Interviewing Yoshi-P at E3: What Would You Like To See Asked?

[Cichy]

One more:

Recently you've added quite a few class specific items. However, lots of players have been dissatisfied with those additions because they find no need for using classes. Most people prefer playing jobs instead and no need for using classes. White Mage is vastly superior to Conjurer and no one wants to use CON over WHM. Are you planning to make adjustments in order to make classes useful again? If so what can be done in your opinion?

[Eagleheart]

Already got some great questions here, I am just going to echo my feelings on a few. ._.

(1. Lockouts are a problem. Why not use the leve system to handle raids? The system is already there, and it would help address the problem of lockouts versus drop rates. I mean, the system is sitting right there.

Besides, the entirety of the opening CS (for 1.0 anyhow) was the crazy flashback and the feeling the hyuran dude got looking at that one particular levequest. (o.0 ) Do something with that. That's good stuff there.


(2. Paladin needs work. Rethinking their primary mods, increasing maximum HP (I do not want to sound mean, but seriously, whomever thought up the idea of a low-HP tank is in the wrong development department), adding party-wide defensive buffs, realizing that Defense is verging on pointless, and adjusting the rather awkward state of Outmaneuver immediately come to mind. And bring back the old Guard stance animation for Divine Veil. XD I loved that. Also, I'd drop CON abilities from PLD in a heartbeat if I could get Second Wind/Featherfoot from PGL.


(3. Black Mage. On paper, Fire being default AOE and Blizzara being an instant-cast centered-on-caster sound good, but in practice, it means that Black Mages cast nothing but Thunder. (>.> ) XI all over again. If each element is to have a specific attack that has a unique property to it, that's cool, but it should not be so situational that it means the Black Mage only ever utilizes one spell when fighting a powerful opponent. Fire/Fira/Firaga single-target, then Blaze or something for the default AOE. Or hell, leave Fira/Firaga default AOE and adjust them to be similar to Stonera/Aerora in that the combo renders them single-target. Who here actually combos Firaga? O.o

Actually yeah, copy-pasting Stonera/Aerora would be good.

Basically at this point, elemental resistances are irrelevant in high-end party play. You'll cast Thunder, and like it.

And Fire is way, way too damn MP intensive, and a WHM with Cleric's Stance blows Fira/Firaga away for only a bit more than half the MP cost of Firaga.

...and Banish and Scourge were pretty cool, by the way.

Summarizing that, would you consider changing the Fire and Blizzard line of spells to mimic the Stone and Aero line's combo bonuses? It would make the spells far more useful.


(4. Please, please, please, Campaign again.


(5. Definitely concur 100% with Niiro about RNG. I, personally, say tokenize everything.

My brother wants Mogwand and Mogfork. We're near a hundred wins. He's gotten multiple bows, swords, and mogfists, and that's it. (<.< ) C'mon now.


(6. As Cichy said, need or greed, at first blush, does not sound like a proper fit for XIV. (<.<) On other MMOs where you are classlocked, that's one thing. This is quite another.


(7. Kurokikaze's advanced combos. When, exactly, IS battle regimen returning, and in what form? (<.< ) I like the whole Fire Arrow idea.


(8. I realize this would never be asked, but I'd like to ask Yoshi P if he realizes that he needs to torch the official forums with a flamethrower. ._. Sometimes, it's just a bit aggravating.


(9. The whole class vs. job thing needs to be settled, once and for all. I'm not a gladiator. (>.>) I'm a Paladin. I don't care about the bloodsands, and to be blatantly honest, I know no one who does. Can we drop the whole class thing? Please??


(10. On the topic of ranged DD versus melee DD, a good start would be not penalizing melee jobs on their max HP. Bards and Black Mages have superior survival against most anything in the game by virtue of being far away from the enemy. (>.> ) Give the DRGs and MNKs 3200 HP or so default. C'mon, it's just a small step.


Edit: Immediately after posting, I realize that's kinda a wall of text. (x_x<) Maybe I should step away for a bit...

[Niiro]

I would have preferred Jobs never existing and the game simply developing via the original Classes. I don't long for that FF feeeeeel bullshit, I'd much rather have something original than repeats of the same archetypes that are forced to conform to FF molds/lore, hindering the developers from taking the classes in whatever direction they want.

Little point in that now as Jobs clearly aren't going anywhere but I certainly agree on the sentiment that the split between the 2 is simply wasted developmental resources and only further aggravates any attempt at balance.

