Ask Questions for Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XXXVII! (Exploring Patch 4.0)

Is there any possibility that all raid utility that influences your damage will end up being removed from the game so that no matter what you play everything will be viable and equal?

I am currently using some of the Fuma gear from the LotA and none of that can be dyed. Can you add the ability to dye the armor that you get from 24 man raids? I bet people would revisit them just to be able to get some more glamour options. Also can you make it where we can dye the Wild Rose armor? We can dye Cloud's, Lightning's, Snow's and Zidane's armor but not that one (if you can't dye Squall's armor add that to the list too). =p

Is it possible to add audio indicators to make certain damage types feel more impactful? For example getting a Direct critical hit could get the overkill sound effect from ffx.

Sorry if this is already implemented.

Is it possible to implement the PVP style actions in normal PVE hotbars, an example would be the current way the combo actions work in PVP.
I've used this exact same method for my hotbars through changing macro's to progress to the next weapon skill in the combo, however the issue I have is if I hit a weapon skill too early the hotbar will change as written in the macro I produced but no weaponskill will go off, I'd massively appreciate if this function could be implemented.

A pro for this would reduce skill bloat on hot bars, if kept an optional function I can't see any drawbacks in this being implement.

In an e3 interview with GamerEscape, it was said that Gather/Crafting classes are reaching a "complete" state and aren't considered "sexy" to promote.

Are there ever going to be plans to provide "sexy" content for crafting/gathering such as having a dungeon in which gatherers or crafters might be extra members of the party who are essentially being escorted by war/magic players while they gather/craft special dungeon-only items that are key components for boss battle mechanics? (like imagine how cool it'd be if crafters had to build a barrier in another room to prevent adds from joining the boss room or something)

With the current glamour system only allowing us to change the appearance of individual gear pieces, this is especially frustrating if we like the look of multiple jobs gear and is only highlighted more when specific job armour is brought out in each x.0 patch. We can, for example, only glamour one specific job's AF onto a set of X of Fending gear leaving our PLD looking fabulous but our DRKs and WARs in a set of gear we probably don't like the look of.

Are there any plans in the current UI to be able to glamour ourselves on a job by job basis? If not, what is preventing this?

In a previous live letter you stated that the change of the glamour system to make glamour jobwise and not gearwise would need a lot of work, but in the end it would not impossible to find a way.
Since more and more gear and jobs are avaiable, I kinda feel sorry for the designers creating pretty outfits, while players can't glamour them as they don't want the other job to look "ugly".
Recently, I hear that a lot of people want that change as well as a glamour storing system which only requires players to have posessed a gear once.

Any updates about that?

Was the mana of a black mage intentionally designed to be limited by server ticks? The fact that I can very easilyend at exactly 0 mana or exactly 600 mana (the cost of blizzard 3 in astral fire + the cost of foul) seems to indicate great attention was paid to the exact mana costs of spells for black mage. However, many black mages, myself included, are unable to get this when we don't get a mana tick after our last umbral spell and our fire 3. If we do get this server tick, the mana costs play out very nicely and exactly.

This leads me to conclude that the cost of the last spell in umbral ice was assumed to always be covered by the mana tick during the design of black mage in 4.0, but this is clearly not always so. Is there any chance you might take this into account in a future patch?

On the PC version, I like to play with PC speakers but sometimes I need to switch to headset to communicate with players via voice chat. When I change my sound device, the in-game sound doesn't change with the PC settings. Is it possible to add a feature to change sound devices in-game?

Cant play for 3 days because of your networks problems, what do you have say about that?

Would it be possible to get a real life divining deck based of the AST cards? We'd love to pay money for such a thing.

Can we get an assortment of blindfolds for use in glamour and style? Blind swordsman/mage concepts aren't really possible with the current items available.

In dungeons, please allow a client-side checkbox so each job defaults to their AF gear on your screen.

