Fan Fest announcements will determine my future in this game..

[Krazymagic]

Im new to the game , only been playing a few months , but Im just curious of what other games are out there that get regular updates and steady content as much as this one , Ive only played a few mmos, but im just curious when i hear people say this game is stagnant, what other types of games are mmos are comparable , but like I said Im new so I havent played it for years and but just from research I havent seen any other games that do as many other steady updates on a regular basis

My gripes arent with a lack of patches or attention from the developers. FFXIV, being a sub based game, has and likely always will have great content support. The problem is that every patch is essentially the same content over and over again. I think SE Supports the game well, and I like Yoshi P and think he and the dev team work hard on the game. They turned this game around with 2.0 when it could have died after the 1.0 release that failed so hard. The patch and content formula is what needs to be changed. Weve done the same exact routine since patch 2.1 and its time to change.

Name another MMO that releases content like ffxiv? ESO is making a lot of waves lately. I started playing it some recently and it is likely where Ill be going if I dont see some changes here. Id like to stick with ffxiv however because I have a good FC and like the people and am one of the leaders. I cant keep logging in and not enjoying the game though. For a new player you have a lot of great content and story to get through so if I was in your shoes Id be having a blast. The problems Im talking about here are mostly only experienced by those who have been with the game a while and are able to experience the same content patch after patch after patch. Its the same chore list weve been doing since 2.1. To those who dont remember, patch 2.1 was in december 2013. Weve been in the same basic formula for going on 3 years now.

[Kaurie]

Im new to the game , only been playing a few months , but Im just curious of what other games are out there that get regular updates and steady content as much as this one , Ive only played a few mmos, but im just curious when i hear people say this game is stagnant, what other types of games are mmos are comparable , but like I said Im new so I havent played it for years and but just from research I havent seen any other games that do as many other steady updates on a regular basis

It's varied strategy. WoW, for example, puts out fewer patches, but a lot more content within each patch and expansion. Guild Wars 2, for another example, puts out more frequent patches, but they're much smaller in what they deliver. FFXIV lies in between. All 3 of them, in the end, have comparable amount of content with slightly more content on whatever they focus on.

One issue with more frequent patches is that the new patch will often make all content from the previous patch outdated. It's a hard balance to hit, providing a steady stream of content, without invalidating perfectly fine content.

• Revamped Itemization - New ways to acquire gear, and new unique stats on gear. I would also personally like to see a little shift away from the currency system of acquiring gear. Its predictable and uninspiring. Gearing up just feels like a chore zapped of any excitement. Never is there a rush of excitement at acquiring anything because you can plot and plan every piece of gear weeks in advance. We all wear the same basic gear. Its literally 1 or 2 sets of gear for each job at 60, and each set has the same handful of stats with varying different numerical values.
• Overworld Content - This is one of the biggest things we need to see. Ive played this game for years but have spent probably just a handful of hours in several of the zones. There is rarely a reason to traverse the overworld. Give me good reason to be in the actual zones. FFXIV has the weakest zone content Ive seen in any MMO in 15 years. The zones feel empty and lifeless and just waiting for content to be put into them.
• New Types of Content - Deep Dungeon was a good addition, but we need more unique types of content - and make it relevant. Diadem was a good addition as well but it died after 1 patch cycle and has not been supported since. I loved the RNG Diablo'esq drops. Its some of the most fun I had in the game in a while and was really hoping to see diadem expanded upon.
• Shift away from fluff content - This has been a big pet peeve of mine as the game is seemingly being over run with meaningless fluff content like glamour, minions, mounts, and fate grinds. I realize some people like to "collect" these things but it feels like this is one of the biggest driving forces in the game right now. Most days I check these forums the entire front page of topics is related to some fluff topic. Playing dress up or collecting minions simply does not motivate me in the least. I will not grind for hours and hours just to get some in game outfit. The game feels overly watered down and Id like to see a shift to more meaty content.
• When new content is put in, go ALL IN! When you put in new content like verminion and triple triad, they should have been in the duty finder from day one. Both of these content items are a good example of flops, which sounded exciting at first learning but turned out to be largely panned by the community. I feel its because of how restrictive or inaccessible they make content sometimes. Dueling is another, more recent, example. WHY is dueling relegated to one small area in the wolfs den? Open it up world wide. Let me duel in Uldah or at my guild house yard. I feel like SE's overall approach to content sometimes is really rigid and limiting in this way.

I agree with most of what you said. I have other gripes that bother me more (except Itemization, clearly an issue), personally, but I suppose we all do. A few examples of things I want to see, that you did not mention, are:

• Talent System
• Add on support
• New secondary stats with the removal of current ones (particularly accuracy and parry)
• Hi-Res Textures

I don't have such an ultimatum though. I am already disappointed with the game, and would have unsubbed for WoW awhile ago. I haven't, because my friends play here and I know no-one in WoW. It sucks playing an MMO without friends, so I'm stuck here until you piss off my friends enough for them to unsub.

