Island sanctuary doesn't feel right.

[Jojoya]

What does that have to do with anything I said?

The Island is unrewarding if you do it in a week or a month, you do not get to add any of your own personal touch to it, you go to it to manage Tataru's mammet sweatshop, and then you leave.

What was advertised was not what was delivered.

The Island is very rewarding. It just may not have the rewards you are personally looking for.

I agree it lacks customization that would improve the experience but we were never promised much in the way of customization in the first place. We were told we'd be able to place buildings and change how they look. We can place buildings. We can change how they look (even if those options are boring).

Most of what was advertised actually was delivered. What wasn't delivered was the inflated expectations that players set for the Island despite YoshiP repeatedly asking players to lower them. We don't know if there will be further features added in the next update when it comes out or if we're just getting a new area that works the same way. Perhaps some of the little things that weren't delivered so far will be delivered then.

[vanaii]

The Island is very rewarding. It just may not have the rewards you are personally looking for.

I agree it lacks customization that would improve the experience but we were never promised much in the way of customization in the first place. We were told we'd be able to place buildings and change how they look. We can place buildings. We can change how they look (even if those options are boring).

Most of what was advertised actually was delivered. What wasn't delivered was the inflated expectations that players set for the Island despite YoshiP repeatedly asking players to lower them. We don't know if there will be further features added in the next update when it comes out or if we're just getting a new area that works the same way. Perhaps some of the little things that weren't delivered so far will be delivered then.

Yeah, I saw rumblings of uh oh when people were expecting a full-blown stardew valley inside of FFXIV. Maybe it'll become that in time, but that's a bit much to expect right at the start.

The best suggestion I've seen so far is the ability to place external "garden" furniture from housing on your island. People could have their own private gpose aesthetic garden... and I could place bonfires everywhere on mine.

Maybe, resources permitting, we could have a private interior. That certainly seems like something that would be gated behind a fairly long term gameplay unlock series, akin to the pixie playland or doman reconstruction. We are there to develop the private island Mr. Beast gave us, after all, so that naturally seems like the later stages of island development.

[Padudu]

The Island is very rewarding. It just may not have the rewards you are personally looking for.

I agree it lacks customization that would improve the experience but we were never promised much in the way of customization in the first place. We were told we'd be able to place buildings and change how they look. We can place buildings. We can change how they look (even if those options are boring).

Most of what was advertised actually was delivered. What wasn't delivered was the inflated expectations that players set for the Island despite YoshiP repeatedly asking players to lower them. We don't know if there will be further features added in the next update when it comes out or if we're just getting a new area that works the same way. Perhaps some of the little things that weren't delivered so far will be delivered then.

Very rewarding lol? Ah yes, I definitely feel awarded for the amount of timegates I had to jump through for a motorcycle mount.

This isn't a way to say that I don't like what we can buy the shop, btw, as I have a lot of it myself. But how rewarding is it really to just go to an island, gather for the umpteeth time, then leave. Or even when you finish let's reduce that - just talk to a couple of mammets, bam done. I didn't have expectations and I know YoshiP told us to keep it low, but honestly the content delivered was so unsubstational that I just wish the time developing the island went into their long-abandoned features instead.

[Iscah]

You don't have to level up your island at all. Keep it natural. And there's your non-sweatshop paradise.

And how were we supposed to know that? By the time you've done anything at all on your island, the damage is already done and you can't get it back.

You literally walk away to do your first instructed gathering craft, come back and the mammets have wiped out a nice thicket of jungle plants opposite the cabin so you can build their workshops on the bare earth.


Also, the farm (again). I paid the mammets for the second upgrade, expecting they would make something nice and happy for the animals, and instead they cleared away the nice border of trees and left a bare paddock with no shelter for the animals. Visually speaking, it's a complete downgrade, and we can't undo it.

Most of what was advertised actually was delivered. What wasn't delivered was the inflated expectations that players set for the Island despite YoshiP repeatedly asking players to lower them.

No, the advertised experience was not delivered upon.

I didn't go into it with inflated expectations or really any expectations besides the one image we had been shown: sprawling farmland occupied by our mounts and minions.

The final product bears little resemblance to whatever that image promised. The farm is not the core of the setting and the vibe is completely different.

[Padudu]

No, the advertised experience was not delivered upon.

I didn't go into it with inflated expectations or really any expectations besides the one image we had been shown: sprawling farmland occupied by our mounts and minions.

The final product bears little resemblance to whatever that image promised. The farm is not the core of the setting and the vibe is completely different.

Simply agree.

Also, I kind of think it's shitty practice to just slide it with "more features are probably coming and will be delivered." Like.. keep in mind, this is the expansion that is supposed to be a finale to FFXIV's "first season" and mostly everything has been sooo lackluster. The features in the island are legit bare minimum. Customization is like.. what, you replace one visual with another? Yay, I guess. We can have cobblestones that we get in the later ranks and switch it up for dirt paths and grass. Yay, I guess?

