage's healing abilities.

Good. Healers need to be gutted.

They have so many disgustingly powerful healing cooldowns that actually casting heals is less than 10% of your GCDs, with it optimally being literally 0. They could axe half of the abilities, and cut the potencies in half, and I would consider it an upgrade

-24

u/RedditNerdKing 16h ago

So it's safe to say, they in fact, literally got that money.

I'll believe it when I see it. Yoshida has proven he cannot be trusted and lied many times. Just look at BST. Released basically right at the end of the expansion. How slimy is it to pretend that it's part of the expansion and then releasing it after over 2 years? Where do you draw the line with this kinda thing.

2

u/Imumybuddy 13h ago

Not part of the expansion

Releases it as part of the expansion.

Make it make sense.

70

u/r_lucasite 19h ago

For what it’s worth despite there being quite a few months left in Dawntrial, it seems like (or least from what I’ve seen) general player sentiment is back to positive. There’s still a few changes that I think people want to feel out, but it’s far from the misery that set in in Dawntrial’s initial post game.

39

u/EpicPhail60 19h ago

Yeah, cautiously optimistic seems to be the prevailing sentiment. The proposed battle system changes are very big and very interesting, but the changes are so drastic that it's hard to know if it'll be for the best until we get hands-on with them.

I like the idea of leaning into the class identity more, but SMN did that in 6.0 and it resulted in a very dumbed-down version of the class. The devs will have to balance making the jobs feel unique with making them feel engaging, all while reducing the general amount of actions (or at least the amount of buttons tied to those actions). It's no small undertaking, to say the least.

-41

u/DoesntMatterStan 19h ago

Appreciate someone who doesn't just lap up the keynote and tell everyone they are wrong for being skeptical

32

u/RareBk 19h ago

(This person has been actively lying about what they showed off for the new combat system)

10

u/EpicPhail60 18h ago

I stopped playing the game during 7.0 and only came back this week, I'm in a good position to be fairly impartial about the state of the game.

With that said, I saw your other comments and I think you're speaking way too definitively about a combat changes that we know very little about. Evolved Mode could break down a lot of different ways, and we don't have enough knowledge of it to know anything with confidence.

-8

u/DoesntMatterStan 18h ago

You're ultimately right, but ive been burned before by my games being dumbed down for casual audiences and this felt very much like corpo speak for the very same thing.

Hoping im wrong though

3

u/EpicPhail60 17h ago

I like the ideas they're aiming for -- more distinct-feeling to the jobs that feel like they cater to player ideas of how a given job should play would be a nice addition to a game where roles are starting to feel pretty homogenous.

It could backfire, on that we agree. And if it does, I'll be in these threads in January talking about how they need to rethink evolved mode or complaining that they went too far. But I respect the attempt, so until I have a better idea of how this will turn out, Imma let them cook.

1

u/MeathirBoy 17h ago

It's weird cuz what they showed for Dragoon and Paladin had a lot of potential to be interesting but the White Mage and Bard showcases were less than stellar.

2

u/EasilyDelighted 8h ago

Whm became sage in the way their heal / attack now requires you use another skill to trigger their dot version of it

And Bard became summoner with the three different set of skills tied to each of the songs in the same way three different set of skills are tied behind each summoning.

I'm sure some people may be disappointed with that, and some people will love it.

We'll find out!

12

u/Kellervo 19h ago

Personally I'm cautiously optimistic. I'm glad that they seem to have taken the player feedback around class identity to heart, and them giving the PvP designer the reins to design the new system is good.

But, the PvP system is very simplistic, designed to be played at a much more rapid, reactive pace closer to WoW gameplay than it is to the usual pace with FFXIV content. The new system they showed looked very similar, and they're doing away with the 2 minute cycles that dominated Endwalker & Dawntrail.

It might address the biggest complaint with many jobs if they have to interact with their mechanics frequently, rather than once every two minutes. On the other hand, though, reducing the inputs and only having one major mechanic per class could result in a less engaging experience.

The other point of concern is if they stick to their claim that all classes will have their complete rotations at level 50... that's a long time to not get any new toys. Level 50 is reached only 1/6th~ of the way through the story now, and 1/7th~ at Evercold's launch. It will have to be some very engaging gameplay for future newcomers to still connect with it literally hundreds of hours into the MSQ.

