Official global alpha start date: November 28th.

[xopher]

http://youtu.be/uwJI8xD7UPo?t=16s

Couldn't help it!

I haven't clicked this link yet, but I'm going to go ahead and assume "this battle is about to explode!" Followed by some "This is true love we're making"

[vadre]

The most annoying part is that if these people they're trying to reach out to cared about alpha testing that much they would have signed up already by now. No doubt they'll clog up the invites, play for an hour or two and never login again.

At least with the way invites are handled (monitoring logins) it won't take away actual invites for more than 2-3 days, which is also why I can't get pissed at people receiving their third invites.

I'm probably going to lie on my beta app because there must be something wrong with the way I fill these out, didn't even get into V1 alpha or closed beta.

I care about it but as i said before, was under the impression I couldn't take part because I haven't played XIV since like 2010, so I'm sure there are others who are interested and might be in a similar position. I would imagine they're just trying to find more people who suit certain criteria, it's only alpha so I really don't give much of a shit if I get in or not, I watched all the videos and barring exploring every square inch of the new maps there really doesn't seem to be a lot in the game at the moment. I've already played a milliion fetch quests in a bunch of other games.

The thing I'm most interested in getting access to is the alpha forums, sounds pretty funny.

[Pooky]

Will SE's system even allow you to apply again? I haven't gotten any emails from SE in months, about anything D:

[Mina]

I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get into the alpha/beta/whatever because of what I wrote on my application (I was honest, but it didn't sound very good for me). I ended up being in the first batch and I was honestly shocked. Especially since several of my friends (who had experience in alpha testing and were in 1.0 beta) did not get accepted.

Anyways. My friend just applied two days ago and got in apparently. He just got back from military duty and saw the newsletter. He doesn't remember applying/not applying when it first came around. I'd say go reapply again Pooky. If it won't let you, it won't let you.

[Spira]

I haven't clicked this link yet, but I'm going to go ahead and assume "this battle is about to explode!" Followed by some "This is true love we're making"

how did u guess?

i still dont get it

[Maksudyst]

Apparently I should have checked my squenix page earlier. Got in on the 9th. Where can I d/l this bad boy? lol

[solracht]

Isn't there an email somewhere?

[Maksudyst]

Isn't there an email somewhere?

I can't find it anywhere lol. I never saw it in my spam or inbox.

edit: blind. /fail

[Insanecyclone]

People complain about everything in the OF for this.

[Niiro]

Mage... eh... I can't say much outside the video, but I will say this. I'm not impressed at all, and am looking forward to seeing what changes are around for beta. If mages stay the way they currently are, I don't think a lot of new people are going to enjoy them. Lets leave it at that.

CNJ doesn't even have any combos by level 20 do they? Not that it'd be much more exciting with combos as they were in 1.0, you were just comboing each element when the -ra recasts were up and single casting/rebuffing in the meantime.

I can't think of much that would spice up mage combat other than making melee hits have at least some relevance and WSs to spend TP on, tbh I think getting rid of mage attack skills and WSs was one of the biggest mistakes they made way back when.

[Lucavi]

Nothing would spice it up within the confines of what we know to be the "Final Fantasy" way of doing things, because that's all mages ever did within those confines: stood still, charged for awhile, then fired off a spell. To "spice it up", SE will have to look beyond what they've always done. We'll find out come beta.

[Sephiroth]

I disagree with that. Ravager in FFXIII is a good example I can think of. It had elemental attacks like Flamestrike, Froststrike etc which were pretty strong. I don't think they'd be out of place on a XIV mage and they could be fired off using TP and comboed. You could even mix combos of those with spells if they did it right, self magic bursts!

