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

[Darkdreamer]

Is there any central location to find out more about this game? I stopped playing XI late last year and due to random boredness I've been looking at XIV but besides digging through a few hundred posts I was wondering if there was some place to find general info. Stuff about the races, jobs, battle system, xp system (questing xp like wow, or grinding with random people like XI was, or mixed). Are there instances, world bosses, can you level everything on 1 character like XI or seperate characters like WoW.

Any place like that?

[Destinye]

www.finalfantasyxiv.com

Everything else is tba..but you grind (like every MMO) on monsters and you can do guildleves which are quests too. It's like FFXI so there's 'world bosses' and again like XI its one character fits all.

[Darkdreamer]

Can you at least grind solo and not rely on a group for absolutely everything?

Any idea on the instances?

Hmmm not sure I'm too thrilled about the one person all jobs again, going to be more of the little batards with no life that leveled everything and thinks they deserve everything the game drops just because they leveled it all.

[Kawfee]

Stuff about the races,

The races are "the same" visually as in FFXI (although more detailed with slight tweaks; Galkas no longer have tails, mithra looks slightly different (better imo in XIV), taru are slightly taller/more "real", which is both a bad and good thing). Each race has different names, now, and completely new backstories. They are only aesthetically similar to XI.
Taru=Lalafell
Galka=Roegadyn ("Roo-gah-deen")
Mithra=Mi'qote
Hume=Hyur
Elvaan=Elezen

Also each race has two "sects" or something, which alters the way they look and <something else we're not quite sure on>, for example, Mithra have Seekers of the Sun that are more tan skinned, and _________something of the Moon, which are pale skinned. However, the character creator has a lot of things to choose from, see here:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...YmW4KfPuK_9RCw

jobs,

The official website (www.finalfantasyxiv.com) is the best source for this, for now. Jobs work different from XI - XIV is going to have "a lot" of jobs, in that your job (now called class) changes based on what weapon you are equipping. You level up in class skill by using the weapon, which unlocks abilities. You can then combine abilities from different classes, although you are penalized when using some out of their main class (I believe), and some don't work (like Shield Bash but you have no shield equipped). Your character's HP/MP level up separately from their class. You can change class any time you are out of combat.

battle system,

Similar in pacing to FFXI, but improved and made more interactive. You now must tell it every attack you wish to make, but you have many options to choose from on your action bars. You have an action gauge, which starts full but drains as you use abilities (and slowly refills over time). It's a bit tough to explain but it's a fairly simple concept - you can see more here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6nSbqhcQqQ
Also to note, they plan on implementing things like targeting specific body parts on monsters to weaken them, having larger battles (for example fighting 5 monsters at once will be more common), mob AI is more varied (sometimes they run away, sometimes if you attack a female mob the nearby male mobs will aggro you, etc).

xp system (questing xp like wow, or grinding with random people like XI was, or mixed).

Mixed is the best answer. You can grind mobs if you choose, however it seems best to XP by doing Guildleves. Guildleves are like quests in WOW, however, they are unique in their own way:

• Guildleves can be completed alone, or with up to an alliance-sized group. They also range in difficulty, and are timed (but the time limit for most XPing guildleves is pretty generous).
• Guildleves are designed to be completed in under 30 minutes (most of them, anyway)
• You can teleport to the start of a guildleve via an Aetherite (sp?) crystal. When you finish a guildleve, you can teleport back to that crystal. The crystals should make good gathering points for people to party up.
• As long as one person in a party has been to an aetherite, they can teleport the whole party to it. However teleporting uses up some sort of resource ("SP" or something) your character has, which replenishes over time.
• Guildleve rewards can vary between gil, items, or "XP" as it relates to your class (I think?)

Are there instances, world bosses,

Guildleves are somewhat instanced, in that only you/your party are supposed to be able to engage the guildleve mobs. I'm not sure about World Bosses, I don't think there were any in Alpha, but it's pretty much an MMO standard that will be some kind of world bosses/NM's.

Can you level everything on 1 character like XI or seperate characters like WoW.

1 character, just like XI. Having only one character makes sense now especially that you can change class without having to return to a mog house. Also, your character automatically gets one "retainer", which is like a mule account/shopkeeper. Not quite sure how they work yet, but it's theorized that you can set up your retainer in a mini storefront/bazaar, use it as storage for items and to list your wares, even while you're out XPing or when you're offline.

[elsoco]

Can you at least grind solo and not rely on a group for absolutely everything?

Any idea on the instances?

Hmmm not sure I'm too thrilled about the one person all jobs again, going to be more of the little batards with no life that leveled everything and thinks they deserve everything the game drops just because they leveled it all.

Yes. You can solo. You can even reach the maximum level solo. SE stated this a while ago. They also said that Grouping up will be more rewarding. But, I'm pretty sure there will be many things that require a group to accomplish. So if you feel like soloing, then do so. If you feel like grouping up and getting more rewards like more xp, skill ups, items, gil, etc. , then group up. It's your choice.

