Okay, big changes take time. However.

[Kiara]

You have no idea what you're talking about.

For starters, 80% of the things you mentioned they could be doing have been in the game's data (on your computer) since release, and you can hack your way into them now if you wanted.

As for the other 20%, you really think it takes 7 months to make some smallish maps for a boss battle and to revise some weapon skill effects?

Come on...

Hi LateReg,

That's funny, because you have no idea what you're talking about either.

So you're saying the 2 Raid Dungeons are 100% done and sitting on our PC's since *release*? Those videos of people breaking into those restricted areas on Youtube look pretty spare, most of them unlit, with little-to-no detail. Yah, that's really 100% "done" and ready to battle in. (>_>)

Did you not read the rest of the points for *possible* things the Art Department was working on? It's not just "7 months for 2 smallish maps for boss battles." Learn to read through people's comments completely before just claiming it's 2 smallish maps.

Ultimately, none of us know what every sub-team is working on right now. We don't get their production schedule so we can't cross-reference what they've done every month until now.


But for the original poster to claim the Art Department is doing nothing and to ask for 25 new Hairstyles is absurd. Time will tell what they've been doing.

You and all the naysayers may be right: When 1.18 hits, if the 2 new Dungeons look *exactly* like the Youtube videos with no additions, then I think everyone will be laughing and flaming Team Yoshida for doing "nothing." Or maybe we will be getting content that gets people excited to play the game again.

[Betelgeuzah]

s

if I could at least look and feel like an actual Final Fantasy character as opposed to "generic fantasy adventure X" which this game clearly is.

Yet that's what you are. no matter how you want to dress up, you are one of the 20k-or-so players on your server at best. Acting like that isn't the case only makes you and the game seem foolish.

You are not a goddamn Cloud regardless of how spiky your hair is. You are a generic adventurer X.

Now, to address all of the retardation of this thread (I kid, I kid- I have no time to write novels). Every job is going to get it's unique armor set whenever the system is implemented. That means seven different and unique armor sets for all races and genders, in a single patch. Does it seem like not much to you? Regardless of what you might think, it is a lot and usually something that only comes with expansions at best. And that doesn't even take into account weapon models (if there are any job specific ones). Granted, it's not by any means something remarkable either- fairly standard.

If there are new enemy models, they are most likely going to be unique boss enemies related to the upcoming content.

The weapon skill animations and effects will also see improvements- some in 1.18, but most in 1.19 and beyond.

As far as areas are concerned, there is a team working on removing insivible walls, people working on additional assets like the quest hubs, people working on finishing the assets for the three beastmen regions (new areas) and accompanying quest hubs, and possibly a team working on overhauling the existing regions and creating required assets. (note: I did not mention any assets regarding the raids, even though the assets can be completely new regardless of if they share the same aesthetic style related to the regions in question or not).

Lastly, anyone working on fucking character hairstyles better get to work on any of the aforementioned changes to get them out faster or I'll lose all hope in Yoshida for prioritizing something so miniscule yet what takes as much work to do as anything.

[Onidemon]

I get it. Careful measuring, time-consuming testing, all that. It's a very tough thing to do, fundamentally changing an entire game when you have a player base that is willingly exploiting every tiny thing they can get away with. So it takes time. You can't just release something willy-nilly and not expect a complete catastrophe. So we sit and wait.

This is my conundrum. It's been stated by Square that they have different "divisions" for each of their patches. Different sections of employees that focus on one thing or another. While I can understand that most of them are probably at least loosely involved in this "big battle patch", what I don't understand is why we have had to sit here for three months without anything truly substancial happening in the game.

Where the heck is the art department? Busy re-sizing fireballs and rodents? Why on earth is there not about 25 different new hairstyles for every race, a female highland hyur, "Final Fantasy" looking armor and clothing, new spell art, etc etc etc? None of this has anything to do with their precious battle system. IMO the least they could do is throw us a pretty graphical bone every once in awhile, and I'm not referring to the "99 cent discount stickers" they consider to be aggro markers.

If they just bothered to make the game better looking and allow us some more individuality, I'd be a LOT more patient with all of this.

But what can I say? It's a free game. That I haven't played in weeks because I'm waiting for something, ANYTHING, new to be added.

I completely agree with u. The answer is either they are holding off whatever those teams are working on for a later patch or they got pretty much everyone working on the whole rebuilding of the core systems.

[Kailok]

Also, they're probably finishing Ishgard. I'm probably not the only one who thinks Ishgard better be a damn site to see when I get inside there.

[Kiara]

You are very blind to what is going on.

Point to point

The 2 zones already existed and have since Open Beta Client.

The bosses/zones, the 4 (maybe 5?) mobs we've seen are all copy/pasted: Toad, Fat fish, Skeleton, Chigoes, and Kobolds from the very first SS.

We've not seen any rewards yet, they also could just be copy/pasta from original files/textures. We wont know until, they show us, but why havent they shown us?

The quest hubs are created from copy/pasting already ingame assets which fair enough is fine, but its still not new development work by an art team.

There are already a couple unaccessable beastmen strongholds ingame and they could be used, if not then we've had no images or any data from dev team to prove otherwise.

Ifrits already ingame, been there as im sure you know, and art team dont make quests.

All we have seen so far is copy/paste, copy/paste. That is all we've had.

Hi Premium,

You see the situation as the glass half-empty, others may not agree with you, sorry. But that's your opinion and your prerogative.

