A Letter to The Producer

[Renik]

And RNG based farming could take even longer than the myth farming itself if the game decided to make it that way, so it's not really that much better.

Exactly, it the same, that's what i'm trying to say, knowing a grind will take 1 year is not better than not knowing if it would take 1 week or 2 years, if the grind is just mindless grind then it's bad. for me both are bad, but in a more personal opinion i don't like being locked in the same instances with random ppl over and over.

[AmyNeudaiz]

aaaand thread hijacked. Please try and not miss the point. You have opinions on the grind? Okay but this is not the thread for that.

[Sakasa]

Letter to Producer

I am not sure how you remember 1.0 but we were in the dark for the most of it. The combo system, relic quest, work on 2.0, development guidelines, patch expectations, feedback take in, and overall QoL adjustments. Yes there was a large petition on votes, and charts reflecting, and changes that made 1.23 and on bearable but it was not transparency. It was table talk and "hints" that were eventually thrown back at yoshi when he is called a liar.

I think you overestimate people's understanding and acceptance. If full transparency was a good idea (for the most part it isn't) people would see something not complete but functional and rage why its not in the game. Then get it being partial broken as it is not complete and then rage about that while they know its still being worked on. I don't think player feedback is bad, but yoshi or any of the developers talking directly to the players without a filter or at least a delay to double check would backfire more often then it would improve how player feel about the game.

[Yukiko]

(..) people would see something not complete but functional and rage why its not in the game. (..)

Since Oct,30,2013 i am waiting for AF2 gear... (was from LIVE-Letter IX)

[AmyNeudaiz]

I feel lke you're off the mark. I do remember quite a few things that were shown off weeks early. For example, they showed off the combo system in 1.2 weeks before release and there wasn't much raging that wouldn't of happened anyway. Even then quelled pretty fast since everyone knew it was coming.

[Roris]

It really does feel like all those polls, roadmaps and letters from 1.0 were just PR fluff to gain people's trust, much needed mind you after 1.0 failed but still. Apparently there's little need for that now that the trust and the success are there, just look at all the people who instantly jump in to defend every little flaw the game has, it clearly worked.

Even if delays are practically a staple of ARR by now a roadmap would still help, just having planned features listed on site instead of throwing out ideas during random interviews and giving vague windows for their implementation, or adding stuff at the last moment no one really expected like Hunts, which were admitted to have been throw in during the last months of 2.3's development without previous planning. I mean surprises are still nice but having a roadmap would also help provide some type of feedback on planned features, feedback that might be even listened to again.

[HumsterMKX]

It really does feel like all those polls, roadmaps and letters from 1.0 were just PR fluff to gain people's trust, much needed mind you after 1.0 failed but still. Apparently there's little need for that now that the trust and the success are there, just look at all the people who instantly jump in to defend every little flaw the game has, it clearly worked.

.....

Even in 1.0 ppl still jump in and Def anyway. White Knight gonna White Knight anyway.

There are stuff they planned out that does not make sense at times. But I seriously doubt the HUNT seals causing a mess number of i110 is intended. Remember the interview when ppl ask and the ATMA drop rate? They didn't want to increase the drop rate becuase they don't want the ilvl to be completely mess up.

They they wanted the Sand and Oil to shorten the gap for 2.4, then why they didn't work on ATMA and Animus?

[ApolloGenX]

At least a roadmap would help people that are struggling with the direction of the game. It's not something that would be a presentation of fully fleshed out ideas, but it would let players know the vision developers have for the game. It would also help answer a lot of questions about how things are intended to work - even if they don't work that way at first.

Sharing a vision gives players a platform to provide more meaningful feedback. Rather than just offer complaints - a vision helps direct the conversation so that if something doesn't fit, players can explain why and give examlpes of how something isn't meeting the stated design goals. Without a clearly articulated vision... players don't necessarily understand why things are created how they are, or why changes are made to things that have been released. It creates uncertainty and only ends up contributing to an atmosphere or distrust.

[Souljacker]

More than a roadmap I would prefer to see the players engaged more in the form of a test server. Large-scale content in other games never goes live without testing, period. 90% of these issues we all complain about would have been found with a brief testing period open to the players.

[Tsuga]

More than a roadmap I would prefer to see the players engaged more in the form of a test server. Large-scale content in other games never goes live without testing, period. 90% of these issues we all complain about would have been found with a brief testing period open to the players.

This would be nice. Has a test server ever been mentioned as being in the works? Part of me feels like it has been but I don't know if I'm mixing this game up with another one.