Brian from Work 2 Game is leaving FFXIV

[Infindox]

This thread has some actual good points, but I gotta be honest:
If you care about what a content creator says, and that affects what you do, you need to take a big long look at yourself.

[Hanayumi]

You got 100 casual players for every 1 hardcore player. The casual player only pops in every few days a week but substains a frequent sub, the hardcore player plays everyday as long as theres endgame to be had but drops their sub when there is nothing left. Who would you make the game more comfortable for?

[Kaurhz]

You got 100 casual players for every 1 hardcore player. The casual player only pops in every few days a week but substains a frequent sub, the hardcore player plays everyday as long as theres endgame to be had but drops their sub when there is nothing left. Who would you make the game more comfortable for?

Well, this is ultimately a bad perspective as there is no reason they cannot in some way, shape, or form cater to both audiences, which I would argue that they do -- They just have issues incentivizing content beyond just potentially one-time play things. e.g., pick up your loot and go. - This has been and always will be their biggest flaw for both casual and hardcore players alike in adding that replay factor.

That being said, some people do inevitably need to accept that beyond a certain point (most especially if you have invested thousands of hours into a game), then keeping that same attachment is very difficult, and to a certain point, it is just better to seek a new game out with a novelty factor, and this is not about ignoring or deflecting criticism, but simply a logical choice, again, beyond a certain point.

[Jeeqbit]

They just have issues incentivizing content beyond just potentially one-time play things. e.g., pick up your loot and go. - This has been and always will be their biggest flaw for both casual and hardcore players alike in adding that replay factor.

Right, but if it has replay value it might cause content to progressively add up chores for you to do with each patch. Meanwhile, although some people burn through to the rewards in hours or days, some other people take a lot of time to do it because they have less time to play, so if they increase the time it takes, it becomes a lot more of a grind for more casual players.

They could make almost all content somehow level up alt jobs or give aetheryte tickets. After all, this makes people praise POTD, HoH and Bozja. Would that really be enough though?

For example I think it would be cool if we had more difficult world bosses (FATES) that dropped fun cosmetics and Triple Triad cards.

We usually have two that they put effort into the mechanics for in each expansion. Every area usually has one and some of them drop cards, but they hardly have any mechanics and I have not particularly identified any in EW so maybe they stopped doing them. Some of the EW fates have had better mechanics than previous expansions by using some features like the ones used in Skirmishes, but nothing that exciting. I think that S ranks are more difficult, personally, and they have filled this space for me.

More would be good, but SE doesn't seem to want a major amount of open world content. They made the bare minimum to make it exist (hunts, treasure and sightseeing log) and add more once an expansion and that's it. Fates, gathering, leves and beast tribes contribute to it, but they are driving you into instances for most things.

It would be cool if there were treasure chests in the world, and jumping puzzles (GW style but less intricate since jumping in that game is way more precise)

Technically there are these so I assume you mean they should be different than they are. Most of the jump puzzles have to be in city states because we can just fly to them everywhere else. The treasure chests only appear after using an ability.

[Ayuhra]

Right, but if it has replay value it might cause content to progressively add up chores for you to do with each patch. Meanwhile, although some people burn through to the rewards in hours or days, some other people take a lot of time to do it because they have less time to play, so if they increase the time it takes, it becomes a lot more of a grind for more casual players.

They could make almost all content somehow level up alt jobs or give aetheryte tickets. After all, this makes people praise POTD, HoH and Bozja. Would that really be enough though?

We usually have two that they put effort into the mechanics for in each expansion. Every area usually has one and some of them drop cards, but they hardly have any mechanics and I have not particularly identified any in EW so maybe they stopped doing them. Some of the EW fates have had better mechanics than previous expansions by using some features like the ones used in Skirmishes, but nothing that exciting. I think that S ranks are more difficult, personally, and they have filled this space for me.

More would be good, but SE doesn't seem to want a major amount of open world content. They made the bare minimum to make it exist (hunts, treasure and sightseeing log) and add more once an expansion and that's it. Fates, gathering, leves and beast tribes contribute to it, but they are driving you into instances for most things.

