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Live Letter from the Producer, 1/12/16Follow

#1 Jan 12 2016 at 12:03 PM Rating: Excellent
Good stuff in this letter.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/278439-Letter-from-the-Producer-LIVE-Part-XXVI-Digest-%2801-12-2016%29?p=3524617#post3524617

Highlights:

- Alexander SM was too hard, and the difficulty for the next hardcore raid (Alexander Midas) will be between the difficulty of Coil 2 and Coil 3. Based on completion data, Yoshi believes this difficulty will still be sufficient for most players.
- The devs thought about implementing a cross-server raid finder and keeping SM difficulty as is, but they decided the difficulty would still be too much for most players to handle.
- Alexander SM raid iLevel drops will be increased to be the best in the game (he used a comparison of i215 compared to i210).
- More structure/objectives coming to the Diadem, along with a slight reduction of iLevel (i205 from i210 was Yoshi's example).
- Hinted at being able to obtain higher-tiered weapons more quickly through tomes/relic chain as weapon iLevels from hardcore raiding are increased.
- More housing plots coming in 3.3, and after that apartment-style housing in Ishgaard.

I think those were the big takeaways.

Yoshi-P seems to be heading in the right direction with these changes.
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#2 Jan 12 2016 at 9:31 PM Rating: Decent
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Good stuff in this video too.

Disclaimer: Watching and understanding this video may cause you to bury your PC or PS4 Smiley: sly

Edited, Jan 12th 2016 10:36pm by FilthMcNasty
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Its personal preference and all, but yes we need to educate WoW players that this is OUR game, these are Characters and not Toons. Time to beat that into them one at a time.
#3 Jan 12 2016 at 11:29 PM Rating: Excellent
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Disclaimer: Watching and understanding this video may cause you to bury your PC or PS4


Which part of the video are you referring to? I'm aware of the 700k figure from the census (kind of surprised the active playerbase is currently that high), but I don't really want to watch this entire vid.

EDIT: Mr. Happy hates Steam, apparently.

Edited, Jan 12th 2016 9:32pm by Thayos
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#4 Jan 13 2016 at 11:15 AM Rating: Decent
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Thayos wrote:
Which part of the video are you referring to? I'm aware of the 700k figure from the census (kind of surprised the active playerbase is currently that high), but I don't really want to watch this entire vid.


You don't have to watch it to get the information, you can just listen to it. Since there's really no scientific way to filter the data it'll mean more the next time it comes around for comparison. SE has a thing for boasting false numbers and not providing the actual raw data. Can't really say that I blame them after listening to this.

I will say that perhaps you were right about just removing difficult content from the game. It seems like that's the direction the game is heading and the data makes a pretty strong case for it.
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Rinsui wrote:
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HaibaneRenmei wrote:
30 bucks is almost free

cocodojo wrote:
Its personal preference and all, but yes we need to educate WoW players that this is OUR game, these are Characters and not Toons. Time to beat that into them one at a time.
#5 Jan 13 2016 at 12:49 PM Rating: Decent
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Yep, sadly and based on unofficial parse (as in parsing actual numbers), 3.0 > 3.1 lost 200k people but 3.1 brought in a lot of fresh blood (free month and steam sale helped), so that along with yoshi stating he's focusing on newer players (still) and easier game content, may as well just get rid of any content that requires some knowledge of your job and how to dodge AoEs and..dare I say, actually work with people. Heck, a lot of people didn't even bother with 3.1's story which proves people indeed are far more motivated when the content requires it or else they won't even bother with it. Whether you liked the story or not, the fact people didn't do even that short trek tells a lot.

While a lot of people are still "sub 60" that's usually the newer people replacing the people wanting content that left the game and the updated "are you an active human player" requirement requires at least 1 mount, which people who make alts immediately get but can't utilize off the bat, so even those numbers are messy. (Since chopping out the bot numbers still produced far lower numbers than the supposed 5 million adventurers.)

So even if the typical comback is "Well it's more numbers than FFXI!!!!1" doesn't mean too much when XI's content base was catered to a variety of players since they knew leveling would make a big chunk of your time investment, so you at least had **** like BCNM/KSNM/ETC, Campaign/Garrison/Besieged/Assault etc that were always relevant for some reason or another in your progression, so even if XI never exceeded 700k for its time, it was stable and the content flow was never continually obsoleted making new and old players likely to return to it and even drop rate wise wasn't a problem, you can literally count with 1 hand how many times you seen a god drop only their elemental crystal and absolutely NO wanted items, since getting "trash items" still were useful to people gearing alt jobs or catching up, you just were more than likely on a DKP system and didn't want to waste 9 points on Aquarian Head and rather save it for W.Legs.

