It was only a matter of time that some actual healthy discussion begins on the subjects the development team have put forth for us to evaluate. The social networking players engage in discussing relevant issues is not only a testament to the player base SE has built, but is the acknowledgment when something is wrong, everyone knows about it.

Plenty of criticism has only created an opportunity for SE to truly shift from the old model of doing business to the new model when done constructively, has created things like this very forum.

Accountability has been put on the shoulders of those if given the time and thoughtful evaluation of all of our ideas, will spark a new dawn in where SE takes their players and integrate them into their long term commitment to investing in players ideas and wants balanced with the development teams ability to deliver on content worthy of their name.

I think Alexia also has interesting ideas in the implementation. Indeed the question revolves around RentaHamster's quote that should SE make their move, it will need to be a well thought out and well implemented system because like most things in life no one ever remembers all the good things you have done, they only remember the major screw up you have yet to be accountable for.

Yes, people complain about the game being free, no content, etc... but the key here is drive home the point, we gamers pay to play. If I am paying for a service strictly for my personal enjoyment, then yes my expectations will always be high. Constructively, most people voice their personal opinion without any thought as to the logistics in implementation, time to write code, and overall balance that will be in direct opposition for the elite to maximize the consequence of these actions and either exploit them or use for what they were intended for.

We gamers have always been assumed to be merely pawns in a game that play the game mindlessly, without thought, or without intent. The reasons SE has been scrambling to create something new, is because they underestimated the fact that most of us FF11 players are masters of grinding, gaining SP/EXP , etc... they created an elite group of gamers by their own accord and are paying the price for being lax in that acknowledgment.

If anything our standards will continue to drive SE's focus, that will require the implementation of greater things based on the players ideas. The ivory tower SE lives in now is under siege and so the best way to re-define the industry standard is to listen to what we have to say.

Now Rome wasn't built in a day, so I implore people to give SE a moment to breathe, be constructive in your thoughts, and know that SE is taking a huge risk opening up their forums for our voice to be heard. Use this forum to re-define the industry. I have always been a fisherman in-game so i know what being patient adds to the equation: Quality.

Alexia is spot on when she describes the how to look at a complicated issue. I want to add at the risk of being pigeon holed into "go back to FF11", the ideas that conceptually made FF11 so damn good. The merit system SE created in principle gave rise to the best of the best putting in time to evolve a character into something we never thought was possible. My COR in FF11 was an incredible pulling machine, not because it was any different than other COR's options to merit certain abilities, but the customization created virtually exactly what I wanted out of the job: precise fishing job that could maximize the potential of the PT when it came to exp'ing or grinding now.

I would invite SE to take a look at a merit based system when considering introducing advanced jobs. We all know you don't have to be intellectual to grind a job to 50, all you need is time. To separate this rather mindless, but needed system is introduce what elite players want : a fully customizable set of directives that add functionality to the current class system and bolster that with ways to increase certain attributes. The guilds would be a good place to start. Each class has a guild, so begin there.

I mean does SE really think giving me a a transfer from piety to vitality for 8000 guild marks makes for a reasonable reward? It is like they have forgotten their roots, the stamina bar (besides the bottleneck it creates) would not be such a point of contention had they introduced real rewards like haste. The food issue is good for being well-fed but what the hell does that mean? All we get in food stuffs is a boost of stats +5 or less, it is then tiered to class level as if eating a honey muffin versus a poppy seed muffin would create any incentive to craft or even eat food for that matter.

Use a merit system in principle to create advanced jobs that require customization of what we the players want in terms of specific job/class customization. Use the current guild system to deliver the goods by performing tasks we know will make our character ours. Thanks^^

Ps. Alexia we know each other.