State of the Game prior to Liveletter

[Aelin_Ashryver]

As a SAM main I don't really care about Kaiten being gone at all. Sure it sucked having to rework the muscle memory since I was so used to hitting it, but it wasn't really an OMG NOOO moment. Nor did it really add anything to the class fantasy at all. The class fantasy for SAM revolves around the Iaijutsu.

I also don't really think the Island Sanctuary debacle is on them. Yeah they've been sparse about what it is, but they've been up front and vocal about what it isn't. Anyone who keeps thinking it is instanced housing and Animal Crossing in FF14 (and ever thought that to begin with) has been on something that I'd love a hit of.

That all said I am a bit worried that the first step of the Relic quest will be the same simple quest so I hope the go into detail on the relic quest expectations, as well as Island Sanctuary and Criterion Dungeon information. I also think the Hrothgar players deserve a section to have their situation addressed because what happened with the hairs is absolutely unacceptable.

The wind up that was kaiten to your big hitter was a huge thing for me in terms of class flavour. It added nothing for YOU, but clearly to many others it's a huge loss.

Anyway, I hope the live letter is dense and we are not made to wait for part 2 to hear about the majority of things we are all waiting for. Island sanctuary, criterion etc etc

[TaleraRistain]

And if they're upset about it just because of how lacklustre it ends up being? I keep seeing this instanced housing thing crop up, which was speculation seeded by some gaming sites covering commentary on it. But it was still presented as a major feature of the new expansion, and I think the instanced housing thing is a bit of a strawman here. It's not necessary people to think it's that, for it to end up being disappointing.

I'm sure there's some who will be disappointed for that reason, but whatever. The fact that we have to go into everything with such minimal expectations says something in itself. I am just judging them against their own words, be they here, or during the announcement event.

I don't think there's anything wrong if someone is disappointed just because their idea was different and they acknowledge that. If they approach it from a position that they feel there was potential for certain things, then that's good solid feedback the devs could take back to see where things lack and maybe try something different in the future. I had hoped Trusts would be a system where we could fill in spots with NPCs in duos or trios. So I enjoy them, but I can see where there is potential for more and try to give my feedback on what they could modify about the system to make it even better.

I fear that some will not ever be happy with whatever is presented, though. And maybe for those people, it's time for a break, either temporary or permanent. We get so caught up in our obsessions sometimes that we want to stay involved with them all at costs, even if it's destructive to ourselves. That's not a "Go play another game comment". At the end of the day, this is a game and our hobby. Like Marie Kondo says with possessions, if something doesn't bring you joy, don't try to justify its place in your life. If nothing about the game is joyful, then why spend precious time on it?

[Striker44]

This is exactly what people said back when words of warning were presented over on WoW's official forums in regards to the direction of that game. There's a lot of overlap in terms of development issues between both products.

Not quite. The difference there is that feeling was everywhere. Talk to your guildies in-game and there'd be frustration. See guilds disappear because nobody logged on anymore. Watch more and more servers become "dead."

Here? The forums are the only place you see this negativity, and then you read the various threads and recognize it's the same small group of names over and over. Meanwhile, in-game guilds are flourishing, servers are strong, people are happy. WoW changed its very nature to focus on eSports and made decisions openly spiting large swaths of its playerbase. FFXIV has done neither of those, and in fact one of the biggest "complaints" from the naysayers are how the devs are giving people what they want in the form of fan-service.

[SturmChurro]

Slow down there Blizzard... lol

I can understand some people's complaints and like to participate in ideas or trying to be constructive to the criticism, but at least given the game has done better and better .. not sure it's on the death bed like some people type. BUT I am of the belief you should be careful not to wait till your deathbed to do something about the concerns people have lol, so if there is a growing mass.. if it's possible.. try to pop it before it's a painful mass

I don't fully agree with everything in the OP, or think some are as bad as stated, but as I said I do think some points are interesting or SE should be mindful (like what I've said in the healer centric thread). Each point would require it's own response so I'm not going to give a general "this is what I think might be good solutions" because it would change drastically on each point, and theoretically they could do nothing as you said and at least for a 'while' they'd be fine xD.

Besides I always like the hungry position of a company over "we're settled and you can expect nothing more from us but less" lol. I like when they try new things, even if I don't like those new things.... ... and I feel they do, sometimes slowly, adjust those things from feedback- so that's nice too.

It is not on it's deathbed, some people think it's on it's way there. A few months ago there was sort of a boiling over here on the forums, I was more so referring to how so many people, at the time, claimed to be unsubbing and wouldn't support them further. SE still hasn't addressed quite a few of these 'issues', yet you see people still playing, and still buying. There is an argument to be made for some players to keep their sub going to retain their house (although, I don't think demolition is even active right now), but there are people over here buying this new $22 microtransaction - which I think might be the most expensive the store... so far. I'm sure if I went into town right now, I'd see loads of viera or hrothgar players wearing this new set (no hat), or riding around on their new dog mount in other areas.

I really do wonder what it would take to lead FFXIV to it's 'deathbed' in actuality, aside from a new FF MMO. I'm not convinced NFTs even would be that point. Of course, we shouldn't give them ideas.

