Another Crack at the Dev Team

[Myrrial]

Maybe I'm just overly negative but I don't see how the digital currency being so valueable is a good thing. If my EQ or WoW characters had been completely stripped of their gear and money I would be angry but recovery wouldn't be horrific.

It would however, utterly destroy FFXI for me. I've been struggling for something like a year now--no joke--in using my free time to gather up enough of this damned money to develop Morrigan's Robe and if my savings thus far were to simply vanish the game would immediately be dead to me.

1. Maybe? LOL

2. This is the reason that WoW and EQ are not good games, and that FFXI is good. Most of the people that play FFXI do so because it is a challenge. In WoW and EQ there is comparatively far less challenge obtaining gear, and thus the need for constant obsolescence of old gear. Your statements beg the question of quality.

3. You are conflating game design and game security. Getting hacked has nothing to do with how hard or easy it is to get gear.

Okay. I'm a -very- negative person. This much is true.

As far as EQ and WoW go, thats a matter of opinion. I will totally agree that EQ became a terrible, terrible thing after about 2003; which is exactly why I joined FFXI in the first place. My game of choice became a terrible, twisted and pathetic husk of what it had been in its prime.

The "challenge" of getting FFXI gear isn't in beating the monsters. Its beating the terrible system(s) in place. If you call ganking Kirin in a minute and forty nine seconds a challenge then we define challenge differently. Yes, the fight was amazingly well organized but it was still a total joke. Do you think Salvage is challenging when we go and kill the same NMs for the third time in a week? Whats the hard part? Getting a 35 to drop? Thats not hard. Its just random. I play FFXI almost purely because I love the community and I love my friends on Odin. I do -not- play it for the gameplay.

My WoW account is currently deactive but I have the exact opposite situation there. I can't find a single living being on Gorgonnash worth holding a conversation with; which is why I can't play the game for a long period of time. But damn if the raid encounters aren't exciting to tank. And damn do I feel theres a challenge in my face when fighting with other players who are geared better than I am. Holy crap. Arena combat provides a challenge -and- gives rewarding equipment.

Also, I stand by my point that the incredible time investments that make up gearing yourself in FFXI make it a far, far less friendly environment to get hacked and lose everything in. If Myrr lost everything I would -never- spend a year in Salvage or Dynamis respectively getting my Usukane or Duelist armors back. If my WoW Paladin lost everything I could spend about two weeks getting back up on my feet.

[chi]

4. When talking about drop rates bring a 100-sided die and roll that shit saying "come on baby, daddie needs (insert your fav hnm/salvage/dynamis drop) and when the die doesn't land on 100 start cussing out loud and kicking chairs across the room.

I'd like to duo Arrapago Remnants with an SE Dev playing THF. And then kick him in the balls and make him go burn Assault tags with me when QQTH doesn't drop the Macha's Coat. So that hopefully he'll understand thats effectively what they make me deal with.

Sure, I don't generally get kicked in the crotch during my Arrapago runs. But I figure thats a decent simulation of a year of no Macha's Coat.

I'd like to implement some sort of shock collar system for the dev team. Every time someone kills a QQ TH and doesn't get the drop, someone falls over on the floor trying to pry the collar off as it just keeps shocking them. I think that would accurately describe how much of the fanbase feels about salvage right now.

Bonus if they have to pay $15 monthly for usage of their collars.

Also campaign is terrible. Just let us keep our medals, I swear we'll keep paying for the game. <_>

[Hyan]

At least you get 4 chances instead of the 1 chance for Hikazu hara-ate ;;

[chi]

At least you get 4 chances instead of the 1 chance for Hikazu hara-ate ;;

I've seen 4~5 of those drop.

Like 6 35 ares body.

0/fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck on Morrigan's.

[BRP]

I know Wafik was joking, it would be beautiful if you could express how poorly designed camping is.

Is it really going to be an interview with the dev team? Not the producer, asian lady, and Sundi?

