February 5th Announcement, Realistic Expectations Thread

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Originally Posted by Equitable_Remedy

Given the general level of ignorance about Square Enix's finances displayed in this thread, it's interesting that so many expectations purport to be informed by Square Enix's finances.

That's the internet, I guess.

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You're the first one to bring up Square Enix's finances in this thread.

My own expectations are fairly low, not because I dislike the game, I'm here for a reason, but because it has become very clear by now that the game engine and coding is severely limited and cuts off the greater majority of potential features, QoL and reworks. I'm sure they'd love to go nuts and add something huge and groundbreaking but they literally can't.
In addition their budget seems to be another major limiting factor. We've seen a lot of cut content this expansion but far less added.

I'm looking forward to next expansion, ShB had some great story and it's a better MMO than others on the market but I can't see anything particularly surprising happening. More renamed FATE's/eureka, accessibility and simplification and the same old. Which is fine, it could be worse, but not extremely exciting.

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Originally Posted by Gemina

You might instead want to reflect on why you play the game currently. If you want a different mmo so badly, then play another mmo.

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There is very little worse than the "if you don't like it get lost and play another game" type of person. They aren't white knights because they're literally encouraging paying customers to leave. They don't provide constructive criticism or give developers an accurate picture of overall player satisfaction because their aim is to stifle any feedback. No developer will thank you for your "positivity". They want to know what players expect.

Hopes: More combat systems to engage with (maybe our own spin of Mythic + in FFXIV). Rescue class identity undo the horrible homogenization they did with healers and tanks and more old races customization options.

Reality: They will probably finish adding all visuals missing from Hrothgar and Viera, Russia Roulette introduction of new skills you might get good new skill or get the short end of it, more story stuff and thats it.

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Originally Posted by Liam_Harper

My own expectations are fairly low, not because I dislike the game, I'm here for a reason, but because it has become very clear by now that the game engine and coding is severely limited and cuts off the greater majority of potential features, QoL and reworks. I'm sure they'd love to go nuts and add something huge and groundbreaking but they literally can't.
In addition their budget seems to be another major limiting factor. We've seen a lot of cut content this expansion but far less added.

I'm looking forward to next expansion, ShB had some great story and it's a better MMO than others on the market but I can't see anything particularly surprising happening. More renamed FATE's/eureka, accessibility and simplification and the same old. Which is fine, it could be worse, but not extremely exciting.



There is very little worse than the "if you don't like it get lost and play another game" type of person. They aren't white knights because they're literally encouraging paying customers to leave. They don't provide constructive criticism or give developers an accurate picture of overall player satisfaction because their aim is to stifle any feedback. No developer will thank you for your "positivity". They want to know what players expect.

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They've been a genuine Debby-downer about everything lately, from opening up arbitrary gender locks to people being critical of the game, I guess they prefer stagnancy and things that they've been used to, rather than people wanting improvements to a game they love.

I just want another MSQ experience on the level of Shadowbringers. It really swept me away for the first time.

Things I'm expecting or hoping for on Friday:
Expansion title and release date
New job reveals
Existing job "artifact" gear designs
Expansion location (Garlemald? Sharlayan? Thavnair? The moon?)
New job actions

...that's about all I'd say. Not a particularly high bar I'm setting, so we'll see.

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Originally Posted by Liam_Harper

My own expectations are fairly low, not because I dislike the game

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Indeed. Speaking for myself, it's not a case of dislike of the game that leads me to go into it with low expectations, but quite the opposite; rather, disappointment about the factors constricting its potential blossoming. If I just outright disliked it, it's easier to just leave and offer no further comment on the matter, which is something I've done with other games where the spark of excitement just died, and I then couldn't really care less where it went from there. Like you say, more of the same old is fine but it's difficult to call it extremely exciting...

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Originally Posted by Edax

You're the first one to bring up Square Enix's finances in this thread.

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:c your artwork makes me jealous. And your house, and the fact you have decent glam and a good persona for your sam.

I don't want viera male/ hrothgar female because I know it will be botched just like the current viera & hrothgar are- I'd put all my cards to fixing those two races 1st

Graphics & engine upgrade
Give Viera & Hrothgar hats- Matoya's Hat made visible, give Viera Y'sthola's hairstyle from mog station
Long hairstyles (like Gaia's & Rynes)
Hilda's Ponytail
Updated & improved character creator
For devs to take inspiration from the best ffxiv character mods- which are literally long hairstyles/ curly hairstyles, braids, & skin textures.
Give all male characters stubble & beards & thick eyebrow options
More make-up choices -
Blue Mage roulette
Battle Amaro (when you unlock amaro, can take on a quest to get a battle amaro)
Devs to stop being so out-of-touch with housing so housing can see real progress & positive changes
Mythic+ based dungeons not related to HoH or PotD that give amazing glamours

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Originally Posted by Vickii

Oh they might announce ishgard housing at last.

