17 Suggestions from an MMO vet

I compiled a list of things that I found to be cumbersome, redundant, unnecessary, unhelpful, redundant, lacking, cryptic, redundant....you get the idea......I hope this is the most appropriate board to post something like this.

1) get rid of the “play screen”. it’s the one after the log in screen. Move the “square-enix account management system” button to the log in screen.

2) get rid of the start screen. This isn’t a single player FF and we’ve already gone through two screens indicating that yes, we want to freaking play. You can move “credits” and “opening movie” to the log in screen. “quit” can be moved to the character selection screen.

3) add an AH. Use retainers and the market wards for players who wish to sell their goods outside of the AH system.

4) add an in game mail system.

5) Would be nice to be able to link items to other players, and to ourselves from the chat window.

6) add all of the FF XIV config options in game. It’s insane that players should have to close out of the game, just to adjust their video or gamepad settings.

7) add a description when you hover over your stats of how those stats affect your character. This would affect the attributes and point allotment windows.

8) it would be nice if you guys added a “drag and drop” function to the Actions and Traits menu.

9) add a manual sort function to the inventory.

10) add waypoints and personalized marker options to the map.

11) macros are an important function to the game, please move them from deep
within the config window and give it it’s own tab in the menu.

12) I haven’t seen a macro tutorial.

13) add a crafting panel so we don’t have to scribble every single recipe down or look to 3rd party sources on the internet.

14) I see what you're doing with the mail, AH, and chat systems to fight RMT but it's ruining the fun for the 99% of players who aren't real money traders. You can implement these systems in much the same manner that you did with the airship pass in FFXI. Introduce epic quest lines for each of the three systems that a vast majority of the players are asking for. Let us unlock them at high levels, that way only true players are using the system, instead of the real money traders. This not only adds the much needed convenience that all other MMOs have, and you predecessor did, but it also adds some content to the game.

15) My toon is just standing there like a T-1000. Not even a damn Legend of Zelda like kicking the dirt off his boots, fidgeting, or stretching out and yawning.

16) to go back to crafting, it just takes too long to craft or gather even the simplest of items and materials. How about varying crafting time based on the difficulty or simplicity of the item you’re making?

17) give us some sort of chat channel functionality. Level restrict it if you have to, even if it’s just for high or max level players.

Some of these problems stem from the fact that the developers are doing everything they can to prevent RMT from happening in the game (3,4,17). But it seems to me that what they're doing is over kill and creating a police state where we have no freedoms, like a chat system, mail system, or AH.

The other problems come from a total lack of information and features or the horrible placement of the information and features we are given (5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,).

Then there's completely unnecessary redundancies (1,2)



And now for 3 things that You've done better then any other MMO in history.

1) your graphics are of such a high quality, it would make a lesser man weep in the presence of it’s beauty.
2) Your soundtrack is second to none. Truly astounding. Nobuo Uematsu has proved himself to be a brilliant composer, yet again.
3) I love the very customizable UI. Great work, seriously.

Why don't you auto run while typing? My character is not a freaking toon, seriously hate that freaking term. Zoom up close, our character breaths. I don't need to fidget all the time when standing lol. I don't know if I particularly want an AH at this point.

Stuff I agree with now: 1,2,5,8,10

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Originally Posted by zaviermhigo

Why don't you auto run while typing? My character is not a freaking toon, seriously hate that freaking term. Zoom up close, our character breaths. I don't need to fidget all the time when standing lol. I don't know if I particularly want an AH at this point.

Stuff I agree with now: 1,2,5,8,10

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I use a game pad, I don't have any problems with typing. But the problem is there regardless.

I've heard a lot of these before. Someone even went through the trouble of making a .pdf for it. Thread's a little old, now. Half thinking about necro-bumping it, if only to go over things that were in the file that are now fixed.

Here's the thread.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...estive-Changes

I agree with quite a few of these points, though. Think it would be nice to have some sort of idle animation. I mean, not constantly fidgeting, but if you stand still for awhile, would be nice to do something. Kind of creepy running by Ul'dah's steps and just seeing a bunch of motionless Miqo'tes, all sitting in the exact same position, doing nothing at all.

