lv99 bitch/speculation/etc thread

[BardonGaruda]

A lot of people bitching should just quit, for you never enjoyed FFXI for good a while now. >.>

This is like "The Last Hurrah" for FFXI anyways; many people that I see posting in this thread have already signed themselves over to FFXIV. Why not enjoy an explosion of updates no one even thought of happening? I know maybe like 0-3 people on the entire BG forums saw the level 99 cap coming (or any lvl cap increase for that matter).

MMO Gamers these days.

I think it's brilliant, it's been a long time since a Vanafest or update notes rated more then a meh to a lot of ppl. It's stirred up a lot of interest in the game again and for the number of ppl who will actually quit because of this (rather than just bitch about it) there seems to be just as many ppl wanting to come back to see what it will be like.

[finalwolf]

have fun leveling your fellowship npc to 99 (when those quests will follow up sometime in the future)

[Rowe]

I would suspect a more reliable augmentation system would negate a lot of the complaints of raising the lvl cap. I hate to say it but a socket/ruin type system should be in every MMO now-a-days.

Players with their relics and God's gear that can then customize that gear would be happy I would think.

I haven't played since July and before that have been on and off playing-wise for a couple years. Lvl cap to 99 is not something I would ever have thought they'd do. I'm totally shocked.

Although this does open up a lot of content to 3 man groups. I think back to FFXI and a lot of the greatness to the game came from the forced cooperation, but in todays market players do want the ability to solo and low-man. If an MMO does not offer solo/low-man content it screws itself.

[Lucavi]

The only thing outside of ballista I ever loved doing in FFXI was Xping/Meriting on drg.

Tempting... very tempting...

[BardonGaruda]

have fun leveling your fellowship npc to 99 (when those quests will follow up sometime in the future)

In that case maybe fellows will finally get more MP than a lvl 20 Galka WHM.

[Spider-Dan]

Man, you know what would be cool? Grinding 12 more levels on subjobs and 24 levels on main jobs! THIS IS AWESOME NEWS!

On a separate note, I'm having a hard time figuring out which mage is going to be most overpowered. Early money is on WHM.

WHM/RDM- Refresh, Convert
WHM/SCH- Hastega, Stoneskinga, Cure5ga, Sleepga, -naga (GG Yagrush)

SCH/WHM- Haste(ga), Afflatus Solace (with Stoneskin on Accession'd Cures)
SCH/RDM- Refresh(ga), Haste(ga), Convert

RDM/SCH- Refreshga, Hastega, SleepIIga
RDM/BLM- Stun

[Mugekuge]

Damm this looks really awesome, gonna have to play again at least just to lvl blm to 99.

[Vodou]

This is clearly an experiment. Level cap increases is something World of Warcraft has been doing with consistency since early 2007, meanwhile reaching subscriber populations in the tens of millions. Final Fantasy XI, on the other hand, hasn't raised the level cap in nearly seven years. Square-Enix, as a developer, has two choices in which to proceed with Final Fantasy XIV in the subsequent years after its release. Though the game won't have levels or experience points, it's clear that some method of grinding will exist, and thus caps will exist. SE has the choice to either present the game with sidegrades for years on end, like FFXI and the never ending relevance of sky and kings, or like WoW, replacing old content with each new level cap.

This is an experiment to visit increased level caps again, only six years after which they established an endgame full of situational gear and sidegrades. I can't say I'm omnipotent enough to know exactly what the experiment is (is it how to keep old content relevant while subsequently expanding the game and levels or is it how players will react to their work being diminished?), nor am I confident enough to say that this is merely an experiment for the sake of their next big MMO. This was their first MMO, after all, and experimentation is part of the game for any developer finding their place within a genre - especially one so grandiose as MMORPGs. It is clear, however, that this is an ideal time for an experiment such as this with two Final Fantasy MMOs soon to be in the same perpetual marketplace.

What's also clear is that forums are going to be filled with meaningless conjecture for the next three to four months.

