Concerns about Content Patch 2.1

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by silverhope

This has zero to do with the OP.. Hes not talking about bugs hes talking about delaying content

---

You think they actually read our posts?

Is it bad if I have the 'other' problem? I simply have many things I want to do in-game and no time to log on to do them :(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fated

You think they actually read our posts?

---

Why should they when apparently you won't read theirs?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Camate

Changes designed off of feedback, that also have large effects on the entire game, are ultimately implemented on a schedule decided by the Producer/Director Yoshi-P.

---

I want more content updates too, but you can't just have developers flying off the handle and pushing out a new build everytime they check-in a new change, that just isn't realistic. It's much better to release large, good content patches, than several small broken ones.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by silverhope

This has zero to do with the OP.. Hes not talking about bugs hes talking about delaying content

---

He did give you an answer:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Camate

Changes designed off of feedback, that also have large effects on the entire game, are ultimately implemented on a schedule decided by the Producer/Director Yoshi-P.

---

SE works on a schedule, this game isn't something they do on their free time in their basements for free. This is their job. To get the job done they go by a schedule given to them by Yoshi P. You know, the person who fixed this game and got it pass a million subs. But to the trolls in this forum the game is always failing no matter how much it has been improved.

Even I who hates, hates, HATES end game can acknowledge this. I don't even like most of the game once you hit level 50.

completely agree.
There is not enough to do until mid-december.
I really worry about population loss until then :(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Syrellaris

You people are pure gold. First you race to lvl 50 to do the end game and then you complain about not having anything to do because you raced there.

---

You're well aware that XIV is actually over 3 years old now, and that having such sparse content laden with so many grind locks like the current DL / weekly Myth cap with hardly any substantial endgame is unacceptable for an MMO, let alone by a company that's already put out 3-4 of their own inhouse games on the market, right?

They promised us this big Jesus patch known as 2.1 with the cut content and barebone expectations being added in about 1.5 months after release, and here we are nearly three months later with the usual, "Please look forward to it" mantra being tossed around with no real date given. They have to seriously reconsider the scope of future patches since that's the true major flaw with this game at the moment.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Blacksmith_Tony

You're well aware that XIV is actually over 3 years old now, and that having such sparse content laden with so many grind locks like the current DL / weekly Myth cap with hardly any substantial endgame is unacceptable for an MMO, let alone by a company that's already put out 3-4 of their own inhouse games on the market, right?

---

XIV is three years old, FFXIV ARR isn't even 3 months old yet. You do know that FFXIV was completely wiped clean of content and FFXIV ARR is only using FFXIV's game models and gear at this point. FFXIV plays nothing like FFXIV.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Blacksmith_Tony

You're well aware that XIV is actually over 3 years old now

---

No it's not. It's slightly over 2 months old. Just because 1.0 existed does not mean this is a 3 year old game. The entire time the game was down they were REDESIGNING it. This is a new game, did they use assets they already had? Of course, but developing an MMO takes YEARS (3-5). And what they have done in the short (1 year) amount of time is quite frankly, amazing.

Just to give you an example, WoW was announced in 2001 (development had already been underway for quite some time).

WoW did not launch until almost the end of 2004.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Syrellaris

You people are pure gold. First you race to lvl 50 to do the end game and then you complain about not having anything to do because you raced there. Then when others finally catch up, you complain the content you did at end game is old. Well, maybe if you would not race, you would not be complaining.

---

I'm getting extremely sick of this arguments.
Why are you people still saying this? This game is so easy to level up, you actually have to force yourself to slow down to go slower.
It's been 3 months, knock it off. People are tired of running the same silly 2 dungeons and wait 30years for a Coil group.
I haven't even bother logging in for 3 days.
But seriously, you guys really...really need to stop the whole "You rushed" Bs. It's not even valid anymore.
Also the person you quote is a Legacy. She probably had only to have level up Acranist/SMN/SCH and she's done.

Also, they need to stop trying to put crap all in one, and release some content here and there.
Just to keep people busy.

