Questions and Feedback on the Future of FINAL FANTASY XIV

The tedious way of crafting has turned many away from even helping others shouting for help. What will be done to make crafting faster so people wont spend 30minutes making a few items or faking AFK.

I'd very much like to know if there are plans to restore the originally spoke of discount for Final Fantasy XI should your Square-Enix Account have active subscriptions in both that and FFXIV.

This is a grave concern for me as, if there is no discount, I'll be forced to quit one or the other, saying goodbye to one of my groups of friends and feeling somber about it afterwards. Please consider either a discount for FFXI or reduced price for FFXIV. $3 per character ID is too much.

Is Dark Knight in the works at all? I dont think PLD should exist without DRK!

can u guys make the charcter move while doing normal attacks, abilities and some of the weaponskills?

Are there any plans to change the payment options?

Especially ClickAndBuy as we have seen many players expressed dislike for it.

We need to be able to trade items to other people, regardless of damage. When I'm assisting my friends on the field, I don't want to have to worry about the items I give them being damaged.

Don't prohibit the trading of damaged items, just indicate HOW damaged they are.

526 replies only three of which containing the question about Alt+Tabbing. You people need to step it up.

So, S-E, how about that? Alt, can you tab it?

With the introduction of Jobs in 1.21, will Jobs be the soul focus of the game there-after? And if not, then will Classes get their own personalities as well? I would like Gladiator to have it's own recognizable identity.

Example: Gladiator from FFTA which used elemental weapon abilities (like how Gladiator now has Red Lotus Blade and is fire based). I liked the armor style and idea that they really gave each class their own flavor in those games, so I'm curious if there are plans to truly marry the Class and Job system, or will the Job system completely take over?

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Originally Posted by Denmo

Do you really expect players to stick around and pay for an incomplete game? I mean, I'm all for these incredibly awesome changes, but why are we being forced to pay when the game isn't even done?

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The fact that you are still playing suggests otherwise. Don't be a hypocrite ... stop playing if you feel that it's incomplete and not worth your subscription.

Will Arcanist and Musketeer be released any time soon?

How does Square Enix plan to balance classes in certain situations? i.e. I had to level Lancer to fight Ifrit, because my primary class, Pugilist, is nearly useless and/or undesired for the task.

You mentioned a more complex and interactive battle system involving changing position relative to an enemy to gain certain effects, will you be doing something as complex as this to Battle Regimens, but with certain skill combinations such as Leg Sweep and Concussive blow tripping up an enemy, or Shield Bash and Skull Sunder causing silence, palaysis, and heavy perhaps as examples?

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Originally Posted by Betelgeuzah

It's such a marginal number, that it doesn't matter. The revenue they gain from those who don't leave is a greater incentive.

The people who left by now are much larger in numbers, and this sub fee won't affect them. Seriously speaking, how many of them do you see coming back before 2.0 now that it has been announced? It doesn't make any sense, with or without sub fees.

This fee is in place for those who play the current game and are willing to pay for it. Some will leave, but we are not talking about a mass exodus here- since this game doesn't even have the playerbase for mass exodus in the first place.

50% of people leaving the game in its current state is not the same as 50% of people leaving WoW in its current state. And even in that case Blizzard would get more revenue out of 5mil of their players paying a fee instead of 10mil paying nothing.

In a nutshell, not all customers are equal. Especially when half the customers are blocking the company's stream of revenue from the other half of the customers altogether.

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Amen.

My feeling is that the complainers are those that were unwilling to pay for the subscription in the first place. When they found out that there would be no monthly fees, they hopped on, knowing full well that eventually they will be charged that fee. A few months have passed and these same people will look for any excuse to not pay. Same people who also claim that any MMO game that charges a monthly subscription must be a very bad game. They'll continually bad-mouth these games and will always point to some game they've played in the past as better only because it was free-to-play.

No one forced them to pick up a subscription-based game at gun point so not sure why they are being obnoxious about it. I mean, at the very beginning, they knew there was going to be a monthly fee, it's just that it was pushed back as a customer service courtesy because Square Enix admitted that they rushed out a game with major issues. Most of these underlying issues have been stamped out and anyone saying it's still not playable are just straight up lying.

For the record, I purchased the Collector's Edition and have stuck around from the beginning, playing a bit of beta as well. I do think there's a lot of things that Square Enix should be working on to improve the game but that's true with ANY MMORPG today. No MMO game comes out of the gate in such a perfect state that the developers only release new dungeons and call it a day. Look at WoW, the 12 million subscription giant elephant in the room, still evolving, still changing and looks nothing like it did when it first came out. Most people have forgotten that WoW had that miserable first 3 months after launch and it took Blizzard almost a year before they sorted out most of the major problems with the game. And they still are trying to improve it. Yet people still paid and paid through that first year. I don't think anyone got a free ride for months on end, only reimbursements measured in days for fractions of their subscription for the times their server was inaccessible due to technical problems.

