All this talk about community...

[Sadana]

I think the biggest issue is that most everything is done in instances with random people that you will most likely never see again.

Then go with friends...

[Clavaat]

eta: Allow me to direct your attention to this little thread about building a community: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...te-a-Community

Hey look it's my post that lasted a day! :P

While I can condone with you, OP, I do think that the game is what you make of it. You make some points I agree with, however I think that you would benefit from trying to enhance your experience by taking the initiative and trying to come up with events and stuff for your LS/FC. There are lots of FC's that are very active and helpful out there, so maybe the one you're in just isn't right for you. If you are really committed to it, you'll ever get out what you put into it. Good luck to you.

[Reynhart]

The real problem with this game is that there is little to nothing for the community to band together and do.

I don't understand how having "nothing to befriend someone" justify "being a jerk to someone" ?

[Sadana]

Hey look it's my post that lasted a day! :P

Hey... we tried. XDDD

[FritoBandito]

The fact that you have a choice to do everything on your own IS in iteself poor game design, in a MMORPG.

Perhaps for you. The way the game is designed might be just right for other players, and it's worth reminding you that, despite your claims of poor design, the game is doing quite well and has been a huge success.

[Clavaat]

I can see his point. I really think we should've been limited to how many classes we can haved maxed out at one time. Like you could only have maxed: 2 DOW, 2 DOM, 1 DOH and 1 DOL at a time. And all others capped at say 30. Being able to do everything yourself can certainly have an impact on the community and marketplace.

This is a misconception: you still can't do everything yourself. You can play every role yourself, maybe. But you cannot actually do everything yourself. You're still one person.

[Daragust]

The fact that you have a choice to do everything on your own IS in iteself poor game design, in a MMORPG.

I have played several MMOs that allowed for plenty of choice that still had a strong guild affiliation. There needs to be a differentiation made between FC Community, Server Community, and the game Community as a whole.

FC Community is built by the individual members and the direction of their leadership. If a leader doesn't care about who they invite, their FC will be an apathetic mess. General rule of thumb, if there isn't an initiation period, the leadership doesn't care enough to be sure you fit in and that your needs and the guild's needs are being met.

Server Community is one of the places where any game with a cross server df queue will flounder. Server communities are built by continual interaction with the population of your server. It reinforces good play habits because you can be called out for your behavior because people know you; you aren't just a face in the crowd. This is where FFXIV, like most modern MMO's, is failing. I can list very few names of players from my server because I am never driven to interact with them in a meaningful way. This is where your game design argument fits.

Finally there is the community that gets talked about regularly on these forums. That is the game as a whole, with its elitists, casuals, carebears, ect. These community issues exist due to large groups of conflicting opinions residing in the same game. Trying to build an MMO is like trying to get only children to share their toys. No one ends up happy because everyone feels like they are getting the short end of the stick.

With those definitions in place, lets talk a bit about FC Community. FC's are social groups that at times have other social groups within them depending on their size. You cannot design content to force FC's to have something to do. It is the FC's decision what they do. I won't argue having larger scale content that can be tackled by an FC would be bad. But the FC's choice of focus is just that, a choice. If everyone in the FC does their own thing, its not really a focused group, its an affiliation that shares a company house, chest and crest. If you feel that you need a FC to give you direction or that plays together, then it is on you to find the group that fits you. If you are leading an FC and feel like no one is acting together, you need to examine how you are getting your members and what you are doing to give them direction.

[Riardon]

So you say let's put content that only FCs can do and the rest not? Barilliant idea. FC's have their own choices and priorities. There are bad FCs good FCs. No matter what content they will put people will be the same you have to realise this. We will probably end with a large annoyed and frustrated player base aren't we? There are a lot of people out there who don't like depending on others be it FC or not to clear content and begging for a static party or smth. And if you want something like this we already have The 2nd Coil which requires a good static party and FCs play a big role in it. There are already too many people frustrated about still stucked on Titan EX be it noobs like some of you will say or not. Content must be easily accecible by anyone and not create elitism in order make FCs feel more important. And they already shoed us more FC content is coming in next patches.

[Skivvy]

Then go with friends...

I do run a lot with friends, however, this thread is not just about my personal experience in the game, but the community. When you are forced to do things with just your owner server, you learn who you can depend on, those that you should stay away from, the people who are just plain ol' fun to talk to, etc. It helps to build the community. Running with anons from other servers breeds annoying little twats who don't have to fear about their reputation following them because there is a good chance they will never see the people again.

[Pixi]

I can see his point. I really think we should've been limited to how many classes we can haved maxed out at one time. Like you could only have maxed: 2 DOW, 2 DOM, 1 DOH and 1 DOL at a time. And all others capped at say 30. Being able to do everything yourself can certainly have an impact on the community and marketplace.

Any artificial limit of that sort wouldn't really have any effect on the types of people who want to max everything out. All that would do is cause them to have to level things on multiple characters. That happened plenty in FFXI where there were plenty of people with one craft maxed on their mains, and a band of alts with the other crafts leveled up.

And as someone else pointed out, as far as the battle classes go, there is no need for a limit, since you as a player can only perform one role at any given time.

Problems with the community or lack thereof are due to problems with player mentality. Changing the game design won't change the fact that a large portion of players prefer to be able to do content as quickly and efficiently (i.e. with the least amount of people) as possible. It would just create obstacles for those players to work around to get back to their status quo.