FFXIV Random Speculation/Question thread V: No one told me beta would have problems in it

[Acturus]

I think it's less of an issue as to what server we pick or if we get to pick at all, and more of an issue of "if I hate my server, can I leave?".

[Manako]

I understand their desire to have balanced servers, but I also want to be able to easily be on the same server with my friends. I remember gold passes being rather pricey for someone starting out, otherwise having to delete character and re-roll to hope that you get on the right server.

[LD]

If you mean an already-made character, then probably not right away. Down the line, I expect they'll implement something like that, but there'll be no point when characters are still low cuz you can just delete it and roll somewhere else.

Personally, I don't care about server populations. I'll be mostly soloing to max level, if I can help it. I might screw around with PTs once in a while, but SE is selling this as being more flexible than FFXI. If those PTs are required, I may as well go back to 11. Different languages may be an issue when I choose to join parties, but I doubt there will be so few ENG on a server that it'll be a big obstacle.

Incidentally, while NAs and perhaps westerners in general may be more about min-maxing, JPs are still, whatever their reasons, functionally xenophobic. So being a JP dominant server has its own set of potential issues.

[gooddirtyfun]

I liked how everyone was lumped together, except for in the beginning when the JP players treated the NA players like shit, once we leveled up and started showing them that we were the excellent players some of the best times I had were a mix with jp/na/eu players.

but seeing as everyone starts at the same time this go round I forsee that being less of a problem since players will mature together. Its also nice to have players online doing shit 24/7

[Destinye]

Incidentally, while NAs and perhaps westerners in general may be more about min-maxing, JPs are still, whatever their reasons, functionally xenophobic. So being a JP dominant server has its own set of potential issues.

Well considering the first real NA - JP interaction in gaming was FFXI, NA didn't leave the best impression, especially years later how "JP play the game wrong" and etc. There's plenty of reasons lol.

There's issues yeah, but it's just two complete opposite cultures in one area. JP like to have fun, NA like to turn everything into a competition and work.

[LD]

Well considering the first real NA - JP interaction in gaming was FFXI, NA didn't leave the best impression, especially years later how "JP play the game wrong" and etc. There's plenty of reasons lol.

There's issues yeah, but it's just two complete opposite cultures in one area. JP like to have fun, NA like to turn everything into a competition and work.

Don't forget over-generalize.


Anyway, if in JP's pursuit of fun they exclude most foreigners, how is NA's pursuit of efficiency worse? Both are for the purpose of self-gratification and both potentially alienate others.

[Balphas]

Even if people did posts with "let's gather on x server", the amount of people that buy this game and don't read forums probably outnumber the server-pickers many times over, so I wouldn't worry too much about getting stuck on a server with too many from a certain region. No doubt, there'll be some few regional strongholds on certain servers, but that's to be expected.

[Kirb]

The only rule that people should observe, if they're smart, is to stay the fuck away from the Sephiroth server.

I'll be mostly soloing to max level, if I can help it.

I like soloing, but to me this pretty much defeats the purpose and potential of any MMO. But to each his own. I'd just personally hate to see XIV go the WoW route of everybody just solo-grinding and avoiding all contact until endgame.

[Lithiani]

I found NAs just as xenophobic, and JPs just as elitist.

I'm looking forward to seeing how XIs NA community reacts to my fellow EU players. Sure, there were a few of us in XI, but not a real community... now there are WoW EU guilds looking to move wholesale or in part to XIV, which is a different kettle of fish.

EDIT:

The only rule that people should observe, if they're smart, is to stay the fuck away from the Sephiroth server.

So sigged

[Zerocool]

I found NAs just as xenophobic, and JPs just as elitist.

I'm looking forward to seeing how XIs NA community reacts to my fellow EU players. Sure, there were a few of us in XI, but not a real community... now there are WoW EU guilds looking to move wholesale or in part to XIV, which is a different kettle of fish.

EDIT:




So sigged

Yeah it's not as black and white as some people put it. There were different people that found different things fun in FFXI. Some liked to exp different jobs, some just liked to chat, some like to min-max, some had fun doing end game. And these things weren't restricted to the region that person came from. And, at least on my server, there seemed to be a lot more NA that played casually for fun than there were hardcore end gamers.

As for the EU thing, I was in a mostly all EU shell, and a quite large one. In fact it's one of the higher and more respected shells on the server and got along quite well with most other NA and JP shells.

[Kuya]

I can see both sides to the argument you are all currently having.

