What are the largest issues plaguing XIV currently?

[DoH]

Again, if there's no actual difficulty for them to implement it, why would they choose to withhold it from us?

I do not know the real reason why we can't have it, but it is disappointing that the reason that SE has given doesn't make any sense. The real reason is probably that the Glamour Dresser is spaghetti code and they'd have to spend a lot of resources redoing it in order for it to work in houses. Instead of saying this, they've given a vague answer about how it has to do with the fact that you would be able to move / remove the object. Unless the coding really is just that bad, I would hope that the Glamour Dresser is just like the Summoning Bell in that it's just a normal object that, by right clicking on it, sends a command to the game to pull the information stored on SE's side for the Glamour Dresser. If that were the case, then moving / removing it shouldn't be an issue because it would just be moving / removing the terminal for you to access that data; it shouldn't be the case that moving / removing the Glamour Dresser actually would delete that data unless they've coded it in some absolutely absurd way.

[DPZ2]

I do not know the real reason why we can't have it, but it is disappointing that the reason that SE has given doesn't make any sense.

If the glamour dresser were only a storage depot, I'd agree.

But ...

There are glamour plates associated with the dresser, and their location makes it simpler to keep track of what is in the dresser and assigned to a plate, as well as what is assigned to a plate and no longer in the dresser. You can put an item in the glamour dresser, create a plate for it, and then remove the item. The plate still exists.

The retainer bell, on the other hand, contains zero information about what's in your retainer inventory. That is associated with each individual retainer. Remove the retainer, and the associated inventory is lost, permanently. The retainer bell still brings up your current retainers.

Remove the glamour dresser (and associated plates) from your house and it exists, where?

[DoH]

If the glamour dresser were only a storage depot, I'd agree.

But ...

There are glamour plates associated with the dresser, and their location makes it simpler to keep track of what is in the dresser and assigned to a plate, as well as what is assigned to a plate and no longer in the dresser. You can put an item in the glamour dresser, create a plate for it, and then remove the item. The plate still exists.

The retainer bell, on the other hand, contains zero information about what's in your retainer inventory. That is associated with each individual retainer. Remove the retainer, and the associated inventory is lost, permanently. The retainer bell still brings up your current retainers.

Remove the glamour dresser (and associated plates) from your house and it exists, where?

As I said, I would hope that the Glamour Dresser, in terms of how it actually works on the back end, is just a terminal that by right-clicking on it accesses the glamour data for your character that is stored on SE's servers. It is not a real, physical dresser with stuff in it - it is just an object associated with some code that tells the game to pull data from SE's servers. It's the same as the armoire - if you remove that object, where does the stuff in it go? It doesn't "go" anywhere - you just can't access that data without it because you removed the terminal to interface with that data. Also, you can see (but not edit) the glamour plates anywhere in the real world through the character menu without the dresser.

[Morningstar1337]

Also, you can see (but not edit) the glamour plates anywhere in the real world through the character menu without the dresser.

That last one is kinda untrue AFAIK,the ability to view the plates is only available in places where they can be used, which means hub/housing areas in the overworld. Anywhere outside whose, and the plates won't activate (if tied to gearsets) nor can they be viewed

[Rasikko]

The Final Fantasy XIV Forums

[linayar]

I just skimmed through this thread and have a couple of comments:

Every boss in WoW, outside of Mythic+ where you can't swap gear mid-run anyways (to prevent cheese and excessive horizontal gearing requirements), has its own loot table, same as in XIV.

The only difference is that WoW's loot table are restricted to whatever the party can actually use and the Need/Greed process is skipped, with people instead being able to trade gear after receiving it.

XIV model: 2 items drop from a 8-man boss. 0, 1, or 2 of those items might be useful to the group.
WoW model: Each player has a 25% chance (2 in 8) to get something usable, and there's a consolation prize for those who don't get that something.

The problem is WoW's raids are weekly-locked (at least on LFR). If you don't get a gear drop from a boss that run, you're not getting any gear drop from that boss for the rest of the week. Yeah, there is consolation prize, but it's just ok for me. Also, due to some complicated gear shenanigans, apparently a higher item level might not be an upgrade for you, but that's enough to prevent you from trading it to another player that might need it more.

