Ballista

[DragonCloud64]

If SE seriously doesn't want to change anything else in Ballista, I'd at least like to see some new zones. Altepa Desert, Jungles, but i'd personally like to see Al Zabhi as a battle zone even.

[GeneJackit]

If SE seriously doesn't want to change anything else in Ballista, I'd at least like to see some new zones. Altepa Desert, Jungles, but i'd personally like to see Al Zabhi as a battle zone even.

Ballista during Besieged FTW!


maybe if SE receives enough e-mails about ballista then maybe they'll change something...I dunno...I dont play any other MMOs, so I dont know what the scene is outside of XI I would imagine some MMOs would have great PvP and people looking for great PvP should probably go there instead of hoping for SE to make some changes...it still is a damn shame though

I still like my duel idea...like knock over someones drink at the S. Sandy Tavern and head outside and throw hands!

[Araelus]

@ the poeple who cry about the penalty for changing equipment:
choosing what equip setup you are going to use is alot of what ballista is about. otherwise people would just swap to full -dmg and defence equipment whenever someone looks at them. Also, when players blink, you lose target, and it's a pain to retarget them; especially if you are trying to kite them etc.

While I understand that Ballista (and Brenner) is a game-within-the-game and thus has different rules to follow and adapt to, part of being skilled at FFXI everywhere else is know what gear to use and how.

I suppose that having to pick one gearset to full-time is simply acquiring a new skill from the perspective of the Ballista rules. But from the perspective of every other event outside those rules keeping one set of gear on all the time is idiocy. To have these mini-games penalize the player for performing the actions we have trained ourselves to do all the time in the wider game itself seems to establish a barrier to entry both in terms of a very steep learning curve and a disincentive to play because the normal styles cannot be used.

So on one hand I have a playstyle that incorporates all the gear I worked hard to get (ostensibly, random-drops aside) and takes into account situational stats for different abilities. On the other hand I have a new playstyle that doesn't let me act in a manner I consider to be peak efficiency. The former style is always active unless I play a mini-game. The latter style only applies to the mini-game. No wonder people avoid Ballista!

There can be great ballisters that suck at every other aspect of the game, and great overall players who suck at ballista (im in the latter group).

Ballista being designed the way it is just doesn't make any sense.

Why would a FFXI player, a FFXI player since 2003, want to play Ballista, with all the equipment swaps causing penalties? That does not make sense! But more importantly, you have to ask yourself: What does Ballista have to do with the rest of FFXI? Nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, it has nothing to do with the rest of FFXI! It does not make sense! Look at me. I'm a Red Mage who carries around 68/70 slots just for gear swaps, and I'm talkin' about a mini-game that does not let me gear swap! Does that make sense? Ladies and gentlemen, I am not making any sense! None of this makes sense! And so you have to remember, when you're in that Mog House deliberatin' and considerin' tonight's LS event, does it make sense to play Ballista? No! Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed FFXI forum, it does not make sense! If a Red Mage plays Ballista, you must play it too! The defense rests.

[Cream Soda]

Can't have your cake and eat it too. I like the gear penalty personally. Can't rly have blms out there in full nuking gear and as soon as anyone gets within 10 feet of them they just swap into a full dmg reduction set. At the same time, you can't have ppl constantly swapping gear so mage jobs have a hard time even targeting another player

[Spliffy]

the gear swapping is awsome imo, everyone here has psoted why already so im not going to bother posting why. but ballista is prob one of the only couple things in FFXI that actually takes skills.. takes no skills to get 14BLM 2BRD 1WHM 1RDM 2PLD to gather in DA and kill a dragon. EXPing all day gets VERY boring also, and why lvl a job and get pimp gear for it and not be able to show it off to its fullest potential?

[Makwa]

idk, 'full potential' for ballista isn't really much. any time i've ever done it(i've had one big run back in 06) it was just a rng, rdm or blm trying to snipe/nuke me and run, doesn't take much skill there.
Although i am partial to 1v1 in diorama though, always fun to go war, and when the opponent tries to run at 200hp, mistral axe >_> or holy if i'm pld.

