Dengeki (9/25) Interview Discussion

[Ryuushin]

Have to take into consideration all the other facts we've learned about guildleves. Tanaka has said that higher skill also opens up more guildleves so I don't think it'll involve killing mobs only.

Yes, they say they want guildleve to be the main focus but that doesn't mean FFXIV will only have this as their content..

[Snowflake]

Yep, uhh.. it's an mmo, like you said. They tend to work as you described. Obviously it'll be an 'mmo' clone. Whatever that means.

What exactly were you expecting? That we wouldn't kill mobs? We wouldn't get gil as reward? There'd be no quests?

Interesting.

You missed my point

Every RPG online game i know follow the same rule or focus on one thing: "EXP-Quest". In these games you must do alot quest to get exp and money cuz it's the fastest way to lvl up and this is what i don´t like.
FFXI was the only exception so far. I know FFXIV isn´t just a new FFXI but they shouldn´t copy this Lvl-up-System or w/e you wanna call it.

I don´t know a NPC in FFXI who give you the order: Go ahead and kill a few mobs for me cuz i'm too stupid or too lazy, if you are successful i'll give you some exp and gil. ^^

[Hyan]

Every RPG online game i know follow the same rule or focus on one thing: "EXP-Quest". In these games you must do alot quest to get exp and money cuz it's the fastest way to lvl up and this is what i don´t like.
FFXI was the only exception so far.

Was it an exception, really? Only thing missing about FFXI's leveling part was the fact that you didn't get any extra rewards for killing X amount of mobs... and that feature got implemented later, as well.

I can't figure out a better system for making progress right now. I mean, the guildleve system really doesn't have that many if not at all limiting factors. The devs could do just about anything with it. For the alpha version we saw 2 very basic "kill X mobs" type of leves, but even they had some tricks up to their sleeve. But it's not like it has to end there. They could make leves that resemble the way you leveled up in FFXI for example (if that's what you wanted), only this time you can customize them more to your group's needs.

What exactly was it that you wanted is what I don't understand. Something new obviously, but what could that be? And is it something that this guildleve system couldn't mimic?

[Croy]

The guild leves are starting to remind me of Monster Hunter quests and the Daily Quests of WoW fused together. Monster Hunter quests could be picked out from a selection and you had to 'rank up' to get the better stuff that worked towards whatever your skill was by that time. In WoW there is a max 25 daily quests you can do a day, and it could be any type of quest, but it all came to the same tally of 25 max for the day. However the daily quest limiting factor was because when you hit the EXP cap you got gold instead of EXP and if you could just do an infinite amount of these quests each day, it would make gold value worthless and almost every item on the auction house would be beyond over priced so they had to make a way to moderate the amount of gold that could enter in a single day by a single person through the system.

The guild leve system has been confirmed to give gil as a reward, and possibly items. If you make it so you can do them over and over again (the solo quests) there would be no way to moderate the flow of income and items into the market, and the vast amount of quests they hope to supply with launch and beyond would be minimilized to point of obscurity. Hopefully whatever "Daily Limit" they put in would be something more along the lines of WoW daily quests and not MMM or Assault. If they really want to make it the 'big' thing about the game, they need to make sure people can do far more than one a day at any time.

Having said that they also said the 'orders' for the quests would also vary depending on your skill level and the actual plate you had, from fetch quests, crafting assignments, kill numerous mobs, to even killing an HNM. There is no limit to the amount of variation with the quests they make so although it is a 'similar' system to a lot of MMO's, the fact that you can choose any type of quest you want to do to get your 'growth' is a big improvement since in other MMOs you are fixed to a type of quest in a near linear path. By having choice, you can choose to not participate in those 'fetch' or 'kill certain mob' quests if you want. Plus im absolutely certain since there is roaming mobs and probably crafting material drops from said mobs, there will be a way to skill up any class you wish even if you hit the guild leve limit. Its there for an additional reward for your time spent playing.

[Elmer the Pointy]

The article says there will be an "avatar transfer." What does that mean? Can I still have my Talka in FFXIV, but with modified looks? How much of my FFXI character moves over?

I've seen sites saying you can't transfer a thing, and I've seen sites saying you can even transfer all your ear. 0_o

Where did you read about that? So far they have stated there will be no character transfers, but they are working on a system that will make it possible to retain your preferred name. The most likely option at this time is the addition of surnames, which will allow two people to have the same name, ensuring yours doesn't get taken.

