Producer and Director Yoshi-P here. As always, I’d like to thank you all for your continued feedback regarding the Feast. We’re already looking ahead to Season Two and carefully considering what adjustments we might make to job balance based on your valuable contributions.

Today I’d like to formally address four recent topics of discussion. While this post will be quite long, we hope that you’ll take the time to read it in its entirety.

■The Use of Third-Party Tools for Tracking Buffs and Debuffs■
Recently there has been some debate regarding the use of certain third-party tools during PvP matches. These tools have been used to view detailed information about opponents, generate audio notifications when certain actions are triggered, and provide other data in windows separate from those of the FFXIV UI. The development team is well aware of this situation and is currently weighing various options.

As prohibiting the use of third-party tools can lead some to confusion (”Are chat programs prohibited?” “What falls within the definition of “third-party tool?”), I should state that our policy is to not place excessive restrictions on our players; we simply do not want you to use devices or software which are in violation of the terms of service.

However, we do not condone the use of tools which provide an advantage in PvP by obtaining information, such as player position and buff/debuff status, by parsing packet data and utilizing it in the manner described above. Therefore, to discourage the use of such tools, we are considering using a different encryption protocol for PvP packets.

We understand that even should we change encryption protocols with every patch, third-party developers will continue to update their tools. Nevertheless, by using separate protocols for PvP and PvE, and by frequently updating protocols, we hope to prevent the use of these tools during a season. We are currently carefully evaluating the feasibility of this approach—how often we might need to update encryption protocols, as well as what precise methods we might employ. While it may be some time before we are able to implement any changes, we ask for your understanding and patience.

And to those of you who are using tools which afford you an unfair advantage in PvP, I would ask that you refrain from doing so.
■Abusive Language and Harassment During and After Matches■
We have been receiving numerous reports of players using abusive language during and after PvP matches. This is a problem we intend to address strongly.

As a gamer, I know that in competitive situations, emotions run high. However, that is no excuse for abusive language. Harassing party members will not make them play better, and it will not improve your win rate.

I understand that you may find it frustrating to be matched with lower ranked players who possess different motivations and skill sets, and I realize that such frustrations may fuel your desire to lash out at others. Later in this post, I will talk about some steps we will be taking to improve matchmaking, which I hope will go some way towards addressing this issue.

Make no mistake: abusive language is harassment. So before you press enter, I urge you to step back, take a deep breath, and think about how your message might be received, and whether or not there might be a better way to express it.

Be advised that all reports of abusive language and harassment will be investigated, and disciplinary action will be taken where appropriate.

That being said, we are also aware that the intent behind text-based communication is not always clear, and that some statements may be misinterpreted. Rest assured that our GMs will take care to evaluate whether or not the statements in question are in violation of our guidelines.

Depending on the severity and frequency of confirmed violations, players may be subject to account suspension or termination. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding.
■Ranked Matchmaking Ranges■
Currently, when players participate in a ranked PvP match, they may face opponents within a range of three tiers (bronze, silver, and gold only, for example). While we would ideally like all matches to take place between players in a single tier, we are still studying data in order to strike a balance between matchmaking speed and range. However, we are also well aware that there is a significant barrier for players participating in ranked matches for the first time, as they can be paired with much more experienced players with whom they struggle to coordinate.

To address this issue, we are considering splitting players into two groups: Unranked – Bronze (possibly Silver), and all higher tiers. We are also continuing to look into ways we might improve our matchmaking algorithms to reduce the skill disparity between players.

These changes are being considered based on observations of Season One matchmaking, and may be implemented for the start of Season Two.

Should you have any comments or suggestions regarding this issue, we invite you to submit them.
■Job Balance■
As mentioned in previous posts, should we determine that certain jobs or abilities are too strong or too weak, we may make adjustments, even in the middle of a season, if we deem it absolutely necessary. That being said, we will do our utmost to postpone significant system changes until the start of the subsequent season.

At this time, we are planning to make several adjustments, in particular to strengthen both dark knight and ninja in PvP, with patch 3.3. These adjustments are still being tested internally, and so we ask that you please wait a little longer.
In the meantime, we hope you continue to enjoy the Feast!