FFXIV Random Speculation/Question thread VI: Phase 3, FFXIV is still on the rag!

[Yoli]

Brodan, the problem's not that it cuts down on XP received (although cutting it down by 90% is way OTT), it's that it's forcing people to stop leveling X and start leveling Y, then Z, instead of leveling whatever they want.

Most of the QQing has nothing to do with the levels of hardcore players and casual players being kept more closely lined up.

As an aside, I think the real hardcore/casual separation kicks off at endgame anyways, once fancy gear starts setting people apart. I don't think there's a very big deal in who reaches the level cap first/when. If SE wanted to help casuals, it would make more sense to focus on an end-game with instances/whatever that gives them parallel or just slightly inferior gear to what other people can get. Fiddling with leveling won't really help them at all in the end. I don't think.

[ascalon]

ahaha, you make it like rested "bonus" can't be used the same way. O hey lets cut current exp/skill down, and put it back only for ppl that play less!

Its psychology though.

Surplus taxes people who play more (- nobody likes taxes.)

Rested rewards people who can't play as much (- sure, they're "filthy casuals" but they're never gonna get our "leet" gear so why not let them have a few perks to help them level?)

(Note that the opinion in the second brackets is there as an example, not my actual point of view.)

At the end of the day, under a Rested XP system, the players with more time will still outlevel people. And they won't feel bad about doing so. And casual players with less time will still feel like they can make a fair whack of progress.

Under the surplus system, the players with more time will level at pretty much the same rate as people with less time, unless they really create incentives for letting people with no leves join your leve group.

And THEN when the person with less time hits the surplus stage, they have to go back to the start and try again, in some ways penalizing them further...

[Yoli]

If they did something like have xping in a party of more than X people reduce your surplus by Y amount for every Z xp earned, that would be an interesting way of getting people to party more... the hardcore people at least. And the casual gamers would never have to worry about finding parties to get rid of surplus.

I'd be behind it, kind of, if the system actually was designed to work like that (instead of as it is).

The idea that you need to hold people back from 50 because no content is in yet is, I think, a bit misguided. There seems to be a lot of time that can be killed in the various crafts and subjobs, and I don't think people would mind doing that for awhile if they weren't /forced/ to. It's one of the awesome things about having all your jobs on one character. In games like Aion or WoW you'd just be "wasting" your time developing parallel jobs, so people wouldn't be all that interested in grinding up an alt once their main hit 50 as they waited for the first content. But here it all benefits you, and gives you more options and toys to play with, whatever job you're on. So I'm sure people could spend a good while doing it and wouldn't object (too much).

[mastamind]

I see a positive part of it: when i level my mob hitting class, I see this dilema: "I should go and work on my DoL or DoH class, but I can grind mobs some more, what do?" With surplus, I can say "alrigh, now i can go do something else w/o regrets! Yay!"
And I'm SURE they tweak it so it really impact RMT working in shifts and HC poopsockers.
In Allods they have 2x exp bonus up to certain limit. Ppl were raging at it first, but It have turned out as non issue.

that doesnt mean anything, even my botanist has surplus and it got it faster than my pug. Coupled with the fact that gathering takes a ridiculous amount of inventory with hq items not stacking, i'd be more likely to just log off if it gets to that point.

[Brodan]

If they did something like have xping in a party of more than X people reduce your surplus by Y amount for every Z xp earned, that would be an interesting way of getting people to party more... the hardcore people at least. And the casual gamers would never have to worry about finding parties to get rid of surplus.

I'd be behind it, kind of, if the system actually was designed to work like that (instead of as it is).

good suggestion.

[Croy]

If they did something like have xping in a party of more than X people reduce your surplus by Y amount for every Z xp earned, that would be an interesting way of getting people to party more... the hardcore people at least. And the casual gamers would never have to worry about finding parties to get rid of surplus.

I'd be behind it, kind of, if the system actually was designed to work like that (instead of as it is).

To me at this point its not even the design of the system; its the intent that bothers me. Some place in SE's mind they thought it was a smart idea to implement a system that negatively affects a certain part of the population... and that somehow the so called 'casuals' will be happy about it. The only casual they actually help are the sadistic type that some how get the pleasure of ruining other peoples fun, in other words casual trolls.

Hint to SE, balance your leveling system around hardcore... and then give 'incentives' to casuals who don't play as often and make them feel like progression is happening faster for the time they are given. The one thing they said they 'learned' from FFXI a while back was that; nerfing things = bad, boosting things = good, and yet in an ironic twist they implement a system that does nothing but slowly nerf something that takes place in EVERY facet of the game.

[CrstyCptSteveWitherspoon]

Laughed so hard when I read that interview. Let's give the hardcore player base that spend more time playing a harder time leveling up. People that play less won't have that hard of a time.

"The less time you spend playing our game, the more you'll get done!"

