Letter from the Producer, V (03/03/2011)




Well,
my stint in London has drawn to a close, and I'm now making my way to
L.A. At the London office, I had the chance to speak with a few people
from FFXIV's French and German fan sites, and enjoyed what I felt were
some very meaningful exchanges. Unfortunately, I couldn't meet up with
representatives from one of the German sites due to some transportation
trouble on their end. But I'll be back in Europe before long, so we'll
have to get together then!

Japan to England to America in the span of a
week. It's all got me feeling a bit...off. Maybe it's because I'm not
the type of person who sleeps much to begin with, but I'm not really
feeling the jet lag, per se. I'm just worried that if I stop to take a
break or slow down, it'll hit me all at once. If anyone out there knows a
cure for this nonsense, let me know.

As I mentioned before, I left the results and
analysis of the second Players' Poll out of my last letter to try and
keep it short, so that's seems as good a place as any to start.

I'm writing this at 30,000 feet again, so I
may not be calm, cool, and collected. But my interpretations of the poll
data were all made while I still had two feet on the ground, so they
should be solid. (Seriously, I really hate planes.)

Poll responses numbered in the tens of
thousands again, and I'd like to thank everyone who participated. Let's
get right to it, shall we?


1. What do you feel are currently the most significant issues with the battle system? (up to three answers)

	JP	NA	GB	FR	DE
Spamming actions.	21.3％	16.3％	16.4％	21.4％	16.1％
Lack of class uniqueness.	21.5％	22.6％	23.2％	21.0％	19.1％
Lack of party-based battle tactics.	10.9％	19.3％	20.6％	13.5％	12.4％
Insufficient effect from attributes.	16.9％	14.4％	13.7％	13.1％	21.4％
Lackluster battle animations.	15.3％	13.4％	13.7％	15.4％	13.9％
Cumbersome Battle Regimens.	14.1％	14.1％	12.5％	15.6％	17.1％

For Question 1, we decided to list up several
points of concern the dev team and I had, and allow you to select
multiple responses. It looks like the end result is that you feel all of
them are significant issues. We'll do our best to address them all. In
particular, the lack of class uniqueness seems to be prevalent in all
regions. As this relates closely to core elements such as battle
strategy, party composition, and attributes, we will be giving it top
priority. It is going to entail a huge overhaul, including balancing the
distribution of actions across classes, but we'll be looking to see
what we can do, and then doing it! The result will be less monotony of
actions, and once those changes have been finished, we'll move onto
reworking the Battle Regimen system.


2. What type of class role would you like to use in combat?

	JP	NA	GB	FR	DE
Tank (protect allies by holding enemy enmity)	17.3％	19.1％	16.5％	16.9％	14.3％
Melee (attack enemies at close range)	39.8％	33.8％	32.9％	32.3％	37.0％
Ranged (attack enemies at long range)	21.2％	20.9％	23.5％	25.1％	25.6％
Healer (heal allies with restorative abilities)	11.5％	12.7％	13.8％	13.2％	12.8％
Buffer (support allies with enhancing abilities)	10.2％	13.5％	13.3％	12.5％	10.3％

You guys love your melee attackers, don't
you? I guess it's to be expected, considering Matsui (the battle team
leader) tells me that melee attackers have been the most popular classes
in FFXI, too. Personally, when it comes to MMOs, I'm more of a ranged
man myself. I've logged more than my fair share of play time online, and
have played every kind of class, but whenever asked what my main is, I
always say caster first. At any rate, we'll be taking the results from
Question 2 into consideration when making system changes to help
encourage party-based play.



3. How frequently would you like to engage in party-based play?

	JP	NA	GB	FR	DE
I'm a solo player.	20.7％	9.5％	9.6％	13.6％	6.4％
Just on the weekends. (between 1–3 hours)	17.8％	8.9％	8.1％	6.1％	10.5％
Just on the weekends. (more than 3 hours)	11.9％	9.9％	9.8％	7.1％	11.6％
Weekends and weekdays. (between 1–3 hours)	39.5％	31.3％	35.5％	30.0％	43.1％
Weekends and weekdays. (more than 3 hours)	10.0％	40.4％	37.0％	43.2％	28.4％

