Ketrebu wrote:
Back before it launched, they had an entire beta forum dedicated to players telling SE that the game was nowhere near ready to launch and needed like another year in the oven at least, but they completely ignored any and all feedback, shut the forum down because they didn't want to listen to all the negativity, and launched the game anyway. We all saw how that turned out.
The funny, or sad thing about this (depending how you look at it), is that after endless people and very bad press said "this isn't good" "this isn't going to work" "that needs to be changed" Tanaka's and SE's PR response always was "you just don't understand our vision!" Yet they never bothered to explain exactly what their godly vision was that they were so gungho about sticking to. I think this ultimately was the downfall of XIV at it's birth, despite having a plethora of feedback from various sources, and various market audiences, it was all completely ignored.
One of the refreshing things about the new team, lead by Yoshi-P, is that he has a strong background as an actual MMO consumer, and has a mantra that hey if it worked in WoW or worked in XI, or worked in Ragnaroak, I'm not afraid to try to mimic it in our game with our own personal twist - this is actually what is needed and expected in today's MMO circle.
The game sorta went from a console game that you could just so happen to play online...to an MMO you just so happen to be able to play on a console, and that's moving in the correct direction.
Ketrebu wrote:
This time though it's completely the opposite, and we'll find out whether that works to it's detriment or not. Instead of ignoring the players, SE are taking on board every whim and demand the current Japanese playbase has, and very few games have rabbid fans influencing the direction a game takes so early in development.
*fixed* Minor quip, but honestly the only direct influence is driven by that Japanese players. Not surprisingly. It's not entirely a bad thing though, as opinions seem to be rather universal. But if the Japanese players inquire about something or request something it's usually addressed rather quickly.
There have been a few instances rather early on when the new team tried to change something or do something one particular way, and the forums reacted very negatively to it, and the team immediately changed their mind or dropped it altogether. Kinda neat, since in the past even in XI that was something SE just absolutely wouldn't do.
Ketrebu wrote:
As for the game's current state; it's a LOT better than it was at launch, but it's still haunted by issues that crop up from it's terrible engine and infrastructure. Content wise for a new player there's tons to do, but unfortunately most of it requires you to already be max level. Like Kluya said it's not easy for first-time players, though a veteran can go 1-50 in like a week or two, so it depends who and what you know.
There's no shortage of lowbie mobs, and there's always the leve system (repeatable quests at various check points purely made as a resource of leveling). However, I think some new players without friends already playing may feel discourged soley on the fact that there aren't that many fellow new-starters around. Most everyone is leveled, many have all the available classes leveled in full, with no level sync capability yet. So I feel a little bad and it's hard for me to say if its better to get in early and depend on power leveling or leve spamming, or if it's better for someone to wait for the relaunch hoping to be in a pool of several other new players. I guess that's up to one's self.
Also note, that leveling is far faster paced than in XI. If you enjoy questing, you also get exp rewards from that. And you can always just try to earn acheiements, which I personally enjoy.
Most of the way everything functions currently in game is being completely changed in the relaunch, as well as the entire overworld being replaced. So even if you start now, please don't feel too put off if something doesn't quite jive or feels slow or overwhelming.
For those who have the game already and have vacationed from it, i do encourage to at least come do the new story line missions.
They're really stellar and will not be available again.
Also a lot of the end game stuff added in like skirmish, hamlet defense, etc is really fun, and we could always use participants for our varied timezones! And no one I think has mentioned it but aside from AF gear, there's also not Relic Weapons to obtain. So for those of us who kicked their butts regretting not getting their relic weapon in XI well now's your chance! The relic weapons will also grow with your character so they'll never be outdone by new items added in.
(sorry to piggy back off Ket's far more articulate post)