At the very least stop making class-specific gear, that shit is just ridiculous and unnecessary (while you're at it make AF wearable on Classes, like anyone's gonna give a fuck).

[Magi]

Jobs were an attempt at more focused roles instead of the "one class can do everything" deal, the fanservice seemed secondary to that. While they could have simply redone the existing classes into having main class skills + two sub classes the same way jobs are done, I'm guessing they didn't want to upset the people playing who wanted to sub random shit from other classes.

And that's where it all went to shit, fuck those people.

I'm never going to want to play on a class because I don't want to lose out on unique skills from the job so I can use basic skills everyone can use from other classes. I don't care if my PGL can't heal or raise people, classes having weaknesses and strengths makes them more interesting. You'd wonder how the fuck other MMOs survive when they can't cross abilities or change classes at a whim to fit the situation.

I was going to ask about removing classes also but I figured it would be far too late for them to consider changing it. Might as well let them know it's a piece of shit though. I can't get over how long it took them to re-introduce that point system instead of making a simple skill tree system so people could choose to spec out their job to be better at soloing/lowman or party play depending. Real customisation instead of placing arbitrary points into stats (btw there's only one correct way to do it and fuck you if you made a mistake) while also removing any need for classes as being better for solo or whatever bullshit reason they're still around.

[Burningthought]

Jobs were an attempt at more focused roles instead of the "one class can do everything" deal, the fanservice seemed secondary to that. While they could have simply redone the existing classes into having main class skills + two sub classes the same way jobs are done, I'm guessing they didn't want to upset the people playing who wanted to sub random shit from other classes.

And that's where it all went to shit, fuck those people.

I'm never going to want to play on a class because I don't want to lose out on unique skills from the job so I can use basic skills everyone can use from other classes. I don't care if my PGL can't heal or raise people, classes having weaknesses and strengths makes them more interesting. You'd wonder how the fuck other MMOs survive when they can't cross abilities or change classes at a whim to fit the situation.

I was going to ask about removing classes also but I figured it would be far too late for them to consider changing it. Might as well let them know it's a piece of shit though. I can't get over how long it took them to re-introduce that point system instead of making a simple skill tree system so people could choose to spec out their job to be better at soloing/lowman or party play depending. Real customisation instead of placing arbitrary points into stats (btw there's only one correct way to do it and fuck you if you made a mistake) while also removing any need for classes as being better for solo or whatever bullshit reason they're still around.

It's not too late for them to simplify the system similar to how XI does advanced jobs before 2.0 comes out. It would be a lot of busy work readjusting all the gear for flags and stuff but it seems like it would be easily possible.

Shit they could even do this, have the class names stay the same until level 30. The player can take the Job quest after meeting the same class requirements, and after they obtain their soulstone change the class name to the job name permanently and have everything else work like normal. Voila system fixed and people will stop bitching about how annoying it is. Really the only thing that would need any tweaking is the available cross class skills available and how many you would be able to equip.

[Egon]

Why is it such a pain to sell an item? Why did you take the BEST thing from FFXI and not re-use it? Retainers are stupid and I'm sure it causes more strain on the server.

[Ravidrath]

The increased rate thing sounds okay on paper until you realize WHMs are still going to get Ifrit's Bows, low drop rates aren't the root of the issue, it's the concept of drop rates that are the issue.

Well, the idea in my "rested drop" system was based on the assumption that we'd have a real loot pool, where you can pass Primal weapons or anything to someone else. And your bonus drop rate would only reset when something actually went into your inventory. i.e. You didn't pass it to someone else.

So if a WHM got a bow, they could pass it to someone else, and their drop rate would be improved for the next fight.

I mean, I mostly don't want to tokenize everything because it... doesn't feel cool to me to go buy a Primal weapon at the store? Even when it's an item I don't want, I still get a good feeling when I get a drop. To me, getting predictable tokens and cashing them in at the store feels too... direct to be exciting. This is the primary reason why I'd prefer a system that adjusts the RNG instead of turning everything into direct transactions.

Oh, I'm not sure how I forgot this one:

Are there plans to replace parley with a mini-game that is actually fun?

I was planning on asking about when they're going to cut Parley entirely.

The CRP30 quest is more or less the worst quest in the history of anything, because it combines all the stupidity of hide-and-seek with all the terribleness of Parley. Four parleys! In one quest!

