Letter to the Producer, from an average gamer

[Manbearcow]

Hello there,

I am just an average guy who happens to also be an avid gamer and a fan of mmorpg’s. I recently started testing out FFXIV and so far it has been a fair experience. In this letter I would like to bring up a few key points that I have come across during my time playing FFXIV. I hope to bring a fresh perspective, or one that may have been forgotten during the development of ARR. Perhaps first I should say a little about myself and the relevance that this game has for me. I also want to apologize for the length of this letter ahead of time and hope that you all will bear with me.

I started playing video games as a child back in the early 90’s. I liked playing a lot of different games, including the Final Fantasy games, but as a child many of my favorites were Blizzard games, such as Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft. The first mmorpg I was introduced to was World of Warcraft, and I was hooked. I have since stopped playing WoW for the past 3 years, but it was tough to stop. I understand that many of the FFXIV players may harbor disdain for WoW players, but please keep in mind that I am trying to help improve FFXIV 2.0 and not WoW. Since then, I have tried other MMORPG’s such as Perfect World, Guild Wars, and Eden Eternal. Now I am trying FFXIV in anticipation for the 2.0 release.

Suffice it to say, starting out in FFXIV was extremely frustrating. I mean, my back was literally hurting from the stress of the operating the controls and the UI. You may be wondering why I even bothered to keep playing if I thought it was so terrible. Well, I have very selfish reasons for hanging in there and also for hoping that the issues will be fixed in 2.0. Just as I fell in love with WoW, my first mmorpg, my girlfriend fell in love with FFXI, her first video game. I am admittedly a video game addict, having played over 48 hours straight before when I was playing Wow. Though I have calmed down a bit since then, I do still play over 12 hours in a day occasionally. And so, my girlfriend has made an effort to play the games that I play. We played Perfect World together for a while. It had many good points that I think would be wonderful additions to FFXIV. We stopped playing Perfect World when Eden Eternal came out. My girlfriend wanted to try Eden Eternal because it had cute alpaca mounts. Although I thought it was a silly reason to play a game, it actually turned out to be a really good game. It had some good points that I will point out later in the letter. Since then I moved from Starcraft 2 to League of Legends and Diablo 3 as the big multiplayer games that I have been playing. But these games could not hold the interest of my girlfriend and so here we are, hoping that FFXIV will be a game we can play together for a long time.

Now that we have gone over some boring pieces of my history I would like to address certain issues that I have noted so far from FFXIV that need to be fixed. Let me be frank, unlike many of the fans that have stuck around with FFXIV through its flop, I have no intention of playing a game that is badly designed, not to mention paying a monthly subscription. I am your average gamer. I am the audience that FFXIV failed to capture. However, unlike your average gamer, I have a small personal stake in this game’s success. So here is a list of complaints about the current version and improvements I hope to see in A Realm Reborn.

User Interface issues

Customization
It is my understanding that the UI will be switched over to the global mmo standard. I hope that this is done well and that there is not backwardness for the sake of “being unique”. I also hope that there will be complete customizability, i.e. support for addon’s.

Escape button
Please fix the functionality of the escape button. It should stop a cast when casting. It should close a menu when a menu is open. It should open the main menu when there is nothing else going on. This is very standard stuff.

Targeting
The targeting system was one of the biggest frustrations I had when I first started playing. It just isn’t designed well. Until I played ffxiv, I never knew this could be an issue. Why the targeting system doesn’t target the closest unit first is beyond my comprehension. If I move toward a unit and my camera is centered toward it, that unit is more than likely my intended target. Also, it is unnecessarily hard to click on something that is in front of my character, because my character’s hit box is blocking the way. Make the targeting system smarter.

The Mouse
I understand that for whatever reason the original developers had no idea that most mmorpg players use the mouse. We use the mouse; please trust me when I say that. With that said, the functionality of the mouse needs to be improved. Generally, the left click is for selecting units. The right click is for moving or engaging a unit. Please trust that the user knows what he or she wants done. When I right click a monster, my character should move within range to attack the monster and start attacking it. For melee classes this would be melee range, for ranged characters this would be their max cast or shot range. This is fairly standard for all games that I have played, not just mmorpg’s. Don’t make us confirm everything by having to click things over and over. The lag is already a big enough impediment.

