Returning player (BETA & Initial release) Impressions and concerns.

[Arel203]

Hi, to start things off this'll be a long post, with a lot of things including questions, and issues. I tried my best to read every patch archive since release, and browsed forums moderately for key concerns to ensure I don't make an annoying post but, as a player I think it's important that the devs hear the perspective of a player that has been gone, and not just people that have been here from the start, and with a higher tolerance for problems. So please refrain from reading if you don't care.

Me and my girlfriend both resubbed. We played FFXI for about 8 years, ran a few end game LS's. And played in one of the more dominant HNMLS's for the majority of our playtime. Aside from FFXI I have played pretty much every MMO, some more briefly then others, including EVE, EQ1 & 2, Lineage 1 & 2, WoW, Global Agenda, AION, FFXI, FFXIV, TERA, and a few others never released in NA that I wont bother mentioning as people probably aren't familiar with them. But just setting the stage of my 'experience'.

Currently playing mostly AION, XIV and TERA.


Menu Interface, UI and Actions/Commands:

I notice on a lot of forums, most of the current playerbase (which isn't much), is pretty content with the way the action bar is currently designed, as well as the menu interface.

I play with probably one of the best ping's in NA connecting to the servers in Japan, sitting at around 150. And as a player who hasn't adapted and coming from a lot of polished games; it's still a huge issue. Biggest issue is the fact most of the interface is server side. My guess is the JP are sitting at under 30-40ms/ping and have near instant reaction to the interface. And the fact that I've been gone this long, come back and it's still a consistant issue with decent ping, is bad. Going back and forth between skill list, map, use-items, options menu, etc. Is tiring, and painful.

I do notice that most of the current playerbase are controller users, which is great for you guys as most of the system seems to be designed for you; but a large portion of players, probably the majority of the ones that have long since left XIV, are not going to ever consider using a controller, and enjoy, and prefer, keyboard gaming. So, that being said, I think client-side interfaces should be a top priority. And i'm dissapointed to see none of this has changed.

The action bar is pretty bad. Virtually every modern day game allows players to customize every key on an action bar, allowing for quick and consistant gameplay without scrolling through 3 sets of bars, and physically scroll to or click every skill. It's just annoying to a lot of people. This is a pretty simple design flaw, also suprised to see that it's not fixed. Because of this, despite the improvement in combat from when I left, it still feels clunky and bothersome.


Terrain, Travel and Battle:

This I noticed right away; terrain. I see the developers opted for a quick-fix of slopes and terrain that blocked off players. While it's great they did something, there are still a few issues here with that. One being a lot of shrubbery and similiar things, still have collision enabled, causing my character to stop.

The maps, and overall design of the worlds are pretty bad to say the least, most of the areas despite looking pretty, I never get to enjoy because i'm constantly looking at my map going from place to place. Why is there no overlay map yet? Again, another feature that in 2012, most games have. I wont go into the design as obviously the developers are scrapping the game and know they can't fix this one before 2.0. But an overlay map would surely help this game out a lot.

As a long time, veteran XI player, I must say... I am EXTREMELY dissapointed in both the airships and boats. I don't even think dissapointed is the correct word. I'm more so disgusted. My guess is they tried to casualize the game to appeal to WoW-ers in this department. But seriously, I'll be completely honest here, getting on that boat to Selbina for the first time, and getting attacked by pirates, was one of my best experiences in XI. And getting that airship ticket, was like I just hit the FFXI lottery. When I got it in XIV I was so excited, until the airship showed up, I got some gay cutscene and it was over.

As I said earlier combat improved a lot, auto-attack is great, and one key thing I remember from early release and beta is; mobs were able to hit me from sometimes 20m+ away. Thankfully I see this is no longer an issue. I think if they fine tune the action command, make the game overall more responsive, it could be decent. But still shy of modern day gaming. (Again, 2.0, I know.)

