Thoughts on what the game needs to do

[MsQi]

Bard perform is a failure.

I don't see how this is a failure. The sounds are not great but it does what it was meant to do: add depth to the world.

The core pve content of this game is fairly linear storyline. Though very good so far, it doesn't alone justify having an MMO. Side content is what makes an mmo an mmo. There needs to be stuff going on in the world besides the battle with the current "big bad", that involves multiple players. PvP can help this, but I haven't really seen what this has to offer. The premise of PvP in this (from what I can tell) is that it is esentually training exercise. There are no factions at each other's throats so it seems to have little to do with the world. I sat in a queue for several hours one day and never got in.

I would recommend developing seasonal events better. They should involve more of the culture and traditions of the people and seem to actually affect the people and the world, not just decorations and a quick quest. Some things should stay the same from year to year, and some things should change.

More side storylines like Hildebrand, but some more serious.

[Makeda]

2. Side content is not enough to keep the playerbase happy.

Bard perform is a failure. Squadrons are a failure. Fashion Report is a failure.

They are failures because they are not strong enough to keep many players into the game. They interest a fairly small niche if even that. This sort of ties into my next point.

3. You cannot design solely for the JP playerbase or expect all players to act the same way.

Those are my thoughts.

Also on Bard Perform and Fashion contests:

- These both have their origins in City of Heroes. A western MMO. They were regular aspects of community events there that were mainstays of what kept that game going for years as it's devs discounted it. The very last day that game was online, as people were waiting for the company to shut off the servers, they were holding fashion contests in Atlas City across all the servers and taking screenshots of soon to be gone characters...

Fashion contest now exists as a somewhat popular regular event in World of Warcraft.

Bard Performances was something highly demanded here from the moment of launch, as well as in Guild Wars 2. GW2 started adding musical instruments to the cash shop a few years ago, and players would gather them up and hang out in venues and perform concerts together. It's not a huge thing, but it is a thing - and GW2 makes profit selling those instruments.

- So that's 3 different western MMOs acting as inspiration for these features... My earlier post's comments aside about 'privilege' in assuming they have to cater to westerners over their fellow Japanese... it would appear from these 3 MMOs that they are actually doing... exactly that.

Squadrons and Retainer missions... I have avoided... precisely because it sounds too much like the feature in World of Warcraft I like the LEAST... the mission boards... But that again means it's a western MMO feature in a game you're accusing of not catering to westerners...

And then we could talk about Player Housing's Apartments - which are basically smaller scale versions of the housing system in Everquest 2 and Wildstar... So they're AGAIN catering to us in the west there...

So now I'm up to 5 Western MMOs that are inspiring these 'side features' in a game you accuse of not catering to westerners...

Hmmm....

I cannot think of anything they could possibly do to cater to westerners MORE than they already have... They're doing it so much, I kinda feel sorry for the Japanese playerbase...

[Bourne_Endeavor]

As for mindless dungeon, it doesnt have to be that. they have to make content that all people should do. If they think hard content will work, than that's what they should do. The goal is that content needs to reach everyone, not that you get to do ultimate while your FC stands around afk all the time in the fc house chatting on discord and playing minecraft.

This is literally impossible. WoW is the most successful to have ever existed, and will likely remain untouched throughout history. And they have never once gotten everyone to do everything. Theme Park MMOs' very purpose is multiple demographics. By their very nature they will attract people who couldn't give a damn about PvE, PvP, story, lore, side quests, dungeons, crafting, gathering and etc. It's intended to have bits of content for someone. Dislike PvE but love crafting? You have a whole mini-game of sorts devoted to that. Love mechanic heavy encounters but couldn't care less about story? Savage and Ultimate may appeal perfectly. What you're asking for no game can ever offer.

[Dualgunner]

1. Core PvE and PvP content is the most important thing of them all.
I can agree with you here for the most part. Balance needs to be maintained between all the classes and against the content.
2. Side content is not enough to keep the playerbase happy.
I mainly disagree with you regarding Ultimate. I already read you don't buy the "streaming argument", but while Daddy of Light did attract an audience, Ultimate attracted the eSports audience in a way XIV's PVP could never do. I consider Ultimate a rousing success, and it answers the age-old question "Why do you want BiS?"

"So I can take on Ultimate."

3. You cannot design solely for the JP playerbase or expect all players to act the same way.
Raid Replay mainly fails at the moment because it only applies to one fight. It could have applied to Ultimate and Deltascape if they didn't want it to apply to Sigmascape. Either way, Replay should have been applied to Sigmascape and should have been an amazing tool for prog.

All in all, I agree with you here.

4. You cannot repeat the same formula too much.

Agreed.
5. You must let players test your content.
Definitely would be nice if handled right.

[Daeriion_Aeradiir]

Ultimate is a failure.

