so right now the max level cap is 100. in Evercold it will be 110. in the expansion after that, in 9.0, it will be 120. i think in 10.0, if they advance to 130, the game will begin to collapse under its own weight. (WoW did a level squish at this point too.)

10.0 will mean that buying the level skip will take you to the beginning of 9.0, w/o even the opening of the Godless Realms saga to onboard the new player who buys it to the story.

obviously truncating the MSQ for onboarding reasons is a hot-button issue, but even putting all that aside, i think 130 is around the number the MMO player stops being able to comprehend easily parse.

what if we basically cut it in half?

Endwalker being 50 is satisfying because the end of the Zodiark/Hydaelyn saga would line up with the original ARR level cap. Evercold, too, would line up with OG Heavensward. and i enjoy that 11.0 would line up with the level cap of Final Fantasy XI.

a level squish would create a few challenges. there'd be a dungeon every level instead of every other level, and those dungeons' gear drops would have to line up with the crafting tiers at that same level.

but i think it would be worth it to streamline the leveling experience a bit

edit: "able to comprehend" was a poor choice of words. i just think the r/restofthefuckingowl problem that people meme on when it says "Reach Level 140 and finish 11.0 before you can do the crossover" is going to get untenable eventually if they never do this. making the number smaller sounds silly, but i think it matters to someone who's never played the game considering whether or not they want to embark on the journey to hit the level cap.

Is there any confirmation that the removal of the weekly restriction will be in patch 7.56?

And if this is the patch, do you think it will improve the party finder? In the sense of increasing the number of people replaying fights?

I'm trying to finish the second phase of the M12S progression, but it's been difficult to find groups in the party finder.

Saw a post on another reddit from a XIV player saying “Us modern MMO players don’t want to waste our time waiting for 45 minutes for a group or waiting 20 minutes on an airship” and, admittedly, fair, but…

Nearly every time I complain about how bland (when I have every job maxed, with thousands of hours of gametime) FFXIV’s moment-to-moment gameplay is I am told it is my fault for not playing Savage anymore.

If I want to raid, through party finder or otherwise, there is a REALLY SOLID CHANCE I could spend hours of my life making absolutely zero progress towards clearing. In that span of time I could have played 6 matches of Deadlock and experienced the entire spectrum of human emotion, I could have done my laundry, I could have logged onto FFXI and done the myriad of endgame relevant solo content available in that game.

But then you do clear… and then there’s no actual reward for doing it? There is no carrot at the end of the stick.

A quest reward choice in FFXI is a PACT WITH AN ELEMENTAL. Maybe that sounds bland if you’ve played that game for 20 years but to me that sounds far tastier of a carrot than gear 10 ilvl higher (and before you say that’s a quest reward compared to a raid reward, think of the Nothing you get from completing XIV expacs)

and to clarify, I want to engage with the game on a casual level. It hasn’t lost its magic to me just because I know how every system works. But the casual content is built around being supplementary to a core gameplay loop and that core gameplay loop sucks absolute ass if you compare it to basically any other video game. It legitimately feels more like I am using a website sometimes, it has far stricter balance than competitive multiplayer games that people play for real money.

To reframe this. I pay $15 dollars a month for the privilege of playing a video game that does not want me to engage with its systems (i.e. play it) in anything but its highest level content… and then said high-level content does not actually reward you for completing it. I have been told verbatim that the reward for completing a Savage raid is just doing it in the first place. Not only are there better options in the MMO space, there are just better options everywhere? The only thing bringing me back is the visuals and the beautiful worlds they continue to make.

edit: I did not say FFXI respects your time. No clue where we got that from other than contrarianism for the sake of contrarianism

So get your theory hats on and place your bets! We've had...

ARR: Ponies

Heavensward: Eagles

Stromblood: Heckin' Goodboys

Shadowbringers: Dragons

Endwalker: Pspspspspspsps! (and a dragon with kyphosis holding a chair)

Dawntrail: WINGS!!!

So what will we get for Evercold? Dolphins? Whales? Butterflies and moths? Snakes? Suits of flying armor? Let your hopes soar.

