FFXIV Fails.

FFXIV - Fundamental Fails

I love FFXIV, I love FFXI, I love most of the FF games and many other games totally unrelated to FF. This is not a post to criticize for the sake of it, this is a post for me to have my say, as is my right, in what I believe are some fairly fundamental flaws in the game at the time of release and even now. Despite some fantastic progress. I think a lot of the pressing issues are being ignored in favour of other things.

The thing is, there are many ingredients which make an MMO popular, and FFXI had many of those ingredients but lacked a few important ones. FFXIV should have been made in a similar mode but with the few things wrong with FFXI (like no soloing) to make an even more enjoyable system, rather than completely starting over again. Very ambitious and baffling, really, what a huge gamble, one that hasn't paid off, thus far. People know the ingredients for a popular and enjoyable MMORPG, why try and ignore many of those things and trying to do it your own way? In hindsight now, many popular MMORPG things have been added. There are a great many things which should have been in this game from the very beginning, before Alpha phase, or at least planned to be implimented by release. The fact that still now many of these things are missing is a complete mystery to me. As is Joshi-san's surprise that people were willing to see a lot of change. If you are reading this, Yoshi-san, if you can imagine how much change you think is needed, and double it, perhaps twice. That's how much change people are willing to see in order for the game to become what it has the potential to.

A remote kick/promote/demote function for Linkshells are an absolute must. I cannot believe how anti-new players the current system is. Due to max number of 128 players, it means no one wants to give a newbie a pearl in case they quit and the shell is stuck with an inactive that they cannot get rid of. This should have been in place from the very start. I'm sure it seemed like a good idea, for whatever reason, not to have this feature in the first place, but its backfired. I'm about to recreate the Church of Mog shell for the 3rd time already... and its only a social shell.

Macros need to work instantly, not slowly. They also need at least 20 lines in which to programme changes, not 10. Ideally up to 50.

If you are crafting and you hit 100% but at the same time, hit 0 Durability, you should be able to retain a random number of goods instead of having 100% of the goods being exhausted. Give people at least some reward for coming close, a random calculation of between 0 and 8 of the ingredients would suffice.

Better/faster movement... how on earth did this game not start with chocobos? I'm hoping and praying that there'll be a quest in Ishgard because right now its really sucking. There's no excuse, this was a worldwide release in a time of popular MMO, not a 1 year trial in Japan before releasing to the rest of the world in a time when MMO were still a new idea. Slow movement caused many people to quit.

Need a change of backgrounds to the windows, like in FFXI, personally I want a greyish metallic background, some might want dark green, some may way seethrough.

All quests should have "Quest music" interesting/amusing tunes, as FFXI had, during quest cutscenes. They are all little tales in their own right. Be that for a side quest or a class quest. Say a selection of 20 tunes that can be used for different parts of quests depending emotion intended. Main story missions/scenarios should have different music, too, during cutscenes, much more grand music than quest music, again like in FFXI. Not saying for crafting leves or anything like that but quests, yes.

The ability to have an LS message so that when people change their LS they can see the current topic, perhaps details of an event, or a welcome for any new members. Also the <call> ability, if someone is reading a book with their headphones on, in the pt ready for the time of action, a simple noise alerting them is what is needed.

A simple /LSmode a, /LSmode b would be handy so that you could choose to view all the chatterings from all of your LSs, or only view the chatter from the LS you have equipped.

We need homes!!! I'm hoping we will get something when the LS Companies are released and an LS can have its own Headquarters building and people can have a room in there to get mail and decorate in their own personal way.

Last and by no means least, its something we've gone over and over but nothing has been even mentioned as far as I know, but a delivery system. So you can send items to your mules or other players and as FFXI had 8 slots, an improved version on FFXI should have around 32, 20 at the very least. Current "trading" be it with other players or your own retainers is so mind-numbingly slow that it alone makes me want to turn off the game sometimes.


