I am a fan of bringing problems to SE´s attention that are still common and destroying the fun and fairness of the game. Last thing was helping with Pandemonium Warden, AV and ???-respawn but.....
The Fan Festival T-Shirt is a great idea. But a T-Shirt has a front and a back: P. Ideas for the back or possible arguments for an Interview or questions at the Fan Festival can go in this Thread. If no Interview is happening I will once again try to bring this to SE´s attention but with a different view. I am constantly talking to Linkshells on my server not involved in using third party tools and hardcore camping and we all feel there has to be done something now. Not just because of third party tools and hardcore camping, but the fact that demand is a lot higher then the supply.
The problems that are still taking the fun and fairness away from the game. Of course there are still other problems like many events should be instanced as they are causing problems between people. (Current Nyzul Island spam, Dynamis Jack, Limbus) Anyway as some might have guessed I want to go one more time for HNMs in FFXI.
Now to the problem
Camping 2003 and 2005-2008
The past 2003
- In the beginning of Final Fantasy XI the design to fight HNMs was perfect.
- Demand and ability to fight such monsters was low.
- Most people had not more then 2 jobs at 75.
- Hardcore* camping was not necessary.
- Cheating to claim was no big problem.
- The monsters were a challenge.
- Not many Linkshells camped.
- Some NMs were unclaimed for minutes or hours.
- Some fights took up to some hours.
- Linkshells needed 18 or more people to kill HNMs.
- Demand was medium; supply was low of Items
*Camping every day, or for hours in an area doing absolutely nothing.
The Present 2008
- The design of none instanced HNMs is no longer working well. (Well it does for those that can play all day long or/and use cheats to claim)
- Mass recruiting to be able to camp as much as possible and many HNMs as possible.
- Many people have many jobs to 75.
- People have second accounts with many jobs to 75, wanting gear for those also.
- Hardcore camping is a must. (Camping till HNMs pop with holding parties)
- Cheating (use of 3rd party tools) is a big problem.
- HNMs are being farmed for the whole purpose to sell the drops and abusing the ability to claim with 3rd party programmes.
- The monsters are less challenging (especially to those fighting them 50 times per year).
- Many Linkshells are camping every day, even more Linkshells gave up camping due to cheating and monopolisation.
- All HNMs under high demand get claimed within seconds.
- Most fights take minutes or under 1 hour.
- Most people can kill HNMs with 9 people in less than 30 minutes.
- Demand is very high; supply remains low of Items
Looking at a few HNMs
Examples of HNMs under high demand due to their sellable drops or good gear:
- Tiamat
--drops (Herald Gaiters) get sold after most kills—
- Cerberus
--Algol + Cerberus Hide and Claw--
--Linkshells are selling Algol for 4.000.000Gil+--
- Khimaira
--Hauteclaire, Seveneyes--
- 3 Kings*
--Linkshells on some servers even camp hardcore for Adamantoise, Dragon´s Aery is being cheated like crazy—fair playing Linkshells don’t even go there--
- Dark Ixion
---This design is a good step, but again we encounter the same Linkshells killing Dark Ixion over and over, because they have the people with enough time to search all areas for the NM being up or not---
--Ixion Cloak/Ixion Cape/Hermes Sandals are being monopolised--One JP Linkshell on Bahamut has gotten over 40 drops of all and don’t need them.
*3 Kings are the NMs in Valley of Sorrows, Behemoth’s Dominion and Dragon’s Aery.
Problems
A. Most drops are not going to the people fighting those monsters, they are getting sold for crazy high prices, and maybe a reason some people have to RMT? Because they are not able to afford those Items otherwise?
B. People have to stand around for some NMs(Cerberus, Tiamat, ECT) up to 24 hours or sometimes longer doing nothing to be able to fight a monster and even worse not claiming it at the end! We say: “No”. The respawn times for those monsters are too long. Linkshell A and B that are able to camp 12-24+ hours those NMs force other Linkshell C and D to do the same if Linkshell C and D want to have a chance in fighting those monsters too.
C. Again we encounter time being wasted by having to camp up to 3 hours the mentioned 3 Kings*. Here is a graphic from the Interview at Games Convention 2007.
http://freenet-homepage.de/DiamantLS.../bg3kings2.JPG
*3 Kings are the NMs in Valley of Sorrows, Behemoth´s Dominion and Dragon´s Aery.
D. Challenge of the fights. Especially the 3 Kings are too easy these days for the Linkshells that fight those NMs over and over. Here is a graphic from the Games Convention 2007.
http://freenet-homepage.de/DiamantLS...rewardsjpg.JPG
E. People are levelling constantly jobs to 75. People even have second or third account with jobs with 2 or more jobs at 75. This results in a never ending circle of wanting to gear up those accounts too.
