The Letter is up

[DurtiMonkeyToe]

I think mine, and a lot of others beef, is what do you see this patch all about? Battle related system/overhauls? Ok, we need that desperately, but do you remember when we were told that we were to get major updates from time to time while also getting smaller ones on weekly intervals? Do you remember the talk about 'multiple teams working on different aspects of the game'? So far all we've heard is talk about the battle system, which again is a huge issue. What about the server latency issues? Crafting recipes? In-game bugs? The list goes on, but why no mention of these issues being addressed?

As far as I'm concerned push back your patch another month or two if you really need the time to get it right, but patch in some stuff for the other aspects of the game. While I admit that the game does revolve around combat there are other aspects that could be addressed to keep people interested/provide feedback. Waiting two months for an 'epic patch' which won't be epic isn't the way to go. I just don't understand why this battle patch has to be the first thing to come out. It's like their 'battle team' actually works on every aspect of the game. How cool would it be to have 8 slots to trade stuff instead of 4? Little stuff like this would keep me happy in between your 'game changing' patches. I'm sure others would feel the same.

The problem is they CAN'T just push back these patches. If all they did was keep adding and adding and adding stuff on top of stuff, all of that new stuff is going to be broken when they change the systems. Why create MORE work for the Dev team to have to go back and redesign all the old stuff when they could just wait and have the systems ready for the new content? You can see how slow they are moving already, imagine how people react when they have to push back NEW content to go back and fix OLD content.

On top of that, crafting has been mentioned multiple times as being worked on, especially the recipes. The crafting system is again another system that they are working on adjusting and they can't go and adjust a whole bunch of recipes and add new ones when they have to fix the whole system.

On the issue of server latency and in-game bugs I agree, but is that really something that needs to be touched on in every producer letter? Or isn't that something we should just assume they are always working on? I know a lot of people are having problems in this area, but I am not. Even in the cities my latency is next to zero. Maybe that is because I have Fios, I'm just saying.

Also, by my count they have been pretty good about entering smaller patches every few weeks. They may not contain the stuff we WANT to see, but they are there.

[Anty]

Sorry Debbie, but he said from the start it would only be 2 dungeons this update.

But yeah, we're hardly moving at a great pace, but that's the way it is.

on the other hand im really looking forward to these changes as it looks they are really working everything right now, which ofc takes time and the game needs it. Small fixes or similar won't cut it so i rather wait 2 weeks or have more delayed stuff if, in the end its worth it... but just IF

[Laiferr]

I think mine, and a lot of others beef, is what do you see this patch all about? Battle related system/overhauls? Ok, we need that desperately, but do you remember when we were told that we were to get major updates from time to time while also getting smaller ones on weekly intervals? Do you remember the talk about 'multiple teams working on different aspects of the game'? So far all we've heard is talk about the battle system, which again is a huge issue. What about the server latency issues? Crafting recipes? In-game bugs? The list goes on, but why no mention of these issues being addressed?

As far as I'm concerned push back your patch another month or two if you really need the time to get it right, but patch in some stuff for the other aspects of the game. While I admit that the game does revolve around combat there are other aspects that could be addressed to keep people interested/provide feedback. Waiting two months for an 'epic patch' which won't be epic isn't the way to go. I just don't understand why this battle patch has to be the first thing to come out. It's like their 'battle team' actually works on every aspect of the game. How cool would it be to have 8 slots to trade stuff instead of 4? Little stuff like this would keep me happy in between your 'game changing' patches. I'm sure others would feel the same.

You're basically on the same level as me, this is what I'm trying to get at. I know people will disagree with me but I do not think this patch is exciting. I think this patch is basic. A fun battle system is basic. Some simple dungeons is basic. I don't even feel like we're waiting for fun content, we're waiting, 9 months in, for things which should have been there at the start. Now, I do realise they need to fix it and this is the right path to go down, no point whining about what didn't happen etc, but they need to start throwing us bones more often. I can't get excited about such simple things. Maybe since I've been playing since Alpha I'm a little more ... well, bored, than some of the newer players.

As for them saying there would only be two dungeons, sorry, I must have read something wrong as I thought they meant 'Rank 30 and 50 dungeons' as in more than one of each, not one of each. But I may have read it wrong, I'm not the most thorough reader.

[Anty]

It's just you.