[Elmer the Pointy]

Discussion regarding this article was picking up, so I moved it out into its own thread. Enjoy :D

[Mistress Stowastiq]

You missed my point

Every RPG online game i know follow the same rule or focus on one thing: "EXP-Quest". In these games you must do alot quest to get exp and money cuz it's the fastest way to lvl up and this is what i don´t like.
FFXI was the only exception so far. I know FFXIV isn´t just a new FFXI but they shouldn´t copy this Lvl-up-System or w/e you wanna call it.

I don´t know a NPC in FFXI who give you the order: Go ahead and kill a few mobs for me cuz i'm too stupid or too lazy, if you are successful i'll give you some exp and gil. ^^

They stated that experience points are not the unit that will be upgraded through the game's system of measuring character growth.

Also the leves will vary in difficulty as well as some being possible for multiple people to participate in at once.

[Aevis]

You missed my point

Every RPG online game i know follow the same rule or focus on one thing: "EXP-Quest". In these games you must do alot quest to get exp and money cuz it's the fastest way to lvl up and this is what i don´t like.
FFXI was the only exception so far.

erm, every single asian grinder is exactly like ffxi. the majority of all mmo's out there splitted in either quest'er or grinder or a mix of both. those grind-only games aren't friendly towards casual gamers at all and we now that's where the money is (hi2u nintendo).

[Croy]

Discussion regarding this article was picking up, so I moved it out into its own thread. Enjoy :D

Appreciated didn't want to make your thread mucked up when the eventual back and forth discussion starts happening (in fact it looks like it might have already).

[Kaylia]

It just sounds like it's going to be extremely limiting when you first start the game or whenever they add new content. It's like the quests in FFXI that have the "wait until JP midnight" stuff. No one is a fan of that.

Also, the whole crafters hanging in town to repair items for people sounds like it's going to be Lower Jeuno circa 2004.

You should compare them to WoW's daily instances, or area like salvage/assault instead. If they do it right, doing guildleves will be rather painless (no seeking for hours), and it's where you will get the best progress for your characters. I'm sure there will be content if you want to play the whole days, but guildleve is what you will want to do as soon as you log to not let them "rot".

[wiggly]

I too am not a fan of the current trend in mmo's like Wow and Aion. Character progression in those games basically consists of:
1. Go to town hub get quests.
2. Kill 10 rats, collect 5 crystals etc.
3. Turn in quests get exp and gil.
4. Get new quest for the next town hub at the next zone.
5. Rinse and repeat.

All of this is done solo and is mind-numbingly boring to stomach from level 1-max. Can anyone honestly tell me they enjoyed leveling/grinding in Wow. No, you just do it to get to the max level as fast as possible. The one thing that took the monotony out of this system were all the instances on your way up to max level.

The thing I always took for granted about ffxi was that you progressed your character with other people. I hated it back then because of the exp party/camp grind, but the saving grace was the group of people you were playing with. If FFIV can combine group play with an engaging and fun character progression system (Guildleves being some system that combines solo play/group play/instances/and more?), I will have found an mmo worth playing.

[Katlan]

A lot of focus is on guild leaves w/look to be a semi-instances quest system, but don't forget the game is also supposed to have grp lving akin to what is seen in XI. And isn't grp xping supposed to be faster then guild leaves xp (if u don't have a fail grp)?

[Kaylia]

I too am not a fan of the current trend in mmo's like Wow and Aion. Character progression in those games basically consists of:
1. Go to town hub get quests.
2. Kill 10 rats, collect 5 crystals etc.
3. Turn in quests get exp and gil.
4. Get new quest for the next town hub at the next zone.
5. Rinse and repeat.

All of this is done solo and is mind-numbingly boring to stomach from level 1-max. Can anyone honestly tell me they enjoyed leveling/grinding in Wow. No, you just do it to get to the max level as fast as possible. The one thing that took the monotony out of this system were all the instances on your way up to max level.

The thing I always took for granted about ffxi was that you progressed your character with other people. I hated it back then because of the exp party/camp grind, but the saving grace was the group of people you were playing with. If FFIV can combine group play with an engaging and fun character progression system (Guildleves being some system that combines solo play/group play/instances/and more?), I will have found an mmo worth playing.

Between this and having to grind on 300 crabs, with 5 people, I would rather take the easy and mindless quest grindings. At least, it wont eat as much time in the end.


