One Request[Interview]: Poll

[RKenshin]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/rukenshin

I made an update on my LJ asking people to vote... Something like 100-200 people monitor it pretty frequently, so hopefully it will help to get more people voting.

Adding the wyrms has already done such wonders for the numbers at Fafnir. Oh wait a second. No, it hasn't. Sea has sure emptied sky out... oh wait, no, the pop item NMs are 100% down 24/7.

Theres a reason scorpion harness has gone UP in price despite venemous claws being 10x more common now than in the past. There are so many people that want it.

I still stand by the fact that if you add a dozen more wyrms it wouldn't make a dent in the fafnir camp, and would just mean you'd be camping with 250 people on the new wyrms as well as Fafnir. You're just going to have more of the same problem. You don't cure a cold by going and getting the flu.

Sorry, but you're not really making sense...

Did you read my post at all? I already said, that on my server (I understand it may be different from yours), Fafnir and other NQ HNMs have been less camped on some days due to other linkshells now competing to kill Tiamat. How does this not prove what I've said?

The only reason though that it's not often competed for during a HQ NM chance, and also the reason that Tiamat is the main victem rather than Jorgy or Vrtra, is because the drops are not good enough. Which is another topic in itself that I think everyone agrees should be changed. If they ever did drop really good items consistantly, than I could definately see people going to kill Tiamat/Jorgy/Vrtra before another linkshell rather than only having a slight chance of Nidhogg on Day 4 when they already have 10-20 Koenig/Adaman/Dalma. It's already begun on my server, you can't even say it hasn't happened when it obviously is.

It's like math, 2+2 = 4... If it's 8 EST and there's a chance of Tiamat popping, and Nidhogg's and Aspi's window just started, are there going to be 150 people at KB, Aspi, and Tiamat? No, no server has that many people camping HNMs at a single time. And no, it's not all too unlikely for windows to be very close, with all the maintenace it's actually pretty common. Only 24 hours in a day, and there are 3 hour windows (up to 4 if it pops on last), so there's a 1/3 chance of at least one of those windows overlapping. If there were more HNMs added, then people would more often be spread out across camping different HNMs rather than all at one.

Sea is also completely unrelated to sky, and compairing them is not accurate. It's like compairing Genbu to Aspi... Just because they're turtles, it doesn't mean they have the same value of drops. Just because it takes missions to get to sea and sky, it doesn't mean they have the same value of drops. Sea drops basically so far have been shit compaired to how good sky items were when it was first released. People dream of getting something like and Osode or even a Haidate, they're undoubtably the best items for their slot for 99% of the time with the jobs that can use it. How about sea? Some toys to play with that are usually not useful? The H2H and GA weapons are really the only powerful ones. Torques are OK, but still nothing compaired to sea equipment. Not to mention, nearly every 75 will have sky (hell I got sky at 65) while a very small percent of them will have sea. It's a null point.

[Navia]

I voted "3 King HQs Pop more frequent than 3-7 days."
-I'd rather see something like:
"Make kings harder and move their best drops elsewhere so people bottom feed less"

Move the fucking Ridill to a CoP wyrm - ls's that camp faffy just for Ridill and trash/freelot the rest of the drops for their 4th jobs or because they want a 2nd abjuration to get an HQ version is stupid.

[rooster]

Sea Jailer's Drop 100% on pop items. 15% [ 18 ]
Sea Jailer's Loot pool to be deeper, like sky. 17% [ 20 ]
Ouryu, Vrtra, Jour, and Tiamat Loot pool much more deeper. 13% [ 15 ]
Merit point revamp; new skills, new merit caps, and more. 15% [ 18 ]
More wyrms or wyrm lvl end game mobs added. 14% [ 16 ]
3 King HQs Pop more frequent than 3-7 days. 19% [ 22 ]

lmao.... results are SO even. The correct answer is all of the above.

And you sir have found my intent. All of these things need to be fixed, and I want each one of them to be addressed.

If they were to even fix one, i'd be happy... if they'd fix all, then they'd have a good game.

[Not Kuno]

I dunno Ondori, Other is really dragging behind. :wink:

[Sekkite]

I guess any ideas that most people have for other pale in comparison to the ideas that are already listed.