I know there are much more important things at hand, to most people, but for me its the little things. At least with some of the above the game would have seemed more polished. I plan on sticking with this game as Yoshi-san seems to be heading in the right direction with the flawed battle mechanics/stats. Yet the above things would improve my enjoyment of the game perhaps 25% and that's without overhauling the entire battle system. I know all of this will have been said before, but this is yet another opinion on it adding more weight because I've not had time to read everything in these forums as I work fulltime.

P.S. sorry for the length ><;

bump, i hope the devs read this thread and take it seriously. a lot of good points here that could be worked on, personally the remote LS functions should be near the top of the list, how many times have we broke the shell to remake due to inactive players clogging up the space?

Lardi.... this is awesome! keep up the good work! hopefully this will be taken into consideration.

i have said these exact same things on other posts (well most of these ideas). i seriously do not think that the devs are taking this game seriously. so many complaints have been issued on these forums and not many has been addressed. instead we get siezure-like LIGHT PARTY and crazy lil icons.

I just wish the devs and Yoshi would just stop for a minute, and look at the game. Yes new content needs to be added, and i know its coming, but there are some SERIOUS things missing out of this game that Lardinho mentioned. Our shell has been broken twice, there is no need for such stupidity in not implementing an oust from ls function to the ls master.

Why are patches taking so long? If a division gets their work done and tested, implement it. Players will see that there are improvements being on a more constant basis instead of waiting a month or two.

Ok im starting to rant now so im going to stop, in closing it is my belief that SE thought that this was Final Fantasy everyone will like it so we'll just put it out there. Guess what guys it backfired. From now on test everything you have and get feedback.

work fast and efficiently is not possible
especially since the startup of the game is disastrous because they were too fast.

let them work, they are on the right path ...

Apologies, but every good point you've made has been undone by your trollish thread title. Consider changing it.

Very well said. :)

You know that each and every one of those points has been repeatedly and constantly drudged up, right? Just sayin'....

thanks for replies

Just give me a more responsive UI, extended macro lines, a mailbox and transport that doesn't make you want to cry, and I am happy as larry.

MAILBOX DEVS, READ IT! MAILLLLLBBBOOOOOXXXXXXX!...... please :)

I hate to refer to WoW here too, but their mailbox system is faultless. I don't understand the need to limit trading and mailing either. In real life, I can stuff a post box with as many letters as I want, and I can trade items to people in which quantity I choose. Yes MMo's need various restrictions to stop RMT actions, but they are going to do it anyways, so stop restricting the players based on these silly little buggers.

Mailbox: 25-50 slots
Trade Window: 15 slots

Absolutely no reason to limit this system so drastically at all.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Poppa

i have said these exact same things on other posts (well most of these ideas). i seriously do not think that the devs are taking this game seriously. so many complaints have been issued on these forums and not many has been addressed. instead we get siezure-like LIGHT PARTY and crazy lil icons.

I just wish the devs and Yoshi would just stop for a minute, and look at the game. Yes new content needs to be added, and i know its coming, but there are some SERIOUS things missing out of this game that Lardinho mentioned. Our shell has been broken twice, there is no need for such stupidity in not implementing an oust from ls function to the ls master.

Why are patches taking so long? If a division gets their work done and tested, implement it. Players will see that there are improvements being on a more constant basis instead of waiting a month or two.

Ok im starting to rant now so im going to stop, in closing it is my belief that SE thought that this was Final Fantasy everyone will like it so we'll just put it out there. Guess what guys it backfired. From now on test everything you have and get feedback.

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The team has constantly said not to expect substantial content and improvements on a frequent basis until the new battle system has been implemented. The reason why it was just put out there, is because of Wada and financial deadlines, not because they thought everyone would be happy with what we got at launch. Besides, the new team had to seemingly start alot of systems from scratch / improve alot of the current code as well as work on optimizing the engine. Everyone is looking forward to June since there is supposed to be a really large patch, perhaps two large patches, implementing the new battle system among other things.

this game lacks lots of things .....we all agree :s

Very good points from the original poster! Hope some devs read this and pass the word on. It will do the game and it's community a lot of good in return.

