Things you want SE to keep doing

[GTK0HLK]

i would like them to do more jobquests. not for all of them at once. but every now and then a few nice quests for one or two jobs.
dancer quests in thavnair? yes pls. reaper quests in garlemald and the 13.? YES PLEASE !!

would be nice to catch up with the old Guilds, groups.
asides dialog changing per story progress.

certain guilds can sure use it, despite it being alright.

[since we no longer get skills from them, they can do as much as they need.]

and if they make combat better at lower levels, removal of skills from said quests can help. or change.[I hope PLD gets a Shield Bas upgrade to become useful, like a gcd that makes the next gcd ogcd, and doesn't break combo]

[SonicRose]

With all the harsh criticism lately over the nerfing of 1% of a boss' health, and only Paladin and Warrior getting buffed this last patch has made me really want to thank Naoki Yoshida and his crew.

I don't know that I'm adding anything exceptional or new to this topic, but let's go!

First of all, thank you for stepping up and taking the reigns of this broken game and breathing new life into it. Thank you so much for carrying 1.0's legacy forward by integrating it into the 2.0 and beyond lore. Your respect for the source material that you've built upon is truly amazing and the people around you have done an amazing job in making it reality. I also appreciate your communications, addressing issues that many other developers would have simply said nothing about or shrugged off as insignificant. My favorite event to look forward every year is the Moonfire Faire, where you get to communicate with us through your avatar. Cirina was the minion gained from it in the year I joined. I didn't know who she was, but when I asked my friend about the event, they told me about the disaster 1.0 had been and how this was for the fans who had stuck with them through the bad times. I consider myself something of an amateur gaming historian, so it made me intensely interested in the path the game has come down. A perspective, I think, that gets lost in the more heated topics.

Island Sanctuary is definitely a sweet little thing, and I know it can only get better. Though crafting and gathering skills are not needed for it, I was wondering perhaps if you do the Island as one, if maybe it could give some nominal amount of EXP if you are actually the job that should be doing these things? Or maybe a bonus to them, like getting extra items from trees if you know Botany, or being able to 'teach' your mammets to do metal working (i.e. Goldsmith/Blacksmith/Armorer) so they are either more efficient or grant a quality bonus, making their work more valuable.

Having dipped my toes in Savage content and done many extremes, I would like to request more Waymark save slots.

To the Job Balance issues that have come up - I would like to remind my fellow community members that it is only the highest tier of gaming (Savage and Ultimate) where these imbalances may affect performance to the point of wanting to change jobs. All jobs are valid in almost every instance without issues. I have a WoW history & can say definitively that the balance issues here are small by comparison. People were often soliciting me advice on how to play my Troll Hunter in WoW and telling me the spec I chose was the wrong one. That sucks the fun out of things so bad. Yoshida's people have gone above and beyond trying to keep balancing things in a way that is satisfactory to as many of us as possible. Thank you again for that. This game has offered me a chance to play any job I want, and I think that flexibility alone is one of its strongest points.

[TaleraRistain]

Island Sanctuary is definitely a sweet little thing, and I know it can only get better. Though crafting and gathering skills are not needed for it, I was wondering perhaps if you do the Island as one, if maybe it could give some nominal amount of EXP if you are actually the job that should be doing these things? Or maybe a bonus to them, like getting extra items from trees if you know Botany, or being able to 'teach' your mammets to do metal working (i.e. Goldsmith/Blacksmith/Armorer) so they are either more efficient or grant a quality bonus, making their work more valuable.

I say this as 90 in both DoH and DoL, IS giving us an extra benefit seems a little unfair to anyone who isn't interested in those aspects. IS is something we're all kind of on equal footing with. The alternate exp path is an idea I like, though, and wouldn't affect the success of others who don't engage in those aspects of the game.

[AwesomeJr44]

Thavnair benefits from it as well. Sometimes I just go there to stare at the skies, and it really could be confused for something out of an anime, especially if you get the big giantsgall formation in.

Sometimes I do the same in Ultima Thule when I visit. I don't particularly like the location's story, but that skybox... that's a pretty damn good skybox if I've ever seen one.

To the Job Balance issues that have come up - I would like to remind my fellow community members that it is only the highest tier of gaming (Savage and Ultimate) where these imbalances may affect performance to the point of wanting to change jobs. All jobs are valid in almost every instance without issues. I have a WoW history & can say definitively that the balance issues here are small by comparison.

I don't think that anyone is really suggesting that job balance matters outside of Savage/Ultimate, the main problem people have is that certain jobs were having extreme difficulties (and I'm not just saying the content's hard, you can play WAR and not clear, but then swap to GNB and clear with 2 damage downs) clearing in week 1, which is a HUGE problem, especially if one of those jobs is your main. My main is actually pretty good right now, but thank god I don't play paladin. I pity anyone who mains paladin right now.
(EDIT: Ok, no joke. I literally JUST realized your main job is PLD rn. No shade being thrown lol)

This game has offered me a chance to play any job I want, and I think that flexibility alone is one of its strongest points.

Just don't choose to play Paladin in the first few weeks P8S lol

[Lauront]

Sometimes I do the same in Ultima Thule when I visit. I don't particularly like the location's story, but that skybox... that's a pretty damn good skybox if I've ever seen one.

Yeah I'll admit to enjoying the starscape with that one as well, especially that star cracked open like an egg.

[Payadopa]

I would prefer they put less emphasis on "balance" and bring back uniqueness to jobs, even if that means not making new jobs.

I am happy they are making graphical changes to the game, but that needs to include the character deficits which already exist in the present system. if they are updating the graphics, they need to update the issues stated for the races they have already included.

I second that. Balance is important, but so far it has only been detrimental for me in terms of overall enjoyment. I hope SE reverts course and brings fun abilities back.

