Comments from the Devs

[Kurokikaze]

1.8 - 2.0 better make heads explode. lol

[Gokulo]

I hope I fixed the link. I understand that this information will be available today with the patch notes. Just thought people would like to get some tidbits sooner.

It's ok What I wanted to say is we already had that information, since they posted it on the forums a couple of days ago. (of course patch notes were more extensive)

[Lordender]

I don't know how auto attacks is going to work when your char is planted in the ground during animation not being able to move, its not just fluid and I don't know how they're gonna keep stamina balanced if they do keep it.

[Corrderio]

New storylines coming out later after the dungeon is out:

To speak to the concern about a lack of new stories, quests, etc. - Of course we'll be adding new events and quests filled with more robust and varied forms of storytelling. We'll also be adding story-related content geared towards parties, as well. However, the implementation of these new high-quality events and quests are planned to make their debut after the implementation of raid dungeons and battle adjustments/tweaks.

SOURCE: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ll=1#post91612

[Rammses]

They should just focus on exciting rank 50 battle content for now and give everyone a free rank 50 class (think empress band+100). My highest fighting class is 23, and with the half-dead servers, no parties to xp with, no linkshells to do any mid-rank stuff with and I assume a broken economy, getting back into the game isn't exactly an attractive proposition.

[Hyan]

I'm not sure whether their intention is to get anyone back into the game as much as simply getting the game fixed asap... for now.

In regards to whether there will be any riddles to solve in the raid dungeons:

Without giving too much away... Let's just say... I hope everyone can read and speak fluent Latin!

[Tomino]

I'm not sure whether their intention is to get anyone back into the game instead of simply getting the game fixed... for now.

Still, while making one good game is something of a difficult task, planning to "fix" FF14 for both newcomers AND high ranks looks like aiming a bit too high.

I wonder if they'll just keep aiming to please both sides of the spectrum, in which case I sincerely hope they do have the manpower and vision needed to accomplish such.

[Lordender]

Let me give you the bottom line of what needs to happen in the short term within the next patch/two to get people coming back.

- Chocobo's/meaningful transportation.

Everytime I talk to someone about 14 and start updating them about the current state of the game since i've followed it since i've quit but they haven't followed it since october they always ask "Are chocobo's in yet? I hated walking everywhere and the Anima system sucks, it will always suck no matter what happens with it. I'll give it another whirl when Chocobo's are in."

- Crafting/gathering needs to be speeded up by either by taking the mini-game completely out. I've already read they've tested it without the craft gauge but is still unsure which direction they want to take.

- Combat needs to be much faster pace. We'll see how the combat revamp addresses this.

- "Fatigue is lame" Looks like its already being addressed by the time the dungeon/raid system is implemented.

- Classes are boring. Another thing that looks to be getting addressed.

I still talk to a ton of people who want to come back to 14 when the "game is in better shape" but these things are whats keeping them away. Chocobo's being added would definitely bring a bunch of people back, I can't even begin to stress this enough.

[Cichy]

Alone Chocobos just as a mount would not add a thing to the game. However, if SE added them as mounts, chocobo raising, customization options, racing, battles, etc, it would be content which would help the game.
I've been playing TERA for past month and for the first time in about a month I logged in yesterday and done all the new Uldah quests in about an hour. Not planning to log in till next update.
Before they go anywhere they have to implement the new battle system. The current one is too slow and completely not fun. Every aspect of it is just terrible, pointless abilities, random enmity, no middle ground on monsters, retarded monster distribution, and so forth.
I did not realize honestly how bad this system was till I started playing TERA. SE really needs nothing short of a miracle and it has to start with combat and nothing else.

[Gulkeeva]

Well ffxi and ffxiv do stand out with the slow battle system, I don't think there is any mmo I've played that can compare to it, but alot people playing ffxiv are used to that slowness, speeding it up anymore would just make more complain about stuff because they can't handle the speed >.>

I kind of like the slow speed, it gives me time to browse the net and lookup info, eat food, watch a video on the side
Other games I don't have time to do that, they usually give you anywhere from "instant" to 1.5secish 'reaction time" to do something, and goes nonstop, there is no break time ;/

[Lordender]

Alone Chocobos just as a mount would not add a thing to the game. However, if SE added them as mounts, chocobo raising, customization options, racing, battles, etc, it would be content which would help the game.
I've been playing TERA for past month and for the first time in about a month I logged in yesterday and done all the new Uldah quests in about an hour. Not planning to log in till next update.
Before they go anywhere they have to implement the new battle system. The current one is too slow and completely not fun. Every aspect of it is just terrible, pointless abilities, random enmity, no middle ground on monsters, retarded monster distribution, and so forth.
I did not realize honestly how bad this system was till I started playing TERA. SE really needs nothing short of a miracle and it has to start with combat and nothing else.