Great thread OP. I have to agree on all those points too, but like others have said, change the thread title to something more constructive ;)

Shame there isnt a Game Feedback board (unless i missed it), though I suspect it would be flooded with threads of course ;)

What would be great is if Yoshi turned the points into a player survey with a multiple choice for each point ranging from "We need this ASAP" to "No need for this" to get a good scope on these sort of things.

But like others have said, i guess they are too busy (re)makingthe jobs system, and bringing in Dungeons/Raids etc....

So much to do, so little time i suppose :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lardinho

FFXIV - Fundamental Fails

I love FFXIV, I love FFXI, I love most of the FF games and many other games totally unrelated to FF. This is not a post to criticize for the sake of it, this is a post for me to have my say, as is my right, in what I believe are some fairly fundamental flaws in the game at the time of release and even now. Despite some fantastic progress. I think a lot of the pressing issues are being ignored in favour of other things.

The thing is, there are many ingredients which make an MMO popular, and FFXI had many of those ingredients but lacked a few important ones. FFXIV should have been made in a similar mode but with the few things wrong with FFXI (like no soloing) to make an even more enjoyable system, rather than completely starting over again. Very ambitious and baffling, really, what a huge gamble, one that hasn't paid off, thus far. People know the ingredients for a popular and enjoyable MMORPG, why try and ignore many of those things and trying to do it your own way? In hindsight now, many popular MMORPG things have been added. There are a great many things which should have been in this game from the very beginning, before Alpha phase, or at least planned to be implimented by release. The fact that still now many of these things are missing is a complete mystery to me. As is Joshi-san's surprise that people were willing to see a lot of change. If you are reading this, Yoshi-san, if you can imagine how much change you think is needed, and double it, perhaps twice. That's how much change people are willing to see in order for the game to become what it has the potential to.

A remote kick/promote/demote function for Linkshells are an absolute must. I cannot believe how anti-new players the current system is. Due to max number of 128 players, it means no one wants to give a newbie a pearl in case they quit and the shell is stuck with an inactive that they cannot get rid of. This should have been in place from the very start. I'm sure it seemed like a good idea, for whatever reason, not to have this feature in the first place, but its backfired. I'm about to recreate the Church of Mog shell for the 3rd time already... and its only a social shell.

Macros need to work instantly, not slowly. They also need at least 20 lines in which to programme changes, not 10. Ideally up to 50.

If you are crafting and you hit 100% but at the same time, hit 0 Durability, you should be able to retain a random number of goods instead of having 100% of the goods being exhausted. Give people at least some reward for coming close, a random calculation of between 0 and 8 of the ingredients would suffice.

Better/faster movement... how on earth did this game not start with chocobos? I'm hoping and praying that there'll be a quest in Ishgard because right now its really sucking. There's no excuse, this was a worldwide release in a time of popular MMO, not a 1 year trial in Japan before releasing to the rest of the world in a time when MMO were still a new idea. Slow movement caused many people to quit.

Need a change of backgrounds to the windows, like in FFXI, personally I want a greyish metallic background, some might want dark green, some may way seethrough.

All quests should have "Quest music" interesting/amusing tunes, as FFXI had, during quest cutscenes. They are all little tales in their own right. Be that for a side quest or a class quest. Say a selection of 20 tunes that can be used for different parts of quests depending emotion intended. Main story missions/scenarios should have different music, too, during cutscenes, much more grand music than quest music, again like in FFXI. Not saying for crafting leves or anything like that but quests, yes.

The ability to have an LS message so that when people change their LS they can see the current topic, perhaps details of an event, or a welcome for any new members. Also the <call> ability, if someone is reading a book with their headphones on, in the pt ready for the time of action, a simple noise alerting them is what is needed.

A simple /LSmode a, /LSmode b would be handy so that you could choose to view all the chatterings from all of your LSs, or only view the chatter from the LS you have equipped.

We need homes!!! I'm hoping we will get something when the LS Companies are released and an LS can have its own Headquarters building and people can have a room in there to get mail and decorate in their own personal way.

Last and by no means least, its something we've gone over and over but nothing has been even mentioned as far as I know, but a delivery system. So you can send items to your mules or other players and as FFXI had 8 slots, an improved version on FFXI should have around 32, 20 at the very least. Current "trading" be it with other players or your own retainers is so mind-numbingly slow that it alone makes me want to turn off the game sometimes.