Though what definitely is true, the game has a far steeper decline in comparison to 2.0 - 2.5 where declines and peaks happen, but post HW it's far more severe now based on the Japanese parses and server monitoring.
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#6 Jan 13 2016 at 12:49 PM Rating: Excellent
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SE has a thing for boasting false numbers and not providing the actual raw data. Can't really say that I blame them after listening to this.


Ah, yes. I actually did end up just having it on in the background while playing, and yeah... the use of the "5 million accounts" thing is getting a bit ridiculous. Anyone who plays or follows the game knows it's misleading, and anyone new to the game figures it out pretty quick.

Also, it's not that I want all difficult content removed from the game... I mainly think SE shouldn't make hardcore raiding its only real source of endgame when the majority of its customers would rather do other things. That's why I was so disappointed in how the Diadem was launched -- SE missed a golden opportunity to give thousands of players more of a reason to log in regularly.

The data seems to show (in my opinion) that the game doesn't have much trouble attracting new players. That's all well and good, but eventually the game will age to the point that newbies stop streaming in, and then the game's retention problem is going to be glaringly obvious. SE is running out of time to find ways to keep people around.
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#7 Jan 13 2016 at 6:48 PM Rating: Decent
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Thayos wrote:
The data seems to show (in my opinion) that the game doesn't have much trouble attracting new players. That's all well and good, but eventually the game will age to the point that newbies stop streaming in, and then the game's retention problem is going to be glaringly obvious. SE is running out of time to find ways to keep people around.

I was also surprised by the number of new players. XIV seems to have it easy getting new players to try the game, but they aren't convincing them to stay even up to the level cap.

The other thing that shocked me was the amount of players who aren't going through the story content. It wasn't an issue with JP and EU players, but NA players don't seem all that interested in the story of the game. It's not my favorite MMO in terms of it's story, but it's not garbage. It's also just something I'd expect from players of an FF title.

Japanese players are responsible for nearly 80% of the A4S clears. That alone is mind-blowing enough, but what compounds it is the fact that they have half the population of the NA and EU servers. Now we know that JP players do have static groups, but we also know that they're far less resistant to running in pick-up groups. I honestly wonder how much of an impact that makes on these numbers. There really has to be some reason that JP players are clearing content at such an exaggerated rate.
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HaibaneRenmei wrote:
30 bucks is almost free

cocodojo wrote:
Its personal preference and all, but yes we need to educate WoW players that this is OUR game, these are Characters and not Toons. Time to beat that into them one at a time.
#8 Jan 13 2016 at 6:56 PM Rating: Excellent
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There really has to be some reason that JP players are clearing content at such an exaggerated rate.


I hate bringing up gamer stereotypes, but I really wonder if it's simply because many NA players are rude as #*$@. Nobody wants to be a scrub, so people are probably reluctant to jump in and learn. Also, learning parties don't usually end well in my experience... a couple of wipes, and people just start disbanding.

Hio has talked a lot about the different (better) attitude on JP servers, and I just don't see that happening on NA servers. In general, most players seem nice and helpful, but there's definitely more of a split between the hardcore and normal players. Just my observation, anyway.

Also, I'm not terribly surprised by the large number of people who haven't finished 3.1's storyline. I actually haven't done it myself. I think it's a combination of no content being gated behind in combined with the heavy grind required for the new relics. Every time I log in, I think to myself, "I really should do the story missions tonight." But then I get in game, and that turns into, "eh, I'd use my time more efficiently if I did my relic grinding first.. I'll do the storyline later."

And then I run dungeons until I need to go to bed.

Edited, Jan 13th 2016 4:59pm by Thayos
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#9 Jan 13 2016 at 11:09 PM Rating: Good
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Nothing too interesting with the patch. 2 more dungeons to grind. Another tome grind. More of the same. We'll see what they do with Diadem. If I could could use Diadem to get around needing to cap tomes every week, that'd be great.
#10 Jan 14 2016 at 9:13 AM Rating: Decent
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Heck, a lot of people didn't even bother with 3.1's story which proves people indeed are far more motivated when the content requires it or else they won't even bother with it.


If there's anyone out there that didn't already know this well before 3.1 hit (or even before this game existed), I want some of whatever they're smoking.

