Forum Settings
       
« Previous 1 2 3
Reply To Thread

This HAS to be a new team maintaining FFXIFollow

#1 Sep 11 2010 at 11:05 AM Rating: Excellent
**
575 posts
Because they are on the ball more than I can ever remember. I've been gone for a bit messing around with FFXIV. I came back yesterday to do some update stuff, mostly take my SAM to 85.

When I got an invite to an Abyssea party, they informed me I can now warp directly from Port Jeuno to the Maw. A needless time sink repeated every day - removed. Then when I enter I saw I can purchase keys in stacks now. Sure everyone has been saying "it would be nice, if we could just buy keys in stacks", but most of us that have been playing these developer's game for enough years didn't expect them to implement it, at least not any where in the near future. But, they did.

So I get to my party and I hear someone say "sellable items are in pool, cast lots". Seriously? Everyone wanted this feature, but again, I don't think many expected SE to listen and implemented it so quickly.

So after a smoothly running Abyssea alliance, I hit 85 fairly quickly and decide to start working on upgrading my relic GK. I figured this would take me a few weeks again, after how long the previous trials took. But, SE listened to the complaints of us. Before we were required to kill an absurd number of mobs and we had to have the killing blow with our specific weapon skill. This made the trials boring, because the way it was setup we almost needed to do it solo, because teaming up made it difficult to consistently get the killing ws blow. Now, they allow anyone with the same relic weapon to team up and if anyone kills a mob with the ws, everyone gets points. No more going solo, while alliances who just need kills grab every mob in the zone. I found a group of 6 or 7 Amano users, and not only was it many times faster, it was actually fun.

The point is, I can't remember SE ever addressing so many concerns by the playerbase so shortly after the players asked for them. However, if you cross the virtual pond over into Eorza the "bang-head" moments where you think "seriously SE? why are you going out of your way to make this so painful?" are happening left and right. It really feels like the majority of the original XI team has packed up to XIV and left some new guys in charge of XI. I just hope the old team doesn't get too upset when they hear these new guys are listening to the playerbase and tell them to stop doing that.

We'll see how it all plays given some time, but I personally had more fun in one night back at FFXI than I have the last few weeks trying to give SE the benefit of the doubt in the mess that is FFXIV.

Edited, Sep 11th 2010 1:08pm by Vawn43
#2 Sep 11 2010 at 11:16 AM Rating: Decent
**
829 posts
They did all that stuff from the update that happened earlier this week.
Also a couple of weeks ago they mentioned they had a new director fro FFXI so maybe that could be the difference idk.
#3 Sep 11 2010 at 11:33 AM Rating: Excellent
Yeah, I can't believe it either. I never knew why they did some of the things they did in XI at the beginning. I always wandered have they played the game and said to themselves wow this is "FUN" where in some cases it was something absolutely retarded. I like the direction XI is headed in now.

Edited, Sep 11th 2010 1:34pm by jakarai

Edited, Sep 11th 2010 1:34pm by jakarai
#4REDACTED, Posted: Sep 11 2010 at 12:41 PM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) They should adress the issue that you cant buy the new addon lol.
#5 Sep 11 2010 at 1:03 PM Rating: Excellent
***
1,726 posts
Quote:
Because they are on the ball more than I can ever remember.

I thought Lemmy Koopa was the only one "on the ball".

Anyway, yeah, it seems like there's new blood (in charge). The game was clearly adrift in 2008 and 2009 and was starting to go lax in 2007. Abyssea has finally given the game some focus, unfortunately a very small focus (3/6 zones). Maybe once the zombie known as WotG can finally be finished that they can focus on the next era of FFXI, something of their own making (not a project already handed to them) and something that gets built-up then finished in a timely manner. If Dec 2010 is the finish of WotG, it would have taken three years to finish. RotZ, CoP, ToAU all lasted like 19 months (1.5 years). For reference, 19 months for WotG would have been around June 2009.

