Letter from the Producer XXIX (3rd Player's Poll Analysis Part 2)

[Aeni]

Letter from the Producer, XXIX (06/04/2012)

Pet class and "uniquely original" class gets the vote for "most wanted" for the game. Can't say I'm surprised. Especially pet classes, as that tends to be the most popular class (when done right) for any MMO game out there.

"We also received many comments that character positioning is bothersome and difficult. Such comments often go on to add that server delay and UI issues also have a big impact. We’ll be sure to keep these points in mind when making adjustments in the future!"

Bunch of lazy players. Same bunch of fucking whiners in WoW where they expressed a dislike for having to step out of the purple goo or avoid the "wall of flames" heading their way. "Lag/Latency" is the most often abused excuses for these players. Sure, sure and yet the same players have no trouble playing other online games like COD.

Okay ... the rest of the poll just reaffirmed my suspicion that there are too many whining crybabies playing the game. I'm sure these "players" want to have a WoW-like crafting and hit max level in one day. Fucking A ... I hope SE doesn't bow down to these retards.

[jenova_9]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXIX (3rd Player's Poll Analysis Part 2)

well the majority can argue that crafting taking "too" long to level up is retarded and not fun. It's good the unique classes category got 2nd more votes. pet classes are okay, but they could also benefit from more classes that are more unique like Geomancer, Dancer, etc. pet classes fit in that category but they should either add SMN or BST to XIV, not both. I'm a little surprised the DRK category got the least votes, mew., but I do agree they should add Samurai. NIN/THF subject won over DRK subject, so that is nice.

[Malacite]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXIX (3rd Player's Poll Analysis Part 2)

Seriously wtf, why did so many ppl write in not enough places to harvest? THERE'S MORE THAN ENOUGH! Especially since you don't have to compete for nodes like in XI. Though a few more nodes in each area would be nice.

The biggest issue I feel is still the abilities. They barely do anything save (for a couple like Sweat of Brow which is horribly OP) and even when they do work, it's like a 5% chance at best which is just bullshit. I'd rather SoB be reduced to as low as 15% but in return get changed to passive that's always active. Double exp 1~5% of the time is BS.

Also, @j9: Shut the mew up.

[Mezlo]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXIX (3rd Player's Poll Analysis Part 2)

I hope they go with new classes and not add a pet job. Pet job's suck.

[Etra]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXIX (3rd Player's Poll Analysis Part 2)

I hope they go with new classes and not add a pet job. Pet job's suck.

I somewhat agree. If they made summoner akin to FFXI's summoner job, then disagree. However, if they do what YoshiP wants summoner to be, then agree.

[Aeni]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXIX (3rd Player's Poll Analysis Part 2)

Mind you, I don't mind them making changes to the crafting system to "smooth" out the curves. I agree that there's work to be done with the leveling system for crafting ... BUT ... I have a feeling, a gut feeling, that majority of those that placed emphasis on "crafting is too difficult" want it to be more of a mindless, useless activity as it currently is in WoW. If anything, more players, an overwhelming majority, should place emphasis on "not enough role or importance for Hand/Land in game". I do not want Hand/Land to be folded into a "side activity" because quite a lot of players ENJOY solely focusing their time and energy on that part of the game more than "combat".

To strike a compromise, they could allow Hand/Land to have a "pet" or "companion" (like in FFXI) where crafting can generate "points" spent on attributes for these companions and use of the gear they craft as well. Have these companions do the fighting for them in the main storyline, for example, or an alternative quest/story system (still the same as everyone else, but a different way of engaging in the combat side of things) Something I think about is a system of collaborative effort, say, a group oriented Final Fantasy Tactics, where a "guild" of crafters can still participate in dungeons and raids, but get a different loot that is more in-line with their interests.

Again, these are just loose ideas, but something that I think will help to strengthen the Hand and Land and allow those two class systems to remain on par with War/Magic and also allow them to participate fully in most everything else (just in a different way)

[Raydeus]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXIX (3rd Player's Poll Analysis Part 2)

Hopefully there will be something for me in 2.0 that compels me to play but considering RDM will not be in the game for a really long time that's already a step back for me. Let's see if the new stuff catches my eye.

[Malacite]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXIX (3rd Player's Poll Analysis Part 2)

I agree that they need to leave DoH/DoL the hell alone in terms of their role - at least in the grand scope of things.

I LIKE that you can play just those classes if you want, and that they have a big impact on the game's economy and thus the balance. I repeat, do not fuck with this Yoshi. I doubt they can speed up the actual crafting process any more, and they shouldn't. The abilities are largely fine now as well. It's just the pace of leveling that's so damned grueling compared to even DoL (which could use some boosting via fixing abilities).

