Letter from the Producer, XXVIII (05/28/2012)

[Naoki_Yoshida]

Hey there, FFXIVers, and welcome to the twenty-eighth Letter from the Producer!
How is everyone enjoying patch 1.22? Recently, we’ve talked about the two campaigns we have running, and I’d like to say a big thank you to the many people who participated in the Welcome Back Campaign. I’m also thrilled to see so many players meeting the requirements for our Legacy Campaign! Speaking of the Legacy Campaign, it seemed a shame that the awesome Legacy Chocobo art drawn by the talented Akihiko Yoshida was so small, so I took the liberty of making up some wallpaper sizes for everyone to download:

• 1920x1080
• 1280x1024

For myself, I’m shifting into super producer mode for the release of version 2.0.
I’m in Japan right now, but will soon be winging my way to LA for E3.

As mentioned in my previous missive, the focus of this letter will be the third edition of the Players’ Poll, but before we get into that I have a few things I’d like to report.

Well, the public release of new info regarding version 2.0 is set to kickoff with this year’s E3 in Los Angeles. We also plan to unveil a brand new promotion site for version 2.0 soon after E3 ends.

This new site will feature world lore, character, system, and content updates as soon as the information is available. This means that our existing players will have the chance to follow these updates and see how the current world of FFXIV will transform as we move into version 2.0.

There have been some changes to the roadmap for version 2.0. We had planned to release a new trailer for version 2.0 at E3 this year, but instead we’ve decided to keep it under wraps for now.
(The current version of the roadmap has been updated to reflect this.)

The devs, Visual Works, Sound, PR—everyone did their part and the trailer itself was completed and ready for release at E3. But during our most recent global PR planning meeting, we came to the conclusion that the most effective way to introduce version 2.0 to the world would be with a flood of new material rather than just a trickle.

In order to make version 2.0 a success, we need to appeal to not only our current players (naturally!), but also as many new players as possible, including PS3 owners. I really am sorry for the changes to the roadmap, but I really hope you understand that they were made with appealing to as many of you as possible in mind. We want to place the highest priority on keeping the 2.0 development schedule on track and on time, and prepare a large-scale promotional campaign filled with mind-blowing stuff!

Now, without further ado, let’s take a look at the results of the third FINAL FANTASY XIV Players’ Poll!
Thanks to everyone who took the time to participate in this most recent installment.

First off, we have the General Gameplay section.

Q1. Which disciplines do you employ most frequently?

	JP	NA	GB	FR	DE
Discipline of War/Magic classes only	24.1%	39.4%	37.0%	33.4%	24.9%
Discipline of the Land classes only	0.7%	0.3%	0.4%	0.0%	0.7%
Discipline of the Hand classes only	1.3%	0.7%	0.4%	0.3%	0.0%
Discipline of War/Magic & Discipline of the Land classes	6.2%	6.8%	7.7%	6.5%	7.1%
Discipline of War/Magic & Discipline of the Hand classes	33.0%	18.5%	21.5%	26.1%	23.1%
Discipline of the Land & Discipline of the Hand classes	4.4%	1.5%	1.5%	1.1%	1.1%
I play all the classes!	30.3%	32.8%	31.5%	32.6%	43.1%

For all regions, the most popular answer was “all the classes”, followed by “Disciplines of War/Magic only”.
Unlike other MMOs, FFIV’s Armoury System allows players to experience multiple classes and jobs with a single character—a feature which certainly contributes to this result. Another factor would be the initial inconvenience of the market system, encouraging players to make use of the various disciplines to provide for themselves.
While battle will continue to be a huge focus going into version 2.0, they’ll be plenty of system and content updates for our avid crafters and gatherers as well.

Q2. How often do you play FINAL FANTASY XIV?

	JP	NA	GB	FR	DE
About 1–2 hours per day.	12.2%	8.9%	9.5%	11.4%	11.9%
About 2–4 hours per day.	37.7%	27.0%	26.4%	31.1%	30.8%
Over 4 hours per day.	22.7%	34.6%	37.1%	30.3%	29.9%
About once every 2–3 days.	10.8%	10.8%	10.8%	9.3%	13.7%
About once every 3–5 days.	4.1%	3.1%	3.5%	4.2%	3.9%
About once per week.	4.7%	3.4%	3.2%	3.9%	2.3%
Only right after new patches are released.	7.8%	12.2%	9.5%	9.8%	7.5%

I was absolutely ecstatic to see that over 60% of players enjoyed logging in every day for 2 or more hours. Add in the people that play for 1-2 hours, and that’s 70% of our players who log in every single day.
The next most common answer was “once every 2-3 days” and, combined with the previous percentages, that brings us to around 80% of players who responded.
But don’t think I’m ignoring the 10% of you who only play right after a patch goes live.
The enjoyment of our players is extremely important to us, and once 2.0 begins, we’ll be merging the current version and version 2.0 dev teams into one consolidated powerhouse that will continue bringing you as much new content as we can in the shortest span of time possible!

