I think it's time we start seeing some data in regards to the changes being made.

[Denji]

Not defending them but their changes are still more informative than Nintendo.
At this point my switch is so stable it's ready to start a family.

[Midareyukki]

Whether they do or don't read feedback is something I can't exactly comment on. Sometimes it really does look like they read it, sometimes it just looks like they elected to ignore it.

But about the topic of wanting the devs to provide data on the changes made. We did have them showing what they would do to the combat classes on Live Letters, but after some point in Stormblood, they just stopped doing that. The reason they gave us was because people were freaking out (paraphrasing btw) over the changes, making all sorts of assumptions and claiming it would break the class. And that would put pressure on the devs who got criticised before the changes were even implemented. From then on, the changelist would only ever be posted on the de-facto final Patch Notes as the patch dropped, and they've been vague about changes to the classes. Just "we're thinking of implementing this\changing that. You'll have to wait and find out how".

So right off the bat, this isn't a team that seems keen on presenting data. They were vague enough beforehand, but now player feedback usually being negative without getting the chance to play through their vision and making constructive feedback caused a further divide. And this is on the combat system alone. Sometimes they do have the department come in and explain their reasoning at the end of the Live Letter, but mostly for new types of content like PVP, housing or minigames.

And even if they did start doing it, the answers may not be satisfactory. A lot of people stuck for three years with Yoshida's answer that the way Hrothgar and Viera models were designed made implementing hairs too difficult. Yet on the very day he said it, I was already seeing people working with 3D models for videogames explain why it's not hard at all, with modders backing it up by saying they were already in the works of finishing mods to make it happen and that the models made it easier than it would be for some races. And right now that information is travelling around, with people dissecting exactly how these races are built, and modders explaining their process and showing their work. So all it takes is Yoshida being informed that "something cannot be done because of XYZ reasons", people will interject with "That's wrong".

And what I just said is only one of the cases that has led to people lately asking Square's departments to come forward and explain their method and reasoning. While it would be appreciated by fans for sure, Square already has some bad faith in giving out information like this. And they could just come in, say the exact same thing as before, be dismissive, be vague or potentially even lie and leave the room with no further comment. Which. in turn, would only cause further and further demand from players, as well as comments saying Square either didn't care or that people are incompetent all over again.

So as much as people may want it, I don't think we'll ever truly get it.

[Quor]

One indisputable fact is that there is a...blind spot...to put it charitably, when it comes to non-JP concerns (and even likely to some JP concerns). The biggest offender of this was the rampant RMT spam that existed up through early HW. Anyone who played in ARR on an NA or EU server had to deal with it. We all had that blacklist macro that just blocked the last person to /tell you, and we all had to periodically, maybe once a week or so, go into our blacklist to clean out all the now-deleted names of all the spammers we had recently added, to make room for the new batch no doubt coming down the pipe.

Major stinks were made about this, right from 2.0 release straight up until Yoshi P. himself logged onto his character on an NA server during E3 and immediately got spammed with an RMT advertisement in /tell, before he had even finished loading in no less. And wouldn't you know it, the issue was fixed in the next patch.

To be clear, I don't blame Yoshida-san for this. I do think there is a bit of "groupthink" mentality going on though, particularly in regards to the role known as the "mindguard." Aka someone(s) who purposefully withholds information that they believe a superior won't like, or will somehow reflect badly on the "mission." I highly suspect that a good deal of the disconnect that appears comes from this sort of behavior. After all, Yoshi P. can't be expected to peruse every single complaint thread. He's obviously got people setup to do that for the development team, and this creates a few different filtering layers that information has to percolate through before it reaches someone who can make a meaningful decision.

I don't say this to forgive or make excuses. While Yoshida-san, and by extension his team, have accrued a great deal of good will over the years, it's something that can be easily lost, particularly in light of a number of job-design decisions that have been made in recent years and months. Honest, transparent communication is the best way to preserve that good will.

[KageTokage]

I do feel like the teams are curating information and feedback they don't think is important enough to make known to the higher-ups when there's historically been several cases of changes not being made until questions are targeted directly at the devs via Q&A sessions or interviews.

[MellowMink]

I want technical data on why Miqo’te can have their ears appear through Snow’s hat but Hrothgar can’t.

[Moonsprite]

Twitter and social media is where most of their feedback comes from. Even people on the English forums here have trouble sifting through these threads. Everyone starts their own threads on the same topics over and over. The same people have complaints about every aspect of the game. It’s probably difficult to differentiate between the trolls and people with legitimate complaints and concerns. It’s basically the cry wolf syndrome. Cohesive threads with a main theme, like the male viera thread, are better than several threads saying similar things but can’t agree on a main concern or what they want done about it.

[Krotoan]

What do you think the players will do with that information that's useful?

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

What do you think the players will do with that information that's useful?

Create more threads about the Doom and Gloom on FFXIV
"Sometimes" is does feel like people just Need a Target & Excuse to complain about something

[Ayer2015]

Honestly, I think the devs vision for the game differs from what the forums want in some cases. While I don't agree which Yoshi's stance on healer design for example, what more do people expect him to say if changing course is not on the table.

[Nethereal]

What do you think the players will do with that information that's useful?

Quit the game.

Honestly, I think the devs vision for the game differs from what the forums want in some cases. While I don't agree which Yoshi's stance on healer design for example, what more do people expect him to say if changing course is not on the table.

Tell me up front so I'm not wasting my time hoping for a better tomorrow.