Player housing did matter to me, when they said fc only and a lotto system I went I give up. The other issue I have is duty finder burn out. By the time I got to 50 I was so sick of it I never wanted to use it again, hours in que can not join groups or even use chocobo while waiting. The people in duty finder were beyond rude, spitefull mean and just horrible. I took my time leveling doing quests and getting stuck on duty finder waits.
I have a full life and only a hour or two left over to play this a few days a week, The play style is very Japanese in nature. Group work is the most important thing. But i come from the west and i enjoy solo play with optional grouping for friends or high end raid type stuff. i have already turned off my sub due to these reasons.

Quote:

---

sure people will cheat, they always do, they are doing it now XD. BUT its a system that worked for "YEARS" in 11

---

It only crashed the economy, nothing bad. In the first NA year, too.

I find it sad that SE has to even explained how it makes content. That in and of its self goes to show just how many people are complaining about content or lag etc. I'm fine with the content side atm but the lag!?!? Why does those feel like its 2001 and I just got into mmos? I'm eager to see how ESO and Wildstar start off.

Its always easy, as the consumer, to say what's necessary and what's needed. Being over opinionated, complaining, having too much thought on what you would do and how you believe things should be ran. . . That does nothing more than muster up arguments because its sure as hell not getting anything done whether the developers read it or not.

The customer will never be satisfied no matter which way you request content to be released. No matter what ideas you have for the situation there's no end to the complaints. As someone said, once everything gets settled and content is released, it'll blow over for a certain amount of time being people begin to gripe and put their views on what's wrong, again. Its understandable to have an opinon but 90% of the people that comment here act as if they've been put in the very same position that the developers are in. As if its their job.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Camate

Hello,

We’ve been seeing comments asking why we cannot make certain changes or fixes quicker as opposed to waiting for 2.1.

When it comes to bug fixes that have been reported and replicated by the QA team as well as changes and adjustments that are requested, the development team makes these change or fixes which are then tested by QA for stability. For each change and bug fix that is made, the team confirms that the rest of the game is unaffected and that server crashes or other issues do not take place.

FFXIV is being developed by a branch-development method, where there is a group working on patch 2.1 while 2.0 is running. Critical bugs that severely affect play, which have been confirmed and replicated, are addressed in the shortest amount of time as possible. Changes designed off of feedback, that also have large effects on the entire game, are ultimately implemented on a schedule decided by the Producer/Director Yoshi-P.

Additionally, the QA team checks and ensures all fixes and changes are stable on both the Windows and PS3 versions. These checks are consolidated and performed when major updates are scheduled.

To thoroughly address each concern, we are unable to perform fixes and changes for everything immediately, and as a result some changes are addressed with major patches and updates. We appreciate your understanding in regards to this.

---

no wonder yoshi has no idea whats going on with the community their mods dont even read the posts completely

At the end of the day, everyone will make a fuss about how things are ran but its as simple as finding something else to do while you impatiently wait for new content to come out or just stop playing in general if its overly not satisfying and doesn't meet your standards of how you perceive things should be ran. Its as if you'll never be satisfied. Obviousl, haven't gotten to end-game due to certain situations I've got going on but I guess its too realistic to shut up and be patient these days or find something else to cure your boredom rather than do what we as people do best, complain or throw our own views on how thins should be ran without having any true knowledge or know how of how things are ran, how things need to be ran, and what's possible for the developers to manage while the game still isn't complete in its entirety, as is.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by xanj

no wonder yoshi has no idea whats going on with the community their mods dont even read the posts completely

---

Are you positive that the post wasn't read completely off the strength of the moderator only replying to what he felt was necessary? Or. . . Are you just so unhappy with what was the contents consisted of to make you assume that the entire post wasn't read?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mezolitik

With respect to the OP, you only have one crafting class (at level 5) and one gathering class (at level 17). You've made a thread about a lack of content when you've ignored more than half of the game's existing features.

And your character isn't wearing any pants.

---

I can't necessarily understand the logic behind this at all other than to either A; Troll or B; Complain and show how ungrateful you can be just because something isn't as you expected or as you feel it should be ran or should be in general.

A few remarks.

