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

[qpoiuwer]

I'm sure there will be a storyline and quests to do, and way more content than beta has right now. Give it some time, and hopefully the game will be completely fleshed out with lot's of stuff to do.

I'm not sure of that at all. In FFXI we were out raiding ranperre's tomb at level ~3, killing dragons at level 20. So far, we have a tutorial escort quest where monsters die in 1 hit, plus talking to about 20 different NPCs. Still no sign of any quests at all outside of the storyline events, too. Which is a bit disheartening because questing was one of my favorite thing to do in FFXI.

[omegaB]

Not sure where to start, a lot of people complaining about a game that's in Beta, and hasn't been fully released yet.
XI been out for ages and its getting updates, Aion over a year and same thing.
Aion had Major server issues when NA version was released, even after a long beta.
No AH, who cares. What is there to buy anyway? 2 sets of clothes for DoM/DoW.
Same for weapons 1 from store 1 from craft.
Hasn't anyone grinded in a MMO before? Whats the fuss about only
Having fits about Leves every 48hr's? Go grind, or change your weapon and rank it up.
Go explore the map, run around town talking to NPC's or craft or something.
There isn't much content, its a Beta, and yes it has problems, get over it.
I like what they let us use and explore, and I like the Rank/Physical system more than XI.
I am definitely keeping my preorder.

theres actually more than 1 weapon from craft, but we dont have too many recipes, and then dont know where to get all the items.


I was worried about quests too quipower, but why dedicate a whole tab, with a history if thats the only quests we can get? why would it be under class, not just storyline. Anyhow i hope they have quests, cause as it is, the area is almost irrelevant to everything else.

[Decillion]

I don't see any reason why they couldn't add end game content that would scale in difficulty and rewards with an increase in the level cap.

Maybe something like a dungeon with 10 levels that requires an alliance of lvl 50 people to complete. Then when they increase the level cap, they can either add more levels to the dungeon, or add a way to adjust the difficulty (like you can with leve quests) so that it is still challenging to an alliance of lvl 70s, and provides the players with nice rewards.

[Kuya]

Not sure where to start, a lot of people complaining about a game that's in Beta, and hasn't been fully released yet.
XI been out for ages and its getting updates, Aion over a year and same thing.
Aion had Major server issues when NA version was released, even after a long beta.
No AH, who cares. What is there to buy anyway? 2 sets of clothes for DoM/DoW.
Same for weapons 1 from store 1 from craft.
Hasn't anyone grinded in a MMO before? Whats the fuss about.
Having fits about Leves every 48hr's? Go grind, or change your weapon and rank it up.
Go explore the map, run around town talking to NPC's or craft or something.
There isn't much content, its a Beta, and yes it has problems, get over it.
I like what they let us use and explore, and I like the Rank/Physical system more than XI.
I am definitely keeping my preorder.

Can we please execute a ban on sight order for SE Defense Force? 5 years of this shit is enough.

[omegaB]

I don't see any reason why they couldn't add end game content that would scale in difficulty and rewards with an increase in the level cap.

Maybe something like a dungeon with 10 levels that requires an alliance of lvl 50 people to complete. Then when they increase the level cap, they can either add more levels to the dungeon, or add a way to adjust the difficulty (like you can with leve quests) so that it is still challenging to an alliance of lvl 70s, and provides the players with nice rewards.

honestly id want new dungeons as the game progresses, i wouldnt want to spend level 75 in korrolka in ffxi

[Spork]

I dont trust this, i got a Willow Wand Full durability and still got surplus on class and physical

Same here. I took up gold smithing last night and the first thing I did was repair my weapon to full. Still had surplus.

[Thrudgelmir]

Can we please execute a ban on sight order for SE Defense Force? 5 years of this shit is enough.

Seriously.
I was completely on board with this game; willing to deal with the massive list of flaws. But finding out the garbage we're putting up with in the beta is going to be sticking around in the retail, and moreso that they are continuing to be as vague and distant as they were in FFXI; I don't understand how anyone can still be willing to jump to their defense.

[Senji]

This was posted the other day, but looks like SE will probably be repeating itself with the same exact course of action.

http://zeusls.llima.net/download/ffxiupdatehistory.html

Except people wont put with the same old as shit, and there are a bunch of new mmos coming this time. For a player or SE hold off until spring, the other mmos will be beating the door down. I've been holding off on preorder until open beta, but its a pretty hard sell to get any friends to even consider until its launched and on my PC.

