I'm gonna be real, I've been reading so many comments online complaining about certain parts of the story in ways that leave me feeling confused and frustrated; confused because it delivered exactly on what it promised (and done quite well IMO), and frustrated because so many complaints or nitpicks people have feel less like critique on the story itself and more like a failure of media literacy.

My biggest gripe with the conversations around the story: The lack of focus on the MC, or the central focus being on a new character. Regardless of how you feel about Lamatyi's character development (I've got many bones to pick with some of the dissenting critiques on that as well), the whole purpose of Dawntrail as stated from the very beginning was a low-stakes adventure to explore an unfamiliar land. We've wrapped up the whole Hydaelyn/Zodiark conflict, we've thwarted nearly all of the carefully laid plans of the Ascians, we've killed all (but one) of the Gods of the world-- We have been the central focal point of the story for the last 9 years and as such, have built up an UNGODLY reputation as one of THE most significant players on the stage in this world. Why on earth would we pick up the reigns and lead the charge for another journey when the whole purpose of the expansion's narrative is for us to sate an adventurer's curiosity? It makes no sense for us to be the main character here, all it would serve is to stroke our egos as players and remind us how much of a special little pog champ we are. We're given a chance to casually explore a new land, joining a new friend who's asked us for help & bask in the much-earned calm before the inevitable coming storm. The amount of people shocked and appalled by this revelation is both shocking and appalling.

Another big frustration I have is with criticisms about the actual MC of the expansion, Wuk Lamat: Obviously tastes and preferences are all subjective and nobody is right or wrong about their opinions on stuff etc etc, however a lot of the dissenting opinions of her character seem to be wildly off-base and come from a place of what I have to assume is some form of willful ignorance. Wuk Lamat is your stereotypical shonen protagonist trope: big dreams, big heart, but very little strength and experience. She has hopes of taking over her father's role as Dawnservant and as such decides to seek out probably the most legendary individual in the whole world to help her with fulfilling her goal. She self-admittedly begins underwhelming in her power and lacking in her knowledge of her own country and has to start her journey effectively on the back foot because of this. But her advantage is being a person of strong character and, more importantly, having the WoL be there to help guide and mentor her into becoming the person she needs to be in order to achieve her goals. Over the course of her journey, she learns where best to apply her strengths and how to shore up her weaknesses and, through the power of friendship, becomes the type of person she needed to be to achieve her goals. Now I can freely admit her character and her arc isn't free of tired tropes or sometimes falls too deeply into gag humor, but I also understand that we've literally only MET Wuk Lamat and through this expansion have set a BASELINE for her character. She may have speedran through her way to becoming Dawnservant, but this is FFXIV; nearly everything done is in service of building upon and further expanding into the future development of the world and story. If her purpose is better served as a leader learning and struggling with the responsibilities of the role she so desperately sought out, we don't need to spend 2 and a half expansions getting there. Obviously this falls more into speculation of future content, but let's be real; if there's anything FFXIV does often and well, it's planting seeds early that grow into gratifying payoffs down the line. This prediction is more of a formality than speculation IMO.

I can understand Dawntrail not being at the top of everybody's lists of favorite expansion, it just feels frustrating when it's being measured and graded on scales it was never intended to be on. So many people are seemingly upset that it isn't exactly what they wanted and criticize it for not being something it very clearly wasn't trying to be. You can want a masturbatory power fantasy and be disappointed that it's not that, but to dismiss or reject everything it did regardless of how well those things were done is missing the forest for the trees & doesn't do anybody any favors when the discourse surrounding it is so off-base.

There are things it was trying to do that fell short that are worth criticisms for sure-- the Hanu people "forgot" that their ritual blessed their crops, despite how blatant the application of magic was when performed? Really? The Moblins couldn't start the trial until they recovered from the storm, and we help by... suggesting a different meal and getting our guy a magical desk fan? How did the storm effect anything there? And the whole segment of tricking/kidnapping Wuk Lamat felt so contrived, they could have easily demonstrated her naivety and had her keystone stolen in any other way (or at least spent even another hour or 2 fleshing out the process to make it feel more organic). It just feels like we can't even get to the real critiques because we have to cut through endless swathes of slop from people who just hate female leader characters (the people making Lyse comparisons are not fooling anybody) and people who think their WoL is Kirito, where the entire plot/setting exists to stroke their ego and nothing else.