Oh, we can move the buildings and change the structures? Anywhere? Nope, restricted to squares. You can change it all you'd like, but it's all the same in the end, and the "customization" that's truly there is the minions you can place. Island Sanctuary feels completely unfinished and I mean.. we paid for the expansion and the game, the features that they advertised should already be there lol. Does it have to be fully fleshed? Of course not, but it should be better than what we got now.

The bar was already low and they still managed to somehow miss that.

[Jojoya]

Very rewarding lol? Ah yes, I definitely feel awarded for the amount of timegates I had to jump through for a motorcycle mount.

This isn't a way to say that I don't like what we can buy the shop, btw, as I have a lot of it myself. But how rewarding is it really to just go to an island, gather for the umpteeth time, then leave. Or even when you finish let's reduce that - just talk to a couple of mammets, bam done. I didn't have expectations and I know YoshiP told us to keep it low, but honestly the content delivered was so unsubstational that I just wish the time developing the island went into their long-abandoned features instead.

That depends on what you're interested in and what you're willing to make of it.

When you get down to it, almost all content in a MMO is repetitive. Why do you feel other repetitive content in the game has a better time/effort to reward ratio compared to the one for Island Sanctuary? Or is it just that the rewards from the other content interest you more?

Does that 20+ Craftsman's Command Materia IX I'm able to buy each week with my cowries earned from 5 minutes of effort a day feel rewarding to me? Certainly. That's time I'm not out having to gather to craft collectables for scrip farming to buy that materia since I'm probably going to need 400-500 of them to overmeld the upcoming crafting gear.

Considering those materia will be selling for 15-25k gil each when patch 6.3 is released (if not more), I would have thought that others that don't craft would feel it rewarding as well since they could use the gil to buy other things they want like expensive glamours and rare minions.

Silly me, I guess.

No, the advertised experience was not delivered upon.

I didn't go into it with inflated expectations or really any expectations besides the one image we had been shown: sprawling farmland occupied by our mounts and minions.

The final product bears little resemblance to whatever that image promised. The farm is not the core of the setting and the vibe is completely different.

What content was in the concept art that is missing from my island?



I've got what was in that image and so did everyone else that bothered to develop their island that far. SE can't help it if some players made assumptions about the content based on the concept art released instead of paying attention to what they were being told.

[Padudu]

That depends on what you're interested in and what you're willing to make of it.

When you get down to it, almost all content in a MMO is repetitive. Why do you feel other repetitive content in the game has a better time/effort to reward ratio compared to the one for Island Sanctuary? Or is it just that the rewards from the other content interest you more?

Does that 20+ Craftsman's Command Materia IX I'm able to buy each week with my cowries earned from 5 minutes of effort a day feel rewarding to me? Certainly. That's time I'm not out having to gather to craft collectables for scrip farming to buy that materia since I'm probably going to need 400-500 of them to overmeld the upcoming crafting gear.

Considering those materia will be selling for 15-25k gil each when patch 6.3 is released (if not more), I would have thought that others that don't craft would feel it rewarding as well since they could use the gil to buy other things they want like expensive glamours and rare minions.

Silly me, I guess.

Sure, but most of the times you at least get the reward to match the effort. Get all the notes in Bozja? You get a cool mount that no one else gets normally without doing the same thing you did. Clear ultimate? Get the title and the weapon.

Right click for like.. 2-3 weeks through time gated content that's again.. on par with cookie clicker? I mean, you do you man. If you feel fulfilled spending 5-10 minutes clicking on your mammets every day, hey you do you, I just don't find that content worthwhile nor lasting at the current state at it is. A ton of people at this point just use the Island Sanctuary discord for the lazy man's workshop recs to get the most profit, so I'm sure that's very rewarding for them too lol.

[Oizen]

What content was in the concept art that is missing from my island?

[Jojoya]

That is reading one heck of a lot into concept art, thus proving my point. Thank you.

Have you just considered like.. people are happy with the rewards so far and they aren't happy with the way island sanctuary functions? It's not just you have to like it or you don't, you know. It's not black and white like your mind seems to think. I like the glam and mount rewards, it doesn't mean that I think island sanctuary is great by any means right now.

I think most players, at least NA and EU, agree the Island ends up missing the mark on presentation mostly thanks to the mammets but also due to the very limited customization. I had asked back when it was first released what the JP player base thinks of the mammets and one of the regular posters who also visits the JP forums said they seemed to enjoy them.

Could it be much better? Of course. Is it still possible to enjoy what it is? Yes.

[Oizen]

That is reading one heck of a lot into concept art, thus proving my point. Thank you.

I should have realized the horse in the concept art was a metaphorical horse.