Please integrate FFXIV further with the Steam client for Steam owners

As a happy owner of FFXIV on Steam, I'm slightly annoyed by the lack of proper Steam client and account integration that this release of the game has.

Installing the game through Steam should distribute the entire game through Steam, not just the launcher that I then have to open in order to download the actual game client. More importantly, there shouldn't be a need for an additional launcher and pressing play should take me straight into the game much like it does for other online games such as Destiny 2.

I don't mind having the Square Enix account for tracking my progress and being able to make that cross-platform for the macOS and PlayStation versions of FFXIV also but beyond that, Steam should be my point of interaction. Adding, changing or cancelling a subscription should be possible directly via Steam rather than going onto Mogstation and billing through Steam.

Likewise, purchasing optional items from the cash store should also be a possibility directly via Steam. As a customer, I'd much rather billing through Steam (or PlayStation for that matter) than doing subscription/cash shop through a separate store. It's one less company that's storing/processing my billing information directly so it's a lesser security hassle.

As a happy Steam customer, one that's also looking at buying a Steam Deck, I'd love for the Steam release of FFXIV to actually be a proper Steam release and not a standalone game poorly thrown onto the platform as it currently is. Many big publishers are already releasing like this on Steam, FFXIV should be another such release.

(I'm not about to get pedantic about account security as nothing is truly hack proof but PlayStation/Steam has a really robust system and I've personally never had any issues keeping an account safe that way. I'm also aware that platforms can targeted directly via malicious attacks but I'd trust a major platform holder more than an individual publisher, especially one such as SE with a janky store front as it is).

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Originally Posted by Johners

...As a happy Steam customer, one that's also looking at buying a Steam Deck...

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It's a pity the Steam Deck won't run FFXIV any more. It would have made an awesome portable platform for it.

https://i.gyazo.com/aab43ce727e6676f...c53656ff7a.jpg

This is a rather tone deaf thread given what's going on right now. Though not entirely surprisingly considering you've been going into the threads about the Steam issue and being rude in them.

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Originally Posted by TaleraRistain

This is a rather tone deaf thread given what's going on right now. Though not entirely surprisingly considering you've been going into the threads about the Steam issue and being rude in them.

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I don’t see how this is tone deaf, I purchased a Steam game and would like an experience on par with the other Steam games that I also have. I like the platform and would prefer games learned into as much of the feature set as possible that other games such as Destiny 2, for example, do. It’s not rude for people to ask for things that are counter to what you want because you purchased a Steam copy X years ago and regret the decision now. You already have an exit route, make a new account standalone from Steam. It’s a tough choice because you lose all that progress made under the Steam account/license but you still have that choice.

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Originally Posted by Shibi

It's a pity the Steam Deck won't run FFXIV any more. It would have made an awesome portable platform for it.

https://i.gyazo.com/aab43ce727e6676f...c53656ff7a.jpg

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It’s a real shame because the Steam Deck, and SteamOS 3.0 in general which will be made available for other devices, is really cool and the existing launcher situation isn’t a great handheld UX.

Even on PlayStation the UX is bad because you have the launcher which requires an OTP every time you want to play. Could be better in not having that launcher on PlayStation also and taking users straight to the game after pressing play.

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Originally Posted by Johners

It’s a tough choice because you lose all that progress made under the Steam account/license but you still have that choice.

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For some, thousands of hours of progress is not a choice. That's a crazy statement to make.

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Originally Posted by Johners

I don’t see how this is tone deaf, I purchased a Steam game and would like an experience on par with the other Steam games that I also have. I like the platform and would prefer games learned into as much of the feature set as possible that other games such as Destiny 2, for example, do. It’s not rude for people to ask for things that are counter to what you want because you purchased a Steam copy X years ago and regret the decision now. You already have an exit route, make a new account standalone from Steam. It’s a tough choice because you lose all that progress made under the Steam account/license but you still have that choice.

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It's tone deaf because you know the other threads are out there (because you can't stay out of them) and Steam players are having issues just getting logged in because of recent changes and you post this *right now*.

