Patch n: Quality of Life

[BreathlessTao]

Or Project Slow Down. Something along those lines. Here's what I mean.

Yes, I know everyone appreciates new content. Yes, I know a very small minority of the playerbase burns through every new content, regardless of amount/size, way too quickly (that's just their playstyle). Yes, I know a sense of achievement is important. However... It looks like SE is trying to cater to that very small minority, with churning new (or "new") content every few weeks/months. It looks like being switched to the "just get it over with" and "glad I'm over it" mentality constitutes to feeling like actually having achieved something (doesn't even make sense if you ask me). The game is just over a year old and the item level is over double of the actual job level maximum - and what for, really, when the latest batch of dungeons has an ilvl requirement of 80? Even Turn 5 only requires i82 as far as I remember - the fact that it's still virtually impossible to do for so many, despite being in DF, is an entirely different matter, no ilvl increase or Echo buff will assist against the instant death mechanics.

So, what I'm wondering about is why doesn't SE take a break from building new content? There are so many minor (or not-so-minor) issues in the game that fixing those could really contribute to quality, for a change, instead of quantity. Because, as I said, it is nice to have things coming in so often, but the way I see it (and going by the forum posts, it feels the way many see it), it's created quite an imbalance between those two.

First thing first, and I realise this can't happen at a snap of fingers, but really, SE needs to spend some money. Obviously we can't be 100% aware of what goes on in the background, but when on one hand we can read about profits and hear about so many millions of players, while on the other hand we're given the "small dev team / hardware limitations / infrastructure limitations" argument left, right, and center - it does create a sense of contradiction, in my opinion. Yes, we will be getting an actual EU data center. Which is nice for everyone in Europe (like myself), but ain't gonna do much for everyone else. And if everything else remains as it is, it'll only go so far to improve things. So yes, hire more people, even a few could help decrease the workload and I'm sure there are a lot of enthusiasts who are both talented and skilled enough to fit in. Upgrade the hardware and the network infrastructure, because it is frustrating that, reportedly, much smaller teams can do much better, in several cases even on non-sub-based games. (Personally, I'd feel not only frustrated but embarrassed if I was for SE.) These should be top priority, in my opinion.

And during that time, there's a slew of things that could be worked on. Here's a list that's probably far from complete, in no particular order:

• body types - every individual of a given race is an exact replica of the other (save for height) in 2014....really?
• hair styles - being asked so much I lose count of it sooner than the Sabotender Emperatriz loses count of her needles
• facial hair - see hair styles
• makeup and facepaint - should not be the same, also see hair styles
• tattoos - both for body and for face, also see hair styles
• storage options - immense amount of stuff, insanely inadequate ways and space to store them
• housing - not even going into details, could use a complete rework
• glamour system - the way it works, the availability of items, the restrictions
• relic weapons - please find another way to keep old content relevant
• crafting materials - at the very least, move them from boss chests to side ones, replacing potions in dungeons
• conversation options - is bad enough that our PCs are completely mute, at least give us a few dialogue choices please
• NPC relationships - I don't even mean romance, but roleplaying is more than just being tank/healer/dps
• chocobo - skills, usage, training, coloring... pretty much a complete overhaul again, because none of these is fun
• desynthesis - having to balance improving this, in a game that's built on a strong multi-class system is simply ridiculous
• clipping - seriously, fix it (at the very least, for the love of Menphina, if you have races with tails and "weird" ears, have alternative versions of gear that properly accomodate to these)
• those butts - yes, I went there, as they're also completely ridiculous in my opinion
• friend requests - why do we have to not accept once and then decline too to make it disappear?
• inventory - not being able to reorganise when doing certain things because why exactly?
• handling alternative characters - please let us send stuff to our alts, at least those on the same server
• ordering lists - while several features were introduced to help organisation, the emote list, for example, is still completely random
• duty registrations - can't be done while chocobo is summoned, withdrawn when summoning chocobo... why do we have the companion again?

I'm sure it's still missing a lot of things, but these are the ones I noted as being left "unattended" or "swept under the rug". And I've seen way too many posts about each of these on here, so it's kind of mind-boggling. Churning out content is probably the simplest way to retain players, but on the long run? Keeping them happy with such "quality of life" improvements goes much further, in my opinion. Having a feature that's more of a hassle than anything else to use - not gonna make people happy. Sure, it might be used, but being used out of necessity is very far from actually having fun with it. People appreciate having the details paid attention to as well much more than just a rough "here it is, use it" content or feature.

And for Heaven's sake. So much emphasis on dedication to players. So much emphasis on communication. Poll the players! Not about what should happen tomorrow, but about what should happen in a year, for example. From the looks of it, it turned out perfectly fine having done that to rebuild and relaunch the game, so why isn't it done anymore? Heck, poll the players about this, how many of us would be okay with less (or no) new content for a few months but which of these things being done. I don't know. Just a suggestion, just my thoughts. But even SE might be surprised.

[LalaRu]

Wow so a long list.
I'll be happy just with PLD's Shield Bash taken out the general cooldown.
Pretty nonsense, PLD have silence out the gcd but not the stun, pretty overlooked as long as any other stun around is out the gcd.
Or PLD that can stun are too much OP?

[RiceisNice]

Wow so a long list.
I'll be happy just with PLD's Shield Bash taken out the general cooldown.
Pretty nonsense, PLD have silence out the gcd but not the stun, pretty overlooked as long as any other stun around is out the gcd.
Or PLD that can stun are too much OP?

Because shield bash doesn't have a cooldown. Can't exactly have a skill that's both off GCD and have a cooldown. They can already chain stun better than warriors for some fights that warrant it.

