I played FFXIV for many years with a couple of co-workers, and had a great time. Somewhere during early Endwalker they both quit playing for various reasons, and I was left alone, with no friends to play with. I kept playing, but it was lonely, and it ruined the game for me, and eventually I quit too.
Recently, I made a new RL friend, and imagine my surprise when we're talking and I found out he plays FFXIV. He tells me about Dawntrail and that he has an active FC that do lots of different content together, and a house! All the fun memories I have of the game come rushing back. So I excitedly hop on my phone, buy Dawntrail and 30 day subscription, and reactivate my extra retainers. Fun times ahead, right?
Nope, I go to transfer my character to his homeworld and its "congested". I ask my friend, and there's no queues even in prime time, but still "congested". So I suck it up, and play through the MSQ, hit lvl100...and I'm lonely again in FFXIV and can't bring myself to log in anymore. To rub salt in the wound, Wuk Lamat reminds me every 5 minutes how important friendship is, while I sit here lonely in the game.
I can't expect my new friend to abandon his FC, but I can't join their fun. I can't expect every one of them to datacenter travel to meet me over at Dynamis every time they want to run a trial or hunt maps or some other group content. I can't hang out in front of the FC house and socialize, because I can't travel there.
So I just don't play, and I guess I'll quit again instead of having a great time. And that's sad. And my sadness turns to anger and resentment when I realize I am being robbed of fun because the "congested" status is artificial to prop up Dynamis, a ghost-town data-center that seemingly no one wants to play on unless they are forced there.
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Recently, I made a new RL friend, and imagine my surprise when we're talking and I found out he plays FFXIV. He tells me about Dawntrail and that he has an active FC that do lots of different content together, and a house! All the fun memories I have of the game come rushing back. So I excitedly hop on my phone, buy Dawntrail and 30 day subscription, and reactivate my extra retainers. Fun times ahead, right?
Nope, I go to transfer my character to his homeworld and its "congested". I ask my friend, and there's no queues even in prime time, but still "congested". So I suck it up, and play through the MSQ, hit lvl100...and I'm lonely again in FFXIV and can't bring myself to log in anymore. To rub salt in the wound, Wuk Lamat reminds me every 5 minutes how important friendship is, while I sit here lonely in the game.
I can't expect my new friend to abandon his FC, but I can't join their fun. I can't expect every one of them to datacenter travel to meet me over at Dynamis every time they want to run a trial or hunt maps or some other group content. I can't hang out in front of the FC house and socialize, because I can't travel there.
So I just don't play, and I guess I'll quit again instead of having a great time. And that's sad. And my sadness turns to anger and resentment when I realize I am being robbed of fun because the "congested" status is artificial to prop up Dynamis, a ghost-town data-center that seemingly no one wants to play on unless they are forced there.
Continue reading...