But it doesn't matter what kind of logic is presented to these players, they'll continue to whine about having to pay a fee and will use that circular logic about "if the game is good, I wouldn't mind paying, but it's not" and they could use that every single time this discussion comes up until SE shuts down the last server years from now...

Will players be able to fight Beastmen for control over zone/regions. Passive content that adds global rewards for players obtaining and defending zones. Think conquest points mixed with besiege from XI.

A Level Sync sytem for lowering team mate level to enjoy content at same rate. Higher level player loses access to abilities and traits that exeed level while in effect. AND a level Sync system for raising lower level player to team mate for sneak peak at higher level content. Lower level player's abilities and gear at limited to actual level.

I just want to say that I don't think we should have to be paying for the game yet either. The party search option still hasn't come out. I will not pay for this game until at least that option is available. Right now to find a party you have to shout in uldah over and over which usually can take hours. Of course theres the option to play solo but whats the fun in that in an MMORPG and playing solo will get you way less exp then playing with a full party. I do not think I will be paying until 2.0 comes out. Right now its like saying closed beta is free but you have to pay for open beta. Doesn't make sense to pay for a game when they are releasing a whole new version in a year.

If you look back at FF XI, when do you think SE should have charged ?
From the beginning ? Zilart ? Promathia ? Why not with Wings of the Goddess ?

Without the expansions, the game loses far more than 50% of its content, and is a whole different version.
For me, it's just a sad excuse for people who hoped that SE never take a fee.

Well, since a lot of content will disappear before V2.0, it's your choice to miss it...

I would like to know some details about housing. Both the first implementation in february and the more complex one for the Free Companies with 2.0. Thanks.

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Originally Posted by GTKashi

526 replies only three of which containing the question about Alt+Tabbing. You people need to step it up.

So, S-E, how about that? Alt, can you tab it?

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YoshiP already said in an interview (don't remember which one) that they are going to fix it in 2.0
I doubt anything will happen before that.

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

YoshiP already said in an interview (don't remember which one) that they are going to fix it in 2.0
I doubt anything will happen before that.

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It isn't really possible to fix it before that.

The Alt+Tab crash issue is caused by a deep flaw in how the engine and DirectX 9 talk to each other; it'd need a total overhaul of the code to fix it - which would be completely insane in the face of their replacing the entire graphics engine come v2.0.

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Originally Posted by Fensfield

It isn't really possible to fix it before that.

The Alt+Tab crash issue is caused by a deep flaw in how the engine and DirectX 9 talk to each other; it'd need a total overhaul of the code to fix it

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Actually, it wouldn't; All they have to do is handle the exception of losing the connection to the GPU - which they didn't do, except for showing us a useless dialogue of the exception occurring. It's not that hard to fix really, so I don't know why it wasn't fixed long time ago.

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

Actually, it wouldn't; All they have to do is handle the exception of losing the connection to the GPU - which they didn't do, except for showing us a useless dialogue of the exception occurring. It's not that hard to fix really, so I don't know why it wasn't fixed long time ago.

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why fix something anything on the currant game? its pointless to even put effort into wasted content and obsolete software.

SE will you buy wows old servers and use them as a tempary fix for this broken crap? that should cut the clunkyness and lag down by 70%, and give u justifiable reason to charge for this game.

When you introduce the new races (Male Miqo'te & Female Roegadyn), will you allow veteran player's characters' to change their races? Honestly, ive always wanted to be a Male Miqo'te and this is really exciting for me. Thank you.

Is there any plans to limit players to a number of class(s) including crafting classes. I only ask due to alot of players prefering having a limit on the number of crafts a player can take, as they believe it destroys the eco of the game, main reason i enjoy ff14 is not having any kind of class limits.

I work 6-7 days a week and would really like to play more. My problem biggest problem is that DoH classes are a necessary evil and can be a little bit on the time consuming side. Are there going to be any changes to the crafting system that will shorten the time?

Will I ever be able to edit the game options in-game, instead of having to close it out and open an external config program?
It's very, very annoying when trying to find the settings that work best for your computer :/

Also, will I ever be able to take a screenshot without having to hide the UI and slap a copyright notice in the corner?

