Are the developers of XIV out of touch?

[Exiled_Tonberry]

I swear every single excuse with them is "oh this is too hard" or "oh the old code won't work with this".

They can't just keep using these same excuses for everything players want, yet keep charging us for every other mount and glamour that comes out.

If they keep up with this, with the same excuse that any upgrades/changes to the system or characters is impossible...well it'll be interesting to see where this game is a few years from now.

[polyhedral]

Just coming back in to note that I find Yoshida being exasperated by the repetitive questions very ironic, considering he's been feeding us the same patch content structure on repeat for at least four years.

OMG, SO MUCH THIS!

[Vhailor]

I see where you're coming from, and I agree that some attempts to plug up the bleeding wounds are better than no attempts at all, but at some point I feel like I really just have to ask myself: "How long am I okay with things that are 'not satisfactory'?"

As you, me, and others have said, the seeming inattention to the long-term feels very real. The complete lack of transparency on whether anything significant is being done to address the game's severe server and code problems is worrisome because it implies an across-the-board lack of room to innovate, expand, and surprise. Character customization, housing, and gear cannot be the only things suffering from these oh-so-often cited limitations--not now and definitely not two expansions from now.

I wholeheartedly agree with you.

Probably the example I find most illustrative is Glamours. The system in FFXI arguably works better than the one in FFXIV, without any of the gear restrictions, Prism costs, etc. This, despite work beginning on FFXI roughly two decades ago, at a time when nobody was thinking about Glamouring in an MMO. That's astonishing, and it makes it very difficult to see FFXIV go years and years without a fully functional system itself.

It's quite possible there are good reasons for all of these things. Maybe SE is sinking the money into a big back-end adjustment to align with the next expansion. Maybe they're making efforts with an eye toward features that no other MMO is offering, and it's taking them longer than adjustments that would allow FFXIV to merely keep pace. I don't know - because there's no transparency. All we hear is that there are limitations here, limitations there, and yet... other MMOs, including XIV's predecessor, somehow solve the problems. It's hard to stomach.

----------

As to the original topic, I would say that SE seems less out of touch, and more like they're actively and intentionally ignoring us. I get the distinct impression that SE's 'limitations' excuses arise from a lack of motivation more than a lack of capability (though it's entirely possible it's both). I think they're quite content with their position in the MMO market, milking the FF franchise name to a second-place finish with a simple, predictable, easily-maintained F2P-style experience.

[Dualgunner]

I'll choose to interpret Yoshi P's exasperation as being because a lot of this is stuff he'd love to do, but can't because of SE holding the purse strings.

[Asiragan]

Just coming back in to note that I find Yoshida being exasperated by the repetitive questions very ironic, considering he's been feeding us the same patch content structure on repeat for at least four years.

I hesitate to make this post my signature ...

I'll choose to interpret Yoshi P's exasperation as being because a lot of this is stuff he'd love to do, but can't because of SE holding the purse strings.

You know, I wonder about that. When Yoshida came at the end of 1.0, everyone saw him as the most ballsy devs ever. The guy that could blow up an entire MMO with a giant meteor in order to create an other one from the cinders of the first version.

But now? We either get the same kind of content since years, have the same servers problem since years in the west, or just get flawed game-designed content. Is this really the same guy?


Is it because SE is holding the string? But Yoshida is now a director, he should have some means to take decisions regarding that, no?

[BillyKaplan]

I'll choose to interpret Yoshi P's exasperation as being because a lot of this is stuff he'd love to do, but can't because of SE holding the purse strings.

I think that has a lot to do with it, for sure. More money, more manpower, more resources of any kind would've let him do so much more. He does what he can with what he's given, I fully believe that as well. Which makes me laugh at the reactions to this:

SE is a small indie company, adjust your expectations accordingly.

SE? No. The part that works on XIV? Certainly feels like it sometimes, with all the sub money going away elsewhere.

[Dualgunner]

You know, I wonder about that. When Yoshida came at the end of 1.0, everyone saw him as the most ballsy devs ever. The guy that could blow up an entire MMO with a giant meteor in order to create an other one from the cinders of the first version.

But now? We either get the same kind of content since years, have the same servers problem since years in the west, or just get flawed game-designed content. Is this really the same guy?

Is it because SE is holding the string? But Yoshida is now a director, he should have some means to take decisions regarding that, no?

I'm offering the benefit of the doubt because of what Yoshida managed to do to save XIV in the first place. Which is what makes all of this really confusing is exactly what you pointed out; Yoshi P stepped into this game and styled all over it, literally nuking Tanaka's XIV from orbit... Yoshida's XIV then became such a bland, milquetoast thing years later, and it makes me wonder what happened. I don't actually buy into the "All the revenue XIV generates is going into XV, KH3, and FF7R" as anything more than plausibility, but seeing such a drastic change in Yoshida, it really gets the noggin joggin' as they say.

I think that has a lot to do with it, for sure. More money, more manpower, more resources of any kind would've let him do so much more. He does what he can with what he's given, I fully believe that as well. Which makes me laugh at the reactions to this:

SE is a small indie company, adjust your expectations accordingly.

SE? No. The part that works on XIV? Certainly feels like it sometimes, with all the sub money going away elsewhere.

I'm a layman when it comes to business. I also don't have Square's ledger in front of me, so take what I say with all the salt a white mage can give you: it feels like Square is not reinvesting in FFXIV, of which ARR is one of the major reasons they managed to stay in the black, and that feels like a bad decision for the long term.

That said...XIV as it is is successful. Nobody can deny that. So why throw money at XIV to try to fix what ain't broke*?

*it's not optimal, but it's certainly operational, and messing with the code could break things and cause costs to skyrocket too.

[MistakeNot]

I'm offering the benefit of the doubt because of what Yoshida managed to do to save XIV in the first place. Which is what makes all of this really confusing is exactly what you pointed out; Yoshi P stepped into this game and styled all over it, literally nuking Tanaka's XIV from orbit... Yoshida's XIV then became such a bland, milquetoast thing years later, and it makes me wonder what happened. I don't actually buy into the "All the revenue XIV generates is going into XV, KH3, and FF7R" as anything more than plausibility, but seeing such a drastic change in Yoshida, it really gets the noggin joggin' as they say.

What's so hard to understand? Yoshida nuked the old game and made it the way he wanted it to be. Now it is already the way he wanted it to be, so why would he want to do any drastic changes to the game?

[Asiragan]

Now it is already the way he wanted it to be, so why would he want to do any drastic changes to the game?

This mindset could be fine for a solo offline game. But for a MMO? A game that always needs to move, to be constantly evolving? It's pure suicide.

[Vhailor]

What's so hard to understand? Yoshida nuked the old game and made it the way he wanted it to be. Now it is already the way he wanted it to be, so why would he want to do any drastic changes to the game?

The same reason WoW has made a number of large-scale changes. By his own admission, Yoshi-P has drawn a lot of his inspiration from WoW, so he should be in a position to know what Blizzard discovered: you have to shake things up significantly every so often in order to keep things feeling fresh. MMOs that remain static are doomed to failure, at some point or another. Oh, sure, it's quite possible that FFXIV will remain a financial success - much as Diablo 3 has been a financial success for Blizzard - but SE is paying a significant price in terms of brand quality. I grew up with memories of Kefka and Sephiroth etched into my mind, and it turned me into a long-term customer who associated 'Square' and 'Quality' for years and years.

Does SE really want to see what happens when people growing up with FFXIV associate Final Fantasy with cheap product tie-ins, shameless cash store gimmicks, and server limitations?