Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XVIII Q&A Updates

At the start of the broadcast, we'll be using this thread to post the Q&A from the Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XVIII!

Watch the stream live on Twitch or on YouTube.

As we'll be updating this thread constantly throughout the event, make sure to reload every so often! We'll be posting all questions and answers exclusively in the thread and posting reminders occasionally on Twitter. However, please keep in mind that translations won't be occurring in real-time and there may be a delay.

After we create the full Q&A summary, it will be posted in the "Letter from the Producer LIVE" forum and this thread will be removed.

See you here at 2:30 a.m. (PST) / 5:30 a.m. (EST) / 10:30 (GMT)!

Patch 2.45 is scheduled to arrive on December 9th!

Q1: I’d like to know how you go about looking into things when balancing jobs. Can you also tell us what prompted you to adjust dragoon?

A1: When it comes to job balance, we make adjustments looking at DPS that is output on the training dummies and DPS that is actually output while in content.

There are two reasons for why we decided to make adjustments to dragoon.

The first is the amount of damage taken by magic-related attacks. While other jobs are able to take the same magical hit twice and survive, there are a lot of cases where dragoons taking the same two hits will die. The second reason is the fact that it’s easier for dragoons to wind up dead and there has been more and more feedback mentioning that participating in end-game content is becoming increasingly difficult.

Q2: Could you provide details on upcoming dragoon changes and tell us when the changes will go live?

A2: We will be making changes to the directional requirement on some actions. Specifically, you will not lose the buff if you fail to meet the directional requirement on the action. We understand there are currently situations where a dragoon is unable to go to a certain side of a enemy. After these changes go live, the overall damage drop in these situations should be less.

Additionally, we will be increasing the magic defense that they are currently lacking.

We will be making other adjustments to the dragoon’s action including the reduction of recast timers on certain skills, decreasing the increased damage taken during blood for blood, and increasing the DoT damage on certain actions.

We will be making these adjustments in patch 2.45 which is scheduled for December 9th.

Q3: Ninja is able to silence, stun, and I feel like their DPS output is a bit too high. Do you have any plans to make adjustments to they are balanced with other jobs?

A3: With the mudra combinations, ninja is a job where it’s tricky to deal damage, and we’ve set their DPS to be somewhat higher than other jobs. However, players have really been pushing ninja to the limit, and while it’s only by a slight percentage, DPS is being output a bit higher than anticipated. Due to this, in order to make their DPS output similar to other jobs, we will be making adjustments to DPS and the TP costs of certain actions, while ensuring that the current rotation is not destroyed.

Q4: Currently, there seems to be some lag involved with the casting of the mudras. Are there any plans to address this in the future?

A4: This is something that is difficult for us to adjust because it’s hard to confirm as there are aspects that are related to the filter for how OS packets are being sent.

Unfortunately, it’s not something we will be address immediately, but we will continue looking into ways to alleviate the lag on the action.

Q5: There is a lot of equipment for summoner and bard where stats such as spell speed and skill speed do not really match the concept of the job. These aren’t very advantageous, so will you be making adjustments to this in the future?

A5: We’ve made it so that for FINAL FANTASY XIV the ultimate goal is to obtain raid level equipment. However, we’ve added various stats to equipment due to the fact that there would no longer be a need for equipment that can be purchased with Allagan tomestones of poetics or equipment made by Disciples of the Hand.

We’ve been carefully looking over the feedback we’re receiving and we will be looking into what we will do moving forward.

Q6: You previously mentioned each job will have their own limit break. Could you provide more information on this?

A6: We are currently talking about implementing job-specific limit breaks in the upcoming expansion.

It may be difficult to prepare three different limit breaks per job so we have decided to adjust the level 3 limit break used by each job. As an additional note, we are currently working on creating a new limit break for dragoon!

Additionally, we are planning to launch new benchmark software for the expansion and you will be able to see the new limit break then.

Furthermore, the limit break of bards will no longer be the same as the limit breaks for healers.

Please look forward to it!

Q7: I really enjoyed playing through each of the job quests. In the expansion the level cap will be increased, but will there be new job quests added as well?

A7: Yes, they will be added for all jobs. There will be job quests that pick up where they left off and there will also be job quests that introduce new characters.

Q8: Currently, there are a lot of content for the hardcore users and the casual users, but not many for the mid-tier users. Are there any plans to implement additional content for the mid-tier users that are able to beat Crystal Tower, but not the Coil of Bahamut?

A8: In the upcoming expansion, we will be introducing a new content for the mid-tier users which is currently referred to as “free company craft” (final name TBD). Additionally, we are planning to implement normal modes and hard modes for the raid dungeons. Please look forward to it!

Q9: Waiting for FATEs to spawn for Zodiac weapon quests and beast tribe quest takes a very long time. Do you have plans to adjust this?

