Questions and Feedback on the Future of FINAL FANTASY XIV

[neizero]

I think it is not the greatest idea for SquareEnix to start charging now when the game is still Mediocre at best. You WILL lose a substantial amount of players and the player base is not that big to begin with. The real business for SE starts in 2.0, why lose players now?

My question for the producer is: Will the action of crafting an item be simplified? For example one-click to craft an item, or even be able to craft a batch of the same items with one click, instead of having to use "standard synthesis" hundreds of times.

[BloodPact]

If the company is saying they are going to start charging it's proably because it's needed. No point in saying that it would be best to wait for re-release because that it obvious. Many may argue that this game is still at F2P level. I don't think so. It's not what it should be, of course, but it's not Flyff. The fact is that all those things detailed on the PDFs and those paragraphs full of hope will not become a reality unless we keep the development alive. Whoever is going to leave because they have better choices in gaming, go. You shouldn't pay for something you feel fails to entertain you. Those who like the game and have fun playing it in their free time, stay. We'll see if the ones left are enough to get the game to V2.0.

[Davorok]

So excited, I can barely contain it. A quick question for now, though. One of the documents outlined the distribution and sale of the new FFXIV; will the players who have been playing before version 2.0 have to purchase this? Will it be like an expansion (~$10) or a whole new game to buy and download?

"After the new client is completed, new software for the PC version will be distributed online, and can be acquired free of charge. Character data and progress for players already playing the PC version will also be preserved, allowing those players to continue using their in-game avatars."

[Betelgeuzah]

Do you really expect players to stick around and pay for an incomplete game?

Do you really expect the players to not stick around? Even if 50k subs turned into 25k, do you think they give a damn? 2.0 is where it's at.

[Fear]

Will the new game engine thats being built support DirectX11?

[Betelgeuzah]

Can you go into more detail regarding the "worldless" concept? How extensive will it be (on the level of Dungeon Finder of WoW or something else/more entirely).

[Buddhsie]

Do you really expect players to stick around and pay for an incomplete game? I mean, I'm all for these incredibly awesome changes, but why are we being forced to pay when the game isn't even done?

Think of it as contributing towards the most amazing game of all time.

[Zolltan]

Will we get the opportunity to change our character names at the same time as we change gender, race etc? Some of us may have names that would not fit very well when the rest of the character changes, and this will likely affect the game experience for some people.

[Sephr]

I'm absolutely amazed by these changes, they look fantastic.

- Do you expect the UI to stay similar to that concept? I think it looks fantastic and I really hope it does, although I think that one font should be used for all of the UI stuff (or one for chat logs, one for everything else) rather than the 3 on screen there. I really like the XIII-style font and I'd prefer that one to stay personally.

- Do you plan to open new servers where previous players cannot transfer over? I'd like to experience a totally fresh start with 2.0 and some friends who're playing on PS3.

- Will you continue to make the overworld content important so that the zones don't become empty in a similar way to other games that are heavily instanced? Are there any plans for more roaming HNM-style bosses like Odin that can travel about in different areas? Really challenging overworld bosses that could drop materials for crafting could be a good way of acquiring rare materials. I'd love to see some gigantic Adamantoises wandering about!

Edit: Also, I like the 'worldless' concept! However, do you have any plans to maintain accountability so that the community doesn't decline rapidly because of poor behaviour in randomly put together groups? Examples of other games dealing with this kind of thing include League of Legends' Tribunal that helps to go beyond simply reporting people. Chat logs can be reviewed by groups of players so that they can judge the behaviour of reported players collectively and get rewards for being successful at it.

[Seirra_Lanzce]

Can we expect payment billing with Paypal instead? I'm very concern on this click and buy thinggie which until now have no answers to it.