A few thoughts on FFXIV

[Nakiamiie]

The gameplay of FFXIV is not meant to be a spam fest action game. It's more of a slower more tactical MMO where positioning actually matters. Most MMOs these days are action spammers which is why they don't use TP or positioning in their combat system. There is a playerbase for both sides and SE doesn't have to join the flood of action MMOs.



These are not "solo skillchains" but combos. "Skillchains" are Battle regiments that have been removed and are currently being redone like most systems that are finally piecing together in this game.



All melee range gets hit with damage and being behind the entire fight isn't the best decision. The behind combo is useful for the most part but can put you in danger if that's all you do is stand behind non trash mobs. Again, the game is more tactical than Face ---> Keyboard!



This is a Party > Solo kind of game. Party will always be more engaging and fun as it is the design for it. There are more than enough solo orientated games out there. Spamming 1 is also not something that kept many people entertained which is why the community killed many kittens over it.

A non Auto Attack system does not fit this style of game.




Tanking requires some skill to do and also not something you Face --> Keyboard through just because it is your role. The issue with PLD vs WAR is not a baseline enmity issue. WAR HP would be ok if PLD would get an increase in damage reduction. WAR also generates more controlled enmity than PLD because of its STR. PLD also can't over cure from increase in hate which would help the issue some.



It's a "mistake" that the community pretty much asked for. It might not be EXACTLY as some ideas proposed but it is still around the general area of them. The game has had a huge positive factor once they added jobs. I wouldn't say how they went by it was wrong.



Classes are not meant to BE anything. A job is the one with the identity. The class basically just tells you where you stand during a battle as they all are grey in the end.
However, A WAR can deal damage but is mainly a tank as seen by it's Job abilities. All the pure DD jobs can out damage them though.



Well the game was polled to be more instanced to get rid of the "fighting". In my opinion the way XI did AF was horrible when compared so I also disagree with this.




Are you talking about how a linkshell is ran? If casual gamers don't like stone set rules don't join a Hardcore linkshell. SE can't force people to run their shells how YOU or anyone else that's not the leader(s) of the shell.



It's called content finder. That will be your casual friendly tool. It will be cross server so that ensures there will be a good chunk of people willing to do what you want to accomplish.



PvP will NOT be a main focus like SWTOR/WoW or any of the others. PvE is the main focus and I see Classes being used more for such an event. There isn't much balancing needed as I see it, ALL classes are grey in the end.



Those looking for a WoW/SWTOR like system will be leaving if that's the only reason they joined. It has already been stated this will be PvE focused.



How much more of a dramatic revamp could a MMO do? They are finally finishing up on a lot of core revamps after a year plus and you think they need to be do something even more drastic?

.

No matter what SE does there will always ONLY be SOME people that enjoy it. No MMO
is enjoyed by all especially these days. WoW is so massive because an entire family from 3 years old+ could play and win. They can keep their kiddie playerbase and massive immaturity among them.

SE doesn't need a "large" playerbase to turn a profit. They only need a solid one. One of SWTOR issues currently is opening so many servers among their "large" base and now that only the solid remains it is spread thin among the servers. FFXI lived this long, was successful to SE, AND made(and continues to make) a profit because it's playerbase was solid, yet it never reached 1 million subs(even though abyssea since has shaken the once stabilized playerbase).


If you currently have such major issues with the game, and the OP seems pretty major to me, this game probably won't be for you once 2.0 releases.

I agree with you, not Xikeroth.

[Xikeroth]

I agree with you, not Xikeroth.

Its fine you don't agree, but also realize not everyone agrees with you or him either. Everyone can have their own opinion.

[Benediction]

No matter what SE does there will always ONLY be SOME people that enjoy it. No MMO
is enjoyed by all especially these days. WoW is so massive because an entire family from 3 years old+ could play and win. They can keep their kiddie playerbase and massive immaturity among them.

SE doesn't need a "large" playerbase to turn a profit. They only need a solid one. One of SWTOR issues currently is opening so many servers among their "large" base and now that only the solid remains it is spread thin among the servers. FFXI lived this long, was successful to SE, AND made(and continues to make) a profit because it's playerbase was solid, yet it never reached 1 million subs(even though abyssea since has shaken the once stabilized playerbase).


If you currently have such major issues with the game, and the OP seems pretty major to me, this game probably won't be for you once 2.0 releases.

Accept it or not, these are the exact reasons why the game isn't doing so well. People talked about the promise of 2.0, but most, if not all of the things implemented were in poor execution.

I agree with the OP that the combat is REALLY slow. All classes are very weak and very unbalanced.

