FFXIV Random Speculation/Question thread VI: Phase 3, FFXIV is still on the rag!

[Cjskater]

is trade still not working?

Every time I've tried before it worked. It was completely slow like everything else though. I know you can't trade a damaged item or items that are marked as untradable. Wasn't trying that was you?

[Destinye]

The only thing they have to do is move the UI from serverside to client side. UIs tend to be serverside during testing builds of online games then moved client side which solves just about every UI issue because an unstable/incomplete server setup while the UI is serverside = very sluggish Ui for the end user.

[Hyan]

UIs tend to be serverside during testing builds of online games then moved client side.

Why?

[Kurp]

Most likely.

People thought the same thing about Mythic and Warhammer. That didn't turn out so well. :/

[Destinye]

Why?

It depends on their goal..for SE who knows, for some companies they do it to monitor certain data about player habits and etc. You usually see the smaller companies do it though.

[Kurp]

The only thing they have to do is move the UI from serverside to client side. UIs tend to be serverside during testing builds of online games then moved client side which solves just about every UI issue because an unstable/incomplete server setup while the UI is serverside = very sluggish Ui for the end user.

Which games have done this? Just curious.

[Loaar]

People thought the same thing about Mythic and Warhammer. That didn't turn out so well. :/

WAR is a terrible example though.

Its two years old now, and its devs still haven't worked out that if you allow players to gain PvP gear without PvPing, then they will do that instead of PvPing for it.

They keep adding EXACTLY the same type of carrots, then acting like they dont understand why the playerbase isn't doing what they intended.

The first time its understandable, the 2nd time you have to question if they are paying attention at all. After 2 years of it happening over and over again, you have to wonder if the WAR devs are even trying to fix it, or just adding easier ways to progress though the original content so people keep subbing.

[Lucavi]

So there's no confusion:
You actually do gain experience points from healing. However you do not get them for healing yourself. The other person has to have taken damage and you have to be fighting something. It's still retarded but you do get points for it. It might work better if hate wouldn't magnet to the mages.

Edit: Beaten I guess.

This issue is something I could see them patching very quickly, ESPECIALLY if they'd actually just come out and tell us that its not something they intended to be so difficult for healers.

All it takes to keep people hanging on for another week/month/update/EXPANSION is a little communication and some direct dialogue of what you're thinking, what you've noticed, and what you're intending to do about it, as a collective company. Hell, the Alpha combat -worked-, and that didn't mean it was good.

If they explained the surplus, people would sigh with relief and simply wait for it. If they explained their reasoning behind the old-school UI, even if they are not planning on adjusting it or fixing it, it would still go a long way.

Some purists say "who needs communication anyway? It turns into a massive QQ fest!" I'd respond with "no communication turns into empty zones in this day and age, especially when a player doesn't feel that their money, as a customer, is going back into the game to continue to improve upon it". You can't give everyone what they want, obviously, but simply to hear what's down the creek in terms of adjustments and, more importantly, what you intended to do with what's currently in the game vs. what you are planning to do to adjust it, is key.

FFXI did it through sparse version update notes. The actual patch notes never explained anything - you only got a taste of what they as developers felt, during massive version updates. I don't think that's nearly enough, and while I don't feel that they need some massive language correspondence's team dedicated to chatting up people on forums day and night, having a small team of translators that relay the buzz from the players and devs once every week or two would be a big step in the right direction.

Shit, leave the translations to the fan sites - just talk to us and throw it out there in Japanese: we'll take care of the rest.


Edit: Destyine, it ain't just the speed of the UI, its the freakin' UI. Too many separate menus, too much "confirm clicking" with constant, "are you sure?" "do you want to?" nonsense, the complete un-functionality of the UI with the mouse, the inability to select multiple items for anything, including trading, selling, buying, ect... there's far more problems with that old-fashioned UI than simply "if it speeds up, everyone will love it".

There are real problems with it. Burying your head in the sand will only keep them from addressing those problems. This UI -works-, sure, but it could be much, much better, with a little more freedom and streamlining.

[Destinye]

Which games have done this? Just curious.

From what I remember in games I've actually played , early builds of Space Cowboy (Air Rivals), Lineage II and Sword of the New World had serverside UIs at first then patched to allow the client handle a majority of UI interactions.

[Hyan]

People thought the same thing about Mythic and Warhammer. That didn't turn out so well. :/

I mean, of course they'll try. Whether they'll succeed, is another question altogether.

I still wouldn't compare Mythic to SE though.

