Ups and Downs of the new FFXIV

I will have to admit right away, that I was not a HUGE fan of the design of FFXI. The only thing that drove me to play it was the Final Fantasy title. FFXIV however, I got very excited for, a new game, a new design. I played almost religiously for 3 months straight but in the end, I just could not get excited for this one either. While substantially different from FFXI, it was also far too similar. Again, because it bares the name Final Fantasy I still keep track of it to this day and give it a week every time a new patch is implemented. But that will only keep me and my fellow fans interested for so long. It has been up and down thus far, so I am going to give my personal feedback in a hope that some of it may reach the development team.

Stop the Punishments!
Okay, I died, my bad. It is painful enough to to re-spawn and have to take a 5-10 minute walk back to where I died not to mention the ridiculously expensive repair cost. But don't gimp me for the run with some stupid debuff. It just makes it easier for me to get picked off on the way back. It takes long enough to level up without having to implement this feature. And if I get rezzed by somebody in a group, don't debuff me! Now not only was I stupid enough to die, but I also have to make my group wait for my return because I am debuffed. For a serious gamer like myself, dying is enough of a blow to moral without needing a debuff, experience deducted, loss of items and/or gold, etc. Just stop the punishments all together.

Speed up the battle system!
Okay, sitting there swinging my weapon every few seconds is just ridiculous. If this had been real battle, I would be dead hands down. I don't mind fighting monsters longer or that are tougher just so I can swing my sword every second or two. Implementing cooldowns to skill usage and eliminating the stamina system was a great start to speeding things up. But more work must be done.

Stop EXP Fatigue (does this even exist anymore?)
I recall at release there was a fatigue system where your experienced points dwindled down to nearly nothing the more you played. That is just plain nuts, I mean I understand it from the standpoint of we don't want level 50s in the first day. But Final Fantasy XIV is a long, LONG level system and when you level one class you are not done yet. I can honestly say it would probably take me a month or more to level a single class to 50, much less a damage/support class, gatherer class and 2-3 crafting classes to be self sustaining. You are talking like 6+ months right there, which is almost enough to make me walk away right off the bat.

Look, a new QUEST!
Where? I understand quests have been added, and that is great. But the days of running into the woods and killing things with little rhyme or reason other than crafting materials and experience are over. Modern day games are content driven, and you usually have some other purpose. If you want to make FFXIV different, then great lets do it. But returning to the days of yore when grinding was common is not different, its a step backwards and much less its annoying. We need to implement a SERIOUS amount of quests, with mega quest hubs offering dozens of quests each.

Mindless Delays
I mention this a little later so I will try to keep this short, but there are these little pointless delays. I am not sure if it is because the servers are in Japan, or if this was intentional so I will add it anyway. I can understand a little delay after swinging your weapon, but waiting like 4, 5 and 6 seconds per swing is just mindless stupidity. Waiting a few seconds for a window to open after I make a selection, same thing. Problem is that I see this delay no matter where I play the game, gaming lounges, friends house, work, home, family's house, etc. It is literally EVERYWHERE, and it doesn't matter how high powered my computer is because I have hit up many.

Whiffs, Chinks & Explosions
This I could have honestly included in mindless delays because that is exactly what it is, a delay, just a different kind of delay. Constant missing, blocks, parries and blowing up my crafting materials. Is my guy half blind or what? I understand these all need to occur throughout the game. But to be honest, I should not be blocked, parried and miss several times all in one fight. Furthermore, I should have an honest shot at not blowing up my synthesis materials. Everything in this game takes so, so long to do and to just have my synthesis materials explode after spending HOURS collecting them, makes me just want to walk away.

Fix Full Screen
This is a section where you should definitely start to see what I am talking about. Some of you cannot play in full screen due to your computer resources, others just because they like it. But those of us who like full screen are again disappointed in FFXIV as we were in FFXI, but even worse. First of all, in full screen you cannot alt tab. So, you do not know where to find a quest, item, etc., or what the exact ingredients to a recipe are and nobody is helping you? Well, then I guess you need to log out all the way to the login screen to look it up, either that or crash your game and risk data loss. And don't even get me started on windowed mode lol. My monitor's optimal resolution is 1920 x 1080, so that is what I run the game in. The window awkwardly fills my screen, complete with window title and all, a portion of it often gets stuck under the windows taskbar, and the right edge of the game spills onto my second monitor. So really, you are damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Open the Crafting Doors!
This one kinda bugs me, and I wanted to get this off my chest. Right now I believe the current synthesis system allows you to save a very small number of recipes. Why? I am sorry but when I make a brand new dish or something in real life, I remember most if not all the ingredients. Now having to discover recipes, that is definitely a COOL system. But I feel like my character is a bit special when he cannot remember more than like 5. I say, keep the list empty until we make it once, then add it to the list.

