Beta 3 impressions and general discussion

[Ratatapa]

Even tho i only did the 3 for the main story i like what they did with dungeons.

It's better then having a PLD just run aggro all until we open the 'receptacles' and depop the mobs till the end of the run

[Phoenyx]

Why did I start playing this beta? I finally got over my FFXI addiction. I was clean man! That said, I had a lot of fun playing this weekend. Was interesting to figure things out as a complete noob. That probably hindered me more than a little since I only managed to get to lv18 and wasn't able to discover how to start a lot of the dungeon content that people were shouting about. Hopefully next phase I'll be a little quicker on the uptake. :D

Also, the game looks pretty damn amazing. My only gripe was the voice actor for the intro movie. Wasn't feelin' that guy.

[Iremire]

I have 3 classes left to level, my plan for phase 4 was to do the story / first town quests / fate dungeon / Hunt logs as far as I can. Then repeat for the next two in the other 2 cities minus the story quests + guildhest / guild leves. Doesn't seem to be too bad. If you have more to do you'll just have to do hunt logs dungeon runs and fates. Fates are the nicest way to go about lvling if you want that open world shit.

[blythe]

Keep forgetting these weekend tests end so early. Can't wait 'til it's full time. Enjoying it, but frankly I'm not willing to stay in Friday and Saturday nights to play... so pretty much have only been getting a few hours in during the day on Saturday.

Interesting getting our 1.0 characters back, but at least my server (Gungnir) was definitely disappointing. I always assumed I would play my 1.0 char at launch, since I only have 3 50s, so lots of classes to experience the content with.

But it was worryingly empty in low level areas. A lot of people did max out by the end of 1.0. Plus I'm starting to wonder how many new players at launch will choose a legacy server unless they have friends there.

Tough to really comment on gameplay at 50 since I'm not aware of any 35+ content. Will be a learning curve regardless.

[Adajer]

I really don't understand the point of closing the Betas before the weekend is over.

[Ratatapa]

I really don't understand the point of closing the Betas before the weekend is over.

Well in japan it's 11PM so weekend is over

But yeah i see what you mean

[Elcura]

So, I didn't get to play around with 50 jobs and classes as much as I wanted. I ran Brayflox's Longdrop (or whatever it's called) with MNK a couple of times and even at 35 this game opens up a lot more in terms of combat. WAR and BLM feel the same (though BLM is frustrating to play with a timid party who sleeps everything).

MNK: Greased Lightning is the main mechanic here and there are certain WS that add this status. The goal is generally to get to GL3.

You have your base form WS (Bootshine, Arm of the Destroyer, Dragon Kick) which can be used freely no matter what form you are in. However, if you use this WS while in Opo-opo form (the form you get directly after obtaining GL) you get various bonuses. Bootshine is critical damage, Arm of the Destroyer is silence AoE, Dragon Kick is a debuff.

Then you have Raptor form WS, which can only be used after using a base WS. You have Twin Snakes which increases damage, True Strike which is the highest damage WS of the form, and One Ilm Punch which is used for dispel.

Then you have Coeurl form WS which can only be used after Raptor form WS, these are mostly used to apply GL so your goal generally is to use one of these WS. Snap Punch is your basic damage WS, Demolish adds DoT and Rockbreaker is AoE. After obtaining GL, your form changes to Opo-opo and you repeat depending on situation.

Touch of Death is a neutral WS that just adds DoT, usually used after Demolish. Haymaker is used whenever you give a shit about using Haymaker. Featherfoot is pretty much only useful for this. Fists of Earth are a much better defensive skill.

Then there are abilities. Fists are obviously useful, more so now they don't take MP. Howling Fist is just occasional AoE damage, looks cool but ultimately isn't very practical considering you have Arm of the Destroyer and Rockbreaker as AoEs. Maybe used to save TP since using an AoE combo flow will destroy your TP. Steel Peak is a stun, which is naturally useful. Not Brutal Swing or Leg Sweep useful however. Shoulder Tackle is the same but longer range and cooldown. Both are good for stunning obvious AoE WS.

Mantra has obvious uses, dunno if it can be stacked with the GLA healing boost though but it is multiclass. Second Wind healing increases greatly with these buffs. Perfect Balance is the last ability you get and is very useful to getting GL3 in like 6 seconds or for getting effects of WS (One Ilm Punch) to happen immediately.

Overall, I'm pleased with MNK and certain that end level gameplay will be amazing. It's fast, satisfying, freeflowing and potent. Also, you will certainly start running out of TP around 30-35. I also played BLM and WAR so I'll do impressions of those later. The rest of the classes (DRG and PLD mostly) I didn't really touch.

[Karbuncle]

I got to play the game for all of a few hours yesterday, and I have to say i really enjoyed it. I know its all been talked about but a few things that really impressed/got me were...

-Hunter's Log. I found this really enjoyable, kinda like a mini-goal system with good bonuses for completing. Some people will probably find it a grind but when i unlocked it i was quite happy... I got all of them up to Rank 6 in my time online, Only managed to get to level 8 since i spent most of the time killing random things and doing some of the Storyline quests.

-Old FFXI related names I can recognize. for instance, Blanga was neat to see... Bubbly Burnie, though i didnt personally get a chance to fight him. Even if its a throughback to all FF, I like that some of these things are in the game.

-Old FF Sound-effects/Musicfeel. This i liked, the /tell jingle, The menu sounds, and even the opening of the Battle theme just all had me nostalgia'd for old FF, particularly around ff7/8 which were my first 2. It was a nice touch.

