November 24th Updates~ Have they saved Eorzea?

[Don Miqot'e]

From what I have read on the "Lodestone", it seems that the community is speaking very highly about these updates. There have been a wide range of simple "HELL YEAHS", for the most part. The community as a whole seems to feel very strongly about this update, in a positive manner!

 

There has been some complaints though, a host of new "Errors" and game crashes, problems with SP (but also the argument has been made several times by others that SP is just fine now), losing SP (because they have lowered the requirements for ranks, some loose SP for your job disappears into nothingness, making that effort worthless. I believe the area I was speaking of was talking about a 55,000 loss). There was also a complaint that the sort function does not alphabetize your inventory.

 

Overall, the community has been glowing with a radiant positive light, which may clear some of the darkness of a negative sort that has been setting the mood for the game for perhaps far too long.

 

 

What do you guys think? Are these good first steps to regaining the trust of its consumer base? Or has this come too late?

[Freyar]

losing SP (because they have lowered the requirements for ranks' date=' some loose SP for your job disappears into nothingness, making that effort worthless. I believe the area I was speaking of was talking about a 55,000 loss).[/quote']

 

Eh.. I didn't get my missing XP in WoW. The fact that they have a system in place to even attempt to offset some losses (IE: Those above the peak for whatever next rank they are running) is a boon to begin with. If you've already punched to R20 then just smile and know that you did it back when it was more difficult.

 

There was also a complaint that the sort function does not alphabetize your inventory.

 

The auto-sort was never going to do that.

 

Click To Embiggen, and for Lossless Version

 

The UI updates not only makes the critical step towards moving Final Fantasy XIV away from feeling like an emulated console title, but also helps critically reduce the amount of time spent in menus. What used to take literally four to seven minutes in gear swaps and unequipped, is now literally 15 seconds. UI lag is most definitely down, though some wait is still noticeable in high traffic areas. This is probably because there is a significant reduction in server-authenticated actions.

 

Custom chat tabs are now available, though only two will be able to be "typed in", which are the two set on the first bar (IE: "General", and my re-designed "Whisper" tab). So, the second set will have to be used entirely for logging things. This makes stuff much better in the long run though, making it easier to sort out chats with vital combat information.

 

The SP and XP bars at the bottom make for a much-needed method to track progression without having to always go to the menu. This is most useful during Synthesis and Gathering (such as fishing).

 

As far as the changes to magic, this has made my (what feels like) neglected Thaumaturge discipline feel like something I can use. Spells are potent, they actually hit and while still have a chance to resist aren't prone to it. Combat feels much more fair in that respect than it used to be. Thaumaturge characters were at best used for spam-healing and Punishing Barb "Lalabombs".

 

It seems they've done a bit of optimization too. Performance on my machine using the old "max" quality for rendering has gone up while giving those with even stronger CPU and GPUs than mine a chance to really kick in environment lighting up another notch. It sure does look pretty.

 

Only complaint is that with the XP/SP bar at the bottom, I'd REALLY like to see a "borderless windowed" mode, or at least the ability to alt-tab without crashing.

[Kifa Malkin]

The inventory sort appears to be sorting by type of item, and then alphabetically within the type.

 

The Equip window only displays items that can be used in the slot. Very nice!

 

Only complaint is that with the XP/SP bar at the bottom, I'd REALLY like to see a "borderless windowed" mode, or at least the ability to alt-tab without crashing.

 

You can drag them to another position on the screen, and stretch horizontally.

 

Might be my imagination, but it FEELS like crafting SP is coming faster. I haven't done any combat or grouping, so I can't speak to those changes, but I'm looking forward to being able to heal by selecting group members from the group list.

 

In general, everything is a lot faster and more streamlined. I'm liking it a lot.

[DAISHI]

These changes help salvage it for the community existent but is it enough to redeem lost players?

[Satisiun]

These changes help salvage it for the community existent but is it enough to redeem lost players?

 

No. It's not. It's as simple as that.

 

A lot of these changes are respectable, they're good, they make the game work better, and make the experience smoother and not as tough to grind through.

 

That being said, there is minimal to almost no new content in the November update. Content and stuff to do outside of signing on, breezing through leves, then signing off is what keeps the player base both stable as well as potentially growing.

 

In short, the November patch has only made that process smoother, which is appreciated, but still repetitive and dulling.

[Don Miqot'e]

In all fairness, most of the complaints I saw (Im not in the game, so much of time is spent glancing through forums, either for some of the cute short stories that appear, or some comment that interests me about the game) was about the trouble with gameplay mechanics, rather than lack of content. (though lack of content was still a major concern)

 

In my own opinion, these fixes makes people FAR more liable to wait till more content is added. Those who are logging in and out checking on the games progress will be pleased to see all the changes to make the game much smoother. This in-turn will make the community better, and if the community is good...

 

We also got some news of December Updates, I read something on the Lodestone about defending camps or something like that (sounds like a fun little event to me) and NMs as well as added levies (which may add a little bit more diversity, but I am not holding my breath). If the detail is as focused as this update... well.

 

So to sum it up, I think this is a good first step (and only a first step). It makes us players feel good about whats to come, and that will help inspire others to join us. If there is only a few posts that say "THIS GAME SUCKS" and more that state "HELL YEAH I MADE IT TO RANK 20!" I think the game will grow. Slowly, yes, but it shall.