[Elites]

imo all SE really needs to do to bring ballista somewhat alive is make matches instanced with servers merged into eachother. This could cause discrepancies such as trade and such but those things can easily be turned off while in zone. Fenrir I believe is the only server that still do 60 caps/uncaps every so often.

[Araelus]

imo all SE really needs to do to bring ballista somewhat alive is make matches instanced with servers merged into eachother. This could cause discrepancies such as trade and such but those things can easily be turned off while in zone. Fenrir I believe is the only server that still do 60 caps/uncaps every so often.

That would be really cool. The return of "Ballista Royale" (with cheese) would be another great incentive. Has this been tossed around before, though?

[Damane]

I dont ballist anymore because:

1. Issues of not balanced jobs (aka blu rdm pld)
2. there is no decent reward at all
3. retarded blink penalty.
4. hit and run strategies pritty much killed it for me. run in with flee and out ----> no fun.

[Cream Soda]

lol i don't see how you put blu in the same category as rdm and pld. Blu isn't exactly my easiest opponent, but I can take them down for the most part. And then again, I don't know how you put pld in the same category as rdm. Sure it's a good 1 on 1 job and hard to take down, but that's why you target someone else. Then pld just becomes a minor annoyance, even with atonement. (Considering other DDs just as much, if not more, as well as doing more dmg in the process)

[Ultimagi]

Then you're fighting shitty Blue Mages.

[Cream Soda]

Or I just idle in -25% phy reduction with protect IV from one of my mages on my team with rabbit pie or tav taco + cocoon from /blu and take 200-300 from "The big 3", constantly run in and out of spell range instead of just sitting there like an idiot, and wear resist gear as in arete del sol, which helps a ton with stuff like bind.

[Marcicus]

This is the same retarded argument against a massive EXP reward people spew out. Sorry, but I rather see 40v40 with its lag than not see a single fucking match occur in over seven months as in the case of my server and the majority of servers out there.

I'd rather have my low man matches than being unable to fucking enjoy the game because I can't see anyone loading on my screen, die, and two minutes later I see the logs fly by me saying "Marcicus was defeated by some dirty NA gaijin." Increasing the exp cap to something like 10k would increase the number of people you see at ballista at first, then everyone would be pissed off for the scenario I posted above, and the numbers would dwindle down which would defeat the point of trying to fix ballista in the first place is.

10k per match is the only thing retarded I see here, sorry.

[altwight]

ffxi is not a pvp game. pretty sure that's one of everyone's reason for not doing it.

[Ultimagi]

Or I just idle in -25% phy reduction with protect IV from one of my mages on my team with rabbit pie or tav taco + cocoon from /blu and take 200-300 from "The big 3", constantly run in and out of spell range instead of just sitting there like an idiot, and wear resist gear as in arete del sol, which helps a ton with stuff like bind.

Like I said.

Then you're fighting shitty Blue Mages.

[Marcicus]

No Blue Mage is going to hit harder than that per spell with all that damage reduction and defense he has on, what the fuck are you smoking? That's not a shitty Blue Mage, that's a well-geared and smart Monk.

[Pikarya]

Closest PVP action your going to get for a brief moment in FFXI is when some asshole gets charmed for premeditated gank. Seriously, Ballista is flawed in so many ways and has been since day one.

No wonder they dumped it to the side and never looked back. The whole thing needs a revamp if anything.

[Cream Soda]

Again, I'm not seeing ur point. My point is u can buff your defense up so high that blu spells won't do shit to harm you. And as well all know, attack doesn't have any effect on blu spells, so its not like they can just eat attack food or get minuet or something. I'm not saying the job sucks, far from it. I'm just saying the job isn't broken at all.

[Ultimagi]

You apparently don't know much about Blue Mage's versatility. The "Big 3" bandwagons make me sick.

[Cream Soda]

Yes, I know they are versatile, but that has nothing to do with ppl calling them broken or crying for a blu nerf. Most ppl complain about blu so much because they just go drop ppl so easily with 2-3 spells. Take that away, and they become just another job on the field and not broken in any way shape or form.