The fact of the matter is

[Winterclaw]

I fully support your main idea that the game needs to run better net-wise so that it can actually be played properly without lag. I'm one of the many people who "liked" your post for it.

But the idea that it has anything to do with the graphics engine or that the graphics engine should be "overhauled" is ridiculous. They spent years developing JUST the engine, and the entire purpose of such an engine is to be able to implement artists' work more easily into new games. To overhaul it would defeat its reason for existing in the first place. If they needed to redo the graphics (which they don't) then they'd just scrap the game entirely and build a new one from scratch.

A game engine is more than just graphics. It's the toolset they use for working on the game. If that toolset sucks, then it hinders their ability to make changes. You know how people in the game are complaining about the bad interface and how some basic features are lacking? Well if the toolset is of the same quality as the rest of the game, you can be sure it's hurting the dev team.

You know what would be even better? If American PC gamers would realize that SE is a Japanese company and far more people in Japan are interested in and capable of playing an MMO on their home console than a PC, and that SE would fail miserably trying to run a game that didn't cater to their own country's population. Bonus points if they also finally understand that FFXIV specifically is completely doomed without its last chance to regain subscribers with a re-launch for the PS3 after they fix things up.

Then perhaps SE failed by trying to design the game for the east first seeing that FF14 is

1. Currently PC only
2. Has an interface that sucks for PC use
3. There's no mention of a PS3 release date so all those people this game was designed for still can't play it.
4. Forgetting that most MMO players use a PC instead of a PS3 for gaming so this game was optimized for a niche market to begin with.

/facepalm

[Velhart]

I don't recall the game engine being that bad to begin with.

[Gennosuke]

Completely Agree with OP.
I think until the server/engine issues are addressed, this game will never succeed and flourish to what it's aimed to be.
This is the source of much of the agony in this game.

I agree with this OP so hard. I read about the upcoming changes and I get excited about things like chocobos and stuff and then I realize that there is no way I'm going to put up with that UI long enough to enjoy it. Until PC players at least have an option for a UI designed specifically for PC users, there is no way I'm giving this game another chance. But, I will keep popping into the Lodesetone (as I am doing now) to see any progress on this issue.

Agreed to this. Also to add onto the UI, as pointed out by OP, all the rest of the delay/lag, in battle, in city, interactions. etc.
It's nice to see chocobos coming into the game, but unfortunately that's far from what is needed to save this game.

I hope this threads gets a good exposure and response.. hopefully we can get some feedback from the devs.

[Tsukino]

Then perhaps SE failed by trying to design the game for the east first seeing that FF14 is

1. Currently PC only
2. Has an interface that sucks for PC use
3. There's no mention of a PS3 release date so all those people this game was designed for still can't play it.
4. Forgetting that most MMO players use a PC instead of a PS3 for gaming so this game was optimized for a niche market to begin with.

/facepalm

Everyone knows they botched the release of this game. That's why we're all here now posting about what we want to fix it. That's why it has a restructured development team. That's why it's still not working right with half its features (or more). Doesn't change the fact that it was always supposed to be a console game as well, and it still has to be in order to pick up the subscriptions it needs.

Of course the PC version should run well and have a good UI. I play on PC myself and would love it if keyboard+mouse would finally just work. I was just responding to the general idiocy of saying SE should drop support for the PS3 because it's "holding the game back" when it's actually the only chance the game has to survive at all.

It's the same as people whining about "PS2 limitations" with FFXI. Did it cause the game to lack a lot of new features that could have been added if it were PC-only? Of course, because the PC as a platform always has more dynamic capabilities than any console. Would it still be worth it to do? No, because the fact that FFXI has console support is one of the things that set it apart from other MMOs and make it more accessible to more people, and a large number of players in Japan would be unable to continue to play at all.

[Betelgeuzah]

PS3 has nothing to do with this.

Tagging is the new trolling though! And I just deleted two of them few hours ago!

[Cendres]

While I agree this engine is the pits other then being really pretty, I highly doubt we'll get a new one, and if we do get a new we won't see it for at least 2 years. Their patches take a long time as it is I'm not holding my breath for changes of this magnitude to happen any day soon or ever.

I agree with the posters who said this engine needs optimisation, that's where we should hang our hats on.

[Alexis_Arteme]

I've been considering OP's words for a few days now. I can only speak from my personal experiences. I'm having "fun" as it stands right now, but I'm not facing any kind of challenging content that requires razor-sharp precision. I raided at a very high level in WoW for a number of years, so I can understand what he means though.

I suppose I wouldn't care about server upgrades, if the content is aware of it. I really don't care for obscenely difficult content. If the boss mobs and NMs are "easy" enough to be defeated without janky cheating or exploits, I'm fine with that I think.

Though on the other hand, it appears that is not the direction Square is going, considering that random crashes happen and completely throw the player from the instance, making the boss fight nearly impossible.

tl;dr, crappy mobs on crappy servers need to be forgiving of players trying to work within the system and die quickly.

[Nuru]

Not sure exactly what this is all about, but if its about the game engine, then I have to say that I like the way the game looks, though i've heard that the engine hasn't been used in full potential quite yet. I'd just rather not play another U3 MORPG because there are so many already, FFXIV is unique in using a different engine, but as said before, just needs to be utilized in full potential.

[Finuve]

I actually like the UI for the most part, a few things could use the ability to activate by targeting instead of the context menu but the UI for the most part stays out of my way, and thats what I like most about a good UI

so the only thing there that needs a fix is the input lag for everything...sometimes I dont notice it, but others its ridiculous

and I know some people like to use a mouse, but I'd rather they focus on making everything work keyboard or gamepad only perfectly before adding in more mouse support, unless im in the minority here of course but I dont like touching my mouse unless im playing a shooter or an RTS

[Spectre]

The terminology that the OP is misusing is actually clouding his statement, but as far at the server-client communication goes, I agree that it seems bloated.

The actual engine of the MMO contains way to many components to just say "needs to be overhauled". Pick which parts of the engine (if it is even things that are included in the engine) you think need attention, and you will likely get more positive attention from the people that matter.

From what I can tell, the thing you have the biggest beef with is the client interface and service side verification.

So, again, if you are saying that their server-client interface needs work, I completely agree, but calling for an entire "engine" overhaul is more than likely to get you ignored then to add attention to a problem, even moreso when the parts you have problems with aren't even functions of the actual engine being used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_engine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Tools