Thread: FFXIV 2.0 impression

Originally Posted by Onidemon

The more you show the better will the press see that this is a redesigned game. Sense of mystery will do nothing for XIV at this point, it was useful only when the game first launched. Now they have to prove to everyone that the game is fixed and for that they need to show as much as possible.

very true... It kind of has to be a hands on playable thing to be viable... I don't think the press would take too kindly to a cinematic trailer... The original launch has a beautiful cinematic trailer... we need to see gameplay... plain and simple

The things they need to show the public through demo:
1. Lag free gameplay
2. Area of the world not copy/pasted
3. A fluid, exciting battle with an intuitive, responsive UI (As opposed to players standing around or auto-attacking) against a big bad (probably familiar) final fantasy enemy
3a. A battle Regimen which isn't cumbersome and provides some exciting effect for combining abilities/skills/spells
4. Lively town with NPCs that do more than just stand there
5. Small things with the new Graphics engine like better lighting and shadows. Although the biggest improvement to the engine is the ability to run on more than just high end machines... which is something you can't really showcase at E3

Originally Posted by KamikazeMan

I expect it to feel the same, but play differently. The things I expect are:

- Less lag
- New animations << I'm pretty sure this is confirmed.
- Zones....confirmed
- Better looking areas and areas with "life" to them
- Much, much better UI...which is confirmed as long as it looks like the screenshot we got and works as intended.
- Several new bosses and a few more dungeons.
- Two new classes with jobs (since they've been mentioned several times. It will probably be beastmaster and a mage)
- New job quests
- New grand company quests
- More voice acting. I really want ambient voice acting (NPCs talking in the background, groaning, cheering, chattering, etc).


Lol...I have all but 2 classes at level 50 (non-crafting/gathering), but I think once 2.0 gets released, I'll just go to a new server, start a new character, and delete the one that I currently have. It would be nice to start fresh.

I'm really hoping they add a lot more voice acting. It add life and creates a better ambiance. Way better then watching some characters move around, moving their lips... you can hear everything they do but no words coming out of their mouth, it just looks awkward.

I wouldn't be disappointed with that, as long as they sorted the lag and animation lock I think the battle system is pretty solid.

Graphics engine and UI is the main things I'm looking forward to in 2.0 so as long as they are good along with new zone maps I would be happy with that.

If you expect the game to be completely different then you are probably headed for disappointment.

Originally Posted by Platinumstorm

Well, it would be a major disappointment if the lv 1-49 gameplay wasn't completely revamped and filled with content. I think the game can only succeed by providing an amazing experience for the lower and mid levels.

Secondly, there are improvements needed in combat because it doesn't have the fluidity or complexity needed to make it a great combat system. I often tout black mage as lacking complexity and bard having an awkward downtime period of about 10-15 seconds at certain portions during combat. Both of these things take away from the combat system, and each problem has different solutions. Black mage needs more BLM/THM skills that add different mechanics to their damage dealing gameplay, as well as an improvement in their elemental type gameplay, while bards may need simple tuning of damage and cool down timers to eradicate its deficiencies [although it would be nice to see another bard ability added that would help distinguish it more from an archer].

Two mistakes I think the developers have made in the combat system is giving each class/job too few abilities, and too heavy of a reliance on the TP mechanic. I realize TP is a holdover from FFXI, but the game could really benefit from resource systems outside of TP and MP to change the feel of each class.

Additionally, I think it's very necessary to make sure damage is applied at the end of an animation, rather than the beginning of an animation, so that animation lock can be eliminated.

Finally, we have to remember we're getting building blocks of 2.0 already. So some people will have to consider that, but at the same time the changes that 2.0 should, and likely will bring to the game will feel enormous. 2.0 is all about the new player and those who left FFXIV, make no mistake about it, and it's the correct decision for them to pursue. If a few of the people who currently adore the current system get upset and leave, that's okay, because everyone who is playing right now is a minority compared to the throngs who aren't playing, but had interest in the initial game.

Things that could disappointment not related to combat:

Not having a sufficient story experience from 1-50 that has a high level of quality and constantly makes players feel like they're part of an adventure. The quality control issues with the story, and the storyline inconsistencies and dead ends that were introduced as part of 1.0 were jarring and felt both rushed and incomplete, but occasionally showed glimmers of true presentation. I really think FFXIV's niche is going to be in doing better storytelling than say SWTOR, and I think that's what a lot of passive Final Fantasy players really expect from an FFMMO title - not a stationary grind.

