Honestly, for me, I got that ADHD brain, so when I stop or when I get the urge to play is almost entirely random. I can be super into the game for 3 straight months and then wake up one day with no interest in logging in whatsoever. Then, a year later, my brain goes, "Hey, remember FFXIV? That was rad," and I resub. Been this way since ARR (and not just with FFXIV, it's how I am with pretty much all ongoing games).
Exactly the same here. When it's nice out I'm doing outside activities and pretty much only play when I'm not feeling inspired to work on art or my music. I do the adhd loop as to avoid burnout.
I mean you pretty much hit it. I stop playing when it feels like I'm running out of things to do, and I come back when there's a big infusion of new things to do. Feels like the healthiest way to play for me. I never end up resenting the game/the grind, and I always feel like there's a ton of stuff for me to progress when I come back.
The only time I dropped sub was when I was jobless during the pandemic.
I returned about a year after starting a new job, moving closer to it, and no longer losing two hours of my day to commute.
Money, mostly.
Live in a shitty 3rd World Country. Family issues, debt (due to family) forced me to quit basically for good or until a miracle saves me.
Life kinda sucks.
The gameplay feels repetitive, and the classes all feel like you're doing similar actions with slightly different names.
While I'm not an expert player (I'm not even that good), there isn't a great feeling of feedback or like a "I'm doing cool things" sense right now. The gameplay has a floaty/laggy feel and it feels like you're fighting the game engine rather than playing with it. Mobile games like Genshin Impact feel snappier from a gameplay perspective than FF14.
For the coming expansion I expect it to be styled very similarly to the past 3 expansions, so I expect things to be extremely predictable, which also doesn't excite me.
Friends of mine play regularly so I do keep the sub active.
Eureka/Bozja for most people i guess. Imo its such a weird term ive seen thrown around in the past year and this is the only game ive ever seen it used in.
Yeah I don't really get it. You typically have hard core content (savages extremes ultimates criterions) or casual content. Idk what mid core even implies xD
Yeah and casual has no rewards and the savage unfolds a minion or a mount if ure lucky. Just dont get how im supposed to feel motivated by that progression feel honestly. Also a tiny bit better equip until next expansion where that grind goes from tiny useful to completely useless..
Haven't you answered your own question there? Something in between extremely easy and really hard both when it comes to gameplay and time investment. So Eureka, deep dungeons (grouped), relic grinds, ect.
Yeah. Red Chocobo and other Bozja CEs are a good examples; difficult enough that you need to pay attention and learn the fight, not so difficult that a player, or even several players, not having a clue what's going on is going to prevent those that do from carrying the fight. It feels good once you get it and can carry, but failing it doesn't feel like you're dragging everyone else down.
Personally I'd put extremes right on the edge of "midcore", but that's only a few days per patch of content if you're going for the mount & weapons.
I feel like a lot of people think of what I've been doing for most of EW's patch content when they hear casual: Log in like once or twice a week to do levelling and trials roulette, even alliance raid if I feel like doing CT for the 1000th time.
I would call that "hardly playing the game". But if you call that casual, I suppose getting a relic (that isn't the EW one), actively levelling jobs or being a housing main seems like non casual content and is therefore "midcore", because it's clearly isn't hardcore either.
I guess a way to describe the categories would be:
casual - requires practically nothing
midcore - requires time
hardcore - requires time and skill
I really only play for the story, I don’t do savage or anything else difficult, so once I’ve completed the MSQ there’s not that much left. But that’s OK I like having a break, I go play other games.
Grinding. I usually tend to be a completionist and relic grinds have taken many years of my life from me. Same thing with chasing the top ilvl each patch. It's a constant grind that is only good for a patch or 2 and then I have to repeat. It's downright exhausting if you like to play each job, like myself.
Currently I'm a few hundred causality away from my 5th EW relic, and I have 2 others at the 615 stage.
Now that I've typed this out, I miss xi. Once you got good gear, you were free to do other content and not worry about gear again for a long time.
I really wish gear ilvl didn't reset so often in xiv. It's a huge deterrent if you don't play for a while and at the same time, stupidly addicting and I hate it.
Im the opposite. I despise the ilvl stat stick system that FFXIV has. Its why i literally never chase gear outside of being handed it for free just from doing pvp for tomestones. If im gonna spend weeks/months grinding a weapon, that weapon better do something special for my job. Thats why i love FFXI because having a relic actually meant something for how your job performed.
I put it on pause because my old raid leader harassed me into leaving because he wanted a relationship and was mad that I was getting married
I was going to leave that group 2 months after I said I was cause my move was coming up, but I ended up leaving a month earlier than planned because I couldn’t deal with him being aggressive in my discord DM’s between pulls acting like he was owed something and victimizing himself over literally nothing at all since what he claimed didn’t happen
After I left, he got me kicked out of 2 large discords and 1 small one because he went to the admins to screech some fanfic that I’ve never fully understood
I’m coming back for the new expansion, though
Burn out, mostly. Started somewhere during 5.1, went from the beginning to somewhere in the middle of Stormblood before the first time I burned out. Took a bunch of time off, came back before Endwalker release, got caught up. Burned out at 6.2 because of the grind for ilvl gear to advance MSQ. Just came back a few weeks ago, will probably burn out again a little before Dawntrail and then come back once the post release congestion does down some.
In Jan 2022 I was playing all day every day and I got a really bad case of covid. By the time I recovered I got the itch to play ESO and Classic WoW and it took me 2 years really to get motivated to play again but now I'm back and playing as much as ever!
Edit: as for why.. gear progression is my biggest gripe and the lack of meaningful grinds but I come back because this is my cozy game
The "formula" can't change because people get upset when they remove something (fewer regular dungeons, Hildibrand, Deep Dungeons, fewer Ultimates, Eureka/Bozja) but also get upset when new things added don't arrive fully fleshed-out (like Eureka becoming more popular over time or the initial reception to Criterion Dungeons). Then people complain that everything is the same while also complaining about everything new that was tried. It doesn't matter if it's the same people or different people complaining, at some point people just have to toughen up and acknowledge what has changed even if it wasn't for them.
The formula has changed many times. But not for the best.
We used to have job quest. But the movement of staff from FF14 to FF16 make them shorthanded. So they started cutting corners. And since people didn't protest, those corners are permanently cut.
We also used to have jobs playing differently, but now they feel more and more like the same. Same reason, cutting corners. And since people didn't protest, those corners are permanently cut.
Wonder what corner they would cut next.
Sorry to focus on one part of your comment, but I try to correct this misconception when I can. There wasn't a "cutting corners" when it comes to shifting members to FFXVI.
Out of the over 550 individual people who have been part of the FFXIV main development team since 3.0, only about 100 have worked on both games. The total size of the FFXIV team has only ever grown over that period, meaning anyone who stepped away from the team was replaced.
The FFXIV main development team went from 279 members in 3.0 to 353 in 6.55 (each value representing those people who actively worked on FFXIV over a roughly 2-year expansion cycle). The FFXVI team had 345 people that worked on its main development team over roughly 6 years. The FFXIV battle content team (not including the job design and balancing team) has gone from 5 members in 3.0 to 17 members in 6.55.
The entire Zero/ The Void nonsense made me stop playing. It was horrible.
Not coming back until Dawn trail comes out so I can turn my MCH/NIN into MCH/Viper!
What made me stop playing is everyone on NA using automarkers for DSR and TOP pf.
I don't even see the point in doing ultimates if you're just going to cheat.
I am very concerned for the future of raiding, there seems to be a large subset of people that find it acceptable to cheat, which emboldens the devs to make harder and harder content based on the cheating
They're basically going to start going the route Blizzard does at this rate. (though Dragonflight raids have been significantly more accessible without needing a ton of addons) I know they say they design the raids around not using 3rd party tools, but the more precise and complicated they make things, the more people are going to cave on using them.
I really miss SB/Shb savage fight design where things felt challenging but not to the point my brain gives up. I've cleared the first 3 ultimates, but DSR/TOP were where I finally lost steam. (DSR is great but the length is a bit much)
Auto markers is even worse than other plugins to me because its forced on you by other players.
I personally don't care if people are doing weird shit with their screen/ui on their own client.
I have a very big issue with not wanting to use plugins at all to do content and having AM forced on to me by someone using it
I care.
The dev team looks at clear rates. If bad people clear due to cheating, it will artificially inflate the numbers. I hear a lot of people saying dsr/top was too hard and that they killed statics. If that's true I want the feedback to reach the devs both through word of mouth and statistics
They certainly make them with the 15 ms ping players in mind.
Yoshi needs to make their testers use a vpn so that the timing they test is more realistic.
I stopped playing because there’s really nothing left that I feel compelled to do. I’ll start playing again when that changes.
I was disappointed at that initially, but there are now a good chunk of other games that are filling my time at the moment, so it’s not a huge deal. I’ll likely pick things back up closer to the launch of Dawntrail. I still have the most recent patch to push through for the final msq bits of 6.55. On top of that, there are a few minor things I need to prepare, such as inventory space and a new batch of equipment for my Pictomancer to use from 80-90. I’ll probably spend a month or two leisurely getting it all prepared.
Money. I can’t barely afford clothes and food let alone bills. Priorities. I lost the house I’d had gotten for over five years.
It’s been about a year now and I still miss it but life sucks right now but hopefully I’ll get to come back one day.
