"If you ignore them long enough.."

[MistakeNot]

those introduced would directly signal the death of the game. NPC companions in MMOs (especially for instances) only get added when there's not enough population anymore.

Except for SWTOR that had NPC companions from the very beginning.

[Andrea]

I would also like to know where the following concepts are:

-The ability to enter dungeons with NPCs
-The ability to have companions other than our chocobos
-The possibility of using retainers as companions inside and/or outside of dungeons

Having NPC partners was mentioned by the devs as a possibility some time ago, but it has gotten little to no coverage since.

I'll be honest. I hope none of these ever happen until the game is literally unplayable if it doesn't.

What you're suggesting is we take everything that makes an mmo a mmo and turn it single player.

[BloodPact]

I'll be honest. I hope none of these ever happen until the game is literally unplayable if it doesn't.

What you're suggesting is we take everything that makes an mmo a mmo and turn it single player.

Not necessarily. Even more now that you can now basically stay out of contact with the outside world in most instances. If you have three other friends you can roulette or straight out run basically anything without needing another player. The exception would be newer full party content.

If they are to allow chocobos it will probably have to be on undersized configurations only. No one will want to run a roulette with another person's companion instead of a player. It would probably take way more time. What this would do is provide an alternative for people who want to farm or tackle super old content without having to wait years in the queue (especially DPS).

[Belhi]

Gather here all conspiracy theorist!

I think they have addressed this several times. I mean wasn't it asked again the live letter before last. I doubt they are under any belief that people are going to drop it as an issue.

Frankly I think they need a pretty major overhaul of their Server setup particularly as the game continues to expand. The question is if they have the means and the time to do such a change.

I would also like to know where the following concepts are:

-The ability to enter dungeons with NPCs
-The ability to have companions other than our chocobos
-The possibility of using retainers as companions inside and/or outside of dungeons

Having NPC partners was mentioned by the devs as a possibility some time ago, but it has gotten little to no coverage since.

Actually what they were talking about was creating a system where the player could recruit and develop a grand company squad and do content with it. Im pretty sure they didn't mention retainers at the time and I don't think it was intended to replace the Chocobo companion.

[Grux]

Updated thread with much stronger objective.

[Belhi]

OP, you realise they have actually commented on almost everything you listed. They know all this stuff already and its all frequently asked.

1. Storage and inventory is linked to server issues and they need to figure out a fix on that before they can expand inventory further. Don't ask me about retainers cause I'm only saying what they said.

2. Yoshi P mains a BLM not a DRG. Im not sure why they decided to have such a limited set but my guess is that with the other armour sets (which should be about 4 sets total) they are adding plus the new glamours it might simply be an issue of available resources to develop sets. Making 12 completely unique sets takes a lot more time. As for the DRK black flame they found its animation looked off when mounted and such. It was a design call and frankly without having seen how it looked its hard to claim good or bad on that.

3. I agree on Choco Medica. As for the rest I think they mentioned entering old duties with a Chocobo but none of the rest. As I said before what they did say is they are working on a system where you train up a squad of GC soldiers to do content with you. Its probably still in development. Systems like that are the type of thing that get added with expansions.

4. Cant comment on PvP much but at least they are paying it some attention.

5. I agree with the parry issue. DRKs are fine. Why do you feel they are lacking? Do WARs offer more raid utility apart from perhaps the slashing debuff? PLD's do but that is PLD's thing. Egi glamours are in production but low priority. Gravity is fine. Isn't it the same radius as most AoEs?

6. Elemental Materia are a legacy of 1.0. Personally I'd prefer if they just phased them out.

7. They said that they would increase GC ranks when it actually had some solid gameplay value behind it rather than just be turning in more GC seals. Personally I expect we will see something whenever we see the 'train your own unit' thing they talked about.

8. It would be nice. Currently I think my FC just shares linkshells with other FCs.

9. They are doing something instanced in 3.3. It will basically an apartment system that doesn't require GC membership and allows things like small gardening plots.

In general though the answer to most of your points is likely one of 3 thing:

1. Didn't work well in game
2. In production but low priority or requires long development time
3. Don't have the resources available to develop and implement

Again, they have commented on pretty much most of your points already, in some cases quite recently.

[LadyVal]

2. As for the DRK black flame they found its animation looked off when mounted and such. It was a design call and frankly without having seen how it looked its hard to claim good or bad on that.

6. Elemental Materia are a legacy of 1.0. Personally I'd prefer if they just phased them out.

I think part of why that effect was changed was because it did hurt some people's eyes. I remember before they changed it, for me, it was just weirdly disorienting to look at and kept distracting me because I always thought there was something moving when it was just the DRK's animation. If I am remembering the same skill's animation, it was like a big orb of the "heat wave" weather in the desert, but red, and concentrated around the DRK. It was like having an orb of red drunk vision around the tank. lol. (Though this is assuming I am thinking of the right move.)

I think everyone realizes elemental materia are useless, and I think they kept it around as an RNG of sorts, like sometimes your spiritbonding just gave you junk. My guess is they did it to keep the market from being flooded with good materia, and it losing its value. But now since spiritbonding is practically useless, and they are actively making it easier to get materia in other ways, I agree it should just be removed at this point. So hopefully they do that.

[Linadae]

Let's not forget their promise of personal housing that would be both separate and much cheaper than free company housing.

And no...apartment buildings and personal rooms do not and will never count in my book unless the physical size can be expanded.

So Yoshida, Mr. Housing, I'm still waiting for you to keep your promise...

[LadyVal]

One thing I'm surprised they still haven't touched on was the wandering primals and the ability for FCs to "hold" a primal that they killed in the open world for buffs or for some special kind of primal LB inside instances for FC members.

[Eul]

Bunny ears for males...