Kuno's Guide to Making an Expansion

[Not Kuno]

I'm not a professional game designer but after playing the last two expansions from release to end (and I guess the end of RoTZ too) I have pondered over what makes an expansion good. RoTZ and ToAU are deemed to be superior while CoP doesn't get much love from the players. There are many important factors in what truly makes a good expansion aside from the gear rewards and I hope to cover them. This guide is split into different parts that I believe are important for the success of an expansion.

Introductory Phase – Gear and Access

Congratulations! You have completed the expansion to a point and decided to release it. While many parts of the expansion are missing one can assume a large part of the maps and other necessary files are released. Great! What does this mean to a player though?

At the start of an expansion there are a few things that are required by players in order to get off to a good start, and that is new equipment. While many did not like CoP looking back, it brought forth many unique pieces of equipment which were released at it’s release, such as sushi, the BLM Igqira gear, Herald Gaiters, the BRD Sha’ir gear and the DRG/WAR baron gear. ToAU decided to follow a similar suit and released many useful pieces of equipment right from the start, such as the Walahra Turban. Many other useful pieces of equipment were the Lamia Kaman, Macuahuitl, Algol, as well as the many useful assault rewards. Looking at these past two expansions it is fairly safe to say that gear release from the start of the expansion can help set in place the tone of future updates.

Access regards how easy it is for players to reach new areas in an expansion. CoP was regarded as terrible in this area, as the Tavnasian Archipelago was quite difficult to reach and required numerous adjustments to zone and boss difficulty before a large influx of players were able to access it. Aside from that, many of the other zones were accessible right from the release of the expansion such as Uleguerand Range, Bibiki Bay, and the Movalpolos region.

ToAU decided to make the access easier and on a scaling basis. You can pay a large sum of gil, or do various other tasks such as bring in a coffer key or testimony, or the subjob items for the lower level players. This was well thought out and the only down side is that players that did not complete this were unable to access any part of the expansion. Due to the requirement difficulties that last part was mostly irrelevant as a large amount of players flooded into Whitegate and Al Zahbi as their new homes.

What does this mean for the future? The answer is obvious, produce areas that are fairly easy for people to access and you will have people be happy. While the reward of beating difficult fights to reach new areas is exciting, what really happens is people become frustrated as they are unable to reach areas. You cannot have the entire expansion available to every player, however. Such mission reward zones such as Al Taieu and salvage are still required to make people feel the missions were both rewarding in story and rewarding for high level players to get something new out of.


The Road Your Expansion Will Travel – HNM, Exp Camps and Other Challenges

The last two expansions brought interesting changes to players, and those were new HNMs released right at the introduction of the expansion. CoP saw new wyrms, Tiamat, Jormungand, and Vrtra. ToAU showed us Cerberus. And of course, as time went on we began to see how influential these monsters were in regards to how players perceived them, in regards to difficulty and rewards.

CoP brought new changes to many fans of HNMs. The Wyrms were difficult and required brand new strategies while using old ones as well (the Spike Flail model). However a few mistakes were made in regards to the comparison of difficulty and rewards. One problem was that these monsters were quite difficult and their rewards were regarded as subpar. Looking at the ones released from the expansion it can be disheartening right from the expansion and set a negative tone that will carry through until the end.

Tiamat will be the first one we look at as she is camped quite commonly to this day. One problem with this monster is the fact that she has one meaningful drop that is both rare and accompanied by nothing else. Of course she has other drops, but they do not serve a purpose. Until this point HNM were regarded as something that can benefit many people. Fafnir and Sky HNM dropped equipment that benefited many people. Genbu could drop A. Hands for BLMs, while also dropping W.Feet for melee and M.Hands for PLD. If your item did not drop there were other alternatives. In addition to the Fafnir + Sky model, it was not until CoP were HNM did not have a guaranteed drop.

Fafnir, Nidhogg and other RotZ HNM all had a guaranteed Abjuration drop, as well as either a pop item, black belt quest item, and various money items. Looking at this point you can see why many would regard CoP in a lower standard to past monsters. Tiamat dropped a very nice pair of boots that was coveted by many and that was it. Jormungand dropped ores to produce a WAR/DRG body that was not exceedingly useful and a very weak pole. Neither of these two items were desirable and they were placed on an exceedingly difficult monster at the time. Vrtra suffered similar problems. While the Sha’ir body is very useful, CoP made the mistake of allowing cashmere threads to be obtained in desynthesis. This singlehandedly killed the desire for people to kill vrtra, and it’s only saving grace was the fact that it dropped the materials 100%.