Some purists say "who needs communication anyway? It turns into a massive QQ fest!" I'd respond with "no communication turns into empty zones in this day and age, especially when a player doesn't feel that their money, as a customer, is going back into the game to continue to improve upon it". You can't give everyone what they want, obviously, but simply to hear what's down the creek in terms of adjustments and, more importantly, what you intended to do with what's currently in the game vs. what you are planning to do to adjust it, is key.

They'll just have to continue their Vanafest tradition.

[Celeras]

I really hope somebody can figure out what "surplus" is. From what I've read, it sounds horrible. It's worse than de-leveling. Also, any changes with the control schemes or mouse implementation?

To be honest, I think its just something in the game thats supposed to work off the un-implemented death penalty.

I have no proof, or even evidence. Just a theory.

[Edgie]

Ok i'll resay what I did

We did Escape from cell b17

I was conjurer et was archer, our goal was to kill 2 zikkos. first one was fine 2nd was hidding, we both though it was in a cavern, but I went to the wrong one, and it made me fail my leave.

So I ran back to the node and clicked it and it said 'Do you want to help the party finish this leave' Clicked yes and went to kill the 2nd zikko. When the reward note appeared I got 120gil only which was the completation bonus for helping So I lost my main reward because it didn't count as my 'own' leave anymore

I had a similar experience last saturday, so it was before the patch, the quest gave only gil reward so you cant say its because of the guild marks

[Kurokikaze]

I always thought it had something to do with durability since they were introduced together. Either way, its not working as intended.

[Ratatapa]

I had a similar experience last saturday, so it was before the patch, the quest gave only gil reward so you cant say its because of the guild marks

Gosh is it so hard to read I never said it was because of the guild rewards, the first person said this problem started today I tried to tell him I had the problem yesterday.

I said guild rewards because it was my reward for that quest, it could've been Equipment, all i'm trying to say is that it made me lost my main reward of the quest

[Uzor]

The reason AION failed wasn't only because of the insane grinding, it was because their main selling point, which was raid vs raid fortress PVP, utterly failed because of their horrible programming. When I played it, everyone in my guild (even those with top-end PC's) had their FPS drop to about 2-13 FPS during raid vs raid PVP. Hell, the game lagged up the second a single member of the opposing faction even came within radar view, which was just absurd. The grinding was just icing on the cake, at least for everyone I know that quit the game (me included).

I don't mind grinding. I really don't, but AION's grinding was of the least interesting kind. I'd gladly start a new account and level every job to 80 before I go back to AION again.

As for FFXIV - I agree that the UI needs to change. I don't personally mind FFXI and FFXIV's UI, but I can see why a lot of people hate it. Back when I first started FFXI, I got very confused over the way the UI looked. Eventually I grew accustomed to it, though. If FFXIV want to draw people beyond those that enjoy the Final Fantasy series, it needs to change.

What someone mentioned earlier about the UI being server side I found very curious - is it true FFXIV's UI is handled server-side? That would explain a lot as to why it seem to be so laggy, and I truly hope they make it client-side later. I don't see any reason to keep the entire thing server side. If they want to avoid exploits, they could just put the exploitable stuff server-side rather than the entire thing.

[barber2006]

Didn't see a random question thread so I figured I'd give the 40 page thread a shot......


I've been trying to avoid 14 news to keep it 'fresh' on release. However, a buddy of mine called me today and said it was his impression that if you 'maxed' a crafting job then you couldn't 'max' a combat job? Is this true? In this same line can you not max two combat jobs? What exactly are the restrictions here?

[Hyan]

To be honest, I think its just something in the game thats supposed to work off the un-implemented death penalty.

I have no proof, or even evidence. Just a theory.

That's not too far-fetched actually. I remember Runes of Magic had a system similar to this as the death penalty, and at least I liked it.

[Lithiani]

FFXI was the king of grinding and (when you got a decent party) the grinding was the most fun I've ever had in an MMO.

However, the class relations and class balance, combined with elitism and the way the games skillchain system broke at high levels, killed the fun of the gameplay.

So grinding isn't bad per se, so long as the grinding is fun to do.

[Loaar]

Didn't see a random question thread so I figured I'd give the 40 page thread a shot......


I've been trying to avoid 14 news to keep it 'fresh' on release. However, a buddy of mine called me today and said it was his impression that if you 'maxed' a crafting job then you couldn't 'max' a combat job? Is this true? In this same line can you not max two combat jobs? What exactly are the restrictions here?

There are none currently, and SE have not mentioned any plans to limit them so far.

The closest they have come is to say that they may, in the future, not allow people to max out every crafting job for balance reasons.

[omegaB]

if they do limit crafts, i think that would kind of suck. kinds of goes against the system. though i imagine in a worst case scenario maybe they would have to, but ehhhh