Notorious Monsters - Drake's Misfortune (12/08/2010)

[miokomioko]

I don't recall them specifying the amount of sets that will be available through these NM leves.

I thought they have only said that there were 12 runestone in total (1 for each deity). They have only shown that each one has, so far, a single use in getting a single piece of gear for a single set.

Harlequin's = Nophica/Nald'thal/Nymeia/Oschon
Templar = Byregot/Rhalgr/Llymlaen/Halone
Buccaneer's = Azeyma/Althyk/Menphina/Thaliak

No repeats so far... and if these are the only NM leves that drop these runestones, it will probably be a spread like:

Deadeyes: 2 Harlequin's, 1 Templar, 1 Buccaneer's
Tarbh Uisge: 2 Buccaneer's, 1 Harlequin's, 1 Templar
Zanig'oj: 2 Templar, 1 Harlequin's, 1 Buccaneer's

[sruon]

They're all part of the "Allagan runestone" set, and these are the last 4 pieces out of 12 shown so far.

Yeah, just realized I was reading the lodestone page in 2 different languages. Different stones name confused me. -_-


Just woke up, don't kill me.

[Cichy]

Well hold up, we all thought it would be 1 leve per faction but if you read the description it's Azema Shields for Buffalo and Brotherhood of the Brooken Blade for the other 2. Wouldn't be surprised if there is more.

[Lucavi]

More content is never a bad thing. I'd hope for more.

[Manako]

The shirt looks really nice, and would have good crafting stats if it wasn't deciple of war only :-/ Do we know how many points get knocked off for being the wrong class? if its a 3 point difference it would still be equivalent to what is currently best out there..

boots seem to be at least reasonable though.

[miokomioko]

Well hold up, we all thought it would be 1 leve per faction but if you read the description it's Azema Shields for Buffalo and Brotherhood of the Brooken Blade for the other 2. Wouldn't be surprised if there is more.

The drake one mentions both Horn and Hand and Brotherhood of the Broken Blade... but it does sound more like it's being issued by the Brotherhood. However, Horn and Hand leves don't involve battle at all as far as I can see. I wonder if they have any intention on keeping it generally balanced between the three factions. I've since stopped caring about Horn and Hand because they don't offer guild marks for executing them on crafting/gathering classes like I had originally hoped.

As far as faction leve abundancy

Azeyma's Shields: Rank-20 = 3, Rank-30 = 3, Rank-40 = ?
Brotherhood: Rank-20 = 3, Rank-30 = 3, Rank-40 = ?
Horn and Hand: Rank-20 = 1, Rank-30 = 5, Rank-40 = 4

I think it's purposely imbalanced for Horn and Hand and I don't think I'd expect any fighting of large NMs to be involved with that faction.

[Dakin]

One thing I'm liking less and less each day playing FFXIV is the lack of class identity. Even though it goes against their design with the armory system, it would be really nice to have specific gear for each class.

[Achitophel]

One thing I'm liking less and less each day playing FFXIV is the lack of class identity. Even though it goes against their design with the armory system, it would be really nice to have specific gear for each class.

I totally agree. Also, lol@ siatdial.

[Cichy]

One thing I'm liking less and less each day playing FFXIV is the lack of class identity. Even though it goes against their design with the armory system, it would be really nice to have specific gear for each class.

Agreed, there's 2 mage classes and they still have exact same gear.

[Dakin]

All these new armor sets are a step in the right direction, but the way the armory system currently operates, every class feels bland and washed. I'm a 47 Archer, but I don't feel like an Archer. I really have no class specific abilities that make me stand out. Sure I can do tons of damage and shoot tons of arrows, but no DoW/DoM bring anything to groups besides pure damage and healing. Buffs are completely broken atm. My group can barely tell a difference with or without Shell II/Prot II up. At first I thought the armory system would be really cool. Instead, I hate it. Being able to switch classes on the fly is amazing, but not having a rank requirement on gear (along with class specific sets) makes this game bland. I want to be able to look at a character and know what they are.

I have been doing raptors in a group of 4 with another archer, a conjurer, and a gladiator since the update. When the Gladiator goes AFK, the party feels no different than it did before. Me and the other archer can kill the mob in 20 seconds or less. Same goes with leves. There is absolutely no need for a tank at all. All you need are DD's and a DoM or two to spam cure/sac. SE is really trying to make solo viable, but in their efforts they are killing the one thing that make MMOs fun, group play.

