Why did you quit thread

[Chaosbringer699]

so as a long time player and still playing im wondering what excuse are yall useing to justify quitting the game i know a lot of the quiters still lurk in the forums here to try and dishearten anyone from playing the game so tell us what drove that last nail in the coffin for you or is it just some lame excuse?

[Hermit]

From the tone of your opening post, I don't think you really want to know, you just want to chew people out for their reasons.

Nobody needs an "excuse" or to "justify" their reasons to quit playing. It's a video game, it's not that deep.

[Chaosbringer699]

Originally posted by Hermit:

From the tone of your opening post, I don't think you really want to know, you just want to chew people out for their reasons.

Nobody needs an "excuse" or to "justify" their reasons to quit playing. It's a video game, it's not that deep.

ive seen ppl complain about things like base game had better looking weapons (are all now cammos in ngs) to slow content drip (not as slow as base pso2 in jp had) lot of the reviews are outdated and could be considered missinformation to ppl just being salty they couldnt bring there cradle money to ngs what it ammounts to. i just wanna know the exact reason ppl quit and not a blanket excuse

I know a lot of ppl were mad when ngs came out because there gear and money were pretty much useless when transfered over but they were warned early on about that and the its only been out a year excuse is bs game came out in 2012 we were just playing catchup with all the good parts of those 8 years thus spoiling a lot of ppl when we got ngs and went back to that slow release of things vets were used to.

[bloodymonarch]

Originally posted by Chaosbringer699:

so as a long time player and still playing im wondering what excuse are yall useing to justify quitting the game i know a lot of the quiters still lurk in the forums here to try and dishearten anyone from playing the game so tell us what drove that last nail in the coffin for you or is it just some lame excuse?

I quit playing NGS because while PSO2 base game had good customization for characters, it also had an actually decent though tropish anime storyline, villains had motivations and character and were not all just mindless beasts, the protagonist's allies were VERY memorable and the gameplay loop with Just Attacks and hub based randomized dungeons was more engaging. Holiday events had special quests with special maps and special drops, special enemies, music changes, lobby changes, concerts... PSO2 also had hype as hell CGI cutscenes for every major content update that still have an impact on me watching them years later. PSO2 was art, it had soul!

NGS has a single vast world empty of anything interesting to see or do. NGS' characters are not memorable. There's one concert.... for years. The storyline is one planet, which is boring. Starless are a reskin of DOLLS and might as well be mindless beasts you kill because.... they're aggressive? The perception is that NGS has way more scratch content than actual game content and that, whether true or not, is a problem. Holiday events are a PNG floating over the same enemies you've already killed a million times...

This has all already been said a million times before.

If you truly cared to know this, just go ask Grok or ChatGPT why NGS, despite being free, has had minimal impact on the MMO landscape.

GROK says:

Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis (PSO2 NGS) launched in June 2021 with the promise of revitalizing the Phantasy Star Online legacy as a free-to-play, open-world MMO. Yet, despite its accessibility and the hype surrounding its “next-gen” overhaul, it barely rippled the broader MMO landscape. Several factors contributed to this underwhelming reception.
Content scarcity was a major stumble out of the gate. At release, NGS offered a single explorable region, a barebones 2-3 hour story, and a thin endgame—mostly repetitive “Combat Sectors” and resource gathering. MMOs live or die by their ability to keep players invested long-term, but NGS felt more like a proof-of-concept than a full-fledged game. Compared to giants like Final Fantasy XIV, with its rich storytelling, or free-to-play peers like Guild Wars 2, with its dynamic events, NGS lacked the depth to compete. Players burned through what little there was and found no compelling reason to stay.
Monetization didn’t help its case. While free-to-play is a low barrier to entry, NGS leaned hard into microtransactions—cosmetics, inventory slots, and boosts—that felt intrusive. The grind for gear and resources seemed tuned to nudge players toward spending rather than rewarding organic play. This rubbed many the wrong way, especially fans of the original PSO2, which had a more balanced economy. In a genre where trust in monetization can make or break a game, NGS gained a reputation as prioritizing profit over player experience.
Technical woes further dimmed its shine. Launch was marred by laggy servers, optimization issues, and bugs that disrupted the action combat—a supposed standout feature. For a game touting a seamless, high-energy experience, these hiccups were jarring. Competitors like Black Desert Online had already mastered flashy, responsive combat, and Sega’s sluggish patches didn’t close the gap fast enough to retain frustrated players.
Then there’s the identity crisis. NGS was pitched as an evolution of PSO2, sharing its universe and allowing character imports, but it ditched the instanced, mission-driven structure for a lighter, open-world format. This left it straddling two audiences: PSO2 veterans who preferred the old formula stayed put, while newcomers expecting a meaty MMO found a shallow action-RPG instead. It neither fully replaced its predecessor nor carved out a bold new niche, diluting its appeal.
Finally, timing worked against it. The MMO space in 2021 was crowded—FFXIV was hitting its Endwalker peak, Lost Ark loomed on the horizon, and even niche titles like Elyon were vying for attention. NGS didn’t bring enough innovation or polish to stand out. Its anime aesthetic and fast combat weren’t unique enough to pull players from established games, and its lackluster launch failed to build the momentum needed to challenge the status quo.
In short, PSO2 NGS had the ingredients to disrupt—free access, a legacy IP, and a fresh coat of paint—but stumbled on execution, content, and market fit. It’s lingered as a footnote rather than a force, a cautionary tale of how even free games need more than a name to thrive in the MMO arena.