Of course, would be a pain for RPers if you were doing a scene and your character started kicking dirt off their boot or humming something, so a simple /idle on and /idle off would be welcome for that.

However, I'm a little confused about:

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Originally Posted by nmekiller

14) you’ve got to change the fact that you can’t move with WSAD and type at the same time. Other MMOs do it, you figure it out.

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I can't think of an MMO where you can type and run with WSAD without either putting on auto-run or using the mouse. I mean, honestly, I would be rather annoyed trying to type a sentence and have my character flail around in random directions whenever I happened to type one of those characters. I do remember someone recommending they add the ability to move by clicking down both the right and left mouse buttons. Is that kind of what you mean? So you can be in the middle of typing, use the mouse to move out of the way of something, then continue typing?

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Originally Posted by Martyr

I can't think of an MMO where you can type and run with WSAD without either putting on auto-run or using the mouse. I mean, honestly, I would be rather annoyed trying to type a sentence and have my character flail around in random directions whenever I happened to type one of those characters. I do remember someone recommending they add the ability to move by clicking down both the right and left mouse buttons. Is that kind of what you mean? So you can be in the middle of typing, use the mouse to move out of the way of something, then continue typing?

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To use WoW as a popular example, as long as you didn't let go of whatever WSAD key you were using when you started typing, you could keep moving without switching on auto run. The only problem with that was if you needed "W""S""A" or "D" in what you were typing. It's not really important though and 14 can easily be forgotten.


I would like to take this opportunity to reemphasize my points about adding chat channels, a mail system, and an AH.

If those systems were level restricted so that only high level players could use them, it would serve as a reward for playing through the game to that point, and be an answer to the demands for these systems in game. You could compare it to the airship pass in FFXI as a benchmark for character progression and reward.

Actually, now that i think of it, why not build epic quest lines around opening up these 3 systems to players?

I'd like an airship pass. I haven't been sold on the fact that an AH will create an economy in this game. If they add that whole "crafters enter economy at r20" thing, I think that's when I'll be convinced if the AH is going to really improve the economy of the game. Right now an AH would limit the amount of things I can sell at one time, limiting the amount of money I can potentially make. A mailbox system, this I need, I really can't stand trading people all the time, I'M NOT RMTING if I just wanna send my friend some food he needs for the next time he freaking logs on.

I changed number 14 to a more interesting and compelling suggestion. Check it out.

do these things or your game will be shut down with in the next 1-2 years. Your PS3 launch will fail with the game as it is now.

I don't think I've read a single lenghty post on this forum that I agreed with more. Thumbs up for all your points and suggestions, except AH (let's not go to that discussion again) and character movement when standing still (though /idle on and /idle off would serve as a good solution).

If the dev team reads this, I hope they take what they can from it, because it would solve so many of the game's problems.
Thanks for the post!

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Originally Posted by Leowilde

I don't think I've read a single lenghty post on this forum that I agreed with more. Thumbs up for all your points and suggestions, except AH (let's not go to that discussion again) and character movement when standing still (though /idle on and /idle off would serve as a good solution).

If the dev team reads this, I hope they take what they can from it, because it would solve so many of the game's problems.
Thanks for the post!

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thank you :)

Big fan of this post. Some really good suggestions in here.

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13) add a crafting panel so we don’t have to scribble every single recipe down or look to 3rd party sources on the internet.

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You'll be happy to know they're working on this. Right now, the game saves the last 8 recipes you've crafted for each crafting class. So it saves 8 Leatherworking recipes, 8 Alchemy recipes, etc. They're working to expand that. I doubt they'll add every recipe in the game so you can just look it up -- since FF typically makes you discover the recipes yourself -- but we'll see what Yoshi-P decides.

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15) My toon is just standing there like a T-1000. Not even a damn Legend of Zelda like kicking the dirt off his boots, fidgeting, or stretching out and yawning.

