I hope SE will change the direction of the game

[Swagcity]

Well, perhaps they could release more in-depth polls? For instance, Do you want a ToM type weapon/armor progression system? What should objectives be like? Do you want all endgame gear to be based on this system? etc (That was strictly an example). The previous poll did appear somewhat vague which was an invitation to miscommunication between the players and Devs. Just a suggestion/opinion.

[ColorOfSakura]

Snip

Yes. I totally miss the game where I was able to select Culinarian as my starting class with absolutely no way to switch to a battling class initially without re-rolling, meaning I was stuck with throwing rocks at monsters (which aggro'd even at low levels) as I tried to go out and explore Thanalan. (Since the game let you pick whatever starting city you wanted to start in.)

I played in the beta for 1.0. It was atrocious, but I stuck around hoping that the finalized release would be good. I even bought the C.E. for the game and the final version was still atrocious. I had to roll a second character just to actually get anything done since my main was stuck as a Level 3 Culinarian who was unable to venture out basically anywhere without dying to monsters on the field (because again, they designed the Class Select screen to allow you to pick DoH/DoL classes from the get go without any way to roll a battle class until later.) Not to mention the really poor drop rates on high level gear (1%? Really?), the Fatigue System (ugh. Ugh ugh ugh.), server-based mouse tracking (lag lag lag), the fact that the game was a huge resource hog and my fairly new PC at the time had trouble running it. The Anima system that you used to teleport, but it regenerated so slowly that you basically had to run everywhere because you'd use it all up pretty quick, oh and the game had no airships and no initial mounts (Chocobos eventually showed up, but it took a while.) Oh, and the stamina bar. And the individual cooldowns on every single attack or skill. No auto-attack whatsoever. Menus for days. "Craft this item? Accept?" "Accept?" "Accept?" "Accept?" Animation lock out. (I could go on.)

Yeah. I totally miss that game.

The initial game was terribly designed. Seriously, 1.0 didn't start having really promising content until Yoshi-P was the one that took it over. People don't seem to remember but 1.23 was Yoshi-P and his team, before they realized that the problems they were facing revamping the game were too large and required them to rebuild the game.

And even 1.23 wasn't really much of anything. It was *better* but ARR has been miles above it in terms of content and actual entertainment value. Yeah, I liked some of the stuff in 1.23, but the enjoyable content of 1.23 was few and far between the mountains of annoying crap that you had to slog through to do *anything* in that game.

In the end, I'm optimistic to see where ARR goes. It's easier, yeah, but I don't think its bad by any means whatsoever. I'd rather play ARR than ever EVER go back to the pukefest that was 1.0

(BTW - forum join date doesn't mean anything regarding when someone started playing XIV. I never even bothered signing up for the forums until ARR came out.)

[Arkghyom]

I don't think they will.

[OnyxStrife]

The problem with Square Enix in general, not just with FF14 is this : they've stopped being a company full of their own ideas, vivid imaginations, and incredible direction, and have turned into something that I never expected they'd become. They are now just another gaming company.

Bring on the white knights, let's do battle. I don't hate Square Enix, I want nothing but their prosperity, but not like this. They're becoming followers instead of leaders, copiers instead of creators, and that isn't what MMOs or RPGs need. They need fresh ideas and variety more than any time before. And don't give me that 'BUT THE CLASS/JOB SYSTEM IS SO UNIQUE' no it isn't, shut up. Runescape did it more than 10 years ago. There is nothing in ARR that is unique only to ARR, in terms of mechanics. Why have us Final Fantasy players played Final Fantasy games? I don't even think I need to answer this question, and if I do, you aren't real Final Fantasy fans.

I consider Final Fantasy THE best RPG franchise I have ever seen, up until 13. And no, I am not another 13 hater. 13 was good in its own ways, but it was the beginning of FF's downfall because it ceased to be what made Final Fantasy, well, Final Fantasy. It was never just the epic storylines or good characters that made FF, it was the gameplay, the mechanics, the open world, the sense of adventure and freedom. Not this linear shit we have today. And this rings true for ARR as well. ARR IS LINEAR. WHAT KIND OF GREAT MMO IS A LINEAR EXPERIENCE?

