August 23rd Interview

[Jeryhn]

I want more reasons to use retarded subjobs. mnk/rdm reason can I have it?

Enspell on Hundred Fists is uberleetsauce.
And if you got Hollow Earring, may God have mercy on the souls of your enemies.

lol

[Demosthenes]

lawl. I also want my whips for BST and drums for BRD!

[Jeryhn]

lawl. I also want my whips for BST and drums for BRD!

Simply ask, and ye shall receive.

[Confucion]

I've been saying this for quite a while. The reall problem with the Zilart Kings is that there is no progression. WHy kill other HNM when the bulk of the best gear is three years old. Yes make new HNM hard but make it drop gear that allows you to proceed to the next tier as an LS. Make it so that the Kings have decent drop rates and then move on to the harder set of mobs and so on and so on.

To me that seems to be the real problem with FFXI is that the Dev team will not get over fucking Zilart Kings and gear. Is it great stuff, yeah. But god damn add better stuff and harded mobs people want a challenge but not something as fucking retarted as AV. God damn SE pull you head out of your tubgirl's ass and get with the program.

Meh, therein lies the problem. Two expansions later Nidhogg drops are still the most amazing gear in the game by most standards (even AV's drops are arguably unimportant). The fact that they're so good and can have a drastic effect on the player they are owned by is a problem to the dev team. Basically, if you make the gear stronger, the game will begin to become unbalanced.

So what's easier- make new armor that unbalances the entire game and causes many changes to fix, or put out armor that only looks good until you find out what the latent is?

If they tier'd the game properly it wouldn't unbalance it. Imagine a world in a far away place, where people on A Level are equipped to handle A Level HNM and A Level XP spots ( we'll call this Zilart ), now imagine this perfect world where B Level Players are so fucking raging decked from A Level, that they move onto B Level, where they have XP spots that pander more to them and less people XP as they are A Level and suck teh unowrthy cock of suckiness, and B Level People fight Harder HNM and instances because they are making fuck like berserker ( call this CoP ).

Now imagine the finale in this trilogy where people obtain DUN DUN DUN ----- C LEVEL STATUS. These ultimate gaming warriors are so fucking intense that the next expansion to come they jump right into it. XP Spots for their turkey baster goodness gear, and HNM and instances made only for the ELITE GAMERS who have red bull IV's going straight into their asses, but not before going through the FFXI Brady Guide to solidify their complete ownage of the internet.

Simply put, SE could have fixed the problem a long time ago by making zones, instances, and HNM that cater to each higher tier of endgame, instead of trying to making everything accessible to everyone no matter where they are in the game. That's where they fucked up. And that's where they will continue to fuck up. The business model for FFXI is to please everyone across the board, and since we all know endgame, anytime one person is superduperomfgpsyched about one thing, someone is /bladetrinity about it on the other end of the spectrum.

The funniest part is, every time there's an interview, since from like 3 years ago of end game interviews, the same idea of questions are asked, basically why is endgame still broken, they give some BS answer and throw out shit that sounds cool but doesn't do anything for us. Like, for example, when it was CoP and we asked they were like "NEW DYNAMIS AND MERITS LOL", when ToAU was about to come out it was "BLU PUP AND COR LOL", this time around it's "CHOCOBO BREEDING AND RACING LOL". And the best part is, 3 years later we still avidly wait, holding our breaths each update for the punchline.

I think Japan is sending mind control waves through this game so we buy more rice and KeroKeroKeropi products. YOU'VE BEEN ZAPPED!

[Gasgul]

He didn't argue for either side,.

so you also belive ffxi 's aim shouldnt be a successful mmo?

i think you missed the intent,

people were arguing over why raising the cap would destroy current game mechanics which i have not disregarded, i concur, hence i have suggested an alternate,

rather than lvl capped areas having level uncapped areas,

whether SE should work on what is broken rather than instegating new content again is beating a dead horse, personally i would be happy for them to not realease any new content bar fixing what is currently in place, but that wasnt the question that was asked,
=)

im passed end game concerns ive done it, and passed the point where i consider it a worthwhile past time, i believe hnmls's are destructive and more and more i am bemused by peoples stand on the subject, go read the paragrath again, its quite funny,

[Toth]

They should add Solo or Small-Group style fights with unique rewards that improve your job. As much as people whine about the ENM60 Puppet Attachments, it's a great way to weed out the weak and give dedicated/skilled players a chance to make themselves better than everyone else.

What a dumb statement there. Seriously. So you are saying all the PUPs who fail it or get no drops are weak? You haven't even tried it to know how cheap it was so please, don't chime in with statements like that. It makes you look ignorant. Plus, how can skill come into play on such ENMs that are based HUGELY on luck. Get off your high horse.