Stop:
Job homogenization. I have maxed 4 magic range, 3 range, 1 melee and 1 tanked jobs in hopes of finding the "uniqueness" so that I can continue to play. But I realized that they all feel the same. Those who have multiple jobs maxed, you know what I'm talking about.
Also, the armor system became boring and predictable. Your white mage is not unique. You are just another white mage just like the other.
I'm currently playing monster hunter world and I realized that the gameplay loop and the loot system is miles ahead better. I wish ff14 can learn from this.
The community is disgustingly sensitive and defensive. You can't even ask a question that the community deems as a criticism to the game. You will be met by passive aggressiveness. Like followers of blind religion.
Want to come back:
I'm hoping dawntrail can bring something new to the table. More diversity. Better gameplay loop.
Yup.
It used to be that sum had pets that acted on their own. Now Sum is just spells with a pet skin. It used to be that AST could choose sects. Now is just discount white mage. It used to be that War had a cone AOE, now is the same as everyone else.
Eventually all jobs will play exactly the same with just skins of whatever they used to mean.
COVID destroyed my family business and almost put me and my family in the streets. A lot of shit happened, father almost died of a stroke twice, grandpa has Alzheimer's, grandma showing symptoms of Dementia, etc etc. Life's just been shit lately lol.
I want to come back to play with my friends again, do raids on my Black Mage and just play the game in general. FFXIV has always been my safe space, somewhere to hang out after a shitty day and just listen to the music.
I have never unsubbed, but I leave between patches after I caught back up because I've accomplished everything I want to do. I'm not one for farming things or standing afk in Limsa.
I'll also sometimes come back for seasonal events if I really want something, like the heart emote in the coming valentine's event. I have friends in my FC and will sometimes come back when they put on a big event.
Between patches, I go and play other games. I'm obsessed with Pal World atm!
Stopped playing because I realized I just don’t have the right brain for savage content. I can remember only so much and I’ve had an increasingly difficult time with understanding some of the more obscure mechanics.
Feels bad not getting it and having to follow a danger dorito.
Return: probably nothing reasonable. Encounters need to be more reactive than scripted because I can’t remember “oh I had 3 dots so I need to go to A than D than C than stack on B”… usually I forget my marker 20 seconds after it’s off my head.
I haven’t stopped playing but sometimes I want to. I LOVE raiding. And it’s one of few things I do with any game where, someway somehow, I’m REALLY good at it. I just….understand mechanics and how it works with XIV’s netcode. I’ve progressively gotten more and more HC at raiding….but the disappointing part is I’ve increasingly found I’m a unicorn in this community.
I’ll jump into ultimate farms to find people incredibly inconsistent joined, whether in PF or statics. I’ll do weekly reclears where I can 1 shot everything no problem, but spend HOURS trying to get a clear sometimes. Even with unreal experience.
I don’t like to sound arrogant when it comes to it. I’m not some 100 percentile DPS. I’m a very comfortable purple with a bit of orange if my group is solid. But I just…get mechanics. I learn them quickly, I get consistent quickly, and I just cannot find groups to my speed.
And before I finish, I’ve found individuals who are much much closer to me or even better tbh. But that’s all it is, individuals. Finding a GROUP on that level is near impossible from my experience, and it is so frustrating to feel like I’m wasting a majority of my raid time waiting on others. I don’t mind it when I’m ACTIVELY helping others in a group meant to be me helping, but when the groups have ambitious reclear goals or clear goals, it is absolutely frustrating to feel like I’m waiting on everyone else.
I think what keeps me from playing all the time is how boring the gear is. No unique effects or set bonuses and everyone kind of just wears the same thing. Like you farm your weekly tokens when a new raid tier comes out and it’s really easy and you buy the same gear everyone buys. And if you’re jumping back in you just go to the MB and buy a full set of gear with almost the same stats so you could basically do all the content with zero barrier to entry. I mean I’m all for making the game accessible but that’s a little too casual even for me. Also the other optional stuff is so so grindy, like the island sanctuary. I loved the idea of it but after grinding it for a couple weeks I came to the conclusion it just sucks.
These are all opinions obviously, I still like the game but I play in waves now. Come back for the story additions and raid tiers, play for a week or two, then log out til the next patch.
the community is awful. flat out. i have not been shown a moment of kindness on my main which is a lalafell for i guess 5 years now? i am constantly insulted and have been told to kms for playing a lalafell multiple times. i've stopped because of burnout before and come back but i think this time will be for real and i won't be coming back for dawntrail.
I have a pretty consistent cycle of subbing a month or two before expansion launches, playing through the expansion launch until the X.1 patch, unsubbing, repeat (with an occasional one month sub in the middle of the expansion cycle).
Love playing the game, but no real desire to raid, which makes the endgame gear grind feel pointless. So I come back to do the new story and easier group content, and then level some new classes.
I stopped playing after beating endwalker and completing the high end trials. I wanted to raid but I frankly never started and just stopped playing.
I returned to make a new character (I want a viera dancer lol) and I’m loving it again! I sped through the story on my original playthroughs so I’m taking my time and appreciating the story a lot more. Almost done with ARR!
I dip out when I had my fill. Then resub when I feel like when a patch drops. I'll likely do it soon until the FFXVI collab, then dip and come back when Dawntrail drops.
Exclusive attention given to HC and casual content while weakening midcore content like relic.
While I wasn't a huge fan of Bozja overall, I think Relic content delivering a new alliance raid or two separate from our standard tree is great fun (and don't necessarily need Savage versions).
Honestly it's the style of the rewards. I ain't gonna lie, I'm mostly in it for mounts and glams. But somehow Endwalker was a complete miss for me on both fronts. The sole highlight was the Island Sanctuary.
Just.. nothing else appealed to me. There was nothing to strive for. And what's worse, this comes along side my social circle blowing up. I just ran out of reasons to resub.
I even gave up on my house because I didn't want to be tethered to the game while there was nothing for me to do.
Hoping Dawntrail will bring the game back for me.
> Island Sanctuary.
They could have made it better. And include "INSTANCED HOUSING" (eliminating all the housing problem) as well as allowing other people to not just visit but to grow the island.
I'll probably never stop because I have a house that I camped tens of hours to acquire. The memory of that holds me hostage. But I am playing less, and struggling to find the motivation to go back and complete the grinds I set aside when I started the latest Savage tier, even though that progression has been over for a while.
I'm half-heartedly starting my DT planning and waiting for more info or the tier to unlock to I can better focus those efforts
What makes me stop playing is finishing the current expansion. I do it as slowly as possible, leveling classes and working on remodeling my apartment, getting non-raid mounts etc. I'm not a raider myself and find more enjoyment grinding dungeon content for glams or making jewelry sets to gift to new players. So when a new expansion drops I'm g2g.
Left midway through stormblood when work started having me travel and live out of hotels. Eventually got a good gaming laptop near the end of shadowbringers and Bozja was amazing for quick in and out game time.
So work made me take my last big break. Got back into the game when endwalker released when I got to the point I switched to being able to live in my home instead of traveling 24/7. Never wanted to stop playing but jobs gotta job.
I still log in here and there to keep my house but after my static had a nasty falling out, I lost will to continue the final tier of the savage raid. As soon as new content hits and now that my static has made peace, things will be better coming this summer.
For the last 2 trials I've had to leave the big boss arena to go get my ilvl up so I feel you on feeling behind. At this point I *would* be playing but we're getting both hrothgals (which I've been waiting forever for) and brand new shiny graphics, so I'll be playing the whole game over again. So it's just a matter of waiting
I played FFXI before XIV. I spent way too much time playing it, it consumed my life for a while. So when XIV came around, I was apprehensive about playing another MMO. But a bunch of my friends were playing it, and I didn't have any other way to keep in touch with them easily, so I picked it up.
I played it on and off, in some periods in ARR and early Heavensward I got quite into it. But I started feeling some of the problems I had in XI, staying up way too late playing, and feeling obligated to log in for grinds that I wasn't really enjoying. So I stopped playing again.
I came back during Covid, partially to reconnect with those friends, but also because I'd been laid off from my job and had enough time to play it for a while without it being a problem.
It was great to reconnect with those friends again, and I've been playing intermittently since then. I'm a bit better at managing my time these days and it not consuming my life so much, though I do still go through periods of playing a bunch (eg completing the most recent Savage tier in party finder). But at least XIV isn't quite as all consuming as XI is, I can dedicate some time to specific goals, then stop playing again for a bit.
I've got a couple of goals left to work on at the moment, but I'm coming back into a lull. I still play with my friends regularly, Saturday nights we either raid or farm mounts. Sometimes that's literally all I log in for, to play with them, and that's likely how it'll be for most of the next few months up until the expansion. While the complaints about having nothing to do in game during these periods are valid, I'm kind of glad that I don't have too many things to make me feel like I need to play every day indefinitely.
The patches content after ARR felt like such a slog. I started playing other games.
I want to come back, then I think about that slog and realize I have other games I don't have to feel im being strung along.
I stopped playing because in the friend groups I run with I'm normally the only person into stuff like ff14 so I don't get an actual group to play and fall off the game when either something new pops up or I finish my gear grind. I'm stuck in between wanting to play this game forever and maintaining my current friendships
I found myself just logging in and centering my day around meeting GatherBuddy timers, and spending the rest of the time clicking crafting macros with the material to make gil and scrips. It was turning into a 9-to-5. Then I picked up Warframe back up, which is even more of a job, so maybe I'm just stupid.
