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Final Fantasy XIV - What Alexander Tells Us About the Future - MMORPG.com
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Final Fantasy XIV - What Alexander Tells Us About the Future - MMORPG.com
It’s safe to say that The Binding Coil of Bahamut series is one of the best raids in any modern MMO. Whether or not you like FFXIV, there’s a hell of a lot to admire. The encounter design is great: it’s hard to look at the fight with Bahamut and not be awed, and everyone who’s done the fourth stage has memories of Twintania’s divebombs. But, more to the point, the story is fantastic.
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Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
My Review Manifesto
Follow me on Twitter if you dare.
The majority of classes have plenty of off GCD buttons to press at 60 that you weave in the long GCD.
Or play monk which has a lower GCD for each stack of greased lightning.
That said I remember leveling paladin and it was boring as F**k.
To change it would require changes to resources as @Albatroes said
Most of the information I have comes from Mr. Happy and the translators of some Japanese Interviews. Of what was revealed, we're looking at potentially having a different UI look and setting for each class. The main reason for this is to allow you to see when Buffs and Debuffs are active (or about to fall) so that you don't just have to spend the game watching a timer.
The second change that we know off is the elimination or combination of skills that we don't currently use. Or ones that are proving a problem for players, or for the system above. They talked about making a few abilities have an infinite duration whereby in the past they had upkeep or downtime. The only example we got was for Black Mage. Some people were talking about combos be fitted into one button at some point, but that's a rumor and I don't think it was ever spoken of by Yoshida.
Third would be the cross-class abilities. They will be given to specific roles instead of classes. Tanks will have access to Provoke, for example, even if they didn't level Paladin (presumably). Basically, if a role needs something, they will have access to it. What I gathered is that if you level a warrior -- which is a tank role -- then you get access to Provoke from it. Since the Roles will essentially be Tank, Healer, DPS (Maybe a split between Magic / Range / Melee).
Fourth would be switching some abilities around, and what level you acquire them at. This is also due to the new UI (if they go through it it), as some elements will be needed with some skills.
Fifth is more class specific in that he mentioned wanting to make Paladin the best defensive tank. Though we should see changes along these lines to other classes (though probably not huge ones, as most of the base-line combos will still be there).
Edit: In the future, they spoke of eliminating classes altogether. This may happen sometime after Stormblood. People will start as Paladins, Warriors, etc. as opposed to leveling as Gladiators and Marauders from 1-30 and then doing job quests.
As far as the "2.5" GDC goes, as mentioned above, playing a Monk and Ninja alleviates this if you're a Melee man. Any caster also bypasses this, since their cast times negate GDCs and classes such as BLM have procs that fill things in nicely. Dragoon also has a lot of off the global attacks that weave into things. Though when playing at a high level -- especially when you have procs, positional requirements, boss requirements, team affinity, mechanics, etc. to worry about -- you sometimes wish the GDC was 3.5-5 seconds long. Dragoons have it bad this expansion with their RNG Proc positional crap, and Machinists had it bad for a while when the proc didn't show up fast enough. Though luckily positioning didn't matter for them.
One of the big things that broke statics this expansion was how difficult a lot of the classes became in terms of rotations and the like. Many couldn't keep up with it and 2 seconds went by too incredibly quick when in the thick of things. They spoke of trying to make it easier so that most people can play again, as only the Top players were able to really be efficient at it. Their current goal is to make things no more difficult than they are now, in Stormblood.
That's just not gonna happen, I don't think. At best, the revamp will change the abilities, but people have a hard enough time with their rotations with the 2 second GCD, especially on controller. Pushing buttons faster isn't gonna help them, and tbh, the fight's are hectic enough with the 2.5 second GCD. They'd also have to go back and re-do like all the content and re-balance shit around the new GCD.
Not to mention that they tried a lower GCD in beta I think, and people didn't like it 'cause it was too quick.
Anyway, if you try any end-game content, you'll understand all this.
Indeed. They would have to do major revisions to old dungeons, bosses, etc. (mainly due to level syncing) to really even consider this. As well as changes to how the skill speed stat works, and even include a new stat that possibly increases the TP gained.