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Originally Posted by TaleraRistain

This is a rather tone deaf thread given what's going on right now. Though not entirely surprisingly considering you've been going into the threads about the Steam issue and being rude in them.

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It's not being tone deaf, they're being a troll. It's just that they're not good at it, nor are they at all entertaining about it.

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Originally Posted by MintnHoney

It's not being tone deaf, they're being a troll. It's just that they're not good at it, nor are they at all entertaining about it.

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How is it trolling? I purchased this game on Steam for a reason, wanting as much of the payment/billing to go through Steam and not some janky SE store front. I'm perfectly happy launching games through Steam directly to do that. I manage and maintain my accounts so losing access to my original Steam or SE account isn't going to be an issue. I won't be getting myself banned either. Asking for additional Steam integration and features for my Steam isn't a problem either as other developers/publishers have done it with amazing results.

I think the problem is that the credentials used are not actually your steam credential's, but your SE credentials, so they would have to first unify the two things (which might be what they have been doing with these changes, I haven't been paying attention) and then make those steam credentials able to be passed directly to the game instead of the launcher. I don't even know if the game is capable of doing the login process like the launcher is, so that feature might need implementing so that it can handle the steam credentials directly.

One of the benefits of the launcher is to inform you of recent news, maintenance and patch changes. The launcher is how they keep you informed about steam errors and DDoS attacks to give some examples from today.

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Originally Posted by Shibi

It's a pity the Steam Deck won't run FFXIV any more. It would have made an awesome portable platform for it.

https://i.gyazo.com/aab43ce727e6676f...c53656ff7a.jpg

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Damn the UI scale is actually not bad.
I had expected worse.

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Originally Posted by Shibi

It's a pity the Steam Deck won't run FFXIV any more. It would have made an awesome portable platform for it.

https://i.gyazo.com/aab43ce727e6676f...c53656ff7a.jpg

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It's so bizarre to have that as an ad just to make it unplayable not even 2 weeks later lol

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Originally Posted by TaleraRistain

It's tone deaf because you know the other threads are out there (because you can't stay out of them) and Steam players are having issues just getting logged in because of recent changes and you post this *right now*.

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I don't think it's tone deaf at all because ok, if we're roped into these restrictions and having these issues on the Steam version then we should get something out of this deal. Steam is a platform that offers a lot of features other games use and SE hasn't done a single effort to use those benefits to improve the game experience.

We don't get automatic updates through the Steam client, which would not only make the updating more smoothly for players, it would alleviate the load on their own servers on patch days and potentially save them money.

We don't get achievements, cards, wallpapers, emotes, nothing.

We only get the problems associated with Steam and none of the benefits.

I want achievements. Why can PS get trophies but steam not get chevos?

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Originally Posted by ZedxKayn

I want achievements. Why can PS get trophies but steam not get chevos?

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Yeah, Steam Achievements would be great alongside the game client being fully distributed via Steam and users being taken directly into the game after pressing play are things I'd like to see.

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Originally Posted by Johners

As a happy owner of FFXIV on Steam, I'm slightly annoyed by the lack of proper Steam client and account integration that this release of the game has.

Installing the game through Steam should distribute the entire game through Steam, not just the launcher that I then have to open in order to download the actual game client. More importantly, there shouldn't be a need for an additional launcher and pressing play should take me straight into the game much like it does for other online games such as Destiny 2.

I don't mind having the Square Enix account for tracking my progress and being able to make that cross-platform for the macOS and PlayStation versions of FFXIV also but beyond that, Steam should be my point of interaction. Adding, changing or cancelling a subscription should be possible directly via Steam rather than going onto Mogstation and billing through Steam.

Likewise, purchasing optional items from the cash store should also be a possibility directly via Steam. As a customer, I'd much rather billing through Steam (or PlayStation for that matter) than doing subscription/cash shop through a separate store. It's one less company that's storing/processing my billing information directly so it's a lesser security hassle.

As a happy Steam customer, one that's also looking at buying a Steam Deck, I'd love for the Steam release of FFXIV to actually be a proper Steam release and not a standalone game poorly thrown onto the platform as it currently is. Many big publishers are already releasing like this on Steam, FFXIV should be another such release.

