It does not matter what a company, individual or group does there will be people to support it. When people find something that they believe in, even if there is better they fear change, they do not want their values questioned, they don't want what they believe in to go away.
In the days of the HNM's and Kings on FFXI people would defend them left, right, up and down. If you said anything about the spawn times, or complained about farming Omega for 6 months just to get ninja lotted on that Homam piece then you were just a whiner, a complainer, some one who needed to "find a better group" or "learn to play." I'll admit, as it stands Square Enix does have a lot of people who enjoy playing FFXIV, so why change it? Why would they listen to a few people even if they were right, when so many others are happily paying their subscription fees? I think the players they cater too right now are the kind that will most likely lose interest within a few years. To have that Everquest/FFXI type of following you have to have the mechanics and fundamentals at the very base of your game finely tuned. FFXI is 11 years old and there is still a diehard core of people keeping it alive and relatively well. I personally don't see FFXIV in the same spot in 11 years, I imagine it will have a predecessor. Again, like most things in society now days, it's about instant gratification and the acceptance that it too will soon come to pass and be replaced by something else. From cell phones, to cars, to MMO's that's just the way of society now and I find it kind of sad. Everything is about "New and cutting edge" never with much thought to longevity.
To answer some one's question, what could Square Enix do or rather, what should they have done to make FFXIV much better?
First of all, the whole mount system is incredibly stupid. The mounts don't even move around realistically, they move around like a squirrel on crack, their limbs flail about wildly as they inconsistently zoom from pixel to pixel. Riding around on Unicorns, Behemoths, Ahriman, Courels and big Lizards just feels like ultra-induced fanservice with no consideration to the "realistic" feel FFXI and more interesting MMO's had. What's wrong with just having Chocobos? Maybe having different colors and saddles for them? Why does your Chocobo need a big piece of armor that makes it look like some strangely deformed horse-bird-abomination? It feels as if they took cursive and turned it into comic sans.
Secondly, no, believe it or not you don't need to teleport everywhere instantly. If it takes more than 5 minutes to get to something you want to do, I don't think it's a bad thing. I actually enjoyed the "dungeon crawls" and sneaking through pass-worded doors in areas to finally get to a boss. It gave it a feeling as if it truly was a boss, off hidden some where that took effort to get to. Again I'll reiterate that getting there, even though people often complained about it was half the fun and gave it more depth and again, immersion.
The "Overworld" as people call it needs to be much more diverse and bigger in FFXIV. It feels like the "Overworld" is just a lobby for people to stand around in before teleporting to the next dungeon boss battle. Like a virtual coffee shop where you stand around, chat, bunny hop and show off the overly-gaudy armor you have as you strike a pose and do your blatantly ripped off WoW dance. And why does there need to 50 monsters within 10 feet of you? It's the same feeling as when you go fishing in a pre-stocked pond in the real world. It's all right there for you, no effort required. I liked how in FFXI there were "camps" where many monsters would be, but there were not a ton of monsters, everywhere in every direction feeling like some kind of petting zoo. It was nice to feel like you were running through a "world" and a monster world suddenly appear in the distance. Again, gave to the feeling of immersion. People call it "wasted space," I think these are the same people that feel urban developments and a new tanger outlets should be built in a nature preserve or out in the wilderness some where. People who get bored going out into nature and just want to stay glued to their smart phone. It's not wasted space, it's part of what makes the world you're in more diverse and expansive. I do believe the zones, maps and areas were not only much bigger in FFXI but from the get-go there were much more of them. What could Square Enix do?
Add more zones on FFXIV that have more in mind than just "CAMP, MONSTER, DUNGEON ENTRANCE." Zones that were picturesque, allowed for some actual exploration, allowed you to feel a bit isolated. That's part of adventuring by the way, feeling isolated at times like you're not within 100 feet of something or some one, but out there, in the wild. Again, it adds to the immersion. I also don't like how so many zones in FFXIV are so far from feeling at all realistic. Even in fantasy it's fun to be in a area you can kind of relate to, not ALL of FFXIV is this way mind you, for example when you go to Costa Del Sol and force yourself not to look at the enormous shining crystal-cluster-#%^& in the distance you feel like you could really be in the Caribbean. It's a way of making people feel like they can in a way relate to a fantasy realm without it being an exact copy. I begin to worry that one day there will only be ultra-realistic cop/war-fiction set in exact real world settings and super high fantasy that disregards any sort of physics or logic, no middle grounds that feel familiar but take you some where new and otherworldly.
I also can't stand how every single direction you turn you can't look 10 feet without seeing some "remnants of the calamity" or "ancient ruins" or "mysterious crystal structure." In FFXI and many other MMO's it was the world you were in and you would "happen upon" these ancient ruins, and mysterious structures, not see them protruding from the toilet in the drowning wench. I imagine going to bed in the Inn you probably see some piece of a dragon, crystal or Garleen technology on your pillow beside you. Seriously, Eorzea, clean the place up a little bit?
In these "slightly" more realistic areas that give a bit more room for exploration, give fisherman, botanists and miners some areas with THEM in mind, it feels like the current producer was forced to leave these classes in the game and could care less about them. How about showing them a bit of love? Giving some areas that are fun to use those classes in, maybe some quests and stories specific to those classes? More streams, lakes, rivers and ponds to go fishing in.
And the armor. I liked how in FFXI the armor always fit proportionately to the person wearing it. Again, it looked a bit believable and realistic in a way while still being something not found in our world. Think of how the relic armor fit in FFXI, or the Artifact Armor, think about all the sets along the way that fit true to form. In FFXIV it feels like all the armor is a giant tent, almost like a mechanical suit your character is wearing. Enormous, flashy, glowing, sparkling, it feels like they hired Lisa Frank to do all the armor design. Don't worry though, if you want your character to look aesthetically pleasing you can always make that big gaudy coat into a tiny little bikini.... So how about some more "form fitting armor"?
Finally, the music is absolutely awful. Why the &^#@ would you get rid of music written by Nobuo Uematsu? The guy is a legend and the music in 1.0 was one of the few things in the game that was truly amazing.
Oh and P.S? Coerthas was absolutely stunningly beautiful and the mystical castle in the middle of it made it feel so amazingly wondrous and mysterious. It shouldn't have changed.
I guess these few tweaks would certainly make me much happier, but again, why make me or many others happy? Who cares if it's right or wrong? Who cares if it's horribly wrong? If there are a bunch of people willing to pay Square Enix money for it, at the end of the day those executives can still drive home in their Bentley, those designers can still make their six figure salaries and the stock prices on Square Enix can stay consistent. So why change it?
