How much do you thing FF16, the graphics overhaul AND Ivelice Chronicles effected 14?

[Kirutsuki]

It was FF16....

So in your eyes then how is FF14 fairing? It sounds to me like you're thinking everything is pretty stable, understanding that hiccups come and go and the devs adjust to given situations.
Is there things that 14 could focus more on or places the devs could take time away from in order to really help 14. Cause the devs themselves have said that they know there's an issue with 14 currently.
Where is that issue in your mind and how to approach it?

[Jeeqbit]

So in your eyes then how is FF14 fairing?

I mean, functionally, it's fine. They produce the usual content and I do it as I have for 10 years. It's worth noting that if I ask people in the game, they tend to mostly say that exact same thing. If I wasn't getting tired of a new dungeon, a new trial, a new ex, a new beast tribe 8, 6 or 2 years ago, why would I now?

I do wish all the things I mentioned like QoL would be better, but I've felt that way for most of the games life really.

The server processing speed is measurably slower than I think it should in 2025, there are arbitrary limits they could probably get away with increasing like buffs, the friends list loads a few players at a time and doesn't let me add notes, menus have got congested over the years and could be merged, the default settings aren't good for new players, the game lets me click players when I'm trying to click a hotbar button, targeting isn't good, houses are still a problem after 12 years and wards could just reflect active players, it's hard to discern inactive players in CWLS or on friends list, every feature tends to require unlocking its first iteraton such as ARR+HW hunts and Stone Sky Sea, doing content MINE isn't incentivised with Faux Hollows, dungeons aren't reused to make random buffed up versions of them for fun, no NA<>EU travel, no cross-DC interaction, etc.

There are so many little things like that. And it's really just Quality of Life stuff. You can ignore a few things, but as the game grows, more and more of it is needed.

But really, life isn't perfect. Nothing is perfect. If it's not gonna address things like this, then it's just not. No point dwelling on it too much. In life you can focus on negative things or positive things. The amount of effort is the same but one of them probably makes you happier. And if even your best efforts can't find some joy to cling to, then it might not be worth playing it.

It sounds to me like you're thinking everything is pretty stable, understanding that hiccups come and go and the devs adjust to given situations.

I'm an understanding person and I've programming experience so I try to bring that understanding. Actually even before I knew any programming, I would try to think logically about how a game would function behind the scenes as a child. In retrospect, I was pretty spot on, it just requires thinking logically about how the events would come together behind the scenes.

Occasionally that experience makes me agree that the task is challenging, but there are a lot of times where I know I could solve it pretty fast and am struggling to understand why it remains an issue for years.

Where is that issue in your mind and how to approach it?

I think they meant there was an issue with too many emergency maintenances needed for things like localization, Mech Ops, etc.

But in general I think they need to be less rigid and allow more free-flowing development so that developers can just improve random things of their own accord and be encouraged to do it, even if they seek approvals after identifying what they want to improve. From what I've seen, when they've done this previously they've gone behind Yoshi-P's back and sneaked it into a patch, and that actually included flying in ARR and Viera/Hrothgar glasses. Arguably, they shouldn't have to sneak it in. They should feel able to do it and get approval for their passionate improvements.

I don't know their procedures, but if they get out a designer for every little thing, then I think they should not bother with a designer unless it's actually needed. If adding a little Quality of Life setting requires a full on design document and presentation, then it would be no wonder why they don't bother with QoL much.

[CidHeiral]

It's pointless to speculate without knowing the inner workings of the organization. I will say it's very silly that people are trying to paint the FFT remaster as some sort of boogeyman for all the game's woes, as if they diverted half the FFXIV dev team to make a new UI and add voice acting.

[TaleraRistain]

From what I've seen around here and on other places in social media, they used to have a lot more devs and those devs are getting picked off to go work on other projects. So I would say someone poaching XIV's devs for other projects is probably going to have a significant effect.

[Jeeqbit]

From what I've seen around here and on other places in social media, they used to have a lot more devs and those devs are getting picked off to go work on other projects. So I would say someone poaching XIV's devs for other projects is probably going to have a significant effect.

