Letter from the Producer for FFXI.

[Moppet]

Dear Mr. Matsui and the FFXI team.

Please consider implementing a "Letter from the Producer" for FFXI in the style of what was done for the FFXIV Lodestone.

Even if it is only to tell us that you see what we are saying, it has been considered, and production continues as usual.

I can see why the message boards may be avoided by developers, as they are mostly filled with negativity and vitriol. As a person who has worked on projects that have been subject to criticism, I can tell you it can be very difficult to deal with such seething response to your work and keep plugging away without any creative validation.

However, there are reasons for this player sentiment, and although the boards are filled with a lot of baseless complaints and nonsense, there are a lot of valid concerns as well. There have been a lot of mistakes, strange design decisions and large gaps in communication on the developer's side, which a lot of players have taken issue with.

I think players and developers alike can easily loose touch with the human element on either side of the game/player equation. As a player, it's easy to take the "I'm paying for it, I'd better get what I payed for!" or "They just want our money, they don't care!" mentality without looking at the situation objectively. As a developer, I'm sure it's easy to come to see your player base as a bunch of whiners who are never happy with anything, or to take the attacks to your work personally.

A letter from the producer would help to bridge the gap and even if it does not provide specific details, a "Don't worry, we're trying." every now and then would go a long way I think.

I think a lot of players really care about FFXI. They've devoted a lot of time and effort to it and, at least personally, if the world of Vana'diel came to a close, my sisters and I would shed a tear despite it being "just a game".

Thank you for your work in keeping the game moving forward in whatever direction we're headed.

Please consider my request.

[odericko]

This please. I don't like where Yoshi-P is taking XIV, but his open communication is a nice change compared to most teams.

[Faleni]

Yes, please! More communication is always awesome!


This please. I don't like where Yoshi-P is taking XIV, but his open communication is a nice change compared to most teams.

Can I ask why you don't like Yoshi-P's direction?

[odericko]

Can I ask why you don't like Yoshi-P's direction?

I actually liked it before he took over more, besides the bad server tech and engine. Things like checking targets for strength compared to you (like XI), the need for players to repair your gear instead of letting NPC's repair to 99% like now, the crafting that took multiple steps to make items, the stamina gauge, the slower pace of the game.

This quote gets me worried most though:

"Completing the quests, getting rewards, huge experience points, or completing a dungeon and getting experience points, that's going to be the key thing to level up your character, not like at the moment where you have to do monster camping or farming, that's not going to work in 2.0."

It seems like he's making it more like the generic MMO when it comes to leveling. Follow a pre-determined path from quest hub to quest hub, doing quests for NPC's to level. That and sitting in town queuing up for a dungeon - it ruined WoW for me when they added that.

I gotta wait and see how big of a role it is though before I judge if it's gamebreaking.

[Caketime]

Dungeon queue rules, you can go make a Dagwood and pour a beer and before you know it you're spelunking in some hole filled with walking death, but you have beer and a sandwich to keep you company.

I support this idea, I'd like to hear more from our Producer about development progress, and he could even get ideas and suggestions from the community about specific issues. If we could start addressing those, and even just knowing that the Producer is aware of our problems would help make the community less angry and apt to shitpost.

[Teraniku]

This quote gets me worried most though:

"Completing the quests, getting rewards, huge experience points, or completing a dungeon and getting experience points, that's going to be the key thing to level up your character, not like at the moment where you have to do monster camping or farming, that's not going to work in 2.0."



I kind of read this as He's more world building the game and making it so that to go further in the game you have to experience what the world has to offer, rather than just going to camps and killing mobs, wash, rinse, repeat.

[odericko]

I kind of read this as He's more world building the game and making it so that to go further in the game you have to experience what the world has to offer, rather than just going to camps and killing mobs, wash, rinse, repeat.

I can't find the quote atm, but he said in an interview there was a lot to learn from modern MMO's and there progression. Leaves the impression he's going for the leveling style that WoW, Rift, AoC, LoTRO, Aion, SWTOR, and most other modern MMO's are doing.

There's nothing wrong with that kind of leveling if you like that style of game. But it makes a good portion of the players just solo to max level and there's too many games to choose from for that type of play already.