Q3/Q4. Do you think the pace of leveling up Disciplines of War and Magic classes is appropriate? (When not power leveling, mind you.)

	JP	NA	GB	FR	DE
I think it’s just about right.	52.4%	54.7%	54.4%	61.1%	50.4%
I think it’s too fast.	25.8%	16.5%	18.1%	17.3%	25.8%
I think it’s too slow.	10.3%	16.2%	15.8%	15.0%	12.9%
I think something other than the above three options.	11.5%	12.6%	11.7%	6.6%	10.9%

50% of you thought the pace of leveling was just about right, while 20% felt it was too fast. And then there was the 10% who had more to say on the matter.
For most MMOs, you might expect around 60-70% of players to respond with “too slow”, but as the current leveling speed for FFXIV is intentionally set at a higher pace, I’m fairly satisfied with these results.

Question 4 was for those of you who wished to further express your opinion. (And yes, I did read all of them even if we can’t print them all here!)
The most common response was that the lower levels were too slow, while the higher levels went by too fast. We have no plans to adjust the leveling speed for the current game, but we’ll certainly take these comments into consideration when tweaking the pace for version 2.0.

Q5. What do you like most about the current version of FINAL FANTASY XIV? (Multiple answers allowed)

	JP	NA	GB	FR	DE
The quality of characters	22.9%	13.0%	13.8%	15.2%	18.1%
The world, lore, etc	12.3%	11.5%	11.6%	16.8%	8.6%
The story	5.4%	10.2%	10.8%	11.4%	13.0%
Battle System	5.1%	9.3%	9.2%	9.4%	8.7%
Synthesis	3.8%	4.7%	5.1%	5.8%	5.6%
Gathering	2.1%	4.0%	4.0%	4.0%	3.4%
Battle	7.3%	9.8%	9.0%	3.4%	10.5%
Grand Companies	2.3%	7.4%	7.6%	6.2%	7.6%
Linkshell communities	7.2%	6.8%	6.2%	6.7%	5.8%
The promise of version 2.0	28.5%	19.0%	19.4%	19.9%	16.7%
Other stuff	3.1%	4.3%	3.3%	1.2%	2.0%

It sure is a mixed bag of emotions looking over these results
I am, however, glad to see you guys are looking forward to version 2.0!
Character quality, world lore, story, and battle system make up for around 50% of responses. While this is an MMORPG we’re making, we’ll be taking the idea of “more FF-y” as our main theme as we move forward in development. There’s lots of great stuff on the horizon!

Q6. What would you like to see added to the game? (Up to 2 answers allowed)

	JP	NA	GB	FR	DE
Battle content (primal fights, instanced raids, etc.)	23.8%	29.3%	29.4%	28.8%	20.0%
Disciple of the Hand content (including improvements to the current synthesis system)	16.0%	9.0%	9.3%	9.0%	10.2%
Disciple of the Land content (including improvements to the current gathering system)	10.8%	5.8%	5.8%	4.2%	6.3%
Improvements to the user interface	18.0%	20.5%	18.0%	18.4%	15.6%
Additions to the main scenario	21.0%	25.4%	27.6%	28.1%	32.1%
Additional quests	10.4%	10.0%	9.9%	11.5%	15.8%

We’ve been holding off on main scenario additions until version 2.0, so this was the number one request, followed closely by battle content at number two. Next on the list, we have improvements to the user interface.
There’s still a lot of work being done on the current version, so don’t despair—bug fixes and new content are on the way.
As for the UI, we’ll be doing a complete overhaul for version 2.0 and I’ll do my best to get the details out to you as soon as I can!

The current scenario is heavily focused on the Grand Companies and their response to the Seventh Umbral Era, but as we move into version 2.0 and explore the world after the new era hits, you’ll see a whole new story arc unfold.
But for now, I’d suggest completing as much of the current content as you can, because the Seven Umbral Era-related Grand Company quests we have now won’t be available for much longer!
Oh, and there will of course be a whole slew of changes and improvements to the synthesis and gathering systems.

Aaand would you look at me just rambling on here.
I should probably show some mercy to the very busy translators and bring this letter to a close! My next letter is already written up, and will be released sometime early next week.

Moving on, Patch 1.22b is scheduled for release early June.
It may seem like a minor patch (what, with the “b” and all), but you can expect some serious volume! There’s a “c” planned as the final part of the 1.22 series, and we’re also working on content for Patch 1.23.
I’ll have info on these patches, as well as more 2.0 goodness coming in future letters!

Tune in next time for more on the third Players’ Poll results.
See you soon!