[aveyond-dreams]

At this point I'm not sure if I'm for or against the trust system in FFXIV given how badly I think it has impacted storytelling with forced plot armor onto characters - what is absolutely certain though is that last year they didn't get a handle on the influencers who let peoples' speculation run wild when it came to Island Sanctuary, huge swathes of the community are already mad that they can't get a house (even if like in my case we have enough gil to buy 3 at once if we could), and everyone was upset recently over various issues regarding the lottery.

Again, longstanding issues that should have been resolved years ago. If Island Sanctuary turns out to be Doman Enclave 2.0 then the above combination of factors will make for quite the reaction. People don't like being misled, they don't like having to wait excessive amounts of time for things that should be standard, and my goodness they just want a decently sized space of their own to decorate. And no, apartments do not satisfy this. Not for me given how much gil I have.

[Hanayumi]

Just to let folks know part 1 of Live Letters DO NOT go into much detail, its generally x.x8 info if theres something important coming with it, a summary of what to expect in the upcoming major patch, and broad roadmap for further patches and events... Part 2 is the Live Letter the delves into the vital details. Dont expect much unless community concerns are addressed...

[Ravor]

As a player since 2013 day 1 of this game’s release I don’t think I’ve ever seen this game’s community in such a widespread state of disarray. With tomorrow’s live letter looming on the horizon, this is what I’m seeing:

-Samurai players are angry that Kaiten, an ability core to their class fantasy and gameplay loop was removed with no suitable replacement

-Disdain and disregard for healer gameplay, with previous healer testers apparently having been removed from the role due to becoming too good at it – coupled with the statement that upset healers should consider playing Ultimate.

-A severe and longstanding lack of midcore battle content to keep player interest.

-Mismanaged community expectations regarding Island Sanctuary, with widespread disappointment imminent from people who were led to believe it was the equivalent of instanced housing.

-The complete stagnation of the housing lottery on various servers, with people unwilling to move to new empty servers or making shell FCs to game and get ahead of the unlocking FC only wards to private buyers (with FC only wards themselves being an out-of-touch idea considering the overwhelming greater demand for private housing.)

-Various story concerns regarding the Endwalker MSQ and the future direction the plot will take, with fan expectations of a Heavensward style and scope expansion seemingly dashed with the Void being pushed instead of Meracydia or Ilsabard.

-The utter catastrophe regarding Hrothgar customization, which demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding of player expectations of what they want to be able to do with their characters’ hairstyles and the ability to equip hats.

-The cessation of new hairstyles being added in order to catch up on the hairstyles for the limited races, aside from Online Store purchased ones.


How in the world did we end up like this?

I agree that there are problems need to be fixed regarding housing and character customization, but i disagree regarding class and story, there is alot of feeling and emotion involved here and there is no human can solve the dissatisfaction involving feeling and emotion of thousands or millions of other human (player), the only solution would be to keep updating and changing so that no one felt bored and discussion keep happening, and finally problem will always occur, even if when there is no problem at all, someone will complain that it was boring that nothing happened or to be discussed at all, human will always complain and internet will always be the place to complain

Sorry i have to delete some quote because it is too long

[Amenara]

I see no evidence that ilvl cheese is actually a thing. When I do the roulette I get alliance raids from all of the expansions evenly. Just because ilvl cheese is possible doesn't mean that people actually do it.

If crystal tower is more likely, it will be because the chance someone is leveling a class under 60 is higher than the chance that everyone is leveling a class over 60.

I used to do it from time to time if I wanted a brain dead alliance raid roulette.

As someone said before, this Live Letter probably isn't going into any actual detail about what is coming. I expect it to just be slides saying "Island Sanctuaries coming in 6.2" "Criterion Dungeons coming in 6.2" "New MSQ in 6.2" etc without any actual detail. We won't know any details about 6.2 until August probably or late July.

[VentVanitas]

WoW changed its very nature to focus on eSports and made decisions openly spiting large swaths of its playerbase. FFXIV has done neither of those,

Job design has very openly spited and alienated portions of its own playerbase for years on end. People who enjoyed DoT jobs like old SCH/SMN have no equivalent anymore, people who previously enjoyed old Healers have been told to piss off or play Ult, they've removed legitimate playstyles whilst bringing in nothing to replace them such as Greased Lightning, SB BRD, HW MCH or HW DRK.

But sure, they've never made decisions that went against their players because so long as they're vaguely defined as a minority then they don't exist and their input doesn't matter.

[Knot_D]

Whats especially funny to me is yoshi p saying him working on 16 wouldnt affect 14 and wouldnt draw him away from it yet.....im sorry but thats pure bs and it shows. Both content wise and both attitude wise with the way hes been dismissive of problems in the past live letters. He just doesnt seem to be very responsible when it comes to 14 anymore and it doesnt look like he cares.Him laughing at hrothgar players and telling healers to f off is just the straws breaking the camel's backs.

It also affects FF14 back on HW when they developed FF15. We have a low content and gear prior of that expansion because some of the guys in FF14 department moved to FF15 department...

Yet they have an audacity to say it's not affecting FF14 while developing FF16... I don't know man. It's weird.