Yoshi P's Ominous Statement About the Future of XIV

[Lunaxia]

I think they realised a long time ago that the money's in appealing to the casual crowd who use the game as more of a chatroom and dress-up doll simulator rather than continuing to develop the game as a traditional MMO. All this talk of respecting the players' time just feels like an excuse for them to gradually move away from time and resource heavy aspects of the game like combat and gameplay in favour of focusing on empty fluff like the Mogstore, because it lines their pockets at virtually no extra cost. It's clear they're not really interested in what long-term players have to say anymore and have their sights set on a particular demographic.

[SKAshe]

Usually the time it takes between him saying he's thinking about things and the time they're implemented is several years so I don't think we have to worry about some of these dumb mobile things like the autowalk any time soon. It seemed like he was more just throwing that out there to see what the fan reception was. It didn't seem like there are any concrete plans for that or anything. I think the chances they add an autowalk are pretty low, and hopefully the negative fan response has shown them that it would be a bad idea to add it.

I've been looking at his recent interviews and when it comes to 8.0, particularly a Q&A thing here from January 1st, where he goes into some specifics. http://blog.livedoor.jp/umadori0726/.../62898583.html
From the translations I've seen of this Q&A, they're working on the following

-A Switch 2 Port
-Glamour dresser expansion
-Animation customization (Swaping out different animations for abilities?)
-Character skin customization (Tattoos/scale colors? I suspect Halmarut may have been a preview of sorts.)
-A Namazu Bodysuit
-Cloud Strife Hair for Viera

So mostly a lot of character creation stuff is what I think he's talking about (which is something I'm happy about since I've always wanted them to expand on it). He mentioned some maybe/considering things but none of them screamed mobile game either (thank the twelve).

Hopefully it's not any mobile things. He didn't mention autowalk either so I assume that's scrapped. (Thank the twelve)

Edit: Honestly, when he talked about an "evolving market" it seems, based on his other recent interviews including around the time Mare was banned, like he's talking about PC modders who use mods to customize their character's appearance, attack animations, stuff like that. lol
Mobile stuff, not cool. Hopefully they're not doing it.
Customization features would be cool though so I hope they stick to that.

[Mecia]

I think they realised a long time ago that the money's in appealing to the casual crowd who use the game as more of a chatroom and dress-up doll simulator rather than continuing to develop the game as a traditional MMO. All this talk of respecting the players' time just feels like an excuse for them to gradually move away from time and resource heavy aspects of the game like combat and gameplay in favour of focusing on empty fluff like the Mogstore, because it lines their pockets at virtually no extra cost. It's clear they're not really interested in what long-term players have to say anymore and have their sights set on a particular demographic.

Observe how low post count players come out the woodworks to complain about non gameplay stuff like Grahas VA. Or if it is combat related, its been about normal content getting harder.

I wish jobs got half as much attention.

[lievaordiea]

-Glamour dresser expansion
-Emote customization
-Character skin customization (Tattoos/scale colors? I suspect Halmarut may have been a preview of sorts.)
-A Namazu Bodysuit

i wouldnt get tooo excited over the dresser. he said after housing is something? and well.. they have about a gazillion stuff to look into with that

that namazu body suit came out of no where...

emote customization. i'm wondering if it will be similar to how you can multi link emotes together with a macro.

Example
I have one where i drink tea then eat an egg and drink more tea - like a breakfast emote

[SKAshe]

i wouldnt get tooo excited over the dresser. he said after housing is something? and well.. they have about a gazillion stuff to look into with that

that namazu body suit came out of no where...

emote customization. i'm wondering if it will be similar to how you can multi link emotes together with a macro.

Example
I have one where i drink tea then eat an egg and drink more tea - like a breakfast emote

It could be, from what I saw on further examination of translations it was more about the character's whole movement in general so it might be more wide reaching then that. He said he'd show off a lot of these things at the fanfest, I believe.

Edit: And yeah a lot of this stuff ends up behind schedule so it could very easily get delayed.

[plasmacutter]

I'm just going to add my voice to this thread in the hope devs are reading this:

Make the gameplay satisfying and people will show up regardless of age (CS) or monetization model (UUGH gacha).
"Gather and AOE" gameplay with no real threat is unsatisfying.

