Ask Questions for Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XXXVII! (Exploring Patch 4.0)

I recently moved off of Balmung and kinda want to move back. When do you believe the paid server transfer will be available so I can move back after my three month restriction.

Please tell us about the balance process. Do you aim to balance all jobs within a role at the same time, or do you try to make some jobs more attractive to players in order to encourage them to switch over to the job? As an example, PLD has gone from being relatively lackluster to having an clear advantage over the other tanks in personal mitigation, raid mitigation, self-healing, and dps. Are there plans to re-balance this to a more equitable setup once the usage rates are more even? With the number of jobs rapidly increasing each expansion, do you think that a fair balance within roles is a reasonable expectation? Or do you expect that some jobs will inevitably fall by the wayside at any given moment?

Tell us about the design process behind the job action removal decisions this expansion. It seems that some jobs have lost more actions than others. Was this also part of the balancing process, or were you aiming to make certain jobs more user-friendly to newer players? Do you predict that more job actions will be removed in the next expansion as well in order to prevent hotbar bloat, or are you looking at alternatives (i.e. talent trees, optional abilities, etc.)?

Please tell us about the present rationale behind tank primary stats and their accessories. At the moment, every other role in the game has a single primary stat which influences the potency of their actions. In the case of healers, for example, Mind improves both the potency of damage and healing. What are the challenges involved with having tank accessories boost the potency of tank actions, like they do on other roles? Will HP continue to be considered a "primary stat" for tanks when MP is no longer considered a primary stat for healers? Do you feel that tanks are doing too much dps at the moment? What considerations are you looking at with regards to maintaining raid dps balance while allowing tanks the satisfaction of seeing their attacks and signature moves hit hard?

Lastly, is there any chance that you could take a look at Living Dead? Living Dead carries the most severe penalty out of any tank invulnerability move without providing either the short recast of Holmgang or the effectiveness of Hallowed, and cannot be used in solo content like PoTD because you need to have a healer present to survive the debuff. Is there any way to allow DRK to be more self-sufficient during this effect?

Many thanks for your hard work!

Will there be any plans to allow activating leve quests whilst mounted?

Are there any plans to address Summoner for players who liked the DoT aspect of the job and do not care for bahamut?

When can we expect the first update to the custom delivery npcs such as Zhloe?

Any plans to add the ability for BUYERS to buy a set amount of a product on the market instead of the entire stock from the seller?

EXAMPLE: I want 5 Copper Ore but there are only stacks of 99 Copper Ore being sold on the market I either have to buy 99 and resell the 94 extra or don't buy it at all.

Why is there such a huge reliance on RNG with some job mechanics, like WHM lilies and Monk Brotherhood?
It feels like these could have been great mechanics, but it's reliance on RNG makes it feel underwhelming.

Is instanced housing even a possibility? You don't seem too keen on adding more wards due to server space which is fine I guess. However, why not just offer instanced housing to those who want it? I would like to own my own mansion, but all the ones of my server are occupied and anyone offering to sell one is asking for way more than the original price. I could attempt to get one in Shirogane when those open up, but I have other responsibilities and I'm afraid if I'm not around at a certain time, I won't ever be able to get one.

That said, I would like to propose a different question. Why is housing the only thing in this game that limits the number of players who can engage with it? Gathering mats don't disappear if there are too many people in the area. Monsters will just keep on re-spawning no matter how often they're killed. Instances don't drop a certain amount of loot per day then stop after too many players have run them.

So, I ask you, why just housing? It's jarring that in a game that allows every player access to everything as long as they put in the work that you would limit this one aspect to only a certain number of players and lock everyone else out. Literally nothing else in this game is limited in the way housing is and many players, including myself, find it extremely frustrating.

Will there ever be an attempt to alleviate this or will housing be limited forever?

Do you plan on keeping final bosses of future expansions as challenging as the one in 4.0?

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Originally Posted by ZhaneX

The topic of a "Glamour Log" is a matter of frequent discussion, having come up during numerous Live Letters and events. Every time it is shot down as impractical for FFXIV's infrastructure. So I would instead ask if the dev team has any ideas or plans for some form of glamour-storing subsystem to alleviate inventory and item bloat which does work for FFXIV's systems?