Anyway, here are my 2 cents:

I think interviews need to start become more creator centric, especially if it's one with the dev team.

Rather than asking(or suggesting rather) "Kings are a drag, etc etc", I'd ask "Have you ever experienced and tested camping? Hours of waiting in a room?". Would they really playtest that rather than monster's difficulty and potential glitches? This could be why the whole system is so terrible yet stubborn. With this line of thought you can try to see what the hell they are thinking, if they even know. How many times do you plan players to repeat the same thing? Equipment that could never be used? Why introduce gameplay elements that later are entirely abandoned? The list goes on. And rather than straight forward questions like that you can ask some trickier ones like "Does switching lead developer effect older expansions' content being ignored?"

Of course telling them how the community feels is still important. I notice we tend to want to suggest changes, but in the end they won't listen to us. The best approach would just to tell them what works and what doesn't as bluntly as possible. Target changes they did and simply say "The community feels this isn't enough", "This has changed little or nothing", "This was good, but then you changed it", "No one wants to do that", "This worked best". To put it in specific examples: "Not as many people don't want to kill new big monsters you try to introduce, have you ever thought why?"

[Meian]

My question

WHY the hell is KC the only item that is no longer ALL JOBS and demand to make it ALL JOBS again?!

[Xno Kappa]

My question

WHY the hell is KC the only item that is no longer ALL JOBS and demand to make it ALL JOBS again?!

yarly, wtf was the logic behind this?

[drwaffles]

At least you get 4 chances instead of the 1 chance for Hikazu hara-ate ;;

I've seen 4~5 of those drop.

Like 6 35 ares body.

0/fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck on Morrigan's.

Oh, so you've not seen the item you personally want to see but you've seen a comparative fuck-ton of another item (hara-ate) that other groups would kill to have a chance at? Stop whining for fuck's sake, every group has bad luck with some things and good luck with others.

As for whining about Kings being so poorly designed, you have to consider the fact that when they were first implemented SE did not intend for them to be "camped" as they are now. We weren't even supposed to know how Kings spawned. Although I do agree that as things stand right now the system should be altered.

[Xno Kappa]

At least you get 4 chances instead of the 1 chance for Hikazu hara-ate ;;

I've seen 4~5 of those drop.

Like 6 35 ares body.

0/fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck on Morrigan's.

Oh, so you've not seen the item you personally want to see but you've seen a comparative fuck-ton of another item (hara-ate) that other groups would kill to have a chance at? Stop whining for fuck's sake, every group has bad luck with some things and good luck with others.

As for whining about Kings being so poorly designed, you have to consider the fact that when they were first implemented SE did not intend for them to be "camped" as they are now. We weren't even supposed to know how Kings spawned. Although I do agree that as things stand right now the system should be altered.

I don't know, I think it was pretty short-sighted on SE's part to think players wouldn't realize a pattern sooner or later.

[evilpaul]

*Post about how HNMs should change target randomly*

This is the single most retarded thing I've heard in quite some time...

actually some mobs do cast on people on their hate pool that isnt their main target. eg an imp casting stun on the healer in your party while its still meleeing the samurai, i know you've all seen it and people thought imps were OMGSMART THEY ARE PLAYED BY GM'S when they were released

Mobs seem to cast debuffs on a person down the hate list a little.

That ghey ass Buffalo Boss in tier 1 Einherjar does the attack people randomly shit. Couldn't say I'm a fan of it.

[drwaffles]

You can't really put all the blame on the game's developers if the players themselves ultimately turned Kings into the hellish piece-of-shit timesink it is now. It might have been short-sighted on their behalf (underestimating players' ability to adapt and make killing KB/Aspid/Nidhogg child's play), but the bottom line is they did not design those mobs with the intention of making players wait around for three hours. Sometimes people seem to forget that completely.

