Do players still have a voice in the direction of development for FFXIV?
Do players still have a voice in the direction of development for FFXIV?
There was a point in the history of FFXIV where the game developers were actively seeking feedback from players. Public opinion polls were created to determine what content players wanted prioritized. By using this information, they were able to successfully create a game that players wanted to play. At this point the development resources are being used to create content that may or may not be what the players want. I think it is reasonable at this time to request that a re-evaluation of players' priorities be done to verify that the direction of content development matches the activities that make players want to play FFXIV. I think that the resources devoted to each type of content should be proportional to the amount of interest that players have for engaging in that type of content.
From what I have seen, it seems that players spend a majority of their time playing the available PvE content. It does not seem that the priority currently given to future PvE content development is consistent with the level of demand for new PvE content.
Looking around Eorzea, I see a great amount of interest in Crafting. Players seem to enjoy this activity, and it appears the time spent crafting is a close second to PvE. Therefore, it stands to reason that the development resources for future Crafting content would match this level of interest by the players. However, players are currently expressing a great deal of frustration at the direction crafting is taking. The development team has stated that crafting gear will NOT be important to end-game activities moving forward, and no future content is being developed to serve as end-game activities for Crafters. This does not seem to match the original direction of FFXIV, which was to have Crafting classes have an equal level of importance as the Battle classes do. The resources devoted to development of crafting content should match the level of interest in Crafting.
I appears that the level of interest in PvP content is limited. Looking around Eorzea, I personally see a limited amount of players engaging in PvP. Those players are only engaging in PvP for a limited amount of their play time. I think that the resources devoted to the development of PvP content are disproportional to the level of interest shown by the general community. This may be because the level of interest the development team has for PvP is not consistent with players. It is not clear that PvP content has, or will, draw additional players to play and subscribe to FFXIV. That siad, I do not think that PvP is unimportant to FFXIV. I do think that the amount of resource development resources that will be allocated for expanding PvP content should match the overall level of interest shown by players.
It appears that the development of Housing has required more resources than was originally intended. While players did show interest in Housing at one time, it is unclear if the amount of time and capitol that has been spent on the Housing system corresponds to the actual amount of player interest. I can sympathize with having a great idea that turns out to be more difficult to implement than was expected. It seem at this point that the resources devoted to housing have not had an overall positive impact on player enjoyment of FFXIV. The housing system should eventually be made fully operational, and this goal should be balanced with the timeline for development of content that has a greater level of overall player interest.
Moving forward, it seems a reasonable request that the development team review the available data on what activities players are engaging in most. Sharing that data may help players understand the priorities that are being given to content development.
Is it possible that, with the release of the varying types of content, it is time to once again Poll the Player Community to better understand what priorities players currently have for the direction of content development?
