The "Complete Overhaul" Myth

Yet another fanbot response to any criticism about the pace of Square Enix is that the development team (which has been working on it since before it's launch) is doing a "complete overhaul", and we should therefore be still be patient, a year later with little to show.

The problem is, they're not, and never claimed to be.  The phrase "complete overhaul" is another myth the fanbase picked up and ran with, without verification.

It never once appears in any of the Producer's Letters.  The term "overhaul" (which carries a much lighter connotation without the modifier of "complete") does appear on a few occasions, but specifically in regard to the battle system and a couple specific zones.  Rebuilding the game from the absolutely ground up has never been anything the development team has claimed to be doing or aiming for.

In fact, in the same letter, Yoshi-P acknowledges, "an accelerated version update... [is] certainly not to be discounted" as well as that "time is of the essence".  Yes, even the development team disagrees with the fanboy premise of "shut up and be patient, it's a complete overhaul and it doesn't matter if they take their time."

Eorzea as we know it... is remaining mostly the same for all practical purposes.  Battle changes and adjustments are planned, but practically speaking, what's there will remain.  The abilities, the graphics, the musical score, the controls, the sounds, the Armory system, most of the zones, most of the gameplay mechanics, and the general interface are all staying the same.

The "complete overhaul" is a term that's never been used regarding the game as a whole, and is just another convenient, unverified blowoff response that the dev team themselves do not support.

One Year Later: (Very) Basic Features FFXIV Doesn't Yet Have

FFXIV launched in mid-September of last year, and we're getting close to the one-year mark.  No, I'm not talking "basic" features like mounts (which are currently scheduled to appear in patch 1.19, expected to show up around the one year mark).  I'm talking the most basic features expected from a game, like being able to tab out of fullscreen without crashing it - things that have been standard in PC gaming for fifteen years.
Here's a brief list of a few very, very basic features FFXIV still lacks at ten months.

• Player mail.  Currently, there is no way to contact offline players or communicate - at all.  In 2011, Square Enix has not yet mastered this rough equivalent of "email".

• Delivery system.  Often used in conjunction with the above, there is currently no way to deliver items directly to players (or to mules and alts, which is a common procedure games like WoW and FFXI, where it's even sanctioned and promoted by Square Enix).

• Text-based search.  The Market Ward search function does not allow you to actually search for items by name.  If you're looking for, say, a Spiked Bronze Labys, you must go to the Item Search Counter, choose the appropriate market area for that item, then choose the appropriate category.  Don't know which it is?  Then you need to manually check areas and categories until you find it.  Which brings us to the next big issue...

• Detailed item search.  Right now, any class can equip most pieces of armor.  However, there's no easy to way to search for, say, all available equipment for a given level.  If you're just checking to see what's available, you need to check multiple areas (Armorfitters, multiple Tailors, Jewelers, and Clothier) with multiple categories (Helm, Full Plate, Gauntlets, Headwear, Armband, Pants, Masks, Hats, and a dozen or so more).  Similarly, you have Helms, Masks and Crowns, all for the same slot and same level range, but they are all listed in three different locations.  But it gets worse...

• Instant purchases from retainers.  Again dovetailing with the above issues, players have to manually locate a Retainer's physical presence within the Market Wards to purchase an item.  What is a standard thirty-second or less process can take several minutes  as you jump across multiple wards, multiple loading screens, and waiting for Retainers to load (only for the one you need to be on the other side of the ward, requiring another ten seconds to run to it).

• Guild features.  FFXIV has linkshells, which allows for a global guild chat, but any serious management options are not there.  There's no perks, banks or level (Rift had all three of these within three months of it's launch). 

• Tabbing out of fullscreen.  Despite being not just a very basic MMO feature but an extremely basic feature in PC gaming from the last dozen or so years, ten months later you still cannot, unless you want to crash FFXIV.  And if you accidentally hit alt + tab at a bad time and your character ends up dying, or you try to fire up another game after FFXIV crashes from tabbing out and find SE still has control over DirectX and your other game won't launch?  Ask a fanboy, it's your fault for not paying more attention, and the problem was entirely avoidable!

