For me personally, I'm enjoying what I've played so far. I'm not saying there aren't any issues, for sure they exist, but I do not think that many of them are as tragic as some people in this thread are making them out to be.
First, the whole having to go into a menu to do anything. Part of me finds this annoying; part of me understands what they are doing. I'm a designer by trade; so of course I see how they could, by simply mimicking the standards that people already use (What you do mean the I key moves the camera and doesn't open my inventory!?), they could make a bunch of people happy and have a more streamlined experience. The only valid argument here that I can find and partially support is this. It's a Final Fantasy game and they want to stick to the Final Fantasy formula for UI, for good or ill. In every Final Fantasy game I've played, I've had to access a menu to do most of the stuff I've needed to do. So again, part of me is OK with this. The bit I don't understand is having to go into the menu to do some interactions, like interacting with the crystal. Why can't I just target it and use it and get the same effect? (Maybe you can, I haven't done a leve in a week as I've been extremely busy) I'm not saying the system they have is perfect, but I find it functional. There just needs to be more consistency.
For the record...why can't I just change the key mapping to function how I want? There isn't anything in your game that is going to break from a game play point of view by giving people this option. This, coupled with the mouse lag (and yes Londa, as a designer, their excuse is pretty crappy...the only thing I can think of is that perhaps it isn't a matter of having a hardware mouse and more the data tracking they have going on the background that is just effecting the overall experience. That I could buy.) are my two biggest issues right now.
Combat is fun, I like not having an auto-attack. I'm actually OK without an AH or even the ability to search. It may seem masochistic to some, but I like the idea of having to walk through and find what I need. It adds a personal level to a genre that, honestly, doesn't do a good job with that most of the time. If you don't like it, I totally get where you are coming from, but I also don't find it an egregious error. I don't like the guild leve reset timer, unless they add a boatload more. They keep saying they are going to, but this I will believe when I see. Not like the implementation of these seems like it would be difficult, so it is entirely possible that this is true.
Honestly, what it boils down to for me is that this game provides a sense of discovery that I love to have. Could there be more clarity in the mechanics? For sure, especially the gathering stuff. People are just going to ask or go to the internet to find out, so just tell people how this stuff works. Things like that could be made a bit easier to understand. However, there is something about gallivanting around the world in both this and FFXI that isn't there in other games. Major pluses for immediately introducing the story as well and making it easy to get into and continue...I had to pry my wife away from my computer last night because she decided to make a character and play for a bit, mostly because she was just doing that beginning set of quest stuff and enjoying it.
So yeah, it needs work, but the fact of the matter is that all MMOs need work and are never released in a state that people aren't complaining about. FFXIV is not going to win over any casual players, but I don't think that is a goal they have. In a way, parts of this game give me that Monster Hunter feeling...something that is not the easiest to get into, but once you learn it, can be incredibly rewarding.