Technically there are these so I assume you mean they should be different than they are. Most of the jump puzzles have to be in city states because we can just fly to them everywhere else. The treasure chests only appear after using an ability.

Chests being tied to logs is something I don't like. Having some tied to logs when you want that to be your focus? That's fine.

I wish there were chests you could just find.

I guess what I am getting at is FFXIV lacks the MMORPG moment of "What is that over there? I am going to get myself over there and find out." You need to be doing something specific to find things like the map system or be in your gatherer class. That content is there but you cannot accidentally trip into it.

(Jumping puzzles is something GW2 has but I'll grant I'd forgotten for a second that we have full on flying mounts in FFXIV and to get something like "flight" going in GW2 you need to master a gryphon or skyscale. GW2 prevents you from mounting up or using your glider when at a jumping puzzle)

[Kaurhz]

Right, but if it has replay value it might cause content to progressively add up chores for you to do with each patch. Meanwhile, although some people burn through to the rewards in hours or days, some other people take a lot of time to do it because they have less time to play, so if they increase the time it takes, it becomes a lot more of a grind for more casual players.

They could make almost all content somehow level up alt jobs or give aetheryte tickets. After all, this makes people praise POTD, HoH and Bozja. Would that really be enough though?

There is a point in progressively adding chores, but this equally does depend on whether everything turns into a requisite on content in subsequent patches, and equally, whether they can progressively nerf or reduce requirements in scopes of content where this is present - I can understand the whole idea of it though, but there is a point where it does stifle any meaningful progression path, or ensuring content does have long-standing, and repeatable content. The key behind it is just being proactive in reducing the effort required. -- There's a balance and in this respect, it is something that can be done, so, so much better.

To put 2 things into perspective, both may equally occur later in the patch cycle, but... Would having a greater level of engagement in Island Sanctuary, for example with sightseeing logs, or explorable ruins with potential treasure and additional rewards -- Would take anything away from peoples' ability to engage more passively with the content? Similarly, would attaching gear rewards to the newer 'hard mode' dungeons take anything away from other players' experience?

I would argue people praise PotD, HoH, and Bozja for the lockbox system, and that it is multifaceted -- In that, you can get rewards, and you can also level -- In this respect Island Sanctuary's biggest boon is equally the biggest failure.

[Jeeqbit]

There's a balance and in this respect, it is something that can be done, so, so much better.

Perhaps the balance could be shifted a bit, but without making casual players not engage with it.

To put 2 things into perspective, both may equally occur later in the patch cycle, but... Would having a greater level of engagement in Island Sanctuary, for example with sightseeing logs, or explorable ruins with potential treasure and additional rewards -- Would take anything away from peoples' ability to engage more passively with the content?

They could make Island Sanctuary have the things you described, but to what end and is it reasonable for a developer to think that far beyond the base concept art when developing a patch (not a whole game or expansion)? Explorable ruins would overlap with what variant dungeons are doing which would make a developer wonder if the two things should be merged.

Similarly, would attaching gear rewards to the newer 'hard mode' dungeons take anything away from other players' experience?

Which item level? I think that there is a chance they could add the tomestone augment items in 6.3, because there's no reason not to when you can get them from hunts and alliance raids.

[LaylaTsarra]

Oh I'm crushed Brian is leaving what will I do.

[xenahawk]

Well just like goodbye threads dont see why people feel like forums are the place for it. Simple fact is anything people do for long period of times has the risk becoming mundane. Simple fact is he would rather play an mmo that just came out this past year so its shiny and new during his free time. If thats where he finds enjoyment then so be it hopefully he it keeps his enjoyment for another decade or longer.

[Deveryn]

Well just like goodbye threads dont see why people feel like forums are the place for it. Simple fact is anything people do for long period of times has the risk becoming mundane. Simple fact is he would rather play an mmo that just came out this past year so its shiny and new during his free time. If thats where he finds enjoyment then so be it hopefully he it keeps his enjoyment for another decade or longer.

Very true. Anything can get old and boring over time, especially if you're not giving yourself breaks and/or getting worked up on here.