Letter from the Producer X (5/20/2011)

[Draylo]

I don't have a guild or people to play with though :/

[The Stig]

Is Ifrit being the first boss part of some timed mission exam thing in a cave ...?

[Mikelee0351]

I think hes a mission boss

Yup

[Zettofaia]

Can't wait to Parley with Ifrit!

[Sephiroth]

Should have at least 1 dungeon every 10 levels starting at level 10, or you're not going to get any new players. Couple that with at least 5 at level 50 and you have the bare minimum for a launch imo.

What would be the point of a rank 10 dungeon? You can go from 10 to 20 in about 3 hours. 30 is a good minimum for the low rank dungeon. You can go 1-30 in about 3 days of hardcore play and about a week of casual.

[Hyan]

I like what I'm seeing on the subject of jumping. The priorities are right.

[Corrderio]

Did he seriously just say "pwning"? I want to buy this man a beer.

Pretty nice info, hopefully Yoshida doesn't fuck up the Ifrit battle (Assuming it's a side fight and not part of the main scenario missions).

[Lordwafik]

What would be the point of a rank 10 dungeon? You can go from 10 to 20 in about 3 hours. 30 is a good minimum for the low rank dungeon. You can go 1-30 in about 3 days of hardcore play and about a week of casual.

In many other MMOs there are dungeons for people who are lvl10 , even when you can hit 10 in less than 1 hour of quests.

The dungeons really should be 10/20/30/40/50.


Personally I'm keeping my eye on the job system, I want to see what this game's Red Mage and Ranger will be like. Oh beastmaster too.

[Corrderio]

But what would you get from a rank 10 dungeon that would have any use? Considering you'd probably toss it in the very near future?

EDIT: Oh god jumping petitions are already happening. Why the fuck do people want something that useless so badly?

[Kaylia]

In many other MMOs there are dungeons for people who are lvl10 , even when you can hit 10 in less than 1 hour of quests.

The dungeons really should be 10/20/30/40/50.


Personally I'm keeping my eye on the job system, I want to see what this game's Red Mage and Ranger will be like. Oh beastmaster too.

Just make them scale between 15-49, it's not that hard.

But what would you get from a rank 10 dungeon that would have any use? Considering you'd probably toss it in the very near future?

EDIT: Oh god jumping petitions are already happening. Why the fuck do people want something that useless so badly?

Because it's everything but useless?

[Lordwafik]

But what would you get from a rank 10 dungeon that would have any use? Considering you'd probably toss it in the very near future?

EDIT: Oh god jumping petitions are already happening. Why the fuck do people want something that useless so badly?

Entertainment, change of scenery. These things are also important to gameplay.
In the mmos that have lvl10 dungeons, they usually are "short and sweet" 10-15 minute at most. The gear from there is usually much better than quest gear so it will last them untill level 15-19 or so, with level 20 quests or dungeons replacing their gear. You have to stop thinking like FFXI where lvl7 leaping boots were great even at 75. Gear gets replaced.

Just make them scale between 15-49, it's not that hard.

The same dungeon scaling? That would make peoples eyes bleed after doing it so many times. Variety is key

[blindSharingan]

he gear from there is usually much better than quest gear so it will last them untill level 15-19 or so, with level 20 quests or dungeons replacing their gear. You have to stop thinking like FFXI where lvl7 leaping boots were great even at 75. Gear gets replaced.

I believe this is what he's thinking. 10-20 takes no time at all with a group of linked leves. Unless it's gear that will last you until higher levels; you'd only be using that gear for an hour or so.

[Kensaki]

if you've ever played wow you'd know you can tell a lot of lore in a instance using quests and such. Having a short dungeon revealing lore and getting people to grips with the consept of acting as a group is a good thing to have at low levels. One thing is reading a quest text another is letting you take part of the lore in a dungeon.

[Kaylia]

It depends how often you have to do them to progress, it's just a question of balance (how many dungeon there is, how long it takes to level, how fun they are).

LoTRO has dungeon that scale, but there is 25 of them, and 10 skirmishes (gauntlet like events usually) that cover 40 level worth of progress (excluding the first 20 levels because they take only a few minutes). It's convenient to do them whenever you want, but it doesnt make your eyes bleed because you had to repeat them five billions times to gain 5 levels, like guildleves.

[Lucavi]

But what would you get from a rank 10 dungeon that would have any use? Considering you'd probably toss it in the very near future?

EDIT: Oh god jumping petitions are already happening. Why the fuck do people want something that useless so badly?

Gear for your other low level classes? A nice training dungeon to get you used to how dungeons operate? I know XI players aren't used to difficulty, but many dungeons are pretty tough, so having low level ones to ease people in are typical and pretty good ideas.

[Hyan]

Why always dungeons? They can implement a lot of features for any given level range to spice things up. Raids at 30 and 50, jobs after 25, grand company skirmishes/defense battles/whatever else PvE at 20, private companies and related content at 40, sidemissions like the ifrit battle spread around mid-end game, and whatever else they can figure out.

[CrstyCptSteveWitherspoon]

Rank 30 and a 50 dungeon is fine. Like said above there really is no need at all for a R10,20,40. You can hit 20 in a couple of hours easily now and I'm sure you can start doing the R30 dungeon at 25 or so. Let's also remember the cap won't be 50 forever and there's going to be more content than JUST these dungeons down the road. I'm happy just for some content from 1-50 aside from lolleves. There's also those 'quest hubs' they mentioned and still maybe the possibility of hamlet defense(they didn't totally scrap them right?). Ifrit battle.. uh... cool I guess? Personally think they should have waited to be done the battle changes before adding any more MQ stuff(so they could balance it). The fights thus far are such a joke. Rest of the stuff looks good though. Can't wait for them to start rolling out.

[Spider-Dan]

I saw one item of concern:

-NEW-
Reexamination of requirements for setting actions
-NEW-
Implement the default setting of class-specific actions when playing as that class, and define conditions for setting the actions of other classes.

I hope this doesn't mean that when I'm on Archer, the game automatically equips Close Shot, Arrow Helix, and Scavenge for me.

[Corrderio]

Gear for your other low level classes? A nice training dungeon to get you used to how dungeons operate? I know XI players aren't used to difficulty, but many dungeons are pretty tough, so having low level ones to ease people in are typical and pretty good ideas.

Good point I guess, but seems like you'd burn through it so fast the effort to get it seems meh.

Because it's everything but useless?

Considering there's nothing you can't access without the use of jump I'd say it's more of a cosmetic change than anything. If they make it interactive I don't care, but at the same time seems like that'd be at the bottom of any priority list.

[Kaylia]

Considering there's nothing you can't access without the use of jump I'd say it's more of a cosmetic change than anything. If they make it interactive I don't care, but at the same time seems like that'd be at the bottom of any priority list.

Remember that future content could be designed around it, and this alone would give artist more creative freedom to design something interesting. Beside, I'm sure it would be useful to get around stupid obstacle everywhere if it was designed properly.

Like everything it could be useless if implemented poorly (ie: stats system, half of your ability, 3/4 of the gears), but that's not an excuse to reject the idea.

Right now, making a smooth and responsive gameplay should be their number one priority. Jumping isn't necessary for that, but it usually fall in that category when its well done. If the implementation doesnt require a ridiculous effort (it probably does at this point), I don't see any reason why not.