It's difficult...

[BreathlessTao]

Obviously, the solution here is to only answer questions when they have something positive to say! But then players would complain that they don't communicate with us.

Regardless of it we like it or not, there will always be stuff that they don't want to implement in the game for "reasons".

I'm not sure if it's fair to make these comparisons with other games when we have no idea if implementing feature X in game Y requires the same time and investment that it would require to implement in FFXIV

No, the solution isn't to only say things when there's something positive to say. But it would come off as a little less of an excuse if they did just what you yourself hint at - actually explain how things are done in FFXIV and why feature X would be difficult to implement (like in some of these answers). Not asking for corporate secrets obviously, but I'm fairly sure it could be communicated in layman's terms so that it would be understandable for at least many of us, in a way that wouldn't make it sound as bad as it is in this particular list for example. Hell I'm sure there are people in this community who might even be able to come up with ideas on how to change things to make feature X a viable plan for implementation - not necessarily outright providing the solution, but an overlooked detail maybe, or a different approach, whatever. They do keep saying that their team is small, right? And if the wall preventing something really is hard (eg. actual hardware), then for the Twelve's sake at least make some plans to spend some more money on it in the future!

[Gilthas]

No, the solution isn't to only say things when there's something positive to say. But it would come off as a little less of an excuse if they did just what you yourself hint at - actually explain how things are done in FFXIV and why feature X would be difficult to implement. Not asking for corporate secrets obviously, but I'm fairly sure it could be communicated in layman's terms so that it would be understandable for at least many of us, in a way that wouldn't make it sound as bad as it is in this particular list for example. Hell I'm sure there are people in this community who might even be able to come up with ideas on how to change things to make feature X a viable plan for implementation - not necessarily outright providing the solution, but an overlooked detail maybe, or a different approach, whatever. They do keep saying that their team is small, right?

And this is why they don't give more detailed explanations, because then everyone and their mother would be giving them "solutions" and SE would have to waste more time telling people why they wouldn't work. How often do you even see companies giving details about how their programs work?

And if someone came up with an idea that actually works? Then you'd have people saying that the developers are lazy and stupid and the playerbase has to fix their problems.

[BreathlessTao]

And this is why they don't give more detailed explanations, because then everyone and their mother would be giving them "solutions" and SE would have to waste more time telling people why they wouldn't work. How often do you even see companies giving details about how their programs work?

And if someone came up with an idea that actually works? Then you'd have people saying that the developers are lazy and stupid and the playerbase has to fix their problems.

SE went after its own head with 1.0.... 'nuff said, I believe.

[Gilthas]

SE went after its own head with 1.0.... 'nuff said, I believe.

Yeah, I thought as much.