New player feedback (AKA reasons why FFXIV has seems troubled keeping newer players)

[E-Zekiel]

Edit for a disclaimer: I am 50 and have experienced all the content except for the later coils. I have been 50 for near enough to two months, and have been playing for two months and change.

I have had friends trying to get me to play the game for multiple years. After telling them for the longest time, time and time again, every time I read about it it just does not look like my kind of game...here is my honest feedback and major points of complaint in no particular order, though I saved the "style-based" ones for last since they're more "niche" (aka nitpicky).

I ask you to please listen to my points here, because I'm really trying to stick with this game because I have so many friends that play, but there are so many things, some big, some small, that kill me. Anyway, it's a compiled list of complaints/criticisms.

Fair warning: some parts of this are angry, but I've avoided cursing (I think).

1.)))))))GCD is WAY too long. Like, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too long.

Some people don't seem to think this is an issue, and have no problem with it. That's understandable. I think the people that say this game is no slower than any other game must have been struck very hard in the head, or must have played almost no other MMORPG on the market. The GCD is way too long. This is less of a problem at 30+ because you have more to do, but if you want to know THE SINGLE MOST LEADING CAUSE OF NOT BEING ABLE TO RETAIN NEW PLAYERS? This is it.

This is absolutely, positively the first and foremost and single biggest reason why. It is because of the GCD that this game is so mind-numbingly, unbearably boring prior to ~30 for most classes. Because the combat is sooooooooooo slow paced, and you have very few attacks off the GCD. Some say "it's nice not to have to button mash", but let us button mash at our own pace. It's not as if I have fleas and I need 2.5 seconds between every single attack at low levels to scratch myself. I referred two people to this game, myself, to join our start-up group as we all migrated here, and both quit over this issue. Both of them.

It's less of an issue in large fates, and at later levels, because simply put...you have more to do. The problem? You don't have squat to do at lower levels. So pacing is absolutely critical. The only reason I made it past level 15 or so is because LITERALLY EVERY VETERAN HIGH LEVEL I KNEW, with not a single dissenter, told me that the game gets better later.

With that in mind, "the game gets better later" is not an acceptable excuse. A game should be fun the entire time you are playing it. It's fine to have a slow-paced, basic tutorial. This tutorial does not need to last 30 levels, that is absolutely tedious and nigh unbearable (or outright unbearable) for some.

2.)))))))There are way too many main story quests. This is mainly an issue due to so much content being gated behind main story quests. This is for all the people who actually make it to 50, this is probably the next hugest factor for burnout for new players, because a lot of us...JUST WANT TO PLAY THE GAME. BUT SO MUCH OF THE CONTENT IS GATED BY NEVERRRRREEEEENDING MAIN STORY QUESTS.

Stop adding main story quests. Just...Stop. Stop. Just stop it. Stop doing it. stop. stop. stop. You do not need to make everything a main story quest that gates everything. Use the structure of class quests instead. Continuous quest lines that DO NOT GATE CONTENT. It's fine to have a continuing narrative, but seriously, some of us JUST WANT TO PLAY THE DANG GAME. Good god I must have rage-quit out of impatience at least three times trying to unlock the freaking high level roulette after hitting 50. I just want to play the game, not do endless solo content to unlock everything us. Ugh, god even just thinking about the massive mountain of MSQs makes me want to cry right now.

I understand for you veterans - it wasn't a big deal getting a few quests per patch as it was released. As a new player? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW TEDIOUS IT IS? Jaysus, it's so bad, it's so mindnumbing. The storyline itself? Is fine! It's just...I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO DO IT FOR DECADES AND DECADES AND DECADES to unlock simple stupid stuff that should just be a given provided I meet requirements that involve me not dying (such as level).

SO please, for the love and sanity for every new player, please break these quests up. Please structure them like the class quests. They don't need to be MSQ's, and they don't need to gate content. People don't need to "get it" to want to do it. I don't need to understand the history of basketball to want to play basketball. Sometimes I just want to play. I don't need to understand why I am killing every last thing I am killing...sometimes I don't want to solo quest. Sometimes I just want to party. Sometimes I just want to raid. And I don't want to have to jump through five million hoops to do it.

