So, I'm trying out the open beta...

Hell - I finally figured it out. I had to go into the options menu and select 'Return' to revive and get beamed back into town.
 
Now, how bad must a gamedesigner be to not tell me such a thing as I die the first time? It makes no fucking sense. These developers have no fucking clue of what they're doing.

Wait -- you have to go into the options menu to revive yourself? What?!

Beta game is in Beta. Get over it. 
FFXI was never the friendliest MMO and FFXIV will only slightly improve that. WoW is waiting for you.
 
It's the same shit every day from people who never played XI in the first place (cause it wasn't WoW) and are at a loss when it comes to XIV. All my friends from XI have been enjoying the Beta a great deal, and they honestly can't know much more than any other Beta tester. What kills me is, all you folks bitching about the game that's in Beta, KEEP playing it and keep expecting the Beta to be worlds different the next day. It's an MMO - by it's very nature it's ever-evolving, the Beta may lack a lot of polish and how close the release is doesn't matter, the game will continue to change for years.  

Dude - it's a group focused MMORPG that doesn't even get chatting right. There isn't even a general chat channel. How bad can a gamedesigner be? It's fucking beyond me.
 
The entire fucking dev team and their Q&A team should be ashamed of their lack of common sense.
 
Or how about something a bit more modern and up-to-date? Like a auto-grouping function for ease of teamplay? Anything that'd actually support their overall design direction?

At this point I think a beta of any game is more of a "preview" than a legit testing phase. Most of the bug-squashing and polishing should have been done beforehand. If they are coming in less than a month from launch with TONS of game-killing bugs and poor design decisions as I've heard from several accounts already, then I don't see who else would play it other than devoted fans of XI. I'm certainly not going to put up with BS like that when games like Old Republic or GW2 are on the horizon. 

" @BunkerBuster:  As of a few days ago they weren't letting anyone in the forums.  There's no place to give feedback on anything to Square Enix. "

" @Seppli: Are you making sure to post this at the Sqeenix site? It is after all a beta and they need to hear the problems the game is having. Bitching about it on Giantbomb wont help the game at all.  On a side note, are people really this surprised that Square can't make games in the 21st century? They basically take a franchise and remake it every single year and it's almost always bought in the millions. Why would they ever need to try harder if they have so many fans that just keep putting up with it year after year. Was there ever a though that this could ever be good after the first one back in 2002? "

" @Diamond said:

" @BunkerBuster:  As of a few days ago they weren't letting anyone in the forums.  There's no place to give feedback on anything to Square Enix. "

That sounds like an absolute dissaster. The whole forums? Is there any way to give feedback in the game itself? Perhaps it was too soon for the them to be having this beta then. "

" I registered only for say that your tears are very delicious and wanted to insist on a few point.  The lack of tutorial and bad UI should help filter the ass hole away toward powerhouse MMO. More fun for me since after playing XI since release... XIV is pretty much the exact same thing.    A company that don't give a fuck about the opinion of their player base and make their game the way they want to do it. The community made up for it since I was never surrounded of angry 15 yo boy (not that you are but they are like cancer on WoW).  SE do make interesting concept like the possibility of playing multiple jobs/classes on the same character or international servers which are the main reason I can't play any/most other MMO for more then a few days. I have friends around the globe and soon moving to Asia so the lack international server would be a total/retarded deal breaker for me but not for others.  So I trust they'll make another interesting game. Will it be for everyone? I doubt it since SE's MMO is (are) so easy to hate with a lot of random concept mistake that can be a deal breaker for many.  I won't bother you with the incredibly long list.  tl;dr Move on if you don't like it. SE doesn't owe you anything. Have a good day sir. "

"And no, at this point, there doesn't seem to be any feedback option. "

" @BunkerBuster:  As of a few days ago they weren't letting anyone in the forums.  There's no place to give feedback on anything to Square Enix. "

P.S. official forums in-active, in-game feedback system not operational... but we can give feedback on a seperate site? That support stuff is more for technical stuff though, not general feedback.

From what I've played, it seems like a good game with really, really bad usability issues; especially the UI. 
Out of the 4 hours of playing as an Armorer. I spent more time trying to figure out what to do, then actually progressing through the game. 
I was not able to craft a thing through out my time with it.

Dude - there is a chat window. The worst chat window in the history of chatwindows. I never denied its existence.