If they were competent (which SE evidently hasn't been for maybe 5 years), they would have, once FFXIV's earliest development (past talking) was getting going, they would have apprenticed the future dev team leaders for like 1 year (like 2006 or 2007) then handed the game off to them while they focused full time on FFXIV. What players got from 2007-early 2010 was a team that spent most of their attention focusing on FFXIV, and only glancing every now and then at FFXI. They were distracted. Maybe it hurt both games, FFXI took right around 2 years to develop before a playable beta, 2.5 years before release (and that also included having to build the online infrastructure & capacity from nothing and get a functional MMORPG in a time when the mode of gaming was very early in its development) and FFXIV was being made sometime since 2006 (5 years) or SE just lost the ability to make games without bloated timeframes (FFXII & FFXIII took obscene amounts of time to make. With FFXIV, they didn't need to build an infrastructure since they already have it, just to upgrade it, so the learning curve should have been shorter with XIV than with XI).


Edited, Sep 11th 2010 3:05pm by zoogelio
#6 Sep 11 2010 at 4:47 PM Rating: Good
From what I gather the director of FFXI was moved to FFXIV, so his tainted touch will be on on 14 now I guess. Things seem to be better in terms of new content with the new guy in charge, not so good for people wanting to play 14 thoguh.

New content and them listening to what players want with it quickly is great, I wish more would be put into revitalising old content now since they are very quickly dying but hopefully that will come in time..

Edited, Sep 11th 2010 6:48pm by preludes
#7 Sep 11 2010 at 7:22 PM Rating: Excellent
Avatar
***
1,570 posts
preludes wrote:
From what I gather the director of FFXI was moved to FFXIV, so his tainted touch will be on on 14 now I guess. Things seem to be better in terms of new content with the new guy in charge, not so good for people wanting to play 14 thoguh.

New content and them listening to what players want with it quickly is great, I wish more would be put into revitalising old content now since they are very quickly dying but hopefully that will come in time.
I'm starting to think Tanaka and whatshisnamewhomadeCoP have a certain way they want games made, and now that they're not there to bog down development things are going out the door a lot faster (even if they also seem to share the whole "RDM is support onry and not a melee mage" thing).

What I think we're seeing here is a display of two very different schools of philosophy in terms of game development. Just wish we had gotten these guys sooner rather than later.
____________________________
Products of boredom: 1 2 3 4 5
Besieged
Hopes for FFXIV: Fencer | Red Mage
#8 Sep 11 2010 at 7:49 PM Rating: Excellent
***
2,306 posts
they also changed the magian fire-based trials that required apkllaus and replaced them with manticores. :D
#9 Sep 11 2010 at 9:51 PM Rating: Decent
etnapwnzs wrote:
they also changed the magian fire-based trials that required apkllaus and replaced them with manticores. :D


REALLY!? I have been working on my Apkallu trial longer then any other trial in the game even the weather ones were not as annoying as trying to finish the Apkallu trial.
#10REDACTED, Posted: Sep 11 2010 at 11:56 PM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) Sigh.
#11 Sep 12 2010 at 5:06 AM Rating: Excellent
The new team is awesome, gives me very little reason to play FF14 because the old team is maintaining it.

no emergency maintenances after every patch with the new team, we used to run 1~2 weaks of maintenance after every update which sucked.
#12 Sep 12 2010 at 8:18 AM Rating: Excellent
**
575 posts
Hyanmen wrote:

The game design team has gained a lot of experience indeed. The current status of XI shows what they can accomplish if they are given the chance. I hope the XIV team can take their game to the same heights, in time.


I don't buy this. If you've been playing XIV there is no doubt that a lot of development money went into the game. At the same time, right now its just not fun to play. If we ignore the problems that people want to attribute it to the game being in early stages (horrible targeting, UI lag in a battle system that requires percise timing and placement, etc) you still have to deal with the stubborn decisions being made by the developer.

It is apparant they really want to get rid of the auction house system. This doesn't work in theory and it sure as hell doesn't work out in game. Eight dedicated "Rolanberry Fields" markets you have to search through every time you want to buy anything, is not playable. The team knows no one wants this, but just like in old FFXI days, they believe they know best and cannot be troubled with players concerns. And the lack of an AH is just one of these design decisions, I won't go into too much what all is wrong with FFXIV because this isn't the forum. The point is your average player can just "feel" what team is calling the shots.