Like you said, I really hope they will have a dungeon system. Running 30 minutes dungeon to get xp is hundred time better than any other methods. It feels more like a game than any other kind of grinding.

[Celeras]

You guys are all missing the important part.

As long as there are no exclamation points on peoples heads, it'll be fine. No FF logos, either ;p I hate that shit.

[Stilzkin]

You guys are all missing the important part.

As long as there are no exclamation points on peoples heads, it'll be fine. No FF logos, either ;p I hate that shit.

what are you talking about?

I'm guessing they'll encourage partying by giving more exp in guildleves when there's more people.

[Hyan]

They said that you'll get more 'skill' for your weapon when you help other people with their guildleves.. plus the fact that to if you want to do more than few leves a day you need to help other people with their leves, should be enough incentive for the game to still be grouping friendly and not a simple solofest aka any other MMO out there..

I'm pretty sure you can level up without doing guildleves at all though, so I doubt the grouping aspect is as forced as it was in XI. However it'll ultimately be the faster method (and probably more fun too).

[Malacite]

So in summary;

QQ




Seriously what's with all the bitching? So they've simplified and streamlined the leveling system in XIV through guildleve. They've also set it up so that (as others have stated) the devs can basically do whatever the hell they want when it comes to adding new content.

This is a godsend. I don't know about you, but there's only so many different ways I can grind flamingos until I can't stand the sight of them anymore. They're being really creative about is as well;

Take the Gamescon example with the Dodos. You had to kill X amount of them to make the Puks spawn, which are promptly marked on your map (THANK YOU FOR THIS BTW SE!) which are the real targets of that particular leve. AAAAAND you even get a nice little warp when you finish to expedite your return for the rewards. Or do you enjoy running halfway across the globe to do a quest only to take just as long getting back?

And for crafters there are leves that don't even involve fighting! You can even mix cards for different mission variables... this is hardly repeating the same stupid fetch quest 10 billion times. The more I look at it, XIV is looking like a true online Dungeons & Dragons setting where the player is also the DM.

[arus2001]

Nothing ruined my day in XI more than trying to get a party together, proceeding to head out to whatever, only to find out someone was a total failboat at their critical role and the group either getting nowhere or even losing progress. So I really like having the option to solo when I don't feel like risking such a thing, or maybe just playing between checking on dinner, doing laundry, or even walking the dog. I'm sure we all hated grouping with the perpetual AFKers, too.

Even in groups, conversation seems to die the higher you climb up the efficiency scale. That BRD won't be chatting when he's constantly moving to pull a bird, the healer may be doing their haste cycle when suddenly it's "ohshitcure!" time when you get Rushing Drub'd for 1k+, and you'll probably find melees reading websites between WS. The days of fun chatter really went to shit when Chain 5 started becoming a gimp party and I've found I couldn't always rely on my LS being active when playing or even having some broad topic people could get into.

[Battlecat]

I believe group grinding was already said to still be a viable form of skilling up in an earlier interview. At the very least they said there would be multiple ways to go about it... CBA to actually dig through the older interviews and find it.

[Malacite]

Nothing ruined my day in XI more than trying to get a party together, proceeding to head out to whatever, only to find out someone was a total failboat at their critical role and the group either getting nowhere or even losing progress. So I really like having the option to solo when I don't feel like risking such a thing, or maybe just playing between checking on dinner, doing laundry, or even walking the dog. I'm sure we all hated grouping with the perpetual AFKers, too.

Even in groups, conversation seems to die the higher you climb up the efficiency scale. That BRD won't be chatting when he's constantly moving to pull a bird, the healer may be doing their haste cycle when suddenly it's "ohshitcure!" time when you get Rushing Drub'd for 1k+, and you'll probably find melees reading websites between WS. The days of fun chatter really went to shit when Chain 5 started becoming a gimp party and I've found I couldn't always rely on my LS being active when playing or even having some broad topic people could get into.

Couldn't agree more.

1) With this new system, even if said person is gimp, there's nothing stoping you from kicking said idiot and having someone else switch their class to fill the missing role if there's an abundance of other roles (DDs lol)

2) XI is an online game, with a heavy focus on party play and making friends. And yet the way the game is now, as you said it's pretty much impossible to chat in a merit pt. But even in the lower levels now & events, either no one wants to strike up a fun convo or are overly serious about what you're doing;

Jesus Christ it is not that hard to multi-task, participating in an event and holding up a conversation @ the same time.