Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail briefly rose to “Mixed” overall reviews on Steam eight months after it was released, but that didn’t last long as the recent reviews have once again dropped to “Mostly Negative” with the release of patch 7.25. As much as I love FFXIV and have sunk thousands of hours into the game, I’m also a critic of Dawntrail. In fact, I’d say that I’m more critical of Dawntrail because of my love for the overall game rather than in spite of it. The simple fact is that Dawntrail’s reviews on Steam aren’t great because the content that we got in this expansion is boring and out of touch with what the player base wants.
Dawntrail was never going to be another Endwalker, especially since the timing of Endwalker’s release lined up with a lot of lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. It gave players a way to socialize in a safe fantasy universe and let us get away from the chaos of the world for a few hours. Dawntrail also has the task of being the introduction to the next large arc after Endwalker wrapped up the last 10 years of content. However, even with lowered expectations, Dawntrail still managed to disappoint plenty of players.
The Content in 7.0 Struggled from the Start
7.0 is the content that was included in the initial release of FFXIV: Dawntrail, and then the patch content added after wraps up the story of the current expansion before transitioning to set up the story of the next expansion at the end of the patch cycle. One problem is that the design of expansions has become too reliant on the same formula to the point that it feels stale. There are also times when the placement of a trial or dungeon just doesn’t feel like it actually fits at that point in the story.
Of course, that wasn’t the only issue with 7.0. I’m not going to get into some of the controversies that aren’t directly related to the actual in-game content. I will say that the MSQ for Dawntrail felt like a chore, and I was ready to be done with Wuk Lamat’s journey less than halfway into it. There are a lot of plot holes and a lot of moments where you are basically just an NPC, which doesn’t make for fun gameplay. So, you slog through to the end of 7.0, and then you just don’t have much to do in terms of content.
The Problem of Patch Cycles
That brings us to the next issue: FFXIV patches are too far apart and they don’t give you a ton of content. So, you end up logging back in for a day or two, then it just doesn’t feel worthwhile to return until the next patch when it’s released months later, or you decide to unsubscribe until the next expansion is out. This problem is even worse in Dawntrail because you have a base game that wasn’t well-received and a character that the writers were banking on being a new beloved figure, only to have that exact character receive a lot of criticism as players grew sick of her constant screentime.
However, the content in patches is usually already underway in terms of development before the expansion is released, and that means that it’s difficult to pivot and address player feedback without scrapping work and having to change the patch’s release date. As a result, we had 7.1 release and still not receive much love outside of the raids, since the developers who design dungeons and raids are still absolutely on fire with their creations.
This brings us to 7.2, where the reviews on Steam went up to “Mixed” for a moment. 7.2 gave us a character that the players immediately fell in love with and a new villain. We also got a dungeon that has a lot of nostalgia for FF9 players and an incredible trial with a brilliant soundtrack to accompany it. It was a lot of fun, and that made it feel like FFXIV was shifting to an upswing in terms of content.
As you see with 7.25 and the reviews on Steam dropping back down, that upswing didn’t stick. Patch 7.25 didn’t add more MSQ, but it was supposed to bring elements meant to encourage players to grind content, which is common in MMOs. Unfortunately, the new field operation left us feeling like it was just recycled from previous field operations, plus it has issues that make it additionally frustrating. The devs claimed that they were implementing player feedback from past field operations, but the end result simply didn’t reflect that claim.
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This is all to say that—as somebody who hopped right into Dawntrail at its release and experienced the patch cycle as it’s been released so far—I’m not surprised that this Final Fantasy XIV expansion is continuing to struggle to maintain player interest. I would be happy to put Tuliyollal behind me and move on to other adventures where I, as the Warrior of Light, can feel like more than an NPC that’s just tagging along for the story of a character that I find painfully boring at best. Now, I just keep my expectations low when new content is added, and that’s heartbreaking when you love the game.
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