Letter from the Producer, XXIII

[SilverBreeze]

Is this the part where I ignore the post because its too long and then just say 'u mad'?

It's the part where you stop the personal attacks and bantering before I put you in timeout, both of you.

[jwang]

Is it bad that while reading this I'm thinking in my head "blah blah blah corporate excuses blah blah blah"?

[Silenka]

Jesus Christ, people really are never happy.
For XI's lifetime, the players' tone was "SE is so cold, they never tell us anything, they're a bunch of frosty pricks who don't give a damn about us"

Now SE (the project lead no less) is telling us everything and being very warm and personable and people are bitching nonstop anyway! New Year's is such a big thing for Japan (akin to Christmas here but much more important) that it's no wonder they didn't get anything done over that time, there is no reasonable way the culture would have allowed it. It's not just celebration or religious either, it's really important to enter the new year properly. Now that that's over, I am sure they'll be on the ball again. I think it was nice of Yoshi P to tell us about his New Year, even if no news of the game came with it this time.

Besides, how could anyone forget what rapid progress the game has made since the old director was replaced? I guess it's buried under too much bitching...

[Patriarch]

Jesus Christ, people really are never happy.
For XI's lifetime, the players' tone was "SE is so cold, they never tell us anything, they're a bunch of frosty pricks who don't give a damn about us"

Now SE (the project lead no less) is telling us everything and being very warm and personable and people are bitching nonstop anyway! New Year's is such a big thing for Japan (akin to Christmas here but much more important) that it's no wonder they didn't get anything done over that time, there is no reasonable way the culture would have allowed it. It's not just celebration or religious either, it's really important to enter the new year properly. Now that that's over, I am sure they'll be on the ball again. I think it was nice of Yoshi P to tell us about his New Year, even if no news of the game came with it this time.

Besides, how could anyone forget what rapid progress the game has made since the old director was replaced? I guess it's buried under too much bitching...

I somewhat see your point, but in XI i never had to wait around on Letters to see what fun things could possibly be coming to the game. I had more than enough on my hands, and was quite busy with content already in game.

[Lordender]

I think people are mad because it was such a troll'ish letter, he could of made a forum post to talk about that stuff and used the "Letter from the Producer" at a later date to specifically talk about 1.21 instead of using the Letter to talk about what they did for the new year etc. If I was an active player paying to play I could careless what they do outside the office, I would want to hear about 1.21 given how 1.21 is the most important patch of their XIV lives to date since its the first patch after the service started and such a patch is going to determine 3 months worth of subs depending on:

If 1.21 is a hit they will get more reactivations from people coming back and seeing the jobs/content plus keep the people they already have.
If 1.21 is fail they won't get any reactivations and lose more people.

1.21 is a good time to build up momentum. I can see why people are mad, as a player, you really think I care what you do outside of your office? If i go out to eat what am I there for? I am there to get a meal, I could careless of what the staff does outside of the restaurant.

To be honest, I thought the Jay Wilson blog post for Diablo 3 was a troll that wouldn't be topped until this "Letter from the Producer" not only topped it but took the cake.

[Lucavi]

Jesus Christ, people really are never happy.
For XI's lifetime, the players' tone was "SE is so cold, they never tell us anything, they're a bunch of frosty pricks who don't give a damn about us"

Now SE (the project lead no less) is telling us everything and being very warm and personable and people are bitching nonstop anyway! New Year's is such a big thing for Japan (akin to Christmas here but much more important) that it's no wonder they didn't get anything done over that time, there is no reasonable way the culture would have allowed it. It's not just celebration or religious either, it's really important to enter the new year properly. Now that that's over, I am sure they'll be on the ball again. I think it was nice of Yoshi P to tell us about his New Year, even if no news of the game came with it this time.

Besides, how could anyone forget what rapid progress the game has made since the old director was replaced? I guess it's buried under too much bitching...

XI also wasn't a spectacular failure. XI was an extremely popular MMO for its time, and, based on the era that it was created, was well-made, to boot. The callousness of the devs. was certainly noticeable, but not before World of Warcraft showed the world what the other side could be like, and with the plethora of things to do (even if many of those things consisted of standing around waiting for a dragon to pop so you could MPK others), people weren't sitting around waiting for developers to show them updates.

I figured this would be obvious by now. You talk about people never being happy, but honestly, what's to be happy about when paying for a grossly-inferior product, held around by the hands of a promise that the game will eventually be good, and then essentially trolled by a jovial post showing the designers slacking off when they should probably be working to make up for said game's colossal failure and current mediocrity.

[Silenka]

This guy is essentially taking a massively fucked up game and completely changing it from the ground up.

Can't you maybe cut him a little slack? He's not the one who fucked it up, he's trying to fix it. And I think he's making good progress considering SE doesn't even know the meaning of the word.

[Lucavi]

I can cut him all the slack and the world, but it won't do anything. He's a paid professional tasked with fixing a sinking ship. Its his job to fix it, and its our right, as paying customers, to complain if we don't like the way things are going. That includes this recent "update".

