Sweet! I am actually very happy about number six. lol
That alone should weed out some of the retards that shouldn't even touch this game in the first place.
Hip hip hurray!
You're happy that SE is so short sited, that they are completely ignoring even the most basic pc control elements that were standard a decade ago, and are making a sub standard mmo as far as pc mmos go, to cater to their target audience, the console gamers? No, they are doing it their way & you don't like it that's all. oh, & their target is FFXI & FF fan in general... not just console btw. You don't like it, don't play it. Simple...
If SE had any business sense, they would have made the pc and ps3 version seperately, with different controls and ui, and have pc and ps3 exclusive servers, instead of trying to force a combat and control system thats deliberately clunky, layered and slow on a pc, so it can be played on the controller. Again, you( & other like you ) not liking it =/= clunky. Fact. SE said that the slownest should be fixed with a few more tweak & removal of testing software.
It's not often you see a company invest so much money into a game and then deliberately annoy a large segment of mmo players, if I was a SE investor I'd be pretty damn pissed right now, since the company seems to be run by stubborn, short sited and arrogant fools that think they can strong arm people into playing the game their way, ignoring all feedback and industry standard controls/ui, and pretty much giving people the finger when they point out the games obvious and glaring flaws. Maybe investors thrust SE to make a game that will have as much success as FFXI for years to come... there's your money. jeez... They don't want millions of players, just a loyal fan following that will keep bringing in money for more than a few months. If you wonder what they are doing, look at FFXI & you'll have your answer.
This kind of crap might have worked when FF11 was released, but it's not gonna work today, especially with games like rift/swtor/GW2 on the horizon, it would have saved the SE devs alot of time if they just started flushing stacks of cash down the toilet than to try to release this game on a pc in its current state. They aren't aiming for the same crowd. SE is going to watch the upcoming titles you mention battleling it out for the mainstream market & fail. All the while laughing to the bank due to FFXIV doing pretty well in its niche. Thats what you fail to understand.
That's your opinion & nothing else bud...
Sir you seem to have quite a chip on your shoulder about this game. I will fight to the death your right to say it but I ask you to not wish misfortune on other folks. If people are interested and looking forward to the game there is no need to kick them while they are down. That is just being mean spirited and rude.
END OF LINE_
~V
Good morning
What? Wishing misfortune I am not. I don't understand why you say that, sorry. Quite the opposite, in fact, I wish everyone finds the MMO they actually enjoy. I'm not kicking anyone while they 're down, I'm just sick & tiered of those people not understanding that its ok that all game don't work the same way, that all game doesn't cater to them.
Yeah, I'm rude when people annoy me to no end...
''No jumping, no swing ( not needed!!) cry cry... I want my ''Standard'' (sheeple) controls from the previous game I played! Differance is bad m'key.''
You get the picture... but I respect your opinion V. I just don't want to get in game & have the chat spamed by these people whinnings about this & that not working like THEY feel it should work. That is going to ruin the game more than anything else imo.
edit: @ Skoreanime: I think you are just a sour grape & you really should move on. Oh & btw, don't transfer your own mental flaws on me its not healthy for you man.
... There is no reason not to have hardware mouse support. There is no reason not to have a search function for the market wards. There is no reason not to have the UI be controlled client side, as opposed to the crap server side they have now. SE claims it for security reasons...bull freaking shit. It's a step away from using a DRM IMO. So completely pointless that just degrades the overall quality of the game. ...
Hi. Sorry, I really don't want to get in the middle of all this arguing, but I felt the need to comment a little on your post anyway. Please remember that this is meant as a friendly comment, not as a personal attack in any way.
Let's start with the reason why one can't have hardware mouse support. I am not entirely sure about this - but is this possible for the PS3? Or is perhaps software mouse a requirement for it? If in fact SE's design philosophy is to keep the versions as similar as possible, that would be considered (by them at least) a good reason. Something to that degree has already been expressed in this topic somewhere (focused more on gamepads though).
A (pretty big) reason to not implement a search function for markets has already been mentioned earlier in the thread. It looked to go by fairly unnoticed. I'll reiterate and elaborate. It's because of economical concerns. An AH can quickly be dominated by an organized group of people. In addition, with an AH based economy, a casual player can quickly fall behind because he might not able to cut costs or operate with as low profit margin as others. In a market where a customer can not with certainty shop only the lowest priced items, sales will happen for everyone. Think of a casual gamer like the local store in town not being able to compete with the large chain of stores. SE is the landlord who wants that little shop to be able to turn a profit, so they can collect rent instead of having an open vacancy. Me being from Norway, it is a political ideaology I know well
Client-side UIs are more prone to 3rd party code than server-side UI code is. You need to not call this bullshit. It's one hundred percent true, and nothing you say will change that fact. Can you make a totally secure server-side UI? No, I guess not - but it stil makes it harder for people to cheat. Hey, I just thought of something: would a client-side UI work for the PS3? Probably... I don't know.
I'd also like to say that I find a lot of sense coming from both sides of this... well, let's be civil and call it a discussion (what's up with all the name-calling? No moderators around here?). I honestly don't know what to expect any more. But thankfully I have the option to not invest time or money if I don't like the end result. It kind of seems, by their communications and vocabulary skills, that many in here lack this option themselves.
Anyway, sorry to disturb your fight/raging guys, please; as you were!
I just have time for a quick post before I dash off to work, didn't read the article itself and started skimming as I got to the last few pages of the thread. Even though I have up until now been 100% sure that I would be getting FFXIV and playing it exclusively for a long time, this news (if it is true) is the first to give me second thoughts. Mainly just the tutorials, AH, and mouse support.
Tutorials - No amount of fanboyism or love for "old-school" MMOs can justify this. This game does a lot of things very differently than other MMOs; off the top of my head, the multi-class system, lack of MP regen, and limited access to quests. You can't thrust new mechanics like these into a game that break established conventions and not find a clear and concise way of explaining things to the players as they begin. Explaining how to play the game is NOT a form of hand-holding or dumbing-down. It is very frustrating to want to do something and not know how to — the bad kind of frustrating, not the good kind! It is frustrating to try to find out how to do something only to eventually find out that it's not even possible and you've been wasting your time. And it really really sucks to go on having a difficult time because there's something that you can do but didn't know you could do. That's the worst, because you don't even know that it was an option. You wouldn't have even thought to ask around or go google a fansite because you didn't know that you didn't know. This is one issue where people can't get away with saying that that's just how FF is, because the console FF games had tutorials up the wazoo! The boss fight that you cannot get past until you show that you know how to use Sabin's Blitz technique, or the cutscene with an Imp who teaches you how to use Gau's Leap and Rage commands. The material tutorials, the Junction tutorials, the sphere grid tutorials. Every FF game has been a bit of a chore to learn and they make sure that you at least understand your options the instant those options become available, rather than letting you flop about doing things wrong and playing suboptimally.
