Yoshida speaks! And January 1 Announcements! Important FFXIV future news!

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Yoshida speaks! And January 1 Announcements! Important FFXIV future news!

You do exactly the same thing, praising the developers before you even see the updates. The only difference between you and the critics is that the critics actually have reason to be harsh and biased.

Actually, I think reviewing MMORPGs is terrible in concept and practice. Reviewers aren't going to be there for the long haul, often don't even have the time to start from the bottom and see how such games grow so they have buffed characters from the outset. MMORPGs are supposed to change and will always change, but it isn't common practice for game journalists to go back and re-score an MMORPG.

Just how many people who play WoW run around with their outdated concepts of what other MMORPGs are like? Ask some of them about FFXI and they'll regurgitate things about Zilart or "Herp Derp I was in the beta." They'll talk about stuff that has long since been addressed as if that's how the game still is.

That's what an MMO review is like - immortalizing a game's slow/bad/good start for all time when its certain to change over time. Unfair, inaccurate and unprofessional.

[Fliegar]

Re: Yoshida speaks! And January 1 Announcements! Important FFXIV future news!

I should vid cap my Luminous Spire for you ... or you can Youtube it.

For some reason this made me laugh really hard. xD

But I'll youtube it. I just get sick of looking at the same skill animations over and over. Though I suppose weapon skills were fewer in number, or at least a lot less frequent in FFXI.

[Armando]

Re: Yoshida speaks! And January 1 Announcements! Important FFXIV future news!

@BBQ: In this case I figured we were talking about players, not actual game reviewers. I can see how the confusion came up though. I'm not entirely sure which J9 was referring to.

[Zempten]

Re: Yoshida speaks! And January 1 Announcements! Important FFXIV future news!

is it just me or does this interview not address anything important but just previously stated crap?

[awesomeOmnislashing]

Re: Yoshida speaks! And January 1 Announcements! Important FFXIV future news!

I felt the interview seemed pretty lacking, but it makes me think maybe the previous team had really just stopped working on updates or content to add. Now they have a new team scrambling to figure out what to do and how to meet the promises made by the previous one. I am sure this is a frustrating situation but then again SE seems to have experience in it.

Hopefully this guy isn't full of shit, and the product they pumped millions of dollars into making will continue to be worked on in a serious manner. That and new classes.

one thing that bothered me was how he said he wanted the game to be playable 2,4, and 6 years from now. How about 2 months from now? that would be nice...

edit: forgot to mention, he talks about when the game will be "ready" for pay to play. I am hoping his allusion to customer relations means they want to literally have something for players to voice their opinions of the game and it's updates on. I guess that's not a bad milestone, considering the current condition of their main website, and the fact that the lodestone doesn't even have a forum. lol

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Yoshida speaks! And January 1 Announcements! Important FFXIV future news!

@BBQ: In this case I figured we were talking about players, not actual game reviewers. I can see how the confusion came up though. I'm not entirely sure which J9 was referring to.

Ah, MMOs live and die on the players - even though I find PC gamers melodramatic to the point it makes the most ardent console fanboy embarrassed to be near them. There's been enough fussing from players to the point a review isn't needed. Its redundant, actually.

[jenova_9]

Re: Yoshida speaks! And January 1 Announcements! Important FFXIV future news!

Things will get better, mew! We just have to believe! BE~LIEVE! Up until now, things have already been improving, and things will improve even more!

http://www.eorzeapedia.com/2011/01/0...t-2/#more-6326

[Malacite]

Re: Yoshida speaks! And January 1 Announcements! Important FFXIV future news!

I think you're being overly harsh here BBQ.

Abyssea is the best thing that's ever happened to XI. While I agree to an extent that the dumbing down of CoP sucks in that it's no longer a learning experience but a stepping stone towards Sea, I agree with SE making it more easily accessible due to the game's age.

No one's interested in taking forever with the older content anymore, people just want to get caught up with the current content while not missing out on the older stuff. BST & PUP have also never had it so good, especially inside Abyssea.

Do you even play anymore? Have you any idea how amazing these 2 jobs have become with Atma? The new jug pets keep getting better & better, and the only thing really missing from PUP is some new attachments that don't cost an arm and a leg. PUP's AF3 is particularly over-powering (as are most of the sets), despite being ugly as sin.

