Famitsu/Dengeki: Hands-on w/ α & Future β Plans

[Tulun]

Hmm. I hope they let you respec stats... It's not a bad idea or anything, but I'd hate to relevel a character cause I fucked up my distributions hardcore.

[Elmer the Pointy]

New interview in Dengeki. Covers some alpha stuff and talks about the future of the beta. Added to OP too

Dengeki - Devs Talk Future Beta Plans

[Cantih]

- The alpha only supports Windows, but will the beta phase add support for PS3?

Tanaka: We may not make it in time for phase 1 of the beta, but around phase 2 of the beta we believe we will be able to support PS3.

[Malacite]

Wonder when Phase 1 will start? I'm betting around late May or June (just in time for 80 cap... crafty bastards! ><)


Also boo, really sad I didn't get into the Alpha now since a lot of the major changes will be based on Alhpa feed back...


Well, here's hoping lots of testers bitch about not resting MP lol.

[Syntex]

A few things after reading 5 pages that I want to speculate on.

First off is the Luck stat.

Because we will be allowed to redo our stats, SE is not going to make it a factor that is so important your going to have luck mules respecializing to be utterly useless just to get an increased chance at drops. Most is not all games where luck is a factor on drops is either an un-improvable stat, a single players game, or some backassed game no one plays.

Like others have said I think it will strictly be a crit/proc stat but not TH+1 ect but it MIGHT have a hand in crafting, then again so did direction/weather/moon/day/time/momsmenstrulcycle/senatevotes or atleast thought to have an effect on it.

As for the people saying "Yea I am going to make XXXXX class and put all my stats into XXXXX and be a glass cannon!"

I say go ahead and be completely useless. You know as well as I do that doing that is going to gimp you in other areas and if HP/MP is tied to stat upgrades(I think it is) then your going to die to anything coughing on you and have so little mp you might not have enough mana for more then one spell.

There is a reason why classes don't stack only one stat because you would miss too much ect. Also if there are fights that have AoE and if you cant handle the damage to the point your not a liability then you are not going to be useful.

By no means am I saying everyone is going to be even stats across the board but the balance needs to be found and that sweetspot is where the good players will be.

Also from watching pookypoo's video it seems to me that stats have Diminishing Returns so if you want to go all +STR you will be spending a lot more(think FFXI STR merits) to get one point. Now ask yourself this, "Is 1 more strength worth 7 merits in HP and 10 merits in acc because its 30 points?" I think you all know the answer to that.

Also as to switching jobs I think your stats will reset to whatever you had on that job.

Example, I have Conjurer level 10, all +INT for me, switch to Gladiator level 10 and put all +VIT, now switch back and my Conjurer still has his INT.

Think of it like in WoW where if you switch characters it saves it to what you put it on last time you played it and if you "reset" your points just like a talent tree it resets only that jobs skillpoints.

One thing I thought was nice is maybe SE is abandoning the exp base cap? They killed a low lvl mob and got 9 exp then leveled to lvl 2 and 3? This means that a lvl 50 mob might give 5k exp or something to that effect. very nice news.

If they had lvled to 10 instead of 2 i would just think they had an exp reduction from the kill, but for such a low lvl to get that amount is suggestive

No this is not nice news and I will tell you why.

If they are using or plan to use level sync in any form to assist people with leveling then its going to not work.

The reason why it works in FFXI is that getting 200+ XP per kill on a mob at level 5 is still good XP at level 50 and 75. You make XP scale to match level where level 5's get 100xp a kill and 70's get 5000 and all of a sudden no one will ever level sync to get 2k an hour when they can solo 5k in 2 minutes. If you think about it, the amount of XP per kill never matters because all they will do is change the amount needed to level and in the end its going to be the same amount of time on average to level even if your getting 5xp per mob or 5000.

Also FFXI's system worked because at low levels you could chain to 5, the better and higher you got and faster you were able to keep the chain alive to 150+ and to me worked out.

Long rant I know but I had to say it.

[Kaylia]

I just hope the "point distribution" will be like merit points to some extent. Basically, you can cap out every category, you just have to decide which one you want to cap first.


Something like diablo, or many rpg, often lead to retarded stats distribution (94534543278 agily, 5 str, 5 wis, 5 vit), which is very interesting.

[Kachi]

Would have posted it here instead had I known there was so much discussion about stat allocation in this thread, but here are my thoughts/suggestions:

First of all, not being able to respec is going to run VERY contrary to one of SE's core concepts for the game-- being able to change jobs on the fly, and being able to be proficient on all jobs with one character. This is assuming that by endgame there won't be built-in incentives to not build a well-balanced character (which is still amply possible, but from what little we've seen seems unlikely).

So if it looks like it's going to be a problem, I suggest a simple addition...

Create an item that will remember a certain number of stat allocations and will allow you to respec to any of those allocations (I'm now thinking in passive mode only, though maybe in active mode as one of your actions, or even at any time at all). The item can only be set for specs in certain places, though, such as towns or maybe aetheryte.

This would put some limitations on how you can respec while making it a very easy thing to do in the field. It could potentially be used similarly to gearswaps in XI (though with more limitations and less annoyance), but you wouldn't have so much freedom to respec that you'd be doing it specifically tailored to certain boss fights right before you're about to attempt them.

I'd suggest making them questable from a mid to low-mid level and allowing them to be upgraded/replaced to allow for more spec sets.

Btw, the item is magic, which explains how it works.

Edit to ask WTF is your sig, Cantih?

[Uzor]

Would have posted it here instead had I known there was so much discussion about stat allocation in this thread, but here are my thoughts/suggestions:

First of all, not being able to respec is going to run VERY contrary to one of SE's core concepts for the game-- being able to change jobs on the fly, and being able to be proficient on all jobs with one character. This is assuming that by endgame there won't be built-in incentives to not build a well-balanced character (which is still amply possible, but from what little we've seen seems unlikely).

