Fantstic news. I hope the questions arn't too leading. There definatley should be room for around a 500 character limited comment section at the bottom for more spesific concerns and sugestions not covered by the poll.
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Glad to hear another survey is in the pipelines. I know several players who do not participate on the forums both currently playing or retired who have been greatly interested in participating in more surveys.
Now see I don't like this, if it was any other game, fine, but exactly because XIV changes so drastically from one big patch to the next, we should not allow voting from people that are not subscribers, I feel uneasy that people who are not even playing getting a chance to influence what a game will become for those that are, reminds me of that guy at work that keeps trowing chocolate, marshmallows, and sugar into his oatmeal every morning at lunch, poking at it with a spoon for half an hour, than throwing it in the trash because he didn't like what he made.
That is why a smartly designed survey will have "are you currently subscribed?" "Yes/No" option. This way opinions can be varied and weighted appropriately.
I'd hate to have all of the XI purists and people who are subscribed now (who somehow are actually happy with the game) continue saying undesirable stuff like "I give this game a 8.4/10," when in fact it is marginally better than it was since launch. Or call for an "increase in level cap." When anyone, having played XIV at launch or even for a week sometime since launch, would logically know that increasing the level cap before 2.0 would be disastrous due to the fact that there isn't enough content in the game right now and that increasing the level cap would just increase the amount of grinding required.
There are plenty of topics that can be discussed without 100% hands on knowledge of the game. Would it help to be playing? Sure... but sometimes being an armchair critic can be vastly beneficial based on outside knowledge.
Plus, the primary audience XIV/SE should be trying to gain back are those that aren't currently subscribed right now... so clearly their opinions are of value and do matter.
Why even bother capping them? A fully orchestrated opinion on tetra master/triple triad/card game/player housing/chocobo racing/stat redo/etc should be incredibly valued. Limiting text is just limiting the complete picture.
I think it's important for SE to know what features or play style they need to introduce in order to increase their customer base, and that obviously can only be done by asking why nonsubscribers currently are not. Otherwise the game will remain a niche game.
I do agree with you though that by trying to please everyone you ultimately end up pleasing no one. Sometimes when I read all the "add this!" "remove that!" requests on the forum, it worries me that the game may become like the "Art of the Dress" My Little Pony episode.
And the reason why polls open to the public are a bad idea:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10506482
Essentially, ignore the players and build the game the developers want. You're the professionals being paid to make the game after all.
Also, before people get upset and say "See how well that worked out for Tanaka!" The problem with Tanaka was not his ideas (SP per action, crafting jobs being of equal importance to melee etc) it was the bad execution of them and the fact that they released the game a year early.
/my opinion
//yours may vary
///mine is better.