Post reason why you are stopping/quitting to help the devs improve FFXIV

[Sephr]

[B][U] (Ie; magic projectiles rather than appearing instantly on the target) and the casting animation should be unique to the property of the magic. Ie: enh

YES. It bugs me that no one else seems to comment on this, it just seems so half-assed the way there's no actual contact between the caster and recipient. The worst thing is it's so obvious for just about every ability in the game, it never feels like you're actually making contact with just about anything.

Also, the new casting spell effects aren't good enough to be the final versions, the ones in the 2.0 screenshot look better so I'm hoping there's more to be fun.

Not to single this out, the whole post was great and I agree with it all, it's good to be critical for feedback.

[Mirana]

[Reason why you're stopping/quitting FFXIV]
I'm not stop or quit , but if i do then maybe of these following terms

1.I don't know if other feel like me or not but lately
I thinking about the lack of Rare/Ex gears (include seasonal event gears) unique stat.
If future Rare/Ex gears are going to be like currently that has no interested stat at all ,
It's no meaning to keep or collecting it. You'll discard it after get the achievements.
As you guys already knows Sipahi , Mercenary , Warlock and Darkhold gears (some parts)
can't match up the craft gear with affixed with materias , and that even make it less interested.
Even Moogle's weapons now are not as interested as Ifrit's ( for most DoW ).
So please SE use your imagine create some more interesting gears that worth to keep , worth to collected.

2.Botters. I think i can't say much about this one since it will effected so many people,
Event it's against the Term of Service , they're still at large and SE didn't even make a move.

3.If you can't do as you're promised. We see , We hope and We believe when you released your patch note.
Everytime you released the patch note , I think every player who's read getting excited and starting discussion.
Then don't let their hope down. ( mostly about some bugs )
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[Parts you enjoyed about FFXIV]
I think i don't know what it is now , I can't state it in a words.

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[Parts you were disappointed with FFXIV]
Already said in the first question.

[What kind of changes do you want to see for you to come back and play?] (optional)
Already said in the first question.

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[Last comment]
Little suggestion. IMO, I think players can toggle on/off Chocobo's theme would be nice.

[Rowyne]

I don't wish to derail this thread into a discussion, but I did wish to respond to a couple things and add one or two points I wish I had included in my original feedback.

I paid up for now as a show of support, but considering upcoming things in my life (fingers crossed, I might get a job in Japan soon, but I'll need money to move) I may have to cancel. This is something I'd endeavor to avoid if I was fully enjoying the game, but right now there are some issues.

OJtheLIONKing, your post really reflected my dissatisfaction with how undisguised grinding has taken over this game, as well as the need to re-evaluate how well they're supporting solo/duo content in the lower levels. I was glad to see someone else shared my views in this regard.

There are a plethora of reasons why I am not supporting the subscription fee. A few primary ones should be highlighted though for SE to understand.

{SNIP}

Unfortunately, I hope SE, Yoshi, and the XIV development team realizes that they need to start sending out player polls to people both playing and not playing in order to gauge further opinions and work done on the game. XIV needs to attract the people that left, not the people who are staying. And now that billing has been implemented, there are even more people who are leaving due to principle alone. Not because they can't afford it... the game just isn't fun. So for all the good work that has been done on XIV's future concepts, I just hope they continue gauging opinions from people outside the game in some way... since our voices will be squelched by the restricted forum access.

Tibian, you are my hero. This is quite possibly the most epic post ever to grace these forums. There were multiple times where I was nodding my head in agreement.

Your closing remarks also really hit home with me. While SE definitely needs to keep its diehard fans happy, they need to be even more concerned about why an overwhelming majority of players were unhappy with the game. And now, after subscriptions have begun, I'm afraid those opinions will be even harder to reach. If SE wants to poll responses from their now current subscribers separately, that's fine, but they would be remiss if they did not still find a way to collect feedback from those who can no longer post on the forums, as well.

Hi Rowyne,

Great post and well-stated reasons why you're leaving. You've provided valuable feedback to the Dev Team time and again and you'll be missed.

I definitely agree with your biggest requests about needing more Story-based Content. In a way, it's really tough for Yoshida-san and company right now...

Thanks for the kind words, Kiara.

I do understand that Yoshi-P does have a vision for the future, and wants to make changes to how the story is presented in this game, as well as giving us more of it. I'm hoping that means tightening up the main storyline so it's not so disjointed, voice acting in cutscenes to give us the well-crafted Final Fantasy style quests that raise these games to the top of the genre. Additionally, I'd also like to see WoW style quests.

