Patch release dates, Fanfest, Housing Auto Demolish? Covid-19?

[wereotter]

I going to disagree with you on this not being different. The first weave I agree, at this point? Not so much. COVID situation is going to stay with us for a long while, or even forever like other diseases.

In any case, I never going to get why is more important when more players are potentially affected than when only a few are having a hard time. Bad things are bad things, if SE really cares at least they should revamp apartments.

Unlike other times where someone gets sick and ends up needing lengthy medical attention, those are often something that impacts one person in a bad situation but is isolated to them. With COVID, millions of people have contracted the disease in less than a year, hundreds of thousands have had to be hospitalized and many many have died. This is a situation that has impacted people all over the world, and all those individual cases have added together to create a situation where it is a reasonable situation to say they won't take things away from players because of it.

To demand that they just remove it in the middle of all this is just plain selfish. YOU'RE not impacted, so who cares if those who are have to have things takes away from them as long as you get what you want...

[Daniolaut]

they said we're getting a virtual FanFest in FeburarySo the 3 months behind seems to hold to me.

It's true.They mentioned this during the Letter from the Producer LIVE Part LX

I heard about the "special announcement" I did not catch that FanFest information was all being released at once specifically in February. See this is why a discussion is a good thing.

Thanks for the input

If I were to go into hospital suddenly, a virtual house would be one of the last things on my mind...

If the CDC is correct in that a vaccine will be less effective then a mask, then I don't see pandemic ever really going away, so they might as well turn the housing demolishing back on since this is the "new normal".

Exactly, I think it would be fair at this point to reconsider turning auto-Demolish turned back on. Or at least be ready to implement a better feature.

Also, finally something we can agree upon!

Different people working on different things may decide differently on how much of a delay they need. Maybe WoW would benefit from a longer delay.

5.0 - Late June (Early Access)
5.1 - Late October
5.2 - Late February

5.3 - Early August (I don't know where you get October, that's 5.35)
5.4 - Expected to be early December

So, a two-month delay for 5.3, but no delay for 5.4 if they release in December.

Also, where do you get September 22 date for 5.4?

I see that you read the typo of October when I meant August.

I dont see where you get your other information that leads you to a 2 month delay still.

I linked and sourced everything that I said, so if you followed along then there shouldnt be any confusion.

The confusion here with what you're saying is you said 2 months for 5.4 but when exactly

5.3 Original release dates:
5.3 Jun 2, 2020 (per normal patch cycles no delays.)
(This information comes from the fact that FFXIV is extremely predictable down to the release dates of patches. These release dates have been almost exactly accurate all the way since back in 2.0. The only times they are off, is when something is added or pushed to another patch, and there is a delay or fluctuation, which is extremely rare.)
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...v_patch_dates/

Per Square-Enix Originally planned 5.3 release date:

Originally slated for a June 16 release, patch 5.3 will be delayed by more than a month at the very least,

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/420143

5.3 Release date

08/10/2020 5:00 AM (patch notes)
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...218.1601586719

08/10/2020 11:05 PM (Update information)
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...68eabfd04370a3




Now for 5.4.

If 5.4 under a normal patch cycle would release 16 weeks later.

Based on above:

-Original:

September 22nd 2020

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...v_patch_dates/

-Per Square-Enix Original date:

October 6th 2020
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/420143

-New:

(based on the actual release date of 5.3 which was August 11th 2020 at 2am EST.)

December 1st 2020

(16 weeks after August 11th 2020.)
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...5c2da260eae21a

So if 5.4 is released even 1 week after December 1st we're looking at more than a 2 month delay from 5.3 to 5.4.

1 or 2 weeks into December is not December 1st, which is the first Tuesday of December. Which at that point 2 weeks later, would be 2.5 month delay. Round up, and you're looking at closer to 3 months than 2 months.

If its delayed beyond "Early December" which yes December 1st is "early December" but since we dont have a date, and typically "Early December" in Square-Enix language normally means probably closer to the 15th, which the 15th is a Tuesday, so very likely the 15th if its not delayed even further.

