[Vyuru]

From the tone of your posts I take it SE did something nasty to you at some point? Naturally you don't have to answer, but I was curious due to the amount of venom aimed at FFXI in these posts.

I wouldn't call it venom, Yeargdribble and Hryist are bringing up very valid points, Hryist is being slightly more optimistic while Yeargdribble's posts are more along the lines of the glass is half empty.

SE has done nothing to me, and I'd have a tendency to agree with Yeargdribble here, yesterday there were under 1,890 people on, at what should have been the peak gaming time. Any holidays that I'm not aware of? Given how every university schedules finals differently, and that some are on the quarter system and some are semester, I wouldn't expect finals being about a week and a half away to have that much of an impact.

[AKosygin]

Originally Posted by Theyaden

SE's GM interaction was legendary for awhile, but I haven't heard any recient horror stories so it probably got an overhaul.

GM's being able to restore items lost and having their rules posted for players to understand were also steps in the right direction tword being player friendly.

From the tone of your posts I take it SE did something nasty to you at some point? Naturally you don't have to answer, but I was curious due to the amount of venom aimed at FFXI in these posts. I prefer FFXI because of playstyle differences and prefering it's graphics style, but I don't hate WOW it's simply another MMO.

Speaking of GM issues. There was an infamous GM mentioned on the boards before (Not [GM]Dave, I said infamous not famous) and one of the Premier Site admins asked the Head GM of FFXI about it. The Head GM and the assistant Head GM assured us that there are checks and balances in place that allows internal investigations in matters such as those mentioned and that "[the mentioned GM] is no longer with us".

They also haven't figured out who is [GM]Dave yet.

[Illuen]

Originally Posted by Vyuru

SE has done nothing to me, and I'd have a tendency to agree with Yeargdribble here, yesterday there were under 1,890 people on, at what should have been the peak gaming time. Any holidays that I'm not aware of? Given how every university schedules finals differently, and that some are on the quarter system and some are semester, I wouldn't expect finals being about a week and a half away to have that much of an impact.

Not just finals, though. According to the high school students I talk to ingame, and based on my old memories of high school, the current time is beyond stressful for them. In the US, juniors are prepairing for SATs, Seniors are making college decisions, not to mention getting ready for graduation, and around the board, I'd be willing to bet that March/April for many people is a rather stressful time, I know it is for me.

[Grandsummoner_Kairos]

I didn't know that. That is a game flaw which S-E should fix, rather than relying on third party software.

They have not expressed plans to "fix" that and i don't think its something that needs fixing. They mentioned that it was a measure they put in place which seems to be intentional. Its a good device in game because otherwise SE would have a hard time getting summoners to use thier avatars. They've recently strengthened the accuracy and effect of bloodpacts and added merit bloodpacts that rely heavily on avatar tp which effects all magical avatar abilities. With the ability to see that timer, summoners would not use avatars for 55 seconds, then summon just to use a bloodpact and release. SE has recognized that this is the trend. They stated before they last updated the job that they would keep implimenting things to encourage summoners to use thier avatars for extended periods of time. Apparently they wanted smn to use thier pets often, the original design for the job didn't intend avatar usage only for bloodpacts.


As for the windower, great i've been waiting for this for a while. I just wanted to be able to IM, listen to music, browse internet, paint in photoshop, etc while playing. With macros, i have all 4 pet jobs leveled, so i need all the space i can get. I don't have extended macros because i compile the best 2 sets of gear i can get with the most overall general use so i don't have multiple sets of gear for each job. All the other stuff is extras that are not needed or intended to be known in game. They're all interesting details, but a lot of the fun in this game can be lost if you know absolutely everything numerically. I believe some things should just be left to a personal sense of good timing and intuition while playing a game.

[eticket109]

Originally Posted by AKosygin

They also haven't figured out who is [GM]Dave yet.

That's because he isn't a real GM. lol

[AKosygin]

Originally Posted by eticket109

That's because he isn't a real GM. lol

What I meant is that we know that, but they make it appear as they do not know.

Though I think they kinda figured it out by now but aren't saying anything.

[Karinya]

Originally Posted by Taskmage

It's really great that this stuff is being implemented now, but I also agree with some of Yeargdribble's cynicism and the sentiment that this should've happened a long time ago.

