FFXIV Random Speculation/Question thread III: Where's my beta invite?

[Hyan]

The Aion beta was fantastic, minus the 4 hour queue to log in due to so many people being excited. The first 25-30 levels were really fun also. There was just nothing to do once you were done leveling that wasn't player created content.

Korean or US Beta?

I mean I know what you mean, but it's like comparing FFXI US Beta to XIV Beta. It's just not a fair comparison at all.

[mastamind]

Interesting. I didn't get that far but was 'enjoying' trying to roll a character on the same server as my friend. I also saw a lot of people just running aimlessly around Limsa not knowing WTF to do. That isn't good.

Mind you, I hear they have improved how the starting class quest works and signposts new players, but i haven't done it yet. That's a job for tuesday's test, as is playing with crafting and the Market Ward/retainers.

Yea i started as an archer, then realized i was too poor for arrows, i switched to a melee job. And as i did the story line quest last time, wanted to try and get a jump on leveling while alot of people did the story quest.

[Alderaan]

I wonder if we're going to be spamming tons of consumables that are on short cd's this time.

Also i keep forgetting to ask but are there visible stats for crit, attack speed, and haste? I'm fairly certain there wasn't but i cannot recall.

[madhater]

Yea i started as an archer, then realized i was too poor for arrows, i switched to a melee job. And as i did the story line quest last time, wanted to try and get a jump on leveling while alot of people did the story quest.

Maybe woodworking is just assumed when you go archer but it isn't good that you run out of money and can't progress as an archer in a few hours, or you're forced to start crafting almost immediately.

[Cichy]

I wonder if we're going to be spamming tons of consumables that are on short cd's this time.

Also i keep forgetting to ask but are there visible stats for crit, attack speed, and haste? I'm fairly certain there wasn't but i cannot recall.

In Aion I used potions all the time, I hope they will have hot keys for them in this game.

Also, no visible stats for above

[Zeh]

No. M attack/acc etc. is a very welcome addition though

[Lucavi]

In Aion I used potions all the time, I hope they will have hot keys for them in this game.

Also, no visible stats for above

Uhh... I don't think they will. That's not very SE-like. I had potions in alpha, but I couldn't put them into any slots to use. The slots seem to be JUST for skills, not potions, so you'll be doing it just like the old days. Open up that inventory slot and select that potion.

[Hyan]

Uhh... I don't think they will. That's not very SE-like. I had potions in alpha, but I couldn't put them into any slots to use. The slots seem to be JUST for skills, not potions, so you'll be doing it just like the old days. Open up that inventory slot and select that potion.

Or macro it..

[Lucavi]

Or macro it, but has anyone ever macroed potions?

[Kuya]

In the character creatin screen, what does features do? Maybe SE should also tell you what the options do, because i've seen in some cases, perhaps due to the hair, people can't see what a given option does (such as the mark on the forehead being covered by the hair, hence people don't know it added anything). As for the iris size and the eye shape, maybe the camera should close up, because like i said before, you can barely notice any difference between options.

[Hyan]

They weren't that useful in XI, but if they are in this game, why not?

[Lucavi]

Features is like tatoos and scars n' shit. My Hyur has two scars on his face from the features, and if I wanted this white face tattoo, I could have opted for it.

[Kuya]

Strange, from all the char creation vids, i don't ever recall Features changing anything. The scars and tattoos were in Characteristics.

[ascalon]

Features is like tatoos and scars n' shit. My Hyur has two scars on his face from the features, and if I wanted this white face tattoo, I could have opted for it.

Features is, at least on miqo's and elezen females, about jaw/chin size/shape. Characteristics are those little details like moles, scars, tattoos, band-aids afaics.

[Lucavi]

Oh, I may be mistaken, then! I can't remember which is which. Don't quote me on that, then...

Lemmie think.

Edit: I remember: Features was the chin size. You could have a Morgan Man-jaw if you had a female Hyur.

[Kachi]

The fact is MP is already in the game and won't be removed. I think two things need to happen. A. melee classes need to have to make use of MP more, and B. there needs to be a way to restore MP, implementing XII's charge and requiring it to use some stamina would be fine I think, as long as that's combined with good overall level design, so that as you progress forward on your mission you run into MP restore points for the entire party.

Something LIKE Charge would be ok, but I hated Charge. I don't want to be constantly relying on a skill that is essentially a game of Blackjack.

Seriously. Who the fack cares about pre-retail sub-20 class balance.

The worrying about the fundamental game mechanic stuff is more sensible. Once retail hits, a lot of the programmers go byebye; now is the time to implement different animations, fix scores of bugs, etc.

This is more or less my sentiment. Yes, adjustments need to be made, but they're not at all urgent, and I say this as a Thaumaturge. Honestly, new players will probably not even have any idea about class balance. If anything, we'll have our hands full explaining to an entirely new community why DPS, rather than damage per hit, is what matters.

It's really too early to weigh in on class balance and the role of MP-- way too early. We shouldn't leap to judgments about what needs to be done until we have greater perspective on the game, otherwise we're just begging SE to waste their time implementing poorly thought-out fixes.

[Hyan]

What's the time limit on issuing orders when crafting btw?

[Urza]

What's the time limit on issuing orders when crafting btw?

Not many people actually got to craft because the craftleves were temporarily disabled. And money was not as common as alpha so buying mats didn't happen. Someone can probably tell you Tuesday though.

[Ramsey]

Something LIKE Charge would be ok, but I hated Charge. I don't want to be constantly relying on a skill that is essentially a game of Blackjack.

I'm getting that you don't want to play a game of chance to restore your mana, but for the record Charge was a coin flip, nothing like blackjack. I can't say it was a perfect 50/50 chance, but basically you either restored enough MP to cast a few spells, or your MP went back to 0. It seems to me it was more likely to activate at 0 mp, and less likely the higher your mp got, but that's probably just an illusion.

Either way if I had to choose between a random chance to regain a good chunk of MP and slowly restoring it over time or something, I'd chose the former I think, maybe I'm a bit more of a gambler. I can't see them giving an ability that just restores a set amount of MP without it being on some stupid unnecessarily long timer though, without some mechanic like a chance to fail.

[Kachi]

I'm getting that you don't want to play a game of chance to restore your mana, but for the record Charge was a coin flip, nothing like blackjack. I can't say it was a perfect 50/50 chance, but basically you either restored enough MP to cast a few spells, or your MP went back to 0. It seems to me it was more likely to activate at 0 mp, and less likely the higher your mp got, but that's probably just an illusion.

Either way if I had to choose between a random chance to regain a good chunk of MP and slowly restoring it over time or something, I'd chose the former I think, maybe I'm a bit more of a gambler. I can't see them giving an ability that just restores a set amount of MP without it being on some stupid unnecessarily long timer though, without some mechanic like a chance to fail.

I'm referring to the fact that you could keep using it until you "busted." It's actually pretty similar to Blackjack.

Personally, I don't mind a little luck in the game, but I don't enjoy games where central mechanics are huge gambles. It confounds the results of a skillful player.