AH - I've seen people argue elsewhere that Auction Houses were one of the many causes for the death of the good-ol'-MMO feeling, and that they're a community killer. But to say that an AH is in the works and will be introduced later, that would mean that they do think the AH is important to the game (and that its absence is not an attempt to bring merchants and customers closer together) but that it's just not going to be there upon release. I don't buy the economic argument for a second. Whether it's the 1st day after release or the 1000th day, if you are willing to buy an item for X gil and someone is willing to sell that item for X gil but has no reliable way of making you aware of that fact, the system suffers. You either go without the item or you buy it from someone who is selling it for a higher price, just because they were the only person you could find. Not to mention the advertising necessary to hawk one's wares by hand... I predict a lot of early crafters getting on my block list the first week if they don't shut up about the leather gloves and apple pies they're selling.
Mouse support - Simply put, knowing what you want to do but being unable to do it quickly is frustrating. It makes for an immediately negative first impression, and I worry that it will cause a lot of people who would otherwise love the game to simply quit before their 30 days is up. This is not a case where you say Good Riddance; these are people who would have genuinely liked the game if they had purchased it 2 months later after the patch, or if they knew for sure that it would be fixed very soon. The menu-driven UI isn't quite the same issue, because that is a necessary evil. In order to have the game look and play the same on PS3, they need to do it that way. So be it. If people join up and instantly jump ship because of the menus, they couldn't have enjoyed the game in the first place. But a sluggish delayed mouse isn't something that you fix when you get around to it... it needs to be fixed before the first player logs into the released version unless you want every reviewer's first sentence to be "the first thing I noticed was the laggy mouse."
The issue with tutorials is always debatable. I think part of mmo's is that "learning curve" of either wanting to learn or not. Most players with enough FF history can testify that players will sometimes play their character "out of the norm" regardless of whether the general consensus agrees with that statement. We may not like playing with Leeroy Jenkins but (thankfully) we don't have to worry about every player being a Leeroy Jenkins either. As far as mmo's go and FF in general, yea most console games are straightforward (do this and this and this and your set) but I also feel mmo's aren't always designed for being "straightforward" [but as I wouldn't mind it like in cases of Absolute Virtue]. Either way though I think having it boil down to the player is a good call. We may make bad calls and do it incorrectly but I also think that is part of the mmo profile; doing things wrong every once in a while since there isn't a save button or a reset from save point either...
I think the AH when taken into consideration with the overall crafting hierarchy, I can see them as using this as a means to more or less "force longevity". I've said it before and I'll say it again: SE has ALWAYS taken the wrong approach when it comes to addressing issues with the AH. I've always felt that EVE Online had the principles in which an mmo's AH could best operate down to a working science; reliance on NPCs to stabilize prices for majority of the easily obtainable goods, rarer items being set by players and market location and trading determining the prices of other items less often sold by npc's and players. In fairness there was more to that in EVE however but at least those aspects could've been used in FF. I think the idea of simply no AH is intended to prevent "speed" crafting, and forcing a longer lifecycle on the game. Can you imagine if endgame items will require craft items like some did in FF11? I can also see this hampering RMT but it sure as hell makes it a bigger inconvenience on players (and I seriously can imagine RMT's gouging prices on items just due to the lack of an AH). I swear to gawd if there are no filters in the game then yea shouting for items will become the new irritating norm.
I preferred the keyboard in FF (and could use it better that most of my friends who played) but its the controls that did it for most players who did EVE on a 14-day trial; it was too difficult of a UI to use and they just jetted. I don't think it would be 100% the exact same thing for players (as you said some ppl will genuinely learn it because it IS FF) but I think it will hurt players who are the casual players looking for a new mmo. This basically means that if a player comes into FF14 just because they heard reviews and wanted to try it out and the UI is buggy or difficult to use, we can't expect them to stay for the ride.
Fun fact: This is an FF game. It's going to function similar to almost all FF games. Even more it will be very much like FFXI.
If you think SE is going to give up on their FF core for this MMO you're sadly mistaken. They are building something further in their FF franchise which has a perfect fan base to sustain an MMO. Not able to use a mouse? That didn't break FFXI, it wont break FFXIV. AH? Its trivial and if its truly needed it can be added or the current system altered. Bugs? ... New MMO?
You can't look at what it is. Look at what it will be. Given what they did with XI you know they will build on the game with ease. FFXI has pumped out plenty of content, fun changes, and so many new classes...
lol elitists just because 1 person is saying that all ff fans must be like that.
They will fix it but the controls will still be different then a normal mmo and I just don't get why all this rambling from people.
FF is a console series and only 2 (excluding ports) were made also on pc, their main audience is console users so it's kinda obvious the controls won't be like a normal pc mmorpg. It was still perfectly fine the way it was, yea maybe they should made default compact because people didn't bother to search and would find out you could make it nearly like a normal mmo controls.
I played ffxi perfectly fine cause it was fluid and I played with keyboard & mouse with no problems.
Sweet! I am actually very happy about number six. lol
That alone should weed out some of the retards that shouldn't even touch this game in the first place.
Hip hip hurray!
This is the number 1 reason I won't touch this game. The FF fans are the most elitist jerks I've ever listened too on this site.
the thing about posting online is that you cant portray the slight smile or the inflections of comments.
Maybe he meant it in jest? maybe he did intend to be insulting, but seriously, dont generalise about 'groups' cos it tends to be wrong. not every 'Fanboi' is a jerk, most of us are older players (I myself am 33) and have a degree of respect for fellow players.
Also jsut firing back about the Auction houses? I am glad someone else sees it the same way I do, I can predict a community of crafters where 'word of mouth' will build your business, market exploitation of buying everything then price fixing will be stopped, sure am interested in seeing how this pans out
oh adn as for tutorial? heck the Manual in Beta tells you where to go and what to do, but hey, people jsut wann jump straight in
I read th OP, and he skewed the original post on FFCore. If you have any doubts, read the original wich he did link to in the 1st place.
Tutorials. There is a manual, but people still need the hand holding of a tutorial. Reading skills , FTW.
The information is there on how to start the game, how to play the game, it just takes reading. Since thats not good enough there goin to let the Fansites post and help with detailed how to, hand holding all the way. So you dont have to play, just follow there Go To NPC A, do quest X, return to NPC A for reward.
AH, there are many ways to manupulate an AH, with bad, BAD resulsts to the casual or normal player. I know, I have seen it done and have done it.
I still fondly recall the days of the makeshift bazzar in the commons tunnel of EQ.
No mana regen. Food and gear will handle that.
48 hours cd on leves, share...take your friends quest, and your quest you just doulbled your quest log.
I did not play X!, I didn not plan on goin to ff 14, but a few freinds are goin and I NEED a game.
