Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

This is the translation of the full interview included in the 21 page special article by Famitsu (bought the physical copy)
The other pages are more about what FFXIV went through these 3 years and the past updates and housing articles and questions to each of the devs so that isn't included in this translation.
Q. Before we start the harsh questions, i'd like to hear your current feelings after reaching the 3 year anniversary.
Yoshida: Tbh It doesn't feel like 3 years. Last year when we released Heavansward, it felt like "It's finally 2 years", but now it"s "So it's already 3 years huh".
Q. You've sustained the 3 month patch cycle for 3 years, but what was successful and what sort of probems did you find?
Y. The successful parts include all the staff learning to manage the work tasks and measures and planning the contents out by making sure we set an item hierarchy first, then observe the reactions from players to make small adjustments and capturing this work flow allowed us to provide players with a consistent chunk of content. It's not where leaders like me are the only ones doing the hard work, instead the dev team as a whole have their own pace and are able to submit their own ideas now. On the other hand we feel we need to have "changes" in the game. Especially those hardcore players tend to only focus on content after reaching level 60, but if you only have that top tier content, the game's state will move from the stable state and head towards the closure of the game. MMORPGs always have a closure, but i personally think it's the producer and director's job to push back this period. I'm not considering discerning that closure to be 2 to 3 years ahead and i'd like to continue adding content such as something you can only play in FFXIV and expand the horizontal entrance for new coming players.

Q. The 3.x series are coming to an end but can you give us any hints regarding new jobs or content?
Y. No (laughs). I think the activities outside of the game are also important tools when it comes to supporting the fun of the game, so to keep the hype towards 4.0 (starting with 3.4 where the foreshadows for 4.0 begin) and so people can look forward to the info revealed at fanfest, i'd like to keep my mouth shut.

Q. Now let's get into the "We need to ask Yoshida this" questions. The hall of the novice was introduced and tutorial for each of the jobs are there, but there is nothing that helps new players grasp rotations that are useful in combat, so sometimes i see people who use wierd rotations. Can't you provide a system that covers these players who want to polish their skills mate?
Y. Basically it's a game so there is no right answer, so i have a root feeling where i think players should be able to play as they like, so i think being able to do the basic rotation or not isn't a factor people should be blamed for. Also, getting grumpy over that everytime you encounter them is meaningless and in my case, i have a mentality where i try to work hard to cover what that person lacks and clear the content as fast as possible. If that person is using the same job as me, there are times where i give them advice. In japan it might be a little hard to use your words, but since it's a game you play with others, i'd like it to be the take it easy type of atmosphere. However, we understand the rotations to pull out the full potential of the jobs have become substantially higher and the gap in skills between players has rapidly expanded and we think that is a problem. With that said, the difficulty of each job will be hugely changed when the next expansion releases. A lot of the 3.x rotations require instant judgements during combat and i felt that was space for improvement, but we regret the gap became too large.

Q.After the level 60 actions were added, some jobs change quite a bit where it seems like a different job, but is that how much the jobs are going to change when 4.0 hits?
A.We are considering going back to the basics. Jobs from FFXIV at the moment require you to look at all your buffs and manage them and i feel we went too far. As a hardcore gamer stand point, "It's definately more fun when there's more you can do" and the team in charge of the battle system all have this idea in common and we think we accomplished that. But we made the Ceiling high and overdid it, so 4.0 will have less factors to manage and we want to straightly push out the characteristics of each job. The top tier players may think "this has become to easy boss..." , but we would like to closen the gap between hardcore players and casual players a little more. This is just an image so please take this as "Hmm, so it's becoming easier?" (laughs)

Q. So the current level 60 actions themselves are going to get changed and it might not feel the same?
Y. There may be some jobs that see changes at the current level but we'll go into detail as we release the new info on the expansion.

Q. Ranged DPS can keep a distance from enemies and this is an advantage but there are times the enemies only aim specifically for the ranged DPS where we are forced to move and i think the risk (especially BLMs) is a little high but what do you think?
A. The base concept of BLMs is "BLMs can output high numbers but instead, the risk when they can't cast is high" so your view is what we intended, but we have multiple content designers so there are cases where "i can't refresh my enochian!" I personally went to complain about Nidhogg EX when i saw the phase transitions, but after all i just had to change my mindset and think "I need to think of a way to deal with it" (laughs like that gif).

Q. Now there are more moves where anyone can be targeted.
Y. People end up getting obsessed with their personal DPS but we look at the "power(DPS) of the whole party" when we balance content and when you look at above average (he didn't say this lol) groups that clear content or good at pvp, you'll notice they are strong as one brick. Rather than caring about who made mistakes or personal DPS, strong groups prevent dying and try to cover mistakes as a whole group. However, it's true each job has advantages and weaknesses depending on the content. For example, Nidhogg EX's battle begins with a situation where BLMs can't use up all their buffs before he flies away and i strongly understand that, but it's more important to win as a group. Even mechanics that capture players can be positively interpreted as "While i hold this guy down, i can count on my friends to keep attacking" and it's more fun thinking that way and that allows you to get closer to a clear.