Hopefully with the implementation of NMs they make grouping a necessity. They cannot continue to let content be soloable. There are so many options for SE in terms of the leve system. I'm hoping for more instanced content similar to salvage, nyzul, limbus, etc. They don't need to reinvent the wheel!

[Jerseyprophet]

They don't need to reinvent the wheel!

You nailed my sentiment on the head, exactly. They had a beautiful system that worked for YEARS now beautifully and could have drawn from that. I can't think of a better way to say it than how you just did. They didn't need to reinvent the wheel, and make it square instead.

[Hyan]

What are we talking about?

I'd say there were quite a few things that needed to be changed from XI and didn't work "beautifully". AH is not one of those things, yes. While UI is a mess, it wasn't that good in XI and it should have been changed either way. Etc.

[Lucavi]

What are we talking about?

I'd say there were quite a few things that needed to be changed from XI and didn't work "beautifully". AH is not one of those things, yes. While UI is a mess, it wasn't that good in XI and it should have been changed either way. Etc.

There was definitely room for improvement in regards to XI's AH. It was a barebones, functioning AH; it worked, but it could have worked much better. Granted, what we have "here" is no improvement in the grand scheme of things, but the rose-colored glasses need to come off. Just because XI was your first MMO doesn't mean that all of is "innovations" were excellent.

I'm trying to figure out how to split the looks of mage gear between thaum and conj... I'm not coming up with much. Obviously thaum seems like a darker job overall, but its not like conj can be paralleled to a shaman or something. Its a mix of whm, blm and rdm... but so is thaum.

[Hyan]

AH was really great, PS2 limitations aside. I still like it more than anything others have come up with. Although I dunno what needs to be done to make it better for crafters to profit on. This isn't the answer, but the same AH.. well, maybe it's better if they don't start making up something they'll regret later. Just gotta be creative as for how to make the content function.

The cloaks always seemed more thaumaturgish to me, really. But when Arcanist comes into the picture.. I've no idea. Their staves are pretty unique however.

[Lucavi]

I dunno, they've backed themselves into a corner with this reskin stuff. We really only have cloaks, cowls and those fluffy shirts for magery. I'd still like to see a fucking cape (or at least some seriously-flowing robes like in a few non-MMO games), but I guess its too much of a challenge with this engine.

[Hyan]

Some BLM-AF style equipment would be kickass. We only have the hat so far..

Or RDM but that is for fencer probably.

[Elcura]

I'd still like to see a fucking cape (or at least some seriously-flowing robes like in a few non-MMO games), but I guess its too much of a challenge with this engine.

I doubt it has much to do with the engine, and more to do with how messy it would be. Capes and flowing robes aren't use in many games because they're a pain to deal with. They clip the character all the time and for the most part that's unavoidable. Hell, the longest thing in this game is a robe, and that's probably the messiest geometry we're going to see.

I'm with you in that I'd like to see capes, but not if it's going to look crap.

[Lucavi]

Semi on topic: I was over my brother's last weekend and watched him play Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 2. I watched as he played as the akatsuki characters and marveled over the cloak physics in that game. Very, very fluid stuff, with no cutting through limbs or clipping through the floor. I'd like to see that technology dumped into a MMO or "active" RPG, and I'd also like to see the wind physics (which are also very good) adopted at some point.

XIV has a slight breeze in some areas, but would it really be that hard to have actual wind physics that match the dust clouds and sparse leafage that blows around? Needless fluff, sure, but I want to see some company get this shit down before I die of old age. My character has hair; why can it not whip around a little bit at the corners? I'm wearing a cowl; why can't the brim flap a bit in heavy wind, or when I'm on the barge?

A cloak, a cape, a scarf... anything that can interact properly with wind without clipping would be nice. Even a freakin' headband for pugs would be great. Shit makes me want to bust out black ops again to drool over the rain physics.

[Hyan]

The new Naruto game is definitely an example of well done visuals. The cutscenes looked better than in the fucking anime.

Fuck why do I have to OT everywhere I post..

[Lucavi]

Haha, I tried to tie it into XIV! I was looking at the lower "ruffles" of my cowl last night and just shook my head when I thought about how well those Akatsuki cloaks flow despite the characters doing all sorts of twists and backflips, and all my character does is freakin power-jog from one area to the next and that cloak is as stiff as a board.