Improvements Update.

[Genzai Kawakami]

Yoshida never worked on the XI. Tanaka has always been the producer of the XI. Director of FFXI was Komoto until august 2010, then Matsui until december. Now it's Mizuki Ito who was the director of abyssea.
FFXIV went from Komoto and Tanaka as director and producer, then Yoshida (who seems to come from nowhere) for both.

That's the summary of the directors/producers for the 2 games.

(and here we see that Komoto was director of both games for a f*cking long time... he should have left FFXI sooner, to spend more time on the XIV)

[ringthree]

Yoshida never worked on the XI. Tanaka has always been the producer of the XI. Director of FFXI was Komoto until august 2010, then Matsui until december. Now it's Mizuki Ito who was the director of abyssea.
FFXIV went from Komoto and Tanaka as director and producer, then Yoshida (who seems to come from nowhere) for both.

That's the summary of the directors/producers for the 2 games.

(and here we see that Komoto was director of both games for a f*cking long time... he should have left FFXI sooner, to spend more time on the XIV)

Everyone knows Tanaka, but Komoto is the chubby, cheerful, buddha-looking guy right?

Another question. Is it time yet for them to start charging? Are they getting close? Just because a game is "playable" doesn't mean that it is something you want to pay for. How much more needs to be done for them to start charging. I haven't sunk the initial cost of purchase yet, and I don't know if I want to do it before most people would be willing to play.

[Kaiyoko]

Everyone knows Tanaka, but Komoto is the chubby, cheerful, buddha-looking guy right?

Another question. Is it time yet for them to start charging? Are they getting close? Just because a game is "playable" doesn't mean that it is something you want to pay for. How much more needs to be done for them to start charging. I haven't sunk the initial cost of purchase yet, and I don't know if I want to do it before most people would be willing to play.

Update wise it's looking about the 1 year anniversary because Combat, Dungeon/Raid, Ishgard, new transportation, UI fixes, Quest Hubs, no more fatigue "should" be all in the game by then. I'd assume that will be their only charging point if it ever happens.

[Hyan]

Komoto is the chubby one, ya. I"m skeptical that he directed XI post-cop, though, he was around at the time of ToAU's vanafest at least so idk. Whoever he was kept a low profile for sure.

It's impossible to say how much longer the game needs before its worth a subscription because their team is essentially split into two (monthly patch and overhaul team) and we've only seen the results of what the monthly patch team has been doing so far. I'd say its the pace the overhaul team is working on that determines how fast the game will be "complete", but we just don't know what that pace is before they release something.

[Lucavi]

You probably won't see charging until the PS3 release, and I'm sure they'll give out some kind of "thank you!" item for all the PC players that have been playing since the release.

[Kurokikaze]

Gonna go with what Anthonystar said. 1 year mark after all that stuff is in (assuming its all good). Keeping fingers crossed.

[Hyan]

I am starting to think that what we see happening with XI right now is how XIV will end up whenever the overhauls are finished and when the improvements aren't as large in scale. It's like a sneak peek of things to come and thats pretty cool if true.

[Kurokikaze]

Whats happening with XI now? Been outta the loop.

[Kaiyoko]

Whats happening with XI now? Been outta the loop.

Abyssea is the only thing I see as good in XI right now (Salvage/Limbus/Dynamis were good content in their times as well) Trial of the Magians is just busy work. Long as an abyssea type event is not time based, like with traverse stones, I'd be content. I know there are ways to get tons of time so you never run out, but I'd rather not have to do that if possible. Killing mobs to get pop items or on a 15~30min timer pop in an end game area, would be my personal preference. Just please no Trials, kill x number of y mob with z type of element or WS.

[Hyan]

They are generally more open about their plans, and the updates come in faster succession. Test server is going to open during the Summer, etc.

But they aren't doing anything as large in scale as Yoshida is, and their budget is probably miniscule. The updates are like our glorified monthly patches so far. I can see Yoshi-P really stepping up in communication once the overhauls are dealt with and polishing begins.

[Kurokikaze]

Ahh I see. Figures the game would get good after most of us quit. And test servers... thats fairly progressive there coming from FFXI. ;o

[ringthree]

Abyssea is the only thing I see as good in XI right now (Salvage/Limbus/Dynamis were good content in their times as well) Trial of the Magians is just busy work. Long as an abyssea type event is not time based, like with traverse stones, I'd be content. I know there are ways to get tons of time so you never run out, but I'd rather not have to do that if possible. Killing mobs to get pop items or on a 15~30min timer pop in an end game area, would be my personal preference. Just please no Trials, kill x number of y mob with z type of element or WS.