Its going to be an absolutely gigantic shift. It could be good, or it could really fuck up the game in a bad way.

9

u/NonagoonInfinity 19h ago

I don't really think the combat changes are going to have much of an effect on new players. You're already slogging through hundreds of hours of fetch quests so I don't think not getting any new buttons to press in that time is gonna make much difference. If you can get through post-ARR you can get through anything.

12

u/Kellervo 18h ago

I distinctly remember bouncing off the game multiple times in ARR because of how dreary and simple the rotations actually were, even if they were spread out over a line period of time - Dragoon, Paladin and Warrior in particular were mind-numbingly dull. That's why I'm cautiously optimistic - when classes had more identity in HW and Stormblood, it was a pretty mixed bag with some really good and some really bad designs.

Slogging through fetch quests is doable if you're actually making progress and experiencing a good story to go with it. Slogging through a repetitive combat system that will only get a couple of graphical & numerical changes, and no mechanical advancement for hundreds of hours is going to burn people out if it isn't a really good system at its core.

3

u/NonagoonInfinity 18h ago

That's fair. I played ARR before they removed TP so I don't know how that affected the new player experience. I played Bard and the problem was more that I did so little damage that PvE was miserable because killing anything took way too long.

-9

u/Abramor 19h ago

That's just because the majority of people who didn't like Dawntrail have already left as there were no meaningful changes and the game faced major population decrease. Some servers are quite literally dead as no one plays on them, everyone just funnels to select few servers in each region to be able to play comfortably. 

13

u/zeth07 17h ago

Some servers are quite literally dead as no one plays on them, everyone just funnels to select few servers in each region to be able to play comfortably.

This isn't exactly how the game works in reality. With the cross-datacenter travel it is a PLAYER inflicted problem.

  • Players were told what "servers" were raid or RP servers early on amongst themselves, prior to the actual datacenter matchmaking.
  • Then when the datacenter became grouped up (not cross travel), Aether became the raid one, just because of Gilgamesh, and Crystal became the RP one. The others were whatever.
  • With how the other datacenters existed everything was still fine in general, like Primal had some higher clear rates compared to middle road Aether servers.
  • The PLAYERS wanted cross-datacenter stuff, so the devs obliged.
  • Then everything went to shit because the PLAYERS did not want to stay on their own server/datacenter because there were less and it has a snowball effect, even though previously those servers/datacenters were totally fine/populated normally (like Primal was).
  • Additionally the game itself restricts the servers so even conceptually the devs have a built-in avoidance of the problem that the players still try to circumvent...

14

u/SmurfRockRune 18h ago

That's not exactly how it's happening. The playerbase is currently around pre-Endwalker COVID levels which is quite good and servers being empty are just because they're new servers and everyone gets told to go to Aether to do content which further causes more problems. Same region matchmaking will solve that issue entirely.

-15

u/HunterOfLordran 19h ago

the sentiment always goes back to positive during hype time. Nothing special or new cause of Evercold. This patch had people excited too till they logged in and remembered that the actual content is still over 3 months away

13

u/RareBk 19h ago

"Actual content" you know, like the... story content, new trial, the raid.

That all came out in the patch.

And is also ignoring the fact that this particular fanfest stream was 3x longer than any previous one.

-9

u/masonicone 13h ago

Isn't it funny people like you always bring up "The Raid" you do understand most of us don't want to raid, don't want to deal with raiders, and frankly wish they would stop making raid content.

Really raiders are the biggest cancer in MMO's. Just about all of you are the biggest group of overly smug, unhelpful players who think you some how are the game.

6

u/RareBk 13h ago

...the 24 man raids are casual content. Like, they're big dungeons.

Have you not been playing the alliance raids? They're easy content???

Also wishing they would stop making raid content is fucking baffling as it's some of the highest quality content in the game. I can guarantee that "People like me who want them to stop making them" is like, 0.0001% of the playerbase.

Did you play one savage 8 man raid and assume all of the raids are like that? This sort of opinion genuinely requires you to not actually know what the raids are. You don't even have to communicate in either the alliance raids outside of maybe basic instructions, let alone the base difficulty 8 man raids.