Now, I'm about to say things that are not significant in the matter, what matters to me, is it would be nice if we could get a little more transparency as to why things are being delayed, or if its "just covid" at least say "we apologize for the additional delay in content, we're working as efficiently as we can."

But I will point out people might say "well I want them to polish the content." Let's be real, FFXIV has stopped polishing content since the release of 2.0. The story cutscenes are going to have NPC's moving at the exact same time, (which makes them appear to look like robots and completely unnatural to me) the camera is going to be posted on a tri-pod (so to speak) 90% of the time, not all the cutscenes are even voice acted. They really cut corners and have been since they released version 2.0.

So again, all I'm asking here is at least be a little more forward since we are paying and havent stopped paying since Covid started and in fact they have gotten more players and havent fixed housing, all the things I've listed, they have been pretty quiet about, and our money to them hasnt stopped flowing. Again, I repeat, I am only asking for more information regarding the delay. Maybe an actual release date if they cant give solid release dates at this point due to covid, maybe they can explain why its so grievously affecting them vs other companies. Just a little more communication would be nice.

Also this was a discussion first a foremost and people caught things I didnt catch, and FanFest information is being released as if they are bundling it all into one big go. If that isnt the case and its going to be 2 or 3 events, then yes, they are foreseeing more than a 3 month delay in regards to content coming after 5.3, 5.4 and onwards.

Thats the whole point I'm getting at, is all content moving forward until they can get back into the building are we going to continue to see a 1 or 2 week additional wait on all forthcoming patches.

[Iscah]

If the CDC is correct in that a vaccine will be less effective then a mask...

If the quote you're referring to is the same one I saw, it's not talking about a direct comparison of one to the other but that the reason the vaccine is "less effective" is that it does not yet exist, but we do have masks. Masks are immeasurably more effective right now.

I don't have the direct quote but it was relayed in this article:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2...-plan/12866412

But he warned that even if a vaccine was approved, it would still be many more months before it was widely available.

"This is why the head of the CDC warned this fall that for the foreseeable future, a mask remains a more potential weapon against the virus than the vaccine," he said in a statement.

I think it could be worded better - a mask is a better weapon than the hope of a future vaccine we don't have yet. And until we have that vaccine, maybe even once we have it, we still need to be doing everything else we possibly can to slow the spread of the virus.

[TheRealQuah]

...

5.3 had no "slated release of June 2nd" just some guess work by fans. Patches have been 16 or 17 weeks recently, so you could go with either figure. Plus your date of June 2nd would have been 15 weeks after 5.2. No Patch has ever been 15 weeks after the previous one. Get your figures right.

5.3 was delayed by 8 weeks. Under 2 months. Going on from the date of August 11th, 16 or 17 weeks would be the 1st or 8th December, which would certainly be "early December" so there is no extra delay to 5.4. I also wonder how things with no release dates given can be delayed at all to be honest.

You come across as extremely entitled. You speak of transparency but they spoke in length on 2 separate LL's about the delays and why they are taking the time they are. How things are different in the East to the West, and how this would cause delays to be slightly longer over there. (You mentioned Blizzard delaying by less before. More staff, bigger budget, and, in the last few years, an inferior product. Easy to understand the shorter delay.) Carry on being ignorant to the information they have put out there to forward your agenda.

My workplace closed down for 4 months, and you're here complaining about a video game being delayed for 8 weeks, whilst the worst health crisis the world has seen in over a century is going on outside.

No one is forcing you to keep paying your sub whilst there's a content drought.

The fact that you said "Let's be real, FFXIV has stopped polishing content since the release of 2.0" just tops it off for me. If you can't see how things have improved from 2.0 to 5.3 in every department then you obliviously have a huge negative bias. Delusional.

[linayar]

I dont see where you get your other information that leads you to a 2 month delay still.

I linked and sourced everything that I said, so if you followed along then there shouldnt be any confusion.

The confusion here with what you're saying is you said 2 months for 5.4 but when exactly

I did not say there is a two-month delay for 5.4. I said there is no delay for 5.4.

