Another Crack at the Dev Team

[Kimiko]

New interview coming soon with the FFXI dev team over at 1up next month. This may be a good chance to get some more definitive answers from them to all our nagging questions.

link here: http://ffxi.1up.com

[aurik]

ask them why they don't ever give useful interviews

[isladar]

I'm satisfied with this thread.

[Myrrial]

Q: Absolute Virtue has been the source of a great deal of player-frustration for years now and the released video did effectively nothing to rekindle player hope or interest in further throwing away time and XP in futile effort against the NM. Do you intend to offer up any further insight as to AV's mechanics or make adjustments to maybe even the playing field a little bit?

A: We don't want to provide any answers at this time. Or any other time, for that matter. We think players should enjoy figuring it out on their own.

Q: Ground Kings continue to be claimed each week by the exact same handful of players that were claiming them five years ago. Would you be willing to consider adjusting the Kings to be more readily availible to groups that wish to fight them instead of being beat-out repeatedly by those who resort to the use of 3rd party tools?

A: We think players should be forced to resort to use third-party tools to claim important HNMs. That way our Task Force can ban them and they can activate new accounts to repeat the cycle endlessly and line our pockets with money.

Q: Crafting is currently--

A: We are considering adjustments but I can't say anything about that yet. *laughs*

Q: Players seem to have very mixed feelings about the Wings of the Goddess expansion in regards of harsh penalties that result in not doing Campaign regularly and about a general lack of content. Will WotG provide enough enough content to keep endgame players busy? And will we see any adjustment to the promotion/demotion system in place currently?

A: We cannot say anything about that at this time.

There. Is that enough of an interview for you?

[Solarus]

This may be a good chance for them to avoid all our nagging questions.

fix'd.

Yeah, it'd be nice if they did answer stuff, but AV strategies probably won't be expanded upon until the NEXT Fan Festival, Dynamis changes probably won't be discussed any further until they're implemented, and anything else is either far enough away that they won't say a word, or close enough that they've said all they're going to say.

Unless 1up can come up with some very specific questions (while being very persuasive), I doubt we'll hear much more than we did at the last interview.

[Myrrial]

I just hope that 1UP waves the recent account-hijackings in their faces because SE -really- needs to understand that theres a massive problem with their security and that their apathy just further promotes people attempting to steal accounts.

I don't see it happening. But I hope it does. Anyone have any good way to contact 1UP...?

[Maxxthepenguin]

Convince Milkman to press the AV issue. If he's in person, he can threaten to kill their pets/loved ones.

[Lordender]

incomming the same answers the dev's have studied on index cards that will be so vague leaving the playerbase with thoughts of what the hell which leads to further confusion of things that are almost answered but not really answered.

Future interviews should include:

1. Bring a recorder of billcosby saying "the proof is in the pudding" and set it on auto repeat over and over again when talking about AV so when they ask what the hell is that say its what you hear when they talk about the AV video.

2. When talking about HNM(kings included) make sure you bring a fluffy horse teddy and a meat hammer so you can beat it infront of them yelling the most annoying thing "BOT BOT BOT BOT BOT, OH BOT BOT BOT BOT BOT BOT BOT YAY AT (insert cuss word here) bots!

3. When talking about wings of the goddess blow up a woopie cushion sit on it numerous times and when asked why you keep making fart sounds don't be afraid to tell them thats the noise their expansion patches have made since the release!

4. When talking about drop rates bring a 100-sided die and roll that shit saying "come on baby, daddie needs (insert your fav hnm/salvage/dynamis drop) and when the die doesn't land on 100 start cussing out loud and kicking chairs across the room.

5. finally when talking job adjustments make sure to hire an emo kid and dress them up to the latest job SE has neglected and arm the emo kid with razors to recite some emo poetry having them cut their wrists yelling out WHY, WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME.

[dendryte]

I just hope that 1UP waves the recent account-hijackings in their faces because SE -really- needs to understand that theres a massive problem with their security and that their apathy just further promotes people attempting to steal accounts.

I don't see it happening. But I hope it does. Anyone have any good way to contact 1UP...?

I don't think this question will go anywhere with SE, because it is not their software that is being exploited. They have already warned users multiple times that users need to practice due diligence with their computers. It is not SE's responsibility to make sure that their users keep their computer software up-to-date and secure, nor ensure that their users have the correct registration information (in particular, registration codes and birth date) handy.

Definitely ask an AV question though... "People have dissected the AV hint video to pieces, and there have been multiple threads discussing it, but no one has had any success in repeating the video team's results. We can provide summaries of these thread if you are interested, but would you please at least hint us as to what we're doing wrong? Morale has already dropped to similar levels as before the video -- any help would be appreciated at this point."

[Myrrial]

4. When talking about drop rates bring a 100-sided die and roll that shit saying "come on baby, daddie needs (insert your fav hnm/salvage/dynamis drop) and when the die doesn't land on 100 start cussing out loud and kicking chairs across the room.

I'd like to duo Arrapago Remnants with an SE Dev playing THF. And then kick him in the balls and make him go burn Assault tags with me when QQTH doesn't drop the Macha's Coat. So that hopefully he'll understand thats effectively what they make me deal with.

Sure, I don't generally get kicked in the crotch during my Arrapago runs. But I figure thats a decent simulation of a year of no Macha's Coat.

Edit:

I don't think this question will go anywhere with SE, because it is not their software that is being exploited. They have already warned users multiple times that users need to practice due diligence with their computers. It is not SE's responsibility to make sure that their users keep their computer software up-to-date and secure, nor ensure that their users have the correct registration information (in particular, registration codes and birth date) handy.

