Delicious Perspective

[Balbanes]

Against my better judgment, I'm posting a thread in the General forum...

So the general tone of the forums is getting pretty out of control, and ol' chef Balbanes is here to cook you all up a delicious dish of what I like to call "perspective". Sit back, and enjoy a slice

Nobody can reasonably argue that XIV's launch wasn't, well, mind-bogglingly bad. You know it, I know it, Tanaka knew it and Yoshida certainly knows it. However, what's done is done and no amount of crying or complaining will change the past. Still, Yoshi-P has put XIV on the right track and it's time many of you stop to consider some things.

Currently, XIV is in a pseudo-beta stage. One which, unless I'm mistaken, has never been done before. We're beta testing XIV. The launch pretty much necessitated this. We did have the bad launch, and did have to pay for the software, yes, but we are not being charged for the game. Here we are, 6 months after release SE is making no profit on this game, so that it can be fixed. Six months @ $12.99 = $77.94
That's pretty much the cost of the CE that SE has given us back. The best way we can fulfill our roles as Beta Testers is to give SE constructive, well thought out feedback. Which, a good number of us are. A good number are not. Nobody has the right to demand anything.

The speed at which the XIV dev team is moving is pretty normal, when you consider their primary task: The new battle system. Consider this; A new battle system is being built from the ground up. These are the backbone of an MMO and during their primary development, a huge amount of time goes into making them. That's what we've got here folks, a dev team working on pre-alpha programming so that they can give us a quality system which will lend itself to other future content. This is part of what takes MMOs years to finish, and our man Yoshi-P has given himself a deadline of Spring. All for the sake of saving the game, making us happy and making XIV successful and profitable. Do you think he was kidding when, during an interview he said he was working without sleep? I believe it.

However, not only does the current battle system need to be rebuilt, but other facets of the game in light of it. Party mechanics, monster mechanics, class mechanics and quest mechanics all must be changed to fit the new battle system.
We've got the major party mechanics out of the way, many of the monster mechanics have been changed/improved, and we already know that class changes are on the way.

Now, the whining. Oh, the whining. It still amazes me that Yoshi-P actually had to make an official statement saying that the Easter event had not halted the work on the major changes they've promised. It is both ridiculous and sad that it even had to come to an official statement, and the community is to blame. Whoever was making these claims on the boards, get your heads on straight already. A little common sense goes a long way. Of course work did not stop so that we'd have an Egg Event.

SE has Yoshi-P have been very forthcoming about what's in store for XIV, and what they're currently focusing on. Rebuilding systems takes time. A lot of time. The XIV team is no doubt scrambling every day to get things back on track and on top of all the work they're putting in, they're still taking our feedback and trying to work on other areas of the game. They can't please everyone -- and nobody ever will. Bottom line? We're beta testing a game (which is still free) and changes take time. So do everyone a favor, and keep the whining and trolling to a minimum, and the constructive feedback and discussions to a max.

[Verecund]

Given the forums current state, it's still not nearly as bad as it was before the last patch.

[Chezen]

I'd say you need to post on the general forums more often, but it has a serious possible hazard of causing one to go insane.

Real nice post.

[Frisque]

I want to have your imaginary internet-babies..

You rock!

[TessaJalloh]

i expected this to be a troll thread, instead, i'm finding this perspective to be rather delicious. I was already on this train of thought, so even better, i just ate seconds!

[Kirith]

I agree with OP's general message no matter how blatantly obvious it is, but not with his logic.

- Whether Yoshida is on the right track or better than Tanaka is your opinion and something many would argue about.
- No one is saying SE is being unfair. They are clearly doing things at best of their capabilities. What people argue about is whether they actually have the capability to turn this game around.
- No one has given me anything back. I didn't ask to beta test and it isn't a requirement to play. No one has been given their money back and 6 months in this game aren't worth the monthly fees (that's why it's free, duh.)
- Battle systems don't take years to finish. Not in FFXIV's case, at least. SE has many different teams at work on different things, and only one team works on the battle system.
- Party mechanics aren't "major" by any definition. The monster mechanics changes irked many a player. If you mean NMs, they were an obvious addition of a famed/infamous FFXI feature and do not prove any solid point about the dev team, other that they are actually working on the game.

