Comments from the Devs

[Corrderio]

I suppose that people are so used to having their real, meaty questions dodged that they're digging in the bottom of the barrel to find others to ask, trying to find a soft spot.

Maybe, but at the same time I really don't know why expect DoLs to be some kind of epic/awesome thing to do. Has there ever been an MMO where gathering was actually "interesting"?

[Lucavi]

Because SE hyped it up to be and people are attempting to hold SE to their words? Don't you get sick and tired of companies dropping all these false promises of "super-this" and "dynamic-that!" everywhere? Its nice to see some people putting their ass to the fire. "You promised that DoLs would be just as fun, important, and in-depth as DoW/M, so what's up, SE?"

[qpoiuwer]

It's not like it is a far-fetched idea to require miner's to gather some item in a dungeon while battle classes hold off aggressive monsters that keep attacking. That's all people want.

[Grey Jorildyn]

Anyone who fell for the lie that chopping wood was going to turn them into an epic adventurer who is just as important as the pugilist who fists things in the face or the mage that solos badass mobs was kidding themself. Of course SE misleading us all isn't very nice either.

[Lucavi]

Yeah, I'm not saying anyone "should" have fallen for it, but if a company is going to blow smoke up everyone's asses in an attempt to draw in more subs, people have a right to corner them about all of that smoke later on. They certainly had no problems putting it in print, so back it up.

Its all a distraction from the real issues, anyway, but we know that we aren't going to get hard answers or resolutions to the real issues either.

[Kurokikaze]

CHOPPIN THIS WOOD IS SO INTENSE.

[Lucavi]

Sounds like something that should have been in Warhammer Online.

[Jamison]

(As someone who enjoys gathering...)

What I really want to see out of the class is for someone who is dedicated (having both better skill and better equipment) to be able to do better than someone who's truly just doing it on the side. I want to be able to find more/better/rarer items. I want that to either help my LS have better gear, or to make more gil off of it than an "average" gatherer.

And yes, I bought into the idea that gathering classes could have some impact for endgame. Would it really be such a terrible idea that I switch to miner during an encounter, have one person peal off the NM to protect me, while I try to find a stone that somehow weakens the NM? Maybe I'm just crazy, but that seems somewhat decent...

[Alkar]

There are a lot of ways gathering could be made interesting for dungeons and such. Even weakening a boss by chopping down some parts of it (imagine a giant Treant attached to the room and you chop it down to lock abilities or weaken it while the others fight) or gathering mats for a special weapon needed to kill said boss (like that NM in Sky) that crafters can easily make. Even mining down walls to discover a secret path leading to treasure/ optional enemies that drop cool stuff.
Gathering could be really fun if something like Assaults ever shows up.
Anyway, three weeks of silence is sad

[Lucavi]

I don't think your idea is a bad one, but I think its terribly ambitious for a company like SE that's never done anything close to resembling it in the past.

[Dooom]

It's not like it is a far-fetched idea to require miner's to gather some item in a dungeon while battle classes hold off aggressive monsters that keep attacking. That's all people want.

This kind of suggestion has already been put to them, as the Q&A indicates. There's still scope to allow gathering classes to matter, but the emphasis will be on battling classes.

[Hyan]

SE made a comment regarding a video? Must have missed that one. Do you have a link to where I check that out?

Wat? He said he'll put up a vid to show-off the shinies in the next letter.

[Takiwaki]

While I do like the ideas of gathering classes helping in battle, I really do not understand the need to have those abilities as a separate class? I mean why not be able to just equip those "specialties" to be used while in battle, if you have them leveled up enough. I honestly see crafting as something that adds to the main job/game system, not an entirely separate entity. I think maybe even simply giving the gathering crafting classes certain battle ready abilities that can be equipped by DoW DoM, would be fine. Sorry I just think that having to swap to crafter/gatherer in the middle of an encounter a stupid idea. what would be great is if i had a rank 50 gatherer, it gets an ability/trait that allows me to use nodes in the field to replenish mp for the party, which can be equipped by any battle class.

[CrstyCptSteveWitherspoon]

Adjustments the gathering classes need: 1) more sp per node 2) "gathering fatigue" should be be fully replenished every 12 hrs instead of 24. Everything else is asking far too much for this game right now when they can't even get combat right.

My issue is the lack of targeting items while gathering tied to the 'fatigue' not being reset for 24 hours. At least in XI I could tell what I had on my line and drop it to save my fatigue(the way the fish fought learned over time by fishing a lot). Right now fishing sole I get tiger cod, hammerhead sharks, and kelp with no way to tell whats on my line until I hit the 'sweet spot'. When I do hit the 'sweet spot' I automatically reel up the cod or the kelp and usually the hammerheads too, so there's no way to prevent fatigue loss. I usually hit fatigue by my 2nd stack of sole to which I then also have 1+ stack of kelp and 1-2 stack of hammerheads. I'm sure miners/bots can share my frustrations. I think asking for a message telling you what exactly you're about to harvest/mine/catch is a bit much, but at least having my fatigue reset every 12 hours I could spend more time getting the stuff I need.

[Lordender]

Lol it just sounds stupid as hell to me:

"oh, our rank 50 miner/bot, isn't on, we can't do x event tonight."
"LS recruiting rank 50miner/bot for X event!" Causing your LS to be stuck until you can find one.

I know I'm in the minority though, I think its just a bad idea and really reaching to get gathers/crafters involved in battle related content.

[Corrderio]

Lol it just sounds stupid as hell to me:

"oh, our rank 50 miner/bot, isn't on, we can't do x event tonight."
"LS recruiting rank 50miner/bot for X event!" Causing your LS to be stuck until you can find one.

I know I'm in the minority though, I think its just a bad idea and really reaching to get gathers/crafters involved in battle related content.

With 8 people I need to agree. I say just keep things simple.

[Meko]

I say make crafting and gathering a side option, not a primary objective in the game. There is no need for it to be a "class" but rather a skill, in my opinion.

[Takiwaki]

I think it was stupid in the first place to even have you be able to create a character as a crafting "class". there is no way you can experience the game in its totality by not being a combat class, that was the stupidest thing they ever thought possible, its not even something final fantasy ish..

[CrstyCptSteveWitherspoon]

I think it was stupid in the first place to even have you be able to create a character as a crafting "class". there is no way you can experience the game in its totality by not being a combat class, that was the stupidest thing they ever thought possible, its not even something final fantasy ish..

This. Was a joke at the start and is still a joke now. Wonder how many people got screwed at the start gil wise trying to be a 'pure' crafter and realizing that they couldn't make enough money to support themselves. Then after wasting all the funds they earned through the MQ line they spend some time 'stone throw'ing rats until they could npc the drops for enough gil to buy a wand/sword and level a DoW/M.

[Nilheim]

I think it would've been a great idea if they'd done separate storylines. Crafters/Gatherers have one mission path, Fighters another. I'd love to see that, but dreaming of this kind of thing right now is pointless considering it takes them 2 months to create 5 simple quests that tell you to go kill 3 mobs down the river >.>

On another note, I'd like them to say something about that "One to Fifiy, One Zone" thread, I believe the guy has a very solid point, and the issue he brings up deserves far more attention than all the shit that's written on that forum everyday. Then again, fixing the zones is a gigantic task, and realistically, I'm simply hoping they'll do better when (if? lol) an expansion comes out at some point.