Devolved jobs will kill this game.

[cashmoney109]

I was open to the prospect of having less buttons in exchange for more complexity and identity. After all other games such as WoW have shown how that can work. What you showed at Fanfest mortified me and looking at the infographs for how they worked mechanically confirmed my initial impression. Despite repeatedly stating to everyones faces that this is not in fact an easy mode you may be shocked to hear that your players do have the eyes and ears and a brain to see that it clearly is easier in almost every single way. All you've done is replace high execution low complexity with low execution low complexity and add a single token class flavor button. There is simply not enough going on to hold any long term players interest. It's actual braindead phone game slop.

If evolved is implemented with a similar design philosophy to what we saw in Fanfest I will tell you with 100% certainty that you will see a new all-time low in players next expansion.

Why? Because it is boring. People are bored. You have been bleeding players for years because your game has become so godawfully painfully boring. You are accelerating this process by making it even more boring. I really don't know why this even needs explaining. When players are bored they will inevitably leave when they get distracted by something that isn't boring. Boredom goes up. Money line goes down. Do you get it yet? How many consecutive years of increased simplification and decreased players does it take for you to finally connect the dots???

I do not blame Hikaru Tamaki. He seems very talented and has an excellent track record. The PvP rework is the best thing to happen to this game in a long time. I am sure if he had full creative control over jobs he would bring this game into a second golden age. I am assuming this is just a result of him working under heavy design restrictions imposed in some misguided attempt to attract some mythical modern audience that is never going to show up. There are going to be 24 jobs in the game. You have more than enough design space to make something for everybody several times over and not just the SMN/VPR mains of the world.

Please have him go back to the drawing board with the freedom to take the concepts further and with far more depth. The new dragoon LB, countering and movement mechanics are great but it is nowhere near enough to make up for the other 90% of gameplay being braindead autocombo chaining. Do not release jobs in that state or this game is actually just over. Contrary to popular belief nobody here wants that. We all love FFXIV and want it to succeed. But it cannot and will not happen if you refuse to budge on this very simple fundamental issue again.

Everything else you announced sounds great and is supposed to make this an expansion an easy win for you. None of that is going to matter if you stop right before the finish line and mess the gameplay up again. Good job design is not optional this go around.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

> Dev panel showcasing some examples of what they have in mind 9months+ before expansion releases

"THIS WILL KILL THE GAME"

It's a development build for a reason, geez louise... there will still be so many moving parts before it finishes and can still be worked on after the release.

[Azurarok]

It's a development build for a reason, geez louise... there will still be so many moving parts before it finishes and can still be worked on after the release.

okay but that sounds eerily similar to the "Foundation to build upon" phrase we've had bashed over our heads for years

[Turtledeluxe]

Oh, no. Anyways.

[Antharaes]

[cashmoney109]

If you polish a turd for 9 months it will still be a turd. That is what they chose to show so it is fair to assume that it is representative of their vision for the final product. They are free to come out and state definitively that the final version will look significantly different.

[Kelg]

People need to chill with the doom posts. We haven't even seen anything yet. LET THEM COOK.

[SweetPete]

Post like OPs happen ever expansion. We all should be use to it by now.

Like the old saying goes. Ya won’t please everyone. People are free to have an opinion. It is what it is.

[Kisshu]

Post like OPs happen ever expansion. We all should be use to it by now.

Like the old saying goes. Ya won’t please everyone. People are free to have an opinion. It is what it is.

Those of us from before SHB have also tried this several times before with big job changes. It's only the SHB system that has stayed for an extended period of time.

[Aco505]

Even if you disagree with the OP, the concerns are valid. Just look at how SMN has "changed" since its rework in EW.

Better to give feedback now to get some positive changes rolling in time. Player concerns of this type often appear way before an expansion is released and more often than not it turns out to be true.