Excessive confirmation tabs
Again please trust that the player knows what they want. Do not make them click through a bunch of confirmation menus for trivial things. For example, on the letter from the producer live part 3, I saw that in order to change your gear/class you have to pick your outfit, then hit what looked to be the confirm button, and then hit yet another confirm button. Why the extra two steps? I think that most players can decide which outfit/class they want to choose without the extra two steps. This is just an example of the many unnecessary actions that players have to do. These extra steps add nothing at all to the game. The extra steps do however annoy some players, including myself. Small tedious things like that can make games less enjoyable. Just like having to confirm whether I want to cast a spell that I pressed on a target that I clicked.

Battle system

Monster engagement
When a monster is attacking you, it is very annoying to have to select the monster, and then confirm that you want to attack that monster, and have a huge delay before you start hitting the monster back because your marauder (for example) has a slow swing speed. Making the game more convenient and streamline makes it a better game. It doesn’t take any difficulty away from it. It just makes the game less annoying to navigate. When a monster attacks your character, your character should automatically fight back. And, unless your character was already swinging away on another monster, the first attack should happen instantly.

Speed of battles
So…very…slow. But I have seen some footage of ARR in the letter from the producer live video of archer gameplay. That was a fairly acceptable speed, but still not enough going on in the time frame. The video of the lancer/dragoon at gamescom 2012 is another story. The player did an action once every 4-5 seconds in the battles it showed. That is ridiculously slow. I don’t particularly care how long a battle lasts. A boss battle can last an hour for all I care. I just don’t want to sit around pressing a button once every 4-5 seconds. Don’t be stuck in the turn based gaming era. Auto attacks should supplement skill damage, instead of be fillers when you run out of tp. You can adjust damage and hp, but make it so that there is more action happening. The more there is going on, the less boring the battles are. Remember that some of us play for hours on end and will need more than clicking once every 4 seconds to keep us entertained.

Mobility
Every skill requires you to stand in place. When I started playing Perfect World, this was the issue that made me not enjoy the game to the fullest. Standing still while using an “instant” skill is boring and unnecessary. Standing around for a casted spell is standard, because it balances out the range advantage, but standing still while performing a melee move is not balanced or fun. There are also no skills that provide extra mobility. Those skills are usually the ones that are the most fun to use. When you think about it, most of the current skills are just different versions of dealing damage, healing damage done, or preventing damage. Why not add skills that make you run faster for a short duration, teleport you a short distance, charge into someone, or displace your enemies?

AOE
There needs to be more of it and at earlier levels. Don’t make me fight one monster at a time for over 20 levels. That is so mind numbingly boring. Give me the tools to take on 4 monsters at the same time, instead of making me kill them one at a time while taking damage from all of them anyway.

PvP
It is great to hear that there will be pvp in 2.0. You will draw a huge audience when you add pvp into the mix. All of my friends are pvp gamers. They would not play a game for long if it didn’t have a pvp element, and neither would I. I understand that there is a base of players that would prefer not to pvp. My girlfriend for example, is afraid of pvp, and that is fine. But make pvp an option for those that enjoy it and you increase your player base and in turn create a larger community. Think of it this way. What is the point of grinding all these levels and then grinding dungeons for gear over and over? Sure some people enjoy that, but what happens when you think to yourself, what is the point of having this gear anyway if I already beat this last boss 20 times? Players will get bored. Well, how about I take this sweet gear that I worked hard for and go kick someone’s butt with it. That is one way to keep players entertained. For many players, pvp is the endgame. There are many concerns I have for pvp in ffxiv though. I can already tell that the balance will be awful. Good pvp is balanced pvp, and I do not see how standing still for all skills and having no mobility skills will help balance. Ranged characters will probably destroy melee characters.

Miscellaneous Improvements

Leve system
I actually like this system quite a bit. I don’t know if you are going to keep it for 2.0. My only suggestion is that you let players start off with more leves than 8. Starting the game was quite slow because of the limited amount of leves in the beginning. It was made even slower because I wanted to try out so many different classes. Perhaps there should be separate leves or class quests for different classes when starting off.