I understand why a lot of the restructuring can't happen until 2.0. But that also means I don't have much of a reason to play until then when other MMOs can satisfy my need for quest and story driven leveling.

That said. I wish I had included this small positive point in my original post - that I'm definitely going to be keeping a close eye on development and that I am hopeful about what 2.0 will bring. The efforts of the current dev team are not lost on me. I will be giving 2.0 a try, and I do want to stay with the game, if it can give me what I'm looking for in an MMO.

See you then!

[Gramis]

[Reason why you're stopping/quitting FFXIV]
Theres very few things that I can say that haven't been said before. Players keep asking for specific things that just aren't given to us i.e. an Auction House, bare bones content, big wide empty maps. I mean for a world that is absolutely open and gorgeous its empty. Aside from crafting and grinding (crafting itself is grinding) theres not alot to do. Sure there are a few side quests and the main quest is something to follow. But without a linkshell or anyone to socialize with your pretty much on your own to find anything to do. When you compare this to a game like WoW when your put in a starting area there's a quest giver immediately in front of you and you pretty much instinctively know "Hey that guy will give me stuff to do". There's so much this game does wrong that older MMO's don't have that problem. I mean it seems that they are just too stubborn to do things their way that they forget we aren't actually enjoying this game. The menu navigation is just aweful... I mean I have to go trough 3 selection screens before I can check my journal to see where I am in a quest. The quest (npc given quests not leves) themselves are hard to follow, the map offers no arrows or indication of how to get from one point to another. EX: In the "Cut throat prices" quest the NPC tells me that I should take an airship to another nation and talk to a different NPC there. Ok simple enough... only I don't know where the airship station is. And I don't know where the Ruby Way is in Ul'Dah. It took an hour and some change before I carefully check both map and journal and find that the ruby way is a merchant strip in Ul'dah and the lift to the airship station is at one of the corners. Well that was a pain but whatever Imma ride an Airship! So I get on the airship and I have to find the sea ship that the other NPC is so I can turn in the quest but... I have noooo Idea where the ship is and I've never been in LL so i had to actually look online for a quest guide to figure out where to go. Note to developers: When a player has to go to an outside source to figure a quest out... you need to rethink that quest. SO anyway I get to the NPC and turn in the quest... then the NPC starts talking first off he has like NO vowels in his name so and he is scripted to talk like a pirate. Pirate talk is easier to listen to then read so every 'L' in a word is replaced with an apostrophe -->' (one of those) and he uses weird metaphors and phrases so I'm spending 5 minutes on each paragraph just figuring out WTF he's saying. No joke. And another thing, as smooth as everything looks in the game... NOTHING IS SMOOTH. Like why do I have to teleport to the airship docking area... why cant I just talk to an NPC to board? It seems kind of redundant that I have to teleport to an area that pretty much transports me to another area... I mean WTF. And who thought is was a good idea to have the leve quest system? Repeating the same slaying/gathering quest over and over to level is tedious!


[Parts you enjoyed about FFXIV]
Its hard to say... When you have other people to interact with and do leves with it becomes fun. but eventually the fun factor wheres off and you remember that your actually grinding.


[Parts you were disappointed with FFXIV]
I bought the collectors edition of FFXIV so I got the making of DVD, the nice key chain authenticator and the cool journal to hand record my characters chronicle. I played this game a week before everyone else did only to find out that I am not enjoying anything I'm putting into this game.

[What kind of changes do you want to see for you to come back and play?] (optional)
Auction house. a better UI and simple menu system. improved game fluidity. no more crafting minigame thing... it gets boring after the first dozen times.

[Last comment]
Srsly Square its a little insulting that your making us pay for what is technically a beta and for a product that is infirior to what Square is generally known for. This product has problems that other and much older MMO's have figured out and it seems that as advanced the presentation quality is of FF XIV it is actually behind the times in terms of it's gameplay. The fact that my character can be any class I want is starting to be your only gimmick. Please do a little market research and have some of your staff play other MMO's just to get an idea of what approaches to take to remedy the short comings of FFXIV. I'm not saying straight out copy other MMO's but dammit it doesn't look like your staff can find the right solutions on their own.

