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.