That's why I strongly feel that they should reduce the bonus EXP gained from quality and dramatically increase the base EXP per synth. It's the focus on raising quality for more exp that really drags the process out, turning a 10s recipe into a 2 minute ordeal regularly. Some bonus should still be awarded, but the main goal of raising quality should be to HQ an item, not get more EXP. Speaking of which, I feel like they need to ease up the requirement of HQ ingredients somewhat as well. Either adjust the HQ threshold a bit (it's rather silly to require 700+ for even a remote chance) or at the very least have your skill level scale the rate of quality gains with the difficulty of the recipe. (e.g., a lv 50 crafter should have no trouble HQ'ing a recipe level 20 or under without HQ materials)

More content like Hamlet defense would be great as well. I absolutely love the concept of having the DoL and DoH classes helping out in the defense effort in their own way, even during the actual combat phase. If they could find a way to make this work during raids that would rock but I imagine that'd be more difficult.

[Raydeus]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXIX (3rd Player's Poll Analysis Part 2)

Does HQ'ing require skill or is it random? If it requires skill then you should be rewards by performing well, but if it doesn't then grinding enough (base XP) should be rewarded instead.

[Mezlo]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXIX (3rd Player's Poll Analysis Part 2)

It requires skill but has degrees of randomness.

[Raydeus]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXIX (3rd Player's Poll Analysis Part 2)

PS > Take something as simple and relatively basic as Dilithium mining in STO. It takes attention and reflexes, and you can get from a few ores to a hefty amount after you get some practice at it. Sadly you are restricted to doing it only once a day (no skill ups from it either because it depends on your skill rather than your char's.) But even so, this simply little side game was waaaay more fun to play than any crafting or DoL activities I did in XIV. A big part of that was because of how random it was in XIV and how little actual skill was involved, which completely trivialized that part of the game for me and turned it into a chore.

Mining video

Another good example would be the mini games in Ryu ga Gotoku. That's how crafting and gathering should be IMO if it is to be entertaining at all. <_<;

[Malacite]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXIX (3rd Player's Poll Analysis Part 2)

It certain would be cool if they could make the harvesting activities more unique. I actually preferred fishing in XI, actively fighting the fish to wear it down. If they could do away with the stupid hot & cold nonsense and make real mini-games/events for each DoL that would be wonderful.

Honestly at this point I'd settle for simply striking my pickaxe/hammer at a spot (still aiming it of course) and seeing what I get over the current system because it's neither fun nor challenging, just tedious. And would it really be so hard to give us a proper damned recipe book for synthesis? You know, with every recipe we've learned/done but listed in tabs that can be sorted instead of this nonsense of the 8 most recently used recipes?

[Aeni]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXIX (3rd Player's Poll Analysis Part 2)

It requires skill but has degrees of randomness.

Having HQ items also help to push the HQ curve more in your favor and lessen the need for "luck".

@ Mal I agree with almost everything you said about changing the way exp is tied to quality. Either re-do exp scaling based on difficulty or work bonus exp in another fashion. For now, though, if this is the best we get, it's still miles away better than what it used to be

---------- Post added at 05:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:10 PM ----------

It certain would be cool if they could make the harvesting activities more unique. I actually preferred fishing in XI, actively fighting the fish to wear it down. If they could do away with the stupid hot & cold nonsense and make real mini-games/events for each DoL that would be wonderful.

Honestly at this point I'd settle for simply striking my pickaxe/hammer at a spot (still aiming it of course) and seeing what I get over the current system because it's neither fun nor challenging, just tedious. And would it really be so hard to give us a proper damned recipe book for synthesis? You know, with every recipe we've learned/done but listed in tabs that can be sorted instead of this nonsense of the 8 most recently used recipes?

The only issue I have with DoL is that the "fatigue" bar (or w/e the hell you call that), when it varies between the ore/plant material/whatever, it is too freaking tiny to see with my eyes and notice it. So I don't know where to draw my first "notch" in the whole "yo-yo" affair (lumber would be making the notch along a curve; mining would be how hard or softly you pick at the spot; fishing is ... I don't know ... it gets very tiring after 30 minutes of guessing)

[Malacite]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXIX (3rd Player's Poll Analysis Part 2)

Do Mining and Logging even need the stupid mini-game aspect to it though? I mean both activities basically consist of smashing your tool against the surface of your target. I would honestly prefer they just simplify it to swinging your tool and seeing what you get based on your stats/gear and where you aim etc and just drop the mini-game altogether.

For fishing, keep the picking a depth level etc but once you cast your line that should be it until the fish bites and then it goes to a system similar (or maybe better?) to XI as reeling in the fish was actually somewhat fun as opposed to trying to guess where the fuck you're supposed to stop the meter.

[Aeni]

Re: Letter from the Producer XXIX (3rd Player's Poll Analysis Part 2)

I didn't care for the FFXI fishing system because it was too involved for what should otherwise be trivial farming. Remember, you need to take into account parity in not only the exp gained, but the amount of time you have to sink in to get similar value out of the activity (and without providing a mountainful of excuses for "those on the fence" to go and seek out bots)

As for mining and lumber, I rather them keep that aspect of it instead of having to resort to reducing the number of nodes or increasing the length of respawn to compensate. I absolutely abhor any gathering system resembling that of WoW.