[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[StrawberryZebra]

Uuh vanilla WoW certainly doesn't. Listing 100s of items is a lot of work w/o the auctioneer addon.

Vanilla WoW didn't, modern WoW does. You can list, for example, 1k+ pieces of cloth in stacks of 20 in a matter of seconds. It's also got a much more intuitive drag and drop interface and let's you list multiple items with a single click. That's by default, straight out of the box without any Addons at all. Addons can help expedite the process further of course, but just the basic AH UI is leagues ahead of what FF14 has.

The vanilla WoW AH was a lot more cumbersome to use, but it's been changed a lot for the better in the 14 intervening years. FF14 has a ton of room for simple usability improvements. but so far has done little to nothing to make those changes a reality - For which they are, quite rightly, being criticised.

Personally, I never needed more than my 2 retainers to "AH all my junk" most certainly I would not need more than 8, which is the current paid maximum.
If you set sensible prices, most stuff sells relatively quickly.

It's not a case of pricing alone. I enjoy playing the AH a lot in MMO's, but in order to do that I need to be able to actually list enough auctions to make it worthwhile. Needing to go through multiple menus each time is annoying enough, but needing to also level a couple more characters up to 17 to get enough slots for everything I want to sell is just plain dumb.

To be completely honest with you, I'm pretty sure the only reason for retainers in the first place is to make playing with the AH be so irritating that people stop doing it. They don't really serve any other purpose. Trying to squeeze extra money out of you on top of a subscription to minimise that kind of annoyance is the kind of scummy move that companies like EA would do.

[Rivellana]

Well that's the last time I go through the trouble of posting screen shots to show you that there is a more convenient way of checking prices than running back and forth to the MB every time.

Post a helpful post, it gets used for further criticism. Not every response to you is meant to be part of a debate or argument.

Ugh. Nice to see the complainers echo chamber around here hasn't changed one bit.

I'm done. Ya'll can keep whining to each other. There's no discussion to be had here.

Hey...I appreciate that you took the time to take the screenshots and post them to his complaint. I started playing about 2.5 weeks ago and had quite easily found that option myself, so I'm not really sure how anyone was still running back and forth to the market board to check prices but anyways...

Think of it this way. I'm sure there are more new players who will drop into this thread, read this conversation, and you will have taught them something about the game that they didn't know.

[Granyala]

FF14 has a ton of room for simple usability improvements. but so far has done little to nothing to make those changes a reality - For which they are, quite rightly, being criticised.

Agreed, the UI and general game systems, esp the currencies you trade for subcurrencies are superfluous, annoying and should go.

Also I'd prefer actual game UIs instead of hiding everything behind text links.

[Wrecktangle]

Well that's the last time I go through the trouble of posting screen shots to show you that there is a more convenient way of checking prices than running back and forth to the MB every time.

Post a helpful post, it gets used for further criticism. Not every response to you is meant to be part of a debate or argument.

Ugh. Nice to see the complainers echo chamber around here hasn't changed one bit.

I'm done. Ya'll can keep whining to each other. There's no discussion to be had here.

To be fair, he still noted you need to have like 4 windows open to check price, when any modern UI designer could do it in 1 cleanly. This is clunky.

I'm not a huge fan of the market board functionality and everything tied with it (retainers, etc.), and I strongly dislike FF14's over-reliance on menus, but I do understand it's a necessary evil with consoles taken into consideration.

No need to be so hostile about complainer echo chambers, etc.

[Faroth]

It might not be "too" complicated, but it is certainly more complicated than it needs to be. Simply clicking on the market board and being able to list the items you want is much cleaner and simpler. The same deal with bank storage, having an NPC you can click on to just store your things is again much easier. It creates awkward interactions like having to keep checking the Market Board to check prices if you're listing multiple items - And having to go through clicking the bell, selecting the retainer then the sell menu again.

There are just too many unnessacary steps for what should be a straightforwards process.

Go to auction house, click to list/buy. Leave auction house, go somewhere else to the mailbox to get the item.
Go to another part of the city, talk to an NPC, access bank. Get items from bank to go back across to the auction house to list.

Vs... go to any multiple number of locations, click to access retainer and bank/sell/price check/get money/send on ventures/get venture rewards.
Go to auction board to buy and instantly have it in your inventory.

This really doesn't seem like as much of an inconvenience as you're making it out to be, but alright. I guess it's just another thing to add to the long list of things a handful say make this game horrible yet can't stop talking about the horrible game they don't like?

Meh.... I'll check back in this weekend with Fan Fest.

[Granyala]

This really doesn't seem like as much of an inconvenience as you're making it out to be, but alright. I guess it's just another thing to add to the long list of things a handful say make this game horrible yet can't stop talking about the horrible game they don't like?

