Simplicity over complexity, time to change.

[rwyan]

I think part of the problem is that MMOs have become built around progression of some sort. We're lead through what often times amount to a un-engaging trek to the endgame which is often times revolves around gearscore, instances, etc... Older MMOs, while progression was important, it was usually a side effect of simply engaging with other players. Yes, sometimes getting that next level would be a motivation, but what kept me logging in were the social bonds and camaraderie that occurred playing with either guild mates or even players you were pugging with for the night. Of course, these MMOs had their own design flaws and unnecessary time sinks but there was also a strong sense of mystery, immersion, fear, etc...

The reason some players have a strong feel for the original 1.x version of FF14 is that it was intended to harken back to a lot of older MMO principles while streamlining the unnecessary bits. Unfortunately, it launched half-baked. There are a lot of things I miss from 1.0. There are also a lot of things I don't miss. I do prefer the original direction of FF14. However, Yoshida has typically provided a polished and very playable MMO (no game is without its hiccups).

Unfortunately, I do worry about the future of FF14. In its current form, I do enjoy it. However, with a growing reliance on things like currencies, gear grinds, lockout timers, I'm afraid that it will just become a game with a variety of "okay" activities that are tied together through currencies as opposed to a variety of engaging, fun, and challenging activities that provide a wealth of goals and achievements to attain. I think that is why many look back to FFXI. Yes, it could be time consuming at times, but it featured a variety of types of content. Some players found a niche in a subset of that content. Some enjoyed all of it.

[Kazama]

Damn, I hated DPS Clerics. I was a firm believer that healers should have relatively low DPS, just above tanks..not close to or above sorcs >_>

You're just mad we topped the DPS on on forts and could solo damn near everything in the game :P
Aion's Cleric was so stupid broken though, the equivalent of a SMN's DoTs with BLM Burst, WHM heals and PLD defense... lolwhutbalance. When Violent Ends stopped being a PvP centeric Legion and started to die I pretty much quit.

I've strayed off topic. The three things that are killin me here in XIV are as follows:

The total lack of danger or challenge and mind numbing simplicity in 95% of the content.
Anyone who beat 1.0 story line will remember "United We Stand" which challenged players to make their way through Castrum Novum as a group. Fighting off strong mobs that could potentially wipe the group or knowing where to pull them to reset was part of getting there. At the end it culminated in a somewhat difficult fight for many people. If you failed, you were booted out dead and either had to wait for a skilled friend able to navigate the area solo to come raise, hope another party is there or run all the way back through causing it to potentially take hours. If you succeeded, it was a 20 minute endeavor tops. It really added incentive to understand your jobs, the content and proceed with a plan. In contrast 2.0's Castrum Meridanum is: Queue DF, run through it as fast as possible ignoring the fact half the players don't even know their jobs. One fosters lazy boring zergfests the other quality play with depth.

Total lack of intelligent itemization.
Case in point, what is better: i95 weapon with stats I like or i100 weapon with stats I don't like. Answer = i100 as ilvl trumps all else. So BiS for 100% of the game is as in depth as ilvl > All. We need bonus attributes or the ability to modify dropped gear through Materia or some kind of enchantment system. It wouldn't even need to bolster the item it could just be a feature where you use a rare item to swap 1 stat on the item. It may be illusion of choice but it is still choice. Which actually helps solve my final issue as well.

Horrible economy...
I think most people by now realize gil is a joke to earn. But aside from glamour there is nothing that consumes large amounts of gil with the one possible exception of Novus. Novus is a great example of what people need and want. The ability to improve our gear ourselves at our own pace with some cost or risk. Were armor and weapons able to be made augmentable by a crafter and later augmented by the owner it would create a lucrative market and a gil sink for every player type so long as obtaining them was relatively easy, say something like materia or augment drops in L50 dungeons. This adds incentive for the content, creates a sustainable market and an actual purpose for gil.

Crap, that last one won't work. SE won't allow any type of content that could possibly be leveraged by RMT. So we can count out anything lucrative or repetitive gil sinks, any kind of rare sellable world drops or the ability to low man farm content for rare instance drops, basically 1/4 of what makes MMOs fun and rewarding...