[Celef]

While certain things they may have to keep around, lets hope we see this formula change in a big way

I don't think it will change, after the fiasco of 1.0, they tend to keep on a "safe basis" and not take big risk, which can be understand after what happened.
As long as the formula works and they only lose not to many sub, i doubt they'll change

[SendohJin]

- New itemization - yes, getting rid of tomes - no.
- Over-world content is over-rated for most of the playerbase.
- They are going to keep doing this at the pace that's available to their development staff, which doesn't seem like fast enough for you.
- People love fluff
- This is just unreasonable, they're going to do as much as possible within the limitations they have.

[Alexander_Dragonfang]

Yoshi said 2.X was to keep things steady and 3.X was time to rock the boat, and look how well that worked out.

And now for 4.0 he is saying nothing will change. Good thing I'm addicted to dressing up lizard girls because my expectations are rock bottom.

When and where did he said that? Cause that would be the final nail in the coffin he needs to prove everyone he has lost his edge and a new director is needed.

[Evangela]

2.0 actually had a lot of things better than 3.0. The relic quest was fun and challenging you to beat 5 trials. More dungeons for your daily tome farming. Alternative way to do dungeons (speed running was fully possible).

[Ashur]

I Im just curious of what other games are out there that get regular updates and steady content as much as this one , Ive only played a few mmos, but im just curious when i hear people say this game is stagnant, what other types of games are mmos are comparable

The problem is each new patch makes all the old content irrelevant. at any patch the two new dungeons out of all lvl 50 and 60 dungeons are all you ever need or want to run. other mmos may not make as much content, but they dont have to as their content lasts a lot longer and isnt irrelevant 3 months later.
the gear system is kindof awkward too, losing and gaining new currency systems and the frequency at which new gear is added, being gained every time mainly through grinding the 2 recent dungeons. having played for a while at cap, its the same thing over and over unless you get a raid team together

[Krazymagic]

I don't think it will change, after the fiasco of 1.0, they tend to keep on a "safe basis" and not take big risk, which can be understand after what happened.
As long as the formula works and they only lose not to many sub, i doubt they'll change

Some of the comments from Yoshi lately suggest they are getting the message that some things need to change. Many of the veteren players and long time supporters are starting to be vocal about it or are leaving. While its hard to judge population sometimes, It feels like the population has fallen off some as of late as well. I never hit a log in queue anymore on my server but used to hit it fairly regularly. There is a mood of discontent with many at the end game, most of it just from content fatigue. I think Yoshi and his team are aware of this, given their comments recently. I do agree with you thought that I think the reason we have seen SE stick to their guns with this same formula for so long is because of the 1.0 failure. Yoshi took over and they laid groundwork to rebuild this game and steady the ship, and they done that with flying colors. The content formula worked just fine in 2.0, but It started to get old after heavensward. When they do release new things they seem to do it half way, or restrict it in certain ways that causes it to be panned, like triple triad and verminion.

Triple Triad was something TONS of people wanted in this game and even in FFXI - I was stunned at just how fast it was panned by the community. Yes some people played but it was largely ignored. I think part of the reason why is because of how they limited it. You cant stand at the market board and play. I cant stand in my guild house yard and play. Verminion was even worse - How many people actually play this? You had to go to golden saucer, go all the way up to chocobo square then run to a small room just to play. Just a poor way to implement it imo. Duels right now....People have wanted them for a long time. They finally put them in, but you can only duel in wolfs den on one small platform.....So guess how many duels Ive had? Zero. No one wants to go sit in that zone to duel. Its not where the population is. If I could duel in my guild house yard we may be planning a fun tournament right now with fun obstacles in the yard. SE limits their own game I feel by decisions like this ,and I struggle to understand why sometimes. THey put so much effort into stuff like verminion then NO ONE PLAYS IT. I would be asking myself why.

[Celef]

Yoshi said 2.X was to keep things steady and 3.X was time to rock the boat, and look how well that worked out.

And now for 4.0 he is saying nothing will change. Good thing I'm addicted to dressing up lizard girls because my expectations are rock bottom.

Don't forget that, even if he is producer, Yoshida has a boss too who has a boss too in the shape of share holders. If he wants to do something and take risk but his boss says no....well he can't do it.
Don't want to find excuses to him and the way the game went, but he might not be completelly free in his decision, especially after 1.0

Crap...I said something nice about the game.....euh....euh.....we need more space, stop being lazy ! :3 That feels better

EDIT : Krazymagic your post is interesting but really hard to read as a bloc :/ could you "de-bloc" it a little please ? ^^"

[basketofseals]

The problem is each new patch makes all the old content irrelevant. at any patch the two new dungeons out of all lvl 50 and 60 dungeons are all you ever need or want to run. other mmos may not make as much content, but they dont have to as their content lasts a lot longer and isnt irrelevant 3 months later.
the gear system is kindof awkward too, losing and gaining new currency systems and the frequency at which new gear is added, being gained every time mainly through grinding the 2 recent dungeons. having played for a while at cap, its the same thing over and over unless you get a raid team together

FFXIV does the best at keeping old content relevant out of all MMOs I've ever played. Roulettes, wonder tails, and first time bonuses are great at keeping players doing old content. I've never had a reason to go visit old content in WoW unless I wanted a glamour, pet, or minion, and I'm always better off soloing so I don't lose it to anyone else.