[Niiro]

*cough*mageweaponskills*cough*

Excuse me, there were some squandered good ideas in my throat. It's sad because with regenerating TP it wouldn't even require mages to melee in order throw out occasional TP skills with any number of special properties, maybe even intertwine them with spell combos. But unfortunately I don't see them, as you said, going outside the confines of the "FF" way...




edit: seph reading my mind

[Lucavi]

I disagree with that. Ravager in FFXIII is a good example I can think of. It had elemental attacks like Flamestrike, Froststrike etc which were pretty strong. I don't think they'd be out of place on a XIV mage and they could be fired off using TP and comboed. You could even mix combos of those with spells if they did it right, self magic bursts!

Oh its certainly possible, but again, so many things are possible. A Samurai class that does more than spam weaponskills is a possibility, because they did far more in both FFV and FFT, but again, will SE step outside of what's comfortable and easy to design?

I'd love a dynamic mage; I'd love a mage that only sacrified mobility when it was time to sit down, throw up a shield, and nuke the ever-loving piss out of a mob, but can otherwise maneuver in and out of a fight depending on the situation, while still being able to contribute. I'd like a mage that wasn't a sitting duck glass cannon in PVP because of having to stand completely still to use any sort of attack ability. Will we get anything like that? I dunno; HAVE we ever gotten anything like that from SE within the confines of their MMO?

Once again, lets see what lovely gifts beta brings us. Maybe Santa will deliver goodies instead of coal.

[Spider-Dan]

Maybe they could create some sort of mage that, instead of using MP, relies on items to cast spells. And maybe they could design this mage so that in place of MP concerns, they are instead managing recasts (and trying to gear for recast reduction). Hell, if they wanted to get super crazy, maybe they could even have this mage fulfill a non-traditional mage role... like a tank, or something. But to balance that, they'd could make it super reliant on timing and execution... much more than the other tanks.

Nah, that would be stupid and boring. Best to just copy some other game instead.

[Niiro]

I'd love a dynamic mage; I'd love a mage that only sacrified mobility

I know I complain more than most about how they threw out so many good mechanics from old 1.0 with the many revisions but movement while casting is another thing that they fucked up.

Playing mages became so much more frustrating when they removed the ability to move while casting, even without server lag a little accidental nudge on the gamepad could fuck your cast and it's very obtrusive to the faster paced, on the move combat XIV moved toward.

Something as simple as limiting movement to walking speed while casting or queuing up a spell while running that will automatically start casting when your character stops (or your target comes in range) would have saved many-a-tank from an unfortunate death at the hands of knockback with the WHM unable to heal them in time because they can't even risk initiating the spell until they're completely still and absolutely certain that the server agrees, otherwise it just takes even longer to wait thru the delay that comes after an interrupt.

Double the ridiculousness and frustration when tanks with their backs to the wall get "knocked back" outside of the zone borders (lookin at you ifrit/coincounter) and somehow out of casting range when in reality they haven't moved at all.

[Cichy]

I always thought it would be interested to have a full mage tank. Casting shit like reflect, wall, etc.

[Pooky]

I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get into the alpha/beta/whatever because of what I wrote on my application (I was honest, but it didn't sound very good for me). I ended up being in the first batch and I was honestly shocked. Especially since several of my friends (who had experience in alpha testing and were in 1.0 beta) did not get accepted.

Anyways. My friend just applied two days ago and got in apparently. He just got back from military duty and saw the newsletter. He doesn't remember applying/not applying when it first came around. I'd say go reapply again Pooky. If it won't let you, it won't let you.

Won't let me, which is kinda disheartening yet understandable. I really wanted to sub again because I've gotten a better card since app site first when up, wanted to see if that would make a difference. Oh well =/

[Lucavi]

I always thought it would be interested to have a full mage tank. Casting shit like reflect, wall, etc.

Maybe give them damage split like a calculator? Would be a nice-ass thorns spell, if nothing else.

[Niiro]

Maybe give them damage split like a calculator? Would be a nice-ass thorns spell, if nothing else.

Broken record: I can't help but sigh and shake my head when people suggest "what-if" ideas that actually existed and were removed from the game.

I can't even remember what the THM ability was called at this point.