A few thoughts on FFXIV

[Cendres]

You guys the "If you don't like it leave" replies is EXACTLY the thing that got us in trouble in the original beta............ Please just let people say what they have to say, you may not agree with them but realize it's not your call if their ideas get someone's attention or not at SE.

At the OP the game is going through many growing stages, this is why it feels the way it does, unfinished. I felt similar to what you are going through in December and I left to play a new MMO. Now that I'm back I'm amazed at the progress and heartened we are going in the right direction. There is still a lot left to do though but looking at the PDF outline and looking at what has been accomplished; I've no doubts we'll get there.

I like your point about AF I prefer the coffers too. I hate gear dropping in raids so much, raids is not something I'd ever do on a regular basis, I'd go through it to see what happens, not for the items. I think there is more content for us casuals down the line, but they had to get some of the high level people some candy to keep them going.

[Rogue]

the game still has 2-3 game breakers for me.

SE keeps giving us boss monsters with AOE spam attacks so allmost everything is max range DPS or if it isnt its 50 mob zerg so people still take BLMs for the AOE.. i can accept that melee are more in the line of fire than ranged classes by definition.. but animation lock and having to maneuver around the mob for combos (particulalry in front) can be too devastating... this is by design and not players.. the simple fact is melee dps are at a huge disadvantage in a lot of scenarios.

why use a class that doesnt have nearly as efficient AOE output (in a game where nearly every scenario is 5+ mobs at once), takes a TON of damage from mob aoe attacks and on top of all that... probably STILL doesnt do as much dps.. to say this is balanced is laughable.

the other thing is lag- unless SE changes their server structure to a more client based system or brings servers to other countries theres no way i am going to get a fluid game experience to a server in japan that i have a 500 ping to.. i dont see either of those 2 things happening even in 2.0... yoshi has said "this will be fixed" ... ok how then?

I DONT EVER SEE THESE THINGS CHANGING

[Fear]

the other thing is lag- unless SE changes their server structure to a more client based system or brings servers to other countries theres no way i am going to get a fluid game experience to a server in japan that i have a 500 ping to.. i dont see either of those 2 things happening even in 2.0... yoshi has said "this will be fixed" ... ok how then?

Some people need to read more and keep up to tune with the updates, it's been stated loads of times that FFXIV's new Server system and client will have a response time similar to that of WoW (almost instant) so the lag will be fixed.

The only issues I have with this game really is content, I just wish there was more of it but once the games repaired in 2.0 all the devs will begin focus on that so i'll be happy.

[Rogue]

Some people need to read more and keep up to tune with the updates, it's been stated loads of times that FFXIV's new Server system and client will have a response time similar to that of WoW (almost instant) so the lag will be fixed.

ok i would be willing to accept that if i didnt know for a fact that i am going to have latency issues from the server being in japan.. that is a FACT.. go and do a ping test to a server in japan.. there is no way of getting around that.

unless like i said in my post the physical servers are in more countries other than japan OR the system changes to a client based system.

i just dont see any of thsoe two things happening.. im assuming yoshi is misleading- intentionally or not- and is talking about the UI or something.. which also needs fixing but im more concerned with combat and gameplay.

[Fear]

I know about the JP latency issue but I live in the UK and get a ping of about 250-350 yet on FFXI when I used to play I was getting perfectly acceptable response times (still nearly instant) so I belive FFXIV should be able to achieve and even beat this.

[Felis]

Whatever the case may be All jobs should have an item set you don't have to down a raid boss to obtain then have a BETTER piece you can obtain from said raid. Again disagree with me all you want, but not everyone has time to raid or want in some LS wait line to get something because they can't be on often. Which is the biggest issue with MMOs, FF and non FF. Casual players always get shafted and SE is going far from the casual player base.

Only dungeon you need to kill a Mid Boss on your way to your AF coffer is Darkhold. Where in Darkhold do you find anything better than AF? * big confused *

11) PvP not a main focus? Then this game will already fail in that department and may as well not give us PvP at all. The majority of MMO players WANT GOOD PVP as well as PvE. So if you think otherwise maybe you should look at subscription/profit base of other mmos and see that they make more money in 1 month then SE can pull in from FFXI and FFXIV in 6-10 months combine.

SE is a company, if they want more profits(which is their goal, its not to make you happy) they will try to attract PvP players as well as it has much larger money generation possibilities, since PvE players probably won't leave the MMOs they are on for this one. That is a fact.

"Not much balance needed" I take it you don't know that if you play PvP you aren't fighting some mindless mob that stands there looking at you as it tries to hit you, they will run to your side, your back cast spells from a distance, there is a lot that needs to be done, specially since the director himself said he wanted pvp in the game, he will have to balance things for it.

PvP get his own balance, hopefully seperate from PvE balance

Two PvP venues, Coliseum and Frontlines, to be released after version 2.0. Unique zones to be created so as not to affect non-participating players.
Release of PvP-specific abilities, gear, and ranking.
Support for multi-party alliances for large-scale content to be released together with the above.

Somewhere I have read that Yoshi-P want more Team vers. Team PvP than 1 vrs. 1 PvP

[Felis]

I like your point about AF I prefer the coffers too. I hate gear dropping in raids so much, raids is not something I'd ever do on a regular basis, I'd go through it to see what happens, not for the items. I think there is more content for us casuals down the line, but they had to get some of the high level people some candy to keep them going.

Don't worry. Every AF gear ingame is in a coffer with 100% AF gear drop rate. It's not a boss drop or something. Only in Darkhold a big Ogre blocks the path.

[Cendres]

Don't worry. Every AF gear ingame is in a coffer with 100% AF gear drop rate. It's not a boss drop or something. Only in Darkhold a big Ogre blocks the path.

Oh okay! Thanks for clarifying that well awesome then, should work on unlocking white mage then,

[Suneater]

If you want to play WoW, why don't you go play WoW? Why are there comparisons between "hardcore raiders" and "casuals" and PvP discussion when there isn't anything to "hardcore raid" or PvP yet? You can get a combat class to 50 in a week or less, AF is some of the best equip in the game and is mandatory to get to finish the job quests, and grand companies give weapons that are almost as good as primal drops. How much more casual do you want the game to be? Should they turn this into a korean mmo where you can buy +15 raid drops from the cash shop? Why do you complain about auto-attack and boring solo play when the game is party-focused PvE? Is spamming 1 and then your "rotation" really more exciting than auto-attack?

Take it easy, the game is practically paid beta right now. You can whine about PvP imbalances when it's actually in the game. If you don't like the game how it is now you should just leave for another MMO because we're only 2 patches away from 2.0 and it's not going to turn into WoW 2k12 overnight.

[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.