You claim that XI's "dark days" was because of a lack of development funds, not any fault of the developers. Those 3 new quests, SE tried to pawn off as expansions (pull that **** off my title screen, its not worthy) did make them look like cheap bastards. But, maybe if they actually had some content or fresh ideas in them, we would see them differntly. Doesn't help as little as our playerbase thinks of them, the outsider reviews of them made FFXI as a whole look like it didn't care anymore.

But, Abyssea changes everything. I'm sure when most players saw three new mini add-ons, they didn't expect this. And don't fool yourself. This isn't a higher budget project. It is just a better one and addresses what players want out of the game. There are no real new zones in Abyssea, just reskins.

The funny thing about Abyssea is that it is very similar in spirit to FFXIV, even moreso after this latest updates. Direct warping to areas. With the exception of marathon xp sessions, Abyssea is about doing things in short bursts. If you want to camp NMs in there, plan to only be there a max of 90-120 minutes. But, to counter that, NMs spawn more often and you will have less competition because no one can stay in the zones longer than yourself. Even though they are similar, right now Abyssea and FFXI are just doing it better than it is done in XIV.
#13 Sep 12 2010 at 8:38 AM Rating: Default
Scholar
Avatar
*****
12,820 posts
Vawn43 wrote:
Even though they are similar, right now Abyssea and FFXI are just doing it better than it is done in XIV.


This is ONLY true because XI has 8 years of refinement post production and release to its mechanics and backend, XIV hasn't even had 1 year let alone been released yet, XIV has the upper hand in many ways that we just have to see how it goes post launch once they get out of the development phase (betas are still development phases after all, we're all just used to glorified demos being labeled betas).

Vawn43 wrote:

It is apparant they really want to get rid of the auction house system. This doesn't work in theory and it sure as hell doesn't work out in game.


No, they want to see how the retainer system works out (and for the most part it does, you just need a search and to clear up the UI issues), most MMOs don't launch with an AH or a fully functional AH till a month or two after release usually with the infamous "post launch patch" most if not all MMOs go through since as you say "if you've been playing XIV" you would know there's auction houses set up already just not activated.

____________________________

#14 Sep 12 2010 at 8:54 AM Rating: Excellent
**
630 posts
While I'm happy with what FFXI has been doing lately, it may be too early to start heaping praise on a new team. Content does take a while to develop, so for all we know the groundwork for all the new stuff was under old director et al. Very happy with response time, though! I recall that when they announced the level cap raise they told us they were going to be closely monitoring to see what we did so they could balance/add as necessary. Maybe this is a reflection of that philosophy?

In defense of the story add-ons, dunno what people wanted. One of the things that makes FFXI stand out from other MMOs - and one of the strengths of SE as a company - lies in telling an extended story. They decided to capitalize on this by offering us an additional developed storyline that we could purchase if we liked that sort of thing. Is it just that people didn't enjoy the stories? Subjective, isn't it? Is it that the quests included too many timesinks? Did players buy it thinking it was something other than what it was? Surprised they sold as well as they did considering most of us don't even have our normal game missions done ^^;
#15 Sep 12 2010 at 9:00 AM Rating: Excellent
Ken Burton's Reject
*****
12,834 posts
Mistress Theonehio wrote:
Vawn43 wrote:
Even though they are similar, right now Abyssea and FFXI are just doing it better than it is done in XIV.


