Dev Team Backlash

I feel like the dev team gets a lot of (understandable) backlash from players who feel like their favorite class is being ignored. One of the biggest selling points of this game is that "you can be whatever class you want to be on one character" - yet if you're prohibited from joining parties because you're a DRK or a MCH or whatever -- that responsibility lies solely with the dev team to properly balance that class so that it has an equal chance to enjoy the content they've created. If I could tell them anything, it would be to stop stressing out so much about every class having its own gimmick. Yes, they should play differently, but just because one class has a gauge, doesn't mean they all need one, for example.

And I get it, balancing is hard. And we're going to get even MORE jobs come 5.0, which means MORE balancing, not to mention new skills or traits for everyone to learn as they level up. It's like they're on their very own treadmill, except it's not about gearing up, but differentiating classes while keeping them balanced. Maybe it's more like a hamster wheel than a treadmill!

You Ungrateful Lot!

I'd imagine if the dev team could read the NA forums, they'd probably think we're a very demanding and ungrateful lot. We really aren't, of course...it's just that we love Final Fantasy as much as they do, and we don't want to see it go the route of so many failed MMOs out there. Plus, we put a lot into this game -- both time and money -- and as such, we'd like to think that we have some say in the direction the game goes.

A game which doesn't take the feedback of its players into consideration will simply wither on the vine. Case in point: the latest WoW expansion. After alllll that feedback, they still doggedly insisted "we know better than you", and did it their way anyway. I think there's no better way to demonstrate how little the players mean to them than to spit in the face of feedback like that.

(Continued on next post)