November? really?

[TruebladeNuke]

I had a longer speech prepared for how bad I think this single thread has become over the mere night, but I think I'll just simply do the following:

*Facepalm*

Maybe taking a break from this forum isn't such a bad idea after all... This entire thread alone is just sad.

[Kaurie]

C'mon, you can't say something like that and not elaborate. :v

I feel that it's obvious. There are also approximately 5 40-page long threads discussing this that are on the first few pages of this very forum.

However, cliffs notes version is:
Due to adding levels (which I am not against) they made all level 50 content not relevant.
The majority of the content added was betweens level 50 and 60, so once you hit 60 it's not relevant.
They added an ex primal which were obsolete upon launch (due to law > bismark weap)
They made the other ex primal obsolete not much later (with eso > rav weap)
They made Alex NM obsolete 2 weeks after it launched with the addition of esoterics and savage

Essentially, a lot of content was added and was already in the game, and due to their design, they made 99% of it obsolete very quickly. It's an easy fix in many ways though. They need to provide appropriate incentives to go to other content. Here some ideas to help keep more content relevant:
- Give us more esoterics for leveling roulette, get us doing other dungeons than the same 2
- Give us esoterics for hunts, get us out in the open world
- Less esoterics for expert roulette
- Ponies or mounts from ex primals
- 190 rings from Rav ex to couple with Alex NM
- The ability to replay side-quests and stories
- Give experience from the High Level Dungeons (apparently coming in a couple months?) - guess what, fate grinding is boring and so is spamming the same 1 dungeon over and over and over. Let me go play some of the many fun level 50 ones rather than making every single one of them pointless.
- Put a cap on spending esoterics per job, rather than earning esoterics. If I want to spend more time playing the game, I don't see why I can't use that time to equip my Scholar. Right now, I've capped Eso's, so I can log in and do something I hate (like crafting) or idle. Why not let me do something I enjoy? Makes no sense.
etc etc.

From Relevancy, I would agree - provisionally. We would have to disregard the entirety of leveling content and focus purely on the endgame comparison to reach your conclusion.

No there is clearly more content at level 50 that has become obsolete than was added even in the leveling. It took 2 days to hit 60, it really wasn't that much.

[Hyrist]

Are people really complaining about more horizontal gear? And more content for casuals so we can have the same iLV as the "oh mighty and great" savage raiders? My God...

My understanding is the prevalent complaint is that it's taking too long ,and that there isn't enough 'hype' generated about the patch. *shurg*

[F_Maximillian]

I find alot of these replies truly funny yet reassuring at the same time. I'll try to tackle some of the things I've seen in here one at a time starting with the complaints that 2.0 launched with vastly more content than 3.0 did. Yes, this is completely true and there's very good reasons for it. The development team had years to develop the 2.0 launch, had content from 1.0 to draw on, and made damn sure to put as much of their best foot forward as possible because 2.0 was the last chance for FFXIV to succeed. 3.0 was developed over the time while these same developers also rolled out content patches from 2.0 to 2.5, giving them far much more work to do in a much shorter time span. And for an expansion that will continually update unlike many games with expansions that make you wait over a year for what winds up being less content than what is generally rolled out by consistent patching.

Which brings me to the other thing, patch cycle. I've waited far longer between patches for much less content. Sure, those games weren't trying to be top titles but the point still stands in the industry I don't know of any MMORPG that rolls content out as quickly as FFXIV does. Yes, content does indeed exist in the game beyond simply ignoring everything but getting "BiS" gear and then sitting in town complaining how bored you are while at the same time flexing your ego at all the plebeians who are obviously worthless compared to you. For those of us who find interest in doing more than that in this game there's plenty of content to get through. I've played games where maybe 20% of the content interested me too, once I did what I wanted I took a break instead of complaining that the developers couldn't keep up with my habit like so many do here. After all, I would hope that rational beings would realize developers could probably never keep up with developing content at the rate their consumers can blow through it.

However, there's always the crowd that seems to have missed the memo but that same crowd is usually the unpleasant types to begin with. After reading a lot of these posts I've spotted quite a few of people who I identify as such. If you aren't happy with what the game currently brings to the table then you no longer need to keep playing. Last time I checked we didn't get shackled to our chairs when we logged in after all. For those of us here, that would be a great benefit in the quality of people we run into. We'd have less people ranting and raving when something goes wrong in a dungeon or a raid and less complaints about how the game is dying and it isn't fun and all other variations of doomsday that people like to come out with. I'd much rather have to wait a bit longer to find people for running content than have a wide pool of people I couldn't be paid enough to spend an hour locked in an instance with after all.

The developers are human too and they've been putting ridiculous hours into developing this content, that need I remind a lot of people, is on more than one platform so extra coding must be involved there as well. I have no problems waiting a bit longer because the developers took a well deserved break so they can rest and continue to bring us more content to the game. Businesses, just like statics (that fail because people decide every free minute of their group member's time belongs to the static) require their workers to be well rested and functional in order to succeed. I've noticed people mentioning that people in their statics are quitting when most of these statics haven't even fully cleared savage and I'd suspect it's due to the same mindsets belonging to people who decided the developers don't deserve a break.