As CoP went on players began to see a very similar model in regards to HNM. Sea NM was a horror that many did not want to deal with. Many mobs were buggy, such as Prudence and Love. The torques were exceedingly useful, however the weapons were usually not. In addition to those problems the pop items were not guaranteed either. Oh, the dismay if you were able to farm 12 M chips, finally get the pop item from the NM, only to have Justice not drop his virtue. Requiring people to start over from scratch because they were unlucky is the pinnacle of disappointment, when popped monsters were usually regarded as the best to fight due to the ease and control players have in doing them when desired.

ToAU brought some changes to the table while keeping the old model. Cerberus was a great start, and was released at the introduction of the expansion. While its claws were useless at first, it still had a solid loot pool, a useful great sword with many synthesis items that had some demand. As time went on we began to see the a revert to CoP in regards to HNM. Hydra did not drop anything desirable and is a fairly difficult monster to defeat. Khimaira was seen as more useful monster to camp as its sword and club were greatly desired. However ToAU brought more disappointment as the synthesis items dropped by it were entirely useless, and the drop rate on the weapons were abysmal.

So what does all of this mean? Will all HNMs be required to drop massive loot pools to make everyone happy? This is not an easy answer, however I believe the balance has been lost. RotZ addressed this in the best manner. The alliance is made of up many people, spending a large amount of time killing a monster and even more time camping it for the chance of one person to get a mediocre piece of gear is disappointing, more so when said gear does not drop. RotZ answered this problem by having guaranteed drops of various types to make many people happy.

In addition to loot pools, one grave concern must be address before I can continue. This is fairly important and that is camping HNMs. While camping monsters is seen as an important part of gameplay this introduces a large variety of new problems. As much as people will not admit it, many players use third party tools to obtain an advantage over players, and these players are quite common. Aside from illegal tools, camping monsters is very monotonous has become more lengthy as expansions are released. Camping monsters all day is not viewed as fun by anyone, ever. It is very boring and the feeling players get after spending an exceedingly large amount of time camping to either not get claim or not get drop is a grave disappointment. While the best drops should not be so easy to get, the past few expansions has shown that people are not content with the system, as seen by the alliances of people still at Tiamat, Cerberus and Khimiara, all of whom have pop windows of over earth day.

While EXP camps are not as an exciting subject as HNMs, it is a fairly important one too. CoP had an interesting take on EXP camps, most importantly the ones used by level 75 players to gain merits. CoP released a few useful camps at its release, such as Bibiki Bay, Uleguerand Range and Lufaise. As time went on, new camps were released such as Al Taieu for BLMs and viable standard party setup for the mid sixties. Time progressed further and introduced Hu’Xzoi and Ru’Hmet as other viable EXP areas. ToAU had a different approach, and introduced almost all EXP camps from the start of the expansion. There were a variety of camps however there are some problems with both of these expansions.

One important aspect of EXP camps is to make sure you cater to each type of EXP party. Before ToAU came out, there were many different places to party. If you had many MNKs, King Ranperre’s Tomb was a viable option. There were many BLM friendly places to EXP also. When ToAU came out it introduced Sanction. With this, many old camps were regarded as obsolete and so many flocked into the new areas. However with this showed the problems that can exist with EXP camps.

One important thing about EXP camps is to allow different types of jobs to become useful. Having camps with piercing weak monsters, different camps with blunt weak monsters, some neutral and others that are more BLM friendly are viewed as the most ideal. ToAU introduced a large variety of EXP camps, such as Trolls, Colibri, Mamools and Imps. Many new piercing weak monsters were introduced to cater to Rangers, Dragoons and Thieves with neutral monsters for other damage dealers.

One problem though is the lack of blunt weak monsters to merit on. Another problem was the lack of BLM friendly EXP camps. Since many regular parties do not invite BLMs to EXP, many band together or solo monsters for merits. However ToAU was very disappointing in this regard, releasing only one viable camp for chains (Flans), that only fits one real party. Wamoura are also an option but not as viable. In comparison to the plethora of other EXP camps, ToAU was not friendly to blunt and BLM damage.