Understanding the game
It was hard for me, even as a gamer that has played many different mmo’s to understand the system in FFXIV. There were no quests to familiarize me with the nuances of the game. For example in order to obtain my chocobo, I took the ship from Limsa Lominsa to ferry docks in Eastern Thanalan and walked from there to Ulda and Gridania for the grand company quests. Instead I could have taken an airship. But of course, I had no idea that airships even existed in this game. Hours of walking could have been prevented had there been a quest introducing me to the airships. I hear that there will be a better tutorial system of quests in 2.0 that will help new players along and I hope that the quests are thorough, because there are so many confusing things in FFXIV.

Crafting and Gathering
I think that the crafting and gathering system is great and quite unique. However, its charm is lost quickly during the leveling grind. Perhaps make it so that the minigame is optional after the first few times, and let players complete the crafting or gathering at lower success rates if they choose speed over quality.

Market Ward vs Auction House
The market ward system is not cute. It does not make the game more realistic. Amazon and Ebay are realistic. Install an auction house. Stop wasting people’s time while increasing server stress.

Things from other games that should be implemented

Mail system – Fairly simple concept

Couple system – Two players that play together all the time can become a couple, get married, get little goodies like exp boosts, temporary buff spells, teleport to each other on cooldowns. It’s fun and cute.

Carry one another – There are games that let one character carry another character around. Mind blowing right? You can make it gendered or not if you want. When I played Perfect World, guys could carry girls around and they could do kissing emotes.

Flying – a lot of good mmo’s let you fly around

Small stat boosts for leveling a lot of different classes – I’ve heard that FFXIV originally started off with a character level system. I don’t know the specifics, but it was probably done poorly. But, I’m talking about just giving a very small stat bonus for certain benchmarks of leveling so that you have a reason to all the classes to their max. The benchmarks would become harder to get as you level up. They did it fairly well in Eden Eternal. For example if the first benchmark could be at say 200 points. Each level you gain would add that number to the pool. For example you could get level 20 on one class (1+2+3….+20) and get 210 points to reach the benchmark, or get 14 classes to lvl 5 which would be 210 points. The bonus would just be something low like 5 hp, 5 mp, 1 attack power, 1 attack magic potency and 1 healing magic potency. The benchmark requirements would scale to make it really hard to get the next one for just a small benefit. It would give more incentive to level all the classes without breaking the game.

Ending Comments
These are just some suggestions from an average gamer that might help improve this game. With no insult intended, I am not a Final Fantasy fan boy. My input may not be the same as someone who has been playing since launch, but there is going to be a 2.0 for a reason. This also means that your target audience will most likely have similar impressions as I do. Because loyal fans will likely still play this game even in this state, you should try pandering to a broader audience of gamers so that 2.0 doesn't flop as well. FFXIV failed to move forward and improve on existing mmorpg’s. For the sake of being different, it chose to do some fairly backward things. That is why it failed. There are many things that are great about this game though. The graphics for sure are phenomenal. I like the concept of limit breaks. I think chocobos, and battle chocobos are freaking awesome. Being able to use any class on one character is great. But, there is no shame in taking what is known to work and implementing it in your own way. FFXIV players can hate on WoW as much as they want, but there is no denying that Blizzard’s game concepts work. They have an uncanny ability to balance very unique classes/races for pve and pvp. They constantly work to improve on their games and add more convenient features for players even though already having the largest subscription base in the world for an mmorpg. But even Blizzard makes its mistakes. Diablo 3 for example was a big flop. Diablo 3 moved backward from Diablo 2 because it didn’t have the endgame content to keep players around, like pvp for example. I sincerely hope that FFXIV 2.0 is a success, for my own sake, because I want to enjoy this game. I hope that pvp will be balanced. I hope that the UI will be convenient to navigate. I hope that many of the other suggestions are implemented. Most of them are just quality of life issues. Don’t implement weird limitations just for the hell of it. FFXIV can be totally unique without trying to change all the standard things that make mmorpg’s work.

[Quesse]

/clap

probably a better read than this forum deserves.