Perfect business model to keep subs for a very long time. I still can't believe they opted this system over just giving "rested xp". That was the beauty of logging into warhammer and having rested xp for a while. When that shit disappeared I went ahead and logged out. Perfect for casuals. I do understand that, under the current rate, you could get to 50 pretty quickly. However at rank 23 lancer skill gain is slowing down a lot with random 30-300 skill gain per mob and the required skill increasing each level. I can see it turning into a pretty decent grind once you hit 30 and all the way up until 50. No need for this surplus xp shit, granted I haven't seen surplus the past few days dividing my time between crafting and grinding. I highly doubt this system will stay for very long, and even if it does it will just give everyone a reason to level another class or spend time crafting/gathering.

[Callisto]

Looking for a bit of a basic walkthrough on crafting leves since apparently I'm a bit of a dummy and can't figure them out, and am having a hard time with search...I was trying a basic smithing one(Skull Valley Delivery), the description of local leves in general and the instructions the game gives seem to show that talking to the NPC at SV camp is the first step, and that they'll give me the mats I need. I made my way there, but the NPC just says talk to them when I already have the two bronze saws made, and after checking vendors in town I can't figure out where I'm supposed to get the mats to get started. If someone can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

[Croy]

Looking for a bit of a basic walkthrough on crafting leves since apparently I'm a bit of a dummy and can't figure them out, and am having a hard time with search...I was trying a basic smithing one(Skull Valley Delivery), the description of local leves in general and the instructions the game gives seem to show that talking to the NPC at SV camp is the first step, and that they'll give me the mats I need. I made my way there, but the NPC just says talk to them when I already have the two bronze saws made, and after checking vendors in town I can't figure out where I'm supposed to get the mats to get started. If someone can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

That means you already got the mats. Go into synthesis, do requested and find the leve under local and just start. Some do give you mats when you talk to them there are also a lot that you given everything the minute you accept the leve and all you have to do is go see the NPC they mention when its all done.

[Cichy]

Looking for a bit of a basic walkthrough on crafting leves since apparently I'm a bit of a dummy and can't figure them out, and am having a hard time with search...I was trying a basic smithing one(Skull Valley Delivery), the description of local leves in general and the instructions the game gives seem to show that talking to the NPC at SV camp is the first step, and that they'll give me the mats I need. I made my way there, but the NPC just says talk to them when I already have the two bronze saws made, and after checking vendors in town I can't figure out where I'm supposed to get the mats to get started. If someone can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

There are two types of crafting leaves.
First is the one with picture of Galka with the hammer. In that one on the bottom you have a name of the client you gotta talk to to obtain the items to craft what you need. After you obtain items, craft them, talk to npc again to complete the quest.
Second is the one where on the bottom is a person you just need to deliver too. You're provided with materials right away and once you craft you just give the NPC the items. I forgot what picture the card has on it.

[Callisto]

Ahh, didn't see the 'requested' button, thanks a ton

[Kuya]

Callisto, i just saw you a while ago. Why didn't you say hi!?

edit: anybody mind reposting that list that said what each stat did? I'm trying to find what piety, mind, etc do.

[Calemero]

This made me smile and then I remembered "fatigue" and logged out.

Spoiler: show

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/7...0820235937.png

[Cichy]

Is that a bolding black guy with goatee in the picture?

[Lucavi]

That one actually sounds pretty badass.

[Callisto]

Callisto, i just saw you a while ago. Why didn't you say hi!?

edit: anybody mind reposting that list that said what each stat did? I'm trying to find what piety, mind, etc do.

lol the last three people with familiar names that I was like HAY I KNOW YOU to turned out to not be who I thought they were, plus I died right after I saw you and had to HP

[Guitarman]

"the lobby server has encountered an error" etc etc, error code 5003. any idea what that is? trying to get into the game for the first time.

[LD]

This made me smile and then I remembered "fatigue" and logged out.

Spoiler: show

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/7...0820235937.png

Looks like alternate universe Dr. Brule.

I've gotten a lot less optimistic about SE's ability to create an MMO that isn't FFXI-2. Sure, game-play elements are slightly different, but it's the same old ideology that there should be punishments for solo rather than incentive for groups. Then there's the baffling idea that solo always means "no time on their hands", but that should have been the first thing they learned was wrong from FFXI: If you can't get into a party, no matter how much time you have on your hands, you have to solo.

[Balphas]

I think surplus will just be a temporary measure while they implement content/features that should have been in by launch. Right now there' no point in leveling to cap, as there is no other content aside from guild leaves. Instead of having a bunch of people sitting at 50 screaming for content, they're forcing us to spend a lot of time rotating classes so they can focus on finishing the game. I wouldn't be surprised to see surplus getting cut from the game in 6 months when PS3 release is due, mostly so they can allow them to catch up to the PC boys. I personally think this game needs a few more months in development, but Square-Enix begs to differ ; ;

[Dein]

People need to realize that a bad idea isn't excused just because it might be cut later on. If fatigue is as bad as it has been in the beta then there will be a massive drop of people early on and that's the worst time to lose people for a MMO. The more people that quit the game early on with a bad image of it the harder (nearly impossible) it'll be for the game to regain any traction with later patches and fixes.