It can be seen that an important part of making an expansion is allowing many different types of damage dealers to obtain merits while not excluding certain ones. If another type of Sanction bonus will be released, it is important to make everyone happy as opposed to telling them to go to old areas. After all, you want people to go to the new areas and making it appealing for everyone is quite beneficial.

Other Challenges brought forth by an expansion are things like Limbus, Dynamis, Salvage and other zones in which players can choose when to enter and gain rewards. These types of zones are useful as they do not involve other players and can be done at their own pace. However unlike past instances, RoTZ has not done as well as it’s successors. The problems facing dynamis are the inability to instance a zone, creating problems with people intentionally locking others out and scheduling difficulties, as well as it’s low drop rate and relic weapon system. In creating relic weapons as difficult to get and at a specific strength, FFXI shot itself in the foot in its inability to ever create a stronger weapon without upsetting the people who invested time in obtaining a relic weapon.

In addition, the randomness of drops in dynamis can be very disappointing. Later addressed in Limbus and Salvage, it is possible to obtain certain pieces of gear by fighting the same boss over and over, or as seen in salvage, killing the NM who will drop the desired piece of equipment until you obtain it. While neither of these systems are entirely perfect there has been a massive improvement. One problem seen however is rarity in salvage in regards to reward. While in dynamis and limbus you can obtain currency to use or to sell for money, salvage lacks such reward and that is vital in the same sense as adding various loot to HNMs, more people will benefit from it. While it may take a while to get a piece of Homam you want, or a certain AF, you at least can obtain some of the various other rewards in the meantime.

Salvage is a step back in a sense that you must dedicate a run to certain goals that may not be achieved due to luck or other factors, and produces an end result where nothing is achieved. While the system is technically better in salvage, it fails in the aspect of catering to the many people who will participate with short term rewards who can help everyone.


Clash Between the Old and the New – Necessity and Obsoletion

At the end of an expansion one must look back and see what new things were brought. While you do not want to completely obsolete its predecessors, there must be a point where this is needed. Old content must still be required to an extent, however many regard the success of an expansion as its ability to provide new gear and events to replace the old.

So what does this mean? Simply put, the older players in the game feel that some of the older content should become obsolete. Requiring people to go back to what they have been doing the past few years is the opposite of what an expansion aims to do. It seems as if thought you will be required to obsolete gear. You will have many complaining about the lost effort it took to obtain the gear but that is how online games work. I am not saying that a relic weapon should be replaced by a simple AHable weapon, but that there should be improvements somehow. In addition to that, other gear such as Abjurations are beginning to see some alternatives. However the problem still lies in RotZ HNMs, most notably Fafnir and King Behemoth. By creating such useful items that have such a low drop rate and without any comparable alternatives, you create a problem. As time goes on more people will want the item creating the situation seen now, people caring more about 3 year old content by camping Fafnir and Behemoth every day then doing something more productive. There is no reason to not making something better other then worrying about imbalance regarding Ridill and Defending Ring (presumably when used in combination with a stronger version). New and better is almost required to obsolete some of the old gear, and when you don’t you create a feeling of stagnation where people feel that the expansion has not accomplished anything.


Sorry for the long read. While I do not believe those responsible for creating future expansions will read this, maybe it will help people know what to expect in regards to what to look forward to. Well, at least the newer players who have not experienced it before.

[Alleya]

Nice read.

But as Shakespeare said, brevity is the soul of wit.

I now present Alleya's guide to patching your new expansion:

FUCKING PLAY TEST IT BEFORE YOU RELEASE IT YOU DOUCHEBAGS. /glare SE

[Tajin]

obligatory duchebag comments: tl;dr, wait, Tiamat drops stuff

I agree, that new expansions should make old content obsolote, for the most part.

Also, if you plan on doing level capped content, when a certain number of your player base is above said capped missions, it would be nice if you make some way to rent armor, or something, having level capped gear blows -.-

And: MAKE HQ ARMOR STORABLE FFS!

[Lordwafik]

Nice read.

But as Shakespeare said, brevity is the soul of wit.

I now present Alleya's guide to patching your new expansion:

FUCKING PLAY TEST IT BEFORE YOU RELEASE IT YOU DOUCHEBAGS. /glare SE

I like this post much better :D

[ringthree]

obligatory duchebag comments: tl;dr, wait, Tiamat drops stuff

I agree, that new expansions should make old content obsolote, for the most part.