It's an MMO, games like these are designed to give you too much to do with not enough time to do it, meaning people need to weigh what they put their time into against what they are getting out of it. You can hardly hold it against people for electing to use their time more wisely.
#11 Jan 14 2016 at 11:27 AM Rating: Default
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Fynlar wrote:
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Heck, a lot of people didn't even bother with 3.1's story which proves people indeed are far more motivated when the content requires it or else they won't even bother with it.


If there's anyone out there that didn't already know this well before 3.1 hit (or even before this game existed), I want some of whatever they're smoking.

It's an MMO, games like these are designed to give you too much to do with not enough time to do it, meaning people need to weigh what they put their time into against what they are getting out of it. You can hardly hold it against people for electing to use their time more wisely.


If you were current up to the last installment, it would take you less than a day(average play time) to do what's been added. Hell, if you skipped all the cutscenes you could finish in less than an hour.

Kinda sad because there's a clear disconnect between player and content. It's as if the masses wander through the game going through the paces, completely unaware of what Eorzea is, who they are and what they are there to do. I honestly think people just don't care about the story. I can't really blame them because it's not a great story that draws you in, but I think it's a big part of why so many people just quit. They don't feel there's any reason for them to be there.
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Rinsui wrote:
Only hips + boobs all day and hips + boobs all over my icecream

HaibaneRenmei wrote:
30 bucks is almost free

cocodojo wrote:
Its personal preference and all, but yes we need to educate WoW players that this is OUR game, these are Characters and not Toons. Time to beat that into them one at a time.
#12 Jan 14 2016 at 11:41 AM Rating: Excellent
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It's as if the masses wander through the game going through the paces, completely unaware of what Eorzea is, who they are and what they are there to do.


Holy crap, are we talking about FFXIV here or Wall Street investors in the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown?

The storyline is good, and most people are totally happy with it. The only reason people didn't jump on the latest installment is because there are more important things to do right now. I love the game's storyline -- and I seriously do want to complete that last little bit up to 3.1 -- but right now I'm choosing to put my time toward my relic, and it seems like most other people in game are doing the same thing.
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#13 Jan 14 2016 at 12:03 PM Rating: Decent
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Thayos wrote:

Hio has talked a lot about the different (better) attitude on JP servers, and I just don't see that happening on NA servers. In general, most players seem nice and helpful, but there's definitely more of a split between the hardcore and normal players. Just my observation, anyway.


I wouldn't say "better" in an objective way, some do that simply because of the social contract. I play on a JP server too and I'm in JP LS and I've seen both nice people that were nice because they wanted to but also people that did it because of "obligations".

Quote:
The storyline is good, and most people are totally happy with it. The only reason people didn't jump on the latest installment is because there are more important things to do right now. I love the game's storyline -- and I seriously do want to complete that last little bit up to 3.1 -- but right now I'm choosing to put my time toward my relic, and it seems like most other people in game are doing the same thing.


"Good" isn't a good term to describe it. Sufficiently engaging, for now (but they're dragging the questions for too long), but poorly written and with a "main character" that basically just watches and does nothing (even XI had more "actions" of the player character during cutscenes).

Edited, Jan 14th 2016 7:05pm by xizro
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#14 Jan 14 2016 at 2:30 PM Rating: Decent
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Thayos wrote:
The storyline is good, and most people are totally happy with it.


Whether or not you like the story is a matter of opinion. I'm not going to argue if the story is good or bad or whatever because we already know each others opinion. However, because we can't literally ask all 770k active players, it's kinda ridiculous to say 'most' when barely a quarter of them are actually current.

You're basically saying "I love the story, but I can't sacrifice an hour of my relic grind to stay current". It begs the question, why is relic such a high priority that you can't spend an hour elsewhere doing something you supposedly enjoy? What happens if you don't get relic before the next patch? I honestly haven't had a problem catching up before my month was up after being away for several so I'm curious why people who spend more time playing than I do seem to struggle.
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Rinsui wrote:
Only hips + boobs all day and hips + boobs all over my icecream

HaibaneRenmei wrote:
30 bucks is almost free

cocodojo wrote:
Its personal preference and all, but yes we need to educate WoW players that this is OUR game, these are Characters and not Toons. Time to beat that into them one at a time.
#15 Jan 14 2016 at 2:32 PM Rating: Decent
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If you were current up to the last installment, it would take you less than a day(average play time) to do what's been added. ****, if you skipped all the cutscenes you could finish in less than an hour.


