FFXIV Random Speculation/Question thread II: Let's Speculate the Speculations

[Katlan]

Good stuff. I'm sure it's just due to the laggy/unstable alpha servers, but the delay after inputting actions is absolutely intolerable.

thats just alpha, its a given it wont be like that well into CB. Though I agree

[outzaidur]

Any suggestions?

Great vid as always!

It feels really good to see that the good old FFXI hasn't been removed from FFXIV yet. You were at full HP and yet you got smashed by a Easy Prey bat! Sure, it did a drain move on you for 37hp but still, epic and exciting combat!

(unlike WoW where easy prey die if you as much as fart close by)

[Jinko]

Even so an easy mob shouldn't really be evading your shots like that.

There is nothing cool about being defeated by something you should have no problem killing, that's just frustrating.

[Cairthenn]

Reasonable arguments don't involve telling other people to shut up. Arguing is fine, when people start flaming it's not fine. If that's a problem for you, then I'll be glad to help you fix it.

When you give them a perfectly good reason as to why their argument is invalid and stupid? Right.

the check system doesn't serve much of a purpose in actually highlighting difficulty of mobs.

It's a gauge of the monster's level. That's the purpose it serves. It's not to tell you what stats are going to give you an advantage, that would be a very dumb move. Let people figure some things out by themselves. You may have a hands on experience, but you certainly lack basic understanding. Just because I can't play (as much as a regular tester - I have played), doesn't mean I don't take the time to read everything.

Good stuff. I'm sure it's just due to the laggy/unstable alpha servers, but the delay after inputting actions is absolutely intolerable. Definitely wont be playing this for long if it's anywhere near that bad come full release.

Thus far, I've had very mixed experiences with this: I've had the action bar be full for several seconds before the game even acknowledges that I can perform another action, and I've also had it where I could repeat an action immediately (and even slightly before) the action bar was filled up. I'm pretty sure it's just a server-side issue, and will most likely be fixed on release.

[Spira]

Hmm so we know what the colour is for, but what are the lines around the outer of the sphere.

I'm guessing solo it checked as IT++ and in the party it was T+

what lines?
there aren't any lines around the mob check orb..
or maybe you're referring to the effect gauge? those are the 3 lines that build up when you're readying actions.. like in this picture..

Spoiler: show

http://i43.tinypic.com/b9gm76.jpg

the choice to not manually check mobs is one of convenience i'd bet, but theres a lot of information that you cant fit into color codes..
like how XI's check has a weapon to evasion check built into the check system.. its not possible to replicate that thru simple colors alone.. then again, its already redundant information for mage jobs.

[Jinko]

Um no not those, if you look at the two i posted above, the red one has a small circle surrounded by 4 lines.

The orange one has a small circle with 2 lines on either side.

[Spira]

It's a gauge of the monster's level. That's the purpose it serves. It's not to tell you what stats are going to give you an advantage, that would be a very dumb move. Let people figure some things out by themselves. You may have a hands on experience, but you certainly lack basic understanding. Just because I can't play (as much as a regular tester - I have played), doesn't mean I don't take the time to read everything.

if you want to be technical about it..
the manual says it does this

Spoiler: show

Enemy Toughness
An enemy’s degree of difficulty is represented by the color of the circle located in the extreme left portion of the unit frame. This display takes into account whether the player is solo or a member of a party.

which is as good as an official definition of what that color bar stands for.
They've never actually stated levels to begin with. Thats all on the part of players. Its plausible but not necessarily so. And even if it were so, it may not be the only factor being applied.

I never did say anything about applying stat advantages to the check. Some mobs will be weak to magic, others to physical attacks. But my point is that a linear level comparison system would simply fail to address the fluidity of stat point management.

2 people at lv2 of the same job may have the same stat point total, but because of the different distributions in stats may end up having different capacities to do battle, and it has nothing to do with players skill. If the gauge system cannot even aggregate difficulty within 1 class, the idea of it doing so across all classes holds no water.

It would be at best, an exp gauge, but I don't we've even come close to figuring out the exp/skill point system yet.

[Ghostsix.Midgard]

admin: Removed as per NDA

[Kirbyprime]

It would be a bit hard to be able to create a gauge based on anything other than the level of the character / party. If they did anymore then that then it would also have to check whether or not the character is a mage or melee, healer specced or damage. It would probably cause a lot more havoc than good.