Same goes for RDM. Abyssea is a golden age for RDM, since you're pretty much free to play whatever role you want/is needed now. Let me repeat that - YOU ARE NO LONGER FORCED INTO BEING A PINK MAGE! Yes there are jobs that can do the same roles a RDM does better, but that's always been the point of RDM since FF1. RDM is honestly so disgustingly strong with Atma now, that 2 RDM can duo pretty much anything - solo anything with a brew too.

Need to DD? Toss on Voracious Violet, Razed Ruins and maybe Minikin for some passive Refresh or Apocalypse for Quick Magic, Auto RR3 and Triple attack or whatever 3rd atma floats your boat.

Need to heal? Minikin Monstrosity + Rescuer + Allure and you're golden, though really WHM is honestly the only job that has any business healing in Abyssea. Cure 4 just doesn't cut it and pulls too much enmity.

Nuking's never been easier either. Sub SCH for Dark Arts and Conserve MP along with Minikin + Ultimate + Beyond and no one will so much as bat an eyelash at your nukes. You won't have the damage of a BLM spamming Tier 5's but oh well.


tl;dr - XI is for the first time in a long time fun for pretty much everyone and you should enjoy it. The only jobs that are honestly getting screwed over pretty hard are PLD & DRK, but at least DRK got Twilight Scythe (10% proc rate too which is nasty)

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Yoshida speaks! And January 1 Announcements! Important FFXIV future news!

I think you're being overly harsh here BBQ.

Abyssea is the best thing that's ever happened to XI.

Its the most broken FFXI has ever been, just by that fact alone you'd love it because you have never had a concept of gameplay balance. I do not have to have played in the last year to understand the problems this content introduces, all I have to have is a good grasp of FFXI's gameplay mechanics and job balance and read a some wiki pages.

While I agree to an extent that the dumbing down of CoP sucks in that it's no longer a learning experience but a stepping stone towards Sea, I agree with SE making it more easily accessible due to the game's age.

Thing is, CoP was made hard because people were fucking selfish about missions - just as they always are about missions. People would rather piss away entire evenings on shouting for something they want to do - and may not get done - rather then help their friends with something they need to get done.

The game might be old, but it was still something you didn't need more than six people to do. Dumbing down CoP was more of an excuse to scale up the CoP zones for levelling purposes.

Well, except people still don't use them for that, now do they? Once Abyssea came along, it became the new standard. No one wants to go back - so what's left for SE to do but toss out another expansion or two more add-ons like it.

No one's interested in taking forever with the older content anymore, people just want to get caught up with the current content while not missing out on the older stuff. BST & PUP have also never had it so good, especially inside Abyssea.

Do you even play anymore? Have you any idea how amazing these 2 jobs have become with Atma? The new jug pets keep getting better & better, and the only thing really missing from PUP is some new attachments that don't cost an arm and a leg. PUP's AF3 is particularly over-powering (as are most of the sets), despite being ugly as sin.

In Abyssea.
With Atma.

Nothing has been done to improve these jobs from within in a long-term beneficial way. Ooooh, jugs. Thanks for that, SE, you've only been sitting on them for years.

What happens if 99 content doen't have Atma buffs, guy? What happens when the next expansion doesn't take place in a special zone. If it did, it would be a disaster because BST and PUP have been given very little new to improve upon.

Truth is, you're going to need content like Abyssea for this game to continue. Then again, this sort of design is just proof FFXI is nearing its final days.

Same goes for RDM. Abyssea is a golden age for RDM, since you're pretty much free to play whatever role you want/is needed now. Let me repeat that - YOU ARE NO LONGER FORCED INTO BEING A PINK MAGE! Yes there are jobs that can do the same roles a RDM does better, but that's always been the point of RDM since FF1. RDM is honestly so disgustingly strong with Atma now, that 2 RDM can duo pretty much anything - solo anything with a brew too.

Other jobs don't just do those other roles better than RDM in Abyssea, with the steroid boost Atmas give them they leave RDM in the dust. Why would RDM get Atmas other jobs would expect to have and benefit more from?

You know, unless they were solo/duoing? Or getting the leftovers? There are still a host of other melee jobs I'd rather see get a melee atma than a RDM because they'll get more out of it.

Then there's Haste and Refresh - your two job-defining spells. Refresh isn't really needed. A quintessential part of your job falls to the wayside, everyone has access to Convert and you're calling this the "golden age?"

