I’m Glad I Stood by FFXIV Through the Down-Trail
Posted on May 15, 2026 by Aywren
While I’m cautiously optimistic about the future of FFXIV, it’s been a tough time to be a dedicated FFXIV player during the Dawntrail era. I didn’t write a whole lot about my feelings during this past expansion because I don’t like to pile negativity on top of what was already out there. But given the recent change of tone, I feel like now is the right time to come clean.
Overall, I rate Dawntrail as one of the lowest story and content experiences FFXIV has produced. Yes, including A Realm Reborn (Note: I quite enjoyed ARR, but I did play it when it was the current content).
In a past blog post, before I finished the expansion, I wrote:
I haven’t felt pulled in or fully engaged with the story yet…
…I did mention to Syn that if I felt the story was slow, being someone who didn’t mind story-based gaming, I was concerned what the overall impression was from folks in general.
And then once I finished Dawntrail:
And while there are things to enjoy in Dawntrail, I came away feeling this expansion was the weakest FFXIV story and the lowest amount of personal engagement (especially for casual folks) that I’ve seen since I’ve started playing in ARR.
While I have been a long-time fan of FFXIV – still subbed, even after Dawntrail, for over 11 years – I do not give the game a pass when I feel it’s not up to snuff. I really did not feel the writing during the expansion MSQ was on par this time around...
And my concern for casuals struggling through the higher Dawntrail difficulty curve:
My concern is that the quiet group of casuals who just can’t get through the content will stop having fun (some already have). They might mention it on a social here or there, but they’re not forum users. They don’t engage in Reddit. And if they did speak up, people would tell them they’re wrong. Just learn to play better (which may not be something everyone can actually do for various reasons).
So, these people may quietly just start to vanish. These people who might be the social foundation of the game, who pay a sub to help keep the game you and I play going. They’ll wander off to find something that’s not going to frustrate them. Why pay a monthly fee for content you’ll never be able to see?
The Down-Trail
Negativity towards Dawntrail was everywhere. Dedicated players and influencers were leaving for other MMOs after their disappointment with how Dawntrail turned out. Some hopped on the WoW train since WoW had a pretty strong showing during this time. And I can’t blame them.
I could hardly turn around without seeing something or someone criticizing my home game. And the problem was that… I agreed with most of the criticisms.
It’s really tough to be a creative person, gamer, and blog writer when you’ve decided to go down with the ship, holding out hope that the next patch will be the light needed to turn things around. Patch after patch passed. We got new content, but most of it, honestly, just felt so mid.
It’s sad when the Arcadion raid story and characters outshine the MSQ in almost every way. This was apparent in the fact that so many things at the FanFest were Arcadion themed. Folks at S/E knew this was the most-liked content in the expansion and were smart to lean very heavily on it. (I think it worked…)
Occult Crescent was held up with high expectations, especially for the starving casual crowd. These were expectations that it did not meet, IMHO.
Mostly because the OC content was nothing but a speed rush from overly-punishing boss fight to overly-punishing boss fight to overly-punishing boss fight with no time to breathe in between. But who can blame anyone for only farming CEs because FATEs die far too quickly to bother with, and the Phantom Job system really isn’t anything special in the end.
It doesn’t help that CE mechanics are so difficult that soloing as anything but a healer or tank is an exercise in frustration. You also can’t use the content to level up, which was a big missed opportunity.
This was not how Bozja felt. And that’s said as someone who’s spent many hours soloing out in South Horn on two different characters just hoping to find a spark of fun to inspire me.
Cosmic Exploration for crafters and gatherers was alright, but nothing earthshaking. I did enjoy the content and rewards, but it didn’t hold me for very long. Those who are avid crafters and gatherers hung out there long enough to advance their tools, but once the crowd is gone, doing the Red Alerts becomes impossible and the FATE events just don’t hit the same way solo.
I didn’t touch the Variant dungeon, so I can’t say anything about it. But the fact that there was no mount for the normal paths, as there were in previous Variants, made it hardly worth my time.