When we say two seconds feels like it's too fast with end game content, we really mean it. To elaborate the whole Dragoon and positioning thing I mentioned earlier, it isn't like in other MMOs where you just stand behind an opponent for increased damage. Positional things in FFXIV are painful little additions to the combat system. For instance, with Dragoon's new abilities, they have a completely random proc that randomly procs two different procs. Each of which require you to be either to the side or back of an opponent. You have two seconds to figure out you have a proc, notice what proc it is, avoid mechanics, know where your tank is and if they'll move the mobs, remember which weak point the mob is required to be attacked at due to the proc, manage the buffs you have (if you don't use a proc QUICKLY your buffs will fall, and using a follow up proc that the RNG proc activiates auto takes away 10 seconds from your buff) AND use your off the GDC abilities efficiently while remembering where you were in your 30+ button rotation (which can fall off if you wait too long or get involved in mechanics -- the same goes with buffs). It's a game of moving to the side and back every few seconds. The same goes with monk and their positional requirements, even though theirs is a bit more predictable and not based on a 50/50 chance that you might be in the right position.
This is why DPS check bosses were such a pain in Alexander fights. Also, all of this is without any addons to help you, like in WoW where there's only one real position to attack that's right.
I wouldn't expect much though. You can't change the combat system so late after the release of the game. For that, they'd have to shut the game down and design it again. And even then, their engine might not support a different kind of combat system (action combat).
Have to disagree on the opinion that it's the worst. It wouldn't have support it does were that the case. Plus, the genre itself is incredibly large -- unless you're only counting Western MMOs (of which technically this is not).
It's an incredibly complex battle system -- and that has been its downfall in Heavensward raiding. Most people just can't keep up with it, especially with all the DPS checks they had. Everything is tight-nit and calculated, perhaps moreso than it should be. You have to plan your attacks sometimes two minutes ahead of time, and know how to weave everything in, while paying attention to mechanics, party positions, buffs, combos, enemy positions, etc. It's hard to describe, as I have been playing WoW for 12 years and know how easy most of that sounds, but it's really stress inducing, especially without addons and the way the system is set up.
Honestly, it -is- a mess right now. Hopefully the changes in 4.0 make it "good" again. Though inherently, it's a different combat system than most that requires a lot more thought and reaction with most classes (especially positional ones, which have to change position every few seconds). A good chunk of my WoW friends have quit because it's just too hard to keep up with. Even I'm taking a break from the battle system (aside from PotD whereby it's multidirectional) and log into WoW every now and again just to relax and press a few buttons / let an addon tell me what to do and when to do it.
But apparently people like difficulty in terms of rotations and things. I'm not really one of them. I'd prefer things to go back to ARR style of rotations, or even try to be more like WoW with its simplistic approach. I've actually met a few people who said they quit WoW because they enjoy the 35+ button rotations on some FFXIV classes, who also have to actively switch positions on targets that frequently move, do AoEs, manage buffs and debugs, etc.
Things just happen way too fast for me on FFXIV when you really get into the end content. I prefer nice and calming Mythic Raiding on WoW (at least, once the top guilds figure out the strats for us), when it comes to raiding. It's unfortunate that I had to quit that early due to the AK system and legendaries. Just can't log on for a few hours, for three nights a week to do what I enjoy. Just have to grind stuff now to prepare. Even though I'm not in a "race" or "ranking" guild.
That being said, I can be loaded and still do it these days, but obviously that's not the case for many, as it's brought up all the time that the rotations are annoying and hard, that's why Yoshi wants to revert things back a bit to how they were in 2.0.
I can only assume the majority of people who complain about the combat didn't make it anywhere near the end-game. Yoshi-P specifically said they designed it to be easy/boring as you explore and level, which imo, was the right call, because I actually prefer the leveling to the end-game. It doesn't work for everyone, but going all out from the beginning isn't gonna win them any subs, either.
Yoshi-P listened to the wrong players for Heavensward. They made the rotations overly annoying/difficult, and overtuned the initial raids so only the top of the top players who basically no-lifed and found ways to exploit some mechanics could get through even the first mini boss they had set up as a check to see if the group was ready. Luckily they pulled back on the difficulty,as this article says, while still maintaining a high difficulty. They just aren't making the difficulties about stupid bullshit like performing your rotations 100% perfectly all the time, and focusing more on the mechanics. Everything is still too hard for me, as I don't have the patience for raiding, but the Raid Finder lets me get through it to see the story, so whatever, I'm good to go.
