Letter from the Producer, XXIX (06/04/2012)

[Hiruke]

I'm somewhat confused by the comments about how the repair system keeps crafting relevant, which implies it's otherwise useless. No one crafts anything of value or affixing materia to it? I certainly never repair anyone's shit unless I'm friends with them, or it's my own stuff.

I think the proper question should have been, in the poll, "Do you think we should even have a repair system?" God knows I would have voted no. There are less inconvenient gil sinks that could potentially be implemented.

And I can't really fault the common man for not wanting CUL to fix your "food armor", like we're on an episode of Jerry Springer. Especially since most folks apparently don't have high level crafts and have no idea what the fuck they're talking about, which automatically makes them unqualified.

Where it got really stupid is where we apparently want Viera as the next race, or something like it. Don't we already have Miqo'te? Are we just going to have a plentitude of animal girl races? Let's just go full Elin on their asses, then, just like Tera.

Also? I was fucking blown away that people say crafting is too hard to level. I... what... really? What even... Are we expecting like 10,000xp a synth now, or something?

[Patriarch]

I had a little faith in the OF.. joke was on me I guess. The HNM thread I made was my only run lol

this game is fucked ladies

[Alkar]

The pool was taken before the recent changes to crafting and back then it was a pain to level up a craft. Now it is much better with all the additions and fixes so that issue has been fixed already.

[Gokulo]

Also? I was fucking blown away that people say crafting is too hard to level. I... what... really? What even... Are we expecting like 10,000xp a synth now, or something?

The poll was taken before the crafting changes afair, and it did blow back then... you either had to be extremely patient or bot as it was painstakingly slow. Nowadays I actually found myself logging and just spending time crafting because at least I could see my work paying off.

[Croy]

I'm somewhat confused by the comments about how the repair system keeps crafting relevant, which implies it's otherwise useless. No one crafts anything of value or affixing materia to it? I certainly never repair anyone's shit unless I'm friends with them, or it's my own stuff.

I think the proper question should have been, in the poll, "Do you think we should even have a repair system?" God knows I would have voted no. There are less convenient gil sinks that could potentially be implemented.

And I can't really fault the common man for not wanting CUL to fix your "food armor", like we're on an episode of Jerry Springer. Especially since most folks apparently don't have high level crafts and have no idea what the fuck they're talking about, which automatically makes them unqualified.

Where it got really stupid is where we apparently want Viera as the next race, or something like it. Don't we already have Miqo'te? Are we just going to have a plentitude of animal girl races? Let's just go full Elin on their asses, then, just like Tera.

Also? I was fucking blown away that people say crafting is too hard to level. I... what... really? What even... Are we expecting like 10,000xp a synth now, or something?

This poll was conducted before some of the larger EXP overhauls for crafting, I have a feeling the answer might have changed quite a bit since then. Also I don't have a problem with repair as a concept and it is more then just a gil sink, its a form of item destruction (limited as it may be) to keep people from just tossing up old gear on the market/AH without dabbling in some form with market or slight inconvenience. Its either this or soul binding because an MMO NEEDs some kind of item destruction for crafting to stay relevant later on. What I wouldn't mind is what others have pointed out, if you have leveled in a craft high enough to repair something you shouldn't need to equip a specific tool to repair an item. Or maybe even pull a mental trick and get rid of item wear but bind all gear to you the moment you equip it, but with a crafting tool of the appropriate craft you can unbind to yourself to prep for selling on the market.

[Raldo]

Yeah, I caught a few questions that I recall answering differently than I would now. Some faster turnaround on these poll summaries would be nice. More polls would be good too; that way they could map their progress. "People said crafting was too tedious, but now the poll results say it's great! Success!"

I want to say we've had at least two (three?) large patches since that poll.

[Odin'sLaw]

does Hiruke not remember the Rapture joke from the april fools "FFXI Is Cancelled"? i'm pretty sure a Viera was riding a chocobo

[Elcura]

The poll was taken before the crafting changes afair, and it did blow back then... you either had to be extremely patient or bot as it was painstakingly slow. Nowadays I actually found myself logging and just spending time crafting because at least I could see my work paying off.

