Letter from the Producer, XXI (11/24/2011)

[miokomioko]

Ranks = spell tiers? Because ranks just became levels and are still there. Otherwise I be confused.

[solracht]

Ranks = spell tiers?

Yes. Excuse my WoW vocabulary.

[Gokulo]

Ah, yeah, that was confusing :D

[Niiro]

It's said in the post that fees won't be coming "until 1.20 has been out for a while" so I assume they'll be gauging it's reception when deciding precisely when billing will start and for how much.

If 1.20 is a decent step forward I could see the justification for a reduced monthly fee, we (SE and the players) will just have to see how it plays out.

[Ragns]

Not very good timing to release news when people aren't totally bored at work/school to read those.

Hello again, all fans of FINAL FANTASY XIV! There’s been a long blank period between this letter and the last, and I’d like to apologize.

My twentieth missive went out on October 13, the day before our announcement of Version 2.0. A flurry of interviews followed, first in Japan, then overseas during my two-week media tour, which included meetings with the staff of our regional offices. I endeavored to stay on top of patch 1.20’s progress while on the road, and upon returning to Japan busied myself with the second installment of Letter from the Producer LIVE.

Right now I’m managing and directing work on Version 2.0, all the while keeping a close eye on balance and specs for various areas of patch 1.20 ahead of release. This past month has been a veritable maelstrom for me, and as a result I didn’t have a single letter to show for it (I devoured steak for seven consecutive days while overseas, though, which did wonders for my stamina ).


But the dust has now settled both for me and the team, and I’m back with a new Letter from the Producer! This time I’ll be reporting on our progress on patch 1.20.

It's a good thing news from SE has been slow since me and Sonomaa have been busy with the hours we needed to catch up on from the days off we took for the interview.

First up, some bad news. We had planned to have patch 1.20 out by late-November, but now we’re looking at a delay of roughly ten days to deliver features such as the Dark Moogle battle (name tentative), class reforms, achievements, PC search, and market tweaks.

The last two items, in particular, are proving to be quite demanding on resources, as they’re closely tied to the server. Our programmers are giving it all they’ve got, but with some work still undefined, there’s a chance the schedule will be affected. For the time being I thought it’d be best to report on the current situation.

I’m terribly sorry to make you all wait. I’ll be sure to inform you of the release date for 1.20 as soon as it’s confirmed. Just to add, none of this will affect work on patch 1.21 and beyond, Version 2.0 included. But in the off chance that it does, you can rest assured we won’t keep you in the dark.

Personally I don't think it's worth working so hard for features prior to 2.0. The feeling I get from everyone that tried FFXIV is that now they aren't coming back till at least 2.0. Pretty much all this work goes into keeping the very few FFXIV players left which shouldn't be a top priority in my opinion. All these new features look interesting and seem like a step in the right direction but I can't be bothered to care about them until 2.0 is out... unless they add a boobslider to their character creation system.

Some of you are probably wondering, when exactly will billing commence? There’s no need to worry here, as the extended free trial period won’t end until 1.20 has been out for a while. We’ll have the details of billing, including the fee, ready to announce by early December, so please sit tight for just a while longer.

I'm glad to see Yoshi-P is explaining more about all that billing crap. He seemed very concerned during the interview when we mentioned the reaction to that BG poll about payments. My gut feeling tells me he doesn't agree with this decision but a manager at SE decided to do something since they're losing money everywhere.

And that’s where we stand right now, with patch 1.20 heading into crunch time for all teams.

I don't agree with the idea of burning a team so soon on such a long term project but they probably don't want to miss the xmas vacation period which is usually when a bunch of people have the time to come back to old games.

[Spider-Dan]

1.20 -NEW-
Merging of HQ tiers -NEW-
Abolishment of the three HQ tiers
-NEW-
Adjustment and unification of attributes for HQ1, 2, and 3 items already made

To me, that reads as 1.20 turning existing +1, +2, and +3 into the same HQ item.

incoming nerdrage

[miokomioko]

I fully expected and hoped for this.