• In related issues, Windows UAC crashes FFXIV.  Yes, you must choose between security and Square Enix.  Ironically, the only way to play fullscreen and leave UAC on is to use third party programs - third party  programs which Square Enix expressly forbids and actively pursues!

• Tab-through targetting.  If you want to switch your targets consistently, you need to press the cancel command twice just to get to where you can adjust things freely.  And Square has done more than three slow-paced updates already on "fixing" targeting.

• On the same note, if a target disappears via things like burrowing into the ground or teleporting as part of an attack or even simply morphs into something else, you lose your target on them and must retarget them, which is especially troublesome in close fights where timing is important.

• Drawing weaponry while moving.  If you wish to attack something, the player character stops, pauses, draws their weaponry, pauses, and then allows you to move again.  Going back to passive mode is a similar affair.  (1.18, when it releases later this week, will implement this, almost a year later!)

• Point and click sales.  Selling an individual item to an NPC is literally a multi-second process.  Manually *scroll* to item.  Click item, wait a second, sales menu pops up.  Click sell.  Choose amount.  Click sell.  By default, the next item in the list then pops up, which is helpful if that's what you desire to sell, but if it's not, you must cancel out of that box and then scroll again to the next desired item.

• Extra menus.  Most MMOs allow you to default to the entire stack, and use a key command - something like Shift + Right Click - to manually bring up the extra menu as desired, but in XIV's case, you must choose "How many?" every single time, whether dealing with a sales NPC or your storage Retainer.  It's simply another random, awkward step in an already awkward process.  All in all, the process takes varying degrees of several times as long as WoW or Rift.

• In-game video settings.  FFXIV allows you to adjust some minor video settings from within the game, but even doing basic things like changing the resolution or allowing sound when the game is in the background require using a different program,  "Final Fantasy XIV Config", which can't be utilized while running the game.

• In a similar vein, you can't adjust your gamepad in-game, either - even though the interface is allegedly designed around accommodating one.  You've got to close the game application entirely to open the Config program, yet again!

Keep in mind, this is a company with massive financial backing and a team with almost ten years experience on a successful MMO which featured most of these things.  They've also said numerous times that fixing the game is a priority.  Yet, ten months later, they're missing very basic features.

The "New Team" Myth

It's been a long standing argument in the Square Enix community that FFXIV's team is a "new team", only working on the game since January.  Therefore, the rationale goes, it's okay the updates have been slow, because it's new people getting used to someone else's code and just getting accustomed to the game.

The problem is, Square Enix never said it was a "new team": by their own admission, it consists of most of the original team, with a few changes at the top level.  The idea that it's an entirely new group is an inaccuracy that the community picked up and ran with without verifying.

More precisely, what we're dealing with is a reshuffling, or, as Square Enix's President and CEO refers to it, a "restructured" team.  In his letter, he never once refers to it as a "new team", and goes on to mention that we "welcome several new leaders handpicked from other projects to work with the existing talent [emphasis added] on FINAL FANTASY XIV."

Nine positions changed, four of them filled with existing members of team.  The other five were legitimately new to the project, and installed in leadership positions.  It is of note, however, that one of these five new leaders worked on the Crystal Tools engine FFXIV is built on, implying some immediate familiarity.

In total, we have four completely new individuals - out of over a hundred total members on the development team (in January, current producer Yoshi-P roughly estimated it to be around 130).

Practically speaking, it's the old team, with a few fresh individuals acting in leadership positions.  Most of the leadership - and particularly the grunts - have been here and working on the game since far earlier in it's development cycle.  With the support of Square Enix's CEO and the simple facts to go on, let's put that tired old myth of a "new team" to rest.

Guild Wars Patches Faster than FFXIV

The occasional argument against SE's slow updates compared to Trion's is that Rift is a pay to play game, and that FFXIV is currently free (after the initial purchase).  While this doesn't change the fact that Square Enix has a ton more experience and financial backing compared to Trion and is still getting shown up by the upstart, I thought I'd take a look at another entirely free to play MMO: Guild Wars.

