4gamer Interview

[Jeeqbit]

"On the other hand, there are also voices saying that they want enhanced content or exclusive content for weapon production. It's a voice that never existed before

This part also bothers me. The voice in favor of relic grinds didn't exist before, because, well, there was a grind and the achievement hunters were happy. So why would there be voices in support of them when those players were happy?

[Deceptus]

This just reinforces that this is probably my last expansion if FFXIV.

It's been a great run but I think it's run it's course.

[Snorky]

This part also bothers me. The voice in favor of relic grinds didn't exist before, because, well, there was a grind and the achievement hunters were happy. So why would there be voices in support of them when those players were happy?

The answer is there, less people were completing the relic grinds simple. They want more people to be able to complete them. They over simplified. People complained bitterly about the duty roulette and having to sit through cut scenes so they made more duty support/trusts but had to make it so the NPCs could support the player so dumbed down. Seriously people complained on this very forum about having to help sprouts and sit through CS just to get a reward, a reward that was increased to get veteran players to help new people. So really people are getting what they asked for. Games need a influx of new players to survive-realize this, the players have become more instant satisfaction due to mobile gaming. So they are mixing things up trying to find a sweet spot. But the sky isn't falling, there is a reason they are not paying much attention to the forum feedback and I suspect it has to do with their own internal numbers and what story they really tell.

[seolhyun]

Yeah...they are looking at this data and are unfortunately likely using the EW completion rates as justification for their oversimplification of the relic grind. To me, that is learning the wrong lesson. Dawntrail will definitely make or break this game for me at this point. For multiple reasons, this one among them.

they should make ultimate a solo boss that dies in 5 sec. then ultimate would be highly successful content too

[Khryseis_Astra]

Why not make the first weapon the long grind and subsequent weapons more lax? Basically the previous relics but with more one-time steps to account for all the extra jobs.

I’d be fine with that… to be fair, I didn’t mind the tomestones overmuch. At least it wasn’t Fates with random drops! But I did miss having a Eureka or Bozja for the relic. Hard grind for first relic, then the current tomestone scheme for each additional weapon? Sure! As someone who multi-classes, I’d appreciate not having every weapon be a grind.

As far as Criterion rewards go, yes they definitely need more. But just don’t take all the glam and emotes from the Variant level to do it. I was happy that each version had a mount of their own. But I don’t want to have to do Criterion just for the glams, emotes and orc roll stuff that’s currently Variant level.

As for DC travel, how do they not know how it is on NA?! I mean, there must be data on that somewhere! That was probably the most troubling statement I read, because besides certain content being totally dead or near-dead on some NA DCs, the Eastern US and EU have been suffering from bad NTT (SE’s ISP) nodes for months now, making the game almost unplayable without a VPN. There’s a 130+ page thread about it in the tech forum. We keep submitting traceroutes, but the problem never goes away for everyone. One region sees improvement, another gets the crushing lag, like a never-ending merry go round. If they really are that ignorant of things outside of JP, that worries me.

[Bonoki]

This part also bothers me. The voice in favor of relic grinds didn't exist before, because, well, there was a grind and the achievement hunters were happy. So why would there be voices in support of them when those players were happy?

There has never been a relic grind that has ever been fun. Each relic can be cherry picked apart on why they weren't fun. Bozja on the dev side, was supposedly such a failure that they hap hazardly ended it and scrapped the third zone we were supposed to get for it. Now all of a sudden there's demand for aggressive relic grinds despite history showing that a bigger portion of the community was against them. I think relic is one of the few pieces of content where SE devs are, "Damned if they do, Damned if they don't". I'm hoping this 'voice' from the community only exists because the rest of the content is equally unsatisfying, but I've been around the block enough to know that even if EW had gone perfectly, there would still be complaints of field content.

[Morphiana]

Why do people want relic to be either a grind or no grind.

Why can't they do criterion dungeons in Dawntrail, make normal mode a bit harder, and make relic one of the steps using those (by discovering X paths which is randomized for each player)?

Why can't relic have a game mechanic outside of grind like Bozja which arguably was a leap in quality and in the right direction (though not perfect and should not be copy / pasted in the future) from the previous expansion relics. Eureka / Books / Fate grinding / Guild Leve grinding / Etc. just isn't fun and at the end of the day a video game is supposed to be fun.

If you make relics look cool but also make it a straight grind you'll get players who pursue it, get burned out, and quit the game. SE obviously saw this in their data, heard the incredible amount of complaints that divided the community during ARR / Heavensward, and has shifted further away from pure grind with each subsequent expansion.

If we want a better relic experience we should make suggestions on what we'd like to see, so I want to ask you - What kind of relic process would you like to see and experience?

[seolhyun]

Why do people want relic to be either a grind or no grind.

Why can't they do criterion dungeons in Dawntrail, make normal mode a bit harder, and make relic one of the steps using those (by discovering X paths which is randomized for each player)?

Why can't relic have a game mechanic outside of grind like Bozja which arguably was a leap in quality and in the right direction (though not perfect and should not be copy / pasted in the future) from the previous expansion relics. Eureka / Books / Fate grinding / Guild Leve grinding / Etc. just isn't fun and at the end of the day a video game is supposed to be fun.

If you make relics look cool but also make it a straight grind you'll get players who pursue it, get burned out, and quit the game. SE obviously saw this in their data, heard the incredible amount of complaints that divided the community during ARR / Heavensward, and has shifted further away from pure grind with each subsequent expansion.

If we want a better relic experience we should make suggestions on what we'd like to see, so I want to ask you - What kind of relic process would you like to see and experience?

i think most ppl just want some variety or something new to do for the relic.

when u spend the first year of EW doing roulettes and hunt trains, then the relic is basically more roulettes and hunt trains, it is pretty disappointing.

[Lauront]

The answer is there, less people were completing the relic grinds simple. They want more people to be able to complete them. They over simplified. People complained bitterly about the duty roulette and having to sit through cut scenes so they made more duty support/trusts but had to make it so the NPCs could support the player so dumbed down. Seriously people complained on this very forum about having to help sprouts and sit through CS just to get a reward, a reward that was increased to get veteran players to help new people. So really people are getting what they asked for. Games need a influx of new players to survive-realize this, the players have become more instant satisfaction due to mobile gaming. So they are mixing things up trying to find a sweet spot. But the sky isn't falling, there is a reason they are not paying much attention to the forum feedback and I suspect it has to do with their own internal numbers and what story they really tell.

Relying purely on "internal numbers" would explain why they're so utterly out of touch in their responses, certainly. I'd love to know what their "internal numbers" told them about the WoW exodus, and why they failed to hold onto that potential boost to their playerbase. Also the self-same excuse now used to explain the drop-off in LB numbers, as if they were always fated to lose those players.

[aveyond-dreams]

This just reinforces that this is probably my last expansion if FFXIV.

It's been a great run but I think it's run it's course.

I don’t even know if I can say it’s been a great run because of the major controversies I’ve had to endure with this game and it’s decisions. They turned Blue Mage into a limited job and to this day Summoner is still too far from what it should be. They genderlocked one of my favorite races and when they added the missing gender it came with too many limitations and strings attached still. Now the story and content is in shambles too. All the internal data in the world means nothing if they don’t try and listen to actual players instead of staring at spreadsheets.