Cities, Quests and Leveling:

Not much to say here, pretty dissapointed that I feel that I pretty much -have- to stay in Ul'Dah for pretty much everything. I can see why Ul'Dah became the standard, centralized area though. The design for the other cities is terrible. And takes forever to navigate, especially when doing quests. And Ul'Dah is, according to the map, pretty much in the middle of both cities. Boat to one city, airship to the other. Makes sense.

Maybe it was the developers intention to do this? Not sure if I like it or hate it, personally I've never liked the starting areas to be a centralized location in MMO's. It feels like you never progress and when you're mixing in every end game player with every starting player in the same zone; It can be a bit unorganized. I feel like if high levels had their own place to centralize, and the low level areas were distinct to low levels, it would be easier to initiate conversation, and small duo/trio groups for noobies. As it is now, it's filled with people spamming for the same 2 bosses all day, and a bunch of Lv50s running around or crafting out in the open. A little overwhelming to low level players. Especially considering once you exit Ul'Dah it's virtually a wasteland.

I like that the levequests 'stack' and save overtime, it's great for a player like me that doesn't want to invest long hours into the game, but I know I can log on any time and have something to do, and a reward for it. But I will say that the exp and reward ratio for low levels seems a bit dumb. I feel I'd be better off from an exp standpoint just soloing mobs a few levels higher, then doing leves, considering I can chain 4 without any resting on normal mobs, getting 200-380 a kill. Instead, leves give you 75-100 a kill and then a large amount at the end, and very low gil and item rewards.

The time:reward ratio in my opinion favors soloing, if you find a good amount of mobs respawning, and also depending on your class/job. Considering some leves force you to run to ridiculous areas, that force you to go around the map because it's blocked off -right- where the mob is. (Again going back to map design)

Aside from that, leveling is actually fun in its own way. I paired up with a group of JP's and we chain 5'd mobs in a secluded area, not having to pull them or anything, just running wild, burning through them. Barely having to rest and suprisingly, it was about the same exp per kill as I would get solo.

That being said; that only happened once, and despite trying, I have not ever been able to find a group for leveling after that. Why is there no level sync? This should of been a priority once SE seen that it was losing a massive amount of players, and only hardcore, die-hard FF fans were sticking around. Their main goal should of been to keep those players around that wanted to try or come back to the game after its' poor release. But in its current form, anyone that's not completely die-hard is going to stick around after that 30 days. Level sync NEEDS to be added.


Gear, Items and Selling/Buying:

Not much needs to be said about gear. I think the "optimal level" is stupid and needs to be scrapped. It ruins all forms of immersion and progression. And as a so far solo leveler, the need to upgrade gear so far is minimal, as nothing is hard to kill. Which sucks because there's a lot of gear; almost too much, some of it seems completely stupid and pointless. I think a key phrase comes in here and it's "Quality over quantity". I feel like they just threw in as much random shit as they could and are letting the players sort out the most of it.

Consumables and potions, while i'm glad their useable. It's still bad. Why is there no cooldown timer for potions and such? Why does the "use item" key bring up every fish and stupid item I've ever gotten that I would never use... There need to be a filter for this, that players can toggle on and off what they'd like to see in that screen. Because as it is now, it's really just annoying. And with how annoying it is browsing menus, opening that up while in combat, going through the list to see what I have, using it, it being on cooldown and not working, then having to do it again while still in combat.. It's just not a good experience.

I know you all probably seen this coming but. The item search counter, aka "Sad excuse for an auction house". Is terrible. I wouldn't be suprised if a massive amount of players that quit, are because of this reason alone. Selling things is one of the most annoying things I've ever gone through in an MMO. Especially when you have 10-20 things that you want to get rid of. Going through and checking each one, then setting it in your container. Oh my god... I've never seen such a horrible design.

Not to mention the layout of it, what idiot thought of that? It NEEDS to be scrapped. Seriously, it's terrible and when asking my friends if they are going to come back to XIV next patch, the first thing they ask "Is there a real auction house?"... Browsing it is beyond bad. There's too many lists, it's overwhelming. Why is there an upper lower, and middle tailoring when they all can technically list the same items? The thing is, the current design is not even done right, I could see if they wanted to do something different, but it's so complex and overwhelming. XI's was great. You had a list of each type, and specifics in each of those category's.