• The branch development model is just that, a conceptual and organisational methodology; it doesn't imply that said branches are big or small. Many people are simply asking for smaller but more frequent chunks of new content (many small branches rather than too few big ones). Which has nothing to do with them being broken —less content means less testing; bigger content updates means extensive testing due to higher risks of breaking the existing. It's a matter of choice. It's actually a general trend in the software industry to aim at smaller, more frequent updates (see: Operating Systems, Web browsers, creation suites, etc.) It's actually often considered easier to maintain quality, since you can address tuning, fixes and customers needs on a much more frequent basis, it makes a developer seem (and indeed be) more "involved".
• The WoW model of rolling out new content seems to be —unsurprisingly if the rest of the game is any indication— the one having been chosen for ARR (every 3-5 months, ~3 times a year). However, that game is old and, though it did set the norm a while ago, since then other development teams have addressed the matter of what is essentially perceived as too long wait times between updates. For instance, people have praised GW2 and STO for their frequent updates; a model that is not without bearing some resemblance with other engaging media such as series: new episodes every week, new features every months, major thresholds every quarter.
• Further considering the WoW model, even they did move from linear patches to more asymmetrical updates: (roughly) X.1 is a smaller update, X.2 a bigger one, X.3 a smaller one, and so on. They actually have 3 teams at work: one maintains the mainline, one works of the next patch, a third one on the patch after that (giving each team not 3 but 6 months to produce content, making updates more substantial). That seems to please players more than the old, linear way.
• The QA process of FF XIV is, curiously, quite different from the norm in MMORPG. Most use a public test server (PTS) so as to make sure that content is not only bug-free (as much as possible) but above all well-tuned prior to release. Many veteran MMO players will testify to the fact that there's pretty much no way to ensure tuning and debugging without the participation of thousands of beta testers, something which a company simply cannot perform internally.
• Therefore, somehow "crowd-sourcing" the testing on a PTS, using the 1% of the player base that constantly seeks for new content (usually a much hardcore subset) is a very valid way of raising QA and feedback to a whole new level. Even Blizzard, who's not the worst studio out there, regularly emphasised the invaluable contribution that PTS feedback brings to the fine-tuning of content. These live testers essentially "work" for the rest of the player base, for free (well, they actually pay for it…), and in the meantime they're happy because they get to experience new content on a much more regular basis (in exclusivity on a PTS, then for real on release).
  Not having a PTS for such a large project was many times brought up by veteran gamers as odd, not to say worrying —and indeed, way too many bugs and mistakes in tuning show up on release servers, being fixed way too late after the content was rolled out. This will not change, no in-house QA team has the means to outperform live beta testing by thousands of players (who are keen on theory crafting the hell out of new content, as well as trying to push features to their limits). Meet the power of the crowd!
  There is an argument against PTS: that it breaks the "surprise" of new content. This "spoiler argument" may seem relevant to traditionally secretive companies such as SE, but it doesn't hold much water compared to the benefits provided by PTS (see: Blizzard also being quite the secretive type with their future games and expansions), and frankly players don't care that much that new content is known before it comes. Typically, a few "surprising" features can be kept secret (not rolled on PTS, solely tested by the QA team); and new expansions, not patches, are the real deal when it comes to surprising players.

So, there you have it.
1. PTS should be used to speed up and improve QA, which is not bad but at the same time not particularly great in ARR.
2. Smaller content updates are a new trend much appreciated by players because they can "live with" their game, rather than "wait for" new content too often: it's much more engaging, and favours a much higher retention on a month-to-month basis, according to my sources —it's harder to make them come back if they're used to leaving between every patch, and WoW does suffer of that as subscribing numbers are on a general downward trend during each expansion cycle.

Just my 2 cts on the matter. I think my sig actually sums that up quite well, it actually goes true for players as well as developers.

the games only 3 months old have some patience ppl

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mosis

the games only 3 months old have some patience ppl

---

Patience doesn't increase the subscriber count.

have u seen the subscriber count.... their in no danger. XI been around for 12 yrs n WOW's been here 4 a long time as well. so like i said be patient good things come in time. i'd rather have a refined gem then a rolled up piece of trash

Retaining rate is one of the best ever in the mmo world, so yeah, just play something else while waitin for the patch.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sephirah

Why should they when apparently you won't read theirs?



I want more content updates too, but you can't just have developers flying off the handle and pushing out a new build everytime they check-in a new change, that just isn't realistic. It's much better to release large, good content patches, than several small broken ones.