[ronin sparthos]

You can't really put all the blame on the game's developers if the players themselves ultimately turned Kings into the hellish piece-of-shit timesink it is now. It might have been short-sighted on their behalf (underestimating players' ability to adapt and make killing KB/Aspid/Nidhogg child's play), but the bottom line is they did not design those mobs with the intention of making players wait around for three hours. Sometimes people seem to forget that completely.

Is the dev team incapable of evolving? Care to explain if they realized kings was a fucking cesspool, why on earth did the 6 aht kings continue the shitty cycle of 3-5day spawns shared by the previous wyrm incarnations? Why not port out the abjurations to something equally as sinking (99beast/kindreds) and solve the equation then? Why not instance the HNMs and slap a timer on them then? Why not obsolete kings for something less 'competitive' and bot-friendly?

Reason: Because the dev team feels kings is fine the way it is.

The players have no choice when the developers refuse to acknowledge a problem exists for years. They quickly nerf some things, but ironically leave the major problems in place like kings.

If they need inspiration, go look at how other MMOs do endgame.

[chi]

At least you get 4 chances instead of the 1 chance for Hikazu hara-ate ;;

I've seen 4~5 of those drop.

Like 6 35 ares body.

0/fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck on Morrigan's.

Oh, so you've not seen the item you personally want to see but you've seen a comparative fuck-ton of another item (hara-ate) that other groups would kill to have a chance at? Stop whining for fuck's sake, every group has bad luck with some things and good luck with others.

As for whining about Kings being so poorly designed, you have to consider the fact that when they were first implemented SE did not intend for them to be "camped" as they are now. We weren't even supposed to know how Kings spawned. Although I do agree that as things stand right now the system should be altered.

I really don't want to bitch about salvage, other than suggest that such huge discrepancies in what people have seen drop (item vs item) might deserve a look. I do enjoy salvage except when we're farming an area to death for one item that comparatively never drops.

No one was supposed to know the system? The system that everyone figured out in 2003? Holy shit, the 30 minute pop interval thing was common knowledge to NAs by spring 2004. If no one was supposed to figure it out, they could have at least thrown some sort of wrench into the equation besides 21~24 hours and 30 minute intervals. If you're seriously defending SE saying that no one was supposed to figure out their clever plan, then not gangbang mobs that were easy to kill back then and still drop the best gear in the game nearly 5 years later...

HEY, we're making a pop system that revolves around some VERY simple math and time keeping in a game FULL OF ASIAN PEOPLE. THEY'LL NEVER FIGURE IT OUT. Now let's make an NA release, because Americans aren't known to be ambitious people who jump on the endgame.

[Kerberoz]

You can't really put all the blame on the game's developers if the players themselves ultimately turned Kings into the hellish piece-of-shit timesink it is now. It might have been short-sighted on their behalf (underestimating players' ability to adapt and make killing KB/Aspid/Nidhogg child's play), but the bottom line is they did not design those mobs with the intention of making players wait around for three hours. Sometimes people seem to forget that completely.

Sure you can put the blame on them. It's their job to anticipate what the players will do with their game and react to it. They don't make updates and maintain the game for charity...

[Tykkaru]

1. Will Salvage gear ever be available for SCH and DNC?

2. Will you ever considering disable the Play Time button?

3. When will we see that grilled cheese synthesis recipe?

[Maxxthepenguin]

If you want questions asked, post them over there on 1up. We don't want milkman to end up answering "Why was Dia changed from Divine to Enfeebling skill?" "Why is Dragoon unable to equip Haubergeon, while Ninja, normally limited to lighter armors, able to?" and this epic wall of text (read it):