Normal raid in FFXIV has a much better loot system by comparison. Also, if you have multiple jobs leveled, then it lessens the chance of not getting a drop you can use as you can gear your alt job instead. Plus, in Savage, there is some bad luck protection as well in terms of books (or whatever), I think.

We just don't notice it because...

If it's a problem that can be easily missed/ignored, is it a problem?

[Shurrikhan]

The problem is WoW's raids are weekly-locked (at least on LFR).

Yet, that's also how Savage works, until unlocked in preparation for the next tier.

I could go either way, personally. I like that I'm guaranteed one (and to an extent, like that it will be only ever one) piece of gear at the end of the week, and that I can rerun for more tries towards the upgrade I want. At the same time, though, it gets seriously frustrating to have nothing you need ever drop for the 4th, 5th, 6th Puppet's Bunker run that week, which is itself an issue Personal Loot can solve (i.e. by trimming duplicates from the loot table). There's also just the idea of it feeling like an actual raid, with actual boss loot, rather than just a means to a week-by-week ends, though that's meant increasingly less to me over the years.

Both have issues of feast-or-famine, luck-or-unluck. Savage is just as varied as WoW raids; a quickly progressing group technically may clear the last boss before you've gotten anything. In WoW's case it'd be due merely to extreme personal unluck, while in XIV it's more like luck deferred (someone else got their marginal upgrade instead of you getting your BiS legs). Similarly, one could go through story-mode (LFR) raid tier for the week and get loot from half the 12-15 bosses, or just 1, or potentially even none (incredibly unlikely, but technically possible). In XIV's casual raids, you could go several runs before one of the pieces you want finally drops, let alone is rolled high enough for you to finally stop grinding.

If I had my druthers, I'd use a hybrid of Personal Loot and the "One Item Per Week" system. You'd get your option of one item per boss, tailored optionally to each (1) your job ("currently usable only"), (2) your bank of jobs ("usable only"), and/or (3) your existing gear ("upgrades only"), and could just keep passing until you get what you want, but there'd be more normalization.

[linayar]

Similarly, one could go through story-mode (LFR) raid tier for the week and get loot from half the 12-15 bosses, or just 1, or potentially even none (incredibly unlikely, but technically possible). In XIV's casual raids, you could go several runs before one of the pieces you want finally drops, let alone is rolled high enough for you to finally stop grinding.

Well, in my experience so far in both SB and ShB vs BfA. If I were to start at the weekly reset, I would usually be done in an hour for normal raids, or at the worst before the daily reset on Tuesday. Meanwhile, most weeks, I have gotten no gear (not even ones I could trade) from all the LFR wings. Of course, it's RNG, so technically, I could've gotten gears at every boss. But just from these past two-three years, the RNG in FFXIV just happens to be on my side more than in WoW. Especially with ShB's loot system, it is much easier to get the loot I want, plus having to only focus on the boss makes it faster to replay.

Just on a side note, I don't know why it is I have such worse experience in LFR (just in terms of completing them, not even talking about loot) compared to even new alliance raids in FFXIV. People seem to give up too easily in LFR or something, even with Determination stacks available which should make things a bit easier, or they get their one loot they wanted and then bailed.

Anyways, I'm ok with personal loot. I just think it shouldn't have a no-gear option. There should be always gear dropped, and then you can decide if you want it or not. Also, for WoW, I wish there is a way to say I want loots for all my specs instead of just the current one.

[Shurrikhan]

Just on a side note, I don't know why it is I have such worse experience in LFR (just in terms of completing them, not even talking about loot) compared to even new alliance raids in FFXIV. People seem to give up too easily in LFR or something, even with Determination stacks available which should make things a bit easier, or they get their one loot they wanted and then bailed..