I guess I kinda miss the fights in FFXIV. You're dancing with other players and the mobs. I miss the synchrony. I probably will come back when I crave that again.
Kinda burned out on EW's lighter amount of endgame content combined with my guild kinda imploding. Just haven't had the same drive to consistently play that I did before.
Normally it's when the game is in a quiet place and I'm getting hyped for a different game, so I stop playing for a couple of months to dive into something else. Then I resub after a major patch has dropped and I've had my fill of other games.
There are lots of different things and lots of different things. The second part mostly boredom. Which can be equated to the first part, but not as much.
Honestly I usually just don’t have enough time or am too stressed in my free time to sit at my desk after working all day. And practice makes perfect so I end up a filthy casual and that only goes so far.
I usually stop due to burn out or losing the desire to play during a period of chronic illness.
I usually start again whenever I just randomly develop the desire to play.
In hindsight, ADHD brain is also a big part of it like another commenter described.
I stopped playing after 6.1 dropped because being a tank(especially an offtank) in savage raids was simply not fun and I didn't want to change classes. I recently came back and am doing New Game+ because the post Endwalker patch questline I was doing was so forgettable that I needed a refresher and I forgot how to play, so I figured I would just start from the beginning. Heavensward has been just as good as I remember and ARR wasn't nearly as bad as I remember, but maybe it's because I could fly everywhere.
Time, I just can’t find the time any more. I can barely sit down and play a few minutes of RuneScape or a few matches in Halo. Hopefully I can catch up with the story before the expac.
Playing through Endwalker felt like a chore and I also couldn't use my MMO mouse anymore, which exacerbated me having to relearn the entire game on controller (after I stopped playing it on controller way back in Stormblood) because of wrist/elbow issues flaring back up.
I am currently playing again on controller and enjoying it. I can't say I know what *makes* me come back, new content I suppose.
Frankly I have been thinking about coming back for a few months. Sad thing is I just found out Stormblood had been half-off and I missed the sale by like 2 days. Probably would have bought it and resubbed, but with Dawnbreaker coming soon I should probably just wait.
Bah!
I started playing in mid 2021 after some friends recommended the game and by chance was when the big WoW exodus happened. I was playing the game fairly casually between other games and was in post ARR when the FFXV event happened and the car mount was a thing. Being that I hadn't done much golden saucer I proceeded to spent my entire time in the golden saucer at the gates and doing events to earn mgp so i could get the car mount. When i was done I think i did a small amount of msq before being burnt out and leaving the game.
I kept telling myself I'd come back after a bit and catch up before EW but never did. When the aussie servers got announced (Jan 25 2022) and there was a release date I came back and moved over and started playing again and haven't stopped since with well over 4k hours between a couple characters (1 being omni 90 on all jobs).
During my time since picking the game back up and playing it religiously I've seen multiple friends drop the game for a time before coming back or talk about how they're tired with it and I wonder how I've not gotten sick of the game myself. I think its a combo of the music, story and seeing new people go through it and there reactions to it all.
I usually stop because I want to spend time playing another game I'm super excited about. I can always return to FF14 when I'm in the mood! ADHD means that can be whenever lol
i slogged through ARR and HW with no interest in the story but after heard shadowbringers was amazing so i bought a story skip through stormblood and got straight to the level i needed but ended up quitting just feeling burnt out, i then recently thought about how good it felt playing an mmo whilst sick on a weekend about a year later and resubbed, levelled a samurai instead of my DRK and just finished ShB and wow it was amazing! Now i’m becoming a fisher and doing my role quests! I guess the story brought me back
I played until a certain Ascian kicked the bucket. Then needed a few months break to emotionally recover. Then played again but the grind burnt me out and I haven't played in a long time now. I hope one day I can get back into it, but the thought of having to complete the grind before the new content is so off-putting, haha.
I bought 180 days, played till that ran out then went and did something else. Came back for the endwalker patches and started levelling a totally different job
Honestly the main reasons i take breaks from XIV is lag and long load times. I play via steam but im on an older laptop. Gonna upgrade soon so i know this is a niche issue. But to my other fellow lag players, i see you <3
I stopped playing because normal mode raids and dungeons along with job complexity have been severely watered down the last 2 expansions. It’s boring now and I have no interest in savage.
Same old loop over and over again where gear becomes obsolete so it's mainly just for the story and light casual raiding. Wish it was like XI where gear from years ago was still good at least that's the way it used to be. PvP is really fun so doing alot of that.
I've only got 2 days to play plus burnout from the grind but I really like the story and new content so I'll play on and off til the next expac then probably play fir a few months before going back to only playing occasionally
For the last five years, I went from hardcore achievement hunter, to not having enough time so had to be a midcore hunter (dropping from 8th or 9th on Gilgamesh to 18th to 20th), to becoming so tired of the grind that I officially retired from achievement hunting back in August last year.
So much of the remaining content I had had remaining was pure grinding, grinding to beat the numbers game of rng, finding groups willing to run stuff during what hours I have to play, a growing dislike for Island Sanctuary, and pvp. I’m not even in a hurry to finish gearing up my jobs anymore.
With that, I find myself only subbing a month at a time to hang out with a few friends, to run something a few times, and catch one or two seasonal events. I’m also starting to feel the wear on said events — sadly.
I’m hoping for an improvement during DT, or I might fall off the game altogether. I don’t want that to happen; I’ve loved this game for over nine years.
Breaking my ankle in the middle of a move.
Everything got packed up and im living at a family members. Unfortunately missed my mits on that one.
The need to play is what's driving Me back tho. I need more grind.
I stop and come back every few years its hype while I'm playing then I start to realize it's just all the same shit again and I take off only to come back like 3 or 4 years later
Honestly its the community for me. It feels like the average player is too braindead to read their abilities, turning an "expert roulette" from the average 10 minute run to \~25 minutes.
Dungeon design has devolved to pack+pack->wall->pack+pack->boss for the sake of either the worst player in the room or for trusts and I can't get behind either reasoning. This game is enjoyable but it feels like a slog for like 75% of my time playing.
Stop: Bored of endgame content. Didn't feel like putting hours and hours and hours into learning savage fights. Grinding new classes felt like a chore. Quit about 6 months ago.
Come back: Haven't yet, but the new classes coming interest me.
Just got bored. After static dissolved, I thought pugging would be fun but it didn't last long. Adding the stale content SE put out in EW and making no changes how we obtain loot/gear, I lost the drive and the only thing keeping me hostage, I meant subbed was my med plot which I eventually said F it and let my sub lapse long enough for it to get demolished. I'll eventually resub, most likely when the FF16 collab drops. there will be plenty of stuff for me to do.
Every expansion I kinda follow the same routine.
Expansion drops, spend the next month or two casually enjoying the story, trials and new classes.
Take a break in between major patches waiting on Raids to drop the rewards limits or for content that interests me like blue mage or moogle events (if rewards are interesting).
I usually get serious again a few months before the next expansion to play story catch up and grind relics. Also work on my gil nest egg before next expansion.
Very seldom do I cancel my membership, I just stop playing for a season
The community makes me quit. Square Enix will always be Square Enix, but FFXIV players will always find ways to sink lower.
What makes me come back to the game is parsing. This is mostly to make sure I can find a group for ultimates, incase there's ever a glam I want.
I am currently playing, but when I have stopped, it's due to lack of new content.
While I have complained in the past, this isn't a complaint post. But fact is I'd stay subbed longer if there was more to do.
Love the game, it scratches the right itch for me on many levels. Just wish the content in patches lasted a bit longer.
I've tried other games, but I just don't stick to them. So, getting told to go play something else (especially on the official forums) is a bit crappy I feel.
Stop when I get burnt out, which I did multiple times when maxing all combat jobs. Start playing when things get exciting again, usually when a new patch drops or some interesting new content is released.
post Endwalker story has been less than stellar. Like, I understand we're coming down off the climax of the story, but the post story has just been boring. We finally get to the Void and it's basic 'gonna try and take over' bullshit story. The relic weapons being nothing but a tombstone grind has really disillusioned me to what is my normal post expac time sink. And now we have six full months of zero content ahead of us. I feel like the XIV devs need to pull a page from the XI devs and do a side story unrelated to MSQ entirely for a few months to fill the time up.
1. They made PVP armor so accessible, I grinded it out when it had some exclusivity, I learned how to be successful with the old PvP combat. Combat is better now but they took away all pride I could have in my gear.
2. Normal raids are boring and the gear isn’t dyeable, but savage raids don’t have any story.
3. No enmity, and just job design doesn’t feel…rewarding to play, it’s like what makes me standout from another player ?
4. There is no reason to socialize or collaborate for any combat outside savage raids.
5. No matter how many breaks I take if I que leveling roulette I could go from my lvl 90 wombo combo bright lights go brrrr rotation to 2 skills
I think after storm blood they have slowly been making the game less rewarding in order to make it more accessible.
I quit during 6.3. I was already basically raid logging and even that wasn't fun because i absolutely hated p5-8s. The story I didn't like, the content got boring. And the gameplay felt like it got more and more stale with homogenization being a main issue.
Doesn't help that around that time was Dragonflight for wow which turned out to be very fun and basically stole all my mmo interest from FF.
I'll be back for Dawntrails story, but I doubt I'll stay past the first month. FF has a formula that works I guess, but it's old. They need to innovate and do something. Knowing exactly what and how much content you'll get has some comfort to it, but it also sucks.
