What is FFXIV lacking?

For me it's missing fun... this week I logged in long enough to get an earth egg, wondered what to do with it and then logged off.

More atmosphere/depth to the world would be nice too.

I found another great video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzrmw...eature=related

After watching that video, and seeing all the little things that made FFXI feel like a living breathing world, FFXIV just isn't up to par now, all I see in FFXIV copy and pasted scenery and camps, It feels dead, especially with barely anyone playing anymore on my server. I log in and nothing is moving, everything and everyone is just standing there, kinda dead looking. Meh I'm getting to the point where I don't even wanna log in anymore, nothing to do, there's no point in even exploring, all the caves look the same, and everything is just bleh -_-

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Originally Posted by C56

After watching that video, and seeing all the little things that made FFXI feel like a living breathing world, FFXIV just isn't up to par now, all I see in FFXIV copy and pasted scenery and camps, It feels dead, especially with barely anyone playing anymore on my server. I log in and nothing is moving, everything and everyone is just standing there, kinda dead looking. Meh I'm getting to the point where I don't even wanna log in anymore, nothing to do, there's no point in even exploring, all the caves look the same, and everything is just bleh -_-

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Copy Paste?.. Did you ever play any MMO? Or even Offline Games? Scenery is ALWAYS copy-pasted... in FFXI its way more than it is in FFXIV.. So whats your point?

Xi has a lot more depth and story to the areas. XIV has just generic forest and 3 generic plains in different shades. In my view XI is just a lot more beautiful game than XIV not graphically but visually.

I think the biggest thing contributing to the lack of atmosphere is that the world simply doesn't feel finished. There's massive lack of points of interest, and even those that are there are just...props. Like those 2-d scenery backdrops used in B-movies. Go to any of the hamlets. They all have about 6-8 NPCs with small snippets of dialogue and NOTHING else. Plenty of them mention goods that that town makes, but I've yet to find a single store at any of them. A few buildings, but none of them can be entered. Docks that serve no purpose. Not a sub-quest in sight.

You see this in other places as well. I've did a little bit of exploring, and for the most part, there's simply nothing to really explore in the game. What little can be found is simply placeholders for future stuff - NPCs guarding areas you can't access yet and similar.

People complain about this and that about the game, but the real problem is that it was released WAY before it was ready, and SE was arrogant enough to think that the media would simply give them a pass on selling customers an unfinished game. So now, they're trying to play catchup while at the same time doing a 180 in terms of PR so that they can try to regain customer confidence after their blunder.

That stuff from the video is great, but none of that kept me in the game. Some moments had me pausing for a second to take it in, but what is great about it now is that its a world I spent 9 years of my life in. We're all grown ups there, and now we stop and *watch* the flowers. Its nostalgia.

As far as ffxiv goes, I'm only anticipating stuff thats going to keep me in Eorzea longer. We're all children there. Once we're old and feeble, we'll all be nostal..gi...cally... Wandering from place to place, looking at the old hamlets, taking pictures with the Mor Dhana spire, etc... Along with the new stuff they implement.

Don't get me wrong... I have faith. I won't give up until SE does. And that video brought a tear to my eye, I won't lie. Thank you for that!

That video proves my point that there was nothing wrong with making an "HD-FFXI", because it did a lot more right than wrong even if its things people rarely pay attention to because sadly most people play a game just to play and never take the time to appreciate small things, yet will bitch when those small things aren't found.

Cutscenes and lore to an extent, a really immersible environment. A lot of history is missing, and the game feels almost too new, as though the story is still being written as they go along.

I liked how in XI the quests were sometimes mini cutscenes. Like for the rank 20 quests, if the normal quests could be more like those.

Also, is it just me or was anyone else rather peeved that some of the more 'epic' cutscenes barely feature your character, while you just look on the other NPC's doing fantastic things while you just stand there picking your nose. I personally find it rather obnoxious and a little boring. I'd kind of like to see my character a little more animated. I've seen NPCs who do absolutely nothing in the background do more than my character.

