State of FFXIV as of 4-9-2011

[Jinrya-Geki]

I don't really care, I have fun playing the game and that is all that matters. I know it will be something amazing in the future and I can wait for that day patiently. While I wait I will have fun leveling up and becoming the best I can be.

For all of those that seem to have such a huge problem with the game, then leave. And if you insist on staying, then just be quiet already. We all know you have a problem with the game's current state... you can stop crying about it now. We get it.

^This x100

[Teknoman]

I agree. The game is in a fairly dire state as it is, six days isn't going to make much of a difference. That belgianrofl guy is a little confused.

Some people just can't be told.

Anyways, that's not to say that I think the game will gain popularity in the future. To the contrary, I do in fact think the game is as doomed as all these naysayers say (and naysay) . Obviously I can't predict the future, but considering the two possibilities; the first of which being that FFXIV improves (with the implementation of auto-attack and aggro indicators) and becomes a great success, and the second possibility being that FFXIV fails because they were slow with updates, updated the wrong things, and essentially fell behind the competition, then I can't help but think the second possibility is the most likely.

I don't think revamping the combat system is the way to go, especially while the trainwreck that is the questing/lvling system is allowed to remain intact. And I don't think the game failed because of lack of aggro-indicators.

They should be focussing on emphasising FFXIV's assets (i.e., beautiful game world and character models, realistic scenery, immersive crafting and class system) rather than compromising those with so-called "patches" which only destroy what theyve accomplished.

Guildleves, bad unresponsive UI and network code, market-ward crashes, solo stories which are few and far between, static boring world, nothing for players to work towards ... and so on and so on... all of these are the reasons the game failed. Aggro indicators and auto-attack should not have been a priority above the rest. In fact, additions like these are just fuelling the fires that consumed SE's game to begin with.

Solchract was correct to say that FFXIV does not have a player base waiting for them. The single player Final Fantasy games are almost incompatible with the concept of an MMO with a crafting and social system like FFXIV's. As such, SE cannot rest on the assumption that they will have fans at the ready, even for PS3 release, unless of course SE decides to place a greater emphasis on story and almost no emphasis on crafting/grinding.

As such, the reasons the game will fail are manifold. In the first place, they are changing the game for the worse; implementing changes which destroy the good features of the game, and focussing on things which are not a priority. In the second place, for all the good their changes will do them, there will be none who will play the game anyway.

Creating a well thought out, detailed and challenging set up for battles and parties is the framework for everything else. Once you have that set up (and the level indicators arent really a detriment to the game). A huge chunk of the people who voted on those polls complained about the battle system, and any good RPG or MMORPG for that matter has to have a battle system that the majority of the players like, before the players even attempt to dive into content.

The UI isnt unresponsive at all at this point and all the other content necessary to even think about rebuilding a player base is on the way...so while its still a matter of waiting, at least Yoshida and the new team seem to have an idea of whats necessary.