Letter from the Producer, XIV (07/20/2011)

[Hyan]

FUCK

He's doing it all wrong. DERP INDEED!

Open world mob grinding ftl

[Foxer]

By "still subtle" do you mean "still clothed"?

Hahaaa! I am used to more now, sure, but I meant it primarily when the game was fresh. For Miqotes and, well, Elves, they dressed rather bland, especially compared to the dusk and RDM leg armor or many many years ago. But yeah, you're probably right. lol

[Meko]

My fav part was the idea of having a 'mount'. Fun letter to read and hopefully 1.18 and 1.19 live up to it all!

[Kurokikaze]

Damn now I'm upset I didn't pick a Hyur female character... lol

Sounds good, I just hope he doesn't take a step backwards and make open world mob grinding the best way to advance. There should be multiple ways to progress imo. Sidequests, levesquests, dungeons, open-world mobs, etc.

[Amastacia]

Based on his previous comments, sounds like he wants a combination of leves, quests, dungeons, and grinding as possibilities.

There is a depressingly large and depressingly loud chunk of the FFXI player base that genuinely liked party grinding as a mechanism for leveling up, so I guess it's a bone thrown at them that the mechanic makes a comeback. Hopefully it will be just one option, with others offering similar leveling speed with less monotony.

Also, the only thing whiter than I am is my miffwa (keeper of the moon), no one will be able to tell that I'm wearing a swimsuit, because looking straight at her will be like looking at the surface of the sun.

All the same, I don't usually get that excited about event gear (especially stupid egg hats), but swimsuits are whimsical and fun, which is how casual events should be.

[Toth]

Great letter.

However, for all his mention of partying, he should realize that the server population has been too low to even find 1-2 people of the right rank and class let alone 3-4 to actually party with...

[Hiroishime]

Probably preparing for the PS3 players.

[Gulkeeva]

Hahaaa! I am used to more now, sure, but I meant it primarily when the game was fresh. For Miqotes and, well, Elves, they dressed rather bland, especially compared to the dusk and RDM leg armor or many many years ago. But yeah, you're probably right. lol

you know, there are mods to have (namely miqo'tes) be wearing less
http://forum.neko-sentai.com/showthr...t=10293&page=8
NSFW miqo'te images!

Many of the current mods are done by a great Jp modder. With the coming of the swimsuit, we should be seeing a much greater "full body" soon (then the unshaded/uncolored body model form thats been around) like more chest bounce detailed body etc. He's also been working on what looks like a model editor, adjusting chest size.

You probably won't see many .DAT edits outside miqo'te though for gear (and other stuff) since miqo'tes the most favored race

[Aro]

Why must time be the greatest enemy in all walks of life..

[Foxer]

you know, there are mods to have (namely miqo'tes) be wearing less
http://forum.neko-sentai.com/showthr...t=10293&page=8
NSFW miqo'te images!

Many of the current mods are done by a great Jp modder. With the coming of the swimsuit, we should be seeing a much greater "full body" soon (then the unshaded/uncolored body model form thats been around) like more chest bounce detailed body etc. He's also been working on what looks like a model editor, adjusting chest size.

You probably won't see many .DAT edits outside miqo'te though for gear (and other stuff) since miqo'tes the most favored race

Always loved your site. Would be lying if I said I haven't been there a few times before. lol

Spoiler: show

I've always been a fan of just barely covering up enough though.

00:26
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrFog_4JuV4

/derail

New skin dats on swimsuits gonna make for some nice mods I see. Can't complain.

[Kaylia]

Awesome letter, but useless events and open world grinding is kinda lame. It's still an improvement over what we got I guess, but leveling up need to be more streamlined. I don't want to spend 1h30 building xp party every time I'm out of leves.

[Cichy]

It's still "in the next patch"

[Foxer]

I think the day people realize solo content til cap is a good thing, the world will be a better place. It doesn't make a game any more challenging to have to seek for a party every time you wanna do something. It also can't be boring as shit either.

[Amastacia]

Solo content as a competitive option until cap is a good thing. There's nothing wrong with allowing group content (even grinding) as another option, though, as plenty of people just like the social aspect first and foremost.

The trick is to avoid the pitfalls of things like 90 minutes spent LFG through good game design rather than just asking everyone to solo to cap.

[Hyan]

Or thinking both can be equal????

Bullsheit.

[Agito]

I don’t want there to be a huge loss of skill points imposed for dying, or for players to have to grind 5–6 hours a day for 8 months to get to the high ranks.

This is exactly what i want. Grinding for 10 hours a day with a 6 person party in FFXI was the best thing about the game and i'm serious.

[Grey Jorildyn]

I also don't feel open world grinding should be the primary way of leveling, just one of the options. However we're going to have to accept that, at least for a little while, it is going to be the most accessible form of gaining EXP and so I welcome any positive changes to it in the interim.

[Hyan]

This is exactly what i want. Grinding for 10 hours a day with a 6 person party in FFXI was the best thing about the game and i'm serious.

The 1 1/2 years I spent getting to 75 were the best times spent in the game for me too. Endgame was bleh after I cleared CoP.

Don't ask how I managed to take so long!

[Lucavi]

Or thinking both can be equal????

Bullsheit.

Both will never be equal. One will always be faster than the other (which people will bitch about), and one will always lead to better equipment than the other (which people will also bitch about).

The best a company can do is to strive to make both enticing in their own way, while never abandoning one or the other. Partying through instances tends to provide faster XP and better drops, but the downside is that the player is at the mercy of the server and other people to attain the XP and drops. Solo typically moves slower, and with worse drops (quest or random drop only), but the player can always work at a steady pace.

[Hyan]

Even if they were as fast, it would turn out in soloers favor. Less hassle, unpredictability, etc.

Usually it turns out in soloer's favour either way. When it takes as little as <1h to level up solo, and better equipment/group doesn't really provide much of a difference (45-50mins per level instead?), it's easy to not bother, especially if you're unfamiliar with the grouping mechanics, aren't sure about your playskills etc.

If campaign was more consistent for xp I'd be glad to see this game work the same way. You get steady results soloing but you'll always want to group and have a flag up if you have the time, because let's face it: it's a slow exping method especially in the 60+ range.