I know there are much more important things at hand, to most people, but for me its the little things. At least with some of the above the game would have seemed more polished. I plan on sticking with this game as Yoshi-san seems to be heading in the right direction with the flawed battle mechanics/stats. Yet the above things would improve my enjoyment of the game perhaps 25% and that's without overhauling the entire battle system. I know all of this will have been said before, but this is yet another opinion on it adding more weight because I've not had time to read everything in these forums as I work fulltime.

P.S. sorry for the length ><;

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couldnt agree more

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vahzl

Just give me a more responsive UI, extended macro lines, a mailbox and transport that doesn't make you want to cry, and I am happy as larry.

MAILBOX DEVS, READ IT! MAILLLLLBBBOOOOOXXXXXXX!...... please :)

I hate to refer to WoW here too, but their mailbox system is faultless. I don't understand the need to limit trading and mailing either. In real life, I can stuff a post box with as many letters as I want, and I can trade items to people in which quantity I choose. Yes MMo's need various restrictions to stop RMT actions, but they are going to do it anyways, so stop restricting the players based on these silly little buggers.

Mailbox: 25-50 slots
Trade Window: 15 slots

Absolutely no reason to limit this system so drastically at all.

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as far as i remember they said in a post that its "difficult" to implement and they are looking for a way to do it.
I HOPE that this is a lame excuse for something since if it really is so difficult... i think nobody can repair that sinking ship.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Meridian

Apologies, but every good point you've made has been undone by your trollish thread title. Consider changing it.

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Not sure how it makes his points "undone". Can people not read? Not every phrase is meant as trolling. Infact, isn't it the case that people now look for trolling and anything even remotely trollish is slated as trolling and that person's points irrelevant?

Basically, consider learning to not be so sensitive.

I really want to believe that FFXIV is going to succeed, and I'm feverishly ranking up my character's battle classes in anticipation for the Jobs system and dungeon content, but then I think about the game as it stands now (and how it released) and I lose some optimism. Frankly the linkshell limitations in particular show a real lack of not only testing time but also foresight and design in general. There's no amount of testing really needed at all to think of about a dozen different situations the current LS restrictions could make difficult - these issues should've been caught in A&D, well before the programmers sat down and started writing code.

I mean, frankly this:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Anty

as far as i remember they said in a post that its "difficult" to implement and they are looking for a way to do it.
I HOPE that this is a lame excuse for something since if it really is so difficult... i think nobody can repair that sinking ship.

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should never happen in a professional environment. If you have coded an MMO engine in which it is difficult to implement something relatively straightforward like a mailing system, *you have coded the engine wrong*. MMOs aren't new ground here, you can't expect stuff like that to fly here in 2010-11.

The new systems have a heck of a lot to make up for. But, despite what I said above, I believe that this game will still grow into a fantastic MMO, and I'm drooling over the planned changes. Here's hoping S-E pulls through!

Aside from the fact that the OP wants to turn FFXIV into FFXI the secuel.
It's not a bad idea. I mean whats wrong with taking the best parts of FFXI and importing it into FFXIV? It's what ppl expected despite Square wanting to start anew!

Nobody expected that FFXIV to have the same amount of content that FFXI has built over 7-8 years of development. But on the same hand, it should have roughly the same amount of 2 yrs of development when the game released! Transportation, Auction House, and new more areas to explore instead of just 2 other lands outside the 3 main cities. :P

The only thing that FFXIV do better than FFXI is the tutorials. Because they are both pretty lousy. They story quests are excellent introductions. But what would be better is if the voice actors could voice the tutorial as well!

This game is SO much different than FFXI and ppl that did not play FFXI are in a world of pain! Nothing makes sense to them because they are trained from WoW! or nothing at all!

Game terminology such as Linkshells, TP, and chocobo's are foreign to them. It all needs to be introduced and not through text, but through voice!

It allows you to enjoy the game more when you don't have to do so much reading. It's a shame to miss out on the excellent animations when your eyes are focused at the bottom of the screen reading.