Final Fantasy XIV - Kiwi Free Company

[Tanner Glass]

Hell, while I'm at it, I also think 8.0 should be the point where they scrap the 1.0 class system entirely, and make the original ARR jobs unlock at Lv1, with the job crystal itself being the job selector, not the weapon. Throw in a token medal for gatherer jobs and variation of the specialist plaque for crafters and we're golden.

I'd suggest to keep the classes (and the stories) but squish them down to 1-15 instead. Removing them would probably destroy some of the spaghetti code underneath anyhow - but I don't want to live in a world without Hamon Holyfist. Instead of 1/5/10/15/20/25/30 just do 1/3/6/9/12/15.

1-15 should be where you get the base tools (1-2-3 combo, 1-2 AoE, a buff) and 16-30 should be where the job gets built out (the gauge, the mechanics, the unlocks, etc) and 31+ should be small changes and whatnot but generally getting comfortable with the whole kit.

I'd even go so far as to suggest a level squish, because most of the levels are just boring filler and more than half of them are dead levels that give you nothing. Most of the gear is garbage as well for the same reason. This would really let them cut out a lot of straight filler from ARR MSQ, but probably from other places as well.

Having recently done the ARR/HW/SHB MSQ, even though "Return to the Waking Sands" is a meme there's also a shit ton of "Return to the Lotus Stand", "Return to the Immortal Flame office", and "Return to Merylb's Office" that can be cut down drastically.

 

[Baron Reginald]

I'd even go so far as to suggest a level squish, because most of the levels are just boring filler and more than half of them are dead levels that give you nothing. Most of the gear is garbage as well for the same reason. This would really let them cut out a lot of straight filler from ARR MSQ, but probably from other places as well.

You mean half of your level rewards as traits being a 5 potency increase in a dot isn't exciting for you?

 

[Tanner Glass]

You mean half of your level rewards as traits being a 5 potency increase in a dot isn't exciting for you?

No I mean half the levels (all of the odd ones) that don't even give you anything. But yes "Attack Mastery 4 (+10 POT on One Attack)" is also complete boring dogshit.

MCH has one of the worst offenders in Checkmate/Doublecheck - two abilities that get merged into one but still exist as separate abilities for no discernable reason other than level syncing.

 

[Ravana]

I for one was thrilled to level up and be treated with an extra five seconds of Feint.

 

[Dopey Cunt]

I didn't realize this little bit of trivia because I play on japanese dub but apparently, Geode was voiced by Ben Starr, the voice actor for Clive of FF16.
I like Ben, he's nice.

 

[Ravana]

I play on English and didn’t even notice. I also play on a laptop so I can’t hear most things to be fair.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

Actual question, but what would actually bring you back to the game more, and are you guys actually going to preorder the next expansion?
Had a chat with a coworker and they are the type of person who will preorder the premium delux "Im a retard" packages for basically every game, and even he said he's giving 14 a wary miss to see if it'll be alright. So it must be rough if even the most dedicated consoomer is giving it a wary pass.

So as someone who only has played it to 50

More interesting gearing.
Rotations being a bit cleaner as a tank.
A lot better story, ARR is absurdly bad in spots.

 

[Well Intentioned]

So I finished the patch and there’s three things…

Spoiler: sperging

-How the fuck did calyx survive? His memories were destroyed.
-They’re bringing ascians back? Really?
-Fuck Wuk Lamat.

1) He apparently saved himself at the last nano-second. Kinda ehh, but I don't think they've really done this contrivance of the last second escape (outside of that one bozo from the ARR/HW Beast Tribe quests.)
2) It's speculated Ascians are coming back. I am hoping that they're going to bait and switch us.
3) Not with Koana's dick and Bakool Ja Ja pushing me. But thank god it looks like this character can be relegated to the trash heap.

Technically there are a few that are still completely unaccounted for. Pashtarot from 1.0 is the first one that comes to mind, so they were bound to show up again eventually. The lore book mentions a few more.

Deudalaphon is the other one I think might be having a shot at cropping up if they're going the Ascian route as it'd be thematic to Calyx.

The Wintering org makes me think of Wintermute from William Gibson's works and we're going to see a humdrum "AI BAD" composite from the writers, with an AI-scian being Deudalaphon's form (given that apparently he fought with Gaius.)

I am going to be 100% wrong on this, keep in mind.

