What did FF14 have right, at launch?

[Eclipse]

I would like to keep the Classes and Jobs but have them all with Crystals. Why not the crystals for the classes just be a dull version of their counter part or grayed version of the same shape. Go with crystals, remove the job/class system being attached to weapons and allow for more player influence and culture instead of us being led down a path, let us make our own.

[Seif]

The wool boleros of elvaan. So amazing. And I adore the logo. Marmots looked cuter back then. True story.

[SuzakuCMX]

-I liked the CGI.

-I liked that I could be any "class" with any weapon (technically not but I could equip most of the class's skills on most every other class weapon).

-I liked Dodo trains

-I liked being able to wear any armor/weapon I wanted to even if I got a huge stat deduction

[Riv]

I liked Physical Levels, problem is they became a pointless stat after you hit lvl 50 (probably after 2-3 classes to 50? i forget how long it took me). They needed to already have something like a merit point system in place, or some other way to make use of excess EXP....or make it take a hell of a lot longer to hit physical 50.

I still like leves, and i liked leve linking. Linking is pretty much completely pointless now, you may as well solo. The allowance system was a huge improvement to leves.

I liked the idea of chaining WS together to get unique effects to turn the tide of battle, even if the Battle Regimen system was cumbersome. I'm looking forward to revamped system of that.

ACTUAL ENFEEBLE SPELLS EXISTED, even though they only lasted for like 10-15 secs. God i miss casting slow/para/poison/silence on mobs. Would have been better if they were more potent.

[Tricksy]

-I liked the CGI.

-I liked that I could be any "class" with any weapon (technically not but I could equip most of the class's skills on most every other class weapon).

-I liked Dodo trains

-I liked being able to wear any armor/weapon I wanted to even if I got a huge stat deduction

I liked Physical Levels, problem is they became a pointless stat after you hit lvl 50 (probably after 2-3 classes to 50? i forget how long it took me). They needed to already have something like a merit point system in place, or some other way to make use of excess EXP....or make it take a hell of a lot longer to hit physical 50.

I still like leves, and i liked leve linking. Linking is pretty much completely pointless now, you may as well solo. The allowance system was a huge improvement to leves.

I liked the idea of chaining WS together to get unique effects to turn the tide of battle, even if the Battle Regimen system was cumbersome. I'm looking forward to revamped system of that.

ACTUAL ENFEEBLE SPELLS EXISTED, even though they only lasted for like 10-15 secs. God i miss casting slow/para/poison/silence on mobs. Would have been better if they were more potent.

I agree with you two ^^

Loved wearing the wrong armour on my class, because it looked attractive to me. My friends put up with it. As well as the rest of what you guys said.

[darkstarpoet1]

let's see i'll not only go on release, but go up til january after release.

1. armory system. i loved being able to customize my character to be able to maximize its usefulness in party or solo. being able to equip my character differently with abilities that were situational i absolutely loved the freedom.

2. the stamina gauge. i know alot of people hated it, but i much preferred the fast pace of combat to the slow pace that's set now. i enjoyed having complete control of my character so i could either regular attack or build up tp(as a mage) to use a special move.

3. incaps mobs. the visual incaps on the mobs i absolutely loved. from knocking the head off a skeleton, to flipping a toad upside down, to visually seeing the horn break off the great buffalo. i really wish they had expanded upon that allowing additional drops when they were done.

4. material drops. the fighting nm's that had material drops where you had to farm additional parts to make that best piece in the game. it kept the crafters, gatherers, and fighting classes needing each other to get a final piece of gear.

5. the original thm/con. the lore of both classes really seemed like they fit to me. i know the old ff's had each of them as a different set of abilities, but each ff has always added a twist to the classes. i liked the elements on con and light/dark of thm. i thought they were really well put together even though i do feel they had too many spells too early in the games lifetime. i loved the dot's and status effects from them.

6. the speed of leveling. after they got rid of the proc of sp i felt like the speed to rank up a class was close to my ideal speed. i feel it was much better than it is now.

7. crafting. i really loved the way to make gear you had to make individual parts and then assemble them. the realism i loved. there was alot of fixes needed(r40 hammerhead for a r19 hammer) to correct issues to make it great, but loved the idea behind it.

8. the mobs. mobs special actions. sneaking by a mob and it would look your way because it was looking to see what disturbed it. that went to get near it and even though it has no clue what it is that was insta attack.

i'm sure there are other things that i feel they did right on release, but it's too late to think at this time.

edit: 9. battle regimens. his was probably one of my favorite parts of the battle system. if you took the time and was with a good group you could just destroy mobs using them. it also told you really quickly if you were playing with a good and experienced player or a not so good player.

[Biggs]

Music. Definitly the Music

[SuzakuCMX]

3. incaps mobs. the visual incaps on the mobs i absolutely loved. from knocking the head off a skeleton, to flipping a toad upside down, to visually seeing the horn break off the great buffalo. i really wish they had expanded upon that allowing additional drops when they were done.

4. material drops. the fighting nm's that had material drops where you had to farm additional parts to make that best piece in the game. it kept the crafters, gatherers, and fighting classes needing each other to get a final piece of gear.

8. the mobs. mobs special actions. sneaking by a mob and it would look your way because it was looking to see what disturbed it. that went to get near it and even though it has no clue what it is that was insta attack.

i'm sure there are other things that i feel they did right on release, but it's too late to think at this time.

edit: 9. battle regimens. his was probably one of my favorite parts of the battle system. if you took the time and was with a good group you could just destroy mobs using them. it also told you really quickly if you were playing with a good and experienced player or a not so good player.

Everything else you mentioned was either something that was decent but terrible for balancing or was going to keep new players away.

EDIT: Though the THM/CNJ thing could have been fine if they just made it so you need CNJ and THM both at 30 for WHM/BLM and WHM got all the heals/buffs and BLM got all the damage/debuffs. I actually would have preferred they make it so that classes are just collections of skills that were decent for general mobs, but that you would have to equip a job that would limit which skills you got from which classes in turn for highly increased effectiveness (For example, Curaga on CNJ being as effective as WHM Cure). Rather it seems you want jobs for their unique skills rather than increased effectiveness of skills you already have.

[Ruisu]

Uh, the gear and enemies are by far some of the best looking that I've seen.

.....that's about it.

[Ksenia]

FF14 has good character models/textures and animations, but the game's graphics as a whole aren't really cutting edge.

First, there's the poort LOD blending going from background to foreground that looks terrible no matter how high you set your settings, and then there's a distinct lack of dynamic shadows. Additionally, the graphics engine is really inefficient. To be quite honest, the original Crysis has better (or at least just as good) graphics than FF14, and doesn't need as powerful a computer to deliver them. That game is also like 4 years old, and the only thing FF14 does better is character models. Better character models are however a sign of 3D modellers doing a good job, not engine programmers.

-edit-
Oh, right. I guess that is something that they did right. FF14 did have very good character models, I'll give them that. Now you can't accuse me of being a complete negative nancy.

I can't argue but when I mentioned graphics the only thing I was seeing was my avatar and I'm know there are good graphics out there.

One of the Mobs in TSW. I still like Ksenia more in terms of her visual appeal.