To the Devs: Communication is failing!

[Rutelor]

Full disclosure: Most of this post is recycled from another one which got lost in the middle of the Byzantine discussion that ensued after the announcement of the changes to come for skills and abilities.

This Byzantine discussion is precisely what I'm complaining about, and I blame the Developers and the moderators for failing to communicate the New Vision that ought to be replacing Tanaka's. I assume there's one. Strategically speaking (the Marketing Department, I'm sure, will agree with me...) this moment--one month before you start charging again--is the wrong moment to inject a pretext for negativity into the community. There are too many trolls happy to run with the opportunity to wreck havoc.

So, again: Could you please give us some of the reasoning behind the disappearance of Water as an offensive spell and the elimination of enfeebling magic? This whole issue will be much less likely to create a spike of animus against the plans of the development team, if they allow us to understand why this is being done, and towards which end.

Just removing a structure that was shown to us as essential from the beginning of the game will make us feel deprived, but giving us a few glimpses of the new structure will make us feel reassured. Showing us the end towards which we are moving will allow us to understand your reasoning and dispel the whiff of arbitrariness we are now getting. The structure the developers are toying with was presented to us as a fundamental object of necessary knowledge, a core constituent of the Adventurer's efforts to understand and conquer the world. Telling us it will be taken away without letting us see what will replace it... this is very likely to make everybody feel mutilated.

I am sure I speak for the vast majority of the community when I say we don't want a excessively streamlined game, that falls into the territory of the simplistic. The pull of the Final Fantasy universes has always been the complex interactions within a very deeply structured system of interacting forces. We, as players, are given the end of very entangled strings, and by pulling them, we slowly learn the effect they produce, and get to partially (very partially) control the forces of the world to our advantage. And the forces are part of a continuously shifting kaleidoscope that permanently plays with the influence of light, darkness, moon, weather, day and hour... You are kept constantly on your toes and your strategy has to change on a dime. That feeling is what brings us here, and we are afraid a good chunk of that is being taken away from hydaelyn. Perhaps it's not, but appearances are paramount. It seems the game is moving towards one in which the point is to gank, and gank fast without much thought. Maybe it's not, but again, that's what it feels like from the very succinct information you gave us.

Could you please give us a clear and illuminating snapshot of the "Vision" as it pertains the interaction of forces (Deities, Elements, Weather, Moon Phases, Weekday, Time of the day, Day or Night...) monsters and players?

It will be much appreciated by all, I'm sure.

R

[DoctorMog]

Yeah, already made a thread.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-me-understand.

[Rutelor]

Yeah, already made a thread.

Which I read and Liked, but your thread seemed to be different... I am requesting from the developers and moderators that they ramp up their act at this critical moment. You seem to be inviting support for your (extremely valid) criticism from the community. I very much like your OP, and therefore invite everybody that reads this one to follow the link on the second post, and participate in that one as well.

R

[Sephrick]

The negativity has been a slow burn since the combined announcement that they're charging us but that the game won't be up to snuff for another year.

That said, there's not much they can do. No amount of information will be enough as there will be more questions than answers till 2.0 is out.

This negativity is the reaction that comes from people slowly realizing that they can do no more than wait and choose to pay about $160 for some prequel lore or pack it in and come back next year.

The development team is between a rock and a hard place. They can make detailed promises now, and possibly disappoint later; or keep quiet now, and seem methodical and concise later. Either way, they're going to lose people. What it boils down to is acceptable loss, which staying tight-lipped now will provide.

What they really need to do is focus on meeting their own deadlines. Since 1.18 they've had a terrible time doing so. Which looks far worse than keeping specific information a secret.

After all, no one but themselves are setting these goals, so attaining them should be easy.

[DoctorMog]

Fair enough,

+1

I do agree that if SE wants to retain players through payment, more communication will be needed before they initiate payment.

A lot of people are asking themselves "what is it exactly I am paying for?"

[Rutelor]

The development team is between a rock and a hard place. They can make detailed promises now, and possibly disappoint later; or keep quiet now, and seem methodical and concise later. Either way, they're going to lose people. What it boils down to is acceptable loss, which staying tight-lipped now will provide.

Very good points all! Your post is full of insight, none sharper than the statement quoted above. I just hope they don't resort to oversimplifying the game for the sake of procedural consistency. That would be extremely sad indeed.

R

[Lucifer]

Oversimplifying is an understatement.
Have you seen a black mage's repertoire? You cast thunder until you get aggro, then you cast ice to reduce aggro. Running low on MP? Conversion.
No enfeebles to cycle.
Nothing to worry about at all...

[Altareon]

Are you seriously blaming Square for why people can't have an adult conversation?

[Holland]

The negativity has been a slow burn since the combined announcement that they're charging us but that the game won't be up to snuff for another year. .

There has never been this "combined" announcement that you speak off. Please leave your opinion out when you're trying to quote anyone.

There is an announcement that fees are starting next month, nothing on your "second" one though.

[Sephrick]

There has never been this "combined" announcement that you speak off. Please leave your opinion out when you're trying to quote anyone.

There is an announcement that fees are starting next month, nothing on your "second" one though.

By combined I mean they told us in the same announcement that 2.0 was coming out in late 2012 and that they'd be starting subscriptions shortly after 1.20. Not sure how you can accuse me of making up anything there as not only was it a major to do here but Yoshida literally flew around the world to discuss it.

Saying it won't be "up to snuff" till then isn't so much an opinion when the new defacto community rep/dev response is "we'll fix it in 2.0."