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Good so all of the ugly kugane houses can disappear from the lav beds & go pollute the serene & beautiful ishgard- that's why I won't move my house from it's spot knowing the ishgard wards won't look good once everyone moves in lol

While i would like to see a graphical update - it's not needed. The game still looks great and fine. I'd rather them work on a new engine for the next FF-MMO which will most likely be action combat based. I hope.

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Originally Posted by EtherRose

I'd rather them work on a new engine for the next FF-MMO which will most likely be action combat based. I hope.

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Which would make me about as interested as I am in the newest FIFA game. I guess I'm one of those weird oldschool people that like the tab target based combat, doesn't exactly help that all of those "action combat" mmos have been absolutely terrible shovelware.

I'd rather not see FFXIV abandoned in favour of a different project. To me, it makes more sense to upgrade it bit by bit and fix some of the limitations that are currently holding it back. I'm not against a more action focused MMO and if it had stuff I enjoyed, I'd play it...but the development team are adamant that FFXIV will have staying power over the coming years. I'd like for that to be proven with more than just words.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

I'd rather not see FFXIV abandoned in favour of a different project. To me, it makes more sense to upgrade it bit by bit and fix some of the limitations that are currently holding it back. I'm not against a more action focused MMO and if it had stuff I enjoyed, I'd play it...but the development team are adamant that FFXIV will have staying power over the coming years. I'd like for that to be proven with more than just words.

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Square Enix’s ffxiv dev team keeps shoving excuses down our throats everytime we want major improvements to be made.
“It can’t be done currently”
“Server limitations”

It’s like, if you can’t improve upon your current mmo, you might as well begin another one so you don’t have these issues. FF11 still has players, just not as many as ffxiv. But let’s be realistic, we all know they won’t start a new mmo project till they’ve milked every run down aspect of this game. Which is like, the year 2040, lol. They just REALLY do not want to improve upon things that should be improved on. I know Yoshida said “feel free to have high expectations” but I don’t think his definition of high expectations are the same as ours....

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Originally Posted by Theodric

I'd rather not see FFXIV abandoned in favour of a different project. To me, it makes more sense to upgrade it bit by bit and fix some of the limitations that are currently holding it back. I'm not against a more action focused MMO and if it had stuff I enjoyed, I'd play it...but the development team are adamant that FFXIV will have staying power over the coming years. I'd like for that to be proven with more than just words.

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"upgrading it bit by bit" unfortunately has it's limits, the engine and code this game is running on is ultimately a mess and all they seem to be able to do with it is put bandaids over the cracks.

Realistic expectations?

Absolutely.

I expect I'll see the following:

Expansion Pack Announcement
New Job(s) Announcement
UI Update Announcement
Head Gear for Viera/Hrothgar Announcement
5.5 Preview Announcement
A New Dungeon(s) Announcement
A New Trial(s) Announcement
A New Raid(s) Announcement
Male Viera/Female Hrothgar Announcement (see: Expansion Pack Announcement)
Hype Train Chat*
Hype Train Forum Chat*
Myself, Jumping On That Hype Train
Lots of People Announcing the Confirmation of X, Y, and Z via In-Game Chat
Myself, Looking Forward to Seeing Lots of People Announcing the Confirmation of X, Y, and Z via In-Game Chat
Millions of Fans Gushing at the Sight of the Next Expansion
Myself, Gushing Alongside Millions of Fans, at the Sight of the Next Expansion
I Took the Day Off from Work to Watch this Announcement Showcase, but Also Because I am Getting the COVID Vaccine and it is Requested to Receive It before My Two Days Off, but For Some Reason the Nurse Said She Couldn't Do That, So It Fell to Me to Request That Day Off, and Here I Am
Butt Slider*

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*1 and *2: On Various Social Media Platforms/Boards
*3: Butt Slider, a New Exterior Housing Item that Allows You to Sit on a Slip-and-Slide and Propel Yourself Across Your Front Yard

I doubt the engine is exactly 1-1 as it was in 2013 but limitations will always persist unless they leap into a new engine which I don't expect any mmo to do anyways so I don't know why people ever expect that. Although it's a poor excuse I don't doubt the legitimacy of what they say, loads of MMOs can't develop certain systems due to limitations we never can directly see.

