Producer Matsui, check this out.

[Sparthos]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/6939564/

This is what most players are looking for when they ask for details regarding the inner workings of the dev team, job plans and reasoning behind the decisions being made on your end.

[Luvbunny]

Nice example, you could also point the FF14 producer's letter which they did a great job at conveying the message more so than FFXI - and it is still within their brand universe. I think the new producer need to hone his ability to listen to what the majority of the players are asking.

[Mirage]

Yeah, I'd like detailed info like this too. Maybe this info should even be available ingame, via a sub-menu within abilities/spells on the main menu.

Like when I'm looking at the job traits in the game right now, and clicking them, the game just tells me "job traits are always active". Ok, that's cool FF11, but why don't you tell me the details of the trait when I click it?

Exactly how strong is my "Magic Def. Bonus"? How often does my "Resist Slow" kick in? How big is my "Max MP boost"?

This information should be available from within the game, IMO.

[Zirael]

An interesting read. It's always nice to know why and how.
One other thing that strikes me alot in that article is Developer's focus on diversity in playing the classes and how they want different builds to be viable. Reminds me of this forum's pleads for things like all jobs having access to a relic/mythic/empyrean weapon, mages wanting to meele, Red Mage wanting to not be behind on every field or even that person wanting Great Sword on Paladin to not suck so he could contribute something to zerg fights.



http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/6923460/
We're going to buff Bash and Cleave to be viable alternatives to Frenzy for people who would like to try a different play style.

They also talk a lot about improving things that they have added, but never get used because it sucks too much or is too situational. Personally, I hope to see a day when I use Mug and it makes any difference for anything useful. For example.

[Limecat]

The constant information blackout presented by the devs and within the game itself is the most glaring flaw the game has, as far as I'm concerned. It's amazing that players were able to determine so many of the formulas and mechanics on their own, but a damned shame it was even necessary for them to do it in the first place. All of these things should have been transparent from the start. It's like the MMO equivalent of the Game of Mao, except with tears instead of laughter with each new unspoken rule you get punished for.

[Zirael]

The constant information blackout presented by the devs and within the game itself is the most glaring flaw the game has, as far as I'm concerned. It's amazing that players were able to determine so many of the formulas and mechanics on their own, but a damned shame it was even necessary for them to do it in the first place. All of these things should have been transparent from the start. It's like the MMO equivalent of the Game of Mao, except with tears instead of laughter with each new unspoken rule you get punished for.
In Japan you can buy FFXI game guides, which have various hidden things explained. Like, what does skillup food do exactly, or how does augmented AF2+2 work etc. Also, some things get revealed on JP Vanafests, but without much detail into it. Last Vanafest it was even kindly released for other region's apprehension after some time.
But some of us are interested about FFXI up to the level of the source code, so that we can test things out and pinpoint broken stuff.
Coruscanti and BLU spells say 'Hello!'.

[SpankWustler]

To give an example specific to Final Fantasy XI, the detail with which the changes to Ukko's Fury and Victory Smite were announced (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/20744-Feb.-14-2012-%28JST%29-Version-Update?p=278578&highlight=Ukko%27s+Fury+Victory+Smite#post278578) was much appreciated.

There's probably a better post to showcase the details given, but that was the easiest one for me to find!

This kind of change has been described with "we adjusted a thing" and little else many times in the past, leaving players to figure out how much worse a thing was made before informed discussion could even begin, so it was really nice to see such a detailed breakdown compared to that tried and true statement of adjustment.

[larrymc]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/6939564/

This is what most players are looking for when they ask for details regarding the inner workings of the dev team, job plans and reasoning behind the decisions being made on your end.

I think we would fall out of our chairs with joy if we got this level of detail with an update.

[Mirage]

Maybe they should gradually increase the amount of detail, to avoid sending some players into a shock.

[Economizer]

This kind of change has been described with "we adjusted a thing" and little else many times in the past, leaving players to figure out how much worse a thing was made before informed discussion could even begin, so it was really nice to see such a detailed breakdown compared to that tried and true statement of adjustment.

I wish they had more descriptive notes for everything. For example, all I know about the pre-forums nerf they did to Auspice's accuracy a few years back is that before I could hit mobs that used Perfect Dodge with all seven hits of a Hexa Strike after being Flashed while watching everyone else whiff, including Thieves using Sneak Attack. These days you'll be lucky to hit a mob with a melee attack with it up because it seemingly decreases accuracy, and Afflatus Misery might as well be called lolMisery.

Or that's what it felt like because nobody actually tested it well until it was nerfed, and even now there aren't really good numbers surrounding this ability.

Edit: I actually found the patch notes of the "nerf" (actually, for all I know, they buffed it and I had a lucky streak for a year or something).


An issue wherein using the white magic "Auspice" while under the effect of "Afflatus Misery" would grant an inappropriate accuracy bonus has been resolved.

[Krashport]

Bumpity bump!