The fact of the matter is

[Razor]

I'm glad that people agree. Yoshida has said that he will reveal a lot of information once 1.19 goes live. One can only hope that the engine and server plans are included in that new batch of information. Then we can sleep our nights in comfort of knowing that they're not taking a half-hearted approach to the problem, even if it takes a long time to implement.

While I agree that the server changes would probably be the most important change the devs could make to the game, changing the engine is out of the question in my book. Changing the engine in an MMO is kind of like changing ATV into a volkswagen, while it can been done and has been done, it requires a massive amount of work. The development of the Crystal Engine itself took about three years to complete and I personally don't see anything wrong with it. The engine can easily render massive areas beautifully with high resolution textures a feat that I have yet to see another engine pull off as well thus far. Because the server response is so bad, we aren't able to even scratch the surface of what the Crystal Engine can do.

As many people have stated the naive decision of making a lot of functionality server sided to combat RMT was a terrible idea. Yoshi is a smart man and I have a lot of respect for him, so I'm confident he shares our same woes about the server issues. Its just not something that can be changed over night and will take while to fix all the issues.

[AlphaDragoon]

Allowing PC users to hotkey any menu or action would be a start. In fact, scrap the console idea all together and build the game around the PC. The fact that they are ALREADY struggling with memory limitations on the PS3 makes me shake my head for the future of the game, years down the road.

Will never happen.

They're basing the future of the game on the PS3 release. Everything being done to bring it up to snuff is being done so it can be released on PS3, because unlike the West folks in Japan are perfectly fine with console MMOs/MMO-esque games (Monster Hunter on PSP/PS2, Phantasy Star Online, Phantasy Star Universe, etc). That's where they plan to make the big turnaround in sales and subscribers, not on PC. Matter of fact, I'd be more than willing to bet that the day of the PS3 release is the actual day they start charging us to play.

I do think the UI needs some work, but it will always be setup so a guy with a controller (which I'm happy for since I use a controller) can play it, too. The option for PC/Console "mode" on the UI, as they suggested earlier, would be nice.

[Colino]

Yes it seems that they build this game to troll RMTs and didn't care how the game would play for normal players. We all know they have serious server side issues which prevents many good suggestions brought up in this forum.

Which is extremely funny when you consider that the game is, regardless, FULL of bots and RMTs.

Great Success!

Can't wait for the mythical "server fixes" of lore that have been hailed and announced for about a gazillion years now...

[Chain]

The UI toggle is a decent idea but I doubt they ever do it.

This is not a game of lightning reflexes so they can't bring up any balance issues imo.

Also, keep pvp as far away from this game as possible please.

[RedHare]

I come from a AOL dial-up perspective. So the UI lag is obnoxious but I find myself pathetically used to it. Even with a golden /fix/ serverside, I can't imagine FFXIV running anything similar to a twitch.

Distance in battle and party orientation originally meant to be a key feature of XIV. (We see how convoluted that was with jaggedy terrain and mob placement.) But I wouldn't count it being completely off the whiteboard. Lining up distances and setting up some kind of attack pattern timing that related to player placement orientation mid-battle is sort of how Square handled tactical MMO battle ethics previously. That sort of planning does require battle to go at a slower pace than what most of us are presently used to, even for MMOs, to effectively 'set-up'.

I honestly don't know anything and only /speculate. I agree with the OP. And I look forward to conclusive info about the new battle system alongside any server-side fixes. I agree to the battle system perhaps was intended to make use of slower pace. IE someone mentioned the "Readying ____" line. Such things may had been planned as helpful for battles that revolve around extensive group timing. If there were magic wand to cure all lag issues, I think Yoshida would be all over it.

--And it is true that many Japanese games do revolve around gameplay not necessarily norm in the west. I feel like this is one of the most known things about gaming today. Why get upset at anyone for only pointing that out?--

[Corrderio]

Patience Grasshopper....

That only works for so long :P

[Lil_Sassy]

Yes sir, thank you for stating the obvious.

it's apparently not obvious if the developers cant even put it in the game

[Razor]

This is not a game of lightning reflexes so they can't bring up any balance issues imo.

Also, keep pvp as far away from this game as possible please.

When a monster is readying a terrifying attack that is going to take out a healthy chunk of my health, those miliseconds between the "A" key or the key bound to Sentinel matter a lot. I can't even count the number of times Sough or Backflip has hit me simply because my character on the server is about a second behind where I actually am. No matter how casual a game is, having the computer respond when you tell it to do something efficiently is a core aspect that cannot be overlooked. Its just like a car, so what if it has a slow accelerator or wimpy brakes? It matters a whole lot when you're a fracton of a second away from an accident. Same with actions in a game, most of the time I dont need Sentinel to activate with any urgency but there are times when I do and when it can't keep up I feel frustrated.

Also PS: you don't have to participate in PvP if you don't want to! You're an individual without the urge to fight other people, don't keep the rest of us individuals who do from being able to.

[Aistaraina]

The engine can easily render massive areas beautifully with high resolution textures a feat that I have yet to see another engine pull off as well thus far.

Source.
Unreal 3.
CryEngine 3.
Avalanche 2.0.
Frostbite 2.0.

There are enough engines out there that make Crystal Tools look like a kids toy.

And your above statement is seriously flawed. Take a look at this screenshot.
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink
Notice the difference in the rocks just in front of me, and the sidewalk on the right. It's pretty clear to me it cannot render large sections with high resolution textures. It has a serious pop in effect due to an apparent lack of mipmap support.

[Chocobits]

Source.
Unreal 3.
CryEngine 3.
Avalanche 2.0.
Frostbite 2.0.

There are enough engines out there that make Crystal Tools look like a kids toy.

And your above statement is seriously flawed. Take a look at this screenshot.
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink
Notice the difference in the rocks just in front of me, and the sidewalk on the right. It's pretty clear to me it cannot render large sections with high resolution textures. It has a serious pop in effect due to an apparent lack of mipmap support.

link is busted