FFXIV Endwalker's Post-Expansion Drought Hit A Little Too Hard | MMORPG.com

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FFXIV Endwalker's Post-Expansion Drought Hit A Little Too Hard  | MMORPG.com

Victoria looks back on Final Fantasy's Endwalker arc, and looks towards Dawntrail, with a heaping dose of longing during the period between.

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Wargfoot

I find it odd to bemoan the lack of grind; valid point as it may be for those interested in this title. The game isn't for me, but I'm looking for player interaction or ways to progress and not a new dungeon with a new currency I need to farm to get gear to move onto the next grind.

The additional dress up features, while appealing to the base, is a good thing for so many but an absolute turn off for me. Why not just shop online at high end department stores and save screen shots of nice clothes - pretend you're the beautiful model wearing them.

While this is probably the most polished game I've ever played (high praise), it is for me a collection of all the worst design decisions possible rolled into a huge mess.

Sovrath

Wargfoot said:

I find it odd to bemoan the lack of grind; valid point as it may be for those interested in this title. The game isn't for me, but I'm looking for player interaction or ways to progress and not a new dungeon with a new currency I need to farm to get gear to move onto the next grind.

The additional dress up features, while appealing to the base, is a good thing for so many but an absolute turn off for me. Why not just shop online at high end department stores and save screen shots of nice clothes - pretend you're the beautiful model wearing them.

While this is probably the most polished game I've ever played (high praise), it is for me a collection of all the worst design decisions possible rolled into a huge mess.

I'm all for additional "dress up" features because it helps players make the character they want to be.

One of the things I do in any Elder Scrolls game is immediately look for the best armor and weapons mods because I want to have a unique character. Armor, weapons, it all helps ground the player to the character and then to the world they inhabit.

To that end I absolutely HATE (this is my issue mind you) how your character is always walking around in their armor. I remember watching a cut scene in Dragon Age Origins where the antagonist (can't remember his name) was drinking beer (or whatever) in front of the fire and having a conversation with his daughter ... in full armor.

Why would this happen?

I like the idea that one's character has clothes to fit where they are and what they are doing. Probably part of the reason why I have one of my characters change clothes in Elder Scrolls Online (I'm a middling fan at best) when they smith. I especially do this in Skyrim as there are actually smithing clothes.

Now granted, I understand that a good amount of players don't really interface with games on this level but for those who do, it's very important.

Wargfoot

Sovrath said:

I like the idea that one's character has clothes to fit where they are and what they are doing. Probably part of the reason why I have one of my characters change clothes in Elder Scrolls Online (I'm a middling fan at best) when they smith. I especially do this in Skyrim as there are actually smithing clothes.

Now granted, I understand that a good amount of players don't really interface with games on this level but for those who do, it's very important.

Something way ahead of its time, Ultima Online, did this organically.

Because ore was heavy you can bet the miners/smiths were typically running around in shorts or very light clothing.  You could often identify one on sight because of this - it doesn't make sense to mine in full plate.  

That is the problem with dress up, there is no relationship between form and function.  Wearing full plate to smith is impossible and stupid.  So is wearing a silly negligee to a dungeon crawl.  That's why the Barbie dress up games will never appeal to me - they're just too stupid to believe and it destroys immersion.

Wargfoot

Sovrath said:

 I remember watching a cut scene in Dragon Age Origins where the antagonist (can't remember his name) was drinking beer (or whatever) in front of the fire and having a conversation with his daughter ... in full armor.

Because it is a doll dress up game.

ShinyFlygon

First, I have to say PUH-LEEEEASE. If you have played out all of the content in an MMO, simply stop subscribing for a while. It's not the end of the world, for you or for the company. There are tons of other games to play, so it's not like anyone is hurting for electronic entertainment in this day and age.

Second, and more important for FFXIV specifically, this lacuna is exactly what was needed to attract new and lapsed players into the game. Normally, when the content is flowing fast, it's easy for an outsider to feel like there's no point in signing up (or returning) because it would take months to catch up. Now that people actually HAVE months to catch up, that barrier feels a lot less daunting.

It's purely anecdotal, of course, but my impression is that there are a lot more sprouts and flowers next to people's names right now than one normally sees. I think perhaps Dawntrail has struck a note with the gaming public (much more strongly than WoW's War Within), and allowing everyone to catch their breath before the launch is a genius move on the part of Square Enix.

