FINAL FANTASY XIV Welcome Back Campaign Kicks Off!

[Meko]

Meko! Log into 14 and afk with me while you play other games that are more fun!

I actually uninstalled the game completely. I've never been more excited for a game like I was for 14 and when it was terribad, I was crushed. It felt like being stood up on prom night and having to go with your sister.

[Corrderio]

Aren't time sinks exactly what people are asking for?

While true, there should be at least a bit of effort to make a timesink seem fun. Not grinding the same required events god knows how many times.

[Thiefami]

The current game only has filler content right now (Lots of stuff stretched to last long item wise, but less stuff that takes genuinely a long time to complete, and a lot of content with little to no interaction with the world other then a destination point) and has severe limitations on party balance due to the outdated server architecture being employed. Furthermore most the new 'content' looks be to designed with their new 2.0 Cross-realm content finder system for 2.0 but its obviously not in yet. This is namely the primal battles, hamlets, and even dungeon/raids.

Personally I think the biggest issue with our community right now is simply the community tools are still horrifically lackluster and in many ways broken and look like they will remain broken till 2.0. The biggest of which is inability for people to get kicked from an ls while they are logged off still. I think the community would be a lot more welcoming about adding people into their activities if they didn't need to worry about the ls player limit and fearing never being able to remove a person they will never see again. Another community tool missing is the delivery/mail box system. Basically if you have to actually go find someone to help them, the would rather not do anything at all. But at least with a mail box system some friends or perspective ls friends could send you stuff while you are gone or from far away to help you.

I think the community is the way it is because the majority of them are fanatics. It's as simple as that. As with Aion, what comprises the majority of the population are people who will play no matter how horrible this game becomes. They rabidly defend every failed aspect of the game and see it as "us versus them" rather than a change that would inject new life into an ailing game.

Delivery boxes, content finders, better servers will surely help, but they are not the only problem the game faces. To a lot of people the content simply falls flat. If we were to take what has been implemented this far as any indicator of what is to come I can honestly say this game will have a hard time capturing any new audience. It is so apparent that even the people that currently pay have no desire to redo the majority of content that is already there.

RNG, shitty community, latency and optimization issues, stale content the list goes on and on. Here is hoping to a great presentation and a flawless Beta introduction for 2.0, but SE has long lost an initial benefit of doubt from me and I can only go on what I see implemented right now. No longer on what they may promise.

[Siatdiat]

I worked like 15 hours today and had blood drawn at the hospital, was playing 14 a little tonight to see if there is anything good about it, and getting really close to a war AF spot and getting one shotted by a tree because I didnt know you had to literally "walk" and also dont even know how to make myself walk because who would choose to move slow? Shit is basically just straight up aggravating and annoying, and I cant see how shitty design like this can be blamed on the engine. This is from shitty designers who design shitty games.

Add: If I want to play Metal Gear Solid, I will play Metal Gear Solid.

[Celeste]

Walking seems like such a low price to pay.

[Gokulo]

The fuck, how can you complain even about stuff like that.

[Tomino]

What amuses me is that FF14, of all games, is sitting on gold with its trademark class system. And still, nothing good comes out of it.

TERA, WoW, even GW2 are all locked in the 1 character - 1 class structure, which can very easily lead to content issues. Everything you do is from the same perspective, and you do most things just once.
Those games tried, or will try, to come up with different solutions. WoW for example is doing everything it can to make people use Alts - the most recent addition being Account wise achievements.

In FF14, with a proper content finder in place, I could flag my character for, like, 10 things at the same time.
Exp parties for 3 of my classes, a dungeon run for my r50 job, a certain storyline mission or just some GrandCompany / group quest. At any given time, I'd have so much opportunities when compared to a single class game.

[CasualPlayer]

What amuses me is that FF14, of all games, is sitting on gold with its trademark class system. And still, nothing good comes out of it.

TERA, WoW, even GW2 are all locked in the 1 character - 1 class structure, which can very easily lead to content issues. Everything you do is from the same perspective, and you do most things just once.
Those games tried, or will try, to come up with different solutions. WoW for example is doing everything it can to make people use Alts - the most recent addition being Account wise achievements.

