We need more information.

[Rydin]

So no, information I could care less about. I do like polls, though. Polls are fun.

Yea... polls are fun

[Kaizlu]

Info has been given, and not that bad actually. But, in my opinion we need actual release dates. And that they respect them.

At least for me, it's easier to wait for something knowing when it's coming than just waiting for a "Summer release".

[AeraLucis]

As much as i'd like to see posts more often. (i check lodestone constantly) They really should be doing their jobs and not bothering to write us an article because we're needy.

You say that like writing articles is difficult or time consuming. They could give a 16 year old school girl the password to the FFXIV twitter account and we'd get more info in a timely manner.

[Belial]

The problem is the current information being provided is clouded by about 90% Public Relations. Bad move. I'd rather see a point form post every week highlighting the status of the tasks they are undertaking.

Dungeons - Complete
Class Balancing - Incomplete, procedural problems with implementation
Mob Population Adjustments - Complete
Craft Ingredients Adjustments - Incomplete, larger timeframe required
Quest Hubs - Incomplete, NPC adjustments required

^ There is more information in a bullet-point, short post such as that than any of the fluff we've been getting with Producer's Letters or Battle Reform posts.

[Kiara]

personally, i would love to see either yoshi or one of their pr people take the 5 minutes to do a once a week statement. it would just be an overview of what they have been working on. maybe a chart of the percentage done.

just a few ideas of what i'd like to see.

"this week we had a few meetings involving wayt to implement chocobo's and airships and although i can't discuss more until we get approval i think you will like it.

the quest hubs we have began working on and close to halfway through initial coding. we are still a way off, but we are working on it.

our team working on the maps have all the concepts done and have began redesigning them.

our dungeons are now completed and doing final testing to make sure everything is completed and ready for the patch.

as of right now the patch seems to be still on pace to come out in late july, but if anything changes i will update you next week."

i just want to see more of this type of letter in which they just give a basic overview of the individual things they are working on and not vague general ideas. we know they have multiple crews working on individual things, but if we seen what each crew was working on then i feel less people would have the opinion they are doing nothing.

Hi Darkstar,

I know we live in an era of Twitter / Texting and IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK NOW!!!, but there are a lot of ramifications to what you're asking. It's not simply "5 minutes" to write an update every week, if you're asking for an update on all major areas of the game.

One problem is how much information to give: Too much partial information and you have the Player base potentially getting more frustrated, or asking more questions when the System / Idea / Content isn't ready to be unveiled yet. Example:

"This week, our Combat Team is working on Raging Strike III for Pugilist."

Player reaction: "WTH?!! They moved Raging Strike to Pugilist?! What about Archer?! What the hell are you thinking Matsui?!"

In other words, they may be in the middle of doing major Weaponskill / Abilities re-evaluations, but giving out partial information here without debuting the "Entire New Class / Battle System" only adds to unneeded confusion / frustration.

"This week, we're 40% complete on the Red and Black Chocobos."

Player reaction: "What?! What's the Red and Black Chocobo? Do we get to Raise them? Can we Race them? Yoshida-san we NEED MORE INFO NOW!" etc.

"This week, the Combat Team is testing out Dual Wield abilities."

Player Reaction: "Wow! Dual Wield?! That better be on Gladiator!" "Who's Dual Wield for? It better be for [XYZ]. Wait, if you can Dual Wield, then GIVE ARCHER A DAGGER!!!"

"This week, Artists are 30% complete on Fineleas Fort."

Player Reaction: "What's Fineleas Fort? Where is it? What is it about?" "Ugh, just *1* new Dungeon? SE hire more Artists!!!"

"This week, we're finishing work on the 3rd and 5th Bosses for The Dzemael Darkhold."

Player Reaction: "So there's at least 5 Bosses for the R50 Dungeon..." "How do we access them?" (This is unfortunate because rather than finding out and exploring the R50 Dungeon, we're getting spoilers and info about extra / secret Bosses, Items, etc.)

etc.

In other words, they may be giving away too much partial information, spoiling what would be surprises, or end up talking about things that they're not ready to debut yet (and give a full Lodestone Update for).

On the other hand, giving away too little information may initially seem like some insight into what's being worked on, but it will only tend to frustrate the Player base since it's so vague / general. Examples:

"This week, we're working on the Chocobo System, at 10%."

The following week:

"This week, we're working on the Chocobo System, at 20%."

Player reaction: "OMG! An ENTIRE WEEK and they only made 10% progress on Chocobo?! This game is never going to be finished!!!"

When in reality, they may have run into some fundamental bugs / design flaws with the Chocobo System that caused a delay, but we don't know that. And it's unfair to expect them to report every single major reason why something got less % complete this week than usual.

Lastly, any communication should be done a professional manner. So they wouldn't rush this out in "5 minutes" to just say what's going on. They need to make sure it's all vetted, get full information from all sub-teams on what really is being done, and then type it all up, and convey this in full to us, the Players.

Don't get me wrong, of course I'd like to know more information on various aspects of the game. But expecting a detailed Weekly Status Report on all areas of the game, sent to us, isn't feasible IMHO.