Graphics and performace issues. Every new MMO or PC game i have bought in the last 10 years have always made me upgrade my PC or parts of my PC. thats par for the course.
Lastly End Game, the game isnt even out and your worried about endgame?
Not a fanboy, but a realsit. This game actaully is looking quite good from alot of perspectives. Alot is new, some is "old school' some are fixes to things that newer MMOs have problems with.
The one thing I do understand its goin to be there game, there goin with what they ( SE) thinks will work. If something dosent work out they will adjust . Its not goin to be a game for everyone. But it will be a game for me...if not. Ill findanother one.
A (pretty big) reason to not implement a search function for markets has already been mentioned earlier in the thread. It looked to go by fairly unnoticed. I'll reiterate and elaborate. It's because of economical concerns. An AH can quickly be dominated by an organized group of people. In addition, with an AH based economy, a casual player can quickly fall behind because he might not able to cut costs or operate with as low profit margin as others. In a market where a customer can not with certainty shop only the lowest priced items, sales will happen for everyone. Think of a casual gamer like the local store in town not being able to compete with the large chain of stores. SE is the landlord who wants that little shop to be able to turn a profit, so they can collect rent instead of having an open vacancy. Me being from Norway, it is a political ideaology I know well
Interesting, i've never thought of it that way, but I agree with this, as I experienced similar difficulties with the AH during my time in Aion, all the way up to 50 and afterwards.
Not a fanboy, but a realsit. This game actaully is looking quite good from alot of perspectives. Alot is new, some is "old school' some are fixes to things that newer MMOs have problems with.
The one thing I do understand its goin to be there game, there goin with what they ( SE) thinks will work. If something dosent work out they will adjust . Its not goin to be a game for everyone. But it will be a game for me...if not. Ill findanother one.
This 'no mana re-generation' is completely putting me off. Can anyone please explain to me how it will work? how mana will regenrate and at what rate.
There are certain skills for casters what will heal MP a bit, however they have long cooldowns and won't exactly restore full or even half MP.
Mana is restored interacting with Aetherytes scattered through out a zone. Casters do seem to have attacks don't consume MP, but the whole point of this is to make Casters plan to conserve MP and use it more wisely. Fighters won't be effected by this to much i believe unless they're bringing magic skills along.
It seems that while there will be general tweaks to somewhat improve things people are complaining about, there are some issues that won't be addressed for launch.
Tutorials. Expect some improvement to starting player guidance, but they are leaving it up to Fansites to post guides on how to play the game.
Auction Houses. Not for launch. Better ability to search the retainer vendors for goods you need? Not for launch.
End Game. Most content at launch for casual players. Hardcore and end game content to be added later.
Mana Regeneration. Maybe some tweaking for launch, but they want players to be limited by mana and mana management. (Similar to DDO, your mana pool does not regenerate on it's own, in or out of combat).
UI lag. Working on it, expect solid improvements with tweaks, fixes and removal of debugging code.
Mouse Support. They understand the Software mouse has bad performance, but while looking into possible hardware mouse in the future, no plans yet to add it to the game. Definitely not for launch.
48 Hour Guildleve cooldown. It will stay. They have no plans to change it, at all. If you want more Guildleves, share them with others and have them share theirs with you. (The arguement that 48 hours is fine for casuals is horrible, IMO. 24 hour cooldown would make more sense for the person who plays an hour or so a day).
Graphics performance issues. Expect some improvements with tweaks and removal of debugging code. Still have issues? It must be you and your hardware...
Seems to me that while some of the biggest issues and complaints may get addressed in some ways before launch, a lot of big issues will not be addressed. I'm still leaning towards playing, but I'm expecting a rocky launch for the game, based on what I see in game and what the devs have to say in this interview.
"Yeah i read the interview and then came here and saw the post good percent of the actual interview was cut out and modified."
This is a horrible job on the OP's part, I hope people will go and actually read the interview log because a lot of what the OP said is modified to their liking and not accurate.
The endgame stuff is ok, as power gamers tend to get what they deserve in that regard, but the rest of this has me facepalming.
Get what they deserve in that regard? What are you talking about? If players get to the endgame and there is nothing, expect an AoC scenario to unfold.
So you can do questleves with other people and not have them count against the 8 you can do? That doesn't sound too bad, and would encourage more grouping I suppose.
If you powergame to the level cap before the devs can add adequate endgame content, don't whine about there being a lack of content. I don't think FFXIV is going to be one of those games where even casual players can hit the level cap in a month.
I've been playing beta and like it fine. There are some aspects I don't like so far but I can deal, and I wouldn't be surprised if they adjusted them soon. If I didn't like it I wouldn't play it or pre-order it, it's as simple as that.
I could see some of these complaints being valid if you invested a ton of time into the game and these were changes down the road, but they're not. You get plenty of fair warning before you spend a dime on it. I don't agree with every little thing they are doing but I do admire how they are sticking to their plan and not being pushed over by every little complaint. They show great confidence and skill so far so I'm willing to get on board.
Didn't really see anything about this, but has there been any talk of fixing the horrible map system in-game? I hate not being able to scroll and click around it, much less scroll between the various "levels" of the city.
And honestly, the game felt rather clunky to me from the bit of time I played it. Didn't help that I got caught in a glitched "chatbox" and was forced to go to task manager and end the entire game that way... whose bright idea was it to disable everything the second a chatbox with an npc is open?
Well, get to wait for the Ps3 versions beta at least, see if they pick up their act then.
Map system is great. Scroll it using the ijkl keys.
For those concerned about the guildleve 40 hour redo system, think about this:
1 Member: 4 Guildleves per day - One Star missions Only
2 Members: 8 Guildleves per day - One and some 2 star missions
3 Members: 12 Guildleves per day - 2 star Missions
4 Members: 16 Guildleves per day - 2 Star missions and with proper group setup some 3 star missions
5 Members (Full party) - 20 Guildleves per day! 3 Star Missions
10 Members (Mini Raid) - 40 Guildleves per day!! 4 Star Missions
15 Members (Full Raid) - 60 Guildleves per day!!! 5 Star Missions - Best rewards for effort. Requires Dedicated Tanks and Healers, and good DPS.
This game was made with grouping in mind, and if you want to solo, you will be able to, but in a limited aspect. If you are in an organized Linkshell with members going in and out all times of the day, you can easily do a perma-raid setup that people join as the day progresses and you will be able to do guildleves up the wazzu all day long, getting rewards that the solo player can only dream of.
The game seems solidly designed with this mindset, and I am happy for this.
Also, how long will it take to finish guildleves post the "intro" levels. Lets say it takes you 20-30 minutes per leve at level 20+... If you have a full group, 20 guildleves would = roughly 10 hours of gameplay a day... how much more do you really want???
Today I interviewed Hiromichi Tanaka, the producer of Final Fantasy XIV, Nobuaki Komoto the Director of Final Fantasy XIV and Sage Sundi the Global Online Producer.