They have been poached off, but they've hired loads to replace and exceed them over the years and they are still credited as supervisors. In their own words, lots of the developers now are former FF11 developers (hence the alliance raid) or people who were once just players. It was said recently multiple times how so much of their team having once been players is such a big thing now due to the age of the game.

[Silren]

Without shadow of a doubt FF14 is struggling. The game lacks vision and innovation and probably needs a new leash on life. Something to strive for. It is not just "lack of content" I am personally fine with the patch content.

Im not here to really argue one way or another whether or not the current stuff is enough or not, but I am interested in seeing how people think these other projects effected 14?

On one hand Yoshi-P is stating the lack of resourcres or budget or whatever it is, but on the same token they are having this team make new games which more than likely takes attention away from 14.

But it's not like Yoshi-P can really control that either, the higher ups decide which of the staff go on what project.

It would be interesting to see if there's ANY overlap between FF14 staff and The Ivalice Chronicles and if there's like chance that people are doing it to get some experience to write better stories etc..?

I dunno... I personally just think that CS3 is dividing itself too thin trying to manage all the project they have and FF14 is suffering due to it.

And we don't want people to go full on cruch mode either just cause FF14 is suffering a little. It's just sad that we can't control how bussiness operate their staff.

How much did they effect ff14 content? Enough I would say, they are still doing the bare minimum because the numbers of the subs are still enough. The point is that while this game helps milk the user base in order to found other projects, it doesn't improve itself at all. I played since 2014, with some huge breakes since SHB, and honestly I'm not surprised at all that veteran players are quitting this game or taking even longer breaks. After more than a decade they're still feeding their players with very bad content, and DT expansion made it even more obvious.

[Kirutsuki]

How much did they effect ff14 content? Enough I would say, they are still doing the bare minimum...

So hypothetically what would be the solution. I tend to think that I would be ok if it took an extra year longer for an expansion to come out, so that when it comes out it already has the content inside it up-to the .3patches.
Or even a bit more than that. But would the whole community be ok if the devs were to announce something along the line of "we're going to take our time with 8.0" and in the meantime 14 will go into somewhat if a hiatus with the occational moogle events and smaller sidequest & collaborations.

[Jeeqbit]

I tend to think that I would be ok if it took an extra year longer for an expansion to come out, so that when it comes out it already has the content inside it up-to the .3patches.

I don't see the point though. A player could just unsubscribe until the .3 patch. Same effect, but doesn't bother those who are fine as it is.

[Catwho]

Ah I see. So it's just another case of lost in translation.

In this case it's lost in translation from software development and project management speak to consumer speak. An English speaking manager would have used the same terms.

Those of us in project management who heard "it would cost too much" knew immediately that he meant resources, not necessarily money. Project management 101 in business school teaches you about the Iron Triangle: Scope (what we want to accomplish), Time (how long we have to accomplish it), and Resources (how much money, people, and physical facilities we have available.) When scope increases, then one of the other two parts of the triangle are going to have to increase - either you need to give it more time, or you need to throw more resources at it. They made the decision to not increase the scope of Forked Tower, so they could deliver it on time and not divert people away from other projects. Which is the kind of hard decision that a project manager often has to make.

Should the XIV team have more devs on it? Yeah. Would hiring more devs last year have made it possible to do an EZ mode of Forked Tower? Probably not. Would hiring more developers 3 years ago have made it possible? Yes.

I firmly believe that SE really is starving its own internal teams of the resources that they need to do their best work. The result is that the remaining teams are overworked, and underperforming.

Hire more bodies for 8.0 now.

[Kirutsuki]

I don't see the point though. A player could just unsubscribe until the .3 patch. Same effect, but doesn't bother those who are fine as it is.

Well generally speaking longer development time gives more time to polish a system and make sure certain aspects are well received.
It also helps with crunch which they had to do for both EW and DT at the end if memory reserves and EW was even delayed.

And extra year would not only let them sit with the finished story a bit and make sure everyhing is as it should with it,
but also focus on what the game sorely needs without the pressure of the expansion already being out and people reporting NEW issues for them to fix.