Still no word on Au Ra Naming Conventions?

[Belhi]

It's my understanding that the English naming conventions have been ready to go for quite some time, and are only being held back because they want to do a worldwide release. If this is the case, please stop punishing NA players for the incompetence of devs in other countries!

I could understand if it was in-game content, like new quests or something like that, but all releasing the NA naming conventions would do would be to allow some players to consider name changes sooner than others. There is literally nothing wrong with this, and everything wrong holding back this information when you have it ready to go.

I think incompetence is a bit of a strong word there. The FF14 staff have been working 12 hour days at the moment because it's Crunch. There is a difference between being slow and prioritising in game translations over translating web content.

Also its worth pointing out if it was a case of the Japanese naming conventions getting released before the English ones people on our side would almost certainly put up a huge stink over it.

[Beckett]

I think incompetence is a bit of a strong word there. The FF14 staff have been working 12 hour days at the moment because it's Crunch. There is a difference between being slow and prioritising in game translations over translating web content.

It's not so much incompetence, but the effort that goes into it we don't see.

The reason I say incompetence is that (again, this is just from my understanding of what we've been told) the NA team has apparently had these naming conventions ready to go for quite some time, and they've had to translate and localize just as much as the other language teams.

[Beckett]

Also its worth pointing out if it was a case of the Japanese naming conventions getting released before the English ones people on our side would almost certainly put up a huge stink over it.

If they release it in any given language before another, the people who don't have them yet will cry favoritism.

These are certainly true. But right now you've got the whole world asking for the naming conventions to be released. If they released what they have now, that pacifies every region that already has them done.

[Cilia]

The reason I say incompetence is that (again, this is just from my understanding of what we've been told) the NA team has apparently had these naming conventions ready to go for quite some time, and they've had to translate and localize just as much as the other language teams.

These are certainly true. But right now you've got the whole world asking for the naming conventions to be released. If they released what they have now, that pacifies every region that already has them done.

It's true that they've had the conventions themselves ready since March, but not the lore behind them. I can go and dig up the post if you like.

With that in mind, the lore behind the clans could very well color players' choices on which tribe to go with and what to name their character. Your average player doesn't really care and just goes with whatever they think is cool and/or sexy, but some people do. It's not really the names themselves holding it back (as far as we know), but information on the clans beyond the most basic of outlines of their social structures. And while Raen names have solid guesses based on in-game Domans and Yugiri ([Japanese name] [Nounverb(er)]), for all we know the Xaela have their own pseudo-language like the Sea Wolf Roegadyn.

Yeah, posting what they have would assuage the irritation of the people who it's been translated for, but it would further irritate the people who don't have it yet. While it's extremely irritating to be so close to the wire and still have nothing but gods-damn "soon™," at least everyone has "soon™" so it's fair.

That said, the post from Koji is back from mid-March, before 2.5.5 was even released. I don't think it was crunch time back then? /shrug. Either way, they've admitted they're at fault for screwing the pooch on that one, so all we can do is wait with bated breath for soon™ to come. Being upset and impatient isn't going to help.

EDIT

Here it is (with the relevant information):

3. When are we going to get a naming guide!? I need to start thinking of what I'm going to call the new character I roll in June!
The naming rules for both clans have been finalized and work is being done fleshing out the lore behind it all. Things will be somewhat similar to what was done with the Hyur (drawing from historic names) but the with the regional and linguistic roots being completely different. Surnames will also feature a special set of rules that can be followed to the T, or slightly modified if a player wants to be adventurous.

Dated March 8th. My birthday, coincidentally.

[Belhi]

It's true that they've had the conventions themselves ready since March, but not the lore behind them. I can go and dig up the post if you like.

With that in mind, the lore behind the clans could very well color players' choices on which tribe to go with and what to name their character. Your average player doesn't really care and just goes with whatever they think is cool and/or sexy, but some people do. It's not really the names themselves holding it back (as far as we know), but information on the clans beyond the most basic of outlines of their social structures. And while Raen names have solid guesses based on in-game Domans and Yugiri ([Japanese name] [Nounverb(er)]), for all we know the Xaela have their own pseudo-language like the Sea Wolf Roegadyn.

That said, the post from Koji is back from mid-March, before 2.5.5 was even released. I don't think it was crunch time back then? /shrug. Either way, they've admitted they're at fault for screwing the pooch on that one, so all we can do is wait with bated breath for soon™ to come. Being upset and impatient isn't going to help.

It wouldn't have been crunch time but things could have easily changed and required things be redone. Do remember the game is actually launching a month slower than they originally aimed for. They won't release stuff before its set in stone and if the devs feel that narratively something had to be changed to make things work better, anything already written up and nailed down would have to be reviewed and changed. That would mean all the other translations would have to be redone as well to match.

My point is, I don't think they are delaying out of any lack of desire on their part. If its being held back it's probably because either it's not ready or they simply don't have time at the moment to get it all set up and out there.

[Beckett]

The one caveat I'll give to the other teams, is that I'm pretty sure Koji is the one who makes up all of these naming conventions (and a lot of the lore that goes with them), so the other teams have to wait for Koji to create it, and then send it to them to translate and localize.

[Cilia]

It wouldn't have been crunch time but things could have easily changed and required things be redone. Do remember the game is actually launching a month slower than they originally aimed for. They won't release stuff before its set in stone and if the devs feel that narratively something had to be changed to make things work better, anything already written up and nailed down would have to be reviewed and changed. That would mean all the other translations would have to be redone as well to match.

My point is, I don't think they are delaying out of any lack of desire on their part. If its being held back it's probably because either it's not ready or they simply don't have time at the moment to get it all set up and out there.

... and I understand that; there's a lot more that goes on than we see, writing, art, translation, game mechanics, etc. I said it before and I'll say it again: they probably work like Thal's balls just to keep the 3 month patch cycle consistent, and like any decent player I earnestly appreciate it.

That said, I also understand why players are so irritated, since we've been strung along forever only to end up with "soon™." We knew back in early March they were finalized (whether or not they were changed we don't know, so that's not fair to hold against us), then got told they'd be released in late May, and then when late May rolled around we got "Sorry guys, we want a simultaneous worldwide release and they're not ready for that yet because we're prioritizing Heavensward's release. We'll have them out soon™ though, promise!" It starts to feel... how should I put it... disingenuous, and everyone hates, hates the dreaded soon™.

Scratch that, everyone hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hates soon™!

The one caveat I'll give to the other teams, is that I'm pretty sure Koji is the one who makes up all of these naming conventions (and a lot of the lore that goes with them), so the other teams have to wait for Koji to create it, and then send it to them to translate and localize.

If memory serves me right you're on the money.