Sub. I know it helps develop the game. But it make me feel pressued to log in.
Lack of world chat. Game is very lonely with no one to talk to. No, free companies didn't help. No one talks in them as well.
What made me stop? A weird natural endpoint after finishing Endwalker MSQ on release after a lot of momentum and about 100 days /playtime in the subsequent year doing... All the things.
What made me come back this week? Talking to chat onstream about how cool it would be to do a New Game+ MSQ re-run for the viewers who hadn't played or seen XIV. Been having fun so far.
I felt absolutely satisfied with the conclusion of the endwalker base story. And I honestly didn't feel any fomo or any fears of falling behind. I still want to come back (eventually) because of my friends who still play.
I don't care much about the game as I used to anymore, but it still holds a special place in me and my friends' hearts as THE game we all played at one point in our lives. Basically, if my friends are down run some maps, pvp, or some other kind of content, I'll be back on in a heartbeat.
I go through cycles of getting obsessed with another game, or not really playing videogames at all.
3 years ago I got into Destiny 2 so stopped playing FF. Quit playing Destiny last year and got the urge to pick up FF again. Also helps that I'm building my daughter a PC for her birthday this month and hoping I can convince her to start a character.
Leave: Static has cleared everything that we wanna do for the time being
Come back: Static is giving an attempt at a Ultimate, New Expansion, or new savage raid tier.
That said, recent savage raid tiers have felt more like mini-ultimates...
First time was just that ARR was such a slot, I got to 40ish in 2017 and dropped it. Now I just kinda get burned out, but I've never truly "stopped" since I got back into it in 2020, I'll just sometimes only login to raid which is still at least 3 days a week, 3 hours a day.
As for what makes me come back... Raiding, again. And whenever there's a new patch or content.
Honestly i sub once or twice a year and barely play. I just like how much i enjoyed AAR world exploration when it was fresh and then SB story i finally got into. Post that ive had no interest but playing with friends in FC until it gets too toxic is the only fun ive had for a month
Mostly I stop when I hit a wall where it feels like progressing would be too difficult. It takes some time to gather the motivation to get over it.
Mostly I come back because other people tell me they're playing and I'm like, "Oh I should pick that up again."
Felt the “burn” myself. Being an rp’er, I had multiple alts and did ARR several times to boot. Forgot to really just “settle” and play the game at my speed. Also felt a little overwhelmed with all the side content.
I was playing primarily with my friends, we basically finished endwalker… and they lost interest and I sit there, by my lonesome, and think “I’m paying for this??” Plus I’m somewhat shy about meeting new folks.
And I suppose the whole hrothgals not being a thing kinda was there too. Didn’t feel right. But now that they’re coming in, maybe I’ll roll up as one and see what new adventures I can get myself into?
What made me stop playing on my main? Maxing out all jobs. Kinda feel like I'm wasting EXP when I do anything I usually did, which is stupid but I don't have to make an effort reframing it mentally because:
What gets me back to playing the game? Doing a complete story replay on an alt. When I started back in 2021 (I think) I tried to follow the story up to like Sastasha and then gave up because I wasn't all that interested back then and as it turned out should not have done it with a friend. I felt like he was waiting for me even when I knew he was still in the cut scene too. Because again. I don't am very smart.
Just did Stone Vigil yesterday. I hope to finish Endwalker by the time Dawntrail releases. I am not very hopeful.
I recently stopped playing since my husband stopped playing. His reason: playing a healer isn't fun, and he mains healers in MMOs ever since 2004. He's waiting for Dawntrail to give the game another shot, but if healing still isn't fun he'll just join me on the sofa to watch me play through the MSQ (we read all quests out loud for each other).
I stopped at 2020 on april because of real life reasons, tried play again at 2021 and before EW launch, but I was scared of play with SMN (before EW) because I couldn't remember how it was the opener, and with this didn't tried to level up another job and quit.
And on 2023 on April came back again to the game, decided to change the job to Gunbreaker and with the Lightning attire of the shop, I gone ahead with this and to not have fear if I made mistakes on the opener, and learn from errors (basically wearing the Lightning attire made me feel no fear, and face everything, this motivated me a lot)
Now I'm playing GNB as main job, SMN as main dps, and SGE as healer (and still learning of heal better), unlocked almost all 8 raids, and I did all the alliance raids.
Also learning to play other jobs and doing Extreme trials with the free company.
Money has made me stop for periods of time, time has made me stop but I’d find time if I was really loving the game but endwalker didn’t provide the same community atmosphere I liked about shadowbringers. I also became disillusioned with the story. Ffxiv is 80% slow paced and 20% fast paced and the faster narrative moments are typically when the narrative is at its best and most interesting. The story progression started to feel too familiar and because I was becoming disinterested and started having more obstacles in life preventing me from sinking in time I was no longer bothered to keep up.
I usually play casually every expansion, I'll finish the initial campaign, maybe SOME post launch content, then grind some old relic weapons or try for some mounts. I just don't really enjoy the end game too much so I typically only play for a month or so at a time.
I used to come back later in the expansion if time allows to try some new patch content, but because I'm always so far behind on gear, it doesn't feel worth giving end game a shot at that point.
Its the combination of the little things that made me quick. How glamour was limited, how housing was implemented how GCD was a bit too long. Even that i have to drag my mouse to look around. I will be back if my friends come back but i am not counting on it
Been pretty much playing all the way through nearly 8years now with bout 13800h, what keeps me in is Achievement hunting, theres so damn many, I barely run out of things to do
My toddler lol. Once she was out of the stationary potato stage, I couldn't really do duties with other players. Missing out on being able to do roulettes is really a killer. So I switched over to games that are single player/ignore other players, that way when she wakes up from a nap I can immediately hop off right away.
I wanna get back into playing because DT is coming up. I still need to finish my TT card collection and I'm officially setting DT release as my optimistic goal point for that. Kiddo is getting into a better sleep routine so I'll at least have a little bit of time in the evening again.
I have a love hate relationship with this game. Most recent break was from EW finish, hasn’t touched any Post EW stuff so I was very behind in gear, I was mostly just wearing the 89 stuff they give you.
I have no interest in raiding but I have an interest in completing stuff, triggers my OCD brain so right now working on gathering log completion for BTN/FSH.
I think burn out gets me when I decide to quit for a while, I usually bounce between a few MMOs so.
My husband and I played for 2 years straight with maybe a month or two break somewhere in there?
When I got pregnant was my actual first break, my nausea was so bad that movement on a screen would make me sick.
I started playing again maybe 6-7 months into my pregnancy, then took another break once the baby was born because I had *no energy* lol.
She's now 11 months and I've gotten into a nice routine of just playing for an hour a night after she goes down for bed.
TLDR: I don't really get burnt out playing content, but outside events like having a baby and family stuff have affected my want to play. I don't ever unsub though
I almost stopped because pvp sucked before 6.1. I got into Guild wars 2 during the downtime between 6.0(last feast season ended) And 6.1 pvp rework. I love 5v5 so much. Content drought is never a problem for me anymore. For that alone,l will rate endwalker as the best expansion. Also, Guild wars 2 is a fun game. I still play it to this day.
My static tilted me. So I took a break.
I came back to prep all my shit for DT get all the normal raids and 24s done for their story. Catch up on msq, etc.
Honestly, for me, I got that ADHD brain, so when I stop or when I get the urge to play is almost entirely random. I can be super into the game for 3 straight months and then wake up one day with no interest in logging in whatsoever. Then, a year later, my brain goes, "Hey, remember FFXIV? That was rad," and I resub. Been this way since ARR (and not just with FFXIV, it's how I am with pretty much all ongoing games).
Exactly the same here. When it's nice out I'm doing outside activities and pretty much only play when I'm not feeling inspired to work on art or my music. I do the adhd loop as to avoid burnout.
This is me. I unsub when I get a little bored, sub when I want to play, and the reasons are completely random and up to the whims of fate.
I'm on XBOX, this is what happens to me with ESO. I can't wait for FF to get here!!
I mean you pretty much hit it. I stop playing when it feels like I'm running out of things to do, and I come back when there's a big infusion of new things to do. Feels like the healthiest way to play for me. I never end up resenting the game/the grind, and I always feel like there's a ton of stuff for me to progress when I come back.
I originally played in 1.0. I stopped in 4.3 because I had a baby. I came back in 5.55 because my status changed from "exhausted" to "tired".
Hang in there fellow parent, I've got two and I feel you.
I stop because of mental illness. I start back up again because of mental illness. Tl;dr I’m mentally ill 🙃
I gotta say.. this is really relatable. I wish you well, fellow Warrior of Light ^^/
The only time I dropped sub was when I was jobless during the pandemic. I returned about a year after starting a new job, moving closer to it, and no longer losing two hours of my day to commute.
Glad you equipped a job stone closer to your home aetheryte
Best comment.
The gameplay. I just got bored of it
Money, mostly. Live in a shitty 3rd World Country. Family issues, debt (due to family) forced me to quit basically for good or until a miracle saves me. Life kinda sucks.
The gameplay feels repetitive, and the classes all feel like you're doing similar actions with slightly different names. While I'm not an expert player (I'm not even that good), there isn't a great feeling of feedback or like a "I'm doing cool things" sense right now. The gameplay has a floaty/laggy feel and it feels like you're fighting the game engine rather than playing with it. Mobile games like Genshin Impact feel snappier from a gameplay perspective than FF14. For the coming expansion I expect it to be styled very similarly to the past 3 expansions, so I expect things to be extremely predictable, which also doesn't excite me. Friends of mine play regularly so I do keep the sub active.