True, but you can say that about every single update. Improvements to PLD and the ability of some attacks to eat multiple shadows should have happened right after RoZ, so the tank imbalance wouldn't have had so long to sink into player consciousness. (And we're *still* waiting for comparable improvements to WAR tanking to bring it back to popularity - is there a server that doesn't have a tank shortage and hundreds of DD-only WARs? The job was clearly designed to be either a DD or a tank depending on subjob, gear, food and tactics, and by that standard, it has been half-broken for *years*.) SMN blood pact split and allowing skillup on bloodpact use should have been part of the job's initial design. Nerfing multihit weaponskills should have been done before release - it didn't take relic knuckles to make multihit spam overpowered. (Hell, some multihits are *still* too strong - especially the ones with fTP < 1 but it only applies to the first hit, the others all have fTP of 1. This is in all likelihood a *bug* that has stayed unfixed for years and explains why certain low-level WS outperform higher ones for the same weapon.) Making RNG not immune to the defense of HNMs should have happened much earlier than it did. Elemental staves, cookies and sushi should have happened a long time ago. Having some way to get abjurations besides the 3 Kings should have happened a long time ago. Making /recast work for blood pacts should have happened as soon as it was introduced, and for that matter, there's no reason /recast itself shouldn't have been included at release. Furniture storage, storage NPCs and the full set of gobbiebag quests would have been useful a long time before they actually happened. Etc., etc., etc.

Obviously they have to prioritize, and some people clearly wish that a windowed mode would have been prioritized higher, but I don't think that second-guessing their priorities is productive. All, or nearly all, of their changes have been positive ones (albeit occasionally with bad side effects, such as the bugs currently afflicting BST as a result of the claim and anti-MPK reforms), and I don't see a lot of point in whining that they improved X when you wanted them to improve Y.

Originally Posted by Grandsummoner_Kairos

With the ability to see that timer, summoners would not use avatars for 55 seconds, then summon just to use a bloodpact and release.

They do that anyway, it's just more inconvenient with /recast not working. (Or they cheat in order to do it more conveniently, which is how it got mentioned on this thread in the first place.) That's not a good reason not to fix /recast for SMN. If they really want SMN to keep avatars out more they need to cut perpetuation costs significantly so the damage done/MP expended is a better ratio. (And even then, SMN who are the only healer in their party may not be able to afford to keep summons out much, but that's more of an adaptation to a particular party setup than an overall problem with the job.)

[Yeargdribble]

Originally Posted by Theyaden

From the tone of your posts I take it SE did something nasty to you at some point? Naturally you don't have to answer, but I was curious due to the amount of venom aimed at FFXI in these posts. I prefer FFXI because of playstyle differences and prefering it's graphics style, but I don't hate WOW it's simply another MMO.

Actually it's nothing SE did to me personally. After being on the bandwagon of FFXI players that hate WoW without even playing it, I decided to try it. It was a wake up call. I'm not talking about the game play but rather the management.

1) Windower

WoW is windowable and always has been. Yet there is far less cheating in WoW. SE has used cheating as a scapegoat for who lazy they've been about implementing a windower. The fact that they've finally given in add to their lack of credibility.

2) Customer communication

You can talk with the WoW devs on the WoW messageboards. They clarify quests and directly answer problems. There is even a suggestion forum that they take part in and if a suggestion won't work they tell the players why.

3) Add Ons

Stuff like TParty and Bloodpace wouldn't even be an issue in WoW. They allow 3rd party groups to make additions to the game that make it easier to play for particular people just like the windower plugins. They don't get butthurt because someone wants to add a function they didn't think of. It's an open source style of gaming and it's great. Meanwhile, they still aren't throwing out the butthurt fears that someone will cheat.

4) Banning

An FFXI friend of mine went to college and his roommate happened to play WoW. His friend decided to try a speed hack on an alternate account. He was banned within 10 minutes. There are people in FFXI who gain notoriety for cheating constantly and seem to still play the game. Only recently has SE started doing something about it.


As for the RMT in WoW, that starts to get borderline into game play. Suffice it to say, what small RMT pressence there is in WoW is less noticeable because you don't have to slave away for days and weeks at a time in WoW to get a single item.


The above issues have nothing to do with whether or not you enjoy the game play of WoW, and I'll admit that it's not for everyone. However, from a management perspective, Blizzard does better business and it has opened my eyes to what SE should've been doing. As FFXI players we tend to look at SE with love goggles and not admit when they manage badly. We make their excuses for them about things like windower.