For instance, why a tank like Paladin, not be favoured over a DPS like Warrior for it's sole purpose of existence? Warrior has greater threat and damage, and Paladin doesnt get greater boost to defense and threat?

Why a mage like Black Mage, that is so heavily dependant on MP, can quickly run out of its resources and have abilities that are only activated once every 5-7 min, while the effect of the abilities are mediocre at best? Black Mages need lower spell cost, lower cooldowns on mana regeneration abilities and a boost to mana regeneration.

Why is Mage's Ballad only give 6 mp per tick (a tick is what 3 seconds?) when our mana pools are can reach 3000+ and cost of spells are at least 120 mp? There's really no big reason to invite a Bard to a party since the benefit they provide is so negligible.. you can easily get the same benefits from food or potions.

Since threat doesnt decay and can quickly build over time, why are the cooldowns on threat dumps so long? Some classes are forced to do nothing for 30 seconds to more than a minute forcing classes like White Mage to really walk a tight rope while hoping the boss doesnt do spike damage. Essential abilities like this should have shorter cooldown.

Why are some classes like Archer or Pugilist be forced out of certain events just because the class doesn't perform well? What is the point of creating such unbalanced classes if they have nothing to give during fights? Example... trends switched from Archers to Lancers then to Thaumaturges in Ifrit battles just because of consequent patches. People should be able to play any class they want.

Why are certain abilities locked out of some classes? These are essential abilities like Chameleon and Sentinel. On that note, there's no boost or bonus when switching from a class to a job. For instance, Why cant WHM or BLM have their healing magic and attack magic boosted? or even defense bonus when switching from Gladiator to Paladin.

Why can't we meld our r/ex weapons and armor to make them more effective? Why can't we meld any piece of gear with any type of materia? The limits placed on materia serves no other purpose than to be cumbersome.

What is the purpose of the 60 min timer on dungeons? What if we want to dungeon crawl and fight every monster on the way and possibly use that to gain exp as well? In fact, why can't we use dungeons as another way to exp? It would require teamwork and the party would have an ultimate goal (weapons and armor) as they crawl and fight their way to the final boss.

Why aren't market wards in all cities linked? Why can't we have a single, universal chat channel so one city isn't so very crowded? Some people don't like the look and feel of Uldah. Some like the look of Limsa and Gridania, but they are forced to stand in Uldah and suffer that horrible lag (mind you in proximity to other players so they can see their shouts... which adds more to a lot of problems).

Are the devs concerned at all about these lag issues? Why of all things would they allow every player to stay at any city's inn when too much crowding in Uldah already causes major problems since day 1 of its patch? Players who lag, would have to travel to another city, log out or afk at their inn... then use anima, pay and travel by airship or chocobo to Uldah and stand there in proximity to other players to see shouts.

In terms of the economy, again why can't we meld r/ex gear? This materia system was brilliant in the beginning because it created a natural in and out of flow of goods (weapons and armor). Players converted gear into materia whereby eliminating that good from the market, allowing crafters to supply more gear which then circulated the flow of gil. Crafters who didnt want to spend extra time farming materials, depended on gathering classes to supply raw ingredients. Purchasing these raw ingredients (karakul fleece, diremite webs, cobalt and electrum ores) eliminated the sheer amount of mats on the wards, driving up prices; just because players converted materia like crazy and crafters wanted to supply more gear to convert. Now, we got all these r/ex gear and materia is useless. Making it less easy to sell things on the wards. Crafters and gatherers have a harder time.

Do NPCs really need to have such long winded monologues? I doubt anyone actually bothers to read all that text from each and every NPC. If people think voice acting is a gimmick just because players can skip through them, what makes them think players right now aren't doing the same with NPC text? At least with voice acting the character feels more alive and provides greater 'immersion'.

Since we're allowed to equip all linkshells and see texts, why isnt there a command like /linkshell1 /linkshell2 to chat with people all around without having to manually switch? Why weren't we given the option to post linkshell messages?

Why is targeting so random? Why doesn't it target what my camera is facing or my character is facing? Or why doesnt it target the mob that is right infront of me or what my current party or tank is currently targeting? Instead of that, the system chooses to target a mob that is the farthest away from me.

I'm sure other people can find more problems with the game.

[Starlord]

Accept it or not, these are the exact reasons why the game isn't doing so well. People talked about the promise of 2.0, but most, if not all of the things implemented were in poor execution.

I agree with the OP that the combat is REALLY slow. All classes are very weak and very unbalanced.

For instance, why a tank like Paladin, not be favoured over a DPS like Warrior for it's sole purpose of existence? Warrior has greater threat and damage, and Paladin doesnt get greater boost to defense and threat?