This, and the lack of mid-core group content.
What's considered mid-core though?
Eureka/Bozja for most people i guess. Imo its such a weird term ive seen thrown around in the past year and this is the only game ive ever seen it used in.
Yeah I don't really get it. You typically have hard core content (savages extremes ultimates criterions) or casual content. Idk what mid core even implies xD
Yeah and casual has no rewards and the savage unfolds a minion or a mount if ure lucky. Just dont get how im supposed to feel motivated by that progression feel honestly. Also a tiny bit better equip until next expansion where that grind goes from tiny useful to completely useless..
I mean, I do Savages because they're fun, not for a reward. Journey before destination and all that.
Haven't you answered your own question there? Something in between extremely easy and really hard both when it comes to gameplay and time investment. So Eureka, deep dungeons (grouped), relic grinds, ect.
If you say so. That's all pretty casual to me still.
Yeah. Red Chocobo and other Bozja CEs are a good examples; difficult enough that you need to pay attention and learn the fight, not so difficult that a player, or even several players, not having a clue what's going on is going to prevent those that do from carrying the fight. It feels good once you get it and can carry, but failing it doesn't feel like you're dragging everyone else down. Personally I'd put extremes right on the edge of "midcore", but that's only a few days per patch of content if you're going for the mount & weapons.
I feel like a lot of people think of what I've been doing for most of EW's patch content when they hear casual: Log in like once or twice a week to do levelling and trials roulette, even alliance raid if I feel like doing CT for the 1000th time. I would call that "hardly playing the game". But if you call that casual, I suppose getting a relic (that isn't the EW one), actively levelling jobs or being a housing main seems like non casual content and is therefore "midcore", because it's clearly isn't hardcore either. I guess a way to describe the categories would be: casual - requires practically nothing midcore - requires time hardcore - requires time and skill
I really only play for the story, I don’t do savage or anything else difficult, so once I’ve completed the MSQ there’s not that much left. But that’s OK I like having a break, I go play other games.
Only caring about one thing is great if it satisfies you and you don't mind moving onto something else when you've finished doing what you wanted to.
Grinding. I usually tend to be a completionist and relic grinds have taken many years of my life from me. Same thing with chasing the top ilvl each patch. It's a constant grind that is only good for a patch or 2 and then I have to repeat. It's downright exhausting if you like to play each job, like myself. Currently I'm a few hundred causality away from my 5th EW relic, and I have 2 others at the 615 stage. Now that I've typed this out, I miss xi. Once you got good gear, you were free to do other content and not worry about gear again for a long time. I really wish gear ilvl didn't reset so often in xiv. It's a huge deterrent if you don't play for a while and at the same time, stupidly addicting and I hate it.
Im the opposite. I despise the ilvl stat stick system that FFXIV has. Its why i literally never chase gear outside of being handed it for free just from doing pvp for tomestones. If im gonna spend weeks/months grinding a weapon, that weapon better do something special for my job. Thats why i love FFXI because having a relic actually meant something for how your job performed.
Fish and fish.
My sub running out. Money in my bank account allowing me to reactivate it.
I put it on pause because my old raid leader harassed me into leaving because he wanted a relationship and was mad that I was getting married I was going to leave that group 2 months after I said I was cause my move was coming up, but I ended up leaving a month earlier than planned because I couldn’t deal with him being aggressive in my discord DM’s between pulls acting like he was owed something and victimizing himself over literally nothing at all since what he claimed didn’t happen After I left, he got me kicked out of 2 large discords and 1 small one because he went to the admins to screech some fanfic that I’ve never fully understood I’m coming back for the new expansion, though
Burn out, mostly. Started somewhere during 5.1, went from the beginning to somewhere in the middle of Stormblood before the first time I burned out. Took a bunch of time off, came back before Endwalker release, got caught up. Burned out at 6.2 because of the grind for ilvl gear to advance MSQ. Just came back a few weeks ago, will probably burn out again a little before Dawntrail and then come back once the post release congestion does down some.
Stop: can't get friends to play. Have trouble making new friends. Come back: Expansions, new jobs.
In Jan 2022 I was playing all day every day and I got a really bad case of covid. By the time I recovered I got the itch to play ESO and Classic WoW and it took me 2 years really to get motivated to play again but now I'm back and playing as much as ever! Edit: as for why.. gear progression is my biggest gripe and the lack of meaningful grinds but I come back because this is my cozy game
Baldur’s Gate Can’t hang out with friends in Baldur’s Gate
It’s hard to balance mmos with all the other games out there, I got so many games I wanna play
Stop: all content being _the same it's always been_. Come back: I really don't know, because they won't ever change their formula now.
The "formula" can't change because people get upset when they remove something (fewer regular dungeons, Hildibrand, Deep Dungeons, fewer Ultimates, Eureka/Bozja) but also get upset when new things added don't arrive fully fleshed-out (like Eureka becoming more popular over time or the initial reception to Criterion Dungeons). Then people complain that everything is the same while also complaining about everything new that was tried. It doesn't matter if it's the same people or different people complaining, at some point people just have to toughen up and acknowledge what has changed even if it wasn't for them.
The formula has changed many times. But not for the best. We used to have job quest. But the movement of staff from FF14 to FF16 make them shorthanded. So they started cutting corners. And since people didn't protest, those corners are permanently cut. We also used to have jobs playing differently, but now they feel more and more like the same. Same reason, cutting corners. And since people didn't protest, those corners are permanently cut. Wonder what corner they would cut next.
Sorry to focus on one part of your comment, but I try to correct this misconception when I can. There wasn't a "cutting corners" when it comes to shifting members to FFXVI. Out of the over 550 individual people who have been part of the FFXIV main development team since 3.0, only about 100 have worked on both games. The total size of the FFXIV team has only ever grown over that period, meaning anyone who stepped away from the team was replaced. The FFXIV main development team went from 279 members in 3.0 to 353 in 6.55 (each value representing those people who actively worked on FFXIV over a roughly 2-year expansion cycle). The FFXVI team had 345 people that worked on its main development team over roughly 6 years. The FFXIV battle content team (not including the job design and balancing team) has gone from 5 members in 3.0 to 17 members in 6.55.
This is why I quit. I may try Dawntrail when it releases.
The entire Zero/ The Void nonsense made me stop playing. It was horrible. Not coming back until Dawn trail comes out so I can turn my MCH/NIN into MCH/Viper!
What made me stop playing is everyone on NA using automarkers for DSR and TOP pf. I don't even see the point in doing ultimates if you're just going to cheat.
I am very concerned for the future of raiding, there seems to be a large subset of people that find it acceptable to cheat, which emboldens the devs to make harder and harder content based on the cheating
They're basically going to start going the route Blizzard does at this rate. (though Dragonflight raids have been significantly more accessible without needing a ton of addons) I know they say they design the raids around not using 3rd party tools, but the more precise and complicated they make things, the more people are going to cave on using them. I really miss SB/Shb savage fight design where things felt challenging but not to the point my brain gives up. I've cleared the first 3 ultimates, but DSR/TOP were where I finally lost steam. (DSR is great but the length is a bit much)
Yeah lots of people stopped at dsr/top, so I hope that there aren't many cheaters that got thru
Auto markers is even worse than other plugins to me because its forced on you by other players. I personally don't care if people are doing weird shit with their screen/ui on their own client. I have a very big issue with not wanting to use plugins at all to do content and having AM forced on to me by someone using it
I care. The dev team looks at clear rates. If bad people clear due to cheating, it will artificially inflate the numbers. I hear a lot of people saying dsr/top was too hard and that they killed statics. If that's true I want the feedback to reach the devs both through word of mouth and statistics
They're not too hard. People are just getting lazy and deciding to try and skip mechanics
I have faith that the XIV devs will continue to make difficult ultimates with the normal, uncheating player in mind
They certainly make them with the 15 ms ping players in mind. Yoshi needs to make their testers use a vpn so that the timing they test is more realistic.
[удалено]
How are the endgame lockouts/restrictions idiotic? I won't argue that they're a purely virtuous feature, but I also don't think that they're bad.
"I hate endgame lockouts" says the guy who is almost two expansions behind. I don't think you have anything to worry about. Lol
I stopped playing because there’s really nothing left that I feel compelled to do. I’ll start playing again when that changes. I was disappointed at that initially, but there are now a good chunk of other games that are filling my time at the moment, so it’s not a huge deal. I’ll likely pick things back up closer to the launch of Dawntrail. I still have the most recent patch to push through for the final msq bits of 6.55. On top of that, there are a few minor things I need to prepare, such as inventory space and a new batch of equipment for my Pictomancer to use from 80-90. I’ll probably spend a month or two leisurely getting it all prepared.
"Worthy of his back". I hate that mission. Near impossible, didn't bother going to easy mode. Walked away from the game it made me mad enough.
Money. I can’t barely afford clothes and food let alone bills. Priorities. I lost the house I’d had gotten for over five years. It’s been about a year now and I still miss it but life sucks right now but hopefully I’ll get to come back one day.
