That Which He Does Not Play

[Carin-Eri]

If only he worked hard and gave the ok for things that don't impact his preferred playstyle without people going behind his back in order to get things back on track. Unfortunately enthusiasm for these projects varies wildly from the finished quality level of Male Viera to the state Island Sanctuary released in. He's demonstrating more and more out of touch behaviour as time increases. Telling healers who want more stuff to do to go try Ultimate was but one of many examples of this. A playerbase that enables him to get away with that sort of stuff isn't leading us to anywhere good.

I don't have to list the other many examples of his preferences being not only shown but enforced in game, and I shouldn't have to rely on devs going rogue against the director to give players what they're asking for. Hopefully one of them goes rogue again and delivers some more facial hair for men and revamps healers on the side. Because someone who plays a female Lalafell/Raen Black Mage doesn't seem to understand why players ask for these things nor the importance of listening to them. Maybe that's why this game has lost healers to Classic WoW's Wrath of the Lich King because by level 13 they already have more stuff to do than level 90 White Mages.

Fair enough.

I guess my perspective comes from the fact that prior to moving over to FFXIV I played a heavily-monetised F2P MMO managed by an EP with a background in smartphone gaming. Said game, which I don't wish to name as would prefer not to get into a discussion about that, went from having a pretty generous F2P model to a sleazy FOMO-fueled mess with an over-reliance on loot boxes and expensive (£200 - £300) bundles of items - which wouldn't be quite so bad if not for the fact that they only produce a new episode (worth about 45 minutes play time) every five or so months. And when players question the lack of content, the answer from the CM or Devs, who always show their VERY clear distaste at being asked such questions and have sometimes been quite offensive in how they reply, is always "the lootbox/item/bundle is content".

So no, I don't worship YoshiP - but regardless of his changing attitude and approach he hasn't reached the point where, like that other game, he's trying strip-mine as much revenue from the playerbase as possible, with no regard to sustainability, burnout, or player feedback, before moving on like a locust to find another game to ruin

[Stormpeaks]

Fair enough.

I guess my perspective comes from the fact that prior to moving over to FFXIV I played a heavily-monetised F2P MMO managed by an EP with a background in smartphone gaming. Said game, which I don't wish to name as would prefer not to get into a discussion about that, went from having a pretty generous F2P model to a sleazy FOMO-fueled mess with an over-reliance on loot boxes and expensive (£200 - £300) bundles of items - which wouldn't be quite so bad if not for the fact that they only produce a new episode (worth about 45 minutes play time) every five or so months. And when players question the lack of content, the answer from the CM or Devs, who always show their VERY clear distaste at being asked such questions and have sometimes been quite offensive in how they reply, is always "the lootbox/item/bundle is content".

So no, I don't worship YoshiP - but regardless of his changing attitude and approach he hasn't reached the point where, like that other game, he's trying strip-mine as much revenue from the playerbase as possible, with no regard to sustainability, burnout, or player feedback, before moving on like a locust to find another game to ruin

Uhmmmmm yes he is.

Mog station price increase says hi.

Island says hi.

Boring content and the same mechanics with a different appearance says hi.

Horrible balance and PVP says hi.

Terrible housing system says hi.

[Carin-Eri]

Uhmmmmm yes he is.

Mog station price increase says hi.

Island says hi.

Boring content and the same mechanics with a different appearance says hi.

Horrible balance and PVP says hi.

Terrible housing system says hi.

Well, have to agree to disagree - I tend to think if he was really that intent on ruining the game he'd have taken it down the Free to Play + FOMO route and thrown loot boxes at the playerbase.

[Stormpeaks]

Well, have to agree to disagree - I tend to think if he was really that intent on ruining the game he'd have taken it down the Free to Play + FOMO route and thrown loot boxes at the playerbase.

Being lazy is a good way to ruin the game, which is what he is and so is the rest of the dev team, the bare minimum to keep on racking those mogstation purchases is all this is about.

