Letter from the Producer, IV (02/28/2011)

[Tomino]

I understand your concerns but still, work should be done to fix the current situation.

It feels like they had two completely different team, design and art, working in different offices. While the whole skill design was a remarkable feat, with lots of nice ideas, on the other hand there is slim to none reference to said skills when it comes visual and animations.

Aegis Boon makes me recover HP while guarding, it's a very nice idea. Visually? My character swings her shield tracing an arc. Steadfast on MRD is just a buff icon (unless I'm wrong). Thaumaturge "Blood rites" are like the usual casting animation where they swing their scepter.
I'm not being picky, but this is 2011 after all.

This is the kind of "class uniqueness" I hope they can bring to the game. Cut a few skills if you have but most of all, make them more than just a Tooltip.

[Elcura]

You won't find me disagreeing there. Animations are technically amazing, but creatively... challenged. If you look at it from a pure technical standpoint, the animations are fantastic. Fluid, believeable, seamless etc, but the design concept behind it severly hampers creativity. I understand why most WS are generic, it's to aid the cross class thing so that a WS meant for a sword can be used with a spear, since the only thing you can identify with is the particle effects.

XI was somewhat like this. You had you basic auto-attack animations, attack 1-3, then your WS would be attack 1, 2 or 3 + unique particles. It was like this for a long time, until Lv 65 WS, then they actually had unique animations and particle effects. Then relic weapons stepped back to attack 1-3 + unique particles, and I'm not sure what magian WS look like, but I imagine probably the same.

Once you look past the smoke and mirrors, there isn't a lot to these animations really. But they're necessary for MMOs because of the scale. In FFXIV however, it's very easy to see past the tricks. In XI, it was alright, because most jobs used unique weapons that had their own skills, and you add that with specific class abilities and no one really notices or cares.

I hate this just as much as anyone else, but what I hate more is that I understand and somewhat agree with it. I'd love unique animations for every WS, but it just isn't viable. What I would like to see, are more WS like Siesmic Shock or that Helix Arrow. Those animations are really nice and unique, and when people see them they know something awesome happened. For me to be happy, they don't have to change the existing WS/animation base, which is a lot of ground work, but they just need to make sure that they add effort to the new stuff.

But hell, I don't know their schedule. I imagine it's chaos though.

[Cichy]

I've suggested in the feedback I sent them that they should lower the number of ability points and those points should be just used to equip abilities from other jobs. All primary abilities should be usable at all time. I hear my mage friends complaining about having all those skills on thm and conj that they cant equip and are useful.

[Burningthought]

Change just for the sake of change- that sure as hell worked for them the first time, so bring it on!



I don't agree. Although this is exactly why they even said they went with the new classes- so that the players wouldn't pigeonhole them into preset roles "Paladin can't DD" "Monk is made of paper" "WHM can't nuke" and so on. It's not like it can't be different but that's just the way people tend to think. I hope Yoshida is up for some dream crushing by making Paladin a DD just as good as any other, at least in concept. Maybe players will change their mind overtime. I sure as hell won't be around if they don't though. Fuck that.

And I'd like to point out that it's not like everyone is a jack of all trades either. You don't heal as a PUG, you don't (or in concept shouldnt) tank as a CON. Like you said, it just reduces grouping problem immensely, which should be the #1 priority over the silly (imo) unique snowflake mindset. Do you as a Paladin have an identity crisis if Dragoon and Monk can suddenly tank with you as long as you can DD as well as they do? I hope not, because that's the game I want to group in. Surely it would be easier to accept if we were talking about Gladiators and Pugilists and Lancers but oh well.

I haven't really read the rest of your posts or anything, but making FFXIV, FFXI-2 isn't exactly a bad thing. Besides the whole making FFXIV unique and different as possible has already shot them in the foot once, having something familiar can't hurt the game at this point.

Do I agree that they should spice things up a bit?

Of course, but I'm not going to rage quit because they gave a class a healer identity and another class a tank identity. If it helps them balance out the game and make it more fun, then more power to them. I think at this point rehauling the classes and making them more unique, and rehauling the battle system will only help in the long term.