[Null]

Hmmm not sure I'm too thrilled about the one person all jobs again, going to be more of the little batards with no life that leveled everything and thinks they deserve everything the game drops just because they leveled it all.

That's the main lure of this game. To me at least. It seperates the game from those other MMO's. I like to feel there is always a way to progress, even years later. And to be able to show off what you've obtained. Rather then other MMO's where you have to make another character and restart after you've 'got all you can get'.

Also, with that set up I feel disconnected from people when nobody knows half your characters.

The thing that made me strive for greatness was I finally reached level 30 with this guy Helm. Was psyched to get my new jobs and asked him if he wanted to create a group to get some advanced job quest. Then he suddenly changed to a level 70 PLD and I shat my pants. Back then you never knew what they were hiding. Always made me feel great to spring several high level jobs on people that they never knew I had. Well... that was back before most had one maxed job.

[Jinko]

+1 for all classes on one character.

What I loved about FF11 was that if you decided to switch jobs all your achievements stayed with you ie Sky, Sea, CoP area's etc all stayed with you.

Having to do that stuff multiple times on seperare characters would put even the most hardcore people off.

[omegaB]

The races are "the same" visually as in FFXI (although more detailed with slight tweaks; Galkas no longer have tails, mithra looks slightly different (better imo in XIV), taru are slightly taller/more "real", which is both a bad and good thing). Each race has different names, now, and completely new backstories. They are only aesthetically similar to XI.
Taru=Lalafell
Galka=Roegadyn ("Roo-gah-deen")
Mithra=Mi'qote
Hume=Hyur
Elvaan=Elezen

Also each race has two "sects" or something, which alters the way they look and <something else we're not quite sure on>, for example, Mithra have Seekers of the Sun that are more tan skinned, and _________something of the Moon, which are pale skinned. However, the character creator has a lot of things to choose from, see here:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...YmW4KfPuK_9RCw

The official website (www.finalfantasyxiv.com) is the best source for this, for now. Jobs work different from XI - XIV is going to have "a lot" of jobs, in that your job (now called class) changes based on what weapon you are equipping. You level up in class skill by using the weapon, which unlocks abilities. You can then combine abilities from different classes, although you are penalized when using some out of their main class (I believe), and some don't work (like Shield Bash but you have no shield equipped). Your character's HP/MP level up separately from their class. You can change class any time you are out of combat.

Similar in pacing to FFXI, but improved and made more interactive. You now must tell it every attack you wish to make, but you have many options to choose from on your action bars. You have an action gauge, which starts full but drains as you use abilities (and slowly refills over time). It's a bit tough to explain but it's a fairly simple concept - you can see more here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6nSbqhcQqQ
Also to note, they plan on implementing things like targeting specific body parts on monsters to weaken them, having larger battles (for example fighting 5 monsters at once will be more common), mob AI is more varied (sometimes they run away, sometimes if you attack a female mob the nearby male mobs will aggro you, etc).

Mixed is the best answer. You can grind mobs if you choose, however it seems best to XP by doing Guildleves. Guildleves are like quests in WOW, however, they are unique in their own way:

• Guildleves can be completed alone, or with up to an alliance-sized group. They also range in difficulty, and are timed (but the time limit for most XPing guildleves is pretty generous).
• Guildleves are designed to be completed in under 30 minutes (most of them, anyway)
• You can teleport to the start of a guildleve via an Aetherite (sp?) crystal. When you finish a guildleve, you can teleport back to that crystal. The crystals should make good gathering points for people to party up.
• As long as one person in a party has been to an aetherite, they can teleport the whole party to it. However teleporting uses up some sort of resource ("SP" or something) your character has, which replenishes over time.
• Guildleve rewards can vary between gil, items, or "XP" as it relates to your class (I think?)

Guildleves are somewhat instanced, in that only you/your party are supposed to be able to engage the guildleve mobs. I'm not sure about World Bosses, I don't think there were any in Alpha, but it's pretty much an MMO standard that will be some kind of world bosses/NM's.

1 character, just like XI. Having only one character makes sense now especially that you can change class without having to return to a mog house. Also, your character automatically gets one "retainer", which is like a mule account/shopkeeper. Not quite sure how they work yet, but it's theorized that you can set up your retainer in a mini storefront/bazaar, use it as storage for items and to list your wares, even while you're out XPing or when you're offline.

pretty much what he said there, and going by the alpha there isnt much reason to party up unless you want to, or maybe you want to kill some strong thing.


as far as world bosses, they had none in the beta and they never said there would be any, in the normal sense, in some interview i think they said they might have nms and what not through the leve system, but that was a while ago. however i wouldnt be surprised if the faction leve they have talked about involves some nms or make your way through a agro area and kill a bunch of stuff then kill a boss like thing.

[Kaylia]

Is the /shout command zone wide, or just a radius around you like it was in FFXI?

[Jinko]

Is the /shout command zone wide, or just a radius around you like it was in FFXI?

