Simplicity over complexity, time to change.

[Kazama]

I would shun you if you didn't have the required DPS to warrant your spot. Unless you were a healer, then all you had to be is mildly intelligent. As for blocking your gear, I *hated* that to no end. What a completely, and utterly, worthless feature.

You should have been on my server, I'd ask you for that!

I am on your server Exstal and we have run stuff many times... but I usually lived in DPS Spec Cleric and only did PvP in the end. We didn't 6 man most of the endgame stuff like TS anyhow so in order to support 4-man farming runs yeah we had to hit DPS checks for a smooth run. If we are talking DLS sure you had to meet DPS checks there too but that was only one thing. What I meant is for 90% of players to run an instance they didn't need to do these things unless they wanted to run with the best players.

Also I agree - blocking people from viewing your gear was stupid.

Syn Kazama - Hyperion Server (Main FFXIV Account)
Synr - Tiamat Server (Main Aion Character)

[Dannythm]

Oh it most certainly is a huge selling point. Unfortunately to go along with that almost nobody has done a revised review almost a year later now so most people go off of those outdated and nearsighted reviews or Reddit feedback. Since we know almost everyone in the Reddit community is more concerned about their screenshot satire, glamours, cosplay and RP that leaves very little insight for new players. Additionally, since the game is targeted at RPG and Console players it is no wonder so many people love the game. Compared to Final Fantasy XIII, XIV is amazingly good.

I understand for newcomers to the genre or even just to the IP it seems spectacular, a non linear RPG with an open world and good story with a real challenge near the end. But id say it takes at least a few years playing MMOs to understand what makes them truly great. Anyone new to the MMO genre I think looks at the game as it currently is and judges it whereas veteran MMO players look at where it is going and that's the big difference. Most of us, casual and hardcore alike love what they have done for the most part. What scares us is where it is heading and if they can redirect the currently grim future we see. That is my opinion at least.

I think you are right, but I wonder, when the new people has completed the storyline, and realize that all that's left is the gear threadmill... I wonder how a new player to MMO's will react, because as far as I know, the retention rate is really low, for any MMO, and I think ARR has a really short live (about 4 months from personal experience of people that came new to the game and left), but thee's new people coming all the time. So I wonder, when all the "new" players have come and go, what population will ARR retain, and of that population, how many of us will still be asking for more depth and complexity, and how many will still be asking to keep things like is this was a 2004 MMO still.

[Exstal]

I am on your server Exstal and we have run stuff many times... but I usually lived in DPS Spec Cleric and only did PvP in the end. We didn't 6 man most of the endgame stuff like TS anyhow so in order to support 4-man farming runs yeah we had to hit DPS checks for a smooth run. If we are talking DLS sure you had to meet DPS checks there too but that was only one thing. What I meant is for 90% of players to run an instance they didn't need to do these things unless they wanted to run with the best players.

Also I agree - blocking people from viewing your gear was stupid.

Syn Kazama - Hyperion Server (Main FFXIV Account)
Synr - Tiamat Server (Main Aion Character)

Damn, I hated DPS Clerics. I was a firm believer that healers should have relatively low DPS, just above tanks..not close to or above sorcs >_>

Man, I lived in DLR. Then Bun got all his mithril medals and stopped playing so the static died D:

[Zantetsuken]

I understand for newcomers to the genre or even just to the IP it seems spectacular, a non linear RPG with an open world and good story with a real challenge near the end. But id say it takes at least a few years playing MMOs to understand what makes them truly great. Anyone new to the MMO genre I think looks at the game as it currently is and judges it whereas veteran MMO players look at where it is going and that's the big difference. Most of us, casual and hardcore alike love what they have done for the most part. What scares us is where it is heading and if they can redirect the currently grim future we see. That is my opinion at least.

Hit the nail on the head.

Newer players to MMO games will likely draw from their experiences playing FPS games, or GTA, or Dragon Age, or Skyrim, etc.. and they will evaluate a MMO based on that criteria. But other online games (and offline RPGs) are designed to be picked up, played for maybe 5 months and then abandoned for when the next big game comes along.