Adjust the crafting materials!
Alright, I did see on the lodestone that crafting is getting the special touch. But I didn't really see anything in there about this. Right now alot of crafting materials just do not make sense. Newbie level mobs drop materials for level 10+ crafters, why? If I go out into the forest, kill a few baddies, chop down a few trees, I want to create a bow from the sinew, wood & plants. But is that what happens, no! I went to a fan site after spending hours gathering as a botanist and looked up all the things I could make with the materials I had gathered (including from killing). With a full inventory about the only thing I could make was wood chips and lumber. Everything else required professions that were way too high and that didn't even match my profession.

Lets move past the Chocobo
Hey, I saw they are adding Chocobos to the game, not just rentals either, permanent mounts. I will be pretty upset if I only get to ride my 'personal mount' for 20 minutes before it dismounts me automatically and then I have to wait or something. But that is the direction this game has been heading. But anyway, the Chocobo is a trademark mount for Final Fantasy. Thus, it must be included but nothing says it has to be the ONLY mount in the game. Lets come up with a few more, shall we?
*EDIT* And by more I mean something, NOT CHOCOBO.

Conclusion, speed it up and add more interesting stuff. I know you guys are working on it, and I appreciate all the work you are doing. I doubt any of these suggestions will be acknowledged, implemented or anything other than trolled. Even still, I have the right to give my opinion, so there it is. But I would say that only about 50% of the stuff that gets implemented is a step in the right direction, the other 50% is going the wrong way or is stuff that is not important right now. When people return to this game, they are looking at a years worth of lost time because the base game sucked (as most do before patches). They do not want to enter an infinite grind of barely any content. And I am sure that not all but many of those that did the infinite grind to 50 will have something to be proud of, because they did it the hard way, not the easy way.

P.S. - If this suggestion covers some things already implemented, I apologize. There have been so many additions in the game that I forget the half of them, and the other half were really not worth remembering.

I agree with most of what you said.

I don't. But as far as personal chocobos go, Yoshida said that there will be no time limit on those. The rentals will have a time limit. So there's something for ya.

Nice first post, but all of the stuff you said has been said already in other posts by other people. SE has been made well aware of these problems.

That being said, I agree with you.

i'm agree with you, but many people if this game come from ffxi and they dont like GOOD changes, they prefer old obsolets methods, for example they prefer do grinding a lot, they dont like read, they prefer waste of time with loooooooooooooooong time period pop hnm, oooh many people uses bots ranking up like ffxi


another point that SE need to work, no more easy battles with party setup, they demostrated that can ballance all class
like ffxi

Thank you all for your opinions. Lets get some more in for added effect.

Speed up the battle system? Are you serious? It's already really fast! Think of it like this, we get a nice 300 sp maybe in parties every kill, and late rank around say 45, it's nearing on 90k sp to next level. FFXI was about 200 exp per party kills and even at 75, the exp to the next level was half of what is is in FFXIV at rank 45 yet not even double of the exp gained from mobs. Yet I find myself leveling faster in FFXIV than I in FFXI.. Because the kills are faster. Not only that, you have a crap ton more job abilities to use in FFXIV so you aren't just sat there doing nothing. You gain TP faster so you can use weapon skills all the time.

If you speed up the battle system then you wont enjoy much of the battle the speed of the battle system is good.

It's a game you need Punishments for you failing in battle there no reason why this should not happen.

there no more EXP Fatigue

everything else sound good

Chocobo it's Final Fantasy you playing not WoW,AION where you could have more type of mounts. It's a key of final fantasy franchise just like moogles,airship and the type of mobs you see around the game.

You going to get your own chocobo that you most grow from a egg i just hope it would be faster then the 29days in ffxi that was way to much to wait for your chocobo to grow. When you get that you allow to use it how many hours you want and use him again over and over with no limit.

I know what els we could ride.


Moogles..wouldn't you just like to stroll into Ul'dah atop a fabulous fluffy moggle.

I know I would.