A9: As we’ve already made adjustments to the spawn times for FATEs for beast tribe quests, we do not have any plans to make further adjustments to the overall wait time. If there are any in particular you feel that the wait time is too long compared to others, please let us know.

On the other hand, there are cases where it often takes time for Zodiac Brave FATEs to spawn since they are related to other FATEs in the area, so we are looking into having these occur separately.

Q10: In a previous interview, you mentioned that we will able to tackle instanced dungeons by ourselves. Are there still plans to implement this feature?

A10: Yes, there are still plans to implement this feature. While there isn’t too much we can reveal at this time, just to give you a preview, we are currently discussing a new type of content where you will control your own unit for your grand company, add NPCs in your unit, and take them to dungeons to level them up.

Q11: Do you have plans to add new rules to Frontline?

A11: We are planning to add new rules in Patch 2.5. The map will be the same, but the rules will be different. Additionally, in Patch 2.5 we will be adding Frontline to the Duty Roulette. We’re currently in the midst of planning new maps for the expansion, and afterwards we are also planning to expand the Wolves’ Den.

We are also in the process of looking into making it so matching takes place for 8v8v8.

Q12: Currently, all of the high-level crafting recipes require materials obtained via desynthesis and items obtained by trading tomestones, and the gatherer classes do not have much involvement. Are there any plans to adddress the balance so that the gatherers can be involved more?

A12: With the Armoury system, every player has the capability to gather the same items as everyone else (even though there are some time restrictions involved with some of the items) in FINAL FANTASY XIV. While the Armoury system is one of the main features of FINAL FANTASY XIV, this system makes it difficult for certain classes to take an active role in the development of the economy.

We intentionally included a lot of the desynthesis materials in the new recipes because we wanted everyone to check out the desynthesis system. However, we understand that we went a little too overboard with the recipes. We are currently discussing the addition of recipes for the mid-tier users instead of just adding new recipes for the hardcore users.

Q13: Obtaining the higher-tier equipment for Disciples of the Hand is extremely difficult. Will the difficulty be adjustment in the future? I’d like recipes and elements that are a bit easier to get into.

A13: While I believe it’s a good thing that you can’t produce high-quality items through crafting with a macro alone, I would like to make adjustments to the difficulty of obtaining higher-tier Disciples of the Hand equipment.

Addressing this right away would take away the hard work put in by all the Disciple of the Hand players that have obtained this gear already, so while in the Patch 2.x series, the current recipes will be the upper limit and we will be trying to add recipes below this.

Q14: There are a lot of recipes in Patch 2.4 that require Mastercraft Demimateria. Will you be adding more avenues for obtaining this item in the future?

A14: We’d like to make adjustments starting with the recipes we add from here on out.

Q15: As a fresh level 50 player, it’s difficult to obtain the previous Allagan tomestone of mythology gear (item level 90 gear) because they can only be obtained through the new dungeons. Are there any easier ways to obtain these pieces of gear?

A15: We are currently discussing ways to address this matter. We moved the item level 90 gear to the newer dungeons with item desynthesis and grand company turn-ins in mind, but we realized this made it harder for the newer players to obtain the item level 90 gear.

Q16: A lot of the new boss battles introduced in Patch 2.4 were very interesting. Could you talk about how a boss battle is designed?

A16: First off, Maehiro, Gondai, and I (Yoshida) decide on the bosses that will be introduced in the patch.

Once the bosses have been decided, we finalize the story and background for that boss. Once that is complete, the battle team designs the mechanics based on those settings.

Finally, the mechanics are shared and checked by the scenario team and I, and if need be, make any last minute changes to the mechanics.

Q17: Can you tell us the status on add-ons and DirectX 11?

A17: We’ve finished implementing the basic add-on system and we’re currently preparing the API. Internally the test code is running. However, there may be bugs with the add-ons we distribute when they are modified and due to this we are proceeding carefully with legal checks and such. At the the moment we do not have an official release date that we can mention.

In regards to DirectX 11, we will be addressing this along with the release of the expansion. We’d like to show off a side-by-side comparison video of DirectX 9 and DirectX 11 at the Fan Festival in Tokyo. Additionally, we’re also preparing a benchmark before launch.

On the Mac front, progress is continuing and we are planning for a late-March/April release.

Q18: Currently, all of our daily beastmen quests are used by the Ixali beastmen quests because the items obtained with the oaknots can be sold for a lot of money. Are there any plans to alleviate the amount of oaknots required for these items or have a separate number of daily quests just for the Ixali tribe (so that we can do other tribes)?

A18: We are currently looking into the prices of these items daily on each World and we are at a stage where we can say that we will be making adjustments.However, as for “Xelphatol spring water,” we do believe the current cost is too high, so we will be making it easier to obtain. On the other hand, we will be monitoring the cost of “Ehcatl sealant” a little bit more before we decide on making adjustments.