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Even being able to add job (especially in light of all the new 70 gear) / mog station items to the armoiur would be a great help

It was told that we would not be getting housing until sometime after 4.1 patch, and 4.1 wouldn't hit until 3 months from now. I just would like to know if this is set in stone as the time frame?

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Originally Posted by Megaius

Tenacity Problem
it's very low rate, like the lines of 1% per 1,000 tenacity,

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That number hasn't been considered accurate in a while. It's closer to something like 200-250 for 1%. While not as good as pure DPS stats for damage output, it also provides mitigation so that rate isn't really all that bad.
This wildly inaccurate bit of information though does lead to another question: Can we please be able to see in clearer detail the effects stats have?

Regarding mostly the Ixion FATE, since it appears only in the Lochs and if too many people are standing there at once, even when not entirely in one place there, it can cause some congestion in the zone and it may prevent new players that are trying to complete the Stormblood story from doing so. Could you also add it in the Peaks and the Fringes and make it spawn in one of the three areas in a similar way the Odin Fate spawns in the Black Shroud?

1. Can we possibly see Blue Mage and Beast Tamer in the future?

2. Do think you could add more interesting maps and housing changes in the future for unique maps like Interdimensional Space? The moon was shown a long time ago and we've lore on the Abyss. Cave maps would be an interesting.

3. We've really got a lack of gathering and crafting this expansion and we were told that retainer cost would be reduced and a massive increase in inventory space. Can you please give more?


5.Can you put more content on world maps. The maps are all very barren and lacking content. Maybe chocobo racing obstacle courses and World pvp like dueling or pvp areas in maps would make these a bit more lively maybe like a timed event occasionally.

6. There's a lot of random places scattered in game with lack of reason to go to accept looking interesting. Can we get maybe more content from these areas. Maybe some puzzle challenges. I don't know just some sort of unique interesting addition.

Also can you reduce that tiger mount achievement. 2000 S ranks is an extremely high amount for any to go after it.

Now that there is a reward for 3000 A and 2000 S rank kills the hunt toxicity is getting bad. Could we see a method added to trigger hunt spawns via a token you can buy with tomestones so people that want to work on the achievement have an alternative that can't be blocked by other players. (The numbers also feel very far off what they should considering the spawn rate of A vs S and the numbers of each.)

1. With Squadron Dungeons planned for future, can we also have Squadron dungeon for DoL classes too?!
Not linear as dungeons we have for battle classes, but rather expanding and rewarding for exploration and extra effort. Extra big underground cave with hidden passages where players can find rare Ore,Fish or Shrooooms! Something like Aquapolis but for solo players with their pure lala squad. ^_^
2. During 3.x Letter series there was mention that while Heavensward at war, there cant be housing and when war will end, we get not usual housing area-type, but Shirogane is same type that we already had.
So what about Mog-station exclusive ward somewhere near Foundation or The Churning Mists,with same restrictions for housing? (You can get plot with special currency that u buy in mog-station)

3.FF XIV was always about cool looking animation but not for the moment when you begin to move, can we have top and bottom of body have separated animations and less situations where our characters just slideeeeee?(At least for next X-pac!)
Extra boo for some Bard animation! Does his bow even have weight?And can you check tension of the string! Currently bards use toy bows!

Is there any plan or flexibility to survey the FFXIV community for interest in a Vulkan API or even native Linux game client?

Yoshi P, 2 years ago at PAX East you told me that you and your dev team watched our pride videos on Gilgamesh. You mentioned in a recent Live Letter that Costa del Sol was a great party location, and we used that for 2nd part of the parade. We had very high numbers when we last spoke, but Gilgamesh was not locked then.

There were over 23 MMO players who wanted to be part of this video and could not because Gilgamesh is locked. Nearly 15 have left in the last month because their friends could not join, so they moved elsewhere. This is hurting us, and we cannot promise more videos if our community continues to fall apart.

2017 Pride Video. Our 4th year's video.
https://youtu.be/VrEHWQGk3LA?list=PL...pmt_mIePaXEiDW

I am pleading to you to focus your resources on the Balmung and Gilgamesh problem. I hope this video can help convince you how important this FC is to them.

