New Letter from the Producer, XII

[Richard]

This has become very standard behavior among the entire playerbase, so it's downright absurd to dismiss it as inappropriate play-style. I also can't possibly imagine the "gain in SP for completeing leves solo" will make up for the loss of getting through two sets of a party of 8's BW leves, or come anywhere close. I'll reserve any further negative assumption until I see how it actually plays out, but as the next patch being only the beginning of the changes, I'm not liking the sounds of it alone.

They said in a recent Dev post that leve-failing is not "inappropriate play style":

While the current situation where players intentionally fail leves is not against the rules of the current game design, it obviously doesn't foster a healthy game environment. In our future plans for Guildleves, we don't plan on adding a penalty for failing, but instead plan to include a bonus for completion.

The reason they are changing it is more fundamental. It was flawed and boring to begin with. Putting it on a lower rung of the ladder is [size=7]A GREAT THING[/size] so they can give us real ways to XP that aren't so boring and monotonous.

[Vackashken]

I am beyond happy that the fail-leve shenanigans is being addressed. BEYOND HAPPY.

[Victor]

Then how about you quote the person who posted treating leve-failing as otherwise? >_>

[Richard]

Then how about you quote the person who posted treating leve-failing as otherwise? >_>

not even sure you understand your own question or it is even correct English, so I'll ignore it.

[Miche_Chou]

This has become very standard behavior among the entire playerbase, so it's downright absurd to dismiss it as inappropriate play-style. I also can't possibly imagine the "gain in SP for completeing leves solo" will make up for the loss of getting through two sets of a party of 8's BW leves, or come anywhere close. I'll reserve any further negative assumption until I see how it actually plays out, but as the next patch being only the beginning of the changes, I'm not liking the sounds of it alone.

Glad I'm not alone in the way that I felt after reading this letter

[Rowyne]

OMG, this is exciting!!!

When FINAL FANTASY XIV was launched last September, it was stated via official channels that guildleves will form the heart of the game. Today, I’d like to officially retract that statement.

Guildleves will no longer be central to FINAL FANTASY XIV.

* Leves will now be considered solo content.
* In light of guildleves’ repositioning as solo-oriented content, leve link bonuses will be reduced (no more fail exploit)
* Side-quests will now yield SP!!! OMG, quest-based leveling?!? Finally, story-driven content!!!

We still have some ways to go, but FINAL FANTASY XIV will gradually shift from being a grind-centric game to one that offers enjoyment for all playing styles and circumstances with its ever-expanding variety of content.

This. Changes. Everything.

I think I may grow to love this game again.

Thank you, Yoshi-P! <3

(They really were listening!!!)

[AlexiaKidd]

Glad they are finally turning leves back to the quick casual content they were designed to be. Now let's hope that by doing that they have something more interesting for parties to exp on.

[Zenaku]

So he making this game Casual ok i can deal with that. I just hope there more fun things to do as a party. If he make this to casual more people would just solo then party because he just mess everything up and no reason to party beside dungeons.

anyways i guess i have to move my butt and get 50 before they fix the leve and can't get 1.1k leve linking maybe i should have not reroll oh well i like my elvaan now.

can't wait for next week letter.

[Nipa]

Why doesn't he realize that having to go back to the leve counter is a massive deterrent for casual players?

[Richard]

So he making this game Casual ok i can deal with that. I just hope there more fun things to do as a party. If he make this to casual more people would just solo then party because he just mess everything up and no reason to party beside dungeons.

anyways i guess i have to move my butt and get 50 before they fix the leve and can't get 1.1k leve linking maybe i should have not reroll oh well i like my elvaan now.

can't wait for next week letter.

he is not making the game more casual he is optimizing it for casual players. there will still be the party based leveling through grind camps + xp chains + quests. More options = better game. The fact they are also going with a more sideways content progression vs. upwards leveling progression = AMAZING.