Now, it's fine to gate solo content with solo content. IE, you must do this quest to do this quest. And it's fine to gate group content with group content. IE, you must clear this dungeon, to get into this dungeon after it. And it's even okay to group raid content with raid content. IE, you must clear this raid to do the next.

But please stop crossing them all over. It makes for an extreme monotony and tedium when some of us just want to do stuff other than solo quest for a million years to unlock stuff other than solo questing, for the love of all that is holy. And yes, I'm aware you can do most bits running around as a group, but I will throttle you if you tell me I have to explain why it's not the same thing to do group content with a group vs solo content with a group.


3.)))))))Tab targeting is atrocious, the worst I have ever seen in any game ever. This is because rather than attempting calculation based on distance, it simply goes left to right on your screen. Which for any decent player who moves a lot and looks around for spatial awareness, is awful, and a hindrance. I understand the way it works. I think the way it works needs to change because the way it works is terrible. This is a huge pain, and makes me pity tanks and makes me happy that for the first time in forever, I rolled DPS first instead of tank as I usually do.

4.)))))))Cross class abilities, base class vs job. You only get 5 period, but it's on per 5 levels with base class, one per 10 for job, meaning at 30 when you get your job, you lose two abilities. This is dumb dumb dumb. It's fine to restrict WHICH abilities you get as you get your job, but restricting the number? For my chosen class, I was already cross-classing abilities that were available to my job. So basically when I hit 30 I lost two of those abilities. That feels like an oversight. If it's not...this is another terrible design decision.

5.)))))))Cannot send tells/whispers while in a dungeon. Why is this a thing? Why has this not been changed in...how long has the game been out? There's a simple solution to this, and I'll use EQ and EQ2 as an example.

Now I get the idea of how it works - it's probably because of duty-finder being cross-server. Yes I'm aware this happens even if you're not using DF, but I'll make an educated guess and say this is still probably why it is the way it is. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. But there's a simple solution, and EQ and EQ2 did it. You have server ID's, right? And using this, you can even send tells across server. Hell, you could send tells ACROSS GAMES, from EQ1 to EQ2. Stuff like, let's say I want to send a tell to someone on Antonia Bayle in EQ2. Their full syntax to send them a tell? Their ID is: EQ2.Antonia_Bayle.Soandso . Now, how did they do this when they made Battlegrounds, which are cross-server? The character makes a temporary server-move, becoming EQ2.Battlegrounds.Soandso . Now I'm sure this might cause issues for people with similar names, but I think this whole idea is something that should be pursued nonetheless. What's the point of innovation and coding if a simple idea is dismissed as seeming acceptable as-is?

6.)))))))The game holds your hand too much, sometimes, and I think that might be a large reason why so much content is gated the way it is. Example? I hate that freaking gate in Gridania and any other place in the game where it assumes you are too stupid to realize you should run away from monsters higher than you rather than fight them. Going around stupid gates is tedious. In general the game excessively assumes you're an idiot. Like I see an NPC ten levels above me and can't figure out "Go around him! Also, if he does aggro, RUN FAST!" and I have never played a video game before in my entire life. And you know the funny part? If you allow me to die for my mistake and it is indeed my first video game ever...I JUST LEARNED MY FIRST VIDEO GAME LESSON! THANKS! I AM NOW SMARTER AS A PERSON!

7.)))))))Can't join group finder queue with a chocobo companion out. This is very, very annoying, particularly if I decide to do fates while waiting and a boss fate comes up and I need my chocobo to heal me because nobody else is.

I am told this is going to change. Why did this take so long? Why is polish so apparently unimportant?

8.)))))))Invisible walls. These are never okay. Period. I understand why they're there, though, I guess. Mostly to avoid having to put a swimming system in. Still...Innovation and polish, guys, seriously. C'mon.

