Ideal versus Real

[Enkidoh]

Really, if you came into FFXIV expecting the game to be heavily PvP focused then you were always going to be horribly disappointed. FFXIV is, a FF game, and the FF series have never been about competitive multiplayer - spin-offs maybe, but the main series has never been about players fighting each other, even in FFXI PvP was never nothing more than a minor diversion completely separate from the main game. FFXIV is PvE not PvP focused, it always will be.

Also, that's the nature of game development for you - concepts and ideas might be mentioned and shown, but during the development process aspects planned may be discovered to be for whatever reason just not implementable to how they had mentioned it, and thus it's either altererd to 'make it work', or excised completely.

This isn't a terrible thing, it's a natural part of game design. Unfortunately players don't usually take this into account and thus it's far easier to articulate "They lied to us!" when a certain content idea is mentioned and then later on scrapped, than simply accepting this is what happens when developing a game, especially MMOs.

It's why early trailers for games after all usually carry a legal disclaimer along the lines of "The following shows this game in an early stage of development and thus may not match the final version," things can change at any time (it's also why developers are usually tight lipped about what exactly they're doing.).

As for the Cash Shop, players actually begged SE for it, so blame other players, not SE, they're after all only trying to please everyone. Really these sorts of posts they may as well not bother trying to because no matter what they do it's always wrong.

[Marxam]

Ideal versus Real

Money talks. The sad but true story of a lot of today's developers. Look at what's happening to Destiny.

My biggest let down was how they toted that you can "use" multiple jobs but they gate gearing up those said jobs with heavy grinds or weekly lockouts. Also the emphasis on keeping people subbed by making ridiculous grinds (anima quest) and forcing people to grind it like its a second job is almost enough for me to unsub. What happened to skill grinds? Using endgame content as part of the quest hasn't been seen since the first step of the 2.0 relic.

I think all MMO developers fail to realize their target market have a life outside of the game and can't commit to playing excessive amounts of time.

[Amiaze]

Really, if you came into FFXIV expecting the game to be heavily PvP focused then you were always going to be horribly disappointed.

I'm fairly new to MMO culture, but I don't think anyone really came into FFXIV expecting this. I didn't; however, I did hope that, since the mode was there, that it would at least be a fun and interesting distraction for a while. Yet the mode itself feels so bare that players don't even queue into it, and I think that that's the most telling aspect of it. People play it so little that you could be stuck in queue for hours before getting in.

And I agree on the nature of game design; that's the nature of any sort of media, really. I purchase a lot of concept art books, and I often see things that were mentioned before or that the creators left little hints of in the final product. I leaned from AAA games to never trust a trailer or concept art, and just wait to play the game.

[Kaiser-Ace]

PvP: Was excited about Wolve's Den when it was active and frequently knew "The Fear" of seeing a Summoner and Scholar come out of the gate in full Allagan Gear. Disappointed when it faltered and was left for dead. Frontlines I only enjoyed Slaughter Mode since it was a traditional Team Deathmatch style PvP but again, was disappointed when it faltered and was left for dead.

Cash Shop: Admittedly I've spent a bit of money there am the owner of all the Cash Shop Exclusive Scion Minions. I regret nothing and wouldn't mind more effort being put into time limited event rewards like the "huzza" emote from the first rising event or the gear from the Lightning Strikes event. (Would also like to see a permanent price drop on Sleipnir but that's their ONE big ticker item so I'll let them slide on that)

Housing and Airships: Housing and I have a complicated relationship. My first FC broke up because of it so I've always been a little love hate with it especially with supply and demand. I'd like a little more customization and some leniency on "Non-Removables" but I'd like the Supply issue solved if nothing else. And Airships requiring a full light party is kind of absurd. Two to three members of appropriate rank should be allowed to perform it with out a light or full party of crafters.

Diadem, Hunts, Glamour, Zodiac, Anima, Gold Saucer and 24-man Raids: All grand ideas full of great potential but all suffering from various degrees of poor execution, The Gold Saucer being one of their greatest follies with Triple Triad, Lords of Verminion, and Chocobo Racing all dieing out with Vermnion dying immediately upon implementation. Now in the wake of the Blitz Ball rumors I'm inclined to insist that SE stays as far away as possible for the last part of Final Fantasy Mini Games I still love.

