FFXIV Bitter Sweet

[Roxus]

Balance in difficulty
I will agree on this point as battle feels very weak on most classes. The only ones that feel semi-rewarding is Monk and Bard. Even then Bard is just a spamfest. The skills could be much better and a lot of the moves feel very dissatisfying. I don't like how mana management is overly simplistic, especially on BLM. Paladins use one bloody skill rotation. Warriors get two but no buffs that are really worthwhile to weave in.

Battle Mechanics

The only thing I will disagree with here is the point regarding skill indicators. They didn't really exist in 1.0. Hell there was a mob that still exists in 2.0 called a Cyclops, one in Aurum Vale and in a Fate (Coerthas) that uses 100-Tonze Swing. The reason they added indicators was because of the ridiculous input time from client to server. Sure, the obvious dark red indicators could go, but something needs to replace it. Oh and also, a lot of mobs have "tells" before using specific moves. Some are just very discreet, especially when you're paying attention to the red lines. And the fact that a giant message balloon pops up to tell you something is happening most of the time, lol.

Balance between levels

I think FATE grinding is dumb and needs to be adjusted. Everything else is fine. Add some daily quests. Also Parley will be available in a later patch.

Immersion and the sense of adventure

I think the reasoning for the smaller areas is mostly due to the following:
- Time to release
- Did not want to repeat the same mistake of 1.0 where they cut and paste entire maps...it's like walking through a mirror.
- Did not want to overwhelm newer players

I also will have to disagree with the immersion aspect. While there definitely is something to long for, you can't seriously compare yourself to an NPC that dedicates his life (Teens to adulthood) as a level 30 Lancer when you're the Jack-of-all trades Adventurer with a mysterious power. You are the "Hikari no Senshi". It may be dangerous for THEM, but for you, of course it will be different. Besides that point though the areas are ridiculously easy and I would welcome places to be a little harder to get to.

Basically I would say wait for Ishgard to see how they handle land mass. I'm just willing to bet it was due to time. I mean look at how much trouble they had with other things in this game. It's a relaunch, mind you. Something far harder than making the game completely from scratch. There had to be a lot of elements 1.0 players could familiarize themselves with, so scrapping the entire thing for a new game completely wasn't possible (The funding came from legacy players themselves, but SE also had to pay a large amount). Regarding how easy it is to get around, no one is forcing you to use fast travel methods. Just walk then, and enjoy the game. The system is there as an option, it's not mandatory. Sometimes I just walk with absolutely no movespeed buffs around the map because I enjoy it. There might not be much, but you make what you can of it.

Again, I get the point and have agreed, battle mechanics are very boring and need work.

I think they should bring back the 1.0 AF questline. Even if Yoshi said that AF was free starter gear it doesn't make any sense. There needs to be less healing, or BYO partner with harder mechanics.

Side note: I don't want them to bring back the level 99 mobs that can oneshot you, but the current state is also far too easy. I can walk past zones 20 levels higher than I am (or was) and live (as anything that isn't a tank, too). I am sad the hearing/seeing mechanics are gone.

The Market and Crafting/materia

Yeah the markets are dumb. Too much free armor in circulation and starter AF defeats the purpose of getting prepped for anything. Darklight isn't hard to get either compared to 1.0. I have to HQ everything or I lose money, and even then it's a pretty hard market to survive in.

I think you could have trimmed your post a bit, you repeated a lot of points and the whole intro thing wasn't really necessary. I do think battle needs to be readjusted, but I do not want it to revert to 1.0.

[Soukyuu]

Side note: I don't want them to bring back the level 99 mobs that can oneshot you, but the current state is also far too easy. I can walk past zones 20 levels higher than I am (or was) and live (as anything that isn't a tank, too). I am sad the hearing/seeing mechanics are gone.

The mechanics made this one-shotting unlikely though. Except for the old Shroud with it's narrow parts, which was basically a zerg rush to the aetherytes. I have the "Wanderer's Shadow" title. It was fun figuring out mob types, and the mechanics are still partially there, but they changed mob types now. Mostly sight, rarely sound, and only morbols are still aggroing on smell, from what I could tell.

The lumping with elites and casuals was intentional though since Yoshida believed that if new players played with Legacy Players they'd be more inclined to self-improve or something. Since that basically is not what happened at all (general toxicity etc.) clearly he gave the community more credit than he ought have. Though granted I have been in DF groups where I witnessed it work how he had hoped (seeing someone answering questions about what gear drops from where etc.)

EDIT NOTE: Also I don't mean to in a obscure way, say it's Legacy players responsible for the toxicity rather them being mentioned was due to paraphrasing Yoshida.

Thing is, the legacy players were put before completely redesigned classes and encounters that while they work similarly to 1.0, are different. And being legacy doesn't mean you played all the content already. So just being legacy doesn't make you an experienced player. I'm avoiding the word "elite" because I don't like it.