Raising the level cap:
If they raise the level cap to 55, 60, or whatever, they're just creating unnecessary burden when there isn't content saturation at 50 anyhow. Any raise in the level cap would mean designing an additional section of content, and taking away focus from core systems and gameplay experiences for those levels that do exist now. So for me, that would be extremely disappointing.

Failure to sufficiently provide customer support:
FFXIV's customer support is horrendous; players expect better service, and this has to be done well.

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This is only a scratching the surface post, but there's no use continuing to delve further into it. Everything is completely in motion right now for the development of their vision of 2.0, and they're going to be on a tight schedule. There won't be much deviation in their course now, so what players suggest right now for 2.0 release likely has less impact than it did a few months ago.

I think S-E needs to hire you.

Originally Posted by Rowyne

Amazing post, Platinumstorm. I highlighted what I most agree with.

I feel two of FFXIV's biggest core problems are with the battle system and lack of story-driven gameplay, things that I'm still concerned will not change on a significant enough level in 2.0.

In regards to combat, I like the combo system. But I also feel it was a mistake to make melee abilities so heavily TP-based. The way it was implemented only serves to makes battle feel less fluid and less interactive. As you suggested, there needs to be something to fill in the gaps between abilities (I would personally rather see smaller non-TP based attack abilities than a third resource to juggle, but either way, something needs to happen).

I'm also concerned about the leveling model getting enough of a redesign. Simply put, there is too much naked grind in this game. Final Fantasy excels at storytelling, but instead of a story-driven journey, the majority of leveling is done through mindless grinding with some story on the side like an afterthought. It's really a letdown when you consider what this franchise is capable of.

To answer the OP, no, if this game was ported as-is to the new engine, servers and maps, it would not be enough. Combat still needs work, the leveling model needs work, plus the new UI redesign, linkshell administration, delivery system, market ward reform, PvP... there's still a long way to go.

IMO they should remove TP and replace it with a different system for each class, like that every class will play and feel differently.

Originally Posted by LazKai

This is without taking into account that the developers could have already been working on said content and a cap raise was being planned for 2.0 post release. This is a concern, yes, but there is no way to tell just how much progress has been made in the area of content the dev's have made currently. They could have enormous progress or not as much. I suspect a level cap raise and the content that goes with it to be found in a future expansion, possibly months to a year after the release of 2.0.

Any work on a level cap raise would have been time that could have been allocated to making the 1-49 and rank 50 games better, so it doesn't matter if it's taken into account or not as part of their production strategy; I don't think any allocation of a post 50 game development would be a good use of 2.0 resources, as I initially said because

#1. The focus of the game is on players who didn't buy FFXIV and those who quickly left in droves and wish they had never purchased FFXIV.

#2. Content at 50 isn't saturated, and the current battle system is likely designed with lv 50 being the maximum rank.

#3. It would be counter productive to spend any amount of resources developing a post 50 content when current level 50 players will hopefully represent at least less than 5% of the total player base, which are already going to have a large learning curve with the new system.

Keep in mind - developing a new amount of level ranges is a major undertaking that wouldn't just be a tiny allocation of resources, in addition to the classes we know they're working on for after, and maybe [teeny tiny chance] even before 2.0 [ pet classes I.E. summoner, beastmaster, arcanist, musketeer (hopefully they stick treasure hunter on this instead of pointlessly making a thief since it fits so nicely). Then these classes might either be jobs or have jobs attached to them in the future [Would love to see a musketeer/gambler combo - like Setzer, seems to make a lot of sense with the Eorzean history].

I'm never quite sure what players are really asking for when they say "I want the level cap raised". To me there are two answers to this: A. I want more skills [this can be done without adding new levels] or B. I want new experiences (zones, monsters, weapons, armor, quests). We've already gotten new skills, and we'll get more with the new classes/jobs, and we're going to have a profusion of new content, or maybe even additional job quests. There's just nothing to gain from a level cap raise right now that I can see that isn't addressed by 2.0, can you see any?

As long as I get my house, new crafting recipies for high levels, more content, and some of the lag fixed I would be fine.

The newly designed areas are a huge plus because I love exploring too.

All of this has been confirmed in interviews Im fairly certain.

If I can have Ninja without utsusemi (but still with elemental nukes/debuffs) so I can just DD I'd be happy too. Though any new classes to play around on would be nice.