Why do we not have search for party flag like in ffxi?

[Irana]

Im starting to feel that 14 is like that bible tale of god killing the farmer dude's family to see if he would go against Him or still worship Him...

[Aldarin]

I made this thread a few days ago with a suggested solution to the party seek system. It is just a few minor changes that SE would need to make, mostly graphic interface and numeric fields. Would take a team of programmers 2 days at most to implement unless the base program is poorly programmed.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...Dev-Suggestion

[Frein]

Instead of messing with the party search function they may as well just completely scrap it and give us a general search (/sea) based system like in FFXI. It's simple and it works amazingly well not only for building parties but also for keeping track of people and zone populations. All we really need is the ability to perform searches with conditions such as: "/sea all thanalan 30-40" or "/sea con gridania 15-25". Additionally, we need to be able to set up a a search flag that is not only visible on searches but also next to our character names. Finally, search comments could be set to explain what kind of group we're looking to join if we have something specific in mind.

[Aldarin]

the /sea came as a shortcut to the search screen. you will find that there already is a search screen that fulfills this function for anyone looking for a party, if you bother to explore the party menu. The issue is that people don't bother with the system for a number of reasons.

-The option of seek invite is available under recruit/purpose. Unfortunately this option is not easily noticed, but it is there. An easy solution is to separate this option and place it as a option on the main party menu, next to recruit, search, and details.

-The maximum amount of time a recruit or seek invite will be up is one hour. This is annoying to players who want to simply solo while waiting and not have to watch the clock and repost their recruit every hour. This is one of the main limitations to the current system, but is easily fixable by having options for how long the recruit will stay up for.

-There is a search function already, where players can view any party recruit orders as well as any people seeking invites. This function simply needs a few adjustments and it is good. It already has filters in place on it. SE could also simply add an option here that shows either all people, just people seeking, or just party recruits.

-An icon would let people visually see who is looking for a party and could be placed whenever someone begins to seek invite. This would be easy to add, and would appear next to the name like the bazaar and linkshell crests.

Suffice to say, please stop complaining about SE needing to put in a /sea based system. The groundwork for an effective system is already in place, they simply need to tweek certain things in order to make the system useable.

[Vexerus]

Here's a petition you can sign and Like! if you havn't already^^

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-Flag-Petition

[Frein]

Suffice to say, please stop complaining about SE needing to put in a /sea based system. The groundwork for an effective system is already in place, they simply need to tweek certain things in order to make the system useable.

The current system is so far off from effective I think it actually may just be easier to get rid of it and give us a carbon copy of the FFXI system. Even if all the needed features were in place, we're still stuck with a system that takes infinitely longer to use than the FFXI one and that has the completely pointless angle of player seeking party, rather than party seeking player, present. You actually have no control over who joins your group if you use the current recruitment feature. I just can't comprehend how that ever seemed like a good idea to anyone.

[Uzziah]

I too, totally agree with the author of this thread. Maybe Square Enix has their reasons for abandoning successful framework in favor of totally new ideas for this game, but I'm doubting that the reasons have anything to do with their future plans and implementing new technology into this game.

I have been an IT professional for over 20 years and have some experience with things like what's being addressed here.

It really even goes beyond just the search and party functions. SE has, as people have mentioned here, tried way to hard to reinvent way to many wheels in this game. I personally believe that they hired a very inexperienced team of developers, including project leaders, to initially write this game. This is why it's flopped so badly from day one. This green group of developers, thought it best to establish a name for themselves by doing such a thing as they've done. What they did is cost their employer millions of dollars/pounds/yen etc... by trying to fix things that are actually successful trademarks of an MMO software package.

It is true, you want a new MMO to have a new story line, a new world, new characters, new races (sometimes), New quests/missions, and to an extent a new user interface. However, there are somethings that are important pieces in an MMO that are just core mechanics or pieces of a user interface that you don't necessarily want to abandon. You may try to improve upon them when implementing them into a new software package (or game), but if you have something like the Log window, the player/party search functions, a mail delivery system (which would promote more income for SE), and to a degree a job/class system, and other core systems that have proven very successful, why in the hell would you just totally abandon them for the sake of making a game totally unique? I mean the game already is NOT totally unique as they've borrowed the races and just renamed them. So why not keep core functions/framework of the MMO systems that SE has worked so hard to make popular already?

I truly believe that if SE would put some of this stuff into this game, it would not only make for a much more fun and playable game, but I'd bet my life that it would contribute to bringing back many players. Of course they need more content, but if they would have put these systems into this game from the start, they would have had something that was already proven and tested to be successful and they could have spent this first year working totally on new content.

However, now they've spent the first year converting the battle system back to something that more closely resembles what ffxi has now. The developers that currently work on the game have stated themselves that the current Enmity system that was written into this game was unnecessarily over complex and had to be scrapped for a new simple system. I've also read other material from the developers that the initial battle system would not work for future plans for the game. I think that proves that all of these new systems are not "NEW" because the need to be new, rather they are new because someone in charge, initially, wasn't experienced enough to know what to keep and what not to keep. Now they will spend additional time working on the status points system. Basically it will be like what FFXI had, except you'll be able to modify your stats within each job/class. Hmmm. I think SE is slowly discovering what I'm saying here and what other have already said as well.

Actually, Ladies and Gentlemen, I bet if you sit back and watch the new dev team over the next year, you'll watch this game slowly move in the direction that I've just described. A direction that, well, should have been taken/followed from day one of development. This game will turn out to be a blockbuster too. I predict it will eventually blow FFXI away. And, not because it opted to be totally different either, but rather because it decided to retain successful key framework from XI and build upon it rather than keeping the loosing stuff that was initially written.

Oh well, if I'm wrong, it won't be the first time, and after all these forums are just a place for all of us to express our ideas. Hopefully, which ever direction SE takes the game, it will be the right one.

Cheers!

[Chain]

I remember back in early 2010 I was so excited for XIV to come out, thinking how epic it would be with everything they've learned over the years from XI. I'm still trying to pull my face away from my palm a year later.

[Blackdomina]

If it works leave it alone, only change it if its going to be better than what is already in place. Like really, i have to invite someone to my social list , in order to invite them to a party if they arent in the area? ummmmm ... oooook

[RisaCooper]

I think alot that is wrong with the current system is that alot of people dont use it and shout for parties instead. In the intro to the game maybe they should do something that covers inviting and recruiting other people. Though I do prefer the ffxi version much better then this. That way I could stalk my friends