"
1)Increase effectiveness of lower level staff skills (who uses Staff or Great Sword pre 60?) 2)PLEASE INCREASE MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM XP PER MOB relative to level... A Very Tough to 75 should NOT give 70 xp without a chain seriously. 3)PLEASE ADJUST WEAPON SKILL CALCULATIONS... I mean with my gear I can sometimes get 1200+ Sharkbite or Evisceration and with luck even hit 1500+... How ever getting 300-400 with the same gear... Thats just stupid. 4)GIVE XP BOOST TO SMALLER GROUPS - I think it would be cool if you could get a small xp boost for those times when you can't find members and have to go 4 member or 5 member parties. Cause relative to a 6 person party you kill much slower and can't chain as fast so they shouldn't be punished for not having 6 members. 5)Un-nerf Black Mages please? I miss being in an xp party where the black mage would call when to start the skillchain by casting Ancient Magic... That was one of things that made me fall in love with FFXI yet know its pretty much over since solo SC "kills faster" and blms don't even get invited to most merit pts in Aht Urgan areas. I don't play one myself but think its unfair most blms have to solo after 60. 6)Increase success rates for abilities that can miss I'm talking about steal, charm, etc... I mean come on its not like they are exactly the shortest recast in the world where missing a couple of times doesn't matter... But when you have to wait 5 minutes for the next steal, and 10 minutes to mug I would think the rate would be a little bit better... Come on SE atleast a 25% success increase? 7)How about some new weapon types? Flails, Whips, and double weapons come to mind (double sided axe/sword)... With flails you can have new weapon skills, whips can be the first and probably only melee weapon you can attack from further away than most melee. Double sided weapons speak for themselves... That way Warriors, Dark Knights, and other 2 handers can always double attack without having to sub ninja. Get rid of cookie cutter combinations that way. 8)Shield - Considering that Paladins are officially the main tank of the game, shouldn't Shield blocking take way less damage? What I see normally is a hit that would do 120 dmg get reduced to like 102... Is that all a shield offers mighty paladins? How about like 1/2 damage at least since counter and parry takes no damage when active. 9)Monk - I think Monk should get their own version of triple attack when it comes to hand to hand since in every FF where theif and monk were available they were ALWAYS hand in hand with attacks. Plus its not fair that Puppet Masters can almost do as good damage as Monk plus do insane damage with their pups. Also when they use staff and club they should be able to double attack. You ever seen a monk attack one time with a bo staff? I haven't. 10)Last but not least Skill Ratings - How retarded is it that Ninja is the ONLY job that can use Katana and Ninjutsu yet they have an A- rating on both? Are you really serious with that SE? Some ratings are just plain stupid too like why can corsair have a better sword rating than thieves? I mean so many good swords thf can use like Gluttony Sword (dex+7), Ifrits Blade (str+3, atk+10) and Riddil (attacks multiple times) yet thf has a freaking D rating!? Doesn't make much sense... ALSO jobs that don't have the skill to use something shouldn't be allowed to use the weapon... I'm looking at you Kraken Club wearers with an E rating..."

[Ayn]

No one was supposed to know the system? The system that everyone figured out in 2003? Holy shit, the 30 minute pop interval thing was common knowledge to NAs by spring 2004. If no one was supposed to figure it out, they could have at least thrown some sort of wrench into the equation besides 21~24 hours and 30 minute intervals. If you're seriously defending SE saying that no one was supposed to figure out their clever plan, then not gangbang mobs that were easy to kill back then and still drop the best gear in the game nearly 5 years later...

HEY, we're making a pop system that revolves around some VERY simple math and time keeping in a game FULL OF ASIAN PEOPLE. THEY'LL NEVER FIGURE IT OUT. Now let's make an NA release, because Americans aren't known to be ambitious people who jump on the endgame.

Given how short-sighted and ignorant the face of SE seems, I'm actually inclined to believe they didn't expect people to camp it for days on end. I'm not preaching this as fact, but I somehow think their mentality was "Hey, we'll put mobs on a spawn timer NO ONE will want to sit there for hours on end and doing" and simply underestimated the playerbase.

Which they continually appear to do.

Edit:

Shield - Considering that Paladins are officially the main tank of the game, shouldn't Shield blocking take way less damage? What I see normally is a hit that would do 120 dmg get reduced to like 102... Is that all a shield offers mighty paladins? How about like 1/2 damage at least since counter and parry takes no damage when active.

