Regarding Adjustments to Exploratory Missions

[Naoki_Yoshida]

Hello, everyone. Producer and Director Yoshida here.

Thank you for all the feedback regarding the Diadem.

Exploratory missions are based on a different concept and policy than that of content implemented in FFXIV up until now, and we are aware of the intense discussions that are currently taking place between players.

With the hotfix taking place today, I would like to use this opportunity to convey the current thoughts and policies of the development team.

1. The mixing of battle classes/jobs with gathering classes
   
   A particularly important point we've seen in feedback is that players would like a system in place to help with situations where there are both players who want to battle and those who want to gather grouped together in one party. There are varied opinions on this, with some who would like it to be made so that those who do not participate in battles are unable to cast lots on loot, or make matchmaking completely separate for those who want to battle and those who want to gather.
   
   For the current system, our main focus is giving priority to player freedom, with these issues being resolved through communication within parties.
   
   If we set a rule making it so that players who don't take part in battles can't lot on loot, we would end up with people simply going off to gather since they don't need lotting rights, which would mean that we could potentially weaken the battle capabilities of parties.
   
   We understand some feel that not all issues can be resolved through discussion and it can be difficult to communicate with each other, but we would like to keep an eye on the situation for a little longer.
   
   Also, by separating the matchmaking system by objective, we would need to make extensive changes to the system, which would be difficult to achieve within the Patch 3.1 series. If you feel that you absolutely must avoid being matched with players with different objectives, we ask that you please use the Party Finder to form parties. However, when we expand exploratory missions in the future we will be sure to look at how people have been playing the content and reflect the feedback we’ve received.
   
   
2. Requests for a filter feature for aetherial equipment exchange
   
   This is a feature that the development team very much wanted to implement at release; however, we became short on time and changed the system to the current interface, which has left us in a situation where it is easy to make mistakes. I apologize for the current inconvenience and wanted to let you know that we do plan on adjusting the interface.
   
   
3. Players ignoring monsters after managing to land the first attack
   
   The right to earn rewards can be attained in two ways:
   1. Be the first party to perform an attack on a monster. (This alone secures the right to earn rewards.)
   2. Reduce the monster's HP by a certain amount via attacking.
   This system follows the fundamental system employed for FFXIV, but for the second method mentioned above, we have set it so that the percentage of HP needed to be reduced is lower than that of the normal open world.
   
   A lot of the feedback we have been receiving are requests to make it so it is impossible to simply guarantee a reward by performing the first attack, pulling back, and then waiting for other parties to defeat the enemy.
   
   If we simply made this the same as the second method mentioned above, we expect that we would have players complaining that their reward privilege was taken from them even though they landed the first attack. Due to this, we are currently considering making it so that parties that land the first attack on a monster will have to reduce its HP by a certain amount until the reward privileges are guaranteed, but the amount that needs to be reduced will be less than that for the second method.
   
   If it looks like this is becoming a larger issue then we will proactively look into countermeasures, but since this is essentially a core system in FFXIV we would need time to address this separately for the Diadem. We ask that you please bear this in mind.
   
   
4. Implementing a vote dismiss feature
   
   There is currently no vote dismiss feature for the Diadem. We would like to avoid potential abuse of this feature with players intentionally dismissing other players when lotting on rewards. While we understand that there are requests from players who would like to dismiss party members who simply stand around and only cast lots on rewards and those who do not participate in battles, there are risks for both cases.
   
   Furthermore, there are restrictions on the time needed before players can re-enter this content, forcing them to wait. We have also received a lot of feedback stating that the waiting time for re-entry is quite long, so we are looking into making adjustments. When we have determined a more suitable waiting period, we will implement the change in a future hotfix. Please hold on a little longer.
   
   
5. Overhunting of monsters that continue to spawn at specific locations
   
   Numerous parties hunting low ranking monsters in specific locations has become another topic of discussion. Hunting monsters in this fashion has created a situation where it is easy to get burned out because of the repetition. Moreover, the frequency of drops for high level gear is beyond what the development team expected, breaking the balance with other content. In order to solve this issue we will be making the following two adjustments in the upcoming hotfix:
   
   1. Adjustments to the rate at which monsters respawn
      
      The time it takes for monsters to respawn will be adjusted, and the balancing will be changed so that instead of groups camping in certain locations, players can choose between hunting on the move or camping depending on the size and strength of their groups.
      
