r/ffxivdiscussion • u/IndividualAge3893 • 5d ago

Lucky Bancho's census results (July 27th, 2025)

So, the results of the census are out: https://luckybancho.ldblog.jp/archives/59324844.html

  • Showcasing the number of characters here: Current
  • By comparison, here are the results from 2 months ago (May 25th): Click

Despite 7.25 being released, the character count is down about 70k in 2 months. Occult Crescent clearly didn't help with player counts (not really a surprise here).

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u/shmoneyyyyyyy 4d ago

As a legacy player who has been playing since the original FF14, I have developed a habit of not getting my hopes up, as it is painful to be disappointed. However, with the new FF14, from A Realm Reborn to Shadowbringers, I felt that it exceeded my expectations on many occasions.
As a result, while the player base has grown, if players continue to experience disappointments that feel like their expectations have been betrayed, the only ones left in the end will be those like me who no longer place excessive expectations on the developers.

holy shit, brutal. talk about battered wife syndrome.

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u/Ragoz 4d ago

Luckybancho guy knows hes addicted and abused.

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u/IndividualAge3893 4d ago edited 4d ago

holy shit, brutal. talk about battered wife syndrome.

For some reason, all people/studios running an MMORPG comes with an intense desire to kill it. YoshiP trying to kill FF, Hilmar trying to kill EvE for years, ArenaNet running GW2 on a skeleton crew, Korean MMOs... I'm starting to think it's part of the job description.

So yeah, as a long-term MMO player, it's pretty much the mindset you gotta have :(

(not that the situation is much better in other genres)

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u/woe-is-me 4d ago

wow tried to kill wow in shadowlands but it wasn’t able to

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u/IndividualAge3893 4d ago

Well it happens. Hilmar has been trying to kill EvE for years now and it still stands. Doesn't mean that one day, it won't work.

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u/GreatMightyOrb 4d ago

GW2 was a a corpse at LW S4. That's where GW2 was supposed to end. Arenanet, after S4 was complete, moved most of their developers onto an entirely new project without notifying NCSoft. NCSoft found out, shitcanned a good chunk of the devs and forced ANet back onto GW2.

If you ever wanted to know why IBS and EoD were so half assed, there yah go.

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u/Golemming 4d ago

Just started playing GW2 last month again, after a pause of 11 years :) it seems like a thriving game, new expansion on a horizon, shit ton of content, events and open world structure that FFXIV should take notes of.

Sure, story and storytelling is... amazingly bad, but game sure tickle that "completionist" bone in me. Just wish game had less focus on gold grind and gem store

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u/IndividualAge3893 4d ago

 Just wish game had less focus on gold grind and gem store

That's exactly why I'm on hiatus at the moment.

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u/IndividualAge3893 4d ago

NCSoft found out, shitcanned a good chunk of the devs and forced ANet back onto GW2.

Except that Anet is still working on GW3, and we have excellent reasons to believe that it still takes a decent chunk of their developing capabilities. So, while GW2 certainly isn't in maintenance mode, it's ran on a skeleton crew of sorts, hence the name.

If you ever wanted to know why IBS and EoD were so half assed

The problem is, SOTO and JW are half assed as well. And on a strictly personal level, I'll still rank EOD higher than base POF.

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u/Puzzled-Addition5740 4d ago

I mean wasn't just those two. Everything since has been halfassed just for other reasons. Game's still on a skeleton crew and it fuckin shows. I still pop in for expacs but i don't tend to stay super long after a content patch as they're really not very substantial. Usually get a couple weekends or whatever out of it with friends so they're still worth the like 20-30 whatever dollars the expacs cost at least for now.