[4.0->4.1]Would you be okay with a longer delay?

[Knahli]

Regarding a question that was asked of Yoshi about whether or not we should expect a delay between 4.0 and 4.1, similar to what we experienced from 3.0 to 3.1....

R:
After the release of Heavensward, there was a long break between 3.0 and 3.1. Will there be the same kind of break between 4.0 and 4.1?

Y:
I would love to give our dev team a break, but for 4.1 because we’ve been planning for it ahead of time and making sure our plans are aligned we are going to attempt releasing the patch in accordance to our typical patch release schedule. Once our team sees the article that’s written up that mentions this, they’ll get a little weary (room laughs).

....does this actually bother anyone? I'm as eager for content as anyone else, don't get me wrong, but I can't help but feel really bad that he feels the need to keep on pushing through with schedules and deadlines just to appease the community.

Frankly, I'd rather they take some noteworthy form of respite even if it's not necessarily as long as the previous(I can't even remember how long that was) though I guess this might not be the most popular of notions ;

[Medicine]

I feel like they definitely deserve a break from all the work they've been doing since 3.1, one that is at least a month longer then their break during 3.0-3.1 I bet they really need it.

[Moonlite]

Frankly, I'd rather they take some noteworthy form of respite even if it's not necessarily as long as the previous(I can't even remember how long that was) though I guess this might not be the most popular of notions ;

No. It is a companies job to work vacation time into production. Can one person not have a week off at a time? They all need to have the same time off. I support vacation time. I generally don't support closing the doors of a buisness so everyone can have time off at the same time. Also remember how much dead space between 3.5 leading up to 4.0. It wasn't that 3.0 to 3.1 was long it was 2.5 to 3.1 felt like 3/4s of a year. And no 3.0 did not launch with enough to cover that.

[ffchampion]

No. It is a companies job to work vacation time into production..

You've clearly never worked in the games industry. I used to have to do 50 hour weeks with restricted periods as to when we were allowed to take vacation.

[RaijinSupreme]

You've clearly never worked in the games industry. I used to have to do 50 hour weeks with restricted periods as to when we were allowed to take vacation.

Was it normal that every single employee where you worked took their vacation all at the same time, thus completely halting production for a whole month's time?

[ffchampion]

Was it normal that every single employee where you worked took their vacation all at the same time, thus completely halting production for a whole month's time?

The normality was out of each section (single player, co-op, background, qa etc) only 1 or 2 people could be off at a time which generally didn't give people space. also in the last 6 months before release no one was allowed time off meaning after release everyone had to use their holidays up all at once since carry overs into next holiday year werent allowed

[LineageRazor]

No. It is a companies job to work vacation time into production.

This is a great ideal, but we're talking about Japan, and in an industry where even western companies regularly expect employees to work well beyond the standard 40 hour work week. Japan's workplace has social pressures like nothing seen in the West when it comes to work, and that can translate to a work schedule that would be considered nothing short of oppressive for folks outside the country.

When I heard that there would be an extended delay between 3.0 and 3.1, my first thought was that they must have worked quite literally to the brink of death to warrant such a thing in Japan. I'm talking actual serious health issues that they needed the time off to address. Perhaps it wasn't QUITE that bad, but I sure wasn't shocked to learn that Stormblood had decided to trim things down to just two jobs and no additional player race this time around (along with who knows how many other cuts).

When a Japanese game company tells you that they're giving their workforce an extra couple months of time off when doing so clearly risks the health of the game (as was the case in 3.0-3.1), you can bet that they NEEDED that extra time off. It wasn't a luxury, it was a necessity. It seems that this time around, they're confident that their team won't have one foot in the grave, and they can stick to a regular schedule. If they reevaluate that decision later and decide that yeah, they need the time off again, they have my support.

[Lexia]

Weren't people having a fit when HW release cause of how long wait there was between 3.0 and 3.1? I don't think the XIV player base has changed that much and most likely act the same way.

[DreamAngel-Ren]

They definitely need a break after pushing themselves working on Stormblood and making sure it's released on time plus dealing with the community. With all of the whining and complaints from some of us lately, I'm surprised they haven't snapped and just said, "f*** this sh*t, I'm out!" lol

[ShinMetsu]

Why do people always say "Oh, these poor little hard-hardwoking devs deserve a break" ?
It's their job!

Whether or not they're doing overtime, which they're probably getting paid for, which some of them probably are happy about.
Which is probably not enforced, although from what people say pressure to meet workplace's expectations is high in japan from what people say.
And finally, if they want to ease the workload, they should just expand their budget.

It's about time companies start putting customers first again. Reputation is worth more than most people think.


Edit: OH AND! Imagine if they did and content got delayed and cut out, imagine the shitstorm!