Note that Guild Wars is, at this point, six years old, and still getting quicker updates and bug fixes than FFXIV.  Also note that it is, and has always been, a free to play game after the initial purchase - while XIV should be updating as if it's pay to play.

That's right, a six year old free to play MMO is getting more consistent updates than FFXIV.

This list compares September 23rd, XIV's first patch, to July 7th, today, give Square a slight edge by using their patch as a start date.  Updates denoted as major patches are marked with an asterisk for clarity.  Minor patches are roughly comparable in size and context/bug fixes.  Links are provided so you may verify the content sizes yourself.

FFXIV:
http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/pl/news/category?catId=4

Note that FFXIV switched to version numbers with .
September 23rd
September 27th
September 30th
October 8th
October 15th
October 22nd
October 28th
* November 25th * (in two packets)
November 30th
December 3rd
December 6th
* December 15th *
* December 21st *
January 12th
January 18th
* 1.15a (February 2nd) *
1.15b (February 17th)
* 1.16 (March 3rd) *
1.16a (March 28th)
* 1.17 (April 14th) *
1.17a (April 25th)
1.17b (May 23rd)
1.17c (June 15th)

Total Majors: 6
Total Minor: 17


Guild Wars:
http://www.guildwars.com/support/gameupdates/

October 5th
October 8th (in two packets)
October 15th (in two packets)
October 19th (one line fix)
* October 21st * (in two packets)
October 22nd (in two packets)
October 25th (in two packets)
October 28th
November 2nd
* November 12th *
November 18th
November 19th
* December 9th *
* December 16th *
January 6th
* February 17th *
March 3rd
March 10th
* March 22nd *
April 4th
April 21st
April 28th
April 29th
May 5th
May 18th
May 23rd
June 2nd (in two packets)
June 3rd
June 9th (in two packets)
June 10th
June 16th
June 30th
July 7th
July 8th
July 14th

Total Majors: 6
Total Minor: 29

PC Gamer Backs Rift's Progress

 "We Rift players are a pretty lucky bunch. Over the past few months post-launch, we’ve received almost-monthly major updates with some pretty quality content." - PC Gamer (link below)

Can the most dedicated of FFXIV fans really claim that they've "received almost-monthly major updates"?  No, because FFXIV has had, in fact, only six, since last September. Rift, on the other hand, launched at the beginning of March, and has had four - one a month, and on pace to stay close to that in the coming days.

Allow me to reiterate the fact that Square Enix has multiple times the MMORPG (and general game development) experience and money Trion does, and SE has insisted they're doing everything in their power to turn FFXIV around.

Yes, there's the "But SE is doing a complete overhaul!" argument, but that fails on two fronts.  First, "complete overhaul" is, to use the fanboy's favorite term, hyperbole ("DING DING DING!  YOU SAID THE SECRET WORD!").  The basics are still there.  The game is not being built from the ground up.  The most significant changes coming are to *certain* maps, and some battle adjustments.

Most of what's there will still exist, and new content will build upon that, which is not, by definition, an "overhaul", which is defined as a repair to the existing.  The only promised overhauls are to the battle system, with the major addition being auto-attack, and some of the more repetitive zones - that's the extent of what developers have told us is being overhauled.

Developers add new quests and variations all the time, for example, so the upcoming Companies are not an "overhaul" but simply "new content".  Crafting is remaining the same.  The abilities as a whole are remaining mostly the same.  Most of the zones, as far as we've been told, are remaining the same.  Yes, significant changes are coming, but there's very little evidence of a "complete overhaul" to the game as a whole, as some try to argue.

Essentially, we've been waiting for promised *content* more than an overhaul, and have gotten neither.

Second, it's been ten months - better games have been completed in this timeframe.  Even if it's a "complete overhaul", it should be much further along than this, we have yet to see any actual progress. 1.18, should it not be pushed back again, is releasing later this month, and may actually be the first real showing of significant changes, almost a year later.

But it's not out yet, and Square Enix has already greatly scaled back on their plans.  The aforementioned Companies, for instance, are no longer player run, and appear to be simple repeatable quest hubs for points toward special items - and the brunt of the quests will not yet be available by SE's own admission.