I can agree with the death thing. I do hate that, specially when Cure desides to cancel itself. (You begin to cast Cure, Cure casting cancelled)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BlueSin

Fix Full Screen
This is a section where you should definitely start to see what I am talking about. Some of you cannot play in full screen due to your computer resources, others just because they like it. But those of us who like full screen are again disappointed in FFXIV as we were in FFXI, but even worse. First of all, in full screen you cannot alt tab. So, you do not know where to find a quest, item, etc., or what the exact ingredients to a recipe are and nobody is helping you? Well, then I guess you need to log out all the way to the login screen to look it up, either that or crash your game and risk data loss. And don't even get me started on windowed mode lol. My monitor's optimal resolution is 1920 x 1080, so that is what I run the game in. The window awkwardly fills my screen, complete with window title and all, a portion of it often gets stuck under the windows taskbar, and the right edge of the game spills onto my second monitor. So really, you are damned if you do, damned if you don't.

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Lets take one of the most glaring issues from ffxi and repeat it some 7 years later, brilliant SE!

I'm going to add this to the discussion although it is a bit dated as I wrote this a few weeks after launch. Some parts some you may still find valid, and of course I hope it will spark more ideas, that may exceed my own.

I want to give some constructive criticism to a series and Developer i have been with since there was FF.
1. Combat: Way to sluggish, you have to macro to even be half effective, targeting is harsh. I should not lose my target i.e. mole going under ground then go to re-engage them with Light Stab and end up targeting myself. Everything takes too long in combat to the point where it gives mobs an unfair advantage. This becomes a game changer when fighting multiple mobs, and even causes players to die unfairly. Having to press button for a skill then select target then press enter is a lot to go through also. I have a Gamepad as well. There is no way to /target npc with it. There should be /target Attackable npc as well. The animations on the moves are off and easily interrupted by pre-loading the next attack. Damage shows up in the window long before the attack goes through. I score 3000 on benchamrk which should allow me to play the game on normal settings, but i play in mid-low, so it isn't my pc. which is rated at 6 out of 5 by windows vista. Targeting is almost impossible in huge party situations, you spend so much time trying to target the right mob that players die or you don't feel immersed because your pulling out your hair for frustration. Using certain moves that require you to block or evade etc. should not light up on the action bar unless you have evaded or blocked. Right now they light up if you have the tp, which can be misleading. In huge party scenarios movement around the target is very hard due to players due to the 2 objects cannot be in the same spot or pass through each other because they cannot occupy the same space which also affects targeting. The ranges on attacks shouts spells need to all be adjusted to scale properly. Another Example: I should not be able to shadowbind a target with my sword, fist weapon etc. Any Penalties for casting protect while using a job other than CNJ. should be listed if there are any at all. Battle Regimens need to be made doable before the mobs are engaged. Right now it is a waste of time to do them for the length of time it takes. You need to bring back skill chains in some form, but make them bigger better, with more possibilities after all this is XIV. using a skill like Light Stab should automatically pull out your weapon regardless of range. The time it takes to exit combat put your weapon up and flee need to be sped up. My idea is to make it so you can put your weapon/tools up while on the move. Casting times for skills and spells need to be fixed so they are exact every time. I understand lag can play into this, but it should be from the internet but not because the games timing is off. More options for the controllers need to be created, more key binding options is a must. Remember you can do things like tap a button versus holding and get 2 different uses out of the same button, perhaps even double tapping. My major gripe with combat is targeting and pacing. The more mobs we fight the worse it is, but everything about combat is sluggish. I would also like to see a bit more variance in the skills we get. Something needs to be done about using a Shield I think there should be a zero cost skill for shield that can build tp even if its very slow. The fact that you cannot move or remove the default skills for a R1 player. At least let me pick where i want to put the skill, I can accept it has to be on the bar but not always my main attack, i.e. Pugilist Light Attack vs. Heavy Attack. Once I got Light Attack I felt Heavy wasn't even necessary any more because Light Attack is awesome in its evasion boost. Point is rather have Light Attack on 1 key than Heavy. Lastly I would again state that the Timing and pacing of combat needs to be reworked all together. I'm sorry i know that is a huge ordeal to undertake.
2. Sound: we need better options for sound control from INSIDE the game. The footsteps and wind and crafting sounds should be sound effects and thus able to turn them down and off. They are not. Perhaps i would suggest even to have the ability to turn the sounds down individually.
