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

[ScGr]

The leves are based on different Saints right?

I wonder if the Saint depicting you leve is what governs how the leves affect your Guardian. I'm sure certain Saints would be more or less inclined to one of the 12.

[ascalon]

http://i32.tinypic.com/2nisobc.jpg

Wasn't just me then :D

Still don't know why I could equip it at rank 2 when it clearly says Rank 6 on the tooltip.

[prime21]

3 of the most talked about topics over the pages since the beta started last night:

Lancer accuracy, Levequest rewards being very little & Active/Passive mode swapping not being needed.

#1 SE had said that one of the changes from alpha to beta was the positioning and orientation of players in relationship to the mob would affect outcome more in the beta. Perhaps this is one of those results? Did the players noticing whiffing 5 times in a row for example, use autolock or try taking a few steps back when swinging?

I played archer, not lancer but I found positioning seemed to affect how often my arrows connected.

#2 While true the Bearded Rock levequest rewards were indeed crap, I went up to Skull Valley ~7/8ish to give those 3 a shot and those rewards were on par with what I would expect in order to afford items from vendors. Lowest reward was around 1000 and the highest around 1800 (solo - 1 star)

#3 I think swapping between active/passive modes is a good idea but what is holding it back is it is still not instant. You are still having to wait at least a second or two and have to stop to do it. If they changed it so you could do it on the fly and the action was ultra-responsive, I doubt it would be an issue.

Just my 2 cents, first post...be nice.

[mr.bryce]

i used to think, what are those diformed animals with retarded names
around which we spend all time slicing air ??
i used to question wether my enthusiasm for this game was legitimate... and then i had a peek at a WOW video, and a guy slicing something called a "rattlecage skeleton"...

[Alkar]

Wasn't just me then :D

Still don't know why I could equip it at rank 2 when it clearly says Rank 6 on the tooltip.

Most likely a glitch I suppose. I can equip and use Cure on a level 1 Gladiator when I'm quite sure in the alpha you needed to reach a certain rank with a class before getting to use some abilities.
Unless I read that wrong during the alpha tests or this has been changed.

[Biggie]

3 of the most talked about topics over the pages since the beta started last night:

Lancer accuracy, Levequest rewards being very little & Active/Passive mode swapping not being needed.

#1 SE had said that one of the changes from alpha to beta was the positioning and orientation of players in relationship to the mob would affect outcome more in the beta. Perhaps this is one of those results? Did the players noticing whiffing 5 times in a row for example, use autolock or try taking a few steps back when swinging?

I played archer, not lancer but I found positioning seemed to affect how often my arrows connected.

#2 While true the Bearded Rock levequest rewards were indeed crap, I went up to Skull Valley ~7/8ish to give those 3 a shot and those rewards were on par with what I would expect in order to afford items from vendors. Lowest reward was around 1000 and the highest around 1800 (solo - 1 star)

#3 I think swapping between active/passive modes is a good idea but what is holding it back is it is still not instant. You are still having to wait at least a second or two and have to stop to do it. If they changed it so you could do it on the fly and the action was ultra-responsive, I doubt it would be an issue.

Just my 2 cents, first post...be nice.

Good first post IMO... I was thinking the same thing about the acc problems with skewer. Could be a positioning problem.

[Lucavi]

3 of the most talked about topics over the pages since the beta started last night:

Lancer accuracy, Levequest rewards being very little & Active/Passive mode swapping not being needed.

#1 SE had said that one of the changes from alpha to beta was the positioning and orientation of players in relationship to the mob would affect outcome more in the beta. Perhaps this is one of those results? Did the players noticing whiffing 5 times in a row for example, use autolock or try taking a few steps back when swinging?

I played archer, not lancer but I found positioning seemed to affect how often my arrows connected.

#2 While true the Bearded Rock levequest rewards were indeed crap, I went up to Skull Valley ~7/8ish to give those 3 a shot and those rewards were on par with what I would expect in order to afford items from vendors. Lowest reward was around 1000 and the highest around 1800 (solo - 1 star)

#3 I think swapping between active/passive modes is a good idea but what is holding it back is it is still not instant. You are still having to wait at least a second or two and have to stop to do it. If they changed it so you could do it on the fly and the action was ultra-responsive, I doubt it would be an issue.

