February 5th Announcement, Realistic Expectations Thread

[Gemina]

Realistic expectations:
- Expansion announcement
- Yoshi wearing t shirt hint as usual

Unrealistic expectations:
- character creator improvement
- PS4 support dropped and moved to Ps5
- graphics engine upgrade
- Hempen Camise/Pantalette outfit’s race restrictions removed
- Blitzball
- Viera Male/Hrothgar Female
- Basically anything
- Male races get better beards

I don’t know, maybe I’m being too pessimistic, but I’m just so used to dissatisfaction from the dev team that it doesn’t even faze me anymore...and I just expect it. So when yoshida says “feel free to have high expectations” for February 5, I can’t help but see that as a troll statement.

Considering that you have 4x as many unrealistic expectations that includes "basically anything" than you do realistic expectations, you might be better off just tuning out come Feb 5th, and spare yourself a boatload of disappointment. You might instead want to reflect on why you play the game currently. If you want a different mmo so badly, then play another mmo.

When you title a thread, "February 5th Announcement, Realistic Expectations Thread", you create an expectation that at the very least you will be the one to provide some of those. Instead, you used it as a front to voice various improvements you want with the game; effectively turning it into a wish thread. While I can't guarantee anything, I would put several months salary on the line in wager than none of your unrealistic expectations will make it into the Feb 5th announcement. I would wager even more that they never make it into the game at all.

When Yoshi says to bring high expectations come Feb 5th, I am pretty sure he is not talking to the pessimistic, debbie downer who is greatly dissatisfied with the current state of the game. He is talking to those who are actually excited to see what they've cooked up.

[MachaYum]

Considering that you have 4x as many unrealistic expectations that includes "basically anything" than you do realistic expectations, you might be better off just tuning out come Feb 5th, and spare yourself a boatload of disappointment. You might instead want to reflect on why you play the game currently. If you want a different mmo so badly, then play another mmo.

When you title a thread, "February 5th Announcement, Realistic Expectations Thread", you create an expectation that at the very least you will be the one to provide some of those. Instead, you used it as a front to voice various improvements you want with the game; effectively turning it into a wish thread. While I can't guarantee anything, I would put several months salary on the line in wager than none of your unrealistic expectations will make it into the Feb 5th announcement. I would wager even more that they never make it into the game at all.

When Yoshi says to bring high expectations come Feb 5th, I am pretty sure he is not talking to the pessimistic, debbie downer who is greatly dissatisfied with the current state of the game. He is talking to those who are actually excited to see what they've cooked up.

Okay, let me narrow down my expectations then:
- Character creator improvement
- graphics update
- new healer
- Better beards for males

Only one of those is most likely going to be fulfilled. And that’s the healer job. Why does it have to be that way? Why can’t we at least have a better character creator? Am I wrong in wanting something better for the game? Am I wrong for having expectations? It just gets depressing and tiring that 98% of the things people ask for “can’t be done” due to some generic response like “server limitations”. It just gets tiring. That is why Yoshi’s statement “feel free to have high expectations” irks me. And until Blue Protocol comes out, I’m unfortunately stuck with FFXIV.

[Lauront]

Okay, let me narrow down my expectations then:
- Character creator improvement
- graphics update
- new healer
- Better beards for males

Only one of those is most likely going to be fulfilled. And that’s the healer job. Why does it have to be that way? Why can’t we at least have a better character creator? Am I wrong in wanting something better for the game? Am I wrong for having expectations? It just gets depressing and tiring that 98% of the things people ask for “can’t be done” due to some generic response like “server limitations”. It just gets tiring. That is why Yoshi’s statement “feel free to have high expectations” irks me. And until Blue Protocol comes out, I’m unfortunately stuck with FFXIV.

I'm in the same position, also keeping a hawkish eye on BP. I'm biding my time to see if a better MMO comes along, as the current offerings on the MMO market (XIV included) are rather underwhelming. If one doesn't, I'll consider just sticking to switch to an on/off sub pattern, as the game as it is is struggling to keep me interested. Even on the story aspect, it's been disappointing as far as I'm concerned as of 5.1, and I just don't think 5.3 was particularly well executed. 5.4 doesn't have me looking forward to much with the position things are in at the moment, so the story is not much of a hook, either.

If some people are excited about more of the same and aren't holding out to see if the game subverts expectations with some big new features, I'm glad they can find enjoyment in it, but that won't be me.

I'd very much like for them to prove me wrong and come out with some big new features, and a story direction I consider to be great, but I see little reason to think they will. Precisely because they do seem to have a chunk of players content with things to remain as they are.

[StriderShinryu]

Okay, let me narrow down my expectations then:
- Character creator improvement
- graphics update
- new healer
- Better beards for males

Only one of those is most likely going to be fulfilled. And that’s the healer job. Why does it have to be that way? Why can’t we at least have a better character creator? Am I wrong in wanting something better for the game? Am I wrong for having expectations? It just gets depressing and tiring that 98% of the things people ask for “can’t be done” due to some generic response like “server limitations”. It just gets tiring. That is why Yoshi’s statement “feel free to have high expectations” irks me. And until Blue Protocol comes out, I’m unfortunately stuck with FFXIV.

Well, you're not really stuck with FF14 at all. I mean, you can play other games or no game at all. Nothing is really forcing you to keep your FF14 sub active. But I'm sure you know that.