People wouldn't consider playing the game a waste of time if it were satisfying, and trash packs requiring strategy and use of job/role specific utilities makes them satisfying to bring down.

You can add more challenge to casual by making trash packs similar to your light party: where the pack's synergy must be broken with strategic play or they wipe your party.

This is how "normal difficulty" worked in WoW at the hayday of dungeoneering in that game.

Important aspects that make it "casual":
no enrage on the trash packs (looking at you: criterion)
no body checks.
clear causes and telegraphs for any "one-shots" so anyone with IQ above shoe size quickly understands why.

This is 100% doable.

Enemy units should be a threat if you don't play properly.
"Dumbing down" or "simplifying" gameplay should never make people feel like the above statement doesn't apply.

[TwiceDamned]

I think they realised a long time ago that the money's in appealing to the casual crowd who use the game as more of a chatroom and dress-up doll simulator rather than continuing to develop the game as a traditional MMO. All this talk of respecting the players' time just feels like an excuse for them to gradually move away from time and resource heavy aspects of the game like combat and gameplay in favour of focusing on empty fluff like the Mogstore, because it lines their pockets at virtually no extra cost. It's clear they're not really interested in what long-term players have to say anymore and have their sights set on a particular demographic.

In short, Second Life.

[Mouthbone]

"Ominous", whole ass quote highlighted in red, many similar sounding posts in the past
OP needs to touch grass or get a job or something

XIV is flawed, there's no argument there, but posts like these are giving ragebait for the sake of engagement

[Valence]

I'm just going to add my voice to this thread in the hope devs are reading this:

Make the gameplay satisfying and people will show up regardless of age (CS) or monetization model (UUGH gacha).
"Gather and AOE" gameplay with no real threat is unsatisfying.

People wouldn't consider playing the game a waste of time if it were satisfying, and trash packs requiring strategy and use of job/role specific utilities makes them satisfying to bring down.

You can add more challenge to casual by making trash packs similar to your light party: where the pack's synergy must be broken with strategic play or they wipe your party.

This is how "normal difficulty" worked in WoW at the hayday of dungeoneering in that game.

Important aspects that make it "casual":
no enrage on the trash packs (looking at you: criterion)
no body checks.
clear causes and telegraphs for any "one-shots" so anyone with IQ above shoe size quickly understands why.

This is 100% doable.

Enemy units should be a threat if you don't play properly.
"Dumbing down" or "simplifying" gameplay should never make people feel like the above statement doesn't apply.

Imagine if the devs had kept going in the direction of guildhests like "Stinging Back" with the healers to focus down first.

[Gwenkatsu]

I'm just going to add my voice to this thread in the hope devs are reading this:

Make the gameplay satisfying and people will show up regardless of age (CS) or monetization model (UUGH gacha).
"Gather and AOE" gameplay with no real threat is unsatisfying.

People wouldn't consider playing the game a waste of time if it were satisfying, and trash packs requiring strategy and use of job/role specific utilities makes them satisfying to bring down.

You can add more challenge to casual by making trash packs similar to your light party: where the pack's synergy must be broken with strategic play or they wipe your party.

This is how "normal difficulty" worked in WoW at the hayday of dungeoneering in that game.

Important aspects that make it "casual":
no enrage on the trash packs (looking at you: criterion)
no body checks.
clear causes and telegraphs for any "one-shots" so anyone with IQ above shoe size quickly understands why.

This is 100% doable.

Enemy units should be a threat if you don't play properly.
"Dumbing down" or "simplifying" gameplay should never make people feel like the above statement doesn't apply.

I still remember the good old days in early WoW, when every trash pack was an exercise in crowd control. I mained a warlock, and (provided there was a demon-sort among the enemies) could CC 3(!) enemies at once. Now that was fun
Healers had to excel in mana management, tanks had to work hard to maintain aggro, a DD that got aggro dropped dead in their shoes, and all the ways were uphill - in both directions.
These good old times are not coming back, since every company's bean counters know very well how many people with "IQ below shoe size" are playing their games.