-Liked the combat and combos. Combat is a bit faster, I only had 5 abilities when i stopped leveling, Fast Blade, Savage Blade, Rampart, Flash, and Fight or Flight... But even with just those 5 I could see how the game would become pretty much a WS/Button masher at higher levels... and it seems like Melee-Dmg at the levels i was was entirely inconsequential... But I liked Comboing Fast > Savage lol...

-FATE was fun, I Joined 2 when i was roaming around, one that was a little too high level for me but i still managed to do fine (Just Sandfrog), and another just my range (Bunch of Cactaurs and some dude)... I liked the Medal/reward system too... Maybe its just because Guild Wars 2 Was the only MMO since FFXI to hold my attention more than a week, but it felt like GW2, and I don't maintain that as a bad thing.

-Level up music. Sure they had it in FFXI, but In FFXIV it felt better. >_>

-Armory Crate.

-Cheap Vendors for Gear (Will this carry over?)

-Character Customization... I noticed a few options were missing from the old one, But i noticed a few new ones too so I'm okay with this, Plus, I like the new voices, far less creepy.

-The storyline seems neat so far, a good mix of interesting moments and small tasks, I only got up to about 1 mission past the Blanga fight though ...

-Guild-Quests, I did the GLA one up to level 5, I'm sure they get better but these were nice for me.

-Gimme Carbuncle already GDI.

Thats all - Hope to see you guys for Phase 4/open.

[Ratatapa]

Anyone remarked the Old school FF battle theme in the instance fight after the 3 Story line dungeons?


Tip

Spoiler: show

[LidenbokValour]

Reading through the last few pages regarding alternative job leveling, I didn't see anyone mention the possibility of EXP camps? Mobs respawn fairly quick and there is even a chain system. I didn't play 1.0 much but I remember seeing party shouts quite often. I never got involved so I apologize in advance if they where a horrible experience haha.

[luxv]

I love the Hunting Log overall but I hate the fact that dungeon enemies are in it. What's the point? You're going to kill them anyways since the dungeons are required to progress through the storyline. To me, hunting log mobs should be things you have to go out of your way to go, you know, hunt down.

[Meresgi]

Reading through the last few pages regarding alternative job leveling, I didn't see anyone mention the possibility of EXP camps? Mobs respawn fairly quick and there is even a chain system. I didn't play 1.0 much but I remember seeing party shouts quite often. I never got involved so I apologize in advance if they where a horrible experience haha.

When I played there werent "Camps" so much as roaming groups of players who moved around and killed shit in a given area, unlike FF11 where you had someone pull mobs to you, you just ran out and grabbed the mobs as a group.

[Lucavi]

Reading through the last few pages regarding alternative job leveling, I didn't see anyone mention the possibility of EXP camps? Mobs respawn fairly quick and there is even a chain system. I didn't play 1.0 much but I remember seeing party shouts quite often. I never got involved so I apologize in advance if they where a horrible experience haha.

Dunno how fast it would be. In Alpha it was the fastest way to level to 20 in a certain area, but now with fates giving so much xp, I can't say how good it would be. I know I personally wouldn't do one unless there was a specific spot that dropped good crafting drops while giving passable XP, as there's no need to skill up anything and I could just use fates to obtain company seals (and fat xp) and leves to obtain items (and decent xp).

@Luxv: Only the first tier of dungeons were required, and that's just to get people's feet wet so they aren't dragging their future parties down with no sense of proper dungeon mechanics. None of the other dungeons (as of now) are required to progress the story. We'll see if that holds in P4.

Hell, they may do it like WoW (which did it nicely) and offer a quest-line through dungeons that led to a nice XP chunk and item reward, yet make each dungeon a side-quest after T1 dungeons.

[Xanthe]

@Luxv: Only the first tier of dungeons were required, and that's just to get people's feet wet so they aren't dragging their future parties down with no sense of proper dungeon mechanics. None of the other dungeons (as of now) are required to progress the story. We'll see if that holds in P4.

Hell, they may do it like WoW (which did it nicely) and offer a quest-line through dungeons that led to a nice XP chunk and item reward, yet make each dungeon a side-quest after T1 dungeons.

I'm pretty sure they said that all dungeons will have a story lead-in by P4/release. The reason that only the starter dungeons have quests right now is that all main mission quests drop out at level 20.

[Gulkeeva]

Be faster, to spam run instances, then exp camps though. Since the exp from dungeon mobs are noticeably higher (can exp chain), you get geared, you get money from chests.

I did Haku manor from like 28-29 -> 35 in a day almost (fell asleep did 22->34 in a day)

[Headspace]

Anyone from 1.0/legacy upset that the NPCs don't remember you as the greatest hero of all time?

Or is that just beta forum cesspool garbage?

[Lucavi]

Be faster, to spam run instances, then exp camps though. Since the exp from dungeon mobs are noticeably higher (can exp chain), you get geared, you get money from chests.

I did Haku manor from like 28-29 -> 35 in a day almost (fell asleep did 22->34 in a day)

I agree, but you still have so many XI-purists that cannot grasp those concepts, and look for any way to cling to what's comfortable and what they know and understand.

Personally, I fucking love dungeon running, and you know that.

Also, Gulk, which server did you and SB pick?

[Gokulo]

Anyone from 1.0/legacy upset that the NPCs don't remember you as the greatest hero of all time?

Or is that just beta forum cesspool garbage?

Not that upset. I mean, it is a cop-out one way or another, but makes it a lot easier for them instead of preparing two versions of every story mission.

[Elcura]

Seems pretty appropriate for a reboot. They sorta remember you, and if I know story progression they'll probably remember who you are around the same time non-legacy actually do something worthwhile so both types are on equal footing.

[Adajer]

Why would they remember the "heroes" that failed to stop bahamut from being released and his onslaught?

/jaywilson