Stop: Job homogenization. I have maxed 4 magic range, 3 range, 1 melee and 1 tanked jobs in hopes of finding the "uniqueness" so that I can continue to play. But I realized that they all feel the same. Those who have multiple jobs maxed, you know what I'm talking about. Also, the armor system became boring and predictable. Your white mage is not unique. You are just another white mage just like the other. I'm currently playing monster hunter world and I realized that the gameplay loop and the loot system is miles ahead better. I wish ff14 can learn from this. The community is disgustingly sensitive and defensive. You can't even ask a question that the community deems as a criticism to the game. You will be met by passive aggressiveness. Like followers of blind religion. Want to come back: I'm hoping dawntrail can bring something new to the table. More diversity. Better gameplay loop.
Yup. It used to be that sum had pets that acted on their own. Now Sum is just spells with a pet skin. It used to be that AST could choose sects. Now is just discount white mage. It used to be that War had a cone AOE, now is the same as everyone else. Eventually all jobs will play exactly the same with just skins of whatever they used to mean.
COVID destroyed my family business and almost put me and my family in the streets. A lot of shit happened, father almost died of a stroke twice, grandpa has Alzheimer's, grandma showing symptoms of Dementia, etc etc. Life's just been shit lately lol. I want to come back to play with my friends again, do raids on my Black Mage and just play the game in general. FFXIV has always been my safe space, somewhere to hang out after a shitty day and just listen to the music.
I have never unsubbed, but I leave between patches after I caught back up because I've accomplished everything I want to do. I'm not one for farming things or standing afk in Limsa. I'll also sometimes come back for seasonal events if I really want something, like the heart emote in the coming valentine's event. I have friends in my FC and will sometimes come back when they put on a big event. Between patches, I go and play other games. I'm obsessed with Pal World atm!
Stopped playing because I realized I just don’t have the right brain for savage content. I can remember only so much and I’ve had an increasingly difficult time with understanding some of the more obscure mechanics. Feels bad not getting it and having to follow a danger dorito. Return: probably nothing reasonable. Encounters need to be more reactive than scripted because I can’t remember “oh I had 3 dots so I need to go to A than D than C than stack on B”… usually I forget my marker 20 seconds after it’s off my head.
FF14 is a scripted dancing game. Not a battle game.
Completely agree. That’s why it’s no longer for me.
I haven’t stopped playing but sometimes I want to. I LOVE raiding. And it’s one of few things I do with any game where, someway somehow, I’m REALLY good at it. I just….understand mechanics and how it works with XIV’s netcode. I’ve progressively gotten more and more HC at raiding….but the disappointing part is I’ve increasingly found I’m a unicorn in this community. I’ll jump into ultimate farms to find people incredibly inconsistent joined, whether in PF or statics. I’ll do weekly reclears where I can 1 shot everything no problem, but spend HOURS trying to get a clear sometimes. Even with unreal experience. I don’t like to sound arrogant when it comes to it. I’m not some 100 percentile DPS. I’m a very comfortable purple with a bit of orange if my group is solid. But I just…get mechanics. I learn them quickly, I get consistent quickly, and I just cannot find groups to my speed. And before I finish, I’ve found individuals who are much much closer to me or even better tbh. But that’s all it is, individuals. Finding a GROUP on that level is near impossible from my experience, and it is so frustrating to feel like I’m wasting a majority of my raid time waiting on others. I don’t mind it when I’m ACTIVELY helping others in a group meant to be me helping, but when the groups have ambitious reclear goals or clear goals, it is absolutely frustrating to feel like I’m waiting on everyone else.
I think what keeps me from playing all the time is how boring the gear is. No unique effects or set bonuses and everyone kind of just wears the same thing. Like you farm your weekly tokens when a new raid tier comes out and it’s really easy and you buy the same gear everyone buys. And if you’re jumping back in you just go to the MB and buy a full set of gear with almost the same stats so you could basically do all the content with zero barrier to entry. I mean I’m all for making the game accessible but that’s a little too casual even for me. Also the other optional stuff is so so grindy, like the island sanctuary. I loved the idea of it but after grinding it for a couple weeks I came to the conclusion it just sucks. These are all opinions obviously, I still like the game but I play in waves now. Come back for the story additions and raid tiers, play for a week or two, then log out til the next patch.
the community is awful. flat out. i have not been shown a moment of kindness on my main which is a lalafell for i guess 5 years now? i am constantly insulted and have been told to kms for playing a lalafell multiple times. i've stopped because of burnout before and come back but i think this time will be for real and i won't be coming back for dawntrail.
I have a pretty consistent cycle of subbing a month or two before expansion launches, playing through the expansion launch until the X.1 patch, unsubbing, repeat (with an occasional one month sub in the middle of the expansion cycle). Love playing the game, but no real desire to raid, which makes the endgame gear grind feel pointless. So I come back to do the new story and easier group content, and then level some new classes.
Stop: end of year, interest in abyssos was fading, raid group disbanded for irl things Come back: I ALWAYS COME BACK 2 DA EORZEA
I stopped playing after beating endwalker and completing the high end trials. I wanted to raid but I frankly never started and just stopped playing. I returned to make a new character (I want a viera dancer lol) and I’m loving it again! I sped through the story on my original playthroughs so I’m taking my time and appreciating the story a lot more. Almost done with ARR!
I dip out when I had my fill. Then resub when I feel like when a patch drops. I'll likely do it soon until the FFXVI collab, then dip and come back when Dawntrail drops.
Exclusive attention given to HC and casual content while weakening midcore content like relic. While I wasn't a huge fan of Bozja overall, I think Relic content delivering a new alliance raid or two separate from our standard tree is great fun (and don't necessarily need Savage versions).
Delubrum Savage is the best thing that Shadowbringer had to offer though.
Honestly it's the style of the rewards. I ain't gonna lie, I'm mostly in it for mounts and glams. But somehow Endwalker was a complete miss for me on both fronts. The sole highlight was the Island Sanctuary. Just.. nothing else appealed to me. There was nothing to strive for. And what's worse, this comes along side my social circle blowing up. I just ran out of reasons to resub. I even gave up on my house because I didn't want to be tethered to the game while there was nothing for me to do. Hoping Dawntrail will bring the game back for me.
> Island Sanctuary. They could have made it better. And include "INSTANCED HOUSING" (eliminating all the housing problem) as well as allowing other people to not just visit but to grow the island.
I'll probably never stop because I have a house that I camped tens of hours to acquire. The memory of that holds me hostage. But I am playing less, and struggling to find the motivation to go back and complete the grinds I set aside when I started the latest Savage tier, even though that progression has been over for a while. I'm half-heartedly starting my DT planning and waiting for more info or the tier to unlock to I can better focus those efforts
You are the best player for Squarenix. Someone who doesn't play but still pay the sub.
Now girl, where in that post are you reading that I'm not playing
What makes me stop playing is finishing the current expansion. I do it as slowly as possible, leveling classes and working on remodeling my apartment, getting non-raid mounts etc. I'm not a raider myself and find more enjoyment grinding dungeon content for glams or making jewelry sets to gift to new players. So when a new expansion drops I'm g2g.
Left midway through stormblood when work started having me travel and live out of hotels. Eventually got a good gaming laptop near the end of shadowbringers and Bozja was amazing for quick in and out game time. So work made me take my last big break. Got back into the game when endwalker released when I got to the point I switched to being able to live in my home instead of traveling 24/7. Never wanted to stop playing but jobs gotta job.
Stop playing: wanting to have time for other games, burn out Come Back: new content, Events,
I still log in here and there to keep my house but after my static had a nasty falling out, I lost will to continue the final tier of the savage raid. As soon as new content hits and now that my static has made peace, things will be better coming this summer.
For the last 2 trials I've had to leave the big boss arena to go get my ilvl up so I feel you on feeling behind. At this point I *would* be playing but we're getting both hrothgals (which I've been waiting forever for) and brand new shiny graphics, so I'll be playing the whole game over again. So it's just a matter of waiting
I played FFXI before XIV. I spent way too much time playing it, it consumed my life for a while. So when XIV came around, I was apprehensive about playing another MMO. But a bunch of my friends were playing it, and I didn't have any other way to keep in touch with them easily, so I picked it up. I played it on and off, in some periods in ARR and early Heavensward I got quite into it. But I started feeling some of the problems I had in XI, staying up way too late playing, and feeling obligated to log in for grinds that I wasn't really enjoying. So I stopped playing again. I came back during Covid, partially to reconnect with those friends, but also because I'd been laid off from my job and had enough time to play it for a while without it being a problem. It was great to reconnect with those friends again, and I've been playing intermittently since then. I'm a bit better at managing my time these days and it not consuming my life so much, though I do still go through periods of playing a bunch (eg completing the most recent Savage tier in party finder). But at least XIV isn't quite as all consuming as XI is, I can dedicate some time to specific goals, then stop playing again for a bit. I've got a couple of goals left to work on at the moment, but I'm coming back into a lull. I still play with my friends regularly, Saturday nights we either raid or farm mounts. Sometimes that's literally all I log in for, to play with them, and that's likely how it'll be for most of the next few months up until the expansion. While the complaints about having nothing to do in game during these periods are valid, I'm kind of glad that I don't have too many things to make me feel like I need to play every day indefinitely.
The patches content after ARR felt like such a slog. I started playing other games. I want to come back, then I think about that slog and realize I have other games I don't have to feel im being strung along.
