Feedback System and the Drawbacks

[OdinelStarrei]

Yeah, I'm down with putting in two cents into this.

I'm thankful for another interview, and appreciate the directness of the interviewer for going for such a topic.

But, I think echoes of this have been apparent the entire time. Do you lads remember when Yoshida was infuriated over the state of RMT on non-JP datacenters? The ping issues that went unsolved for years? We are speaking into a void, by either accident or intention. CBUIII almost feels like some kind of monolith, instead of a team of developers. We only have Yoshida or maybe Foxclonn speaking on their behalf.

And speaking of Yoshida, he's obviously competent. I do not think that Yoshida is naïve, stupid, or willingly malicious. It doesn't make any sense. So I have to assume he's just ignorant of some cultural/scope challenges, and more importantly, gives the community FAR too much credit.

This isn't 2.0 or 3.0. We're not saving a dying game. We're entrenched in an objectively thriving one, which brings a whole new set of challenges. And a big challenge outside of actual development, is being able to realize the community has outgrown it's crib. The statement "the community needs to come to a consensus" is HIGHLY concerning, because we will never come to a consensus at this point. There are too many disparate voices, there are too many wildly different experiences, and too many people screaming at each other for there to ever be a universal "Yes, please do this" on MOST issues. Some issues, like the friend list, or the complete eradication of the Primal, Crystal, and Dynamis raid scenes due to Aether consolidation are easy gotchas, anyone who is paying attention sees the flaws in what has been going on. Other stuff is far too esoteric, specific, or complicated to have a simple "Yes, please do this, or No, please don't do this." When I said that people would rip each other's throats out over this game, I wasn't joking. There is a lot of malice under the skin of this community now, and an ounce of spite burns hotter than a pound of goodwill any day, any time.

But stuff like the 2 minute meta, while a popular soundbyte, is kinda difficult to actually explain the issues without sitting down and having a really in-depth conversation, particularly to newer players or laymen. As much as people say "2 minute meta bad because it's boring" it's actually more like "2 minute meta bad because the other 1 minute and 45 seconds have no meaningful gameplay interaction". When people say "healers/tanks are bad because they are boring" it's actually more like "healers/tanks are bad because they do not have an inherently satisfying sense of personal progression when you omit the encounters themselves and focus on just the kits." And that's just MY opinion! One voice in a metaphorical sea of others, some of which I share a tide/common ground with, others, we might be in abject, almost violent, opposition.

This forum is pathetic! Severely undermoderated! Vulnerable to brigading! The feedback given either goes into a void and is not addressed, or is addressed, but seems to be misinterpreted, monkey's paw style. (See: homogenization, 2min meta, alliance raid, variant/criterion, exploration content, etc etc) People fight over nothing! They insult each other over nothing! And where are you, the one who is asking for our feedback, the ones who are supposed to be translating our feedback? Watching us fight each other like idiots, or not even giving us the courtesy of even doing that much? Do you even realize the reputation this forum has because of your inactions? Are your hands tied somehow? God, I wish I could've found someone like Koji at Fanfest when I was there.

I am TIRED of these content creators being able to control the narrative and platforms regarding feedback for the game, even if I might agree with a lot of what some of them are saying! I know it isn't deliberate that it's turned out that way, but it's undeniably where we are at right now. Something like ty_taurus's job survey shouldn't be something THEY had to do! That's something the developers should have put in an email or even an ingame survey. I've unsubbed to this game multiple times for different reasons almost each time, and would love to make my exit survey well-written, but I'm given...nothing to work with!

You want feedback? Stop telling me to go out of my way, and already pigeon hole me into a minority of a minority of people who will gladly write essays and breakdowns over in-game criticisms on this awful forum. When I did it your way, it takes straight up years for even a simple comment, and that's when we're lucky. Imagine telling that to the Dark Knight/Bard/Machinist/Summoner/Red Mage/Scholar/Astrologian/Samurai mains! Oh wait, I don't have to, because that's what you did, what you continue to do. And we're more divided and in the dark than ever, and I'm personally looking at some future events like the Media Tour or even actual Fanfest with hesitance and fear rather than excitement. Not because I'm jaded, but because I have no idea what the goals of the product or the passions of the development staff are anymore outside of "Make a FF MMO for everyone." Send a mail to EVERY player in the game, and say "We're looking for feedback regarding GAME SYSTEMS, please help us!" No 10th Anniversary, "What's your favorite minion" garbage! And then post those results, pie chart style, so we know exactly where you and the community as a whole stand! Share your metrics, don't even use actual numbers, even percentages would be better than nothing. All of this conjecture, and theorycrafting is an exercise in futility.

I'm not a game developer. I'm an auditor. I'm not telling you how to develop. But I will ask you to provide better avenues for feedback if you truly want it. Because what you have right now for EN specifically is complete trash if you're trying to get anything good from us. And I think most people can at least agree with me on that part, if nothing else.