We act like battered wives who say, "He still loves me," no matter how many black eyes we get.

Originally Posted by AKosygin

Speaking of GM issues. There was an infamous GM mentioned on the boards before (Not [GM]Dave, I said infamous not famous) and one of the Premier Site admins asked the Head GM of FFXI about it. The Head GM and the assistant Head GM assured us that there are checks and balances in place that allows internal investigations in matters such as those mentioned and that "[the mentioned GM] is no longer with us".
They also haven't figured out who is [GM]Dave yet.

I remember this GM... Something like Jcblue or something. The problem is, we get so excited when they do ONE thing right. How many of these situations don't get fixed? We get so excited when 5 GMs ban 20+ fishbots in Qufim. Where have they been the last 3 years that fishingbots have been a problem? Just because they get it right once doesn't make up for them sucking most of the time. If a basketball player makes 1 shot out of 100 you aren't going to say he's an MPV because his one shot makes up for his 99 misses.

Obviously they have to prioritize, and some people clearly wish that a windowed mode would have been prioritized higher, but I don't think that second-guessing their priorities is productive. All, or nearly all, of their changes have been positive ones (albeit occasionally with bad side effects, such as the bugs currently afflicting BST as a result of the claim and anti-MPK reforms), and I don't see a lot of point in whining that they improved X when you wanted them to improve Y.

But instead of fixing BST, they just don't. NMs don't despawn the same way as normal mobs. They wander unaggresively back to their spawn points. Obviously if they would just flag former BST pets the same way, when the BST uses Leave the pet would wander unaggressively (and slowly in the case of many pets) back to their spawn areas. This fixes both MPK and retains BSTs abilities.

SE just screwed up there and it was over a year ago. Instead of fixing an obviously problem where I know tons of BST e-mailed them in outcry... they just ignored it. Bad management.

If they really want SMN to keep avatars out more they need to cut perpetuation costs significantly so the damage done/MP expended is a better ratio. (And even then, SMN who are the only healer in their party may not be able to afford to keep summons out much, but that's more of an adaptation to a particular party setup than an overall problem with the job.)

Bingo. Avatars can't do anything that would justify their perpetuation costs, especially at low levels. Instead of trying to strong arm players into keep their pets out by taking away BP timers they should actually make them worth using.

[AKosygin]

Originally Posted by Yeargdribble

Actually it's nothing SE did to me personally. After being on the bandwagon of FFXI players that hate WoW without even playing it, I decided to try it. It was a wake up call. I'm not talking about the game play but rather the management.

1) Windower

WoW is windowable and always has been. Yet there is far less cheating in WoW. SE has used cheating as a scapegoat for who lazy they've been about implementing a windower. The fact that they've finally given in add to their lack of credibility.

Actually, it is a matter of advantage between platforms more than players. PS2 players has the disadvantage of not being able to have other things including a Window mode. If you think about the recent announcement, this actually DOES give computer players an advantage over PS2 players as PS2 players do not get this Windowed Mode. WoW isn't on PS2 or 3 and not on the XBox 360. So them putting in a Windowed Mode is natural; while on a console, Windowed Mode doesn't make sense.

You have to remember that aside from the FFVII PC version (which was more of a port over) this is really the first time SE did a PC platform based game. All of the things done before were consoles. Windowed Mode do not apply to consoles. You may need to give them some slack in not realizing how little of an edge this gives to PC users.

2) Customer communication

You can talk with the WoW devs on the WoW messageboards. They clarify quests and directly answer problems. There is even a suggestion forum that they take part in and if a suggestion won't work they tell the players why.

Ironically, we overlook the language barrier issue. The Dev Team mainly speaks English for WoW, and the Dev Team mainly speaks Japanese for FFXI. It took SE a while to setup a communication channel for the English player base to talk to the Dev Team; while (sadly) the Japanese community have had greater access to the Dev Team until recently since the beginning. So while the situations are similar, there are other factors that led to the lack of communications.

While a message board can help, do you read/write Japanese fluently?

3) Add Ons

Stuff like TParty and Bloodpace wouldn't even be an issue in WoW. They allow 3rd party groups to make additions to the game that make it easier to play for particular people just like the windower plugins. They don't get butthurt because someone wants to add a function they didn't think of. It's an open source style of gaming and it's great. Meanwhile, they still aren't throwing out the butthurt fears that someone will cheat.

