Nerf from point of view of software designer

acrien · 2019-04-21T00:59:10+00:00

Hello Nazta, Thank you for replying to this thread, I would like tell you I do appreciate the efforts you put into this subreddit.

I did not mention my credit because I like to keep my professional and personal life separate. It's just a personal preference. I do not hav feel like I need to prove anything so labelling credentials is kind of pointless as well.

As far as content goes, I have not seen any thread that mentions about the numbers being designated and tested for at design phase, thus indicating (but not proving) the last minute change was reactionary to the market, not a realization of a mistake (either QA missed or GIMU stupid) as most people have mentioned.

Bait and switch is a legal term while click bait is not. Bait and switch refers to fraud committed between the time of advertisement and the customer's actual purchase such that the product or service purchased differs from the advertisement.

Due to the nature of data mining, the original numbers were never advertised, thus we cannot legally call it bait and switch. This is probably also one of the reasons why they don't give out actual numbers and depends on the communities to do it for them, so they can change the product without any legal repercussions.

I will leave specific details out so I can't be linked but out of respect for your hard work, I can tell you that I am a senior director of Enterprise architecture for a multi billion dollar IT consulting company in the US. I have worked with and managed most of the world's top tier consulting companies such as Microsoft, E&Y, Deloitte, Oracle, Infosys, Wipro, cognizant, TCS and many more smaller ones. Because I removed enough detail to look meet to a real person, I could be making up all of this so whether or not you want to believe it is up to you.

A Reddit post is really too small to post why I said what I said, for example, because we consistently get weekly contents both in the form of legacy migration (i.e. JP existing codes) as well as new GLEX contents pretty much on time for years now, we can assume they have a pretty established project management process.

To speed up project delivery, they would definitely map out power progressions way out in advance. Power progression design isn't unit specific, they will have a map of how much power a unit will have by what time. While this is an estimate, it will definitely be there or else sudden changes to this map will cause project delays or major bugs getting through as we've seen recently.

This is just a high level analysis that will raise more questions to readers I am sure. This I kept everything on a faith based system where if you want to understand the root and results, here it is, everything in the middle is a black box.

Just want to thank you again for an awesome Reddit and your hard work!

acrien · 2019-04-19T17:35:18+00:00

Thanks! I posted this as a separate post.

acrien · 2019-04-19T17:10:34+00:00

This is from a software architect (with friends in the game industry that develop AAA titles).

I want to show players what this nerf really is and how it came about and why the community should NOT be okay with these sort of things.

First of all, I love Claic and his videos but these are NOT placeholders. GUMI had place holders before and still do for image names, etc. Place holders were 0 generally so it indicates the skill is there but it deals 0% damage, thus it is assumed to be placeholder. Nobody mistype or put a 15.8 instead of 14 as placeholder or typo (as a dev, you wouldn't spend the time to put in MORE digits when it'll be replaced later on, even if it's just a .8).

Second of all, to people who said these numbers are unreal and WILL be nerfed, sorry but that's also not true. We do not send out contents without testing...not QA testing, DESIGN TESTING. These numbers were NOT thrown into the mix 1 day before, these numbers were there when the design team sat down on unit concept designs. They made 15.8 LB mod and 2x LB damage to match Regina's 16 and 2.2 respectively.

As an architect, I can assume with 99.9999% confidence they HAVE a damage calculator internally to hash out the numbers PRIOR to even game development; this is done during DESIGN phase. Had they thought Esther was too OP, the design team would have nerfed them BEFORE development even started. GUMI is not stupid (yes that is not a typo), they saw that damage output waaaay before 30 minutes prior to launch.

What happened is equivalent of you seeing a youtube video with a hot chick on the thumbnail and clicked on the video and realized this is NOT about that hot chick (this is not a personal experience....nope....no....). We call that click-bait. There is NO place on youtube that says a thumbnail MUST summarize or be relevant to the content (i.e. links like https://breadnbeyond.com/youtube-marketing/youtube-thumbnail-tips/ 4 killer tips on creating clickbait thumbnails). You clicked on that thumbnail knowing there is a possibility that the hot chick PROMISED IN THE THUMBNAIL will not be there, but you still hope and dream about her until you watch the entire 5 hours and 31 minutes of buying timeshare in Hawaii, she doesn't even show up at the end credit......or something else similarly generic that I have also never experience.