Q. Now that you tell me, yeah"
Y. The same goes to melee DPSs. There is certainly a gap between players who keep their auto attacks hitting and those who don't, but we would like to put our hands on auto attacks in general. Please wait until we can tell you more about this.

Q3. My interpretation of end content is "It's not for everyone to challenge" but when you look at the rewards, it seems like it's set for players from all ranges to want to reach out for. How do you feel about this?
Y.I'm sure there are a variety of opinions, but i've noticed that a lot of the japanese players have the idea "There's a reward so we are forced to go". I'm not saying everyone thinks this way, but when i look at the data it looks like the mindset of "I'm doing this content because it's there" is stronger than "i'm doing it for the rewards". I think it's because of the characteristic of japanese players, but there's this forced momentum where players feel like they definately have to clear the content no matter what and this idea seems to be stronger in japan. So the japanese clear rates for EX primals and raids are overwhelming higher. it's about three times higher.

Q. A japanese characteristic of comforming huh?
Y. If everybody around you has cleared the content, you need to clear it. If there's a certain trend, you need to follow it. That sort of feeling is probably floating around. After the newest raid tier is released, the casual players slowly catch up to the raid players after a month or so and even the weapons are only 5 item levels different near the end of the patch, so the motivation for raiding seems to be because there's a mountain to bust in front of you. Although i want to get rid of the atmosphere where you feel left out if you don't raid..but i think it's a japanese thing.

Q. I'm sure there are players who think "I'm not enjoying this game if i'm not raiding"
Y. It might be because the Japanese MMO market hasn't had "high end raids" before and not being able to clear content even if you have the best gear is new for them. You have to have a certain player skill and spending time doesn't just reward you the victory and you need to put in all sorts of effort to achieve your goal. This can be tough at times, but you can get really excited when you clear it for the first time with 7 other people. This impact is what told the players "This is what FFXIV is like" and they have that image in their minds now, so the following problem we need to solve is, horizontal content.

Q4. Tbh Alexander savage is too difficult. Tell us about the future raid content.
Y. Firstly, the DPS checks for Gordias were too high so we shifted the difficulty of Midas by "making the players dance" and we overdid that too. Regarding Midas, Let's just say the level cap was still 50 and you could use the level 50 rotations. I think the clear rates would have been way way higher. After checking the data and logs, we noticed "Understanding the mechanics,judging,dodging and maintaining the level 60 rotations on top of that" is what created the enormous gap between players. There are a lot of buffs you need to manage and maintain and not only that, but the phase transitions or enemy mechanics disturb that rotation. This led to requiring players to flexibly judging in certain situations. Back in binding coil of Bahamut, there were some harsh mechanics, but the difference in rotations directly slashed the gap in difficulty. It's too late to change the rotations during the 3.x series so we'll lower the difficulty of the final tier of Alexander instead.

Q. So it's going to be easy?
Y. We intend to leave the challenging aspect and we are continuing to balance it everyday so we can reach a sweet spot.

Q5. Now we'd like to get into job balance. Thanks to your careful balancing, there isn't a single job that can't clear all content. We think that is marvelous, but i feel warriors and Scholars are a little..you know?
Y. Not a little...I think they are sticking out when it comes to utility. I'm not comparing jobs with their personal potential, but when you look at the wide range of utility WARs and SCHs can offer, they are just outrageous.

Q. By that, you mean in an 8 man party?
Y. Not specifically an 8 man party. In any sort of party composition, WARs and SCHs can slip themselves through most situations and their seats are guaranteed. When you compare WARs and SCHs to other jobs, you can say there is a bigger container when it comes to playerskill where the job can carry you and that is what troubles me.

Q. Are youg going to touch them in the future?
Y. Not before the expansion and we aren't going to just snipe those two jobs. With the next expansion, we will balance all jobs as a whole including new actions to balance them out. Basically, we'd like to push the other jobs up there, but it's not as simple as buffing the other jobs will equal their strengths so we are still struggling. Systemly and having a pet is what makes it complicated, so we are trying to be careful.

Q6. Personally, i like chasing who gets world first when it comes to new raid content, but can't you make it where we can see the progression or clears through the lodestone?
Y. I'm sure the Top teams don't want to be checked THAT much. Achieving world first has a range of qualifications and the goal for groups that aim for world first isn't just clearing the content. There have been a lot of cases where they care about how they clear the content. Like confirming if the way they cleared it isn't a bug or not and it seems like they have pride in clearing it the intended way so it's difficult to show their progression. Also, if we go too far with advertising them, it'll look like we advise or recommend players to aim for world first so i think "Including shout outs that a group obtained world first in a letter from the producer" is as far as we should go. Besides, even if we did officially chase the top teams, it won't be as exciting as the debates and cheers that go on on the internet.

Q.7 Sub stats like Critical hit rates and determination tend to be hard to notice the difference even if you add 100 points to that stat. Also, since the parameters on gear is getting higher and higher, there are cases where you have too much accuracy or don't have enough accuracy to refresh your gear. Tell us about you policy on this matter.
Y. We already have the players skill gap between players and if we add stat builds to that, i think the hurdle will be too high, so we don't have intentions to add any factors to widen the gap, but we'll be touching the sub stats with less influence when 4.0 comes out. Regarding accuracy and the need for it is a hot topic we are still debating over. The answer to your question is, we would like to keep it as simple as possible so players can focus on the content itself.