I think they actually reduced the difficulty of Parley? Before I moved to Lindblum, I recall losing occasionally, and I don't think I've lost since I came back. They seemed to make decisions based on the max point value tile before, and now it just seems random.

More seriously, though, my impression is that all the class quests might be axed? And they'll be removed from the main scenario quests, and given their own questline? I seem to recall an interview where he felt that a baker shouldn't be able to save the world through the power of wordplay, or something.

Are primal weapons, darklight, etc. considered overpowered items, that shouldn't be in the hands of most players?

...I almost don't want to ask anything like this because I'm afraid of the answer.

Dedicated people are going to get the items they want. So if their game balance hinges on people giving up due to low drop rates, then I'd say they've failed.

Not saying that all items should have the same drop rate, but I just don't think drop rate should be part of any kind of overarching "balance" sentiment, but merely related to desirability.

It may be a personal thing, but I really hate when interface and meta-stuff encroach on the gameplay like that.

[Hiruke]

Well, the idea in my "rested drop" system was based on the assumption that we'd have a real loot pool, where you can pass Primal weapons or anything to someone else. And your bonus drop rate would only reset when something actually went into your inventory. i.e. You didn't pass it to someone else.

So if a WHM got a bow, they could pass it to someone else, and their drop rate would be improved for the next fight.

I mean, I mostly don't want to tokenize everything because it... doesn't feel cool to me to go buy a Primal weapon at the store? Even when it's an item I don't want, I still get a good feeling when I get a drop. To me, getting predictable tokens and cashing them in at the store feels too... direct to be exciting. This is the primary reason why I'd prefer a system that adjusts the RNG instead of turning everything into direct transactions.

Personally, that's just too meta for me. And I think the solution is just easier than that. I feel it should be a mix (tokens for some, bad - but not terribad - drop rates for some, good drop rates for others, 100% quest rewards for you know quests), similar to FF11, as per the bottom (and everywhere else I've ever posted about this).

Besides that, if they want a "best" weapon, it shouldn't be behind a quest. It should maybe take some doing to get (and no, not kill Ifrit a billion times). And maybe not everyone should go to the exact same place to get their awesome weapon (maybe MRD needs their axe from this NM, or GLA needs their sword from that dungeon). I do feel it's rewarding to get a rare drop. When I got Herald's Gaiters off of Tiamat, I was absolutely overjoyed. It was challenging to kill it, and we got lucky on drops. That's cool. Some stuff, maybe, should be like that. Requires you to overcome difficulty, and maybe you won't always get what you wanted (though you'll typically get, you know, something!).

I just don't understand what the thinking was, trying to make primal weapons the "best" weapons you can get, and then making you slog through them dozens to hundreds of times to get anything besides a pile of dark matter. Especially since they are quests (sorry, that just really annoys the hell out of me... to do a quest or an LQ with a theoretical specific reward you're trying to get, and it's just impossible to actually get it...). Maybe I've just played too much FF11, but the thought of quests failing to give the promised reward is blasphemy to me. Is nothing sacred? Why stop there? Why don't we make it so when you try to board an airship, or teleport to a camp, there's only a 1% chance of it working? Sure, you lose the gil or anima each time, but that doesn't mean it's going to work. That will just make it all the more exciting when it does work. Right? ...Right!?

I was planning on asking about when they're going to cut Parley entirely.

The CRP30 quest is more or less the worst quest in the history of anything, because it combines all the stupidity of hide-and-seek with all the terribleness of Parley. Four parleys! In one quest!

I think they actually reduced the difficulty of Parley? Before I moved to Lindblum, I recall losing occasionally, and I don't think I've lost since I came back. They seemed to make decisions based on the max point value tile before, and now it just seems random.

More seriously, though, my impression is that all the class quests might be axed? And they'll be removed from the main scenario quests, and given their own questline? I seem to recall an interview where he felt that a baker shouldn't be able to save the world through the power of wordplay, or something.

I'd be totally fine with the removal of parley. I'd also be fine with the removal of classes, repairs, and any other busted concept I'm tired of seeing them try to mend. But I feel like the reality of the situation is that they are staunchly against jettisoning pretty much anything. It's like they drew a line in the sand after killing the stamina system. "This far, and not an inch further! Everything else we keep, no matter how many times we have to fix it!"

