The tonedeaf Live Letter LXXXVI 86

[Manamaru]

We're not going to see any sign of the Square Enix ship turning until the .4 or .5 kind of patches. But even then, they were already talking about looking forward to 8.0. Unless something like a security risk happens again, I doubt we're really going to see much of anything; and that will give the look of them being tonedeaf for the next couple of patch cycles.

[User202503201232]

We're not going to see any sign of the Square Enix ship turning until the .4 or .5 kind of patches. But even then, they were already talking about looking forward to 8.0. Unless something like a security risk happens again, I doubt we're really going to see much of anything; and that will give the look of them being tonedeaf for the next couple of patch cycles.

Not only are they gutting the game, but they have been slowly and gradually building a wall between the players and the devs.

Remember in ARR when the community managers actually posted on the forums?

Remember in HW/SB when the forums actually took questions that they actually answer on stream?

It seems that, once they realize that the players are masochistic and will take any slop thrown at them, they no longer need to pretend to care about communicating with the players.

[Wasselin]

It seems that, once they realize that the players are masochistic and will take any slop thrown at them, they no longer need to pretend to care about communicating with the players.

Could it be due to the segment of players that relentless attack and criticize them no matter what they do?

[User202503201232]

white knight nonsense

Just to save everyone's time, remember not to actually unironically respond to white knights trotting out the same asinine defense year after year. No point!

[Grizzy]

They are digging a hole, and now that it is so deep it is easier to keep digging to the other side instead of climbing back out. Roles are useless, jobs are the same, content is built according to a formula they never change (like seriously when is there gonna be a dungeon I get surprised by?) and best of all, even now the story seems to be out of new ideas. It isn't like there aren't things to spruce up the gameplay, but the mix of:

-Focusing on balance between jobs which then removes all uniqueness. And can still fail to balance them.
-Making the game easier for casual* players (bad players who want to do the highest level of normal difficulty content without even looking at a guide for their job, or tool tips).
-Making the game single player, limiting their options in an MMO (like how hard would it be to have a co-op side quest to do with friends that is specifically built for co-op play?).
-Making the game PG as hell in later expansions, too afraid to kill off anyone except people we barely meet in said expansion therefore having no connection to. Focusing way too much on the overdone power of friendship, abandoning all sense of scale and reason; themes clashing hard and convenient plot devices appearing out of nowhere just to let one thing happen.
-Making the game follow a formula for all content that is designed to be as efficient as possible. Not fun, efficient. Efficient for SE, efficient for rouls, efficient for development. Efficiency isn't terrible, but you can't forego all fun for a minute less time spent doing your roul.

Is doing no favours for the game.

This, alongside the low quality patches that take longer to release than before, it intrigues me to no end to know what they are thinking. Surely Yoshi P knows this game is going to shit, surely he knows the content drip isn't even forming a puddle anymore. And surely he knows the more he digs this hole the harder it is to get out, yet they seem adamant on going down this road. I can understand them not caring, but Yoshi P and the team did care so why don't they care now?

[YukioKobayashi]

Mr Square Enix, can you remove Batlle Content completely next Patch? Pressing 1-2-3 in an Expert Roulette is too much and ruins my entire day.
Please listen to us filt*y casuals. We are the majority and we dont like anything but pressing crafter macros. UwU

[Rehayem]

I'm only here for the drama. My time is being spent playing another MMORPG because the combat is actually dynamic and engaging with the choice of multiple builds that are all viable, unlike FFXIV. I'm here just for the Cosmic Exploration and the new field zone, but I've gotten bored with the PvE combat system. Even XIV's PvP is more engaging at this point.

[Mawlzy]

I'm only here for the drama. My time is being spent playing another MMORPG because the combat is actually dynamic and engaging with the choice of multiple builds that are all viable, unlike FFXIV. I'm here just for the Cosmic Exploration and the new field zone, but I've gotten bored with the PvE combat system. Even XIV's PvP is more engaging at this point.

Remarkable as this sounds, particularly given 14 is a bad platform for any form of PvP, I agree with this completely. Despite having stripped down job kits, most jobs in PvP have a distinct flavor. Moreover, the fights are dynamic, not scripted DDR.

[JohnLakeside]

There better be some enterable buildings with doors that open/close in the new Exploratory Zone.

[Saraide]

I do wonder: does management just hate being stuck with ff14? Do they want to tank it so they get fired with nice corpo parachutes?