The problem left with crafting now isn't the speed, but that it's fucking boring. Combined with what used to be a stupid low leveling speed and it was basically the worst thing in the world.

[Gokulo]

The problem left with crafting now isn't the speed, but that it's fucking boring. Combined with what used to be a stupid low leveling speed and it was basically the worst thing in the world.

Not saying it's not. Just pointing why the poll results look like that.

[Lucavi]

I had a little faith in the OF.. joke was on me I guess. The HNM thread I made was my only run lol

this game is fucked ladies

Aww... but you tried so hard to convince us otherwise, dude! Ah well...

Holy shit at these responses. So much for that "high quality community" that FF is supposedly known for. Yoshi-P listening to the idiot paying playerbase isn't a solution, but Yoshi-P ignoring the current players and just doing whatever the devs think is best got us Tanka's lovechild.

Should be interesting to see the solution.

[Croy]

Aww... but you tried so hard to convince us otherwise, dude! Ah well...

Holy shit at these responses. So much for that "high quality community" that FF is supposedly known for. Yoshi-P listening to the idiot paying playerbase isn't a solution, but Yoshi-P ignoring the current players and just doing whatever the devs think is best got us Tanka's lovechild.

Should be interesting to see the solution.

I think he will find a practical solution, its clear he has his own whims and wants for the game. I think he realizes a 'negative' mechanic (Like repair and materia melding) can be changed to be more convenient and it won't upset too many people to have them quit and yet he knows it will hopefully alleviate issues other people might have had with the mechanic. On that note I think others need to realize negative mechanics are needed in some capacity to make the economy function (The NPC repair = 100% idea sucks unless we have equip soul-binding, we need more ways to destroy gear in this game not make it easier to put it back on the market/AH after use).

We know for a fact the Crafting UI and function is getting completely overhauled in 2.0 so I am interested see the direction he wants to take it. Like many things in this game the core gameplay or idea might actually be functional, but thanks to the server and horrific UI it comes across as trite and often times irritating at best.

[Lucavi]

I don't view a moneysink as a "negative mechanic"; I view a shitty mechanic as a "negative mechanic". WoW's repair NPCs weren't negative mechanics; they were goldsinks designed to remove cash from end-gamers, and they worked fairly well. I can only imagine how much money the repair guy outside of Naxx in Wotlk made - I remember blowing at least 200 gold on him alone at some point.

At this point, I'm actually getting annoyed with the communication coming from SE, because its become too one-sided. You look at WoW (work with me for a minute), and you have a mix of blue posts and upcoming content being shown, even if said content isn't finished (pretty easy to throw a "WORK IN PROGRESS DOES NOT REPRESENT THE FINISHED PRODUCT!!" tag in there, like they actually do). Sites like MMOChampion are gold for this.

We're actually getting a pretty good influx of words and posts from SE, and, from what I hear, even some responses on the official forums. This is good. I am proud of them for this. Its a huge step for a Japanese company to actually talk to people; a point made even larger when you see that the sweeping majority of the Japanese playerbase polled doesn't even look at the official forums.

But (I hate starting a paragraph with but, but...) all we're getting is words, and for some people, those words are candy-coated and full of dreams, while for others, those words are empty until they see some product. I'm not completely in the latter's camp, but I'm ready to be fed a few bits and peices of what's going on, and I don't mean concept art. I'd like to see a few screenshots, maybe some empty zones that are getting worked on, or perhaps a few attack or spell animations from the upcoming 2.0. As of now, I kinda feel like a guy waiting in a "under new management" resturaunt, waiting for my meal after the previous version of the resturaunt shitted up the place, and I have the manager dipping out of the kitchen every 2 or three minutes, promising us that everything is going to be delicious and just perfect, but we're not getting appitizers or a refill on our water or anything, and if we do get something, its more leftovers from the old resturaunt.