 

[Not your Buddy Holly]

Deudalaphon is the other one I think might be having a shot at cropping up if they're going the Ascian route as it'd be thematic to Calyx.

Technically there are a few that are still completely unaccounted for. Pashtarot from 1.0 is the first one that comes to mind, so they were bound to show up again eventually. The lore book mentions a few more.

skimming the XIV wikia, there's only 3 completely unaccounted for: Pashtarot, Halmarut, and minor Ascian Tranvanchet. The 2 that were slain by Gaius were Altima and Deudalaphon (according to a very rare OoL source: PLL 68.)

Actual question, but what would actually bring you back to the game more, and are you guys actually going to preorder the next expansion?
Had a chat with a coworker and they are the type of person who will preorder the premium delux "Im a retard" packages for basically every game, and even he said he's giving 14 a wary miss to see if it'll be alright. So it must be rough if even the most dedicated consoomer is giving it a wary pass.

personally for me, what would bring me back more into playing the game is that gearing doesn't feel like you're pulling teeth. it's either:
>dungeon gear, the easiest way of getting geared but it's low item level and the endgame dungeons don't guarantee gear drops like leveling dungeons do
>fight 7 other people for normal raid tokens (one a fight per week until it unlocks then you fight against all 7 for the tokens)
>do savage and fight 7 other people for savage gear
>fight 7 other people for alliance gear (one piece of gear a week until it unlocks)
>farm 450 good boy tomes a week (which is not enough to even buy hand or feet gear, so it's a guaranteed 2 week farm unless you want jewelry)
and the normal weapon grind is even worse: 7 tokens (1 a week!) and then 500 tomes. At this point, I question how much time is truly wasted in the gearing cycle that I could use to do something else or play a different game.

 

[SnowBall]

I don’t think the ones Gaius killed are perma dead as you need the white auracite macguffin to permanently destroy them. Also Yoshi P told us to remember the convocation names prior to DT’s release so it’s not a surprise they might come back

 

[RIPRhongoBongo]

Another thing that would make me excited to play more is getting rid of the hard caps on tomestones. We sneeze in any general direction and get Poetics

 

[Baguette Child]

Another thing that would make me excited to play more is getting rid of the hard caps on tomestones. We sneeze in any general direction and get Poetics

I haven't not been maxed out on poetics for about 8 months of the 12 I have been playing, it's kind of ridiculous. There either needs to be no cap or more things worth the trouble of spending them on.

 

[Xerxes IX]

I want gearing to be less of a slog. Sure, you can LEVEL every class but to play alt jobs in up to date content when they have a different gear type takes weeks.

When was the last time they doubled the weekly tomes, end of Shadowbringers? They should just double weekly tome limits when they unlock the savage tier.

 

[Golfing on the Moon 1971]

Actual question, but what would actually bring you back to the game more, and are you guys actually going to preorder the next expansion?
Had a chat with a coworker and they are the type of person who will preorder the premium delux "Im a retard" packages for basically every game, and even he said he's giving 14 a wary miss to see if it'll be alright. So it must be rough if even the most dedicated consoomer is giving it a wary pass.

I gave up on the story after the ShB patches and especially Endwalker but I will probably continue to buy FF14 expansions for the aesthetics. I like the spell VFX, the job outfits, the music style (even if it is overrated), art direction is generally good enough. The Dawntrail dungeon boss fights were more engaging than usual. That being said, the main issue is that there is little reason to remain subbed. Occult's Crescent was too little too late and the experience is not very fun (boring looking map, the RNG is too much on the artifact quest items so it feels like I am not making any progress and I already did the Dawntrail zones for the orchestrion rolls and the plate. You are incentivized to not main your favorite phantom job but to instead swap to something else as soon as you cap one. Coin farm groups force you to use a certain setup rather than the one you like. Etc). The netcode makes the PvP experience feel really bad, and there aren't many tantalizing rewards there. I gave up on the chaotic raid due to the bodychecks where if one guy makes a mistake (we all do) it's a wipe. I hate that part of FF14 raiding.

 

[Brandy [◉'']]

Hell, while I'm at it, I also think 8.0 should be the point where they scrap the 1.0 class system entirely, and make the original ARR jobs unlock at Lv1, with the job crystal itself being the job selector, not the weapon. Throw in a token medal for gatherer jobs and variation of the specialist plaque for crafters and we're golden.

