As I said on a previous thread, this is something that was on my mind for quite a while, so I'll get direct to the point.
Giving feedback to FFXIV team is...a frustrating experience. Looking at the official forums, I can't help but notice a feeling of disconnect between players and the dev team.
This is a feeling that I also share, and it's bothering me enough to say that this will be my last thread here.
I'll try to break up my thoughts:
1. We feel that our feedback is not valuable to Square Enix
Oh, boy, I'll put this out of the way first.
Putting feedback out here or in game actually feels like a massive waste of time, even more so, when we see threads making anniversaries with 0 acknowledge from the team. Hrothgar/Viera woes? No luck! A PvPer begging for balance patches that don't take 6 months plus, and breaks something else? Too bad! Wanting a job/combat design that make our crystals shine bright? Join the queue and stand a line. Net code issues? What is that?
If you're not raising an issue that is a critical bug (or is JP forums), you're out of luck, come join us screaming at clouds.
2. Unfocused feedback
I really think it's nice to have forums and there's valuable feedback to be found here, but I can't shake the feeling, a more direct, feature focused feedback would go a long way.
For example, we have the new exploration zones, and it would be great if we had a survey to really capture what players think and want. Making direct questions with yes/no answers or 1-10 scale of satisfaction would paint a better picture than loose feedback on the forum, as threads tend to derail quickly.
If they did this with Deep Dungeons, I don't think that we would have the exactly same stuff for the third time (and maybe it would not be dead already).
3. Beta Features and Test Realms (Test Instances)
This is important, my biggest criticism of FFXIV team is how they're constantly looking to capture lightning on a bottle and most of the time failing hard at that.
I mean, If we could test a slice of Island Sanctuary, the moment we'd reach the spreadsheet simulator, they'd know that was not what players were looking forward to it.
I can say the same of Lord of Verminion, Chocobo Racing, First Diadem and so on. Instead, they went all in and it's all dead and abandoned.
Remember when they found out that player enjoyed jumping puzzles and then proceed to make every new Gold Saucer minigame a jumping puzzle? Yeah.
A slow rollout of features would give time to actually adjust things and give it a chance of success, and it really highlights the need of a more focused feedback.
Remember portraits? What the hell happened there? Just a classic example that feedback was all over the place, and they actually did not implement the easiest fix ever.
Get the picture of your adventure plate and apply as default portrait for all jobs independent of gear.
4. Sharing feedback with us
Acknowledging feedback is important, however, it doesn't mean you have to go and do everything that was requested.
To illustrate a great example of this, last year Capcom released a beta test for Monster Hunter Wilds following with a player survey.
I've played the beta and responded the survey and as an Insect Glaive main had several issues that I highlighted on my response.
My first surprised was that Capcom addressed feedback response during a lengthy Community update video, and I was shocked of how many things they addressed following players feedback.
It's important to note that I'm not saying that MY individual feedback was taken in consideration but as part of a whole.
There was even a situation where they actually did not go through a change based on feedback and explained why and would keep monitoring as we play the game.
This is actually great as it shows awareness, care and most importantly a vision that the team is following. As I said before not all feedback have to translate in changes, but it's really, really nice to have it addressed.
I can't stress enough how great it felt, seeing how willing they were to communicate with the player base.
It even reminded of 1. X era Yoshida. Where has he gone?
I mean c'mon, every couple of months we have a Live Letter, we definitely could have a segment to addressing feedback there, maybe cut back on the 40-min merchandising segment?
Well, I think those points are a good kick-start for a discussion. I'd like to know what you all think about this!
Continue reading...
Giving feedback to FFXIV team is...a frustrating experience. Looking at the official forums, I can't help but notice a feeling of disconnect between players and the dev team.
This is a feeling that I also share, and it's bothering me enough to say that this will be my last thread here.
I'll try to break up my thoughts:
1. We feel that our feedback is not valuable to Square Enix
Oh, boy, I'll put this out of the way first.
Putting feedback out here or in game actually feels like a massive waste of time, even more so, when we see threads making anniversaries with 0 acknowledge from the team. Hrothgar/Viera woes? No luck! A PvPer begging for balance patches that don't take 6 months plus, and breaks something else? Too bad! Wanting a job/combat design that make our crystals shine bright? Join the queue and stand a line. Net code issues? What is that?
If you're not raising an issue that is a critical bug (or is JP forums), you're out of luck, come join us screaming at clouds.
2. Unfocused feedback
I really think it's nice to have forums and there's valuable feedback to be found here, but I can't shake the feeling, a more direct, feature focused feedback would go a long way.
For example, we have the new exploration zones, and it would be great if we had a survey to really capture what players think and want. Making direct questions with yes/no answers or 1-10 scale of satisfaction would paint a better picture than loose feedback on the forum, as threads tend to derail quickly.
If they did this with Deep Dungeons, I don't think that we would have the exactly same stuff for the third time (and maybe it would not be dead already).
3. Beta Features and Test Realms (Test Instances)
This is important, my biggest criticism of FFXIV team is how they're constantly looking to capture lightning on a bottle and most of the time failing hard at that.
I mean, If we could test a slice of Island Sanctuary, the moment we'd reach the spreadsheet simulator, they'd know that was not what players were looking forward to it.
I can say the same of Lord of Verminion, Chocobo Racing, First Diadem and so on. Instead, they went all in and it's all dead and abandoned.
Remember when they found out that player enjoyed jumping puzzles and then proceed to make every new Gold Saucer minigame a jumping puzzle? Yeah.
A slow rollout of features would give time to actually adjust things and give it a chance of success, and it really highlights the need of a more focused feedback.
Remember portraits? What the hell happened there? Just a classic example that feedback was all over the place, and they actually did not implement the easiest fix ever.
Get the picture of your adventure plate and apply as default portrait for all jobs independent of gear.
4. Sharing feedback with us
Acknowledging feedback is important, however, it doesn't mean you have to go and do everything that was requested.
To illustrate a great example of this, last year Capcom released a beta test for Monster Hunter Wilds following with a player survey.
I've played the beta and responded the survey and as an Insect Glaive main had several issues that I highlighted on my response.
My first surprised was that Capcom addressed feedback response during a lengthy Community update video, and I was shocked of how many things they addressed following players feedback.
It's important to note that I'm not saying that MY individual feedback was taken in consideration but as part of a whole.
There was even a situation where they actually did not go through a change based on feedback and explained why and would keep monitoring as we play the game.
This is actually great as it shows awareness, care and most importantly a vision that the team is following. As I said before not all feedback have to translate in changes, but it's really, really nice to have it addressed.
I can't stress enough how great it felt, seeing how willing they were to communicate with the player base.
It even reminded of 1. X era Yoshida. Where has he gone?
I mean c'mon, every couple of months we have a Live Letter, we definitely could have a segment to addressing feedback there, maybe cut back on the 40-min merchandising segment?
Well, I think those points are a good kick-start for a discussion. I'd like to know what you all think about this!
Continue reading...