Ask Questions for Letter from the Producer LIVE: E3 Edition!

[leteton]

I would very much like it if there were more content in the game that requires solving puzzles or unraveling riddles? This would be a great addition to the game, both in side quests and in raiding, which currently is composed of only 1-2 trash pulls and a boss (basically just going in and fighting a boss and leaving).

Additionally, if you are considering implementing content like this, is there a way to make it random or have different combinations, so that when one is figured out it doesn't immediately become stale and just as much as a waste of time as trash mob pulls?

I feel like Temple Of Qarn attempted to incorporate material similar to this, but fell just short.

Thanks!!!

[Hiruke]

For animus books, why do the FATEs often take 2-8+ hours to spawn? Since FATEs aren't very difficult to complete, it seems like it would be better for these FATEs to spawn every 15 minutes so players can get back to whatever it is they want to do, rather than be stuck in the same zone, standing there doing nothing, when they could be completing other content they find more interesting.

[Hiruke]

Why are there no plans to implement DPS meters in-game? It's very discouraging to run difficult content in DF or PF, and have one or two of the DPS do incredibly poorly, but since you can't identify which DPS are doing poorly without using 3rd party tools, there is no way to call them out and encourage them to do better. It is very easy to see when tanks and healers are doing a poor job, but it seems the dev team wants to purposefully obfuscate when DPS are doing a poor job. The reality is that for some content, you NEED to perform at a certain level with DPS, and many players do not meet this bar.

Honestly, I think a DPS meter would encourage players to do better, that they would be excited to see their damage numbers, rather than have an overall negative effect. The kinds of players who would remove DPS who are performing adequately, but not up to a higher standard, are already using parsers and will find some excuse to remove the DPS anyway, so I'm not sure what keeping DPS meters out of the game helps exactly. It only seems to hurt the game.

(Sorry, I can't think of a good way to shorten this question. I feel not having DPS meters in the game is a HUGE detriment, however.)

[Hiruke]

Why was PvP released in such a poor state? Currently, you could be matched against players in AF1 gear, or against players with full iLVL 100 PvP gear. There's no sense of fairness. What is being done to ensure that content is released in a more "ready" state in the future, so as to keep player interest?

(Releasing in a poor state and letting it languish there for months causes players to lose interest in the content. PvP is really bad right now, and while there are plans to fix it in 2.3, it was originally released in 2.1. This is an incredibly long time to wait for the content to be playable.)

[Hiruke]

What is being done about "win trades" in PvP? Players shouldn't be allowed to cheat their way to more xp/marks.

[Hiruke]

Why are the wolf mark costs for all of the PvP gear so high? It seems odd to gate the gear to only players who PvP nonstop, as it does little to encourage new players to try PvP.

[Hiruke]

Why does it take so long to rebalance a job that is clearly underperforming? BLM in particular has been doing poorly since at least 2.2, with no plans to resolve this until at least 2.3. Surely the dev team tests content with their DPS meters ahead of time, and notes that this or that job isn't doing as well as it should, correct? To allow a job to languish in this state for months is very discouraging for players who play that job, especially since it's no easy task to regear a different job with the most high level equipment.

[Hiruke]

Has the dev team considered a different code branch method, that allows them to implement fixes more quickly/easily, rather than waiting for major patches to introduce fixes? I feel it's important that critical changes are able to be implemented quickly and easily, without waiting for major patches, especially in the case of PvP and underperforming jobs.

[Akiza]

Are the classes and jobs going to be adjusted so they have a classic Final Fantasy theme to them.

[Akiza]

Is the Summoner going to be rebalance so it's a Final Fantasy themed pet based job instead of an Affliction Mage with a pet as an after thought.