What was this game going to be?

[zaviermhigo]

Crafters were supposed to battle, in the Tanaka interviews pre release they talked about how crafters would have abilities needed in battle, an alchemists might be needed to dissolve a gold mob. This was talked about, it was scrapped. So you can't say "crafters were NEVER supposed to be in battle"

[gifthorse]

Crafters were supposed to battle, in the Tanaka interviews pre release they talked about how crafters would have abilities needed in battle, an alchemists might be needed to dissolve a gold mob. This was talked about, it was scrapped. So you can't say "crafters were NEVER supposed to be in battle"

It was said that blacksmiths might be able to spot weaknesses in metal mobs, I think.

But even so, how exactly is that fighting? That's a very situational role and obviously thrown in as an afterthought. The only combat centered around crafters is the combat featured in the main scenario quest.

[zaviermhigo]

It was said that blacksmiths might be able to spot weaknesses in metal mobs, I think.

But even so, how exactly is that fighting? That's a very situational role and obviously thrown in as an afterthought. The only combat centered around crafters is the combat featured in the main scenario quest.

I think that under there list of 100 ideas that never came to fruition that crafter's having "battle specific" abilities was being played with. Not saying its smart or that it would of made it to the game, they did have that idea running around in there head though.

[AlexiaKidd]

Firstly, crafters were not meant to fight in combat. Everyone going around saying that lately don't know what they're talking about as nobody from SE ever said anything about crafters fighting except in response to demands by players pre-release and even then they were only considering it.

I think the Physical level system was supposed to work as a buffer, true. I think Physical level was supposed to be what mattered and I think Rank was supposed to be nothing more than a way for player's to get skills.

In the end, they needed to make compromises though because that system didn't really work for a game that is utterly dependant on endless grind.

Orly???

Iwao: Blacksmiths are Disciples of the Hand who use metals to create and repair weapons and armor. Miners are Disciples of the Land who dig up ore. These classes will have very limited battle-related abilities, but may receive other things to compensate. For example, a Blacksmith may get an ability that enfeebles a gold-based enemy or one that increases the chances of having treasure drop.

SOURCE

Thats an interview with some of the Devs in March 2010 and you can see that they direction the game was taking has changed dramatically from then its a shame really as it sounded really cool. Also even on the Official FFXIV site after release the profile for Miner said it had Treasure Hunter and Steal as some of it's abilities until they finally took it down.

Oh and Gifthorse I do think you are right about physical level, I believe that was supposed to be the level that mattered as far as how much you could hit for and damage you took then the class ranks are just for getting new abilities. If it worked like that THEN the armoury system would have been a lot more interesting and would have made a lot more sense allowing you to truly build your own character. What we have now is some mashup in between that just doesn't work right. It's neither proper Jobs or fully capable of making your own, just hope they decide which way they are going and do it right this time.

[Lahru_Hukurou]

Did Tanaka ever really give us fleshed out details of what Hamlet Defense was going to be about? I remember him talking about it some, but I don't recall him going into detail. So, we don't truly know what Tanaka had planned out for it or other things that haven't seen the light of day yet. If I have missed an interview, please tell me, because I know I'm not perfect lol.

I'm just going to wait and see what Yoshida is going to do with this game. I hope that they really look at what was planned and use it, but still put their own twist on it. I'm not expecting or asking them to do what Tanaka was going to do. For better or worse, we have different people on the helm of this game. They need to do what they feel is right for the game, but should also take in our thoughts, and not to mention Tanaka's plans.

[ObeiKinstar]

This is straight from the ffxiv website which is still in it's original form

Blacksmiths
"Blacksmithing techniques are capable of weakening enemies constructed of metal, as well as discovering loot that would otherwise be overlooked by the untrained eye"

Miners
"In addition to their unexcelled prowress at throwing rocks, miners also use their skills to debilitate enemies with mineral compositions"

These are the kinds of comments dierctly from SE that I form my basis on. Just saying.

[Physic]

In all truth tanaka never got to fully realize his vision, the real problems with the game were not his vision, but the execution. Brutal and horrible lag, poorly implemented features, lack of content, bugs. As producer, this isnt really your job perse, but someone had to take the fall so they could make a strong statement that they were going to change the game, and acknowlege thier screw ups.

