A New-Players Perspective and some thoughts

[Rhuled]

Hey everyone,

While I'm sure most of you have seen some kind of response like this in the past month I'd still like to jot down some initial impressions as a log of sorts to keep how I've been feeling about this game up-front.
First of all; I like the game, a lot. - I've only been playing less than a week now and I'm instantly more entertained by it then so many other games at the current time. I like MMORPGs, but I don't get into them easily. My only experiences with them are Oldschool Runescape, Ragnarok-Online, and a little bit of World-of-Warcraft.

To say the least, I'm impressed. FFXIV has managed to make me want to play more which is more than say what WOW could. I really like that while it's high-fantasy, it still manages to step out of the crowd from the generic Isekai MMO world. - I'm aware this game came out roughly 2010, but I've read a few articles hearing about its transformation. - And to be honest, I had almost no idea this game existed.


I won't lie, I came here after a certain online personality featured it on his YouTube channel and gave them game its fair compliments. That shouldn't devalue the people that have flocked here because of it, as even a small margin of them stay it can easily bolster the game's numbers.



Character Creation
Initially, when I made my character as a mid-lander I was surprised by the lack of facial hair options there were available, only being able to toggle the top and bottom half on/off. It was only then after leveling my character some parts that your beard style was connected to your face shape? I was a bit annoyed and didn't want to have to restart to make a new character, so I decided to purchase a bottle of Fantasia.
While I have no quarrel with store purchases, making every product priced on USD left me feel cheated as I'm from another North-American country, considering the conversion rate, the prices didn't bode well for me.
Is this part strictly me complaining?
No. Below, is what I'm suggesting to remedy it. I want to make character creation a better experience for everyone so that they won't make the same mistakes I do.

[Rhuled]

Character Creation needs a makeover.
While, I am happy that there are so many options for characters, there are no sliders. Majority of games that have been released post-2015 have some more advanced forms of character creation (i.e. Dark Souls, Mordhau, etc.) - and I understand that it takes more data to parse this information (making the load times slower) I'm sure we're going to eventually become fully SSD integrated within the future (Faster storage - And yes, I'm just assuming this is what it has to do with.)
The point I'm making is, this should no longer be a problem for a modern-day low-end gaming computer rig. PCs are only going to get faster, and then concern of over-bearing a load should be null.

Potential solutions for data-heavy faces/details

• Use a draw distance like a lot of games do, i.e. Planetside 2. - Make it so that certain details are adjustable (This is probably using a sledgehammer to kill a fly, but it's just one of few.)
• Make it so that the player-character is prioritized over other characters or potentially NPCs.
• Increase detail based on data around the character. i.e. in crowded areas makes everyone slightly more simple. This could be toggable.

I am aware there's an engine-rework in progress.
The point of this thread was to ensure that some details aren't skipped over, or if that some of these points could be communicated in case.

Opinion wishlist;
Please, please, make the player's character face higher resolution. A lot of us like taking in the work we put into our character.
Armor would understandably take a much longer time to re-work, or upscale in texture but skin, face and hair should be a priority of detail.
-----

Marketing
I did not hear about Final-Fantasy until the personality I mentioned, covered it.
SQEX is competent in games, but I feel is lackluster in spreading it to other people.

As someone who's in marketing, I can offer some advice.
Clearly, this game is run by word of mouth. - That means genuine joy coming from the players and personalities covering this game.
I'd advise that SQEX approach a more direct approach towards personalities and welcome them to give them a try, i.e. 30-60 days game time.
And before someone mentions this would be a paid promotion - I'd like to remind you that I'm willing to bet even (You) would try a game if the developers/publishers approached you with a very basic offering. (This means no special mounts or equipment, etc.)
The game is getting very popular in North America thanks to live-streaming. Getting in on more of this would be beneficial to the longevity and player count of the game.

The point to take away from this is;
Strike while the iron is hot.
Don't let the momentum die out.

[Sotaris]

I am aware there's an engine-rework in progress.