Has an Ascian style outfit been considered at any point, possibly as a mog station item? The darklight set is similar, but lacks the combination of mask plus hood and doesn't quite match up design wise (although my memory could be fuzzy on this one). Further, having the face glyph that is sometimes used for Ascians would make for a really interesting /visor option on such a theoretical set.

Hi,

1. If my FC buys a house in shirogane... the fc members that have not arrived to that place or are low level players, would they be able to go to the house?

2. I remember that it was said that company chest slots will be increased but until now I don't see this change yet, will it be implemented in coming patches?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ZhaneX

The topic of a "Glamour Log" is a matter of frequent discussion, having come up during numerous Live Letters and events. Every time it is shot down as impractical for FFXIV's infrastructure. So I would instead ask if the dev team has any ideas or plans for some form of glamour-storing subsystem to alleviate inventory and item bloat which does work for FFXIV's systems?

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If a glamour log isn't feasible, perhaps it could be made into a glamour-storing service similar to WoW's current transmog system? Perhaps it could be an extension of Jandelaine's current services or be done through a new assistant *coughcoughRedolentRosecough*. You could use glamour prisms like you do with Jandelaine's Tokens to make the service free or have them charge 2000 gil (similar to Jandelaine's prices for haircuts) to make the glamour for you.

Will you be adding in an "exchange of deed" option for shared housing? Or implement changes that stop auto demolition to a shared house if other tenets visit shared home?

Hi !! I don't actually know if i am allowed to ask this and I am sorry if I am not .

I wanted to know every ones thoughts about the last lot of scenes - 1 in particular with the white Ascion - Its under Stormblood and is number 8 - It has Varis Zos Galvus and Elidibus. . . Now this scene stood out to me because Varis Zos Galvus in my opinion is a very stoic man - he basically does nothing but frown - However in this clip we see him and Elidibus talking about things to come I assume. . The thing that strikes me is the reaction of Varis Zos Galvus when Elidibus removes his mask

"How. . . How Dare you." are the words he uses and he seems to be very shocked, and before that Elidibus talks about wanting Varis to trust him and says

"Until then, mayhap you will find this...reassuring."

My question is have the ascions got the ability to "Merge" or "Join" with other's apart from Ascion's and have we really seen the last of Zenos so to speak.

Are you lookin into limiting housing purchases to 1 personal + 1 FC house per server per account? or per account? Also, the ability to add alts as residents to said houses would be nice for those who have them.

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Originally Posted by Ariochie9771

have we really seen the last of Zenos so to speak.

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I sort of wanted ask this question too, but I feel Yoshi wouldn't give out any spoilers. We just have to look forward to it lol.

Will we ever see a mobile orchestration (The IronWorks iPearl) so the warrior of light can listen to his favorite music on the go?

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Originally Posted by DreamAngel-Ren

I sort of wanted ask this question too, but I feel Yoshi wouldn't give out any spoilers. We just have to look forward to it lol.

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I don't know if i am supposed to ask that to be honest - I couldn't find anything saying I couldn't ask that. I also feel he would not give away spoilers, but my main question was about the ascion "merging" or "joining" with others that are not ascion's. Because I was just thinking back to the A.R.R thing with Thancred who was possessed by Lahabrea and it happened to cross my mind, but I don't know if it would be the same sort of thing or not. I just want it explained a bit more to be honest.

Tanks having their attack potency going back to scaling off STR is causing a notable section of tank players equip 270 Slaying accessories over the current Fending, both to keep their DPS up and to aid in aggro.

This is causing a great deal of friction with the healer players as it puts more pressure on healers to keep tanks with this gear in safety unless the tank is mitigating perfectly.

It effectively shrinks the margin of error for both.


How do you plan to address this to make both camps happy?

Any updates from Sony in regards to the current errors happening to PS4 players if the PS4 loses power? Right now, some players in stormy areas are seeing that 22gb "first-time" download as often as weekly.

I know it's an issue with Sony's cloud save system, but we can't get information in regards to this from them.

Can you add the EXP bonus to FATES in the 2.0/3.0 areas?
Leveling other classes right now (specially DPS classes) means having to wait looooooong queues in the duty finder os subject yourself to hours and hours of the same 10 levels of palace of the dead. I'd love to be able to do fates around the old areas for a change, but the rewards are not worth it compared to palace.

