[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Wrecktangle]

So I tried to make the push to get the PLD to 60, but failed. Finally did PotD though. Fun little thing. Definitely a little on the boring side though. Worked my way up to floor 61 and hit the reset button to try and farm, but got tired and ran out of time.

Or, y'know, releasing a new Accord but having everything about it dismissed because it doesn't have the horsepower of a V8 and that's the only thing that matters.

I don't see how you believe your analogy fits the topic better than mine. I'm just saying you can't take that 90's Accord, throw some new body panels on it and call it anything special in today's market. The car has had to evolve to stay competitive (even with itself as an award winning car). MMO design isn't much different IMO. You can't keep releasing expansions that just change the body panels and think it will continue to drive the same success.

Please NOTE that I am not saying the game is doing this currently. I am saying it was DANGEROUSLY close to doing it.

World of Warcraft has always released patches and expansions within 1-2 weeks of every competitor (SWTOR, Conan, FFXIV stuff, on and on). You can't do something repeatedly and still be coincidence.

Blizzard is very good at marketing. They know what they're doing releasing content at the same time as a new competitor. I don't think Overwatch is a case of that, though, since it's indeed an unrelated game and would also be detracting from WoW's stuff coming out around the same time.

You're absolutely right that I can't say it's not (or is) a coincidence with anything other than my opinion. I am a professional who works in the SDLC space. I've built and seen roadmaps for numerous projects and these dates are planned so far out in advance. They say shit like June 2018. Sure we haven't ironed out a specific week, and I don't doubt that if a team had to choose an impactful week they'd target the best choice (to disrupt competition).

I know for a fact that game development in similar in this regard. They don't know a year in advance that Legion is dropping a raid that week so they don't plan for that. How could they?

Also, why are we assuming that Blizz is the one doing this and not SQEX lol, couldn't it just as easily go the other way? That's why I think it's a silly stance to hold because there's no way to prove it, and my experience in software development demonstrates to me it's very unlikely to have specific dates ironed out that far out.

If you wanted to think about this more deeply, why would OW release a content patch at the same time WoW did? Why would Blizz cannibalize its self? They're not the same genre so the crossover % probably isn't large, but I'd posit most people who have a single blizz game installed, have several.

People are seriously still trying to blow it off as coincidence? blizz does line up their content patches in wow with other mmos (that are worth a damn). No shame in admitting that. It also doesn't really mean much.

See above. How can we say for sure it isn't the other way around? Maybe these other companies want a stab at their share?

Knowing full well all these MMO's have SDLC of 1+ years for content, how do they (please be specific) target specific dates of their competition so far in advance?

When I talk about BDO, I don't mean the difficulty of the combat but rather how abilities are activated. I've never encountered a combat system that was so unique and intuitive, which incorporated seamless movement into the attacks. Also, I tried Blade and Soul during early access. I couldn't get into it primarily because none of the classes fit my playstyle, and nobody I knew played it. This was basically my experience in the game.

I also was somewhat bothered by the postprocessing "bloom" effect everywhere. What is with games and post processing visual seizures?

Ah ok. I had played a game called C9 before that, which BDO basically lifted a lot of its combat from. Direction keys + hotkeys were unique attacks, off side buttons did things like Q was block, E was grab. Unique moves when in air, etc. so it wasn't new to me. Fun and Refreshing for sure, but I don't think its better than BNS in any fashion, for the reasons I listed before.

I didn't mention difficulty for any reason other than to say I don't usually enjoy "beat em ups" for longer than a little bit at a time. BDO felt very dynasty warriors-ish to me, just a bunch of nameless non-threatening enemies to be grouped up and mashed the same button down.

What type of "playstyle" do you like? I actually had such a hard time picking a class for the first time in an MMO. The Blade Master had telekinetic swords which I was hyped for, The Force Master danced elements back and forth, the Assassin had stealth and an Izuna drop (sold me), the Blade Dancer was a more elegant Blade Master (but rat locked >.<).

I watched the vid, IIRC that's a world boss level 40 Bear. What was bad about it though, the video looked beautiful to me? If anything the only bad thing the video shows is that FM (Force Master) can lock down PVE a little too easily lol.

I clarified after this answer that during the even numbered patches there will be two dungeons in the roulette. The one that is added in the odd numbered patch will bring the expert roulette to three dungeons in total.

From a Twinfinite interview with Yoshi. So basically that 1 dungeon goes together with the other 2 as part of EX Roulette. So 3 dungeons in the pool but still 1 less overall.

Awesome info thanks, Faroth will be pumped for this.

I need to get off my lazy bum and get back to Dark Souls 3, but the game is hard for me. I spend hours just being stomped by non-bosses for hours, and then I'm discouraged for months. Same thing happened with DS1, meanwhile everywhere I go everyone is all "that game is easy, get good scrub". God I hate that dismissive, pompous and arrogant phrase.

I got into the souls series really late too. If you're like me you probably died because you aren't patient. I must have died COUNTLESS times in the first 5 hours or so, but once I perfected a more patient strategy I died significantly less. In fact the only times I ever died were my own fault. I got greedy and gambled and lost. The game despite being exceptionally punishing is very fair. Just take your time.

[zito]

amazon got 1 hour before I cancel and pre order off the psn store

it's been over 24 hours where the f is my codes

[Kaelwryn]

Prelim Patch Notes. Guess I was wrong, but eyy atleast we got 'em right?

[Sesshomaru]

Prelim Patch Notes. Guess I was wrong, but eyy atleast we got 'em right?