The game is heavily lore based, and the job AF gear was replaced within hours. Plus it might reduce the ridiculous hate about bad glamours. ^_^

Any plans to add additional companions and ranks for our chocobo? I'd love to have a caster skill tree that included skills like Choco Ball and Choco Meteor. Those were some of my favorite abilities in FFT.

Thanks for you time and making such an awesome game!

With the addition of even more 2 star and 4 star Triple Triad cards, is there any plans on changing it so instead of being able to use 4 3 star cards and a 5 star. We can take the amount of stars and customize it so we could use a 4 stars if I opt to use a 2 star card instead of all 3s with a 5 star card.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vannevar

Final Fantasy 14 has always done a great job of making NPC dialogue reflect your character and their accomplishments. With that in mind, why are Raen Au Ra considered outsiders in Doma? Xaela get some special dialogue in the Azim Steppes to reflect its status as their racial homeland, and Raen naming conventions make clear reference to the cultural norms of Doma. While it is understandably difficult to guess whether a Hyur or Roegadyn character is from Othard despite the presence of those races there, it was presented as the default assumption for Raen Au Ra in their introduction, and it was disheartening to go through the reclamation of my character's homeland with every NPC treating her as an outsider. Is there any chance this was in error, and can we expect a change?

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It was particularly jarring to have the origins of the Au Ra explained to me, without the slightest acknowledgement that I am also an Au Ra and might already know about our lore.

Will there be any kinda of underwater fighting coming anytime soon?

The Locked Servers and The Players Who Quit

Will Gilgamesh and Balmung be cut straight in half or thirds to force disbursement?

*** OR ***

Will you offer at least 1-2 years of free transfers from Gilgamesh/Balmung to several servers to ensure all FC members AND their inactive friends who plan to return get back into the game?

This server problem has severely damaged our guild and it keeps getting worse every day with current players refusing to transfer and new players who won't join if they can't play with their friends. Over 4 years we've kicked out too many players for inactivity and they aren't under our FC any longer. We need a solution, or we will see guilds collapse and people cancel.

I am really enjoying the revamped PVP, however with PVP being so active, I am constantly capping out my Wolf Marks! Are there any plans to increase the cap on Wolf Marks, and/or to give us more things to spend Wolf Marks on, such as Minions, Mounts and Songs?

After the troubles with solo instances experienced during the launch of Stormblood, are there any plans to make a Solo Instance Queue to avoid or mitigate these problems in the future? I, for one, would be much happier sitting in a queue for an hour, knowing I would eventually be able to do the instance, than praying to the RNG gods for days.

Possibly related: Are there any plans to allow players to redo old solo instances? I would love to re-challenge Raubahn in Coerthas, or re-experience the Naadam in Azim Steppe.

When are we crossing over with Final Fantasy XV or Final Fantasy VII?

With the new Achievement for clearing Palace of the Dead solo entirely, the recent server issues makes it quite unreasonable to even attempt to try as a disconnect will result in losing all progress entirely. Is there a way to identify if a disconnect was because of a server issue? I understand that its difficult as players can just force a disconnect by shutting down their network or close the client manually, but recently Palace of the Dead seems like a content, which is not very attractive due to that disconnection risk.

Can we please have a word on sprint? It's glorious that it doesn't use TP now, even though it's cd got nerfed however that change made non-combat movement awful.

For example: I picked up the sightseeing log just recently. A lot of the old ARR vistas require sprint-jumps (on top of being pixel perfect sometimes, like the gridania leatherworker one...). Having to wait inbetween tries while your vista window trickles by feels awful. Please consider giving sprint no cooldown in sanctuaries or give us a toggle option.

I know there are voices shouting "it doesn't affect new zones though as they are built different" but please, there's no reason to keep frustrating issues in the starting areas as that may alienate newer players.

Would it be possible to make the "Repair All" button at the repair NPCs to actually repair ALL reparable items in inventory and armory chest. Would it also be possible to have buttons "Repair Equipped", "Repair Stored Gearsets", "Repair Armory Chest Items" and/or "Repair Inventory Items"?

