List your concerns.

[Vensaval]

[Disclaimer: This thread was created for the full intents and purposes of providing constructive criticism toward Square-Enix and their product. Please present your responses in a civilized manner.]

[Post has been updated to provide suggestions.]


Negativity has gradually been on the rise during the time Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn has been released. Many players who were once active have canceled their subscriptions and deserted the game. A fraction of those who have stopped playing stick around the website and forums. Hoping to be there should the game improve to the point they'd be happy to return.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is an objectively good and solid game that is accessible to a multitude of gamers. However, the game has several flaws that have been pointed out time and again by the player base. Said flaws threaten the longevity of this game and may lead to its shut-down far sooner than it perhaps deserves.

To prevent such a thing from happening, I believe it'd be best to construct a sort-of 'database' listing the concerns past and present players have about the game in its current state. Having them organized in a single place will give Square-Enix easy access to what their consumers are looking for and will allow them to take suggestions into consideration for the purpose of bettering their product.

By doing so, it stands to reason that many may renew their subscriptions, new players will be more interested in trying the game for the first time, and newfound excitement can be discovered by current players.

So, without further ado, and for the sake of helping to create a better game for us all, I shall list my own concerns:

• Combat is too repetitive. The core of this game is the combat. Sadly, nearly every battle—from world mobs to dungeon bosses—share the same basic mechanics. Dodge the AoE the enemy is performing and continue to repeat your rotation nonstop until the target is downed. When it comes to bosses and trials, the only way this is extended upon is due to the implementation of simple to memorize patterns, intrusive gimmicks, and One-hit KO prevention. The simplicity of combat not only sucks away the enjoyment from the game, but the immersion as well. It's clear to the player that they're not fighting against living opponent, but a program. Something needs to be changed in this regard.
  
  
• Classes have no viable purpose. Once a player's character reaches Level 30, their class becomes nigh nonexistent. The sheer amount of benefits a Job receives from their respective Soul Crystals completely overshadows any benefit Classes could have. Player's have no reason to experiment with the Cross Class abilities to create something unique and fitting to how they play. This prevents the players from having any identity outside of their Job.
  
  
• Gear is far too linear. Once a player receives the highest Item Level gear, there's no legitimate reason for them to seek any other sets of gear other than out of their completionist tendencies. Crafted gear has no purpose as stronger gear is easily obtainable from other content. This makes it so materia also serves very little purpose since said obtainable gear don't possess slots for them to be allotted into. Gear also lacks in variety. They don't offer unique random stat/skill/spell bonuses. Any time a player earns a piece of gear their after, there's no reason to hunt it down again. As it will be the exact same thing. For further clarification, say a treasure coffer is opened after defeating a boss and there are a pair of White Mage boots inside. Said boots will be the same pair of boots each time rather than having bonuses like Increased % healing or restoring MP each time a spell does a critical hit.

These are the main concerns I have at the moment. I would have gone over about Crafting and Gathering, but I feel that those who have more experience will be more well spoken in those areas than I could be. The same goes in regards to PvP.

Possible solutions I have for the above:

• Combat: As much as it's been debated against throughout the forums, I feel that straying away from patterns and constructing battles around more random elements would add some much needed flavor to the combat. Of course, balancing would have to be done so individual moves from bosses wouldn't be as devastating, but the AI would be given 'life' in return. Were battles more chaotic and less predictable, players would feel as though they were up against real threats. Real beasts. No longer a timed puzzle. Also, speaking of flavor, reintroduce the element wheel. Nearly as debated as chaotic bouts, but far more fitting. The element wheel has been an age old staple of the Final Fantasy franchise and lack of one just seems to go against the very nature of the franchise itself. Adding an elemental wheel could mean elemental bonuses on gear. Which would add a fun bit of diversity that gear needs. Battles would be more tense, exciting, and dynamic because—along with more randomness and less memorization—players are battling not only a beast, but a theme.
  
  
• Classes: The inclusion of more cross class abilities (and abilities in general) could aid in providing the amount of customization players are looking for. Give more options for the players to choose from. Perhaps allow a Conjurer to Mantra in order to boost their own healing capabilities without having to rely on a Monk. Further, provide stat boosts to the classes overall. Not significant enough to undermine Jobs, but enough so that they're a more viable choice for end-game content. Customization provides a ton of staying power in and of itself. Currently, it's something that the game lacks, so allowing some wherever possible will help encourage players to stick around.
  