This actually presents a very "unfair" playing field for the console players. It is significantly easier for players to program add-ons for a PC. But do you know how to program add-ons for a console? Even if add-ons are made available for both platforms of console and PC, the eventual porting to one or the other will result in a delay; and when they don't have an ability an add-on provide, it can create an unbalancing effect on the game when it comes to PvP or things of competitive nature in the game.

4) Banning

An FFXI friend of mine went to college and his roommate happened to play WoW. His friend decided to try a speed hack on an alternate account. He was banned within 10 minutes. There are people in FFXI who gain notoriety for cheating constantly and seem to still play the game. Only recently has SE started doing something about it.

Have you heard of the stink the WoW community raised about that? Blizzard is able to be on top of that because their client is programmed to scan your system and hash the active processes on your computer and send the hashes back as to what "cheating" programs are running. A good portion of the WoW community made a ruckus about privacy issues. It is a trade-off between your rights and enjoyable game play, and there are a lot of people whom are more comfortable not playing or more comfortable having to deal with cheaters than to have their liberties/privacy hindered.

It is a trade-off and if you are comfortable with that trade-off, more power to you. While I don't mind and will play either way, I prefer people not to be spying on my computer even if it is just to remove a few bot fishers, etc. Because of the lack of this tool, SE takes longer to "investigate" such a thing. So, WoW is an exception, not the rule. And some companies just do not want to tread on such dangerous waters.

As for the RMT in WoW, that starts to get borderline into game play. Suffice it to say, what small RMT pressence there is in WoW is less noticeable because you don't have to slave away for days and weeks at a time in WoW to get a single item.

The above issues have nothing to do with whether or not you enjoy the game play of WoW, and I'll admit that it's not for everyone. However, from a management perspective, Blizzard does better business and it has opened my eyes to what SE should've been doing. As FFXI players we tend to look at SE with love goggles and not admit when they manage badly. We make their excuses for them about things like windower.

We act like battered wives who say, "He still loves me," no matter how many black eyes we get.

Lack of RMT presences not equal to smaller RMT problem. SE may have 1000 RMT "people" and make a big noise about it; but WoW may have 100,000 RMT "people" and not say anything and you would think it isn't a problem. We see a few and we (as a community) complain about the RMT; then we complain they don't do anything (when in fact they do) because of their lack of response. Now they do respond and report on their work, and we complain it is too much? We kinda can't have the cake and eat it too.

In addition, you have to think in proportions. Admittedly WoW has a significantly larger player base. So let's say in both WoW and FFXI there are 50,000 cheaters; if FFXI has say 500,000 players and WoW had 5,000,000 players, the 50,000 will look big to FFXI players while small to WoW players. So in terms of the RMT issues, unless we can get some solid numbers, I would stay silent in any attempts to accuse SE of inactivity.

I remember this GM... Something like Jcblue or something. The problem is, we get so excited when they do ONE thing right. How many of these situations don't get fixed? We get so excited when 5 GMs ban 20+ fishbots in Qufim. Where have they been the last 3 years that fishingbots have been a problem? Just because they get it right once doesn't make up for them sucking most of the time. If a basketball player makes 1 shot out of 100 you aren't going to say he's an MPV because his one shot makes up for his 99 misses.

On the other hand, if they told us everything they did, we would be flooded with useless information, and wasting their time having to make a bunch of reports. I prefer if they just be left alone to do their jobs and just occasionally publish the statistics of their work.

But instead of fixing BST, they just don't. NMs don't despawn the same way as normal mobs. They wander unaggresively back to their spawn points. Obviously if they would just flag former BST pets the same way, when the BST uses Leave the pet would wander unaggressively (and slowly in the case of many pets) back to their spawn areas. This fixes both MPK and retains BSTs abilities.

SE just screwed up there and it was over a year ago. Instead of fixing an obviously problem where I know tons of BST e-mailed them in outcry... they just ignored it. Bad management.

This was actually addressed at the summit where the Community Relations Team and Dev Team sits between a rock and a hard place. People do not complain until there is a problem. So while a certain thing in work in state A maybe a problem for you, it is fine to others; conversely, when the thing is changed to state B, it is fine to you and not to others and the other people complain. You can't make everyone happy at the same time; and if you keep changing it, everyone will get pissed. So for each and every change request, they have to look at whether it will be more benefit or more damage to the community as a whole.

