Positive Evolved Feedback for Tamaki

[Rex707]

Howdy!

I'm not sure how much toxicity Tamaki and the dev team will deal with (I'm not even sure if this will reach them), so I wanted to give some positive news. I also don't know how well this will translate, but I hope the English to Japanese translation holds up.

I think the new Evolved Modes are great. Tamaki, you've done a fantastic job of simplifying the jobs down to some core mechanics, then branching off in unique ways. The jobs look and feel way more free and cool and I'm looking forwards to trying it out. It definitely fits a "vibe-based" gameplay of someone roleplaying as the job.

I do think that while this is a step in the right direction, it's not enough steps. This feels super good to play at level 50, but a lot happens between ARR and Evercold. Players get better in skill, and the game should reflect that. This feels really good for just hopping on after a long shift at work and vibing in some roulettes, but for the long-term players, there's a sense of satisfaction that comes with growing in skills and defeating a challenge. Right now, be it Reborn or Evolved, there just isn't a good challenge.

Now, you've done Ultimate raids, and you are a competitive gamer yourself. You know how to make things hard and you know the reward of triumph. You've got a brilliant mind, and I think that if you set your sights on using Evolved Mode as a foundation to build up complex and unique classes, you can do a fantastic job.

I would really like to see the classes pick up new advanced mechanics maybe every 20 levels, to reflect the growth in skill the player has undergone. Not difficulty by managing cooldowns, and not ease by combining things into one button. But genuinely unique mechanics that make each class special. I know that's a tall order for 21 jobs, but I think you can do it!

Regardless of what happens, I'm excited for Evercold and your Evolved Mode. I think it will be relaxing and a nice way to have fun while blowing off steam. It might be too late to make new skills now, so I'm okay with that. But I'd really like to see more unique and complex skills added in during 8.X, whether that's in Evolved Mode as unique classes or Reborn Mode as challenging mechanics. Either way, I'm sure you will succeed at everything you put your mind to!

がんばる!!!

[Carighan]

Yeah I also will say from what we've seen so far I'm super excited.

For two reasons:

First, I feel the current design is just a design dead-end. It uses too many buttons for nearly no gameplay depth, it does very little with all its buttons (most are just X potency with a different animation), it has virtually no variable elements (and no procs of meaningful impact, no variable resource costs, no variable resource income beyond Reaper and Dancer and players seem to hate those?! O.o). Even if all this new evolved mode does is cut 10-15 buttons, considering every job has like 10-15 buttons that do nothing another button doesn't already do or do better, there's at worst no loss. It can only get better, basically, not worse.

Second, and more importantly: I like the experimentation. MMORPGs need to keep changing, and with class-designs sweeping changes IMO work better than iterations (from 27 years of playing MMORPGs by now, started with M59). It allows you to experiment and figure out whether you are in a dead-end as I previously mentioned or not. You cannot know this if you just keep iterating. So long as every expansion does sweeping changes, there's always the option to just undo changes again and try something third entirely if a change turns out to be negative. But it's important that the experiments do happen in the first place.

[BabyYoda]

I genuinely believe that what Tamaki has done is remarkable. His work shows a refreshing and innovative mindset that is very important for the future of the game. In my opinion, his presence in this system is important in a similar way to how Yoshi-P’s presence is important for the overall vision of the game.

The reason I say this is because we have already seen his work in PvP. His serious attention to the PvP system helped bring it back to life. He took inspiration from elements found in other games, such as MOBAs and action PvP games, and adapted them into Final Fantasy XIV in a smart way.

That is not an easy thing to do, because FFXIV is fundamentally built around a GCD and tick-based system, where actions happen around every 2.5 to 3 seconds. This is very far from a true action game or a game that constantly demands instant, fast-paced decisions. Despite that, Tamaki managed to make PvP feel more active, responsive, and interesting.

Because of that, I trust his work and his direction. However, based on what we have seen so far, I still believe there is a lot of room for improvement.

PvP and PvE are completely different environments. What works well in PvP does not necessarily work the same way in PvE. For PvE, I hope Tamaki focuses much more on the RPG elements. PvE needs more complex skills, deeper mechanics, stronger job identity, and more customization or progression systems that fit the nature of the game.

I think Evolved Mode has a very strong foundation, and I am confident Tamaki can take it in the right direction. But for it to truly succeed in the long term, it needs to become more than just smoother gameplay or simplified buttons. It should make each job feel unique, expressive, and meaningful as an RPG job within Final Fantasy XIV.