The amount of time it takes isn't really relevant.

What it comes down to is this:

- My time to do stuff is limited
- X gets me shinies
- Y does not

If you don't think that's going to cause Y to get overlooked by many MMO players, you're delusional.

Quote:
You're basically saying "I love the story, but I can't sacrifice an hour of my relic grind to stay current". It begs the question, why is relic such a high priority that you can't spend an hour elsewhere doing something you supposedly enjoy? What happens if you don't get relic before the next patch?


You really have to ask why relic has to be a high priority in a game where new gear consistently becomes useless every few months?

Edited, Jan 14th 2016 3:34pm by Fynlar
#16 Jan 14 2016 at 3:06 PM Rating: Excellent
What Fyn said.

It's common sense to want to be ready for the next relic stage. I enjoy the story, and the small bit of it I haven't finished will be there when I am ready.

Also, most people I talk to in the game enjoy the story. But they are also equally driven to work on their relics.

No further explanation or analysis is needed.

Quote:
why is relic such a high priority that you can't spend an hour elsewhere doing something you supposedly enjoy? What happens if you don't get relic before the next patch? I honestly haven't had a problem catching up before my month was up after being away for several


I also enjoy running dungeon roulettes and Alex NM, and that's how I'm grinding for my relic. Nothing will "happen" if I'm not caught up by the next patch, but that's my goal to be caught up. And good luck if you think you can finish your i210 relic in a month.


Edited, Jan 14th 2016 1:46pm by Thayos
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#17 Jan 14 2016 at 4:08 PM Rating: Good
Thayos wrote:
Quote:
There really has to be some reason that JP players are clearing content at such an exaggerated rate.


I hate bringing up gamer stereotypes, but I really wonder if it's simply because many NA players are rude as #*$@. Nobody wants to be a scrub, so people are probably reluctant to jump in and learn. Also, learning parties don't usually end well in my experience... a couple of wipes, and people just start disbanding.

Hio has talked a lot about the different (better) attitude on JP servers, and I just don't see that happening on NA servers. In general, most players seem nice and helpful, but there's definitely more of a split between the hardcore and normal players. Just my observation, anyway.

Edited, Jan 13th 2016 4:59pm by Thayos


I think it's more of a cultural thing. Japan especially, people like to focus on ONE game, get good at it and that's it. Big reason why so much of the population was still on PS2 for FFXI (along with PCs not being all that popular over there.) So I wouldn't be surprised if most of them play this and absolutely nothing else. Asia in general seems to do this with many of there games, Korea with Starcraft, all of Asia with Street Fighter, etc Even in the street fighter community, Asia tends to adapt to things and go with it, North America, complain, complain, nerf, nerf.

Then you also compare the North American general discussion forums...1600 pages of threads compared to Japan's 120ish. 32,000 threads vs 2400, my guess is they complain a WHOLE lot less about most things and just work with what's there.
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#18 Jan 14 2016 at 4:13 PM Rating: Decent
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Fynlar wrote:
The amount of time it takes isn't really relevant.

My point exactly, which is why it makes no sense at all to use 'my time is limited' as an excuse. You can say you don't finish because you're not cut out of certain content or because there is no equipment reward or character progression, and no one will disagree with you. The reason why I really want to understand is because I know Thayos to be a 'stop and smell the roses' kinda guy.

It seems odd to me that someone would prioritize a relic grind(which most consider tedious and boring) over a story line that he claims he "loves". I don't think it's unreasonable to wonder why that is and the fact that it's so pronounced across the NA/EU community leads me to believe that there is a reason beyond just "I'd rather do something else".
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Rinsui wrote:
Only hips + boobs all day and hips + boobs all over my icecream

HaibaneRenmei wrote:
30 bucks is almost free

cocodojo wrote:
Its personal preference and all, but yes we need to educate WoW players that this is OUR game, these are Characters and not Toons. Time to beat that into them one at a time.
#19 Jan 14 2016 at 4:29 PM Rating: Excellent
The amount of storyline added in the last patch was pretty small, and I've heard it's much less consequential than previous story patches, and it's not gating any content.

I do want to do it, but I'm not at all surprised that people aren't prioritizing it, especially when it's so easy to knock out at any time.

Maybe this weekend, if I go through all of my roulettes and have some extra time, I'll get 'er done.
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#20 Jan 14 2016 at 6:36 PM Rating: Excellent
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You really have to ask why relic has to be a high priority in a game where new gear consistently becomes useless every few months?