[Jeryhn]

people were arguing over why raising the cap would destroy current game mechanics which i have not disregarded, i concur, hence i have suggested an alternate,

rather than lvl capped areas having level uncapped areas,

You said earlier that you did not consider leveling another job to 75 was not your idea of fun.

Leveling a job past 75 would be?
And only being able to do it in very specific "uncapped" areas, which will obviously be packed because the area space will be limited, but the influx of players will not be.

Seems like you're just perpetuating the problem to me.

[Sonomaa]

xavier said it best last time we were flagging assaults
give us an assault area we pay for that gives us a 1:30 hour limit thats covered in mobs, we merit there for an hour and a half then time is up

its instanced, its exp, so the players who hate the fact that thickets SHOULD NOT BE NINE FUCKING PTS FULL (have some common decency folks)

back when we first found thickets we saw that it could support, for decent exp, a grand total of 3 partys. add more to that and its all fucked up. giving an assault area that you can get exp from would really make life grand, especially if you have to be tier5 assaults to get it

[Gasgul]

people were arguing over why raising the cap would destroy current game mechanics which i have not disregarded, i concur, hence i have suggested an alternate,

rather than lvl capped areas having level uncapped areas,

You said earlier that you did not consider leveling another job to 75 was not your idea of fun.

Leveling a job past 75 would be?
And only being able to do it in very specific "uncapped" areas, which will obviously be packed because the area space will be limited, but the influx of players will not be.

Seems like you're just perpetuating the problem to me.

for the purpose of only having it at 75, no i dont consider that something i would find enjoyable,

but further, ? that could depend on what is added,

^^

[BRP]

Ask them if they plan(or demand they do) to add items to the Assault reward pools. Hopefully rare/ex and require higher ranking.

Also... (less in demand, since they are not in Al Zahbi, SE's heaven apparently)

Add adjust the exp rewards for (uncap) PvP(major please here), (+50) ENM, and (Escort, Eco-Warrior, ect) some quests so that they can compare more to an exp party of at least an half-hour. (PS. If needed, nerf the solo tactics of RDM and BLM within in these so it requires a group of at least 3). 4000 exp for ENMs ect.

Add more ways for crafters(fishermen too...) to get rid of their results, hopefully in an exchange of rare/ex synth items. Of course don't over do it and screw over Chocobo Diggers/Miners/Harvesters(they exist?)/Loggers/BCNMers/ENMers/HNMers. Trade 50 Errant Slops, get rare/ex synth(bait?) that is hard to come by, ???, profit.

Add rewards to all caps of Garrison and Expeditionary Force. Make them bother matter(new thing to Garrison), a lot(new thing to expeditionary force), in Conquest.

It seems SE had in mind that players 10-60 would make Conquest based Linkshells and that would be their 'training' for the end-game or something, but no one does it, they once did, I loved being in Windurst conquest based LS battling for areas against Bastok and San d'Oria LSes, but it just doesn't happen anymore. You need to lore people with rewards, both short-term(something nicer than a Spike Necklace, hey alternative way to get O-kotes and other various GS camped items) and long term(Conquest Points can buy me latent refresh too?! Also, an exp bonus system not unlike ToAU, but the more I work for my country the higher it gets!).

Small stuff like... a quest in uleguerand range(CoP lawl?) where you have to talk to a guy at the bottom of the mountain, then climb it and drop into a hole. Then you can warp to the first cave... then do it again, but a different hole, then you can warp to the second cave... then again, different hole, third cave... get it? So you climb and slide the hell out of the mountain and you can now warp to the exp camp on Uleguerand Range at will, also the ENM becomes a lot easier to do(well, not easier than dying, tractor, and raising, but at least you are doing the sliding part now).

The list goes on, and don't need to ask things like that... but I say print the original thread about the interview(as huge as it is) and maybe several other threads. Give them posts directly some their (smart and non-clothcrafter 66) player base and maybe, if they read it, we will have a better game.

However, this is important, ask this:

What happened to Fellowship? Is it done? No more level cap raising? No adding additional tactical upgrades? Do you ever plan to level them(or any AI, like Automatrons) cure party members? Are you simply going to abandon the project? (yes, you find a way to fit that all in one question! ;o)


Something else I think is impor

[Confucion]

It's easy to MPK in Thickets. Just head there and start owning mobs and then, when every pt's puller is just grabbing anything that goes unclaimed, stop fighting for about 10 minutes. Next thing you know some dumbass bard from 3 parties has 5 mobs slept and pulled a Skoffin, 3 pt's wipe, more xp for you ^^b

[Gamutstreet]

back when we first found thickets we saw that it could support, for decent exp, a grand total of 3 partys. add more to that and its all fucked up. giving an assault area that you can get exp from would really make life grand, especially if you have to be tier5 assaults to get it

The Thickets with only 3 parties must have been the first night ToA was open.