" @Seppli: Submit some feedback if you feel so strongly. "

I do find having to download the multiple gigabyte patch files from a third party website pretty hilarious, thanks to FFXIV's mockery of an updater.

" @Seppli: If it's too late, and you're washing your hands of it, why are you still complaining about it?  Go tell them what you think. "

" @PixieNinja:  Here's what the support page says :
 
"Please describe as much as possible in 4000 byte letters. When you are encoutering the trouble, please enter the error message, date and time of occurrence, current condition, and Connection Structure."  Well, as long as I'm only using letters that are less than 4000 bytes I should be good!  Also, why does their site require I enter my email 3 times?  But seriously, thanks for the contact system, because they didn't tell us any of that.  I will be submitting a few of my problems.  They won't be able to fix them for months, if ever, but it is the best thing to do. "

"@PixieNinja said:

" @Seppli: If it's too late, and you're washing your hands of it, why are you still complaining about it?  Go tell them what you think. "

Dude - Open Beta Testers can't see the Closed Beta Tester Feedback. We can send a feedback message. We can't even start a fucking thread.  Threads, that with 1000% guarantuee exist and are popular on the Closed Beta Feedback forums?  Are you fucking new to this gig? Or what? Somekind of naive Open Beta idealist? Seriously? "

I see SE aggressively fixing things with their daily patches, and overall I think it's a very polished game in most respects (aside from the torrent app they use, I use utorrent for the patches, personally).  There are some performance things I'd like to see fixed, and some other small problems, like grammar and so on, but I like what I see so far.  I'm actually relieved it's not like WoW and 90% of the other MMOs out there, and the Final Fantasy worlds have always been appealing to me.  There's a mysterious aspect to the lore and world that I can never put my finger on (that exists in FFXI as well) that makes it more interesting, in my opinion, and I'm glad it doesn't spoon-feed everything to you.  There's nothing more boring than never being able to figure something out for yourself once in a while, which is why I was bored to death with WoW.   The customizable GUIs and so on didn't have a prayer of saving me from tiring of the game. 
 
My goal now in the beta is to get a handle on what types of things a single character can do.  If it resembles the FFXI job system and crafting system, that would be a huge plus.   If I have to create new characters and plow through the entire story over and over to try new character abilities (like 90% of MMOs), I won't be happy.  FFXI also had a deep combat system that got into chaining combos with party members, with everything in the game tied to an element which was influenced by the weather outside, and other shit like that.  If FFXIV has all that it'd be very cool indeed.  I'm not huge into MMOs in general, but if I ever did get back into it, I'd probably look into FFXI even though it's dated simply because the world was interesting.  Sorry that some of you are so angered by the beta here.  I'm guessing that if you didn't "get" FFXI you're probably not going to be interested in FFXIV either.

Im enjoying the beta, but i do have to agree with you when it comes to the tutorials and how much help they give new players. There is none. I havn't played FFXI, so i basically had no idea what to do, or which NPCs to talk to. I REALLY hope they put in a good tutorial/hand-holding system for beginners in the retail version.

I remember the last time a developer didn't listen to it's players... someone should send out an all-points bulletin to warn SE. But hey, Square knows what's best for it's fans. I mean look at the universal praise for 13...oh wait

You're right, it did generally get universal praise:  http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-3/final-fantasy-xiii  ;)
 
Heh, but seriously, all I did for the tutorial part was just listen to the beginning NPCs on what I should do.  Check your Journal.  There's a map in the journal entry that points you to the next guy to talk to.  I recommend finishing the tutorial quests and listening what these guys have to say.  You aren't going to find "!" marks over heads and arrows everywhere because they are catering to a slightly older-school paradigm here where they expect you to pay attention a little bit.   
 
Feel free to PM me if you have honest questions about starting out in the game.  I'm far from being an expert, but I have started to get the hang of the game after a few hours.

The game makes some improvements upon FFXI but it's still not a very user-friendly MMO.   That said, once you get into it, it's hard to stop...

I had a friend in the Closed Beta, so I knew players were having a lot of issues with the game--both from what my friend was telling me, and from our discussions about what he was reading on the closed beta forums.
 
Yet, we were both Square fans that grew up gaming during Squaresoft's golden age in the mid 90's so we really wanted the game to be amazing. Even though I haven't liked many of the Final Fantasy franchise games since FF Tactics, even though I finally escaped FFXI like a refugee on the last chopper leaving Saigon, even though it has been very clear that Square Enix builds their games in some kind of air tight bubble where they never look out, I hoped and wished and believed that FFXIV was going to be great and beautiful and sound amazing.
 