[Spira]

Um no not those, if you look at the two i posted above, the red one has a small circle surrounded by 4 lines.

The orange one has a small circle with 2 lines on either side.

i doubt its anything other than the screen res acting up.

Those circles are really tiny. Like really really tiny.
Like, the pic i posted, is the actual screen size.
I don't think SE would be that cruel or stupid to make people squint their eyes just to look at the lines around a circle when other forms of representation are definitely open to use.

[Cairthenn]

if you want to be technical about it..
the manual says it does this

Spoiler: show

Enemy Toughness
An enemy’s degree of difficulty is represented by the color of the circle located in the extreme left portion of the unit frame. This display takes into account whether the player is solo or a member of a party.

which is as good as an official definition of what that color bar stands for.
They've never actually stated levels to begin with. Thats all on the part of players. Its plausible but not necessarily so. And even if it were so, it may not be the only factor being applied.

I never did say anything about applying stat advantages to the check. Some mobs will be weak to magic, others to physical attacks. But my point is that a linear level comparison system would simply fail to address the fluidity of stat point management.

2 people at lv2 of the same job may have the same stat point total, but because of the different distributions in stats may end up having different capacities to do battle, and it has nothing to do with players skill. If the gauge system cannot even aggregate difficulty within 1 class, the idea of it doing so across all classes holds no water.

It would be at best, an exp gauge, but I don't we've even come close to figuring out the exp/skill point system yet.

I can't fathom why you'd want or (primarily) expect it to relay the difficulty of the mob in regards to your current stats; though I suppose it would make figuring out the game easier, it's just handing information to you that you can learn on your own. Should it also account for the gear you have on, the food you're using, if you know how to fight the mob a specific way to give yourself an advantage? It's more useful as a general guide to "the monster is this strong" rather than a definitive "you will have this much difficulty fighting it".

In regards to the lines/shape, they just seem to correlate with the color of the circle

[Jinko]

i doubt its anything other than the screen res acting up.

LOL Um no its as clear as day, couldn't find a decent pic with an orange icon.

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/4898/levelst.jpg

[Lucavi]

That's enough of that. It's a speculation thread but don't shit it up arguing over pointless crap. It's okay to disagree, but flaming is going to get you a swift backhand from my pimp hand.

Finally.

[Satyr]

Its just a colour, thats it! A dark color looks like theres 2 lines (when its actually the colour dots graphics) and other colours probably only LOOK like theres 4 lines when its just a lighter colour that is easier to see the entire circle. I agree with the OP saying SE would not use this as any way of further telling if the mob has different strength, while other methods are easily adaptable to the dot/colour/guage.

[Spira]

i still honestly think its just the difference in color lines.
couldn't find that many but take a look

Spoiler: show

http://i42.tinypic.com/smx8oo.jpg

Red ones have that extra line probably to tell you they're IT.

There isn't any distinction within colors afaict because the Plague Rat for example, is a pushover to kill solo at Lv2 (guildleve mob), but somehow deemed IT.
And the other IT mobs are way higher level. some from Eastern La Noscea, some Western, and one from Cassie Hollow, but theres no distinction between them and plague rat.

Tiny Aurelia is T at yellow.. and unfortunately the only screenshotted.
Rat and Sisipu are blue, which is EP.. no ring distinctions tho. Sisipu is an NPC in escort quest.

so i think you may have observed was just the extra ring design on the IT mobs

[Battlecat]

Oh come on... hasn't been any actual new information since the first test... I say let them flame til something important happens, then make them stop. At least it'd be somewhat entertaining for a little bit.

[Kalisa]

Spending Attributes

Spoiler: show

http://www.mediafire.com/?0dmmqywttmy

Ugh, the delay between spending each point is absolutely terrible.

[Kensaki]

Ugh, the delay between spending each point is absolutely terrible.

It's called high latency.

[Jinko]

A much better way would be to allow the players to allocate their points in one go and accept the changes before closing the window.

That way there is a lot less back and fourth between the player and server.

[Sign]

It's called high latency.

If they are sending every attribute increase to the server each time (which would then be affected by latency) then that is a horrible system. It would be much simpler to let you increase all your stats and then at the end send the batch to the server when you close the window.