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Originally Posted by Kiurai

I doubt the engine is exactly 1-1 as it was in 2013 but limitations will always persist unless they leap into a new engine which I don't expect any mmo to do anyways so I don't know why people ever expect that. Although it's a poor excuse I don't doubt the legitimacy of what they say, loads of MMOs can't develop certain systems due to limitations we never can directly see.

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Nobody is expecting them to just implement new feature with the snap of a finger. Yes all engines are limited to a certain extend, this one just seems a lot more limited in what can be done and it becomes increasingly more obvious the longer the game goes on. Glamour is one of the best examples, with how many different item skins we now have in the game we're in desperate need of a system that lets us use those skins without clogging up our inventory and I have no doubt that SE would like to implement that QoL feature, the engine is apparently just not capable of handling it.

2 more days, everyone. I’m looking forward to seeing what “high expectations” means to Yoshida.

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Originally Posted by MachaYum

I’m looking forward to seeing what “high expectations” means to Yoshida.

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Glitter stickers for gpose, please look forward to it.

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Originally Posted by Yencat

Glitter stickers for gpose, please look forward to it.

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as much as i wish this wasn't the case and the ui team could spend time doing something more useful to the majority (fishing tug fix for power/precision on certain fish, magic/physical split, retainers) it probably will be.
currently they have a big project on for slo mo in gpose.

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Originally Posted by MachaYum

2 more days, everyone. I’m looking forward to seeing what “high expectations” means to Yoshida.

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Looking at the words in context with the question asked of Yoshida:

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Gamer Escape: In February you’ll be hosting the Final Fantasy XIV Showcase, and of course we’re expecting something special. Given that Fan Fest was not able to happen, should we expect something similar to that in terms of announcements? Might we see three Fan Fests worth of new information, or might we see things a bit more spread out? Additionally, how many shirts can we expect you to wear?

Naoki Yoshida: Shirts!! Come to think of it, I don’t think I wore very many T-shirts this year…

The Announcement Showcase is meant to be a platform for a large announcement, so feel free to have high expectations. Although we will be revealing a significant amount of information at the Announcement Showcase, we do have a digital Fan Festival planned in May, where we’ll have even more information to announce.

In any case, I didn’t realize my T-shirts were a topic of discussion for players. Guess I should start thinking about my wardrobe early… (laughs)

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It would seem to me that it's more referring to how many announcements we're getting as compared to what we would've gotten with three fan festivals. So, with a digital fan festival coming later, a high expectation for this week's event would likely mean a minimum number of announcements equaling to at least 1.5 fan festivals (not counting repeat announcements that they would have for the second and third fan festivals).

If it's really about the number of announcements like the context would suggest, then it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with fulfilling specific fan requests. At the same time, it would include expected announcements (new MSQ, new raid/trial/dungeon, etc.), which could still be considered large announcements (in significance for fans of the game, not just large in number) depending on the details provided.

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Originally Posted by Gameovers

:c your artwork makes me jealous. And your house, and the fact you have decent glam and a good persona for your sam.

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I try when I can.

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Originally Posted by linayar

Looking at the words in context with the question asked of Yoshida:



It would seem to me that it's more referring to how many announcements we're getting as compared to what we would've gotten with three fan festivals. So, with a digital fan festival coming later, a high expectation for this week's event would likely mean a minimum number of announcements equaling to at least 1.5 fan festivals (not counting repeat announcements that they would have for the second and third fan festivals).

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That's what I believe he's probably referring to as well, but there's some ambiguity in the phrasing. It could've been worded more clearly. Either way, I am going in with rather minimal expectations.

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Originally Posted by Edax

I try when I can.

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If that is your artwork can I steal you for a comission?

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Originally Posted by Gameovers

If that is your artwork can I steal you for a comission?

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I commissioned it from someone called ADPong, who does FFXIV commissions on DeviantArt.

would like 1.0 animations, they are amazing some of them... truely am.

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Originally Posted by Themarvin

would like 1.0 animations, they are amazing some of them... truely am.

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I would kill to have the current rogue animations on ninja. That rogue run is just so sexy and the ninja one is.. challenged.

