Newest interview (abyssea was a mistake?)

[Shibayama]

Well, what this all boils down to is:

To anybody who has ever expressed frustration with these forums, asking why the devs don't care about so-and-so aspect that the playerbase cares about or thinks is flawed.

They don't care guys. They had something that was mostly greeted with applause - the customers *liked* it and they say Well it was a failure because we deviated from our tried-and-true timesink style - we will now be focusing on balance based on what *we* think is best not from something that actually works in a real game environment with real people.

Like the whole comment about how now VW has "More treasure than ever before! Oh but you can't trade it and by "treasure" we mostly mean "85% garbage" and its randomly distributed so you can't even lot it if you need it." The individual player does not care that more people are getting more logs or whatever - I know that you cant just distribute all the best gear all the time cuz then nobody would come back but there has to be *some* was to keep content relevant other than this whole .5% drop rate thing that you invest 2-3 hours a day every so often a week based on how often your group goes.

So there you go guys - you can stop being surprised and angry when the devs ignore all your points and basically do whatever they want. Just post about actual buggy content and yer good.

[Greatguardian]

Just post about actual buggy content and yer good.

Like the Beetle's Right Foot that's still broken on the brand new altered beetle model that was released in the new VWNM series?

I swear they're just trolling at this point.

[Insaniac]

In a way it did. Even dropping the drop rates somewhat, you could still spam the NM's with 3 people, and even end up with that item in 1~2 days at the most. (make note I said spam) there was no difficulty to any of the NM's and what little difficulty they had SE kept adding stuff to completely anull it. This is bad design when Abyssea was the only real endgame they had at that time. Even now they're struggling, with Voidwatch being somewhat what Abyssea should have been (bar rewards) and the rejuvenation of old content such as Salvage and Nyzul Isle.

With the amount of content inside abyssea and limited stone time (initially) it kinda needed to be lowman. Making content like that require 12-18 people would have made it simply unrealistic for most people and would have limited it to LS only which would have been terrible for the +1s and +2s. I guess making some of the gear dropping mobs require larger groups would have made sense though which is where your argument starts making a lot of sense. Maybe abyssea should have had a wider gap between the 2 levels of content. Things like Pankrator Rani Raja Ovni Hadhayosh ect ect could have been setup to require LSs and +1s +2s and Emps could have remained low man grinds.

[Kimble]

I like how you guys pick out one out of 20 things that supports your argument. Selective reading much? Over seeing means to supervise and make sure things are running on time to make deadlines.

The part after that:

In short, the internal producer is ultimately responsible for timely delivery and final quality of the game.

For small games, the producer may interact directly with the programming and creative staff. For larger games, the producer will seek the assistance of the lead programmer, art lead, game designer and testing lead. While it is customary for the producer to meet with the entire development staff from time to time, for larger games, they will only meet with the leads on a regular basis to keep updated on the development status.

For most games, the producer does not have a large role but does have some influence on the development of the game design. While not a game designer, the producer has to weave the wishes of the publisher or upper management into the design. They usually seek the assistance of the game designer in this effort. So the final game design is a result the effort of the designer and some influence of the producer.

In general, the producer is not the "boss" of the people on the game development team, but the "boss" of the game. So while a programmer may answer to a programming director, where matters of the game are involved, they answer to the producer. Producers may issue reprimands or issue accolades, but usually the fate of the developer's employment is not in the hands of the producer. So while they may suggest termination or promotions of certain employees, the producer normally cannot fire or promote team members single-handedly.

The Producer is more of a middle man and basically ensures things run smoothly. You guys like to think he creates everything in this game just so you have someone to blame.

[nyheen]

abyessa was a good idea. but i think only thing imo that was a mistake was letting abyssea lvl 30+ having it at least 70+ would of been fine. would slow down/stop all the leeching there. it killed alot of low lvl pts.

seems like now and days when people looking pt it just to leech. get boring fast. with the exp boost and auto sign up exp pages etc it alot faster to lvl 1-70+ then what it was back in the days. would bring back more people in the low lvl area. but hey that just my Opinion, i just dont see how it fun afk/leeching lvl 1-95

[Zirael]

Reading about developers of the game I play being worried I might have too much fun and feel of accomplishment by reaching my various goals feels... sad. That's not what games exist for?

[scaevola]

Abyssea reminded everyone that Final Fantasy XI is a game. It's okay to log out of the game to attend to real life events. It's okay to join a party and leave, knowing full well you're not hindering those left behind. It's much better than standing around 3 hours trying to form a party or look for one, having to disband later because there are no tanks or healers.

This is actually a really important point and why I am glad to know Abyssea will still be around even as new content abandons its model as we move forward. Challenging events for the best gear are great and all, but mundane grinding like XP/Merits and making money shouldn't be white-knuckle stressfests. If I feel like leveling a job, I am doing that and not something more involved specifically because I don't want to play HR Manager right at that moment; even if you think Abyssea gives too much XP too quickly I think we can agree that an Abyssea alliance can be down 3 or 4 people at any given time and not notice their absence is a good thing for getting in and leaving quickly with minimum hassle. If Abyssea were renamed "Alternative to Oh God Why Bother If No Bards Are Logged In" I doubt it would draw the retrospective ire it does.

[Daniel_Hatcher]

abyessa was a good idea. but i think only thing imo that was a mistake was letting abyssea lvl 30+ having it at least 70+ would of been fine. would slow down/stop all the leeching there. it killed alot of low lvl pts.

seems like now and days when people looking pt it just to leech. get boring fast. with the exp boost and auto sign up exp pages etc it alot faster to lvl 1-70+ then what it was back in the days. would bring back more people in the low lvl area. but hey that just my Opinion, i just dont see how it fun afk/leeching lvl 1-95

30-95

And it isn't, but what you can go off and do while leeching is fun, unlike conventional leveling, and before skilling up is mentioned again. That's easy as hell.

[Insaniac]

I like how you guys pick out one out of 20 things that supports your argument. Selective reading much? Over seeing means to supervise and make sure things are running on time to make deadlines.

The part after that:

In short, the internal producer is ultimately responsible for timely delivery and final quality of the game.

For small games, the producer may interact directly with the programming and creative staff. For larger games, the producer will seek the assistance of the lead programmer, art lead, game designer and testing lead. While it is customary for the producer to meet with the entire development staff from time to time, for larger games, they will only meet with the leads on a regular basis to keep updated on the development status.

For most games, the producer does not have a large role but does have some influence on the development of the game design. While not a game designer, the producer has to weave the wishes of the publisher or upper management into the design. They usually seek the assistance of the game designer in this effort. So the final game design is a result the effort of the designer and some influence of the producer.

In general, the producer is not the "boss" of the people on the game development team, but the "boss" of the game. So while a programmer may answer to a programming director, where matters of the game are involved, they answer to the producer. Producers may issue reprimands or issue accolades, but usually the fate of the developer's employment is not in the hands of the producer. So while they may suggest termination or promotions of certain employees, the producer normally cannot fire or promote team members single-handedly.

The Producer is more of a middle man and basically ensures things run smoothly. You guys like to think he creates everything in this game just so you have someone to blame.

This argument is tired and you are wrong. Tanaka is the single most important voice when it comes to FFXI.

[Kimble]

Right, I guess the director does nothing then. lol So much rage.