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Sagacyte's BG corner

Nerfs and Ponies - A rant about rants

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Final Fantasy XIV got a new small patch with a few small changes here and there. Of course people are gonna complain and rant in social networks and places like Reddit. Well, I guess I can do a little rant on my own, right? Let's see what this small patch brings, shall we?

Primal Ponies now have special music for each one

Each pony, when ridden, now plays music corresponding to the Primal that dropped him/her. For example: if you have Shiva's pony it'll now play Oblivion when you mount your faithful elemental steed. People complaining that that this is lazy. Seriously? People are complaining about this? A completely un-needed change that adds a bit of variety? What were people expecting? Piano arrangements of Primal themes?

For Twelve's sake... I'm not saying it's a complicated change, but less than 24 hours ago every pony - a sort-of-rare drop from Extreme Primals - played the regular non-Chocobo mount music.  I'm no programmer, but I guess what someone in Square Enix HQ's dungeons did was something like this:

Code:
function Mount(ride) {
 var chocobo=mount.asset.chocobo;
 var shiva=mount.asset.icepony;
 if (char.mount == chocobo){
  bgm.play(chocobo.theme);
 } else if (char.mount == shiva) { << new
  bgm.play(shiva.oblivion.theme); << new
 } else {
  bgm.play(generic.mount.theme);
 }
}
Yes, that's probably ridiculous and 100% made up, but with Heavensward fast approaching (and the dev team likely busy with 3.1 or 3.2 at the moment) the fact we even get this change is a small welcome addition. They could have just done nothing.

- "But Saga! They just did this for the Magitek mount!"

- Actually the Terra's Theme remix was ready before 2.0 even launched. It was in one of the game's promo videos. So they took existing assets and flipped a switch. The same they're doing now. It may not be the biggest change ever, but we didn't need it.

Final Coil of Bahamut now has 15% Echo (up from 10%)

Not much noise about this - because all the crying was done when the 10% was introduced - but it is a welcome addition for those that need that extra push to clear FCoB before Heavensward comes. One could always disable the Echo, of course, should the need for a "pure challenge" arise.

Steps of Faith nerfs to pretty much everything about it

There has been some loud QQ about this - and it's the one I understand the least. Steps of Faith has been until today (and could possibly still be - I haven't played today yet) a road block for players looking forward to complete the 2.55 story. Weird mechanics, an odd progression system and players who enter without the slightest idea on what to do. Let's not forget that this is a requirement for all players to enter the post-50 Heavensward content, including the new jobs.

Nerfing what many have called an annoying or stupid trial by making it easier to complete is a necessary step, when you think about the future. I mentioned this in a recent post but as time passes less and less people will do 2.0-2.55 content. Content will need to be nerfed to allow new or returning players to progress beyond that. Wishing it stayed the way it was - the same way people complained about before - would be a disservice to the game and a problem in the long run to players in need of catching up.

***

So, done. My rant about a rant. Sometimes I think I lacked grammatical coherence of sense. If I did... well... it's a rant. Now excuse me, I'm gonna read tweets of the MGSV press event now.

Game on.

- Sagacyte

"QQ moar"

Comments

  1. Seravi Edalborez -
    Seravi Edalborez's Avatar
    Prefacing: my opinion probably doesn't matter because I'm not who these nerfs are catered to, by a long shot.

    The nerfs to Steps are as puzzling as the nerfs to Pharos Sirius way back in the day when people were saying THAT was too hard. Why can we not have any meaningfully difficult content that isn't Coil or Extreme Primals (to an extent)? Was the barrier to entry to Heavensward THAT high, considering people need to have completed every Hardmode primal?(iirc Titan HM became mandatory in some patch, it was formerly optional if you skipped relic)

    The one common thread to every single Steps complaint I have seen is the same complaint that plagues every single DF activity on NA data centers: nobody listens.

    #getgoodNA
  2. Cutriss -
    Cutriss's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Seravi Edalborez
    Prefacing: my opinion probably doesn't matter because I'm not who these nerfs are catered to, by a long shot.

    The nerfs to Steps are as puzzling as the nerfs to Pharos Sirius way back in the day when people were saying THAT was too hard. Why can we not have any meaningfully difficult content that isn't Coil or Extreme Primals (to an extent)? Was the barrier to entry to Heavensward THAT high, considering people need to have completed every Hardmode primal?(iirc Titan HM became mandatory in some patch, it was formerly optional if you skipped relic)

    The one common thread to every single Steps complaint I have seen is the same complaint that plagues every single DF activity on NA data centers: nobody listens.

    #getgoodNA
    It's still not mandatory, only mandatory if you want to do Coil.
  3. Rocl -
    Rocl's Avatar
    Ifrit, Garuda and Titan (Hard) are mandatory to do the 2.5 story.

    Players must first complete the main scenario quest "Let Us Cling Together," and have completed The Bowl of Embers (Hard), The Navel (Hard), and The Howling Eye (Hard).
    http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...735b3d4280abe6
  4. Eldelphia -
    Eldelphia's Avatar
    I honestly don't think it needed nerfing. It did need a 'vote to restart' button when you get to that stage where you know you're not going to do it but that's about it. I don't think they can win though, in a way they should not have put it in the Trials roulette. If you don't though, it becomes harder to get people for. Perhaps if SE worked a little more on community building events instead of community-dividing events it would help....
  5. Cutriss -
    Cutriss's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Rocl
    Ifrit, Garuda and Titan (Hard) are mandatory to do the 2.5 story.


    http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...735b3d4280abe6
    Oh, I checked the GamerEscape wiki and it didn't include that as an unlock for The Navel (Hard). Oops.
  6. Seravi Edalborez -
    Seravi Edalborez's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Eldelphia
    Perhaps if SE worked a little more on community building events instead of community-dividing events it would help....
    That would require them to first

    A) Make meaningfully difficult content that isn't Coil/Alexander (because the number one deterrent to players is "it's too hard for me" without trying)

    B) Make meaningfully difficult (or fun) content FOR MORE THAN 8 PEOPLE. Harder than CT, easier than Coil. Not faceroll.
    B2) Make flexible group sizes, maybe have it be an open world system if they can't wrap their heads around how to DF-ify it.

    Right now there's no "good" reason to be friends with more than 7 other people because no activity worth a damn in the game can be done with more or less than 8 people (and the negative stigma of NA DF will never go away).
  7. Cutriss -
    Cutriss's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Seravi Edalborez
    B2) Make flexible group sizes, maybe have it be an open world system if they can't wrap their heads around how to DF-ify it.
    So much this. Who gives a shit if the dungeon/raid can't scale up to five or six or nine or ten people or down to solo. Make it work like Dynamis or Salvage - if you can do it with fewer, then those guys have fewer people to fight with over resources. If you don't want to exclude your 4th friend, take him along and just have a good time. Let the players figure out for themselves what's hard and what's not.

    Let DF stick with the fixed sizes/role configs, let PF do whatever. Make alliances work like they did in XI. The problem you have created for yourself is now largely solved and you can spend less time making work for yourself and more time cranking out content.