Letter from the Producer LXII

[LyraKuroneko]

But it still needs to be worked on. Are you trolling D:?

It doesn't. Because they just gotta ajdust their resize algorythm once. Not for every single model.

Don't call me a troll because you don't get something please.

For example an earpiece as simple factor each time it is used.
-The races. For the position. Which is fixed for each races.
-The character size.
-the character ear size if their is the option.

And that's it. With that they can chose the factor of their liking to resize by a % for example. But that is using the above thing. So in the end is "fixed" too.

If there isn't a model it is because an automatic code does the rest. As the race is created now. It is done and shoudln't need any modification unless they rework the race altogether.

[SannaR]

I'm pretty sure those are both the Lv70 outfits.

Ahh so they are. Now I'm a little sad that he didn't sneak the lv 80 versions in as they like to sprinkle this stuff around until post media tour/final LL has happened.

[PharisHanasaki]

snip

No, I asked because your answers weren't as well written as this last one. I do understand, mind you. But given how many coding bugs and limitations we've had in the past due to the rushed dev 9 years ago, what Yoshi P said doesn't strike me as odd.

My point was for people saying 'Oh they're liying to me cuz that's so weird. There should be a magic code that fixes everything fast'.

[Kalise]

Not exactly. spf1200 is right though, it boils down to HoTs and Shields. If you were to remove those two forms of healing from each healer, and look at what they have left, you'd see that that is basically all WHM had going for it. AST still offers a tone of other things, and while they'd be hit hard SCH still has utility. The main issue is WHM is supposed to be like the healer version of BLM. But where big damage numbers are good, big heals are not, relatively speaking. You are right about the utility, but it's because of the HoTs and Shields that it's more noticeable.

The issue isn't really HoTs and Shields. Since, it's not like AST is preferred over WHM because of its shields, it really only uses its HoTs stance because its shields are trash.

HoTs and Shields is only what makes SCH so dominant and again, it's only because SCH's shields are REALLY good, since again, AST doesn't want to use its shields because they're bad.

AST is preferred over WHM because it is the exact same HoT healer. But with cards providing utility.

It's astounding that Yoshi mentions that they've been having balance issues with healers since adding AST and hasn't made the connection that simply releasing AST as "WHM... But with Cards" might be the problem that devalues WHM.

If anything, removing HoTs and Shields would actually make WHM the king, since they have more oGCD's to use to allow them to keep DPSing instead of hard casting Cure/Benefic/Physick.

Since when you get down to it how many different ways can you dress up a heal, or damage, or a shield...?

Plenty of ways. Like, damage we literally have 9 DPS jobs (Soon 10) with the only limiting factor to adding new ones being them wanting to release jobs for other roles too.

Healing and shielding also has plenty of design space:

Direct Healing
Healing Over Time
Reactive Healing
Shields
Channelled Healing
Healing from dealing Damage

It would just require the games healing to not revolve around the situation where using a GCD on a healing skill is a sin.

Since that's the main thing that limits healer design, is that they all have to work around using DPS GCD's like 90% of the time and rely on massively jacked HoTs, Shields and oGCD's that allow them to do this.

There's only so many things you can do, when you're specifically restricted to things that are oGCD or GCD's that can cover healing requirements for long periods of time.

[Nighthawky2010]

My main character on Midgardsormr is AU'RA. i have an AU'RA on the Primal DC & an Elezen on the Crystal DC.

Once Hrothgar was announced @ the Japan Fan Fest...my thot was I have Phantasia...both my alt characters will be THUNDERCATS!!
I was never interested in making "bunny boys" & would care less.

Dancer makes alot of sense to be a physical range DPS,now there will be 3 range DPS.

Kudos to the DeV team for the 540 modified head gear pieces. That's impressive, especially doing it in their spare time & without Yoshi-P knowing about it. They went the extra mile for the Community.

COME ON JUNE 28TH!!

[Krotoan]

It doesn't. Because they just gotta ajdust their resize algorythm once. Not for every single model.

Don't call me a troll because you don't get something please.

For example an earpiece as simple factor each time it is used.
-The races. For the position. Which is fixed for each races.
-The character size.
-the character ear size if their is the option.

And that's it. With that they can chose the factor of their liking to resize by a % for example. But that is using the above thing. So in the end is "fixed" too.

If there isn't a model it is because an automatic code does the rest. As the race is created now. It is done and shoudln't need any modification unless they rework the race altogether.

Something to consider, just because it technically (by numbers) should fit, doesn't mean it LOOKS ok. Someone still has to verify that they display ok. Even if we lump all the similar looking pieces together that's still thousands to review. It's theoretically automatable to a degree, yes. But QA still has to happen.

[TheJarvisMan]

Just logged in the forums to say that the live letter reminded me of one of the main reasons why I love this game. This dev team is next level when it comes to clarity and transparency. Just a well-thought-out, concise, comprehensive response to all the feedback that they've been receiving. Thanks, SE.

[Alucard135]

It seems reasonable if you take everything he said as fact. In actuality, though, all races except roegadyn and lalafell share a body - they aren't unique. Even roegadyn share a body with hrothgar now.

Then there's this line: "FFXIV has around ten thousand equippable items already implemented, all of which must be manually modified by our designers". That's a blatant lie. A large number of items share models, and an even larger amount are racially universal, like accessories and weapons.

I'm not suggesting that no or little work goes into new races (even though this game has cut corners massively on races), but I don't appreciate being lied to about it being more work than it is. If the actual amount of work required is too much work, then just say it's too much work.

Modders would be laughing at you.

[SieyaM]

So I am going to be bitter about Viera and I am coming to terms with that. But it looks like they are going to use this balance issue to continually not add healers, for any expansion ever. It has been brought up for two expansions now and balancing three healers is not going to get any easier in the future with new abilities being added each expansion. So I guess what we have is all we are going to get for healers.

[Eloah]

Plenty of ways. Like, damage we literally have 9 DPS jobs (Soon 10) with the only limiting factor to adding new ones being them wanting to release jobs for other roles too.

I think you might of missed my sarcasm

But in regards to the GCD and oGCD comment. That's why HoTs and Shields are a big issue. Because, while the moves that might generate them are GCD they act as oGCD abilities. Aslo not sure if WHM or SCH would be the better oGCD healer without the gimmicks. WHM does have some more "powerful" ones, but SCH has ones that are more efficient time wise. I think it would depend on the fight honestly.

The only thing I do hope for is for them to keep Shield as a SCH mainstay. I like the "barrier warrior" dynamic over a pure healer one.