In FF14, with a proper content finder in place, I could flag my character for, like, 10 things at the same time.
Exp parties for 3 of my classes, a dungeon run for my r50 job, a certain storyline mission or just some GrandCompany / group quest. At any given time, I'd have so much opportunities when compared to a single class game.

This.

Also I'm not sure the content is stale per se, just uninviting to new players. Everything I've read up to this point makes the content seem really good (with the exception of hamlets). People rave about how challenging Garuda is and liked the use of environment for Ifrif etc. Unfortunately new players won't experience any of that. Certainly not in 10 days.

I don't believe the point of the campaign was fo rope in new players at all. I think 2.0 marketing is for that. This seems more like a grab at getting players who already had something vested in the game to take a second look (which it sounds like most people here at least did)
and showing us that while maybe not perfect now the game has certainly came a long way towards progress and is getting close.

Keep it on the radar and get excited about 2.0 I think was SEs message. Maybe plunk some money down for the legacy bonus too.

[Celeste]

I'm kinda pissed I can't take part of this jazz because I subscribed a month ago.

[djjohnson13p]

This.

Also I'm not sure the content is stale per se, just uninviting to new players. Everything I've read up to this point makes the content seem really good (with the exception of hamlets). People rave about how challenging Garuda is and liked the use of environment for Ifrif etc. Unfortunately new players won't experience any of that. Certainly not in 10 days.

I don't believe the point of the campaign was fo rope in new players at all. I think 2.0 marketing is for that. This seems more like a grab at getting players who already had something vested in the game to take a second look (which it sounds like most people here at least did)
and showing us that while maybe not perfect now the game has certainly came a long way towards progress and is getting close.

Keep it on the radar and get excited about 2.0 I think was SEs message. Maybe plunk some money down for the legacy bonus too.

Actually, IMO the game would be more entertaining for a "new" player, as these are your options for end game:

Spam Ifrit for 1/2 pieces that are somewhat worthwhile over and over and over and over with out guaranteed progression

Spam Moogle for 2/3 pieces that are somewhat worthwhile over and over and over and over with out guaranteed progression

Spam Garuda for 2/3 pieces that are somewhat worthwhile over and over and over and over with guaranteed progression THE ONLY END GAME CONTENT THEY GOT RIGHT!

Spam GC leves for GC points to obtain a few pieces that are somewhat worthwhile and a key item for future use over and over and over and over

Spam Totorak for GC points to obtain a a few pieces that are somewhat worthwhile and a key item for future use over and over and over and over

Spam DH for GC points to obtain a a few pieces that are somewhat worthwhile and a key item for future use over and over and over and over

Spam Hamlet for a key item for future use and 3/4 pieces that are somewhat worthwhile over and over and over with out guaranteed progression

Spam Aurum Vale for tons of crappy gear and a few good pieces with a horrid drop rate over and over and over

Spam Cutters Cry for tons of crappy gear and a few good pieces with a horrid drop rate over and over and over

So we have 3 dungeons, none of which are challenging (unless you are doing random party invites) 1 of which doesn't drop any gear worth mentioning. The other two for the most party have incredibly tough drops which have lolstats compared to melds.
Missions can be soloed start to finish in a day
Full AF 7 classes can be completed in a couple of days (one if your hardcore)
Leves that offer no challenge and don't offer much variety
3 Hamlet instances all which are extremely repetitive and non challenging other than the incredibly low drop rate.

The only thing that SE excels at is time sink, I understand wanting to keep players playing, and I am definitively not promoting "The I want everything NOW mindset" But the fun factor is NEVER considered when it comes to missions, quests, events, instances, dungeons, or primal's, or anything else that SE creates.

This game is becoming incredibly boring, repetitive, unchanging, and uninteresting.

The content listed above is about two weeks worth of entertainment. Certainly not anywhere enough for an MMORPG.

[Swag]

I wasn't suggesting existing decked out players should spend their time assisting every shout they see, more so that there wasn't/isn't *anything* you can do that could be considered worthwhile other than grinding xp or crafting as a solo/duo/not full pt if you don't feel like idling in town shouting or looking for relevant shouts. Give me a Leaping Lizzy or a Xolotl.. farm triggers to waste time on.. something that can be done with a couple people instead of requiring 8 people to do something useful (Phaia and those other small nm's aren't really worth mentioning).