Can't stress that enough. That's probably my currently biggest issue with the game.

Last, but not least;


MOG HOUSES...

I read they were coming next patch, but it was very vague. Can anyone detail on this? My concern is that they casualized it into a "Enter, cutscene, store items, leave" type deal and not the real mog houses that us from XI all know and love. So this is something i'm really looking forward to.

That's all for now. Like I said, I tried my best to look at each patch and each setting in every menu, so, if anyone has a fix for something I've stated as an issue, please post it, I'd be grateful. Or if something has already been confirmed as in-the-works, feel free to comment also.

This really wasn't a post to the community in general, though I think it's important for you guys to see the outlook of a player not blinded by fanboyism. And real issues that are concerns of players decisions in ever coming back to XIV, but also mostly for the devs to have a voice from someone that came back, in detail, and their experience.

Also, me, my girlfriend, and cousin are in need of an LS^^;

And, I know this thread mainly probably sounds like a massive amount of QQ, and I expect to honestly be trolled but, I am enjoying the game, but in its' current form I wont stick around long without changes.

Sooo... Thanks~

[SirOleas]

I don't think I even need to read this to put the standard answer that gets put into every thread like this.

Most of this (if not all)(At the risk of assumption cuz TLDR) will be fixed in/before 2.0, apparently anyway.

Lol.

[Coglin]

Not that I don't appreciate where you are comming from OP, but as a returning player, you havn't mentioned anything that hasn't been discussed a thousand times.

Although, word on the street is alot of your issues should be solved in the not so distant future of 2.0

[Arel203]

lol I know, like I said, I expected those type of answers. Not really looking for community feedback but this is generally the only way to voice yourself to the developers. And I don't mind feedback regardless.

I can tell the 2.0 thing is thrown around a lot -.-; lol

[SirOleas]

It is... But that just means they have to live up to it........And keep their word as Yoshi-P constantly states, keep promises made, yada yada.

Talk! Jibberish! We will see what 2.0 is made of when it's here.

IT BETTER BE GOOD YOSHIDA.

[Soukyuu]

It is... But that just means they have to live up to it........And keep their word as Yoshi-P constantly states, keep promises made, yada yada.

This.

After skimming through the post, I can say that you have to read the 2.0 documents they released, it should give you much stuff to look forward to, provided they keep their promises...

As for optimal rank, it is being phased out with new items being required rank while dated items still having optimal level (those items are partially unobtainable due to recipe reforms anyway)

Mog house (housing): we will get an inn in 1.21 where we can get a room to rest (logging of there triggers rested exp), real housing comes with 2.0, something along the lines of being able to customize your house via crafting jobs, garden and i think company maps?

[Athaya]

You've simply been gone too long! Sit back and try to enjoy the upcoming changes.... Or don't.....

[Umo]

Consumables and potions, while i'm glad their useable. It's still bad. Why is there no cooldown timer for potions and such?

Revamping Food and Medicine (02/10/2012)

what idiot thought of that?

You're talking about people, not tables. I know this is the internet and what not, but disrespectful comments are not welcomed. This kind of actions are not allowed while participating in the forums (FINAL FANTASY® XIV Forum Guidelines), indeed.

MOG HOUSES...

I read they were coming next patch, but it was very vague. Can anyone detail on this? My concern is that they casualized it into a "Enter, cutscene, store items, leave" type deal and not the real mog houses that us from XI all know and love. So this is something i'm really looking forward to.

Mog Houses are not coming alongside 1.21 patch. We're getting INNS, private areas which you don't own so you're not able to add furniture etc.
As far as I know you could get "rested xp" by loggin out at these inns and be able to re-watch missions' cutscenes. We can expect this information to be extended through this week (or the next one) on The Lodestone main page.

EDIT: Private Player Residences

[Finalfreak]

A ton of stuff he's mentioning will even get fixed in 1.21...

[Meatdawg]

I think you need to play something else...