Just my 2 cents, first post...be nice.

For lancer, yes. I never fight without lock, because its damned near impossible to do so. I tried skewer from all angles; from the front, not bound, from the front, bound, from the sides, not bound, from the sides, bound, and from the back, not bound and bound. The acc was pathetic, period. Not worth using as is. It should not have been the first WS given if its going to take that big of a nerf from alpha.

Won't comment on two because I didn't get high enough level to make it back over there in one night, plus I wouldn't want to try them without upgrading my armor anyway - fucking ghosts hurt with that dark magic.

3) I don't think even SE knows how to stop the engage delay. Its a modified FFXI engage system that simply allows you to "engage" anywhere, instead of being restricted to doing it only when targeting an enemy. If they couldn't fix it there, and are using the same "engine", it stands to reason that it doesn't look good for them fixing it here, unless they change the core design of it.

One can hope, I suppose.

[madhater]

Good first post IMO... I was thinking the same thing about the acc problems with skewer. Could be a positioning problem.

If it isn't obvious about the effects of positioning then that is a major problem. The pace of combat needs to be improved still, though that might be fixed through accuracy. It isn't fun by any means to whiff multiple times in a row wasting 10 seconds on a random monster.

[Ramsey]

If they couldn't fix it there, and are using the same "engine", it stands to reason that it doesn't look good for them fixing it here, unless they change the core design of it.

Well the FFXI and FFXIV engine are definitely not the same. XIV was/is being made with the White/Crystal Tools Engine created for FFXIII as far as they've said.

The functions controlling the engage system were most likely re-written from the ground up. It wouldn't be difficult to enable the player to draw/sheath weapons wall moving, it's just a design decision they'd have to make to allow it. It's not something difficult to implement by any means.

[Lucavi]

No no no, I'm not talking about graphics or anything. You can copy individual systems across platform engines. Crystal tools has nothing to do with re-used code that makes up the core of the game.

Everything about the passive/active system is carbon copy of the engaging system in FFXI, save for the ability to do it whenever you want. Shit, if you still play FFXI, log the time it takes to engage a mob (delay-wise) and compare it to the Beta. They feel the same.

I hope you're right, though, Ramsey. I don't understand why they'd want to re-write the same system from 10 years ago when making a brand new game, if you are correct, however. I know familiarity feels good but at this point it feels like stagnation. Take a little of WoW's freedom to pull weapons out whenever but restrict it by forcing a battle stance when a weapon is in your hand, just like with FFXI. It just feels clunky.

I even tried to recreate that classic "CHARGE THE MOB!" feeling by running and engaging at the same time. Ugh, no. Jog forward, then stop, then pull it out, then jog a little slower, then get started. It can be improved. It should be improved.

[Jinfire]

I dont think FFXI and FFXIV are the same engine, FFXIII and FFXIV are though.

Ok I got a few questions and kind of surprised noone else mentioned it.
MP, GL's have a 2 day cooldown, the only way to recover MP is aether, which are at camps / at the start/end of a GL right? So wouldnt it make playing a caster, hard when you go out exploring, killing mobs?

Melee can freely go out and kill mobs that arent to close to the aether, and rest, recover HP/stam/ect and be fine but if a mage was to go out on a non-leve it would be more inconvenient.

Why does SE gimp mages? Now I havent had any alpha / beta experiences so please correct me if I am wrong but, the whole not being able to recover MP via a rest or something just seems gimp, period.

Cast times, squishyness, cooldowns, mana costs, those are ment to balance the mages they dont need even more hardships. Anyone who played a whm, or blm at release can understand my pain. I <3 mages, always play them and its always so much more difficult then melee classes.

[Jinko]

Yea I don't think the engage system has been copied from FF11, if they are copying code from an 8 year old game then they are retarded.

TBH the FF11 engage system is better than what they have in FF14 currently, it seems to be a problem with the animation which is stopping the character.

Why does SE gimp mages? Now I havent had any alpha / beta experiences so please correct me if I am wrong but, the whole not being able to recover MP via a rest or something just seems gimp, period.

Cast times, squishyness, cooldowns, mana costs, those are ment to balance the mages they dont need even more hardships. Anyone who played a whm, or blm at release can understand my pain. I <3 mages, always play them and its always so much more difficult then melee classes.