[Northman]

I vote this thread best among all threads - thanks Reinheart ! I have not stopped yet my gaming, but danger is big. This game is not bad, it is almost good. There are still many skillful gamers who already have wounded knees and own space ships with companions as well as looong FF history behind - still reading these postings. Listen them even there's the language wall. I would keep this forum open to previous customers also, with small flag non-paid customer or vice versa. That way they would come back.
[Reason why I'm stopping/quitting FFXIV maybe]
There are much better games now available and even more coming before summer. And this seems to be forever beeta changing all time.
[Parts you enjoyed about FFXIV]
I'm open to new ideas. *I liked the idea of shopping centers even it would need some changes. There you can have 3d "window shopping" ie. see clothes and weapons and compare what to buy. *I valuated the solo-playing possibilities, but TOR is even much more better in this. *It is hard thing to get different cultures like east and west play together on same servers and even in same ls. This was good try anyway. Translation is difficult. But it gives so much. *I liked the 3 stories, it was good beginning. Future needs more and more short video clips with alternatives. *Sounds and music was best, except that textual speech is old-fashioned. Sea-shore feeling, wind sounds, nature very nice. *Characters best in the world. *Free class changing was nice.
[Parts you were disappointed with FFXIV]
*Animal personal behaviour was taken away. It was cute. *Fighting is far from natural ie slow. Magic is better in that because it's slow. *Too hard to get chocobo for solo players, it is important tool. *More content for soloers and couples, like player with computer aided group in dungeons and ifrits... Try TOR dear designers. *Fishing so that u cannot see fish. *Grinding would need some random shocks, video, bonus weapons etc. Now boring. *Bugs are not corrected. Crashes or keyboard connection lost when server stressed or even not stressed, and also your keyboard is not listened so often as earlier, that is you must press button many times before you can hit enemy once. *Difficulty is changed all time.You feel like beta tester even you sd be a player...*Maybe system that you don't see your black list persons and vice versa in game so you need not change server or own personality all time...The list would be long.
[What kind of changes do you want to see for you to come back and play?]
FF need not be the best because it is FF with it's feeling and music. But it must have some contents more. In all phases you must have the feeling that there is something interesting to come. And fair play. With help of friends you now go in few days to 50. Not good. In 2.0 everybody sd start from beginning and it sd be totally new game. Not beta. I really hope that 2.0 will be success.

[Xoo]

My Response:

[Reasons why you're stopping/quitting FFXIV]:

When I began playing FFXIV, it was directly at the heels of the end of my FFXI career. I guess I expected this game to carry over much of what really appealed to me in that game. I respect the fact that this is supposed to be something different, but it's just the major differences that contrast a bit too much for me. Although my first 2 months ingame were plagued with many random disconnects, a highly unresponsive UI, seemingly random skill point gain, a repressive transport system, among many others - I stayed optimistic that these problems would be addressed. For the most part, they have.

However, the direction this game has been going since 1.18 had started to make me question whether this would ultimately turn out to be a game I would enjoy. The fact that Powerleveling has gone almost unchecked when leveling up was (is?) the majority of the experience that existed makes me seriously question the motives of the dev team. As well, when you fairly reach the end of efficient PL, (~Lv40), you move straight into Natalan where the last ten levels can be completed in just hours. The only logic I can derive from it is that SE intends to race everyone to Lv50 as fast as they can because the only content that will be released from now until 2.0 will be NM fights and instanced battles like Ifrit.

Before the implementation of the linking system and the explosion and abuse of powerleveling, I was fairly happy with the game. I could have gone on and dealt with the general lack of content. But it seemed more and more that with every passing patch FFXIV was and is turning into something just a bit too mindless for me.

[Parts you enjoyed about FFXIV]

I really enjoyed the graphics, although I couldn't enjoy their full splendor with them set to low. I met my wife ingame shortly after launch.

[Parts you were disappointed with FFXIV]

Very little content. What content there was, it was hardly challenging and that isn't going to change soon. The game is too easy. Battles are uninspiring and are lacking the cohesive effect that truly engaging fights bring about for what I believe is due to a lack of job depth. Every patch seemed to negate any and all equipment gained in the previous patch. That's fine, but not every 3 months - it barely has time to get dirty! Stats still seem to be broken, as players have demonstrated that a boss such as Ifrit can be killed without wearing any defensive equipment. While some might, I still don't see the need for a repair system and have loathed it from the beginning. While the market wards system works in most regards, it is still restrictive to those wishing to sell HQ items for an adequate price. Farming mobs as an income has been further restricted by the new recipe system, the fact that NPCs now sell many crafting materials (Aldgoat Skin, Toad Skin, Sheepskin, etc.), and because much of the best gear is U/U.

[What kind of changes do you want to see for you to come back and play?]

I'll come back at 2.0 and see how much of the above has changed for me for the better. If it's not challenging, it's not fun, and I will leave again just as I am now.