Sadly many people think that 5 - 6 months of game design is a long time, when really it isn't. I'm not defending SE here, just trying to put game development in perspective... It takes a lot of time... Start over from scratch (my definition is not using any assets already created) would push development 5 years out on an MMO, typically 3 years on a AAA title.

Right now 1.18 is in that critical stage, testing, and fixing bugs, it sounds like it's going to be a big update, so that means more can go wrong, and sometimes finding bugs is a pain, because they might spend weeks testing and not find a bug that we find in a few minutes. It's just the way things work, changing one thing can have effects in other areas that you didn't see coming.

It's just the nature of game development.

i think (i dunno though) that the balancing or skills, etc. etc. in addition to new effects also keeping in mind the further job changes is what makes it that difficult.

[SomniOmnis]

Well. 2 dungeons included. Thats pretty good and lets hope they are not wow style (5 trash pulls, nasty patrol, 5 trash pulls, nasty patrol, 5 trash pulls, nasty guards, 10 trash pulls , BOSS) x 4 , 5 or 6 depending on how bored the devs get.

A dynamis-a-like ? Well yes please, that will certainly make the necessity of a decicated heal job very important.

But I will wait and see whats what.

The addition of AA and getting rid of stamina and focused jobs unlockable will define the game base. Lets not get ahead of ourselves here, the dungeons will be good places to try the new systems out in.

We need the markets sorting out and more zones and a serious look at crafting before the game is fit to go on sale.

[Roughgalaxy]

that lancer skill looked sweet. looking forward to the changes.

[charliesheen]

People over hyped this patch way to much, do people honestly not get what they had to do here just to add auto attack?

Most if not all of the algorithms and code for battle had to be rewritten.

I think most people don't get this. But apparently those of us who do are also not allowed to complain, correct?

[Drazzan]

We need the markets sorting out and more zones and a serious look at crafting before the game is fit to go on sale.

Not to mention more transportation methods and story-related quests. There just seems to be a whole lot of nothing to do in the game. I completed all side-quests in Ul'dah within a few hours as a 36~ THM (Granted there's a few I haven't unlocked). But still; while they were mostly the same, I enjoyed it. I prefer Main-Story Quests. Wish I could do the other nations.

[CrstyCaptin]

The problem is they CAN'T just push back these patches. If all they did was keep adding and adding and adding stuff on top of stuff, all of that new stuff is going to be broken when they change the systems. Why create MORE work for the Dev team to have to go back and redesign all the old stuff when they could just wait and have the systems ready for the new content? You can see how slow they are moving already, imagine how people react when they have to push back NEW content to go back and fix OLD content.

On top of that, crafting has been mentioned multiple times as being worked on, especially the recipes. The crafting system is again another system that they are working on adjusting and they can't go and adjust a whole bunch of recipes and add new ones when they have to fix the whole system.

On the issue of server latency and in-game bugs I agree, but is that really something that needs to be touched on in every producer letter? Or isn't that something we should just assume they are always working on? I know a lot of people are having problems in this area, but I am not. Even in the cities my latency is next to zero. Maybe that is because I have Fios, I'm just saying.

Also, by my count they have been pretty good about entering smaller patches every few weeks. They may not contain the stuff we WANT to see, but they are there.

I'm not asking for battle related content that they'll have to go back and rebalance. Just asking for things that will need to get done regardless. I may be short sighted/uneducated in saying this but how would changing crafting recipes 'now' make them have to go back and change things later? As far as the crafting system goes the only change I forsee in the future is adding an 'instant synth' button to speed up the grind while still keeping the current system to boost your chance for HQ rate. Whats the big deal with adding four more slots to the trade window? How come we still don't get sp for yellow mobs(I admit this might be harder than it sounds to fix). As far as server latency I'm talking about the wait time between hitting "Sell items" and your inventory popping up, the time it takes for your item to move to your retainers list so you can move another, the time it takes for macros to swap six pieces of gear, and the time it takes to re-equip actions using macros for each class when you change. Again, these might be 'hard' things to fix but let's all agree that as soon as battle changes are in effect these things will be the next wave of complaints. My problem is there is rare mention of these. A simple bullet in the letter with "Crafting recipes: 60% done with the revamp", "Server Latency: Still taking longer than expected but we're at about 40%", etc would suffice. Lastly, 'if' they do have a ton of content to roll out after 1.18(kinda thinkin a big if) why not say so? It would give the players hope and something to look forward to.

[fyren]

yummy the new chaos thrust animation is amazing!