Famitsu Interview - YoshiP 3 Year Anniversary Interview

[zar]

This interview made my stomach churn.

I really don't get this idea of closing this "gap" between player skill levels. Is SE's goal just to homogenize performance? Everyone already gets raid equivalent ilvl gear to keep the gap as small as possible, now we are going to lose rotational depth to further shrink an already small gap?

I just don't get it, why keep shrinking the gap? What's the point? If SE always caters to the lowest common denominator, and they want to shorten the gap between the skill ceiling and floor, does that mean this game's skill ceiling is moving closer to the floor (the lowest common denominator)?

This interview made me legit sad...

This. The game was already unrewarding for a diligent player and now they are making it even worse.

[Velhart]

snip

Right now the only thing between story mode and Savage is the EX primal of the month. Do you think that is all that is needed to be raid ready?

[Duelle]

Yeah, except no classes are fun in this game, because they are all the same.

PLD was okay back in 2.0 (yes, I like simple gameplay). It's okay now since all HW did was add two abilities to existing combos.

Also, tell me about how playing a MNK or a DRG is exactly the same as playing a BRD or SCH or PLD.

That's the problem. Some of the 50 level classes weren't fun. BLM, MNK plain boring.

That's a subjective claim. I felt BLM flowed beautifully at 50. Don't remember MNK, since I was too busy trying to ignore the carpal tunnel I was developing from playing it with a keyboard.

The only problem here is that by making savage midcore the game will have no hardcore content.
I consider it quite a problem because the only thing that kept me subscribed since 2.1 were raids.

This is why I push for 3 difficulty settings for raids rather than 2.

[Nominous]

I have faith in their ability, seeing how they handled (most) 3.0 Jobs/Actions. I just feel like this might not have been the most logical conclusion for them to have come to going forward. I may not be a game developer, but the concept of problem solving is pretty consistent...

A) Identify the problem, or what needs to be fixed. In this case, gaps in performance among players.
B) Identify the root, and cause of the problem. Which I feel they might be misinterpreting...
C) Only after identifying the cause, can you hope to find a solution. In this case, the solution seems to be raising the bottom line.

This might not be the best example, but... If you're teaching a class, and only 5% pass an exam (far exceeding the other students), while everyone else either fails, or barely scrapes by, what is your takeaway from that? Do you immediately give up teaching those who've failed? Do you immediately believe the only solution is to make the exams easier?

That's what it feels like their answer is. Either that they've given up hope on teaching people the system mechanics in a cohesive and interesting manner, or that they didn't really look into that as a possible reason for the gap in skill. I consider myself to perform above average, and I assure you, it wasn't the game that taught me how to. It was 100% through external means. It was the DPS forums (with legit mathematicians and insane theory crafters), it was videos, it was watching top team PoV's of the job I wanted to learn. To me, this alludes to the fact that they must believe tooltips are enough to teach people how to play their jobs (in every way) optimally, which is a sick farce. This fix that (seems) to raise the baseline is at best a band-aid. The real fix is teaching your players how the systems of your game work. Even games as obtuse as Monster Hunter and Dark Souls do it, there's really no excuse for such a well polished game as XIV.

[Ayer2015]

If they are intending to reduce skill bloat and adjust rotations with 4.0, I hope they take this opportunity to finally disassociate classes from jobs.
Personally I have 0 issue closing the margin for performance output so long as the play style is engaging and fun.

[Rikku1987]

It's too late to change the rotations during the 3.x series so we'll lower the difficulty of the final tier of Alexander instead.

That's just disappointing.... Only reason to login for quite a few people are savage raids because it's the only challenging content right now. Midas isn't even that hard, difficulty is okay tbh.
Just because people can't handle there characters or get some teamwork done doesn't mean content is too hard.

[AreciaRhi]

I worked so hard to get my MCH rotation and BLM rotation just right. I mean, sure I need to stand in that aoe for my refresh of Enochian.

On a serious note, will it just be like other MMOs that you just smash buttons and win?

[Brannigan]

Midas isn't even that hard, difficulty is okay tbh.
Just because people can't handle there characters or get some teamwork done doesn't mean content is too hard.

Abysmally low clear rates, super punishing mechanics, tons of instant party wipes, and numbers tuned around scholar shields mean the content is too hard.

[Velhart]

Abysmally low clear rates, super punishing mechanics, tons of instant party wipes, and numbers tuned around scholar shields mean the content is too hard.

Well, that is why it is called Savage. If your mode is not unfair, well designed, and suppose to be the hardest content in the game, then I say good job.

[Brannigan]

I wasn't aware the loc team's arbitrary naming decisions dictated how difficult a fight should be. I suppose if the end goal is to completely finish off the raiding community, then they should continue to pump out stuff as hard as Gordias and Midas. I doubt many people will continue to play Kaizo Alexander Bros much longer, though, especially when you get the same kiss on the cheek by just waiting 3 months for upgrade items from Void Ark.