Comments from the Devs

[solracht]

Funny, that how my linkshell works. People need help with something, we do it.

Context. He's talking about hamlet.

[miokomioko]

And further context we're talking about people who obviously aren't already in an active linkshell that does that kind of shit. Personally, all I've got left is a few shells that have deteriorated into "socials" that are all but dead with the activity drop as 1.0 nears its end. Thus, anything but hoping a seal drops to me in a shitty PUG is not realistic at this point... and who knows how long it's going to take people to relearn the game to the point of winning Hamlet consistently after ARR.

[Raldo]

I know this'll come as a huge shock here, but... if you're not in an active linkshell, you shouldn't be going for a relic. Boom, problem solved.

[miokomioko]

Yeah, this isn't so much about "I don't have an active linkshell right now, but I demand a relic right now!" because dungeon speed runs and Garuda/Ifrit parts are the obvious group/skill roadblocks.

It's more about how the content in question does not have a lasting appeal to the masses, so if you weren't in on the rush, or have been really unlucky with drops, your odds of getting what you want drop exponentially with time. And the hamlet seals part of the quest line is just a doorway to the other quests that are relatively easy, solo-able time-sinks and do not require an active linkshell.

Just replace Whatever-Seals with Militia-Whatever and the same problem is there.

[Fievel]

You got lucky then. I've found the drop rate to be between 1 in 6-8 runs for seals. So let's say 20 runs for 3 seals. That's a lot of time to require 7 people help with, and that's just one area. Chances are you're looking at two cycles for each hamlet, hence my estimate of a week.

No, just no. If that was what you got in 20 runs then you got incredibly unlucky, Church's estimate is definitely closer to reality. I seem to see this all the time though, people exaggerate how bad hamlet actually is, I hate hamlet too, but let's be realistic at least.

[Xanthe]

Context. He's talking about hamlet.

Context. That includes hamlet.

[Charismatic]

Context. No one cares.

[Enygma55]

You cant blame the game for becoming social at this point. Given 2.0 around the corner, school time back in full swing, no new population and of course old content becoming completed, if you've missed the boat, tough luck. Catch the next ferry to relic island in 2.0 when everyone and their mom is gonna be doing hamlet. There was plenty of time to complete hamlet the normal way or by becoming Top3.

This is a very unique situation and it sucks for people behind on content. 90% of the population has completed the game as it stands. There is nothing that can be done other than wait for 2.0 and hope content is made more easily excessible to the new and growing population.

[matic]

You cant blame the game for becoming social at this point. Given 2.0 around the corner, school time back in full swing, no new population and of course old content becoming completed, if you've missed the boat, tough luck. Catch the next ferry to relic island in 2.0 when everyone and their mom is gonna be doing hamlet. There was plenty of time to complete hamlet the normal way or by becoming Top3.

This is a very unique situation and it sucks for people behind on content. 90% of the population has completed the game as it stands. There is nothing that can be done other than wait for 2.0 and hope content is made more easily excessible to the new and growing population.

On excalibur, at least, this is not the case. In the past week since i came back ive met many people in the same boat, playing catchup. Some of us actually made a shell and we been getting people caught up with AF/GC stuff. Hoping to get us into hamlets before the month is up. I wouldnt give up hope, there are a lot of people scrambling to beef up their chars before world ends.

[Grey Jorildyn]

I'm not sure that's the case on Gungnir either. Based on shouts it seems most are through hamlet or nearing the end, but that's to be expected seeing as how long it's been around. I still don't see a lot of darklight gear on the casual crowd. Lotsa sollerets or helms but not bodies or many hand pieces for whatever reason. Skirmish and Ifrit weapons are everywhere of course which is also to be expected. There are big gaps still, like with Garuda and relics. So I don't think 90% is done with the game, but maybe 90% of the real end gamers are.

[Waraji]

It definitely is difficult to get anything done without a linkshell.

[Gokulo]

Dunno where it's from:

Spoiler: show

http://i50.tinypic.com/jry7m8.jpg

[Draylo]

It definitely is difficult to get anything done without a linkshell.