Also, if you plan on doing level capped content, when a certain number of your player base is above said capped missions, it would be nice if you make some way to rent armor, or something, having level capped gear blows -.-

And: MAKE HQ ARMOR STORABLE FFS!

Obsoleting gear is bad game design. EQII and WoW completely prove this. There should be gradual updating and equivalence and maybe after a LONG time obsolescence, but the absolute fastest way to destroy old content to make it irrelevant. Not only does it make the old gear irrelevant but it means that for each step in obsoleting old gear you obsolete ALL of the mobs and fights in the game that were built around that old gear.

[Not Kuno]

Obsoleting gear is bad game design. EQII and WoW completely prove this. There should be gradual updating and equivalence and maybe after a LONG time obsolescence, but the absolute fastest way to destroy old content to make it irrelevant. Not only does it make the old gear irrelevant but it means that for each step in obsoleting old gear you obsolete ALL of the mobs and fights in the game that were built around that old gear.

I didn't say make every piece of equipment obsolete. Read what I said. The stuff in the game that has been there for a long time that is currently limiting how 'good' we can be (see: Relic weapons, faf, KB) need to be replaced. Faf and KB themselves are bad game design, and setting the limit on how strong weapons can be.

Basically, telling your player base "We're never making an item better then this" is god awful game design.

[Plow]

My opinion:

Selective "public" closed beta testing.


In other words, invite x amount of people to copy characters (or get new ones of appropriate level for testing shit) to a closed beta with a strict NDA.

[ringthree]

Obsoleting gear is bad game design. EQII and WoW completely prove this. There should be gradual updating and equivalence and maybe after a LONG time obsolescence, but the absolute fastest way to destroy old content to make it irrelevant. Not only does it make the old gear irrelevant but it means that for each step in obsoleting old gear you obsolete ALL of the mobs and fights in the game that were built around that old gear.

I didn't say make every piece of equipment obsolete. Read what I said. The stuff in the game that has been there for a long time that is currently limiting how 'good' we can be (see: Relic weapons, faf, KB) need to be replaced. Faf and KB themselves are bad game design, and setting the limit on how strong weapons can be.

Basically, telling your player base "We're never making an item better then this" is god awful game design.

I wasn't responding to you, I haven't even finished reading your book yet. I like your opinions for the most part in what I have read. I was responding to the person I quoted, who said that for the most part an expansion should make the rest of the game obsolete.

[Plow]

obligatory duchebag comments: tl;dr, wait, Tiamat drops stuff

I agree, that new expansions should make old content obsolote, for the most part.

Also, if you plan on doing level capped content, when a certain number of your player base is above said capped missions, it would be nice if you make some way to rent armor, or something, having level capped gear blows -.-

And: MAKE HQ ARMOR STORABLE FFS!

Obsoleting gear is bad game design. EQII and WoW completely prove this. There should be gradual updating and equivalence and maybe after a LONG time obsolescence, but the absolute fastest way to destroy old content to make it irrelevant. Not only does it make the old gear irrelevant but it means that for each step in obsoleting old gear you obsolete ALL of the mobs and fights in the game that were built around that old gear.

Oh and um I'm not sure about eq2 endgame but WoW actually shows how this works quite well.


The trick is making new content *require* the old gear to be capable of completing. But they've chosen to make the old gear too rare for that to be possible.


Honestly a truly good group with enough smn could probably kill some of the "hardest" shit in this game naked, and that's just absurd. There's no question a skilled group could take down faf/kb/tia/vrtra/damn near anything in full af + ah gear.

But they've decided it *has* to be like that, because they want the best shit in the game to be retardedly rare because it doesn't drop/is massively botted rather than because it's fucking hard to beat the shit that drops it.


Progression would be the term, and in ffxi it does not exist at endgame.

[Tajin]

what have i done , Sorry Kuno ;;

[Flarega]

Agree, especially on the relic weapon part. They will always be the absolute cap on all weapons just because they're so hard to obtain, and will keep us in dynamis forever helping other players get them. I never understood why SE released them and capped the height of weaponry so early.

[Avé]

Nice read. They went way overboard with RotZ, setting the bar too high, and they are still trying to get around what they put out with that expansion 4 years later. I think it's about time for SE to say "Hey, we overdid it back then. Here, Relic Weapons have been boosted a bit, and the collective HNM pool has been redistributed."

