Patch 1.16 Notes (03/03/2011)

[Shuichi]

Gotta say, I do like the changes to crafting. Now where's my FULL recipe book? In regards to the aggro icon, perhaps as a compromise they could just make the name appear in red instead of use an icon. I really don't care about the aggro icon myself frankly. The new mob sizes just lends to the fun of being a tiny Lalafell. I didn't really notice much about the crafting XP/SP change, and was able to finally hit R20 Leatherworking.

Good patch really. I'm excited about the spring patch that's coming up. I feel like if they nail this battle revamp and add in some mid and high level content this game will be nearing PS3 release state.

Any-who, I'm gonna be doing my patch summary video this evening....I think.

[Spider-Dan]

wtf now you can see which mobs aggro instead of having to memorize them all like a true g

this is such bs

[tymora]

The mobs being bigger was something necessary imo, they were too tiny before. I think the aggro symbol is retarded though, they really wanna turn this into WoW or something it seem. That surprise factor was nice in FFXI.

I am not too fond of man-sized bugs.

[Celeras]

Didnt even notice weapon deterioration, mostly cos I only played for like 3 minutes. Is it way better now?

[Sephiroth]

I am not too fond of man-sized bugs.

I like it. Those chigoes and gnats are scary bastards now. It's FF style to have large bugs and shit like that. The roselings, puks and pterocs look a lot nicer too, most of the new mobs do.

[Kaylia]

Well I wrote up a fairly lengthy post that got eaten, so I'll try to summarize it quickly.

The action bar and the targeting system are fundamentally at odds with each other. There's no easy way to get focus to one when you are in the other. I don't think the traditional confirm/cancel button paradigm works here because you need to be able to access both systems independently of each other at the same time.

I start to question the usefulness of the action bar at all. It doesn't directly allow for variables (subtargetting, AoE, etc), it isn't as powerful as a macro, and it seems to get in the way as often as anything else.

I think it either needs to evolve into something considerably more powerful and versatile (either becoming something like a menu system, or macros) or be put to the side in favor of macros. For the later to happen, however, I think you need an auto-attack.. battle is already enough spam without having to do every attack with two buttons.

Anywho, I think the answer is to dedicate a button to the targetting system. You can ditch the button that takes you to the status effect bar, and hitting that could either be a modifier key held during targetting, a toggle into targeting mode, or takes you do targetting mode while "confirm" takes your focus back to the action bar.

Unless some of the upcoming battle system overhaul makes this a moot point, it will continue to be a hindrance to smooth gameplay.

I agree there is serious conflict in the UI on both controller and gamepad that need to be fixed. However, I don't believe that macrobar is the issue, it's simply the control that conflict with each other that need to be changed to something smarter.

Keyboard:
-tab/shift tab to cycle between targets
- ~ or shift+~ to cycle through party member (or click on their name in the UI). Reduce tab range to monsters within casting range.
-Let players have at least 2 or 3 additional macro bars that are visible all the time for easy access (give people an option to hide everything outside combat. but there is no reason to ever hide it during a combat)
-movement with WASD.
-skill selection with mouse+macro bar or 1-0, shift 1-0, alt 1-0 (and if necessary, shift+top/bottom arrow for more bar)


Controller:
L1/R1 to cycle between mobs
Shift L1/R1 to cycle between friends
Left joystick= character movement
Right joystick (or shift+right) = skills selection

With something like this, you can move, target and pick your skills all at the same time, and that's all I want

[Kurokikaze]

Controller:
L1/R1 to cycle between mobs
Shift L1/R1 to cycle between friends
Left joystick= character movement
Right joystick (or shift+right) = skills selection

With something like this, you can move, target and pick your skills all at the same time, and that's all I want

Um say what? Those two don't make sense for obvious reasons. But I agree that something needs to be done.

[Kenshiin]

Didnt even notice weapon deterioration, mostly cos I only played for like 3 minutes. Is it way better now?

Yes it's way better now as long as you are at or above the level of your weapon. It felt to me that it was the same as before when I was even 1 level below.

[kisada]

I agree there is serious conflict in the UI on both controller and gamepad that need to be fixed. However, I don't believe that macrobar is the issue, it's simply the control that conflict with each other that need to be changed to something smarter.

ehh, there are some things i really dislike about the macros, especially as a former ffxi player. i don't think it's as responsive as it was in ffxi, and it's really bothersome to me that you have to hold down ctrl/alt to select between and use them. in ffxi all i had to do was press them once and select them as i needed to. and no matter how much i try to get used to it, each time i bring up macros it's like a constant reminder of how badly they screwed up even the simplest of things.

it's not just that either: the action bar and macros are essentially used for the same thing, but they function much differently from each other. with macros if you bring up the bar and d-pad to say the 4th selection it stays in the same spot if you drop them (which is fine since it's like ffxi). however, when you move your action bar selection to the 4th button, bring up and close macros, it resets the selection from the 4th to the 1st button. it's like you have to battle the UI while you're already fighting a monster, and is just another example of the UI being counterintuitive.

[Kaylia]

Um say what? Those two don't make sense for obvious reasons. But I agree that something needs to be done.

I meant a key combination like L3+L1/R1 to cycle between friendly target. I used "shift" because that's what the button function is, and I have no idea what would be the best.

Anyway, my point is that having a general target for monsters and another for ally would fix many issues, and being able to change one independantly of the others would let you use all your skill efficiently.

ehh, there are some things i really dislike about the macros, especially as a former ffxi player. i don't think it's as responsive as it was in ffxi, and it's really bothersome to me that you have to hold down ctrl/alt to select between and use them. in ffxi all i had to do was press them once and select them as i needed to. and no matter how much i try to get used to it, each time i bring up macros it's like a constant reminder of how badly they screwed up even the simplest of things.

it's not just that either: the action bar and macros are essentially used for the same thing, but they function much differently from each other. with macros if you bring up the bar and d-pad to say the 4th selection it stays in the same spot if you drop them (which is fine since it's like ffxi). however, when you move your action bar selection to the 4th button, bring up and close macros, it resets the selection from the 4th to the 1st button. it's like you have to battle the UI while you're already fighting a monster, and is just another example of the UI being counterintuitive.

Well, I havent played FFXI with controller, so I have no idea how it worked, but giving old's player an option to make the system behave like it used to (or at least, similarly) would have been the logical thing to do.

Right now, the way I play FFXIV on keyboard is like FFXI with a single macro bar with action bar being used for basic skill (mostly WS or when I want to see the cooldown on the screen). Every skills I need to access quickly are on alt and ctrl, and some of the less important one are on my macro bar. That's 30 skills that are easily available, and more than enough for anything I've done so far. The second and third action bar are simply used to dump my "ctrl/alt macro".


Anyway, I'm really not a huge fan of controllers gameplay in the first place. Keyboard will and will always be the most efficient because of its speed and the large amount of macro available.

[Arximiro]

With the proper programs you can make tons of different binds and macros for your controller, usually more than you will ever need. Combining buttons, holding a button for 2 seconds, etc.