It was a quite enjoyable interview, thanks to everyone that made it possible, I'm also looking at you Stanley!
Are we going to see tutorials and gametips being added for the new players to assist them better?
We do have a tutorial ingame but we understand that it's not enough, so we will improve it. We hope you're going to find out through the storyline to find out what's going on and how to use things. Also when you reach a certain level we hope you get into towns to talk to other players. Also at the beginning us game developers usually provide the basic information but fansites always make better guides regardless. So it might be difficult for the time of the launch but we're going to try to talk to fansites so they'll post detailed information regarding on how the game works.
Regarding auctionhouses:
Regarding Final Fantasy XIV and the market battle system is something we would like to consider the equilevent to the auction house we had in Final Fantasy XI. Only that you'll also be able to fix your equipment and things like that. It is something we really want people to enjoy. Also after the release of the game we will see how it goes and for example find out what kind of search options players will want and need and improve the situation. We don't really want to introduce the auctionhouse from the beginning because that is going to determine the economy system. So we want to improve it slowly and adjust it accordingly.
When do we get to see the PS3 version and when is the PS3 beta?
Even when we're here at Gamescom in Germany the development team back in Japan is working on the Playstation 3 version. Probably this week or very soon we're having an internal meeting to discuss the revealing of the Playstation 3 version status of Final Fantasy XIV. So as soon we're comfortable with announcing more information about this we will do it.
Will endgame be in the game on release?
Factionleves is something that we're trying to implement at the moment. And you might soon see some part of it in the beta test that is going on at the moment. It is something you can acquire by collecting action points in the game and by doing Levequests. We are going to add more and more of this type of leve in the game to make it quite challenging. As for the launch however we want to make sure that the game is easy and accessable for casual players. Throughout version updates we're going to introduce more hardcore content so even both casual and hardcore players alike will enjoy the game.
Will we get any sort of mana regeneration abilities and/or items?
We're still working on this so we will make some small updates and improvements in the future, but at the same time we think managing mana should be difficult and a challenge to the players.
Concerning the current UI, there is a noticeable lag between changing menu's and interaction between players and NPC's. Can we look forward to a revamp of the UI prior to release?
We're currently in phase three of our beta test and you're going to see several improvements being made to this. we're working on it, please look forward to how it's going to be in the final product. These issues are also because of some bugs we know about which we're going to fix.
Concerning the mouse function. There is an obviously lag currently even with the improvements towards the mouse; in particular it seems that the software mouse speed is tied to the FPS on your computer -- so if you have less FPS, then the mouse is laggier. Can we expect an implementation of hardware mouse prior to release?
We're aware of it and hardware mouse is something we're still looking into currently. At the moment we dont have any plans for the hardware mouse but will continue to improve the situation before the game is out and also after.
Concerning the direction of this game; is Guildleve's the standard to level in regards to FFXIV? It was heavily advertised in several locations and there seems to be an overall disgruntled feeling towards its 48 hour cooldown. Is this part of the limit implemented for the beta, or is this intention for the release? Is straight-mob grinding going to the primary source of experience gains for FFXIV?
One of the reasons for the current design is that it's fine if you're playing solo. If you have more time however, we feel that there's a lot of guildleves to experience with other people in groups, while yourself might not have the guildleve, you can still join other peoples guildleves. Currently though most feel there's not enough benefit to group up and as such do the guildleves solo instead. We are working on adressing that so group play will be more encouraged, so maybe either you get more skillpoints for example. Basically we're trying to adjust it so that people do guildleves with other people.
But the 48 hours cooldown is going to stay?
Yes that is the current plan. In the future we might adjust it but we want to make it in such a way that the 48 hours cooldown makes sense, so currently we're focusing on adjusting it in that way.
There is a mixed feeling in regards to computer requirements on the game. Despite the minimum requirements listed, players are having a hard time running this game even on fairly decent rigs. Is the game expected to go through further optimization prior to release?
For the betaversion it might be because we have several check routines in the game that might be causing some of the performance-related issues. This should be improved when the game is released. It also could be something specific to the persons PC setup. THere's a lot of different graphics cards among other things so we're trying to solve it one by one.
Finally, the Square Enix team would like to say that they really appreciate the support from fans in the western region and want everyone to enjoy Final Fantasy XIV as it's going gold
Today I interviewed Hiromichi Tanaka, the producer of Final Fantasy XIV, Nobuaki Komoto the Director of Final Fantasy XIV and Sage Sundi the Global Online Producer. It was a quite enjoyable interview, thanks to everyone that made it possible, I'm also looking at you Stanley! Are we going to see tutorials and gametips being added for the new players to assist them better? We do have a tutorial ingame but we understand that it's not enough, so we will improve it. We hope you're going to find out through the storyline to find out what's going on and how to use things. Also when you reach a certain level we hope you get into towns to talk to other players. Also at the beginning us game developers usually provide the basic information but fansites always make better guides regardless. So it might be difficult for the time of the launch but we're going to try to talk to fansites so they'll post detailed information regarding on how the game works. Regarding auctionhouses: Regarding Final Fantasy XIV and the market battle system is something we would like to consider the equilevent to the auction house we had in Final Fantasy XI. Only that you'll also be able to fix your equipment and things like that. It is something we really want people to enjoy. Also after the release of the game we will see how it goes and for example find out what kind of search options players will want and need and improve the situation. We don't really want to introduce the auctionhouse from the beginning because that is going to determine the economy system. So we want to improve it slowly and adjust it accordingly. When do we get to see the PS3 version and when is the PS3 beta? Even when we're here at Gamescom in Germany the development team back in Japan is working on the Playstation 3 version. Probably this week or very soon we're having an internal meeting to discuss the revealing of the Playstation 3 version status of Final Fantasy XIV. So as soon we're comfortable with announcing more information about this we will do it. Will endgame be in the game on release? Factionleves is something that we're trying to implement at the moment. And you might soon see some part of it in the beta test that is going on at the moment. It is something you can acquire by collecting action points in the game and by doing Levequests. We are going to add more and more of this type of leve in the game to make it quite challenging. As for the launch however we want to make sure that the game is easy and accessable for casual players. Throughout version updates we're going to introduce more hardcore content so even both casual and hardcore players alike will enjoy the game. Will we get any sort of mana regeneration abilities and/or items? We're still working on this so we will make some small updates and improvements in the future, but at the same time we think managing mana should be difficult and a challenge to the players. Concerning the current UI, there is a noticeable lag between changing menu's and interaction between players and NPC's. Can we look forward to a revamp of the UI prior to release? We're currently in phase three of our beta test and you're going to see several improvements being made to this. we're working on it, please look forward to how it's going to be in the final product. These issues are also because of some bugs we know about which we're going to fix. Concerning