[Chaosbringer699]

Originally posted by bloodymonarch:

Originally posted by Chaosbringer699:

so as a long time player and still playing im wondering what excuse are yall useing to justify quitting the game i know a lot of the quiters still lurk in the forums here to try and dishearten anyone from playing the game so tell us what drove that last nail in the coffin for you or is it just some lame excuse?

I quit playing NGS because while PSO2 base game had good customization for characters, it also had an actually decent though tropish anime storyline, villains had motivations and character and were not all just mindless beasts, the protagonist's allies were VERY memorable and the gameplay loop with Just Attacks and hub based randomized dungeons was more engaging. Holiday events had special quests with special maps and special drops, special enemies, music changes, lobby changes, concerts... PSO2 also had hype as hell CGI cutscenes for every major content update that still have an impact on me watching them years later. PSO2 was art, it had soul!

NGS has a single vast world empty of anything interesting to see or do. NGS' characters are not memorable. There's one concert.... for years. The storyline is one planet, which is boring. Starless are a reskin of DOLLS and might as well be mindless beasts you kill because.... they're aggressive? The perception is that NGS has way more scratch content than actual game content and that, whether true or not, is a problem. Holiday events are a PNG floating over the same enemies you've already killed a million times...

This has all already been said a million times before.

If you truly cared to know this, just go ask Grok or ChatGPT why NGS, despite being free, has had minimal impact on the MMO landscape.

i honestly only remember matoi from base game XD i put over 16k hours into base game and didnt care for the story at all

[bloodymonarch]

Originally posted by Chaosbringer699:

Originally posted by bloodymonarch:

I quit playing NGS because while PSO2 base game had good customization for characters, it also had an actually decent though tropish anime storyline, villains had motivations and character and were not all just mindless beasts, the protagonist's allies were VERY memorable and the gameplay loop with Just Attacks and hub based randomized dungeons was more engaging. Holiday events had special quests with special maps and special drops, special enemies, music changes, lobby changes, concerts... PSO2 also had hype as hell CGI cutscenes for every major content update that still have an impact on me watching them years later. PSO2 was art, it had soul!

NGS has a single vast world empty of anything interesting to see or do. NGS' characters are not memorable. There's one concert.... for years. The storyline is one planet, which is boring. Starless are a reskin of DOLLS and might as well be mindless beasts you kill because.... they're aggressive? The perception is that NGS has way more scratch content than actual game content and that, whether true or not, is a problem. Holiday events are a PNG floating over the same enemies you've already killed a million times...

This has all already been said a million times before.

If you truly cared to know this, just go ask Grok or ChatGPT why NGS, despite being free, has had minimal impact on the MMO landscape.

i honestly only remember matoi from base game XD i put over 16k hours into base game and didnt care for the story at all

So I typed all of that stuff, all you had to say was that you also played over 10K hours on base game like I did and you liked Matoi?

