Mac client needs to be reborn..? :(

[Avenger]

Thanks so much for the response and commitment to improving the Mac client!! We appreciate your efforts to make a Mac version even though it is not currently up to Square Enix's usual standards of quality and performance.

The Mac version of FFXIV uses the same executable files as the Windows version, and it was created using middleware that allows for functions of Windows to be converted into functions that can be executed on a Mac. This middleware is constantly running for the Mac version, which is an overhead not found in the Windows version. However, this is not a Windows emulator; it is middleware that transposes various types of functions so that they can be properly ran on a Mac. One example where this system is used is for converting the functions of DirectX into OpenGL.

This almost certainly the root cause of the very low performance. As many Mac users have noted with dismay, even Parallels (a full virtual machine monitor) runs the Windows FFXIV client with better performance than the Transgaming/Cider/WINE-based wrapper.

One thing I would like to add with is that Apple has announced their next Mac OS, El Capitan, will have features that may largely improve the performance for running various games. We’ll be talking to Apple about this and continue to make performance improvements so that the gaming experience on Macs are even better.

It would be absolutely wonderful for the game engine to natively support El Capitan's improved graphics technology! such as Metal. Metal has already greatly improved graphics performance and quality for games that use it on iOS, and it should provide similar benefits for games that use it natively on Mac OS X.