[Ithorien]

Other:

All of the above >.>

[Vin Diesel]

ALL OF THESE CHOICES MAKE ME STEAMING MADD......

[Hocuspocus]

I believe the lack of responses is in the diffculty in choosing just one and the fact that they are in a way connected.


Would the Kings really have to pop more often if LS's had more and desirable NM's to kill? More options spread out the existing players from all gathering in one spot. Which makes


Sea Jailer's Loot pool to be deeper, like sky, and
Ouryu, Vrtra, Jour, and Tiamat Loot pool much more deeper, and
Abj. droppable on possibly KS99 or something else

that much more desirable. More options for end game LS's, with sufficient rewards for effort would hopefully take care of some of the overcamping issues with the existing NM that drops the good stuff. Of course, this leads to


Sea Jailer's Drop 100% on pop items.
Not having sea, I can only read in horror the experiences of some of you on these boards. I have to admit it isn't much of an incentive to get there seeing that you can spend weeks of effort to try to move forward and end up with but a few (and I do mean few from what i've seen in your threads) rare/ex items and having to start again to get to the point you were just at. I don't disagree with mobs being more difficult or having other tricks to push them down, but it's cruel to have to spend so much play time to get to the point to be able to try a different strategy on something. And even if you do succeed, getting very limited rewards for those efforts compared to older challanges within the game.


From BG's interview with Sage Sundi:

Berticus: We'll end with this one. Is the HNM, camping, the haijin playstyle incorrect in your opinion?

Sundi: It was correct when we created the game at first. We didn't intend to addict people to the game, but somehow we did. But now we realize we have like a 100 people right now and we see a lot of people that become haijins like that. Yeah, now I don't think it's a good idea. So we may change that.

Berticus: Are those players' opinions and.. do you take them into consideration?

Sundi: We have a lot of emails from not just players, but maybe parents, and we have to listen seriously. But maybe still, even if we could sell 4million xbox360s, a lot of regular players start coming in. We have the majority of players as the light player. But still we have like 10% of the core players. We have to provide both contents, that's all. So we're not going to kill the camping, or core playing style, which I like, so there's always a camping style. Also there's a lot of content for the light players in the future.

I'm sure many of us (if not all...) play too much. We could be doing other productive things, but we enjoy the game for the most part. With the current design of sea drops, and the JoL -> AV design, how does that follow that screen before logging into FFxi? Don't let FFxi interfere with your real life, etc etc The design of these things seems to inply the opposite, not only in the required time investment just to get to JoL, but once you pop it you are in store for another significant battle directly thereafter. At least with sky you have the opportunity to break it up. A night of pop items, a night with the gods, and 1.5 - 2hrs (for us anyways) on Kirin.

The time investment alone on sea stuff makes it seem very prohibitive to myself and most of the people in my LS. Which is discouraging. New content, but the challange isn't in creativity as much as it is do you have the time?


The meripo system expansion/revamp is a fine idea, but not nearly as encompassing in end game activities as the other points brought up. Unless of course the powers that be did some exceptionally cool stuff with it that would really drive players to get points.


Er, I voted other :P

[Russta]

I believe the lack of responses is in the diffculty in choosing just one and the fact that they are in a way connected.

I agree and I personally chose the merit point option above all others. Don't get me wrong, wasting time in Al'Taieu pisses me off as much as waiting for an Adaman Hauberk but if I was to get kicked from my LS tomorrow I'd still have merits to turn to and enjoy. I have almost completely finished with all merits and I want more variety added to it so I can strive toward bettering myself when HNM's are in shitty times.

[Okan]

You neglected to put in an option for alternate ways to obtain abjurations from the three kings.

And its really hard to choose just one of what you put up. Guarenteed drops from Sea gods and a much deeper loot pool from Sea gods would be nice. HQ kings spawning much more often would be nice, but on that note, maybe the NQ could spawn twice a day instead of once(maybe a bit too hopeful on that).

Expanding on merit points would be nice, but it isn't as important in my view as fixing end game.

Sekkite pretty much said everything I'd like. Not exactly my ideas, but yeah. I believe the 3 kings should be removed from spawn cycle and have a BCNM. You kill monsters in the area for a pop item and trade it to a ??? spot. Either this would spawn the NM (Like sky) or it would make you enter a BCNM (Like Ouryu).

