So where is 5.45???

[TheMightyMollusk]

The usual "I don't care about something therefore nobody should care about it" response.

Hardly. Just waiting for another round of the circular complaints in multiple threads, because checking to see if there was already a thread first is too much work. If you're so into it that you're literally scheduling your life around it, you do you.

[Caitsithhh]

The usual "I don't care about something therefore nobody should care about it" response.

Actual kid stomping his feet lmao. It is predictable and it is business as usual during COVID. Chill, 5.41 is due in a couple weeks. There’s plenty of sources with a best guess that’ll most likely be right. SE in no shape or form expects people to take off work for this patch and as such sees no reason to “Warn”(lol) people of 5.41 patch weeks ahead.

[Iscah]

Can't wait to hear more stories of people obsessing about craft rankings. Then complaining that they totally had to do it because Reasons™.

As much as I can't fathom putting that amount of sleepless work into a mere chance at a title, I do think SE shouldn't be designing the contest in a way that encourages people to do that.

Perhaps make it more focused on quality and skill - give out a specific limited number of a special ingredient each day, say enough to craft 20 hand-in items, then people hand in their best 10 (to even out variations due to luck). Keep people coming back each day without encouraging them to all run themselves into the ground for fear that someone else might be running even harder.

[Liam_Harper]

Can't wait to hear more stories of people obsessing about craft rankings. Then complaining that they totally had to do it because Reasons™.

I avoided the last one because it wasn't worth the stress, so no we don't have to do it, but that doesn't make it good design.

FF14 has always been a game that respects your free time, then they suddenly turn around and create a competition where the only real way to reach top 12 is spend an unhealthy amount of time each day crafting the same recipe over and over, for 10 days straight. On top of this, while there were many legitimate top 12's, it's not a guarantee the top 12 ranking will be entirely free from bots.
Keep in mind this is the only endgame we have for DoH/DoL now, sure we can skip it but there's almost nothing else left besides a small dinosaur mount for 500 hours grind. Even if we aren't forced to participate there's nothing wrong with leaving feedback that it's terrible content.

For example, if they made an absolutely terrible Savage raid tier that was only available 10 days per patch and no other raids, do you think people would smile and say how it's fine because they aren't forced to run it?

[Espritduo]

Actual kid stomping his feet lmao. It is predictable and it is business as usual during COVID. Chill, 5.41 is due in a couple weeks. There’s plenty of sources with a best guess that’ll most likely be right. SE in no shape or form expects people to take off work for this patch and as such sees no reason to “Warn”(lol) people of 5.41 patch weeks ahead.

Most people take off work for patches, not just this one and not just for Ishgard rankings. It's not a kid stomping his feet, it's an adult with adult things to do who needs to know what days to schedule off to enjoy the content they want to enjoy. Best guesses don't fly when you need hard dates. Best guess a week or so ago was Jan 5th, and it seems that ain't happening, so what now? 12th is what I am "guessing" but if I'm wrong, there goes my whole vacation again. I guessed the last two ranking periods and was wrong, and my ability to participate and enjoy the content was impacted greatly. The same goes for EVERY patch, not just this. This is just the worst case because it actually has timed content you HAVE to make time for during a specific period. If they are going to make content like that, regardless of whether you think it's important content or not, then they need to respect people's schedules at least a little bit.

And stop using COVID as a scapegoat for anything and everything. It was understandable back in March, it is just an excuse now. SE themselves have said they've gotten themselves reoriented and mostly back in working order in this new COVID work from home situation.

[Vahlnir]

And stop using COVID as a scapegoat for anything and everything. It was understandable back in March, it is just an excuse now. SE themselves have said they've gotten themselves reoriented and mostly back in working order in this new COVID work from home situation.

It was an issue then, still an issue now worldwide. Just because they are set up to work from home doesn't mean they can do everything there and at the same speed.

[Espritduo]

It was an issue then, still an issue now worldwide. Just because they are set up to work from home doesn't mean they can do everything there and at the same speed.

That's not the point. They can take all the time they like with the patches. They could schedule 5.41 for 2022 and I'd be fine with that, I got tons of stuff backlogged I'd like to get to before 6.0. But they need to let the players know what is going on so WE can plan accordingly. They're dealing with COVID, but so are we and a little communication on where things stand and when things are coming out is greatly appreciated. Take your time, make the patches great again and all that, but just let us know when they are coming far enough in advance so we can properly enjoy them.

[Vahlnir]

That's not the point. They can take all the time they like with the patches. They could schedule 5.41 for 2022 and I'd be fine with that, I got tons of stuff backlogged I'd like to get to before 6.0. But they need to let the players know what is going on so WE can plan accordingly. They're dealing with COVID, but so are we and a little communication on where things stand and when things are coming out is greatly appreciated. Take your time, make the patches great again and all that, but just let us know when they are coming far enough in advance so we can properly enjoy them.

But that is the point. They have to plan around what they have to work with and how long. Communication is not their strong suit though, I will give you that. I'd like to know these things as well. They usually do a week in advance, but I know that isn't going to allow some people to work it into their schedules accordingly. Usually we get an "early January" or "middle of February" as timelines for various patches (not literally those, but just examples) but we haven't even gotten that much out of them.

[MsMisato]

It'd be nice if SE was more respectful of their player's time and let us know further in advance when their patches were coming. I've had to turn my entire life upside down and the lives of those around me in order to try and "guess" the release date of 5.41 so I can have 10 days off for the time-sensitive, time-intensive competition they aren't giving us any updates about. It's incredibly inconsiderate and they do it every single patch, waiting until it's far too late for any working adult to make plans before announcing patch dates. It's not like they don't know the date themselves, they just withhold until like 1-2 weeks before the date for some reason. I can only assume it's because they are only 99% sure of the date and not 100%, but seriously, just give us a tentative date at least a month in advance so we can have *some* idea what the heck to do.

I mean they usually announce a month in advance if it dropping. In the meantime smoke a bowl and relax. the game isn't going anywhere.

[Jojoya]

So you know the exact date of 5.41 then? There's a world of difference between having a general idea you can't do anything with ("sometime in January") and an exact date that is required for scheduling time off, which is something SE never gives us until it is too late to matter.

And uh, yeah I DO expect that in a pandemic situation that has become business as usual over the course of a year of dealing with it. SE knows when the patch is coming but they just aren't saying due to "reasons".

They can't give exact dates far in advance because they don't know what unforeseen circumstances are going to interrupt their development schedule.

Players are going to get angry if they don't mention a date until almost the last minute. Players are going to get even angrier if they mention a date then don't deliver. They're better off staying silent until they're able to set a firm date.

Once we got 5.4's release date, Jan 12th became a reasonable guess based on their past release schedule though I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be the 19th since we usually get about 10 days warning and nothing was said yesterday.

5.45 will likely be Feb 16th or 23rd (I'm leaning toward the 23rd).

Work and leisure inevitably are going to come into conflict if you're relying on a schedule outside of your control. We're adults, we learn to accept it happens.