Open letter to the producer

[Alderton]

Each patch has made changes that have improved the game however there is a feeling among people that I have played with that the changes have been (or at least should have been) simple to achieve and shouldn't have taken the time that they did. Most of the improvements stated above could easily be achieved by changing the values in a database or simple "if" statements added to the client.

You have NO idea what goes into game development, or programming in general. It sounds as though you've overheard a programmer speak once and think you have the entire development process understood.

The sheer amount of systems, and complexity of each, of games today means that changing these systems (not just updating), takes a tremendous amount of time. Factor into that how standard development processes go (design, seek approval, implement, test, iterate, test, iterate), and you should actually be applauding the rate at which they are altering and adding new systems to the game.

I understand you are anxious to see the major updates. We all are. But when you make overall changes to a base (and major) system, it takes a TON of time. If it is released and isn't well received, it could kill this game.

Just wait. Deal with what we have now. Feces occurs.

[Gramul]

You have NO idea what goes into game development, or programming in general.

That's why people want more comunication with Square. So that they can understand what's going on with the game. But at the same time, it would ruin the surprises they have in store. Square has to balance the amount of information they release, but the can't make everyone happy.

[Hiemdall]

I say everyone needs to back off until the June/July patches come out. Not much is going to happen until then and flooding the forums with this stuff doesn't help. Play the game as it is now if you want, if not then don't. It's free so SE is focusing on making the game better; not for us but for future paying customers.

Also, as mentioned they cannot say too much for two reasons. 1) if they don't deliver people complain and they look bad. 2) When there is hype, anticipation people stick around to see what happens. I for one want to be surprised. A new patch release should be like Christmas morning

[Loki_Jortunn]

Actually i am a programmer, if the game was written correctly then all the changes to monster size, hp and density can be easily achieved with minor Database updates. I realise iterative programming design however the changes they have made should be made within only a few cycles.

If you read if it was originally programmed correctly then the game should be very modular allowing new object to be added in easily and existing object to be modified without having unforseen knock on effects. I was writing in terms that the general public understand if i started to talk about relational databases, boolean expressions, call back functions or null pointers. Sure Yoshi should understand what i'm talking about but then the fact its an open later would limit the people that would read this post.

Hiemdall: you point out they shouldn't say too much because it leads to speculation actually they havn't this has lead to massive amounts of speculation. For instance the battle system, the destruction and rebuilding of grid, all the information out there on the forums or in the game is player hype because we don't have a clear idea what is planned. Now to appear to contridict myself sometime there is a good reason not to know everything, the GM running around being the profit of doom was a really nice touch it was the communtiy that got together and found this really interesting. This was because it was story based and fitted in with what was going on (weather/music etc). None story related changes should be made public once the concept has been finalised, there is no real advantage with suprising us with it.

Again stating the open letter is not an attack on Yoshi but to bring attention to some things that myself and friends have noticed and come up with suggestions to fix.

[Eekiki]

And less information = more people bidding farewell to ffxiv.

But you'll still be here, won't you Rofl? Of course you will.

Fixing this game's programming is not so simple, seeing as the bulk of it was outsourced to...we'll just call them "incompetent" contractors. The folks at SE have to sift through all that awful code and figure out how to fix it without breaking the rest of it. It's like playing Jenga.

[DurtiMonkeyToe]

But you'll still be here, won't you Rofl? Of course you will.

Fixing this game's programming is not so simple, seeing as the bulk of it was outsourced to...we'll just call them "incompetent" contractors. The folks at SE have to sift through all that awful code and figure out how to fix it without breaking the rest of it. It's like playing Jenga.

Speculation at its finest.

[Gramul]

They probably thought they would never have to change those things so it probably didn't occur to them to make it easier to do so. I don't know how they programed the game, or what they put into priority, but I would like to know. That way I could understand why it's taking so long. But at the same time I know they can't legally release that sort of information.

[Abriael]

And less information = more people bidding farewell to ffxiv.

you mean like you did?

@ the op: if you really are a "programmer" involved in any kind of design of commercial products (and from what you "suggest" it definitely seems you're not), you would know that posting non-final information from development meetings (which is a laughable request in itself) is an extremely unprofessional practice, that leads to disastrous PR problems when such information becomes obsolete and/or invalid due further refining of plans and actual practical implementation..
TL;DR version: horrible idea. The rest is the usual "i know better than you!" stuff. I should have known from the "open letter" part in the topic. That's normally a clear indication.

Other than that, I always have fun reading self professed "programmers" (mind you, i don't know many professional coders, especially in this field, that would refer to themselves as "programmers") that speculate on how the game is/should be coded without having seen a line of code of the game and without an ounce of experience in MMORPG coding.

[wind]

@OP
-you forgot he changed the SP system from being stupid as fuck to amazing as damn

[Rhen]

My problem with this thread is that people just assume changing a number on a spreadsheet is all you need to make in-game changes.

I assure you, it is no where near that simple. Not even for updating an enemy's hp. This is not the gamebryo engine, do stop acting like the debs are just sitting around waiting to push a button to fix the game.

That is all.