Why a mage like Black Mage, that is so heavily dependant on MP, can quickly run out of its resources and have abilities that are only activated once every 5-7 min, while the effect of the abilities are mediocre at best? Black Mages need lower spell cost, lower cooldowns on mana regeneration abilities and a boost to mana regeneration.

Why is Mage's Ballad only give 6 mp per tick (a tick is what 3 seconds?) when our mana pools are can reach 3000+ and cost of spells are at least 120 mp? There's really no big reason to invite a Bard to a party since the benefit they provide is so negligible.. you can easily get the same benefits from food or potions.

Since threat doesnt decay and can quickly build over time, why are the cooldowns on threat dumps so long? Some classes are forced to do nothing for 30 seconds to more than a minute forcing classes like White Mage to really walk a tight rope while hoping the boss doesnt do spike damage. Essential abilities like this should have shorter cooldown.

Why are some classes like Archer or Pugilist be forced out of certain events just because the class doesn't perform well? What is the point of creating such unbalanced classes if they have nothing to give during fights? Example... trends switched from Archers to Lancers then to Thaumaturges in Ifrit battles just because of consequent patches. People should be able to play any class they want.

Why are certain abilities locked out of some classes? These are essential abilities like Chameleon and Sentinel. On that note, there's no boost or bonus when switching from a class to a job. For instance, Why cant WHM or BLM have their healing magic and attack magic boosted? or even defense bonus when switching from Gladiator to Paladin.

Why can't we meld our r/ex weapons and armor to make them more effective? Why can't we meld any piece of gear with any type of materia? The limits placed on materia serves no other purpose than to be cumbersome.

What is the purpose of the 60 min timer on dungeons? What if we want to dungeon crawl and fight every monster on the way and possibly use that to gain exp as well? In fact, why can't we use dungeons as another way to exp? It would require teamwork and the party would have an ultimate goal (weapons and armor) as they crawl and fight their way to the final boss.

Why aren't market wards in all cities linked? Why can't we have a single, universal chat channel so one city isn't so very crowded? Some people don't like the look and feel of Uldah. Some like the look of Limsa and Gridania, but they are forced to stand in Uldah and suffer that horrible lag (mind you in proximity to other players so they can see their shouts... which adds more to a lot of problems).

Are the devs concerned at all about these lag issues? Why of all things would they allow every player to stay at any city's inn when too much crowding in Uldah already causes major problems since day 1 of its patch? Players who lag, would have to travel to another city, log out or afk at their inn... then use anima, pay and travel by airship or chocobo to Uldah and stand there in proximity to other players to see shouts.

In terms of the economy, again why can't we meld r/ex gear? This materia system was brilliant in the beginning because it created a natural in and out of flow of goods (weapons and armor). Players converted gear into materia whereby eliminating that good from the market, allowing crafters to supply more gear which then circulated the flow of gil. Crafters who didnt want to spend extra time farming materials, depended on gathering classes to supply raw ingredients. Purchasing these raw ingredients (karakul fleece, diremite webs, cobalt and electrum ores) eliminated the sheer amount of mats on the wards, driving up prices; just because players converted materia like crazy and crafters wanted to supply more gear to convert. Now, we got all these r/ex gear and materia is useless. Making it less easy to sell things on the wards. Crafters and gatherers have a harder time.

Do NPCs really need to have such long winded monologues? I doubt anyone actually bothers to read all that text from each and every NPC. If people think voice acting is a gimmick just because players can skip through them, what makes them think players right now aren't doing the same with NPC text? At least with voice acting the character feels more alive and provides greater 'immersion'.

Since we're allowed to equip all linkshells and see texts, why isnt there a command like /linkshell1 /linkshell2 to chat with people all around without having to manually switch? Why weren't we given the option to post linkshell messages?

Why is targeting so random? Why doesn't it target what my camera is facing or my character is facing? Or why doesnt it target the mob that is right infront of me or what my current party or tank is currently targeting? Instead of that, the system chooses to target a mob that is the farthest away from me.

I'm sure other people can find more problems with the game.

Listing points of the game:

1) This game is meant for Strategy, not a spam fest like WoW ( which is what made FFXI so great)
2) Timer on Dungeons give a sense of Urgency.. and not be safe by taking your time till you eventually Win anyways
3) Can't Meld R/EX Gear BECAUSE you cannot trade them in this Current version which you can't Meld anything with out all the Components with you.
4) Your Right in some Degrees.. that the NPC's can be quite boring at times, however thats with the Orginal FFXIV NPCs, the NPCs that been popping up ( like Urianger etc), Grand Company NPC's their Lines are right up their to me.
5) Can't talk to different LS because of how the Current Version of FFXIV is Setup. 2.0 will Correct this with a better Server Client Engine.
6) Market Wards are fine the way they are, Interlinking them would be hard... because with the amount of people cluttering up the Wards, they would have to expand the Ward Areas for that to even be an option.
7) In, 2.0 I'm sure we will be able to Meld R/EX Via UI Repair Icon.
8) Mage's Ballad, is fine the way it is... Just standing still alone Regans your MP Pool Alot, Ballad is just an added bonus.