[LalaRu]

Because shield bash doesn't have a cooldown. Can't exactly have a skill that's both off GCD and have a cooldown. They can already chain stun better than warriors

Chain stun pretty useless, as long as this mount resistance and after 3rd stun you can have fun 1 minute waiting resistence wears off.
Not to mention, if you have to chain stun it means the mob is spamming skills and again useless stop just the first few seconds, after that the mob can continue happily spamming its skills.

Then, 30s cooldown is very welcome, it that means an USABLE skill. Actually, the only way to stun is stay still and pray the mobs start cast before aggro goes away from you.

for some fights that warrant it.

I'd like play my PLD full time, not only some fights. All the rest, forget stuns. GCD always progressing when it happens it is the time to use them and when finally gcd off, it is too late for it. Unless you really meant PLD have to stay still waiting to stun... maybe if he does offtank... but... wtfudge...

[DrOstler]

Wow so a long list.
I'll be happy just with PLD's Shield Bash taken out the general cooldown.
Pretty nonsense, PLD have silence out the gcd but not the stun, pretty overlooked as long as any other stun around is out the gcd.
Or PLD that can stun are too much OP?

this this this this this!
I hate having to stand around doing literally nothing while waiting for a boss/monster to start an attack so I can interrupt it.

[Xaphire]

• body types - every individual of a given race is an exact replica of the other (save for height) in 2014....really?
• hair styles - being asked so much I lose count of it sooner than the Sabotender Emperatriz loses count of her needles
• facial hair - see hair styles
• makeup and facepaint - should not be the same, also see hair styles
• tattoos - both for body and for face, also see hair styles
• storage options - immense amount of stuff, insanely inadequate ways and space to store them
• housing - not even going into details, could use a complete rework
• glamour system - the way it works, the availability of items, the restrictions
• relic weapons - please find another way to keep old content relevant
• crafting materials - at the very least, move them from boss chests to side ones, replacing potions in dungeons
• conversation options - is bad enough that our PCs are completely mute, at least give us a few dialogue choices please
• NPC relationships - I don't even mean romance, but roleplaying is more than just being tank/healer/dps
• chocobo - skills, usage, training, coloring... pretty much a complete overhaul again, because none of these is fun
• desynthesis - having to balance improving this, in a game that's built on a strong multi-class system is simply ridiculous
• clipping - seriously, fix it (at the very least, for the love of Menphina, if you have races with tails and "weird" ears, have alternative versions of gear that properly accomodate to these)
• those butts - yes, I went there, as they're also completely ridiculous in my opinion
• friend requests - why do we have to not accept once and then decline too to make it disappear?
• inventory - not being able to reorganise when doing certain things because why exactly?
• handling alternative characters - please let us send stuff to our alts, at least those on the same server
• ordering lists - while several features were introduced to help organisation, the emote list, for example, is still completely random
• duty registrations - can't be done while chocobo is summoned, withdrawn when summoning chocobo... why do we have the companion again?

A lot of this will never be done, either due to PS3 limitations (Your desire for more hairstyles, body types, facial hair, makeup, facepaint, and tattoos) or because they work fine as they are (glamour, housing, relic, chocobo, desynthesis), or are never going to get changed (clipping - which has been discussed and is staying as is, Alts - staying as is as an attempt to help curb RMT)

Overall your list comes off as being whiny because you don't like the game. You want more conversation options (something that has only really been in SWTOR - which did have a fun leveling experience but when that was done the game was garbage) or NPC relations (really? why? It's an MMO, go be social. Make friends with people) it just seems like the game isn't for you. We're getting new content because people want to have things to do. They want to go play in the Golden Saucer. They want new PvE challenges to take on. They want new items in the game. They want to increase their character's power. Heavensward is aimed for a spring release, content will be going at a blazing pace from now until then - and hopefully afterward.

[NozomiKei]

And yet, like the op said, these are issues that have been brought up by many people in these forums over and over and over and over. Clearly we are dissatisfied by the way they've been (not) handled. This person pretty obviously likes the game; they took the time to type up this fairly massive post.

[Chiramu]

This person pretty obviously likes the game; they took the time to type up this fairly massive post.

Everybody playing this game likes this game otherwise you would not be playing this game.

OP, where are this so-called QoL changes from? What game can you list that has this stuff? A Korean F2P MMO? Fix the body shapes? Why? Why get the design team to work on body shapes that look really good already when they could be working on new content?

You tell SE to spend some money? How can you not realise that SE work non-stop producing new content? New content doesn't just pop out of thin air, it takes a lot of time and money to produce it. If you are claiming that SE are not working hard on their game just because YOUR so-called QoL changes are not in game then you need to think hard about being in the work force.

[Bishop81]

OP, where are this so-called QoL changes from?

His imagination?

What game can you list that has this stuff? A Korean F2P MMO?

Is this relevant? Why does it have to be "done before"?

Fix the body shapes? Why? Why get the design team to work on body shapes that look really good already when they could be working on new content?

Why are your wants (content) more important than his wants (body shapes)?

So tired of self-appointed "defenders" of SE's "honor". /smh

Who react to any suggestion that the game isn't perfect and could use improve/change is perceived as a slight against SE.

When all they are doing is silencing feedback - negative or not, it is still feedback - and preventing the developers from receiving the information they need.

Why do people do this? I honestly don't know. I have a pet theory that they do it just to inflate their own ego - no offense, just a theory - so they can get the feeling that they are "speaking for" the developers and are somehow superior to other players.

[MomomiMomi]

You tell SE to spend some money? How can you not realise that SE work non-stop producing new content?

Working non-stop is not enough when they've told us themselves that their dev team is pitifully small. They really should spend money on hiring more people. The same is true for better servers, which they've said they wanted to avoid spending money on. And they did avoid spending money on them, and gave us the housing subdivisions instead that people were complaining about because they're being treated as inferior residents.