This is ONLY true because XI has 8 years of refinement post production and release to its mechanics and backend, XIV hasn't even had 1 year let alone been released yet, XIV has the upper hand in many ways that we just have to see how it goes post launch once they get out of the development phase (betas are still development phases after all, we're all just used to glorified demos being labeled betas).
Wrong. FFXI has become this good for the simple reason that the development team started LISTENING to the players complaints and ACTING on them, something they did not do for over 6 years of development on FFXI. Something they will likely repeat with FFXIV, much to its detriment.
____________________________
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/pawkeshup
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/pawkeshup
Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/pawkeshup
Blog: http://pawkeshup.blogspot.com
Olorinus the Ludicrous wrote:
The idea of old school is way more interesting than the reality
#16 Sep 12 2010 at 9:11 AM Rating: Default
Quote:
It is apparant they really want to get rid of the auction house system. This doesn't work in theory and it sure as hell doesn't work out in game. Eight dedicated "Rolanberry Fields" markets you have to search through every time you want to buy anything, is not playable. The team knows no one wants this, but just like in old FFXI days, they believe they know best and cannot be troubled with players concerns. And the lack of an AH is just one of these design decisions, I won't go into too much what all is wrong with FFXIV because this isn't the forum. The point is your average player can just "feel" what team is calling the shots.


AH is being planned, but just like in XI, it won't be implemented when the game is released.

And really, they can not know some things before they try, especially if they're new. They didn't know how marketplace would be received by the community, and unfortunately they didn't have a plan B set (in time) for release if something goes wrong and players may not like the system after all.

The biggest problem with XIV is that, even with the long development time, it's just not ready. And for that, I wouldn't blame the developers, because they are not the ones who get to decide when the game is released.

Quote:
Even though they are similar, right now Abyssea and FFXI are just doing it better than it is done in XIV.


XI has only content to worry about, XIV is struggling with it's core systems. Comparing them is just silly.

XI has everything XIV needs to deal with already taken care of long time ago. These guys just build on top of the 8 year old core mechanics, it's nothing similar and frankly, the XI team has it much easier than the XIV team does.
#17 Sep 12 2010 at 10:10 AM Rating: Excellent
***
2,010 posts
Quote:
XI has everything XIV needs to deal with already taken care of long time ago. These guys just build on top of the 8 year old core mechanics, it's nothing similar and frankly, the XI team has it much easier than the XIV team does.
----------------------------


This is kind of a bad argument for XIV in general. If they already dealt with this stuff from XI, one would think that they would have a better handle (and subsequently, a more advanced starting point) on XIV's method. As it is, I completely agree with Vawn. It certainly does feel like SE has left XI to a different team of people, and it's a shame, because those guys are doing what should have been done years ago before XI got the terrible reputation it has.

Now, no one but us really and those few we can spread the word to, will know what is changing, because in two weeks it will be overshadowed by the Tanaka Team's latest cluster ****.

RIP FFXI, even though you are certainly more alive now than you have ever been.

#18 Sep 12 2010 at 10:56 AM Rating: Excellent
**
575 posts
Mistress Theonehio wrote:

This is ONLY true because XI has 8 years of refinement post production and release to its mechanics and backend, XIV hasn't even had 1 year let alone been released yet, XIV has the upper hand in many ways that we just have to see how it goes post launch once they get out of the development phase (betas are still development phases after all, we're all just used to glorified demos being labeled betas).


It didn't take FFXI 8 years to add the ability to target party members. FFXI didn't take 8 years to implement abyssea. It is done on the faster, shorter play times, the same goal as FFXIV. It isn't just that XIV is buggy, its core design is flawed.

Vawn43 wrote:

It is apparant they really want to get rid of the auction house system. This doesn't work in theory and it sure as hell doesn't work out in game.


No, they want to see how the retainer system works out (and for the most part it does, you just need a search and to clear up the UI issues), most MMOs don't launch with an AH or a fully functional AH till a month or two after release usually with the infamous "post launch patch" most if not all MMOs go through since as you say "if you've been playing XIV" you would know there's auction houses set up already just not activated.
[/quote]

You are the FIRST person I have heard that this "retainer" system works in any way, shape or form. I am including the people on the XIV forums who are desperately trying to give the game the benefit of the doubt. Anyone who (yourself excluded) has messed around with the beta for any period of time can tell you the retainer system (aka everyone, just bazaar your ****) does not work. It didn't work in theory (except in the minds of these XIV developers) and I don't know how you can say with a straight face it works in any way.

