New Letter from the Producer, XII

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/14828-Letter-from-the-Producer-XII-%2827-06-2011%29?p=202511#post202511

!!! /drool :L

but still no confirmed date about path :(

So now leves are going to take forever to complete in a party setting. Oddly enough he mentioned making things more casual...and yet...

I guess solo players will be happy.

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Originally Posted by darktalker

but still no confirmed date about path :(

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The patch will either be here next week or the week after next.

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Originally Posted by Eldaena

So now leves are going to take forever to complete in a party setting. Oddly enough he mentioned making things more casual...and yet...

I guess solo players will be happy.

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Well, he said that leves are going to be the defacto content for solo players and casuals -- you know, the people who need that kind of structure in their leveling process.

Hopefully after they redo leves, they redo behests, add more dungeons, and add elite/party mob only areas for people who want to group.

This patch will have some drastic changes. wow is all I can say for the moment, let me gather my thoughts lol

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Originally Posted by Sonic_the_Hedgehog

The patch will either be here next week or the week after next.

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How can you say that? How the hell do you know? I really wouldn't be so sure. If it was coming that soon they would have said so.

while i like the information this letter offered, would of loved it even more if we heard about jobs. Since it seems like auto attack is in 1.18 along with dungeons and guild leve. 1.19 focuses on DoL and DoH but still no word on when jobs will come out.

It was a good read, and I actually feel much more optimistic about the game now. March on Dev Team! We believe in you!

As for sidequests, he mentioned that NPC interactions will be required. I hope that they will make it into simple cutscenes when NPCs are talking, it will go a long way in making players feel more involved.

I'm looking forward to see how the redo the leave system. they used the word repeatedly in the later which makes me think that the reset timer might be done away with.

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Originally Posted by Akira_Tenshi

How can you say that? How the hell do you know? I really wouldn't be so sure. If it was coming that soon they would have said so.

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Calm down, I don't know for sure, but that's a reasonable time table. Yoshi-P said the patch was delayed for two weeks and if the patch was originally supposed to come in mid-June or late-June, then that means the patch would come either next week or the week after.

So, if I understand correctly, what we can expect in 1.18 is a reduction in SP from leve linking so that our #1 means of ranking up in the game is potentially severely lessened? Didn't they just state somewhere they wanted to keep leveling the same difficulty as it is now...? Unless there's a replacement in the patch, how can this be good for the short-term?

the devs already confirmed that they are looking into putting exp chains (like FFXI) back into the game. My outlook is that leves are now optimized for the solo casual player and they will be introducing "special leves" + optimized grind areas (much like Tam-Tara/Treespeak Efts and Boulder Downs/Ever Lakes Raptors) for parties to grind in + Frontier Hubs for quest grinding.

Good things are coming.

* Lose sp from linking .
* Gain sp from completing leves.
If you want to blame someone than blame the people who fail their leves.
( 4~6 People linking dune only to fail it before the last mob.)

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Originally Posted by Sonic_the_Hedgehog

Calm down, I don't know for sure, but that's a reasonable time table. Yoshi-P said the patch was delayed for two weeks and if the patch was originally supposed to come in mid-June or late-June, then that means the patch would come either next week or the week after.

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This is the only thing that worries me, actually. Unless they already do something about monster distribution, revamp the party search and other stuff that helps grinding parties in 1.18, we will have a bit of problem leveling between 1.18-1.19. That's assuming 1.19 comes with said fixes.

All in all, as someone who can't play that much during the week, guildleves as solo content may actually work pretty well.

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Originally Posted by Greed

* Lose sp from linking .
* Gain sp from completing leves.
If you want to blame someone than blame the people who fail their leves.
( 4~6 People linking dune only to fail it before the last mob.)

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This has become very standard behavior among the entire playerbase, so it's downright absurd to dismiss it as inappropriate play-style. I also can't possibly imagine the "gain in SP for completeing leves solo" will make up for the loss of getting through two sets of a party of 8's BW leves, or come anywhere close. I'll reserve any further negative assumption until I see how it actually plays out, but as the next patch being only the beginning of the changes, I'm not liking the sounds of it alone.