[Hyan]

I like soloing, but to me this pretty much defeats the purpose and potential of any MMO. But to each his own. I'd just personally hate to see XIV go the WoW route of everybody just solo-grinding and avoiding all contact until endgame.

Pretty much, yeah. If I wanted to solo to cap I would just play games that are better designed to be done so (not even MMO's because tbh, social aspects are the only things that make them better than single player games). There's no doubt SE is going to emphasize grouping again with their game mechanics, even if they aren't as strict about it as before.

That's why I'd take 14's potential casual grouping over soloing or XI's very strict and demanding grouping any day. There's no going back.

[Lithiani]

I don't know, I *liked* the fact that once you got past Valkurm Dunes everyone, and I mean everyone knew how to party. If you were incompetent you didn't level.

It made endgame a lot better - there was none of the WoW-esque incidence of max level players who had never completed even a 5 man instance and could not party to save their lives applying to join endgame guilds.

IMO, if you are going to have a levelling system at all (and I'm disappointed the 14 will not be as level-less as I hoped), you have to make that levelling mechanic teach the players what they need to know to play the endgame.

WoWs levelling mechanic of "push button, receive bacon" quests teaches nothing about the game, even basic party mechanics are commonly unknown to players hitting top level.

[LD]

I like soloing, but to me this pretty much defeats the purpose and potential of any MMO. But to each his own. I'd just personally hate to see XIV go the WoW route of everybody just solo-grinding and avoiding all contact until endgame.

An MMO done well will make human interaction possible without centering it around gameplay. How? I'm not sure, but I'd rather be allowed to make friends than required to make friends. That was the major problem with FFXI, you weren't really making friends, you were forming business relationships. Any relationship you made was either formed or maintained by necessity (unless you're the type to pay $15/m for a glorified IRC channel). I'm not saying WoW did it well, but having the option is what's important. Also, leveling is so easy and endgame so much more important that there's no real loss. There are arguments about learning your job, that's really subjective.

To me, the purpose of an MMO is to be in a living world, not to make friends in it. I'd detailed this somewhere here before, but essentially say Guy1 walks through an area and then Guy2 walks through an area. If something is significantly different about the area Guy2 sees after Guy1 has been there, even if Guy2 isn't immediately aware of it, the MMO has succeeded even if they never meet each other for the rest of their play time. The world was affected and the flow of then environment has changed.

That's why I'd take 14's potential casual grouping over soloing or XI's very strict and demanding grouping any day. There's no going back.

There's no such thing as casual grouping in terms of a design element. It's either required or it isn't. In WoW, you can group to level, but no one sees it as casual grouping. You have to want to PT, so it really isn't casual, is it?. As long as soloing is good, most people will do it for the convenience just as people do in WoW. If PT is so much better it puts solo to shame, people will do that as they did in FFXI.

[Hyan]

Talking or comparing to WoW is forbidden, it will just get you banned.

An MMO done well will make human interaction possible without centering it around gameplay.

Utopistic. With the current way MMO's work, it can't be done.

Also, I don't agree for a second that I was making 'business' relationships 'by a necessity'. Maybe that's just some Western type of thinking I don't get, but it sounds retarded to me. Sad to hear it was like that for you.

[outzaidur]

nvm then lol

[Alderaan]

I don't know, I *liked* the fact that once you got past Valkurm Dunes everyone, and I mean everyone knew how to party. If you were incompetent you didn't level.

I've merited with plenty of people that had no fucking clue, so that point isn't valid.

I still prefer a story driven leveling system where your main focus is not your exp gauge. Running around a small area, be it solo or in a group, and killing mobs just for the sake of leveling is outdated. I rather it be hidden well in an epic quest line that doesn't feel like you're leveling and contributes to the main story.

[Lithiani]

I've merited with plenty of people that had no fucking clue, so that point isn't valid.

I still prefer a story driven leveling system where your main focus is not your exp gauge. Running around a small area, be it solo or in a group, and killing mobs just for the sake of leveling is outdated. I rather it be hidden well in an epic quest line that doesn't feel like you're leveling and contributes to the main story.

Maybe I quit before they managed to get there. Didn't they make XPing easier at some point after I left (for the first time)?

I'd rather have a purely skill and quest driven advancement system myself.

[Hyan]

I've merited with plenty of people that had no fucking clue, so that point isn't valid.

People that didn't know how to party? I don't believe that.

Maybe they weren't up to your standard, but nevertheless they knew the basic mechanics.

Also, "choice" is nothing but an illusion. Your game is either solo based or group based, not both.

[mintyice]

Alright guys, this isn't the rage about FFXI's shortcomings thread...