(I'm not about to get pedantic about account security as nothing is truly hack proof but PlayStation/Steam has a really robust system and I've personally never had any issues keeping an account safe that way. I'm also aware that platforms can targeted directly via malicious attacks but I'd trust a major platform holder more than an individual publisher, especially one such as SE with a janky store front as it is).

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Well, I am going to give you the same attitude you give others, you don't have to store your billing information with SE or even Steam, you can enter it for the one purchase and choose not to save it. Honestly I don't understand what exactly you want, to buy from the mogshop through steam instead? Are you buying from the mogshop often enough for this to be a real concern? Are you wanting Steam to download updates and patches instead of the launcher? I don't see how that is going to vastly improve the experience either.

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Originally Posted by Shibi

It's a pity the Steam Deck won't run FFXIV any more. It would have made an awesome portable platform for it.

https://i.gyazo.com/aab43ce727e6676f...c53656ff7a.jpg

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Yeah, it's a shame.

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Originally Posted by Sicno

I don't think it's tone deaf at all because ok, if we're roped into these restrictions and having these issues on the Steam version then we should get something out of this deal. Steam is a platform that offers a lot of features other games use and SE hasn't done a single effort to use those benefits to improve the game experience.

We don't get automatic updates through the Steam client, which would not only make the updating more smoothly for players, it would alleviate the load on their own servers on patch days and potentially save them money.

We don't get achievements, cards, wallpapers, emotes, nothing.

We only get the problems associated with Steam and none of the benefits.

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The timing is tone deaf. There are multiple threads by people reporting technical issues with logging in due to the recent changes to Steam integration. The OP was going into those threads and being rude and antagonistic when they really didn't need to be. Then they post this thread the same day.

I didn't call it trolling like someone else in this thread did because it *is* a valid point. But a little tact and class could have been displayed and the OP could have waited until current problems died down before encouraging SE to slap players in the face with more issues when they're already poking them in the eye with the current ones.

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Originally Posted by TaleraRistain

The timing is tone deaf. There are multiple threads by people reporting technical issues with logging in due to the recent changes to Steam integration. The OP was going into those threads and being rude and antagonistic when they really didn't need to be. Then they post this thread the same day.

I didn't call it trolling like someone else in this thread did because it *is* a valid point. But a little tact and class could have been displayed and the OP could have waited until current problems died down before encouraging SE to slap players in the face with more issues when they're already poking them in the eye with the current ones.

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I haven't checked op's posts in other threads nor I care that much, I care more about what's being discussed here. And it's like "ok, if you're gonna subject us to all this bs... what is it all for?" Like I said, we only get the worst of the pain in the arse from dealing with Steam and no benefit other than an extra payment method. There has to be SOMETHING we get to justify the bs we're putting up with.

Steam integration (or lack of) is so bad that if you let Steam verify the integrity of the game files it'll revert the game back to ARR and you'll have to download the expansions again through the launcher. And don't get me started into the nightmare that is moving the game to another drive.

We should get something better.

SE hasn't pushed for Steam Deck support yet and that's honestly a shame, seeing as it'll be perfect for crafting, gathering, fate farming, etc.

That on top of a native Mac version of the launcher is rather...disheartening. They probably don't have the correct dev for the OS but at the very least, they should acknowledge the Steam version since the Deck is a part of the platform now.

And for people blaming Steam for this, Gabe N. plays FFXIV and even expressed his love for the game.

https://www.pcgamer.com/gabe-newell-...he-steam-deck/

Though I'm somewhat sure that they will make it work somehow, it would be wasted sale potential. "A story-focused MMOrpg now on your Steam Deck!" That would be cool definitely more feasible than a Switch version (which would need to be made from the ground up).

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Originally Posted by elioaiko

That on top of a native Mac version of the launcher is rather...disheartening. They probably don't have the correct dev for the OS but at the very least, they should acknowledge the Steam version since the Deck is a part of the platform now.

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Interesting note: the "native" mac version is... a wine wrapper. They literally already did the hard part of getting the windows version to work in linux, and then only released it for mac.