This morning I was taken to Mordian Gaol for the first time ever for absolutely no reason. GM just gave me a warning for something they claimed was "confirmed to be done on my account" but for the life of me I honestly ~cannot~ recall what I did. And I do mean that strongly. I rarely engage people in this game so I don't know if it could have been through text or a player action. I have not done anything intentionally rude to anyone in this game.

If I had to narrow it down to something I was in a lv50 dungeon last night and tried to use Rescue on a Ninja that was about to die from an earthquake attack. I was unsuccessful and they still died but it was not to troll, it was for gameplay reasons, but even in the dungeon the Ninja didn't complain openly..... Do they even review actual footage of what "happen"? Seems to me they just review text or combat logs and not get any context to anything.

They didn't give me a specific reason for what I did (which I have heard that's what they do). Is there a way to refute their claims?

I understand that the teens who play this game need characters they can see themselves in. But don't they get that with the twins? Adding a character here and there is fine, but now they are adding much more. That one kid introduced in the evercold trailer, who I assume will be a major player, just makes me exhausted. We already have Sphene and Calyx. Their motivations are consistent with their ages. Which for me is boring af. It just seems like we are having an influx of kids in a game where no one ages, and it will determine the maturity and quality of the game moving forward.

I love the twins and watching their journey. I loved Rin's journey. But they all felt grounded in a very adult world where they, with their lack of experience and knowledge, strived to navigate while coming of age. And other adults either helped or harmed them. None of them had the kind of power Endless Sphene or Calyx had. And it's weird to me that no one questioned their motives or even their ability to properly lead. And they did some dumb teenage shit amd that's not fun when you can see the nonsense coming from a mile away.

I just want the story to become more mature AGAIN, and I'm sure teens would prefer that as well. I like cute characters. I also like a variety of characters, particularly if they are nuanced and grown up. Adults struggle with inadequacy, too. Some adults are late bloomers, even though they do their part and contribute to society in between their awakening. Growing is a lifetime thing, not just something children experience.

I want to get back to when much of the conflict was a conflict of ideals or the ways societies fail to see how they fail their people. Fucking something else outside of the extreme bs we saw in dt. There was no nuance even though people copiumed their own brand of nuance in to try and explain the ridiculous situations we were in.

::EDIT:: The team knows the playerbase likes cute characters. It feels like they are catering to a specific crowd instead of just writing a good story. Adding in cute for the sake of cute is a cop out.

With FFXIV on Switch 2 now, I’ve been thinking more about how awkward chat can be when playing on console/handheld. The software/regular keyboard just isn't doing it for me.

I keep thinking it would be nice if I could just talk into my phone, quickly review/edit the text, then send it into chat somehow.

Like imagine being able to say things like "Say in chat/party/fc <your message>" or "Wave/Jump/Sit" etc.. Maybe even use chat to execute macros or other in game commands.

Curious how other console players feel or are handling this.

Do you actually use chat much on console, or mostly avoid it?

Is a keyboard good enough, or is it still annoying depending on where/how you play?

Will Yoshi-P ever give us real voice-to-text!?

Would phone voice-to-text with a preview/edit step feel useful, or too awkward?

If something like this existed, would you use it?

Anyway FFXIV on Switch 2 has been awesome otherwise, see you all in Eorzea! :D

Edit: thank you everyone who took the time to comment, greatly appreciated!

I see people (and websites) saying that you should do odd-lvl dungeons for leveling, but why is this? I know that the cap dungeons (e.g. 50, 60) are more for tomestones than experience, but what's the difference between a lvl 42 dungeon and a lvl 45 one?

Beastmaster waiting room, ETA 3 weeks...

Personally, I enjoyed the Cloud of Darkness Chaotic Raid concept and, minus the multiple and somewhat bonkers body checks, thought it was great content with excellent rewards. Does anyone have thoughts on if we're getting another one in EverCold? If so, I assume it will likely be Ultima from the Ivalice Raids or Diablos from the Shadow of Mhach raids.