[Soge01]

More non-Sharlyans joining the Scions' main cast. I love them all, but I really like seeing characters like Estinien join up with us. I hope Gosestu and Fordola can join up with us next. :3

[Azuri]

Really appreciate them providing more and more fuel to the delicious forum drama happening lately.

[Aexnidaral]

I've played the game for awhile, and while I have many criticisms about the game; there's more that I love about it.

For me probably the biggest thing I want them to keep doing is making the engaging story they've had. Wrapping up the Hydaelyn/Zodiark saga really allows them to get out of the boxes they were otherwise constrained in, and I think it can lead to some very good storytelling opportunities and I very much trust the writing team to do so in the upcoming patches and expansions. Out of all of the MMOs I've played, FFXIV has the best and most accessible in-game lore with supplementary material that is genuinely fun to read and engage with (ie Encyclopedia Eorzea, etc.)

I love Island Sanctuary. It's a very fun and unique new thing to do. In the same vein as the upcoming Variant Dungeons, I hope they continue to add various types of content and expand on them. Having more options for people to engage in the game in a way that tickles them is always a good thing, so long as they're willing to keep it updated and growing and not abandon it.

As others have mentioned as well: this game is very beautiful overall. I have some very specific nitpicks about how when you zoom in on yourself, or certain characters some of their textures can look very... crunchy in a way that can take you out of the moment (ie. 5.3 and the Crunchy Exarch); but for the most part on a macro level the game is very pretty. I hope that the upcoming graphical enhancements will alleviate some of this.

The music in this game is absolutely bonkers. There are so many themes and leitmotifs that are genuinely stuck in my head I don't think I'll ever get them out. Sokken and his team do a fantastic job, and I hope this continues.

[Midareyukki]

I guess I should add to this topic tbh, since the opening post I made is kind of "meh".

I agree when people talk about the skybox, that sky is amazing and it really immerses people who want to play Astrologian. You can see the different constellations, you can see the milky way, you can see circumpolarity which is just bonkers!

And as flawed as Jobs can end up becoming, I actually think they're neat and that the decision to let people play whatever they want on a whim is so good. Because I'm the sort of person that gets bored really easily, so even if I love playing Gunbreaker, I get tired of it after a few hours. And they're all enjoyable to a fault, I've always at least tried to understand the flow of each class every expansion. Endwalker probably has the least amount of classes that I can play without feeling like it's too stiff, but I just see them as needing a bit of a tweak rather than a world-ending cataclysm if they don't fix. I could argue that the game needs a bit more individuality in the jobs to make them stand out, but I also know that those typically are an outright mess to balance.

And for all the problems the plot may seem to have, I only really had two issues with Endwalker thus far. One being Loporrits, as they did break the flow for me real hard, and the other being that sacrifice moment at Ultima Thule. Could have been done better for more impact. Otherwise, I loved Garlemald despite absolutely despising their philosophies and methods at a fundamental core. I like how it tells you "Yes, they're fascist. They have been for a long time, and it's going to take a while to break it. Not everyone is going to enjoy this. But this is a fight for humanity, and it's also about how resilient they are and how people can change. Your hatred for Garleans is no different than the Grand Companies and the Beast Tribes. If they can set aside their crap and come together, so too can Garleans if they're willing. Those who are unwilling to adapt are just pitiable, nothing more. Because they could not learn to be better and rise above."
Even the sidequests had that. I really wanted to abandon the little Garlean kid, but the devs had the foresight of telling people "He's just a kid who grew up in garbage mindsets". And even if it was just a little fantasy story on a computerized setting, it felt cool to go out and prove the kid and his parents wrong. It isn't easy, and I imagine it wouldn't have been easy for Hrothgars to just up and accept Garleans so willingly after Bozja happened. But life isn't easy. And it wasn't easy in real life either, we see that happen right now. Yet we worked out somehow in the past, because that's what mattered. It won't make the pain they inflicted go away, but it makes sure the future isn't a loop.
I love Radz-at-Han and the way they portrayed the people and the culture. And can we just talk about how Square does it? Square actually pays attention to the cultures they build. Some are more subtle than others, but there's a lot that they add and they typically stay consistent when they portray it. They take real world influences and add their own fantasy twist. Sure, some stuff is "Planet of Hats", but it makes it all the more identifiable and work within the lore. It was cool to explore the Azim Steppe as it was cool to explore the different parts of Norvrandt. If there's anything this team has shown they can do is blend different aesthetics into the same world and make them fit. It gives every area its uniqueness and identifiable culture.

And the game is beautiful. A much-needed downgrade from 1.0, sure, but it's still amazing for an MMO with the sort of quality it has. And I just don't want Square to squander it. By this I mean that... well, we all know Square's a company known for their graphics, right? And the game is robust and hefty without being a glorified graphics demo like 1.0 was. We know they're going to do a graphical update in the near future, and I cannot wait for that because it's going to look so good. However, making graphics of any kind takes time. And for all my gripes with Viera and Hrothgar, I want them to do what they can without going overboard. But if they're going to commit, I personally feel they should treat everything the same way and think carefuly on what they add and what they don't. This world looks amazing, it'd be such a disservice for it to not match.

idk, YMMV on this thread, but that's the cool part. Square does so much good stuff, half of it can't even fit in a single post and not all of us will agree on what we like more or less. And to me, that's fine.

And no. I saw the stupid tag you put on this thread. This isn't about White Knighting. Sometimes, it's nice to have some appreciation for the devs and not concentrate yourself only on the negativity, isn't it? And hell, more than give a platform for those who argue against the negativity, it also gives a platform for those who do have complaints about the game feel more validated by showing that they do care. Same as everyone else who enjoys this game and wants to see it succeed.