[Barimu]

What I don't like about 14 is there is no danger except in coils and coils are completed in a day and you're done for the week. Where's the fun in that? Another thing is this game doesn't promote any type of socializing or sense of a community. The lack of open world danger is really depressing. MMO's are meant to be interactive with the world itself and the people around it. I personally feel like 14 oppresses interaction because you don't really need to interact with other people to do things. CT? you can afk every fight. Coils is the only thing you really need to interact with people for in end game and like I said one day you're in and out and have nothing left to do for the week. Another thing is the free gear and handouts in this game. The ability to receive end game raid gear through trivial things in this game is horrible and should not be continued.

[Kazama]

Older MMOs, while progression was important, it was usually a side effect of simply engaging with other players. Yes, sometimes getting that next level would be a motivation, but what kept me logging in were the social bonds and camaraderie that occurred playing with either guild mates or even players you were pugging with for the night.

Well, you see the length of time getting from beginning to end game is what supported that camaraderie. When you spent 3 weeks in one zone to gain 13 levels you had no choice but to meet those players. And, their experience over those 3 weeks directly related to yours in a sense. There was significantly more culture building in early MMOs as we often weren't able to access new content for weeks at a time so we spent it together on that journey. I hate to sound like a geezer but back in those days we had to create our own entertainment because it wasn't shoved down our throat every second. Instead it was there as the fruit at the top of the tree we were climbing and so much sweeter.

I think that is why many look back to FFXI. Yes, it could be time consuming at times, but it featured a variety of types of content. Some players found a niche in a subset of that content. Some enjoyed all of it.

That's a great point. I personally entertained myself for months doing things people never really did. I'd farm memories and beast seals while level capped in the Crag of Dem for a shot to solo BCNMS on BLM, often times having to go rescue parties doing their Promyvions. I spent tons of time running around to strange apparatus and depositing chips in the hopes for Arcane Pots to grow more Elemental Ore. I'd farm low level NMs that didn't get camped and because the world was so massive and there were so many of them I spent a lot of time traveling and sightseeing.

[Kazama]

What I don't like about 14 is there is no danger except in coils and coils are completed in a day and you're done for the week. Where's the fun in that? Another thing is this game doesn't promote any type of socializing or sense of a community. The lack of open world danger is really depressing. MMO's are meant to be interactive with the world itself and the people around it. I personally feel like 14 oppresses interaction because you don't really need to interact with other people to do things. CT? you can afk every fight. Coils is the only thing you really need to interact with people for in end game and like I said one day you're in and out and have nothing left to do for the week. Another thing is the free gear and handouts in this game. The ability to receive end game raid gear through trivial things in this game is horrible and should not be continued.

Agree with everything. They have really done a spectacular job at making an online single player RPG with a couple co-op challenges. Dungeons are pretty much controllable NPCs that don't respond to your control sometimes lol.

[Kazama]

So what do you think would be the requirement in PF for people that wish to join T7 runs? I think you can answer than question yourself.

Quite frankly I don't give a rat's ass about PF. Everyone is, in fact, possible of building their own party. We see it all the time in the form of "Brayflox Sol Farm - NOT SR". I can't count the number of tears I've seen drop from players crying about not getting into parties. There is no rule or even vague notion that you are required to join someone elses party... Again, PF & DF are making this into an anti-social single player RPG. Here is a tip to prevent this: Socialize, make friends, find people who like to play the way you do as there are bound to be others, at least for now.

It is impossible to balance because the number of variables that developers have to balance with the multitude of gear out there is going to break the game in some form or another.

There is no reason that an MMO has to have perfect balance, none of them do anyhow. A little irregularity is really nice in creating inadvertent dynamics. FFXI was riddled with it, WoW is among the worst, Aion Clerics could solo almost any endgame dungeon. One thing that these all share in common? They were waaaay more fun in their prime time. The only thing that imbalance really hurts everyone in is PvP. I mean sure, it was disappointing that I couldn't get EXP parties as BLM in XI's ToAU but that lead the BLMs to creating epic manaburns or soloing mobs that would normally wipe an entire party of melee. My point is, there is no diversity at all in XIV and that is it's largest problem.

