Famitsu Interview - YoshiP 3 Year Anniversary Interview

[Rikku1987]

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

Can't speak for other raiders but i love super punishing mechanics and tons of instant party wipes.
Whatever we don't know what next Alex will look like. At Gordias times they said next will be easier, i was worried too but Midas is awesome and i like it. Next Alex tier is probably not too bad, we'll see (soon).

[Hyrist]

Can't speak for other raiders but i love super punishing mechanics and tons of instant party wipes.

Fortunately, you don't have to speak for the other raiders, the abysmal clear rates we've seen on two raid sets in a row now pretty much tell us even those that once considered themselves raiders don't like what's going on, or find it too difficult to overcome.

Let alone the massive majority of other players who've come to find it unappealling enough to attempt. Raiding at that level just isn't fun or feasible for most players - which is bad when you've made it a cornerstone of your game.

[StrejdaTom]

Fortunately, you don't have to speak for the other raiders, the abysmal clear rates we've seen on two raid sets in a row now pretty much tell us even those that once considered themselves raiders don't like what's going on, or find it too difficult to overcome.

Let alone the massive majority of other players who've come to find it unappealling enough to attempt. Raiding at that level just isn't fun or feasible for most players - which is bad when you've made it a cornerstone of your game.

Oh, and you think that the difficulty of Alex is the only problem?
Isn't it maybe also caused by the fact, that raiders were used to get their own story, different looking gear, completely new experience of bosses and environment and now they are just getting recycled version of normal content?
Nah, that can't be, they raid for the challenge, not for actually getting a reward.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Definitely taking a cautious approach to all of this. What I do not want to see is buffs getting absurd, well, buffs on their proc time, thereby making applying them nearly an afterthought. If say, Heavy Thrust goes from 24 seconds to 40 and BotD follows a similar upswing, it will make the whole rotation feel incredibly basic. Not to mention, the 2.5 cooldown will be far more noticeable. This all said, we really do not have enough information to decide one way or another. At least, not in my opinion. So I'll be waiting to hear more.

It does kinda dash my hopes Weeping City would be the new difficulty standard though.

[StrejdaTom]

This all said, we really do not have enough information to decide one way or another. At least, not in my opinion. So I'll be waiting to hear more.

Well, Yoshi said they can't make the changes untill 4.X, which definitely makes this time completely suitable to state our concerns and ask questions. If playerbase wants to have some impact on the changes, it needs to speak up now, not when they already happen.

That's why I am vocal, I want to hear more informations from SE and to know where the game is heading. Expansion will come in next year and I want to be sure I am not pouring another year into the game just to end up with 50 level rotation which would make me leave. I expect my job to evolve, gain stuff during the way and become harder. I don't wish to play the same for next 10 years.

[Astral145]

I have to agree with some things Yoshi said. 1st off I have all battles classes at 60 and really pushed myself not only on a dummy to learn and tweek end game rotations but i also did the same in as much content as gear would allow me to (gotta love those lore tome gates). Anyway I'll start off by saying Nin and MNK's lvl 60 rotations are phenomenal and the devs really made those classes fun as heck to play at 60. They still pretty much kept the 2.0 rotation but added some twists and extra skills to really help push the job dps numbers. I would say DRG is more or less the same as 2.0 but adding that stupid timer to the extra skills kinda killed it for me. Dont get me wrong DRG is still fun as heck to play and once you get into the rotation and master it the timer is pretty much non existent unless a mechanic in a boss fight lasts too long which forces the buff to drop off. BY that time you can just reapply the buff due to how it works which is way better than BLM's enochian timer.

With that said BRD and BLM really got shafted hard in 3.0. BRD is a great class but when you throw in a buff that really doesn't buff your dmg kinda hurts. BRD is still doing about the same kinda dps you would have seen in 2.0 the only difference is BRD was turned into a Bow Mage... yes some may like and others do not... I fall into the somewhere in-between category. Some skills look really sweet but when clipping certain GCD skills with OGCD's skills causes the execution to look distorted and well not natural at all. And gods forbid you slightly touch the toggle stick while casting as it will cause you to stop casting all together. BRD is a physical damage dealer type that is good for mid to long range so it needs to look and feel like one. I'm not saying that BRD's should be allowed to run and dance all over the place and still have full dps. What I think should be done is to put in place something that feels more natural and relaxed. Basically the buff should force you to stand still so you get a 35% boost to damage and also have your auto attacks back. However, if you start moving around for more that 1 second you will loose the 35% buff + auto attacks and also lose 15% damage for as long as you are moving. That's roughly 50% or more total damage lost if you decide to jump around like a monkey. I think that would be more than fare to have the cast times removed and to have auto attacks back.