I talked a lot here even though I don't think I added too much, but whatever. lol
I don't think the GCD is going to change as they want to keep it friendly to gamepads, and a 1 or even 1.5 second GCD is not very doable with a gamepad. I think they're going to streamline rotations, change abilities, etc. but I'm not hopeful much more than that will change.
A few difficult encounters at the very end, which inevitably become easier with gear upgrades does not magically make the entire game "not easy".
In my opinion, FFXIV's peak under Yoshida was ARR, when he still had what was left to him from Tanaka's 1.0 - story, characters, etc, and just had to wrap things up, and manage to not botch it up too badly. He did a good job, and went into HW very strong. After that, it all started sliding downhill, and I've come up with my own "theory" of what happened. I've come to think that the end of ARR, and the intro to HW were symbolic of the game ending its time as "Tanaka's FFXIV" and becoming fully "Yoshida's FFXIV".
2.x spoilers here for anyone who, somehow, doesn't know this yet...
While everyone assumed (or they wanted us to believe) the Scions, the Sultana and such were dead, with how quickly and conveniently they were all brought back, each with new outfits, looks, etc, I've come to think that "killing them" at the end of 2.0 was more of a "reset switch", another aspect of Yoshida making them "his characters". It was his own personal "End of An Era".
After that, once the game was truly, entirely "his", it started going downhill. I won't go into detail of exactly how I feel about FFXIV, or the direction Yoshida's clearly taking it (through his actions, and words), as that would quickly turn into a lengthy and heated rant. Suffice to say, I wish he didn't "make it his own", and continued on with the overall story arc that had been laid out under Tanaka.
Just looking at an unreleased 1.x cutscene involving Titan, seeing how the Primals were being presented, it was darker, more mature and, in my opinion, far more interesting than the cutesy, "Titan's going to destroy the world and must be stopped, but first... here, take this shopping list" nonsense we got instead.
Or how much more detailed and fleshed out 1.x's intros were, for another example. Each was unique, engaging, mysterious and really set up their respective city and its circumstances. They weren't different versions of the same *lame* wagon ride. Even the voice acting was better, though that's a low bar to beat with 2.0 and on.
Imo, I think the best compromise we will probably get is a real haste stat (name of stat is still TBA) that those who want a faster GCD will be able to gear for it. While those who prefer the current speed will gear for attack damage or crit to compensate. This is all merely spit balling here so please don't think I know what i'm talking about lol.
Now you may not enjoy the story, and find it's not "mature" enough -- or perhaps it's just the Primals that you thought were too cartoony/cutesy, whatever. The story does deal with a great deal of mature topics such as depression/suicide, betrayal, death in general, religion in general as in all FF stories, satanic worship, rape (one side quest basically has a girl come up to you, tell you and the leader of the people in Little Ala Mhigo, that she just got gang raped, and then they send you out to kill the people who did it), etc. It's light-hearted, but it has it's serious moments.
I played through those 1.0 intros multiple times, and they were generally boring, aside from the Leviathan leaping over the ship on the way to Limsa Lominsa, or the Goobbue attack in theUl'dah marketplace. Story was too little and far between, as well, with just way too many limitations on your progression speed coupled with a ridiculous grind because there wasn't much content to do otherwise. People may bitch and moan about having to do story they don't wanna do to catch up to friends, but I can assure you that the story, as with just about everything in FFXIV now, is an improvement on the original. It hasn't gone "downhill" yet as you said, is what I'm getting at.
Yosh-P said Heavensward was kinda the "play it safe" expansion, because they still weren't sure how things would play out. Still, if Stormblood isn't a vast improvement, I could see the subs dropping off, for sure.
Well I guess that's where it comes down to personal taste. Playing through FFXIV, with very few exceptions, I felt like I was playing through an interactive Saturday Morning Cartoon. It's such generic "heroic fantasy", where everything is painted in such a clear 'black and white' way that the villains make themselves known very early on, as do the heroes. And even those whom are supposed to be "ambiguous" (Urianger, etc) are played so poorly that you *know* there's going to be some kind of "twist" with them. So when the twist happens, all you can say is "and... there it is".
The only thing that actually surprised me in the entire FFXIV storyline, as in I didn't expect it, was Thancred being possessed during 2.x's storyline. But of course, that was easily cleared up.