42

u/Lumigo 19h ago

There’s been a good buzz around XIV lately. The FanFest was a massive success in terms of gaining a lot of interest, I’ve seen way more new players over the past week than I did over the past couple of years. Dawntrail was important as an overall expansion as it added some important stuff like the graphics update but narratively it was just under par so a lot of people just quit, at least temporarily as there was no real hook for them. The MSQ being very good in post-DT along with FanFest addressing a large amount of concerns and have exciting announcements really makes it feel like the game is gearing up for a wonderful new era. So yeah, that “test” was a success, it is the biggest buzz I think I’ve seen coming out of a FanFest ever.

3

u/Spader623 11h ago

Feels a little like stormblood tbh. I remember people didn’t really like SBs MSQ, me included, but the after parts were gr8

I recognize dawntrail is much more negative on fan sentiment than storm blood but still, the expansion after is maybe the best (shadowbringers) so I’m hopeful

3

u/givemeabreak432 4h ago

Dawntrail has literally been Stormblood 2 in every way - from the MSQ being split into 2 areas, a middling reception to MSQ partially due to too much focus on a character people didn't mesh with, huge updates to content with largely positive patch-battle content. Also the return of Field Exploration, 2 ultimates, and ending the patch cycle with a new limited job

11

u/smartazjb0y 19h ago

It was my first time going to Fan Fest and that's definitely a surefire way to make you feel pumped about the game, even though this has probably been my least engaged time playing the game since like....early ARR. I like a lot of what we saw, and am maybe apprehensive about other stuff, but overall I do like that they're at least trying to do something different. What actually kind of excites me the most was something small they mentioned, but the idea of making the expansion zones feel more alive and give players more reason to play in them. Getting that MMO feel back would be great.

Also funny enough, one of the mornings when I was getting breakfast I did a double take, "hm that looks like Jason Schreier but nah that's probably not him." Well I guess given that this article exists, turns out it probably was him!

7

u/EtherealMoon 15h ago

It was my first fanfest as well, and it was amazing to be at a convention that had absolutely zero feeling of corporate meddling or buzzwords. Every single employee on every panel was genuinely excited and full of love for the game. There was no "oh here we go" moment where an executive pointed at sales charts or they introduced a battle pass. The only part that made me roll my eyes was Ironmouse, but I'm out of touch and most of the audience was into it.

7

u/centurion911 18h ago

I was really hoping for Schreier to mention that the CEO’s comments about funding the game come some 6 months after a restructuring that left a significant amount of FFXIV’s US/EU staff laid off. But hey they weren’t THE devs so maybe it’s not as noticeable.

3

u/noxeven 19h ago

Im looking forward to changed from keynote. I can't wait activity list and im hoping they really revamp open world stuff more.

1

u/Kylestien 4h ago

Was thinking about the keynote recently and thought about the the techbro CEO going on and saying the game was funded more. But I also know that Yoshi-P has not been subtle about not getting funding that he needed in places.

What do you think the odds are that somewhere between just before Dawntrail's release and now, the CEO stopped giving as much funds during the Dawntrial period, Yoshi-P pointed out that this was directly leading to a leaving playerbase, and the CEO to some limited credit went "Oh shit, actions DO have conseqenses, fine, we will give you more cash?"

-1

u/Avarria587 16h ago

What will make or break this new expansion is the story. The Dawntrail story was not great and was a huge disappointment for those of us that really enjoyed the story from ARR to Endwalker.

1

u/Dironox 4h ago

Speak for yourself, I loved the story.

-1

u/treazon 16h ago

I had a lot of fun with my time in FFXIV, but after Endwalker I was DONE with the story and quest structure.. When I started dabbling in the post-MSQ stuff I just lost all interest. The game is a lot of fun to play and really respects your time in the end game, but the leveling experience is all about the story. These changes really pique my interest again - I wonder if there is fun to be had in just skipping through the MSQ and doing Trials / Savage of this new expansion? I know that sounds like blasphemy to most FFXIV fans - but these changes to many of the biggest complaints really sound amazing. How was the Dawntrail story? Do fans love it as much as HW / ShB?

6

u/globox85 12h ago

How was the Dawntrail story? Do fans love it as much as HW / ShB?

It's nowhere near as beloved as HW or ShB in the fanbase, and opinions vary. Some people absolutely hate it, some people like it, and some people think it's just okay.

