We Really Need To Talk About The State And Path Of FFXIV

[OurMom]

If an MMORPG can't be compared to a competing MMORPG, then really we have some low standards here. FFXIV will always meet the standards of FFXIV. Even if FFXIV 1.0 was a disaster that failed miserably, it was still FFXIV and you can't knock it for not being FFXIV.

Different genres. You're comparing xiv, a strict themepark to a sandbox while conveniently leaving out that in old runescape boss gear was still better than crafted gear.

So even in that game, we're back to the fact that in mmos you have to beat the hardest content to get the best gear. Even if you could buy boss gear off the market board someone still had to beat that boss.

Also since this is a subscription based themepark, you realize if they brought world boss gear here, it would be untradeable (to keep people subbed) so you would still have to put in work to get gear.

[Lauront]

My main wishes going forwards are:

1) Lower GCDs, in the 1.5-2 sec range. I hate the current one, even if it's somewhat made better by the presence of OGCDs, but it remains horrid at low levels and even at max levels for jobs with higher than usual instants. It will require some reworking e.g. of mob HP levels, but I would like to see it.
2) More variation in the content offered each patch. They currently stick to a very fixed formula for each patch, and it's grown rather boring.
3) Improved customisation options. This would include more facial options across the board, more options for body customisation, including differing levels of bulkiness (not just tone) within the parameters of each race.
4) Better focus on existing job design. I'd also like to see more innovation and more abilities with modifiers. For example, I'd like to see BLM build up to a state where Void energies predominate, which may rejig their entire elemental configuration for the duration of that state; I'd also like to see spells, such as Freeze, re-designed to have variable effects based on the elemental aspect.
5) Graphics enhancements. I don't see the point of putting these off until 6.0 or later, when we're right about at the middle of this game's lifecycle, and when it is beginning to fall behind newer competitors. Stormblood got a bigger budget, and SE is known for cross-subsidising other titles with profits from FFXIV, so I am not too keen on hearing that they lack a budget to do so.

There's other stuff, like which locations we go to, jobs we see (BLU, DNC, etc.), but the above would be the most important points IMO. In general, I'd like to see them take some real risks with the gameplay, including the combat.

[Lauront]

Please wait until Final Fantasy XVII Online is released in the not so certain future!...


I think this game is beginning to fade (die) and I do hope it does, all I ask is that the next Final Fantasy MMO has the Miqo'te and Hyur races so I can import my characters from this game and continue in the new one!...

Male au ra and midlanders, for me. :3 I just hope if they do eventually make a new MMO, they will make the racial choices more impactful and at least have more lore and distinctive background. I didn't like the city-states being the main cultural differentiation, and I don't even think the devs do, ultimately.

[Lubu_Mykono]

My main wishes going forwards are:

1) Lower GCDs, in the 1.5-2 sec range. I hate the current one, even if it's somewhat made better by the presence of OGCDs, but it remains horrid at low levels and even at max levels for jobs with higher than usual instants. It will require some reworking e.g. of mob HP levels, but I would like to see it.
2) More variation in the content offered each patch. They currently stick to a very fixed formula for each patch, and it's grown rather boring.
3) Improved customisation options. This would include more facial options across the board, more options for body customisation, including differing levels of bulkiness (not just tone) within the parameters of each race.
4) Better focus on existing job design. I'd also like to see more innovation and more abilities with modifiers. For example, I'd like to see BLM build up to a state where Void energies predominate, which may rejig their entire elemental configuration for the duration of that state; I'd also like to see spells, such as Freeze, re-designed to have variable effects based on the elemental aspect.
5) Graphics enhancements. I don't see the point of putting these off until 6.0 or later, when we're right about at the middle of this game's lifecycle, and when it is beginning to fall behind newer competitors. Stormblood got a bigger budget, and SE is known for cross-subsidising other titles with profits from FFXIV, so I am not too keen on hearing that they lack a budget to do so.

There's other stuff, like which locations we go to, jobs we see (BLU, DNC, etc.), but the above would be the most important points IMO. In general, I'd like to see them take some real risks with the gameplay, including the combat.

they aint gonna change cooldowns cause it would mess up console input.

[Magic-Mal]

Man this thread has sure derailed.

I guess as long as people are able to read the opening post and respond it still serves it's purpose in the end. I think we are okay

[Edax]

None of us said that XIV could only be compared to XIV, again, you are strawmanning and putting words in our mouths of things that we didn't even outright even say.