5.3 Original release dates:
5.3 Jun 2, 2020 (per normal patch cycles no delays.)
(This information comes from the fact that FFXIV is extremely predictable down to the release dates of patches. These release dates have been almost exactly accurate all the way since back in 2.0. The only times they are off, is when something is added or pushed to another patch, and there is a delay or fluctuation, which is extremely rare.)
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...v_patch_dates/

Per Square-Enix Originally planned 5.3 release date:

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/420143

5.3 Release date

08/10/2020 5:00 AM (patch notes)
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...218.1601586719

08/10/2020 11:05 PM (Update information)
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...68eabfd04370a3

Ok, so the 9/22/2020 date is based on an old reddit post that's been proven wrong on the exact dates since the gap is not always 112 days. Since it's already wrong on 5.1 and 5.2 dates and confirmed wrong on the planned 5.3 date, don't use it for 5.4 dating. The time frame may be the same, but the exact dates are not because the gap is not always the same length. Based on the 5.2 release date and the planned 5.3 release date, we can see it's 119 days in between, not 112.

Now for 5.4.

If 5.4 under a normal patch cycle would release 16 weeks later.

Based on above:

-Original:

September 22nd 2020

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...v_patch_dates/

-Per Square-Enix Original date:

October 6th 2020
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/420143

-New:

(based on the actual release date of 5.3 which was August 11th 2020 at 2am EST.)

December 1st 2020

(16 weeks after August 11th 2020.)
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...5c2da260eae21a

So if 5.4 is released even 1 week after December 1st we're looking at more than a 2 month delay from 5.3 to 5.4.

1 or 2 weeks into December is not December 1st, which is the first Tuesday of December. Which at that point 2 weeks later, would be 2.5 month delay. Round up, and you're looking at closer to 3 months than 2 months.

If its delayed beyond "Early December" which yes December 1st is "early December" but since we dont have a date, and typically "Early December" in Square-Enix language normally means probably closer to the 15th, which the 15th is a Tuesday, so very likely the 15th if its not delayed even further.

Again, I posted the lengths of gap for previous patches and it's not always 112 days. The gap can be 119 days too, so there is no delay for 5.4 unless they don't meet their stated release period of "early December."

[Daniolaut]

I did not say there is a two-month delay for 5.4. I said there is no delay for 5.4.

There is more than a 2 month delay. There is going to be a 2 month delay by default for all subsequent patches because they arent releasing them sooner to make up ground of what was lost by covid. So yes, yes there is a delay. As stated, our flow of revenue to Square-Enix did not get paused, but their development did. That means they made revenue when work was halted.


I'm starting to feel like this is not productive, we arent even agreeing on the most basic of things.

Ok, so the 9/22/2020 date is based on an old reddit post that's been proven wrong on the exact dates since the gap is not always 112 days. Since it's already wrong on 5.1 and 5.2 dates and confirmed wrong on the planned 5.3 date, don't use it for 5.4 dating. The time frame may be the same, but the exact dates are not because the gap is not always the same length. Based on the 5.2 release date and the planned 5.3 release date, we can see it's 119 days in between, not 112.

Its not just a "post on reddit." FFXIV absolutely has a very predictable content cycle. They always release story quests, dungeons, 24 man raids, 8 person raids, its all copy pasted its extremely manufactured/product line/factory produced.

I already said there are variations, but they are rare.

It is typically always 16 weeks. If you're starting to see a trend where with patches 5.x are actually taking longer than 16 weeks, then... that would mean you're agreeing with me... do you understand?

Again, I posted the lengths of gap for previous patches and it's not always 112 days. The gap can be 119 days too, so there is no delay for 5.4 unless they don't meet their stated release period of "early December."

I'm going to say this as simply as I possibly can.

5.4 absolutely must release on December 1st 2020, or it has gone beyond its typical production. They already said they are at .. here let me get the exact quote for you, even though it doesnt seem to be helping here...

If you consider our usual, pre-pandemic development production to be at 100%, we are currently sitting at around 85-90% capability.

Here is the link to that quote by the producer himself you cannot argue that he didnt say it, its right there this is cold hard fact. Undeniable. Absolute truth. No question.