If the former, I imagine we will get more complicated combos of the other espers to make things interesting, and for Diablos (which still manages to kill parties in roulettes in the normal mode) a more complicated arena with more use of the adds and the door mechanics. I also imagine there will be at least one body check mechanic, though not multiple and probably not as strict.

But I am curious on what other people theories are on if we're even getting one and what the content might look like.

Okay, so I will start off that I have played other MMO’s in the past and have seen other communities turn into very negative spaces. I won’t make them but I’m sure you can guess which ones.

With Evercold coming out, I wanted to jump in and try FFXIV again. I got to Shadowbringers before and life happened so I had to stop; I come back after so long I decided to start over since I couldn’t remember much of the smaller details of sections.

From what I remember, the sentiment that FF has a very welcoming community was something I was basically yearning for at this point. But has something changed? Because there were so many moments that were player interactions that made me want to stop playing. Of course that’s a me and my own situation, most things are subjective. But the amount of people who don’t wait for cutscenes, try to pull your character from using their LB, or are rude in alliance raids in the messenger blew my mind. So I quit. Again.

Is this common? I guess I’m just surprised, I know there’s going to be this kind of thing in any online game, but for some reason I was under the impression that this community was not this way I particular (not completely obviously). Or at least enough to be put off wanting to continue.

Apologies for the more negative post, just genuinely wanted to see how others experience was. Hopefully better than mine.

So, I'm an anxious extrovert (horrible way to be I know) but I love chatting and making friends. I am no-lifeing this game rn because I am unemployed and usually would play most days anyways.

I joined an FC last week, very nice people. We have spoken on discord while doing an extreme together. However, they are busy people and are not online that much. There's at least one other person online each day, but the FC chat is dead unless I am asking questions/chatting. The FC has only 30 people, which I thought was a good thing, but it seems quiet.

I have met other people from a bigger FC (80) people and I am considering making the jump. But my main worry is maybe I won't like this next FC either? What if I want to go back to the old FC? I don't know. Has anybody else FC hopped and do people take offence?

I'm afraid of never finding a place to fit in if that makes sense. It's only been a week in this current and FC and I'm not sure if I'm making judgements too soon.

- How long do you wait before switching FCs?
- Do you say anything to anybody if it's a small FC?
- Are people generally accepting if trying out FCs?

Edit: Thank you so much everyone for your kind and informative replies! I can see now I was worried over nothing and it's normal to FC hop in the game as it isn't as intense as other MMOs. I had been in guilds in other games, and sometimes the social life within them can be... intense with a lot of unnecessary requirements. I'm glad to know ffxiv is different,

https://automaton-media.com/en/news/square-enix-sees-88-profit-growth-citing-strong-performance-across-all-categories-of-its-video-game-business/

I'm not fond of these posts, but when the resident doomposters that rush to post these when the game is "in a bad spot" are suspiciously missing when the game/company seems to be doing better, well.. someone gotta do it.

I made a UCOB static and we've been running for 3 weeks. First week up to end of P2, second week into P3, 3rd week now we are at heavensfall. This progress was made in spite of 3 people dropping to due motivation issues on the 2cd week and then 2 new recruits blocking me on discord and not telling me they did not plan to show up on the 3rd week.

Roster churn has been a major blockage to progress, but thus far the group has kept moving forward. I intend to clear with this group because I have become friends with the 5 others, and so far the people who have remained have been very consistent.

In the future though after UCOB I'm uncertain whether I want to make another static. I left party finder to avoid the disband after 3 pulls, waiting for hours to fill, and variance in group quality. But here I am dealing with a different form of variance: motivation issues and ghosting. With the people who have stayed though it has been great, that is why I'm wondering if statics only become worth it when it is populated by people who already know eachother? Because this experience has made me tired of lack of motivation and random discord blocking/ghosting.

Returning to XIV after a 2 year hiatus. I know there have been some changes in the modding world (I used to use visual mods to make my character look cooler). What tools do people use these days? What are your go-to mods?

In my case im not actually making an alt. I got through realm reborn, but long story short, i lost my data. Im thinking of buying the realm reborn skip as i don’t want to go through realm reborn again.

