ff14 fanfest
overall... the fanfest was okay lol. the quality of life stuff is pretty cool, like making savage raid loot personal spoils rather than needing to be rolled on. i got kinda lost at the gear part. but ngl i feel like this game (and many other games) are dangerously catering to people who aren't willing to put in effort into actually playing the game. especially for an MMO which is usually known for being one of the more grind-y game genres. i get that the intention supposedly is to cater to those who have busy lives, who used to play MMOs when they were younger but they are now grown up and have busier lifestyles. but by catering to this population, it also caters to lazy people at the expense of those who actually want a grind and difficult content.
speaking of difficult content, this game really lacks endgame content that we can actually use raid gear for that isn't ultimates. i guess savage alliance raids are the solution to that for now but i think it would be nice if they revamped old content, made it more difficult, and incentivized it somehow. i guess kind of like the dungeon boss rush thing they introduced? idk i'm not good at coming up with game design ideas lol. all i know is that sometimes it feels like my raid gear isn't really useful for anything other than getting a head start on the next raid tier and doing a bit more DPS on extremes.
but that's all just early reactions. i still plan on raiding the next tier at least and see how things go. ffxiv has become routine for me at this point anyway and there aren't really any other games that i want to invest time in. so for as long as ffxiv doesn't actually piss me off or make me dread playing the game, i'll be on. and i'll try to make the most of it, because i don't agree with regularly paying for a service that i don't actually like.
i'm curious how the story will go. first of all, it's very much giving heavensward 2.0 lol and heavensward is probably my favorite expansion especially story-wise. i just love cold settings/vibes. i'm so excited to spend extended time with alphinaud and estinien, just like the good old days. plus i'm hoping we delve deeper into the new story arc they're setting up.
overall, i wouldn't say i have high hopes. i'm keeping my expectations low. but i'm not completely deterred from playing more right now. i'll enjoy it the best i can. and if i really don't want to invest time in endgame content, i still got a handful ultimates to clear... orz
oh forgot to mention i will definitely still be fishing lol. more big fish to catch! i hope the legendaries are a bit more fun this time around...