upsidecloud8700: Dawntrail 7.0 MSQ was just too bad. There is no redemption. It is a bad idea to even bargain that it had any quality to begin with. Even in comparison to Stormblood. It was terrible, just terrible. And we got stuck for 5 months with it, which just guaranteed the disaster. We need YoshiP hailing 7.0 as the second coming of 1.0, an irredeemable mess. Talking in extremes is useful here because people despise this expansion with the fury of a thousand Suns. Dawntrail 7.0 needs to be shunned and laughed at by the devs, like 1.0 is, and this is a wound that will not heal. 7.0 was a real strike that could have killed the game and cannot be called otherwise. This was a DISASTER. 7.0 needs to be mocked and squashed, so people eho hate Dawntrail are validated and feel safe that 7.0 won't happen again. This is not a matter of opinion, it is a commercial disaster for SquareEnix. This game could be printing money right now, it had everything going for it. We need YoshiP hailing 7.0 as an example of what not to do like he does to 1.0.

Asin24: I don't see DT ever being looked on as anything but bad. Even if we get another lackluster expansion its not going to suddenly elevate it. Stormblood was received less the positively on its launch but it brought with it a lot of great content with its patches. DT has so far failed to really deliver anything that resounded with the players. It lacked content for so long and most of what it brought either satisfied a niche group of players or it was viewed positively for a short while before being just as quickly dropped by the players. Even if .4 and .5 bring forth new content we have been desperately waiting for, I feel it is just far too late to repair DT's reputation, and most likely that sort of content will be looked more in a vacuum rather then as part of the expansion.

ActionPackedFTW: No, it's actually far worse due to the patch cycle going from 3 months to 4.5 months, a 50% increase.

RidleyUwO: Dawntrail will not be looked on fondly. I watched a video from someone, can’t remember who, during the Endwalker patches in response to people saying it was the worst expansion. He pointed out that it was actually Heavensward that was the worst, due to how broken much of its content was. They released, took out, and reworked Diadem multiple times. But regardless of that, I think we all think Heavensward is one of the best. We remember the story and the music more than the QoL or changes to jobs. Dawntrail’s story is hot garbage. There’s no changing that. It’s objectively worse than ARR. And like ARR, Dawntrail will be a hurdle for players to experience the rest of the story after it, but Dawntrail will be a far worse hurdle to overcome and players will wonder if they should even bother after they’ve just gotten a wonderful conclusion the the game already. I kind of feel that way. A part of me wishes I had just stopped the day I completed 6.0. It was perfect, and if I had known of the bastardization of the game that would soon follow in 7.0, I most certainly would have been content with Endwalker’s finale. Nothing short of a complete rewrite of Dawntrail’s story will rectify this issue, but that is supremely unrealistic and unreasonable, so the issue will remain for every new player to overcome if they want to see what this new story will bring to the table. It may not even be worth it.

SniperKing-O: Hot Take: Drop a second Dalamud, but on Tural. Clean slate the whole thing and have an adult Galool Ja be its singular ruler who attempts to rejoin his grandfather's fractured nation and has the WoL and Sphene help him do it.

Jon_the_Wizard: Hot Take: A change needs to be made in regards to raid gear. Specifically in dyable versions. With the exception of the Binding Coils of Bahamut sets, currently only the Savage version of Normal Raid gear is dyable, but ever since the addition of two dye channels I feel a change can be made. I would change it so that now the Normal version gets one dye channel, usually of some small extra or the trim, while the Savage version gets a two-dye channel version that also allows for dyeing the main part of the armor piece. Using the Edengrace Mail of Maiming as an example, the Normal version would allow you to dye the crystals dotted around the hips and in the center of the badge on the left shoulder while the two-dye version would allow that and the color of the garment (the part you're currently allowed to dye).

1Mrstephen: I’ve stayed subbed because of loyalty and hopes of better days or days of old…

Everyone needs to stop being ok with mediocre… when you buy/pay for something when do you ever say I hope I’m spending money on something mediocre? You spend your money, no matter how much you have, hoping and expecting the best that can be purchased. True talk.

SE is mediocre right now, reaching for straws and lifelines.. 7.x has been trash and will forever been looked back on as trash.

RazielEriel: I mean, if people are worried about lore/job identity, the warrior of light is supposed to be able to have all jobs, why wouldn’t they be able to mix them up?

