Why does this patch feel rushed like when the game was released?

[Seif]

Not enough staff and no leader that can demand more from the team.

6 months to build new gear?! Seriously? How do they manage to put more gear in XI with all the new content with a whole lot more of variables to work with?

Don't give me that HD graphics excuse I've seen entire character models built within a week with competent 3d modelers and I'm sure SE workers are some of the best in the industry.

Compared to XI gear in XIV is multiple times easier to make because the 3d models are just scaled copies of one another whereas in XI Galkas and Tarutarus had actually different 3d models because of their tails and ears. In XIV only 2 gear sets need to be made and usually the female version is almost the same.

I understand that the battle tweaking takes a lot of time but I'm constantly surprised by how little visual tweaks the patches bring.

Even the potato sack-gear could be easily made to look better with a more interesting texture and some 3d sculpting to the normal map to make the surface more individual.

XIII-2 is being made with a lot of the assets from the previous game and rest of the staff is doing only a few PSP games. Can't you please utilize the 3d modelers a bit more?

The landscape doesn't need to be completely turned upside down at once but at lease seeing that you're working on it would go a long way to boost the confidence in this game's future.

Having said that I really like the new quests. It feels like the first time there's content that doesn't feel cheap and the new music tracks are really good addition to the game.

But the 3d modelers really need someone to crack a whip on them to make them work at least on a decent speed. Optionally if I'm completely wrong and there's only one 3d artists working on this game I'd really suggest hiring more.

[Jennestia]

6 months to build new gear?! Seriously? How do they manage to put more gear in XI with all the new content with a whole lot more of variables to work with?

When you make a comparison like this you can't ignore the obvious - A lot of XI's new gear are modified versions of older gear. For example, the Nebula gear set is the same model as the Errant gear set; The Alcide's Harness is the same as the THF Job Specific Armor, Dragon Harness, the Brand New gear set from Voidwatchers are modified versions of the Assault Breastplate (been around since 2004), the Iggira BLM JSE gear (been around since 2004) and a modified Denali armor set, which been around since 2006.

Basically they take old models and reformat them into something new, which is what most MMORPG developer does including Blizzard -- They don't build from scratch most of the time. Also remember that XIV's armor sets are varied based on materials used, which means created multiple copies of the same armor to have a different look or texture, which you normally can call easily without making a new model, but XIV's armor are just more than a head, body, hands legs and feet piece, they're multiple pieces thereof.

Don't give me that HD graphics excuse I've seen entire character models built within a week

Prove it. Show us said Character models, with full animations implemented, to the highest graphical standard PC allows that was created in a simple week along with their documentation proving that was started on Monday, and completed on friday, because I've seen them take months to years and I actually work in this industry.

There's a reason the player model is the most detailed and NPCs tend to be less detailed you know, and it's not laziness I can assure you.