It'd be great if they could even get lines, and use those voices we pick out for them. If we are a hero, we ought to be more than oddly stationary furniture, especially in battle cutscenes. Nothing too extravagant, but something that can be universal like stealthily dodging an attack or pushing someone out of the way.

I'm sure someone could turn this into a cultural phenomenon, but the very last cutscene I experienced in Mor Dhona (no spoilers I promise) left me feeling rather deflated. Yes it was great, until about the end where you suddenly vanish while everyone else shows their stuff.

It'd be nice if we were also given idle emotes while in Cutscenes instead of standing in the default pose. It's all very unnatural.

But aside from that issue I think the game is amazing and headed in a fantastic direction. Would like to see more done with the maps however, the game is just very not fun to explore, since every cave is the exact same cave over and over. More maps like the mines would be great. I miss that one in XI with ghosts and the silent hill siren. That was fantastic. Actual miners in the mines would also be a plus.

Opening the cities a bit would also be great. XI had many great places to explore and discover in the cities. Like the star tree, and San d'Oria's castle. Places you can only enter after reaching a certain rank or level.

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Originally Posted by Nero

Copy Paste?.. Did you ever play any MMO? Or even Offline Games? Scenery is ALWAYS copy-pasted... in FFXI its way more than it is in FFXIV.. So whats your point?

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There is an acceptable level of copy and pasting, but FFXIV takes it to an extreme, as shown in the videos below. Honestly, FFXI has more detail and more verity so the copy and pasted stuff isn't as noticeable, FFXIV just uses the same patches of terrain over and over and doesn't use much variety so it's very noticeable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La9nLBfH44c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OODPo9fzk0Q

There using a much better engine to design FFXIV, so I would hope they could provide a better environment to play in, not the crap I just showed -_-

Valkurm Dunes!!!**



The main thing this is missing that FFXI has is Valkurm Dunes, or rather the experience shared by all of the players in the game.

The epic journey the 1st time you go (even more epic from Windy).

The total reliance on other people most likley total strangers to form a party out of well defined job roles.

Partys lasting at least 1-2 hours just to get 1 maybe 2 levels.

Monsters that are IT being IT (incredibly tough) not just a target for being spammed to death before mage jobs can even cast on them.

People who are leaders (not i) having the chance to lead, some of the most awsome leadership abilty i have ever seen has been in game rather than real life (mostley women i should add, also not i, Eld,Oce,Lake** <3).

Stats that mean something for expample,

Empress Hairpin
[Head] All Races
HP-15 DEX+3 AGI+3
Evasion+10
Lv.24 All Jobs

means one hell of a lot, where as stats in FFXIV seem to mean very little.

Depseration and desire!! see above, there are always awesome drops and hours of waiting for partys,drops ect in FFXI in FFXIV there is not a thing as far as i can tell just spam spam spam = levels and money

FFXIV has a long way to go, and to tempt the better players out of FFXI has even further to go, who would give up a drop you worked 2-3 years to get to play a new game? not i (Dynamis/Salvage for example).

To sum up the things missing are,

the shared experince of all players ie Valkurm Dunes
the challenge and feeling of achivment of beating a zone/level
the desperation and want of getting the party and people needed for an event/party/NM/mission
partys and having the opportunity for people to become leaders
job roles (i feel a lot of nerfs coming, conj,thm,pug ect)
battle system with finesse and talent rather than battle spam, could you TASA (Trick Attack-Sneak Attach) the marauder in any of the fights in FFXIV?

awsome gear Emp hairpin,Yakko pants,W.Legs ect

community, made by all of the above.

remembering to check the ABV of the beer your drinking before posting on the internet

i dont like to just complain about things as i have invested a lot into FFXIV
(time and money (( new rig))
but i hope to see this game learn the lessons of the past (from this and FFXI) and grow to be the game we all hoped for.
i have a lot of faith in SE to pull this off or die trying

my one MAJOR complaint about FFXI and FFXIV is the correlation beetween maintenance and UK bank holidays,
check the FFXI Maint logs and the uk bank holidays you will see what i mean

* please file post under drunken ramblings of the semi witted

** Valkurm Dunes used as an example as many many players of FFXIV who played FFXI would know that zone could be sea,sky,Qufim Island,Crawler's Nest,Garlaige Citadel or anyone of a hundred camps

*** as i said mostly women, Lake is a guy (mostly) ^^


Bongo Bongo
Besaid
HALP Linkshell (look me up to join if you need a linkshell run by an idiot :D )

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Originally Posted by Winterclaw

For me it's missing fun... this week I logged in long enough to get an earth egg, wondered what to do with it and then logged off.