Skimming over the obvious Twitch benefits that everyone else has driven home across this topic, Unlike half the "extra" content in this game they design, Ultimate succeeded in what it set out to be; the toughest challenge FF14 has ever seen. As someone who's beaten Ultimate many times and has helped other groups clear, it is arguably one of the best, if not THE best fight ever designed in FF14 for its target audience. It's almost universal among hardcore raiders that the fight was great or amazing; the only universal complaint about the fight among the hardcore crowd is that it could have stood to be about 2-3 minutes shorter, but even that is getting fixed with Ultima Ultimate.

[Ayer2015]

How in the world is Ultimate a failure? Is it a failure because casuals don't do it. That's the point. It's not meant for casual players or even PUG groups. The hardcore base got the challenge they've been waiting for, and from a lot of accounts, sounds like it was a huge success actually. The other points you made...I kinda need you to back up those claims about them being a failure. Any citations, any proof that these are failures?

I wouldn't call it a failure either honestly. What I would say is that SE has been horrible at servicing the bulk of its player-base releasing niche content. The game is deserted at the moment. While people on the forums cried that Eureka was a grind.... it clearly wasn't given most are already done with the rewards.

FF14 has a huge issue with player retention, and in my opinion it all stems from gear acquisition and longevity.

[HyoMinPark]

so yeah, protest all you like, i say its a failure and it is.

It’s your opinion that it’s a failure. Your opinion does not constitute as a fact. Maybe people are so disinclined to agree with you/protest because you are trying to pass off your opinions as facts, when they are not. People are inclined to agree with your opinions, and maybe share them, but that doesn’t change that they’re still just opinions. They aren’t facts.



I will agree that the Duty Recorder feature is a failure because there are already things that do it better with none of the restrictions that the Duty Recorder has (e.g., Twitch, OBS, PlayStation’s streaming service, etc.). Perform, while a waste of resources in my opinion, I wouldn’t consider a failure because it at least appeals to a niche audience. Same thing with Ultimate—it was created for the purpose of appealing to that 1% of hardcore players, and it succeeded in that. Same thing with Fashion Report—which people I know use to their advantage to turn profit on the Market Board on their server.

FFXIV is a theme park MMO; it has many different things that appeal to many different types of players—the very definition of “theme park”.

[RiyahArp]

oh, ultimate is a failure. I mean lol at all the people here...when did you ever discuss it seriously in the forum? They rehashed some fight to get the 1% to do it, the 1% got bored either because they could do it and raid logged, or they couldn't and stopped. You all spent more time and effort arguing the merits of bunny suits than you probably did about Ultimate. No one talked about it after the world first because it was evident no one but a tiny portion of players could do it, and for them it might as well not have been in the game. I mean hell, you can at least fool around with perform, most people are blocked still at savage

but because someone has the guts to tell hardcore people that their precious thing failed at actually attracting players to the game, retaining them, or interesting more people into raiding, we must all defend it because zomg, hardcore matters and it must not be spoken against. Because they will release the same thing next time, it probably will get beaten quicker and the same thing will happen, everyone here will forget it exists over SE releasing a new app or something. I mean hell, raiding actually got worse because it got harder and people are stuck on this tier a lot more than the past it seems, expanding that is a lot more important than some fight maybe 1% will beat. Watching it on twitch does nothing for people who actually play

[HyoMinPark]

oh, ultimate is a failure. I mean lol at all the people here...when did you ever discuss it seriously in the forum? They rehashed some fight to get the 1% to do it, the 1% got bored either because they could do it and raid logged, or they couldn't and stopped. You all spent more time and effort arguing the merits of bunny suits than you probably did about Ultimate. No one talked about it after the world first because it was evident no one but a tiny portion of players could do it, and for them it might as well not have been in the game. I mean hell, you can at least fool around with perform, most people are blocked still at savage

If Ultimate was a failure, then why are they implementing a second Ultimate?

Funnily enough, I could not care less about the male bunny suit, and I still have not even unlocked Perform. Where as I have progged UCoB, and am in the process of helping put together another group to continue my progress once the semester ends. Again, just because you think it’s a failure doesn’t make it so.

but because someone has the guts to tell hardcore people that their precious thing failed at actually attracting players to the game, retaining them, or interesting more people into raiding, we must all defend it because zomg, hardcore matters and it must not be spoken against.

Because Expert Roulette is better at player retention? What are you even trying to get out with statements like this?

I mean hell, raiding actually got worse because it got harder and people are stuck on this tier a lot more than the past it seems, expanding that is a lot more important than some fight maybe 1% will beat. Watching it on twitch does nothing for people who actually play

That’s funny, since Yoshida and the developers said that Sigmascape is the same difficulty as Deltascape. Have you tried either tier? Are you able to objectively say that Sigmascape is harder than Deltascape? I’ve only been able to raid casually, I am not a hardcore player, and I was still on o7s before the end of Week 1.

[Magic-Mal]

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