QOL Adjustments this Game DESPERATELY NEEDS

[Wolfandre]

Did you watch the Fan Fest streams? The devs talked about the period leading up to 2.0 release and how incredibly tight all the deadlines and such were. Be glad we got the great product we did. It was a true feat to pull it off.

This. During testing, Gondai (battle director) actually requested the removal of Stoneskin from 2.0's launch because it took too long to individually cast it on each person in the party before engaging. Not because it would take us too long, but that it took up valuable time during the crunch.

I will echo Lithera's statement though: more stuff would be awesome, and now that we're not in a crunch, it would be a good time to start developing smarter or more in-depth UI features. However, what we have is good enough, and the steady stream of content is enough to compensate for now.

[myahele]

The sad thing is, they included a tp bar thats half the size for hp/mp bar in party list of their HUD concept many years ago.

They say it'll be confusing? Well it'll be even more of a hassle for players to not see others tp, especially now that they include goad for NINs

It should be HP(_____) MP(_____) TP(__)

[Aldora]

With the way it’s designed, you can’t have the chocobo out and queue up in the Duty Finder. The Chocobo Companion is a member of the party, so by summoning or dismissing it will change the party setup. At the same time, we can’t take our Chocobo’s into an instanced Duty.

The Duty Finder is all about finding other players to complement your party (filling in the unassigned roles), you can’t change the party setup up while the party is being formed. By doing so, the Duty Finder will kick you from the queue because it will have to re-evaluate the unassigned roles in order to form a party for the selected Duty.

A Chocobo doesn’t have a set Role within the party. You can change it based on the situation by assigning a stance (Defender, Attacker or Healer). This also creates a different problem within the Duty Finder, because you need to select the job you want to fulfill within the Duty before queuing up. You are not allowed to change your role for the duty while you are sitting in the queue, because the Duty Finder is already looking for members to fill in the unassigned roles.

Since we’re not allowed to take our Chocobo into the Dungeon, we would have to dismiss it before the Duty Finder party is formed and we are about to Commence with the Duty itself. This will change the party setup and thus result in being kicked from the queue.

Now, especially since the we have the new Duty Finder Lockout rules, it would create more possible (unintended) party lockout's. You do not want that to happen.

So, how can we fix this? Well… There is no simple fix to this. Let me explain why:
Since a change in the party will evidently result in the party being kicked from the queue, they would have to find a solution where the Duty Finder would have to detect the changes in the party and adjust it’s search criteria dynamically based on the current situation. Since it’s already been looking for members to fill in the unassigned roles, it would mean that the players the Duty Finder had already found might not match the current needs of the party setup and possibly be forced to place the party at the end of the queue again.

They cannot simply exclude the chocobo from the party either, because then you would be able to create a full party and have everyone call their chocobo since they are not a member of the party (effectively creating a 16-man party). I know that there are a lot of players who would actually want to see this change happen, since it give the players the opportunity to bring 8 people and their chocobo’s to (for instance) treasure hunts.

But, next to the fact that this would most likely create balance issues throughout the game, parties are limited to 8 players. If you want to form a bigger “party”, you would have to form an alliance and you can’t form an alliance with 8 players and 8 chocobo’s with the currently party design, so that would have to changed as well. And how would you create an alliance with a party of AI controlled members? Also, these Chocobo’s aren’t actually part of a party, so they would be “floating” around in the world. This would mean that you cannot use certain buffs, skills or magic (for instance Protect or Cover) on the companion, since they would have to be in a party to get them.

Ok, so what if they would just exclude the chocobo’s from the Duty Finder queue? That way you can keep the actual players as basis for the party and simply “ignore” that chocobo’s have been summoned all together.

That way the Duty Finder could still find members for the selected Duty and have the actual party (formed by the Duty Finder) enter the Duty. You would say that that sounds like a good solution and easy enough to implement. But, what should happen to the Chocobo’s? Should they be on Standby till the party leaves the dungeon and then automatically return to the party? Or should they be dismissed when the party enters the dungeon?

This is something they would have to consider too. And either way, the way the core of party system as well as the Duty Finder queue would have to be changed to support this feature. And that will have a bigger impact than you think.

This will probably be the best (cost effective) implementation, but they currently have other priorities that they need to focus on.

Another option would be to queue up for a Duty WITH your Chocobo. I know a lot of people would like to have that as an option. But, the current Duties are not optimized for Chocobo Companions. I mean… A Chocobo doesn’t dodge an AoE when it’s directed to it. Imagine what will happen if they are faced with one-shot mechanics…
In that case new content has to be made specifically tailored to include Chocobo’s as well. If they would tune down the difficulty of the current content specifically to support Chocobo Companions… Ooooooh, all hell will break loose on the forums. Because people are already complaining that FFXIV is easy.

Anyways… That’s something to consider when it comes to having the ability to summon your Chocobo while queuing up for a Duty in the Duty Finder. (^_~ )

[Vaara]

They had the quest list thing you mention in the beta but they took it out in the main game. Did they ever say why?

[Warlyx]

the UI needs a power aura / icon in the middle for procs , like Cure II/ III , Haymaker , Straight Shot! , maybe Assasinate/Mercy Strike, Shield Swipe ect

wow ...after years finally added it as default..... (power auras addon)

[ruskie]

You do see the proc in your floating combat text. I guess people just have it turned off or just don't look at it. Also I have anything that is CD or proc based on a separate bare so I have a quick glance about it to see what is going on.

[Gextiv]

PS3 limitations

[Warlyx]

You do see the proc in your floating combat text. I guess people just have it turned off or just don't look at it. Also I have anything that is CD or proc based on a separate bare so I have a quick glance about it to see what is going on.

that thing that last 1s? and u can miss if u are interrupting something avoiding aoe/rezing/healing ......thats not enough , auras last as long as the buff / proc so u can keep fighting and avoiding aoes while the aura sits there waiting to be used

just another QOL...for my eyes :P

[Tiggy]

I can't disagree with a single thing here. These are very good suggestions.

[Toodles]

Power Aura Icons or Special Sounds would be sweeeet.