9.)))))))The reply function is very...clunky. Work on this. Again, polish.

10.)))))))Combo highlights need to be more prominent. They are very difficult to notice, particularly for new players, without actually looking at your hotbar. The problem with that? There is almost no point having a highlight at all if you still have to look directly at what it's highlighting. SWTOR is a great example to follow on this one, with its most recent expansion - big bright light highlight around the skill that has been triggered.

11.)))))))High level roulette is completely stupid to unlock. This kinda goes in with the MSQ thing. I just want to play the game, not go on this massive trek across Middle-Earth just so I can reach content gated behind solo material.

12.)))))))Work on the crafting RNG. Or remove it. I would be okay with either. RNG does not equal fun, ever, period. I understand that in combat in an RPG, a certain level of RNG is needed to make attack/defense etc rolls. That's okay. If you're going to make RNG as prominent as it is in crafting, it needs to be a heck of a lot more refined than it is. I can't say I've missed seven attacks in a row in any fight I've ever been in. Maybe crafting needs an accuracy stat? (Yes, I know about Steady Hands. Don't throw that at me, or you're just totally missing my point.)

13.)))))))Housing. There's not enough of it. Consider making it it instanced so that the instance closes when nobody is present, just like every game that's ever done housing well - just like, I believe, this game does dungeons. This allows more people to have housing and doesn't more or less force people into guilds for single rooms as opposed to full on houses, due to how finite and limited housing plots are.

14.)))))))Can't underman dungeons. Why? This is terrible. What if I want to grab a friend and just kill the first boss in Sastasha for a single piece of armor I want, but don't want to subject one or more strangers to this, or incur a lockout from duty finder? This is a bad design decision.

I'm told this one will be changing soon, too. Good to hear, if so.

This next one is the last one on my list that is kind-of style-related, but in my opinion qualifies as not entirely style because it impacts gameplay.

15.)))))))The particle effects are too much, in my opinion I feel like I can never see any of the actual action because there are so many particle effects. I'm thinking of this primarily from a ninja/melee DPS point of view. This is a major hindrance in large scale fights where you need to be looking for AOE target rings, among other things.

I understand you can turn off particle effects, but maybe the solution is to expand on the current particle options, because...While I do turn them down to fewer or none for outside-of-party players, I don't like turning it down/off for myself because of little things. While I feel all my awesome animations and cool stuff are lost in a cloud of bright colors, thus, imo, undermining their awesomeness...If I turn it down even one step? Suddenly, my knife-throwing AE doesn't actually throw any knives. I just jump and grunt.

So I'll file this under "polish". Polish, guys, c'mon. Polish polish polish.


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OKAY THE REST OF THESE ARE MOSTLY NITPICKY STYLE RELATED STUFF BUT HERE IT IS

1.)))))))Don't really like the art style. The word "childish" comes to mind, but that's not quite right either. Adolescent, maybe. I was told this was a conscious decision to use blended shading rather than higher contrast stuff. The end result is that it looks kind of bad in comparison to higher contrast, honestly, and just bad next to games that even pre-date this one. Maybe the DX client upgrade will fix this, because I really feel like the biggest reason I don't like the art style is that the shading is too blended and it just, to me, makes the quality less...I dunno. Just less, I guess, and I don't like it.

2.)))))))Character creation in general is very limited, particularly if you're not a huge fan of the art style. Not much I can say about this, only the hope to expand on it over time. More sliders, and make them effective. Some of the muscle (and boob *cough*) sliders could stand to be more effective and have more scale to them. I'd like to have a muscular human, for example, one that's fit and athletic, but not ridiculously robust. For this image I have in mind, midlander can't quite muscle-it-up enough, but the highlanders are a little too on the ridiculous side and have these huge thick necks and stone faces. :\

3.)))))))Can't make a midlander that doesn't look really young or old. This seems like a design oversight. You are either 20 or younger, or you are 50+. I kinda wanted to make someone in the neighborhood of 33-35 because I like it in the middle of the road. There are other races that suffer from similar nitpicky things, this is just one example, but...more sliders, more customization. These are good things. All my complaints about customization are very minor in comparison to the in-game stuff, including the shading and particles, though.