I did dabble in the Deep Dungeon for a short bit, and that was fun. However, the group of friends I started with haven’t played it since the first night, and trying to solo it without a higher gear level is too difficult for me.
Beast Master has been shoved so far into patch 7.5 that while I’m looking forward to it, it’s hardly even a Dawntrail feature.
All that to say, none of the content or story was really keeping me in FFXIV this past expansion. Syn and I would log in to do an Alliance and maybe an Expert for Tomes, and that would be it. The exception was back when we were working on relic steps, which at least gave me something to focus on earning for a little bit.
A Question of Subscriptions and Identities
Syn and I had several discussions about what our future with FFXIV would be. It was grim for both of us, and the downtrodden state of the playerbase around us didn’t help. She noted several times that she’d wait and see how she felt about what was coming in 8.0 – and if there wasn’t a major shake-up by then, I wonder if she’d reconsider her subscription to the game, even after all these years.
For me, I still have a creative outlet as an RPer that helps to keep me invested. But even so, I changed my main’s identity three times during Dawntrail… and this doesn’t count the number of times I shifted alt characters around.
I don’t think there’s ever been a time that I’ve changed characters and servers as much as I have in Dawntrail. It did help that the game provided a bunch of free Fantasias, which meant changing identities was practically 50% off – as you only needed to buy the name change and not the Fantasia – but still!
While part of that was me being flighty, I realize now that it was a sign of my discontent with the game. I kept shifting things around hoping to find inspiration in playing my characters by altering them. I finally was so worn out by trying to gear two characters at once that I gave up and made my RP alt my Main in the end.
While that has made it a little harder to connect with MSQ (I’ll have to think about what to do for that), it’s eased the burden of gearing overall. So, I consider this change one that I hope to stick to.
Hope for the Future
You might ask: How does any of this relate back to the title of this post? Well, despite everything I just listed, I’m glad I weathered the storm and stuck by FFXIV through its disappointments.
I know some folks dropped subs and headed to greener pastures during this. I honestly can’t blame them. Maybe I’m the dull one for not doing the same, but it’s just so hard to leave the world and characters you’ve put over a decade of time and love into.
Seeing what I’ve seen at Fanfest – and yes, even after being disappointed, we went to Fanfest to support FFXIV – I have renewed hope for the future. We heard some huge announcements there that sparked a grand reaction amongst folks of all sorts – whether a currently a player, a past player, or never a player. It sounds like S/E’s plans, and the pledge that FFXIV will finally get the funding and attention it deserves, have struck a chord amongst many.
Not only has the atmosphere quickly shifted to one of hopeful positivity, even excitement, but we’re seeing a resurgence of players returning and trying the game out again in anticipation of the next expansion, Evercold. It helps that the free trial has been expanded to include Shadowbringers, which is considered to be one of the best story expansions ever.
A number of folks and influencers who left in disappointment with Dawntrail have returned and have begun singing praises again.
Patch 7.5’s story is a marked improvement over what we’ve seen in the previous patch stories, IMHO. I know that I’m far more interested and invested in the MSQ than I’ve been in a very long time.
Also, the dungeon and trial difficulty for the past two patches has taken a turn towards the more casual, which is a good thing. Some people might poo-poo about this (I haven’t actually seen anyone say anything negative about the down-tuning), but should they keep future content at about this difficulty level, I’ll be alright with it.
The new Alliance raid is fairly challenging, but they usually are the first few weeks. The story around the raid is mostly alright – I’m sure that FFXI folks probably enjoyed it much more than I did, given I have very little knowledge of anything beyond the first few zones of the game. I am happy that they finally included the San d’Oria bagpipe music, though!
Mostly, it’s the promises of the future that have drawn the attention of so many. With FFXIV showing that the devs are dedicated to making much-needed changes to how players gear, play jobs, progress, and become involved with various pieces of content, I really do wish for every success in their plans.
Trust me when I say I want to see FFXIV do well with Evercold. I mean, after all, I’ve stuck it out even through Dawntrail.