If they're going to keep anything in its place, though... It should be fun. Parley, as is, could honestly get jacked up to be insanely difficult... That wouldn't make it any more fun. Then it would be frustrating as well as generally painful. The real question is, "Do you really expect someone to pay money to enjoy playing parley?" I think the only folks who would say yes are the ones who feel there are zero problems with the game as is, but I think it's safe to say those apologists won't be able to sustain the business model for too long on their own.

And yes, I also hated that CRP quest.

And I certainly do hope they rethink pretty much everything about the main scenario questline. It's very tiring having to make comparisons to FF11, and having it show FF14 in an unfavorable light. If we're going to do something different, it should be better, not just different.

...I almost don't want to ask anything like this because I'm afraid of the answer.

Dedicated people are going to get the items they want. So if their game balance hinges on people giving up due to low drop rates, then I'd say they've failed.

Not saying that all items should have the same drop rate, but I just don't think drop rate should be part of any kind of overarching "balance" sentiment, but merely related to desirability.

It may be a personal thing, but I really hate when interface and meta-stuff encroach on the gameplay like that.

Believe me when I say I'm afraid of the answer to any of my questions. The amount of push that seems to be required from the community to move anything in any direction that doesn't anger everyone just seems... phenomenal. Like, how long have we suffered with terribad drop rates? It's got to be pretty much the easiest thing in the world to fix, but it took several months for them to even say "yeah, we know it's a hot topic in the community. in the future, we're going to look at other ways to get loot that supplements this method so that there are more ways to get stuff" (paraphrased, obviously, but they seriously made it sound like they are going to keep terribad drop rates, just give you other content that maybe doesn't have terribad drop rates... what?).

This is, without exaggeration, absolutely soul crushing.

I'm absolutely convinced that terribad drop rates ARE their method of "balancing" items, and firmly believe they need to go back to the drawing board on this whole concept. I really don't see what would be wrong with just doing things like FF11:

Some stuff is tokenized. (Were there even any purely tokenized systems in FF11? Didn't they also have random drops as well, wherever there were tokens? I like that, too. I'd never advocate pure tokens for anything.)

Some stuff is quest reward (100% chance of get... kind of like how primals should be, as they are... quests!).

Some stuff is fair drop rate (50-100% chance of get).

Some stuff is somewhat poor drop rate (25-50% chance of get... sometimes, rarely, less, in the case of the truly ridiculous... should definitely never make it under 10% as a baseline... anything that is 1% chance or less should die in a fire).

Etc.

Maybe make some content that is challenging and fun, and maybe make us believe those two things about any content by not forcing us to spam it 10-50 times a day to get the desired items. The mere thought of having to explain to SE why terribad drop rates are the worst possible approach makes me seriously question why I even waste my time. Please just put me out of my misery.

Edit: It should be noted that even when something had a poor drop rate in FF11, it usually had a shared loot pool with something else, or was part of content with multiple reward systems, so that you were always getting something, for someone, and feeling like you were making tangible progress every time you did it. In FF14, you just make progress toward hating yourself, and getting more dark matter.

[GavinBandura]

Can he explain why emergency maints seem to limit a lot of people's ability to even get into the game? These 30002 errors are god damn annoying.

[Altanass]

New interesting post popped up on forum (although no replies <<) regarding battle mechanics, http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ttle-Mechanics.

So question would be:

1. Any plans to reinvigorate the incapacitation system? I had a 50mnk ask the other night what weaponskill to use to knock off a skeleton's head, so any plans to make the incapacitation system more actively obvious ingame (rather than just on the lodestone)?

2. Any plans to implement mobs with targettable body parts as per that official forum post?

[Datonare]

As per the first question, according to the old plans at http://gdl.square-enix.com/ffxiv/dow...Content_EN.pdf they are planning on reintroducing the incapacitation system for at least boss fights.

[Tibian]

1. When are you adding Tetra-Master/Triple Triad?

2. What can you tell us about the housing customization options further than what you have announced previously?

3. Why are there no instance lockouts (ie: 1 run per week) with guaranteed loot? This is a much better option for loot and should be explored immensely instead of requiring people to spam dungeon runs over and over for that .1% drop on loot.

[tachikoma]

Casuals go nuts over the idea that they can't spam content and usually spout the line "if you don't want to do content 1000x per day then dont'! But don't tell me how or when I can play" which is just stupid as with no lockouts and super low drop rates only the ultra-hardcore can have a chance at any DL sets. Their is currently plenty of content to introduce lockouts and with 2.0 I hope we see much longer lockouts 2-3 days+ for the most current content.