Remember, everything in the game is interconnected somehow, so you must consider the affect a change may have on other parts of the game.

[Aksannyi]

I've never used Windower in the past, and while I would love to be able to leave my mule's bazaar up while I work in AutoCAD or something similar, I've never wanted to take the risk of getting banned, as unlikely as that might be.

So thus, I've never found a use for things that give me recast timers, others' TP, and extended macros - which, by the way, is something I never knew existed until I read this thread.

And to be honest with you guys, I'm just fine. I don't do as many gear swaps as most people do, but I've gotten by. I've never been told I'm gimp because I don't swap as much as others, nor have I had problems with recasts. The /recast feature helps me out just fine. My husband uses windower, and he shows me the maps with all the NM spawn points and coffer locations. I never knew what was so terrible about printing them off of the computer to find the spawns. ??? Just seems lazy, I guess.

I'll be honest, I feel cheated that so many people have implemented such things. Really, how fair is it that I've gone along with 6 lines per macro, and the standard number of macros (I don't know if that's increased, also) and others may have had more? To me, it's just a matter of weeding out what you do and don't need to macro. Honestly, I've never had an issue list-casting or keyboard-casting spells that I don't use often but I may have a need for in that particular instant. Enspells come to mind.

That being said, would I use S/E's windowed mode? Of course. All I really want is to keep the game up while I do something else. I spend a LOT of time on my computer, most of it doing homework in AutoCAD, artwork in Photoshop, web editing, forum posting, and other random browsing. Like I said before, I sure would love to keep my character logged in with a bazaar AT ALL TIMES, or use my lovely little "/tell ding" to see if I've gotten an invite on a particularly slow day while I happily work on something else. Otherwise, I'm stuck with my screen up, doing something outside of cyberspace, which, for me, is really not much of an option, as I spend so much of my time on this thing, not only for pleasure but by necessity. And if I could afford another computer I'd get one in a heartbeat.

I don't think all that other stuff is necessary. Does it really bother you THAT MUCH when someone tells you what his TP is? I rely on it, especially if I happen to be MBing. Annoying calls get a bit old, I'll give you that ... <call5> is just horrible ... but most of the time the TP macros don't bother me at all. I've been playing this game for what, two and a half years or more? And I've never needed any of that stuff, and while I'm not what you'd probably call, "The best of the best" (though I like to think I'm a damn good RDM) I do a pretty damn good job without all that extra stuff. Is it nice to have? Maybe, I'll agree to that. But necessary? Of course not. And while I know many people rationalize it all away by saying it's "not that bad" or something that "should be there to begin with," the fact of the matter is that those things AREN'T there, and therefore it IS an unfair advantage you gain. Having windower just to possibly run other programs or do other things while LFP is not that terrible - even though it's still agains the rules!!! , but all the plug-ins, to me, are just wrong.

And you know what? I take a hell of a lot of pride in the fact that I can play this game JUST FINE - if not REALLY WELL - without all the extras that other people say are so necessary. It make me feel damn good that after all this time, I've managed to do LOADS of great things in game with LOADS of friends and without compromising my beliefs that cheating is wrong and that it's not okay just because "everyone else is doing it."

Do I sound snobby and elitist? Maybe I do. I just know that I'm not one to condone cheating - on any level - and that while I've been tempted to use windower just so I could do things that I already mentioned, I've kept myself away from it because it IS against the ToS, it IS cheating - even on the most miniscule of levels - and therefore, it's not fair.

A legal windowed mode is a great thing for S/E to implement, and I will use it without any issues. I hope that the people who use windower now will strongly consider switching and that S/E will do something to take care of ALL the cheating. To me, it seems hypocritical that someone who uses windower for extra macros, TP plugins, recasts, coffer maps, etc. would bitch about RMTs using fish bots and HNMLSes using voke bots; it's all cheating.

Sorry for the long post, but that's just how I feel.

[eticket109]

Agreed. I've said for a long time now that I'd stop using the windower if SE ever released one, and I plan to stick with that. I can live just fine without tparty or any of the other stuff.