Is there? Care to point to any source on this?

[Lauront]

Is there? Care to point to any source on this?

It's not fully confirmed, but they're looking at it.

[Jeeqbit]

You get a free Fantasia from the first level 50 main story quest. You can gain extra hair styles from grinds, loot and the market board and there is an aesthetician you can use to change it.

The price is not made cheaper in other currencies because they fear people from the US would just buy using those currencies to get a cheaper deal.

I have seen worse character creators but I have also seen better ones, so I would say it's in the middle and that it's good enough. The game supports PS4 which do not all have an SSD, so until support for that is dropped there is no chance of the game not taking into account people with a HDD.

You can already toggle the detail and lighting on a character. I don't think the detail on armor is a problem, but maybe you have only seen armor from ARR with lower resolutions than the latest ones.

Marketing
I did not hear about Final-Fantasy until the personality I mentioned, covered it.
SQEX is competent in games, but I feel is lackluster in spreading it to other people.

SQEX regularly advertises in YouTube and Twitch adverts, on major game channels like IGN and GameSpot and at shows like E3, Gamescom and PGW. There are regular interviews on many gaming websites.

IGN https://youtu.be/2XbxPsWFyU8
GameSpot https://youtu.be/b0lIlB7SVyg
E3 https://youtu.be/0k6QHeAmY58
Gamescom https://youtu.be/cCaCtmJZ9xE
PGW https://youtu.be/Dn42qwlQ0t4

Adverts
https://youtu.be/gBjOs4ZgMY4
https://youtu.be/d-lsLrRTCh0
https://youtu.be/j8aS43vOSUU
https://youtu.be/emVE9cTIyzQ

A larger advertising campaign was suspended during COVID-19 so that it didn't look like the misfortune of everyone being at home was being taken advantage of.

[Titania40]

I'd imagine at least part of the problem with marketing is that the West isn't the primary market for FFXVI and never really was. It's also an older game, and old games tend to not get advertised much. Especially old MMOs. Think about how much advertising WoW had back around 2006 vs now. Now if WoW is getting advertised, it's not actually advertisements. It's because Blizzard has gotten in the news, often in a bad way.

[Lauront]

I'd imagine at least part of the problem with marketing is that the West isn't the primary market for FFXVI and never really was. It's also an older game, and old games tend to not get advertised much. Especially old MMOs. Think about how much advertising WoW had back around 2006 vs now. Now if WoW is getting advertised, it's not actually advertisements. It's because Blizzard has gotten in the news, often in a bad way.

They've ramped the marketing up quite a bit in recent times in all fairness. Whenever searching for an MMO, the game is amongst the top ones that come up. I think for a MMO it is fairly well advertised. Before SHB, the criticism was probably truer.

[Illmaeran]

I agree that the main market originally wasn't Western countries, but that's seemed to change more over the years as Western MMOs lose traction. For some reason I got a lot of ads for the game in YouTube over the past couple of months and that marketing had a significant impact on eroding my willpower and, well, here I am, back in the game.

[Rhuled]

And a small note for out-of-game purchases

Some really opinionated stuff on Mog-Station pricing;
Add a CAD or other pricing options.

I'd recommend lowering the price of some items to become more accessible to people who'd be hesitant to change their race/appearance.
Fantasia is an amazing item, but realistically should the demand of the item really drive something like appearance changing to 10.00 USD?
Realistically, having it priced at 6.97, would easily drive more sales from the item.
/personalgripe.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

And a small note for out-of-game purchases

Some really opinionated stuff on Mog-Station pricing;
Add a CAD or other pricing options.

I'd recommend lowering the price of some items to become more accessible to people who'd be hesitant to change their race/appearance.
Fantasia is an amazing item, but realistically should the demand of the item really drive something like appearance changing to 10.00 USD?
Realistically, having it priced at 6.97, would easily drive more sales from the item.
/personalgripe.

Is competitive or cheaper than similar items from the competition.