I'm ready to see something at this point. Show me something, SE.


...Just not a FMV. Again, we still haven't seen half the shit you threw in your first FMV actually implimented in the game.

[Niiro]

Re: repairs and such.

I would hope Yoshi realizes that making repairs easier and more accessible at the cost of "realism" will make the game more appealing to the important demographics (people who are rightfully critical of the game and are on the fence about playing) than it will upset the unimportant demographics (OF morons that will be playing regardless).

[Elcura]

Aww... but you tried so hard to convince us otherwise, dude! Ah well...

Holy shit at these responses. So much for that "high quality community" that FF is supposedly known for. Yoshi-P listening to the idiot paying playerbase isn't a solution, but Yoshi-P ignoring the current players and just doing whatever the devs think is best got us Tanka's lovechild.

Should be interesting to see the solution.

There's no decision to make here. You should rarely, if ever, listen to your fans/players. Tanaka's vision bombed because Tanaka is an idiot, not because doing what you think is best (as a dev) is a bad idea.

[Corrderio]

My god at how many people think the combo system is great or good.

[Croy]

I don't view a moneysink as a "negative mechanic"; I view a shitty mechanic as a "negative mechanic". WoW's repair NPCs weren't negative mechanics; they were goldsinks designed to remove cash from end-gamers, and they worked fairly well. I can only imagine how much money the repair guy outside of Naxx in Wotlk made - I remember blowing at least 200 gold on him alone at some point.

I think you misinterpreted what i meant as a 'negative' mechanic. Bind on equip was what i was alluding to if you wanted to find the equal in WoW. The repair system is intrinsically designed not necessarily as a gil sink in this game, but as an item destruction mechanic where the crafters control the market one way or the other. It doesn't do the job even close to as well as bind on equip, but by making it semi-inconvenient it still accomplishes its task. Can't find a crafter or not a crafter yourself then you can't put the item back on the market or even trade it to a friend. Could there be a better way to do this? sure there is. And even in its current form that doesn't mean they can't get rid of 'some' of the issues present like making it possible to repair gear on any class so long as you have the required craft leveled and dark matter. But you guys act like the only reasons its there is to annoy you, its function has more then one affect on the market besides a gil sink (Which as a gil sink is damn near useless these days) and if they make a change to make easier to put items back on the market, they need to make another change elsewhere.

[Patriarch]

My god at how many people think the combo system is great or good.

Not only the combo system.

It's alarming at everything the official "Final Fantasy XIV" community finds to be "great", despite being obvious garbage (my opinion..)

As all of our above BG posters have said, this game is doomed to failure if the devs continue to listen to the joke of which is the playerbase.

I for one have no faith left, and have no real expectations of this game. I would like to play it one day, but I doubt that day is coming!

It's just ridiculous though... open up the official forums and look at the first page of threads... it's almost comedic at this point. How any dev could take that seriously is beyond me

[Takiwaki]

Not only the combo system.

It's alarming at everything the official "Final Fantasy XIV" community finds to be "great", despite being obvious garbage (my opinion..)

As all of our above BG posters have said, this game is doomed to failure if the devs continue to listen to the joke of which is the playerbase.

I for one have no faith left, and have no real expectations of this game. I would like to play it one day, but I doubt that day is coming!

It's just ridiculous though... open up the official forums and look at the first page of threads... it's almost comedic at this point. How any dev could take that seriously is beyond me

What do you expect when the only people that can give any feedback are the people who are still paying and playing the game, they obviously like the game enough to to keep paying for it. I mean what kind of feed back would one expect?. I have friends that really do enjoy the game.

[Corrderio]

Exactly, that's one of the problems with this game. Listening to your fanbase is pretty much suicide since they'll defend any bullshit decision you make.

Honestly, I hope this game the best. Between them going into the "need a PT for everything" mindset, the horrible drop rates and repetitive nature of endgame, and the community, I have no faith in this game any more.

[Kurokikaze]

Anyone know if SE even has a booth at E3? Only thing I've seen from them is Tomb Raider.