Now before you say "OnyxSTRIFE (and then insult my character name because I have the last name of a Final Fantasy character in a GOD DAMN FINAL FANTASY MMO) there is nothing linear about ARR. You can do whatever you want whenever you want!"

YES, YOU CAN. BUT THERE IS NO REASON TO. Why is there no reason to? Well, friends, because what do you benefit from it? What do you get out of wandering out into the world helping lost noobs and killing monsters? A couple hundred gil and some seals. That don't benefit you at all if you have any desire towards getting the best you can get. Because the only way you can do that in ARR, is by running instances until you have the amount of tomes you can have, and then logging the fuck out. Why would you stay logged in any longer?

This is killing not just FF14, but it's killing all MMOs. I have high hopes with WildStar, and unless SquareEnix comes out and says 'okay guys we've been going down the wrong path but we've listened and we're gunna fix it', I'm gunna go play WildStar. And if I don't like it? I'm not coming back to FF14, and 90% of the people that leave won't either. There isn't enough TO DO. With end game being focused on gear that you can acquire at a set interval of time, THERE WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH MEANINGFUL THINGS TO DO OR ANY REASON TO LOG IN.

An MMOs success isn't based upon its amount of subscribers or its title or how many dungeons they pump out on a regular basis. It's the amount of effort, energy, and love that goes into it. It's looking at an MMO and saying 'Wow, this is different, and I love it. And it works.' Not 'Hey look, a chocobo! This is WAY better than WoW or Guild Wars 2 or SWTOR or Aion!'

That's all for now.

[Lumidus]

World NMs for FCs to take down would be fun. those can be low drop rates with good gear

[ReplicaX]

Have fun with ESO, but be forewarned: ZAM Interview

TLDR: On top of your sub fee, enjoy microtransactions as well. A bad mix, starting off with a mount of course.

[Beetle]

If Yoshida wants to prevent a large portion of the playerbase from quitting then the Crystal Tower is definitely going to have to become an actual endgame raid that is desighned to be much more difficult than the Binding coil of Bahamut. It would also be nice if the Binding coil was bumped up to 16+ player groups to strengthen the endgame community.

Since this game is already following the WoW model, it would be very easy to create an extreme mode and an easy mode duty finder version for both the Binding Coil and the Crystal Tower. Endgame players get their much desired challenging content every 3 months and casual players also get their desired content every 3 months. Epic win for everyone!

This isn't going to happen though because Naoki Yoshida will never allow it. His failed vision is the only thing that matters, the playerbase has zero say in the matter.

Will take alot more to prevent people from leaving. Every patch seems to make the game worse in the long term to keep people playing. I really hope this game loses alot of its subs. Yoshi is trying to cater to 2 groups of people when he cant really. Either casual or hardcore will have to leave this game for yoshi p to choose which direction he wants to contune with. Think whats gonna happen is hes gonna contune what hes doing and both groups will just leave over period of time. Mainly cus theres better games out there that will cater to what they like in their MMOs and FFXIV is just in the middle and doesn't know what it wants to be.

[Beetle]

Agreed Beetle I don't know. Yoshi seems to have his mind set on his Candyland theme park. This isn't the same Yoshi-P from 1.0 that reached out to the players.

They really need to change title of this game to A Candyland Reborn. XD

[Akiza]

They really need to change title of this game to A Candyland Reborn. XD

Open world content for PVE doesn't work because groups of players will camp the zones and block out all other players which will cause massive amount of players to quit. If they are going to do open world content it has to be a territorial PvP continent with zones that players can fight over and control. PVE content should never be open world.

[Seif]

Given the most popular posts in the last 30 days it seems like the desire for stuff to do outside of raids is a desire both hardcore and casuals share.

Beast tribes were a good start but I have a feeling players will be wanting something less cookie cutter in a few months.