[Sign]

Just a reminder for anyone saying they can't change the way classes function if the names change.

11. Would you welcome changes to FINAL FANTASY XIV that would drastically alter the rules already set in Eorzea?


JP NA GB FR DE
Yes 82.0% 91.1% 89.5% 55.0% 65.5%
No 18.0% 8.9% 10.5% 45.0% 34.5%
It seems this question started a wave of panic among players about whether or not character data would potentially be wiped. For the definitive answer on that, please see my response to a player's letter below. As for the results, 85% of players answered in the affirmative. This is something that will be in the forefront of my mind when making decisions concerning future updates to the game. I promise to do everything in my power to address as many of the players' demands and desires as I can.

Everyone is perfectly willing to have fundamental changes to the game, and to me, changing classes to make them a little less homogenized is right in that vein.

[Dakin]

The current classes aren't the problem, neither are the names. I can't believe so many people care about the name pugilist or gladiator. Pretty stupid IMO.

The problem lies in the bland, boring skills available to classes. I don't care if they make CON more nuke/cure centric, or THM more debuff centric. You can mix and match whatever skills you want so in the end you can make exactly what you want. Just add more fun, interesting, and unique skills/abilites for each class.

[Burningthought]

I understand your concerns but still, work should be done to fix the current situation.

It feels like they had two completely different team, design and art, working in different offices. While the whole skill design was a remarkable feat, with lots of nice ideas, on the other hand there is slim to none reference to said skills when it comes visual and animations.

Aegis Boon makes me recover HP while guarding, it's a very nice idea. Visually? My character swings her shield tracing an arc. Steadfast on MRD is just a buff icon (unless I'm wrong). Thaumaturge "Blood rites" are like the usual casting animation where they swing their scepter.
I'm not being picky, but this is 2011 after all.

This is the kind of "class uniqueness" I hope they can bring to the game. Cut a few skills if you have but most of all, make them more than just a Tooltip.

If its anything like XI's dev team, then yes the design team is seperated from the effect team. They come up with an idea, write it out on paper, and then send it to the effects team to spruce up.

[Hyan]

Do I agree that they should spice things up a bit?

Of course, but I'm not going to rage quit because they gave a class a healer identity and another class a tank identity. If it helps them balance out the game and make it more fun, then more power to them. I think at this point rehauling the classes and making them more unique, and rehauling the battle system will only help in the long term.

Oh, me neither and that's what I want to stress. I can even see why they did this but I think they just went too far and thought the names need to be changed universally for some reason. In the end, most of what they are about to do (make classes more unique) will benefit the game and I'm not going to 'rage' over this side-step but I will still point it out.

Everyone is perfectly willing to have fundamental changes to the game, and to me, changing classes to make them a little less homogenized is right in that vein.

Yes... nobody in this thread is against that. At least I voted 'yes' in that poll, thinking the changes would end up benefiting the game in the end. Maybe that was just silly of me? Granted, in the big picture the changes are beneficial but few things like the names do stand out from the rest.

For me to be happy, they don't have to change the existing WS/animation base, which is a lot of ground work, but they just need to make sure that they add effort to the new stuff.

Is it just me that is particularly annoyed with the lack of "transition" animations for the combat? Especially when an animation is cut from the middle your limbs disappear and reappear somewhere else.. not to mention some animations can be quite glitchy and skip frames at times. All I really want them to do is to do something about this issue. Although some skills may benefit from getting the same treatment as the gatherer animations too.

[Kaylia]

The current classes aren't the problem, neither are the names. I can't believe so many people care about the name pugilist or gladiator. Pretty stupid IMO.

The problem lies in the bland, boring skills available to classes. I don't care if they make CON more nuke/cure centric, or THM more debuff centric. You can mix and match whatever skills you want so in the end you can make exactly what you want. Just add more fun, interesting, and unique skills/abilites for each class.

Keep in mind that changing the names doesn't require a lot of development time, especially if they are remaking the current job system from scratch.