[Tekki]

Instead of increasing the pop rate of kings, release newer HNM Kings or HNMs that require as much effort and skill to fight as the current ones.

Something has to be done about the 3 kings.

[Xrave]

I think there could be two types of solutions to the end-game drops.

On my server the 3 kings are dominated mostly by a few LS's that are gunning for a specific item. Most people would be totally content at just having a chance to fight one of the kings (or even the NQ) at the miniscule chance of getting a drop. Move the gear to KS/ENM type fights and lower the drop rate. Even with lower drop rates people will be content with at least having a chance to get one of the items.

Or you could take the gear from the 3 kings and spread it out over the wyrms as well, or even more spread out over the 3 kings, wyrms, and KS/ENM fights. I'm not saying make all the gear available on each, but put one item on KS99 Fafnir, 1 item on Tiamat, 1 item on the actual Fafnir, etc.

[Sekkite]

I think there could be two types of solutions to the end-game drops.

On my server the 3 kings are dominated mostly by a few LS's that are gunning for a specific item. Most people would be totally content at just having a chance to fight one of the kings (or even the NQ) at the miniscule chance of getting a drop. Move the gear to KS/ENM type fights and lower the drop rate. Even with lower drop rates people will be content with at least having a chance to get one of the items.

Or you could take the gear from the 3 kings and spread it out over the wyrms as well, or even more spread out over the 3 kings, wyrms, and KS/ENM fights. I'm not saying make all the gear available on each, but put one item on KS99 Fafnir, 1 item on Tiamat, 1 item on the actual Fafnir, etc.

I'd rather the drop rate remain the same if its moved to an ENM, or increased for KS99.

[FFXIFlux]

Sorry, but you're not really making sense...

Did you read my post at all? I already said, that on my server (I understand it may be different from yours), Fafnir and other NQ HNMs have been less camped on some days due to other linkshells now competing to kill Tiamat. How does this not prove what I've said?

Me not making sense? The overlap on Fafnir window and Tiamat is VERY rare. 2 days in 7 and then they're practicaly gaurenteed to slide so you're looking at 4 days in a month tops. It's irrelevant anyway because most LS can camp 2 or 3 things at once, Tiamat doesn't Frenzy and Fafnir can be held easily with 6 people and killed before frenzy. Your argument makes no sense and if you think 2 days out of the last few months with Fafnir being "less camped" proves anything you really need to rethink things.

Also what are they going to do on a server with more end-game players, add more wyrms than on others? Do I deserve a lesser chance at loot because I'm on a server with twice as many end-game players than you? Do they add 12 new wyrms to your server to help reduce the problem and 20 to mine?

The answer is up the drop rate, and give better access. KS99 or ENM is the simplest solution.

[RKenshin]

Servers are pretty even as far as population goes. Every server has problems with too many people at the camps as far as I know, so I don't really think anyone has to deal with a significant amount more than others.

You're also putting words in my mouth, I never said something along the lines of 2 days a month there's less people at Fafnir camp.. It's actually more often, because the people needed to kill something like Tiamat are only on at a certain time of the day for most linkshells, and this often overlaps that same time of the day they would camp HNMs. An NA LS can't go kill Tiamat when it pops at 5 AM EST, they usually wait until later during the prime time.

And, whether it takes a small amount of people away from Fafnir or not, it's still taking away people. Something is better than nothing. Unless you'd rather just have the max people camping the HNMs all the time with no Tiamat or other wyrms to ever distract them?

[Xavier]

If I was King, I'd run things similar to what people are saying.

I would remove Adamantoise completely from the game, BC99 Turtle has the same drops (egg, and then some).

I would remove Behemoth completely from the game, BC99 Behemoth has the same drops (hides, tongue, and then some).

I would move Fafnir to an 18 man ENM with an increased drop rate on his gear.

I would change Aspid, King Behemoth and Nidhogg to daily pops, which would have the effect of massively flooding the game with their drops and maxing people out very fast.

I would released Cursed 2.0 that makes the current line of gear absurdly underpowered, allowing the new Wyrms to be less of a chore, as well giving the kills a sense of tangible accomplishment.