This is becoming a tiresome refrain from people who disapprove of vertical progression. Just because a piece of gear is no longer best in slot does not make it "useless" or "obsolete." An i210 piece is an i210 piece. It's better than an i200 piece which is better than an i190 piece. Just because it isn't bleeding edge gear anymore does not suddenly make it garbage, unworthy of attention.

The anima weapon is worth pursuing because it's likely the best weapon available to a player pursuing it even if a technically better weapon gets released a few months later. If that better weapon isn't available to that player, then why does it matter that the relic is no longer "zomg teh best0rz?"
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#21 Jan 14 2016 at 6:40 PM Rating: Excellent
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This is becoming a tiresome refrain from people who disapprove of vertical progression. Just because a piece of gear is no longer best in slot does not make it "useless" or "obsolete." An i210 piece is an i210 piece. It's better than an i200 piece which is better than an i190 piece. Just because it isn't bleeding edge gear anymore does not suddenly make it garbage, unworthy of attention.

The anima weapon is worth pursuing because it's likely the best weapon available to a player pursuing it even if a technically better weapon gets released a few months later. If that better weapon isn't available to that player, then why does it matter that the relic is no longer "zomg teh best0rz?"


All of this, exactly. The term "obsoleted" is wildly overused. My paladin does all the content in the game except for hardcore raiding, and I'm still wearing a few i190 pieces, and they're totally fine.
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#22 Jan 14 2016 at 8:48 PM Rating: Decent
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What kills the FFXIV story for me isn't the story itself but the presentation. A million little voiceless talking head cutscenes separated by a million FedEx quests. Doesn't immerse you at all.

The storylines in TOR for example were far from brilliant writing but they were spaced out appropriately and they were engaging. For one my character actually spoke and did things, as opposed to just standing there like a mute dumbass, and the classic BioWare choice system made it even better.

The world is cool. The characters look cool. But the story does nothing for me to care about it.

Edited, Jan 14th 2016 9:50pm by BrokenFox
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#23 Jan 14 2016 at 8:50 PM Rating: Decent
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EDIT: Whoops

Edited, Jan 14th 2016 9:50pm by BrokenFox
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#24 Jan 14 2016 at 9:26 PM Rating: Excellent
I think the voice acting preference is a generational thing. I kind of wish none of the characters spoke ever.

EDIT: Not trying to imply that you're super young or something (you might even be my age). It's just my observation that people of my age group tend to care much less about voice acting.

Also, in terms of our characters taking actions (or not) during cutscenes, that doesn't bother me either. We take plenty of actions on the battlefield. FFXI was very much the same way -- our characters in that game didn't really start getting physical until the WoTG expansion.

Edited, Jan 14th 2016 7:46pm by Thayos

Edited, Jan 14th 2016 7:46pm by Thayos
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#25 Jan 14 2016 at 10:14 PM Rating: Good
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Just because a piece of gear is no longer best in slot does not make it "useless" or "obsolete."


That's a matter of opinion, and I can think of many, many people playing this game who would disagree with you.

Quote:
Just because it isn't bleeding edge gear anymore does not suddenly make it garbage, unworthy of attention.


It might as well be. You know how when esoterics tomes will eventually go uncapped, no one will care about them by that point anyway because they will be replaced by the next 450/week only tome? It's the exact same idea.

You know how I know that's what's going to happen? Because that's the same thing that happened with poetics, and soldiery before that, and mythology before that. It's basic pattern recognition.

Quote:
The anima weapon is worth pursuing because it's likely the best weapon available to a player pursuing it even if a technically better weapon gets released a few months later. If that better weapon isn't available to that player, then why does it matter that the relic is no longer "zomg teh best0rz?"


Thing is, if you don't stay on top of it, all you're doing is chasing the dangling carrot.

Look at zeta weapons nowadays. Not very long ago, they were among the best weapons available. But for those that slacked on it and try to build one nowadays, it's pretty much with the realization that you're only doing it for the glamour.
#26 Jan 14 2016 at 10:26 PM Rating: Excellent
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Look at zeta weapons nowadays. Not very long ago, they were among the best weapons available. But for those that slacked on it and try to build one nowadays, it's pretty much with the realization that you're only doing it for the glamour.


This is why I'd prefer to stay current on my weapon -- I'd like to get as much use from it as possible.
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