ARR often feels very contradictory in its design (long)

[Quesse]

And then you have crafting and gathering. Compared to most MMO's, these systems are really fleshed out in ARR. There's a lot of depth there. There's almost more crafting classes than battle classes, they have their own skill sets, their own gear, hundreds of recipes and materials... yet they are intent on making crafting and gathering have no place within the game. They don't want players forced into it, they feel as if they don't want players to avoid running dungeons for gear, they feel as if a strong player market promotes RMT abuse, so they've made it completely arbitrary and bypassable. Why put all of this effort into their crafting and gathering systems if they don't intend people to take full advantage of it? In my own world, if I were directing ARR, I would take this massive strength and roll with it. I would push the game heavily around crafting and gathering and player economy, simply because, hey, I have this really well done crafting and gathering aspect of my game.

This is a question many of us have been asking since 2.0 day one. The answer seems to be that Yoshi loves theme park style MMO design and a solid crafting/gathering economy doesn't fit. But he's left with an armory system and class system from 1.0 so he's "making the best of it" -- in other words he's gimping the stuff he doesn't like.

That's pretty much all there is to it. So much potential... wasted.

[Nadrojj]

I think they've done a lot of things right, but what they have done wrong they have done terribly wrong.

- I love the new world it's really well done, but nothing forces you to see it all, nothing makes you travel to out of the way places you'll appreciate.
A FC member of mine didn't even know about the overgrown goobbue in Drybone until we were doing a treasure map over there. (BTW treasure hunts are awesome)

- They created an amazing crafting system, but made everything you can create second tier. Why am I going to spend money/time to craft something when I can get a dungeon drop that is comparable/better?

- The materia system is a great idea in theory, but ........... again with DL/Myth/Allagan no one is wearing gear with sockets. I honestly think putting a socket on this endgame gear would lead to a bit of variety, but then again it would take away from the want/need to use crafted endgame gear.

- There is no sense of danger. Oh man, those mobs aggro? Who cares just keep running long enough and they'll leave me alone. No point in stopping and trying to kill them because they don't have anything good to drop. I played WoW for a very short time period but I thought it was awesome how pretty much any mob you killed could drop something awesome, a purple item if i remember correctly.

- Fates are a joke. Everyone in the zone spamming, very little coordination if any needed. Odin and Behemoth fates were a cool idea but I haven't even seen them since the first week of the game release when I was fate grinding my paladin. Then when I did actually make it to the fate, I couldn't see the mob..... bummer.

- 2.1 was kind of a let down for me, here's why. Releasing Coil before CT? I see 0 point in doing CT because I already have better gear thanks to coil/myth. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty to do, but I also disliked the rehash of primals just now with EXTREME! mechanics. Ultima is cool .... but doesn't drop ilvl 90 stuff, so most of us with ilvl 90 on our mains don't need a neck or bracelet lower than our current ilvl. Housing....... huge let down for most. I wasn't that bummed on it, I think it should be a large gil investment, maybe not as large as it is now but it should be something you are proud of achieving.
To me the game is too catered to the casual, too much everyone gets a trophy for participating, and not enough time syncs/grinds. I play a MMO for the challenge, for the rare items, for the shinies. I like when my gear reflects the work I've put in, right now it just seems like it's handed to you.

[Vahlnir]

- Fates are a joke. Everyone in the zone spamming, very little coordination if any needed. Odin and Behemoth fates were a cool idea but I haven't even seen them since the first week of the game release when I was fate grinding my paladin. Then when I did actually make it to the fate, I couldn't see the mob..... bummer.

That was a big issue pre-2.1. I had a few Odin kills under my belt by the time 2.1 hit but I only got to kill Behemoth once. They fixed the issue with not seeing them but that came with a bit of a trade-off. If you're in a group you see the boss more than any players in the area. That results in healers not being able to target the rest of the party for heals, and if they can it isn't for long.

[Vensaval]

As a person loves this game and has defended it on numerous occasions, I have to agree with everything you've stated in your OP.