So far the best thing about FFXVI has been the music. It was the most enjoyable thing about my beta experiences. Especially the Crystal Theme when you log in or log out. Yes, one of my most enjoyable moments is when I log out. Unfortunately, the game itself is horrible. I find myself agreeing with everything Seppli has said especially "unwieldy blocky piece of ignorant game design". Since it is getting pretty close to the launch and it is now open beta I don't think anything can be done to change/fix the problems I have, especially considering that 
1) the "problems" were basic parts of the game's design (were intended to be that way)
and 
2) the developer(s) have shown through their feedback responses and in interviews that they have a vision, and they also have a desire to make that vision happen regardless of what the beta tester thinks. This clarity of purpose although admirable may have moved into the realm of willful ignorance with FFXIV.
3) Also open betas are about infrastructure and servers and capacity, not about making huge fixes that effect the mechanics of their game play.  
 
P.S. do not roll a caster. This is the first game I've ever played with no mana regen, where even after I rez from death and get a new full hp bar, my mana remains used up >.>

I haven't played the beta but I was in the beta of Final Fantasy 11 on the 360 and it was not fun at all even when playing with a few of my real life friends. It seems like they try and create the most complicated game for some reason.

" @PixieNinja:  wanted to update you on this fiasco.  They got back to me basically saying that that system is not for feedback.  So they're not taking any user feedback on bugs / problems / suggestions with the open beta. "

eh, im still keeping my pre-order. hopefully some stuff gets fixed before release, but ill play.

This isn't meant to be racist so don't take it as such. 
 
Square is a Japanese company and a big one. As such they have drastically different ideas on what makes a good game. From watching most eastern MMO's get released they all have some similarities. Great looking games that are very grindy and shallow. They tend to get by because they are new or have a good franchise affiliation and they never really streamline anything. The goal is to get the grind mills working and players will show up (and they do). Western developers tend to ask the community what they want, and then do what is reasonably possible to get those features online. 
 
Now it might look like I enjoy one game style over the other, and I do. I'm from the states and will never understand the idea that games have to be simple click fests with very little in terms of plot or flavor outside of the intro docs but that's usually how eastern games go. Keep in mind this is the same company that recently released FF13, and well... that game was terrible.

" Beta game is in Beta. Get over it. 
FFXI was never the friendliest MMO and FFXIV will only slightly improve that. WoW is waiting for you.
 
It's the same shit every day from people who never played XI in the first place (cause it wasn't WoW) and are at a loss when it comes to XIV. All my friends from XI have been enjoying the Beta a great deal, and they honestly can't know much more than any other Beta tester. What kills me is, all you folks bitching about the game that's in Beta, KEEP playing it and keep expecting the Beta to be worlds different the next day. It's an MMO - by it's very nature it's ever-evolving, the Beta may lack a lot of polish and how close the release is doesn't matter, the game will continue to change for years.  

"

I have heard nothing but bad things about this game.

Is this the same game that limits your playtime to 8 hours a week after which you get less and less XP eventually dropping to 0xp after another 7 hours?
Is this the same game that is said to have insanely repetitive quest and boring grinding combat, worse then many of the current MMO's on the market?
Is this the same game that has already been accused of having huge amounts of copy pasted areas, not just objects mind you but entire villages and areas copy pasted.

And now I hear even the UI is abysmal .... lol
It may sell well in the east just from the brand name alone, but not in the west.
 
I love the smell of MMO failure in the morning.

"Is this the same game that limits your playtime to 8 hours a week after which you get less and less XP eventually dropping to 0xp after another 7 hours?

"Is this the same game that is said to have insanely repetitive quest and boring grinding combat, worse then many of the current MMO's on the market?

"Is this the same game that has already been accused of having huge amounts of copy pasted areas, not just objects mind you but entire villages and areas copy pasted."

"And now I hear even the UI is abysmal .... lol It may sell well in the east just from the brand name alone, but not in the west.  I love the smell of MMO failure in the morning. "

@Tennmuerti said:

"Is this the same game that has already been accused of having huge amounts of copy pasted areas, not just objects mind you but entire villages and areas copy pasted."

 
Not that I've ever seen, no?