FFXIV Closed Alpha/Beta Discussion (Cancelled for this week)

[Katlan]

Looks like SE is busting their asses now trying to hit that target.

What target? For first Alpha test that went very well... minus logging in/ connectivity issues.

[futan]

Alpha Client update, and April 13th confirmed as next alpha test.

Did they say what was updated specifically?

[Jinko]

I hear users have to download the whole client again as they didn't forsee having a patch function. :O

[Shuichi]

What target? For first Alpha test that went very well... minus logging in/ connectivity issues.

When I said target that was in reference to a target for release.

[Trocian]

I hear users have to download the whole client again as they didn't forsee having a patch function. :O

You need to uninstall the client to update, so I'm guessing you need to redownload everything again, yeah. The update itself isn't available yet, though.

Did they say what was updated specifically?

No.

[Draylo]

It was bound to happen tbh that's like the worst way possible to break the NDA.

[Kayatani]

What do you guys think of making surnames unique, but not first names. So for instance if a person get's the name 'Jack Sparrow' he's able to use the 'Sparrow' name on his other characters, but no-one else can. That way players/friends can see that he plays as the 'Sparrow' characters... if that makes sense... lol

p.s. My understanding as it is now is that both names, seperately, can be ones that have been used before as long as the two names together aren't used.

Nope.

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h5...I/notffxiv.jpg

Unless that was a custom emote (like /em blahblahetc in XI), not sure if you can do those in XIV, this was about a second before the server went down so I didn't get chance to check.

[Jinko]

Yea all 3 of those emotes where in the Pooky stream, there are a ton of them.

[Khamsin]

Doesn't matter because this is not how the game naming system works, but there is a thread for this type of speculation / QQ

It does matter, because our comments now can change how it is implemented in the future. It may not be how naming works currently, but it may very well be how it works by release if we suggest it.

Alpha Client update, and April 13th confirmed as next alpha test.

And also confirmed that the previous installation must be uninstalled. Too bad they can't just use the updater to patch it, even if by "patch" they just replaced the whole thing.

[GRT]

is it just me or does 14 seem to play just like 11? Doesn't seem like there's any big fundemental change in gameplay

[Destinye]

is it just me or does 14 seem to play just like 11? Doesn't seem like there's any big fundemental change in gameplay

FFXIV felt quite a bit different than XI to me. It's just similar enough but still quite different.

[Cayos]

I think it's just you.... what's the same aside from the char models?

[Kya]

I think it's just you.... what's the same aside from the char models?

The battle system isn't to far removed from FF11 (in its current state) I'm sure it'll be fleshed out and come into its own, but there seems to be too much missing. Also I'm a bit surprised that the levelling system has taken this form, it's not really what they suggested in the beginning. Putting points into stats on a level up caught me by surprise.

They originally stated a system that grows depending on how you play like Ultima Online (They even referenced Ultima Online in an early interview). The current system does grow depending on how you play (in weapon levels) but so did FFXI in a way (Weapon Skills). Also how is the system growing depending on how you play when you decided which points go where in the end.

I'm sure this is only around because:

a) People haven't fully grasped the ins and outs of the system yet.
b) Key features are missing, even though they are planned and intended.

[Gwynplaine]

All that really matters to me:

Is there an option to turn voice audio off?
Can you easily deagro most enemies or do they chase you forever like FFXI?

[Kya]

All that really matters to me:

Is there an option to turn voice audio off?
Can you easily deagro most enemies or do they chase you forever like FFXI?

I think we'll have to wait for the Beta before that stuff because they haven't even implemented/activated things like chat filters and console commands.

As for deagro, from Pooky's video it didn't chase for very long at all, but that may just be an alpha thing, because it lost interest ridiculously quick lol. Also, I'm sure a monkey they attacked was more afraid of them (it didn't chase, just defended itself), but I could be mistaken. The video was fairly choppy at the time.

[vrumpt]

The battle system isn't to far removed from FF11 (in its current state) I'm sure it'll be fleshed out and come into its own, but there seems to be too much missing. Also I'm a bit surprised that the levelling system has taken this form, it's not really what they suggested in the beginning. Putting points into stats on a level up caught me by surprise.

They originally stated a system that grows depending on how you play like Ultima Online (They even referenced Ultima Online in an early interview). The current system does grow depending on how you play (in weapon levels) but so did FFXI in a way (Weapon Skills). Also how is the system growing depending on how you play when you decided which points go where in the end.

I'm sure this is only around because:

a) People haven't fully grasped the ins and outs of the system yet.
b) Key features are missing, even though they are planned and intended.

not gonna lie the attribute points system is really really alien to me. I was expecting a different kind of system as well. I think my issue is i'm trying to grasp to concept of physical level and class level, since things i'm hearing contradict each other.

confusion also may lie in presentation. if they say there are no classes at first, and make a system where you can build your character however you please, and after all this still have named classes.... wut?

really a lot of their decisions don't make a ton of sense. The concept of class changing kinda loses its appeal when you need to reallocate stat points to go from caster to melee. even if the cost is minimal, it would be better just to have those points remain constant like in ff11. i don't want to be forced to dump all my points over every time i switch classes. That's like redoing talent points every time i switch specs in wow.

maybe the design will become clearer as testing goes on, but right now the finished painting looks like a big blurry mushy mess.

[Jinko]

As for deagro, from Pooky's video it didn't chase for very long at all, but that may just be an alpha thing, because it lost interest ridiculously quick lol. Also, I'm sure a monkey they attacked was more afraid of them (it didn't chase, just defended itself), but I could be mistaken. The video was fairly choppy at the time.

I think it actually came back and killed him whilst he was fighting the dodo afterwards.

If you look at Raganorok Online they use 2 level systems, one for your base (stats) and one for your job (skills), its basically the same here only different is with FF14 you get to switch your jobs about which kind of breaks the concept a little bit.

All they have to do though is limit the Physical level to that of the Class level and its all good, the stat redistrubution is a different matter though.

[Kya]

if they say there are no classes at first, and make a system where you can build your character however you please, and after all this still have named classes.... wut?

That was the biggest "Sorry, what?" thing they've shown so far. I fully understand that this is an alpha and that it'll probably change so much before release, but still... What is Square's current thought process?

I'm starting to think alpha was just a ploy to make the players come up with/encounter a battle system they like and then they put it into beta. Like they're waiting for someone to fill in the gaps of their own puzzle. The whole Alpha phase is really unorthodox.

[Kya]

I think it actually came back and killed him whilst he was fighting the dodo afterwards.

Oh lol, my mistake.

[Destinye]

not gonna lie the attribute points system is really really alien to me. I was expecting a different kind of system as well. I think my issue is i'm trying to grasp to concept of physical level and class level, since things i'm hearing contradict each other.

Think of Ragnarok Online or Final Fantasy V.

Base Level / Class and Level.

Base (or Physical Level) is something completely different from Class level, but your general stats and whathave you are determined by the base level but class specific skills and etc come from what your class level will be. Whether they go a route like that or not it will be determined down the road, but it does seem like the typical "dual level" setups many MMOs and old RPGs have.