More atmosphere/depth to the world would be nice too.

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I feel the same way too, I log on to do a few leves, but find myself alt+f4 midway out of boredom. Yes, the quests they add can be fun, but I think at the current time, these things they are adding are very similar to guildleves, which is something I don't think a lot of people actually enjoy doing. Of course, some do... but not many.

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Originally Posted by Prestige

I feel the same way too, I log on to do a few leves, but find myself alt+f4 midway out of boredom. Yes, the quests they add can be fun, but I think at the current time, these things they are adding are very similar to guildleves, which is something I don't think a lot of people actually enjoy doing. Of course, some do... but not many.

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So they like quests, but don't enjoy doing quests?

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Originally Posted by Kallera

So they like quests, but don't enjoy doing quests?

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of course. Players want freedom without choice and failures, difficult quests with a quest helper, overpowered unique armors without grinding, and quests that don't seem quests.

Unless I'm fighting a giant Dream Toad, all guildleves I've done in the past are pretty boring and (dare I say) a little hard to sit through.

It's not "casuals'" fault that the gameplay is so rigid and uninteresting, or that the difficulty on everything is set so low (and no, I am not referring to timesinks as a difficulty). It's SE's fault for not 'seriously' tuning across multiple skill or participation levels.

A few things... Simple things though, because the game is for the most part REALLY good (or what I've played of it anyways)
-Compatability with chipsets and smaller videocards
-Sentinels
-Comprehensive mechanics for each discipline instead of the large amounts of overlap
-As always... Chocobos... don't show them off to us if we can't have 'em :(
-Moogle and Goblin pets would be awesome?

What the game doesn't need:
-Raid Gear
-Higher Level Caps
-Anything level or rank intensive
-More races
-More racial benefits
-Anything which takes away from a player based economy

What FF14 needs is more to do for all the lvl 50 players there is now ,like more NMs and more NMs. Getting tired of the same drops week after week.They should have done this to keep core players interested and excited about new weapon parts and item drops for crafters. At the same time getting more great group battle exitement. Hope this happens in next patch. Still love the game but tired of leveling more characters ,not having retainer space for that and not having enough for main class to do. And by the way I think the graphics are awesome, better than any I have seen on any game but agree that there could be more "true life depth" such as NMs appearing from the sky or out of the ground instead of just being there all of a sudden. STILL HAVE FAITH FOR BETTER THINGS TO COME!!

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Originally Posted by Verecund

Unless I'm fighting a giant Dream Toad, all guildleves I've done in the past are pretty boring and (dare I say) a little hard to sit through.

It's not "casuals'" fault that the gameplay is so rigid and uninteresting, or that the difficulty on everything is set so low (and no, I am not referring to timesinks as a difficulty). It's SE's fault for not 'seriously' tuning across multiple skill or participation levels.

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It's not SE's fault either. People will bitch no matter what. People bitch about accessibility, SE gives it, people bitch. No one likes challenges or games like WoW, Farmville and Rift wouldn't have been popular online games. They already said more challenging content will come in due time but the game needs to be fixed first. Also guildleves were designed for people with little to no time, but the game got rushed out thus it was the only content found.

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Originally Posted by Elexia

It's not SE's fault either. People will bitch no matter what. People bitch about accessibility, SE gives it, people bitch. No one likes challenges or games like WoW, Farmville and Rift wouldn't have been popular online games. They already said more challenging content will come in due time but the game needs to be fixed first. Also guildleves were designed for people with little to no time, but the game got rushed out thus it was the only content found.

