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

[Fiosha_Maureiba]

TLDR version: We cannot rely on 2.0 launch to be the magic saving grace of the game. But we can continue to provide input for areas we assume may be fixed in 2.0.

Extended Wall of Text below:
UI response time could use a further improvement. The UI response has gotten drastically better since launch.

The action bar could use some adjustments, including: being able to view three action bars, being able to drag and drop actions, being able to lock the action bar (current format), assign hotkeys to an action.

The default in many modern MMO is one action bar, but has the option to expand. At present in FFXIV, the number of abilities are limited and it may be best to place the most common abilities on a single action bar.

Terrain, Travel and Battle
With some of the collision adjustments, I have not had issues with the shrubbery getting in the way and less so now with fences unless using following someone. But if I were playing a game where I could descend a cliff in a hasty manner or jump up a small elevation climb, then switched to FFXIV, I could see where the concern would be present.

The grind camp-driven format of the maps with lots of unused locations in my opinion, hurts some of the diversity that these maps could have held. Many locations are very pretty, those who have hunted down aetherial gates may have noticed unique locations throughout their runs, perhaps not. T'were there more a purpose at these locations other than the gates themselves, it might offset some of the same views.

On the overlay map, it would be nice to be able to adjust the opacity of the main map. I can't recall at the moment, but I think gamepad users can still move their characters while the map is up. And the other analog stick controls viewing the map itself.

I have no problem with the boats, airships, or rental chocobos. I didn't agree with FFXI's method of acquisition for airships and rentals. Nothing will replace the nostalgia you had of how you acquired these travel methods. In my opinion, interesting boat encounters should be reserved for boat rides beyond the three cities, even if it makes sense for pirates to commodere from Limsa en route to the western Thanalan docks. Or the events in the Limsa Lominsan opening scene to reoccur.

I would like to think the battle response may be reflective of the server communication side. The some animation lock may give the impression that battles are moving slower than they should, but you do not have to wait for an attack to finish its animation before beginning the next one (but I still can't move when I have to).

Cities, Quests and Leveling
Hub cities do hurt the sense of progression and creates the "Lobby Effect", which can be overwhelming to new players and returning players. As anima fell short around launch, people settled into Ul'Dah. Limsa Lominsa is exceptionally barren and Gridania is only slightly better due to an old man luring people to his pond.

Leve incentives for new players aren't really there. Having tried again myself with room mate, I thought maybe the gil would be worth it. Then we found marmots, chained off of them, and sold their marmot pelts to NPCs for a significant EXP and gil gain in drastically less time. The incentive for low level leves does not seem present to me. This is especially true in starting Gridania leves.

I have mixed feelings on the Level Sync. For balance purposes, I don't think equipment should be affected at all by level sync, i.e. force you to unequip it or suffer the same penalties you would from optimal level.

The method of leveling up and the incentive through leves, behests, caravans, quests, dungeons, and grind camps should be adjusted. The current model was not prepared for the shortage of players and fast EXP rates, reducing the pool of players present at the lower levels. Finding a low level party seems to be more difficult than finding a high level party or just finding a spot to farm materials at.

Gear, Items and Selling/Buying
The old optimal level penalties were too weak, the new ones lean more on balance. The optimal level equipment is present for those that like the aesthetics of their gear. Most of the gear you're coming across is the Dated gear. Without Dated gear, you may find a more balanced selection of goods, such as:

Leather Armor for War classes, emphasizing evasion.
Mail Armor for some War classes, emphasizing offense.
Plate Armor for Tank classes, emphasizing defense.
Cloth Armor for Mage classes, emphasizing magic.
Balanced Armor for all classes, weaker in most aspects, but everyone can use it.
Crafting Gear. Gathering Gear. Seasonal Gear.

With a new armor in the same category every five to eight levels or so. But as long as we have dated gear present, we will probably have x3 to x5 the number of items. Gear makes some differences, at least on the defensive side. As a conjurer with updated gear, leaning a little more on evasion, I would sometimes get attacked by an aggressive spawn. I would often evade or sometimes get hit for 180ish. Another conjurer in the party at same level wearing some of his starting equipment and early level quest rewards would usually get hit for 300ish. My gear gave tanks and off-tanks more time to respond to the spawns (with our happy 700~800 HP). Some difference from a defensive standpoint, without materia, perhaps not as much difference from an offensive standpoint.

The wards system appears to be inspired by the bazaars setup outside of Jeuno in FFXI. When I played, this was not a trend, but it appears those players gave the impression the Wards and Retainer system would be preferred over the FFXI auction house.

The current method to find items in the Wards is from an outdated system. Many of the categories are being phased out as all the "Dated" recipes are removed, with hopes to take Dated items and components out of circulation. There is some discussion here to provide some UI suggestions for future presentations of the Auction House.

Mog Houses
I wasn't too fond of the idea of having to go zone to access my storage. What you may find in the next patch is only an inn room where at present you can review most cutscenes and accumulate rested EXP. Player residences appear to be in the pipeline and *may* contain more of things you expected from Mog Houses.

Conclusion
As your thread is snowballing into a hot topic, might I suggest editing your original post slightly. Replacing "gay" with "short" and "idiot" with "person". Its neutral context will reduce the amount of posts that focus on these aspects of your post and allow others to focus more on responding to the rest of your post.

Your feedback as a returning player and/or new player is important, especially since you have decided to fit FFXIV into your game schedule in place of other MMOs.