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AND FINALLY, NOT GAME RELATED BUT STILL EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING ALL THE SAME


Account is locked constantly, this annoys the poop out of me. Particularly if I disconnect while in a dungeon and getting back quickly is kind of important. I am apparently not the only person this happens to, and this is very common. I thought it was just me for awhile until I started complaining out loud when it would happen to me in Teamspeak, as I usually get on TS before getting in-game.

I'm told that if you only have one IP ever this is less of an issue, and to that I say....Adopt the GW2 method. Verify once per IP, then stop locking me out all the freaking time. I swear I have to verify three times a week because I have poopy internet that bounces between three IPs, and occasionally use my phone to connect (surprising, but it does actually work) which has different IP's too. GW2? I have to verify maybe once every couple of months, and that's usually only if I'm connecting using my phone.


Oh, one more as an after thought:

The glamour system. Unrestrict it significantly. Wanting to achieve a certain look for yourself and your character to me is fundamental in an MMORPG. Particularly in an MMORPG that mandates a monthly payment. I do not find FFXIV's level of restrictions on this excusable in a subscription model under any circumstances. If this game had a free to play option, I would see this as something that I could compromise on, in terms of my opinion.

[Enkidoh]

Reading your wordy post it's clear this game is not for you. Reading your various points clearly leads me to this conclusion:

EDIT - never mind, I ended up giving up responding or replying to all of the issues you have with the game (simply due to the sheer volume of text you typed), so I'm just going to reiterate that this game simply isn't for you. FFXIV is a story-based MMORPG like FFXI and the other previous 12 single player FF games before it. This will never change.

The rest of your feedback was personal issues with minor points of the battle system and GUI which the development team have long countered and addressed. The game is not going to change to suit your personal tastes, however, you are not wrong for not enjoying the game. It's your subscription after all. The game just will not change to what you would like I'm afraid.

[Madsamurai]

One thing's for sure... this game isn't for you. Don't force yourself to play. You are just playing cos most of your friends are playing? Don't bother.. why allow such sufferings? Do yourself a favour, unsubscribe and live a happier life.

[Kaitlen]

One thing's for sure... this game isn't for you. Don't force yourself to play. You are just playing cos your most of your friends are playing? Don't bother.. why allow such sufferings? Do yourself a favour, unsubscribe and live a happier life.

Indeed, agreed... save yourself the trouble. This game won't ever fit your play style wants or needs.

I really tried to read all of that, but I just couldn't do it...

[E-Zekiel]

Fair enough. I mean, to be fair there was a reason why I leaned away from it for so long. I just wanted to kind of get it out there, because I feel like a lot of people give it up without mentioning much. Maybe for good reason though >_>

And for what it's worth I don't mean to insult any personal tastes.

What it amounts to overall for me is two big things: early game is very boring, and getting on-level with friends is kind of....daunting, when that's the biggest reason I got into it in the first place. But I hear what you're driving at.

[nuyu11]

Some of the point are kinda a true.. But after playing this game bout 3 month I'm already get used to it now.

I almost quit this game when I'm still at NA/EU Data Center... Having a bad luck meeting a bad player.
2.5sec GCD is totally slow at first low lvl, dragging MSQ, long wait DPS queue, RMT spam, latency problem and some other minor things.

After 2 weeks play I visited forums and they suggest that Masamune or Tonberry for SEA region, I successfully create 1 character at Masamune around 3am that time, what I said to myself this is my last effort and I quit.

At lvl5 I'm wondering around Limsa then met some stranger and he invite me to his FC, after that I start to enjoy this game.
I'm following MSQ and not skip the dialogue and I found it's kinda interesting. Crafting is fun, for those who complain about the RNG I believe they put too much gamble on it, be patience and take your time you will have the result that you want. End game RAID is challenging for few first run, when you're familiar with it it's not that hard at all, because there is no random skill with the boss rotation what u need is team chemistry.

