Open Message to the Developers

[Ethers]

I don't get the sense SE wants a pissed community, and I also seriously don't think lashing out in this case would help fix things the same way yelling at a waiter doesn't make an out-of-stock menu item appear.

I think you cannot see the forest through the trees if you're talking about SE not wanting a "pissed community". The entire point of the outrage is that the positivity for this game has been actually incredibly abundant. I don't really want to bring him up, but when Asmongold played FFXIV it was embarrassing, you had so many players defending the game as if it was something they needed to die on a hill for. This has plagued this game for as long as I can remember (6-7 years at least at this point).

The better analogy would be that the complaints are customers and SE are the cooks and the waiters. Just because the establishment or in this case the business has been very good historically, that doesn't mean they get to use that as if they're playing on house money. Defending a MULTI million dollar company who pushed out a non-tested, non-thought over system, a system that should have been added YEARS ago, because you want to give them the benefit of the doubt.

The entire reason is that SE assumes the community won't be pissed, because they simply have historically been good. Cut them a break, they've been good in the past you say. Nah? It's not acceptable.

[Jeeqbit]

As a serious question, has there been any request on lodestone for transparency on the logistical issues/immediate obstacles so frustrated community can possibly step up as an added resource to help problem solve? Or possibly, if they're seriously having trouble, some way to invite people within the community who have expertise and are invested to join SE working to fix things?

It's possible to go to Square Enix's website and apply for jobs. There are always plenty for FFXIV especially in Japan, but the problem of course is that they require you to speak Japanese and live in Japan, so a lot of the people who play could never get them.

[Ethers]

I guess another difference here is that if I go to a restaurant (like playing a game), and there's a problem that needs attention--I generally try to be understanding as long as the issue is addressed and without extra charge/penalty to me for them fixing it. I've worked food service and shit happens sometimes, same as I've worked creative fields. It shouldn't have gone wrong in the first place, but if it does my reaction is 'okay fix this'. It takes a hell of a lot for me to react with rage. I'm still insisting the problem gets fixed. I'm just not cursing out the staff calling them all donkeys or whatever.

If you've worked in the food service, you should know that if someone has failed a service, like in any industry for that matter, you don't just get to take the money and say that's life, get over it and move on. The entire point is that this should have happened a long time ago and this should have been done in an appropriate and delicate way, this did not happen and like everything, oh, they'll get to it ... in a patch, a major patch, which could be a couple months or it could be like the Hrothgar hair, 3 years. Ultimately, it's just the way it goes? I just don't see how anyone could defend such a stance and people are right to be bothered by these recent events, this seems like after the success of EW, they've become lackadaisical and out of touch with their own playerbase, well at least the playerbase who doesn't make excuses for them every time something will go wrong.

I've done it, I don't think there's anything wrong with defending a company who has had a track record, the issue is that if we cannot complain now, there is NEVER a good time to complain. It's time to take a stand that these things aren't acceptable. SE/Yoshi P loved telling the community that with EW, they've had the highest subscriber count ever, things are going well. Cool, why are things getting worse then? And why is it acceptable to accept less when the community is contributing MORE and moreover, how long will this take to fix or be remedied? I don't think it will at this point, so it's better to let the community vent their frustrations even if it's albeit dramatic, than to just throw it back in our faces like a company that doesn't care.

I think it's much more healthy for the community to be vocal, even if it's in a negative way, than to have a multi billion dollar company brushing it off and acting uninterested, jaded and out of touch which is how this looks like. Yoshi P loves talking about how vital WoW was in the rebirth of FFXIV and that's cool and all... But if you know how WoW is currently with regards to their development team, yeah, the current development team is quickly following in their footsteps.