[Carin-Eri]

Being lazy is a good way to ruin the game, which is what he is and so is the rest of the dev team, the bare minimum to keep on racking those mogstation purchases is all this is about.

Well, I'd have to concede that, being I've only played the game for about nine or ten months at this point, I'm not as familiar with that aspect of it and will defer to your better knowledge of it.

I do however still feel that it has a better business model that some of the Free to Play rubbish (and their over-reliance on loot boxes) that's out there.

[SannaR]

I don't think you really know what devs doing their own thing looks like outside of WoW. If you think Yoshida is bad you should have seen how the XI team was before Tanaka and those that left him to start on XIV treated their playerbase. They fought with them. Even when the playerbase did the maths on something and only wanted to get the devs to say yes, good for you that's how that system works. There was a constant fight over how XI's Ninja was to be played while he was there. We got about 6 months if having the job be buffed in favor of how the playerbase played it before they went and not only reversed it but also moving it further in the direction the devs wanted it to be taken.

Even the small number of fan fests XI had might as well have not even happened as it was just an icey reception when it came to any interaction with those devs. Heck I'm sure you can find videos and see how cold and standoffish the devs are. They all looked like they were wondering why they had to be there. Even the WoW devs have in the past been able to hide any contempt they might have for their game's players better than the old XI devs.

Imagine if the entire playerbase treated the Balance Discord or any other place that's put in the work to figure out how something is in the game should work as equal footing to the devs saying it and you have just a glimpse of how XI was. I might not agree with or like some things Yoshida and the rest have done, but I haven't ever once felt the way the old XI devs made an entire playerbase feel from them.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Being lazy is a good way to ruin the game, which is what he is and so is the rest of the dev team, the bare minimum to keep on racking those mogstation purchases is all this is about.

Lazy? You could say you feel they are incompetent, if that's your opinion.

Lazy they are not.

[Ravenwatch]

So no, I don't worship YoshiP - but regardless of his changing attitude and approach he hasn't reached the point where, like that other game, he's trying strip-mine as much revenue from the playerbase as possible, with no regard to sustainability, burnout, or player feedback, before moving on like a locust to find another game to ruin

Just because this extreme scenario isn't happening, it does not negate the existence of the former problem suggested by that poster.

I don't think they were trying to imply any of this at all.

[Carin-Eri]

Just because this extreme scenario isn't happening, it does not negate the existence of the former problem suggested by that poster.

I don't think they were trying to imply any of this at all.

I realise that - I was more talking 'worst case scenario' than anything else, since it can happen and certainly, in terms of the game I was referring to a few posts back, it DID happen.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

Uhmmmmm yes he is.

Mog station price increase says hi.

Island says hi.

Boring content and the same mechanics with a different appearance says hi.

Horrible balance and PVP says hi.

Terrible housing system says hi.

Im guessing you never heard of Inflation?
Prices Raise sometimes, its just how life works. And remember, that stuff is optional and not required and are luxury items. Cant afford/Dont want to pay? Ah well, thats your choice.
Not like you need anything there in the 1st place.

Island is side optional content, its a time waster, its casual content just like Tribal Quests. Plenty of people have done it and loved it. You not liking it is fine, but that doesn't mean its bad content, or ruining the game.

Not sure what ""boring content and the same mechanics with a different appearance."" you might be referring to, but either way this is subjective. Other people probably enjoy what you dont like.

PvP is horribly balanced, I can 100% agree. Its unfortunate they just cant figure it out. Balance on everything else? Eh, classic case of too much Variety, its like having to many guns and attachments in Call of Duty. 1 or 2 guns and attachment combos will obviously become the best thing in the game while a gun or 2 will become the worse, and others under perform. Just kind of happens. Which is why I believe we should stop getting new jobs, because balance will just become impossible.

I cant speak on housing because Im not apart of that crowd.
Id dont really care about having one.