  
• Gear: In order to increase the amount of viable gear at least a small amount, include rare materials that can be found during end-game content to be used in the crafting of high-level gear. Gear that can surpass the highest level gear you can obtain from just running dungeons. That would give the Disciples of Hand classes more relevance. For Disciples of Land, allow players to switch into those classes during dungeon runs. Implement gathering nodes in dungeons like Amdapor Keep and Pharos Sirius that give them a chance to obtain the rare materials they need. The same treatment can be done for low-level content as well so players have more of a reason to participate in that content.

Now feel free to list and elaborate on the concerns you have about the game in its current state as well as any solutions you may have in mind. Also, please do your best to keep any and all criticism and conversation constructive and civilized. As frustrated as some of you may feel toward the game and/or Square-Enix, I do not intend for this to become a hotspot for rage and shame, and will not condone such.

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A response/rebuttal to those who may feel that adding more random aspects to combat would lead to games of luck:

One of the most well designed bosses in the entire game—in my opinion—is Coincounter. The second boss of Aurum Vale.

All of its moves are sporadic and can be difficult to avoid due to the lack of range indicators on its skills. Players have to keep focused on its body language. The only memorization that takes place is with learning the name of their skills, what each attack looks like, and what each attack does. This goes far beyond 'just avoiding the red', so to speak. Especially since Coincounter does a continuous wipe of its enmity table. From a tactical standpoint, it even fares better than most other bosses in the game. Tanks cannot afford to stay still, else they will easily be downed. However, they also cannot afford to get their allies caught in the way of danger. The Healer and Ranged DPS have to stay on their toes and practice their timing since Coincounter will often target them from afar. Melee DPS not only have to avoid its attacks, but keep as synchronized with their Tank best as possible so both of them can avoid substantial damage. All of this combined with Coincounters sporadic movements equates to match that is more about skill and awareness than prediction and avoidance.

This is all in my opinion, but I am curious how many others share my sentiments when it comes to Coincounter.

[ToraoKoga]

I would to see some more cross class abilities. Also comboing with them too.

[Blissa]

I would like Se to be more aggressive towards botters!

[Xandim]

Combat is too repetitive.

Dont get me wrong, but when you guys say that, what exactly you guys have in mind to change it? Like, make it more dynamic. I ask this cause im not a creative person =P

I would like to have more options. Like in 1.0 you could go with MND/Cure potency to have bigger heals or VIT/Enhancing Magic for a better SS/Protect/Regen. At least I think it was cool back then.

As to crafting and gathering, they aren't that bad, but they aren't that great either. I mean, right now farming philo is ridiculously easy and quick, so there is not much of a point to waste too much time / money on crafted gear if when you reach lv50 you can have a full set waiting for you (after a few hours farming at least). If they added more Materias and ilv80~90 recipes (that could rival dungeon gear if quad/penda melded), that could revitalize crafting/gathering (I know i'd love for materias like cure enhance, lower a skill cd, etc to exist)

[Vensaval]

Dont get me wrong, but when you guys say that, what exactly you guys have in mind to change it? Like, make it more dynamic. I ask this cause im not a creative person =P

Unfortunately, I don't have many specific recommendations when it comes to combat. A big reason it feels repetitive is the lack of options. If a change were to happen where we're not only repeating our rotations over and over, it'd make combat more dynamic. Really, I think it's in too much of a crossroads between tactical and action. If they were to lean towards one or the other, I feel it'd be more enjoyable.

However, doing so would likely divide the playerbase further. I wish I had a real solution to suggest.

[Enkidoh]

The thing is, even in 1.0 and FFXI combat was exactly the same - in fact it was worse back then because combat was so much slower than it is in ARR, it was dragged out by long delays between being able to use weapon skills (as TP had to be built up, and ability timers were much longer), meaning you basically just sat there on auto attack for ages in order to use one weapon skill.

But I get what you're saying - AoE dodging is fine and all, but as enemies spam it so often, it gets ridiculous. And as bosses have such a predictable attack pattern, any challenge to it is destroyed once the pattern is discovered. A random element to it might go a long way to shaking things up a bit.