---

I really fail to see how larger patches are better. Wouldn't that just make it actually tougher to locate the issue when there are problems with said patch? You know there are going to be issues. Not taking anything away from SE but MMO updates always bring issues. I feel smaller things should have been done before the omega 2.1 patch. Like an easy way to block and report RMTs for starters. I don't even report them anymore, just block and go on my way. Not spending 20+ minutes out of my 2-3 hours of playtime reporting RMTs, now that isn't realistic.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cinicus

I find it sad that SE has to even explained how it makes content. That in and of its self goes to show just how many people are complaining about content or lag etc. I'm fine with the content side atm but the lag!?!? Why does those feel like its 2001 and I just got into mmos? I'm eager to see how ESO and Wildstar start off.

---

Me too! Totally can't wait for ESO. I thought FFXIV would be my next MMO for awhile. I play on PS3, and i waited for FFXIV for almost 3 years to come to the system. I must say it's a bit disappointing with what i received. Just hope ESO doesn't turn into a disappointment as well. Hopefully their servers can work better than FFXIVs.

I can't stand the game in it's current form, me and my 3 friends came to this game expecting something different and found it to be more generic than white bread. We all decided to wait until after 50 to see if the game would get any better but, my god, it got worse and worse. I mean, people talking about doing Castrum Meridinum (don't care enough to look spelling up) 40-50 times? I mean, what the F@C4? That turd of a dungeon made wish I was dead on the first run! 40-50 times? Jesus, people must be gluttons for punishment. :(

Don't get me wrong, like most people I really wanted this game to succeed, but GD! I can't wait for this patch another 2 months. My friends and I can't wait any longer, we've all canceled after finding out the patch wont be out this month.

To anyone who defends this game: This may be the best game out there, but that don't mean shlt if everything else is terrible. "In the Country of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is King."

Have fun, I'm out! Roadhouse!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Arriverderci

Also the person you quote is a Legacy. She probably had only to have level up Acranist/SMN/SCH and she's done.

---

Based on your reaction that is pure assumption. I'm Legacy too and I had hardly anything done before ARR was released. I'm not in the minority here, those that had all classes/jobs leveled to max are. you fail to remember quite a lot of players could not even play 1.0 and most of the players who are complaining about lack of content did infact rush. yes there are exceptions but those are few and players that rushed for endgame and are now complaining did it to themselves.

Warning, wall of text incoming. I'm not going to make a "TLDR"-version of it, so please... Only read if you are interested.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Alcyon_Densetsu

A few remarks.

• The branch development model is just that, a conceptual and organisational methodology; it doesn't imply that said branches are big or small. Many people are simply asking for smaller but more frequent chunks of new content (many small branches rather than too few big ones). Which has nothing to do with them being broken —less content means less testing; bigger content updates means extensive testing due to higher risks of breaking the existing. It's a matter of choice. It's actually a general trend in the software industry to aim at smaller, more frequent updates (see: Operating Systems, Web browsers, creation suites, etc.) It's actually often considered easier to maintain quality, since you can address tuning, fixes and customers needs on a much more frequent basis, it makes a developer seem (and indeed be) more "involved".
• The WoW model of rolling out new content seems to be —unsurprisingly if the rest of the game is any indication— the one having been chosen for ARR (every 3-5 months, ~3 times a year). However, that game is old and, though it did set the norm a while ago, since then other development teams have addressed the matter of what is essentially perceived as too long wait times between updates. For instance, people have praised GW2 and STO for their frequent updates; a model that is not without bearing some resemblance with other engaging media such as series: new episodes every week, new features every months, major thresholds every quarter.
• Further considering the WoW model, even they did move from linear patches to more asymmetrical updates: (roughly) X.1 is a smaller update, X.2 a bigger one, X.3 a smaller one, and so on. They actually have 3 teams at work: one maintains the mainline, one works of the next patch, a third one on the patch after that (giving each team not 3 but 6 months to produce content, making updates more substantial). That seems to please players more than the old, linear way.
• The QA process of FF XIV is, curiously, quite different from the norm in MMORPG. Most use a public test server (PTS) so as to make sure that content is not only bug-free (as much as possible) but above all well-tuned prior to release. Many veteran MMO players will testify to the fact that there's pretty much no way to ensure tuning and debugging without the participation of thousands of beta testers, something which a company simply cannot perform internally.
• Therefore, somehow "crowd-sourcing" the testing on a PTS, using the 1% of the player base that constantly seeks for new content (usually a much hardcore subset) is a very valid way of raising QA and feedback to a whole new level. Even Blizzard, who's not the worst studio out there, regularly emphasised the invaluable contribution that PTS feedback brings to the fine-tuning of content. These live testers essentially "work" for the rest of the player base, for free (well, they actually pay for it…), and in the meantime they're happy because they get to experience new content on a much more regular basis (in exclusivity on a PTS, then for real on release).
  Not having a PTS for such a large project was many times brought up by veteran gamers as odd, not to say worrying —and indeed, way too many bugs and mistakes in tuning show up on release servers, being fixed way too late after the content was rolled out. This will not change, no in-house QA team has the means to outperform live beta testing by thousands of players (who are keen on theory crafting the hell out of new content, as well as trying to push features to their limits). Meet the power of the crowd!
  There is an argument against PTS: that it breaks the "surprise" of new content. This "spoiler argument" may seem relevant to traditionally secretive companies such as SE, but it doesn't hold much water compared to the benefits provided by PTS (see: Blizzard also being quite the secretive type with their future games and expansions), and frankly players don't care that much that new content is known before it comes. Typically, a few "surprising" features can be kept secret (not rolled on PTS, solely tested by the QA team); and new expansions, not patches, are the real deal when it comes to surprising players.