So if it looks like it's going to be a problem, I suggest a simple addition...

Create an item that will remember a certain number of stat allocations and will allow you to respec to any of those allocations (I'm now thinking in passive mode only, though maybe in active mode as one of your actions, or even at any time at all). The item can only be set for specs in certain places, though, such as towns or maybe aetheryte.

This would put some limitations on how you can respec while making it a very easy thing to do in the field. It could potentially be used similarly to gearswaps in XI (though with more limitations and less annoyance), but you wouldn't have so much freedom to respec that you'd be doing it specifically tailored to certain boss fights right before you're about to attempt them.

I'd suggest making them questable from a mid to low-mid level and allowing them to be upgraded/replaced to allow for more spec sets.

Btw, the item is magic, which explains how it works.

Edit to ask WTF is your sig, Cantih?

Again, it is unlikely they will have a shared stat attribution across all classes. IT is extremely illogical when you change from your capped Conjurer with 85 INT to a lvl 1 Gladiator you would start with 85 INT.

I highly doubt SE is stupid enough to have it shared across all jobs.

[Rautha]

For all the ppl guessing about point distribution and whine about "i have an INT tank then"

from Elmers Link:

As for character growth, it appears there are Skill Ranks for each Class and Physical Levels for the avatar itself. Physical Levels are where you can freely spend points on different parameters, right?

Komoto: In the alpha, there is a cap on Physical Levels, and you can't redistribute points already spent on parameters just yet. Later on, we want to allow players to reallocate points in case they focus too heavily on a certain attribute and want to adjust that. We also plan to make it so you cannot simply max out every attribute, so players will have to work to find a good balance. For example, you may raise a certain skill in order to play a Warrior-type class. If you later want to go as a Disciple of Magic, you can then reallocate those points into something more beneficial for a magic-user.

nice one!

[Uzor]

Oh, so it is kind of shared among all jobs. Guess I was wrong about that, and it sounds rather stupid of SE to do that. It would only be beneficial to change class on-the-spot amongs jobs of the same disciple then I guess

[Kachi]

Hence my suggestion.

Though someone else suggested that your skill levels could cap your physical level, and while that hasn't been shown yet, it's possible that no one has reached a physical level cap under their current skill level cap. It's a potential solution (that would also work reasonably well with my suggestion).

[Rustyhagun]

I just noticed, looking at the stat sheet, that the "physical" has its own section on the sheet. So, maybe that is what stays the same, but the "status", "magical" and "elements" are what stay remembered you change classes. So those stat builds are recorded for each class switch. and when you want to re-allocate points its only for the physical section of that stat sheet.

[eunhye]

Will 14 offer in-game voice support?

[ringthree]

Will 14 offer in-game voice support?

At first they said they wanted it but didn't know if it would be possible, then they said they wanted it and were going to try to do it but didn't know if it would be possible.

If it's as bad as Blizzard's in-game chat, then I am not canceling my vent account yet.

[Purrrfect]

New interview in Dengeki. Covers some alpha stuff and talks about the future of the beta. Added to OP too

Dengeki - Devs Talk Future Beta Plans

Sounded to me like from alpha>beta1 they are going to try getting the infrastructure stabilized and tweaked, and then going into beta2 they will implement the prior feedback on the game. Hopefully that means for beta1 they will be looking to put some more strain by allowing more testers.

[eunhye]

Can't wait. Why SE why have you caught me again? I fall for your trap every single time.

[Syntex]

Another thing I want to know is how switching weapons will work exactly..

I as a RDM would play with my sword and dagger a bit in FFXI but if I did that in 14 I would switch jobs?

How does that work for classes like warrior who could use every weapon or DRK who could use GS like paladin? If you can only use THAT jobs weapons it will make it very forced to how you play that class.

I liked that as RDM I can use several different weapons, same for the other jobs I played even if it was just for solo but it was fun.

[solracht]

Another thing I want to know is how switching weapons will work exactly..

I as a RDM would play with my sword and dagger a bit in FFXI but if I did that in 14 I would switch jobs?

How does that work for classes like warrior who could use every weapon or DRK who could use GS like paladin? If you can only use THAT jobs weapons it will make it very forced to how you play that class.

I liked that as RDM I can use several different weapons, same for the other jobs I played even if it was just for solo but it was fun.

You can look at it in two ways:

1. There are no classes or jobs, merely weapons that teach your character skills as you level with them. Some skills will be exclusive to be used with certain weapons, others will not be.

or

2. The classes are tied to the weapon. If you switch weapons, you switch class, which means there's only one class per weapon. You can transfer some abilities between classes.



Same thing with different words. I think there would be less confusion if we did what they adviced us to do in the first interviews, which is to stop thinking of XIV having classes. For a while they've just been using those terms themselves, though, but it doesn't seem like the original ideas were dropped:

Komoto: If we can, we want to allow players to use skills from other Classes on their current one. However, there are many things to test out regarding this, such as how the effects of skills will be weakened when used with other Classes. For example, maybe a certain combination of skills doesn't work well together, or perhaps another combination is too powerful -- we want to maintain game balance as we go forward. There will, of course, also be some skills that we simply won't allow to be attached to other Classes. At this stage, we are still looking to see how things work, so feel free to try out any combinations you wish.

[BRP]

From adriasang (good site, btw)

The alpha test will take place in just one world. The world is named "Shadowlord."

If servers in FFXIV are named after FFXI characters I am going to ejaculate thunderstorms.

[Omniyoji]

lol sounds painful

Thanks for the site