In the world where Brandy buys Square Enix and gets to be new director for the game, the Class system would be the basis for a new type of combat content. Since, in my opinion, they are no longer able to revert the course from the current Job design and combat content, I would have some hand waved lore reason for alternative dimension dungeons and outside areas, where Job stones don't work. Instead you have to pick one of the classes. However, inside those you'd find materia that adds abilities and passive effects instead of boring stats, so you can use those to change your class in whatever you want. MRD can go full DPS, ROG can go item based Healer, LNC could tank and so on. I would also blatantly copy the skill chain/magic burst system from FF XI as main way of dealing damage, since none of the Classes have any inherent speed ups, so you can make combat more tactical instead of reaction based, with the main concept being party based game play. Also, utilize other gameplay collections for this, ACN could get a Triple Triad Materia that let's them summon whatever cards you have in your collection, card game anime style, a GEO Materia that uses your Sight Seeing log as basis for possible attack types and so on.

With an MMO that is 10+ years old, you have so many possibilities that are NOT the current combat gameplay but they never are brave enough to go there.

 

[John Roguelike]

To get me to come back would require a restructuring of both jobs and fights, and the systems around both.

Eliminate the trinity and vastly diversify each job according to job fantasy.
Make each team random, with the diversified jobs making victory always available, just maybe in different ways.
Make dungeons into bozja-like zones so that those beautiful hallways have more longevity, and have expanded replayability.
Make gear matter, stat sticks no more, adjust levels, squish stats, etc, as necessary.
Re-add elements just to spice things up, a bit.
Unoptimal plays with a team should be better than optimal plays solo.
Materia should do more.
Fates should vary way more.
World map should have more stuff, secrets, and the like, though that is lower priority.
Fights should be a blend of positionals and actual rpg gameplay, instead of being predominantly positionals.
Also plz fix the story.
In addition to what the other posters here have pointed out.

 

[John Roguelike]

Gonna double post like a faggot. Drank a lot of whiskey, so my thoughts were and still are disorganized, but the reason the jobs and fights need to be different, and the dungeons expanded, and items made useful in some way, etc, is to give the games content actual longevity. By getting more bang for your buck from your systems, the devs save money. Actually having so much shit to do in the game would make even just running around the world fighting random mobs fun, if those mobs had some teeth. I spit on parsetrannies who don't even enjoy video games and just want to wave their orange or whatever color parse around. A measly 2% or less increase in damage leading to the 2 minute meta has been disastrous for the game. I wish square detected this software and instantly banned your account for bringing parses into the conversation of this games balance at all. There are so many conveniences in this game that they could really experiment with the balance without it making the game as a whole seem like (at worst) a chore. But instead we have content that is instantly dated once you get what you want from it. It wouldn't be too difficult to make these changes, but squeenix is afraid to do it at all out of fear of alienating MMO fanboys, that most caustic of fanbases. I blame tigole, but the problem lies in the design of the game, not just with the kind of fan that wants "hardcore" content made "easy" when its all just 4-24 retards working in parallel the same way every time.

 

[Baguette Child]

Q1 financial report for Square Enix is out. Relevant slide is below:



MMO gross sales decreased year over year by -23%, MMO operational profits by -45%. Dawntrail really shat the bed for them.

 

[Agarathium1066]

Q1 financial report for Square Enix is out. Relevant slide is below:

View attachment 7757825

MMO gross sales decreased year over year by -23%, MMO operational profits by -45%. Dawntrail really shat the bed for them.

If only they'd considered not treating one of their most important financial pillars like the whipping boy! Nah time to use it as a source of money to shove more resources to more unsuccessful products.

 

[Sheep King]

A bit off-topic, but can someone explain to me what exactly people dislike about the Thirteenth arc so much? Is it just Zero being an annoying trope character?
I thought the Arch-fiends were fun enough and I got a little invested in saving Azdaja. The common explanation I heard is that it felt pointless, but it's the first arc after EW and people seemed to agree that we wanted a shorter story with less stakes to reset things. I agree it needed more story hooks for the future. honestly it didn't feel much worse than previous patch cycles.

Also they take Calyx way too seriously when the idea of a hacker villain with an iPad in XIV is so fundamentally dumb. He really should've turned out to be an avatar for some fat nerd in a basement somewhere in Solution Nine using Replicant Sphene as a virtual GF before we kick his teeth in. But I guess you don't want to insult half the playerbase.