My Great Big Suggestion Post

[Farore]

To make it easy to read about things you care to hear about, here's a little 'table of contents' sort of thing.

(*) - Intro Paragraph

(1) - Gameplay
(a) Combat Overhaul
(b) Class Mechanics
(c) Lack of Abilities and Variation

(2) - Questing and Leveling
(a) FATE Tweaking
(b) Quest Additions

(3) - Difficulty
(a) Boss Mechanics
(b) General

(4) - Quality of Life
(a) UI Functions and Customization, Potential Release of UI Source Code

------------------

(*) - Intro Paragraph

To start things off, I love nearly everything about this game, and I feel it has so much potential to be a game that will last for years and years, but I feel that there are some major areas that need work if this game is to survive beyond a few months to a year. In the rest of this (long-winded) post, I'll be describing the issues I see with this game, why they should change, and how I would change them. All fanboys, white knights and trolls, please leave your remarks in the other posts. Please think about what you're saying before you say it, alright?

-------------------
(1) - Gameplay

(a) Combat Overhaul

Now, my biggest issue with this game is the style of combat they've implemented. At its core, the combat in this game is fantastic, and could very well set the stage for newer MMO's to come. The way they've implemented it, however, is horrible. My biggest concern regarding combat is the 2.5 second global cool-down (GCD) that is in place for both melee and spellcasters. While this may be fine for some of you, it raises several issues in my mind that need immediate attention from the little section of the development team that handles combat.

So why is a 2.5s GCD so bad, you ask? Well, this game is an MMORPG, which is characterized by an active style of combat, rather than a sit-and-wait approach that console games would take. I don't know if SE was trying to take the classic style of Final Fantasy and smash it into the MMORPG world, but it certainly isn't working very well. According to many, having a longer wait between attacks means that gameplay is more tactical, and more thought-inducing, I couldn't disagree more. When you have nearly three seconds between each attack, you're in position for the attack long before it's even ready, and you're already getting ready to make your next attack. Combat doesn't feel so much like combat, as it does a carefully choreographed dance between you and the monsters you're fighting.

Now, my solution to this problem is fairly simple. By reducing the GCD for melee (spellcasters will be different) to ~1-1.5 seconds, we eliminate a lot of the waiting around and the slow feeling of combat. By forcing the player to make split-second decisions about what they're doing, you make combat much more active, rather than passive. Now, with an attack speed so much faster than what the game is used to, you'd run out of TP very quickly. To solve this issue, we would have to look at it from a few different ways. We could increase the rate at which TP generates baseline, which would enable us to chain together our attacks without going totally dry. We could also take a look at the TP cost for abilities, and decrease / increase them as needed, making our TP able to sustain our attacks. We could also add another effect to Skill Speed, making it also increase the rate at which our TP regenerates. With those three systems in place, I feel the TP would sustain our attacks just fine, but we would still have to be careful not to exhaust it with our fancy attacks.

Spellcasters are slightly different. Since they rely on MP, which regenerates much quicker than TP, it wouldn't need so much tweaking. However, a 2.5s GCD is a bit long for a spellcaster. I would suggest somewhere around 1.8-2s, which still feels like a caster - with strong, slow attacks. This would make it easier to weave those instant cast, on GCD, spells into your rotation. Since we would use MP much quicker, we would of course have to reduce the amount of MP use of some spells, and we could also make Piety effect MP regeneration, which would keep us in a healthy level of MP.

Implementing those changes to the combat system would make combat so much more fun, and I wouldn't be bored after only two weeks!

(b) Class Mechanics

The classes in FFXIV are great; there are so many of them to choose from, and they are all unique, interesting experiences! (Right?)In this game, I feel there is so much homogenization going on, that even Activision (Blizzard (WoW)) would be out-done! Every class feels very similar, and they really don't feel like unique walks of life; rather they feel like different flavors of the same thing.