Flooding the market with the current line of abj, in a normal MMO, would not be a negative thing because the nature of MMOs is to constantly advance and get stronger and better looking gear every few patches. Its assbackwards that the playerbase should covet gear that are two years old in a MMO.

Sea, in all honesty, should have been mirroring sky and the 3 wyrms should have been mirroring Faf/KB/Aspid with cursed 2.0 in an almost identical setup. Nobody would have complained if Square had just copied their last expansion, its a good system.

[rooster]

If I was King, I'd run things similar to what people are saying.

I would remove Adamantoise completely from the game, BC99 Turtle has the same drops (egg, and then some).

I would remove Behemoth completely from the game, BC99 Behemoth has the same drops (hides, tongue, and then some).

I would move Fafnir to an 18 man ENM with an increased drop rate on his gear.

I would change Aspid, King Behemoth and Nidhogg to daily pops, which would have the effect of massively flooding the game with their drops and maxing people out very fast.

I would released Cursed 2.0 that makes the current line of gear absurdly underpowered, allowing the new Wyrms to be less of a chore, as well giving the kills a sense of tangible accomplishment.

Flooding the market with the current line of abj, in a normal MMO, would not be a negative thing because the nature of MMOs is to constantly advance and get stronger and better looking gear every few patches. Its assbackwards that the playerbase should covet gear that are two years old in a MMO.

Sea, in all honesty, should have been mirroring sky and the 3 wyrms should have been mirroring Faf/KB/Aspid with cursed 2.0 in an almost identical setup. Nobody would have complained if Square had just copied their last expansion, its a good system.

Xavier for president.

[Rilu]

Yea, I kinda feel the same way. I think the biggest joke in the game is the fact that abjurations are the real target of hunters, whereas the loot you get from the wyrms and Kings are just "nice". Abjurations should be obtainable through GC99's as well as off the Wyrms. Wyrms have become easy for the LS's that fight them all the time (like ours) but they are still quite a challenge for most ls's.

I think the Wyrms need to drop abjurations. In my LS right now, the Wyrms are pretty much a joke, except for Vrtra which we are trying to gather to defeat. Its kinda tough seeing as we only have about 30 or so players if our dedicated ones show up, so Vrtra is rough to get enough people.

TBH, i'm just burned out on ffxi because i've run out of things to do, and sitting camping the kings for the last 6 months makes me want to shoot myself in the head (whether we get pull or not). I just don't think that SE planned on having 100+ people sitting in a small circle (DA) for 3 hours waiting for 1 dragon to pop. I was so excited to get to Sea as well, and since i've gotten there 5 months ago or so, its like the last place I want to be, trying to pop the stuff up there is just not organized or well thought through (I believe) unless there is something we're all missing.

I guess all my rambling adds up to: Need better Endgame content for those players that have been around FOREVER.

[vudoodoodoo]

Let us upgrade merits more. It's win/win for us and SE.
Either that or let us move stats around w/o having to sacrafice merits.

[Heian]

If I was King, I'd run things similar to what people are saying.

I would remove Adamantoise completely from the game, BC99 Turtle has the same drops (egg, and then some).

I would remove Behemoth completely from the game, BC99 Behemoth has the same drops (hides, tongue, and then some).

I would move Fafnir to an 18 man ENM with an increased drop rate on his gear.

I would change Aspid, King Behemoth and Nidhogg to daily pops, which would have the effect of massively flooding the game with their drops and maxing people out very fast.

I would released Cursed 2.0 that makes the current line of gear absurdly underpowered, allowing the new Wyrms to be less of a chore, as well giving the kills a sense of tangible accomplishment.

Flooding the market with the current line of abj, in a normal MMO, would not be a negative thing because the nature of MMOs is to constantly advance and get stronger and better looking gear every few patches. Its assbackwards that the playerbase should covet gear that are two years old in a MMO.

Sea, in all honesty, should have been mirroring sky and the 3 wyrms should have been mirroring Faf/KB/Aspid with cursed 2.0 in an almost identical setup. Nobody would have complained if Square had just copied their last expansion, its a good system.

Xavier for president.

Amen. Thats what needs to be sent to Matt Hilton.