Thread: So I'm not seeing how this is them changing things up from 2.0/3.0

Originally Posted by RaijinSupreme

Where is the message that they said they would be "changing things up" ?

Two quotes that stick in my mind (although I'm currently unable to find the source for this, then again we are missing some (fanfest) live letter transcripts and there's been so many interviews) were that

1) The expressed intention to close the gap between the bottom and top performers
2) That Heavensward was considered a "safe mode" expansion and Stormblood would be a lot more ambitious

It's obvious that adressing #1 won't be by pulling up the bottom performers since they're removing incentives to improve (look, free gear you can use from dungeon, more free gear for making level 70!) -- and that #2 was just marketingspeak (since SB will launch with the exact same tiered gear treadmill we just finished in Heavensward. Please look forward to it -- again!)

Originally Posted by St0rmchild

It's obvious that adressing #1 won't be by pulling up the bottom performers since they're removing incentives to improve[...]

Well, they've already discussed how they're intending to "bring the bottom up" - by making it easier to perform at a higher level. The idea is that if a top player can bring 2000 DPS and a bottom player 1000 DPS, they'll just make the bottom player deal 1500 DPS with the same skill level while the top player still brings 2000.

And that's why ideas such as permanent Enochian are tossed around.

Originally Posted by SecretCrowds

Here we go again...

It's a continuing discussion because it's a continuing issue. SE in the past did plenty to change the design and flow with each new expansion, I still remember Chains of Promethia, driving players to seek gear that had previously gone to waste so they could play in some of the new areas with level caps. The biggest stagnation of XIV is the lack of creativity. They already have multiple stats in the game they don't bother using (elemental resistances, slashing/piercing/blunt), whole 3d worlds that become wastelands within a weeks and repeated and recycled content. Deep dungeon is basically a watered down Nyzul, Daidem is a failed Dynamis and Alex is just a re-skinned Coil, all with rewards that become outdated the next morning. About the only lasting aspect that continues is building is relics. You can call us old timers if you like but "settling" for what we have isn't something that should be encouraged in game development.

With this, gotta wait to see the Battle System changes to decide if they are being stagnant or not. And honestly any content can be considered "watered down" because the one thing you neglect with said examples are the fact that all those pieces of content were time based. Dynamis I believe is 1/day now, but it use to be an awkward time like 3 days and some hours or something to the extent where you could only do it twice a week.

If Diadem had the same restrictions as Dynamis, then said weapons would be even rarer as each group could only go twice a week at most, and yet with the current setup one can go twice in an hour.

It's a different game ideology which I prefer since XIV reduces the amount of time based restriction to content in favor of being able to do it to your heart's content. However the ability to do it to your hearts content does cause people to be ungrateful because they don't realize how freeing it is to have the freedom to not be restricted to access to certain content on a day to day basis.

From reading this, I feel like I am the only one who is happy that we get the same. I like the game the way it is, I am not saying it can't improve but I like the way progression works in FFXIV.

Originally Posted by KokonoeAiyoko

1. No intention of adding new character customization options in the future.
2. Maps the same size as Heavensward with the same amount of areas.
3. Hunts returning in the same mindless zerg fashion.
4. No new graphical options.
5. More tomestones and they'll have the same weekly limitations.

We're getting an underwater feature, but so far it seems as if this is the same "safe" expansion Heavensward was. What's really here that's going to shake things up for the players? All the vibes I'm getting at the moment is that this is another Heavensward, which is confusing as the budget is a lot higher.

I don't think SE is going to change anything up unless they start losing subscribers. As long as there are an abundance of pseudo-gamers willing to fork over a monthly fee (and additional cash via the Mog Station) for a dress-up simulator with a shallow layer of PvE content layered over it, that's exactly what we're going to get.

At this point, the only motivating factor I have for Stormblood is the storyline. I'll be waiting for reviews, of course, before purchasing (especially since SE is charging a rather-high $40 for the expansion). That's about the only 'fresh' thing the expansion appears to be offering.

R: Before 2.0, you described this system where beast tribes would summon Primals in the open world and you’d be able to fight them outside instanced battles and Free Companies could go fight them. Has this idea been completely discarded or is it still in plans in some form?
Y: It is planned as content, and it's still a thing. But it’s a matter of when it would be a perfect fit to have that content released. If the community becomes very tight-knit and sort of like closed almost, kind of like on auto-pilot. If and when that happens is when I feel it’s appropriate to release this kind of content; I'm envisioning a guild versus guild type of scenario. I feel that releasing the content is still way too early at this point, had it not been for so many players being on FF14 yes that’s still kind of the reason we’re needing to monitor the situation. At the time of 2.0 development, we didn’t expect so many people joining the community.

This is a statement that bugs me the most. The problem isn't the community but rather the game design. The entire game can be played from town with random people from other servers. You group up with them, say hi and bye, and never see them again so you never have a chance to "befriend" them. Studies show the people you are most likely to be friends with are school and work associates. This is because these are the people you see on a daily bases and have communication with. Reason older MMORPG had tight-knit community is because it was closed world and you kept seeing the same people over and over. You would group up and eventual form guilds.

Now I'm not saying DF queue is a bad thing but you need a healthy mix of Open World and Open Data Center content. We still can't even form alliances in open world for FATE and Hunts, seriously come on SE. I'm also not saying we need FFXI's HNM battles either but need open world group content. You can even add a World based Duty Finder to make it easier be matched up with people.

Originally Posted by Zojha

Well, they've already discussed how they're intending to "bring the bottom up" - by making it easier to perform at a higher level. The idea is that if a top player can bring 2000 DPS and a bottom player 1000 DPS, they'll just make the bottom player deal 1500 DPS with the same skill level while the top player still brings 2000.

And that's why ideas such as permanent Enochian are tossed around.

That's not bringing up the bottom, that's dumbing the game down -- and rather than bring up the bottom, it drags down the top; if it's that braindead to have 'acceptable' dps, why bother going the extra distance to perform better ?
That's a very slippery slope to go down ...