At first glance, Question 3's results look to
be an overwhelming desire for party-based play, but looking closely at
the regional breakdown, Japan in particular has a strong showing of
players who prefer rolling solo. I imagine for many people it might go
something like this: real life obligations at school or work → can't
play for prolonged periods of time → log into a game with mostly
party-based content → spend time looking for a party → end up losing
actual game time. I'm well aware of these issues, and promise not to let
vicious cycles like this dominate FFXIV's gameplay. I'm on it. ☺

Though we're revising the battle system with a
focus on making it fun for parties, the solo/party orientation and
recommended ranks of game content will be clearly defined, and future
adjustments and additions will take all types of player lifestyles into
account. To take guildleves as an example, there is a certain comfort in
knowing that if I go to this aetheryte or that counter, there is
something to do. I'm of the opinion that there is nothing better than
the ability to pick up the game and play even when you only have a
little bit of time to do so, and this will continue to be an important
element in the future. Of course, to make party play as enjoyable as
possible, we're going to be coming up with some new specs and begin
implementing them when possible.



4. What types of game content would you like to undertake while in a party? (up to three answers)

	JP	NA	GB	FR	DE
Ranking up.	17.9％	21.5％	20.7％	15.1％	17.2％
Farming/gathering.	5.7％	1.5％	1.4％	6.7％	1.7％
Questing.	11.5％	16.6％	16.4％	14.7％	9.8％
Guildleves.	6.6％	7.7％	7.8％	5.2％	10.9％
Behests.	5.4％	6.4％	6.2％	6.8％	10.8％
Small-scale player versus environment (PvE) content.	25.6％	20.1％	20.6％	28.5％	20.8％
Large-scale player versus environment (PvE) content.	21.6％	20.2％	21.1％	19.2％	24.4％
Player versus player (PvP) content.	5.7％	6.0％	5.8％	3.8％	4.4％

5. What types of game content would you like to undertake while playing solo? (up to three answers)

	JP	NA	GB	FR	DE
Ranking up.	20.8％	17.6％	16.1％	14.9％	10.6％
Farming/gathering.	24.0％	20.0％	19.8％	21.6％	29.2％
Questing.	17.1％	20.1％	20.5％	22.7％	15.4％
Guildleves.	9.5％	9.5％	9.3％	9.0％	10.3％
Behests.	1.8％	1.7％	1.9％	1.6％	1.8％
Synthesis.	20.1％	17.4％	18.0％	20.4％	26.1％
Small-scale player versus environment (PvE) content.	4.4％	8.9％	9.5％	5.4％	3.4％
Player versus player (PvP) content.	2.4％	4.8％	4.9％	4.3％	3.2％

Questions 4 and 5 were aimed at party and
solo play, respectively. These tremendously informative results will go a
long way towards serving as a barometer of sorts for future content
balancing. We will draw heavily on this data when considering the
necessity of forming parties, the presence of in-game features to aid in
doing so, and other such differences between solo and party play. These
differences seem to attribute in part for the strong showing of the solo PvE content option. Also, the solo play response for farming/gathering
is extremely valuable feedback for the dev team, and I’m thinking that
this is something we can tie into the in-game companies we have planned!


6. In addition to
enhancing class differentiation with essential attributes and distinct
appearances, we are also looking into introducing class and rank
requirements for equipping gear. How do you feel about the
implementation of such a system?

	JP	NA	GB	FR	DE
I am for it.	70.6％	68.3％	73.1％	85.1％	82.7％
I am against it.	14.6％	10.7％	10.1％	9.1％	10.8％
Either way is fine with me.	14.8％	21.0％	16.8％	5.8％	6.5％

The overwhelming majority seems to be in
favor of an item system with an emphasis on class uniqueness, much like
the results from Question 1. As I mentioned last letter, this is
something that we've already started on, and we'll be implementing the
changes over time together with adjustments to item stats.



7. The fatigue system
currently in place aims to prevent excessive "grinding" of skill and
experience points. Have you felt the effects of this system while
playing?

	JP	NA	GB	FR	DE
Yes.	72.1％	61.5％	63.4％	60.6％	65.2％
No.	27.9％	38.5％	36.6％	39.4％	34.8％

No doubt many players experienced this to a
greater extent after the changes to skill and experience point
calculations introduced in 1.15. I can't give any particulars about the
timing, but once we rework the foundation, we'll be touching up this as
well, so please bear with us.