[Charismatic]

To me, that reads as 1.20 turning existing +1, +2, and +3 into the same HQ item.

Didn't they say they were going to do that months ago? No one should be surprised.

[miokomioko]

You just got all those people that think SE should be walking on eggshells regarding the currently active playerbase and not do anything that might anger them. Anyone (still) playing should be well aware that things are going to change and something might get gimped/buffed in the process. If you're gonna' make an omelette v.2.0...

[Corrderio]

Didn't they say they were going to do that months ago? No one should be surprised.

Last I heard it was +1 going to NQ, +3 going HQ, and undecided on HQ2. Either way my Hart Guisarme will be HQ when this patch hits, so I'll be happy.

[Patriarch]

I give up on this game. I'lll check back in next year

[Crab_Cake]

on the topic of pay to play:

when i have some time i'm going to post a proposal on the SE forums asking them to dispense a couple weekend guest passes (either once an update or perhaps one every month) to those who have active accounts but aren't willing to pay when december rolls around. i feel like it's a viable way for those unwilling-to-pay-players to still provide some vital feedback that the game won't be receiving once they're forced out. not only do they get to playtest each patch, but it keeps these players more connected to the game and that they can more easily jump into it when they feel it's ready.

any thoughts or suggestions?

Sounds like a good idea to me as is. Definitively should post it; allowing people to test new content in any MMO is a good way to get them to come back.

[blythe]

Personally I don't think it's worth working so hard for features prior to 2.0. The feeling I get from everyone that tried FFXIV is that now they aren't coming back till at least 2.0. Pretty much all this work goes into keeping the very few FFXIV players left which shouldn't be a top priority in my opinion. All these new features look interesting and seem like a step in the right direction but I can't be bothered to care about them until 2.0 is out... unless they add a boobslider to their character creation system.

I don't think they should be wasting time/resources appeasing the current playerbase either, but if they're asking people to pay for the game until 2.0, they have to make the current game decent. I think either shutting down the servers completely, or just halting development on 1.x only features and leaving it F2P until then would have made more sense.

[miokomioko]

Even if they made it F2P until 2.0 and halted 1.x development, there would be almost nothing to do for a long while. At least for now we can do the same fucking fight over and over for a .5% drop rate on a pool of 7 items. Or grind a single mob for a key for a similar drop rate on a pool of garbage.

:3

[Draylo]

Yet people will continue to play because they wanna be the bestest when the game is good.

[miokomioko]

Which they already would have been a long time ago because Ifrit weapons, materia, and stronghold chests items are the best things in the game now and those wouldn't exist had they halted development on 1.xx. They might as well have shut down the servers if they did that.

[donnie]

I give up on this game. I'lll check back in next year

i have given up on this game one month into release but I keep checking BG on daily basis for news. what bugs me is they are going to charge players on a game that going to be somewhat a stepstone for FFXIV 2.0. but also wont the players be burned out already playing a buggy game for that long period of time?

my guess is they wanted a way out of the current ffxiv, and they do know many wont go for P2P. this will be clever so people can get a fresh experience with 2.0

[Ropeydonkey]

Hmm looks like they failed out on 1.20 by delaying some things to 1.21 - the excuse being that the 'groundwork' is being done in 1.20. I'd prefer them to put 'delayed' things into a 1.20a patch and start charging after that; at least there would be some more content to get involved with...

Edit: but I guess that depends on when 1.21 is due to be released

[Spider-Dan]

Last I heard it was +1 going to NQ, +3 going HQ, and undecided on HQ2. Either way my Hart Guisarme will be HQ when this patch hits, so I'll be happy.

"Adjustment and unification of attributes for HQ1, 2, and 3 items already made"

If they were making HQ1 into NQ, it wouldn't be unified with HQ2 and HQ3.

Don't be shocked when your shiny +2s and +3s get the same treatment as a "plain jane" +1.

[miokomioko]

And don't be shocked when your +1 ends up being better than it was before.

Again, anyone who is shocked and appalled by this must have been living under a fucking rock.