FFXIV Bitter Sweet

[Zanfire]

The thing is 1.0 where it ended was headed in a great direction imo. Content was tougher than the usual hand hold fest most of these games are (and now this one seems to mostly be). The combat was in interesting faster paced with more reactionary skills and positional combos (i loved it tbh) take on FFXI's combat (similar, but lots different to make it stand out). Things like NMs which were requested got put in and were well done enough that until they were necessary to complete some stuff were rarely camped, even then they had short respawns and they had the great idea of doing force poped versions of the big ones through leves for people who dont wanna camp them (and NMs in beta and even now are wanted back as there were, not this fate crap version).Open world content with NMs and some open dungeons and those op's that popped up in camps were great touches, so everything isnt in a damned instance as it is now (making it so there is little to no reason to be in the world after leveling besides seals i guess)

Of course they needed to change some things, but most of it was because of the bad server and game coding that was holding it back, things like the copy/paste world, server lag in combat, messy UI, lack of certain basics like sending mail due to bad coding. But all in all the core of the game was building up great...then SE decided they needed to...in Yoshis words "fit the standards". Now we have something we have all seen over and over wrapped in a pretty FF package.

Combat changed to the snoozy rotation spam, Basically all depth in the game was stripped or dumbed down (ex: no more elemental wheel, weapon weaknesses, stats brain dead simple, no more special stats on anything..ect) Gear collection went back to the beyond dull linear treadmill of get a set to get another set and throw the old one out style. NMs even though in beta were heavily requested to come back again (remember that thread with over 3k likes anyone?) were tossed into this mindless zerg and "everybody wins" FATE system. The option of camp grinding which was the prime way of leveling in XI and 1.0 was purposely made to go away by the devs (less choices is better i guess?)

AF gear which was a top end set of gear, had some good lore behind the pieces and were not a joke to get (but were well worth it even for just some of the special stats they gave). Relic weapons were a pain to get..well because they are relic weapons, the always top end weapons in FF games in general were never easy to get, but here they are fricken jokes and AF is an even bigger joke as they basically hand them to you.

Endgame which should have been spread more and something i think XI had done well, is now linear and down to running the same crap to death for fricken tokens. What i mean with XI doing it well was that with the cap staying where it ws for so many years, the "best" gear was never in one event. The best accessory was in one place, they best hands and feet in another..ect. Stuff from just about every event was relevant and gave you a reason to do it all. (nor was it on that get then throw out for the next set style)

With how this endgame is i cant imagine how crappy it would be coming in new 3-6 months down the line when the pop is thinned out and most people arent doing the old content (because by design you dont need to go back unless its for another class). Who is gonna do that old stuff with yah? Not the old players, they have no reason to, they are focused on the next slight upgrade...nor can you just jump in with them because you have to climb that stupid tread because its basically just a giant gear stat check (instead of more of a skill and knowing how to play your class).

lordy i can go on all day as to why this game rubs me the wrong way and IMO is gonna fall quickly like everything that has done the same exact game like it is (anyone remember stuff like SWTOR? how long did that game last until F2P...like 6 months) In a few months or so when that 1 mil box copys tuns into a couple hundred subs at most because people are either realize its more of the same with a new skin or they can't pump out content fast enough because even new players within weeks are quickly to 50...the game will struggle.

The games not awful, dont get me wrong, but its so much of the same thing we have seen over and over, there is no chance in hell this game stays big for long.

[MistressAthena]

The thing is 1.0 where it ended was headed in a great direction imo. Content was tougher than the usual hand hold fest most of these games are (and now this one seems to mostly be). The combat was in interesting faster paced with more reactionary skills and positional combos (i loved it tbh) take on FFXI's combat (similar, but lots different to make it stand out). Things like NMs which were requested got put in and were well done enough that until they were necessary to complete some stuff were rarely camped, even then they had short respawns and they had the great idea of doing force poped versions of the big ones through leves for people who dont wanna camp them (and NMs in beta and even now are wanted back as there were, not this fate crap version).Open world content with NMs and some open dungeons and those op's that popped up in camps were great touches, so everything isnt in a damned instance as it is now (making it so there is little to no reason to be in the world after leveling besides seals i guess)

Of course they needed to change some things, but most of it was because of the bad server and game coding that was holding it back, things like the copy/paste world, server lag in combat, messy UI, lack of certain basics like sending mail due to bad coding. But all in all the core of the game was building up great...then SE decided they needed to...in Yoshis words "fit the standards". Now we have something we have all seen over and over wrapped in a pretty FF package.

Combat changed to the snoozy rotation spam, Basically all depth in the game was stripped or dumbed down (ex: no more elemental wheel, weapon weaknesses, stats brain dead simple, no more special stats on anything..ect) Gear collection went back to the beyond dull linear treadmill of get a set to get another set and throw the old one out style. NMs even though in beta were heavily requested to come back again (remember that thread with over 3k likes anyone?) were tossed into this mindless zerg and "everybody wins" FATE system. The option of camp grinding which was the prime way of leveling in XI and 1.0 was purposely made to go away by the devs (less choices is better i guess?)

