Direction of FFXIV?

[Reika]

Given everything I've read about the changes to the game, I'm 90% certain I'll be cancelling my account once billing starts.

I simply do not like the direction the game is going. Every blurb they've given us says that they want this game to firmly follow the Western model for MMORPGs. Auto-attack. Quest hubs. Instanced dungeons at all levels. Solo-focused gameplay. I realize that I don't speak for everyone, but I'm playing Final Fantasy because I'm looking for a Final Fantasy style JRPG MMO experience. SE, you cannot compete with Blizzard on their own turf. You're essentially trying to beat them in a genre they created. If you want this game to be successful, then you need to capture a segment of the market that is relatively untapped. Trying to scrape players from Blizzard's plate may work in the short term, but over the long term it simply will not work. If you're always copying, you're always one step behind.

For examples of this, just look at Warhammer, and more recently, Rift. Both games catered to Blizzard's playerbase, both say an initial surge of players, and both started hemorrhaging players shortly after launch.

Please, instead of copying standard conventions, take the foundation you have and make it awesome.

Instead of building a new battle system around auto-attack, take the current one, streamline stamina and TP usage, and make it worthwhile to not spam attacks (a simple combo system could possible correct this).

Instead of adding mounds of quest hubs, take the leve system to the next level. Add a new type of leve that outlines the quest issue and sends you on your merry way. Having all of the tasks that you could do centered at a single location was a wonderful move in the right direction, and I'm horribly upset that SE seems determined to move away from it. Here's a hint: the problem with leves was their content, not their implementation. There are far too few, that are all far too similar, and on the whole completely uninteresting.

A dungeon does not have to be instanced. Sure, they're good for providing certain challenges, but every dungeon in the game does not need to be. Non-instanced dungeons, when done correctly, provide a rather nice community aspect. People who've played games like Lineage and even games like Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2 (the multiplayer servers, at least) know that the dungeons in those games were great places to meet up with people. Anyone remember RoV in EQ2, that low level undead place in Lineage2, or the crypts of Rovenna in NWN1? All utterly fantastic places to meet and group up with new players.

There's nothing inherently wrong with allowing player to solo as much as possible. However, it needs to be realized that once you pass a certain threshhold of solo-convenience, it has a direct effect on group play within the game. The simple version that if everything can be done at your convenience, a large portion of the playerbase will simply not bother with taking the time for group content. I have my theories about anti-social attraction in regards to MMORPG and similar social-based games, but that's another post.

I realize I'm rambling a bit at this point, but I just want to drive home the fact that I feel that SE is making a rather drastic mistake with their current direction.

Amen Sista