[Mattia]

The thing is, even in 1.0 and FFXI combat was exactly the same - in fact it was worse back then because combat was so much slower than it is in ARR, it was dragged out by long delays between being able to use weapon skills (as TP had to be built up, and ability timers were much longer), meaning you basically just sat there on auto attack for ages in order to use one weapon skill.

XI we had the Haste spell, Haste gear, TP gear, TP regen abilities, abilities that gave large amounts of tp on attack(DRG Jump for example), and certain weapons that could build tp faster than others(2-handed weapons). What the hell are you talking about combat was slow(took ages?) and long delays?

Anyways
- Simplified gear is my biggest complaint or simplified stats rather. No Jump +10% type stats or anything.
- Simplified spammy combat. I would rather a bit slower combat and also go back to building our TP rather then having full bar from the start.
- No dangers in the world
- Content is short and simple and really not much. Can really just log on once a week.
- Sick of instances
- Absolutely no long term goals(How does an MMO not have this?)
There's more but w/e

[Gilthas]

XI we had the Haste spell, Haste gear, TP gear, TP regen abilities, abilities that gave large amounts of tp on attack(DRG Jump for example), and certain weapons that could build tp faster than others(2-handed weapons). What the hell are you talking about combat was slow(took ages?) and long delays?

Did you even play FFXI?

These were my abilities on WAR:

Mighty Strikes (Recast: 2 hours)
Provoke (Recast: 30 seconds (never used if you were DDing, and you were always DDing))
Berserk (Recast: 5 minutes)
Defender (Recast: 3 minutes (also never used if you were DDing))
Warcry (Recast: 5 minutes)
Aggressor (Recast: 5 minutes)
Retaliation (Recast: 3 minutes)
Warrior's Charge (Recast: 5 minutes)
Tomahawk (Recast: 3 minutes)

These were all buff abilities and two debuffs. Haste has no effect on these.

If you were a WAR/NIN, you got two spells to play with in Utsusemi (30 and 45 seconds recast if I recall).

No amount of Haste and the effect this would have on TP gain would put FFXI's battle speed anywhere near FFXIV's battle speed.

[Mattia]

Did you even play FFXI?

I could ask you the same. You only mention one out of the many subs you could use. You fail to acknowledge your gear with its distinct buffs, you fail to remember WAR used 2-handed weapon which still builds tp faster especially with haste. And haste decreases attack delay and recast timers by 15%, just as 15% in haste gear would, however this spell counts towards magical haste cap, not equipment haste cap. So what the hell sir? And I wasn't claiming that all those buffs would bring combat to XIV's lawlhyper spd combat. I was just catching him/her on the mad exaggeration he/she made.

[Enkidoh]

I could ask you the same. You only mention one out of the many subs you could use. You fail to acknowledge your gear with its distinct buffs, you fail to remember WAR used 2-handed weapon which still builds tp faster especially with haste. And haste decreases attack delay and recast timers by 15%, just as 15% in haste gear would, however this spell counts towards magical haste cap, not equipment haste cap. So what the hell sir? And I wasn't claiming that all those buffs would bring combat to XIV's lawlhyper spd combat. I was just catching him/her on the mad exaggeration he/she made.

Uh, excuse me? Exaggeration? When was the last time you played FFXI? Five years ago? Yesterday? Despite the improvements and changes made in the past few years FFXI's combat is still slow as anything, as it was deliberately made that way by design. Haste bonuses on gear and the Haste spell itself does help a lot, but the battle system is still slow regardless, and still amounts to sitting on auto-attack trading blows with the enemy to slowly build up TP (and hope to Altana the mob doesn't use a TP reducing/eliminating ability or, at higher levels, force unequip your weapon, in which case, kiss your TP goodbye - too many enemies tend to do that just as you reach max TP) before unleashing a weapon skill and hoping you had the timing right to get a skill chain with someone else. It was fun, but became really boring just sitting there literally doing nothing but watch the TP build up to use one ability.

Sure, some people like such a sedate form of combat, but personally, I think that style of gameplay is obsolete and just isn't interesting anymore. That's not to say the current system in XIV is perfect - it can definitely be improved. But your comments just come across as sadly as those from yet another FFXI fan with nostalgia-goggles thinking fondly back to the days of dreaded 'Dooms' parties.