Are the developers of XIV out of touch?

[Isala]

Look at their content, and interviews. They talk about the things they've done as if they're setting the industry standard. Their PvP interviews go on about how other MMOs will start borrowing from the systems they've set up, with quickchat, and basic bars, something the PvP community has very vocally stated is a pile of garbage. They promise us "new and exciting content", and then drop the dung heap that is Eureka on us, showing they learned almost nothing from the Diadem debacle. We're reaching 1.0 levels of arrogance here, with their attitudes becoming more like the "We know what our players want" mindset they had before they had to drop a meteor on their entire game. Of course they're out of touch. XIV became successful doing exactly what it is doing now, so obviously the correct course of action is to keep doing the exact same thing, which is a death sentence for an MMO. The very last thing you want is for your playerbase to get bored, and realize just how much time they're wasting doing the same activities over and over again.

[Vrankyl]

There is no doubt they are a bit out of touch in some regards. The All Greed change alone was proof of that. You don't go and say you are doing this because a portion of your playerbase wants it, only for that playerbase to dislike it just as much as everyone else without being a bit out of touch with things.

[Felis]

literally the dumbest reply Ive ever seen. Especially since SE is a multibillion company. Lol at your salt

But still indipendent, or not?

[Seddrinth]

I am actually very satisfied with the direction of the game and the content structure. I read a lot of complaints and maybe the posters in this thread have a different preference than I do. This game is doing great in terms of the number of players and finances because there is a silent majority of players such as myself who are very happy with things, and would not like the game to change too much in the direction as suggested by the commenters on this thread. Perhaps, Yoshi P is in touch with how we, the silent majority, feel as we communicate our satisfaction with the game not by posting on the forums but by continuing to play and support the game. Perhaps he is not the one who is out of touch?

[Penthea]

Everybody cites WoW and their content release schedule taking years to implement things too. Of course, nobody is expecting SE to answer demands immediately (or at all in many cases). However, for what I played of it (vanilla/ bc) they weren't on content decline already by the point we're at. Look forward to 5.0 one dungeon, one fight for savage,

This really depends on your perspective. For over a decade the majority of WoW's content patches were near meaningless unless you raided (this may even still be the case, don't know because I don't play anymore). SE don't put such a disproportionate focus on their playerbase. This can be good because everyone gets a slice of cake but this can be bad because no one gets a big slice. Of course many players are content because several slices appeal to them but some only like one flavour so they can feel underfed.

There is a big difference between a lack of content and a lack of content that appeals to a person.

[KaldeaSahaline]

The majority of mmo dev teams are pretty damn silent compared to SE. SE actually directly address things players say and ask for several times a year, with most mmo dev teams you're lucky if it's even once. I think it's very naive to think that it's only SE who experience frequent limitations due to an older engine or server capability.

You're white knighting. I hate to use that term, but you're irrationally defending something and citing blatant misinformation to do it. You're letting bias and ignorance shape your perception of what is acceptable.

1) No, other dev teams are not silent. WoW devs literally post almost daily about class changes, systems changes, etc. They even have Q&As (that still suck, but suck considerably less than SE's softball garbage) fairly frequently. Did you even verify that claim before making it? Blizz runs into technical problems like anyone else. They also clearly articulate when they are a problem (they've shared the digit stuff before, as well as issues with the backpack inventory and many other technical woes they've encountered). They've talked about technical troubles with loot, CRZ, and many others. Instead of frequently citing it as an excuse though, they fix it. Give credit where credit is due.

2) I can go even further. B&S has Johnathan Lien, the producer frequently answering players tweets as well as doing Q&A's fairly frequently. You can argue he isn't a dev (because technically he isn't Korea has the devs), but he like Yoshi is the face of the game in the west. Hell, they're even porting the ENTIRE GAME over to UE4 because UE3 was holding the game back due to feedback in the west and the back and forth between the producer and the community.

3) Even the awfulness that Bless Online is has Dev's constantly engaging the community (despite being miserable at it). These are just the ones I personally know about off the top of my head. I'm almost positive there are more.

There are features in WoW that didn't make it to the game until after several years of players asking. The game even has a history of getting ahead of its own engine. The end boss of one of the expansions had several phases with separate hp pools because the combined hp pool literally could not exist in the game. With all their resources and experience they still clearly experience limitations like SE do, the difference is they rarely openly admit it.

See above - this is also false. They admit to stuff like this all the time.

[Adeacia]

There is a big difference between a lack of content and a lack of content that appeals to a person.

So true. There is tons and tons of content in this game. Simply because I won't do some of it, doesn't make it not content.

I've played for a couple of years now and I'm fine with the content we are getting. I'll never do ultimate but I'm glad it exists since its content.

[Hypnotic13371337]

So true. There is tons and tons of content in this game. Simply because I won't do some of it, doesn't make it not content.

I've played for a couple of years now and I'm fine with the content we are getting. I'll never do ultimate but I'm glad it exists since its content.

What about Lords of Verminion?

Like, yeah it exists, but so little players do it, they had to bribe people to play it a bit every week with crazy amounts of MGP

[Penthea]

See above - this is also false. They admit to stuff like this all the time.

Then this is new. This was not my experience of Blizzard in my ten years of WoW before I quit.

My point still stands though. SE aren't the only ones to experience limitations due to servers and game engines. Literally any dev team making an online game do. But somehow knowing this means I'm white knighting, okay.

[KaldeaSahaline]

Then this is new. This was not my experience of Blizzard in my ten years of WoW before I quit.

My point still stands though. SE aren't the only ones to experience limitations due to servers and game engines. Literally any dev team making an online game do. But somehow knowing this means I'm white knighting, okay.

What made it white knighting was you irrationally justifying that somehow SE is really good at communicating and everyone else wasn't, without actually putting an iota of effort into verifying whether your statement was true or not. That's something a zealot does, not a rational individual would do. If Yoshi P popped in every single day and answered feedback with please look forward to it, or limitations, etc. half the community would praise him as a god because he talked to them instead of judging him on what is said. Granted the language barrier is a pretty huge issue and very likely contributes to the lack of quality responses.

Your point does not stand though. You said: "The majority of mmo dev teams are pretty damn silent compared to SE. SE actually directly address things players say and ask for several times a year, with most mmo dev teams you're lucky if it's even once. I think it's very naive to think that it's only SE who experience frequent limitations due to an older engine or server capability."

1) Your first sentence is factually inaccurate as I demonstrated.

2) Your second sentence is a little more nuanced in that you said SE actually addresses things. While it's true they do respond, I don't consider "please look forward to it" or "limitations" as addressing anything.

3) Your last sentence is flawed. It's not that other game companies don't experience these things. It's that they don't use it overwhelmingly like SE does.