I remember raiding SSC in BC Wow and there was this boss called Hydross the Unstable. He was a water elemental whose attacks and abilities all dealt frost damage. If you had 0 frost resistance, which most tanks up to that point had none since content prior to that did not call for frost resist gear, you would be 2 shotted by his basic attack. So guilds had to farm for these gear from the trash leading up to the boss repeatedly hoping that the pattern for the gear drop and then had crafters craft a full set of frost resist gear for the tank. What you are asking for is basically this, again similar to my previous point, only one way and one way only to play the game.

First let me fix this for you.

only one way and one way only to play the single piece of content.

That's almost perfect, they added one encounter that you had to adapt for. It didn't stay stagnantly like this for the rest of the content, they added a layer of something and created depth. It means you had to work towards and prepare for one fight in order to defeat it. That is what I'd call adding depth, dimension and building an experience for your players. Because what do we have now? Go in, cross your fingers people know the fight and have low latency. If they don't, you lose, if they do you win? That's not a shallow experience at all...

[Azurak]

Another thing is this game doesn't promote any type of socializing or sense of a community. The lack of open world danger is really depressing. MMO's are meant to be interactive with the world itself and the people around it. I personally feel like 14 oppresses interaction because you don't really need to interact with other people to do things. CT? you can afk every fight. Coils is the only thing you really need to interact with people for in end game and like I said one day you're in and out and have nothing left to do for the week. Another thing is the free gear and handouts in this game. The ability to receive end game raid gear through trivial things in this game is horrible and should not be continued.

That is why this game is a waste of time. Everything is so trivial that a thought of, why bother? comes into my head so I hit cancel subscription.

[skaterger]

Quite frankly I don't give a rat's ass about PF. Everyone is, in fact, possible of building their own party. We see it all the time in the form of "Brayflox Sol Farm - NOT SR". I can't count the number of tears I've seen drop from players crying about not getting into parties. There is no rule or even vague notion that you are required to join someone elses party... Again, PF & DF are making this into an anti-social single player RPG. Here is a tip to prevent this: Socialize, make friends, find people who like to play the way you do as there are bound to be others, at least for now.

You don't give a damn about PF, that's cool but since its a tool that is implemented, you cannot expect players not to use it. You like to walk 15 minutes to get to the instance's entrance, I don't and enjoy the convenience of entering from wherever I am in the game world. I don't think PF makes the game anti social at all. All it does is to eliminate the need for shouting and spamming for party invites in city hubs. I am in a group for coil, but thank you for asking. As a raid leader previously, there is no such thing as play as you want. If there is a way to make the encounter easier, you will choose that option. Unless you choose to build a campfire and host a dance party around Melusine, no group that is in the very least progression minded will not choose to farm that gear to totally trivialize that encounter making the whole gear/combat system balance out of whack.

There is no reason that an MMO has to have perfect balance, none of them do anyhow. A little irregularity is really nice in creating inadvertent dynamics. FFXI was riddled with it, WoW is among the worst, Aion Clerics could solo almost any endgame dungeon. One thing that these all share in common? They were waaaay more fun in their prime time. The only thing that imbalance really hurts everyone in is PvP. I mean sure, it was disappointing that I couldn't get EXP parties as BLM in XI's ToAU but that lead the BLMs to creating epic manaburns or soloing mobs that would normally wipe an entire party of melee. My point is, there is no diversity at all in XIV and that is it's largest problem.

There is absolutely every reason for an MMO to be balanced, pve or otherwise. It is ok for single player rpg not to be balanced because you are only dealing with NPCs and not human players. Imagine if there is a class in ARR that deals 20% more damage than the rest of the classes. Everyone would be playing that and nothing else. Imagine levelling a class to 50 and finding out there hey, we don't want you because X and Y class is better than you. Must be a nice feeling huh. The diversity in FFXIV comes from skill, and that really should be the defining factor in any mmo.



First let me fix this for you.

