How to Make FFXIV RP-Friendly

~*~ How to Make FFXIV RP-Friendly ~*~

(Disclaimer: I know that there are plenty of other things that take precedence over what I'm posting here today. However, there's no reason why we can't brainstorm now. The ideas I'm posting here today are very RP and immersion-centric, so feel free to ignore this post if neither interest you.)

While the battle systems and (lack of) content problems are being addressed, I'd like to take this time to bring up a few items of interest that fall under the 'quality of life' umbrella. FFXIV in its current state is a very bare-bones game, but there are a number of things I think could be done to help reduce this feeling.

1) Variety is the spice of life, especially when it comes to clothing.

Coming from Aion, where I can have a different outfit for every day of the month if I desire, the complete and utter lack of variety in FFXIV is like a bucket of cold water. Once you strip away the mild variations, there's only around a dozen or so styles of clothing in the game, and roughly the same for armor, though I'm less familiar with the latter. Tunics/tights, the same from 1-50. Same for robes. Same for shirts/slops. We have a choice of about four different colors (which is a wtf moment in itself), and a few subtle variations. That's it. The only game I've played that had a selection this bad (worse, actually) was EQ2. D:

Amineri (Ami Trubble, Besaid), had this to say about clothing:

"I rather like the mechanism via which clothing is colored. When I first say this system, I was in awe of the possibilities, in how a tailor could use the variety of assembling individual pieces to make a wide variety of customized gear. Instead, the dyes and colors are used as a club to restrict the creation of items, instead of unlocking the creativity of the crafters.

Even with the relatively few dyes available, many many more striking combinations could be made then the few paltry color combinations that the current recipe system allows.

Just within velveteen robes, imagine being able to freely mix and match (a) the velveteen robe body color (b) the cotton under-robe color (used when creating the robe front) (c) the buffalo leather shoulder guard color. Currently there are only five velveteen robes. All of them must use uncolored buffalo leather shoulders. The choice of matching cotton under-color to velveteen color is locked. There are currently five cotton colors, four velveteen color and seven buffalo leather colors. Unlocking these restriction would allow for the full 140 combinations of clothing, just in the realm of the velveteen robes!

Just imagine a white velveteen body with buffalo leather green shoulders and the cotton green under-robe. *drool*

I don't think that offering an unlimited variety of colors via a palette is the way to go (in my personal opinion). I'd rather see either more dyes added, or give alchemists and culinarians (for artificial and natural dyes respectively) the variety to mix different ratios of dyes together to create custom dye colors. It may result in some hideous combinations, but could yield some interesting results, too! Could also add a few more items for this type of system, such as a bleach, or a color intensifier. "

I fully agree with this. Having a choice in clothing color is nice, but there is MUCH more that can be done with the system than we're currently seeing.

2) World intereaction, (Can I have it?)

We already have this, but it's minor. In random spots in the world, there are places where the little marker pops up and you can actually sit on a ledge or chair, but they're few and far between.

First, please, please, please give us some tables at the inns that we can sit around. I hopped around all three of them before I realized that even though they often have sittables somewhere nearby, the actual inns themselves apparently have anti-adventurer seating. How are we supposed to recreate the scene from the intro movie if we can't sit around a table? ^-^

Second, don't stop there. The system is already there, so let's use it. Give us ropes and ladders to climb up, cliffs to climb down, chasms to jump across. I realize that fully animating these can be time consuming, but until there's extra resources available, a simple fade to black can be used like we currently have for similar interactions. Event-triggered emotes could also be used.

Third, on the subject of emotes, give us more! Not just more in the same vein as what is currently available, but let us use them to more concretely interact with other players in the form of cooperative emotes. Hugging, kissing, handshakes, high-fives, dancing, and more. You target and select the coop emote, and if the other player hits Accept, the emote is performed. Bonus brownie points if they can be continuous such as dancing, or perhaps something similar to Perfect World's carry system.

On the subject of world interaction, Forra (Forra Descren, Besaid) gave some insightful input:

"A: the server getting upset and making people invisible when large groups are about (or when they use the seating feature) isn't very condusive to roleplay events and..
B: while we all realise the day/night cycle needs to be desynchronised so that everyone gets a go with the daylight, right now it's so fast that nobody gets to appreciate just being out during a particular time of day. Doubling the length of in-game days would be a huge step in and of itself but.. hey, for my part the closer to only-just-shy-of-realtime the better >.> Not to mention, of course, the increased passage of time makes it pretty awkward declaring 'Good evening!' as you walk into a room with the sun going down at your back.. because you just know that scene you're joining started in the morning. A week ago."

Both are very good points, and Forra has actually already made threads on each topic. You can find them here and here.

3) Character and Items Description

I realize that this one is unlikely to be implemented, but perhaps the devs will consider it. I would love to see something like LotRO's lineage and character bio system, but with more depth. Twice as much space for the description, and the ability to select other players as parents, children, siblings, or partners. Add a feature that lets you set a mood for your character, with facial expressions to match.

Taking this a step further, the ability to give a custom name and description to items we craft would be a huge blessing.

In that same vein, Amineri (Ami Trubble, Besaid) also recommended implementing something similar to LotRO's music system:

"LoTRO had a great system where anyone could play equip an instrument, and with a simplified music keyboard attached to the actual keyboard, play music which could be heard by players around them."

LotRO's music system is beautiful to watch in action (I've seen many a concert in-game); however, it would require significant effort on SE's part to implement something that huge.

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The above are my ideas (along with the wonderful additions by Forra and Ami) for making the game more immersive. What are yours?

1000% agreed with this