the mouse function. There is an obviously lag currently even with the improvements towards the mouse; in particular it seems that the software mouse speed is tied to the FPS on your computer -- so if you have less FPS, then the mouse is laggier. Can we expect an implementation of hardware mouse prior to release? We're aware of it and hardware mouse is something we're still looking into currently. At the moment we dont have any plans for the hardware mouse but will continue to improve the situation before the game is out and also after. Concerning the direction of this game; is Guildleve's the standard to level in regards to FFXIV? It was heavily advertised in several locations and there seems to be an overall disgruntled feeling towards its 48 hour cooldown. Is this part of the limit implemented for the beta, or is this intention for the release? Is straight-mob grinding going to the primary source of experience gains for FFXIV? One of the reasons for the current design is that it's fine if you're playing solo. If you have more time however, we feel that there's a lot of guildleves to experience with other people in groups, while yourself might not have the guildleve, you can still join other peoples guildleves. Currently though most feel there's not enough benefit to group up and as such do the guildleves solo instead. We are working on adressing that so group play will be more encouraged, so maybe either you get more skillpoints for example. Basically we're trying to adjust it so that people do guildleves with other people. But the 48 hours cooldown is going to stay? Yes that is the current plan. In the future we might adjust it but we want to make it in such a way that the 48 hours cooldown makes sense, so currently we're focusing on adjusting it in that way. There is a mixed feeling in regards to computer requirements on the game. Despite the minimum requirements listed, players are having a hard time running this game even on fairly decent rigs. Is the game expected to go through further optimization prior to release? For the betaversion it might be because we have several check routines in the game that might be causing some of the performance-related issues. This should be improved when the game is released. It also could be something specific to the persons PC setup. THere's a lot of different graphics cards among other things so we're trying to solve it one by one. Finally, the Square Enix team would like to say that they really appreciate the support from fans in the western region and want everyone to enjoy Final Fantasy XIV as it's going gold
Today I interviewed Hiromichi Tanaka, the producer of Final Fantasy XIV, Nobuaki Komoto the Director of Final Fantasy XIV and Sage Sundi the Global Online Producer. It was a quite enjoyable interview, thanks to everyone that made it possible, I'm also looking at you Stanley! Are we going to see tutorials and gametips being added for the new players to assist them better? We do have a tutorial ingame but we understand that it's not enough, so we will improve it. We hope you're going to find out through the storyline to find out what's going on and how to use things. Also when you reach a certain level we hope you get into towns to talk to other players. Also at the beginning us game developers usually provide the basic information but fansites always make better guides regardless. So it might be difficult for the time of the launch but we're going to try to talk to fansites so they'll post detailed information regarding on how the game works. Regarding auctionhouses: Regarding Final Fantasy XIV and the market battle system is something we would like to consider the equilevent to the auction house we had in Final Fantasy XI. Only that you'll also be able to fix your equipment and things like that. It is something we really want people to enjoy. Also after the release of the game we will see how it goes and for example find out what kind of search options players will want and need and improve the situation. We don't really want to introduce the auctionhouse from the beginning because that is going to determine the economy system. So we want to improve it slowly and adjust it accordingly. When do we get to see the PS3 version and when is the PS3 beta? Even when we're here at Gamescom in Germany the development team back in Japan is working on the Playstation 3 version. Probably this week or very soon we're having an internal meeting to discuss the revealing of the Playstation 3 version status of Final Fantasy XIV. So as soon we're comfortable with announcing more information about this we will do it. Will endgame be in the game on release? Factionleves is something that we're trying to implement at the moment. And you might soon see some part of it in the beta test that is going on at the moment. It is something you can acquire by collecting action points in the game and by doing Levequests. We are going to add more and more of this type of leve in the game to make it quite challenging. As for the launch however we want to make sure that the game is easy and accessable for casual players. Throughout version updates we're going to introduce more hardcore content so even both casual and hardcore players alike will enjoy the game. Will we get any sort of mana regeneration abilities and/or items? We're still working on this so we will make some small updates and improvements in the future, but at the same time we think managing mana should be difficult and a challenge to the players. Concerning the current UI, there is a noticeable lag between changing menu's and interaction between players and NPC's. Can we look forward to a revamp of the UI prior to release? We're currently in phase three of our beta test and you're going to see several improvements being made to this. we're working on it, please look forward to how it's going to be in the final product. These issues are also because of some bugs we know about which we're going to fix. Concerning the mouse function. There is an obviously lag currently even with the improvements towards the mouse; in particular it seems that the software mouse speed is tied to the FPS on your computer -- so if you have less FPS, then the mouse is laggier. Can we expect an implementation of hardware mouse prior to release? We're aware of it and hardware mouse is something we're still looking into currently. At the moment we dont have any plans for the hardware mouse but will continue to improve the situation before the game is out and also after. Concerning the direction of this game; is Guildleve's the standard to level in regards to FFXIV? It was heavily advertised in several locations and there seems to be an overall disgruntled feeling towards its 48 hour cooldown. Is this part of the limit implemented for the beta, or is this intention for the release? Is straight-mob grinding going to the primary source of experience gains for FFXIV? One of the reasons for the current design is that it's fine if you're playing solo. If you have more time however, we feel that there's a lot of guildleves to experience with other people in groups, while yourself might not have the guildleve, you can still join other peoples guildleves. Currently though most feel there's not enough benefit to group up and as such do the guildleves solo instead. We are working on adressing that so group play will be more encouraged, so maybe either you get more skillpoints for example. Basically we're trying to adjust it so that people do guildleves with other people. But the 48 hours cooldown is going to stay? Yes that is the current plan. In the future we might adjust it but we want to make it in such a way that the 48 hours cooldown makes sense, so currently we're focusing on adjusting it in that way. There is a mixed feeling in regards to computer requirements on the game. Despite the minimum requirements listed, players are having a hard time running this game even on fairly decent rigs. Is the game expected to go through further optimization prior to release? For the betaversion it might be because we have several check routines in the game that might be causing some of the performance-related issues. This should be improved when the game is released. It also could be something specific to the persons PC setup. THere's a lot of different graphics cards among other things so we're trying to solve it one by one. Finally, the Square Enix team would like to say that they really appreciate the support from fans in the western region and want everyone to enjoy Final Fantasy XIV as it's going gold
For those concerned about the guildleve 40 hour redo system, think about this:
1 Member: 4 Guildleves per day - One Star missions Only
2 Members: 8 Guildleves per day - One and some 2 star missions
3 Members: 12 Guildleves per day - 2 star Missions
4 Members: 16 Guildleves per day - 2 Star missions and with proper group setup some 3 star missions
5 Members (Full party) - 20 Guildleves per day! 3 Star Missions
10 Members (Mini Raid) - 40 Guildleves per day!! 4 Star Missions
15 Members (Full Raid) - 60 Guildleves per day!!! 5 Star Missions - Best rewards for effort. Requires Dedicated Tanks and Healers, and good DPS.