Comparing shield to counter and parry is pretty silly. I'm not absolutely certain, but when you're at 320 skill or so, your shield block rate comes out to.. what? Around 50-60%? (Paladins, I apologize, correct me if I'm wrong here). You can't stack parry skill that high without being ridiculous, nor does it proc very often.

Counter? (Again, someone like Aurik correct me here). Capped with merits is what, 20%? 25% if you use CCs, 30% if you have Spharai? With maybe a bit more from some practical gear. Sure, you can boost it through the roof with counterstance, but when it doesn't activate? You get hit for a ton of damage. *Plus* its subject to mob accuracy checks.

9)Monk - I think Monk should get their own version of triple attack when it comes to hand to hand since in every FF where theif and monk were available they were ALWAYS hand in hand with attacks. Plus its not fair that Puppet Masters can almost do as good damage as Monk plus do insane damage with their pups.

We do have a version of triple attack. It's called Kick Attacks. One punch, two punch, hey kick, there's three.

Also when they use staff and club they should be able to double attack. You ever seen a monk attack one time with a bo staff? I haven't.

Ehh, not sure if I totally agree with that, but I do sympathize with the mentality -- why give us skill ratings in weapons we'll never have a practical use for (aside from.. spirit taker with staff? If you're in an add party? Dunno).

10)Last but not least Skill Ratings - How retarded is it that Ninja is the ONLY job that can use Katana and Ninjutsu yet they have an A- rating on both? Are you really serious with that SE? Some ratings are just plain stupid too like why can corsair have a better sword rating than thieves? I mean so many good swords thf can use like Gluttony Sword (dex+7), Ifrits Blade (str+3, atk+10) and Riddil (attacks multiple times) yet thf has a freaking D rating!? Doesn't make much sense... ALSO jobs that don't have the skill to use something shouldn't be allowed to use the weapon... I'm looking at you Kraken Club wearers with an E rating..."

Won't really argue with the katana thing, since that's kind of weird. Eh, sometimes I wish Thief had a higher sword rating at times, but I'd argue for a better grade in marksmanship before that.

And I believe a Gluttony Sword is VIT +7, right?

Apologies for editing repeatedly, I missed some due to it being a giant wall of text:

5)Un-nerf Black Mages please? I miss being in an xp party where the black mage would call when to start the skillchain by casting Ancient Magic... That was one of things that made me fall in love with FFXI yet know its pretty much over since solo SC "kills faster" and blms don't even get invited to most merit pts in Aht Urgan areas. I don't play one myself but think its unfair most blms have to solo after 60.

BLMs weren't exactly nerfed. Melees just got more powerful, some of the favored mobs to exp on are thin like paper (Collibri anyone?).

The bolded part is one I don't miss. Especially since one of the melees you want a buff to later on (Monk) wouldn't be invited to some parties because they couldn't make distortion. I don't think anyone here misses the retarded mage (as in the retarded one specific to that party, not ALL mages) that loved his/her e-peen/e-badunkadunk damage over Freeze. About the only thing I do miss is deliberately being a jackass and missing SC so the spell wouldn't kill the mob, and the mob would chomp the BLM.

.. But I digress.

Plus its not fair that Puppet Masters can almost do as good damage as Monk plus do insane damage with their pups.

... Wait. What?

[Maxxthepenguin]

lol@taking that paragraph seriously. It is seriously below alla quality.

The point is it's terrible, we need to try to get good questions in.

[SeraphusRagnarok]

Somehow I feel like the Dev's never felt players would record ToD and start to break down respawn conditions. I guess they figured King repop time would be OoOOoOoOoOoooOo mysterious to us, so the whole window/waiting around 3h is completely player based. They probably imagined that when it popped a scout would notice and inform the LS and we'd run there or something. Although I could just be giving SE the benefit of the doubt.

[Ayn]

lol@taking that paragraph seriously. It is seriously below alla quality.

Yeah, I thought it was sarcasm at first, but my faith in people is so low lately I wasn't totally sure. My apologies.