Official global alpha start date: November 28th.

[Rionel]

BLM never had much of a repertoire in terms of strategy.

Every FF but XI: use what it's weak to. (when you're controlling 4 or more party members that's all the depth it needed really)

In XI: Does it resist thunder?
>No -> Cast Thunder
>Yes -> Cast Blizzard
>Also sleep things

With XIV after the skill rehaul they just cut away the fat. Thunder for when you're focusing on a single target, Fire for multiple targets, Blizzard was a bit of both (instacast blizzara was sort of a utility as well) and of course sometimes you slept things. Compared to XI it was more diverse in it's role in that AoEing was actually useful in so many situations (using -agas in XI for AoE damage was pretty niche, you were pretty much always simul-casting on mobs that would either surely die or be resleepga-d immediately after).

I'd prefer the different spells have different innate properties like that than the old "use what it's weak to" which requires about as much strategy as rock-paper-scissors except you know what the other guys gonna throw beforehand.

Or in XI's case "rock beats everything except when it resists rock, then use scissors".

If anything taking away all the debuffs kind of left the mages with little else to do, they didn't even leave BLM with drain or siphon MP.

Ironically on the flip side of this, I was just thinking about WHM. The fact that they were given Stone/ra and Aero/ra actually made me like the job that much more.

Obviously healing and keeping everyone alive should always be your priority as that is a WHM's main role, but the fact that they can actually contribute to damage dealing in some sort of way is really refreshing to me. Actually, I believe it was considered kind of inefficient to only just heal and completely ignore the offensive side of WHM... especially when Regen made healing not too stressful in most situations. And MP is not too much of an issue with fast Blissful Mind paired with Shroud of Saints, so long as you remember to activate Blissful Mind as often as possible whenever you get the chance for optimal MP recovery.

I mean, yes you could just focus on curing and support and I doubt many people would ostracize you for this, but it's not like WHM nukes are weak. They actually are pretty decent so long as there's no resistance to stone or aero, and even more so if you can afford to activate Cleric Stance. So, why ignore a perfectly legitimate side of your job?

That isn't to say that you should be nuking like a BLM all the time, but if the time calls for it you should be able to nuke properly. The extra few % of damage contribution can seriously be a boon.

I guess the biggest thing it comes down to is being flexible and being able to adapt with WHM. Sticking in just pure healing gear all the time is just frustrating to me (especially when the returns aren't that substantial, whereas gearing for nuking is essential to get Stone/Aero to land).

I hope I'm not sounding crazy by suggestion such things! It just seems to make sense to me.

[Madeline]

Couldn't we just have a 1.0 "what could have been/nostalgia" thread instead of every one of them eventually branching off into it because there's nothing else to really discuss?

[Jamison]

On a side note, one thing that I've noticed in the early ARR videos is the TP gauge. It is my understanding that TP starts at 1000 when idling and that abilities use up TP, which is then regenerated (through time/actions?). I don't know if base (1000) TP regeneration is disabled during combat, but if it is not, isn't that basically a tweaked stamina system?

Correct, you will normally start a fight at max and then use it up through abilities. There were a lot of "jokes" about how they were practically bringing stamina back. It will probably feel somewhat similar but with a few differences. Abilities that don't use TP won't drain that gauge, and of course auto-attacks are not part of it either now. So (I presume) it really will be about when to best use your big attacks (or defenses for a tank) instead of a choice between pew-pew-pew and PEW!

From one video they showed, it regenerates modestly during combat, and rather fast outside of it.

Edit: I vaguely remember a system early on where you would "charge" an attack, using more stamina in exchange for it being stronger? Was that part of the same thing or something different? I can't remember.

[Niiro]

What is there to discuss about alpha?

If you didn't get in your options are speculate or bitch.

If you did your options are not to say anything or get banned.

[Lordender]

What is there to discuss about alpha?

If you didn't get in your options are speculate or bitch.

If you did your options are not to say anything or get banned.

Yep, why talk about it when SE reads these forums. If someone in alpha starts to spout off here, sono is going to get a mean message from SE.

[Don Katsu]

Then why even care if BG people get invites? Lots of information on the alpha is already posted on other sites. They might as well only invite people from OF

[Insanecyclone]

[Rocl]

305k tnl
Sylph camps
Adamantoises
Garlaens in Gridania???

[Gulkeeva]

They better be adding byakkyo... ah the memories.. watching nuriko (one the nin tanks in ffxi) get repeatedly mauled by that boss... all the fun mithra rape time...

[Balb]

wow i gotta say... my mind is blown with how far this has come. Still need to see more battle, but gat damnnnn...

[Gulkeeva]

Cleaned up the thread a little, although it is nice to reflect back on FFXIV 1.X , the game is now moving onto FFXIV 2.0, which this thread should mainly be about unless you are wanting to compare ffxiv 1.X stuff to the SE videos released 2.0 stuff.

As Kotomi mentioned earlier, a nostalgia thread would be much better then to drive (apparently) some people insane talking about FFXIV 1.0 in this thread ment for FFXIV 2.0 ヽ(´▽｀)ノ (because I know I didn't get in) (;つД｀)

[LD]

Gulk. Best God Damn Person. Forever. Capital letters. Fuck.

New areas are nice and all, definitely shows they're adding variety. I'm not as hyped cuz I'm Ul'Dah and a MNK, so. :I

[kisada]

my RM got the alpha. i just watched him play for 10 minutes or so.

watching him play, literally not one thing was in the UI/menus/fighting etc. that made me say "that's just average or that's just ok." everything looked fantastic, clean, and intuitive. i can barely contain my enthusiasm and it's only an alpha. if it was the beta i'd be blowing up all over the damn place.

[Cichy]

Black Shroud is a completely different area now.

[drwaffles]

Looks really nice, still not sold on the ambient music though. However the piano track near the end was reminiscent of FFX and I quite liked it. The ambient music, in my opinion, serves to make the game feel more like other MMOs. An integral part of the "FF feeling" the devs have said they're committed to is music (there aren't many other gaming franchises where so many people are aware of who the main composers are), so I'd like to see more being done with it.

[Elcura]

Oh god, they gave Gulk mod powers? Time to flee.

[shepardG]

Gulk, grata on mod btw
And cichy, I still miss you, pm your vent info

[Makwa]

Man, I'm so torn. I've got 3 50s. a 50 armorer and a 45+ miner on my main, but I wanna start fresh with a few irl friends when this launches. Black Shroud looks so awesome now. Main's from Ul'dah, so I'm torn on rolling Limsa or Grid, now. Hoping Limsa's surrounding areas are just as breathtaking.

[Toth]

Man, I'm so torn. I've got 3 50s. a 50 armorer and a 45+ miner on my main, but I wanna start fresh with a few irl friends when this launches. Black Shroud looks so awesome now. Main's from Ul'dah, so I'm torn on rolling Limsa or Grid, now. Hoping Limsa's surrounding areas are just as breathtaking.

That's why I am psyched to play from the start as an Arcanist :D

[Jamison]

To a degree, I envy new players who will get to have the world unfold before them as they level up. There's a magic in that, when done well, that older players won't get to experience. Even if I had the time and inclination to start a brand new character (I don't) it wouldn't be quite the same.