[FreelanceWizard]

In all fairness, I've been playing since beta -- though I use the term "playing" loosely, as mostly I've been popping in after each patch to decide if it's worth devoting time to it. The fundamental problems with the game as far as I'm concerned are:

[*]The lack of content; and

[*]The egregiously poor approach to the player economy in a game that's ostensibly driven by it.

[/list:u]

 

The content is a real problem. Running the same four levequests over and over until you get to the next camp -- or, alternatively, finding the other camps in your rank range in the other cities and blowing anima to teleport to them -- is really boring, especially compared to more mature games. I'm not inherently opposed to the levequest model, having played with its closest analogue in CoH, but you need more than a small set of repeating quests to keep people interested.

 

That said, the issues with the economy are arguably more critical, as they make it very difficult to move through equipment progression and introduce distortions in the market. The search functionality they're adding, along with the delivery functionality in early 2011, will fix these issues if executed correctly. That'll put the game on par with EQ2 and WoW, which means we can see the economy really open up. Market arbitrage and increased supply visibility will drive prices down, and the availability of a functional way to get one's wares sold will increase supply by making synthesis more attractive to those who dislike the system but like gil.

 

I entirely agree with Satisiun. While this may slow the exodus of players and reduce the severity of the hemorrhage when the free period ends, none of the most recent patch's changes will attract new players to the game. I doubt seriously that you'll see many people holding out for more content, as you can reactivate your account at will without a loss of progress. More likely, we'll see people dropping out when the game is no longer free and periodically checking back. I suspect we won't see these people hanging out in the community, paying to RP in a game they don't particularly like and where RP can be a bit difficult to locate.

 

As for new players? Until content is added and news coverage makes people aware of that fact, I think FFXIV will remain niche. The initial reviews were scathing, and that's what stands out to people.

[Don Miqot'e]

Excellent points really, Freelance, and I do agree as a whole. Still I have considerable faith that things will be added, just because looking at almost every MMO on the market, the first year is rather tough on content. I mean, the fact that SE has been posting information about new content is a wonder to me, this early in the game. Until after December though, there is no way to tell what the effect is. Especially if you think about the fact that there will be anouther huge update (they said every three months) a bit before or after the PS3 people join in.

 

The reviews on this game were harsh though, I definitely agree with ya. Scathing is a understatement as many were boldly declaring that it was "The Worst MMO Ever Made". Still most of the reviews I read didn't even talk about lack of content, but commented very highly on the UI lag....

[FreelanceWizard]

Well, I think the most pressing content issue in FFXIV is the lack of low level content. Every other MMO I've played has opened with a lot of low and mid level content, leaving the high end for later. That's usually a good bet, as most players don't stick with a game for very long, and the nature of MMOs means that a lot of low level content helps you get good reviews. I can't recall a single MMO I've played short of EQ1 (which has always had content issues, in a sense) that had such a weak early game experience as FFXIV. Sure, the intro quests are good, but... that's the end of it. In EQ2 at launch, you could go quite a ways before you hit the "everything worth doing requires a group" barrier, and CoH could be soloed with missions only into the low 20s or early 30s (depending on XP debt). Even Earth and Beyond, which was notable for lacking content, had non-random missions into the 50s, which was at least a month of play. I can't conceive of what possessed SE to release the game with such little content and an abysmally poor economy implementation -- other than a desire to launch before Cataclysm. That's a big mistake, seeing how chasing WoW is never an effective strategy.

 

I've got hope SE will fix up the game. These recent patches show they're committed to making it into what it needed to be at launch. I won't be paying them to do it, though.

 

I still get a kick out of the "worst MMO ever made" statements. These people never played Lineage 2? Anarchy Online? Neocron? Matrix Online? Geez, you'd think WoW was the only MMO these reviewers had ever seen...

[Don Miqot'e]

Here here mate! The "Worst MMO EVER" was a bit out of line haha. Anyone play Flyff? I went to FF 11 to get a break from that games grind and repetition.... (though the game was pretty cute, there was almost NOTHING to do)

 

I do agree that there is little content, but I think most people were concerned about just playing the game, let alone trying to get involved with its world. Now, however, they fixed many of the complaints (and will continue to adjust these fixes as time goes on, im sure) people are going to reach caps quickly. (There was one that was posting level rank 44 on a Discipline of War Job, and said someone else of a similar rank was with them) which makes lack of content a dangerous thing to have. Also have heard you can't go to Ishgard... cutting off exploration SE, for shame.

 

I joined in on FF 11 late (my second retry though, I did play pretty far earlier) and I had things to look forward too when I did so. Aht Urgan missions, (and later Campaign and dealing with the past), and the many many cut scenes that they used for everything it seemed. (get a new job? CUT SCENES). It actual makes me a bit sad that the Levies got away from that... as I rather enjoyed all the fun story scenes. It kept me rather interested in playing. (Especially when combined with a mature fun loving community) I do worry that FF 14 might not get this in time. However, im a PS3 player, so i'll probably be just fine!

 

 

So now that we are on the subject of content. Lets talk about what will be added. Thus far we've heard about company ships/buildings, possible attacks on camps, NMs (which drop gear, so you don't have to craft everything),new items/item recipes, and very importantly, a SEARCH function for goods in the Wards. (According to "The Lodestone" this will make a icon display above the heads of everyone who is selling the item you requested. Its no AH, but if it does what its supposed to I think its alright) They were also pretty secretive on stuff, but this is mostly stuff I heard about for December and not the early 2011 update.

[Freyar]

you'd think WoW was the only MMO these reviewers had ever seen...

 

It isn't, it's just the only one they remember.