You haven't been playing much FFXI lately have you?

No one ever has time problems in Abyssea, even solo. Killing mobs to get pop items or on a 15 minute timer in an end-game area is exactly what Abyssea is. All of the new gear just requires NM drops as hand-ins. The only long term trials are for weapons.

[Kaiyoko]

You haven't been playing much FFXI lately have you?

No one ever has time problems in Abyssea, even solo. Killing mobs to get pop items or on a 15 minute timer in an end-game area is exactly what Abyssea is. All of the new gear just requires NM drops as hand-ins. The only long term trials are for weapons.

I'm saying I can freely go to like sea or sky at anytime. I don't wanna have to wait for traverse stones or go kill for blue boxes up to 200min. I know no one has time problems in Abyssea if they get the right abyssites and grind mobs at the start of Abyssea, play shouldn't be dedicated towards killing trash mobs just for time the first 30~60mins I'm in an event.

As far as pop items and the pop timers, I'm saying I want the abyssea style handling to NMs.

[Corrderio]

Ahh I see. Figures the game would get good after most of us quit. And test servers... thats fairly progressive there coming from FFXI. ;o

Don't remind me. My friend has been asking me to resubscribe and transfer to his server.

Still can't believe I quit a month before Abyssea hit.

[Shazaam]

TL: DR.

9 months and FFXIV is still so crappy that SE can't fathom even a 1$ a month fee.

FFXI is awesome and we all screwed up when we cancelled in order to play FFXIV.

Fuck Square-Enix. Bring back Square Soft.

[miokomioko]

Wrong thread, douche.

[Kaeko]

I haven't played since the Beta. As everyone knows the game was terrible then. I have tried to keep abreast of the improvements to the game to see when/if it was going to be interesting to play. I have to say, like with FFXI, the improvements to the development team have been massive. But update notes don't really give me a good idea of how much things have improved.

I was hoping to get some impressions on what has happened so far and what direction the game is heading. I have heard several people say wait until 1.18. Is the game playable for a regular player right now? What is coming in 1.18 that is going to make the difference?

Leveling Up:
The game is 'playable' for new comers, but you need to know how to level. It's easy until you hit 20-23 due to an innate SP bonus at lower levels. After this, you'll probably need a leve group to level at a decent rate unless you love Behest. The party function is backwards and no one uses it, so it's pretty much meet some people and join a static, or solo/behest. The latter is very slow and can make you want to quit. I don't know anything about crafting or gathering other than the fact that you don't 'have to' do them to succeed in game.

Content:
There are I believe 49 quests now. They are all either (1) run around and talk to people, (2) kill X mobs for me, or (3) very rarely an instanced version of #2, but no NM quests. There is currently no fame system. Rewards are lackluster overall. There are 20 mid level NMs on very fast 5 minute repop timers. Reasonable content, gear good for mid levels. 5 lvl50 NMs there since late 2010, and 3 faction leve NMs. No update to missions, but missions have very cool CSs, though the content/fights are laughably easy. Supposedly a new lvl50 instance in 1.18 in June - I'd watch for that.

Battle/UI:
Improving, with supposedly the first big overhaul in 1.18. Forum update on this this coming week. Many see these as make-or-break since this is one of the core issues with XIV. Parts of menu and UI are still sluggish - not going to go over them here b/c it would take too long - but admittedly much improved from beta. Menu lag far, far improved. Controller-friendliness not quite there yet, but again far improved.

Battle/JobBalance:
Horribly imbalanced due to armory system. Formulas are a bit out of whack, but probably not the primary concern given the 3 things stated above. Will need to be addressed at some point, but making the game fun and content-filled will be more important than this for now (sans Emualte nerf).

Other Issues:
The issue where you D/C and can't return for 15 minutes because your character hasn't left the game officially - this hasn't been fixed. Issue where you D/C in a leve and lose out has not been fixed.

