1.18 impressions, appreciations, criticisms, and ideas for the future

Hello,

I'm a pretty loud critic of the game and have given a good chunk of feedback in the past and the direction I think the game should head in the future. I just wanted to take some time to give you my impressions, criticisms, and suggestions for the future regarding 1.18.

Obviously 1.18 was a large undertaking by the developers. This makes it difficult to start at any location, so this will be a pretty random order.

Battle system:
I play a rank 49 archer as my main class, a 25 conjurer, and I am tinkering around with the lancer a bit, which is now rank 16 or so. I can really only give impressions based on what I see at my level range.

As an overview, I really like this rough step the developers are taking with the system, but refinements need to be made, and so many animations need to be redone as well. Most of my battle system stuff won't be too technical, because frankly I'm more interested in the smoothness of play than of individual power levels, so it won't be terribly descript in numerical values.

I feel like each class should have at least two options to use skills that don't consume TP, and all classes would greatly benefit from the addition of multiple attack bars with customizable binds. I would also recommend adjusting TP levels on skills so there are more options to choose from, because this would help players eliminate awkward gaps in the time between auto attack, their default actions, and their tp moves.

Archer:

Auto attack implementation is awkward with the archer class. Fighting in melee range isn't really the highlight of an archer, and I would like to see an auto attack based on shooting an arrow implemented. The animation for Roegdayn auto attack is horrendous.

Archers function okay with the cooldown changes, but I often find an awkward gap of around 1-1.5 seconds during my play. These gaps are taking a long time to get used to, but they are less apparent in the dungeon setting because of the length of the battles. I am sure there are issues with players being able to choose whatever skills they like and how they all interact together, so maybe this is something I can tolerate, but I do think it can be made tighter in play.

Multishot:
Multishot functions fine, and it still keeps a lot of its basic functionality for solo play.

Bloodletter animation:
The new bloodletter animation is pretty, but it's weird to me that it isn't focused on a red color, and also strange that blood has nothing to do with the animation. While it looks powerful, and nice, it still suffers from the "abstract blob" problem that many animations do in the game. While many people are upset with the elemental attacks for looking like abstract blobs, at least they give meaningful information to what the skill does and is named for. Bloodletter fails to do that.
http://www.thekots.com/Platinumstorm...loodletter.png

Conjurer:
It constantly looks like conjurers are becoming white mages, and I really dislike how this interacts with the game lore, conjurer weapons, and conjurer skills. I know this is a hard place, but it's much easier to erase "Thaumaturges are masters of destructive magics", than all of the lore and quests intertwined with Gridania and the elements.

Focusing on battle I find the Conjurer to play tighter than the archer. This is because the conjurer has spirit dart, elemental dart, and core moves that don't take TP. A major complaint about the conjurer right now is that stoneskin is the most mana efficient form of healing.
From an aesthetics perspective, conjurers need animation revamps on essentially all of their skills except for radiance. They all look like abstract blobs, and that is saddening. Protect and shell would appreciate revamped animations as well. It would also be great to define whether white magic or black magic is being cast through animation, and if you're really aggressive, the elemental type, through animations that effect the caster.

Lancer:
I don't have a terribly high level lancer [16], but he constantly misses and is TP starved. When I heal, I use up all of the mana so quickly that I end up having lengthy sitting periods after just a few mobs. I have lengthy periods where my lancer is simply doing nothing, and he doesn't feel very fun.

I've found an interesting way to generate TP is by equipping javelins. It's not great damage, but it lets me do another action that does damage, and most importantly, generates TP.
I would suggest making a three use ability per mob engagement, allowing lancers to throw them or use them three times per fight. It makes sense that you could retrieve your javelin when you're in melee range after a fight, so the cost could be given back to them. It would be a nice way to give the class some flavor. Carrying around 99 javelins seems difficult. :)

Animations for lancers are some of the worst in the game, and they desperately need love. I have heard some of them were revamped, with the cherry blossom one being the most noticable. I can tell you that leg sweep doesn't look like a leg sweep in the slightest.

Mana cost increases:
Curing feels like it costs too much mana. I know you don't want endless mana pools, but two casts of cure drains my lancer. I'm not sure how many cures I can do on my archer, but it's not many.

Guild Leve changes:
I've only done two sets of combat guild leves, and I'm basically hooked to Gridania now based on my classes. I'd like to cover criticisms of the changes first.

Criticisms on leve system:

Disconnects:
DCing on a guild leve is still a huge problem in the game, even though there isn't anything to exploit from a guild leve anymore. This is probably one of the highest priority refinements that needs to happen for the game. If you crash you lose everything, and it ends up feeling like a massive waste of time, especially considering the only worthwhile SP from leves is from the reward at the end. The system needs to be modified so that if you DC, or if your computer crashes, either you can start your levequest over, or the timer keeps moving.