[Jeryhn]

It's easy to MPK in Thickets. Just head there and start owning mobs and then, when every pt's puller is just grabbing anything that goes unclaimed, stop fighting for about 10 minutes. Next thing you know some dumbass bard from 3 parties has 5 mobs slept and pulled a Skoffin, 3 pt's wipe, more xp for you ^^b

This actually does work. I do it all the time.

[Chupunpupun]

back when we first found thickets we saw that it could support, for decent exp, a grand total of 3 partys. add more to that and its all fucked up. giving an assault area that you can get exp from would really make life grand, especially if you have to be tier5 assaults to get it

The Thickets with only 3 parties must have been the first night ToA was open.

I was in Thicket with one other PT in it. How? Astral Candescence was lost an hour ago and no one wanted to walk there

[Aodh]

xavier said it best last time we were flagging assaults
give us an assault area we pay for that gives us a 1:30 hour limit thats covered in mobs, we merit there for an hour and a half then time is up

its instanced, its exp, so the players who hate the fact that thickets SHOULD NOT BE NINE FUCKING PTS FULL (have some common decency folks)

back when we first found thickets we saw that it could support, for decent exp, a grand total of 3 partys. add more to that and its all fucked up. giving an assault area that you can get exp from would really make life grand, especially if you have to be tier5 assaults to get it

Like Dynamis I would imaging that there would be a server issue if all of a sudden all the merit parties were to go into EXP assaults. Although this would be very nice not to have to fight with parties on claiming mobs to EXP on, it's probably not technically possible.

A simple solution and a relitivly quick fix is to do what they did in Bibiki Bay and increase the area which are higher level mobs. Make more of Mire and more area's in thickets have the EXP mobs so they can handle more parties.

I'd like to ask them how they plan to scale existing end-game content to the new number of Lv75 players that exist. For example the changes made to Ullikummi over the last few years have seemed to try to make Sky less active, when there is more and more competition actually farming Gods. Sky gods and the land kings are the only NMs which drop Abjurations, and with more and more Lv75 active players the competition for these items hasn't been scaled to match the playerbase. Rare is one thing, 120+ people in the pit at Dragon's Aery for 3 hours is stupid. (Note: Scaling existing content and adding new content are different things. Just because Hydra was added will have no effect on the number of people who are after Ullikummi)

Sea's drop-rates and pop conditions are more discouraging where it takes hours upon hours to pop some NMs and then the next level NM isn't a guarenteed drop either. Are there plans to make Sea farming a little more friendly to the people who are activly trying to farm.

/off to lunch

[BRP]

Also, fuck level cap raise. Raise merit caps. Put in a Genkei quest if needed.

[Sonomaa]

back when we first found thickets we saw that it could support, for decent exp, a grand total of 3 partys. add more to that and its all fucked up. giving an assault area that you can get exp from would really make life grand, especially if you have to be tier5 assaults to get it

The Thickets with only 3 parties must have been the first night ToA was open.

we owned the thickets for about two or so weeks, only had to compete with other BG partys. Daahan speed pulling to bring us puks, chains went to 100+, ridills and ebodys gave 400+. Alleya, Janice, myself, and Daahan, the four of us, got chain 47.
Life was good.
Then Mifaco came and ruined it all.

[Banstick]

Will Banned Players ever be given a chance to come back, Or even get actual info of specifically why they were banned?

[Lordender]

i don't even understand what good these interviews are considering SE dodges every question that they should seriously be answering. Issues like why does hydra suck, Gilsellers in general, why hasent there been anything better than 3 kings lootwise its just going to be typical dodge ball from SE time and again.

[Shadida]

Here are questions I would ask:

1. Is there anything in the works to restore balance to the Conquest system? Now that so many Level 70+ groups, and even many groups below that, have abandoned the Conquest-influenced areas, it seems as though Conquest Point items are harder to earn than ever before, and several areas (such as Tavnazia Archipelago) are now consistently falling under Beastman control thanks to neglect.

2. Can SquareEnix do anything about the congestion in Dynamis areas? My linkshell offers a Dynamis scheduling calendar on our website, and at least 10 different linkshells post there to prevent conflicts, but with that many different groups entering in the same day, and several still unaccounted for and starting new every week, it is almost impossible to keep order. Has there been any discussion about offering some in-game way of mediating conflicts, similar to the reservation system used for Diorama Abdhaljs?

3. It is obvious that the majority of FFXI players today are level 75 and engaged in many high-level activities, and those who aren't soon will be. If this is the case, then why have the majority of equipment and weapon additions in the recent past been alternatives to commonplace yet expensive or difficult to obtain low-level gear? The "best" gear for nearly all jobs has remained the same since the last Chains of Promathia additions, with the exception of a small few items from Assault and the Walahra Turban. Are future equipment changes going to push the high-level community toward more greatness or will they continue to be second-rate, or focused toward amateur and lower level players?

- Shadida