PC Options

Hello --
It's no secret that FFXIV has some truly gorgeous moments, but it's pretty jarring when you're in a cutscene and there's a closeup of Zenos or Hien and the detail & texture of their armor looks really, really pixelated.
I understand if this would be too extreme, but is it within the realm of possibility that PC players could have additional options for improved textures sometime in the future?

Thank you!

Is it possible to add a "Select Another Retainer" option in the retainers menu to avoid exiting the summoning bell menu every time to go to the next retainer?

Red Mage wields a rapier but only uses it once the job has enough mana. It feels like a last minute addition to the job. Can the sword be more integrated into the jobs rotation/more melee skills?

Is error 90002 gonna be fix anytime soon? It's been happening to a lot of players.

Were the changes in skills, especially the change of cross class to role skills, made with only group players in mind?

Some cross class skills were useful for solo play that would not normally fit the "normal" role of that class. Such an example is that Thaumaturge was able to acquire Protect and Cure using cross-class skills before and is now no longer able to. While this may not be "meta" for group play, it (and other non-role skill choices) were useful for newer players soloing through quests. Is there a chance that some of the past non-role skill configuration may come back?

Last question! If / when beastmaster becomes a playable job, would you please please please consider introducing it at a time in the game's growth where solo play is real without uncapping existing dungeons? I understand it's a multiplayer game, but it would be really great to have a larger amount of solo content outside of random story missions and side quests and though I'm leaning on XI I treasured beastmaster as a solo job.

With 4.0, we now have a number of classes that feature their weapon in distinct parts:

The rapier and crystal for Red Mage;
The katana and scabbard for Samurai;
The Globe and Deck for Astrologian;
The paired knives for Ninja;
The paired caestus for Monk;
The gun and pack for Machinist;
And the bow and quiver for Bard.

What I was wondering, since all these classes have an off-hand slot that is not being used, is if there was a feasible way to use the offhand slot to alter the appearance of the offhand piece of equipment used for these classes, like how Thancred pulls out that broadsword and dagger combo back in 3.X. Being able to use asymmetric glamours like that would be really cool!

Any chance we will see a major changes happen to the content we gets every patch or it's going to be the same as the last 4years !!!.

In the letter that contained our Ala Mhigan Earrings, you said "Maybe this will help you forget about Blue Mage." Does that mean I'll never get to play my favorite class in FFXIV? Am I to be forgotten completely?

PLEASE make it so 4 Star cards are unlimited in Triple Triad.

Are there any plans to expand audio support in Stormblood? Right now players can't switch their PC audio output from headsets to speakers, for example, without quitting and re-launching the game, and we often get ugly DirectX errors and crashes if we unplug our headsets/microphones while the game is running. Robust audio support is something FFXIV could really use!

Any plans for making a patch for the endgame players only because it's been 4 years and we still have 1 content consider as an endgame content (savage) and we are getting it every 6-7 months plz make sure to support the people who plays your game

I don't have a summoner to 70 yet, but I noticed Bahamut always following their summoners and from my understanding, it looks rather difficult for them to see mechanics happening, especially if it's an extreme trial or savage raid. Can we have an option to place bahamut in a specific location like we do for regular pets or at least change bahamut's transparency a bit?

Specifically for Dark knight and Warrior, why didn't they allow for weapon changes i.e., have DRK use scythe and you can switch it to a DPS job and Warrior use dual hand axes as a DPS job? They could keep them as tanks with their designated weapons but they were/are a DPS job also.

I understand the adjustments that have to be made but what about adding cross job skillchains and magic bursts like as in FFXI? They were an integral part of the game and allowed for communication between jobs.

It's a bit early to ask, but do you plan on making the Foxy Lady fate boss part of a party instance (like a dungeon, trial, raid, or maybe a deep dungeon) similar to Odin and Proto Ultima?