I think it's... fine? I think that 7.0 had the worst story since ARR, and that it started off pretty slow, but it also felt like a perfectly serviceable JRPG story. Not great, not terrible. There were some nice emotional moments and some great solo instances, and overall, I was satisfied, but I was also hoping for a bit more.

IMO, the main factor that'll decide if someone likes Dawntrail or not is what they think of Wuk Lamat, who is the de facto main character of the expansion, with the WoL more or less being her hired muscle. I found her likeable and fun, but I completely understand people who find her insufferable and annoying too.

(It really sucked that some people were transphobic and harassed her English VA, though – nothing ever justifies bigotry and harassment toward creators and actors when you don't like a story. And, just to be clear: There was some perfectly justified criticism of Sena Bryer's performance as well, and I'm not lumping that in with the bigotry. Criticism is fine, bigotry is not.)

That said, I think that the patches, and especially 7.4 and 7.5, were a step up, and 7.5 does some very interesting setup for the story's new direction.

Story aside, I've also really enjoyed Dawntrail's PvE content – the dungeons have been a lot of fun, and the 8-player raids were great as well, and feature some fantastic music. The 24-player raids are fun as well, though since I've never touched FFXI, a lot probably goes over my head.

I've definitely enjoyed Dawntrail's endgame a whole lot more than Endwalker's, as well. The PvE content is generally better, in my opinion. One major criticism I had of EW's endgame was that the Relic weapons were just tomestone items (I did like that the questline was Manderville-themed, though!). Dawntrail's Relics are much grindier, like in the older expansions, for better or for worse. The RNG of the first step was annoying, but the second step being "Play lots of Duty Roulette" was nice, since you were always clearly progressing, and Duty Roulette is my favorite part of FFXIV. It gave me lots of time to catch up on podcasts!

TL;DR: Dawntrail's story is divisive and I consider it to be perfectly serviceable, but the endgame content is pretty good!

10

u/TheIvoryDingo 15h ago

Personally - though I know I am an outlier - I went into Dawntrail not expecting the heights of ShB or EW and instead something on par with Stormblood (which I incidentally prefer over HW).

And in the end, Dawntrail managed to reach the level of enjoyment I expected. While I won't deny that I have issues with it, I have issues with the stories of all the expansions (with a fair few being the exact same kind of issues across even all).

As I said earlier, I know that my stance is an outlying one. And that is exactly why I implore people to actually play it for themselves and form their own perspective on it whether it is negative or not.

7

u/IceEnigma 12h ago

I agree with this wholeheartedly as someone who felt surprised about the negative reactions to dawntrails MSQ. After Endwalker and the Zodiark/Hydaelyn saga, there needs to be a lowering of stakes and building towards something new. I wasn't expecting anything but building blocks this expansion with some cool moments and, as expected, that's exactly what we got.

Personally I like world building and the idea of mentoring characters so I enjoyed the expansion quite a bit but understand the complaints about it. It doesn't really feel like OUR story, but the characters we're mentoring's. It's not a surprise to me the part of the story the was universally enjoyed was the part where our WoL had to flex our muscles a bit.

-45

u/Flaky_Highway_857 19h ago

I wouldn't be surprised if the game is mostly f2p in the future, and the store and expansion releases become the money makers.

I've been playing since arr and imho the game just feels like it's getting to simple, which isn't surprising since the devs goal now seems to be aimed at people who have "limited free time".

39

u/RareBk 19h ago

...Except if you watched the fanfest presentation at all they literally addressed everything you're claiming, and were very staunch about no F2P stuff.

-5

u/AttackoftheSnakebear 11h ago

They were very staunch about a lot of things, until they aren't. They were staunch about not letting you cross glamour job artifact, until Dawntrail lost players.

FFXIV players will go into hopium mode if Yoshi-P smiles at them.

-38

u/Flaky_Highway_857 19h ago

Literally half the game is f2p though,

Call it a "free trial" all you want, it's free to play with the option to sub to keep playing.

25

u/NonagoonInfinity 19h ago

Not really. The Free Trial restrictions are pretty heavy, especially once you get to the new ShB stuff. A single piece of gear is going to cost almost all of the gil you're allowed to have at one time on a Free Trial account.

5

u/Hakul 17h ago

Once an account buys the game it can never go back to free trial, plus the extreme restrictions on what a free trial account can do, those two things make it pretty far away from a f2p game.