There's tons of potential in this game that feels as though it's being muffled. Like everything's been too simplified. Which makes certain aspects that would be amazing greatly undervalued. The world itself is a prime example.

Eorzea is very beautiful and vast. Yet, we constantly see people say that it feels too small. However, the only reason it feels this way is due to the Aethernet system. If you can quick travel to practically any place on the world map, why bother traversing it the traditional way? Choco porters and airships serve very little purpose. Appealing only to those who really want to save as much gil as possible when travelling.

The potential of the armoury system is heavily stunted by jobs and the perks they provide. It's too inefficient to think outside the box and create something unique by mixing and matching skills from several classes. When I played in beta, I went in this wanting to create a type of pseudo White Monk. Only to become disappointed as time passed when I realized that there was virtually no point.

Also, this is a bit off topic, but it's something that's been bugging me from the very beginning. I would absolutely love for there to be different animations for classes and jobs between races. I really don't feel as though a Lalafellin Paladin should feel as heavy as a Roegadyn. Likewise, Roegadyn Monks shouldn't feel as light as a Mi'qote. Just bothers me.

[Ri_ri]

- Fates are a joke. Everyone in the zone spamming, very little coordination if any needed.

Not everything in the game needs to be a raid encounter.
I fail to understand this mentality, FATEs are a tool for leveling, exp parties and questing doesn't requires any strategy either.

[gadenp]

For me, crafting could be a viable alternative to bypassing the weekly dungeon loot lock out. It could also be a good means to produce a large variety of vanity gear.

But for it to be a viable alternative, over melding has got to go, but increase amount of melding slots in gear. Also make crafting equipment require more loot found in specific dungeons. And please please ensure once fully melded (no overmeld) the stats level is the same as dropped equipment (with the standard mmo variation, SS instead of Crit, etc).

This way people that want gear for secondary or even main classes would have an alternative to getting gear that would be expensive but bypass the weekly lockout. And those that have no money can still slowly gain compatible equipment via the standard dungeons, but will not feel left out because crafter gear is now way better then standard dungeon gear (due to overmeld, etc).

Crafting and Weekly Dungeons should both provide equal viable paths. One that is expensive but no lockout and one that is cheap but has a weekly lockout.

[Kiroh]

Hmm, i wonder where i heard that before.

Oh right, Swtor

Final Fantasy XIV 1.0 Alpha
Final Fantasy XIV 1.0 CB
Final Fantasy XIV 1.0 OB
Final Fantasy XIV 1.15 patch
Final Fantasy XIV 1.16 patch
Final Fantasy XIV 1.17 patch
Final Fantasy XIV 1.18 patch
Final Fantasy XIV 1.19 patch
Final Fantasy XIV 1.20 patch
Final Fantasy XIV 1.21 patch
Final Fantasy XIV 1.22 patch
Final Fantasy XIV 1.23 patch
Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 Alpha
Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 CB
Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 OB
Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 Release
Final Fantasy XIV 2.1 patch

Fixed that for you. >_>

[Nadrojj]

Not everything in the game needs to be a raid encounter.
I fail to understand this mentality, FATEs are a tool for leveling, exp parties and questing doesn't requires any strategy either.

You fail to understand that for most fates you can run up to the boss, engage, walk to the fridge to get something to drink, walk back hit one or two keys, watch some tv and get gold? Engage and fire off a skill or two and get gold. There is no stragegy, there is no team work. Whack something for 1-3 minutes and win.

[storm]

The OP does well to articulate my concerns with the development direction. Contradictory is absolutely the feeling I've been getting. It's frankly Baffling. It's almost as though each time they come up with a new idea that sounds real promising they figure out a way to zap all the fun out of it.

[Axidrain]

from the day i started playing the game. i didnt understand why they made it so easy to level everything in the game. if they just made progressing via leveling a little bit slower, we wouldn't have to deal with half of these problems that the OP mentioned and we dont have to deal with these stupid lockouts/people complaining about lack of content/crafting equips would've been viable from low levels/less max level RMT botters running around in game/etc