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Actually, all the characters breath and sway slightly. The breathing is more pronounced in Lals, which breath with their whole bodies, like they're smokers or something. But all races move a little.

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16) to go back to crafting, it just takes too long to craft or gather even the simplest of items and materials. How about varying crafting time based on the difficulty or simplicity of the item you’re making?

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At some point -- maybe level 15? -- you get Hasty Hand. (Link in text) That skill allows you to succeed or fail a synth in one shot. You get a lot less SP -- often you get none -- but it's a good way to crank through low levels synths for materials you need at higher levels.

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Originally Posted by VydarrTyr

. You'll be happy to know they're working on this. Right now, the game saves the last 8 recipes you've crafted for each crafting class. So it saves 8 Leatherworking recipes, 8 Alchemy recipes, etc. They're working to expand that. I doubt they'll add every recipe in the game so you can just look it up -- since FF typically makes you discover the recipes yourself -- but we'll see what Yoshi-P decides.

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Do you know if it's just going to auto fill your slots when you start placing items, or is it going to be a window with 8 of your last recipes from each category?

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Originally Posted by VydarrTyr

Actually, all the characters breath and sway slightly. The breathing is more pronounced in Lals, which breath with their whole bodies, like they're smokers or something. But all races move a little.

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this one isn't too important to me, I was playing Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that day and thought it would be cool if my character was doing something cute or cool while standing there. I do like the /idle idea though.

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Originally Posted by VydarrTyr

At some point -- maybe level 15? -- you get Hasty Hand. (Link in text) That skill allows you to succeed or fail a synth in one shot. You get a lot less SP -- often you get none -- but it's a good way to crank through low levels synths for materials you need at higher levels.

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I can see that being useful if you're max level, but when you're skilling up it does nothing but make you choose between making crafting not a chore and seeing some benefit from it SP wise. I still don't get this "inferior for the sake of being different" feeling I get when I play.

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Do you know if it's just going to auto fill your slots when you start placing items, or is it going to be a window with 8 of your last recipes from each category?

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A Recipes option has been added to the synthesis interface.
This option displays the last 8 recipes a player has crafted, as well as the last 8 recipes learned via levequests. Selecting a recipe will automatically prepare the required materials.

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I'm confused your original post is from 04-21-2011 but the recipes list was added long before that. Are you just making suggestions without having played the game for 4 months or even looking into the things your suggesting?

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Originally Posted by nmekiller

Do you know if it's just going to auto fill your slots when you start placing items, or is it going to be a window with 8 of your last recipes from each category?

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I don't know exactly what it's going to be. Sorry. But the current system auto-fills materials based on the last 8 recipes per job. They're going to expand on that. It will apparently involve every recipe that you've used in the game so far.

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this one isn't too important to me, I was playing Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that day and thought it would be cool if my character was doing something cute or cool while standing there. I do like the /idle idea though.

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I wouldn't mind that. Just thought you might not have noticed that character sway is already in the game.

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I can see that being useful if you're max level, but when you're skilling up it does nothing but make you choose between making crafting not a chore and seeing some benefit from it SP wise.

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Yes, it's definitely intended to make you choose between synthing for SP, or getting something done fast And synthing becomes a one shot, all or nothing deal. So if you succeed on 90% of your synth attempts, you'd normally easily complete every synth you try. But with Hasty Hand, you're only going to succeed on 90% of your synths, and you're going to fail on 10%.

The only time I use it is when I'm at least 10 levels above the synth I'm attempting. That gives a good rate of success, and I wasn't going to get much (if any) SP from the synth anyway.

I'll admit I don't really have a problem with that.

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I still don't get this "inferior for the sake of being different" feeling I get when I play.

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I'm not sure what you mean by this. Are you saying SE was trying too hard to be different, so they threw away some things that worked in favor of things that were inferior? (The most common example here would probably be the Auction House/Market Wards thing.)

