The Devs should hire players to test/give Job feedback

[Nezia]

PTRs don't necessarily make for better game balance (especially since most of the people invited don't even play to test, they play to see the new content early). Take Warcraft as a popular example. Blizzard does PTR testing for months and still often times spend weeks after a new patch hotfixing class and content balance. And though SE may drop the ball sometimes, FFXIV is still one of the better balanced MMOs out there. Unless SE could find a way to make sure the players invited to the PTR were actually going to do what they're supposed to, simply having a PTR (especially an open one) probably wouldn't change anything.

Blizzard has always been on a very high horse, they more than often just turn a deaf ear to the community, trust me, there are TONS of constructive feedback in wow during PTR, it's only that blizzard won't listen, they have always adopted a posture of "we know best what you want" and "everythin we make is good, if you don't like it that only means you don't know how to like it."

[Fatshine]

Blizzard has always been on a very high horse, they more than often just turn a deaf ear to the community, trust me, there are TONS of constructive feedback in wow during PTR, it's only that blizzard won't listen, they have always adopted a posture of "we know best what you want" and "everythin we make is good, if you don't like it that only means you don't know how to like it."

At least the Overwatch team is a little different. Most changes in that game have been good.

[Ametrine]

Snip.

Making a closed Beta server JP only feels like a perfectly reasonable method to get player's feedback straight to the devs. It would absolutely rub some people wromg, but between the tendency for Westerners to leak content and the baffling translation errors we keep seeing in Live Letters, I think we'd be better for it!

Besides, it's not like the JP playerbase is lacking on discerning, hardcore players that will gladly break a job.

I'm ambivalent on the media tour thing. I feel like getting player feedback through them was a major point of the tour, but that may be just how things panned out. I mean, we were in a panic over how bad WHM looked, but then WHM was ok and other jobs were/are much worse off at launch.

Personally, I think most of the small channels are much more entertaining to watch over the big outlets for that kind of content as they have a personal investment, but that passion backfired a bit.

[KisaiTenshi]

Making a closed Beta server JP only feels like a perfectly reasonable method to get player's feedback straight to the devs. It would absolutely rub some people wromg, but between the tendency for Westerners to leak content and the baffling translation errors we keep seeing in Live Letters, I think we'd be better for it!

One of the other things that happens with private test servers is that it often "shows how the sausage is made" and and how little control or care GM's have for certain issues, players and feedback channels. It can also backfire terribly for players who make contact with GM's outside the test environment (eg in the actual game, or via support tickets.)

Since the tester knew where a bug was from the private test, and then reports people abusing that bug in the released version of the game, it becomes something of a "So how did this bug become exposed? Were you exploiting it yourself?"

Hence, the responsibility for private tests have to rely with staff who are actually paid to test the game, not with the public. If you are testing the game for a company, you better damn well have an employment contract with them to be paid, because having legal responsibilities without compensation is a lot like "being a free abusable intern."

[DamianFatale]

That would require non disclosure contracts, a lot of trust, and time. The models take so long to work with, and they don't always end up being as good as the concept. If you look at the art books, some of the sets look way better than the actual in game models. Some things just don't translate well.

[Memoir]

I love how people like the OP always states this game has made a ton of money like they work for SE and have seen the financials. No one knows how profitable this game is unless you are on the inside at SE. Also, testing is only as good as the people testing it and reporting issues. What you will find a lot of times is people not reporting everything and if someone finds something that they can exploit, they will not report it and use it to their advantage when the game goes live.

[Fatshine]

I love how people like the OP always states this game has made a ton of money like they work for SE and have seen the financials. No one knows how profitable this game is unless you are on the inside at SE. Also, testing is only as good as the people testing it and reporting issues. What you will find a lot of times is people not reporting everything and if someone finds something that they can exploit, they will not report it and use it to their advantage when the game goes live.

Here ya go. Not hard.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...es-and-profits

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ue-and-profits

[Razard]

Here ya go. Not hard.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...es-and-profits

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ue-and-profits

Not seeing actual numbers here dude.

[KisaiTenshi]

Not seeing actual numbers here dude.

http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ne...70511_01en.pdf

Notice of Booking of Extraordinary Loss
SQUARE ENIX HOLDINGS CO., LTD. (the “Company”) announces today that it has booked the
following extraordinary loss in the financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017.

...

I just want to point that part out because sometimes a business "cuts back" to avoid further impairment, and this is reflected in other businesses units being being told to scale back.

http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ne...q4earnings.pdf (page 19 for numbers)

In the area of massively multiplayer online role playing games, revenues from operation has been showing steady
performance while net sales and operating income declined significantly compared to the prior fiscal year mainly due
to the absence of expansion disk releases during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017.

[RaizeGraymalkin]

Going by some of the suggestions for balance changes I see on these forums I'd rather not thank you.