Elitism still exist among the veteran but what I saw most of them are loser who doesn't get much achievement.
In this game you choose to solo or play with friends but both of it have their pro & con.

Actually I still not finish my MSQ yet, hasn't unlock most of the high lvl roulette because I'm doing Coil first.
Now I'm done with coil and focusing with MSQ, still hoping that able to lvl tank before expansion.

[AskaRay]

To be fair when you say most people who say the GCD isn't slow haven't played any other MMOs on the market...
yeah, they haven't. I'm pretty sure a good portion of this game is being played Final Fantasy fans, not MMO fans (like me, but I have played other MMOs.. and almost all to me are "meh" to "not fun").

[Zenaku]

I stop where you said you dont like the story being behind everything. Ya this game not for you then find something else if you don't enjoy story.

[Ortamus]

Snip

I have quit the game for similar reasons. I waited too long thought which was what annoyed me, the moment you're not having fun get out. The final push I got was when I was sitting in my max stat fishing gear which probably too over a full week of my life to obtain, fished for over 4 hours non-stop trying to catch a certain fish, and when I did my character threw it back in (even though my gathering was 70 pts more than it needed to be). My thoughts were "none of this has been fun, and what's after catching the fish anyway?"

There is one thing that this game has one thing going for it that beats the rest and that's the community (not all of them of course), some of the people I've come to know through this game are the best friends I've made over the last few years. If it weren't for them quitting would have been such an easy decision.

[Vandril]

I can sympathize with many of your points here, but I only agree with a few.

The single factor of your points which struck the biggest chord with me was the higher GCD time than is usual for MMORPGs (thus making lower levels boring), so there are a few things I'd like to note on that:

For one, I'd like to mention that I am a big MMO gamer who will claim and fiercely defend the idea that the GCD does not slow down the game to any noticeable extent once you have a full set of skills. Yes, each GCD-locked skill is slower in use due to the larget GCD, but the abundance of non-GCD skills and emphasis on movement found throughout most of the game allow combat to flow just as quickly and give you as much to do during it as any other MMO on the market. Here's my point: I believe that most players who claim that the FFXIV GCD is not slower than in other MMOs are actually trying to express that FFXIV's combat overall is not slower due to it. I mean, of course the GCD is slower. Just looking at the number of seconds its duration sits at betrays this fact.

Now, my second point is the much more important: you claim that early gameplay is exceptionally boring due to the heightened GCD and I agree wholeheartedly. I, personally, enjoyed the earlier levels. I took one look at the skills my first class would get and immediately realized it would get better at higher levels, so I decided to enjoy the lower levels for what they were rather than what they could be. But not everyone has my level of patience or fundamental understanding of MMO game mechanics. In fact, very few can match my patience with games. So, ultimately, I also feel that the slow lower levels are a big hindrance to the new players of this game.

It's a tricky situation, because there's no easy fix. The GCD is the GCD, and to change that would require a complete rebalance of the game's combat and all its mechanics, not even to mention the player adaptation that many players would be unhappy to require. And it's difficult to imagine them adding new non-GCD skills to the lower levels, considering this game is a skill-progression-as-you-level type of system, meaning low levels will, by their very nature, have few skills.

As a subpoint to this point, I want to mention that this slowness of lower levels may even be intentional. From a marketing standpoint, it would make sense to try to have your lower levels be as easy as possible in order to draw in gamers who generally do not play MMOs. Think about it: there are tons of popular MMOs, and nearly every MMO that comes out nowadays tries to appeal to the same people who already play other MMOs. I know not of a single game other than FFXIV that focused on drawing in subscribers from a pool of players other than those who already played MMOs. By doing so, FFXIV avoided competing directly with other MMOs on the market and expanded their potential audience multiple times over.

I'd also like to mention that I think the single biggest deterrent to new players in this game is character creation lock on populated servers. Seriously. <.<