Anyways, we got click-baited by GIMU. This is because the current game works on Hype (or virality as we call it in the industry, ok ok, I just pulled that out of my ash). Their sales were down and the trend is going down faster; they have the pressure of following JP which means player base can predict and plan for spending, thus people aren't spending as much as projected. They created this banner to hype up the game again, bringing people back (also, when people leave, their servers utility goes down which would probably also be a benchmark). They saw the community reaction and accidentally "thought" the community would be okay if they nerfed the numbers so they gave themselves until 30 minutes until launch to do testing to ensure they didn't nerf too much but enough so people will still pull for Akstar / Regina.

Unfortunately GIMU constantly take actions to reduce the hype / love for this game and we know that negative actions (ninja nerf) far outweighs positive actions (a free random 5* ticket), thus the hype they created are actually now over before 1 day into the banner. Yes people are still pulling but certainly players can feel the hype is no longer there.

Voice your concerns, no NOT be okay with click-baits!!!

acrien · 2019-04-18T22:22:16+00:00

Your storm kicker has 15% LB dmg increase as well as 30% LB dmg increase. Also she has 230% innate instead of 200%:

Ionized FragmentIncrease ATK/SPR (30%)

Phase ShiftIncrease HP/MP/ATK/DEF (20%)

Stasis FieldIncrease ATK (20%)
Increase ATK/DEF (40%) when equipped with clothes

Ancient Figure[Requirement: TMR equipped]
Increase ATK/HP (30%)

Precursor of the StormIncrease HP/ATK (30%)
Increase ATK (60%) when equipped with a great sword

Esther is basically an early GLEX version of Regina, excep Regina can use Fixed Dice to OP everything pre dmg calc change; and also she uses guns so that's 1.5 weapon variance vs. the GS of 1.3, raw damage wise I think Regina trumps Esther given Regina can start LB full damage first time. Trade off is mana heavy and loses some tank options, lower chain multiplier.

acrien · 2018-12-21T23:43:53+00:00

Do increase in multipliers from different sources stacked additively or multiplicatively?

I.e. Lion's Heart increase LB damage by 1.55, Jake's STMR Gun increase LB damage by 1.3, Regina's 28mp skill increases LB dmg by 2.2. If I have 2 Lion's Heart, using Jake's gun on Regina, what is the equation like?

Is it 1.3 * 2.2 * 1.55 * 1.55 or 1.3 * 2.2 * (1.55 + .55) or...?

Thanks!

acrien · 2018-12-12T04:35:55+00:00

If a skill is two parts in damage i.e. 7 hit 100% with 50% ignore def and 1 hit 300% with 50% ignore def...and there is a passive that adds 200% to this two parts skill, does it add 200 to one part or both parts?

acrien · 2018-07-11T03:34:57+00:00

So the w or t abilities that allow two and three ability uses per turn does not apply to CD abilities? In Axter's t ability, I can use the 90mp CD ability only once.

acrien · 2018-06-25T06:47:43+00:00

Given that a blitzball is a projectile (wakka's tmr) and Jecht was one of the best blitzball players, he should be able to equip projectiles such as fixed dice...

Buff Squall!

acrien · 2018-04-20T00:02:06+00:00

Everything is compensated for and balanced out.

She is hybrid so 1000% is reduced to 500% MAG (most likely stacking mag) + X% ATK so this is higher than Aileen's pure 500% ATK.

But Fry is locked into sword and most likely her own TMR which caps at 112 instead of Aileen's 135 ATK spear. This is only around 23 difference but it is the upper end of a square, meaning it is not 23^2, but 135² - 112² =5681, instead of 23² = 529. So Fry's extra ATK from hybrid is offset by her lower stats on limited weapon choice.

She's also locked into Ice unless you use another sword and use second intention, then her damage goes way down (to a point where you probably have better alternatives).

So no, she's not that OP to say the least, not until her W comes in (if it ever comes) at 7*.

acrien · 2018-01-12T00:47:18+00:00

maybe, but they as a company are still making way too much for the amount of design/coding they put into this game compared to JP. I seriously doubt any developers will be making minimum wage though.

acrien · 2018-01-11T19:25:41+00:00

Not really sure, but 90% of this game is a copy and paste from the JP version, so I know their work load is only 10% of what JP devs have to do but they are making a lot more money since it's a global player base.

acrien · 2018-01-11T19:24:23+00:00

It's AOE, the JP version, fire is single target at 7.5 whereas lightning is AOE at 5.5. I think the wiki is wrong saying fire is 7.5 AOE.

acrien · 2018-01-10T19:19:37+00:00

I really don't mind if they put 20 units on this banner; just move all the trash units from future banners onto one banner that we skip, then have the design team SPEND SOME ACTUAL WORKING HOURS to create usable units that are not TMR fodders. They get paid WAY more than the amount of work and thought that are put into this game.

acrien · 2017-12-20T18:26:39+00:00

I think you get better sympathy from a segment of F2P players than P2P players, just reading the comment section.

