Dev Tracker: Discussion

[Kincard]

Finally done, phew.

In case you guys are wondering, by the way, 5 of 6 of these people have been around since the game's creation.

Matsui was originally credited as Battle Data Planner. He's known for being one of the directors of Chrono Trigger, battle design on Legend of Mana/Final Fantasy 4 and 5, and Map Data for Romancing Saga 2.

Ito's was formerly credited as "Passing". I'm not even sure what that means, and I don't know what else he has worked on.

Saito has also been around since the beginning, credited as the "Field Event Planner". He was also involved in Zilart and Promathia event design. He has been event planner on games like Chrono Cross and Xenogears.

Hisaki has been credited in XI since the beginning as the "Contents Technical Manager", but I'm not sure what else he has worked on.

Satou was credited originally as the "Windurst Scenario/Event Planner". She was also credited as the Scenario/Event planner for Chains of Promathia and she wrote the lyrics for both Distant Worlds and Forever Today. She also has worked as a planner on games like Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy 8, and Dewprism (Threads of Fate).

As far as I can tell, Taniguchi is a newcomer.

So basically, I guess you could say Matsui and Ito have moved up in position to being producer/director of the game, we've had at least some of the exact same staff doing the story as we've had for a decade still keeping at it, and the guy in charge of job and combat balance seems to be a complete greenhorn.

[KetSC]

Yeah, thanks for the translations Kincard . And also it's great to know most of the original FFXI team is here .

I'm sad to see Tanaka go but Matsui and team are doing a great job continuing FFXI. FFXIV's problem was the engine wasn't as good for MMOs as they wanted it to be and the rushed deadline for FFXIV. The content and systems for the game were good. He just needed like an editor or a quality assurance person to help make sure his ideas fit with the audience nowadays compared to back then.

I'm glad to see most of the FFXI team still here. Tanaka will be missed but it is good to know that his legacy will continue living on!

Anyway, on to the interview contents.

Hmm, interesting that they apparently had to rush through SoA.

I wonder what's the reasoning for this?

FFXI is doing well having like only 10 or so full time devs working on the game.
I wonder if they are planning for a new expansion already.

It so, that'd be neat. I assume maybe like half the team is working on finishing SoA and adding new end game stuff, maybe the other half is working on the basis of this new expansion if there is one.

Now that FFXIV ARR is released and making a decent profit, I wonder if this means FFXI can be more free to try more riskier stuff (including more expansions).

Don't know about other servers but it really seems the subs have not dropped at all (for the JP population that is). It still is 1.7k peak JP times during weekends on Fenrir which was the same last year and even before FFXIV release too (though the non-JP subs dropped vastly after FFXIV release).

I wouldn't mind if they used higher texture resolutions (or the original assets used to create the textures - should be higher res than the in game ones), added an action/hot bar, and try to make FFXI a bit more modern. Not sure what the limitations on the UI or other stuff are though.

[TummieGaruda]

They clearly don't want that.
Being it random => people keept trying until they get what they want => people stay busy => content is a success because is not ignored 2 weeks after release like everything else.

This is their mindset, but they failed into delivering something that could be mildly long lasting but not frustrating at the same time. Skirmish augment system is TERRIBLY frustrating, way too random.

I wish they would change their mindset though. You could easily make something long lasting with static upgrades for gear similar to Delve. Let users pick vanilla gear with different variations of stat vomit with different names (str/dex/agi , vit/str/dex , etc). Give players a large list of stats they can add to the gear through a point system with each piece of gear having a point cap similar to merit categories. Make the initial etching cost the most with each upgrade costing less depending on the stat. For example, a body piece has a 50 point cap. Having accuracy etched to the gear costs 10 points and gives you +15 Acc. After etched, each additional accuracy added costs 2 points. Double Attack could be 10 points to etch giving +2% and each additional 1% is 5 points. Allow players to be able to downgrade etchings similar to downgrading merits (no refund). The numbers could be moved around for balance sake but you put this in some kind of event where X amount of plasm like currency is converted into points and maybe have an option to have difficulty settings determine a bonus on the currency. Not the greatest system, but at least people get to pick their static augments and if done correctly it could last a long time.

[Lyramion]

Finally done, phew.

Well thank you for all the effort!

... if you want to start a mythic crowdfund Spira is done

[Sechs]

The mindset in itself can be ok and frankly I fear it's unavoidable.
The problem, more than in the mindset, is in the balancment.
It's TOO random. They could have set up a much better compromise for that, yet appearently they learned nothing from the Skirmish 1 experience, given how random the Alluvion can still be.

[Capuchin]

What's so terrible about an event that's not out yet? Rala/Cirdas Alluvion was even mildly fun, it was just gimped from the start because surprise, it's weapons. With RMEs continuing to be relevant, they're kinda hard pressed to make these weapons competitive, if even very useful at all. The augment system was a step in the right direction, but still flawed with getting screwed by the RNG. I'll be excited to augment any armor as I see fit, MAB on melees that lack it, melee stats on mage gear, etc. As long as the same system for the weapons carries over, I think it'll be at least a mild success.

