ARR often feels very contradictory in its design (long)

[Mihana]

While I don't want to go back to the days of version 1.0 it almost felt like the team knew a bit more of what they were doing. In 2.0 here it doesn't seem as much. Regarding the crafting system I've grown to love and adore it now, something I hardly cared for in 1.0 due to how boring and random it felt. It still is a little random but they breathed new life into it. Yet, it's virtually damned near pointless to do. Yoshi-P's vision appears to be having it in just as a "feature" that all MMO's have but push it to the farthest corners and forget it exists. It has little use, is too easy to cap, and just about any armor, weapons, or even items you may craft are utterly obsolete in favor of a dungeon or token system drop.

I've actually been struggling to get myself to get hooked on this game like I had in 1.0 but it's difficult. I have little interest in logging in most days, and it's because that same magic or feel that 1.0 had is gone. It's not there's too little to do, or too much to do. It's not that the content is lacking, or is boring. I believe FFXIV is trying to be too much like every other MMO out there but it isn't working too successfully. I'm straying off topic.

I have yet to play enough to be affected by the lockouts, but I can already tell that had I been a much more active player they likely would have already. And I can agree it does feel as if it contradicts a lot of what the Armory System was about. Multiple jobs on one character but you'll have to focus primarily on one and only one until you finish gearing up that job, and then you have to move onto the next to gear up that job. Meanwhile you're looking at months apart before you'll even have maybe one job fully geared up sufficiently.

The item level is flawed, badly. Materia-infused gear can quite possibly rival some of the ilvl80 gear if properly melded, maybe even ilvl90 gear. Don't quote me on that since I've never did the comparisons. The point however is item level means nothing beyond a "gate" to more difficult content you need to meet or beat to access. Yet this whole system doesn't count superior or highly-infused crafted gear, and the ilvl requirements for quite a few dungeons is either too low or makes no sense for the gear that's said to drop from it.

[Krystalynn]

The only thing that keeps me playing is this. I loved FFXIV 1.0... that is to say, 1.23. It was GARBAGE in 1.0

...but by 1.23 I actually fell in love with the game. I freaking miss it honestly. We'll never get it again, but this is a new FFXIV.

2.0 isn't garbage by any means but its broken. It's a sinking ship. It took a year and a half for 1.0 to go from being a turd, to something of a beautiful stone. It was no diamond, nor gem... but I won't ever forget it.

So 2.0 has that opportunity. It has the time to become greater. The only problem I feel is that it will not, because of the forced PS3 compatibility. Our zones are smaller, they're broken up, because of PS3 limitations, and this is forever going to stunt the game unless they drop PS3 support and work exclusively on PC/PS4 platforms, or give PC/PS4 platforms a brand new client.

[Ri_ri]

So 2.0 has that opportunity. It has the time to become greater. The only problem I feel is that it will not, because of the forced PS3 compatibility. Our zones are smaller, they're broken up, because of PS3 limitations, and this is forever going to stunt the game unless they drop PS3 support and work exclusively on PC/PS4 platforms, or give PC/PS4 platforms a brand new client.

What could be better if the game was PS4/PC only?
Besides graphics (the game is already beautiful, though).

[Roris]

A lot of the stuff from 1.0 was planned under the old direction, the biggest example is Hamlet Defense and Beastmen Strongholds, they also planned some sort of guild company system that eventually turned into Grand Companies and finally Free Companies. It always felt like just a small dedicated crew was left working on 1.0 slowly finishing these incomplete concepts and gameplay elements because their framework was already there, while the bigger part of the team was working on ARR behind the scenes, if you look at all the patch notes there weren't major content additions until around 1.17-1.18 and the majority were system fixes.

[Krystalynn]

What could be better if the game was PS4/PC only?