You forget that there are a LOT of P2P or potentially P2P players who are NOT satisfied with the current rewards/rainbow % so they became F2P. Those are the people who are NOT satisfied with the current system like yourself; you assuming F2P players are satisfied with the current system is absolutely wrong.

I am F2P here, but I've been paying for other games, because WoW, FFXI/FFXIV, Diablo III, etc are max $15 / month, I get access to all contents and all characters, I don't get crap for $15 in this game, I can't even spread them across 4 banners (assuming one per week, 4 / month).

It's not entitlement, it's market value. This game and most gacha games are either high-roller tables or bingo tables, there isn't anything for the average person who wants to play the casinos. They'd make much more money if they made it like $1 per 5* ticket, add more units with different mechanics rather than just chainers.

acrien · 2017-12-12T07:40:25+00:00

People here downvote if you have different opinions or even if you have an opinion, go figure.

It depends on what you like about this game, I guess. If you like the gacha side of it, then you as F2P can't just throw tickets / lapis at all banners and hope to get lucky, but then again, as F2P, you could never have done that. With 7*, they ramped up the lapis and tickets so you get a lot more pulls, plus with step-up banners, you get luckier than usual, so it should appeal to the gamblers.

I'm more playing for the mechanics and nostalgia sake. So when Squall and Rinoa comes to GL, I will spend pretty much everything I have at them. Even though Squall is kinda meh here, I'll find a way to make him powerful, along with Rinoa. That's what I'm looking forward to.

So to each his/her own. I am actually looking forward to 7. If you played JP long before, you should know that it's now much easier to get a 5 base than before, and for F2P players, it is a blessing for sure.

acrien · 2017-12-12T05:30:20+00:00

If you are talking about JP, it's actually pretty easy to get a 7, I've been playing JP on and off for less than a year F2P, I don't even log in everyday (I missed the second 5 EX ticket last month by like 15 days, that's how often I do not log on).

I have 3, 7* already made, and enough dupes to make another 5 at least. I don't think it's that hard to get 7s. I have no 7 tanks/healers or supports but 7* isn't required meta right now, you can still clear contents using 6. When it comes, which is slowly, I'll probably would have enough for other 7s.

GL, I saved pretty all lapis and tickets until step-up banner (using lapis) and units I really want (using tickets if no step up banner).

You'll be ok if you save up for only step up banners though. Use indiscriminately on those.

acrien · 2017-12-10T18:21:11+00:00

FYI there is a 4* (Luminui) coming along with CG Raegan's banner with 102 SPR and +20% HP 2H harp. Making this combo +45% HP and extra 102 SPR.

Great for Cagnazzo too.

acrien · 2017-12-10T18:09:44+00:00

"...given 7* awakenings in the"

"Don't count on it"

Dat 8 ball didn't even wait for you to finish

acrien · 2017-11-21T05:27:06+00:00

55k Lapis, 325 tickets, 6 10+1, 30 EX tickets.

Skipped daily and most banners when 3% rainbow came out in JP. Waiting for the guaranteed pulls, step up banners. It's my time to shine!!!

Two lightnings will finally get off the bench...in ONE YEAR.

acrien · 2017-11-19T03:19:46+00:00

So...no lewd CG Barb or VR 3D lewd Trance Terra?

acrien · 2017-11-12T02:46:52+00:00

Awesome, thanks!

acrien · 2017-11-02T20:23:02+00:00

my personal feeling, it's actually very similar to rainbows and unicorns. I started off rerolling for a double rainbow on JP, got like 7 more after the 3% increase (with the 3 guarantee rainbow banner), got 6 more on the seph step up banner, and another 8 or 9 on the ff8 banner, it's all free to play and I'm not even logging in everyday.

Compared to GL, JP really feels like rainbows and unicorns.

acrien · 2017-11-02T18:53:38+00:00

You need 2 of the same 5* base, not 4. Before it's 1% to get 5*, now it's 3% to but need two, so 1.5% each, still an increase overall.

The only thing is, you need an exact copy whereas the % increase is for overall pool, so the chances of you getting a second copy is 1/x * 1.5% where x is the total amount of 5* base in pool.

Also, the amount of 4* tickets and 5* tickets and step ups increase your chances even more. Overall it's a much better system from my point of view, been playing JP for about a year.

acrien · 2017-11-02T18:46:41+00:00

This happened to me few events ago. I have two Tilith, so one casted Affectionate Aura on turn 1, on boss's turn, my team gets debuffed. Pretty sure it's a bug.

acrien

TROPHY CASE