Doman Mahjong could use Triple Triad treatment

[Valic]

I'm all for foreign cultures being introduced to the game and this one especially fits for the lore of being from Doma.... My complaint is that it is HARD to remotely understand compared to everything else in the gold saucer and doesn't really mesh with the "its from FF" easter egg deal (unless there's an FF that plays mahjong that I don't know about?". I've read several wikis, guides, watched several videos, and it is still a bit confusing in FFXIV. I also don't see very many actually playing it, so I figure it's only a matter of time before it becomes pretty dead like lord of verminion(which nearly saves itself with the rewards).

My proposal?

1. Increase the rewards of it to an amount that makes up for the potential 2 hours you'll be playing a single game. Making it required to "win" as well since by doing the former alone, you'll only get more people who "just want their log done" rather than actually learn how to play. I wanted to learn how to play this regardless but lordy lord I didn't know a single game was going to eat up 2 hours.... At the very least give me a decent amount pf MGP for that kinda investment.

2. Give players an opening tutorial just like Triple Triad receives when you first unlock it. Even knowing how it plays from FF8, I appreciated it being there for those who didn't know how to play Triple Triad, never played FF8, or even myself understanding what elements/rules there are in FF14's interpretation of Triple Triad. Mahjong should introduce players in what the goal is, how turns work, and what's going on in all of it for a bit, then allow the player some time to play for themselves in the same tutorial round. Something to teach players how to win, how to lose, and what you want to try and do during the whole match. The hints are nice for games but they also can be very wrong when they tell you to discard winds that match your seat/round or to discard dragons/etc that might be doras.

3. An exit button. I feel like no other mode needs this type of button... but Mahjong can last A WHILE... though it probably would show some unsportsmanlike behaviors from the community, it'd be nice if you at least had the option to leave if you had an emergency or something. Could even make it a limited option so people can't abuse it and help someone win MGP quickly or some garbage. Like only able to exit Doman Mahjong 3 times a day and only once every hour or something. Triple Triad and other games don't need this because they can last anywhere from 20 seconds to at most 2 minutes.

I'm all for the book guides they put in game and online as a guide but hardly anyone wants to read through every bit of that. Even if they do, it's still hard to grasp the definition of every single piece and play without having a dictionary on hand. I wouldn't be able to tell you what a "Nagashi-mangan" right off the top of my head is and I wouldn't know it when I see it. So it'd be really nice if they did a tutorial where in each round they introduce to you each type of play and show you what happens or it looks like, the result, so on.

[Kietsu]

1. Increase the rewards of it to an amount that makes up for the potential 2 hours you'll be playing a single game.

I'll start by saying that single games simply don't take two hours - in fact, the game declares 'last hand' well before that - but I'd say a standard match match length is around 40 minutes, though they can run a little shorter in Advanced queue (where the turn time limit is shorter). That said, the game definitely has little in rewards beyond the game's most controversial orchestrion roll, and some titles for those madpeople who frequent the game to identify ourselves with - the challenge log entry for a pittance of MGP is absolutely a trap. I believe they've gone on the record stating that they want to avoid adding more rewards based on placement, though; something about giving gambling laws a crazily wide berth.

2. Give players an opening tutorial...

The game definitely doesn't do a good job of introducing you to riichi, basically throwing an imposing (though honestly helpful) rules book at you and suggesting you 'just go ahead and play until you figure it out'. A guided tutorial would absolutely be a great idea! But they might not have the spare resources to make such a thing a reality, unfortunately.

3. An exit button.

As far as I'm aware, there's a already a Leave button in the duty info window (U key), just like any other instance. That said, the game simply doesn't function after a player leaves, and if you leave you're probably ruining it for the other 3 people at the table. Personally, though, I wouldn't begrudge someone for telling the party that an emergency had come up - but people who leave because they didn't know how much of a time commitment it was are an annoyance to no end.

That said, a lot of players (myself included) would love to see an option to queue for an 'east wind only' match, which would last half as long on average. Splitting up the queues mightn't be the best idea, though.

[Genz]

Instead of a boring Exit button, I suggest the possibility to do a chombo : http://arcturus.su/wiki/Chombo

Including, but not limited to, flipping the table, attacking a player, or using the table as a weapon against a player.

This post is totally not an advertisement for the manga The Legend of Koizumi.