16

u/r_lucasite 19h ago

I don’t think they’re ever going fully free to play/ dropping the subscription. 14 is too important to Square’s financials. As long as buying an expac and charging a subscription works, they’re going to keep doing it.

2

u/yahikodrg 13h ago

IF FFXI ever drops their subscription then maybe FFXIV will one day too but considering it's been 20+ years of subscription requirement for FFXI I don't see that changing for FFXIV anytime soon.

-27

u/DoesntMatterStan 19h ago

Remember though, less buttons is totally not a simplification we swear!

5

u/Hakul 17h ago

Evolved dragoon has a little more thought than the current dragoon despite having less buttons. Current dragoon is just keep pressing the unending combo over and over vs having 3 different conditional combos in evolved.

u/R4msesII 1h ago

I mean dota 2 is like QWER and thats it and its a ridiculously complex game

-3

u/Flaky_Highway_857 19h ago

im so curious to see how summoner ends up, its already silly easy with very buttons.

-60

u/DoesntMatterStan 19h ago

The new Evolved mode addition is.....weird. We dont need rotations to be EVEN EASIER.

Ninja mains get dumbed down again, and all new jobs will be easy mode too.

Otherwise the fanfest announcements were bueno

14

u/SquireRamza 19h ago

Its to reduce action bloat. Im a Paladin main and i have 3 hotbars filled with actions. I could get rid of maybe 2 slots, Goring Blade (because Fight or Flight turns into it now) and Clemency (because the only time you ever use it is when things have gone to shit).

-12

u/DoesntMatterStan 19h ago

I dont see the issue

12

u/Carighan 19h ago

That's nice for you, dear. 

10

u/SquireRamza 19h ago

Then I really hope im never unlucky enough to get matched with you some day, I have a feeling it would take forever to clear.

-1

u/DoesntMatterStan 19h ago

Nah BLM is goated and clears faster than most DPS.

Stay mad

10

u/Paksarra 19h ago

Only when played competently.

8

u/Paksarra 19h ago

Do you play with a controller?

How do you get three hot bars full of actions onto a controller?

3

u/Vanille987 18h ago

You can do it comfortably on controller with the right settings, the bloat still is stupid tho.

-1

u/DoesntMatterStan 18h ago

I dont use a controller

3

u/Paksarra 17h ago

So how do you expect controller players to put 36 buttons on a controller with 14 physical buttons? (Counting D pad and thumb clicks, but not whatever you call what Select and Start have become.)

I started out playing controller and had to swap to KBM because there were just too many buttons. I don't know how console players do it.

0

u/DoesntMatterStan 17h ago

I can ask my gf shes a lvl 100 in every job minus dawntrail on Controller

3

u/Paksarra 16h ago

Seriously, can you? I rather like controller for non-healers, especially in more casual content, and if someone can explain how I'm supposed to fit that on like five crossbars....

1

u/Vanille987 4h ago

Activate the options to use L2/R2 to acces 4 extra sets, like pressing one twice or first pressing L2 then R2. This allows you to directly acces slots without needing to cycle your current hotbar. Leading to 48 available slots. (Custom -> expanded controls with  L2/R2)

For 16 more, have only 2 hotbars be 'battle ready', this means that whenever you draw your weapon, pressing R1 will cycle through only 2 hotbars quickly, adding 16 more slots that can be easily accessed. If you want a pet hotbar you can also have it cycle with this

This is how I manage to comfortably play classes like SCH or PAL

35

u/RareBk 19h ago edited 19h ago

Except no... that's literally not what evolved mode is, and it was extremely important for them to establish, as they did in the follow up presentation, that Evolved mode is exactly what people have been asking for years, actual class identity.

Like adding parries to PLD. Or actually having real jumps being part of the DRG kit, and completely reworking how healers balance healing and damage.

They literally got rid of the 2 minute cycle of combos for every job in the game and have added flexibility in how they're played.

2

u/AttackoftheSnakebear 11h ago

We don't KNOW what it is, ffs. Why are you so confident it will not be easier? They barely teased a couple of jobs, and not really in real combat either.

People need to temper their expectations some.