Less then 24hours to clear Garuda is nonsense and with a simple lockout you avoid this entirely. It took the wining group 32 tries to clear Garuda with even a 24hour lockout it would have taken several weeks to clear maybe more as you can't simply memorize every minute detail of an instance.

With around 400+ AV/CC 5chest clears I have never seen a single body drop.

[Raldo]

Holy shit that post got long. Spoilering the non-question text.

Spoiler: show

Less then 24hours to clear Garuda is nonsense and with a simple lockout you avoid this entirely. It took the wining group 32 tries to clear Garuda with even a 24hour lockout it would have taken several weeks to clear maybe more as you can't simply memorize every minute detail of an instance.

While I do somewhat agree with what you're saying, I think a lockout upon failure that you're mentioning is a bad idea (for most things). SE likes to keep some semblance of reasons why you can/can't do things, and if Garuda ain't dead, there's little reason why you can't go back and try again.

No offense, but you're clearly on the super-hardcore end of the spectrum, and listening purely to advice from hardcores is about as foolish as listening to advice from casuals. Lockouts in a game that doesn't have a whole lot of content to choose from isn't any more fun than low drop rates. In the short-term, you may be interested in gear, but what we really need is fun.

I'm still more of a supporter of some of the earlier suggestions in this thread. Either "rested" drop rates, or a leve/quest that you could pick up every X hours/days that increases/guarantees a drop (or just another chest) if you succeed.

All my questions are vague 2.0-related that I have a hard time forming because there isn't a whole lot of concrete info to go off of yet. I'd ask for more 2.0 info, but we're getting it post-E3... but that doesn't help this interview.

Oh here's a few, I guess:

1) Are there any plans to further alter the job/class system? I'm not a fan of classes and wouldn't mind if they were scrapped entirely. What I would truly like to see though is for them to uncouple the class/job relationship and turn all the classes into more jobs. You run into the issue there of losing the weapon = class/job identity, but I'm sure the dev team can figure something out.

2) Are there any plants to increase and/or diversify the actions available to players? Forcing every class/job to have the exact same number of actions (15class+10other/20job+5other) is very limiting, particularly for mages. I miss debuffs/shell/water/banish/scourge/casting-anything-but-thunder, and would like to see "Fist of [element]" for the remaining elements.

3) Now that 2.0 is not too far into the future, are there any plans to fully-remove the dated synthesis recipes, or is that just one of the many things coming with 2.0? (Caution: Fleece is still a dated recipe! Fix that!!)

4) Ranged auto-attack. I cannot emphasize this enough. I would phrase it like this: Are there any plans to introduce ranged auto-attack for ranged classes in the future, and if not, can you please share with us your reasoning for that decision (so we can properly rebut it <_<)?

[Horus]

I wanna know when are they going to fix direct X so when I run full Screen I dont crash if I use my 2nd screen or something pops up. All the other game issues look like they are covered lol.

[mightyg]

Any chance of giving rare exclusive gear at least 1 materia slot? Just because they look purdy doesn't mean we don't want to customize them.

[Kurokikaze]

Is there any change of getting feedback about the game from people that currently do not play the game? Just listening to current subscribers will not be enough to make this game succeed.

[Patriarch]

Notorious Monsters/Highly Notorious Monsters? What can we expect? Will we see a predominantly "instanced" version of these fights, or can we remain hopeful for large-scale open world fights?

This can be used in reference to the Highly Notorious Monsters thread located on the official forums. (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...onsters/page73)

[Croy]

Is there any change of getting feedback about the game from people that currently do not play the game? Just listening to current subscribers will not be enough to make this game succeed.

I thought they answered something like this about a year ago? They mentioned the reps do go to other sites and forums for feedback (Specifically mentioning this site as one of the sources they check I might add) they just post the answers on only the official forums. Second the player polls, limited as they might be for questions, are not tied to your current account status. I was able to submit answers on an alt that wasn't paying and hadn't gone online for over 2+ months.

Put this in question forum, ugh, seeing the results to player's poll 3 and the response to results on OF is enough to make youtube comments look good

The players poll was NOT limited to only current subscribers.

[Rocl]

Just listening to current subscribers will not be enough to make this game succeed.

Put this in question forum, ugh, seeing the results to player's poll 3 and the response to results on OF is enough to make youtube comments look good