From what I understand, most of the differences in FFXIV are attempts to combat RMT. They were apparently the bane of FFXI, or maybe Tanaka just had an unhealthy obsession with them. People had bots that could fish, bots that could farm, bots that could craft, bots that could camp NMs, bots that could kill mobs, bots that could search the Auction House and immediately buy and sell goods that manipulated the market, etc. Here's a really good post by Hotohori on some of FFXI's problems with RMT, and how many of FFXIV's idiosyncrasies seem to be attempts to combat RMT. (Link in text)

If you're saying FFXIV has gone overboard, since the attempts to combat RMT often make the game less user-friendly for players, then I would probably agree with you.

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Originally Posted by VydarrTyr

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Are you saying SE was trying too hard to be different, so they threw away some things that worked in favor of things that were inferior? (The most common example here would probably be the Auction House/Market Wards thing.)

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That's part of what I'm saying. It's more like it's the result of them trying too hard to combat RMT.

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Originally Posted by VydarrTyr

From what I understand, most of the differences in FFXIV are attempts to combat RMT. They were apparently the bane of FFXI, or maybe Tanaka just had an unhealthy obsession with them. People had bots that could fish, bots that could farm, bots that could craft, bots that could camp NMs, bots that could kill mobs, bots that could search the Auction House and immediately buy and sell goods that manipulated the market, etc. Here's a really good post by Hotohori on some of FFXI's problems with RMT, and how many of FFXIV's idiosyncrasies seem to be attempts to combat RMT. (Link in text)

If you're saying FFXIV has gone overboard, since the attempts to combat RMT often make the game less user-friendly for players, then I would probably agree with you.

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^ this. It's like I said earlier, they've turned the world of Eorzea into a police state. The AH, mail system, and chat channels were intentionally left out to combat RMT. While FFXI didn't have chat channels, you would think that over the course of the last 8 years of MMO evolution, chat channels and these other things would be in there by default. Also I guess leaving the channels out goes back to creating an inferior product compared to other games on the market today.

I guess the biggest question when asking why FFXIV was a failure is how could they ever expect this game to be huge when it appeals to almost no one? Who is this supposed to appeal to besides the ever dwindling fanbois?

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Originally Posted by Reabs

I'm confused your original post is from 04-21-2011 but the recipes list was added long before that. Are you just making suggestions without having played the game for 4 months or even looking into the things your suggesting?

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The suggestion was for a complete recipe book listed in a simple crafting panel. The question was about the changes they're making in the future.

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Originally Posted by nmekiller

While FFXI didn't have chat channels, you would think that over the course of the last 8 years of MMO evolution, chat channels and these other things would be in there by default. Also I guess leaving the channels out goes back to creating an inferior product compared to other games on the market today.

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???

There are chat channels in the game. They've been there since launch. What channels do you think should be there that aren't?

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The suggestion was for a complete recipe book listed in a simple crafting panel. The question was about the changes they're making in the future.

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Actually, your question was whether they were going to implement changes in the future that had already been implemented in the past. Here's your question:

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Do you know if it's just going to auto fill your slots when you start placing items, or is it going to be a window with 8 of your last recipes from each category?

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It's not "going to be" auto-fill, and it's not "going to be" 8 recipes, because those things are already in the game and have been for months.

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I guess the biggest question when asking why FFXIV was a failure is how could they ever expect this game to be huge when it appeals to almost no one? Who is this supposed to appeal to besides the ever dwindling fanbois?

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So you don't play the game? If there's nothing in the game that appeals to you, and you can't see any reason why anyone other than a "fanboi" would play it, then I don't see what the point of your post is. If the things you suggested were implemented, would you play the game?

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Originally Posted by VydarrTyr

???

There are chat channels in the game. They've been there since launch. What channels do you think should be there that aren't?

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HMMMMM, How about general chat, trade, Looking for group, channels of that nature that every other MMO has. Jesus christ, do you really think that shout, say, party, and linkshell are the only conceivable channels out there?