Lets be honest here: There is A LOT of room for improvement when it comes to the UI / systems.

While I like the concept of retainers, I do not like their split inventory. I think when you access one retainer, you should see the bagspace of them all.
Use tabs with the name of the retainer. Also, I think we should be able to craft from both: their inventory and choc saddlebag.

I also would like the constant message of "can't do X while window is open" go away. Esp on item trading NPCs, there is no reason why I cannot unequip the item or rearrange stuff in my inventory w/o having to close the NPC window first.

The useless "item handover" also needs to go when it is a quest item that has no other use. It makes sense for deliveries where you can choose whether you want to give HQ or NQ but Ifalna should be intelligent enough to hand over [quest item] w/o me doing it manually.

Next, axe the gazillion trade NPCs for gear and gear upgrades. Having to cycle through 2-3 NPCs and their dialog options to enhance an item is ... annoying. Streamline. Use the currency tab, esp for coins, crystals, books etc. Declutter our inventory.

Then I would like our chars to be able to pass on loot. Similar to WoWs menu toggle. Plus I definitely want our chars to automatically pass on items that are unique, already in our bag and cannot be looted anyway.

Those are the most glaring issues I encounter daily that really need not be there.

[Graeham II]

Meh.... I'll check back in this weekend with Fan Fest.

That's pretty much what I intend to do.

[StrawberryZebra]

This really doesn't seem like as much of an inconvenience as you're making it out to be, but alright. I guess it's just another thing to add to the long list of things a handful say make this game horrible yet can't stop talking about the horrible game they don't like?

It's a minor inconvenience, at worst. It's just one that doesn't really need to be there. It could be improved up on without needing to reinvent the wheel. I get that some of it is due to also needing to be functional for a controller, but there are a lot of minor changes that can be made to improve the UI without sacrificing functionality.

I'm criticising because I believe Squenix can, and should, do better with the UI. That's not a complaint about the overall state of the game, but one focused on those few remaining rough edges.

Those are the most glaring issues I encounter daily that really need not be there.

To add to this, I'd really love to be able to change Job by simply swapping the Crystal. The number of times I've changed jobs then forgotten to equip the crystal and queued up for some content is embarassing.

[leviathonlx]

Agreed, the UI and general game systems, esp the currencies you trade for subcurrencies are superfluous, annoying and should go.

Also I'd prefer actual game UIs instead of hiding everything behind text links.

I always hate that when I come back from a break. I go and run something and get some item that I need to then google to know what the hell it's for to go talk to some random NPC for one item to then have to google what that item is for on another NPC. It's stupidly annoying.

Like this shit is unacceptable. 10 steps to get an item. 10

[Granyala]

Perhaps Square just thinks it would be rude of us to start changing clothes while talking to a merchant.

It's probably more of a limitation in their database and associated access functions.

- - - Updated - - -

To add to this, I'd really love to be able to change Job by simply swapping the Crystal. The number of times I've changed jobs then forgotten to equip the crystal and queued up for some content is embarassing.

That makes no sense, the game allows to store equipment sets similar to outfitter and switching these already switches classes.
I see no reason to dig up the correct crystal and switch that way.

C -> double click on the equipment set associated with the job you want to play -> ready to go, no danger of forgetting anything.

[StrawberryZebra]

That makes no sense, the game allows to store equipment sets similar to outfitter and switching these already switches classes.
I see no reason to dig up the correct crystal and switch that way.

C -> double click on the equipment set associated with the job you want to play -> ready to go, no danger of forgetting anything.

Which is fine you're max level and won't be upgrading your gear often. Most of my Jobs are still below level 50, so it's raining gear upgrades from the sky so fast that saving the gearset is more of a hinderance than a help .

[Dugna]

Which is fine you're max level and won't be upgrading your gear often. Most of my Jobs are still below level 50, so it's raining gear upgrades from the sky so fast that saving the gearset is more of a hinderance than a help .

I just saved the gearset to lets say DRK then as I got gear I clicked the reccomended equip button then updated my gearset, easy one button for the gearset thats constantly updated.

[Granyala]

Which is fine you're max level and won't be upgrading your gear often. Most of my Jobs are still below level 50, so it's raining gear upgrades from the sky so fast that saving the gearset is more of a hinderance than a help .

Eeh... you only have to click the button with 2 arrows and accept.
You can do that after equipping new pieces, really it doesn't get any easier than that.

Outfitter in the old WoW worked pretty much the same.

- - - Updated - - -

It's just that you have to create the character to use the services, I had no intention of making another character just yet and what is worse you have to name the retainer and the name must be unique.

