I'm concerned for ffxiv's future

[polyphonica]

literally yoshi-p said in the letter he wrote - no amount of just throwing people and money at problems is going to solve problems. things are the way they are. does it mean we can't complain about it? no, but unless the game was in total disarray i don't think we should be harshing on them as much as people do imo.

I think this a point a lot of people don't understand (or they think he's just being glib when he says that). The problem the development team faces isn't primarily money or team size at this point (although they're always looking for talented staff), it's time.

They have a dev cycle that keeps patches coming out consistently every 3.5 months, and the stability of that process depends on many hundreds of people's work coming together at just the right time on a consistent basis and coalescing into a single product launched simultaneously across multiple platforms in multiple languages. The logistical complexity of doing that for a once-and-done game is bad enough (consider how many of SE's other projects have seen massive delays), but to keep on doing it on this kind of rapid schedule like clockwork means they are like a machine.

As he points out, adding new races doesn't only have a one-time development cost (although there's definitely that), it also has an on-going upkeep cost, and this added upkeep can't interrupt the existing development cycle and flow. So even if the CEO came to Yoshida today and gave him a proverbial "blank cheque" to "get it done, no matter the cost" the big issue is how to re-arrange all the logistical pieces to keep things working on an on-going basis. Some of that may involve new tooling that allows them to work more efficiently. Some of that might involve a new spread/distribution of content across the patch schedules to balance workload. Some of that may involve a new approach to managing the team that better utilizes outsourcing or other techniques. But it's not just a matter of money and people alone.

As you said, it's important that people keep giving them feedback and pushing for the improvements they want, as that definitely helps the prioritize and keep considering ways of accomplishing the goal. But the idea that they're woefully underfunded and a sudden infusion of cash from SE would suddenly mean all the things they currently say they can't do would suddenly become possible is just a fantasy. Yoshida's number one job as producer is maintaining the steady march (the entire assembly line) that keeps the content flowing at a stable speed, and there are only so many disruptions the project can weather without disrupting the pace. (Of course, his job as director is to create a product that makes customers happy, so everything has to be balanced. That's why the feedback does matter, and why they took the time to write the letter.)

[Krotoan]

i think they could make ARR less crap

Please expand on what "Less crap" entails?

[AnnaRosa]

I think this a point a lot of people don't understand (or they think he's just being glib when he says that). The problem the development team faces isn't primarily money or team size at this point (although they're always looking for talented staff), it's time.

If they didn't think of the MMO future as the title suggests they would not even recruit new workers.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

Know what FFXIV needs? More diverse and challenging Content.
Like I look back at the Binding Coils and Alexander, that was some intense, challenging and visually appealing content.
I pray for more Raids, trials and dungeons of that Magnitude.

Male Bunny Boys and Female Bara cats would be neat to...but thats small potatoes if talking about the future of a Game.
Content over Glamour.

[Daralii]

Maybe revenue from ff7remake can be siphoned here like our subs were apparently being siphoned off to kh3

Either that or they get a one time boost to really optimize their production workflow

Like I dont think the game is dying but I think theres a resource management issue somewhere

It's more likely that the revenue from XIV has been getting used in part for however many iterations they've done of 7R at this point, just like KH3, and will continue to be used for its episodic release schedule, just like XV. From what we've been told, a lot of what XIV brings in isn't reinvested into it, and is instead used on other projects.

[Selova]

snip.

Pretty much this. The demands that everyone wants obviously can't all be met and whenever someone is disappointed by any decision they make. People like to claim how it's somehow related to some downhill path the game is heading when in all reality it's not, it's just their emotions getting the best of them because their expectations didn't turn into realities. No one is saying you can't be upset but let's not reach for something that's not there to begin with.

[Kalise]

literally yoshi-p said in the letter he wrote - no amount of just throwing people and money at problems is going to solve problems.

I'm still rather curious about that statement.

Like, he say that no amount of throwing money and people at the problems will solve things, because of debugging and QA.

But... What if there were more people working on debugging and QA?

[Krotoan]

I'm still rather curious about that statement.

Like, he say that no amount of throwing money and people at the problems will solve things, because of debugging and QA.

But... What if there were more people working on debugging and QA?

FFXIV team to SE overlords: "We want more budget for QA and Modeling"
SE-O: "NO"

You think they're gonna throw their parent company under the bus during a live letter?

[Reimmi]

I am 100% ok with no new races
Instead, do what wow isn't doing, and improve on our current races.
More customization options, hair styles, better body sliders (yes even the much requested booty slider)
I'm sure nobody could complain about that

[Alleo]

I don't think the game needs another reboot, what it needs is more resources and a bigger team to work on it.

+1

And better codes..seeing how the reminding 1.0 code is used as a reason for limitations and things they cant do quite often..which will just hinder the games growth in the future even futher.