Time sinks aren't a terrible idea if they reward you decently for your time. There is really no point in getting the weapon drops from Ifrit/Garuda if a good double/triple meld is better, but then you are forced to grind crafts or burn gil to get them. Not exactly a good selling point for new customers. From my pov the only reason to play this game now is to get the legacy deal (pointless if this turd keeps sinking to the proverbial bottom of the toilet) or be able to say that "I've maxed everything, look how awesome I am".(not remotely interesting to me)

Yes there is a decent amount of things to do, but they are all very similar in execution and rewards. Nothing I've seen or heard from the player base makes me want to invest any more time in this failure of a mmo as of yet. I'm still holding out a tiny bit of hope for 2.0 so hopefully square gets their shit together and makes the game what most of us hoped it was going to be at release.

[CasualPlayer]

@dj except a new player won't be able to experience most of that content you mention whether it's entertaining or not. Especially in juat ten days.

[djjohnson13p]

@dj except a new player won't be able to experience most of that content you mention whether it's entertaining or not. Especially in juat ten days.

I guess what I was getting at,as a new player, is you at least have the option to level, sidequest, learn new abilities, unlock new jobs, vs doing mindless repeatable events over and over for little/no reward, but I do see your point.

[Volken]

I worked like 15 hours today and had blood drawn at the hospital, was playing 14 a little tonight to see if there is anything good about it, and getting really close to a war AF spot and getting one shotted by a tree because I didnt know you had to literally "walk" and also dont even know how to make myself walk because who would choose to move slow? Shit is basically just straight up aggravating and annoying, and I cant see how shitty design like this can be blamed on the engine. This is from shitty designers who design shitty games.

Add: If I want to play Metal Gear Solid, I will play Metal Gear Solid.

Is this a joke post? You were completely surprised by something that happened in game, and it cost you at most 6 anima, and you're raging about it?

[Cichy]

I guess what I was getting at,as a new player, is you at least have the option to level, sidequest, learn new abilities, unlock new jobs, vs doing mindless repeatable events over and over for little/no reward, but I do see your point.

have you ever played an MMO?

[Siatdiat]

Is this a joke post? You were completely surprised by something that happened in game, and it cost you at most 6 anima, and you're raging about it?

It was a post after waking up at 4am, working til 10am, going to the hospital and having blood drawn, going home, getting ready for work at 1pm to 9:30pm, then coming home and trying to play ff14 after not playing for months. I reread the post myself now and not even sure what it says, but I was in a shitty, tired and irritable mood to begin with when I wrote it.

[Corrderio]

Well in all fairness it was kind of an odd concept. I'm not sure if there was any dialog anywhere to hint about using walk to avoid aggro on trees. So it can be a bit annoying for returning players.

[Rocl]

Well in all fairness it was kind of an odd concept. I'm not sure if there was any dialog anywhere to hint about using walk to avoid aggro on trees. So it can be a bit annoying for returning players.

Louisoix tells you to "tread warily" in the Moogle Quest and iirc there's a moogle NPC otw to Turning Leaf that tells you to walk to avoid making trees angry

[miokomioko]

Yeah, the moogle NPC placed at the path to Turning Leaf was a direct response to people boohoo'ing about not having any idea about the tree aggro. Little do they know, these are the same people who don't talk to NPCs, and when they do, they don't read anything... so it's a lost cause.

[Siatdiat]

Yeah, the moogle NPC placed at the path to Turning Leaf was a direct response to people boohoo'ing about not having any idea about the tree aggro. Little do they know, these are the same people who don't talk to NPCs, and when they do, they don't read anything... so it's a lost cause.

I saw a moogle, which I tried to talk to, but it wouldn't talk to me. Killing some mobs around there I found some item that I looked up and apparently you trade it to moogles for some quest, but I didn't have that quest so I can only assume that was why I couldn't talk to them.

Whether or not it was annoying, the whole process of trying to make myself get into this game hasn't been fun, at all. Compound that with little free time, and I'd rather spend my free time doing just about anything else.