Please release an .ISO containing the game client and all the patches on one disc

[Antipika]

Not like they will bother before PS3/PC 2.0. No point in making a new launcher for a year or less...

Only 2 to 3 major updates remain until then.

[nasomi]

If it's taking forever, the problem is on your end. It takes me 20min to install off dvd and under an hour to patch start to finish. I did it 3 weeks ago after i bought my two kids new computers for xmas and put ffxiv on them, as well as a month ago when I bought a new SSD. This 1hr20min install time was far better thana nything i've ever seen in ffxi, and I played that game for 8 years, reinstalling at least every year, if not every 6mo, due to hardware upgrades. And I have the vanadiel collections from 2005-2010, so from 3 discs to dvd, plus patch time. FFXIV is like lightening compared to ffxi.

[normalforce]

With the FFXIV patcher, it's hit or miss for me. I've had some updates that went by blazingly fast and others that painfully slow. Though when I use uTorrent on the slow ones, I get the file in minutes.

[Bahn]

Just a heads up, I'm sure I'm already telling you what you know Rentahamster:

I think the FFXIV game folder is a static folder that contains almost no other data that gets changed every time you launch the application UNLESS there is a patch.

Meaning, even though Square-Enix probably won't get around to your request, you can do a makeshift do-it-yourself backup solution: Just copy the entire FFXIV folder to your favorite backup source. If you want to save space, you can go ahead and rar/7zip the thing before sending it over. Since your backup was from a time when FFXIV was working, this would make a "last known good backup". If a patch screws over your installation, rename the old FFXIV folder to something like Final Fantasy XIV.derp and then copy over the known good backup back to where the original FFXIV folder was installed.

In fact, I think you can even do this with fresh installs. Fresh install FFXIV so that the installer writes the necessary registry keys to tell Windows that 14 is installed. After the install, run both the config utility and game once (in case additional keys need to be written), quit, then rename the installed FFXIV folder and copy over your good backup. It should boot right off the bat like as though nothing happened. As of this post, the FFXIV directory is about 10.5 GB - if you compress that down with the best compression method using either 7zip or WinRAR, you can probably make that size smaller (I'm only guessing, as I don't want to spend the time to wait for it to compress to test).

You'll save a lot of time using this method because 1) You don't have to wait for the patch to download, which can be an issue because of port configuration and for the fact that the default XIV downloader is just a BitTorrent client that has major issues with download speeds (you get better speeds off of uTorrent - why is that? DHT?) and because some people are capped and/or only have access to ISPs with crap download/upload bandwith and 2) you don't have to wait for the patches to install, which could take you a lot of time if you don't have an SSD or a modern computer.

[Atoli]

Taking 3 hours to install the game might just drive some new players away.

Ha...haha..that's a typo right?
It took me 8+ hours to download just the updates from release to pre-patch 1.18.
And an additional 10-16 hours for every patch since then (well, I worked my way around but that's what the patcher told me how long it would take).
Who would get offended over 3 hours of downloading?

No seriously, OP is right.
Except for the "three hours".

[Rentahamster]

"The problem is with you. Get a better PC"

That is totally not the way to show customer support. My main PC has an SSD and other high end components, but the PC that I reinstalled FF14 on this time was just a normal one. A company should strive to make it as accessible as possible for customers (now PAYING customers) to enjoy their product with as little hassle as possible.

"it's better than FF11 was" is an unacceptable settlement. I want the process to take 15 minutes, not 1 hour, not 3 hours, not 9 hours, like some other people have to go through.

Workarounds such as copying over the program folder of a patched FF14 installation to a fresh one is also an unacceptable settlement. Why must customers have to go through these kinds of hoops in order to work around a company's inability to provide a more convenient method?

[Atoli]

"The problem is with you. Get a better PC"

Workarounds such as copying over the program folder of a patched FF14 installation to a fresh one is also an unacceptable settlement.

I'm happy this actually works
But I agree, that's not how it is supposed to be.

The problem lies not with my PC either, it's because of SE's patcher, because I never had any problem with the patchers of other games.
Right now it is okay, because it's just one patch at a time, but I always hope I never get corrupted files, because it's just such a horror vision to be forced to download the entire game again..

I can imagine how it would be for new players..

[Bahn]

Workarounds such as copying over the program folder of a patched FF14 installation to a fresh one is also an unacceptable settlement. Why must customers have to go through these kinds of hoops in order to work around a company's inability to provide a more convenient method?

I'm just saying, there is an available (yet unconventional) solution to your issue right now. I COMPLETELY agree that a slipstreamed FFXIV should be available for download for all users, but while they're working on that, there's a readily available solution for you that you can use for now while they're setting this up. It sucks, it's not optimal, but I'm trying to help you out here and I AM agreeing that we need a slipstreamed ISO for the player base.

Maybe I've been beaten over the head too much by Bethesda games - their games are so bug-ridden that it often takes users doing really bass-ackwards workarounds to get certain things to work. It would be great if Bethesda addressed the 129508103985 bugs that are present in Skyrim, but sometimes you just have to find your own way of fixing them until they do it.

It's no different here. I would love a burnable ISO that gets updated every patch to reflect the current FFXIV build, but in the meantime, while you and I post here, what's there we can do?

[Rentahamster]

I'm just saying, there is an available (yet unconventional) solution to your issue right now. I COMPLETELY agree that a slipstreamed FFXIV should be available for download for all users, but while they're working on that, there's a readily available solution for you that you can use for now while they're setting this up. It sucks, it's not optimal, but I'm trying to help you out here and I AM agreeing that we need a slipstreamed ISO for the player base.

Maybe I've been beaten over the head too much by Bethesda games - their games are so bug-ridden that it often takes users doing really bass-ackwards workarounds to get certain things to work. It would be great if Bethesda addressed the 129508103985 bugs that are present in Skyrim, but sometimes you just have to find your own way of fixing them until they do it.

It's no different here. I would love a burnable ISO that gets updated every patch to reflect the current FFXIV build, but in the meantime, while you and I post here, what's there we can do?

Yes, this is quite right. Sorry if I came across as critical to your advice. I appreciate the advice, and am critical of SE, not you.

[BruceyBruceyBangBang]

They already have condensed the patches down with fresh installs. Like Jen said, I did a fresh reinstall last patch and it only took about 20 minutes to patch. You just need to adjust your port settings or possibly your connection is just slow.

It's hard for them to do something like what you're asking when they know very well the game will absolutely not sell until they launch their newly redeveloped version. Creating new updated clients sounds pretty pointless when you have something such as 2.0 planned. Will probably have to just bare with it until then. Just being direct with my answer. Don't take it as being rude. As you are with most common sense responses that don't seem to be in your favor.