[Yves]

Hello there,


Escape button
Please fix the functionality of the escape button. It should stop a cast when casting. It should close a menu when a menu is open. It should open the main menu when there is nothing else going on. This is very standard stuff.

The casting issue has more to do with latency then it does anything else. At this time, no button press or movement is going to interrupt casting unless there is more than 2 seconds left until the cast finalizes.

Aside from that you covered a lot of things that are individual tastes. That isn't to say that they are wrong - simply that there are just that. Some people like being able to fly around, some people think that this "isn't FF-like" and a whole slew of ideas in between.

A big part of the FF franchise is that it isn't for everyone and it's appealing to be part of something that is a niche. While FF has certainly grown over the years, this is possibly one of the reasons why the format remains somewhat rigid.

Either way, very nicely put together and it was admirable for you to share. Hopefully people don't blast this to shreds over semantics.

[AjoraOak]

"Generally, the left click is for selecting units. The right click is for moving or engaging a unit"
..........What?
Dunno what "good" or rather popular mmos you've played but the right click is actually used for camera control with the wad keys (not s because that's backpedaling and that's bad). What you're saying comes off as someone that's only played perfect world to me.

Also, Diablo 3 wasn't considered a flop since it sold so many copies. It's not a monthly subscription game anyways so they got what they wanted by selling it to the sheep that figured it would be awesome. They tried too hard to change the formula and forgot people played Diablo mainly for its customization and pvp. Personally, anyone looking for the actual Diablo 2 gameplay would be better off visiting Torchlight 2.

I did just notice you said you actually played perfect world, all of it makes sense now. PW is an old game with old controls and not western at all, more or less, based off of people that play 1-handed.

Well, I gave reading it a try, a few of the points are valid:
having the game help introduce key elements to you w/o having to search online
more aoe (even at higher levels honestly)
mail (they're doing this anyways)
pvp
all obvious things good games have etc etc

Pvp is a tricky subject on the other hand though, there's NO way pvp in ffxiv will ever be competitive enough to draw an audience, the combo system is overly complicated for such a thing with servers that are based in japan despite what efforts they're making to alleviate that issue it'll still most likely not be as good as they say if they had huge numbers of NA players. Most likely it'll just be there so they can say "ffxiv has pvp too!"

[Valmonte]

WoW was was garbage the day it was released any "Real" MMO player would tell you that. besides its not WoW's thats killing MMO's. its people like you that are doing the actual killing. you come in with your "oh i like this this and this from that mmo, and i like that, that and that from this mmo. when the actual game is built around that need you get an MMO you've played before with an altered lore and a fresh coat of paint, every MMO i had an interest in met this fate. SWTOR had potential it could have followed the badassest game of all time SWKotOR, instead it was striped of all unique elements and replaced with mechanic that could make a fish hurl, why? because thats what you wanted.

instead of ripping shit right from other games....maybe you could encourage the devs to be unique, make something fresh and new.

[Firon]

WoW was was garbage the day it was released any "Real" MMO player would tell you that. besides its not WoW's thats killing MMO's. its people like you that are doing the actual killing. you come in with your "oh i like this this and this from that mmo, and i like that, that and that from this mmo. when the actual game is built around that need you get an MMO you've played before with an altered lore and a fresh coat of paint, every MMO i had an interest in met this fate. SWTOR had potential it could have followed the badassest game of all time SWKotOR, instead it was striped of all unique elements and replaced with mechanic that could make a fish hurl, why? because thats what you wanted.

instead of ripping shit right from other games....maybe you could encourage the devs to be unique, make something fresh and new.

Except a lot of real mmo players play it >.>

[AjoraOak]

Let's hope not a lot of "real" MMO players play this because 9/10 NA players are awful or below average usually. Anyways, they did try making something "new" and it was original FFXIV!

[Rau]

A number of these complaints were fixed a while ago.

[auritribe]

I could say something here, but I'll let the rest of you use your imagination. I'll just leave this here.

[Shougun]

Let's hope not a lot of "real" MMO players play this because 9/10 NA players are awful or below average usually. Anyways, they did try making something "new" and it was original FFXIV!

O_o 9/10? I love these kind of made up statistics.


PS more importantly, I just hit my 777 post mark.