Population:
They removed the function to let you see world population a long time ago. No /search function available. You can't tell if someone if online unless you have them friendslisted, are in a LS with them, or send a blind tell. The population is horribly declined and nearly non-existent outside Uldah. Other 2 main cities are barren - if you start new, don't start in Grid or Limsa or it will depress you. I don't think the population will increase unless the 1.18 patch is massive or on PS3 release. PS3 release is like the only reason this game still has a chance, but it's a reasonable bet due to JP players liking console MMOs.

Overall, I'd advise not to start playing yet if you're just peripherally interested. FFXI sounds like it's booming now anyways so why leave for XIV knowing XIV's state.

My 2 cents.

[Grey Jorildyn]

Agree with all that.

It's not worth starting this game in its current state. If you're coming from XI, and only played XI, you might find this tolerable and stick with it. If you have tasted sweeter waters than XI, it may be difficult to rationalize playing this game unless you are with friends or genuinely enjoy the game for what it offers, which is so little right now.

There is however a lot to do that can keep you busy. Aside from leveling classes, you could gather, attempt to craft with the measly money you make from battle leves, or collect guild marks (leves, again) to fill out your classes. In addressing class issue, one of the main things you will find is that the jobs aren't very unique. Aside from LNC which has important class-only skills like Speed Surge, you won't see a big difference between the DPS classes aside from the weapon type they use (there is no DMG : Delay ratio crap). The tanking classes are clear cut and battle is always a one-way street (you either DPS or tank, not both). There are many issues, which as Kaeko alluded to, will take a very long time to go through as they are anything but few or far between.

[Corrderio]

Leveling Up:
The game is 'playable' for new comers, but you need to know how to level. It's easy until you hit 20-23 due to an innate SP bonus at lower levels. After this, you'll probably need a leve group to level at a decent rate unless you love Behest. The party function is backwards and no one uses it, so it's pretty much meet some people and join a static, or solo/behest. The latter is very slow and can make you want to quit. I don't know anything about crafting or gathering other than the fact that you don't 'have to' do them to succeed in game.

Content:
There are I believe 49 quests now. They are all either (1) run around and talk to people, (2) kill X mobs for me, or (3) very rarely an instanced version of #2, but no NM quests. There is currently no fame system. Rewards are lackluster overall. There are 20 mid level NMs on very fast 5 minute repop timers. Reasonable content, gear good for mid levels. 5 lvl50 NMs there since late 2010, and 3 faction leve NMs. No update to missions, but missions have very cool CSs, though the content/fights are laughably easy. Supposedly a new lvl50 instance in 1.18 in June - I'd watch for that.

Battle/UI:
Improving, with supposedly the first big overhaul in 1.18. Forum update on this this coming week. Many see these as make-or-break since this is one of the core issues with XIV. Parts of menu and UI are still sluggish - not going to go over them here b/c it would take too long - but admittedly much improved from beta. Menu lag far, far improved. Controller-friendliness not quite there yet, but again far improved.

Battle/JobBalance:
Horribly imbalanced due to armory system. Formulas are a bit out of whack, but probably not the primary concern given the 3 things stated above. Will need to be addressed at some point, but making the game fun and content-filled will be more important than this for now (sans Emualte nerf).

Other Issues:
The issue where you D/C and can't return for 15 minutes because your character hasn't left the game officially - this hasn't been fixed. Issue where you D/C in a leve and lose out has not been fixed.

Population:
They removed the function to let you see world population a long time ago. No /search function available. You can't tell if someone if online unless you have them friendslisted, are in a LS with them, or send a blind tell. The population is horribly declined and nearly non-existent outside Uldah. Other 2 main cities are barren - if you start new, don't start in Grid or Limsa or it will depress you. I don't think the population will increase unless the 1.18 patch is massive or on PS3 release. PS3 release is like the only reason this game still has a chance, but it's a reasonable bet due to JP players liking console MMOs.

Overall, I'd advise not to start playing yet if you're just peripherally interested. FFXI sounds like it's booming now anyways so why leave for XIV knowing XIV's state.

My 2 cents.

Pretty accurate, another thing I'd like to add is if you start in Limsa or Grid, I hope you like a long walk to UD to get gear. Since that's the only place with a lively market ward, even then gear is pretty rare to find unless it's R20+

[Grey Jorildyn]

The battle ward and a few others have an NPC that sells the starter gear as the next one or two tiers iirc. They prices get stupidly steep, but are within budget if you are keeping up with the leves to get to those levels. At least for a little while.