So, there you have it.
1. PTS should be used to speed up and improve QA, which is not bad but at the same time not particularly great in ARR.
2. Smaller content updates are a new trend much appreciated by players because they can "live with" their game, rather than "wait for" new content too often: it's much more engaging, and favours a much higher retention on a month-to-month basis, according to my sources —it's harder to make them come back if they're used to leaving between every patch, and WoW does suffer of that as subscribing numbers are on a general downward trend during each expansion cycle.

Just my 2 cts on the matter. I think my sig actually sums that up quite well, it actually goes true for players as well as developers.

---

Well written post Alcyon. I applaud thee. (^_^ )-b

There are always 2 sides of the same coin.

--- Development

Like Alcyon mentioned, Branch development and the size (scope/content wise) of each branch is always determined by choice, based on several factors:

• What do we want to release?
• How many releases do we intend to do each year?
• How much time does it cost to design, develop and test this feature?
• Can we fit it into the next branch without delaying it for an x amount of time?

Based on that, a schedule is being made in which each individual feature will be prioritized and scheduled accordingly.

On top of that, bugs and design flaws will be discovered by the user base, which will have to be prioritized and scheduled as well.

• Is it a critical bug? Does it require a hotfix, or can it wait for a patch?
• Is it a bug due to an unforeseen situation that is not considered to be a critical bug? Does it require to be included into a patch, or do we have to design/implement a better (more time consuming) solution and does it fit in our upcoming (content) update?
• Or is it a wish from the community and do we have time to add it into our upcoming (content) update?

Based on factors like these, either the released branch, the development branch has to be updated. If a separate x.0.1 (or x.05) patch has to be released, a new branch has to be created from the released branch. Once released, the new patch branch has to be merged with the current development branch, with the chance that the changed made to the code has broken something with the development branch.

So, statements like "Why can't SE just implement a right-click option into the game with a patch?" or "Why don't they fix this now? I can do it in a day." might have a bigger impact on the development then you might think.

--- Releasing content

I also agree with Alcyon when he said that releasing smaller, but more frequent content updates are the current "trend". Like the above, it's all a matter of choice if the development team decide to opt for a either development methods.

While releasing smaller content updates sounds great, you cannot expect it to be "grand" or will be able to keep players busy for a long time. The development team has to be divided among more smaller projects and more development branches have to be created to accommodate the size of each project. It's possible to change the development process to, for example:

Update x: Implement quality of life solutions and a handfull of new side quests/FATEs
The next month, Update y: Implement a new dungeon and a handfull of side quests/FATEs
The month after that, Update z: Implement a new larger feature (Housing, Chocobo Raising/Racing, Large Scale PvP) or a new Raid.
...
Rinse and repeat.