Transportation time:
My archer needs to do leves for guild marks. I have to walk him from Gridania to Treespeak, do my leves which take less time in total than it does to walk there, and then I have to walk all the way to Camp Nine Ivies. This is for my Archer. If you add in my other battle classes, then I need to walk to Camp Tranquil. I spend more time walking through the zones than I do engaged in content, and this is a source of aggrivation. Hopefully, based on our feedback, hints from the development team, and the story lore, redesigned maps are on the way that will make this issue temporary, but right now it's an infuriating point.

It's disappointing that alternative transportation methods were not available for this patch, as it would have made the community more receptive to the patch launch.

Individual leve mob SP gain too low:
While many players have complained about the nerf to SP, it was in the making, and needed to happen. It's obvious this is a transitional step, it's just going to be a rough one to get through. The worst thing about this lowered SP from leve mobs is they tend to give out less exp than the mobs directly in the vicinity. Yes, they are a bit weaker, but they're also special mobs and I think a bonus that is higher than a regular mob for SP gain would be appropriate. The perception of it is just awful, however, even when you take into consideration that the bonus gives you more per mob than just killing mobs.

Individual complaint:
I feel permanently connected to Gridania based on my class choices right now, and at the same time this is a good thing because if I wasn't, I would never be able to complete my leves because of how much walking is involved.

Positives:
The localization of leves made the game world more alive. This was a very nice change.
I don't want to beat my Final Fantasy box doing leves because I'm not running all over so far with my head cut off; but I haven't done any Necrologos quests yet, so this may change.

Fieldcraft leves:
These are finally worth doing, but the logging point ones could use a bonus to completing each tree.

Dungeons:
Obviously you guys are stretched thin for these patches, so I didn't expect the world with the dungeons. I'm pleased that each dungeon had its own unique flavor.

Criticisms:

Transportation:
There is an inordinate length of time that it takes due to a lack of transportation options in the game to get to anywhere. Even when I blew tons of anima, it took me a long time to get from place to place just to get into the dungeon.

Dungeon Disconnects:
On my run through Darkhold I had two players disconnect. This killed the instance run, and is not a good system, and this MUST be fixed for the future.

North American latency?:
The All-seeing eye would stop, begin his casting animation, and then move a bit mid-animation adjusting the AOE area. This resulted in players who had already adjusted by moving getting hit by the cloud anyhow. Why don't we have localized servers?

Toto-rak visually disorienting:
Because of the lack of assets used in each dungeon, players continually run by familiar set pieces in different locations. Players need reference points to understand where they are in reference to other areas, and this just doesn't occur in Toto-rak.

Darkhold visually stale:
There are plenty of features that can go in caves, but it seems like Darkhold doesn't even explore them for the most part. There are a couple of ruins here and there, but why?

Darkhold is supposed to be a bastion of the Ishgards against dragons, but how does that tie into the dungeon design? It looks more like ancient ruins than a bastion being constructed by the Ishgardians. Where are the weapons, the defensive fortifications; the presence of the miners? The lore doesn't properly tie in with the dungeon, and that's a major flaw in its design. I know it was used with previously constucted assets, but for the future make sure it matches up!

Appreciations:
While the intros aren't particularly amazing, the text telling you where you are and the cinematics themselves could be of great fun and utilization in the future. This was a very nice step.

When I ran Darkhold I had fun [Toto I had members who just went into their high rank class]. I don't ever know when I've had fun in Final Fantasy XIV before this.

The teleport area animations are beautiful; one of the best looking things in the game.
http://www.thekots.com/Platinumstorm...emechanism.png
http://www.thekots.com/Platinumstorm...eleportout.png

Toto-rak has Flan.
http://www.thekots.com/Platinumstorm/ff14/flan.png
http://www.thekots.com/Platinumstorm/ff14/moreflan.png
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Each dungeon also had their own unique mechanisms. This was a nice touch.
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The music system worked wonderfully in the dungeons, and was definitely a highlight of it.

Grand Companies:

I know these are really bare-boned right now, but they deserve analysis, but it will be more negative than positive.

Confusion:
Why are the city-state banners the exact same as the Grand Company banners? This is really confusing to me, especially if the Grand Companies haven't been around in an extremely long time. Speaking of the banners, holy cow overkill. I hope many of these are just temporary.