This is clearly NOT an experiment.

The point of level synching and then adjusting level synched gear was so people could fluidly move from one level capped area to an uncapped or other level capped area without drastic impacts on inventory and gear.

The whole point of adding inventory was to make it plausible to carry more rare/ex items for upgrading.

The whole point of the augment and evolith system was to try out methods of upgrading existing items to make them stronger rather than getting new replacement items.

The whole point of creating more xp areas and raising the speed of gaining xp was to enable people to level more efficiently.

Being able to level synch, to move through capped and uncapped areas easily, to carry extra upgrade r/ex items, to augment and synergize, and to leveling much more efficiently are all PREREQUISITES to raising level caps to 99. Without any one of these, 99 caps would fail.

This is something they have been working on for 2-3 years at least. Unless, of course, you think these are all random unrelated decisions that happen to fortuitously coincide with raising level caps.

[Mizango]

lol

[Egon]

I took the level 99 thing as a sign of people being able to solo more things (faf solo?), and doing bigger things with a smaller party. This game is still loosing members ever so slowly, and since we all know this game is based upon doing things with a group, they are going to have to change that.

With the server mergers in mind, the servers that are left will get a pretty big bump in population and during this time, SE can put the finishing touches on making this game more about solo play, and less about group play. I do not think we'll get an AV type NM, because in a years time, it will be extremely difficult to have a big enough linkshell to take on something so huge. I think there won't be anything over the level of 105.

We are witnessing the end of FFXI and the start of FFXIV. And this is a good thing. I think most people here want something new and fresh. You can almost think of it as when the PS3 was first released, it was backwards compatible with the PS2. But if you were to buy a new one today, it is not. SE wants everyone to stay in FFXI until FFXIV comes out. It will be much cheaper for them to operate one game than 2, when most ppl will only pay for one at a time.

[amentis]

This isn't an experiment. FFXI was hemorrhaging customers. They needed money to develop their new crap, so they're shooting more junk into the vein of the FFXI-player base to enslave them further.
These is a blatant fuck-you to the players, an attempt to bleed as much money as they can.

I don't know about you guys, but I've never not been disappointed with an update by SE. They (sometimes) have good ideas, but they ALWAYS implement them in some fuck-tarded way.

[warbandit]

Amazed nobody touched dynamis and relic question yet

[Yugl]

Speculation remains speculation. I hope people aren't bitching about the outcome without knowing the full extent of said outcome.

That said, some things we can reasonably ascertain are the following:
- There will be a huge influx of players seeking to bum rush 99
- This problem will be exacerbated by the server merge
- The implementation of new LV76-99 items, provided they are better than the current standard, will need to account for the larger player base (i.e. no fucking AH/NM based items please)
- 6-man Dynamis better be instanced

[Lovex]

SMNs got bitchslapped. lol

[BardonGaruda]

Amazed nobody touched dynamis and relic question yet

It was touched in one of the other threads. It's now receiving counselling and child protection services have been called in.

[Saxon]

- 6-man Dynamis better be instanced

Or capped at 75.

[Lucavi]

Nobody plays ballista anymore (sadly), but I can only drool at the prospect at new caps and a new uncapped 99 ballista. That alone would be enough for me to resub, at least for a few months of fun.

This is... really interesting. I'd hoped for a 99 cap back in 05, when I still had faith in the company to continue to tie into the classic FF games, but I didn't expect it 5 years later.

I'm staving off a huge urge to resub and revive the purple people-eater...

[Mizango]

I may have to come back from my 7 month hiatus just to relive the awesomeness that Corsair is. Then again, getting semi-shafted by leaders make me remember why I said "fuck it" in the first place.

This will certainly be interesting to watch unfold.

[ronin sparthos]

This is quite possibly the best shot in the arm SE could have given XI. This game has needed a shakeup for quite a while now.

[SephYuyX]

Not happy about lvl99.