Even though each monthly update contains a bit of content, most content will be finished in a day or 2 by a lot of people. You cannot change that fact. Players will play the game at their own pace, one faster then the other. We would still have to wait for a new dungeon to be released every 2 months, and a larger feature every 3 months.

The big question, would that really chance the fact that people will get bored after playing the same content for a couple of weeks? Personally, i don't think it would.

Next to that, the gaming industry has seen a massive change in it's consumer base. In the past, MMO's were played by people who would invest every single minute, getting the best gear possible, grinding XP for hours on end to level up, etc. They didn't care that it would take months to reach the maximum level, or that it would take months to get that specific weapon, which would give that extra point of strength.

That era has passed and more different types of player exist in the world. The Hardcore players from the Ultima Online, Everquest, etc age are currently only a small portion of the player base that play games nowadays.

As a company, Yoshi-P has to include all the other types of players to get the most of the currently consumer markets, just to have his game survive the competition. This includes making a bigger variety of content to attract as many players as he can. Ultimately, that would have a big impact on the development of new content, since it has to be catered to a largely varied player base.

Not everyone loves End Game content like Raiding.
Not everyone loves PvP.
Not everyone loves crafting/gathering.
Not everyone loves XP grinding hours on end.

So, to keep people attracted to the game, the development team has to create content for each type of player and find new and interesting things to keep the current player base busy, while attracting new players at the same time.

Therefore, it just isn't possible to add new content for everyone in a "small" amount of time, for every one. And, on top of that, if you only implement something new for the casual player, the hardcore player will be pissed (and visa versa).

--- Public Test Realms (PTR)

A lot of people are asking for PTR servers, so that they can test the features before they are released to the public. I agree. The game will benefit a lot from releasing PTR-servers. Mostly because bugs, balance and design issues will be found earlier during the development process and can be dealt with sooner.

But, on the other side, i don't think it will speed up the development that much faster. It will more likely enhance the quality of the content then the speed in which it will be released, because the players will not only just the content based on the amount of bugs or balance issues they find, but also if the content is fun to do. Based on that, while increasing the quality of the content, the development time might also increase because of it.

So, in my personal opinion. Using PTR's will improve the quality of the game, but don't request them hoping to simply increase the speed in which content updates will be released.

---

I'm a developer myself, but above all, i'm a player like all of you. Even though i tell myself all of the above and understand why "simple things/features" can take a lot of time to develop/release, i'm also waiting for more content to play like everyone else.

The waiting game is always a hard one, especially when you are on the receiving end of it.

I can understand leaving the new dungeons to 2.1

What I can't understand is not releasing the critical changes that would greatly benefit gameplay currently such as the buff to warriors, dragoons and monks and the raise invulnerability.

This I cannot forgive. Balance changes need to be made more quickly, I cannot phantom how badly unbalanced PVP is going to be like and have SE say later: "PVP rebalancing coming in 2.2!"

This big delay in balance changes works well in Eve Online because people can just get on a different ship and use a different setup but for a game like FFXIV it's a terrible idea.

The first thing I look at a game are the classes, everything else is secondary. I expect the classes to at least work as intended. Melee is pretty broken and gimped and it will be even worse in PVP.

Sounds like to me thr PS3 version is holding the team back. You will need to drop PS3 support if you plan to keep this game alive and please the community.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Swishytail

This thread.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YlNEtWVGoA...on-popcorn.gif

---

Hahahahahahahaha! Made my day :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mekhana

What I can't understand is not releasing the critical changes that would greatly benefit gameplay currently such as the buff to warriors, dragoons and monks and the raise invulnerability.

---

It's because you can't understand that those four (taking into account they are doing a change in encounter design instead of simply number-changing on classes to fix the issue with melee) actually take far more work than you expect
Raise invulnerability and dragoon jump is a matter that is strictly tied to a base tenet of the engine, animations and mechanical effects are inheretly tied, the effects of attacks only happen during specific frames of animations. Thus to change things which depend on that, such as adding an invulnerability effect to Raise (which needs to be applied BEFORE the animation stars rather than when it ends, which is where every effect goes) and changing mobility on Jump requires changing how the basic animation system of the game works so you bet they need to drive the QA hammer hard on that. Also it's not like they can't shift encounter design with just a snap of the finger, changing enemy AI without further breaking it (look at all the issues with Twintania and enmity and vanished targets) requires a lot of effort.

