Time, Budget, Manpower, and Scope

[Gurgeh]

I get this, but I note in particular the "work smarter not harder". However, I really feel that it is EXACTLY this philosophy that was the one constant and central tenant of their design philosophy, and that they have practiced this a great deal, and it is what more than anything else got them into this mess in the first place.

Balance 12-16 jobs for highend?
If we jusy homogenise all those jobs into being like each other well then now we only have to balance 4-6 jobs!

Create solo mode l dungeons and ai NPCs?
Well if we just sand down every piece of variety, then we can keep the AI simple and keep reusing that code!

Devlop impressive savage fights and deliver on time?
Well if we focus our efforts on the savage, we can then just just chop bits off and throw out the normals with whatever time is left over.

Voice over MSQ?
Well if we just write a skelton story, get that scripted, and call it done, we can get the actors done asap, and we can then just pad it out with unvoiced filler scenes at the last minute, that has no plot development and ruins pacing. Bollocks like "fetch quests and here is how we farm".

Really, the only way for them out of this situation is to stop cutting corners, invest their way out of it, and realise that only more, is REALLY more.

Its great they are trying to address the challenge in the game, but I really fear for them if they are again saying, "how can we do this on the cheap?"
Because it's almost profound universal truth, a mathematical cosmological systemic inevitability, that any such approach MUST structurally systemically TEND towards simplification/reduction and homogenisation.
And now we will have everyone spoken to but no-one really really happy.

Simplification is great.
OVER simplification is all too easy a mistake to mistake, and it is always harmful, and left uncorrected always fatal to outcomes.
Simplify the solution if you can, but NEVER simplify the problem. Understand the problem more succinctly, sure, but never change-simplify the problem. Or you will only ever have achieved solving some OTHER problem. The original problem will remain, even if a new form.

[Exmo]

2.0 was made frantically with little opportunity to plan for a 10+ year future. Everything after had to be built on that foundation. It's a game problem first and foremost. Some players are tired of hearing but it's still true.

[Turtledeluxe]

2.0 was made frantically with little opportunity to plan for a 10+ year future. Everything after had to be built on that foundation. It's a game problem first and foremost. Some players are tired of hearing but it's still true.

Exactly. Were any of its known competitors like World of Warcraft or Guild Wars 2 made under the same conditions? I don't think so and what a coincidence that both of them outperform XIV in this way.

[Vatom]

Well it's obvious they need to do something about this. Anyone got a solution that can be feasible? Not a jab just wondering cause it seems CB3 doesn't and hope 8.0 will be it is not my belief.

[plasmacutter]

Well it's obvious they need to do something about this. Anyone got a solution that can be feasible? Not a jab just wondering cause it seems CB3 doesn't and hope 8.0 will be it is not my belief.

I have plenty of ideas, but I think this thread lacks the introductory scope to give my post a full field, so I'm going to post a separate thread on it and take my time.

Then I look forward to the more petulant members of the community attacking me like piranha for discussing it all.

[Vatom]

I have plenty of ideas, but I think this thread lacks the introductory scope to give my post a full field, so I'm going to post a separate thread on it and take my time.

Then I look forward to the more petulant members of the community attacking me like piranha for discussing it all.

Yeah that's always the battle. Stay factual and open minded and maybe you will have people agree

[Turtledeluxe]

Here's a fact, Yoshi P already said more money won't help, yet its the main take of this thread so far. He cites the reason as lack of talent. This is supported somewhat given that the positions they had open a year ago for level designer and scenario writer are still open. Either the talent isn't there, or SE isn't paying enough, we cannot know. The game is in the latter part of its life cycle. If there's any potential efficiency to be eeked out of the development team, players cannot possibly know how to manifest it since, you know, we aren't on it and we don't know the specifics of their engine.

Players have been told time and time again, by the patch cycle, by the downtime, by the quality of DT, by the director himself, for 12 years. But you do not want to believe it. That sums it up.

[plasmacutter]

Here's a fact, Yoshi P already said more money won't help, yet its the main take of this thread so far. He cites the reason as lack of talent. This is supported somewhat given that the positions they had open a year ago for level designer and scenario writer are still open. Either the talent isn't there, or SE isn't paying enough, we cannot know. The game is in the latter part of its life cycle. If there's any potential efficiency to be eeked out of the development team, players cannot possibly know how to manifest it since, you know, we aren't on it and we don't know the specifics of their engine.

If creativity is what's needed, they should re-open the feedback forum and have the community post and rate ideas.
Dedicate a couple mod staff to deduplication by moving posts into established topics when merited.

[Turtledeluxe]

If creativity is what's needed, they should re-open the feedback forum and have the community post and rate ideas.
Dedicate a couple mod staff to deduplication by moving posts into established topics when merited.

High quality writing takes talented writers. Mods who need to filter quality ideas need to be able to discern what merits quality. All of that sounds like things they do not have according to Yoshi P i.e leaders in the field who are willing to work on their team.

He also also cites promotions as a factor and what that may be telling us is that this custom is perhaps not what is best for creative output.

I will also say, if what I have seen on social media reflects their general internal attitude, this dev team confuses effort eith results, which is an inherent reject of "work smarter not harder". It is an A for effort mentality. So not only do we need a new engine, perhaps you need an entirely new team and culture.

[Moqi]

Here's a fact, Yoshi P already said more money won't help, yet its the main take of this thread so far. He cites the reason as lack of talent. This is supported somewhat given that the positions they had open a year ago for level designer and scenario writer are still open. Either the talent isn't there, or SE isn't paying enough, we cannot know.

Have they tried looking beyond Japanese people who only speak Japanese...?