Disappointed With XIV Direction

[Garnix]

To their eyes, FF14 is visual novel with boring gameplay

Let's be honest though...
This is mostly what the game is...
If that's what they take away from the game after playing content such as PotD, Ocean Fishing, EX and Coils, their take-away is correct.
Having a kit with more buttons doesn't change that, as most of the fight design is about learning mechanics and maintaining uptime. The rotation is not the engaging part, as most people have them in muscle memory.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

[...]Having a kit with more buttons doesn't change that, as most of the fight design is about learning mechanics and maintaining uptime. The rotation is not the engaging part, as most people have them in muscle memory.

So.... ARR/HW job kits functions similarly as today's? Is that it? :/

[ovIm]

Let's be honest though...
This is mostly what the game is...
If that's what they take away from the game after playing content such as PotD, Ocean Fishing, EX and Coils, their take-away is correct.
Having a kit with more buttons doesn't change that, as most of the fight design is about learning mechanics and maintaining uptime. The rotation is not the engaging part, as most people have them in muscle memory.

Not quite, this is what Square Enix made the game after sanding down the jobs more and more. It used to be different in the past.

My favorite example of this is Viper. Remember Viper?
Viper at launch had an interesting "minigame" baked into their kit. Some attacks debuffed the enemy to take more damage. Applying that debuff was not difficult, but it required a bit of thought, as it could be applied by either a combo starter or a higher CD attack. And wouldn't you know it, a lot of people found that fun, engaging, and interesting.
However, someone at Square Enix thought this was too stressful to people, which resulted in Viper becoming defanged and brainless not even a month after it was released, because Square has no trust in the abilities of their playerbase, or confidence in their own product. (funny seeing how they do warp everything around PCT now though)

A fun class can elevate less fun fights. A boring class means that uninteresting, simple fights become a slog.

[Garnix]

So.... ARR/HW job kits functions similarly as today's? Is that it? :/

Not exactly, it had a bit more room for player skill expression. But ultimately, I am really doubting that this is what would make people "click" better with the game.
I agree with you all that job design should improve though, that's undeniable.
I am just very much doubting that this would change the early game experience much.
I think the fights design is much more linked to that experience than the job design.

[Commander_Justitia]

They were eagerly working toward the goal of gaining new players, but are slowly losing the veterans who built the very foundation of the game. Sad.

Said the same 5 years ago. Didn't change much. It is a business, if you sub for at least x months, they probably think they are doing right.

Only right thing is to unsub for some time and let them feel it; if they care still after you already subbed for a year is another question. But also better for you to not play a mentally unchallenging game.

It is ridiculous because you know the devs can do it, they have released content that qualifies as midcore to me. Like Baldesion Arsenal or Palace of the Dead iterations, or lately variant dungeons to some degree - I would argue they may be too savage like already. Anyway players would need more of that type of difficulty.
You know the devs can create jobs, that had crossskills, something alike old talent trees we used to have in 2.x/3.x PvP, there was even armor with additional effects at one point in PvP and Eureka/Bozja.
The skills I can use in those instanced duties are more fun, than my actual toothless job skill set, and they are not even that imbalanced or broken. The design choices to make everything as simple as possible, to move the game into an 'endgame' state, where it no longer requires dev updates, is what is happening I guess.

I am not sure why this game treats its userbase like if they have the mental capacity of 8 year olds, when I assume a lot of them are adults, as they preferred the retro RPG healer/tank/dps trinity, no other MMO besides WoW really offered at the time ... with new graphics at least. And even that core concept slowly loses its value. Healer are feeling useless, as you can clear ultimates without them. Incoming damage on tanks is just not enough to make them heal more than once in 30s with a hardcast. In PvP the trinity is already replaced, everyone can do everything now, nothing unique, nothing that makes me say 'I like this job more, because I can do X'. It is the same feeling in PvE, just potencies and different animations. Job synergy has been removed, because it was a little unbalanced. Speaking of a few % raid dps difference... who cares? Speedrunners, tryhard raiders? This game is so freaking balanced to the ground. I wish they wouldn't. Every tank has almost the same mitigation cooldowns too now. Where job identity? Is it the glamor or the animations? Because it is not the gameplay.


For many casual players, dungeons and normal trials are the almost only experience they get with more "challenging" combat. And if I would start the game now, and see that every single dungeon I play is just not dangerous. That MP could as well be non existing. Well, where is the challenge? Where is the potential of failure? When did you wipe last time in a normal dungeon? Did you wipe by choice or could you have just continued it with a dead healer? Why are bosses no longer doing critical damage? Are we scared the healer have to heal for once? I know my view is probably radical, but I actually want healers to heal and support like 50-75% of the time, instead of dealing damage... and not just with strong offglobals.

[Mijeme]

Okay can I have your stuff?

[Supersnow845]

Okay can I have your stuff?

Bro if you been playing since 2014 and still don’t have literally every item in the game given Gil is meaningless just give up at this point

[Zakuyia]

Not quite, this is what Square Enix made the game after sanding down the jobs more and more. It used to be different in the past.

My favorite example of this is Viper. Remember Viper?
Viper at launch had an interesting "minigame" baked into their kit. Some attacks debuffed the enemy to take more damage. Applying that debuff was not difficult, but it required a bit of thought, as it could be applied by either a combo starter or a higher CD attack. And wouldn't you know it, a lot of people found that fun, engaging, and interesting.
However, someone at Square Enix thought this was too stressful to people, which resulted in Viper becoming defanged and brainless not even a month after it was released, because Square has no trust in the abilities of their playerbase, or confidence in their own product. (funny seeing how they do warp everything around PCT now though)

A fun class can elevate less fun fights. A boring class means that uninteresting, simple fights become a slog.

To be fair....ppl were complaing on forum about viper and allot of the class nuettering is cause of the player base not wanting to actually learn to play dont forget ppl literally were demanding lvl 100 content be braindead

[ovIm]

To be fair....ppl were complaing on forum about viper and allot of the class nuettering is cause of the player base not wanting to actually learn to play dont forget ppl literally were demanding lvl 100 content be braindead

Hate to be that guy but - not really, Yoshi-P has confirmed that the Viper change was not because of player feedback, but because of internal feedback. And checking the english DPS forums, more and more people protest the constant simplifications. Hells, even Yoshi-P himself stated that they went to far in terms of simplification (which hasn't deterred them from continuing this path, but that's a different topic really).

[Eraden]

To their eyes, FF14 is visual novel with boring gameplay

Is TRUE! Mao considers FFXIV to now be just Kindle-book with arcade-style DDR games tacked on. Is not kind of game whats Mao considers to be funs. In contrast, WoW has much excitements. Mao can do combats overland, combats in delves, combats in dungeons, combats in raids, all of which nots nearly as structured as DDR in FFXIV. Is many differents levels of difficulties too so Mao nots has to be underwhelmed or overwhelmed. Gatherings in WoW nots separate job and can wear battle armor which is good because gatherings in WoW is DANGEROUS and EXCITINGS. Flying in WoW also more funs. Is nots simply matter of hover or go. Is skills whats need to be used to fly, climb, dive, and more. To Mao, WoW is true MMO RPG GAME. FFXIV, as Mao earlier said, is, in Mao opinion, just Kindle-book with little bits arcade-style DDR attached.