Previous Interviews
2006 Interview: http://bluegartr.com/forum/showthrea...ight=Interview
2007 Interview: http://bluegartr.com/forum/showthrea...ight=Interview
2008 Q&A: http://bluegartr.com/forum/showthrea...ight=Interview
Especially the Interview from 2006 was looking good, that changes will be done. (Question 2 in the 2nd part), but now 2.5 years later we are still sitting here looking at the same problem.
Communication with Square Enix:
3+ years of asking for a change has resulted in nothing. Latest answer of Square Enix was, if people continue to complain about something, then they will once again look into it and think about a change.
Aware of the problem
We think Square Enix is not aware of the real problem. The problem is the use of 3rd party tools, the monopolization, the selling of rare/ex Items, the time involved to camping. As for the time having to spend these days : You can’t do anything but stare at a screen is the reason many costumers of Final Fantasy 11 stopped playing the game and moved on to other games.
Possible solutions
Dear Square Enix, we are no longer in the year 2003. Please make this game enjoyable for everyone the same. Fighting HNMs in this game is one of the best things to do. Right now this is restricted to Linkshells (people) that have the time to play every day many hours or are able to cheat the claim of HNMs.
Solution Ideas
A. Additional instanced fights?
B. A similar new system like Zeni?
C. Adjust the claim system?
D. Change respawn times?
E. Other solution?
Solution Part I
Moving drops under high demand to somewhere else or additionally to somewhere else?
- Cerberus
-----A. Remove Cerberus Hide and Claw from Cerberus, make it only drop Algol-----
-----B. Move Algol to an instanced Cerberus fight (existing ZNM fight?)-----
- Khimaira
-----Move the drops to an instanced Khimaira fight (existing ZNM fight?)-----
- Tiamat
-----Move Herald Gaiters to a new BC – Make Tiamat drop new rare/ex Gaiters-----
- 3 Kings+Dark Ixion
-----See other solutions-----
Respawn Timer
Why do those respawn times have to be so long? Herald Gaiters, Algol, Seveneyes, Hauteclaire are not such strong Items like Ridill, Defending ring or Adaman Hauberk.
With raising demand, the supply should raise also.
Solutions Part II
ZNM
The introduction of ZNMs was great. Awesome idea, awesome concept. Everyone has the same chance to get those Items. There are strong Items included and everyone is able to farm them. (I am not going to start with Pandemonium Warden here )
We want more systems like ZNM (Tier 4), ENMs, Instanced Fights (Bahamut V2, Ouryu, KS99). This is the right way to keep the playerbase interested and everything fair. This is the right way to keep your costumers as long as possible.
Why not make similar systems for every Expansion pack? (Wing of the Goddess and Chains of Promathia)
A. New ZNM System
Alpha System: Similar ZNM System with other ways to obtain Alpha Points but at the end you are able to engage in Tier 4 Versions of the 3 Kings or other new Versions of NMs in old (Chains of Promathia) or new (Wings of the Goddess) Expansion areas.
You will be teleported to areas looking like the original ones, giving people the same feeling to fight those NMs.
B. New ENM, BCNM, Seal System
Introduction of new Seals, those Seals can be used to fight clones of Dark Ixion, Odin ect such as Shadow Ixion, Frodo (Odin), Lady Tiamat and so on.
Or make new instanced areas like ENM, BCNM to fight NMs.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Dear Square Enix, please reconsider changing old content or implementing new ways to conquer existing problems. Ignoring the problem and the fact that only hardcore camping Linkshells and cheating people are having a high chance to fight most of those NMs is not a solution. You will not solve this problem with banning 20 people every 1 month. That is less then 1 person per server. At the same time 20 new accounts to cheat are created. We want to play and not stare at out screen. We want SE to reconsider this problem of 3rd party cheating and Items being under such high demand.
A good way was to move drops from some HNMs under high demand to the Instanced Fight against Odin. But who is able to fight Odin regularly every few weeks? Estimated 90% of the Linkshells that camp those NMs regularly, those that got the experience and gear.
If there is nothing done about the people farming those rare/ex Items and selling them or cheating to get claims, then additional ways to obtain those Items are needed.
Please don’t just look and laugh about our concerns and graphics. You told us you will look into this problem in previous Interviews.
http://freenet-homepage.de/DiamantLS/GC2007/Theend.JPG
It is your step now Square Enix…