I don't see what's so hard to understand about that. You're perfectly free to cut him all the slack you want. Others are free to cut him no slack when he puts out meaningless things like this. No one is wrong.

[Grey Jorildyn]

I can cut him all the slack and the world, but it won't do anything. He's a paid professional tasked with fixing a sinking ship. Its his job to fix it, and its our right, as paying customers, to complain if we don't like the way things are going. That includes this recent "update".

I don't see what's so hard to understand about that. You're perfectly free to cut him all the slack you want. Others are free to cut him no slack when he puts out meaningless things like this. No one is wrong.

Ahem.. I refer you to exhibit A:

This is BG, sir. Someone is always right, and always wrong.

~.^

[Lucavi]

That only applies when speaking to the "Classic" BG crew from the XI era, but yes, I should have added a footnote there.

[Thiefami]

This guy is essentially taking a massively fucked up game and completely changing it from the ground up.

Can't you maybe cut him a little slack? He's not the one who fucked it up, he's trying to fix it. And I think he's making good progress considering SE doesn't even know the meaning of the word.

Fanatics, talking as if Yoshi-P is the departed Dear Leader. I wonder if people realize that Yoshi gets paid by SE, and that he isn't freely volunteering his time out of the kindness of his heart to repair the failed FFXIV.

[Draylo]

People like him are the ones that hold this game back!

[Lucavi]

Fanatics, talking as if Yoshi-P is the departed Dear Leader. I wonder if people realize that Yoshi gets paid by SE, and that he isn't freely volunteering his time out of the kindness of his heart to repair the failed FFXIV.

Seriously, this is the man's job. Do you know how many people are employed solely to fix other people's blunders? Haven't you ever heard of a PR position? That's all they do, and they usually lie through their teeth to do it.

[Taliesin]

Actually, I wouldn't mind this kind of letter IF I was not starving for information about the game itself at the same time.
But we haven't got anything for weeks, except this very small teaser about Chocobo armors.

So at this very moment, I am waiting for development info, and not some "relationship" letter.

And please stop with this Yoshi-P fanatism everytime something is said against him.
I appreciate his job, but can still voice my opinion when I believe he does something stupid. And the timing of this letter was wrong.

[Burningthought]

Actually, I wouldn't mind this kind of letter IF I was not starving for information about the game itself at the same time.
But we haven't got anything for weeks, except this very small teaser about Chocobo armors.

So at this very moment, I am waiting for development info, and not some "relationship" letter.

And please stop with this Yoshi-P fanatism everytime something is said against him.
I appreciate his job, but can still voice my opinion when I believe he does something stupid. And the timing of this letter was wrong.

DON'T TALK ABOUT YOSHI THAT WAY. HE'S TWICE THE MAN YOU WILL EVER BE.

Yeah totes man, I'm hoping they kick up the hype machine or something soon.

[Elcura]

This topic is hilarious. The only difference in the nature of complaints now compared to before billing is that now people can say "WE'RE PAYING CUSTOMERS!"

[Jamison]

Seriously, this is the man's job.

Just because one letter goes out that doesn't have information about updates or 2.0 doesn't mean he isn't doing his job. The quality of everything that's been done since he took over is fantastic, and that work is continuing. He's doing a great job, thankyouverymuch, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with one letter that focuses on the personal side. The sky isn't falling here, folks.

[Lucavi]

This topic is hilarious. The only difference in the nature of complaints now compared to before billing is that now people can say "WE'RE PAYING CUSTOMERS!"

Doesn't that make all the difference, though? A freeloader tagging along for an expensive dinner and complaining about it simply annoys everyone. Turn that freeloader into a paying customer, though, and suddenly its justifiable if they complain about a meal they feel isn't up to snuff.

Its similar to voting. So long as you actually vote, you're justified in complaining about the state of things. Although, in this instance, there isn't anything more we can do to help the game along aside from paying for it, whereas with the political system, we can get far more involved than simply voting each election.

@Jamison: the sky isn't falling, and never has been falling. Its still someone's right to complain in this situation. Shit, you can pretty much complain in -any- situation, provided you're providing financial support to the company that produces the game. Its cool, though. We get it. You're not gonna complain. Good for you.

[Elcura]

Doesn't that make all the difference, though?

In the nature of complaints not really. It's mostly the tone that changes and makes you all seem a hell of a lot whinier than you were before. Most of you people were insufferably before subs, so this justification does nothing but make you even more annoying. In the end, your complaints (while technically acceptable) are pretty fucking stupid considering the situation.

Using your example, basically what has happened is that you've gone to dinner and the manager comes over and asks how you're doing while you're waiting for your food. You turn to look at him and this is your reaction, "I WANT MY FUCKING FOOOOOOOOD!"

Paying customer or not, you just look like a fucking asshole when the guy is only trying to be nice and personable. Sure he didn't mention your food, but your food is coming.

[Seravi Edalborez]

^ Perception, of course, but I'm interpreting the interpretation as a waiter doing something like:
Previously: *here's what's on the menu*
This letter: Hey here's what I did on new year's.

Better or worse? *shrug* Unexpected though.