What is going on with Square Enix and the 14 team?

[ValkyriaCrystalis]

Here's my conspiracy theory:

We got the B team running FFXIV right now and the A team is developing FF16

That’s mine as well, unfortunately.

[DamianFatale]

My opinion is not that they don't receive a good budget. I think no one actually has evidence of that, despite it having been brought up for years. I have searched for the evidence, but can't seem to find any origin. It's just rumor mongering.

With that said, what I think they should do is hire more devs. Not necessarily in a way that also gets in their way, but have more devs for different things. The problem is they can't just hire everyone at once, they have to do it gradually on a case by case basis. If they hire people all at once, there won't be any quality control, which I think is a point a lot of fans of this game overlook.

I still want to see more devs though. I want the team to start grouping different developers into different types of categories that are specific, and trivial in order to address problems. Perhaps a section for healers, dps, and tanks that work together, but are all separate. These people should be expected to become knowledgeable in what players want, but also each jobs core concept, and they should have to balance that. That way no job role gets less attention. Heck, if they had enough people we MIGHT be able to go back to getting a job from each role for at least another expansion again, but that's an if, not a guarantee. It would be nice to see more love for all three roles though.

Another team that should exist is a team for dungeons. That way we can go back to getting TWO per patch instead of one. I miss the old days when you could expect two brand new dungeons per patch. It spiced things up, and made the duty roulette a little bit more variable on expert.

They should also have a team for raids, so that we can get more of them a little bit more frequently. Hear me out, but I think Final Fantasy XIV could really use more eight mans and alliance raids. It's cool that we usually get one of each type of series in an expansion, but I really liked how Stormblood, and Shadowbringers attempted to have more in Zadnor, and Hydatos. It was really refreshing, and id like to see that in actual relevant play. We get tons of trials every year, but why not a few more alliance raids. Heck, I don't even think they always have to be related to a trilogy. What if there were just a couple alliance raids that were one and done once in awhile. Or maybe in twos. They could experiment, and give things some adventure.

Another trivial, but welcome team would be a team for events. Crossovers, seasonal events, and etc events are fun, but its no secret that they have become watered down over the years. If they had small team of developers dedicated JUST to that, it might actually be on time more often, and have more rewards. They could have avoided just a little bit of covid delays, but that may have happened regardless.

We also need a team to keep working on Hrothgar and Viera. They need hats, hair, hair fixes, and heck I wish my Viera had ear wiggle animations on certain emotes. They should get a small team of people to put some quality of life into the races they started on. It's not fair to make other devs have to do it in their own separate time like it happened with that one small Hrothgar update. I don't expect them to hire a ton of people for this, but they could easily hire maybe say a team of 5. Hell, they don't even have to stay on the game. If they just got people to do this, they could call it a contract fulfilled, and let it go when it is done, so that they can be caught up. Viera and Hrothgar need help. Hrothgar need more of it, because they are way worse off than my current race is. Maybe if the team did a good job they could stay and work on future races. Races are awesome, and it would still be neat to have a few more IF they actually delivered on them. I know I'm dying for a new small race to rival Lalalfells. Something less "child like" and more small bad ass. Like Burmecian.

I'm dreaming a lot of ideas up here, but heres my last one. They could make a team for housing. A group to work on expanding wards, developing new ones like in Crystarium, and Sharlayan. Heck even make more of them for areas that technically are cities, but aren't cities in the traditional sense. Like Ala Mhigo, Doma, Idyllshire, Mor Dohna, Ratz-At-Han, Eulmore, Etc. It could happen if they just had more people who's job it was to improve housing. They could even work on upgrading apartments, and making it fairer for the rest of people who don't have houses. The possibilities are endless. Even instanced housing.

Keep in mind they already have a team for the online shop, which makes all the outfits, and distributes them SEPARATELY from the main team, but these teams cannot be too independent. It would be important for them to work WITH Yoshi P under his lead. I know a lot of people have bad things to say right now, but keep in mind that a team still needs to be led by the director, or games lose their way FAST. There's more to a game than simply having a bad or lackluster director. Sometimes its not even the directors fault. We spend a lot of time talking about the leaders of this game, but not enough questioning about the load of the workers. I think that the devs in the background MIGHT be extremely overworked, and struggling with deadlines. This game as a live service is a magnet for crunch time, and mental health stress. I think they NEED more devs, and Square Enix might be keeping it from them. It's not fair. We should be fighting for them as fans if we think something might be wrong. It benefits all of us if it is corrected.

[SturmChurro]

Of everything I’ve read in this thread, this is what caught my eye. 30-somethings are now boomers?

…goes back to sleep in the nursing home.

Hey, I'll be joining you soon in the nursing home. My Birthday is coming up, and I don't have many more years left until I am 30!

[EnigmaticDodo]

Local man coming in with his endsinger.jpg spiel

FF16 is probably taking away from things. Thats what I hope is going on. and once thats concluded, we'll be right on track! right!? RIGHT!?

[Kyrj]

Here's my conspiracy theory:

We got the B team running FFXIV right now and the A team is developing FF16

Alright gang let's take off this mask and see who it really is! Old Man WoW!?!?!?!?

[Vercinotrix]

Amazing the tone difference the first few pages has compared to the last few.

The last few days have you guys wildin'.

[NanaWiloh]

*chuckles* All the clueless arm devs in this thread its rich.

[BrokentoothMarch]

*chuckles* All the clueless arm devs in this thread its rich.

And what have you developed?

[Colt47]

I think they let the anticipation of housing wards in ishgard inform their decision of expanding the wards, as well as making the current lotto system that enabled more people to participate. My heart goes out to the devs working on FFXIV so diligently and I'm hoping that they don't take this feedback too harshly. Especially mine since being a long term player of the game, it feels like old problems that never got addressed are just continuing.

[Vercinotrix]

And what have you developed?

I personally made an automatic paper volcano in middle school that erupted at set intervals until the vinegar ran dry.