We're getting a Letter from Producer and some various Lodestone Updates (like the one on Enmity Changes, or various things like 7th Umbral Age) every few weeks. It's a respectable pace for information (the patch itself being delayed (content) is a separate issue. )

[Rydin]

I always laugh at SE's wording... Like they are always planning for the possibility of delays
or maybe it's just the English translators... stuff like

Taken from the Battle Reform: Auto-Attack (06/30/2011)

Work to revise the algorithm will commence in earnest from 1.19.

seriously? Will commence in earnest? is that for a diverse gaming community or is that from an in house memo or a stockholders briefing?
Its always something open to interpretation that could be taken 3 different ways...
Its like the people who wrote the Bible are doing SE's info updates

[darkstarpoet1]

Hi Darkstar,

I know we live in an era of Twitter / Texting and IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK NOW!!!, but there are a lot of ramifications to what you're asking. It's not simply "5 minutes" to write an update every week, if you're asking for an update on all major areas of the game.

One problem is how much information to give: Too much partial information and you have the Player base potentially getting more frustrated, or asking more questions when the System / Idea / Content isn't ready to be unveiled yet. Example:

"This week, our Combat Team is working on Raging Strike III for Pugilist."

Player reaction: "WTH?!! They moved Raging Strike to Pugilist?! What about Archer?! What the hell are you thinking Matsui?!"

In other words, they may be in the middle of doing major Weaponskill / Abilities re-evaluations, but giving out partial information here without debuting the "Entire New Class / Battle System" only adds to unneeded confusion / frustration.

"This week, we're 40% complete on the Red and Black Chocobos."

Player reaction: "What?! What's the Red and Black Chocobo? Do we get to Raise them? Can we Race them? Yoshida-san we NEED MORE INFO NOW!" etc.

"This week, the Combat Team is testing out Dual Wield abilities."

Player Reaction: "Wow! Dual Wield?! That better be on Gladiator!" "Who's Dual Wield for? It better be for [XYZ]. Wait, if you can Dual Wield, then GIVE ARCHER A DAGGER!!!"

"This week, Artists are 30% complete on Fineleas Fort."

Player Reaction: "What's Fineleas Fort? Where is it? What is it about?" "Ugh, just *1* new Dungeon? SE hire more Artists!!!"

"This week, we're finishing work on the 3rd and 5th Bosses for The Dzemael Darkhold."

Player Reaction: "So there's at least 5 Bosses for the R50 Dungeon..." "How do we access them?" (This is unfortunate because rather than finding out and exploring the R50 Dungeon, we're getting spoilers and info about extra / secret Bosses, Items, etc.)

etc.

In other words, they may be giving away too much partial information, spoiling what would be surprises, or end up talking about things that they're not ready to debut yet (and give a full Lodestone Update for).

On the other hand, giving away too little information may initially seem like some insight into what's being worked on, but it will only tend to frustrate the Player base since it's so vague / general. Examples:

"This week, we're working on the Chocobo System, at 10%."

The following week:

"This week, we're working on the Chocobo System, at 20%."

Player reaction: "OMG! An ENTIRE WEEK and they only made 10% progress on Chocobo?! This game is never going to be finished!!!"

When in reality, they may have run into some fundamental bugs / design flaws with the Chocobo System that caused a delay, but we don't know that. And it's unfair to expect them to report every single major reason why something got less % complete this week than usual.

Lastly, any communication should be done a professional manner. So they wouldn't rush this out in "5 minutes" to just say what's going on. They need to make sure it's all vetted, get full information from all sub-teams on what really is being done, and then type it all up, and convey this in full to us, the Players.

Don't get me wrong, of course I'd like to know more information on various aspects of the game. But expecting a detailed Weekly Status Report on all areas of the game, sent to us, isn't feasible IMHO.

We're getting a Letter from Producer and some various Lodestone Updates (like the one on Enmity Changes, or various things like 7th Umbral Age) every few weeks. It's a respectable pace for information (the patch itself being delayed (content) is a separate issue. )

no i am not talking about telling us every single thing they are working on and detailing it to the specifications. i am talking more of in general. yes, i do see your point that people may get annoyed with the length of time some things take, but the vast majority i would th.nk people would be happy hearing anything at all.

to me hearing things like work to revise the algorithm rydin brings up is a good point of what we do not want to see. i would want something more to the point of we are working on the system around the battle system and mob ranks without all the technical details. we are players and not shareholders. our only stake in the game is the game itself and how changes will affect us.

i just feel a little more detail on the things being worked on would be more than the vague statements being made so far have been. most of the statements so far have been so vague people with different opinions do not see them the way they are wanting them, therefore, get upset when the changes come in.

i know things like the poll questions led to many being quite upset with the results. i voted for major fundamental changes myself, but if i had known that auto-attack was one of the directions they would have went with it i would have changed my vote. i know alot are happy with it, but i know quite a few that voted that way that would have changed their vote.

things at this point are very vague and more detail is needed or people will really oppose some things because they have seen how their opinion was misinterpreted as til this point. the new changes may be great for the game and i am not saying it will not be, but i can see how alot of people are not so sure with the track record so far. more details and less vagueness would help alleviate most of those concerns.

[Molly_Millions]

want =/= need

You WANT more info, you don't NEED shit from SE. If you want to play the game, all you need from SE is the servers to be up, you don't need info on the next patch. As a matter of fact, I can't think of a single reason anyone would need info on this game from SE unless they are one of the developers themselves.

[darkstarpoet1]

want =/= need

You WANT more info, you don't NEED shit from SE. If you want to play the game, all you need from SE is the servers to be up, you don't need info on the next patch. As a matter of fact, I can't think of a single reason anyone would need info on this game from SE unless they are one of the developers themselves.

nope, but se needs players. the only way they will get more players is to give them more of what they want.

[Molly_Millions]

nope, but se needs players. the only way they will get more players is to give them more of what they want.

More than any patch info they can give us, SE needs to deliver patches. News about the patch will only go so far.