XXX XX, 202X: Final Fantasy XIV's issue with low-level content

I love Final Fantasy XIV. I've been playing it for 3 and a half years at the time of writing this, and I'm sure that number will easily go up over time. I'll play it almost daily, at the very least to do my daily tasks like roulettes, I'm part of a raid group where I'll happily manage things like scheduling, and I love every second of it. It's become as much of one of my favourite games as it's become an entire world I can immerse myself and become a part of.

One of my favourite parts of the game is doing things like dungeons, trials, and raids at lower levels. I really enjoy doing "easier" fights where the stakes are lower, and trying to learn and practice the different mechanics or how best to fight a boss in a dungeon most people may not play anymore like Neverreap or The Burn. With FFXIV being such a big game with so much content, it's cool to have a huge variety of different ways to play or different aspects of the game for people to call their favourite.

FFXIV's newest expansion Dawntrail released a few months ago and it's felt like a great push forward for the game. We've started this brand new adventure, exploring new areas, meeting new characters, with fantastic new dungeons, boss fights, and raids to really sink our teeth into. Playing through Dawntrail's content has been an absolute blast.

It's just that... wow. With so much emphasis placed on the latest and greatest content, the new jobs, the newest raids and boss fights, the new difficulties such as Chaotic alliance raids, it doesn't feel like much love is given to the game's older content. If I'm not playing the game at Level 100, it's hard for me to not feel like something is off. Maybe I have to use my skills in a weird order or I won't have an important mechanic to make use of. The bulk of the game's content below max level often feels like just... filler to ignore, or something to ease new players into some of the things they'll have to learn and remember at max level, but I can't help but feel like that shouldn't be the case.

So, you might ask, why does that matter? If all the good content is saved for the end of the game, when you're at max level, why does it matter if the older, lower level content is good or bad? And I suppose that's fair, the newest stuff is what everyone has their eyes on.

I'm typing this in late December, the first week after the new Chaotic alliance raid has been added to the game, and I'm sure a lot of people are playing that part of the game, enjoying themselves, and having a good time. Every Tuesday several raid groups around the world are doing the newest Savage raids to get even better gear, to gear up to take on the new Ultimate raid, the hardest of the hardest fights in the game. And that's a satisfying experience for them.

But then I have to ask... what about the rest of the game? What about the rest of the people playing? Even for those endgame raiders, the best of the best, the tippy top, they've still gotta get their currency to exchange for their high-level gear. I often see people who have cleared several ultimates in lower-level dungeons or raids with me because the daily bonus from their roulettes helps them gear up for the endgame. I often see sprouts, new players, going through dungeons or trials as they progress the story, being cheered on by these older players. I often hear older players say things like "Veterans love seeing new players experience the story" or see direct evidence of that on social media, there are so many threads I've seen of people playing through older expansions like Heavensward or Shadowbringers and interacting with veterans.

The point I'm trying to make is that I think no matter what kind of FFXIV player you are, you're going to be engaging with content like dungeons and raids of all different level ranges. I think the game has advanced so much over the years it's been online enough that it's started to make the older content feel uncomfortable or out of place, and the newer content that's being added isn't often considering the experience for anything below the current max level. I want to go into some examples.

That's all for now!