A Veteran MMO gamer knows that the experience of the game is stretched out over years, and if crafted properly, it leaves players with some of the best gaming experiences to be found anywhere.

[Fendred]

The problems with the game are not stemming from simplicity, but rather the fact that the metagame is all about leveling up various classes when the end game philosophy is taken straight out of your typical themepark MMORPG where people play only one class. It's been said many times going all the way back to the release of 2.0 that end game needs a very different philosophy to make full use of the game's initial assets. Very few people play "just warrior" or "just paladin" because the depth of the game comes from playing multiple classes. So for most players to play the way they want they'd have to engage in two, maybe three times the grind that Yoshida has designed the game around. That simply isn't fun, and requires an impossible time commitment.

Actually, a lot of the problems come from shoehorning generic MMORPG features into the game. Even the PvP is lackluster due to that. It feels like each patch just sucks a little bit more of the game's soul right out of it.

[Chasely]

The problems with the game are not stemming from simplicity, but rather the fact that the metagame is all about leveling up various classes when the end game philosophy is taken straight out of your typical themepark MMORPG where people play only one class. It's been said many times going all the way back to the release of 2.0 that end game needs a very different philosophy to make full use of the game's initial assets. Very few people play "just warrior" or "just paladin" because the depth of the game comes from playing multiple classes. So for most players to play the way they want they'd have to engage in two, maybe three times the grind that Yoshida has designed the game around. That simply isn't fun, and requires an impossible time commitment.

Actually, a lot of the problems come from shoehorning generic MMORPG features into the game. Even the PvP is lackluster due to that. It feels like each patch just sucks a little bit more of the game's soul right out of it.

Completely agree.

[Xairos]

The problems with the game are not stemming from simplicity, but rather the fact that the metagame is all about leveling up various classes when the end game philosophy is taken straight out of your typical themepark MMORPG where people play only one class. It's been said many times going all the way back to the release of 2.0 that end game needs a very different philosophy to make full use of the game's initial assets. Very few people play "just warrior" or "just paladin" because the depth of the game comes from playing multiple classes. So for most players to play the way they want they'd have to engage in two, maybe three times the grind that Yoshida has designed the game around. That simply isn't fun, and requires an impossible time commitment.

Actually, a lot of the problems come from shoehorning generic MMORPG features into the game. Even the PvP is lackluster due to that. It feels like each patch just sucks a little bit more of the game's soul right out of it.

I dont think SE, per se, will gamble on another mmo like they did with FFXI and 1.2X until FFXVII: Online. But that's only if FFXIV is long-term profitable. But the bad thing is if FFXIV is profitable, then they might just copy what they did then. ; ;

[Fendred]

Hit the nail on the head.

Newer players to MMO games will likely draw from their experiences playing FPS games, or GTA, or Dragon Age, or Skyrim, etc.. and they will evaluate a MMO based on that criteria. But other online games (and offline RPGs) are designed to be picked up, played for maybe 5 months and then abandoned for when the next big game comes along.

But that is one of the problems MMOs have been facing: They do NOT look at what other games outside the genre are doing that could be useful for them. It is an MMORPG, remember? An RPG! There has been a lot done in that genre and I've rarely seen any of it taken into the MMO space! Plus, they are copying and pasting generic MMORPG features into their game without proper consideration of the mood or theme of the game (and also the fact that the game is balanced around PvE).

[Fendred]

Completely agree.

Speaking of sucking the soul out of things, I should get back to necromantically sucking the souls out of other living creatures via fates so I can make my +5 curtana of love and peace. Toodles!

<- Is a warrior of light! XD

[Zarzak]

Hit the nail on the head.

Newer players to MMO games will likely draw from their experiences playing FPS games, or GTA, or Dragon Age, or Skyrim, etc.. and they will evaluate a MMO based on that criteria. But other online games (and offline RPGs) are designed to be picked up, played for maybe 5 months and then abandoned for when the next big game comes along.

A Veteran MMO gamer knows that the experience of the game is stretched out over years, and if crafted properly, it leaves players with some of the best gaming experiences to be found anywhere.

Best. Statement. Ever.