BLM rotation is a lot of fun once mastered. However, there are way to many timers and if enochian drops off for whatever reason like extended mechanics or blasted by a stun, sleep or slow the punishment for losing enochian is a whopping 25% to 35% damage lost until you are able to reapply enochian. And depending where you are in the fight could unfortunately prevent you from recasting enochian until the next phase of the fight. That could last almost a full minute of casting the 2.0 rotation and that is a lot of dps lost. BLM already has to deal with slow casting timers, dropped dps caused by quick aoe targeted drops, interruptions and Astral/Umbral timers... On top of all that they have to keep up Enochian... seriously just make Enochian a trait but still keep the same rotation. Simply increase the cool down of leyline by 15 to 30 secs to balance it out. This will make it so that we can keep going with the 3.0 rotation even after long mechanics. BLM is by far the most punished job due to a timer on enochian. To be a successful BLM you have to learn every encounter by heart so you know when you can side step casts and when to not eat an aoe. All these factor in when its an appropriate time to recast enochian. Seriously I want to enjoy the mechanics not hate them due to bad timing and a mistake on a rotation. Seriously you have to be 80 to 90% perfect on your rotations to keep enochian up 95% of the time. No other job has to deal with that... Even MNK with Greece Lightning doesn't have it that bad. If greece lightning drops off so what it recovers a heck of a lot faster than BLM and you dont have to revert back to your 2.0 rotation. Also, Mnk has a skill that will reapply greece within 3 to 4 GCD's so yea lets not compare apples with bananas.

Over all there needs to be some things changed so most players can enjoy the classes more. Dont get me wrong I love every singlr class for what they are but f Ii could choose just a few things that needs to be changed it would be Timers and RNG in rotations... I bloody hate timers. Timers do not make it more difficult oh no defiantly not more difficult. Timers make it less fun and is more of headache if anything. Nothing more frustrating then seeing enochian drop off not due to skill but due to an over-sized mechanics or by some long phase change. Its not fun at all and should be removed at least for certain skills like enochian. Sure keep the astral and umbral timers but for the love of gods remove the dreadful enochian timer.

[Freyyy]

I actually like this. Look at WoW, every expansion completely revamps every class instead of just giving them new skills. In FFXIV, I feel like Heavensward was just like 2.0 all over again but with new zones and 10 more levels. If they actually change how the jobs play, it will be a breath of fresh air. Currently the game feels stale and the combination of overly scripted boss fights with tight mechanics + very precise and linear rotations makes the game feel more like a giant QTE that you have to learn by heart than like an actual game. I'm not even talking about the skill bloat. I also hope that they change the end-game formula we have since 2.0 that starts to become very boring after nearly 3 years (unlimited tomes for "starter" max level gear, 450 weekly tomes for higher ilvl gear, 2 new max level dungeon per patch for the expert roulette (was even 3 before 3.0), 4 raid bosses per patch cycle, 1 ex primal per patch that drops a weapon, a 24 man every odd patch for catch-up gear, and grindfest relic steps for those who want to do it), we need a breath of fresh air there too.

[Kallera]

Oh, and you think that the difficulty of Alex is the only problem?
Isn't it maybe also caused by the fact, that raiders were used to get their own story, different looking gear, completely new experience of bosses and environment and now they are just getting recycled version of normal content?
Nah, that can't be, they raid for the challenge, not for actually getting a reward.

A shinier reward isn't what is going to save the problems of the raid design, especially since some of it is bleeding into the ex trials, causing players to (again) give up trying to clear them due to the sheer complexity.

After being left with easier content and no hope to play harder content, people start to wonder why they are bothering to put in the effort that they do, knowing that the game punishes them and anyone who parties with them anyway.

[Brannigan]

I actually like this. Look at WoW, every expansion completely revamps every class instead of just giving them new skills.

Yeah, although there's a lot in the interview I disliked, I think this is pretty much a good thing. The expansion gives them a chance to really look at the base gameplay of a job and make changes to it, like what they did to warrior in 2.1 only to an even greater extent.

Items might be super boring and raiding might give no rewards whatsoever in 4.0 but job revamps will probably end up a good thing.

[Velhart]

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.

Yea it actually did. Savage is dictated as the hardest mode they provide currently. Normal > Hard > Extreme > Savage. Savage mode of SCoB was very clearly for more hardcore oriented groups. When not everyone can beat a Savage mode raid, then I say mission accomplished. I don't even know why developers care about clear rate numbers. If anything, if too many people won it would be considered too easy. As long as the difficulty is fair and well designed, then let it be hard.

Again, Savage is not the issue, it should be over the top hard. Normal mode is what needs to change. That needs to be on a level that midcore can take on at a decent pace (FCoB level). SCoB to this day still got it down the best, it just lacked rewards at the time.