Originally Posted by
Balbanes
And by you/us I mean both consummate XI vets as well as the staunch "old-school-ways" XIV supporter.
Yoshida is not remaking FFXIV for us on the boards here. The game is not going to be made into XI 2.0 nor is it going to be the base XIV -- only with more content. And this is a good thing.
No doubt after Yoshida took over from the failed launch and replaced Tanaka, he must have begun to analyze why the game was so unpopular; glaring technical shortcomings notwithstanding. Many people chimed in on the player polls, and continue to do so now with the forums. However, a lot of people here don't seem to want to accept that his plan is for the bigger picture, not just for those of us who stuck around.
The current, small playerbase will not save XIV, no matter how happy it's made. Remaking XIV in XI's shadow will not save this game. Sticking to Tanaka's vision will not save this game. The only way to save this game is to make it marketable to as many people as possible. How do we know this? Well, besides the obvious fact that more subs = more profits = more successful, Yoshida has already announced changes made to appeal to a wider playerbase.
* Auto-attack
* Enmity gauge
* Instanced dungeons & Raids
* More solo friendly
That's not to say that we're going to be overlooked. Yoshida's vision includes gameplay for all styles. But ultimately, he is looking at the bigger picture, and that is more people playing. On a huge scale.
Oh, and they are, of course, working as fast as they can. However, they're not going to make the major mistake the previous administration did and rush it out the door. It will take time. So to all of you who are threatining to leave if 1.18 doesn't meet up with your exacting standards, or because we're getting auto-attack or an enmity gauge, sorry... you're not part of the bigger picture. Deal with it.
I will say this though to all you guys chomping at the bit. Take a few steps back for a while. Play other games until all these battle changes are hammered out. Check up on the game every now and then, and give the devs some good, constructive feedback. You'd be amazed how much easier it is to follow XIV's progress from a distance, rather than going crazy waiting every day.