Bro, if you want other people to actually tell you information you're gonna need to give something worthwhile back.

[Chaosbringer699]

Originally posted by bloodymonarch:

Originally posted by Chaosbringer699:

i honestly only remember matoi from base game XD i put over 16k hours into base game and didnt care for the story at all

So I typed all of that stuff, all you had to say was that you also played over 10K hours on base game like I did and you liked Matoi?

Bro, if you want other people to actually tell you information you're gonna need to give something worthwhile back.

XD im in the middle of helping a new player atm and tabbing in and out thats all i was able to get out in the 3 mins it took them to figure out where there bag was after explaining how to get into it. You are more of a story driven person and beeing drip fed story good or bad is just bad for players like you NGS went down more of the og pso game grind path idk if you ever played pso1 or psu but those games were nothing but go grind lvls and get loot psu had a single player story mode with a fixed character you had ot play as threwout the story but if you played the online version of the game thats where you made your character got thrown into the game and just grinded form lvl 1 to whatever the cap was on that i only played its story with a little bit of solo offline online gameplay but all you did was grind. pso1 first 30 lvls of the game was working your way threw the zones for the main story of find a missing person then after that you go up to next difficulty and do it over agian rince repeat till ultimate and continue doing it till your lvl 200.

Now as for base game not talking bout global but how things were in the before time would you have stuck around for over a year to get new content / story with 3 classes with a lvl cap of 30 i think it was and 2 zones to play in. this is what i refer to when i say global got spoiled with base game

[bloodymonarch]

Originally posted by Chaosbringer699:

Originally posted by bloodymonarch:

So I typed all of that stuff, all you had to say was that you also played over 10K hours on base game like I did and you liked Matoi?

Bro, if you want other people to actually tell you information you're gonna need to give something worthwhile back.

XD im in the middle of helping a new player atm and tabbing in and out thats all i was able to get out in the 3 mins it took them to figure out where there bag was after explaining how to get into it. You are more of a story driven person and beeing drip fed story good or bad is just bad for players like you NGS went down more of the og pso game grind path idk if you ever played pso1 or psu but those games were nothing but go grind lvls and get loot psu had a single player story mode with a fixed character you had ot play as threwout the story but if you played the online version of the game thats where you made your character got thrown into the game and just grinded form lvl 1 to whatever the cap was on that i only played its story with a little bit of solo offline online gameplay but all you did was grind. pso1 first 30 lvls of the game was working your way threw the zones for the main story of find a missing person then after that you go up to next difficulty and do it over agian rince repeat till ultimate and continue doing it till your lvl 200.

Now as for base game not talking bout global but how things were in the before time would you have stuck around for over a year to get new content / story with 3 classes with a lvl cap of 30 i think it was and 2 zones to play in. this is what i refer to when i say global got spoiled with base game

Funny enough, I have played and enjoyed PSU demo in my earlier years and more recently have played the Clementine server and had a blast.... sometimes literally with my CAST's SUV weapons lol.

Additionally, I played JP PSO2 along with AIDA and all the others using the Tweaker since before Braver existed. So yes, I played before global. Matter of fact, I put about 11,800 more hours on JP than in Global.

[tvtoon]

I am almost calling the quit because...
1 - This forum is so more active and interesting than the game and the discord channel.
2 - The game is again showering us with welbia-like connection problems, it is not funny to waste 5-10 gameplay minutes by restarting the game.

[76561199729151395]

pointless thread and i say this as someone who loves ngs

people dont owe you a reason for why they quit or stop doing anything. in the context of gaming, the reason is as simple as it stopped being fun enough or worth the free time, and that's perfectly okay. the reasoning can be more complex but it really just comes down to the factor of it no longer being worth it to the person to spend their time on, simple as that.

we all have that feeling for something or another, sooner or later. hell...even life itself at times.