[Monchat]

I hate that levelling style. I quit ff14 when they nerfed party exp 3 months in lol. After that everyone were soloing or duoing.

[Luvbunny]

Please do this, if a producer from FF14 can do it, on regular basis, I don't see why this cannot be done for FFXI. Open communication and acting in good faith will get you far. Take charge and own your brand. FFXI already have a good solid base of returning players, why not turn them into a beacon of advertising and get them to bring more people to the game. In the meantime, please tweak and improve the game so that it is more beginner friendly and focus on creating contents that can be enjoyed by 95% of the players. Stop creating contents that are not achievable by many!!! Such wasted effort should not be undertaken when you are already under heavy duress from working on the upcoming expansion. Easy enjoyable casual contents targeted for the majority of the players should be the focus. Look at abysea, learn it, memorize it, repeat it, even if you set the end goal to be larger and longer (require more items, as long as not 1500.....) but at least people can look forward at completion instead of all these random number generator or contents that are too hard to complete without full co-ordination and Embrava + Perfect Defense.

[Yrusama]

I actually liked it before he took over more, besides the bad server tech and engine. Things like checking targets for strength compared to you (like XI), the need for players to repair your gear instead of letting NPC's repair to 99% like now, the crafting that took multiple steps to make items, the stamina gauge, the slower pace of the game.

This quote gets me worried most though:

"Completing the quests, getting rewards, huge experience points, or completing a dungeon and getting experience points, that's going to be the key thing to level up your character, not like at the moment where you have to do monster camping or farming, that's not going to work in 2.0."

It seems like he's making it more like the generic MMO when it comes to leveling. Follow a pre-determined path from quest hub to quest hub, doing quests for NPC's to level. That and sitting in town queuing up for a dungeon - it ruined WoW for me when they added that.

I gotta wait and see how big of a role it is though before I judge if it's gamebreaking.

Fortunately for XIV, Yoshi-P recognizes that a lot of its player base is from XI, who tend to close their minds to the rest of the MMO world out of loyalty. It's about making a game that's fun for everyone, not just one type of player. XIV is not going to be XI-2. It's its own thing.

I'd love to hear from the XI producers for once. They've changed a few times over, from what I understand, so I have no idea what to expect from things like Adoulin. Assuming XIV succeeds (and it won't if people keep whining about stupid things), I hope the XI producers learn how effective the open communication has been. Just as Yoshi-P is trying to resurrect a dying game, the XI team is trying to sustain a dated one.

[odericko]

Fortunately for XIV, Yoshi-P recognizes that a lot of its player base is from XI, who tend to close their minds to the rest of the MMO world out of loyalty. It's about making a game that's fun for everyone, not just one type of player. XIV is not going to be XI-2. It's its own thing.

Hm, never said I wanted XIV to be like XI-2, as I'm pretty sure XI didn't have a stamina gauge or repairable gear. Just said I prefer XIV 1.0 over 2.0 mechanics wise outside of the server tech and engine.

I'm not saying someone's wrong preferring one over the other - I was just asked why I didn't like Yoshi-P's direction with the game and answered honestly.

[Luvbunny]

I think FFXI is not doing so bad. A few things could use some tweaks and improvements for sure. Granted this speed leveling style really kills exploration but they did encourage you to explore with Voidwatch and what not. You cannot do Qilin if you have no sky access. I wish they add more Sea Voidwatch lol, then all the noobies will have to do CoP. Though I still think they could do more in terms of reviving dead old contents - areas and put some very interesting gears and accessories to force people to explore.

[Demon6324236]

That reminds me, I originally thought they made Tav VW to small, should have been 3 tiers just like with Zilart and then have the T3s inside of the Sea areas, mimic Zilarts setup since they are such close expansions.

[Camate]

Hello!

I spoke with Producer Matsui about your request for a "Letter from the Producer." It hasn't been decided yet whether or not they will adopt a letter format, but from here on out he would definitely like to increase the frequency in which he posts on the forums. :)

[Eyeballed]

I actually liked it before he took over more, besides the bad server tech and engine. Things like checking targets for strength compared to you (like XI), the need for players to repair your gear instead of letting NPC's repair to 99% like now, the crafting that took multiple steps to make items, the stamina gauge, the slower pace of the game.