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/420143


Now, back on to the productive part. What I'm looking to see, is if further down the line, due to this slow down, is anything going to be done, is anything going to be said, are they addressing it? Are they making these 1, 2, 3, week delays the norm.

I'm just a curious person by nature. I like to think about things, its enjoyable. I like to learn. I dont like to argue. So please stop saying things that arent productive and making me repeat myself over and over and over. Thank you have a great day. Goodbye.

[Daniolaut]

5.3 had no "slated release of June 2nd" just some guess work by fans. Patches have been 16 or 17 weeks recently, so you could go with either figure. Plus your date of June 2nd would have been 15 weeks after 5.2. No Patch has ever been 15 weeks after the previous one. Get your figures right.

5.3 was delayed by 8 weeks. Under 2 months. Going on from the date of August 11th, 16 or 17 weeks would be the 1st or 8th December, which would certainly be "early December" so there is no extra delay to 5.4. I also wonder how things with no release dates given can be delayed at all to be honest.

You come across as extremely entitled. You speak of transparency but they spoke in length on 2 separate LL's about the delays and why they are taking the time they are. How things are different in the East to the West, and how this would cause delays to be slightly longer over there. (You mentioned Blizzard delaying by less before. More staff, bigger budget, and, in the last few years, an inferior product. Easy to understand the shorter delay.) Carry on being ignorant to the information they have put out there to forward your agenda.

My workplace closed down for 4 months, and you're here complaining about a video game being delayed for 8 weeks, whilst the worst health crisis the world has seen in over a century is going on outside.

No one is forcing you to keep paying your sub whilst there's a content drought.

The fact that you said "Let's be real, FFXIV has stopped polishing content since the release of 2.0" just tops it off for me. If you can't see how things have improved from 2.0 to 5.3 in every department then you obliviously have a huge negative bias. Delusional.

You ... cant possibly be serious.

First. there are typically 4 weeks in a month. When you speak of "weeks" there are 30 days in a majority of all months. Why am I discussing this?

That is 4.28 week... wait hold on, I will be exact here. 30 days, in a month. A week is 7 days, 30/7 = 4.28571429.
(There are some months with 31 days and one month that alternates 28 and 29 days. These numbers would be 4.42857143, and 4.14285712, and 4. respectively.)

8 weeks = roughly 2 months. I mean come on lets at least pretend to be realistic.

Who is entitled. I opened a discussion, asking what people think.

If you dont think anything, you're more than welcome to think that. I havent demanded a single thing or implied a demand. I explicitly said ... I cant even find anything that implies what you're saying cause it was never said. You even had to clip out everything I said to get your point across. So I cant even respond to you directly because you purposefully cut out the part you are trying to refer to in the quote of mine you ... quoted.....

I literally only asked questions and shared facts.

What part are you trying to refute? Are you saying I cant ask questions or start a discussion over the matters at hand?

If you say Square-Enix has addressed things, might you possibly link me information regarding the delays, and their plans for addressing them? That is literally exactly the very thing I was asking about?

[Daniolaut]

The fact that you said "Let's be real, FFXIV has stopped polishing content since the release of 2.0" just tops it off for me. If you can't see how things have improved from 2.0 to 5.3 in every department then you obliviously have a huge negative bias. Delusional.

Oh I did find something you quoted, would you like to start a new thread about this topic?

Would you like me to create a new thread discussing how content isnt polished?

Do you understand that polishing content, and improving upon its creation are two separate things?

Having a negative bias somehow makes a person delusional? Would you care to explain that correlation?

You seem to know me more than I know myself. Please tell me how I have a negative bias for FFXIV even though I've been playing it for a very long time, so clearly it means I like it. In fact, on the basis that I do like it and have been playing it a long time, this means I understand the game and its potential much greater than the average player?

FFXIV absolutely has room to improve. I gave you one example that you failed to fully quote.

The example is taking the time to "randomize" when NPC's turn so that it doesnt appear robotic. You might not care about that, that might not even be something you notice. This is the very reason I do not enjoy other games, because these types of things are very common place. This is the first time in a Final Fantasy game, that such a thing is present. I would like to think pointing it out to the development team so they can address it, to enhance the quality of their game for all players, would be beneficial. If you think improving on the game is a negative thing, how does that make you someone who doesnt wish negativity upon FFXIV and seeks its demise?