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Originally Posted by VydarrTyr

Actually, your question was whether they were going to implement changes in the future that had already been implemented in the past. Here's your question:It's not "going to be" auto-fill, and it's not "going to be" 8 recipes, because those things are already in the game and have been for months.

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by the text that you underlined, my context remains clear. I was asking about the extent of how far they're adding to the changes to the crafting system.

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Originally Posted by VydarrTyr

So you don't play the game? If there's nothing in the game that appeals to you, and you can't see any reason why anyone other than a "fanboi" would play it, then I don't see what the point of your post is. If the things you suggested were implemented, would you play the game?

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I do play, and you know what? the game fucking blows. It's lacking on so many levels, that these 17 examples barely scratch the surface. Now, I didn't come here to argue with a couple of Squeenix loyalists. I came here to state what needs to change, or this game will be shut down. It's really as simple as that. FFXI will outlive FFXIV. FFXIV will be a complete failure, and you'll all be playing on the same server when all but 1-3 of them are shut down. You can't compete with other MMOs by making your game worse then your competition in every single category of form and function.


That's really just the bottom line and the reality that square is facing. There's no argument or room for debate here.

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Originally Posted by VydarrTyr

???
So you don't play the game? If there's nothing in the game that appeals to you, and you can't see any reason why anyone other than a "fanboi" would play it, then I don't see what the point of your post is. If the things you suggested were implemented, would you play the game?

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Here's a question. Have you ever played an MMO besides FFXI or FFXIV?

I've played FFXI, FFXIV, WoW, Rift, LOTRO, WAR, Aion, and AoC.

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Originally Posted by nmekiller

HMMMMM, How about general chat, trade, Looking for group, channels of that nature that every other MMO has. Jesus christ, do you really think that shout, say, party, and linkshell are the only conceivable channels out there?

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Nope. But that's not what you said. You said it didn't have chat channels. Period.

Also, general chat is the game. It's called "/say." It's what you start out with.

The value of trade chat and lfg are certainly up for debate. I can't remember a single statement I've ever heard in one of those channels that was ever worth the 2 seconds it took to read it. But if you think no MMO could ever survive without a trade channel, great. You're certainly entitled to your opinion.

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by the text that you underlined, my context remains clear. I was asking about the extent of how far they're adding to the changes to the crafting system.

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No, from the quote, it's pretty clear that you were asking whether those things that were added several months ago will ever make it in the game.

Look, if you don't craft, fine. I could care less. If you don't play, great. I could care less. But I'm not sure how you could have spent the last 4 months crafting and not noticed that the things you were asking about were already in the game.

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I do play, and you know what? the game fucking blows. It's lacking on so many levels, that these 17 examples barely scratch the surface. Now, I didn't come here to argue with a couple of Squeenix loyalists.

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So anyone who thinks this game doesn't "blow" and isn't irrevocably doomed is a "fanboi" and a "Squeenix loyalist"?

/sigh

So am I still a "fanboi" and "Squeenix loyalist" despite having said before that I liked some of your suggestions? Or does any disagreement -- no matter how small -- make you morally superior?

So you never answered my question. If the devs add all 17 of your suggestions (although some of them have already been added), would that change your mind about the game? And if the game is doomed no matter what happens, what's the point of your post?

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Originally Posted by zaviermhigo

Why don't you auto run while typing? My character is not a freaking toon, seriously hate that freaking term. Zoom up close, our character breaths. I don't need to fidget all the time when standing lol. I don't know if I particularly want an AH at this point.

Stuff I agree with now: 1,2,5,8,10

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Yes please stop using the word toon it's called "Avatar" or Character I understand in wow you have cartoon look or w/e the reason but it's not a toon thank you very much :)

i also agree with 1.2.5.8.10

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Originally Posted by VydarrTyr

Nope. But that's not what you said. You said it didn't have chat channels. Period.

Also, general chat is the game. It's called "/say." It's what you start out with.