Criticisms:
I'm really disappointed that not only are the Grand Company halls in the Market Wards, but they also look identical. I realize you're strapped for time on this patch, but there is already a ton of traffic to the market ward area. Why weren't other areas of the town utilized, and why is it instanced?
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It isn't clear that you're going to be able to join all three right off the bat. The lodestone lore was contradictary with the patch notes, and this added to the confusion. I knew many people who were hesitant to join one because they thought they could only be in one right now.
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Grand Companies do not have representatives in the other states. This is a poor design choice because if you are a character in Gridania who is doing the Ul'dahn company quest for marks it means that once you find a group you have to leave your leve spot, go back to Ul'dah, pick up your quest, teleport to the area where the pre-req person is, walk to him/her, then return to the location where you entered, then walk to the dungeon. That is a huge pain in the behind, and it's not like the companies hate each other.
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The rewards of the Grand Companies don't make any sense. Are bows available to recruits in Ul'dah because there is a shortage of bows in Gridania, where the carpenters who make the bows live, Or is it because there aren't enough archer recruits in Ul'dah? Why doesn't Gridania have any bows? What happens in the future with the rewards? Are players who have multiple classes going to be pigeon-holed into only being able to have one of their classes rewarded by the faction to the fullest extent?
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I understand that the first quests of the companies needed to be roughly the same, and I'm fine with that, but the second quests were also very very similar, and it probaby didn't need to be that way. Again, I'll cut some slack because of how widespread this patch was.
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I still don't feel that I've received enough information to know who I would want to join. This is because characters haven't been sufficiently developed within their new storyline roles, and because the way rewards will be handed out in the future is very confusing.

Appreciation:
Each company has its own music, hurray.
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I love the "joining text". I don't know why, but it's awesome.
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Bringing back the "main characters" was a really smart thing to do, and it was something I suggested in the patch. Hopefully they develop into more meaningful roles in the near future.

World changes:
These will be really random

Appreciation:
New music in zones. The new music was needed SO much in the Shroud. This music is much more tolerable, and I appreciate that immensely. The old music is still in the farther away areas, and is so grating that it should be completely removed from the game.
I think more music diversity will be needed in the future for each zone.

Appreciation:
Performance improvements in the Shroud, maybe Thanalan. I have had significant increases in Gridania during this patch. I know part of it is a more stable rain schedule, but other changes might have been made also. This is great.

Criticism:
La Noscea still runs choppy compared to the other areas.

Appreciation:
The increased foliage size in La Noscea and the Shroud [especially] were good changes. The Shroud feels much less like a rock garden than it used to, and it looks better with the increased foliage size.

Criticism:
Thanalan foliage and trees look ridiculous. This picture should sum it up.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18930059/toolarge.png
The root system on the cactus is bigger than my Hellsguard. The cactus size looks weird. The lime-green bush with the priklies look very bad, and the ground cactus with the three flowers on top looks incredibly awkward. The "trunk trees" look awkwardly sized to me now because of the changes to everything else, even though I'm not even sure those were changed. The other flowering ground cactus also looks gigantic now, and everything just seems offscaled there given its climate. I'm not even 100% positive the foliage sizes were changed in Thanalan, but something just looks off to me when I look at it now, and I consider it the most visually appealing zone.
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Outposts and mob camps:
I can't really comment on either, but the mob camps don't really look like they have content attatched to them. I haven't done anyting related to outposts yet, but they look nice.
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Appreciation and Criticisms:

Garlean invasion:
I was able to participate in an invasion near Camp Tranquil. For whatever reason, the Garleans were approaching from the north, headed south. I'm not sure this makes any sense, but it was like the Garleans were invading away from Gridania, and that didn't make any sense.

The Garlean invasion is an important part of the story, since it actually helps establish them as a presence in the game. I am confused as to why most of them look like scrubs when they construct the most amazing things in the Eorzean world; why don't they do that for their infantry?. At least the Centurion looks cool. I'm honestly not even sure how any of the states are supposed to compete with them.
http://www.thekots.com/Platinumstorm...lcenturion.png

The screamer at the camp was there even after the group was defeated, but there were no invasions anywhere in the area. I guess she was confused.

A huge negative for me was that I origianlly started the invasion on my low level lancer. The mobs are rank 25, but they gave no EXP or SP, and we would have needed a large amount of low level players to drive them back, which doesn't really happen in the game.

The solution for this is to have two high level players eat through the army, but this takes away the fun from the intended rank, of around 25. It's sort of a bad design flaw, but I do love dynamic content like this.