[Iromi]

That may not be their decision, but of SE's. Regardless, you're welcome to go. They were aware of the possibility when they made the decision.

I remember once they said they keep a small dev team because they prefer quality over quantity...how true that is, I have no idea. However I will refrain from posting anything else due to fear of getting banned on forums again ^^; All I can say is, hope the November update is good!

[Hyrist]

Kaurie, you've proven my argument for me as you begin to itemize while you maintain a stance that once you hit endgame, content ceases to be relevant. (Which brings to mind this image.)

This means you base relevancy only on the progression mechanic which is a major logical flaw.

All content for leveling is relevant for anyone who wants to level something. Beyond that, much of it is involved in currency grind for introductory equipment required to participate in much endgame content - this includes level 50 dungeons that are part of High level Roulette.

Rewards from content that contain items not tied to Progression mechanic (Glamours, Furniture pieces, Mounts, and Chocobo Baring) remain continually relevant for those who seek these rewards. Again, ignoring parts of the game because it does not interest you does not make it objectively irrelevant. This isn't even touching on Golden Saucer, which is effectively timeless and includes rewards from content you've deemed irrelevant.

There is a heavy bias in your opinion that is skewed intentionally towards a very narrow view surrounded completely on reliance of a progression-based endgame.

The target audience for this game, however, is that of a player who seeks to obtain a variety of goals not tied in its entirety to progression. This is clear in how distributed the content is across different aspects and walks of the game. One of the trade off for this intention, however, is that updates to any one particular vein of play-style tends to be thin and slow coming.

Even so, as have been spoken, content updates come at a rate that is above those of other MMOs. With it, of course, comes the further inflated expectations of the playerbase. A common customer service mantra I cite in this instance: "There's no pleasing anyone."

I remember once they said they keep a small dev team because they prefer quality over quantity...how true that is, I have no idea. However I will refrain from posting anything else due to fear of getting banned on forums again ^^; All I can say is, hope the November update is good!

I hope so to. But if you're aiming to leave the game, what's the harm in being banned?

[Alisa180]

I'm probably one of the few who is actually *glad* we aren't getting the new content until November.

Back in World of Warcraft, I literally couldn't keep up. During Cata, I hit level cap only in time for the very last raid tier. I never reached raiding in Mists at all, and quit upon realizing I wasn't. Which sucked, since what raid healing I did get to do was some of the most fun I ever had. (To be fair, part of this has to do with the fact I played a Holy Priest. Thank god for Cleric Stance and allowing healers, CNJ/WHM in my case, to actually get through quests. Tanking chocobo saved my ass on more then a few occasions too.)

When I started playing FFXIV, it was less then two months before HW released. I didn't make endgame before the release, needless to say. Which sucks, 'cause now I'm going to have to go out of my way to find an FC or party to do Coil. And it was a while before I reached Ishgard and got cracking on HW content. Now, don't get me wrong here, I loved every second of it, the story and characters are fantastic. I'm on the verge of reaching the necessary gear level for Alex NM. I expect to reach that point next week. Hearing Alex won't be obsolete for a while longer comes as a surprising relief, since it means unless I suddenly stop playing for a while, I'll be reaching endgame content while it's still relevant. Likely, Patch 3.1 will be releasing just as I get as sick of Alex, Neverreap, and FC as everyone else.

So, I actually think the vacation for the developers and the patch delay was well-timed. A lot of new players have been drawn in by the hype surrounding HW, and you have to remember that there's a *long* way to go before endgame. It wouldn't surprise me if many of them, like myself, are only just reaching endgame and/or have only reached it relatively recently. The delay gives us all the chance to do endgame while it's still relevant, rather then being left behind on the treadmill. And considering how patches usually come in 3 month intervals, a normal schedule would have left me, and other HW newcomers, in the dust all too soon. If veterans leave because they're bored, that's fine. Us newcomers will simply fill in the gaps, and we'll hopefully see you again when 3.1 releases.

[Kaurie]

Kaurie, you've proven my argument for me as you begin to itemize while you maintain a stance that once you hit endgame, content ceases to be relevant. (Which brings to mind this image.)
)

No, I stated them as separate issues. The amount of added content is less than the content lost from ARR.

Additionally, most of the content added has become irrelevant.

Further, I understand there are aspects of the game I do not enjoy, and I respect that it's been added and people enjoy it. It doesn't remove the fact that much of the added content has become irrelevant due to the core game design. I don't really wish to argue this, as I don't care if you agree or not.

I think i've added everything to the discussion that I need to / want to at this point.

Cheers,
Kaurie

[Iromi]

I hope so to. But if you're aiming to leave the game, what's the harm in being banned?

Because this isn't my account..haha my friend kindly lets me post and use it for now xD

[Alexander_Dragonfang]

Personally i wouldn`t mind a 5 month wait of content if we get more polished, well thought and consistent content.

Many of the feature problems of this game i think, comes from hurrying up, 3 months seem to be short considering that every mayor feature outside raiding content has been in the need to be late hotfixed several times and some have been literal failures (hunts come to mind immediatly) ... i understand many stay for the speed of content for raiding, but the game isn`t about only raiding, id rather have a higher quality, consistent and properly planed content, than the usual bloops of bad content we get.