Final Fantasy XIV has announced its new expansion Endwalker. However, MeinMMO author Irina Moritz will still put her subscription on hold this summer. And that is not a big problem.
This was the expansion announcement: The night of February 5 to 6 was something very special for many thousands of FFXIV players around the world. In an Announcement Showcase, the new expansion Endwalker was finally revealed.
In a stream, the director of the MMORPG, Naoki Yoshida, presented the cool teaser trailer, new playable healer job, and other cool features of the upcoming expansion.
I followed the announcement just like many others, even though the stream here in Germany started at 2:30 AM. And while the conclusion of the story and new features sound exciting, for the first time in over 7 years and 800 days of playtime, I will de-subscribe from Final Fantasy XIV.
A summer without new content
One of the main reasons I decided this was the grim experience of “raid logging” that I had in the summer of 2020.
Raid logging is when you only log into the game at the times the group assembles for raids. For many groups, it gets reduced to once a week after the raid kills, to quickly get their loot and log out again.
The Corona pandemic, which we all have had enough of by now, has also caught the FFXIV team off guard. The consequence was a content gap of 6 months between patches 5.2 and 5.3, during which I hardly logged into the game at all.
The content from 5.2 was fun:
- The story continuation of Shadowbringers was entertaining.
- The Eden raid had tough bosses and strong new gear to farm.
- The reconstruction of Ishgard brought cool cosmetic items as rewards. And because entire servers worked together on it, it felt like a communal project, as it should in an MMORPG.
I ground this content so much that I couldn’t stand to see it by the release of 5.3 in August. It wasn’t enough to fill a 6-month gap.
Will summer 2021 be the same? This delay could not be caught up by the team, according to director Yoshida. And as the roadmap for 2021 for FFXIV currently looks, there will also be such a content gap in summer 2021 until the expansion finally comes out.
Here is the approximate timeline for Final Fantasy XIV for 2021:
- The first part of catch-up patch 5.5 will be released on April 13.
- The second part of 5.5 will come after the digital fan festival in May and will bridge the story to Endwalker.
- The expansion releases in fall 2021. My optimistic estimate lies here between mid-September and early October. Given the unstable situation due to Corona, it could also become November if luck is not on our side.
Again, a gap will open up in summer where there is likely to be no new content supply. It feels like déjà vu from 2020, which is why I want to avoid raid logging this time and will put my subscription on hold until the expansion.
The formula of FFXIV works – just not for me anymore
Another reason lies in FFXIV’s update strategy, which is a double-edged sword. On one hand, other MMORPGs can only envy FFXIV for its constant content supply.
Every 3-4 months, players receive a chunk of new quests, raid bosses, dungeons, outfits, and other content. There is regularly something new for players to grind.
This is the downside of FFXIV updates: On the other hand, it comes at the cost of surprise. The patch structure of FFXIV has not changed since 2013, and veteran players can often predict with astonishing precision what to expect in the next update because they always follow the same pattern.
And it was the same with the new expansion. The announced content has strongly overlapped with that of the previous expansions:
- New story content
- New 8-man raid in normal and epic
- New 24-man raid
- New extremely difficult ultimate raid
- Some new dungeons
- 2 new jobs
- Increase of level cap by 10 levels
- New content for collecters and crafters
The variety, of course, was in the actual form of the content. It was clear that there would be new jobs and raids, but no one could know exactly how the new healer or raid would look. But there is still much speculation about the new melee job. The general tendency is always the same.
That’s why FFXIV updates work: However, from the reports to investors that Square Enix regularly publishes, you can see that the success vindicates Yoshida.
The revenues of Square Enix’s MMO division experienced a strong boost with the release of Shadowbringers, which is also attributed to the rising subscription numbers of Final Fantasy XIV. The update and content strategy seems to be working well for the MMORPG.
Whether the patch structure appeals to you is something everyone must decide for themselves. It has its pros and cons. But after 7 years, I’ve developed a bit of fatigue that has only been exacerbated by the current information about the new expansion.
But hey, in May at the digital fan fest, there will be more announcements. Maybe a big surprise awaits me.
Is this a problem? No, not at all
If the text comes off as bitter, it is not meant that way. Director Yoshida himself once said that you should de-subscribe from your game if you no longer find content that is fun. You should not force yourself to log in every day if you find no engagement in the game, according to Yoshida.
And this is very important. Especially in MMOs, I often feel that people feel they must play every day non-stop and then are incredibly frustrated when content droughts occur.
On one hand, I can understand it. One has fun and wants more of it. But on the other hand, it causes unnecessary frustration. And that’s exactly what I want to avoid at this point.
Therefore, after patch 5.5, I will put my subscription on hold for the first time in over 7 years. When the new expansion is out, I will dive into the content fresh and rested.
If you also feel like you are currently missing the spark while playing and you struggle to find enjoyment in the game, then don’t force yourself.
It’s okay to take a break.
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