As I mentioned in another reply, so you think the videos on Youtube of people sneaking into those unused areas represent 100% completed work? Most of the areas I saw in those videos were unlit, un-or-half-textured, completely barren shells of what might be the 2 Raid Dungeons Yoshida-san is talking about. That's not 100% "done" and ready to go.

Now if when 1.18 hits and we run inside and it looks EXACTLY like the Youtube videos? I think you and every one of us can laugh and flame Yoshida-san and his team for doing nothing for the Dungeons since we've seen them look just like that in the videos.

But have ANY of us actually seen Thousand Maws or Dzemael Darkhold? No.

So none of us can claim it's copypasta until we get there. Time will tell.

Same for your arguments on the bosses and mobs: I agree those 2 teaser screenshots are pretty sad because it only shows copy & pasted mobs. But none of us have raided those dungeons yet, right? Again, pessimistic view is: "Oh, EVERYTHING is going to be copy & pasted. From the Dungeons to the Mobs and the Bosses." Optimistic view: "We hope there are some new monsters and bosses and new areas to raid in."

Rewards: None of us have seen all the rewards / new items / armor / weapons from Patch 1.18, 1.19, so we won't know until those 2 patches hit if we've gotten any new Art Assets that way.

Quest Hubs: Of course there are probably some reused props / items (crates, barrels, tent). But let's pass judgement on the Quest Hubs if they're 100% copy & pasted when we actually *see* them? Right?

Beastmen Strongholds: Now you're just taking a negative view (your prerogative). That one screenshot of the Steampunk-looking area of a Beastman Camp in the Producer Letter looked pretty awesome. If you believe those were 100% done and fully textured, lit and completed already in our game, then more power to you. I believe that Beastmen Strongholds are things being developed still.

Yes Ifrit is in the game, but are all of his different Attacks, Weaponskills, Final Attacks for his new playable encounter done? We saw a cinematic Ifrit (gorgeous), but what about the playable version where we fight him in real-time? For potential different stages of the Boss Fight? What about his Boss Arena? (If it's just the same area as the current storyline, then, sure, you're right that there's nothing there. But we don't know yet.)

And what about the massive planning, concept work, 1st pass modeling / texturing / lighting / development / 2nd pass modeling / texturing / lighting / etc. of the Major Map Revamp in the massive R1 to 50 Zone Thread? I think changing the areas around all 3 Nations is a pretty big task that's going to take a long time (more than just a few months).

Ultimately, after the dust settles from 1.18, 1.19 and 1.20, we can look back and see just how much or little the team has provided for us.

[Renshi]

I've got no issue from the waiting. The more waiting, the better =)
I just log into FFXIV, have fun with my LS mates, log out and play some ESPGaluga, DoDonPachi, Mushihime-sama while waiting.

[Alexis_Arteme]

Yet that's what you are. no matter how you want to dress up, you are one of the 20k-or-so players on your server at best. Acting like that isn't the case only makes you and the game seem foolish.

You are not a goddamn Cloud regardless of how spiky your hair is. You are a generic adventurer X.

Lastly, anyone working on fucking character hairstyles better get to work on any of the aforementioned changes to get them out faster or I'll lose all hope in Yoshida for prioritizing something so miniscule yet what takes as much work to do as anything.

I prefer lightning over Cloud - but that's another thread in another time.

Is it really so foolish? To ask for a few tools to allow me some creativity in the creation of my character? Heck, SWG even manged that. If I can't play a fantasy adventure game and experience at least the sensation of being an amazing character in an amazing world, I just don't have interest. Quite sad from one of their biggest fans. If I want to be a cog in a machine, completely ignorable like all the rest, I'll just go to a factory job and at least get paid for it.

If players are happy being nobodies, more power to them. I have higher ambitions IRL and in games. I'm not really surprised, artists and creative people have been getting crapped on in these types of games for all time. Asking for a canvas with which to create my character vs. a few legos and a stick is obviously asking too much... after all, most other games are exactly the same way, especially the most popular ones.

[Jennestia]

If I can't play a fantasy adventure game and experience at least the sensation of being an amazing character in an amazing world, I just don't have interest.

As we say in this industry:

"Create your own game, then."

MMORPGs aren't sandbox games to the extreme level like you're painting them out to be -- you can have customization, but you are playing THEIR fantasy world, not one you've created. Some MMOs have a lot of customization yet still within the limits of their world design, while others have almost no customization beyond hair color.

Also just an FYI, you can pump out models in days, weeks or months depending on amount of detail -- the mobs in XIV are heavily detailed compared to most MMOs out today -- however just because you go up to your project and lead and are like:

"Ok I finished x - x amount of hairstyles for lalafells, here you go!"

or

"Ok, here's a new Harpy family of enemies including a boss version, it took a month but it's done!"

Doesn't mean they'll up and implement it the second you complete it.

[Gramul]

WoW's been around for many years and they've still ever managed to model a new dragon, even for a major boss in the game, so obviously modeling for an MMO is the hardest thing ever.

Well, to be fair, WoW's models are a bit less detailed than XIV's.

[Cyruance]

Frankly, this game has progressed less in the last year than a game that didn't have an abysmal launch, a change up of management, and an indefinite free to play period would have. It's absurd that so very little has been done in the actual game over the course of almost a year given the degree of reworking they promised. This update is so delayed and so anticipated because its the first real bit of fundamental change and significant <new> content being added.

That being said, I don't think you can fairly say all the various supposed teams are doing nothing/don't exist until you see what gets put out. Its not entirely unreasonable, as others have stated, that they'd take a ground up approach - fix some fundamental issues before adding various bits of flare to a currently broken game world... Painfully slow as these fundamental changes come.