Letter from the Producer LIVE LXVIII: Ask Your Endwalker Questions!

[oaktree]

Can we please get some more options on Beards for characters? Even the new protagonist face/beard is a little lacking for what I've liked personally on my midlander Hyur. Thanks for the great game!

[Camic]

I was wondering if we could have some sort of tag added for "unlockable" items, such as Orchestrion Rolls, Minions, Mounts, Master Recipe Tomes, etc., that once used will permanently unlock something for the player.

Specifically, I'm asking for either an icon in the top right like the Armoire icon, or text that would read "This item is not known" or "This item is already known" depending on whether or not the player has already used that specific item.

When running dungeons and an Orchestrion roll drops, I want to be able to tell at a glance whether I should roll Need on it, as I can't remember every Orchestrion I've unlocked. Similarly, when viewing the items available for sale at a merchant, I'd like to know whether I'm missing any unlockables without having to defer back to my collection.

[violetdragon]

Are there any plans to add more moogle content into the game? Maybe add more postmoogle quests or another trial. I’d really love an opportunity to get moogle-themed dancer, reaper, sage, and gunbreaker weapons please. I’m obsessed with moogles and use a moogle weapon for most of my jobs, but as a dancer main, I can’t make the moogle noises with my chakrams. It’s a kupotastrophe!

[KirionF]

First of all, thank you Yoshida and Team for making these letters and keeping a steady and constant, truthful communication with us. It is a source of inspiration, a window to your dedication and an assurance of your endless commitment to this game.

Onto my question.

To preface, I've played different MMOs searching for Jobs/Classes that embody either the archetype of a 'death by a thousand cuts', such as a skilled swordsman and the finesse dual-wielding duelist, and the struggle against a dark power, seen in media such as Seraph of the End. Samurai and Reaper are my favorite jobs in the game thematically and, while SAM's playstyle perfectly encompasses what I'd desire from it, RPR fails in a few regards.

I've seen this sentiment echoed by other people, though this is largely a selfish question, but is there any chance the team could take a look over RPR and adjust some of its job actions in such a way that those who wish to build RPR for Skill Speed can still be competitive?

As an example, SUM and BLM have two different builds, one which stacks SPS and another which stacks CRT and/or DET. Similarly, SAM benefits from several different optimal builds, all of which seek a different amount of SKS.

However, at the very moment, RPR can only play a 2.5 or 2.49 GCD window or risk drifting CDs in such a manner that it loses a large amount of damage. This has led to a playstyle that I, and some of the people I've spoken with, consider extremely slow and boring. While there are players that appreciate the methodical and simple cadence of RPR, it is our belief that the job feels very lackluster when waiting for Soul Slice stacks. It's also somewhat awkward to have to sync the Communio of a current Enshroud with the beginning of Arcane Circle to fit 2 Communio casts, especially when this lines up with Gluttony coming of Cooldown as you cannot fit Gluttony + Gibbet and Gallows in the window between Arcane Circle and Plentiful Harvest without then forsaking the Communio window, forcing players to either hold Arcane Circle and 1st Enshroud, hold Gluttony for 15 seconds, or forsake 10 shroud meter by doing Gluttony + Gibbet/Gallows + Enshroud.

Are there any plans to address any of these issues? Most pressingly, the lack of flexibility in GCD and slow playstyle?

[RheshPolali]

Any chance of normal mode raid's drops being used to accumulate Savage books, all be it a lot slower? Like for example 8 or 10 ring tokens can be traded in for 1 book. This allows for Normal raiders to "catch up" and it also encourages people to return or help with normal raids after they completed them.

[KirionF]

Double and Triple-Weaving in high latency is virtually impossible. While I SHOULD be playing on EU Servers, I was dragged to NA by my brother and his friends. However, while I'm more than fine with some of the issues that come with high latency such as AoE snapshots, I cannot really fathom why it is necessary for the server to offer feedback when queueing or casting job actions, such that latency should not incur such a guttural and clunky feeling when playing jobs. Recasting Mudra on accident, Job Actions refusing to cast on GCD, Weaving delays on oGCD actions are just some of the problems I face on a daily basis.

Are there any plans to address the game's current netcode, GCD locking and hidden 0.2 gcd/animation locking to provide a more fluid experience?

As an anecdotal example, I believe FFXIV is the only game I've played where the player can ACTUALLY benefit by slowing down their connection to use a VPN such that the communication between server and player is somehow smoother.

[DeltaCyan]

Even if a new race is infeasible, would a new clan of dog-like miqote be possible?

[SerafinaSorina]

Will the rest of the Modern Aesthetics hairstyles be eventually available for Viera? The Alma hairstyle in particular is wonderful and I'd love to be able to use it!

[kemiia]

Has there been any consideration regarding changes to Dark Knight? Its survivability is actually ridiculously bad at the moment. It is honestly stuck in the previous expansion right now. Not to mention it being a poster job for Shadowbringers and pretty much abandoned in Endwalker. Lore or not, you cannot help but feel depressed seeing Living Dead still be a thing (well I guess that's the point of the lore anyway). It makes Dark Knight the only tank unable to solo harder past expansion content where tank invul is needed, this of course not being the only problem presented by LD. I wanna be able to play DRK again but seriously, a rework would be needed for that to happen.

[AngeliouxRein]

Endgame Content

Have you thought of ways to expand the endgame scene?

As of right now, raiders are the main ones that know they will always have savage to look forward to, which is great. However for others that are into pvp, hunts, Blue Mage, crafting & gathering, and many more niche content, we tend to be stuck wondering if we’ll get content for endgame or not. Some groups have been waiting years for big changes like the pvp crowd while others never see anything fresh , such as those who like hunts. Relics still get updated which I and others appreciate but it seems to take longer and longer for us to get started on them each expansion. I personally would like to see more content that’s available after we complete the first part of story instead of just raiding. I understand if the work load might be intense but for future of this game, could you see yourself releasing a variety of endgame content during major patches?