This quote gets me worried most though:

"Completing the quests, getting rewards, huge experience points, or completing a dungeon and getting experience points, that's going to be the key thing to level up your character, not like at the moment where you have to do monster camping or farming, that's not going to work in 2.0."

It seems like he's making it more like the generic MMO when it comes to leveling. Follow a pre-determined path from quest hub to quest hub, doing quests for NPC's to level. That and sitting in town queuing up for a dungeon - it ruined WoW for me when they added that.

I gotta wait and see how big of a role it is though before I judge if it's gamebreaking.

I agree with you on the whole. I don't like what Yoshida is doing with the game. If the majority of content is going to be placed in an instance, what in the sam hell is the point of having an open world? It's about as adventurous and intriguing as the self-checkout at Walmart.

The content-finder sounds great in theory, but you still are bound to waiting in town for others to join. Sounds a helluva lot like sitting in town waiting for an invite to me. And to me, it seems like a PUG across all servers has the potential to be 1000x as bad because you don't know what kind of player your tank or healer is, much less the entirety of your group being as server reputation still accounts for who you do and do not allow into your PUG.

[Lienn]

I agree with you. IMO he's generalizing the game too much. FFXIV had a potential i never saw in another MMO but after the changes it just became a generic korean-like MMO.

I returned to FFXI because i couldn't stand the changes they did to the game...it's like i always said at FFXIV forum... "If you wanted to play FFXI then just go back to FFXI and leave FFXIV for those who like it". I still can't understand why SE decided to make 2 MMOs targeting the exactly same public...instead of bringing new players they're pretty much splitting FFXI population between the 2 games.

About letters from the producer here, i'd just pass. I'd rather have Matsui only posting when it's to bring real info...the last "blogish" letters Yoshida posted really pissed the hell out of me since if he wanted to talk about holidays, trips, health issues and other non-FFXIV related stuff he should use a non-official method, like a personal tweeter or a personal blog, and leave the official forum for FFXIV-related info only.

[Eyeballed]

I agree with you. IMO he's generalizing the game too much. FFXIV had a potential i never saw in another MMO but after the changes it just became a generic korean-like MMO.

I returned to FFXI because i couldn't stand the changes they did to the game...it's like i always said at FFXIV forum... "If you wanted to play FFXI then just go back to FFXI and leave FFXIV for those who like it". I still can't understand why SE decided to make 2 MMOs targeting the exactly same public...instead of bringing new players they're pretty much splitting FFXI population between the 2 games.

About letters from the producer here, i'd just pass. I'd rather have Matsui only posting when it's to bring real info...the last "blogish" letters Yoshida posted really pissed the hell out of me since if he wanted to talk about holidays, trips, health issues and other non-FFXIV related stuff he should use a non-official method, like a personal tweeter or a personal blog, and leave the official forum for FFXIV-related info only.

It's supposedly due to this golden standard of MMO that is widely known as World of Warcraft. That's all good and fine in the world of Blizzard and that game. In the world of Final Fantasy and SE, its fans want to play a FF title, and as far as MMO's go, a title whose standard was set by FFXI. Typically the slogan for a successor is "If you liked FFXI, you're gonna LOVE FFXIV!" Except you can't say that when comparing XI of 2005 and XIV of 2012; They are two entirely different games save Chocobos and Mithras.

[Lienn]

It's supposedly due to this golden standard of MMO that is widely known as World of Warcraft. That's all good and fine in the world of Blizzard and that game. In the world of Final Fantasy and SE, its fans want to play a FF title, and as far as MMO's go, a title whose standard was set by FFXI. Typically the slogan for a successor is "If you liked FFXI, you're gonna LOVE FFXIV!" Except you can't say that when comparing XI of 2005 and XIV of 2012; They are two entirely different games save Chocobos and Mithras.

You know...this is what really made me love FFXIV despite the noticeable server/engine flaws...it was an unique experience, different of what the new dev team offered in the past 2 years and are promissing for ARR.

IMO there was no need to take any of the actions SE took regarding FFXIV and i'm sure that it would have recovered from the bad release in a few months if they just left the dev team do their job.