This also isn't Runescape, this is XIV. It's not going to be what you find in Runescape no matter how much you physically want it to be. You're comparing apples to oranges and it's not a good point.

Okay really? I'm suppose to take "This also isn't Runescape, this is XIV" literally then? You literally thought I had no idea that FFXIV wasn't Runescape and you felt the need to remind me? I'm not putting words in your mouth, you literally explained to me that XIV is not Runescape.
Comparing apples to oranges? WHAT'S WRONG WITH COMPARING APPLES TO ORANGES? Who said you can't compare fruit? So an apple is not an orange, what a brilliant observation! Thank you for reminding me. And I say it is a good point to compare something that is different from something else.

[Corue]

all I ask is that the next Final Fantasy MMO has the Miqo'te and Hyur

I mean... A human race is 100% guaranteed in every MMO ever. If SE releases a new MMO without any kind of human race then I'd applaud them for experimenting.

[Edax]

Because they are fundamentally different games in different genres. Chances are there will be very little cross over between their respective ideas. Companies have long tried to shoehorn in mechanics or ideas from other games only for it to fail miserably. In fact, we needs not only any further than FFXIV itself. Eureka is essentially the developers trying to recreate an old school grind MMO that has long since died out. The result? Widely polarizing opinions at best; outright negativity otherwise. You can't take something from another game and make it fit.

For argument's sake though, let's say they did implement a radical change like this. You can now obtain the best gear from raids, trials, dungeons and even on the cash shop. So why does anyone bother clearing Savage more than once or twice? Better even, why touch anything except the easier content? There's no longer any incentive for bother. Worse even is how do the devs incentive any content now? Savage takes weeks of clearing to obtain gear, but this change makes it so you could be bis within a month; less if we hearken back to your earlier demand you shouldn't have to farm; that the rewards are given out in full upon clearing. Now you have seven months with nothing since the developers can't develop things fast enough to keep up.

Well, if nobody in the MMO world ever really deviated from that norm (as per your experiences), can we really tell if changing it would not work?

There's little theoretical reason why it shouldn't. The reason why difficulty options arose in gaming is because the skill level of the playerbase varies. If you tune the difficulty to easy, more skilled players get bored. By adding a harder difficulty, you do nothing for less skilled players, but your higher skilled players no longer get (as) bored and thus derive more enjoyment from your game.

If that is the case, it begs the question why higher rewards are needed to compensate for higher enjoyment. And if that is not the case, it begs the question why you add a higher difficulty in the first place.

Conclusion: People are weird.

People enjoy difficulty things in video games for their own sake. People play Legendary difficulty on Halo without any promise of better gear. In Halo Reach, all the armor that's unlocked is 100% cosmetic (yes I know Halo Reach is not an MMO). This happens in almost all other genres of video games, where players seek out the harder difficulties. The devs didn't need to bribe the players to keep playing the hard content. MMOs are an aberration in this way, the result of trying to copy WoW. That hard content raid gear would be worth a lot of gil on the marketboard, especially if only a few players are willing to do it, and there will always be a demand for it, even if it has the same gear rating as other sets.

[MoroMurasaki]

Okay really? I'm suppose to take "This also isn't Runescape, this is XIV" literally then? You literally thought I had no idea that FFXIV wasn't Runescape and you felt the need to remind me? I'm not putting words in your mouth, you literally explained to me that XIV is not Runescape.
Comparing apples to oranges? WHAT'S WRONG WITH COMPARING APPLES TO ORANGES? Who said you can't compare fruit? So an apple is not an orange, what a brilliant observation! Thank you for reminding me. And I say it is a good point to compare something that is different from something else.

When I am calling for the condescension police to arrest someone you know it's really gone to an extra extra kind of place.

The point is not that you can't compare FFXIV to other games and suggest things you enjoy from those games, many people suggest Mythic+ From WoW as a way to alleviate the irrelevance of dungeons and catch very little opposition for it.

Ultimately the problem people have with your suggestions seems to be that the proposed changes are too extreme and that they invalidate more challenging content. I agree with that assessment.

As many people have said already if you want to play Runescape no one is stopping you but gating gear behind an actual skill requirement is part of this game and it isn't a part that many of us want to see go.

Edit: Omg I get to say it! Git gud. Thank you.

[Payotz]

Yes! Why should you not? Both are action single player/multiplayer games. Both have mechanics that can improve the other. Why should the topic be dismissed or taboo, simply because A is not exactly like B?

So when can we expect an FPS mode for MCH? I want to 360 no scope God Kefka.