[Yeargdribble]

Ironically, we overlook the language barrier issue. The Dev Team mainly speaks English for WoW, and the Dev Team mainly speaks Japanese for FFXI. It took SE a while to setup a communication channel for the English player base to talk to the Dev Team; while (sadly) the Japanese community have had greater access to the Dev Team until recently since the beginning. So while the situations are similar, there are other factors that led to the lack of communications.

Actually when Sage Sundi promised to keep in touch with Bercus the people at BG even went through the trouble of translating and still no response.

While a message board can help, do you read/write Japanese fluently?

I speak it some, but there are enough that speak it fluently that try to be ambassadors and it fails. If they have to hire bilingual GMs then why is it so hard to have a bilingual PR person that talks with the NA players?

Actually, it is a matter of advantage between platforms more than players. PS2 players has the disadvantage of not being able to have other things including a Window mode. If you think about the recent announcement, this actually DOES give computer players an advantage over PS2 players as PS2 players do not get this Windowed Mode. WoW isn't on PS2 or 3 and not on the XBox 360. So them putting in a Windowed Mode is natural; while on a console, Windowed Mode doesn't make sense.

This is true. I think SE shot themselves in the foot by continuing to develop for consoles. They shouldn't have released on Xbox and should've eventually dropped PS2 support. Most people can no longer complain that they don't have a computer that can run it. I have a cheap as hell laptop that can run FFXI just fine.

When SE released ToAU they said "Screw you if you're a PC player without a DVD-ROM" and that was just fine. Technology is at the point where people should have DVD-ROM drives. I think they should've done the same slowly phased out PS2 support.



SE notoriously has put artificial ceilings on their game. Ridill? You can never make a sword better than that. Relic weapons? You can never make better weapons without destroying the 2-3 years of work some people have put into their Relic. Abj gear? You can never make a sizable improvement without raising the cap or breaking the game.

Same with PS2. Inventory space? Can't make it better until you phase out PS2. Graphical updates? Can't make it better until you phase out PS2. Add ons? Can't make them fair until you phase out all consoles.

Have you heard of the stink the WoW community raised about that? Blizzard is able to be on top of that because their client is programmed to scan your system and hash the active processes on your computer and send the hashes back as to what "cheating" programs are running. A good portion of the WoW community made a ruckus about privacy issues. It is a trade-off between your rights and enjoyable game play, and there are a lot of people whom are more comfortable not playing or more comfortable having to deal with cheaters than to have their liberties/privacy hindered.

That stink comes from a very small handful of players. Unless you're doing something questionable I doubt there's anything to worry about and even then I doubt it matters. Blizzard's software is only checking for 3rd party software that affects their game. They aren't scanning your HD to steal naked pictures of your wife or something.

I think most people when asked to choose between.

a) spyware to detect Fleetool, FFXIApp, MrArgus
b) people botting the crap out of NMs, cheating the system

I'd be willing to bet most people would pick (a). For the handful that would pick (b) and quit I think SE would only lose a very small number of subscriptions. Meanwhile, they would have less people quit over the frustration that is NM camping. They'd come out ahead in the long run for having a superior product.

Lack of RMT presences not equal to smaller RMT problem. SE may have 1000 RMT "people" and make a big noise about it; but WoW may have 100,000 RMT "people" and not say anything and you would think it isn't a problem.

To the bold I would say, "Yes it does." RMT is a non-issue for the most part in WoW. RMT aren't constantly stealing every NM in the game. RMT aren't stationed at every mining, logging, harvesting point in the game. RMT aren't gouging prices to sway the economy in their favor and furthermore, money is a non-issue in WoW compared to FFXI. You can make a decent amount of money for a reasonable investment of time. I would consider myself one of the richer people in FFXI and I'll admit, it's damn hard to make money in the massive quantities required to do many things.

The big difference is that Blizzard made a game where RMT presence doesn't cripple the game. Even if they are there in fairly large quantities, due to the nature of the game they can't bring it to its knees.

On the other hand, if they told us everything they did, we would be flooded with useless information, and wasting their time having to make a bunch of reports. I prefer if they just be left alone to do their jobs and just occasionally publish the statistics of their work.

Actually the didn't tell us. Some asked about that specific case and another GM told them he was no longer there I believe. They didn't have to go out of their way at all. The Jcblue situation just happened to get so bad it was big news and people found out on their own.