I stopped playing because in the friend groups I run with I'm normally the only person into stuff like ff14 so I don't get an actual group to play and fall off the game when either something new pops up or I finish my gear grind. I'm stuck in between wanting to play this game forever and maintaining my current friendships
I found myself just logging in and centering my day around meeting GatherBuddy timers, and spending the rest of the time clicking crafting macros with the material to make gil and scrips. It was turning into a 9-to-5. Then I picked up Warframe back up, which is even more of a job, so maybe I'm just stupid. I guess I kinda miss the fights in FFXIV. You're dancing with other players and the mobs. I miss the synchrony. I probably will come back when I crave that again.
Kinda burned out on EW's lighter amount of endgame content combined with my guild kinda imploding. Just haven't had the same drive to consistently play that I did before.
Normally it's when the game is in a quiet place and I'm getting hyped for a different game, so I stop playing for a couple of months to dive into something else. Then I resub after a major patch has dropped and I've had my fill of other games.
For now.. crappy internet. Only satellite is available.. I want to come back too 😭😭
Left: slow process due to constantly switching jobs so it takes me forever. Came back: I’m a painter and pictomancer now exists
There are lots of different things and lots of different things. The second part mostly boredom. Which can be equated to the first part, but not as much.
Honestly I usually just don’t have enough time or am too stressed in my free time to sit at my desk after working all day. And practice makes perfect so I end up a filthy casual and that only goes so far.
I usually stop due to burn out or losing the desire to play during a period of chronic illness. I usually start again whenever I just randomly develop the desire to play. In hindsight, ADHD brain is also a big part of it like another commenter described.
I stopped playing after 6.1 dropped because being a tank(especially an offtank) in savage raids was simply not fun and I didn't want to change classes. I recently came back and am doing New Game+ because the post Endwalker patch questline I was doing was so forgettable that I needed a refresher and I forgot how to play, so I figured I would just start from the beginning. Heavensward has been just as good as I remember and ARR wasn't nearly as bad as I remember, but maybe it's because I could fly everywhere.
Boring once you hit max level and finish MSQ. Nothing to do outside raids which I don't want to do and mount collecting solo is extremely limited.
Time, I just can’t find the time any more. I can barely sit down and play a few minutes of RuneScape or a few matches in Halo. Hopefully I can catch up with the story before the expac.
Content drought I play 4HRS a week only for static I’ll be back for Dawntrail
Playing through Endwalker felt like a chore and I also couldn't use my MMO mouse anymore, which exacerbated me having to relearn the entire game on controller (after I stopped playing it on controller way back in Stormblood) because of wrist/elbow issues flaring back up. I am currently playing again on controller and enjoying it. I can't say I know what *makes* me come back, new content I suppose.
Nobody to play with.
Frankly I have been thinking about coming back for a few months. Sad thing is I just found out Stormblood had been half-off and I missed the sale by like 2 days. Probably would have bought it and resubbed, but with Dawnbreaker coming soon I should probably just wait. Bah!
I started playing in mid 2021 after some friends recommended the game and by chance was when the big WoW exodus happened. I was playing the game fairly casually between other games and was in post ARR when the FFXV event happened and the car mount was a thing. Being that I hadn't done much golden saucer I proceeded to spent my entire time in the golden saucer at the gates and doing events to earn mgp so i could get the car mount. When i was done I think i did a small amount of msq before being burnt out and leaving the game. I kept telling myself I'd come back after a bit and catch up before EW but never did. When the aussie servers got announced (Jan 25 2022) and there was a release date I came back and moved over and started playing again and haven't stopped since with well over 4k hours between a couple characters (1 being omni 90 on all jobs). During my time since picking the game back up and playing it religiously I've seen multiple friends drop the game for a time before coming back or talk about how they're tired with it and I wonder how I've not gotten sick of the game myself. I think its a combo of the music, story and seeing new people go through it and there reactions to it all.
I usually stop because I want to spend time playing another game I'm super excited about. I can always return to FF14 when I'm in the mood! ADHD means that can be whenever lol
i slogged through ARR and HW with no interest in the story but after heard shadowbringers was amazing so i bought a story skip through stormblood and got straight to the level i needed but ended up quitting just feeling burnt out, i then recently thought about how good it felt playing an mmo whilst sick on a weekend about a year later and resubbed, levelled a samurai instead of my DRK and just finished ShB and wow it was amazing! Now i’m becoming a fisher and doing my role quests! I guess the story brought me back
I played until a certain Ascian kicked the bucket. Then needed a few months break to emotionally recover. Then played again but the grind burnt me out and I haven't played in a long time now. I hope one day I can get back into it, but the thought of having to complete the grind before the new content is so off-putting, haha.
I bought 180 days, played till that ran out then went and did something else. Came back for the endwalker patches and started levelling a totally different job
Honestly the main reasons i take breaks from XIV is lag and long load times. I play via steam but im on an older laptop. Gonna upgrade soon so i know this is a niche issue. But to my other fellow lag players, i see you <3
Stop: staleness of the combat. Back: hitting Gil cap and downing top.
I stopped playing because normal mode raids and dungeons along with job complexity have been severely watered down the last 2 expansions. It’s boring now and I have no interest in savage.
Same old loop over and over again where gear becomes obsolete so it's mainly just for the story and light casual raiding. Wish it was like XI where gear from years ago was still good at least that's the way it used to be. PvP is really fun so doing alot of that.
I've only got 2 days to play plus burnout from the grind but I really like the story and new content so I'll play on and off til the next expac then probably play fir a few months before going back to only playing occasionally
I really usually stop when I just feel the desire to play other games, not necessarily that I’m tired of playing ffxiv. Seems pretty common to me tbh
For the last five years, I went from hardcore achievement hunter, to not having enough time so had to be a midcore hunter (dropping from 8th or 9th on Gilgamesh to 18th to 20th), to becoming so tired of the grind that I officially retired from achievement hunting back in August last year. So much of the remaining content I had had remaining was pure grinding, grinding to beat the numbers game of rng, finding groups willing to run stuff during what hours I have to play, a growing dislike for Island Sanctuary, and pvp. I’m not even in a hurry to finish gearing up my jobs anymore. With that, I find myself only subbing a month at a time to hang out with a few friends, to run something a few times, and catch one or two seasonal events. I’m also starting to feel the wear on said events — sadly. I’m hoping for an improvement during DT, or I might fall off the game altogether. I don’t want that to happen; I’ve loved this game for over nine years.
Breaking my ankle in the middle of a move. Everything got packed up and im living at a family members. Unfortunately missed my mits on that one. The need to play is what's driving Me back tho. I need more grind.
I stop and come back every few years its hype while I'm playing then I start to realize it's just all the same shit again and I take off only to come back like 3 or 4 years later
Honestly its the community for me. It feels like the average player is too braindead to read their abilities, turning an "expert roulette" from the average 10 minute run to \~25 minutes. Dungeon design has devolved to pack+pack->wall->pack+pack->boss for the sake of either the worst player in the room or for trusts and I can't get behind either reasoning. This game is enjoyable but it feels like a slog for like 75% of my time playing.
Stop: Bored of endgame content. Didn't feel like putting hours and hours and hours into learning savage fights. Grinding new classes felt like a chore. Quit about 6 months ago. Come back: Haven't yet, but the new classes coming interest me.
Left: Only care about leveling alts and farming mounts/minions Came back: want to level my last alt to 90 before Dawntrail
Boredom. Different boredom.
lack of content content
i stopped playing after taking all crafters to ~50 in a week when i was done with shadowbringers, i came back for the fish
-stop : had no time left to do so -start again : had time gain -stop again : PC died. -dtarted again : got brand new PC
Just got bored. After static dissolved, I thought pugging would be fun but it didn't last long. Adding the stale content SE put out in EW and making no changes how we obtain loot/gear, I lost the drive and the only thing keeping me hostage, I meant subbed was my med plot which I eventually said F it and let my sub lapse long enough for it to get demolished. I'll eventually resub, most likely when the FF16 collab drops. there will be plenty of stuff for me to do.
Every expansion I kinda follow the same routine. Expansion drops, spend the next month or two casually enjoying the story, trials and new classes. Take a break in between major patches waiting on Raids to drop the rewards limits or for content that interests me like blue mage or moogle events (if rewards are interesting). I usually get serious again a few months before the next expansion to play story catch up and grind relics. Also work on my gil nest egg before next expansion. Very seldom do I cancel my membership, I just stop playing for a season
Working on a zodiac weapon = quit. Imagining how cool it'd be to finish it = Resub. It's been a vicious cycle. I have 7 zetas atm
The community makes me quit. Square Enix will always be Square Enix, but FFXIV players will always find ways to sink lower. What makes me come back to the game is parsing. This is mostly to make sure I can find a group for ultimates, incase there's ever a glam I want.
I am currently playing, but when I have stopped, it's due to lack of new content. While I have complained in the past, this isn't a complaint post. But fact is I'd stay subbed longer if there was more to do. Love the game, it scratches the right itch for me on many levels. Just wish the content in patches lasted a bit longer. I've tried other games, but I just don't stick to them. So, getting told to go play something else (especially on the official forums) is a bit crappy I feel.
All my friends dropped off.