I think that's mostly a matter of XIV casual raids kind of splitting the difference of LFR and Normal mode in terms of the players likely to run them even -- it's the lower of two or lowest of three difficulty spans, depending on whether you call Ex Primals their own thing, as compared to the lowest of four as in WoW (Story, Normal, Extreme, Savage, equivalently) while being no harder, really, than WoW's easiest setting (LFR). The mechanics have fewer "well now I know, I guess..." one-shots but more coordination typically required, and in a subtler and more cumulative fashion. Despite this, the people you run with in LFR are those who are unwilling to do anything harder than Story mode, are painfully undergeared (especially, for anything but story mode), or are really bored (e.g. the kind who'd run normal modes after having already gotten all their weekly loot from them, and not via roulette). If you do even a mild amount of dungeon progression, for instance, LFR stands only as a niche, roll-of-the-dice alt catch-up mechanic once you've already used it to complete the MSQ. It's never really been sold as a gear source so much as just a last-resort way to see the story as it plays out via raid content. People complained they couldn't see the stories through to completion, and so they got LFR. Difficulty-wise, it's like our "normal mode" (if a bit more mechanics-laden, depending on the fight); just because it has three difficulty settings higher than it, rather than our one, doesn't mean it's going to actually be that easy.

To put it (perhaps overly) simply, you're used to a sort of bottom-half player span, but now you're seeing a bottom-quarter player span still attempting to accomplish the same actual difficulty as done by the bottom-half content in XIV. Naturally, it's going to feel a bit more... disjointed.

It's specifically those people who go through it weekly as if by obligation, despite it having a nearly nil chance of an upgrade, that most contribute to that "quitter" mentality, as if the run's not going perfectly, it's a waste of time for them... because they're way overgeared for story mode.

Anyways, I'm ok with personal loot. I just think it shouldn't have a no-gear option. There should be always gear dropped, and then you can decide if you want it or not. Also, for WoW, I wish there is a way to say I want loots for all my specs instead of just the current one.

Same. And that would probably help the "quitter" problem quite a bit... at least until they get the loot they want.

[linayar]

I think that's mostly a matter of XIV casual raids kind of splitting the difference of LFR and Normal mode in terms of the players likely to run them even -- it's the lower of two or lowest of three difficulty spans, depending on whether you call Ex Primals their own thing, as compared to the lowest of four as in WoW (Story, Normal, Extreme, Savage, equivalently) while being no harder, really, than WoW's easiest setting (LFR). The mechanics have fewer "well now I know, I guess..." one-shots but more coordination typically required, and in a subtler and more cumulative fashion. Despite this, the people you run with in LFR are those who are unwilling to do anything harder than Story mode, are painfully undergeared (especially, for anything but story mode), or are really bored (e.g. the kind who'd run normal modes after having already gotten all their weekly loot from them, and not via roulette). If you do even a mild amount of dungeon progression, for instance, LFR stands only as a niche, roll-of-the-dice alt catch-up mechanic once you've already used it to complete the MSQ. It's never really been sold as a gear source so much as just a last-resort way to see the story as it plays out via raid content. People complained they couldn't see the stories through to completion, and so they got LFR. Difficulty-wise, it's like our "normal mode" (if a bit more mechanics-laden, depending on the fight); just because it has three difficulty settings higher than it, rather than our one, doesn't mean it's going to actually be that easy.

To put it (perhaps overly) simply, you're used to a sort of bottom-half player span, but now you're seeing a bottom-quarter player span still attempting to accomplish the same actual difficulty as done by the bottom-half content in XIV. Naturally, it's going to feel a bit more... disjointed.

It's specifically those people who go through it weekly as if by obligation, despite it having a nearly nil chance of an upgrade, that most contribute to that "quitter" mentality, as if the run's not going perfectly, it's a waste of time for them... because they're way overgeared for story mode.

Ugh, I want to blame titanforge and world quest/emissary reward, but I foresee the problem continuing in Shadowlands. Then there's the fact that, even with 30 people and about 13 DPS spots, the two tank spots will still be the last to fill most of the times. It's kind of crazy and why I appreciate FFXIV making tanking easier even if some tank mains may not like the change.

Same. And that would probably help the "quitter" problem quite a bit... at least until they get the loot they want.

I hated not getting the minions in alliance raids, but maybe that's enough for people to not quit after getting their loot. And the tokens.