No one believes that name is the biggest issue, it's just that given the opportunity, they would prefer exploring an universe where you can see the franchise trademark.

[Sephiroth]

They should just split CON into WHM and BLM and give all CONs the ability to choose which one they become. I'm not sure what they'd do with the lore, their quest lines could split at rank 40 I suppose and SE could change the class quests they've yet to implement. I can't see them doing away with the ability to use skills from other classes so I don't see why everyone is afraid cure won't be usable on more than WHM. What I'd like to see is all weapon skills become class specific, that way they can make the animations better and it would help with the class uniqueness.

[Rivian]

I'm gonna go ahead and say that the "evil armor" is for lancer. To me it seems to bear a striking resemblance to Kane's armor from FFIV, except the color. Then again it does kind of look like DRK armor but since we have no DRK yet and i doubt they plan to implement new classes any time soon, i'm going with Lancer armor.

On another note, just give CON abilities like SCH's light and dark arts so they can choose to nuke or heal with increased efficiency.

[Silenka]

DRK and BLM AF? My question at this point is why didn't they (seriously) just remake XI, that is what it's going to end up like in the end it seems.

[Jamison]

Rank 50 quest. Retrieve rat tail. Pick new class. </game>.

[Siatdiat]

Rank 50 quest. Retrieve rat tail. Pick new class. </game>.

I recognize this... damn, what game was it though? I can't nail it down and its driving me nuts now lol.

[Hyan]

I'm gonna go ahead and say that the "evil armor" is for lancer. To me it seems to bear a striking resemblance to Kane's armor from FFIV, except the color. Then again it does kind of look like DRK armor but since we have no DRK yet and i doubt they plan to implement new classes any time soon, i'm going with Lancer armor.

I guess Gladiator is split to two (=> PLD and DRK). Not that I would mind a spear using DRK.

[Giocatore]

I agree with the few people who mentioned the name change before being more of a symbolic move. Give that air of familiarity to the fanbase, give them something they know. It also could could be seen as the new "face" of FFXIV when the game is finally ready and released on PS3. While its small, its one of the first things you are exposed to when you start, race and job.

Then again I could be completly wrong and they could be wasting their time not fixing a battle system that is terrible.

[Biggie]

This may have already been said, but I'm not reading every post on this thread... I think we have new classes coming. The new armor designs, imo, does not fit with anything we currently have. Personally I think they will be adding the FFXI favorites, rather than change some of the current classes. It makes more sense to me, leave all the current classes as is, and in BLM, DRK, SAM, and so forth. A lot of the classes we have would just be odd if they were changed to the FFXI classes, but totally adding new classes will not mess up the current lore of the classes, and probably require a lot less work.

So, No THere will not be any "name Changes", but rather additions of new classes.

[tymora]

Be nice if they are specialist classes with requirements from the initial classes.
E.g.
PLD = GLD + CON

etc etc

[Hyan]

This may have already been said, but I'm not reading every post on this thread... I think we have new classes coming. The new armor designs, imo, does not fit with anything we currently have. Personally I think they will be adding the FFXI favorites, rather than change some of the current classes. It makes more sense to me, leave all the current classes as is, and in BLM, DRK, SAM, and so forth. A lot of the classes we have would just be odd if they were changed to the FFXI classes, but totally adding new classes will not mess up the current lore of the classes, and probably require a lot less work.

So, No THere will not be any "name Changes", but rather additions of new classes.

Granted, it may be due to less than stellar translation, but this part of a recent interview kinda goes against what you're suggesting:

Duck: First of all, we are only thinking of current classes only. The reason behind that is because if we can't have a good balance with the current number of classes, if we add another one, this is going to be unbalanced as well. So we want to make sure there's a good balance first, then if there's something missing we will add a new class.

Not that I would mind them doing it like you described.

[Corrderio]

I recognize this... damn, what game was it though? I can't nail it down and its driving me nuts now lol.

The first Final Fantasy. Once you find the rat tail and give it to Bahamut he upgrades your character's classes.