This was actually addressed at the summit where the Community Relations Team and Dev Team sits between a rock and a hard place. People do not complain until there is a problem. So while a certain thing in work in state A maybe a problem for you, it is fine to others; conversely, when the thing is changed to state B, it is fine to you and not to others and the other people complain. You can't make everyone happy at the same time; and if you keep changing it, everyone will get pissed. So for each and every change request, they have to look at whether it will be more benefit or more damage to the community as a whole.

Remember, everything in the game is interconnected somehow, so you must consider the affect a change may have on other parts of the game.

Sorry but this sounds like you making BS excuses on SEs behalf. So between state A and B exactly how would making BST pets behave as I stated hurt anyone? Who could complain if BST could solo the same as they used to but couldn't MPK anyone? As it is now a BST goes through even MORE!! pets and ends up hurting nearby PTs more than before. The only reason I can imagine they won't fix this is they are just plain lazy and don't see it as a big enough issue.



On a side note, I really think it's unrealistic for people to make comments like, "I don't find the need for XXX in my level 52 XP PT." Guess what, neither do I. The issues I bring up are about endgame situations so your argument that you've neve needed it in a mid-range XP PT is irrelevant. You also don't need RR pins constantly in XP PTs, but you sure as hell need them in a lot of endgame situations. They are two different worlds so don't try to compare them.

Yes, and I still find parties most reciently with ranger 2 weeks ago in the dunes, then Koro tunnel, then Qufim island. I didn't notice a shortage of parties camping those 3 zones.

Going back to this. My reference was to mid-game. You're talking about early levels. These are levels where people still work on subjobs. I'm talking in the 40-60 range. There are far less players available to make PTs with in that range than there were 1-2 years ago.

[AKosygin]

Originally Posted by Yeargdribble

Actually when Sage Sundi promised to keep in touch with Bercus the people at BG even went through the trouble of translating and still no response.

It wasn't our message not getting to them that is the issue, it was their message getting back to us was the issue. Until around the time of the Fan Festival, there (seemed) not really anyone designated to specialize in responding to us. Now that we do, hopefully this would change.

I speak it some, but there are enough that speak it fluently that try to be ambassadors and it fails. If they have to hire bilingual GMs then why is it so hard to have a bilingual PR person that talks with the NA players?

Well then, please, apply for the position, the last I heard they have plenty of openings!

E-Mail: hr-jobs@square-enix-usa.com
Fax: (310) 846-0403

Postal Mail:
Square Enix, Inc.
Attn: Human Resources
999 Sepulveda Boulevard, Third Floor
El Segundo, CA 90245

They have more jobs listed on Craig List and Monster.com than what they have on their site. So you may just want to submit your resume and get an interview. I think you just need to sit in the hiring chair sometime and see how difficult it is to get a reliable trustworthy and yet qualified individual that is willing to dedicate to the job on site.

That stink comes from a very small handful of players. Unless you're doing something questionable I doubt there's anything to worry about and even then I doubt it matters. Blizzard's software is only checking for 3rd party software that affects their game. They aren't scanning your HD to steal naked pictures of your wife or something.

I think most people when asked to choose between.

a) spyware to detect Fleetool, FFXIApp, MrArgus
b) people botting the crap out of NMs, cheating the system

I'd be willing to bet most people would pick (a). For the handful that would pick (b) and quit I think SE would only lose a very small number of subscriptions. Meanwhile, they would have less people quit over the frustration that is NM camping. They'd come out ahead in the long run for having a superior product.

Again, proportions. WoW does have a large player base, 5,000 people complaining in WoW isn't going to hurt Blizzard, but 5,000 people complaining in FFXI IS going to hurt SE. Also, the community mind-set is different where FFXI players are a bit more tight knit and possibly also more sensitive to little things such as this. But, we wouldn't know until SE tries the same thing. You want to try to minimize the total outcry, not trade one group of complaining people for another group.

I personally would count it as a strike, but by itself won't make me quit.

To the bold I would say, "Yes it does." RMT is a non-issue for the most part in WoW. RMT aren't constantly stealing every NM in the game. RMT aren't stationed at every mining, logging, harvesting point in the game. RMT aren't gouging prices to sway the economy in their favor and furthermore, money is a non-issue in WoW compared to FFXI. You can make a decent amount of money for a reasonable investment of time. I would consider myself one of the richer people in FFXI and I'll admit, it's damn hard to make money in the massive quantities required to do many things.