Can you honestly tell me that you feel unique as a Dragoon using Heavy Thrust, compared to a Monk using Twin Snakes? Both attacks do extra damage from the flank, and both attacks increase your damage done by X% for a little while. Can you tell me that you feel unique using Thunder as a Thaumaturge, as compared to an Arcanist using Miasma (aside from the disease part)? My point is, all of the classes (melee, spellcaster, healer and tank classes are in their own categories) have the exact same skill-set, with very minor changes between them. In order to make each class feel unique, something needs to be done to their available skill-set. I'm not sure what you could do, but I'm sure if you boys at development put your heads together, you could figure something out.

Another part of class homogenization is the lack of any kind of special mechanic. Every caster class uses MP exclusively, and every physical class uses TP. Where's the unique mechanics, unique resources? In the description, the game tells us that Monks use seats of power called Chakra to power their bodies to do their attacks - so why not give us Chakra, a resource we build up over time, to power some strong attacks? Say you have three potential Chakra, and each attack puts a little bit of energy into one. As you attack, the Chakra fills up, and you can spend up to 3 of them on really strong, or useful, abilities. That would make the Monk stay true to their description, and add a unique flavor to the class, rather than maintaining some silly buff (can you say Thaumaturge / Black Mage?). For Dragoon, a guy who fights dragons and all that, let's add resource called Draconic Fury or some-such. As you use certain abilities, it builds up (a numerical value), and you can spend it on Dragoon-exclusive abilities like jumping attacks, drop attacks, all that. For Paladins, you could have a resource that starts at the max value, let's say that's 100. This resource increases your defensive capabilities passively (based on the number you have), but this resource is also spent to use some of your more Paladin-like abilities (heals, defensive moves, etc.). So you would have to manage both maintaining your Light Energy (it needs a name, right?), and spending it to stay alive. It could either passively regenerate, or just fighting can generate it. For Marauders, I'm going to pull something right from WoW here - simply put, a clone of the rage system. As Marauders attack, they generate Bloodlust (Why not?), which powers their more unique abilities. They have some abilities that are free to use (but cost TP, of course) that generate Bloodlust, and other moves that consume it.

The classes all feel the same, wouldn't you agree? I know I didn't cover all the classes, but I'm sure development can come up with some interesting mechanics to keep the classes unique.

(c) Lack of Abilities and Variation

I've touched a bit on the lack of variation in the last paragraph, but now I'm going to be focusing on just one class at a time.

So, I'm sure you feel like your moves are different from eachother, but are they really? You get a move that does damage, is instant, and has no positional requirement. You get a move that does damage, is instant, but requires flanking to do the most damage. You get a move that does damage, is instant, but requires you to be behind for maximum damage. Where's the variation? So far it feels like I'm just using the same move over and over, but moving around as I do it. I feel like the game would be more fun if we had more unique abilities.
So for this example, I'm just going to talk about Marauders. Some new abilities that have unique flavor to them could be as follows:

Grapple (80TP) .5s Cast
Throw a chain at the enemy, then pull both chain and enemy back to you. (Like the Sticky Tongue move that those frogs have, except a different graphic.)

Armor Smash (120 TP) .5s Cast
Wind up, and then smash your enemy with your axe, lowering their physical defense by X for X seconds.

Whirling Steel (150TP) Instant, 5yd range, 3yd radius.
Charge through the enemy while spinning with your axe, dealing X damage to all enemies in your path. (This move would either just send you forward to wherever you're facing, or you could hit the ability and trigger a little arrow to show up, and you select the direction you go.)

Battle Stomp (120 TP) Instant, 8yd radius
Stomp hard on the ground, sending shockwaves through the earth around you, knocking enemies off their feet for X seconds. (Effectively an AoE stun)

By adding abilities that aren't just another weapon swing, you make the gameplay that much more fun, because you don't know what to expect!

(2) - Questing and Leveling

(a) FATE Tweaking

Right now, FATE events are the only way that most people level, leaving many people waiting in dungeon queues forever because there aren't many people doing anything but FATEs. FATEs need a big nerf in experience gain, to make them just a little bit less attractive, and bring them down to be equal to other means of leveling.