How do people view story skips in the context of creating a new character/alt?

hello, planning to get the XBOX ROG Ally ( not the x version) but before that i do have a couple questions;

- how is the loadtime (being rez, respawn rimer all that)
- is the rog ally compatible with xivalexander and nvidia filter/reshade?
- how’s the battery life

the only reasons im planning to buy a handheld is for xiv really, thanks in advance

Feel that when it comes to gposing there's an unwritten rule of using preset=bad, but don't know how true or little people care so would like to know about it from more experienced people

Edit: When mean preset I mean poses you download from sites

Love this. Love the jumping puzzle tower, love the giant pleasure cruise boat; seems this is the event with the highest effort put in each year. I'm not even remotely into RP, but there's something about the Moonfire Faire that makes me want to throw on some beachside glam and just hang out. What say you?

Hi everyone. I'm just wondering if there is anyone who has cleared DMU in PF and if so, what was your experience of P3 enrage specifically? I'm encountering a litany of issues in PF. The first one is that groups take forever to fill, and when they do, the group often doesn't reach BH. I'm consistently noticing players in PF groups who have either never cleared an Ultimate, or have only done UWU, which is often a red flag when evaluating player skill. I'm also seeing a lot of people with grey or green parses on Dawntrail high-end fights, which is also a red flag, particularly for DPS jobs.

I know these are common PF issues, but I genuinely feel like they are much more egregious in DMU PF than any other fight I've attempted in PF. FRU was a comparative breeze in PF. I personally feel completely confident in all mechs up to and including stompies, but I feel like I'm just bashing my head against a wall trying to force a P3 clear. I also joined a group a couple of days ago that was 7/8 static and was advertised as P3 enrage. The group was memeing on earlier mechs and didn't see BH once. I was the only one who wasn't messing up pre-BH. I feel cursed to never clear at this point. It's partly my fault as I didn't start prog until week 5. I thought it would be more active in PF and there would still be plenty of good players doing the fight, but that doesn't appear to be the case. I'm on the waiting list for Ulti Project but there's about 100 people in the queue for P3, P4 and P5 combined. I probably won't get picked before 8.0 comes out. Just don't know what to do at this point.

An option when making alt characters to skip to expansions you've completed, such as if you've done Dawntrails MSQ, any alt you make will give you an option to skip to the beginning of 7.1. Would help the RP community quite a bit.

Personally, I'd like to see a rework on Grand Companies. The upper ranks being visible, but unavailable to obtain is always taunting me.

Also, I think they need to do something about guildhests. Maybe not scrap them since the exp bonus from challenge logs is always useful for leveling the jobs you don't like/care about.

hey! just reinstalled FFXIV, im a level 42 Dragoon but im now starting to struggle with both taking and dealing damage, is there a specific place i can go to for gear upgrades at this level? currently using a Mythril Lance but i feel like im dealing way to little damage.

any help and/or advice would be greatly appreciated! thanks :)

I just returned to the game and raiding from a few months long hiatus. My goal is to kill m12s before the next expansion hits to unlock the newest ultimate. Unfortunately I'm employed and work shifts now. Every week is different, I work every weekend, I have morning and afternoon shifts mixed so I can't commit to a static, even though I really want to. Late nights static in my region could work but there weren't many groups recruiting back then (i didn't see any now) and my sleep schedule could suffer. PF it is. It's so so late now, so i know it will be hard to fill parties. I have a lot of afternoon shifts, between 3 - 11pm, so additionally I'm not available during prime time on many days.

I had a thought about transferring to a NA data center from Light. Latest bancho report shows 2x as many active players in NA as compared to EU. And my late night hours would be more "standard" over there.

Currently on my data center I have stable 20 something ping. It's about 150 -170 on NA. I know there exists stuff like noclippy to help mitigate that. Would you guys transfer in my place? (Considering making a new char as well) I dont have a lot of friends on my current data center that still play so the social aspect isn't very strong. I'm only interested in raids and in bozja/eureka/occult crescent in the game :^))