Anyway, the reason we can't just have, for example, a better character creator is because the character models, animations, gear designs, etc. are all intrinsically tied to the game's engine and to each other. A new character creator, even if it just added the much wanted "butt slider" would likely require an at least partial overhaul of the way character models are displayed, the way animations work, the way gear is created/designed and functions in connection with the models and animations, etc. To you it might seem like a small thing to just add some features but every new or changed feature ties back into, in some cases, the entire core coding of the game. And, because of how the coding for FF14 still relies on the junk code from 1.0 hastily scraped together and rejigged to make 2.0, some of it really is just likely near unchangeable without tearing everything down and starting FF14 all over again. Personally, I wouldn't really mind that happening, but it's a big ask that would probably put development of the game on hold for at least a couple of years.. at which point they'd probably rather just make an entirely new FF MMO.

Think of it like putting an addition on a house. It's easy to say "it can't be that hard to just add a third floor" but you can't just "add a third floor" when the whole foundation is cracked and crooked and the existing two floors are barely holding up. That's why people keep saying "generic" things like "it's the database issues" or "it's because of the spaghetti code." Those might seem like flippant responses to you but it's basically just people using shorthand for the issues we all know have been holding back proper development of the game for years.

[MintnHoney]

While I can't guarantee anything, I would put several months salary on the line in wager than none of your unrealistic expectations will make it into the Feb 5th announcement. I would wager even more that they never make it into the game at all.

Isn't that the point? They're not likely at all to happen, therefore it's unrealistic to expect them.

When Yoshi says to bring high expectations come Feb 5th, I am pretty sure he is not talking to the pessimistic, debbie downer who is greatly dissatisfied with the current state of the game. He is talking to those who are actually excited to see what they've cooked up.

For one thing, Yoshi-P says a lot of things. Otherwise, let's not forget that it's part of his job to hype the game, its events, and any content, underwhelming or otherwise, as far up as possible, in order to attract more paying customers. Realistically speaking, that's what he's doing here, and that would apply to anyone who has even the slightest passing interest in FFXIV, negative or otherwise. Frankly, if he was trying to speak only to the most rabid fans, then he would not need to say anything at all, as they would have been changing their undergarments over the announcement anyway.

I really don't understand the need or desire to disparage someone for wanting more out of something, especially when the potential is there. Even disappointment comes from admiration, so voiced discontent, even passive-aggressive, shouldn't be dismissed so easily.

On topic, I believe that the only realistic expectation to have, at this point, is that the announcement will happen as planned. The rest will all just be happy accidents, so get those happy little tree mints ready.

[Liam_Harper]

My own expectations are fairly low, not because I dislike the game, I'm here for a reason, but because it has become very clear by now that the game engine and coding is severely limited and cuts off the greater majority of potential features, QoL and reworks. I'm sure they'd love to go nuts and add something huge and groundbreaking but they literally can't.
In addition their budget seems to be another major limiting factor. We've seen a lot of cut content this expansion but far less added.

I'm looking forward to next expansion, ShB had some great story and it's a better MMO than others on the market but I can't see anything particularly surprising happening. More renamed FATE's/eureka, accessibility and simplification and the same old. Which is fine, it could be worse, but not extremely exciting.

You might instead want to reflect on why you play the game currently. If you want a different mmo so badly, then play another mmo.

There is very little worse than the "if you don't like it get lost and play another game" type of person. They aren't white knights because they're literally encouraging paying customers to leave. They don't provide constructive criticism or give developers an accurate picture of overall player satisfaction because their aim is to stifle any feedback. No developer will thank you for your "positivity". They want to know what players expect.

[MilkieTea]

My own expectations are fairly low, not because I dislike the game, I'm here for a reason, but because it has become very clear by now that the game engine and coding is severely limited and cuts off the greater majority of potential features, QoL and reworks. I'm sure they'd love to go nuts and add something huge and groundbreaking but they literally can't.
In addition their budget seems to be another major limiting factor. We've seen a lot of cut content this expansion but far less added.

I'm looking forward to next expansion, ShB had some great story and it's a better MMO than others on the market but I can't see anything particularly surprising happening. More renamed FATE's/eureka, accessibility and simplification and the same old. Which is fine, it could be worse, but not extremely exciting.



There is very little worse than the "if you don't like it get lost and play another game" type of person. They aren't white knights because they're literally encouraging paying customers to leave. They don't provide constructive criticism or give developers an accurate picture of overall player satisfaction because their aim is to stifle any feedback. No developer will thank you for your "positivity". They want to know what players expect.

They've been a genuine Debby-downer about everything lately, from opening up arbitrary gender locks to people being critical of the game, I guess they prefer stagnancy and things that they've been used to, rather than people wanting improvements to a game they love.

[Lauront]

My own expectations are fairly low, not because I dislike the game

Indeed. Speaking for myself, it's not a case of dislike of the game that leads me to go into it with low expectations, but quite the opposite; rather, disappointment about the factors constricting its potential blossoming. If I just outright disliked it, it's easier to just leave and offer no further comment on the matter, which is something I've done with other games where the spark of excitement just died, and I then couldn't really care less where it went from there. Like you say, more of the same old is fine but it's difficult to call it extremely exciting...