And yeah crafters were supposed to have a role in battle, not a large one, and they wouldnt get exp out of it, but they were supposed to serve a purpose. All in all the vision as a whole made a lot of sense, they did have some inconsistencies though that came from trying to appease the masses, and from not figuring the best way to implement some of thier systems.
See a before, a crafter does nothing negative for the party, some one not being active in combat didnt effect your sp gain, parties had high player limits, so in general adding a crafter wouldnt be a big deal. the crafter could fix your gear (which degraded faster) and theoretically give you some buffs, or debuff enemies. Main problem with this though, is why would the crafter go with you? the only exp he would get was from fixing gear, which didnt break that much, and didnt award hax exp. There are a couple of spots here and there where someone killing stuff in the area can let them gather, but that doesnt apply to disciplines of the hand.

Anyhow his vision had a lot of potential, but it never got realized. We may in fact see some of these systems in future games, better tweaked and people may love them. Fact is, too many basic problems were present on release, and most people never got to understand the systems at work because the basic bugs and miscalculations turned them off.

[AlexiaKidd]

To me it seems as though they decided at the last minute to change direction I don't know why, only they know that. As a result they had to pull content very crudely out of the game at the last minute. The PS3 release was confirmed as being finished in Oct/Nov but they still decided to hold it back for 6 months from launch to give themselves time to get the game and systems running properly with the new direction. They new they were going to have a bad launch I just think they underestimated how bad the backlash would be.

They got panned in the reviews and they were losing players at an alarming rate, they removed the player search feature as people were publishing the rapidly declining populations on the servers. SE had to act like they were taking this seriously so Tanaka stepped down. On a side note it is not a NEW dev team it is the same one with extra staff now to help get FFXIV back on track, even Tanaka is still on the dev team.

The obvious big change they needed to make was the battle system as it would have probably worked with the original vision but they obviously don't think it will with this one. Until the battle system is done their hands are tied really as it is a huge part of the game. They also have to find new ways for crafters and gatherers to level which will probably come with Companies.

I believe SE had a lot of content ready for the game but pulled it at launch while they figured out what they were going to do and also so we didn't get 2 far ahead of the PS3 players. Also it would need readjusting and balancing for the new systems. The evidence is all around you as you wander Eorzea tunnels blocked with invisible wall's, parts of the main cities we can not access, airship's, chocobo's. These were not things that were not finished, they were things they purposely pulled to hold back.

Hopefully once the battle system is in and complete we will start to see them add content rapidly, either that or maybe they will try and hold as much as they can for the PS3 release.

[zaviermhigo]

Yoshi-P has played many mmos, he knows mmo lingo, i think he justs calls them dungeons/raids. I knew people who played Dark Age of Camelot and EQ who came over to FF and call nyzul a dungeon, they called bcnm a dungeon, and they'd use raid interchangeably with some endgame contents (even though I didn't agree with this one)

[Zenaku]

Yoshi-P has played many mmos, he knows mmo lingo, i think he justs calls them dungeons/raids. I knew people who played Dark Age of Camelot and EQ who came over to FF and call nyzul a dungeon, they called bcnm a dungeon, and they'd use raid interchangeably with some endgame contents (even though I didn't agree with this one)

What i called Dungeons was areas in the game that you not allow to use chocobo like kuftal tunnel and many dungeon areas within FFXI. I just think it better if we use a diff name for the dungeon and call "Raid" endgame. Becuase i bet not a lot of players even know what Raid stand for. i just think "Endgame" sound much cooler then saying Raids oh let's do some raids o.o.When you say Endgame it's like the Final Boss the end of your quest. Raids is more of a small party of ppl going in and killing everything

But whatever i really don't mind what they call them as long as there not like the west version of mmo like aion,rift,wow even if aion is not a west mmo it still using the west terms and play ways to make the game. Yoshi-p may have play many online games but that still don't give him enough to be a leader in making a mmo at least that what i think that just my opinion i'll see how the game be onces they fix everything and then he on his own to make up new ideas for the game maybe he can make this game much better then it is or maybe it just become a wow type game which i hoping it wont be.