It's not just 'graphics'. The video memory on the ps3 is what is limiting texture and model count, as well as the size of the zones. It's not that the PS3 can't handle large zones, it just needs to be able to do this and load all the people in said zones, and it already does a poor job of this as it is. The sad part is, while the PC/PS4 will perform better, the core structure of the game HAS TO accommodate the PS3 hardware. Do you think zones got broken down into small segmented chunks on purpose? Did you know the previous version of this game had NO zone borders? When you stood on the cliffs of La Noscea and saw Limsa Lominsa in the horizon, it was Limsa Lominsa. Not a fake model of it with a blurry 2d backdrop. This goes beyond graphics, that's immersion. Do you know how breathtaking it is to walk in an unbroken world? The only game that has managed to do this with strength is, ironically, World of Warcraft, but anyone who played Vanilla in that game can tell you, it's what got them hooked in the first place.

[Ri_ri]

Do you know how breathtaking it is to walk in an unbroken world? The only game that has managed to do this with strength is, ironically, World of Warcraft, but anyone who played Vanilla in that game can tell you, it's what got them hooked in the first place.

Yes... I know. And now we have flying mounts to skip all that mass of useless land. The novelty wears off after the first time and it becomes a chore to get through it. I know 1.0 had no zone borders... I also know that it had long corridors to hide loading times, and even more laggy than 2.0.

People are always blaming the PS3 for things they don't like. Besides the UI, nothing else is confirmed as "PS3 limitation".

I must be too old to think that cosmetics doesn't and never will make good gameplay.

[KoujiGeki]

Yes... I know. And now we have flying mounts to skip all that mass of useless land. The novelty wears off after the first time and it becomes a chore to get through it. I know 1.0 had no zone borders... I also know that it had long corridors to hide loading times, and even more laggy than 2.0.

People are always blaming the PS3 for things they don't like. Besides the UI, nothing else is confirmed as "PS3 limitation".

I must be too old to think that cosmetics doesn't and never will make good gameplay.

except theres hundreds and hundreds of threads proving that ps3 limitation are true but you people seem to just ignore them. they even removed belts from the game to alleviate stress on the ps3. and the fact of waiting on people who skipped cut scenes but still take like 3 minutes for their games to actually load just happened in a CM run.

[Ri_ri]

except theres hundreds and hundreds of threads proving that ps3 limitation are true but you people seem to just ignore them. they even removed belts from the game to alleviate stress on the ps3. and the fact of waiting on people who skipped cut scenes but still take like 3 minutes for their games to actually load just happened in a CM run.

Having belts on my character wouldn't make the game better. There was official posts saying they were removed due to ruining the look of sets, anyway.
You know slow loading also happens with people who have slow HDs and low RAM memory, right?

You guys don't remember how many others "failed" MMORPG with awesome cosmetics are out there.

[KoujiGeki]

Having belts on my character wouldn't make the game better. There was official posts saying they were removed due to ruining the look of sets, anyway.
You know slow loading also happens with people who have slow HDs and low RAM memory, right?

You guys don't remember how many others "failed" MMORPG with awesome cosmetics are out there.

true and yes but they are also lazy with stuff for instance my tail as a miqote. Back in 1.0 they made the gear around the tail made certain gear look nice with the split made for the tail, now the tails just clip through and looks sloppy and stupid. and i dont feel like it ruin sets with belt the LEAST they couldve done is add a hid belt option. i liked the way my drg use to look with a scarlet sash on.

[Maxthunder]

I agree with the OP on every part.I have given this game the 6 months I said I would and now it is time to decide if I should waste my money on this game any longer. I played XI for years and I have played 1.0 to 2.0 and 2.0 has been nothing but utter disappointment. I have no idea what Yoshi is trying to make this game into but at this point I dont think he even knows what he should do.

I have seen a lot of players that I use to play with, as well as a lot of players in different ls and fc's report they are loseing players. These players are not logging in anymore and it seems to be a safe bet they have dropped their subs. This game has potential but can Yoshi and co unlock it before it is too late.