This ^, I've pretty much given up and staying with FFXI, don't care anymore.

[Sephiroth]

No, just no. If that was what you got in 20 runs then you got incredibly unlucky, Church's estimate is definitely closer to reality. I seem to see this all the time though, people exaggerate how bad hamlet actually is, I hate hamlet too, but let's be realistic at least.

Last time I did hamlet I saw 1 seal in 7 runs, 7 people /random for it. That was a whole night in a PUG where there would be a longer delay between runs than need be due to replacing people. I've experienced similar drop rates in other hamlet runs before that too. Maybe it is just bad luck but averaging with your good luck let's say 25% drop rate. Still crappy if all your party needs it, simply due to the RNG.

I stopped asking my LS to help with hamlet because A) They hate it and had cool shit like Ifrit hard to focus on instead and B) Back when they were collecting seals I was around for perhaps 20 runs in total, so why would they want to dedicate time to my cause? I got my 1 seal from those runs so I shouldn't expect any more really.

At this point I'm just waiting for ARR to see if they make hamlet less shitty and give players who have seals a reason to do it again. But maybe that's asking too much. Worst case I'll just spend the gil on top spot and get it over with. I'm reluctant to do that right now as we don't know what the situation will be in ARR, it could turn out to be a big mistake.

On a side note, I checked the LL hamlet on Saturday and saw rank 1 had like 160k points, seems you can get lucky on a good day. I went and checked Ul'dah's and it was up to about 500k with 2 hours left to hand in stuff. Some days it can be 1.5-2mil. If I can grab something easy like that LL one I will, otherwise I'll wait for ARR.

[Waraji]

I've pretty much given up and staying with FFXI

[Aratharn]

I stopped asking my LS to help with hamlet because A) They hate it and had cool shit like Ifrit hard to focus on instead and B) Back when they were collecting seals I was around for perhaps 20 runs in total, so why would they want to dedicate time to my cause? I got my 1 seal from those runs so I shouldn't expect any more really.

Then it's your own fault?

You've said before how rich you are. Get top 3 and be done with it. I've known 2 people who came to the Hamlet scene late who spent the gil (and not THAT much gil at that) to get top 3 and got their hamlet seals done in < 1 week.

You're the only one to blame.

Also, my shell did enough Hamlet runs to get 14 people their seals and the drop rate for 60k+ runs is right around ~50% so get out with your 25% BS. We had 1/10 nights and 9/9 nights.

Hamlet sucks. Not saying it was fun getting 126 seals. But you're sitting on hundreds of millions of gil and have been complaining about this for months.

[Raldo]

I don't know how many items gets you into the top-3 because I've never done nor cared about hamlet, but I did 2,000 Nine Ivies botany gathers over the weekend (trying to get luminary before they shut the servers down) and left there with 10+ stacks of Supple Spruce and a bit over 1 stack of Supple Spruce +1. You don't even have to be rich.

Maybe that's worth less points than I think. I don't even know.

[miokomioko]

Getting in the top-3 is completely fucking random.

I dumped about 5 mil into Aleport a week back or so just get in 3rd place... then I kicked myself for not realizing that Aleport might not even hit Lv.2 that time, the total was at about 1,300,000.

About 5 minutes before the attack phase began, a Japanese linkshell showed up, and between about 5 of their members, they dumped about 8,500,000 more points in. My 300,000 points became 6th place and the top 4 places all consisted of about 2~3 mil each.

And after all that bullshit? I couldn't find anyone to even do Aleport that cycle. All the gil down the drain.

[Niiro]

I don't know how many items gets you into the top-3 because I've never done nor cared about hamlet, but I did 2,000 Nine Ivies botany gathers over the weekend (trying to get luminary before they shut the servers down) and left there with 10+ stacks of Supple Spruce and a bit over 1 stack of Supple Spruce +1. You don't even have to be rich.

Maybe that's worth less points than I think. I don't even know.

10 stacks of lumber would only get you 100k pts.

A stack of HQ would be another 100k.

[Raldo]

10 stacks of lumber would only get you 100k pts.

Oh wow, that blows.