Q. So stats are also going through big changes in 4.0?
Y. Yes. To make sure it doesn't get over complicated and to keep the gap between top players as small as possible are the 2 concepts we are being careful about. I can say the changes won't be as extreme as level 50 to 60 where it felt like a different job.

Q8. There are unknown pillars that players call "towers" that pop out in certain fights. What is the setting behind it and why do we have to stomp on it?
Y.I think FCoB turn 13 is where it first showed up, but it's basically a wedge that you need to push back into the ground if you don't want to buff the enemy. It started with "It's probably something Allagan" and and the same time, i told the primal team "It's about time you unified the icons for mechanics" in a grumpy manner. Each content might be made by different people, but from the players view, they are all FFXIV content, so for example, i told them to unite the icon for share damage because it's unfair if the same type of mechanic has a different icon above your head depending on the content. I remember a streamer saying "I hate the incosistency of this game...graaahhh!". Getting back to the question, that's why all the content after turn 13 have that tower looking pillar when it comes to "step on this". Just take it easy and think it's Allag's fault and you need to step on it. It's important to be able to identify which icon means what type of mechanic and reducing the stress of inconsistency was important.

Q9. How many members are in the End game creator team and how do you create mechanics?
Y.The cycle of creating content is mostly identical for all members. To begin, the one in charge of that content writes ideas and files on paper and with an EX primal, there's a template where you have the first half and post-ultimate move phase and it starts with what the dev in charge wants to do. After that, when the team an i approve, they start the specification by deciding how many phases and mechanics before and after the first half then it moves forward to how many minutes until enrage. If it's too difficult at this point or if there are too many mechanics, they slice it off and fix it. After these checks are done, they place an order, including the modeling team, animation team and monster team who start creating how the boss moves around. The Special effects team start creating effects like lightning or original effects suiting new moves. After that, one programmer is exclusively attached until the work is done. The planner and programmer team up and move into implementation after meetings. First they just place a dummy monster model, add an AI to the boss, pile up all the phases and gradually put meat on them. The programmer in charge starts playing and checks each move alone and temporarily enters the debug phase. This isn't where it ends and after a majority of the bugs are removed, we then gather devs who are skilled at playing the game to start the final balancing phase, which is the most important part of the process.

Q. Finally the test play. Y. The members get an explanation of the mechanics first. To keep the cycle of 3.5 months per patch, we spend around 5 to 7 days per content to test it. An even numbered patch has 8 floors including normal and savage and 1 primal on top of that. First we start with the invincible mode to let the testers fully understand the mechanics and to make sure the message went through. The reason we use this invincible mode is to shorten the process. If we wipe everytime we test it won't move forward so we take away the invicible mode after testing it and move to the "You recieve damage but you recover all your hp once your hp hits 0"mode to see if the damage you deal and receive are working as intended. Isn't the healing checks to harsh? aren't the DPS checks too high? are examples. We check 1 phase at a time with that flow and clear the content with less casualties as possible. Once they clear it, we get rid of all the debug modes and move into the final phase to test the fight like a normal server. Can you really clear it under the tension and manage to clear it? How many deaths are allowed? is what we confirm. Alot of people from all over the world have a misunderstanding but we do test it in the same environment as players. After clearing, we check individual phases for dps and heal checks and we discuss if it's enough to satisfy the top tier groups by adding 5% to the DPS checks or reduce the enrage timer by 15 seconds and so on until you can squeeze your way through a clear.

Q. Are the scripts of the fights decided at the planning stage? There are times when it feels like buffs recover their cool downs at perfect timings.
Y. That relates to the experience of the creators, so the veterans are likely planning it out from the start and since cool downs have a pattern like 60, 90, 180, the creators keep that in mind when they set mechanics. The creators are also players so they add factors including their actuall experiences in game. The ones in charge have their private characters and pay the sub and all aim to clear the content with their own characters. By doing so, they have a clearer vision of how actual players go through effort and creating strategies, so they can use that experience to help them make the next raid tier.

Q. There are 3 types of attacks. Magic, physical and darkness. Do you have any plans to make them easier to distinguish through effects?
Y. That's pretty much a no no. When content is created, each team sends out an image of what each moves looks like. At that point, ofcourse we try to make the move and element match as possible. however, as the creating process moves on and tests begin, there are situations where certain jobs can dodge or live through a certain mechanic. If we leave it like that and release the content, there will be "must have jobs" so we test it again so that doesn't happen, but at that point where the final testing is going on, we can't add a new effect to it because of schedule matters. I'm sorry but please forgive us.
This is where the interview ends, but the other pages have some new info. Some people thought the mansions are located in Ishgard, but Yoshida said the mansions from each of the 3 cities all look different, meaning the mansions are located in the 3 cities and not ishgard. They also asked 3 questions to each of the devs but that translation will come later since the interview was long enough.