[Balfree]

Re: Yoshida speaks! And January 1 Announcements! Important FFXIV future news!

I feel exactly the same way BBQ.

I returned to the game and i've been playing the new content, but its all being handed over to everyone (still involves some work).

Everyone became stronger. Everyone. Basically nothing changed.

[Aeni]

Re: Yoshida speaks! And January 1 Announcements! Important FFXIV future news!

Everyone became stronger. Everyone. Basically nothing changed.

They did it in order to have the more "casual" population not up and quit for "greener" pastures. If they saw a defect in population of upwards to 30%, the game itself would've collapsed on weak population and the economy (as if it isn't already) would've been screwed up badly.

I don't agree with it, however, and I'm also seeing a similar trend in FFXIV. Making things "easier to understand" doesn't have to mean you should dumb the game down to the point that you've got the low end of WoW progression being touted as the "next best thing" for the game. And that's what I'm worried about for FFXIV ...

[lionx]

Re: Yoshida speaks! And January 1 Announcements! Important FFXIV future news!

Regarding FFXI, the more accessible the better. I honestly remember more bad memories of grinding your head out and sitting there waiting than anything else in the game. Theres too much artificial timesinks and not alot of challenge.

As long as every job is wanted or can solo/duo fine, then theres no real issue. People that play this game have this imaginary high standard that their game is the best and challenges better than the other MMOs, and honestly its not. There are many things wrong with it and while i don't play the game anymore, the changes it has looks alot more appealing than when it stagnated around mid 2009 when i quit.

The biggest thing for me was the game never changed enough, and i am glad they shook everything up (given from everyone's account not just on this forum). It didn't change enough for me to warrant coming back but...it made me curious to look at the game again. I like these changes at least on paper. It let me come back to this site for a gander lets just say that.

The game needed change as late as when it did happen. The more broken the better, its more fun to be broken in general with more things you can do. People despite the complaining like it better that way due to more things to do.

As for people being handed things, as long as there is certain content thats considered elite and harder to do, it shouldn't really matter as that separates the wheat from the chaff. Its kinda like WoW...everyone can do Normal Instances but for the general populace, raids and heroic instances in Cataclysm are out of the question because they just aren't that good skillwise. But at least they can do something and thats subscribers and thats more content for everyone.

--

As for FFXIV...i totally give up on it. When i played Open beta and saw that i was like...its not gonna be good. But i held out hopes for the retail and even bought CE. It was like a big blow after a long time supporting the company and seeing what they could have done after FFXI. Just sloppy. So this game can suck it lol.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Yoshida speaks! And January 1 Announcements! Important FFXIV future news!

As for people being handed things, as long as there is certain content thats considered elite and harder to do, it shouldn't really matter as that separates the wheat from the chaff.

Everything I've heard indicates that there isn't any elite content. It's all wishy-washy. The entire advent of Abyssea in general strikes me as a very poor design choice for the long term health of the game.

[Aeni]

Re: Yoshida speaks! And January 1 Announcements! Important FFXIV future news!

Everything I've heard indicates that there isn't any elite content. It's all wishy-washy. The entire advent of Abyssea in general strikes me as a very poor design choice for the long term health of the game.

That's a bit overly optimistic in terms of expectations. The game is already 8 years old and is slated for retirement within 2 years. At least as far as major expansions and content release is concerned. I believe even Blizzard has expressed a wish to "cap" their development for WoW at around 10 years before moving on to new projects. That doesn't mean servers are taken down ... it just means that it's there and whoever is still playing the game will have to deal with it "as is".

---------- Post added at 12:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:27 PM ----------

The game needed change as late as when it did happen. The more broken the better, its more fun to be broken in general with more things you can do. People despite the complaining like it better that way due to more things to do.

This is what Blizzard did for Cataclysm. Unfortunately, it's a one-trick Pony. You need to constantly feed the ever growing fickle population with new gimmicks and tricks in order to sate their appetites. This is just human behavior afterall. One only has to look at the Roman Empire and the Colliseum to appreciate this analogy.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Yoshida speaks! And January 1 Announcements! Important FFXIV future news!

The game is already 8 years old and is slated for retirement within 2 years.

A) Says whom?
B) I'd give it at least another four years, nonetheless.