After reading this letter, I'm a little more optimistic about the game. Reasonably, though, because you can never say it's in the bag unless it really is. Yoshida seemed pleased though, and that makes me think that all the pieces are finally coming together.

1.18, I believe in you! Don't make me regret it...

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Originally Posted by Akira_Tenshi

How can you say that? How the hell do you know? I really wouldn't be so sure. If it was coming that soon they would have said so.

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Rage much?

Well I guess if they screw up the SP from failing leves theres still raptors and sundrakes.

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Originally Posted by Victor

This has become very standard behavior among the entire playerbase, so it's downright absurd to dismiss it as inappropriate play-style. I also can't possibly imagine the "gain in SP for completeing leves solo" will make up for the loss of getting through two sets of a party of 8's BW leves, or come anywhere close. I'll reserve any further negative assumption until I see how it actually plays out, but as the next patch being only the beginning of the changes, I'm not liking the sounds of it alone.

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They said in a recent Dev post that leve-failing is not "inappropriate play style":

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While the current situation where players intentionally fail leves is not against the rules of the current game design, it obviously doesn't foster a healthy game environment. In our future plans for Guildleves, we don't plan on adding a penalty for failing, but instead plan to include a bonus for completion.

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The reason they are changing it is more fundamental. It was flawed and boring to begin with. Putting it on a lower rung of the ladder is [size=7]A GREAT THING[/size] so they can give us real ways to XP that aren't so boring and monotonous.

I am beyond happy that the fail-leve shenanigans is being addressed. BEYOND HAPPY.

Then how about you quote the person who posted treating leve-failing as otherwise? >_>

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Originally Posted by Victor

Then how about you quote the person who posted treating leve-failing as otherwise? >_>

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not even sure you understand your own question or it is even correct English, so I'll ignore it.

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Originally Posted by Victor

This has become very standard behavior among the entire playerbase, so it's downright absurd to dismiss it as inappropriate play-style. I also can't possibly imagine the "gain in SP for completeing leves solo" will make up for the loss of getting through two sets of a party of 8's BW leves, or come anywhere close. I'll reserve any further negative assumption until I see how it actually plays out, but as the next patch being only the beginning of the changes, I'm not liking the sounds of it alone.

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Glad I'm not alone in the way that I felt after reading this letter :(

OMG, this is exciting!!!

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When FINAL FANTASY XIV was launched last September, it was stated via official channels that guildleves will form the heart of the game. Today, I’d like to officially retract that statement.

Guildleves will no longer be central to FINAL FANTASY XIV.

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* Leves will now be considered solo content.
* In light of guildleves’ repositioning as solo-oriented content, leve link bonuses will be reduced (no more fail exploit)
* Side-quests will now yield SP!!! OMG, quest-based leveling?!? Finally, story-driven content!!! :D

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We still have some ways to go, but FINAL FANTASY XIV will gradually shift from being a grind-centric game to one that offers enjoyment for all playing styles and circumstances with its ever-expanding variety of content.

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This. Changes. Everything.

I think I may grow to love this game again.

Thank you, Yoshi-P! <3

(They really were listening!!!)

Glad they are finally turning leves back to the quick casual content they were designed to be. Now let's hope that by doing that they have something more interesting for parties to exp on.

So he making this game Casual ok i can deal with that. I just hope there more fun things to do as a party. If he make this to casual more people would just solo then party because he just mess everything up and no reason to party beside dungeons.

anyways i guess i have to move my butt and get 50 before they fix the leve and can't get 1.1k leve linking :( maybe i should have not reroll oh well i like my elvaan now.

can't wait for next week letter.

Why doesn't he realize that having to go back to the leve counter is a massive deterrent for casual players?

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Originally Posted by Zenaku

So he making this game Casual ok i can deal with that. I just hope there more fun things to do as a party. If he make this to casual more people would just solo then party because he just mess everything up and no reason to party beside dungeons.

anyways i guess i have to move my butt and get 50 before they fix the leve and can't get 1.1k leve linking :( maybe i should have not reroll oh well i like my elvaan now.

can't wait for next week letter.