I assume we are talking about the Show case before the live letter. I think it is something aimed at the NA/EU servers/Data centers. It would effect JP servers also but maybe less so. Why? It is at 9:30am Saturday in Japan. It is being translated into English(the live letter right after is not). It is end of day for us in the US and a bit late for Europe. Since the NA and EU had their data centers split and we had to move for friends, raid and other we had to give up something. Last, Yoshi was talking about doing this in Aug of 2019. Maybe the DF and PF will be linked between NA DCs or more. More housing would be nice but that doesn't seem to be a show case thing, more of a live letter. Anyway, that is my guess based on something big and that it seems targeted to the west.

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Originally Posted by linayar

Looking at the words in context with the question asked of Yoshida:



It would seem to me that it's more referring to how many announcements we're getting as compared to what we would've gotten with three fan festivals. So, with a digital fan festival coming later, a high expectation for this week's event would likely mean a minimum number of announcements equaling to at least 1.5 fan festivals (not counting repeat announcements that they would have for the second and third fan festivals).

If it's really about the number of announcements like the context would suggest, then it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with fulfilling specific fan requests. At the same time, it would include expected announcements (new MSQ, new raid/trial/dungeon, etc.), which could still be considered large announcements (in significance for fans of the game, not just large in number) depending on the details provided.

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Yeah, I'm not expecting him to give us the earth, moon and stars. But I am expecting some pretty big stuff. Maybe not a ton of it, but what will be announced will in my opinion be very significant.

For a minimal graphic up, it's possible even with the ps4,
with the directx12 implementation.

On the other hand a major graphic up, it won't come before 7.0 that's for sure,

or else the ps4 version will stay on dx11 with non-updated assets, and special assets for pc and ps5 but it's not their style to make that kind of change and it would be disloyal for ps4 players.

bst limit job next expansion

Despite all the criticism I give SE I do love the game, however I refuse to have high expectations for anything in the game until it's implemented. They like to be vague and hope we don't notice problems far too often. And they are kinda bad at public relations, like leaving speculation about viera being female only till the second fanfest. Also lots of "please look forward to it"s that never happen such as more egi glamours. So I'm going to watch it but I don't expect anything mind blowing. And I seriously hope beast master being teased in bozja so much is a full job and not another play it the day of patch and don't touch it again till the next one job like blue.

The last financial earnings report from Square said that FFXIV's numbers are still growing to the point that a new MMO could only cannibalize personnel, development time, and playerbase from XIV, so it be a negative value added. My guess is if we do see another online Final Fantasy project, it will be distinct from the MMO structure.

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Originally Posted by Wrestlefire769

Would not be shocked, would not be shocked if the playerbase cheers it like they did the end of the PS3 support.

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Two differences here, PS5 is still a pretty recent system, so likely it will continue to support both PS4 and PS5 similar to how they launched with Heavesnward. Also the myth of "PlayStation limitations" has been debunked by the developers themselves. While the PS3 did hold back certain options for the game, PS4 does not. In an attempt to keep the game accessible to more people, now, as explicitly stated by the developers, it's lower end PC players holding back what they can do with the game.

As for the original question:
I expect we'll get the name of the expansion and the short version of the trailer.
We might get an announcement of one job and some other kind of teaser to look forward to

I think we're operating on a reduced timeline here when it comes to announcements so we'll probably see something in between what we could normally expect in the 1st and 2nd fanfest. They're going to leave themselves a lot more to announce and hype up, but still maybe give us a little more than we'd otherwise initially get.

The "PS3 limitation" came more from the fact that it used completely different architecture compared to most PCs and consoles.

"Due to cutbacks we can no longer do 3 tiers of raids or alliance raids per expansion, please understand"

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Originally Posted by Edax

I commissioned it from someone called ADPong, who does FFXIV commissions on DeviantArt.

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For this info I grant you some jazzy music. Electric Vibes - by Down to the Bone. Listen to it while running dungeons. Miqos run to the beat and when you get into some high pitch jams in groove i nthe dungeons with you killing foes and slicing to the beat it so fits.

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Originally Posted by Hank_Hotspur

The last financial earnings report from Square said that FFXIV's numbers are still growing to the point that a new MMO could only cannibalize personnel, development time, and playerbase from XIV, so it be a negative value added. My guess is if we do see another online Final Fantasy project, it will be distinct from the MMO structure.

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Or they include ffxi reborn in your ffxiv subscription, for example.

Removing all nuke damage buttons from healers and putting all their damage into their DoT spell

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Originally Posted by Dogempire

Removing all nuke damage buttons from healers and putting all their damage into their DoT spell

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And they’ll still not push that button.