The value of trade chat and lfg are certainly up for debate. I can't remember a single statement I've ever heard in one of those channels that was ever worth the 2 seconds it took to read it. But if you think no MMO could ever survive without a trade channel, great. You're certainly entitled to your opinion.

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Now I know I'm being trolled. well played, sir.

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Originally Posted by VydarrTyr

No, from the quote, it's pretty clear that you were asking whether those things that were added several months ago will ever make it in the game.

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No, from the quote it's pretty clear that you're taking my words out of context. Also, I know what I asked, I'm the one who asked it.

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Originally Posted by VydarrTyr

So anyone who thinks this game doesn't "blow" and isn't irrevocably doomed is a "fanboi" and a "Squeenix loyalist"?

/sigh

So am I still a "fanboi" and "Squeenix loyalist" despite having said before that I liked some of your suggestions? Or does any disagreement -- no matter how small -- make you morally superior?

So you never answered my question. If the devs add all 17 of your suggestions (although some of them have already been added), would that change your mind about the game? And if the game is doomed no matter what happens, what's the point of your post?

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As soon as you typed the words, "Also, general chat is the game. It's called "/say." It's what you start out with." you pretty much proved to us all what your experience is with MMOs and who you've thrown your hat in with.

If square made these 17 changes, would I pay to play? hmmmmm that's a good question. The game would certainly be more attractive, though playing with this game would seem like socializing with someone the day after they raped you. These 17 necessities are more of an advisement then anything else. Square does these things or this game fails and relegates it's self to a very small niche player base, never going anywhere, and always living in the shadows of FFXI.

But whatever, dude. garbage game is garbage. Don't attack me just because the game you're playing basically has AIDS.


Square-Enix, if you're reading this. Those 17 suggestions MIGHT save your ass from complete failure. But, you've done one hell of a job alienating the entire MMO community from the FF MMO franchise, so it's really going to be dependent on what you're willing to do before the PS3 release. Don't be swayed by what these fanboys tell you, they represent a microscopic portion of the MMO community, a portion that has only ever played FFXI and FFXIV and doesn't know any better. They're like a lost Amazonian tribe, living out their lives living in huts and throwing spears at the flying metal devil birds. They don't realize that if they walk down the river they can sit down at a McDonalds and surf this forum on a wifi laptop. Unless you're providing FFXIV pro bono, you better make a majority of my 17 suggestions.

Its unfortunate that you exploded on that other guy as your post did have some merit to it. When you go crazy and start just bad mouthing people who don't agree with you it goes downhill pretty fast. Especially when you start making broad comments that can cover many people who aren't even commenting about your post.

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Do you know if it's just going to auto fill your slots when you start placing items, or is it going to be a window with 8 of your last recipes from each category?

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This is what I was commenting on this question is clearly aimed at something that is already in the game yet you use it in the context as though it has yet to be implemented in the game. It could have just been a grammatical mistake but I doubt it I'm guessing you just don't craft much and never noticed (I've actually never seen the menu in game).

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Those 17 suggestions MIGHT save your ass from complete failure.

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This is quite untrue adding those 17 suggestions won't save or ruin this game. The game has been steadily getting better as time has gone on. Out of your 17 suggestions only 1 of them is actually going to make a huge improvement to the game the rest will just be slight improvements that can be overlooked while they deal with fixing the real problems.

When I saw this thread's topic, I thought "here's another self proclaimed mmo veteran come to be a smartass". But I was pleasantly surprised - you offered real advice without pulling the game and its players in the dirt.
And your advice still holds as much weight as it did, as does many of your later comments. But is it really that hard to have a discussion with others without acting like the smartass I originally thought you weren't? Please stop categorizing players and yelling that 'the game sucks' - there's no better way of ruining your own good avices. And things like this:

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Originally Posted by nmekiller

If square made these 17 changes, would I pay to play? hmmmmm that's a good question. The game would certainly be more attractive, though playing with this game would seem like socializing with someone the day after they raped you.

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That's about as bad as an arguement gets. Have some respect for your fellow players.

have fun with your fail game that no one will ever care about.