Then there's the treatment of characters. Ysayle, one of the most interesting characters in the game so far - actually no, *the* most interesting character in that entire game so far... is unceremoniously killed off. Yes, it's a cool-looking cut-scene, but it's so quick, and so "out of nowhere", that it almost felt like a "we need to get rid of her to move the story on, so... just kill her off while helping the WoL or something".
She had actual growth as a character, she was complex, tormented, and you saw her progress through the story arc, etc. And then all of a sudden... they kill her off. Everyone was making a big deal about Haurchefant's death. I didn't care about that at all. I was more affected by Ysayle's death, and how cheaply it happened, because she was a far more interesting character. Perhaps she wasn't cartoonish enough for Yoshida and he didn't know how to handle her, I don't know.
Then there's the matter with Niddhogg's eyes. Who didn't call it that Estinien would be possessed, or at least affected by Niddhogg from the start? Who didn't call it when they were tossed off the side of a cliff that "okay, so they'll be back again"? And it's as though Yoshida just couldn't contain himself, because they were brought up again in what... the very next patch?
The pacing, the dialog, the suspense, everything in FFXIV is so amateurish and Saturday Morning Cartoon cliche'd that I couldn't care less what happened to anyone anymore. Hell, even the game pokes fun at itself for being long-winded and boring, with the one NPC in the Monk quests going into the whole "blah blah blah", indicating that your character didn't care... Neither did I, but I still had to sit there and click through it.
Thing is, those "darker" or "more mature" topics seldom ever come up. When they do, they're treated like something out of a Cartoon.
Like the girl you mention who was raped. That's a serious freaking subject, and could have been handled so much better. How did they do it? "Go kill the bad people who did this". Open and shut. Suddenly, everything's okay again. It's not like that girl is going to need further help to deal with the fact that, whether those people are around or not, what happened, happened. No time to make sure that girl gets the help and support she needs even after you're gone. There are other heroic deeds to be done for the WoL! Again, its treatment is shallow and cartoonish, like everything else in FFXIV.
Then it seems you're only interested in the "action sequences", and not the rest of the scenes that establish the areas, the over-arching situation, etc. Did you stop to think "Okay, why did that automoton randomly sound a horn? Why did it set off that Goobue? Who was behind this? Hmmm... okay, there's clearly something amiss in Ul'dah, and you arrived just in time to be dropped in the middle of it..."
The point of Leviathan jumping over the boat was for spectacle, but it was more than that. Here's this mythical creature, which many didn't even believe existed, leaping straight over you, after initiating an attack on the boat carrying you to Limsa. Why did they show up? Why your boat? What's going on?
It's not just the action sequences that matter. The entire openings established each city. But if all you're interested in is action, then I can see why none of that might be of interest.
With very little dialog at all, there's more story in those opening sequences, than in any 5 paragraphs of written dialog in 2.0 or 3.0.
You don't have to assure me of anything. I played 1.0 from Alpha up through the end of 1.23 when they took the servers down. I fought and defeated Van Darnus. I played through Alpha and Beta of ARR and straight up through 2 patches ago. I know the story from both, quite well. For me, 1.0's story arc, both before and after Yoshida came into the picture, surpasses anything in 2.0 so far.
It's interesting that you say Yoshida's said he's playing it safe with HW. Previously, he'd said they were using HW as a way to introduce new ideas. If what you say is true, then there's another example of how the guy doesn't seem to have a clear grasp on what he wants for this game.
(cut short due to character limits)
I should've said I listed those two things in the 1.0 intros not as a negative, but that they were the only things that caught my attention because they both were awesome and raised further questions. Aside from that, it was just idle bullshit in the intros. I guess, more or less, it's what we have now, except for some other bits of information passed along.
I can't really argue with most of your summary here, though. You've got the right of it. Except I can't accept that the 1.0 story was any better than what we have now. Also that "generic heroic fantasy" IS Final Fantasy. This game is made with nostalgia in mind, and the story reflects that. It's just a trip down memory lane for the most part, presented differently than what people may have played as a kid.
That being said, I give you props for sticking it out and finishing up 1.0. That Van Darnus fight looked intense from what I saw in videos.
PS: That info about Yoshi-P and the "play it safe" is paraphrased from a MrHappy video. I think it was a live letter or Q&A from FanFest when they announced Stormblood.
i wouldnt mind coming back to the game if the revamp ends up being close to FFXV combat. Probably wont happen, but hey, dreaming is free.