[Cendres]

I think I love you Mr Balbanes, I wouldn't mind a side of tolerance while you're at it sprinkled with a dash of patience. XD

[Neptune]

Hmm no flames yet? Is everyone from the hardcore thread asleep already? Haha.

I majorly disagree with your central point. We are not beta testers. A lot of people feel lied to or robbed. Square Enix could give them their money back and that's the only thing they could do to shut those type of people up.

I'd say we're playing an Alpha version of FFXIV that we paid for. We're not testers, we're players who have paid for this game. Nothing in this game has really changed since Alpha.

So I'd say to readers: are you happy to play an Alpha version for now? If not see you next time, if so, great. One major point is that the dev team is not focused on delivering hardcore content - they are focused on fixing a broken game. So I'd like to see people's perspectives change on that. The dev team is not servicing the loyal fans - they are fixing the broken game.

[Balbanes]

Hmm no flames yet? Is everyone from the hardcore thread asleep already? Haha.

I majorly disagree with your central point. We are not beta testers. A lot of people feel lied to or robbed. Square Enix could give them their money back and that's the only thing they could do to shut those type of people up.

I'd say we're playing an Alpha version of FFXIV that we paid for. We're not testers, we're players who have paid for this game. Nothing in this game has really changed since Alpha.

So I'd say to readers: are you happy to play an Alpha version for now? If not see you next time, if so, great. One major point is that the dev team is not focused on delivering hardcore content - they are focused on fixing a broken game. So I'd like to see people's perspectives change on that. The dev team is not servicing the loyal fans - they are fixing the broken game.

Do please keep that hardcore vs casual nonsense out of this thread, huh?

Beta testers are, in effect exactly what we are. As I already said, this is a unique situation in that the game's core is being taken back to the drawing table after it's (extremely premature) release. I don't know if you're just trying to mince words calling it alpha vs beta or what, but that is beside the point and irrelevant to the situation. Call it whatever you like, the game is not "release ready". SE is working on making it such, and is relying heavily on our feedback to make it so.

SE owned up to their mistake(s) regarding XIV. They're doing the right thing by not charging us for 6 months and taking much of the game's core back to square one. To those who claimed that they were "robbed" and deserve a refund, why not take the game back to your local retailer and ask for one? We all know the answer to that. Also, the software license to which we all agreed specifically states that SE makes no guarantee about the state, quality, or availability of the game and that we, as the end-user have no recourse. Standard EULA. But, again, SE did the right thing by manning up to their errors, and are keeping the game free until it's release ready. Stop wasting time asking for a refund. We are not entitled to one, and we are never going to get one.

And of course we aren't happy with the way the game has been. If we all were, would SE and the players even be in this spot? That is a pointless, rhetorical question. I vaguely recall your name from the closed beta forums IIRC. You of all people should know how much ignorance is in stating that this game has not changed since alpha.

On a side note, my main point was not likening us to beta testers, but the to get people to think about the over all task that the XIV team has, and what that means as far as work and time. You don't rebuild something major like the battle system in a matter of a few weeks. This is not a quick fix by any stretch.
Why not help SE fix this game through constructive feedback and discussions, rather than through bickering and whining about things that make no sense at all (like the whole easter thing)? If that's too much for some of you, do please just leave the whole situation for a while and come back either at the PS3 release or when they start charging for the game. This is what it is, folks. The situation sucks and we're just going to have to wait for it to improve... And it will.

[Neptune]

My name on the beta forums was Eternal. I'm on your side. You don't see me complaining around here. There have been many patches but let's face it we're still closer to an alpha build. Alpha is where you see adjustments to skill point calculations, enemy sizes, battle systems. Calling a program beta is where you think it is pretty close to releasable and you're bug testing. I think the word "tester" probably carries some baggage with it. But if you look at Minecraft, that is a beta, and you have to pay for the game. So it's all about expectations. Unfortunately, it's SE who sets expectations and not me or you. I tell friends that FFXIV is an unfinished game that's a blast to play.