Why I think Feb Alluvion Skirmish is likely to suck:

Augments: The Skirmish augment system is awful, and Alluvion Rala/Cirdas have done very little to convince me the devs have made meaningful enough improvement. Plus there's that HUGE issue of augments getting wiped when you upgrade gear with the inevitable next round of Skirmish. If you assume Alluvion takes the same pattern of Rala/Cirdas -> Yorcia -> RaKaz, anyone who bothers dumping more than trivial amounts of stones into random augments for Alluvion phase 2 (knowing the next phase will follow shortly) is either an utter fool or is so loaded with gil that it's completely meaningless to them.

Even if they DO further improve ability to target specific augments, that just means less longevity for the event as people put in minimum effort to get the base gear in the first week or two, then get their easy augs and ignore the event and it dies out quickly. (EDIT: unless it's something like the system Tummie described above, which sounds quite good... but also seems like SE is unfortunately committed to using stones/random augs for Skirmish)

Lack of fun: Skirmish has been at best a mildly entertaining event (RaKaz wasn't so bad, though the awful rate of KIs helped make it more unsatisfying than necessary), at worst maybe the most boring event ever conceived in FFXI (Yorcia). Cirdas/Rala, either original or Alluvion, were mediocre.

Gear Quality: Skirmish has been intentionally designed as an event where decent endgame gear is available to more casual players. Yes, there are exceptions (like Hagondes+1 set being stellar for BLM), but for the majority of jobs Skirmish gear is a not-quite-as-good alternative to gear from other events. Most jobs will have something like 1 good piece per set, so there's really not a lot of gear to target in the first place.

High potential for wasted time: When I win a 45+min Skirmish and get no KIs, an NQ stone, and a 1k crafting material, I feel like I utterly wasted my time (and that kind of drop rate is far too frequent). Contrast that to Delve's progression, with incentive to do the event repeatedly to get more points, get the gear you want, and still feel like you're making progress with each win. Or even High tier fights feel like you got something even when you don't win the item you wanted, since everyone gets chapters for any win.

One thing they could do to lessen the suck of Skirmish is have it give VERY good CP rewards. That would address multiple problems: (1) it at least makes you feel like you got something worthwhile out of going to a run even if you don't get items/KI you wanted, (2) encourages players who already got the gear they need to come anyway (an issue with previous Skirmish having zero attraction to those who got their gear), and (3) if they're gonna keep expanding the use of Job Points/Gifts, they really need to provide a variety of good sources of CP.

[Sechs]

I partially dissent with the lack of fun. Pre-patch Alluvion skirmish was lots of fun, you had no cap on floors and could go on as much as your skill/pt/setup allowed to. Gave you motivation to try your best, I loved that.
Sadly they patched it and, at least for me, that killed a lot of the fun of doing Alluvion Skirmish.

[Capuchin]

I partially dissent with the lack of fun. Pre-patch Alluvion skirmish was lots of fun, you had no cap on floors and could go on as much as your skill/pt/setup allowed to. Gave you motivation to try your best, I loved that.
Sadly they patched it and, at least for me, that killed a lot of the fun of doing Alluvion Skirmish.

To be fair, I didn't give Alluvion phase 1 a ton of attention, since the rewards are poor for all of my jobs. I wasn't particularly excited by what I played, but perhaps I was influenced by my lack of motivation to do the event. Still don't care much for original Cirdas/Rala Skirmish though, and Yorcia was god awful. I was fine with RaKaz as far as being a decently engaging event.

[Sechs]

Yorcia was terribly boring, Cirdas was confusing with the silly textures/map, but personally I loved original Rala. It's structure opening in tiers, the NMs, some of them were evne challenging with the ilevel back then.
I became a great leader for other people in Rala runs. Really loved T4 and T5 in there, dunno if anybody else shares the sentiment.

Ra'kaz Skirmish ain't that bad either, I still kinda enjoy it.

[Kyte]

It's pretty lol that they purposefully adjusted the Naakuals to be somewhat multi-elemental in order to reduce RUN's effectiveness against them.

[dasva]

It's pretty lol that they purposefully adjusted the Naakuals to be somewhat multi-elemental in order to reduce RUN's effectiveness against them.

It's like they thought everyone was using RUN and it was overpowered or something which 5 minutes in the game would tell you wasn't the case. If you stick to 1 element it would be par maybe slightly better with ergon though that kinda goes out the door against a pld with burt on top of aegis/ochain.

And this 1hd update has really helped pld to actually be able to do some dmg and add something besides eating dmg... I actually beat one of the 3 rngs in overall dmg and beat them all in ws (but I was holding tp for savage blades after resets) last time I did a D avatar

[Malithar]

Gear Quality: Skirmish has been intentionally designed as an event where decent endgame gear is available to more casual players. Yes, there are exceptions (like Hagondes+1 set being stellar for BLM), but for the majority of jobs Skirmish gear is a not-quite-as-good alternative to gear from other events. Most jobs will have something like 1 good piece per set, so there's really not a lot of gear to target in the first place.