ValdemarJ

Sovrath said:

Wargfoot said:

I find it odd to bemoan the lack of grind; valid point as it may be for those interested in this title. The game isn't for me, but I'm looking for player interaction or ways to progress and not a new dungeon with a new currency I need to farm to get gear to move onto the next grind.

The additional dress up features, while appealing to the base, is a good thing for so many but an absolute turn off for me. Why not just shop online at high end department stores and save screen shots of nice clothes - pretend you're the beautiful model wearing them.

While this is probably the most polished game I've ever played (high praise), it is for me a collection of all the worst design decisions possible rolled into a huge mess.

I'm all for additional "dress up" features because it helps players make the character they want to be.

One of the things I do in any Elder Scrolls game is immediately look for the best armor and weapons mods because I want to have a unique character. Armor, weapons, it all helps ground the player to the character and then to the world they inhabit.

To that end I absolutely HATE (this is my issue mind you) how your character is always walking around in their armor. I remember watching a cut scene in Dragon Age Origins where the antagonist (can't remember his name) was drinking beer (or whatever) in front of the fire and having a conversation with his daughter ... in full armor.

Why would this happen?

I like the idea that one's character has clothes to fit where they are and what they are doing. Probably part of the reason why I have one of my characters change clothes in Elder Scrolls Online (I'm a middling fan at best) when they smith. I especially do this in Skyrim as there are actually smithing clothes.

Now granted, I understand that a good amount of players don't really interface with games on this level but for those who do, it's very important.

This is a neat thing Starfield does. You can choose to hide the spacesuit (armor) when in places where it would be appropriate to wear clothes. Additionally the helmet has a separate toggle for breathable atmospheres. So you can still wear the space suit, but if the atmosphere is okay, then the helmet won't show.

I feel like there are a couple other games I've played that had casual clothes in town or whatever, at least as an option of some kind, but I'm drawing a blank. Starfield is the most recent I can think of.

Kirzan

I think any product, past 10 years, has to start getting a bit more creative. They had a really impressive run, to be fair. In the sense that, in 10 years, they have almost never shifted away from the exact same formula, patch-to-patch. X.0 adds this, X.1 adds that, etc... Let's say from HW and on. Others have tried this, like Rift, but with less content and a lot more bugs, and it just crumbled very quickly. So it speaks to the quality of the content throughout.

That being said, 10 years later, do I really want a deep dungeon? Do I really want a new-but-same'ish treasure maps dungeon that rewards the same kind of thing. You know treasure maps would serve zero purpose if the game wasn't mostly played by glam super-enjoyers.

But I'm ready for something new. There needs to be more, or very different designs going forward. "New" dungeons are new, visually, but not really. It's a corridor, you sprint, pull it all, aoe, fight a boss with mechanics X and Y, repeat 3 times. It would be fun if gear mattered and was interesting in and of itself, not just glam with the same stats from the same source of the same numbered boss/book in the tier.

I dunno, I've been done with XIV's release threadmill. It's probably not that popular an opinion, but I'd love to be surprised by the game again.

SenbonFan

The best and easiest advice for a "Content drought":

Play a different game until you want to come back to the game. In fact, with XIV YoshiP encourages it because he wants you to not be bored. It is EXTREMELY easy with an MMO for the content to start blending together and stop feeling fresh, even if it is in fact "new" in the sense you haven't done it before.

Neoyoshi

I feel like this is one of the big reasons why we need a little return-to-form on certain pieces of content; like 'Relics' - and i don't mean ARR relic-return-to-form; that can stay in the past where it belongs.

We need field content like Eureka/SaveTheQueen to come back; it's content like this that helps stretch out those lulls a bit more; especially if the carrot on the stick is positioned on the string properly.

khinzaw

And a Deep Dungeon is… well, it’s that. We haven’t had a new one since the original, Palace of the Dead years and years ago.

I guess someone didn't do Heaven on High in Stormblood.

Sovrath

Wargfoot said:

Sovrath said:

 I remember watching a cut scene in Dragon Age Origins where the antagonist (can't remember his name) was drinking beer (or whatever) in front of the fire and having a conversation with his daughter ... in full armor.

Because it is a doll dress up game.

I think it has more to do with lazy decisions.

Mensur

last time I logged. I stayed in Limsa and idled with other players the the plaza for a few hours and went offline again.

Scot

khinzaw said:

I guess someone didn't do Heaven on High in Stormblood.

Welcome to the forums!

Scot

Well I have seen players post on here that they have too much to do in FFXIV and many other MMORPG's for that matter. To big a feast or a famine it seems.

Warlyx

add M+ system already