This game was made with grouping in mind, and if you want to solo, you will be able to, but in a limited aspect. If you are in an organized Linkshell with members going in and out all times of the day, you can easily do a perma-raid setup that people join as the day progresses and you will be able to do guildleves up the wazzu all day long, getting rewards that the solo player can only dream of.
The game seems solidly designed with this mindset, and I am happy for this.
Also, how long will it take to finish guildleves post the "intro" levels. Lets say it takes you 20-30 minutes per leve at level 20+... If you have a full group, 20 guildleves would = roughly 10 hours of gameplay a day... how much more do you really want???
Not trying to start anything here but just thought I would correct something. It will not be x amount of guildleves per day it will x amount per 2 days. That I believe is the problem people are having with it. 2 days is far too long to wait to get to quest again. Now If they have say 10 or 15 leves available instead of just 4 then two days may not be so bad. But right now there are only 4 available for the level 1 area so to wait 48 hours to do 4 more is really way too much. Now I do understand that they want us to all group up and be happy but again they stated themselves they are doing this for the casual player so they arent left behind. Well even a casual player will need more than 4 per 2 days, and then with the casual player what if you dont have time to LFG for 45 mins to try to find a group of people that havent done their quests yet so you can max out how many you can get done. What if when that casual player got on there wasnt a whole lot of people around to group with so he did his quests and now they are all finsished for 2 days, the chances of him getting into a group to do more are slim to none, simply becasue as my beta experience is currently showing its near impossible to find a group that will let you in if you havent any quests to offer.
So I agree if they dropped it to every 24 hours it may not be so bad and added more than 4 leves, but if they keep it at 48 hours I honestly dont think they will get the positve response they want for the games overall success. And before we get into well you can always go to the other starting areas and do the leves there as well, I wonder how easy it will be for a level 3 or 4 toon to trek all the way to the next city starting area? Since currently there is only one city available to play we have no clue how far away the others are and what kinda areas we have to cross to get there. I seem to remember FFXI it was hell to trek between cities, specially for a low end toon.
In closing I really do want to see this game succed I love what they have done so far but the 48 hour waiting period for quests is IMHO far to long to have to wait. Even with grouping up and gettin more done in a day you still have to wait 2 more days to do it again, and trying to form up and find a place to camp mobs will not be very practial since we have no mana regen and currently there are no areas that I have found that you could do this in with the lack of mobs entirely and the respawn rate and locations being so random it would be near impossible to make it worth while.
Comments
Good morning
What? Wishing misfortune I am not. I don't understand why you say that, sorry. Quite the opposite, in fact, I wish everyone finds the MMO they actually enjoy. I'm not kicking anyone while they 're down, I'm just sick & tiered of those people not understanding that its ok that all game don't work the same way, that all game doesn't cater to them.
Yeah, I'm rude when people annoy me to no end...
''No jumping, no swing ( not needed!!) cry cry... I want my ''Standard'' (sheeple) controls from the previous game I played! Differance is bad m'key.''
You get the picture... but I respect your opinion V. I just don't want to get in game & have the chat spamed by these people whinnings about this & that not working like THEY feel it should work. That is going to ruin the game more than anything else imo.
edit: @ Skoreanime: I think you are just a sour grape & you really should move on. Oh & btw, don't transfer your own mental flaws on me its not healthy for you man.
Hi. Sorry, I really don't want to get in the middle of all this arguing, but I felt the need to comment a little on your post anyway. Please remember that this is meant as a friendly comment, not as a personal attack in any way.
Let's start with the reason why one can't have hardware mouse support. I am not entirely sure about this - but is this possible for the PS3? Or is perhaps software mouse a requirement for it? If in fact SE's design philosophy is to keep the versions as similar as possible, that would be considered (by them at least) a good reason. Something to that degree has already been expressed in this topic somewhere (focused more on gamepads though).
A (pretty big) reason to not implement a search function for markets has already been mentioned earlier in the thread. It looked to go by fairly unnoticed. I'll reiterate and elaborate. It's because of economical concerns. An AH can quickly be dominated by an organized group of people. In addition, with an AH based economy, a casual player can quickly fall behind because he might not able to cut costs or operate with as low profit margin as others. In a market where a customer can not with certainty shop only the lowest priced items, sales will happen for everyone. Think of a casual gamer like the local store in town not being able to compete with the large chain of stores. SE is the landlord who wants that little shop to be able to turn a profit, so they can collect rent instead of having an open vacancy. Me being from Norway, it is a political ideaology I know well
Client-side UIs are more prone to 3rd party code than server-side UI code is. You need to not call this bullshit. It's one hundred percent true, and nothing you say will change that fact. Can you make a totally secure server-side UI? No, I guess not - but it stil makes it harder for people to cheat. Hey, I just thought of something: would a client-side UI work for the PS3? Probably... I don't know.
I'd also like to say that I find a lot of sense coming from both sides of this... well, let's be civil and call it a discussion (what's up with all the name-calling? No moderators around here?). I honestly don't know what to expect any more. But thankfully I have the option to not invest time or money if I don't like the end result. It kind of seems, by their communications and vocabulary skills, that many in here lack this option themselves.
Anyway, sorry to disturb your fight/raging guys, please; as you were!
This 'no mana re-generation' is completely putting me off. Can anyone please explain to me how it will work? how mana will regenrate and at what rate.
90% of haters are begging for love. 10% just want a little attention -- Paulo Coelho
The issue with tutorials is always debatable. I think part of mmo's is that "learning curve" of either wanting to learn or not. Most players with enough FF history can testify that players will sometimes play their character "out of the norm" regardless of whether the general consensus agrees with that statement. We may not like playing with Leeroy Jenkins but (thankfully) we don't have to worry about every player being a Leeroy Jenkins either. As far as mmo's go and FF in general, yea most console games are straightforward (do this and this and this and your set) but I also feel mmo's aren't always designed for being "straightforward" [but as I wouldn't mind it like in cases of Absolute Virtue]. Either way though I think having it boil down to the player is a good call. We may make bad calls and do it incorrectly but I also think that is part of the mmo profile; doing things wrong every once in a while since there isn't a save button or a reset from save point either...
I think the AH when taken into consideration with the overall crafting hierarchy, I can see them as using this as a means to more or less "force longevity". I've said it before and I'll say it again: SE has ALWAYS taken the wrong approach when it comes to addressing issues with the AH. I've always felt that EVE Online had the principles in which an mmo's AH could best operate down to a working science; reliance on NPCs to stabilize prices for majority of the easily obtainable goods, rarer items being set by players and market location and trading determining the prices of other items less often sold by npc's and players. In fairness there was more to that in EVE however but at least those aspects could've been used in FF. I think the idea of simply no AH is intended to prevent "speed" crafting, and forcing a longer lifecycle on the game. Can you imagine if endgame items will require craft items like some did in FF11? I can also see this hampering RMT but it sure as hell makes it a bigger inconvenience on players (and I seriously can imagine RMT's gouging prices on items just due to the lack of an AH). I swear to gawd if there are no filters in the game then yea shouting for items will become the new irritating norm.