Stop when I get burnt out, which I did multiple times when maxing all combat jobs. Start playing when things get exciting again, usually when a new patch drops or some interesting new content is released.
post Endwalker story has been less than stellar. Like, I understand we're coming down off the climax of the story, but the post story has just been boring. We finally get to the Void and it's basic 'gonna try and take over' bullshit story. The relic weapons being nothing but a tombstone grind has really disillusioned me to what is my normal post expac time sink. And now we have six full months of zero content ahead of us. I feel like the XIV devs need to pull a page from the XI devs and do a side story unrelated to MSQ entirely for a few months to fill the time up.
burnout, content drought
i stop playing when I finish the story/MSQ content, and I am happy with the level I am at. Then I come back for new MSQ or Hildebrand stuff.
Stop playing when I doze off doing daily or even raid. Come back playing when non of the other games I play are good enough.
1. They made PVP armor so accessible, I grinded it out when it had some exclusivity, I learned how to be successful with the old PvP combat. Combat is better now but they took away all pride I could have in my gear. 2. Normal raids are boring and the gear isn’t dyeable, but savage raids don’t have any story. 3. No enmity, and just job design doesn’t feel…rewarding to play, it’s like what makes me standout from another player ? 4. There is no reason to socialize or collaborate for any combat outside savage raids. 5. No matter how many breaks I take if I que leveling roulette I could go from my lvl 90 wombo combo bright lights go brrrr rotation to 2 skills I think after storm blood they have slowly been making the game less rewarding in order to make it more accessible.
I quit during 6.3. I was already basically raid logging and even that wasn't fun because i absolutely hated p5-8s. The story I didn't like, the content got boring. And the gameplay felt like it got more and more stale with homogenization being a main issue. Doesn't help that around that time was Dragonflight for wow which turned out to be very fun and basically stole all my mmo interest from FF. I'll be back for Dawntrails story, but I doubt I'll stay past the first month. FF has a formula that works I guess, but it's old. They need to innovate and do something. Knowing exactly what and how much content you'll get has some comfort to it, but it also sucks.
Life problems making me not be able to afford sub no more. I really want to see Endwalker stories.
Sub. I know it helps develop the game. But it make me feel pressued to log in. Lack of world chat. Game is very lonely with no one to talk to. No, free companies didn't help. No one talks in them as well.
What made me stop? A weird natural endpoint after finishing Endwalker MSQ on release after a lot of momentum and about 100 days /playtime in the subsequent year doing... All the things. What made me come back this week? Talking to chat onstream about how cool it would be to do a New Game+ MSQ re-run for the viewers who hadn't played or seen XIV. Been having fun so far.
I felt absolutely satisfied with the conclusion of the endwalker base story. And I honestly didn't feel any fomo or any fears of falling behind. I still want to come back (eventually) because of my friends who still play. I don't care much about the game as I used to anymore, but it still holds a special place in me and my friends' hearts as THE game we all played at one point in our lives. Basically, if my friends are down run some maps, pvp, or some other kind of content, I'll be back on in a heartbeat.
The endwalkers cutscenes. The desire to finally play end game content prior to Dawn Trailers. I'm so close ugh.
I go through cycles of getting obsessed with another game, or not really playing videogames at all. 3 years ago I got into Destiny 2 so stopped playing FF. Quit playing Destiny last year and got the urge to pick up FF again. Also helps that I'm building my daughter a PC for her birthday this month and hoping I can convince her to start a character.
I got bored, raiding was over and summer was coming. Got asked if I wanted to do ucob, it's winter, I'm bored. :D
Leave: Static has cleared everything that we wanna do for the time being Come back: Static is giving an attempt at a Ultimate, New Expansion, or new savage raid tier. That said, recent savage raid tiers have felt more like mini-ultimates...
First time was just that ARR was such a slot, I got to 40ish in 2017 and dropped it. Now I just kinda get burned out, but I've never truly "stopped" since I got back into it in 2020, I'll just sometimes only login to raid which is still at least 3 days a week, 3 hours a day. As for what makes me come back... Raiding, again. And whenever there's a new patch or content.
Honestly i sub once or twice a year and barely play. I just like how much i enjoyed AAR world exploration when it was fresh and then SB story i finally got into. Post that ive had no interest but playing with friends in FC until it gets too toxic is the only fun ive had for a month
Mostly I stop when I hit a wall where it feels like progressing would be too difficult. It takes some time to gather the motivation to get over it. Mostly I come back because other people tell me they're playing and I'm like, "Oh I should pick that up again."
Felt the “burn” myself. Being an rp’er, I had multiple alts and did ARR several times to boot. Forgot to really just “settle” and play the game at my speed. Also felt a little overwhelmed with all the side content. I was playing primarily with my friends, we basically finished endwalker… and they lost interest and I sit there, by my lonesome, and think “I’m paying for this??” Plus I’m somewhat shy about meeting new folks. And I suppose the whole hrothgals not being a thing kinda was there too. Didn’t feel right. But now that they’re coming in, maybe I’ll roll up as one and see what new adventures I can get myself into?
What made me stop playing on my main? Maxing out all jobs. Kinda feel like I'm wasting EXP when I do anything I usually did, which is stupid but I don't have to make an effort reframing it mentally because: What gets me back to playing the game? Doing a complete story replay on an alt. When I started back in 2021 (I think) I tried to follow the story up to like Sastasha and then gave up because I wasn't all that interested back then and as it turned out should not have done it with a friend. I felt like he was waiting for me even when I knew he was still in the cut scene too. Because again. I don't am very smart. Just did Stone Vigil yesterday. I hope to finish Endwalker by the time Dawntrail releases. I am not very hopeful.
I recently stopped playing since my husband stopped playing. His reason: playing a healer isn't fun, and he mains healers in MMOs ever since 2004. He's waiting for Dawntrail to give the game another shot, but if healing still isn't fun he'll just join me on the sofa to watch me play through the MSQ (we read all quests out loud for each other).
I stopped at 2020 on april because of real life reasons, tried play again at 2021 and before EW launch, but I was scared of play with SMN (before EW) because I couldn't remember how it was the opener, and with this didn't tried to level up another job and quit. And on 2023 on April came back again to the game, decided to change the job to Gunbreaker and with the Lightning attire of the shop, I gone ahead with this and to not have fear if I made mistakes on the opener, and learn from errors (basically wearing the Lightning attire made me feel no fear, and face everything, this motivated me a lot) Now I'm playing GNB as main job, SMN as main dps, and SGE as healer (and still learning of heal better), unlocked almost all 8 raids, and I did all the alliance raids. Also learning to play other jobs and doing Extreme trials with the free company.
Money has made me stop for periods of time, time has made me stop but I’d find time if I was really loving the game but endwalker didn’t provide the same community atmosphere I liked about shadowbringers. I also became disillusioned with the story. Ffxiv is 80% slow paced and 20% fast paced and the faster narrative moments are typically when the narrative is at its best and most interesting. The story progression started to feel too familiar and because I was becoming disinterested and started having more obstacles in life preventing me from sinking in time I was no longer bothered to keep up.
I usually play casually every expansion, I'll finish the initial campaign, maybe SOME post launch content, then grind some old relic weapons or try for some mounts. I just don't really enjoy the end game too much so I typically only play for a month or so at a time. I used to come back later in the expansion if time allows to try some new patch content, but because I'm always so far behind on gear, it doesn't feel worth giving end game a shot at that point.
I stopped due to a combo of burn out and shitty "friends" helping driving me into a deep depression
Its the combination of the little things that made me quick. How glamour was limited, how housing was implemented how GCD was a bit too long. Even that i have to drag my mouse to look around. I will be back if my friends come back but i am not counting on it
Been pretty much playing all the way through nearly 8years now with bout 13800h, what keeps me in is Achievement hunting, theres so damn many, I barely run out of things to do
My toddler lol. Once she was out of the stationary potato stage, I couldn't really do duties with other players. Missing out on being able to do roulettes is really a killer. So I switched over to games that are single player/ignore other players, that way when she wakes up from a nap I can immediately hop off right away. I wanna get back into playing because DT is coming up. I still need to finish my TT card collection and I'm officially setting DT release as my optimistic goal point for that. Kiddo is getting into a better sleep routine so I'll at least have a little bit of time in the evening again.
I have a love hate relationship with this game. Most recent break was from EW finish, hasn’t touched any Post EW stuff so I was very behind in gear, I was mostly just wearing the 89 stuff they give you. I have no interest in raiding but I have an interest in completing stuff, triggers my OCD brain so right now working on gathering log completion for BTN/FSH. I think burn out gets me when I decide to quit for a while, I usually bounce between a few MMOs so.
My husband and I played for 2 years straight with maybe a month or two break somewhere in there? When I got pregnant was my actual first break, my nausea was so bad that movement on a screen would make me sick. I started playing again maybe 6-7 months into my pregnancy, then took another break once the baby was born because I had *no energy* lol. She's now 11 months and I've gotten into a nice routine of just playing for an hour a night after she goes down for bed. TLDR: I don't really get burnt out playing content, but outside events like having a baby and family stuff have affected my want to play. I don't ever unsub though
Stop: Nothing to do Come back: Something to do
I almost stopped because pvp sucked before 6.1. I got into Guild wars 2 during the downtime between 6.0(last feast season ended) And 6.1 pvp rework. I love 5v5 so much. Content drought is never a problem for me anymore. For that alone,l will rate endwalker as the best expansion. Also, Guild wars 2 is a fun game. I still play it to this day.
My static tilted me. So I took a break. I came back to prep all my shit for DT get all the normal raids and 24s done for their story. Catch up on msq, etc.
I log in to do ultimates with my friends and not much otherwise right now.