I actually loved being able to create Liin and Chela to my liking.
Just wish I could see them more often.

[Katchii]

Which is fine you're max level and won't be upgrading your gear often. Most of my Jobs are still below level 50, so it's raining gear upgrades from the sky so fast that saving the gearset is more of a hinderance than a help .

You realize there are two buttons you can use that solve this. There's a button on the character screen that automatically equips you with the best gear you have in your armory chest, and a second button that will save what you currently have equipped to the gearset. It takes like 5-10 seconds to equip the upgrades on your current class and then register it to the gearset without ever having to even LOOK at your inventory or armory chest.

Not trying to be rude, but for someone who's played this game a while, you seem to be woefully uninformed as to how some of it's core systems work.

[Granyala]

BTW one of the systems changes I would desire most is being able to change the sound output device w/o having to restart the game. ._.

[Remilia]

BTW one of the systems changes I would desire most is being able to change the sound output device w/o having to restart the game. ._.

Sadly that's not just a FFXIV thing, it's a Windows wide thing and potentially DirectX. They really need to add a sound output selector instead of relying on Window's hand off.

[Eleccybubb]

BTW one of the systems changes I would desire most is being able to change the sound output device w/o having to restart the game. ._.

Is that still not fixed?

I unplugged my headset back in and out recently and it didn't crash or lose sound. Although I kept the speakers plugged in at the back and the headset on the front port of my case.

[Granyala]

Sadly that's not just a FFXIV thing, it's a Windows wide thing and potentially DirectX. They really need to add a sound output selector instead of relying on Window's hand off.

Dunno, WoW has a selector and it works, I'm not asking for it to be automatic.

[StrawberryZebra]

Not trying to be rude, but for someone who's played this game a while, you seem to be woefully uninformed as to how some of it's core systems work.

You're making a lot of assumptions there. My total playtime is, acording to Steam, just under 215 hours. I'm not sure that counts as being a "while" for most people, considering it's been spread over the course of a few years. I largely don't bother with leveling other jobs, Eureka, Professions and so on, so what I "need" to do in order to keep up is very minor. Spam clicking my way through the story cuts down on wasted time massively. I generally just do the raids and dungeons a couple of times and that's pretty much it. I don't have the time for anything else really. I don't even have an FC, I just can't be arsed to find one *shrug*.

My gripes, however, are not so much with the core systems as they are with the Interfaces. The games systems are, on the whole, very solid. The UI on the other hand... Not so much. It's simply not up to par with what should be expected from a game in 2019. It doesn't take a genius to recognise that other games have done the same thing but better 10+ years ago. Especially when you consider that Final Fantasy was, until FF13, a heavilly menu driven experience. If any company has the expertise to pull off well made interfaces that work well on a controler it should be Squenix.

[Katchii]

You're making a lot of assumptions there. My total playtime is, acording to Steam, just under 215 hours. I'm not sure that counts as being a "while" for most people, considering it's been spread over the course of a few years. I largely don't bother with leveling other jobs, Eureka, Professions and so on, so what I "need" to do in order to keep up is very minor. Spam clicking my way through the story cuts down on wasted time massively. I generally just do the raids and dungeons a couple of times and that's pretty much it. I don't have the time for anything else really. I don't even have an FC, I just can't be arsed to find one *shrug*.

My gripes, however, are not so much with the core systems as they are with the Interfaces. The games systems are, on the whole, very solid. The UI on the other hand... Not so much. It's simply not up to par with what should be expected from a game in 2019. It doesn't take a genius to recognise that other games have done the same thing but better 10+ years ago. Especially when you consider that Final Fantasy was, until FF13, a heavilly menu driven experience. If any company has the expertise to pull off well made interfaces that work well on a controler it should be Squenix.

My assumption as to your total playtime was inferred based on how much time you spend on this forum providing feedback and criticism, which is quite a bit as you'[re kind of a regular here. Based on how much you criticize and speak about this game, I assumed you played a lot more than you did. Aside from your criticism of the story, which we've already discussed a bit, I agree with your criticisms for the most part so I'm not at all trying to infer that you aren't qualified or whatever to provide critique based on your play time.

I'd consider the systems you're currently commenting on, the UI and menus, a pretty core system considering you use the UI literally ALL the time while you're in game and you use menus any time you're interacting with anything which is also incredibly frequent. I was surprised you didn't know about those shortcuts for the Market Board price checking through your retainers, equipping gear upgrades and saving gear sets when you were criticizing those things specifically stating how cumbersome they were when they're really not that cumbersome when you know those shortcuts. Other games certainly do it better, not denying that, was again just surprised at how uninformed you were regarding those specific things when for everything else you seem to have much more information.