The very reason I won't be playing a mage this time, SE just don't care enough unless it has red in the title.

[Falcon]

Wait, whats key to lock on? I never figured it out in beta, so I never managed to lock on.
It was a lot of guessing positions.

[Destinye]

Yea I don't think the engage system has been copied from FF11, if they are copying code from an 8 year old game then they are retarded.

TBH the FF11 engage system is better than what they have in FF14 currently, it seems to be a problem with the animation which is stopping the character.

Lucavi is just overly cynical when it comes to SE, it's very obvious these games are built differently and the Crystal Tools engine can do quite a bit, but they made the decision to use passive/active because of all of things tied to either mode.

It's clearly because of the way the systems are and yeah, the XI's engagement system is more polished, but FFXIV's has the possibility to be even better once it's tweaked.

[Soap]

I dont think FFXI and FFXIV are the same engine, FFXIII and FFXIV are though.

Ok I got a few questions and kind of surprised noone else mentioned it.
MP, GL's have a 2 day cooldown, the only way to recover MP is aether, which are at camps / at the start/end of a GL right? So wouldnt it make playing a caster, hard when you go out exploring, killing mobs?

Melee can freely go out and kill mobs that arent to close to the aether, and rest, recover HP/stam/ect and be fine but if a mage was to go out on a non-leve it would be more inconvenient.

Your MP restores every time you touch those GL crystals, not only at the beginning and end of a GL. Whenever I ran out of MP i would just tele back and touch the crystal to recover all my MP.

[Soap]

Wait, whats key to lock on? I never figured it out in beta, so I never managed to lock on.
It was a lot of guessing positions.

C button

[Lucavi]

Lucavi is just overly cynical when it comes to SE, it's very obvious these games are built differently and the Crystal Tools engine can do quite a bit, but they made the decision to use passive/active because of all of things tied to either mode.

It's clearly because of the way the systems are and yeah, the XI's engagement system is more polished, but FFXIV's has the possibility to be even better once it's tweaked.

It has nothing to do with cynicism. If you can't see the similarities between FFXI and FFXIV's engaging system, I don't know what to tell you. Hell, the hume/hyur base stance animation is nearly identical. There's only one meaningful change in that you can engage anywhere. Well, that and the music only start when you land the first hit, but that's neither here nor there.

I refuse to believe that I'm the only one that cannot see the glaring similarities. FFXIV's engage system is far more similar to FFXI than FFXIII, unless SE wanted to start allowing us to pre-select our attacks from stocks via. FFXIII.

And no, auto-attack vs. non auto-attack is not viable. Look at them.

[Ramsey]

Crystal tools has nothing to do with re-used code that makes up the core of the game.

I hope you're right, though, Ramsey. I don't understand why they'd want to re-write the same system from 10 years ago when making a brand new game, if you are correct, however.

I only responded in the way I did because you used the term engine, which is a very specific term in the games industry. I wasn't attempting to be condescending.

The reason they'd rewrite the script is that I'm sure most of their classes, managers and game objects are completely different this time around, they're using a new engine, on new platforms and hopefully with more efficient coding knowledge than 10 years ago.

TBH the FF11 engage system is better than what they have in FF14 currently, it seems to be a problem with the animation which is stopping the character.

This is easy to fix, if it wasn't we wouldn't be able to strafe/run while swinging our weapons in FFXI, you just animate the upper body drawing the weapon while the lower body runs. Obviously there's an exceptional case for where you're already standing still when you draw, in which case you would probably still have to wait for the animation to finish, but I don't think that's a big deal.

[Jinko]

Yea but the way it works is that you have (running animation) weapon is engaged (plays animation to draw weapon), it just so happens that the animation to draw your weapon stops your character, because you can't play 2 animations at the same time.

They either have to add new animations to engage and unengage whilst running or allow players to interupt the animation whilst still performing the action.

It extremely simple stuff.

[Pyree]

So for me when I was trying to play.. I couldn't really accomplish anything because all of the players, NPC's, and mobs would flicker in and out of visibility. Most of the time everyone would be completely invisible and then the characters flicker in and out really quickly, other times they would be visible for a while until I moved and tried to do anything. Anyone else experience this or know how I might fix it? It's really annoying :/