1. When can we see more pictures / screen shots of the new missing genders? The concept art was very vague and minamal.

2. When will they be implemented? Is it still the PS3 launch? When do you plan on adding Demi Humans and Dragon playable races? Can you go in detail on how the race change for existing players will occur?

3. Will we be able to craft our LS crest on our gear? Will we able to have the crest on our personable chocobo? Will be able to sign our names to gear we craft?

4. Can you go into more detail on Estates? How will they work? How do we obtain one?

5. LS buildings, Boats, Airships.. will we ever get them?

6. Free Companies ?? Why not attach it to the LS? Where the community you been apart of can play together and enjoy the content together instead of limiting it to 5 members?

7. Can you go in more detail on the UI / widgets in the screenshot of 2.0?

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Originally Posted by Jaber

Will I ever be able to edit the game options in-game, instead of having to close it out and open an external config program?
It's very, very annoying when trying to find the settings that work best for your computer :/

Also, will I ever be able to take a screenshot without having to hide the UI and slap a copyright notice in the corner?

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Use the Print Screen button and a image editing program like MS paint or gimp. Square likely won't lose the copyright notice due to legal mumbo jumbo to keep the bootleggers away.

Back on topic: Are there going to be linkshell-based activities? Right now its a glorified chatroom, can there be expansions to what we can do as an ls, like a linkshell airship/base camp design, banners,ways to manage ls funds/events, etc.?

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Originally Posted by stoned

why fix something anything on the currant game? its pointless to even put effort into wasted content and obsolete software.

SE will you buy wows old servers and use them as a tempary fix for this broken crap? that should cut the clunkyness and lag down by 70%, and give u justifiable reason to charge for this game.

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Unfortunately that's not how MMOs work. In addition to the hardware of the servers themselves, they have custom software running on them suited to the particular game. Hardware plays a role in FFXIVs performance, but based on interviews it's not the primary cause of the lag issues. Rather, the current server software itself does not perform efficiently. This is why the server program itself is being rebuilt from scratch for 2.0.

Where or what content does the Dev Team Expect(want) players to level in? Will it be mainly focused on:

a) Pure grinding on world enemies, with most players in the same level range, a la most of FFXI's life
b) Dungeon crawling/Fast raid instances with the Content Finder (15-30 min dungeons with EXP bonuses on completion?)
c) Quests/Side-quests (Similar to WoW, with quest "hubs" and certain areas being meant for certain levels)
d) Abyssea(FFXI)-Style leveling (World grind with any level player able to be in party)
e) A Miraculous accumulation of all of the above?

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Originally Posted by Kallera

Use the Print Screen button and a image editing program like MS paint or gimp. Square likely won't lose the copyright notice due to legal mumbo jumbo to keep the bootleggers away.

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Here is a comprehensive list of all of the games I have played that have a built-in screenshot function which requires me to replace the UI with a copyright notice before I can use it to take a screenshot:
Final Fantasy XI
Final Fantasy XIV

• It seems like the Crystal Tower is going to be the first full-scale "Raid" in FFXIV, can you share any details about the event? Will it be randomized at all? What about time limits?
• Are your plans for future raids and dungeons to feature narrative that sets up the event a la FFXI, or an explicit narrative during the event, that is repeated each time, similar to other MMOs.
• In the recent Lodestone post about Chocobos, the background is blurred in the screenshot, is this a visual touch you're planning to implement, or an overzealous image post team? Regardless, can you talk about any interesting visual touches you plan for the future of FFXIV?
• Is Raise ever going to have a particle effect?
• How do you plan to balance Jobs with Classes, and have both be useful without making Jobs feel weak or limiting their abilities so much to one role that it defeats emergent play during job-focused content.

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Originally Posted by Jaber

Here is a comprehensive list of all of the games I have played that have a built-in screenshot function which requires me to replace the UI with a copyright notice before I can use it to take a screenshot:
Final Fantasy XI
Final Fantasy XIV

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Legal solutions are not based on what's popular...they are based on what works.

In a recent interview you mentioned that primals like Ifrit would be a one shot summon for a free company and that only one group would have that ability at a given time. My question will be in two parts.

1) Are you planing on adding in lesser primals or spirits with lower or no restrictions? It seems to me that summoner as a class/job would be very limited in practicality if all summons had the stipulation of one per server and only one call per user.

2) Say you are the summoner for a free company that has won the right to call ifrit. What kind of a situation would you deem worthy of calling for the lord of fire for?

In regards to summoning primals, you brought up the idea of "summoning cards," how will you prevent end game players from feeling as if though they need these cards to overcome certain challenges, and create an environment where end game companies need to farm them in order to progress?