[Milhiore]

The game was so good I had to stop playing

[Madjar]

Honestly?
I got tired of grinding all week long to barely have an increase in power
Drops rates were absurdly bad, and all the content that I kept seeing get released was just Rappy holiday X with boosted rates that did nothing even when paired with RDR
I also got tired of match making into content and seeing people barely geared.
half the people in the lobby would be using catch up weapons, the other dude who wasn't me would then look at their gear, and leave.
also found a lot of the world quests stale, I never played much of base PSo2, but I remember some of those fight, having something throw a castle at me was cool as ♥♥♥♥
I don't try to persuade people to quit, I just poke my head back in every few months to see what is going on as I still want to play, just force myself not to.
On that point, how is the game currently? I left when classes were getting reworked and saw they added some mech arm thing or something

[based]

Originally posted by bloodymonarch:

Holiday events had special quests with special maps and special drops, special enemies, music changes, lobby changes, concerts...

NGS seasonals did the same thing and they are exactly as garbage now as they were garbage back in base. And Reddit concerts are not the reason people engage with a game. Not only do I and others have better music to listen to elsewhere, the novelty immediately wears off after the first attendance and all everyone is left with is a lousy boost to add to the rest of the game's FOMO rat maze.

And to answer the OP's question,

I immediately quit at the beginning because I knew a game made by the PSO2 team is not going to launch with anything to do, and at such an early point in its life it's not going to have any character customization to fall back on either.

And I am about to do that again because the current formula has run its course. And instead of moving forward, the game is looking for what it considers to be past successes to regress to. There is nothing to look forward to until August at the earliest, and I'm confident it's going to be Darkers all over again to complete the tie-in with PSO2 now that the ARKS ship bomb has been dropped. With one Ruine Dark Falz to bring back each year, the 2030 milestone is all but secured.

Might as well call this the Phantasy Star Online 2 franchise from now on since they are completely unable to detach themselves from its rotting corpse. Shame their precious Phantasy Star Online 2 players are still spending their lives denouncing every atom of their new game's existence.

[Chaosbringer699]

Originally posted by Madjar:

Honestly?
I got tired of grinding all week long to barely have an increase in power
Drops rates were absurdly bad, and all the content that I kept seeing get released was just Rappy holiday X with boosted rates that did nothing even when paired with RDR
I also got tired of match making into content and seeing people barely geared.
half the people in the lobby would be using catch up weapons, the other dude who wasn't me would then look at their gear, and leave.
also found a lot of the world quests stale, I never played much of base PSo2, but I remember some of those fight, having something throw a castle at me was cool as ♥♥♥♥
I don't try to persuade people to quit, I just poke my head back in every few months to see what is going on as I still want to play, just force myself not to.
On that point, how is the game currently? I left when classes were getting reworked and saw they added some mech arm thing or something

bravers getting a bit of a rework here soon and there bringing out legendary weapon prefix or something that changes the way the classes play idk much about that yet the headline didnt say to much bout it but i skipped threw a lot of it we got catch up gear for every class to 65 gets you up around 4300 at lvl 100 so its a good start if you wanted to try a diff class

[ominumi]

For me having terrible RNG. One of the series from the fire place. Forgot the name exactly. Did the UQ for about 5 months daily, never got the weapon at all. New series came along, 2 months daily UQ never seen even one weapon from the new series. Seasonal shop opens up, all the catchup weapons were far better than what I got. So I stop playing daily. I just wait until the seasonal shop opens up, grab the gear from there, then log off. 2 years pass and I haven't log in at all. My highest class level is only 70.

[based]

Originally posted by Chaosbringer699:

bringing out legendary weapon prefix or something that changes the way the classes play idk much about that yet the headline didnt say to much bout it

The headline said the following:

"Legendary weapons boast two traits, support effects, and designs inspired by legendary weapons from previous series iterations, including PSO2. The new Legendios series, its appearance and potentials are based on the PSO2 Phobos series. After a certain amount of time has passed from the initial release of Legendary weapons, they plan to make the items enhanceable by way of upgrades or new potentials at least once so that they can be put back into action."

It is just a funny classification for chase weapons with support effects (which already existed every rarity tier in NGS). The reason behind it was likely because:
- Having weapons with different functionalities within the same rarity tier is too confusing for this game's players.
- Having to replace your weapon every once in a while is too much hassle for this game's players. Everything is now upgradable and evergreen.

And they get to dig up something from PSO2, tint the texture and call it a day.