[Lordender]

Seriously.
I was completely on board with this game; willing to deal with the massive list of flaws. But finding out the garbage we're putting up with in the beta is going to be sticking around in the retail, and moreso that they are continuing to be as vague and distant as they were in FFXI; I don't understand how anyone can still be willing to jump to their defense.

This 100%. I was totally on board but now I really couldn't careless of when I will try FF14. It sounds like it's going to be horrible at release and won't get better till atleast 6months after retail is out.

At the end of the day it doesn't even matter what they do or add to the game if they are going to go down the vague and distant path again.

[Kuya]

Yea, what really got me was how terrible they communicated in that interview, and how they still haven't acknowledged in depth, what the community wants and what they intend to do about it besides more pleasantries about how they're considering it. It just sounds like the same shit all over again, and no one should defend them for this.

[Decillion]

honestly id want new dungeons as the game progresses, i wouldnt want to spend level 75 in korrolka in ffxi

Well yeah, obviously I'd like them to add additional and different content as time went on. What I meant was they could design the end game content in a way so that the basic concept doesn't have to become obsolete when the level cap is increased.

[Senji]

Well yeah, obviously I'd like them to add additional and different content as time went on. What I meant was they could design the end game content in a way so that basic concept doesn't have to become obsolete when the level cap is increased.

They could give some endgame gear rewards now, and then later expansions just add more gear that is parallel and not any better!

[Decillion]

....Or they could make it so that at launch you could do FFXIV's version of Dynamis and get good equipment for a level 50 character. And then later, when they release an expansion pack and increase the level cap, you can choose to keep doing FFXIV Dynamis if you enjoyed it, and get good equipment for a level 70 character.

[plue]

Yea, what really got me was how terrible they communicated in that interview, and how they still haven't acknowledged in depth, what the community wants and what they intend to do about it besides more pleasantries about how they're considering it. It just sounds like the same shit all over again, and no one should defend them for this.

I don't think anyone has, or ever will defend how retardedly SE communicates with the outside world. If you read any of their interviews regarding this game you would probably get more information from someone who doesn't even own a computer.

I'm kind of thinking that they're not sure themselves where they're going with this game, and they're just bouncing around from one fix to another right now. I mean, even if you look at the XIV website development it was completely unprofessional. They promised updated information on mobs and cities for a year in the form of "coming soon", then just scrapped the whole concept for another. That seems their strategy for developing this game as well.

[Alderaan]

....Or they could make it so that at launch you could do FFXIV's version of Dynamis and get good equipment for a level 50 character. And then later, when they release an expansion pack and increase the level cap, you can choose to keep doing FFXIV Dynamis if you enjoyed it, and get good equipment for a level 70 character.

No, no, no Dynamis ever again. No, god please, no. No.

I do get what you're saying about, hold your breaths, gear progression.

[geno3302]

I think you guys are being a bit negative about this unless I'm missing something.

Sure there's no mouse controls, but there wasn't any in XI and we all did fine I think. Once you get used to the controls you'll be OK. There's not going to be endgame stuff right out of the cage, but at least there will be time for people to ease into the game instead of rushing and being overwhelmed (imagine starting to play XI right now?).

I'm sure there will be a storyline and quests to do, and way more content than beta has right now. Give it some time, and hopefully the game will be completely fleshed out with lot's of stuff to do.

Are you in the beta...? Have you tried playing a mage? I have yet to figure out a way to select single target w/o using the mouse however I need to press enter on the keyboard since there doesn't seem to be a way to cast with the mouse. If you can tell me how to do that, tune the targeting system, make the camera controls not randomly (frequently) break, and hopefully change it to something other then IJKL then sure...We'll get use to the controls and it'll be ok.

These are complaints from solo play, I know there's even more issues with targeting in PTs especially when it comes to healing. I've also been avoiding saying anything about MP cause I feel like SE will do something, but the MP system is currently flawed unless they let us do guildleves all day.

[disland]

Laughing while the ship sinks ITT

[Celeras]

Getting to be pretty sure that NM placeholders are in the game and just not implemented. If you saw the SS thread, I barbed down a dragon yesterday near agelyss wise. There was only the one around, and it respawned as a salamander.

Just barbed down a fly called 'Redwing Ked' near south bloodshore. It was the only one I could find again, and it just respawned as one of the giant frogs that are all over.