I still plan to give the game a shot, while playing both games. But, XIV just reeks of the stubborness and unwillingness to listen to its players that held XI back from the popularity it truely deserved. What is more shocking, they took out many of the things they did right in XI, for the sake of change. (We want you to have to type out /tell Longassfirstname Longerhardtospelllastname when someone sends you a /tell and only then can you use Ctrl+R).
#19 Sep 12 2010 at 11:00 AM Rating: Excellent
**
575 posts
Hyanmen wrote:

AH is being planned, but just like in XI, it won't be implemented when the game is released.


Unless they JUST came out with a statement saying otherwise, this is not true. They said they would keep the idea open, but right now they want to plan on using only the retainer bazaar system. I agree, it will have to show up eventually, as the current system is simply not playable. Will this XIV team start listening before they lose too many players? Time will tell, but history says no.

Hyanmen wrote:
And really, they can not know some things before they try, especially if they're new.


If they can't tell that a bazaar-only method for selling every one of the hundreds or thousands of items in an MMO won't work, they shouldn't be developing games. They could make it useable by adding search features, etc, but once they do that they really just have an auction house under a different name. Right now its not useable.

This is not their first MMO now and they should know simple things like this. I don't expect a new MMO to do everything right and have a ton of content, but it should do the basic, core stuff like combat, party mechanics and buying/selling gear. Right now, the game simply doesn't.

Edited, Sep 12th 2010 1:04pm by Vawn43
#20 Sep 12 2010 at 11:03 AM Rating: Good
****
5,684 posts
Hyanmen wrote:
One can see few differences with the way the game is handled compared to before (much less focus on story and lore, much more focus on combat and events- the new director was the former battle planner after all) but the real difference stems from the fact that the dev team has, for some reason, a lot more resources at their disposal than before. The budget has received a significant boost which is why there is a lot more the dev team can do to the game.
Given that SE has been releasing 4 different mission lines simultaneously, I don't think this is the case. Oh, and don't forget that a lot of characters in the [s] zones have stories that connect with their present versions. I think SE is just balancing things out at this point since they have spent so much time on quests recently.
#21REDACTED, Posted: Sep 12 2010 at 11:10 AM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) Cutscene and story quality sure has been good, but that doesn't change the fact that the game was still on a much lower budget than what it is now. It's silly to even argue about this, honestly.
#22 Sep 12 2010 at 12:16 PM Rating: Excellent
Guru
Avatar
*****
11,159 posts
I'm curious to know how Hyan knows XI was suffering due to budget. Otherwise, it strikes me more as his usual SE ********** of bad policies because it somehow makes an MMO "better" in the long run.
____________________________
Violence good. Sexy bad. Yay America.
#23REDACTED, Posted: Sep 12 2010 at 12:31 PM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) Yes, I clearly am praising the game here.
#24 Sep 12 2010 at 12:36 PM Rating: Good
***
2,890 posts
Definitely feels like a new game. Look at the AF3, at not other time has SE released so consistently ~good~ gear. Everything made prior might have a ~few~ good items surrounded by a ocean of crap, even salvage gear was mostly situational. And the godly Atma players can get now, things like STR +20, or ATK +40, MAB +30, all sorts of goodness makes Abyssea crazy fun.
#25REDACTED, Posted: Sep 12 2010 at 1:18 PM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) It works. I sold for 200k gil worth of cristals the other day and I'm only level 10. I'm surpised that you praise FFXI's AH when in reality it's one of the most phail feature of FFXI ( starting cities AH =suck for new players and old ones, 7 items limit at a time : you can't make money fast, crafting being not worth the gil, having to stay on all night to bazar stuff because the 7 limit at the AH is phail ..).
#26 Sep 12 2010 at 3:00 PM Rating: Good
**
331 posts
I'm a happy camper now.

But they still need to update auto-translate.
« Previous 1 2 3
Reply To Thread

Colors Smileys Quote OriginalQuote Checked Help

 

Recent Visitors: 372 All times are in CST
Anonymous Guests (372)