The bonus point
allotment system was intended to be a means by which players could
customize their character's individuality. The free distribution of
attribute points has given rise to certain problems, however, such as
compatibility issues with the Armoury system, and the lowered
effectiveness of the attributes themselves. In particular, this lowered
effectiveness of attributes also extends its influence to items, and is
therefore something that we feel must be rectified. To do so, we are
currently looking into the following two options:

• Removal of the bonus point system, and the addition of automatic allotment of attribute points based on class.
  
• Removal of physical levels, and the addition of class-specific allotment of attribute points for each class based on rank.
  

8. Would you prefer option 1, option 2, or the current system?

	JP	NA	GB	FR	DE
Option 1.	28.5％	27.9％	29.0％	35.1％	23.6％
Option 2.	58.9％	54.6％	52.9％	46.4％	39.3％
The current system.	12.6％	17.5％	18.1％	18.5％	37.1％

To be honest, I'm genuinely surprised by the
response to Question 8, as are Matsui and Gondai on the battle team. We
certainly didn't think that over 50% of players would be for doing away
with physical levels. This would entail some pretty big changes tied in
with enhancing class uniqueness. But we're coming to realize now that
most of you seem to be saying you're fine with radical changes as long
as they make the game more fun. We'll definitely refer to this data when
coming up with new specs, and will be implementing them when we can!


9. If the current
target claiming system were done away with, would you be in favor of a
system that rewards skill, experience, and loot only to the party that
first deals damage to an enemy? Or would you be in favor of skill,
experience, and loot being distributed amongst all parties that
contributed to an enemy's defeat?

	JP	NA	GB	FR	DE
Skill, experience, and loot going to only the first party to deal damage to an enemy.	53.5％	40.0％	39.8％	39.6％	55.7％
Skill, experience, and loot going to all parties taking part in an enemy's defeat.	46.5％	60.0％	60.2％	60.4％	44.3％

Player opinions are pretty evenly split on
this one, and the regional breakdowns are varied a bit as well. I'm
kicking myself for not having put in a third option combining the other
two: Skill and experience going to all parties, and loot going to only the first party to deal damage to an enemy.

I personally think that this mixed option
(skill/experience to all involved parties, loot to only the claiming
party) makes sense. Well, the official FFXIV forums will be going live
shortly, and I'd very much like to open this topic up for discussion
there to hear your opinions. I'll be posting, too!


10. If the current
target claiming system were done away with, would you prefer for content
such as dungeons and battle to be converted into instances as much as
possible?
* "Instances" refer to those events and areas that can only be
occupied by a single party, or certain characters, at once. This serves
to prevent players from competing with one another for the same enemies,
for example.

	JP	NA	GB	FR	DE
Yes.	80.1％	76.9％	75.9％	88.8％	87.5％
No.	19.9％	23.1％	24.1％	11.2％	12.5％

This data is somewhat representative of the
response seen to Question 9 data. The people have spoken. As such, we'll
be operating under the premise that new PvE content, such as dungeons
containing sought-after loot, will be instanced. By instancing content
in this way, we'll be able to reduce claim wars and counter-camping and
all that. There's also the added merit of enabling the level design team
to work with a clear theme in mind, and create much more engaging and
challenging content.

So, what did you think of the second Players'
Poll results? I really can't thank you enough for all of the valuable
opinions. The data has really helped us map out the direction in which
to take the battle system from here. All that's left to do is to
finalize the specs and start writing the code. But after-the-fact
adjustments and reworkings being what they are, it simply isn't possibly
to fit everything that needs to be done in a single monthly patch. And
so we're planning to release every big change over the course of two
smaller-size updates. You'll be able to start seeing the changes to the
battle system come spring, so please be patient just a bit longer!

My next letter will be sometime after the
Game Developers Conference, when I'm back on Japanese soil. Patch 1.16
will be live by then, and I'm planning on diving into the topic of
in-game companies! All of the system-side preparations have been made,
and it's almost time for Eorzea's radical transformation to begin!

Well, I have to man up through two more
flights (L.A. to San Fran, and San Fran to Tokyo). Keep me in your
prayers, everyone! It's times like this a little FF Levitate spell would
come in handy...

See you next post! ☺