Having watched the digital Fan Festival stream, we can very much understand the bond that the FFXIV team has developed with its player base, and have seen that this relationship and communication through forums and other means has helped FFXIV come what it is—even Soken-san made us cry with his emotional words to the players. How much influence does fan commentary and feedback have on the overall creation of the game, and how do you balance this feedback with your own vision?
Thank you very much for tuning into Digital Fan Festival 2021! I hope you enjoyed it!!
Comments and feedback from all the players, fans, and members of the media—who speak on behalf of our community in these interviews—are very important to us, and we could not successfully continue the development and operation of FFXIV without them. While we need to be aware of the overall landscape and situation for our game, it is naturally of the utmost importance to know what you—the players who spend so much time playing the game—feel, think, and desire as we continue to provide this service to you.
As mentioned in my earlier response, when we were coming up with ideas for the reaper’s weapon, it goes without saying that if we want our players to be happy, we need to be aware of the large amount of requests to add the scythe as a weapon. Additionally, because we plan the overall content direction, pacing, and distribution for FFXIV a few years in advance, it is important for us to listen to everyone’s voice. It can be dangerous when the direction that players desire does not line up with the direction we’re headed in. On the flip side, we don’t necessarily take all requests and feedback and implementing everything as is being asked.
The viewpoints of the players and the development and operations teams are fundamentally different.
People tend to provide feedback on short-term items that focus on the present, whereas we inevitably think about things on a much more longer-term basis. I’m afraid this might be an extreme example, but let’s talk about Allagan tomestones. I’m sure you are aware there is a weekly cap—you can collect a maximum of 450 tomestones each week. Our players have different lifestyles and schedules, so on some days somebody might be able to play enough to obtain 900 (hypothetically), and some days they might not be able to get any. So, I can understand why players would ask for the weekly limits to be less strict—providing more leeway for players to collect these tomestones when their schedule allows.
However, if we go that route, there will be people who can fully upgrade their gear right away, and those who can only do so after a few weeks. As a result, there will be a greater disparity in the gear between these players, creating a severe disparity in item level between players doing the same content. If that happens, the gap between those who have the time and those who do not becomes greater, and ultimately damages the community. So we can understand the one side of the debate, if you look at it from the perspective of long-term operation of the game and avoiding disparity between players in the community, the weekly cap is a good system to have in place. This is one instance where it’s difficult to accommodate a player request with no consideration.
We will continue to be mindful and pay close attention to each players’ voice for the sake of further expanding Final Fantasy XIV, and constantly assess that feedback. If there is a request we cannot fulfill on a short-term-basis, we will not necessarily give up on it—sometimes we spend a few years working on something so we can make it a reality. The World Visit System and Data Center Travel are two great examples of long-term efforts eventually being realized. We would love to hear your feedback moving forward, too! We will do our best to make them happen to the best of our ability!!