Oh my, it's the Holy Notes.

Too bad I'm leaving work in any minute now, can't digest everything until I come home.

[Kyanion]

Prelim Patch Notes. Guess I was wrong, but eyy atleast we got 'em right?

Thanks for the link!

[zito]

both sam and red mage start in uldah if anyone wanted to know

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Attribute points have been removed.

didn't know this was happening

[Scufflegrit]

Forget the table flipping... the path notes clearly show someone got angry enough to flip a pyramid...

[Eleccybubb]

When completing a level 51 to 59 dungeon or a level 61 to 69 dungeon, players will always receive one piece of gear equippable by their current class or job.

Not sure how I feel. Always preferred getting it from loot drops but it is a nice change overall.

[zito]

There is now a distinction between detrimental effects that can and cannot be removed via curative items or actions.

praise yoshi

[Kyanion]

When completing a level 51 to 59 dungeon or a level 61 to 69 dungeon, players will always receive one piece of gear equippable by their current class or job.

Not sure how I feel. Always preferred getting it from loot drops but it is a nice change overall.

Also nice is that you won't get duplicate gear from this change.

[zito]

a new job guide releases sometime today for all the new UI stuff they added

[Faroth]

Also, why are we assuming that Blizz is the one doing this and not SQEX lol, couldn't it just as easily go the other way? That's why I think it's a silly stance to hold because there's no way to prove it, and my experience in software development demonstrates to me it's very unlikely to have specific dates ironed out that far out.

Because Heavensward, patch dates, and Stormblood have been announced first only for Blizz to announce their content patches weeks/months later to coincide? Kind of hard to say it's SQEX doing it when they're announcing first.

If you wanted to think about this more deeply, why would OW release a content patch at the same time WoW did? Why would Blizz cannibalize its self? They're not the same genre so the crossover % probably isn't large, but I'd posit most people who have a single blizz game installed, have several.

Like I said, I don't think Overwatch is an example of it and totally agree if it were nipping at FFXIV it would also be eroding WoW. It's the WoW content that they wisely schedule to retain players from trying competition. People were speculating MONTHS ago when they thought Tomb of Sargeras would launch. This was well before 7.2 was released. My prediction was "June 13 or 20, a week before or the week of FFXIV Stormblood." Well well, lo and behold...

I've made the same prediction repeatedly using this method. I've been right every time.

See above. How can we say for sure it isn't the other way around? Maybe these other companies want a stab at their share?

Blizzard has never had a reliable schedule. FFXIV has been doing quarterly content since ARR released. Which one do you think can predict the other?
And again, Blizzard announcements for dates consistently have come after FFXIV date scheduling. I doubt Square has a mole in Blizzard's office.

Knowing full well all these MMO's have SDLC of 1+ years for content, how do they (please be specific) target specific dates of their competition so far in advance?

None of them have a patch planned for a specific date in June of 2018. They have general timeframes, not specific dates. As they get closer and settle on the exact week they'll patch, if Square has announced an expansion or patch the same month, they schedule that same week. This isn't difficult. And it's every time. Just when releases coincide in the same month, they're going to hit the same week as the competitor's announced date. Though, again, I made the Tomb of Sargeras dead on date months ago based purely off Stormblood's release date.

Note, I'm not faulting Blizzard for doing so. Anyone with half a brain in marketing would do the same. Blizzard aims to retain players. It's easier than attracting new ones, really. Offering content to prevent players from trying out new competition just makes sense.

Awesome info thanks, Faroth will be pumped for this.

Glad to hear it for sure. I was just speculating that was the case. Happy to hear it confirmed.

[Eleccybubb]

A "PS4 Pro" setting has been added.
Players using this setting will have their game displayed at a higher resolution than the standard "PS4" setting.
* This setting will only be applied when a PlayStation®4 Pro is connected to a 4K-compatible TV.

4K support? Weren't we also supposed to be getting a 60 FPS Patch?

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Also nice is that you won't get duplicate gear from this change.

I do agree but ehhh I like clicking the chests and rolling. I'm not saying it's a bad change but as long as it doesn't start doing it per boss then that's fine for me.

[Kyanion]

I do agree but ehhh I like clicking the chests and rolling. I'm not saying it's a bad change but as long as it doesn't start doing it per boss then that's fine for me.

Yeah but the other thing is it is only from 50-59 and 60-69 so it won't do much at level caps for the dungeons. A nice little change to help gearing up as people rush to 70.

[zito]

4K support? Weren't we also supposed to be getting a 60 FPS Patch?

it also says the standard res is gone and replaced with an HD one so I'm assuming it's that

[Faroth]

I like the Twist of Fate addition to FATEs

[Eleccybubb]

So my PS4 just downloaded the new launcher files and the HW icon changed to the Stormblood one. HYPE. Still can't access my fucking theme till Friday

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I like the Twist of Fate addition to FATEs

Indeed. Might give people incentive to partake in them now.

[dope_danny]

When completing a level 51 to 59 dungeon or a level 61 to 69 dungeon, players will always receive one piece of gear equippable by their current class or job.

Not sure how I feel. Always preferred getting it from loot drops but it is a nice change overall.

As a BSM desynth i am happy, post 170 you really rely on weapon drops.

[zito]

I got the new theme and icon and stormblood launcher updated but when I logged on and selected stormblood to apply to my account I got a "can't check version" error message which I'm assuming is because of maintenance.

also cancelled the amazon pre order for the playstation one because amazon is slacking

[Kyanion]

Can start to download the expansion on PC now too