The balance changes you are expecting are deeply dependant on base system changes, they HAVE to come on a big patch, sadly :/

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Skies

It's because you can't understand that those four (taking into account they are doing a change in encounter design instead of simply number-changing on classes to fix the issue with melee) actually take far more work than you expect
...

---

You assume much about how a game engine works. You are also wrong on every point. Animations, effects, textures, damage modifiers; these are all things that game engines are designed to easily implement and remove. You clearly are just white knighting with nothing to go on here, but /thumbsup for trying.

Such a bunch of impatient gamers that still dont have their lesson learned toward MMOs.

Thats pretty cute.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Appleh4x

You assume much about how a game engine works. You are also wrong on every point. Animations, effects, textures, damage modifiers; these are all things that game engines are designed to easily implement and remove. You clearly are just white knighting with nothing to go on here, but /thumbsup for trying.

---

Interesting, you are doing the same on the other side. Please, (don't) elaborate further since you seem to be the developer of "the one game engine".

I have no clue on how you can be so sure that the absolutely same paradigms are being being applied verbatim in ARR's engine. ...Are you a Squeeny dev in a mundane account?

That surely means we can direct the complaints at you, eh?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Risae

Patience doesn't increase the subscriber count.

---

Neither does releasing unfinished broken content. Fact is simple, it takes time to develop something and it takes time to make sure it works correctly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cotti

Interesting, you are doing the same on the other side. Please, (don't) elaborate further since you seem to be the developer of "the one game engine".

I have no clue on how you can be so sure that the absolutely same paradigms are being being applied verbatim in ARR's engine. ...Are you a Squeeny dev in a mundane account?

That surely means we can direct the complaints at you, eh?

---

Not doing the opposite, I've worked with several engines and being able to make changes like these is a pretty paramount necessity, especially for a game type that needs to have things added and be patched on a weekly basis (like an MMO.) If anything, it would be easier to make those changes in this game than any other type, but SE is holding out because they want 2.1 to be huge.

I think that endgame should have heavier requirements on cross-class abilities - thus requiring players to level multiple jobs.

Most of the 'hard-core hardcores' have a single job at 50 and the support classes at their min req level for that job.


On the larger issues of the game:

I think it was a big mistake to make the journey from 1-50 a practical faceroll.

When you look at it, the majority of content/dungeons/quests/crafted items/etc that was created for this game is for levels 1-49, and it is all rendered irrelevant in the blink of an eye as players rush past it to endgame.

I don't think an FFXI-style grind is an option either, but they should have split the difference so that people would have to spend time progressing and enjoy the wealth of <50 content.

This approach would buy the devs ample time for expansions as only legacy players/ultra hardcores would be able to plow through it all, while mid-cores and casuals would still have lots to do. From a developer standpoint, you have to accept that some people will get bored, it's unavoidable. But Legacy players will stick with the game long-term no matter what, they've already proven it~ Conversely, most hardcore MMO players are downright fickle, no matter what you do. Thus they tend to be unreliable as a steady source of income for MMO games. Keeping your generic hardcore MMO player as a subscribers depends largely on whatever the current MMO trends are and where they think they can show off their e-peen the most effectively.

The real danger emerges when mid-cores and casuals become bored. This happens when content is either insufficient (not a problem for ARR) or extremely difficult/frustrating (again, not a problem for this game), or too quickly/easily completed (see ARR leveling 1-50).




This is a difficult situation to rectify as players are highly resistant to any changes to content other than nerfs, and some will even complain about that...

Question: why is everyone asuming 2.1 wont be till jan. Have i missed a dev post somewhere or are you all just pulling numbers out of the air?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Maphis

Question: why is everyone asuming 2.1 wont be till jan. Have i missed a dev post somewhere or are you all just pulling numbers out of the air?

---

no idea either lol, it has already been confirmed it will be released early december.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Maphis

Question: why is everyone asuming 2.1 wont be till jan. Have i missed a dev post somewhere or are you all just pulling numbers out of the air?

---

Quote:

---

Work is well underway for the upcoming release of patch 2.1 in December!

---

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/blog/000542.html

Hope that helps.