      
   2. Adjustments to certain notorious monsters spawning requirements
      
      Changes will be made to the spawn requirements when several parties continue to defeat low rank monsters.
   These adjustments—the second one in particular—are to address the imbalance between the effort required to defeat low ranking monsters, and the amount of high level gear players receive in the Diadem. This only applies when low ranking enemies are defeated by more than one party, and will not affect the drop rate of treasure chests or the gear obtained from them. Please accept our apologies that this was not well-balanced from the start. We realize that making these changes so suddenly is an inconvenience. We ask that you please understand that this is being done in order to maintain the overall balance of FFXIV.

In addition to the above, we've received a lot of feedback on the Diadem as it is a brand-new concept for FFXIV. We've been reading through all of your comments and using them as reference when developing upcoming content, as well as adjustments, so please continue to provide us with more great feedback.

[OmegaStrongtan]

Moreover, the frequency of drops for high level gear is beyond what the development team expected, breaking the balance with other content.

Really? I was there like 20 times and got one usable ilvl210 :/

[KadenUlme]

I'm glad that most things are remaining unchanged. However, it seems that item 5 is aimed at essentially lowering the spawn rate of NMs and thus the drop rate for gold chest for large camping parties. This would have been a reasonable decision pre-implementation. If I'm understanding this correctly, it seems an unwise decision at this point - as the change specifically benefits users that have heavily farmed diadem post release and puts future farm parties at a comparative disadvantage. However, I could be misunderstanding the way this change will function.

[DarkB]

It looks more like they are cutting down the droprate of gold chests if you are farming low tier mobs. The problem is that people dont care about higher tier mobs since they can spawn/receive the same amount of gold chests by simply killing lower tier mobs over and over. And this is what they are addressing.

[PotatoTree]

I think Yoshi is putting to much faith in players to behave. If someone wants to go off and gather and still roll on drops, no amount of talking will get them to stop.

But anyway, apart from the whole gathering/afk drama stuff, the issue of diadem being plain boring hasn't been fixed. And now it's going to be harder (as in more tedious, not more challenging/fun) to get gold chests?

[RainDurell]

Hurrah for Yoshi-P!
I am pleased to look forward to it.

[Cidolfas86]

Really? I was there like 20 times and got one usable ilvl210 :/

Thats more than I've ever got. I have no i210 gear to show for my efforts in that place.

I think Yoshi is putting to much faith in players to behave. If someone wants to go off and gather and still roll on drops, no amount of talking will get them to stop.

But anyway, apart from the whole gathering/afk drama stuff, the issue of diadem being plain boring hasn't been fixed. And now it's going to be harder (as in more tedious, not more challenging/fun) to get gold chests?

Seems like it.

[OmegaStrongtan]

Yoshi should ask himself: Why are people farming Diadem nonstop? Yeah because everything else is on weekly lockout.

[Viuiji]

In regards to parties with gatherer's, I wonder if adding a buff for having a gatherer in the party could work? Say, if a party has a gatherer they receive a 5% damage boost or the HP requirement is lower or gold chest % is higher. It would only apply for having 1 gatherer, not the more you have the more the buff.

Maybe even add a hidden item on the gathering nodes that gives a buff for x amount of time. So I could be gathering and hit/catch a 5% damage boost for the party for 10 minutes.. just throwing some thoughts out there..

Potentially this could help reduce rage as PF would save a spot for a gatherer. Everyone wins

Edit: I know it doesn't address the rolling on loot, but if a gatherer is positively helping the party, loot rolls can be their reward??

[Rescue]

Every time I went I got 2 hours of carpal tunnel. That's about it. Now it's going to be 2 hours of carpal tunnel for even less chances at maybe one piece of gear even considerable to be worn, as the multi stat overloaded gear is the only one worth equipping.