Public Discussion: Community Feedback - Is it being heard?

[Thi]

No.

With WoW on the decline the devs know that XIV is the only non f2p cashgrab MMO on the market so there is no motivation to deviate from their vision on anything.

[Avenger]

This objectively means they don't listen and objectively means we're in the era of "devs know better" which is, as we know, always a bad sign.

1. Not complying with player demands is not the same as not listening. Many vocal players demand a DPS meter and Yoshi-p has repeatedly explained why they never intend to add one to FFXIV - because they believe (with good reason imho) that it would lead to bullying and a focus on efficiency, which is not the game they set out to make.

2. "Devs think they know better" isn't always a bad sign - the PvP renaissance is a good example of giving players what they weren't asking for.

[Nizzi]

2. "Devs think they know better" isn't always a bad sign - the PvP renaissance is a good example of giving players what they weren't asking for.

PVP AST and SCH are literally almost exactly what AST and SCH players are asking for though lol

[StriderShinryu]

To be straight up, if you say the devs don't listen to player feedback, you're being more than a little disingenuous. Most of the stuff that ended up in Endwalker, including some of it's biggest back of the box features, and a large portion of what's coming in the rest of the expansion, are pretty directly related to fan feedback. Just because it's not exactly what YOU wanted or done in the way YOU wanted doesn't mean they aren't listening. Personally, I'd actually rather they listened to fan feedback a little less than they do as fan feedback is what's led to things like Graha Tia and Zenos sticking around as long as they have.

I've said it many times before, but the biggest issue is really communication. The devs are great at talking at the players but they're pretty terrible at actually talking to/with the players.. and this results in things like the Hrothgar hair situation or the response to the Healer complaints where it's clear the developers are listening to the feedback but because they aren't actually having a two way conversation they end up botching the actual execution/response (or they just aren't understanding what the issue really is). Heck, even for things like the Sam changes, I don't doubt that they could at least try to explain what they were trying to accomplish but because they don't actually talk with the players about it, it just ends up in this weird thing that nobody is really happy with. This is where the non-existent community team needs to step up (or just show up).

I want the developers to keep making their game. I don't want everything they do to be some mish mash designed by committee/ try to make everyone happy mess. I want them to make their FF14 and then I can make the choice, as we all can, to either play it or not play it. But I do want them to at least communicate with the players to explain what they're doing and why they're doing it (and to have that not require parsing multiple fan translated Japanese interviews to guess at their intentions).

[Avenger]

PVP AST and SCH are literally almost exactly what AST and SCH players are asking for though lol

Haha so maybe that is proof that they are listening - just not necessarily complying in the way some players want them to.

[Jeeqbit]

Meanwhile healers…..yeah this is a blatant lie sorry. When you tell an entire role to fuck off and play ultimate if you want said role to be engaging there’s an issue.

It's definitely not a lie. When tanks were stacking strength, it was changed so that vitality contributed damage, then strength was added to accessories and accessories were locked to classes. Eventually the stats were entirely rebalanced to be the same for all jobs and a tank mastery trait put into the game so that gear manipulation could not adjust damage so much.

When Paladins had a boring rotation, it was adjusted to be one of the most interesting tank rotations of all. When they couldn't block magic, they were adjusted to be able to block magic. When we had to aim blocks and autos, this was adjusted to work in any direction. When everybody stopped playing bard because it had cast times, bard was overhauled to not have them again. When nobody wanted to play Machinist, it was overhauled too. When Warriors had a lack of utility and Shake It Off was useless, it was adjusted to what it is now. When Summoner was attacked for being too busy, it was adjusted to be less busy. When Astrologian's cast times and potencies made it undesirable in Shadowbringers, this was all adjusted. When it was too busy playing cards, this was adjusted as well. I could go on, but job feedback is something they listen to very carefully.

The reason healers do not have busier DPS rotations or a greater need to heal is because they do not want the opposite problem and to overwhelm healers. Healers have always been this way, unlike the problems I listed which started to exist at a certain time and were quickly pointed out as a problem.

[Avenger]

I want them to make their FF14 and then I can make the choice, as we all can, to either play it or not play it. But I do want them to at least communicate with the players to explain what they're doing and why they're doing it (and to have that not require parsing multiple fan translated Japanese interviews to guess at their intentions).

Empowering the NA community team to provide monthly answers to player questions in English might help. Otherwise they do have question submissions for the Live letters. If players would ask more questions like "could you explain the rationale for X?" maybe they might be more inclined to explain their rationale for X. Of course then you will still have players arguing that the rationale is stupid or devs are lying or whatever but at least we will have some insight into their thought process.

[KizuyaKatogami]

It's definitely not a lie. When tanks were stacking strength, it was changed so that vitality contributed damage, then strength was added to accessories and accessories were locked to classes. Eventually the stats were entirely rebalanced to be the same for all jobs and a tank mastery trait put into the game so that gear manipulation could not adjust damage so much.

When Paladins couldn't block magic and had a boring rotation, it was adjusted to be one of the most interesting tank rotations of all. When they couldn't block magic, they were adjusted to be able to block magic. When we had to aim blocks and autos, this was adjusted to work in any direction. When everybody stopped playing bard because it had cast times, bard was overhauled to not have them again. When nobody wanted to play Machinist, it was overhauled too. When Warrior's had a lack of utility and Shake It Off was useless, it was adjusted to what it is now. When Summoner was attacked for being too busy, it was adjusted to be less busy. When Astrologian's cast times and potencies made it undesirable in Shadowbringers, this was all adjusted. When it was too busy playing cards, this was adjusted as well. I could go on, but job feedback is something they listen to very carefully.

The reason healers do not have busier DPS rotations or a greater need to heal is because they do not want the opposite problem and to overwhelm healers. Healers have always been this way, unlike the problems I listed which started to exist at a certain time and were quickly pointed out as a problem.

Healers have not always been this way, what are you on? Literally compare stuff like arr whm or sch to now. There is a very noticeable difference from how healers were to how they are now.

[Colt47]

This is another issue. Time and Again people keep saying to keep issues contained in megathreads but hardly anyone listens to that.

I mean what topics are worth making mega-threads on? That's kind of the question that never gets answered. Otherwise it's like shooting blanks.

[BrokentoothMarch]

Haha so maybe they are listening, just not in the way some players want.

This stance is usually accepted in society as "insulting". So it's no wonder people, me included, are rather upset.