That's Just a Sample :P.

[Benediction]

Listing points of the game:

1) This game is meant for Strategy, not a spam fest like WoW ( which is what made FFXI so great)
2) Timer on Dungeons give a sense of Urgency.. and not be safe by taking your time till you eventually Win anyways
3) Can't Meld R/EX Gear BECAUSE you cannot trade them in this Current version which you can't Meld anything with out all the Components with you.
4) Your Right in some Degrees.. that the NPC's can be quite boring at times, however thats with the Orginal FFXIV NPCs, the NPCs that been popping up ( like Urianger etc), Grand Company NPC's their Lines are right up their to me.
5) Can't talk to different LS because of how the Current Version of FFXIV is Setup. 2.0 will Correct this with a better Server Client Engine.
6) Market Wards are fine the way they are, Interlinking them would be hard... because with the amount of people cluttering up the Wards, they would have to expand the Ward Areas for that to even be an option.
7) In, 2.0 I'm sure we will be able to Meld R/EX Via UI Repair Icon.
8) Mage's Ballad, is fine the way it is... Just standing still alone Regans your MP Pool Alot, Ballad is just an added bonus.

That's Just a Sample :P.

1) Believe it or not fast paced gaming has been the trend of games recently, and from a purely business perspective, you'd want to appeal to a wider audience to get the greatest possible profit. SE isn't in it to make a niche, underground, I'm-playing-a-game-that-isn't-popular-therefore-I'm-cooler games... they're in the business to maximize profit. And frankly, a company such as SE who is in a gradual decline need to rethink their business strategy and start creating games that won't just break even, but actually be popular like WoW.

2) If slower paced is the apperant theme in FF MMOs, why do we need to have a sense of urgency? Wouldn't a dungeon crawl be the exact thing that serves what these players, apperantly want? Slower paced, teamwork, strategy... all the things people have mentioned.

3) That's an easy fix. Just have a bazaar up or trading window and place the items in a special box that can't be traded, but crafters will be able to modify. This technology has been around for years and I guess SE still needs to research it.

4) Since we agreed on this, I'll just skip it.

5) Point is why weren't we even able to have this option in the first place? It's kinda of mind boggling how they expected us to just accept all these annoyances.

6) I don't think you understand. Having the market wards linked means, that you can still place your retainer in Gridania and someone in Uldah or Limsa will be able to view your items and purchase them. Again, technology have been around for years.

7) That's awesome I hope we do.

8) Mage's Ballad is negligible at best. There's really no need to invite a Bard to a party except maybe just to fill a spot. Unless their whole goal was evened-out party invites, then I guess it doesn't matter.

[Murugan]

Targeting isn't random... it is right to left, and left to right.

Most mages don't have the MP issues you seem to have.

Many of the things you complain about have been answered by the devs.

Once again this is just people not knowing much about the game, and not bothering to ask others or look into subjects they complain about. These threads are pointless, try sticking to one issue next time and actually do some research before making another rant filled thread about your "thoughts".

These types of "thoughts" would be better suited for a blog that probably no one would need to ever read. What authority are you speaking on again? Why should we care about your unfiltered and uninformed opinion as opposed to the opinions of thousands of others already available on all these issues?

Threads like these should be locked, the best forums for discussions have standards for new threads and lock threads that don't offer a proper topic for discussion or just rehash a slew of random editorial "thoughts".

[Majidah]

I disagree with most that was said in here.

[NefarioCall]

I disagree with most that was said in here.

i agree with most that was said by OP.

[bobbygunz]

I agree that combat is pretty boring. If you play archer or a mage, it's not so bad. But PUG/MNK or MRD/WAR are both basically tantamount to very boring TP generation, especially solo. Combat hasn't really improved at all since release. For all the work they've put into it, it really doesn't show at all. I mean that in the nicest way ^^,

At the moment FFXIV is just a costume game, and then there is "content" which you do in order to get the costumes.

[Alhanelem]

When this game first came out I knew it would eventually improve, while it is far from as bad as it was at launch it isn't quite at the point of being good enough to be competitive.

Which is why they're rebuilding the enigne from the ground up to allow them to address most of the problems they can't address with the current system.