Yeah, I agree, but those who quit in october aren't going to be magically coming back cause they put in endgame content, they quit because of how bad everything else is leading up to level 50. I figure most people that quit back then are probably low to mid level 20's and not going to give a shit about anything unless it makes their lives easier.

Right now you have two big problems, the level 50 crowd doesn't have much to do and some have gone to other games while awaiting some sort of cohesive endgame system to come about. You also have the people who quit back in October who want to eventually come back but aren't ready to because of how bad things are, no transportation, slow crafting, slow battle system, fatigue system. I see a lot of these things being fixed after the combat system is retooled assuming yoshi-P keeps to his agenda.

The only way SE pulls this off is by completely streamlining everything down which is what they're doing but the problem is it's going to take a long time because of how shitty things have been coded and how systems were previously set up. The bottom line is that this game is just too slow, everything about it needs to be sped up. We're going to learn alot about this game over the next two months, I would expect most of the "this game is too slow gripes" to slowly be done away with because thats the only way this game can rise out of the ashes.

I wouldn't put too much faith in their dungeon system, I would expect it to be extremely cookie-cutter at best. I am willing to bet at the very least its nothing more than throwing the rank 50's a bone while they continue fixing Tanaka's fuckup's.

[Hyan]

Yeah I doubt it'll be anything spectacular but that doesn't mean it can't be entertaining with a twist or two. There's a lot to improve regardless.

I don't think the slowness has to go away completely, only the cumbersome things. I even have friends who would like the combat to be slower than in action-MMO's since they don't want to be stressed out and rather play in a more relaxed atmosphere, which I found surprising. MMO's can be taxing at times.

[Cichy]

It's moving in a right direction where you can obtain some decent pieces from those new NMs while you level and get a decent use of them. You can look at the NMs as a alternative of quests in other MMOs that provide gear.
However, I am really getting sick of fighting squirrels and moles all the time. Need more variety. I'm staying away from the game for now but I'm hoping to level a class from ground up once the system gets revamped.
By combat speed I dont just mean attack speed during combat. I mean pace at which you engage in combat. In TERA at lvl 20 you already have a instance where within 30 min of a run you will fight maybe 30 mobs and a boss. I think we need more of a sense that our character is growing while we rank up, game needs to guide us to explore more, fight more, bigger more difficult mobs, new equipments, etc.

[Takiwaki]

I do understand them adding content as it is easier to implement etc. but like I said to a buddy, what sense it makes adding content when the actual doing of the content is bad, boring, not fun. Its a fact that the actual gameplay changes, the battle system and job system will make or brake the game. We will see.

[Corrderio]

Seems Ishgard is going to be right behind the battle revamp:

To speak to the original post: Abriael is pretty much right on the nose. It was stated that while there isn't a firm timeframe to share, the implementation of Ishgard, and related content, will debut after the battle fixes are introduced.

While we understand your enthusiasm to see Ishgard-related content and the upcoming battle fixes, and I know some of you want an exact year/month/day/hour/minute/second, we unfortunately don't have to share at this time.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ll=1#post96330

EDIT: Yoshida is aware the updater is a PoS:

We spoke with Yoshi-P about this very issue. He let us know that the development team is aware that the patch system is not performing as well as it should be. He also wanted us to assure you that they're planning to continue to investigate and address its deficits in the future

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...6247#post96247

[Hyan]

Thanks for posting the comments here Corrderio, I'll update the OP in a min.

[Cichy]

Alot of vague answers again....I'm really starting to hate the way they answer questions.

[Selamis]

People are still having issues with the updater? Maybe it's because I update at times that would not be considered peak (like right after patches) but when I have updated the last two patches, I've had speeds of upwards to 1.5 mb per second but my average has been anywhere from 500-700 kb/s. I really haven't had any issues with it since launch, thought everything was fixed.

[Hyan]

Alot of vague answers again....I'm really starting to hate the way they answer questions.

They could go into more detail, but I think the error marginal would go up considerably as well, which is why they don't. I don't really care to hear about what their concepts are, only the outcome. I mean, you did see their initial pictures of how direction and position affect combat, how there's 2 different "attack modes" for PUG and all that? Probably nice in concept...

People are still having issues with the updater?

IMO everyone currently playing should be aware of the way to fix the issues, but for the potential masses they need to make the patcher work better. Not really something I'd consider a dire issue, but needs to be resolved at some point.

[Corrderio]

What do I exactly have to do to "fix" the updater? Since I never had this issue before.