3. Inventory Space and Storage: We need better storage options, Bag Slots, Mog Houses, Bank Vaults, Chests, something has to be done because we are having to carry around so much. One possibility would be individual tabs for Weapons, Armor, Projectiles, Food, Materials, Junk, etc.
4. Crafting: I have a love hate relationship with this crafting system. First the Love. I love the immersion in the crafting, I just wish I had more information to work with when crafting. A Recipe book would be nice too. Now for the Hate. I should not be penalized because of moon phases, there should be a bonus chance during certain phases for certain things, I should never be penalized because my free time doesn't coincide with a perfect time to be in the game. One example i have thought of is, Let's say i'm crafting Wolf Leather I'm doing it during a full moon. I then would have a chance by w/e % to create Werewolf Leather. now i know it may not be the best example but the idea should be understood. I'm also not a fan of my boots being damaged because I was repairing a Blade, that kind of penalty is a turn off to say the least. I would also like to see instead of optimal levels. Minimum Required Levels to craft and wear items. There also needs to be a % based success rate or chance thereof in all synths based on players level and gear.
5. Miscellaneous: I personally feel the Class system needs to be reworked in general. I have played every FF since there was FF. this system came from FF II right even if loosely. A sphere grid would be pretty awesome. Now this Sphere Grid would not be like X, but more like the talent trees in other mmo's and games like Borderlands. We don't even have to call it a sphere grid, you could call it Specialization. Materia would be amazingly awesome. We don't have to call it materia, we could implement Crysta in this way as well as the payment options. Even being able to be called Shards or Runes. We as FF fans are not gonna want to part with summoning, but i believe in time you have already a plan for this is some way. The Job system from FF V is a good place that you guys seems to work from for both XI and now XIV. I was a HUGE fan of subjobs, but in the interest of openness i understand why you don't use it here. This is another area that Specialization Tree would come into play. It would allow us to feel as though we had a subjob without seeming like a retread. Obviously it would be limited in points used. We would also have to have it so you point X amounts of points into skill Y in order to unlock Skill Z and so forth. Some Skills or specs. should be independent. You can look to WoW /cringe and Perfect World as well as Diablo and many other games like Borderlands to implement this. I HAVE TO SAY I WANT YOU TO PUT YOUR FF SPIN ON THIS SPECIALIZATION IDEA. Take your time but not so much you lose the fans. Implementing things like NM's before you fix problems isn't acting responsibly. In your Trailers and the opening Cinematic the Hume is using a Greatsword. Yet there isn't one in the game nor a class for them. I suggest calling the Class Soldier out of respect for Cloud, Zack and Sephiroth. In my opinion the Class system needs to be reworked and named all together. Lastly Would it really be so bad to have all the races keep their old Names? We see Hyur we say Hume, we see lalafel and call them Taru, Miqoute or w/e it is Roegadyn or w/e it is. Everyone I talk to hates the new names. Most refuse to call them by them. If you really wanted to make new characters then make new ones. Don't issue a retread and then call it what it isn't. We like the Hume, Mithra, Taru, Elvaan, and even the Galka. Out of all them the Galka lost their tails which is cool so i get them being Called something Different, but it wasn't needed at all. But there are still no male Mithra so whats the difference? You copy paste all this stuff and then rename it, like the terrain. I don't mind it too much but too many people are having a problem with it, it needs to be addressed on some level.
6. In Closing: I'll try and be as helpful as I can because FF after is me and it's what i have grown up with. I'm sure I have left some things out, but if permitted I will try and help with any in game issues I can. If ever you all want any feedback on anything at all, be it an idea or concept, it would be my honor to offer input. Namaste and thank you for your time.
Amatsuhira

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Let's try to add something to the blog and not take a critique the "ideas" put forth by anyone mentality on this page. Move the conversation forward otherwise it becomes stagnant. If you have nothing to add don't add anything.
When a player dies perhaps give them the chance to go to nearest camp or your version of the home point, which seems to be last Aetheryte touched.
Map: When we go off the beaten path into a cave it would be nice to have the map indicate it. I wouldn't mind having a black map that uncovers as u move underground, at least give us a map of the caves and not just the "Overworld map" it's bloody confusing.
Ability to add custom chat window tabs.
When Crafting we should have a drop down or added bar for recipes already known, also like what was done with the equipment screen, only show us materials usable by said craft.

Edit: Would anyone else love to see the Kingdom Hearts Battle system in XIV? If not what system would you implement?
Namaste