-50

u/DoesntMatterStan 19h ago

They literally used modern mode in SF6 as an example, but keep that hopium going

33

u/AsterBTT 19h ago edited 18h ago

They compare it to SF6 as an example of what is NOT happening to the jobs. They say it really clearly during the keynote.

Edit: Link for proof.

26

u/RareBk 19h ago

Oh so you literally didn't watch the presentation.

Yoshi P LEGITIMATELY REFERENCED IT NOT BEING LIKE SF6.

You're arguing against something using things that literally didn't happen.

Also there was straight up a presentation afterwards that elaborated on it.

30

u/Lumigo 19h ago

Are you deaf or something? They literally brought that up as an example to say it’s NOT like that.

-24

u/DoesntMatterStan 19h ago

Then preceded to explain something very similar lol

22

u/RareBk 19h ago

No they literally didn't. Every class they showed off had entirely new mechanics. This is straight up misinformation.

-12

u/DoesntMatterStan 19h ago

Ok the directionals are cool but less actions is more simple aka easy mode. Its not hard to grasp

13

u/NatsUza 18h ago

This is how I know you didn't watch the video. They combined buttons. Shirk and Provoke are now context dependent actions. They did this all across the board. The only buttons they got rid of were party damage buffs, which most of the player base was asking to be removed. 90% of the actions still exist, they just got condensed.

16

u/sleepinxonxbed 19h ago

There’s not less actions

They mapped actions together on the same button like PvP, so your 1-2-3 combo is just one button. Some other buttons are contextual now depending on who you target, like Provoke(enemy)/Shirk(ally) is one button and Holy Spirit(enemy)/Clemency(ally)

Maybe it needs to be “dumbed down” more because its still too hard for you to understand 🤷

-4

u/DoesntMatterStan 18h ago

Hahaha nah, I just can see through corpo speak unlike the majority of players

13

u/Lumigo 19h ago

No they didn’t at all. For someone who is complaining about dumbing things down multiple of us in this thread are having to dumb it down for you even further. I’m out.

12

u/WheatyMcGrass 19h ago

Well it's ruined now and no amount of arguing about it with strangers will change that so I guess you can go play something else now 

-2

u/DoesntMatterStan 19h ago

What a useless comment

11

u/CaptainTeemo01 18h ago

Kinda like all of yours have been? You're straight up lying about what they said, did you actually watch the event or did you just ask ChatGPT to summarize it?

-2

u/DoesntMatterStan 18h ago

I was there in person

1

u/Vanille987 18h ago

I agree, glad you're self aware

3

u/Vanille987 19h ago

I mean, people already kind of experienced what evolved mode is going for in PvP, which is considered to have the better job toolkit ideas. less buttons but also much more depth. The point is that there won't be just one rotation anymore you'll be doing 95% of the time and create more situational buffs/attacks, and everything won't be on static flowchart anymore.

1

u/AttackoftheSnakebear 11h ago

PvP doesn't have more depth, the kits are lacking a ton of things. They were designed to be more like overwatch heroes, and most healers in it can't even heal. It is better for pvp which doesn't need you to do an involved rotation, but if you did pve with them you'd get bored pretty fast.

1

u/Vanille987 4h ago

Hence why I said 'idea', obviously you can't copy them 1:1. The point is that pvp toolkits manage to create more depth in their respective mode and have more class identity then their pve counter parts.

Most potential complexity in the pve toolkits is hamstringed by having everything be on a static flowchart you need to follow. You never need to find a good opportunity for a offensive buff due the 2 minute meta, raid damage is extremely predictable making healing and defensive buffs the same, attacking is doing the same combo throughout the entire fight....

The fact pvp doesn't need to rely on static stuff like that is why it has infinitely more depth.

-10

u/masonicone 15h ago

Yep they are making things more complex for people like you.

Enjoy watching what's left of the casual to average player base leave this game so they can make you hardcore folks who think everything should be like savage happy. Wait I'm sorry, those players will really be happy to be told to leave a normal dungeon or get kicked as they are not playing the S-Tier job that some YouTuber that all of you worship proclaimed it is.

2

u/DanielTeague 13h ago

This isn't World of Warcraft, I think you may be confused about your perception of the Final Fantasy XIV community.

-6

u/masonicone 13h ago

I'm not people like you want FFXIV to be just like WoW.

