Nice Effort but too many new things at once

SE you've tried to do too much, too fast and all in one new product (FFXIV). You've tried to reinvent too many wheels in this product. You have core systems in FFXI that have proven themselves already. I won't get very specific because I'm sure the team will know exactly what I'm talking about. It's nice to make advancements and develop something new and different but I think to try and do everything different all at one time is a bit risky. That's proven obvious in FFXIV as the game has flopped in it's beginnings and struggles to regain quality and popularity to this very day. If you haven't noticed, the new dev team is finding itself changing the game to look more like it's past product already. There is nothing wrong with that, but they should have done that up front rather than 6 months after release.

Some systems that SE developed in XI should be looked at as SE trademarks that make their MMOs what they are. Things like the party search function, the chat window interface, the mail delivery system, etc.. Those are only a few of the many features that, if they had been incorporated into FFXIV since day one, could have made a huge difference. Obviously even the battle system in XI was better than what they have now.

If you want to develop new and better tools and functions for your MMO games, do it in smaller steps and find out if they will be successful first.

Anyway, I truly want to see FFXIV succseed and hope that it happens sooner than later. I'm now medically retired and devote much of my time to gaming and there fore would do anything possible to contribute to that end.

Under the bridgeeeee....

I do believe this is the first time I've heard anyone suggest that FFXI's chat window interface was better than what is in FFXIV.

And to say FFXI's battle system was better than what we have now is purely subjective. I completely disagree with that notion.

But the idea on the whole I agree with.

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If you want to develop new and better tools and functions for your MMO games, do it in smaller steps and find out if they will be successful first.

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Sounds nice, but impractical when you are designing a new product. The design decisions made on conception usually sticks to the end because the code becomes increasingly hard to change as time goes by. Just look at the WoW clones out there - Small steps indeed...

Though commercially unsuccessful, I applaud SE's willingness and attempt to break the mold with FFXIV. You won't find many companies out there willing to take such risks and make such sweeping changes across all aspects of a game.

I completely disagree with your point that these updates should have been "up front, not 6 months after release."

The entire reason it took 6 months for anything to show up is because Tanaka was heading the entire thing. He's the reason the game was released in the state that it was.

You want to know what he added between Beta and Yoshi-P's ascension to the throne?:

- Hardware Cursor
- Treasure chests during leves

That's LAUGHABLE. Clearly he was inept at directing and producing a major product.

Square Enix made the right move by putting Yoshi-P in charge. Yoshi-P has achieved:

- Building communication with his playerbase
- Adding forums
- Adding foundational tools to FFXIV that Tanaka left out

I don't mean to disagree in that perhaps 1.18 is "too much at one time", but people were expecting a miracle patch and by golly Yoshi-P sure as heck laid out the foundation for making this game fun rather than a dumb grind-fest.

I also get the feeling that SE wants this game patched up by the one-year-birthday mark and will possibly target a re-release in March since that's primetime for gaming, but that's just speculation.

1.18 was NOT too much, how the heck was it too much? Please don't slow down the progression on fixing this game for the sake of slow learners -.- Everyone will catch on sooner or later, just keep doing what you have to do to make this game a hit instead of a miss.

Here's to hoping that 1.19 brings twice as many changes as 1.18

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Originally Posted by Chain

1.18 was NOT too much, how the heck was it too much? Please don't slow down the progression on fixing this game for the sake of slow learners -.- Everyone will catch on sooner or later, just keep doing what you have to do to make this game a hit instead of a miss.

Here's to hoping that 1.19 brings twice as many changes as 1.18

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Did you even read the OP, or just reply after reading the thread title?... lol

I have to agree with you, Uzziah. SE tried to reinvent the wheel with every single aspect of the game when they should have stuck with what's been proven to work for basic functions.

It's good to invent and try new things, in fact it's pretty much a requirement for any new MMO these days. Too much of the same and people will dismiss it as "just another <insert game here>." But SE took it too far and decided to do everything from scratch. This, combined with a premature release, is what I think is to blame for FFXIV's current condition. I am however confident that SE can turn things around, 1.18 was certainly a step in the right direction.

It was a huge mistake and everyone who played in the closed beta was daunting over release. Despite this fact, "white knight" players all reaped in joy knowing it was going to magically be fixed upon release and flamed those who complained about the many faults of the game.

Then again? FFXIV was created by a different team than FFXI wasn't it? Didn't a lot of FFXI's team went over to FFXIV after getting rid of the original producer.