(b) Quest Additions

If you've ever tried leveling a second, third, fourth or just an extra class period, then you know how painfully slow it is to get anywhere. Once you've leveled up your first class, and maybe your second, you're out of quests! That leaves you with your Hunting Log (which doesn't do more than a level or two) and FATE grinding, both of which aren't all that fun. I proprose you add more quests to each area, because right now you only have 5-10 quests per area for each level bracket (1, 5, 10... so on.). Perhaps you could add more quests that are only available to certain classes, so that there is always something for us to do on extra classes.

(3) Difficulty

(a) Boss Mechanics

Now, I don't know about you, but I've never been challenged by any of the boss fights I've done so far. I understand that you have to make content available to everyone, but there's a point when you're taking it too far. Every boss fight is just like a regular monster, but it's a bit flashier and does more damage, with a lot more health. How does that make it all unique from a giant trash monster? I believe that more mechanics should be added for just boss fights, so that we're always kept on our toes, rather than fight a great big trash monster. I just did the Titan fight yesterday, and somehow the group died many, many times, but the fight was very easy, and I was always the last one standing. The fight was just too predictable, and all his attacks are easily avoidable. There needs to be some element of unpredictability to both boss monsters and normal monsters. Here are a few suggestions I have for the Titan fight:

So right now, we have Landslide, Tumult, and Geocrush as his main moves. The moves are fine and dandy, but they're a bit easy to deal with.

Landslide takes a while to cast, so you have more than enough time to move out of the way. If I were to design the move, I would make it instant cast, but it wouldn't go the full length instantly. Make the move look like a real landslide - When Titan smashes the ground, a giant shockwave forms and begins moving outwards. If you touch the shockwave, you go flying and take a lot of damage. Rather than the big line we have, it feels a little more dynamic.

Tumult is fine as it is, but it could do more damage, maybe take the DPS nearby to ~20% health, and give the healer a reason to be awake.

Geocrush is fine as it is as well, but it needs to do more. When Titan jumps into the air, several rocks fall from the ceiling, which players can't move through. Players must maneuver through these rocks, and make it to the edge of the platform, or they take much more damage. When Titan lands, the rocks are crushed and the platform is open once again.

That would make the Titan fight much more interesting, and a tad more difficult to beat. Right now, most content is a joke. I realize fixing one fight won't fix the game, but if you have an idea of where difficulty should be, then you can adjust other areas of the game accordingly.

(b) General

In general, I feel the game is just too easy. Earlier today, I was leveling up my Arcanist so I would go White Mage when my Conjurer hits 30. Since I didn't have anything else to do, I was farming Levequests for experience. I was at level 9, and I was doing level 10 Levequests at maximum difficulty. So I was fighting level 14-16 monsters. You know how many times I died? That's right, none! Players need to do less damage and die easier, or monsters need to hit harder. I don't think I've ever died in open-world combat. It's just ridiculously easy, and it needs to be turned up a bit.

(4) - Quality of Life

(a) UI Functions and Customization, Potential Release of UI Source Code

This game has a beautiful UI, and I love it, but it all feels a little clunky. The options are vague and unexplained, and it's hard to customize it to fit your individual needs. I don't know if SE is a fan of this kind of thing, but maybe they could release the source code for their UI, allowing players to develop mods and whatnot. If you're not sure what that is, just look up the different kinds of mods that WoW has on curse.com. I think it'd help people better realize their potential, with a UI that suits their needs.

-----------------------

Well that's it for my giant essay of a post! I realize it got a little shorter in each section at the end, but can you blame me? That's a lot of typing! Anyway, I'd love to hear what you guys think, and maybe an SE employee could sneak a peek too!

Again, fanboys, white knights and trolls, just go away. You're not welcome here, and I don't care for your idiotic remarks. If you want to reply, be respectful, and think about what you're saying.