That's almost perfect, they added one encounter that you had to adapt for. It didn't stay stagnantly like this for the rest of the content, they added a layer of something and created depth. It means you had to work towards and prepare for one fight in order to defeat it. That is what I'd call adding depth, dimension and building an experience for your players. Because what do we have now? Go in, cross your fingers people know the fight and have low latency. If they don't, you lose, if they do you win? That's not a shallow experience at all...

Yes because AOEing down a bunch of small elementals over and over again which pose no challenge at all so you can finally do the real encounter which "cross your fingers and know the fights" is really building an experience huh. Can I have some of what you are smoking?

[Kazama]

You don't give a damn about PF, that's cool but since its a tool that is implemented, you cannot expect players not to use it. You like to walk 15 minutes to get to the instance's entrance, I don't and enjoy the convenience of entering from wherever I am in the game world. I don't think PF makes the game anti social at all. All it does is to eliminate the need for shouting and spamming for party invites in city hubs. I am in a group for coil, but thank you for asking. As a raid leader previously, there is no such thing as play as you want. If there is a way to make the encounter easier, you will choose that option. Unless you choose to build a campfire and host a dance party around Melusine, no group that is in the very least progression minded will not choose to farm that gear to totally trivialize that encounter making the whole gear/combat system balance out of whack.

Do I like walking for 15 minutes for no reason? No. Do I like a challenge in getting to an instance first? Yes. Have you ever played a game that required you to travel through dangerous territory every time you want to run an instance? I really don't see your point about making raid content easier either, sure of course people will want to take the easier road, for that one piece of content. If that means I have to spend a week or a month acquiring the necessary tools to do one fight, that would be a godsend in contrast to: beat previous raid > queue new raid > log off for 7 days. Do you like to simply rush from one endgame instance to the next with nothing in between? Unless the only thing you have ever experienced is instanced raids and know no other way I don't see how anyone in their right mind would love that.

There is absolutely every reason for an MMO to be balanced, pve or otherwise. It is ok for single player rpg not to be balanced because you are only dealing with NPCs and not human players. Imagine if there is a class in ARR that deals 20% more damage than the rest of the classes. Everyone would be playing that and nothing else. Imagine levelling a class to 50 and finding out there hey, we don't want you because X and Y class is better than you. Must be a nice feeling huh. The diversity in FFXIV comes from skill, and that really should be the defining factor in any mmo.

Um.... MNKs do deal about 20% more DMG than any other class when equally geared, cmon, you should know this with that High Allagan book. Imagine leveling a class and finding out people don't like it? Clearly you don't play that BLM of yours or have never played WoW, FFXI, RIFT, Aion, Tera. Again, you failed to read "Prefectly balanced" and you're stretching to extremes for examples. Skill in a game that requires next to none being the defining factor? What kind of drab and shallow rollfaceonkeyboard game did you come from oh former raid leader? All these grand ideas of what an MMO is or should be but have you played anything outside of WoW or one of it's clones? It really sounds like all you're interested in or ever experienced is raiding and you know no other kind of content outside of it. Open your eyes and look around at the world. No MMO is perfectly balanced or ever will be, nowhere is there a level playing field, never will we be without exclusion for one reason or another, there is more to MMOs than raiding. You're completely delusional, If anyone is high my friend, it's you over there in the rose colored glasses.

[BlackHaloJT]

(Last Live Letter)

Q48: Are there any plans to implement a new role such as buffer or debuffer?

A48: We will be sticking with our existing roles (Tank, DPS, Healer) for a while. This is mainly because the matching process is much faster and it’s easier to understand for the newer players. While we are not completely ruling this out, we are currently putting an emphasis on making the game easy to understand for the new players that may start playing the game from patch 3.0.

What about the older players?
Seems there is little hope for any change everything will continue to be simplified. It sure does seem like the Devs have their dodge mechanics down pat. Reading through a lot of the dev trackers and notice a trend of favoring to answers questions about vanity, housing, chocobo's, etc. But avoiding the more potent topics. I understand they can't answer every single question, suggestion, complaint but at least show us that you are aware instead of silently avoiding certain topics. Usually any thread like this they don't like and end up locking or deleting, Shocked it hasn't happened yet.