I need to vent (VERY long)

[Rowyne]

Well its good to see that the devs of this game are working on transforming this mess of a game. I have been away from this game for over six months. I practically forgot that it existed until I was reminded during a conversation about bad games. What stood out the most for me in this game is that it felt as if the original developers had little to no concern about gamers enjoyment. Everything felt as if it was purposely design to annoy the gamer.

Now things are supposedly going to change but my recent login to the game did not change my current feelings towards this game. I just took a look at upcoming changes and some features that are being considered for the game but there are somethings that I deem to be very critical for this game to change its already tarnished image.

Welcome back! It's always good to have someone take a look at this game with a fresh set of eyes. Many of us who have stuck it out have sort of let our eyes glaze over some of its issues.

1. Battle System: There is a lot about the battle system that is painful to say the least and I think by now the new devs are aware of some of these issues. So I am only going to mention the things not listed in the developer's letter.

*The overall battle system is too slow. Its needs to be sped up to be more engaging and less of a drag.

I think much will be addressed in the huge battle system overhaul they are currently working on. Auto-attack, removal of the stamina bar, better timing, more response. It should hopefully be more exciting.

*Archers are the only class that runs out of "fighting" power because they consume arrows. This is the only game that I have recently played in which the Archers are penalized with arrows being consumable.

True, in some MMOs archer classes do not use consumable arrows. I know that WoW just recently removed all consumable ammunition (arrows and bullets) with patch 4.0.1, the Cataclysm pre-expansion patch.

However, many still do, and I don't see that changing in this game. I do think that they should learn from FFXI and make it easier on archers. Back when I played, ranger and ninja were the two most expensive jobs to play, because of arrows and tools. Many rangers I knew were also woodworkers so they could make their own. Once again, FFXIV is a very crafting-centric game (even moreso than FFXI), and carpenters make arrows so you can buy them and use them on your archer. I know, tedious and doesn't really seem fair compared to other classes. I mean, they don't make casters use spell reagents.

... I better keep quiet before SE gets any crazy ideas.

Anyway, I don't know anything about playing an archer, personally, but doesn't the official site say something about a Replenish ability that uses MP to create arrows? If that's another broken desc that never made it into the game, that's too bad. Casters have MP regain abilities. Archers should have something like this for an emergency situation.

*Switching between combat and passive mode should be instant and not be slowed down by animation switching. If I am running I should easily be able to switch between passive and combat without having to stop.

I will agree with that 100%. I think it should be something smooth and automatic, switching from in combat to out of combat, depending on if you've engaged an enemy. We're going to auto-attack. Why not also remove the manual switch from active to passive mode? I think the most annoying part of the whole situation is the animation that makes you stop dead in your tracks.

*Replenishing of health and MP should be faster and should also work when in combat mode.

You're definitely going to get some opposition on this one. The fact that MP now regenerates automatically while in passive mode without having to visit an aetheryte actually annoyed some people when they made that change. They think it's too OP (can't say I agree with that one, I didn't like being tied to aetheryte and having the unnatural urge to touch it every time I ran by, so it was a welcome change to me). However, I can't agree with HP/MP regenerating while in combat. That definitely is OP.

*When you die and you are not in a party the game should automatically prompt the user to return. Whats worse is that a simple ability to resurrect is not available until rank 38. That is nothing short of absurdity. It also limits partying because if someone dies you have wait for the person to return if no one has the ability to resurrect. Its even more problematic for lower rank gamers who would die often.

I also agree with this. Why are you 12 levels away from cap before you get your first Raise spell?!? I play healers in all my MMOs and I've never had to wait so long. Even FFXI gives WHMs Raise at 25. >.<

2. Travel. Mobility needs to be revamped. Currently moving between locations is painful and costly. Teleportation should not cost anima. There is no reason it should cost anything to move from one location to next.

Well, if you don't agree with this, we can go back to a system where one class gets all the teleport spells. It won't cost you any anima, but... 5k gil tip, please.

3. Levequests. The last time I checked levequest was still mind numbingly illogical. Gamers should not have to get Leves from one area for it to be activated in an another area. That makes no sense whatsoever. Gamers should be able to get Leves and be able to do the Leves immediately or whenever they please without having to travel to a particular location to activate. This is not fun and I don't know who convinced the person who came up with this idea that this system is fun.

I agree that the whole system looked great in theory, but isn't in practice. The reason you're sent out to the aetherytes is a broken attempt at quest and zone progression. However, since they didn't make any of the subzones unique, it just feels like you're sent all over the same old countryside doing the same old things.

Sorry just needed to get that out. In the process of writing this I got all riled up again about this game. There is a lot more wrong with the game that what is mentioned as everyone already know but, with all these problems could this game possibly be good in the end? Does it even make sense trying to fix all of these problems? Wouldn't it be more cost effective to just start over?

Agreed, agreed and ... kinda sorta agree, but we've paid our money for the game and I don't think SE is willing to admit defeat and go back to the drawing board on this one.