The big difference is that Blizzard made a game where RMT presence doesn't cripple the game. Even if they are there in fairly large quantities, due to the nature of the game they can't bring it to its knees.

In regards to the bold part, I think you confused "Lack of RMT presences not equal to smaller RMT problem" with "Smaller RMT problem equal to lack of RMT presences." The two things are not mutually inclusive. This is analogous to where an apple is a fruit, but a fruit is not necessarily an apple. What you are saying is that WoW had a smaller RMT problem, which is true, compared to their size of the game. And as such, because you have more legitimate players you do not notice the cheaters, because you aren't LOOKING for them.

Lack of RMT presence not equal to smaller RMT problem, and an obvious existance of an RMT presence not equal to a greater RMT problem. What I am saying is that RMT problem exists in both games, but until you take into account proportions, comparing sizes of problems using visibility isn't valid. Hence, unless there are solid numbers I wouldn't say who has a bigger RMT problem in general. As such, how "obvious" doesn't properly say that it is a big problem until you get the actual numbers and compare it to the proportions of the game.

Sorry but this sounds like you making BS excuses on SEs behalf. So between state A and B exactly how would making BST pets behave as I stated hurt anyone? Who could complain if BST could solo the same as they used to but couldn't MPK anyone? As it is now a BST goes through even MORE!! pets and ends up hurting nearby PTs more than before. The only reason I can imagine they won't fix this is they are just plain lazy and don't see it as a big enough issue.

On a side note, I really think it's unrealistic for people to make comments like, "I don't find the need for XXX in my level 52 XP PT." Guess what, neither do I. The issues I bring up are about endgame situations so your argument that you've neve needed it in a mid-range XP PT is irrelevant. You also don't need RR pins constantly in XP PTs, but you sure as hell need them in a lot of endgame situations. They are two different worlds so don't try to compare them.

Going back to this. My reference was to mid-game. You're talking about early levels. These are levels where people still work on subjobs. I'm talking in the 40-60 range. There are far less players available to make PTs with in that range than there were 1-2 years ago.

No, I am not making excuses, I just feel that there are some other factors and related issues that doesn't seem apparent to us and that we are trivializing the complexity of a single game mechanics change when I am confident that we are not qualified to do so. I am pretty sure that until you sit behind the dev team desk or the community team desk, we may have no idea about the big picture and the problems of a simple tweak. You may think it will do more than good, but there are enough examples out there, where the Dev Team does a tweak thinking that all will be good, only to later find out that they ended up pissing off another equally large group of people.

[Yeargdribble]

In reference to the RMT issue. You keep making a strawman about the relative size of the RMT population in each game. That is irrelevant.

RMT affects FFXI strongly because many of the best items in the game are buyable. There is high demand for them and so RMT camp the NMs that drop these items religiously. They create the only supply to something that is highly in demand. To exacerbate the problem, it is very difficult of people to make money in FFXI. You don't make decent money just farming (unless you've got TH4 and then it still can't compare) and any other methods (mining , crafting etc) are owned by RMT just as much as the NMs.

In WoW the game is designed to not make such NM items the be all end all. Due to design RMT cannot monopolize the only access to decent money in that game. Additionally, you can actually make very good money in WoW just by questing and XPing and farming Outland if you so choose. So money is a less in demand thing there.

So regardless of the RMT population in either game the design of the two games has different results. In FFXI it can cripple the economy. In WoW it's a drop in the bucket and barely has an effect on legit players.

[eticket109]

Originally Posted by AKosygin

Actually, it is a matter of advantage between platforms more than players. PS2 players has the disadvantage of not being able to have other things including a Window mode. If you think about the recent announcement, this actually DOES give computer players an advantage over PS2 players as PS2 players do not get this Windowed Mode. WoW isn't on PS2 or 3 and not on the XBox 360. So them putting in a Windowed Mode is natural; while on a console, Windowed Mode doesn't make sense.
You have to remember that aside from the FFVII PC version (which was more of a port over) this is really the first time SE did a PC platform based game. All of the things done before were consoles. Windowed Mode do not apply to consoles. You may need to give them some slack in not realizing how little of an edge this gives to PC users.

Not enabling windowing for PCs put PC users at a distinct disadvantage actually.