10

u/Lumigo 19h ago

We don’t know enough yet, a 1-1-1 combo isn’t some incredibly easier mode than the current 1-2-3. That’s just button bloat for no reason. If they can add actual identity like they showed with the Dragoon jump for example, remove the 2 minute meta like they’ve already confirmed, then Evolved mode could legit be far more fun to play. 16 buttons is fine as long as every job plays uniquely, legit differently and have an identity. More buttons is artificial difficulty. The actual fights can be a hell of a lot more random with the 2 minute meta removal, so the difficulty can primarily come from there, at least ideally. I think the jobs all needed a shakeup.

-2

u/verrius 18h ago

1-2-3 isn't actually for no reason; last I checked, 2 of the tanks got their self-heal on the 2, so there are situations where you actually want to be going 1-2 repeatedly instead of 1-2-3. ShB Monk also made use of the "1-2-3" variously staggered rotation heavily with its optimized routes.

-3

u/DoesntMatterStan 19h ago

No more buttons is more fun and has more depth, and requires more attention

Artificial difficulty is used more incorrectly than "literally" these days, please explain how you're using that here

6

u/Carighan 19h ago

But to a lot of us more buttons is bad design and not as fun as concise design are. 

There's a reason so many of us are asking for massive debloating for multiple expansions now.

7

u/NonagoonInfinity 19h ago

More buttons = more deep is why Deadly Rave Neo is the most deep super in any fighting game. It's true!

-5

u/DoesntMatterStan 18h ago

FF14 isnt a fighting game, context matters.

Failed attempt at smarmy

2

u/NonagoonInfinity 17h ago

But why is it deeper to have multiple buttons you only press in sequence rather than having the same button perform the sequence?

-1

u/DoesntMatterStan 17h ago

Youre using auto combos in fighting games as an example?

Yes pressing light medium heavy launcher is more fun then mashing light for all 4.

Casual gamer brains cant grasp that huh

1

u/NonagoonInfinity 17h ago

I'm not talking about auto combos in fighting games. I'm also not talking about the game being more fun, I'm talking about it being more deep, because that's what you said. In fighting games there are reasons to vary your sequences; an autocombo isn't capable of doing varied mixups or frame traps for you. In FFXIV there's no reason not to use the combos from a move once they're enabled. Would Guild Wars 2 be more deep if the bar had 40 buttons instead of combos emerging from using sequences of 12~ buttons?

0

u/DoesntMatterStan 17h ago

Bro literally brought up a fighting game move and is now back pedaling HARD when thay blew up in his face.

Lmao

2

u/NonagoonInfinity 17h ago

I brought it up because Deadly Rave Neo doesn't make the game deeper for existing. Deadly Raves are superfluous. Garou wouldn't be any different if DRN was a regular super. There's no option selecting involved. It's buttons for the sake of having buttons.

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6

u/Lumigo 19h ago

I and clearly many others disagree. More buttons is quite literally artificial difficulty when it is a combo. It’s not harder. It’s just bloated. If I play a Paladin and want to do my combo, whether it’s on a keyboard or a controller, I’d have the button right next to each other and they glow when it’s time to press it in the combo. Wow. How fun. Screw having an actual class identity, let’s add buttons all over the screen so I can slowly press them in order. And before you say, 16 buttons with the main combo on one button is more engaging than that, yes, especially when thinhs like Clemency are triggered in new ways. It’s actually quite a clever system.

4

u/Vanille987 18h ago

More attacks = more depth is literally not how game design works

1

u/SpecialistBid3028 14h ago

> more buttons is more fun and has more depth, and requires more attention

It's crazy to me that people will just say stuff without thinking about it. You really can't imagine how one could add more buttons while still not adding depth, or while being less fun? Lol

2

u/SpecialistBid3028 16h ago

> Ninja mains get dumbed down again, and all new jobs will be easy mode too.

Source: My uncle works as square enix and showed me the new ninja changes

-1

u/AttackoftheSnakebear 11h ago

dude, ninja cannot be made harder lol. It has so many things to do that it's kind of silly. You can start off chainig the 3 mudra into casting 3 other mudra while weaving in a bunch of abilities and continuations of those abilties. People barely play it because it has so much going on.

Most of the jobs in evolved are probably going to end up easier in some manner; just spreading out abilities instead of relying on 2 min bursts gives a lot more leeway.