To Devs about Adventurer Plates

[StriderShinryu]

I like the idea, though I'd probably prefer the portraits to show up at the beginning of an instance to show who you're playing with instead of the end with the Commendations. We already have the dead time at the start of every instance while we're locked in a ring waiting anyway so why not pop up the portraits at that point.

And, yeah, make the feature opt-out for those who don't want to see it but leave it turned on as the default.

[Duskane]

I think its a neat idea

[DontReadThis]

I love the adventurer plates. I now make an effort to check out the plates of everyone I see when waiting for an instance to start. Some of them are real creative.

However, I understand that not everyone likes to see butts and crotch shots at the start of every pvp match, so I would support an optional toggle which replaces your party members' portraits with the default standing posture.

[Myrany]

You need to make this go mainstream to maximize its value. Therefore please remove the little commendation tab at the bottom right of the screen at the end of the dungeon and then:

1. When you exit a dungeon the screen changes to the new commendation screen displaying adventurer plates
2. You click on the one you want to commend or a No Thanks/Skip
3. You load into the overworld

Then, people will actively be very interested in making their plates as cool as possible.

Late Edit, this is more or less what I mean, taken directly from the PVP page and modified with Paint a bit.

Not everyone thinks these plates are a wonderful thing. By tying them to the commendation system you are forcing people who want nothing to do with the plates to use them or never get a commendation again. That just isn't right.

It's great you enjoy them. Glad you have the option to use them. It wouldn't be right to force people who want nothing to do with them to use them.

[Ath192]

Tying them to the commendation system would make them interactive, which I think is more fun in admittedly my own opinion. So I agree with you, it is a preference. People who don't want to do anything with them would just get the stock photo on them like PvP if they don't opt out of the system.

So would you say you are upset that Square Enix forces profile pics on the new PvP mode and that it wasn't right? - It's okay either way.

I have a lot of questions recently due to the responses I've heard here actually.

1. Why do people feel their own privacy is being invaded when a plate for their character gets slapped on the screen? Doesn't the lodestone already give extensive public details if anyone wants to look another person up there?
2. Why would people set an adventurer plate to keep it private? All it gives is stuff you can find out by examining a character in game, which has no way of being kept private with exception of the schedule, which doesnt need to be filled out?
3. Why is there a play schedule on the adventurer plate? It seems too serious, like a job. A small bio field would be more beneficial, and could also allow players to put their schedule there if they desired the info to be displayed. Don't people just log on when they have time? And they may choose not to log on a Saturday despite their adventurer plate saying they should be active?
4. Why are people opposed to a generic MMO character pic showing but they arent opposed to their name showing up on the commendation menu? Isn't forcing peoples names on there already an equal privacy violation? FFXIV doesn't even have enough customization available for a characters to be hyper unique. Whatever character we have is probably shared by hundreds of players in a game with millions of subscribers.

The only two hang ups I really can somewhat see are:
1. Longer loading, by like a second, but sure it can be inconvenient. So you opt out.
2. Offensive poses on pictures. And I do think SE will improve it so that they are more tame in the future. So this isn't a reason not to.

As far as "Forcing people" I view it less as an imperative mandate and more as causing change, which is inevitable. The game forces you to watch cutscenes in the MSQ roulette, it has forced job changes and some people like them some don't, it forces people to wait for weekly caps.

No matter what decisions they make they will tick off a certain subset of players. So all we can is offer feedback on our preferences and see what they choose. Truly what is or isn't right in video game design is relative to the preferences of the people that play it.

However one thing is certain, if they tried to accommodate everyone then there would be no game at all. Because no one agrees on everything. So it would be impossible to create, and I think we are all grateful the game exists. I would have to reject the notion there is an absolute right or wrong that everyone can adhere to when it comes to game design.

[Myrany]

Tying them to the commendation system would make them interactive, which I think is more fun in admittedly my own opinion. So I agree with you, it is a preference. People who don't want to do anything with them would just get the stock photo on them like PvP if they don't opt out of the system.

So would you say you are upset that Square Enix forces profile pics on the new PvP mode and that it wasn't right? - It's okay either way.

I have a lot of questions recently due to the responses I've heard here actually.

1. Why do people feel their own privacy is being invaded when a plate for their character gets slapped on the screen? Doesn't the lodestone already give extensive public details if anyone wants to look another person up there?
2. Why would people set an adventurer plate to keep it private? All it gives is stuff you can find out by examining a character in game, which has no way of being kept private with exception of the schedule, which doesnt need to be filled out?
3. Why is there a play schedule on the adventurer plate? It seems too serious, like a job. A small bio field would be more beneficial, and could also allow players to put their schedule there if they desired the info to be displayed. Don't people just log on when they have time? And they may choose not to log on a Saturday despite their adventurer plate saying they should be active?
4. Why are people opposed to a generic MMO character pic showing but they arent opposed to their name showing up on the commendation menu? Isn't forcing peoples names on there already an equal privacy violation? FFXIV doesn't even have enough customization available for a characters to be hyper unique. Whatever character we have is probably shared by hundreds of players in a game with millions of subscribers.

The only two hang ups I really can somewhat see are:
1. Longer loading, by like a second, but sure it can be inconvenient. So you opt out.
2. Offensive poses on pictures. And I do think SE will improve it so that they are more tame in the future. So this isn't a reason not to.

As far as "Forcing people" I view it less as an imperative mandate and more as causing change, which is inevitable. The game forces you to watch cutscenes in the MSQ roulette, it has forced job changes and some people like them some don't, it forces people to wait for weekly caps.

No matter what decisions they make they will tick off a certain subset of players. So all we can is offer feedback on our preferences and see what they choose. Truly what is or isn't right in video game design is relative to the preferences of the people that play it.

(Snip).

My big problem with them is the times you play section. I find that invasive. Not filling in that part is an option but also opens players up to being questioned/ostracized for not filling it out. When I play is no ones business but my own.

[RobynDaBank]

My big problem with them is the times you play section. I find that invasive. Not filling in that part is an option but also opens players up to being questioned/ostracized for not filling it out. When I play is no ones business but my own.

Wat? No one cares when you play to this extent. I'm planning to leave mine empty because my hours are too irregular. If I'm on I'm on. There's really no group of people IMHO in reality who would shun you just because you left that bit empty.

[hagare]

My big problem with them is the times you play section. I find that invasive. Not filling in that part is an option but also opens players up to being questioned/ostracized for not filling it out. When I play is no ones business but my own.

then don't fill it. I don't

[AnnRam]

Not everyone thinks these plates are a wonderful thing. By tying them to the commendation system you are forcing people who want nothing to do with the plates to use them or never get a commendation again. That just isn't right.

It's great you enjoy them. Glad you have the option to use them. It wouldn't be right to force people who want nothing to do with them to use them.

Commendation system already sucks and pretty much 90% of people don't even care or don't notice the tiny little window that suddenly pops in at the end of the dungeon/raid/etc.

If I dont like some people characters rendering and using resources of my computer why I'm forced to see them on my screen? Why I can't make them invisible?.

Now seriously SE can make them completely optional on a new Commendation system

[Nav_Fae]

If I have to look at people's plates to give a commendation, then I'll probably start giving out few. At this point you're encouraging giving out commendations on glamour with the plate preview.