Letter from the Producer LXII

[Shougun]

I know I'll probably get hate for this but this sounds like a result of lowering our expectations pretty low with the "Don't expect much in terms of headgear" on launch to make making around 1/3rd of gear seem praise worthy. I have no reason to praise this at all, shouldn't the completion of said race in terms of all its visual assets including the armor it'll wear not be expected as a standard? Especially from an MMO made by a AAA devteam? This is the part that is baffling me the most, to the point that I now question why they did not just hold off on either Hrothgar or Viera for one more expansion and just make the Male/Females of one if the "Headgear" was such an issue. They'd probably get more praise in that regard while still playing up that "possibly the last race" card.

As for the rest regarding the genderlocks I really can't say I'm surprised but given Yoshida's pattern of marketing and wording things he'll be saving this for the next expansion to generate more applause and praise out of something that people thought "wasn't possibly coming".

I'm already assuming many people will start to "Appeal to Authority" with their many rebuttals of "Where are your credentials" or "Modeling background" but think about this clearly. If this was the case for WoW or any other MMO that XIV competes with would you be praising them if they said "Oh we'll have a 1/3rd of some visual gear work for this new race by launch"? or would you logically question why a MMO standard isn't being met? Why is FFXIV given a free pass in this regard?

I dont think there is anything wrong with wanting, it's like easily half or more of my posts....lol super kettle if I did Haha but I would say the reason they get a pass / praise from me is because I believe them. In that I mean I believe they had this headgear issue and some people having been working hard/er/ to make it so and that they succeded, and further I believe they weren't all sitting in the office before that twirling sticks lol (was a push on top of the march).



So in that I'm excited / praise, of course that doesn't change I might have some desires later or think it's reasonable others want more headgear as is possible on top of whatever has been done. I suppose if they burnt the bridges of good will I have then maybe I would be more pessimistic but I'm not there.

[Fredco191]

Why can’t we all just... chill out? It’s almost like 55% (or more) of the player-base is never happy with this game.

[MomomiMomi]

Why can’t we all just... chill out? It’s almost like 55% (or more) of the player-base is never happy with this game.

Probably because there isn't much to be happy about. I'm not expecting much from this next expansion other than more story. And after getting 2 DPS last expansion, I was definitely looking forward to a new healer. The last time a healer was added to the game was 4 years ago. By the time the next expansion comes around, it will have been 6 years.

I was looking forward to Viera, but I'm quite sad that they didn't add male Viera. I thought we were beyond genderlocking after there was outcry about it in 1.0 and it was changed for 2.0. And "Ronso" are cool... but I would have liked to see female ones more than I would have liked to see the male ones. I also really disliked how their bodies looked in that reveal trailer, but that's beside the point.

And before you tell me to stop subbing, I haven't paid them a thing since January. The increasing amount of things these devs do that I dislike has greatly reduce the amount I'm willing to sub. I'm mostly here for the story. I won't go back to paying them more until they fix a lot of issues, which will probably never happen.

[Kyrausagi]

If you're not gonna support the devs and are unhappy with this game then why do you even play? That's completely unfair to attack or judge those because we support the company. So please if you don't support them or anything they do keep it to yourself and don't get mad at others who do.

[JohnSpawnVFX]

Probably because there isn't much to be happy about. I'm not expecting much from this next expansion other than more story. And after getting 2 DPS last expansion, I was definitely looking forward to a new healer. The last time a healer was added to the game was 4 years ago. By the time the next expansion comes around, it will have been 6 years.

I was looking forward to Viera, but I'm quite sad that they didn't add male Viera. I thought we were beyond genderlocking after there was outcry about it in 1.0 and it was changed for 2.0. And "Ronso" are cool... but I would have liked to see female ones more than I would have liked to see the male ones. I also really disliked how their bodies looked in that reveal trailer, but that's beside the point.

And before you tell me to stop subbing, I haven't paid them a thing since January. The increasing amount of things these devs do that I dislike has greatly reduce the amount I'm willing to sub. I'm mostly here for the story. I won't go back to paying them more until they fix a lot of issues, which will probably never happen.

6 month sub?
Because otherwise you can't play without an active sub, and you can no longer post here after 14 days without playing.

[Berethos]

I thought we were beyond genderlocking after there was outcry about it in 1.0 and it was changed for 2.0.

You're confusing the current gender locking, which is a logistics issue impacting their decision to fit two races and thus fulfill two disparate desires, with the earlier genderlocking of 1.0, which was an aesthetic choice.

They have moved past the reasoning used in 1.0 for genderlocking.

[savageink]

Why can’t we all just... chill out? It’s almost like 55% (or more) of the player-base is never happy with this game.

I think that's just the people on this message board. Most of the people I play with are having a good time. They never come here.

[Physic]

I know I'll probably get hate for this but this sounds like a result of lowering our expectations pretty low with the "Don't expect much in terms of headgear" on launch to make making around 1/3rd of gear seem praise worthy. I have no reason to praise this at all, shouldn't the completion of said race in terms of all its visual assets including the armor it'll wear not be expected as a standard? Especially from an MMO made by a AAA devteam? This is the part that is baffling me the most, to the point that I now question why they did not just hold off on either Hrothgar or Viera for one more expansion and just make the Male/Females of one if the "Headgear" was such an issue. They'd probably get more praise in that regard while still playing up that "possibly the last race" card.