AF gear which was a top end set of gear, had some good lore behind the pieces and were not a joke to get (but were well worth it even for just some of the special stats they gave). Relic weapons were a pain to get..well because they are relic weapons, the always top end weapons in FF games in general were never easy to get, but here they are fricken jokes and AF is an even bigger joke as they basically hand them to you.

Endgame which should have been spread more and something i think XI had done well, is now linear and down to running the same crap to death for fricken tokens. What i mean with XI doing it well was that with the cap staying where it ws for so many years, the "best" gear was never in one event. The best accessory was in one place, they best hands and feet in another..ect. Stuff from just about every event was relevant and gave you a reason to do it all. (nor was it on that get then throw out for the next set style)

With how this endgame is i cant imagine how crappy it would be coming in new 3-6 months down the line when the pop is thinned out and most people arent doing the old content (because by design you dont need to go back unless its for another class). Who is gonna do that old stuff with yah? Not the old players, they have no reason to, they are focused on the next slight upgrade...nor can you just jump in with them because you have to climb that stupid tread because its basically just a giant gear stat check (instead of more of a skill and knowing how to play your class).

lordy i can go on all day as to why this game rubs me the wrong way and IMO is gonna fall quickly like everything that has done the same exact game like it is (anyone remember stuff like SWTOR? how long did that game last until F2P...like 6 months) In a few months or so when that 1 mil box copys tuns into a couple hundred subs at most because people are either realize its more of the same with a new skin or they can't pump out content fast enough because even new players within weeks are quickly to 50...the game will struggle.

The games not awful, dont get me wrong, but its so much of the same thing we have seen over and over, there is no chance in hell this game stays big for long.

-slow clap-

[ArcheustheWise]

*snipped due to length*

You sir nailed it hard. And i MEAN hard. This is exactly what im thinking now. And the sad thing is, the game seemed to be VERY cool at the beginning. I was going to take my time on this game and enjoy the ride then it was like: Woah wait im 43 already? k well might as well try the rest.. wow 50?! O.o Well thats fine, they said they wanted us in the endgame anyway.. um...

Then i saw the light that i had seen at the end of the tunnel, but it wasnt glorious.. it was one big loot grind. Not a big fan of that tbh, i was expecting more from a dev group that touted the reason you leveled so fast was they wanted everyone to get to the end....

I know its still a bit early in the game life but if this is the devs team "vision" of an endgame i think ill pass. Or at the very least do something else...

Gear grinds are not "good" content, they are skinner boxes. (look it up if you dont understand the term)

[M4Fade]

SNIP

Wow. Amazing post Zanfire. I completely agree.

I still wish they would of BUILT off of what they had in 1.23 instead of trashing damn near everything. Fuck. :/

[Klefth]

snip

And in this post, this guy has pretty much summarized how I feel about this game as it stands (for the most part).

The only reason I'm still subbed is because I'm still waiting for them to wake up and realize what they've done to the game, that this "standard" model is nothing but a quick, short-sighted cash-in without future - it's only worked for the game that imposed it, and it only did because of popularity and massive hype, not because it was actually "good". I'm still here only because of a rather foolish hope that the game will eventually change for the better. Wishful thinking? Yeah, maybe, but hey, this is the same dev team that managed to turn the awful game that 1.0 was into the great thing 1.23 was becoming, so... maybe?

[MistressAthena]

And in this post, this guy has pretty much summarized how I feel about this game as it stands (for the most part).

The only reason I'm still subbed is because I'm still waiting for them to wake up and realize what they've done to the game, that this "standard" model is nothing but a quick, short-sighted cash-in without future - it's only worked for the game that imposed it, and it only did because of popularity and massive hype, not because it was actually "good". I'm still here only because of a rather foolish hope that the game will eventually change for the better. Wishful thinking? Yeah, maybe, but hey, this is the same dev team that managed to turn the awful game that 1.0 was into the great thing 1.23 was becoming, so... maybe?

It's not the same dev team. The 1.0 Dev team was fired, this dev team only did what 1.0 dev team was going to do through to 1.23. While then creating their new "Realm Remessedup" at the same time.

[Klefth]

It's not the same dev team. The 1.0 Dev team was fired, this dev team only did what 1.0 dev team was going to do through to 1.23. While then creating their new "Realm Remessedup" at the same time.

I thought it actually was Yoshi's team that did all the changes that led up to 1.23. Well, if that's true, then that just made me lose a bit of that hope...

[MistressAthena]

I thought it actually was Yoshi's team that did all the changes that led up to 1.23. Well, if that's true, then that just made me lose a bit of that hope...

It's just what I heard at any rate. Which it seems to be what happened in retrospect.

[Trancery]

Very well-written and thought out OP. Well done!

I completely agree

[Soukyuu]

It's not the same dev team. The 1.0 Dev team was fired, this dev team only did what 1.0 dev team was going to do through to 1.23. While then creating their new "Realm Remessedup" at the same time.

It is pretty much the same dev team. They moved people around after Tanaka was replaced by Yoshida, but mostly around the top of the hierarchy. The rest stayed the same, it's just a different direction they are now taking, largely determined by what Yoshida is telling them to do.