[Kraggy]

It seems like he's making it more like the generic MMO when it comes to leveling. Follow a pre-determined path from quest hub to quest hub, doing quests for NPC's to level. That and sitting in town queuing up for a dungeon - it ruined WoW for me when they added that.
What you and the others who say you don't this to happen are missing is that group-or-die mob-kill-grindfests like FFXI are destined to fail hugely these days. Gone are the time when significant numbers of players, in the numbers needed to sustain a newly released MMO will tolerate sitting in a place like Jeuno for DAYS at a time LFG.

It's not going to happen, the fact the some people are still playing FFXI doesn't mean that a new game with the same long, drawn out and hugely frustrating leveling process can survive. It won't.

Like it or not, the type of game you and those like you enjoy are dinosaurs (the games, not the players!), their like won't be seen again because, frankly, XI's leveling process sucked royally for many who played it let alone the large numbers of never got past their first month because of it, it's just that at the time of its release and for a short time after there was not much alternative .. and the FF franchise was a huge draw for many.

Luckily for XI, it had established itself sufficiently to ensure its long term survival before other, vastly more accessible games, came along. I have no doubt at all, an FFXI-2 with the same 'group of GTFO' mentality will simply be an abject failure commercially.

[Moppet]

Hello!

I spoke with Producer Matsui about your request for a "Letter from the Producer." It hasn't been decided yet whether or not they will adopt a letter format, but from here on out he would definitely like to increase the frequency in which he posts on the forums. :)

Hey Camate,

Thank you very much for taking the time to bring it to his attention. :)

It will be nice to hear from him more.

[Elexia]

What you and the others who say you don't this to happen are missing is that group-or-die mob-kill-grindfests like FFXI are destined to fail hugely these days.

Pretty sure AION, Tera, SWTOR (Insert 200 other Korean MMO here that closed this year) are a farcry from how XI is setup and pretty much failed.

Throw in GW2 tapering off and I can only ask you one question:

Where is your god logic now?


Like it or not

All new MMOs are failing at alarming rates despite their design. Sorry kiddo, as much as you want to say XI and "XI style games failed" you proved pretty much that you've never touched another MMORPG in your life.

So if Matsui does adapt this type of letter, hopefully it's more about the game *(given it's state being 10 years old)* than future plans.

[Silverware]

I think the "Letter from the Producer" format is good assuming that the producer has interesting or valuable information to talk about on a regular basis.

I happened to stumble back into the 11 forums and reading stuff in here is so depressing.

I've played 11 for a couple years but all the people I play with have either left the game or fell apart from drama. Most have left though. So occasionally I log in now to check out a new patch here and there, or run around and reminisce.

I played 14 for a couple months on and off which was enough to get 2 jobs to 50 and leveled a few other things. It also allowed me to see the changes Yoshi-P had made to the game while I eagerly awaited 2.0. I didn't immediately think 14 1.0 was atrocious in the beginning, but looking back now after Yoshi-P's changes I guess it was pretty rough.

And now due to recent events, I can say with some certainty that I will very very much enjoy 2.0. The task that Yoshi-P and the rest of the Dev team were dealt probably felt overwhelming at the start. But they are dealing with it in flying colors.

To turn this back onto 11, I have tried to get my friends into this game. It just doesn't happen for anything longer then a week or two. Its just not accessible to people who do other things with their time. Maybe in the end, once your character is built to a certain point, you can log in and play the game for a day and accomplish something and then move on.

Just because these other recent MMOs don't have a high level of player retention, does not mean that FF11 is a clear example of what is the right way to do things. Logging into this game after playing anything else, it just feels archaic in terms of structure, pacing, features, interface, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love 11 and if I had friends to play with I would keep playing it every day. I am very much looking forward to Adoulin. But I understand that I am looking at the game a different way then anyone who has not played this game would.

Sadly I think if they wanted to make this game appeal to a modern audience, the whole thing would have to be revamped. FFXI-2 would be amazing. To take everything the game currently has, maybe rebuild the game on the new FF14 graphics engine while retaining its own style, taking all the current content and having a whole team completely restructure the game and spread the stuff around (i.e. content at lvl 25, 50, 75, and 99 brackets), all new modern interface (which hopefully is still coming), etc.. This game would be spectacular.

Or heck, even if they just opened up 1 or 2 new servers where people could start from scratch again like the Diablo 2 ladder resets.