TheProphet49: The new transmog that removes role does reduce class/role identity but its because the way you looked was basically the only thing that we had left. I want to be able to use some of my blackmage gear w/ my warrior or sage but I also want a Warrior class that isn't 90% the same as Dark Knight or Paladin.

upsidecloud8700: My hot take: The (merited) bad reception to 7.0 was greatly worsened by unrelated american politics. Personally, I despise the hatred that Kate Cwynar gets and I think it is massively overblown and coward because she is an easy target. Kate Cwynar is / was (she may have been moved in the recent hard shifts that the game is taking) the head of localization for FF14 and is your typical run-of-the-mill californian. She is politically liberal and has color hair, so people are instantly biased to dislike her. In reality, Kate is a middle-management SquareEnix clerk that fell victim of a mediocre expansion (7.0) and the american political paradigm. There are entire youtube channels AthenaAreia / LanselotTV / Brodiark (curiously, they use AI and will come after anyone who doesn't want the game to die, even attacking Jmulls at one point for easy clout) which are dedicated to stalking her Twitter / BlueSky accounts in search of things to get upset over. It is legitimately pathetic and has done more harm to this game's community than good. The players of FF14 are, and that we must accept, mostly american progressives who agree with her views. But this game is not about american politics and Kate never made this game be about that, she doesn't even have power to make it that way. FF14 used to be above whatever the american political climate is, it is made by the japanese and speaks about more universal problems. You have a literal expansion about the problem of suicide (6.0). So anyone who tries to bring in american politics in this (and I say this as a conservative) is actually engaging in a very harmful and toxic form of criticism that is probably meant to promote themselves rather than provide informed criticism.

Zurilia: I had played FFXIV religiously since 1.0 and then dropped the game after DawnTrail MSQ. It was very similar to how Marvel went downhill after Endgame.

LunarSkittles: I loved 7.0 and I think people must not have played the same game as I did.

yoanignatov7610: Not sure if this is really a hot take but, something I noticed when I came back to WoW, WoW does a great job to promote its in game patch content when you login. I mean you literally login and you are greeted by "Hey here is whats new go check it out!" Meanwhile in FFXIV you login and there is nothing, you literally have to look up guides on how to unlock or do certain pieces of content. Hell the only reason why I knew how to unlock the deep dungeon was because it had fae in it so I just defaulted to going to Norvrandt and found the quest by chance. So in short Final Fantasy XIV needs to do a better job promoting their in game content so players don't have to go through six tabs worth of guides and 15 walls of text to unlock a piece of content then wait in a queue for 4 hours only to miss the pop because they passed out while watching Netflix XD

bigbressler1968: Turn on CC and rewatch the opening statement

cagliostronomics: About solo instances, consider: making one or two dungeons/trials optional if you beat an equivalent solo instance.

ChrisGrahamkedzuel: This is my take on the no restrictions glamour thing. I came back to 14 after a 5 year break and I basically played GW2 during that time. The stuff I could wear in that game. My Mesmer carries a great sword like a dark knight, but she is wearing a gothic looking black dress. And she wields a spear like a dragoon and a great sword like a dark knight…and she’s a caster class.

My Necromancer carries two swords like a viper, and a spear like a dragoon, and she wears leaves that look like they are growing out of her body. Because that’s the racial armor she gets as a sylvari. But she doesn’t look like your typical Necromancer.

My Guardian has two swords like a viper and a spear like a dragoon. And she’s wearing a corset. And high boots even if what Guardians wear are plate armor like a Paladin.

If I can pull that off in GW2, why not 14?

I’ve picked up Reaper and I’ve noticed there are no robes that Reaper can wear. When we think of a Reaper, we think of long black robes. But here I find leather jackets and pants. Maybe a long coat. And the only two armor that actually look like robes in DT are the casting and aiming gear. Why is a friggin bard wearing a spooky witch robe? Why isn’t my reaper wearing that spooky witch robe?

Why is my reaper always wearing pants?

The closest I can get to the look I wanted was to put on Y’shtola’s sorceress dress. Because it can be worn on every class.

When I went through Shadowbringers on my summoner, I wore the Thanvarian dancer outfit.

So, I’m fine with no restrictions on glam.

mufarreh30: not a hot take but a wish , i wish i could replay the story of bozja and eureka in new game , you cant , i tried , and im not making an alt and go through arr again for that

Myrtneough: My take on the glamour stuff is that job specific (artifact) gear should have been left locked to that job.

Role gear opening is more than fine. There have been issues for years now with jobs having way too many aesthetic differences where the role gear would just never fit the job or would alternate between the two or three.

Dancer, Gunbreaker, and Reaper are the key jobs with this, with Monk and Samurai alternating a lot in which is left out. Most aiming gear is very much functional stuff that would fit an archer/ranger or even a gunslinger. The same with Gunbreaker with most gear being heavier armor that doesn't fit the aesthetics alongside Reaper being a definitely leather/loose clothing job stuck with the heavier armor of maiming due to Dragoon being a long time only user of those sets.