I preferred the keyboard in FF (and could use it better that most of my friends who played) but its the controls that did it for most players who did EVE on a 14-day trial; it was too difficult of a UI to use and they just jetted. I don't think it would be 100% the exact same thing for players (as you said some ppl will genuinely learn it because it IS FF) but I think it will hurt players who are the casual players looking for a new mmo. This basically means that if a player comes into FF14 just because they heard reviews and wanted to try it out and the UI is buggy or difficult to use, we can't expect them to stay for the ride.
This is the number 1 reason I won't touch this game. The FF fans are the most elitist jerks I've ever listened too on this site.
Yeah we all are jerks. Thanks for generalisation.
90% of haters are begging for love. 10% just want a little attention -- Paulo Coelho
Fun fact: This is an FF game. It's going to function similar to almost all FF games. Even more it will be very much like FFXI.
If you think SE is going to give up on their FF core for this MMO you're sadly mistaken. They are building something further in their FF franchise which has a perfect fan base to sustain an MMO. Not able to use a mouse? That didn't break FFXI, it wont break FFXIV. AH? Its trivial and if its truly needed it can be added or the current system altered. Bugs? ... New MMO?
You can't look at what it is. Look at what it will be. Given what they did with XI you know they will build on the game with ease. FFXI has pumped out plenty of content, fun changes, and so many new classes...
lol elitists just because 1 person is saying that all ff fans must be like that.
They will fix it but the controls will still be different then a normal mmo and I just don't get why all this rambling from people.
FF is a console series and only 2 (excluding ports) were made also on pc, their main audience is console users so it's kinda obvious the controls won't be like a normal pc mmorpg. It was still perfectly fine the way it was, yea maybe they should made default compact because people didn't bother to search and would find out you could make it nearly like a normal mmo controls.
I played ffxi perfectly fine cause it was fluid and I played with keyboard & mouse with no problems.
the thing about posting online is that you cant portray the slight smile or the inflections of comments.
Maybe he meant it in jest? maybe he did intend to be insulting, but seriously, dont generalise about 'groups' cos it tends to be wrong. not every 'Fanboi' is a jerk, most of us are older players (I myself am 33) and have a degree of respect for fellow players.
Also jsut firing back about the Auction houses? I am glad someone else sees it the same way I do, I can predict a community of crafters where 'word of mouth' will build your business, market exploitation of buying everything then price fixing will be stopped, sure am interested in seeing how this pans out
oh adn as for tutorial? heck the Manual in Beta tells you where to go and what to do, but hey, people jsut wann jump straight in
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ab/Norsefire-logo.png
I read th OP, and he skewed the original post on FFCore. If you have any doubts, read the original wich he did link to in the 1st place.
Tutorials. There is a manual, but people still need the hand holding of a tutorial. Reading skills , FTW.
The information is there on how to start the game, how to play the game, it just takes reading. Since thats not good enough there goin to let the Fansites post and help with detailed how to, hand holding all the way. So you dont have to play, just follow there Go To NPC A, do quest X, return to NPC A for reward.
AH, there are many ways to manupulate an AH, with bad, BAD resulsts to the casual or normal player. I know, I have seen it done and have done it.
I still fondly recall the days of the makeshift bazzar in the commons tunnel of EQ.
No mana regen. Food and gear will handle that.
48 hours cd on leves, share...take your friends quest, and your quest you just doulbled your quest log.
I did not play X!, I didn not plan on goin to ff 14, but a few freinds are goin and I NEED a game.
Graphics and performace issues. Every new MMO or PC game i have bought in the last 10 years have always made me upgrade my PC or parts of my PC. thats par for the course.
Lastly End Game, the game isnt even out and your worried about endgame?
Not a fanboy, but a realsit. This game actaully is looking quite good from alot of perspectives. Alot is new, some is "old school' some are fixes to things that newer MMOs have problems with.
The one thing I do understand its goin to be there game, there goin with what they ( SE) thinks will work. If something dosent work out they will adjust . Its not goin to be a game for everyone. But it will be a game for me...if not. Ill findanother one.
Dax
Interesting, i've never thought of it that way, but I agree with this, as I experienced similar difficulties with the AH during my time in Aion, all the way up to 50 and afterwards.
This a million times, never said better.
There are certain skills for casters what will heal MP a bit, however they have long cooldowns and won't exactly restore full or even half MP.
Mana is restored interacting with Aetherytes scattered through out a zone. Casters do seem to have attacks don't consume MP, but the whole point of this is to make Casters plan to conserve MP and use it more wisely. Fighters won't be effected by this to much i believe unless they're bringing magic skills along.
Otherwise there is no passive regen for MP.
Very similar to how it's done in DDO.
"Yeah i read the interview and then came here and saw the post good percent of the actual interview was cut out and modified."
This is a horrible job on the OP's part, I hope people will go and actually read the interview log because a lot of what the OP said is modified to their liking and not accurate.
If you powergame to the level cap before the devs can add adequate endgame content, don't whine about there being a lack of content. I don't think FFXIV is going to be one of those games where even casual players can hit the level cap in a month.
I've been playing beta and like it fine. There are some aspects I don't like so far but I can deal, and I wouldn't be surprised if they adjusted them soon. If I didn't like it I wouldn't play it or pre-order it, it's as simple as that.
I could see some of these complaints being valid if you invested a ton of time into the game and these were changes down the road, but they're not. You get plenty of fair warning before you spend a dime on it. I don't agree with every little thing they are doing but I do admire how they are sticking to their plan and not being pushed over by every little complaint. They show great confidence and skill so far so I'm willing to get on board.
Map system is great. Scroll it using the ijkl keys.
For those concerned about the guildleve 40 hour redo system, think about this:
1 Member: 4 Guildleves per day - One Star missions Only
2 Members: 8 Guildleves per day - One and some 2 star missions
3 Members: 12 Guildleves per day - 2 star Missions
4 Members: 16 Guildleves per day - 2 Star missions and with proper group setup some 3 star missions
5 Members (Full party) - 20 Guildleves per day! 3 Star Missions
10 Members (Mini Raid) - 40 Guildleves per day!! 4 Star Missions
15 Members (Full Raid) - 60 Guildleves per day!!! 5 Star Missions - Best rewards for effort. Requires Dedicated Tanks and Healers, and good DPS.
This game was made with grouping in mind, and if you want to solo, you will be able to, but in a limited aspect. If you are in an organized Linkshell with members going in and out all times of the day, you can easily do a perma-raid setup that people join as the day progresses and you will be able to do guildleves up the wazzu all day long, getting rewards that the solo player can only dream of.