Why don't the Companies or states have ranks out to defend the areas?
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Mob distribution:
The mob distribution seems much more enjoyable to me, but there are still areas where the mobs don't appear for long stretches. It's just kind of weird, but an improvement.
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Problems with item storage and leve localization:
I started in Ul'dah, my retainers are in Ul'dah, they're maxed out on storage, and I don't want to summon them to Gridania because if I do I will lose my spot in the market wards, and my ability to sell items. My character is attatched in almost every way Archer/Conj/Lancer/Bot/Carp with the exception of Alchemy to Gridania. I can't swap gear easily, and I can't really put anything away for storage. This localization of leves requires the addition of banks.
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Dark Matter is a terrible name for repairing materials. Why isn't it just called Repairing Materials? This just makes no sense in an English translation, and I'd love to know more about it, or just switch it to something simple.
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SP on quests and rewards:
This was a very good way to make these easier to stomach doing other than from a lore perspective.
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Future thoughts:
These are just things I would do in addition to what your'e already doing. I know you already have many plans set in motion, and there is a lot on the table.
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[SIZE="5"]Please for the love of sanity add these options:[/SIZE]
Hide name of own character [this drives me so nuts, please do this]. Your own character name takes up so much space, and no one needs to be able to know who their character is on screen.

Hide names of other players
Hide names of monsters
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Retainer changes:
Increase the number of slots for selling items on retainers. Allow players to place buy orders of items they don't have in their inventory. Make leasing stalls work on a deposit money basis, and add more variety to the display for the stalls.
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The transportation addition is going to be a major ease on the game that will make stomaching the changes in this patch much easier.
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Five Hangs and similar areas:
This probably isn't terribly new, but Five Hangs is a place that could have the mob levels changed to give higher level players an area to level up in without forcing them to the outskirts of the map instead of having ranked 90+ mobs. I am sure modifications could be made in other areas too.
Help players understand the city-states. The information about them is so scattered, and it would be great to have more information about them; develop their leadership, etc.
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Mission quests:
There are so many mission questlines that advance the story in miniscule or boring ways. These have to be improved on to really get new players excited about the game.
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More retainers!
We really need more retainers so we can sell in other states, and it will encourage a healthier economy in all the states. Charging money for retainers in the future is a really lame way of doing this.
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Give battle skills interesting mechanics and meaingful animations. Sometimes it just feels like you're substituting one more for another because you can. It would great to have more mechanics tied to the moves. Animations will help combat feel more exciting and give better information to the players.
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Continue developing story characters. It's a Final Fantasy game - it needs story and stories need characters.
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Add a "living feeling" to the cities. So much of the cities feel dead, and its frustrating. NPCs that walk around from area to area would really help with that; carrying things or peddling goods. Maybe there are children that are around and playing, rather than just standing there like zombies.
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Improve the boat ride! Make this exciting, actually make textures that work for it, and PLEASE let us not have to teleport into boats and airships.
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Replace Parlay with Tetra Master, and add a multiplayer Tetra Master. This would be terrific.
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Investigate payment options that players want.
While this is still far off in the distant future [maybe June of next year?] the options for paying for FFXIV seem fishy, and they even charge you for having inactive accounts that aren't cancelled in writing.
No one was upset that you were doing the billing, they were upset because you could buy a subscription on the 31st of the month, and get charged for a month, and then get charged on the 1st [yes I know they were closed at the end of the month] for another month. It wasn't about Square handling the payments! The system now is confusing, obtrusive, and offputting. Click and Buy? It sounds like a gas station that says "Stop and Rob". How about Paypal and Visa direct to you?
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Keep working on totally revamping the world!
Yes I know this is hard and scary. :( It's so important though. The Black Shroud, while improved a bit thanks to the changes in this patch, will always be a mess of repetitive areas and poor zone design unless huge drastic changes happen. The cities would also love some efficiency in Limsa and Gridania.
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Summoner please, k thx
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I don't want the archer to be a thief.. please... please don't make me be a thief. How about Muskateer?
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Conjurers should be Black Mages!!!!
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Please give each job their own area in a noninstanced portion of the cities. Make them have unique assets in them and make sure the areas are animated!
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Housing, and the ability to sell items from your house that players can even use the retainer search function for!
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Overall:
I am really pleased with how this patch turned out with its entirely vast breadth of changes. I know it's really rough, and not even close to perfect, but I can see a lot of the steps towards the new systems, and that makes being in this limbo zone kind of exciting.
I can't honestly give the patch a score, or a grade, or something like that, because it's such a transitional patch between the old and new, but I have faith that in the future the development team will make this a good game. Thanks for working on it.

nice review
i hope thier read your points, i agree with you
now uses more anima because you need move more....
teleport is good, the bad is animas regeneration why no recover for each 4 hours 4 animas????
now 4 hours = 1

I'm wondering if an additional way of obtaining guild marks should be implemented so that players do not have to do leves? Even though players don't need to do leves to level, they still have to do many leves in order to obtain the necessary amount of marks for proficiency, and the skills/traits associated with the guilds.