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Originally Posted by Aldotsk

1. Considering more players are subscribed into Stormblood and due to congested servers, how many wards are you adding into the new housing patch?
3. Will you be limiting one house per account?
4. When will you allow alts under one account to share housing?

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Since it says in the first post one question per post, I wanna emphasize this question (They both go together honestly) I believe everyone agrees this is an issue, as well as multiple FC's owning multiple houses as well. Could it be possible to implement a restriction of 1 Personal House and 1 FC House Master per account?

The Ixion Fate seems to be a bit of an issue on a lot of servers right now as people are camping in the zone capping it out. This prevents people from getting into the zone to either progress in the story or to gather on DoL classes. It seems like an odd choice to implement an Odin type FATE in one zone allowing people to camp out, where Odin was a random pop across multiple zones. Would there be a way to bring back either instances to The Lochs, or a way to change the Ixion FATE to be across Fringes, Peaks, and Lochs instead of being in just one zone. If that's not possible, maybe do an auto d/c for people not doing anything in the zone.

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Originally Posted by Frysia

Since it says in the first post one question per post, I wanna emphasize this question (They both go together honestly) I believe everyone agrees this is an issue, as well as multiple FC's owning multiple houses as well. Could it be possible to implement a restriction of 1 Personal House and 1 FC House Master per account?

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That wouldn't resolve the issue. Take a look at my math for housing on page 31. You can leave a like there, but the TL;DR is that even if JUST people (not FC) could own a house per account, there are a total of 190k houses available across all servers. There are over 6 million subscribers, thus only about 3% will own a house even if it were under these circumstances. If you wanted a large house.. forget it...

Can you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make a Viera (rabbit type) character? I think they would fit so well in this game!

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Originally Posted by Moxiesan

That wouldn't resolve the issue. Take a look at my math for housing on page 31. You can leave a like there, but the TL;DR is that even if JUST people (not FC) could own a house per account, there are a total of 190k houses available across all servers. There are over 6 million subscribers, thus only about 3% will own a house even if it were under these circumstances. If you wanted a large house.. forget it...

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I believe they should consider having the option to allow housing size expansion if possible. 1 House per world or account will create difficult limitation as well since they might be unable to go from small to medium or large due to limitations.

Is it possible to just make wards limitless or make it 500 so that there are definitely opportunities to have people purchase large? Or have FC to own a ward and players can buy plots? If not, add more Large/Medium to actually balance it out than make more smalls.

Are we ever going to see updates to the quick exploration venture rewards? It seems like all we ever get back is level 50 loot even when our retainers are well into their 60s for levels and gear. Most of these items from quick exploration have little to no value at this point in the game.

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Originally Posted by Moxiesan

That wouldn't resolve the issue. Take a look at my math for housing on page 31. You can leave a like there, but the TL;DR is that even if JUST people (not FC) could own a house per account, there are a total of 190k houses available across all servers. There are over 6 million subscribers, thus only about 3% will own a house even if it were under these circumstances. If you wanted a large house.. forget it...

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Only real option I think, because of the design of the wards and the strain it puts on things loading so much customized stuff into a zone at once, would be to add a side zone to each housing area that loaded just 1 house, which would be a good compromise, maybe make it more expensive for it being a "private house." with either needing a name and password to enter someone else's area or be in their pt, while also still allowing tenants.

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Originally Posted by Frysia

Only real option I think, because of the design of the wards and the strain it puts on things loading so much customized stuff into a zone at once, would be to add a side zone to each housing area that loaded just 1 house, which would be a good compromise, maybe make it more expensive for it being a "private house." with either needing a name and password to enter someone else's area or be in their pt, while also still allowing tenants.

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The best design would be to integrate houses into the cities that you could purchase (kinda like apartments, but in the houses) and have them instanced out separately. Kind of like House Fortempts. This would allow limitless integration without having to worry about wards being too empty or too full (for storage reasons). Also, not all players are a part of free companies, so if anything the Free Companies should cost more to be a culmination. I just think it'd be a great opportunity to use the method I just listed. Granted they'd have to work out the exterior details, but that shouldn't be too bad. Being instanced out, it could always be your house or a default NPC house visible.

Anyways, without massive storage space, the ward system is a poor design and they should reconsider their options.