On a side note, I wish the devs would implement more exploration style content into the game like the quest line given by Matoya's Brooms. Maps was a shot in the right direction but ultimately missed the mark. I feel more like a Merc the way the game is designed than an Adventurer since we honestly do very little adventuring compared to our jobs as Preternatural One Man/Woman Armies and generic errand boys/girls. If we're adventurers then where's the adventuring and exploring? Hardly an adventure when the minimap goes full GPS on the quest location.

As a final note, We need more Mog Mail and Hildibrand quests to add a touch of humor and charm to the world and it's NPCs.

[WellFooled]

Really, if you came into FFXIV expecting the game to be heavily PvP focused then you were always going to be horribly disappointed. FFXIV is, a FF game, and the FF series have never been about competitive multiplayer - spin-offs maybe, but the main series has never been about players fighting each other, even in FFXI PvP was never nothing more than a minor diversion completely separate from the main game. FFXIV is PvE not PvP focused, it always will be.

I agree with your thoughts on the development process completely, but I disagree with this argument of PvP in FF. A feature doesn't need to have a history in the series to excel. Almost every FF game has included features unseen in past games or changed the fabric completely (No one would argue that FFXI shouldn't have been an online game because no FF had ever done it before, or that FFIV's ATB shouldn't be included because FF games had always been turned based, FFXV is even changing to an action RPG system for the first time).

I also believe the focus of an MMO should be up to the player. The game needs to be robust enough so that any of its features can be the focus for a player. If a feature is included, as PvP has been, it needs to be implemented well enough so that a player could feasibly dedicate enough time to it that it is their personal focus in the game.

[Austherus]

On a side note, I wish the devs would implement more exploration style content into the game like the quest line given by Matoya's Brooms. Maps was a shot in the right direction but ultimately missed the mark

My FC run treasure maps weekly, it's nice to have something a bit randomized (everything else feels just too streamlined), but I do agree that it could be better. Matoya's quest line was a nice surprise, I'm really hoping we get more of that (I think there was a similar quest somewhere else, about books, were you had to pick the right answer in the end; can't remember it's name though).

[Brannigan]

Maps are soooooooo underutilized. Should be having map chains (map drops a map drops a map drops a map and so on) with increasing difficulty/rewards until you run into one that you just can't beat. Instead, everything can be soloed by a scholar with a chocobo. I think OP is right on the mark about pretty much everything. Frontlines especially ended up being nothing like what they first envisioned, and Diadem was cool for about 3 runs before everyone realized that there really wasn't anything to it other than zerging monsters and a few treasure chests.

[TheCurls]

Hunts:
Expected it to be more fun myself. Got extremely annoyed by how the community reacted to someone pulling the hunt instead of "waiting" for others. Nothing wrong with trying to make sure your whole party gets the full reward.

It's unfair to SE to suggest that they ruined Hunts. I mean, I'm not saying that's what you're getting at, but a lot of people do, so I'm using your post as a platform. Sorry.

SE had the right idea in mind with the Hunt. It was the playerbase that stripmined the content and left nothing but ruin in its wake. I'll point you here for all you need to know about Hunts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfG8qY0dINY

[Ryel]

It's unfair to SE to suggest that they ruined Hunts. I mean, I'm not saying that's what you're getting at, but a lot of people do, so I'm using your post as a platform. Sorry.

SE had the right idea in mind with the Hunt. It was the playerbase that stripmined the content and left nothing but ruin in its wake. I'll point you here for all you need to know about Hunts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfG8qY0dINY

This isn't true.

The burden is entirely on the dev team to design content in a way that this doesn't happen and then to make adjustments when it does. With the way they release gear rewards it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes levels of deduction to come to the conclusion that players will always take the path of least resistance and highest reward. Not only that but the content was re-released in the same state multiple times after repeated feedback on the state of the system, it's also not as if the concept of open world notorious monsters with various spawn conditions is new to MMOs, FFXI in paticular (SE's longest running MMO) has had multiple iterations of content designed around systems like these from NMs and HNMs to ZNMs and various other systems.

Saying "the playerbase ruined the content not SE!" absolves the developers of the burden of creating and designing content, something they're paid to do and something we're being charged for with the expectation of them doing so. Hunts may have been a decent idea on paper but a good idea on paper may not always be a good idea when presented to a live playerbase.

[TheCurls]

This isn't true.

The playerbase absolutely ruined Hunts. When they died down, some friends and I tackled hunts the way they were meant to be done and we had a blast. So yes, the onus -is- on the playerbase for ruining what could have been an enjoyable experience. And that's the funny part about all the complaints on the forums. "The game is boring and not fun!!" -- Well, that's because people are dumb and choose the boring and not fun way to play the game.