>>714269896
>But the story was already getting obnoxious in EW, and it looks like it only got worse in DT.

Eh, it's less that the story is obnoxious, and more that the game has grown incredibly stale for those who consider themselves apart of the "old guard" so to speak. Don't get me wrong though, the MSQ is part of the problem as well, but people can forget and forgive a lackluster MSQ so long as the game is engaging. The reason the backlash has been so incredibly strong and has lasted so long against Dawntrail was because you had already demoralized players by the end of EW playing an even more demoralizing MSQ with DT that SEVERELY overstayed it's welcome and did literally nothing besides introduce a single new mcguffin by the end of it.

For those who are Shadow or Endwalkerbabs, they likely do not understand the vast majority of complaints levied against the game by more seasoned players as of late, and how could they? They have nothing to compare the recent spate of dogshit design to, that, and the game has yet to become stale to them.

XIVs gameplay issues are systemic, since Stormblood, I've repeatedly said that adding 2-3 jobs an expansion would be ruinous down the road, as there would be no more job identity. Besides the holy trinity, jobs are simply glorified glamour now, there are zero interesting interactions in the name of balance (and even then, job balance has been dogshit).

Other issues include:
>zero incentive to make friends, or be active in an FC
>reward structure fucking sucks, especially anything related to Savage
>gearing fucking sucks
>loot lock-outs fucking suck
>plugin plague means that anybody you play with could simply be botting at this point
>constant insta-wipe mechanics, mechanic-vomit, fight design in general
>constant removal of skills, abilities, and features to appease console-shitters, shit like tank-stance, the concept of enmity, etc.
>zero risks
>japanese dev philosophy in general

Niggers tongue my anus.