Q19: Are there any plans to implement an inventory specifically for fishing lures/bait?

A19: Unfortunately, it is very difficult to add inventory. In order to add inventory, we will need to increase the character data and if the character data is increased, more data must be transmitted to the servers. This may cause increased loading times when you move to a different area as well as lag.

We are very much aware of the inventory issues caused by fishing lures/bait so we are currently looking into ways to alleviate the problem after the expansion is released by decreasing the type of lure/bait used in the new fishing spots and making the item management aspect of the retainer more user friendly.

Q20: Can you add a lot more hairstyles, facial hair, and other types of face paints?

A20: When it comes to hairstyles, we have to make very fine adjustments to the graphics for portions that stick out of equipment and those that do not, and we do our best to release 1-3 hairstyles in each patch. We previously added new face paint in the past, but we didn’t really receive much feedback as to whether they were good or bad, so we’ve been allocating our resources to adding hairstyles. Finally, facial hair is connected to the amount of character date transmitted, so it’s difficult at the moment.

However, we are actually adding a fake moustache for the Starlight Celebration…
Ladies will also be able to wear this!

We’re also currently making an afro hairstyle.

Q21: A new playable race will be introduced in the expansion, but are there any plans to introduce additional character creation options for the existing races?

A21: Unfortunately, it is very difficult to add more character creation options. We will try to increase the amount of character options via glamour (i.e. using hair extensions introduced in the upcoming Starlight Celebration event, etc.).

Q22: Are there any plans to remove restrictions on the glamour system (unable to glamour gear that the job/class cannot equip)?

A22: Unfortunately, there’s a certain image that we would like to sustain for FINAL FANTASY XIV. We feel that it would confuse the new players if they see casters in heavy armor and tanks in mage gear.

However, if there’s any specific gear you would like to glamour, we will consider those requests individually so please request them through our official forums.

Q23: In the expansion we will be going to Ishgard, but will you be implementing housing areas in Ishgard as well?

A23: The war between humans and dragons is still being fought in Ishgard and it’s not really a safe place to live, so we will not be implementing housing areas at the beginning of the expansion. While we may implement it at some point in the 3.0 series, we aren’t at the point where we can promise any kind of time frame.

Q24: Will you be implementing the Free Company alliance feature that you mentioned some time ago?

A24: We’re currently altering the programs related to Free Companies in preparation for the content that is planned for the expansion as well as Free Company crafting.

Once this work has been completed, we are planning to add an alliance feature for the content planned for the expansion.

Q25: I was planning to purchase a PlayStation 4 next year, but the upgrade campaign ends at the end of this year. Are there any plans to extend the campaign?

A25: While we originally planned to end the upgrade campaign on Dec. 31, 2014, we received numerous requests about extending the campaign. Therefore, we discussed the matter with Sony Computer Entertainment.

Sony Computer Entertainment accepted the request and therefore will be extending the campaign until Mar. 31, 2015!

Additionally, we are planning to introduce a free trial service for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. PlayStation Plus members will be able to participate from Dec. 11, 2014. If you are not a PlayStation Plus member, you will be able to participate from Dec. 24, 2014. (Note that dates are tentative)

Q26: Large size houses feel kind of empty. Can you increase the limit on the amount of furnishings that can be placed in houses?

A26: We had been prioritizing the addition of land and since we do not know exactly how much of a demand there is we have not been able to do anything with this. This is not to say that we will stop adding land in the future; however, I feel we’ve filled the demand with the expansion areas, so I’m thinking it’s about time to enhance the utilities for each house. The team in charge of this, however, is currently working on the Gold Saucer and Free Company crafting, so implementation would take place after this.

Q27: Could you implement a kettle as an indoor furnishing? Even better, how about the kettle that Gerolt created?

A： Unlike our usual questions, someone brought this question to my question directly so I decided to take this to the development team.

A: Someone mentioned this interesting question beforehand, so I decided to take this to the development team. They said that it’s already being made, and gave the following response:

"As you may know, Gerolt repairs kettles to pay off his debts at the bar. He enjoyed this so much that now he's on a mission to make the "Ultimate Kettle." But, it's no easy task to forge the Ultimate Kettle suitable for this legendary weaponsmith. We have rumors of it making its way to implementation, but given that it's the Ultimate Kettle tinged with soulglaze, it's like not going to easily obtained… We hope you look forward to it!"

Q28: After the expansion is released, will we still be able to play Patch 2.x content if we do not have the expansion? This is my first time playing an online game, so could you please tell me what an expansion entails?

A28: Yes, you will be able to play that content.

Even without the expansion you’ll be able to play all the content from A Realm Reborn. It’s not like you will not be able to see players who have become the new race or are playing as the new job. If you do not install the expansion you will just not be able to become the new race or switch to the new job.

Put simply, the expansion will add new maps, a new race, and new jobs on top of what is already there in A Realm Reborn.