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he is not making the game more casual he is optimizing it for casual players. there will still be the party based leveling through grind camps + xp chains + quests. More options = better game. The fact they are also going with a more sideways content progression vs. upwards leveling progression = AMAZING.

In theory, I think it's awesome that guildleves will now become solo-oriented, but I seriously hope they don't make the changes in 1.18 without giving parties new ways to SP in the same patch. I'm hoping that's what quest hubs will be about, but has it been confirmed when we're getting them?

Also, I hope the fact that he asked us to be patient "just a little bit longer" doesn't mean that it got delayed again. I swear, the day they stop asking us to "wait" and "be patient" will be a day filled with endless joy. We've heard nothing else for 9 months now.

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Originally Posted by AlexiaKidd

Glad they are finally turning leves back to the quick casual content they were designed to be. Now let's hope that by doing that they have something more interesting for parties to exp on.

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They were actually designed to be party content, which is why there was the link bonus which had been in since alpha.

Tanaka wanted them to be the main form of grinding (the time limit was designed to slow down hardcore players) which was a bad idea knowing how monotonous they are. Now YoshiP wants them to be an addition to the main way of grinding which I suspect will be grind parties

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Originally Posted by Delsus

They were actually designed to be party content, which is why there was the link bonus which had been in since alpha.

Tanaka wanted them to be the main form of grinding (the time limit was designed to slow down hardcore players) which was a bad idea knowing how monotonous they are. Now YoshiP wants them to be an addition to the main way of grinding which I suspect will be grind parties

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Considering he said that he's trying to move the game away from a grind-centric style... I'm thinking that raids, behests, and other large scale PVE is going to be the primary form of group leveling.

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Originally Posted by Delsus

Tanaka wanted them to be the main form of grinding (the time limit was designed to slow down hardcore players) which was a bad idea knowing how monotonous they are. Now YoshiP wants them to be an addition to the main way of grinding which I suspect will be grind parties

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Actually, Yoshi-P said this:

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We still have some ways to go, but FINAL FANTASY XIV will gradually shift from being a grind-centric game to one that offers enjoyment for all playing styles and circumstances with its ever-expanding variety of content.

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Which means to me that they want to start focusing on other leveling options, such as SP gained in dungeons and quest-based leveling, not just straight up grind parties. IMO, it's a huge step in the right direction.

Edit: DOH, Wolfie beat me to it.

Now, guildleves becoming solo-oriented content is a curveball I didn't expect.
I would say, though, that this is what guildleves should have been from the very start.

Though I understand why this is going to come just now, as "raids" are being implemented and a group-based alternative is coming. We'll see how it plays out but I'm glad to see this change finally taking place.

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Originally Posted by Nipa

Why doesn't he realize that having to go back to the leve counter is a massive deterrent for casual players?

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I always thought you should just be able to get the appropriate leves from their respective crystals (or aetherytes (sp?)).

lol I misunderstood the statement, I thought it was a question because of the "?" haha

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Originally Posted by nRosenberg

It was a good read, and I actually feel much more optimistic about the game now. March on Dev Team! We believe in you!

As for sidequests, he mentioned that NPC interactions will be required. I hope that they will make it into simple cutscenes when NPCs are talking, it will go a long way in making players feel more involved.

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They just mean that, unlike guildleves where you interact with the NPC at the counter, for side quests you actually have to go out and find a sidequest NPC before you can start a quest. Sidequests are more complicated than guildleves.

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Originally Posted by Ceons

I always thought you should just be able to get the appropriate leves from their respective crystals (or aetherytes (sp?)).

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Would it be a bad thing to also get leves from the guards stationed around the camps?

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Originally Posted by nRosenberg

You have to return to the counter to get more leves.

So I assume you are from the PS3 playerbase?

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Way to go, you actually didn't read what Ceons wrote. haha