The rest is mostly opinion and I can't really refute that. I hate random augments too, don't get me wrong, but I see the value and desire players would have to create good gear from it, just like people are still doing with 119 Skirmish 1 gear. Most Skirmish gear is still some of the best hybrid or pure -DT gear you can wear, augments obviously effecting it's quality.

Plus, as long as they stick by it, they laid out their plans for the continuation of Alluvion back when it first came out. If they stick to it, this next batch will have bodies and heads, with the last having the rest of the sets. Furthermore, each new tier will bring with it new stones, offering more/different augments, with the old stones still being usable. Means we'll be able to put 3+ augs on the gear, and eventually 4+ augs once Rakaznar is added. Depending on the augs, even the weapons may become useful. There is no raising the ilvl or upgrading this gear, they learned from Skirmish 1.0 with that, so instead it'll continue getting better as more stones are added.

Plus, unlike 1.0s gear, you can customize the gear as you see fit, melee augs on mage gear, MAB augs on melee gear, etc. That customization is something sorely missing from the game, and I'd think a fair few would be very excited to get it. And while that customization will have to be gotten through a RNG system that can (worst part of the system IMO) ignore the type of stone you use and give you an aug from another stone, the option is still there, and options in this sandbox environment are a beautiful thing.

[Ibisariot]

Thanks for translating, Kincard. Lot of interesting info. Surprised by the Naakual dialogue they didn't include, especially with Tchakka being the nicest one. Wish they had a bigger role in the story, though some lore quests centered around them would make up for it.

Saito: There is actually a hidden affection stat with Arciela. If you choose things such as staring at her chest, it lowers the affection, and doing nice things increases it. At first we wanted to do things like making her look angry at you if you have lower affection, but we were not able to implment this. However, it would be quite a waste if we did not use it at all, so there is actually one place it comes into play- the Chapter 4 Mission, "Courier Catastrophe". The lower your affection with Arciela is, the harder the item you need to collect will be. If you have the lowest affection rating possible, you will be asked to obtain the incredibly hard-to-obtain Buffalo Horn.

Those assholes... don't punish players for choosing some trivial fun option with some impossible-figure-out BS like that. Getting that horn was my second least favorite thing about SoA (first being Teodor's cheating minigame).

I do like Tummie's idea on Skirmish and had similar thoughts regarding augments before, though that etching/point cap is a nice touch. If I could put a bunch of stones towards some guaranteed augments of my choosing, I'd do it in a heartbeat over hoping I get lucky in SE's crazed pachinko machine.

Plus, unlike 1.0s gear, you can customize the gear as you see fit, melee augs on mage gear, MAB augs on melee gear, etc. That customization is something sorely missing from the game, and I'd think a fair few would be very excited to get it. And while that customization will have to be gotten through a RNG system that can (worst part of the system IMO) ignore the type of stone you use and give you an aug from another stone, the option is still there, and options in this sandbox environment are a beautiful thing.

Definitely a step in the right direction, though it sucks those augments aren't a guarantee, just the "primary" stat. Last four Leaftip +1's I used on my Doomsday got me Haste+1, Cure Potency+1%, MDB, and some other garbage.

[Kyte]

Those assholes... don't punish players for choosing some trivial fun option with some impossible-figure-out BS like that. Getting that horn was my second least favorite thing about SoA

Bwhahhhaa, you were the first person I thought about when I read that part.

[Sechs]

Changed elements of WKR bosses? What did I miss?

[dasva]

Changed elements of WKR bosses? What did I miss?

They said originally they were focused on one but they changed their mind. I assume by that they mean all the debuff effects that they have with elements all over the place.

[Draylo]

Thanks Kincard, much appreciated. I hope they come out with a new expansion, something like that is needed atm.

[Sechs]

Thanks Kincard, much appreciated. I hope they come out with a new expansion, something like that is needed atm.

^ this x 2000.
But given how an expansion doesn't come out 2 months after the announcement and how they haven't even remotely announced anything, I'm afraid we're gonna have to stay a long time without any new expansion in sight =/ Supposing it will ever come.
Normally I would say "never", but after the surprise of SoA (which nobody was expecting) I changed that to "never say never".

[Ophannus]

Incursion feels like content that they whipped up in like a single afternoon. It uses the same zone as Skirmish and Delve and Missions, Cirdas [S] and the mechanics are simple. Compare to Walk of Echoes which at least was more interesting and was a new area sort of. I'm hopeful we'll see a new largescale endgame event like a Sky/Sea, but using Ra'kaznar Inner Court since it's so vast an unexplored other than missions.

[Kainstryder]

It sounds like there is a new expansion, just they don't want to leak any details. It's kind of like how they sprung Adoulin on us with NO warning, just "hey check this out".

Also fuck them, that minigame WAS rigged. I can't tell you how often Theodor landed on an 11.

And that "you need to get the rare buffalo horn" thing, again, fuck them. It's funny to see Arciela's reactions.