[Alderaan]

I'm kind of thinking that they're not sure themselves where they're going with this game, and they're just bouncing around from one fix to another right now.

This was the first thing i said on vent to a friend when alpha started. I had a feeling that SE thought they had an original combat system they assumed everyone would enjoy and weren't expecting so much negative feedback about it. Then it just snowballed from there to controls, UI, and mechanics.

[fauxe]

Not a beta tester, but my impressions:

Things that concern me:

1. Guildleve System

a) 48 hour wait on guildleves - if GLs are the primary system of leveling, 48 hours seems like too long. I see a future where zones are filled with frustrated players angrily smashing rats for 2 xp a pop.

b) Sharing GLs - The idea is to party with other people on their GLs, so that between everyone, there's always a GL to do. Ok, fine. But on further thought, this makes me worry that if you don't have any GLs available, you won't be able to get a party. Will it be such that the primary commodity a player can offer an xp party is their guildleves?

2. Commerce

a) Crafting/gathering - While I like the concept of making crafting more skill-based on the part of the player, the current systems just seem dumpy as hell. I was a level 100 crafter on XI, and even that system, which is extremely simple in comparison, got tedious. I can't imagine what its going to be like cranking out a dozen stacks of ingots on FFXIV. And I sure as hell don't want to spend half a minute playing a hot and cold game just to pull one damn copper nugget out of the ground. Just shoot me now.

b) Retainers - There are some obvious problems that I can only assume will be tweaked, such as not being able to search for things you don't already own. One person on another forum described retainers as being like "storage moogles that can also sell your stuff while they hold it", which makes it better. But it seems like a grossly suboptimal system as it stands.

c) Market wards - people keep saying there are 8 market "zones"... which makes me think there's a load wait between zones. If so, fail.

d) Lack of AH - I thought surely, surely they would have an AH in the release version. Of course they'll have an AH, i thought. But they are going to force us to use a system which, by all accounts, is laggy, poorly designed, and all around sucky. All I can say, is I hope they are truly ready with their AH system, and can implement it quickly.

3. Combat

People just don't seem that thrilled about the combat system. I can't point to anything in particular, aside from the fact that I hate the targeting cursor (right smack dab in the middle of the mob character model, covers it up with suckiness), which is a personal peve. But a combat system should excite, challenge, and, at various stages make a player feel powerful and in command. I just don't really get that impression from player comments and videos.

4. Progression system

a) Surplus points - So experience points that you get, but don't get. I see.... Wait, no I don't. While its not yet clear what purpose surplus points serve, all indicators point toward something shitty. Surplus points just seem like an unneeded bit of tedium that serves no real purpose and is merely a bi-product of the developers getting bogged down in the intricacy of their own system. Maybe SE will explain surplus points and it will all be clear, but I doubt it (especially after the tone of Tanaka's latest interview).

b) Class & Physical level - I just don't see the point in having two different progression systems. It just seems overwrought and unnecessary, like surplus points. I don't want to have call an accountant every time I try to figure out my TNL.

5. FFXI-2

Just seems too derivative. I was really hoping for a new adventure, with a new look, something fresh and exotic. But let's be honest: its a bold-faced rehash of FFXI. Same races, models, color palates, jobs, abilities, scenery, etc... Sorry, but Tahrongi Canyon is not something I need two of.



Things that I'm OK with and/or feel good about:

1. Lack of endgame content

Just seems unimportant to me that there isn't endgame content at release. There doesn't even need to be.

2. Visuals

Obviously, the main thing FFXIV has going for it is its beautiful, amazing, heart-wrenching appearance. Epic vistas, stunning character models and animations, cool gear. Well done, clearly.

3. Mouse controls

I was previously under the impression that using a mouse is necessary in FFXIV. But it seems the controls are more or less like FFXI, in that everything can be done with the keyboard. I'm fine with that. In fact, I would rather solely use a KB, as you don't have to move your hand back and forth if you're chatting and engaged in another activity at the same time. But then again, FFXI is pretty much the only MMO i've played (with the exception of about 2 weeks of WoW) so maybe I don't know what I'm missing. At any rate, I would like for them to fix it for the people who DO care.

All things considered, I will almost certainly buy the game. But I won't play it for long if it sucks. As much as I love SE, as much as I cherish those years of suckling at the sweet teat of Final Fantasies past, as much as I want this game to fucking rock sox and make buckets of money, a big part of me wants to stay away. And by the looks of it, SE is going to make it fairly easy.