Live Letter Hopes, Expectations, and Concerns

[aveyond-dreams]

With the Live Letter set for August 12th a little under a week away, I think it is important to highlight some of the more requested topics the community seeks answers on. While many of us hope for 6.2’s success, it is also necessary to address some of the issues that arose in 6.1.

1. Hrothgar Hairstyles (and to some extent, Viera) -

Though I do not play as this race, I believe that Hrothgar players deserve to have a progress update in regards to the situation concerning their hairstyles. Hair is a key part of character customization and the controversial reception to the removal of their ears in order to accommodate the other more “human” hairs led to widespread disapproval from Hrothgar players. Restoring their confidence with an update, preferably one with images or even the restoration of the ears for these newer hairstyles would be helpful in improving the situation.

While it is likely that Viera will receive new hairstyles this patch, it is a bit concerning that neither 6.0 nor 6.1 brought any new shared hairstyles. The only one I can think of is the one that comes with the Lyse outfit, but that is Mogstation only. There is no new hairstyle accessible by players through solely in-game means. It is understandable that considerable work is being poured into updating both Viera and Hrothgar hairs, but I don’t think it is ok to halt production of new shared hairstyles for each race, including Viera and Hrothgar which should be able to be accommodated by this point. Ideally, patches should bring both updates to the hairs of those two races along with a new hairstyle for everyone, all together.


2. Island Sanctuary Quality and Details –

Moving the release of Island Sanctuary to 6.2 is good news, but when looking at photos of the island, there are some things that caught my attention. There is something about the way in which the lighting is arranged in the preview photos that make it look unusually flat when the ground is compared to the color of the leaves on the trees, though how much of that ground will still be visible after buildings are constructed on the island remain unknown to us.

Will there be different customization options in the same manner as housing exteriors for these facilities? Will players who do not own a home be able to make use of outdoor furnishings on this island? Will we be able to place buildings on the island as we wish, or are their positions pre-determined? These are some questions that I think would be important to address in that segment of the presentation.


3. “Quest-Centric” Relic Progression –

This concerns the upcoming relic questline, in which the past 2 expansions were associated with several instanced zones. However, the wording of “quest centric” has led to numerous discussions regarding whether we will see the return of such zones during the 6.X series. Further clarification on this matter would help paint a clearer picture of what to expect from the relic, so players can manage their expectations accordingly.


4. Clarity Regarding Job Adjustments -

6.1 saw several controversial changes to jobs, the most notable being the removal of Kaiten from Samurai. It is essential that future job changes and their rationale is explained in a way that shows consideration from the player’s perspective, rather than a purely developmental one. This can be applied to many cases, as well as the current situation regarding PVP job balancing where the disproportionate ability effects between the jobs has led to frustrating experiences. More open communication should be pursued, such as interacting with community members on the forums, in regard to job changes as the plan to alter both Dragoon and Astrologian may not be fully incorporating the views of players who do not feel these jobs should be altered in a major way, aside from quality of life improvements.


5. “Spoiler” Content –

Admittedly this is a personal thing of mine, but I do not like it when key battle content like the Trial or the Dungeon are hidden behind “spoilers.” It should be understood that many players who wish to avoid spoilers do not watch live letters, especially those with the trailer, and instead prefer to view summarized versions of the translated slides put together by other members of the community with spoiler content edited out. The only time where I concede this was warranted was in patch 5.3, and given the general expectation of Golbez and the 4 Fiends being this expansion’s trial series I don’t think hiding the boss of the trial is warranted in this case.

On that note, I encourage others to share any points that they hope to see addressed in the coming live letter.

[Deceptus]

4. Clarity Regarding Job Adjustments -

6.1 saw several controversial changes to jobs, the most notable being the removal of Kaiten from Samurai. It is essential that future job changes and their rationale is explained in a way that shows consideration from the player’s perspective, rather than a purely developmental one. This can be applied to many cases, as well as the current situation regarding PVP job balancing where the disproportionate ability effects between the jobs has led to frustrating experiences. More open communication should be pursued, such as interacting with community members on the forums, in regard to job changes as the plan to alter both Dragoon and Astrologian may not be fully incorporating the views of players who do not feel these jobs should be altered in a major way, aside from quality of life improvements.

[Theodric]

I want an open discussion in regards to the planned character customisation changes. I really hope they're not going to double down on some of their bizarre design choices such as refusing to give Highlander men real eyebrows when it has been a fairly common request over the years as far back as ARR.

[nebby00]

My primary concern (not that it has changed much since ShB) is the customization options to both Hrothgar and Viera in regards to hairstyles. The current options although certainly a start is quite frankly not enough and certainly not on par with the other playable races; especially for Hrothgar. I do hope the dev team at the very least shows some acknowledgement on the hole they dug themselves, and stop shooting themselves in the foot. Honestly the way they are treating Hrothgar in general is not making me have high hopes at all in regards to female Hrothgar; if we even will see concept art of female Hrothgar at all. But, I can hope of course that they'll be better since that's the only thing both Hrothgar and Viera players can do at the moment.

Aside from that, I'm not exactly high in my expectations, not really hyped either. Hopefully though if I do manage to tune into the LL that I'll be more excited for 6.2. But if not... meh, not the end of the world.

[Amenara]

I imagine the first 30 mins will be the usual recap of everything we already know, the next 30 minutes will be talking about island sanctuaries as the big new thing, and then a few more teasers of the next tier of Pandaemonium. They will pepper in some abstract discussion about job changes at some point and not really give too much since they are probably holding off on all major changes till 7.0. All in all, a normal pre-patch live letter.

[Supersnow845]

I imagine the first 30 mins will be the usual recap of everything we already know, the next 30 minutes will be talking about island sanctuaries as the big new thing, and then a few more teasers of the next tier of Pandaemonium. They will pepper in some abstract discussion about job changes at some point and not really give too much since they are probably holding off on all major changes till 7.0. All in all, a normal pre-patch live letter.

Hey hey hey, gotta dedicate at least half of it to explaining about how the tomestones are changing despite that system remaining constant since like HW

[Amenara]

Hey hey hey, gotta dedicate at least half of it to explaining about how the tomestones are changing despite that system remaining constant since like HW

Ugh, remember when they spent like an hour and a half explaining the stat-squish in EW and the change to weapon potencies. That was painful as well.

[Shibi]

Hey hey hey, gotta dedicate at least half of it to explaining about how the tomestones are changing despite that system remaining constant since like HW

And most of the other half with merchandising opportunities.

[Supersnow845]

Ugh, remember when they spent like an hour and a half explaining the stat-squish in EW and the change to weapon potencies. That was painful as well.

If your fire 4 does 50,000 damage on a boss with a million hp it will now do 12,500 on a boss with 250,000 hp

Yes that is how division by 4 works thanks FFXIV live letter

[ForteNightshade]

Ugh, remember when they spent like an hour and a half explaining the stat-squish in EW and the change to weapon potencies. That was painful as well.

Or better yet. A 40 minute explanation on materia melding when they introduced the bulk melding option. Not to mention the removal of belts.