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Quoted for truth... For as much as we suggest- we shouldn't act like what we have isn't a good place to begin. Sometimes I think MMO players have a bad habit of being far-sighted when observing game quality. Hell at this point- if the client were patched for separate graphical packages for computers which require less demanding-on-the-PC play, the game would get much more accessible, but then someone would complain about how much they sank into their expensive PC, even though they weren't being punished. The game had ambitious design, which was very-much so in a good direction, but we're going to keep demanding more than the Dev's can produce, but we should be good sports about what they decide is suitable for the game

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Originally Posted by Seif

I think you summed up everything that's missing from this game.

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Exactly.

Someone could do a better video by putting the best scenery and atmosphere from XIV than that posted in the OP. But right now we don't have the sense of accomplishment that make those scenery feel special and meaningful.

I actually see a lot of potential in the game. The only thing that upsets me is the lack of purpose and direction. There is the sense of foreboding and foreshadowing, like something dark and dangerous is on the horizon, but as of yet there seems to be no real idea as to what is going to happen or where the game is going. It feels like time is frozen. That's the only thing I find annoying.

Atmosphere, players, and a few tweaks to the system (Such as crafting, distinction between the classes [which is hard because there is no job system], and guildleves/behests/guild tasks).

Most of all I think it's lacking in content. There isn't much to do once you hit Rank 50 and complete the few sidequests but farm for gil, hunt NMs, do the occasional events, and .... repeat Behests/Guildleves/Guild Tasks. It needs a lot more end-game content, but I think that'll come with time so I'm not worried about it.

SO...yeah I think atmosphere, because most of what I listed above are already under development right now.

After playing tonight I think me and my friend decided to go back to ff11, we did our 8 quests each in about an hour, one 1 a day new bulliten board quest, and than just walked around for a little bit staring into open uninhabited landscape. In ff11, there was a reason to level up ( subjubs, main jobs) and a reason to travel outside your town (juno for chocobo quest) not to mention a million other things. FF14 needs too much, if something is so broken than sometimes it cant be fixed. im so sad that ff14 turned out this way. At least ff11 is still around,

FFXIV is lacking focussed design and has too many generic features, from pat jobs, to stale levequests, to unimaginitive or simple quests, stats that are bland and powerless, repeated terrain that creates sprawl and not scope. It just seems that the developers are asking "how can we relase as much as we can while doing as little as possible?" Well you make a pat game with pat jobs that have pat stats and perform pat repeatables for pat advancement while adding pat quests for pat rewards and killing pat NMs for pat gear (1.17 excluded that was a great patch if only the game could back up how great it could be with jobs that are interesting and stats that matter).

Because when you just make safe, 40th percentile content that doesn't really do anything or matter in any higher function, you can pump out a ton of it. FFXIV, in response to having woefully inadequate content at launch, seems to have chosen a lot of 40th percentile content over a little 90th percentile content.

No one seems to be asking how they can make a 90th percentile, AAA game. They're just going through the motions of padding a pat MMO with more pat as if it wasn't even trying to be a great game--that the goal is something less.

FFXIV lacks a primary focus on quality content in favor of the mediocre, expected, and generic. It does not aim to beat expectations before being prodded. It aims to eventually get around to them after being reprimanded. Not only does FFXIV have to start meeting expectations without having to re-do it or be reminded of it, which it is not doing now, but it has to start acting like a Final Fantasy on its own without us having to drag it kicking and screaming. It has to start being 90th percentile on its own volition or it will never be good.

The task board and similar content is beginning to define the game. Lots of motion. Not a lot of game.

We'll see how companies, jobs, raids, battle engine, and stat overhaul goes. If any one of those represents more pat 40th percentile content instead of the 90th percentile that the game is expected to be, game will be dead by its 1 year anniversary. If we can't even get XIV to meet us half-way to what we originally expected, then it just doesn't want to be that good of a game to begin with and doesn't deserve this support we're giving it.

I think that for the last 3 years, Square Enix forgot that they're in the business of making AAA games, and it took the release of a 4/10 and 5/10 FF back to back to shock them back into putting videogames first. Unfortunately they haven't spent the last 3 years thinking about how to make great games. That's what XIV lacks, ultimately. No one paid it enough attention from the start, or cared to make it great. They just...figured it would work out.