December Version Updates (12/14/2010)

[Alkar]

They renamed the FNC conference in January to "Square Enix 1st Production Department Premiere" and delayed it to the 18th. That's probably where we'll get new info.

[Hyan]

But XI & XIV are part of the 3rd production department... wouldn't make sense.

[Cichy]

Seems to me like alot of people went out after the update with few friends, killed couple mobs, got 70SP and gave up instead of exploring other things.
Like I said before, yesterday my group of 5 got 45k SP doing leves and 2 behests in less than 3 hours. With afks and stuff it was more like hour and a half of actual work. I dont know about anyone else but for me it is a nice alternative to constant grinding, people bitched that in current times grinding is a caveman way to level and I think that finally Leves are at the point that Tanaka intended where they provide casual player with good leveling options. I think there are mixed opinions on them because people havent figured out all the proper ways to do it. We are rank 30-33ish now and I was maybe 15 last week. We figured out what are the best leves and difficulty for our levels and we always pick them so we can link them and use guardian aspect for the ones that will give more exp. Before the patch I was so frustrated with the SP system that I dint think I will level combat job at all so in my opinion they did something right. No homo, no whiteknighting.

[Chakra]

Seems to me like alot of people went out after the update with few friends, killed couple mobs, got 70SP and gave up instead of exploring other things.
Like I said before, yesterday my group of 5 got 45k SP doing leves and 2 behests in less than 3 hours. With afks and stuff it was more like hour and a half of actual work. I dont know about anyone else but for me it is a nice alternative to constant grinding, people bitched that in current times grinding is a caveman way to level and I think that finally Leves are at the point that Tanaka intended where they provide casual player with good leveling options. I think there are mixed opinions on them because people havent figured out all the proper ways to do it. We are rank 30-33ish now and I was maybe 15 last week. We figured out what are the best leves and difficulty for our levels and we always pick them so we can link them and use guardian aspect for the ones that will give more exp. Before the patch I was so frustrated with the SP system that I dint think I will level combat job at all so in my opinion they did something right. No homo, no whiteknighting.

Ranking through guildleves and behest are nice options, but they cannot be the only viable options. The alternative is entirely too harsh. Even increasing the base SP by 50... hell, even 20, would do wonders for solo/party sp. They have a hard time finding a good balance for progression. This was evident in FFXI for a while at first and it seems to be translating to XIV, too.

Dunno how well the new team will work things out. I'm going to attempt to stay hopeful. They just need to find a great balance and not make their finished products into extremes of too hard and too easy and in both cases it all seems unnecessary atm.

[Hyan]

Ranking through guildleves and behest are nice options, but they cannot be the only viable options. The alternative is entirely too harsh. Even increasing the base SP by 50... hell, even 20, would do wonders for solo/party sp. They have a hard time finding a good balance for progression. This was evident in FFXI for a while at first and it seems to be translating to XIV, too.

My irrelevant opinion is that they should not divide the playerbase to the leve-sharing camp and the mob grinding camp. That would be simply counterproductive, since especially the leve-sharing method is quite reliant on actually finding people to share the leves with.

I don't quite understand why they can not be the only "viable" options. One way is always going to be the best way- better it be leves, if you ask me. Soloing will always keep mob grinding relevant, anyway.

[Lucavi]

Anyone expecting them to develop new content before the game is stabilized and released for PS3, I have some oceanfront property for you.

That could be at least a year down the road, then, given that PS3 had been delayed "until further notice"

[xopher]

That could be at least a year down the road, then, given that PS3 had been delayed "until further notice"

It could and should be. That way they can get their shit together and make a good game out of it before adding content to a bad game.

[Lucavi]

Hey, if it means I get a free game to dink around with for an entire year, I'm not complaining. I'm just putting it out there for those console lovers. I still feel that both XI and XIV could have been far better had they only been designed for PC, regardless of the fact that Japan doesn't do PC anything. The quality of the game would have been so much better.

[Hyan]

If it was designed strictly for console we could have gotten an online RPG similar to PSO or something even more awesome. Now it's a PC MMO through and through.

[Lucavi]

Go figure, I didn't like PSO, heh.

This won't be a PC MMO until it has a PC UI, and that's just a start. That's like saying XI is a PC MMO. Yeah right. PC MMOs aren't this slow.

[xopher]

Hey, if it means I get a free game to dink around with for an entire year, I'm not complaining. I'm just putting it out there for those console lovers. I still feel that both XI and XIV could have been far better had they only been designed for PC, regardless of the fact that Japan doesn't do PC anything. The quality of the game would have been so much better.

Yeah it would have been better, but it wasn't. Nothing you can do about that except play a different game or get over it.

[Cichy]

They may raise party exp a bit but I wouldn't expect miracles. They have to take a stance somewhere and hold their ground. The problem now is that with the whole restructuring and open communication they been having every little troll thinks SE will listen to their suggestions and make this game more WOW.

[Hyan]

Go figure, I didn't like PSO, heh.

PC MMO's are constantly trying to get closer to what PSO once was.. SE could have been the pioneer here. Sigh.

[Lucavi]

They may raise party exp a bit but I wouldn't expect miracles. They have to take a stance somewhere and hold their ground. The problem now is that with the whole restructuring and open communication they been having every little troll thinks SE will listen to their suggestions and make this game more WOW.

The problem is that there's little to do between 20-50 that doesn't involve grinding either leves or regular mobs, and that there are so many frustrating concepts that it causes more people to leave than it does people to join/stick around. I don't think WoW has anything to do with it. WoW didn't make this game so shitty a week out of launch, now will WoW somehow save this game.

I'd put the blame where it should be instead of hurling daggers at Blizzard.

[Cichy]

I agree, there needs to be content starting lvl 20+ that will yield rewards aswell as SP. In my mind that is the most important factor that can save the game. I think people would be more willing to deal with the bugs, etc if they had content. I hope they arnt planning to focus on level 50 content only or we are doomed.

[bruiser]

No new area? quest? instanced dungeon? level cap?

WTF? Are you just being sarcastic here? What the fuck would a level cap increase do?

[Lucavi]

I agree, there needs to be content starting lvl 20+ that will yield rewards aswell as SP. In my mind that is the most important factor that can save the game. I think people would be more willing to deal with the bugs, etc if they had content. I hope they arnt planning to focus on level 50 content only or we are doomed.

So why bring up WoW, then? How did WoW screw this game up, outside of SE rushing the game out of the boat to grab subs before Cata launched?

[pingpong]

WTF? Are you just being sarcastic here? What the fuck would a level cap increase do?

I'd be surprised if it wasn't sarcasm.

[Hyan]

So why bring up WoW, then? How did WoW screw this game up, outside of SE rushing the game out of the boat to grab subs before Cata launched?

He's not talking about WoW screwing anything up but the people who do.

[Cooleko]

I like to be positive, i love a beta where their arent any character wipes