Does that now imply that these things are game breaking? Absolutely not. I'm saying your outlook doesnt make sense. Your assumptions are groundless, or senseless at best. If you want to try to absolutely insult someone, at least completely quote them and give them something to discuss properly as to how you can understand them. Of course if your goal is to not to try to understand me, or why I'm wanting to see FFXIV improve, might I ask what is your intent?

[linayar]

There is more than a 2 month delay. There is going to be a 2 month delay by default for all subsequent patches because they arent releasing them sooner to make up ground of what was lost by covid. So yes, yes there is a delay. As stated, our flow of revenue to Square-Enix did not get paused, but their development did. That means they made revenue when work was halted.


I'm starting to feel like this is not productive, we arent even agreeing on the most basic of things.

Ok, you cannot keep holding on to the old patch cycle. There is a delay for 5.3, so for 5.4, you have to look at the actual 5.3 date, not the planned 5.3 date. There is a delay of exactly 8 weeks for 5.3, but from the actual 5.3 release date, there won't be a delay for 5.4 unless they miss an early December release.

Its not just a "post on reddit." FFXIV absolutely has a very predictable content cycle. They always release story quests, dungeons, 24 man raids, 8 person raids, its all copy pasted its extremely manufactured/product line/factory produced.

I already said there are variations, but they are rare.

It is typically always 16 weeks. If you're starting to see a trend where with patches 5.x are actually taking longer than 16 weeks, then... that would mean you're agreeing with me... do you understand?

It is not rare.

Of the 21 patches we've had so far, I can only verify 7 patches from the patch archive (assuming the note is released the day before) that came exactly 112 days (16 weeks) after the previous patch.

5 patches had a smaller gap than 112 days (patch 3.3 being the last of these).

The rest (9) had a bigger gap, including the planned 5.3 date, which would have been 119 days instead of the actual 175 days we got.

I'm going to say this as simply as I possibly can.

5.4 absolutely must release on December 1st 2020, or it has gone beyond its typical production.

If 5.4 is released on December 8, it will be 119 days after 5.3 release date, which has been done before for patch 4.4 and was planned for 5.3 before the delay added 8 weeks.

[aodhan_ofinnegain]

There is more than a 2 month delay. There is going to be a 2 month delay by default for all subsequent patches because they arent releasing them sooner to make up ground of what was lost by covid. So yes, yes there is a delay. As stated, our flow of revenue to Square-Enix did not get paused, but their development did. That means they made revenue when work was halted.

I mean the whole COVID-19 has been an extremely upsetting time to people and companies/ businesses previous run about everyday life. Shit is gonna get messed up. SE taking the well being of their staff over producing a game, I say all the more to them. If there is gonna be delays, so be it, it gives us time to do other stuff, or tackle other content that we may not have had time to do otherwise.

I agree with SE, when they said that they are not gonna to attempt to make up for lost time, because that would mean sacrificing content, or quality. If you paid attention to their explanations of the whole delay, you would have know that it would take over 24 hours to access some content from the devs homes, for QA or whatever else. It took the a large amount of time to put in place the necessary measure to enable more efficient methods to develop 5.3. So what if they made revenue while development was strained...companies don't suddenly stop making money from services or products, because services/ products are being delayed.

I'm going to say this as simply as I possibly can.

5.4 absolutely must release on December 1st 2020, or it has gone beyond its typical production. They already said they are at .. here let me get the exact quote for you, even though it doesnt seem to be helping here...

No it doesn't, 8th of December is one of the predicted launch dates for 5.4 which is STILL early December. And there could be potentially more delays along the way, but thing is you have to deal with it, or go elsewhere if you don't like it. Many places have gone into second lockdown, while the devs now have the means to work from home, doesn't rule out that some delays may still happen.

Just because something isn't going exactly as you guessed it, or strictly adhering to a formerly followed schedule, doesn't mean there needs to be a big song and dance, that is just being entitled tbh.