No. But SE -does- need to understand theres a problem and that they can help. Their software does -nothing- to protect us. Where are the security questions? Where is the number pad with a pin number that has the keys show up at different points each time you log in? MAPLESTORY is more secure than FFXI. A free Korean piece-of-crap MMO figured that out. People hijack FFXI accounts because they -know- that SE doesn't care and does nothing to protect those accounts. SE needs to understand that if they man-up they can do something about this.

[Dreampainter]

unfortunately all the snyde comments about SE's interview question dodging skills are 100% accurate and i'm fairly sure the next interview will be the same as all those before it. This thread is great for some good old SE commedy though. Why don't we just take Myrrial's first post (you always know the right things to say) and paste it on 1UP, because that's how the final interview is likely to turn out.


What i would like to see though is some word on weather or not there are more equipment options like relic AF+1 and the like being added for ToAU jobs. Its about time for stuff like that to start appearing based on the age of those 3 jobs.

[Myrrial]

Personally I'd want to ask if ToAU is done or not. They left the Alexander storyline so painfully open-ended and then.....nothing. Throw us a bone here! Wheres the damned SMN Avatar you guys mentioned when ToAU was first announced?

Why is there no benefit to clearing a Salvage zone over getting the "Time has expired; the mission has failed." message?

Why would you use the words "too soon" to talk about adjustments to the oldest meaningful HNMs in the damned game?

And most importantly; why do you event pretend to care? Why hold these interviews if you refuse to answer questions? I love this game. But any time the playerbase has an open line of communication with SE directly the results just make me want to slap somebody. I honestly don't think I'd be able to attend a FanFest. Their answers would make me want to hurt someone.

[Sunrider]

SE -does- need to understand theres a problem and that they can help. Their software does -nothing- to protect us. Where are the security questions? Where is the number pad with a pin number that has the keys show up at different points each time you log in? MAPLESTORY is more secure than FFXI. A free Korean piece-of-crap MMO figured that out. People hijack FFXI accounts because they -know- that SE doesn't care and does nothing to protect those accounts. SE needs to understand that if they man-up they can do something about this.

Anyone wanna actually pose a question? I've got a profile on 1up and have been spamming questions on that blog. I'm not sure how to pose the question on account security, if anyone wants to word it themselves, I'll be willing to post it up.

[Ayn]

I laughed way harder at Lordender's post than I should have.

[Cantih]

I'd like to duo Arrapago Remnants with an SE Dev playing THF. And then kick him in the balls and make him go burn Assault tags with me when QQTH doesn't drop the Macha's Coat. So that hopefully he'll understand thats effectively what they make me deal with.

Sure, I don't generally get kicked in the crotch during my Arrapago runs. But I figure thats a decent simulation of a year of no Macha's Coat.

This, this, THIIIIIIIIIIS.
As a TH4 THF I'm tired of getting ribbed over cell drops in Arra, and L35 drops in general. And sometime the system is EVIL.
I'm on priority for Freya's Mask, and I had to miss an unscheduled run to go to class. They get FIVE Skirmish Pephedros, FOUR of them drop L35 pieces, and THREE of them are Freya's Masks. that was ONE SINGLE RUN!

Make some goddamned "Salvage: TH+20" gear ffs, at the very least.

And since the beginning of the year, my LS has gotten over 12 Homam Zuchettos, many of them 2 at once, from our Omegas.

[Myrrial]

Anyone wanna actually pose a question? I've got a profile on 1up and have been spamming questions on that blog. I'm not sure how to pose the question on account security, if anyone wants to word it themselves, I'll be willing to post it up.

I will. But I'll need the help of Zudz. I'm not the most friendly person in the world by any means--but I assume his customer-service skills can help me make the question sound less offensive than if I were to word it myself. Or maybe a more kind-hearted poster here can figure something out.

[Sunrider]

Anyone wanna actually pose a question? I've got a profile on 1up and have been spamming questions on that blog. I'm not sure how to pose the question on account security, if anyone wants to word it themselves, I'll be willing to post it up.

I will. But I'll need the help of Zudz. I'm not the most friendly person in the world by any means--but I assume his customer-service skills can help me make the question sound less offensive than if I were to word it myself. Or maybe a more kind-hearted poster here can figure something out.

Eh, just pose the question, I can edit out any vulgarities that might send the devs' poor sensibilities all aflutter.

[Myrrial]

Many players feel that PlayOnline would be more secure if security-questions were required to change a user's password or payment information like some other services use. There have been a number of cases cropping up in which outside parties are going to extreme lengths to access player accounts--and PlayOnline doesn't have any real defensive barriers before a foreign party can access and ruin years of hard work. Does SE feel it can do anything to better protect its playerbase?

*edited slightly*

[Tarage]

I am jaded. At the last Fanfest, I had the opprotunity to talk briefly one on one with Michael Christopher Koji-Fox about the disconect between the players and the developers. I expressed to him that if we would be given the chance to ask five or so questions a month of the Dev team(Like that of what Blizzard is currently doing with Starcraft II), the fan base would feel vastly more connected to the game. He claimed to like the idea a lot, and promised to pass it to Sage Sundi

Either my idea was liked and the Dev team is just being their usual uselessness, or this is another case of SE ignorance. Either way, the lack of answers and idiotic questions such as the now imfamous 'Cheese Sandwich' have caused me to become quite jaded. SE's promises no longer mean anything to me, because I've been lied to so many times. I only play for my friends now, something SE should be thankful for because I believe it is keeping a good chunk of the playerbase here. However, even that won't last forever if things continue this way.

If SE ever wants to be concidered as anything but a joke at customer service, they should take all this to heart. However, that is wishful thinking. It's Ragnarok all over again...

[Sunrider]

Couldn't have said it better myself. Oh, and posted.