Naoki Yoshida interview @Gamescom

[Felis]

I can't think of any other MMO that I've played, where you can accurately predict almost everything that is going to be added in a content patch months or even years before the patch is even implemented.

There is always 1-2 new contents that is not part of expert dungeons, trials or raids.
Is it already be know what it will be in 3.4? Or is the matter, that there will be something new, already part of a pattern?

[loreleidiangelo]

There is always 1-2 new contents that is not part of expert dungeons, trials or raids.
Is it already be know what it will be in 3.4? Or is the matter, that there will be something new, already part of a pattern?

The biggest problems with XIV's content releases are generally as follows:

-the "extra new unpredictable" stuff they add is almost always in catch-up patches, not during ilevel increase patches. Players don't have the option of running PotD/Diadem/Feast/whatever to progress their character, they are literally funneled into the same pipeline of "raid or Tomestone cap" that has plagued every patch from the start of this game.

-a lot of the "extra new unpredictable" stuff tends to involve glamour rewards or leveling/gearing alts. While I actually think this gives XIV an interesting niche, it's definitely not the playstyle for a lot of people, especially since you can only realistically do difficult endgame raid content as one class, rendering those rewards somewhat meaningless.

-the best rewards are coming from the most faceroll of content. I doubt anyone would care about dungeon roulettes if they weren't the only way for non-raiders to get any relevant gear. Even the "new interesting unpredictable" contents of Diadem and PotD are considered largely faceroll by the general populace, though they still have room to grow.

-the devs are more invested in making this "new exciting unpredictable" content that they don't bother re-visiting OLD content, leaving it to slowly smolder in a rapidly growing content dumpster fire filled of player's hopes and dreams. Why should anyone care about the flavor-of-the-month content when next patch it will be forgtten?


Just off the top of my head, these are some reasons why XIV's formulaic content patches are generally seen as "doin' it wrong".