As for the rest regarding the genderlocks I really can't say I'm surprised but given Yoshida's pattern of marketing and wording things he'll be saving this for the next expansion to generate more applause and praise out of something that people thought "wasn't possibly coming".

I'm already assuming many people will start to "Appeal to Authority" with their many rebuttals of "Where are your credentials" or "Modeling background" but think about this clearly. If this was the case for WoW or any other MMO that XIV competes with would you be praising them if they said "Oh we'll have a 1/3rd of some visual gear work for this new race by launch"? or would you logically question why a MMO standard isn't being met? Why is FFXIV given a free pass in this regard?

the real truth is, based on the race, they would probably have less head gear. dogs and cats dont wear clothes. People with beautiful hair are less likely to wear hats, and cant wear certain hats. A race of bunnies probably wont wear as many hats.


i think the real right answer is, races arent worth the effort. But they added some anyhow. This is why most games dont have seven races. Especially the higher the art quality. The truth is new races cost resources, not just up front, but on every gear you make. So adding races, usually decreases new gear, etc. added to the game. All that artist time could be used on new gears, customizations, enemies, etc. Is it worth it? probably depends on the player.


btw, appeal to authority is actually more valid than appeal to nothing.

[Noodle_Trinidad]

the real truth is, based on the race, they would probably have less head gear. dogs and cats dont wear clothes. People with beautiful hair are less likely to wear hats, and cant wear certain hats. A race of bunnies probably wont wear as many hats.


i think the real right answer is, races arent worth the effort. But they added some anyhow. This is why most games dont have seven races. Especially the higher the art quality. The truth is new races cost resources, not just up front, but on every gear you make. So adding races, usually decreases new gear, etc. added to the game. All that artist time could be used on new gears, customizations, enemies, etc. Is it worth it? probably depends on the player.


btw, appeal to authority is actually more valid than appeal to nothing.

You are correct in that regard in the sense of how much resources a new Race takes from a Dev Team but with that in mind you now need to question if its already a pain to make a new race for artists and modelers alike why did they decide to split it up into two new races instead of staggering one of the two out for 6.0 to ease their problems in 5.0? Would it have not made more sense to save these resources with assets they can reuse on both genders if they went All Hrothgar or All Viera? On top of that even the launch itself is still less than Heavensward which had a new Race and 3 Jobs instead of 2 Jobs and 2 Genderlocks. Baffling honestly.

And while an Appeal to Authority would be better than an Appeal to Nothing as you put it, the better argument to this would be introducing a logical reasoning as to why their actions were even good in regards to overall resource allocation, especially given they're sticking to the Safe and True formula? No one is saying the job isn't hard but to expect some consumers to accept subpar standards or unable to make a proper criticism would be foolish. I won't call the team lazy and open it up to such an easy appeal to authority but I will say their direction and overall prioritization of resources and idea is faulty at best.

[Physic]

You are correct in that regard in the sense of how much resources a new Race takes from a Dev Team but with that in mind you now need to question if its already a pain to make a new race for artists and modelers alike why did they decide to split it up into two new races instead of staggering one of the two out for 6.0 to ease their problems in 5.0? Would it have not made more sense to save these resources with assets they can reuse on both genders if they went All Hrothgar or All Viera? On top of that even the launch itself is still less than Heavensward which had a new Race and 3 Jobs instead of 2 Jobs and 2 Genderlocks. Baffling honestly.

And while an Appeal to Authority would be better than an Appeal to Nothing as you put it, the better argument to this would be introducing a logical reasoning as to why their actions were even good in regards to overall resource allocation, especially given they're sticking to the Safe and True formula? No one is saying the job isn't hard but to expect some consumers to accept subpar standards or unable to make a proper criticism would be foolish. I won't call the team lazy and open it up to such an easy appeal to authority but I will say their direction and overall prioritization of resources and idea is faulty at best.

there is little cost benefit to making the same race male and female, unless the male and female of the race has the same models/rigging. work wise, doing male and female viera, and doing male hrothgar female viera is not drastically different.

Also, the reason they decided to split them is they have no intention of doing the male viera or female hrothgar later. Therefore, the question was, if we can only do two more racexgenders, which 2 gives the most value to the game.

they have already said heavensward was a mistake, they bit off more than they could chew. Its like you asking your friend to move that couch again, when last time he injured his back and couldnt leave bed for two weeks.

Also, the cost of races increases as content increases. In heavensward, they may have had 1000 garments per racexgender and in shadowbringers they may have 1500, due to all the gear/armor added. that means each race is 50% more cost in time/manhours etc. Not only that, but increases the cost of making new gear after. before whenever you make gear you have to make/check/debug armor for 12 different models, after you need to 14. that increases the cost per new clothing by 16% There are means of reducing that, but not to zero.


the thing is, an appeal to authority is as valid as your authority is. Evaluate the authority to get an idea if the appeal is valid. The simplified logic/reasoning has been presented in his post. I am sure they have more detailed data, such as man hours spent per race in ARR vs in Shadowbringers, but most people dont need/want the underlying data.


the interesting thing is, the easiest solution to giving people more races, is to have less visual clothes per race, Ie, some new race simply has less old clothes, and not all new clothes. but as per your complaint, thats probably less acceptable than races not existing at all.