The game seems solidly designed with this mindset, and I am happy for this.
Also, how long will it take to finish guildleves post the "intro" levels. Lets say it takes you 20-30 minutes per leve at level 20+... If you have a full group, 20 guildleves would = roughly 10 hours of gameplay a day... how much more do you really want???
Yup, and the community will NOT put up with any WoW spam in /sh chat. Thank you.
'casts firaga V'
#3 subject: /facepalm...
Today I interviewed Hiromichi Tanaka, the producer of Final Fantasy XIV, Nobuaki Komoto the Director of Final Fantasy XIV and Sage Sundi the Global Online Producer.
It was a quite enjoyable interview, thanks to everyone that made it possible, I'm also looking at you Stanley!
Are we going to see tutorials and gametips being added for the new players to assist them better?
We do have a tutorial ingame but we understand that it's not enough, so we will improve it. We hope you're going to find out through the storyline to find out what's going on and how to use things. Also when you reach a certain level we hope you get into towns to talk to other players. Also at the beginning us game developers usually provide the basic information but fansites always make better guides regardless. So it might be difficult for the time of the launch but we're going to try to talk to fansites so they'll post detailed information regarding on how the game works.
Regarding auctionhouses:
Regarding Final Fantasy XIV and the market battle system is something we would like to consider the equilevent to the auction house we had in Final Fantasy XI. Only that you'll also be able to fix your equipment and things like that. It is something we really want people to enjoy. Also after the release of the game we will see how it goes and for example find out what kind of search options players will want and need and improve the situation. We don't really want to introduce the auctionhouse from the beginning because that is going to determine the economy system. So we want to improve it slowly and adjust it accordingly.
When do we get to see the PS3 version and when is the PS3 beta?
Even when we're here at Gamescom in Germany the development team back in Japan is working on the Playstation 3 version. Probably this week or very soon we're having an internal meeting to discuss the revealing of the Playstation 3 version status of Final Fantasy XIV. So as soon we're comfortable with announcing more information about this we will do it.
Will endgame be in the game on release?
Factionleves is something that we're trying to implement at the moment. And you might soon see some part of it in the beta test that is going on at the moment. It is something you can acquire by collecting action points in the game and by doing Levequests. We are going to add more and more of this type of leve in the game to make it quite challenging. As for the launch however we want to make sure that the game is easy and accessable for casual players. Throughout version updates we're going to introduce more hardcore content so even both casual and hardcore players alike will enjoy the game.
Will we get any sort of mana regeneration abilities and/or items?
We're still working on this so we will make some small updates and improvements in the future, but at the same time we think managing mana should be difficult and a challenge to the players.
Concerning the current UI, there is a noticeable lag between changing menu's and interaction between players and NPC's. Can we look forward to a revamp of the UI prior to release?
We're currently in phase three of our beta test and you're going to see several improvements being made to this. we're working on it, please look forward to how it's going to be in the final product. These issues are also because of some bugs we know about which we're going to fix.
Concerning the mouse function. There is an obviously lag currently even with the improvements towards the mouse; in particular it seems that the software mouse speed is tied to the FPS on your computer -- so if you have less FPS, then the mouse is laggier. Can we expect an implementation of hardware mouse prior to release?
We're aware of it and hardware mouse is something we're still looking into currently. At the moment we dont have any plans for the hardware mouse but will continue to improve the situation before the game is out and also after.
Concerning the direction of this game; is Guildleve's the standard to level in regards to FFXIV? It was heavily advertised in several locations and there seems to be an overall disgruntled feeling towards its 48 hour cooldown. Is this part of the limit implemented for the beta, or is this intention for the release? Is straight-mob grinding going to the primary source of experience gains for FFXIV?
One of the reasons for the current design is that it's fine if you're playing solo. If you have more time however, we feel that there's a lot of guildleves to experience with other people in groups, while yourself might not have the guildleve, you can still join other peoples guildleves. Currently though most feel there's not enough benefit to group up and as such do the guildleves solo instead. We are working on adressing that so group play will be more encouraged, so maybe either you get more skillpoints for example. Basically we're trying to adjust it so that people do guildleves with other people.
But the 48 hours cooldown is going to stay?
Yes that is the current plan. In the future we might adjust it but we want to make it in such a way that the 48 hours cooldown makes sense, so currently we're focusing on adjusting it in that way.
There is a mixed feeling in regards to computer requirements on the game. Despite the minimum requirements listed, players are having a hard time running this game even on fairly decent rigs. Is the game expected to go through further optimization prior to release?
For the betaversion it might be because we have several check routines in the game that might be causing some of the performance-related issues. This should be improved when the game is released. It also could be something specific to the persons PC setup. THere's a lot of different graphics cards among other things so we're trying to solve it one by one.
Finally, the Square Enix team would like to say that they really appreciate the support from fans in the western region and want everyone to enjoy Final Fantasy XIV as it's going gold
It's still a wall 'o text though is it not?
Not trying to start anything here but just thought I would correct something. It will not be x amount of guildleves per day it will x amount per 2 days. That I believe is the problem people are having with it. 2 days is far too long to wait to get to quest again. Now If they have say 10 or 15 leves available instead of just 4 then two days may not be so bad. But right now there are only 4 available for the level 1 area so to wait 48 hours to do 4 more is really way too much. Now I do understand that they want us to all group up and be happy but again they stated themselves they are doing this for the casual player so they arent left behind. Well even a casual player will need more than 4 per 2 days, and then with the casual player what if you dont have time to LFG for 45 mins to try to find a group of people that havent done their quests yet so you can max out how many you can get done. What if when that casual player got on there wasnt a whole lot of people around to group with so he did his quests and now they are all finsished for 2 days, the chances of him getting into a group to do more are slim to none, simply becasue as my beta experience is currently showing its near impossible to find a group that will let you in if you havent any quests to offer.
So I agree if they dropped it to every 24 hours it may not be so bad and added more than 4 leves, but if they keep it at 48 hours I honestly dont think they will get the positve response they want for the games overall success. And before we get into well you can always go to the other starting areas and do the leves there as well, I wonder how easy it will be for a level 3 or 4 toon to trek all the way to the next city starting area? Since currently there is only one city available to play we have no clue how far away the others are and what kinda areas we have to cross to get there. I seem to remember FFXI it was hell to trek between cities, specially for a low end toon.
In closing I really do want to see this game succed I love what they have done so far but the 48 hour waiting period for quests is IMHO far to long to have to wait. Even with grouping up and gettin more done in a day you still have to wait 2 more days to do it again, and trying to form up and find a place to camp mobs will not be very practial since we have no mana regen and currently there are no areas that I have found that you could do this in with the lack of mobs entirely and the respawn rate and locations being so random it would be near impossible to make it worth while.
Just my 2 cents