Wasn't implemented in the Alpha, so I guess we won't know until people get into the beta (assuming its working)

[Kachi]

? /shout was in the alpha. Pretty sure it was a radius, and not a huge one.

[Darkdreamer]

Wasn't expecting such a long response Kawfee, thank you, and thanks to everyone else that provided info.

Yeah I get what you're saying about hiding an awesome high level job, and still being able to get items way down the line, not having to repeat bullshit quests (fucking CoP when it first came out, not this watered down bullshit now), etc. My problem was always with the people that exploited the living fuck out of it. Early on I grinded like everyone else to get my first 75, hell I think I dinged on a Ulli camp party (way before this whole Colibri nonsense). I ended up with like 4 75's. I could have leveled more jobs if I was really bored, but I wanted to keep my focus on those handful. Then random greedy douche rolls in "Hai gaiz I got all jobs to 75 I want to lot on everything, even though I only like/play/show up to events/whatever else on 3 of those jobs at most, but I still should have rights on it all over everyone cause I leveled so much!" I've known a few people like this over the years and some really nice people with all the jobs that only gave a shit about like 2 of those jobs and didn't even want good shit for those other jobs even rotted to them.

[Yoli]

If your LS was habitually giving top tier pld (or insert any other job here) gear to people who didn't play paladin but happened to have it at 75 over the main tanks in your ls, I think it's the LS that had a problem rather than the system allowing people to level multiple jobs on one charachter.

If the main tanks already had the fancy stuff, then I don't see any good reason why the people who just happened to have pld at 75 shouldn't be able to lot on it.

[Lucavi]

Wasn't implemented in the Alpha, so I guess we won't know until people get into the beta (assuming its working)

Shout was in alpha (red text), and was radius-based. I thought it was pretty far. You could pretty much hear people's shouts no matter you were in town, so long as you weren't stretched out in the outer banks.

[Jinko]

? /shout was in the alpha. Pretty sure it was a radius, and not a huge one.

Oh my bad

[Null]

That's when a simple loot system works. Never once did I have problems with that issue because we always had fair systems. And if somebody bitched about it because they thought they deserved everything. Then tough tits for them.

[Lucavi]

Make your own LS - solves all the problems, but requires a shit-load more work on your own end. You can make the loot system as fair or as unfair as you desire, though.

[Darkdreamer]

If your LS was habitually giving top tier pld (or insert any other job here) gear to people who didn't play paladin but happened to have it at 75 over the main tanks in your ls, I think it's the LS that had a problem rather than the system allowing people to level multiple jobs on one charachter.

If the main tanks already had the fancy stuff, then I don't see any good reason why the people who just happened to have pld at 75 shouldn't be able to lot on it.

I've yet to know of any LS with a solid method. When I had to treat XI as my 2nd job (i.e. speeding through traffic after my actual paying job to make it home for event/gather time, working overtime into late hours due to some retarded pop window) it stopped being as fun, especially when it was at the cost of performance of my real job.

I just hope there's changes for the better with this one, I'd rather have sex with a cheese grater than play something like XI again. I met a lot of great people in XI and I met a lot of dipshit, the population of dipshits seemed to spike as the game aged.

Oh is there a stat difference like before with the races? Like the Roegadyn having loads of HP and all that while the Lalafell have higher mage type stats. I do miss my dhamel necked Elvaan sometimes.

[Lucavi]

I've yet to know of any LS with a solid method. When I had to treat XI as my 2nd job (i.e. speeding through traffic after my actual paying job to make it home for event/gather time, working overtime into late hours due to some retarded pop window) it stopped being as fun, especially when it was at the cost of performance of my real job.

I just hope there's changes for the better with this one, I'd rather have sex with a cheese grater than play something like XI again. I met a lot of great people in XI and I met a lot of dipshit, the population of dipshits seemed to spike as the game aged.

Welcome to any MMO that has a competitive end-game. FFXI just looks worse in comparison because absolutely nothing of value was instanced for over half of the game's lifespan, and even when it did, people still placed a higher value on the HNMs.

Seriously though, in every medium and aspect of life, you have people that take shit way too far. Look at the average social drinker, hitting happy hour after work for one or two, compared with the hardcore brofist in there for 6 hours every day, day-in and day-out.

Make your own LS and make your own rules if you want to somehow "change the mold". Otherwise, just keep shopping around (treat it like you'd shop around for a new job), find a LS that shares your interests, check out the loot system and the "raiding" times, and stop going for the biggest boys on the block, because typically, the biggest, most "successful" shells are also filled with the most assholes, the most bots, and the most corruption.

Hell, even that is a blanket statement in itself, though.

[Kawfee]

Oh is there a stat difference like before with the races? Like the Roegadyn having loads of HP and all that while the Lalafell have higher mage type stats. I do miss my dhamel necked Elvaan sometimes.

No, they are supposed to be relatively the same, with your character choice based purely on aesthetics. Also as you have somewhat of a say in how you level up your stats, its kind of a moot point.