[yayajax]

Nice analyzing Kuno.

If you allow me to comment on Salvage, first of all it is not a money-involved event as Dynamis or Limbus,
it takes only efforts to farm Assault Points for permit to access zone. I am not sure if short-term reward
is absolutely necessary. However, if (dream dream dream zzz) SE could add a chest under certain situation
in Salvage that drop Salvage Gears crafting materials that would be a great help. I think everyone would be
happier to see a couple Khroma ores or even Imp. Wootz Ingot drop off a chest from Chariots or varies NMs.

Actually Nyzul is kind of similar to your ideal "paid event" about short-term rewards and bigger piece of gear.

About NMs, CoP they added a lot of nice pop NMs such as Alastor Antlion for Rostrum Pumps, SE didn't add
a lot of these pop NMs in ToAU. These minor NMs are what keep a lot of smiley faces and small scale linkshell
go on. Most of them are 100% or reasonable drop rate as most of the items are useful items. Cerberus is
nice from ToAU, but the Beastmen Kings kind of fail on the other side. They are some good fights, unfortunately
getting to them would take so much effort and once again the returning reward isn't very sharp looking.

Lastly, about the game storyline, CoP was very meaningful, especially the cutsence after defeating Promathia,
to me Prishe's dialog was a big conclusion and explanation why CoP was difficult and required organization skill.
ToAU isn't bad but the story could be going on longer and more cutsence. Most of the ToAU cutsences were a few
extremely long cutsences before a fight. It is one way or other forcing people to spam them and skip out
most of the excitment because of time limit. In contrast to CoP, people could take their time watching each
cutsenses long before another BCNM, such as before 3-5, 5-3 in CoP, instead of spamming through it.
I am sure storyline is one of the most important part in MMORPG they should setup carefully.

[Plow]

what have i done , Sorry Kuno ;;

Meh I don't think it's a derail really, it's just further discussion of one of the topics.


There's a whooole lotta people out there that would really like to see people pushed into new truly challenging content. (namely the ones we've been watching bot the same mobs for 3 years because there's never going to be anything better for them to get...)

[evilpaul]

I think it's also important for a new expansion to have new foods that require key items that have lousy AoE effects that nobody in their right mind would consider ever buying.

[Damane]

you forgot the part about implementing half assed, not completed yet jobs

[Talint]

Well written, Kuno.

Basically, telling your player base "We're never making an item better then this" is god awful game design.

Truer words have never been spoken. It hampers the cyclical progression model that MMOs are designed around: I do harder things to get better gear to do harder things to get better gear and so on.

[Stolin]

By creating such useful items that have such a low drop rate and without any comparable alternatives, you create a problem. As time goes on more people will want the item creating the situation seen now, people caring more about 3 year old content by camping Fafnir and Behemoth every day then doing something more productive.

I dissagree with this comment just because of this game lacking any gear progression whatsoever.

Any HNM in the game can be killed with gear buyable off of the AH, and you can get very good exp (24k/hr) without any kings equipment.

There are vastly more productive things you can be doing in game than camping kings already because none of that equipment is necessity. Whether you care about it or not is up to the player.

[evilpaul]

you forgot the part about implementing half assed, not completed yet jobs

I think there's a no complaining about SMN anymore rule in effect.

Good read Kuno.

With regards to relic weapons: Can't they just bump up the DMG, reduce the delay, etc, anytime they want to on them like they did with Daggers? I'll never own one, so it doesn't affect me personally.

Also, I don't see why they can't add another Ridill-esque weapon and make people unable to possess it if they already have a Ridill similar to the Empress Band and lolChariot Band.

I want a multi-hit katana with WoG. :D

[Not Kuno]

There are vastly more productive things you can be doing in game than camping kings already because none of that equipment is necessity. Whether you care about it or not is up to the player.

Of course it's upto the player, and a large majority want them. I don't know about you but going through the entire of CoP we kept going "oh I bet this'll be the patch that puts Abjurations on ____" or "I bet Abjurations will drop from _____!", and then the same thing happened in ToAU to some extent, since everyones hope for important fixes were completely shattered.

The problem is that the people want either an easier way to get said gear (which SE said they will not do) or something better. Expecting people to camp a 3 year old monster every day for said 3 years is not a viable option for a healthy game.