Final Fantasy games often revolved around a strategy of using at least 1 summon per boss fight, have you considered simply having strict summoning requirements?

Why can't the classes each be fully balanced for all new content rather than there always being one class better than another clan for certain content ? For Example "Archer's in the Ifrit battle are virtually useless since they do not have a single weapon skill that does any amount of considerable damage to him at all".

Mr. Yoshida,

Let me preface this by saying, you are an inspiration in many ways. Having handled the adversity of angry customers in the face of overwhelming odds takes a great deal of courage, and the will to stomach that presents the character you have; as well as the company's in which you work.

That aside, why is it that Final Fantasy XIV is not Final Fantasy? Your vision I think is one that is going to take it to that level, but will we see our favorite characters be emulated in our own? Is this Seventh Umbral Era setting the stone for a more heroic tale to be written for the players?

I see a lot of beloved characters of FFT named, which gives me a warm feeling inside; I always have felt that FFT was something Square Enix should have taken into serious consideration as a framework for an MMORPG, in the same method in which Warcraft was inflated to become World of Warcraft, now I realize that this would be somewhat a clash in the tradition of Final Fantasy as being an ever evolving set of short stories with similar themes but it would I believe be far more successful.

- Sion Durant

Who is the poor businessman who decided November was the right time to start charging for this atrocity of a Final Fatasy title and will he be fired once this game officially fails or just reassigned like the former project lead?

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Originally Posted by SionDurant

Mr. Yoshida,

Let me preface this by saying, you are an inspiration in many ways. Having handled the adversity of angry customers in the face of overwhelming odds takes a great deal of courage, and the will to stomach that presents the character you have; as well as the company's in which you work.

That aside, why is it that Final Fantasy XIV is not Final Fantasy? Your vision I think is one that is going to take it to that level, but will we see our favorite characters be emulated in our own? Is this Seventh Umbral Era setting the stone for a more heroic tale to be written for the players?

I see a lot of beloved characters of FFT named, which gives me a warm feeling inside; I always have felt that FFT was something Square Enix should have taken into serious consideration as a framework for an MMORPG, in the same method in which Warcraft was inflated to become World of Warcraft, now I realize that this would be somewhat a clash in the tradition of Final Fantasy as being an ever evolving set of short stories with similar themes but it would I believe be far more successful.

- Sion Durant

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Absolutely agree! The original FFXIV actually was based on FFT, not only regarding mechanics but even regarding lore, concept arts and stuff.

I also have FFT series (yes, i also loved FFTA and FFTA2) as some of my fav FFs and do would love seeing a MMORPG FF bringing the Ivalice Alliance seal. Who knows...maybe if the original FFXIV make a return as spin-off they can also add Ivalice Alliance seal and bring all lore related to it with it! ^^

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Originally Posted by Paintedblack

Who is the poor businessman who decided November was the right time to start charging for this atrocity of a Final Fatasy title and will he be fired once this game officially fails or just reassigned like the former project lead?

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I believe this is a internal decision *cough*Wada*cough*, just like the premature release last year. FFXIV history is already plenty of wrong decisions in the worst time possible...so charging now would be just another one. Still, i have hopes that the billing isn't set in stone still since we don't have an official date for it to start. I do think they might be pondering the pros and cons of it based on current feedback...after all the subscription fee would turn to be inadequate if they can't reach a minimum amount of return.

Anyway...it's easier Yoshida take responsability for this decision (it's part of his role as director) and step back, just like Tanaka did after release failure, than they blaming SE CEO for this...especially because the CEO is directly related to shareholders so pointing to CEO would have worldwide impact to company credibility.

What do these boxes represent?

http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/...ooce/boxes.png
I think they are 150 inventory and bottom left is equipped gear.

So first, i wanna say i love this game. i always have fun when i log in and play. my only question is...

Will we ever get to color our chocobo's? i would love to be able to get some way to make my chocobo stand out to others.

Since you guys are working on the character's details, Can Roegadyns have our tails back?

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Originally Posted by Momeki

The concept art makes me thing that the shroud is going to get very small. I like the size of the zones and I'm worrying that with change it will be smaller. the vast landscape is what makes running about outside exciting!

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Just FYI those concept art maps are only zones/section of the map we have now (East/West/North/South/Central/etc...); instead of keeping the seamless world we have now they are going to break it up into smaller zones/maps like FFXI did with area change/loading to next maps and while they do that they will make each zones more fantasy like with at least 3 land marks within those areas :)

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Originally Posted by Deli

Since you guys are working on the character's details, Can Roegadyns have our tails back?

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Then they wont be called Roegadyns but Galka lol