Mahjong is the most depressing mini game you've added to XIV

[Breakbeat]

We need something for us dumb Americans. Texas Hold'em, Domino, Blackjack. Hell I'll settle for Uno.

LMAO =) True, true. But, I think our American intellects are more suited for the Finer Miner and stuff like that. See button. Hit button. Win.

I kid, I kid. TBH it'd be really cool if there was a poker table in the Gold Saucer as well. I'd really dig that, even though I am getting into Mahjong.

[Frizze]

Poker, Blackjack... those are far too close to gambling. I think they outright cant do these because of japanese law, which they as a japanese company need to keep in mind. Uno is copyright territory. Dominos... i have no early idea if that would be doable or not. Though i do know that the main reason we have Mahjong is that one of the developers basically made it from scratch in their freetime. If none of them are that passionate about dominos than the odds would be lower.

[Chekopacheko]

We need something for us dumb Americans. Texas Hold'em, Domino, Blackjack. Hell I'll settle for Uno.

lol i would actually love UNO

[SillyCrow]

A quick fix would be putting the orchestrion roll into the MGP store, or for playing X amount of games (like 5 or 10).

Instead of the roll, reward a title for people who reached a ranking of 1600.

They also need to give MGP for playing it, since the matches take a considerable amount of time. Give better rewards for the two top spots, but still a good amount to the last two spots.

Relatively simple fix and potentially gets more people to play it, depending on how much MGP it rewards.

[Neoyoshi]

I personally stay away from Mahjong because i have somewhat of a better understanding of how it actually works in real life, and it's a game that on average.. is quite long, like, really long.

In real life a Mahjong session lasts at the very least 2 hours. So 45 minutes to 1 hour feels generous to me.

[jesseleewelch]

I just started playing Mahjong this weekend when I entered the Gold Saucer for the first time and I have to admit, I feel the same as many of you. While the game itself is fun and the profiles and layout are beautiful, the achievements are unreasonably difficult to achieve. They felt the need to give us a reset button back to 1500 so the orchestration roll would still be in view. Did it occur to them that the achievements "Tile and Error II" and "Tile and Error III" might also be unreasonably hard to achieve?

The problem is that rating can diminish if you come in 3rd or 4th. If you lose a chocobo race, it doesn't cancel out a win. Same with triple triad and all the other games. Only Mahjong is like this. Furthermore, you gain rank as you play. Rank is actually a detriment because, if you outrank your opponents, you stand to gain less rating for a win and lose more rating for a loss. The only thing rating does is give you access to the "Advanced Table", which does not award any additional rating per win. The wait on the advanced table is always much longer than on the novice table, so even 1st Dan players will play at the novice table.

If the goal was to introduce westerners to mahjong, you have made a terrible error. A great many MMO players are completionists. We want to do everything, experience everything, achieve everything that the MMO has to offer and we know it will take years to do that. Having a near impossible set of achievements ruins the experience. We can't even collect all the orchestration rolls because one is behind "that broken thing over there". Everyone online refers to Mahjong as "stressful" and "causes anxiety". If I bring it up in a conversation people say "can we talk about something more pleasant, like my father's funeral?"

Maybe we could make all the Tile and Error achievements rank based instead of rating based? Or make it so you don't lose rating for a loss? You have a 15 page thread going back to 2019. People are not happy. We aren't asking for a massive change, just adjust the rating mechanics and/or the achievement criteria. Players want things to be reasonably achievable. It's a game after all.

[bonzibuddy64]

I don't think it's too unreasonable to get the orchestrion roll. The "Mahjong Master" title is pretty daunting but if you're good at playing defensively it's absolutely feasible.

[Keslor]

i wonder if op is still complaining about an item being locked behind an achievement, and having to actually invest an "unreasonable" amount of time/effort in order to receive the reward

[jesseleewelch]

I don't think it's too unreasonable to get the orchestrion roll. The "Mahjong Master" title is pretty daunting but if you're good at playing defensively it's absolutely feasible.

No, it is absolutely not feasible.

I play defensively. I have not been hit with a ron in the last 50 matches I have played. The problem is, others do not play defensively. My opponents always continue trying to build their hand even after someone has declared riichi. My thinking is, what are the odds I will get the 2-3 tiles I need in less time than it takes him to get the 1 tile he needs? I'm not afraid to break open my melds and scuttle my hand in order to throw the lowest risk tile each turn. There is always that guy who gets ronned. Sometimes a second person gets ronned, sometimes their risky behavior pays off. It usually plays out that I cycle between 2nd and 3rd place and find myself spinning my wheels in terms of rating. The only alternative is to play more risky myself, which opens me up to getting kicked in the teeth with ron and coming in 4th.

Even professional books on riichi mahjong acknoledge that Mahjong depends "moderately on luck". A professional poker player isn't expected to win 20 games in a row, because that is also a game that depends heavily on luck. With knowledge and skill you can min/max your chances, but its still a game of luck.

Using a rating system for a game of luck is senseless. Using a rating system for something that isn't luck dependent makes sense, like getting good grades in school or performing well at your irl job. But in a luck based game it generates nothing but stress and anxiety. There is a reason why mahjong is so unpopular on NA servers, and it isn't the game itself. The world is full when I try to log in more often than not. I can get a dungeon run in under 10 seconds. It can take upwards of 20 minutes to get a mahjong match sometimes. What does that tell you?

Ultimately, posts like yours are not helpful because they detract from the point. The whole point of this thread is to make SE aware of the problem. Ideally, they would realize their mistake and change it to "X games won" like in chocobo racing, triple triad, and everything else.

[Fenshire]

I am absolutely too dumb for this game. I have tried to learn it, but it just makes little sense to me. Even tried watching videos to explain it, but it goes over my head. I thought you just matched tiles and worked on clearing the board. I don’t know what the heck this version of the game is.