Artifact gear is/was different though. I still fondly remember the questing in the late 40s to earn/find each piece of artifact armor and the importance placed on it and knowing I can just slap those White Mage robes on my Ninja just for giggles doesn't feel right.

Does it ruin job identity? Not really. Hampers it a tiny bit, but hardly ruins it.

Does it affect how I'm going to glam? Of course not, as I prefer my glams to fit my idea of the job.

Does it still annoy me? Yeah.

barcey: Jobs should have some form of customization like talents or specialisations. It'll breathe new life into jobs and expand on their identity. I'm sure there's people who'd love to play a dps Dark Knight, a healer Paladin or a tank Samurai. The game already supports such things in Trusts and Duty Support so why not give players that choice too?

upsidecloud8700: Another hot take: People will regret lifting the glam restrictions. I think this is probably the hill I'll die alone on because nobody else seems to agree with me (for now). It turns the game into Final Fantasy Origins, where looks have no role at all and CAN'T have any role. The glams in that game are absolutely ridiculous, and just meant to be mishmashed toy clothes for the players to decide on good glam sets. For me, that picture in the live letter where a WHM was holding a DRK sword was the moment I decided to cancel my subscription until 8.0. That was the moment the game director completely abandoned his vision and decided that he'll do whatever the players ask, even when their demands are not reasonable. I knew this hard shift was coming and that they'd try to save the game doing whatever it takes, but YoshiP betrayed his own artistic vision that he held for more than a decade. People think game direction is giving the players what they want. It is not. Game direction means sticking to a vision, which in a continued game like MMO, requires the foresight of decades from the game director. Why would I, Jmulls, level a Dragoon now if all I get will be a samurai with worse DPS and harder rotation? Because I like the spear that the Dragoon has? The class quests only go up to level 70. This game has TOO LITTLE class identity to allow exclusive class attires to be used by all classes. This is the truth nuke. By lifting the glam restrictions, it is giving away what is really the last piece of class identity remaining. I know I am probably one of the two or three players who care about class attires and wear them (at least until I unsubbed) because I like the Final Fantasy jobs so much, but it still hurts.

einjharrelraca: The whole "class identity" argument for not having unrestricted glamor died the day we allowed mascot gear to be worn on all classes.

A dark knight certaintly isnt a Moogle.

Squall is certaintly not a white mage, yet i can use his gear on white mage.

LordAgrail: My hot take is that PvP team understands much more about job identity and should redesign all jobs for PvE, while main team designs encounters and balance around this job redesigns.

rodimus580: Game is Cheeks right now. No risks, no excitement, no great characters, no meaningful battles . A giant LULL.

MattTaze: As someone who’s been playing since hw this was the worst story and content in a mmo ever

Jannah_2k: Hot take: Yawntrail bad, Wuk Lmao bad, reward structure boring and predictable (boring every time, even when they say they are "looking into making more interesting rewards for doing content"), they need to make gearing and rewarding feel something, and more Eureka type content, modern versions of such and not so that game feels like 2004 WoW copy with anime style, currently "open world gaming" is non-existant, maps are dead and static.. nothing happens. Would be nice to have actual content to do, and not just player driven roleplay content in RP venues, as fun as that is.. But game lacks any creative fun and decisions, everything is lukewarm, bland and boring. Sad.

argent32: Will definitely agree on the first "hot" take on people looking back on this expac fondly. The problem I have is with people that expected the story to be as epic and as grand as Shadowbringers and Endwalker, forgetting that the reason they were that good was because it was tying the story up that started back in ARR! Also, fun fact: They didn't plan Shadowbringers or Endwalker's stories back when they did ARR. It took until Stormblood when they started storyboarding how they could connect what threads they had made over the base game and 2 expansions to make it all tie together!

This is a brand new story arch, and while they said they plan on another 10 years of THE GAME, they're not planning that far ahead with the story. They're giving us various threads again, as well as ones from the last 10 years, that will eventually all tie together down the line. And that's when I believe people will look back at 7.0/x and be like Thanos; "Perhaps I misjudged you too harshly."

OmegaxStarr: FFXIV needs to be reworked for a full single player experience with multiplayer options (seems like that what they're doing), then put into maintenance mode. Time for a new MMO, all new or a XI remake.

XI was special, anyone who played during the 75 era knows, I could write an essay on why a XI remake makes perfect sense, and the people who think they don't want it, just don't know what good for them.

Nov 26 2025

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