Could 1.18 be the first step in often promised, long significant changes?  It could be, or it could be more half-baked improvements that make things "better" without really making them "good" or "fixed" or "acceptable" - even the most ardent fanboys never refer to these changes as making the game "good", simply "better".  We'll find out soon enough.


http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/07/14/rifts-next-update-will-bring-plenty-of-gaming-goodness-for-raid-phobic-and-pvp-focused-players/

Things I've Learned from the Square Enix Fanbase!

Having spent the last couple years heavily immersed in the Square Enix fanbase, I can tell you it's an interesting thing.  Never have I come across such a vocal group bent on convincing you that a company can do no wrong.  Here's just a few of the ways in which they have enlightened me, enriching my life beyond measures I thought attainable in this mere humanity.

• Fluff pieces are much better than getting real answers (it's also okay to creep all over the female interviewer).  But they're not really "fluff" anyway, because it's really important we know what XIV race the developer would like to be in real life, whether they prefer tea or coffee, and what they'd do if they were attacked by flying goblins.

• Producer's Letters every few weeks featuring a few vague points stretched out over several paragraphs are a great example of a company communicating well with it's fanbase, and you're just ingrateful if you think otherwise.  It doesn't matter if other companies release detailed lists of upcoming changes and specific timelines - Square Enix's developers let you know they're afraid of flying, and that's what's important.

• Criticism is only constructive when they say it - anything else is trolling, and you're a "hater".  (Don't be surprised if they randomly show up on your Twitter to tell you how stupidly wrong your innocent comment about FFXIV is.)

• "Be patient" is an unarguable response to anybody who questions the game's progress.  It doesn't matter if you've waited ten months for a promised feature, you're just an impatient, selfish child.  ("Please be patient" is also the FFXIV development team's official motto, as Yoshida constantly reminds us in interviews and letters, sometimes multiple times in a single one.)

• It's okay for the updates to trickle in, and you can't compare FFXIV to Rift, because Square is doing a complete overhaul and Trion is not.  It doesn't matter that better games have been completed in the same timeframe it's taken us to get a handful of sidequests, a Market Ward search box and auto-attack, or that SE is a corporate monster with ten years of successful MMO experience and far more financial backing than Trion could ever hope to attain.

• Allowing the realistic and common motion of "jumping" destroys people's immersion, whereas fantasy races, magic spells, real world leve timers, bags holding literally thousands of items, bells that drop candy, text chat, and a convoluted UI covering half the screen do not.

• You don't understand.  No, that's it entirely.  Prefer an Auction House to Market Wards?  You don't understand the unique brilliance at work (and you're probably lazy to boot).  Prefer rested EXP systems to Fatigue?  You don't understand how this makes thing fair.  You want jumping?  You don't understand how that's unrealis... er, how it's too hard to... you just plain don't get it!

• RMT is the worst scourge to ever face MMOs, and your convenience is entirely worth throwing away to stop them.  If it's convenient for you, it's convenient for them, and therefore all the law-abiding citizens of Eorzea must suffer to combat that Lalafell train (even though, with all the time and resources in the world at their disposal, they'll deal with it just fine, and you'll still be inconvenienced).

• Basic features, like being able to tab out of fullscreen mode or view an on-screen clock, are for whiny casuals who are too lazy to turn and look at a desk clock, purchase an additional computer to use for multitasking, or use an illegal third party program (which is normally wrong, but since we're the fanbase and we want to be able to alt tab too, we're totally and arbitrarily cool with it).  If you want convenience, smooth gameplay, standard features, or basic accessibility, you've simply fallen prey to that entitlement mentality all casual gamers have.

When it comes down to it, if you disagree with a Square Enix decision, you don't understand how ingenious it is, how much work it takes to fix (doesn't matter if smaller companies have done similar things in less time!), and you want everything handed to you.  Square Enix decisions that can acceptably be disagreed with are the ones that were made strictly as concessions to the hated casuals (like jumping and auto-attack).  BTW, you're ruining MMOs, go back to WoW.