Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

[jayjayjojo]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

When I first read about Chocobo racing, I was very disappointed to see that the players would not be controlling the Chocobos. I specifically signed up for this forum to post my vision of how I think Chocobo racing could/should be.



First, the players should be able to ride the Chocobos while racing because I feel that the outcome should be decided by human error while riding the said Chocobo. Each racer participating would have to sign up beforehand and pay an entry fee, and NPC racers would fill the ranks if enough did not show up. After the race is finished the top three placers would win gil prizes with the first placer winning an extra prize.



Secondly, those who are not participating in the races could be able to place bets on the Chocobo they think will win. Similar to FF7, if their selected racer wins, they are then rewarded with special points that can be used to purchase special items, armors, and weapons at certain NPC vendors. Also, there should be an area on the track where spectators can watch the racers zip around.



Thirdly, a Chocobo’s attributes should be determined during the raising process, but I feel that there should be special “traps” in the track(s) that would affect the Chocobo’s effectiveness. Another idea is to have special items that racers can obtain to possibly give speed boosts or something similar during the races, but these items should be available to everyone and not just those who have all the money.



Lastly, I would like to see multiple race tracks that would be randomly selected before each competition. Each of these tracks would contain multiple paths and “hazards” throughout, making it a true test of skill to navigate and win. Also, there should also be a time limit on each race in the event that some players might go away from their computer/console or have connection issues.



This is how I think Chocobo racing should be. I hope I didn’t bore you too much.

[Dragonly]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

This is with players riding, is that their are certin people who like to cheat at a MMO as these people will make the hack needed to win.

[Fasitwere]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

Chocobo racing is a great addition to the game. I think the main concern of developer's should be to make it as competitive as possible. There should be divisions, as have been mentioned before, mine would sit like this (but enter FFXI names instead of a boring number system):




Division 1

The best of the best competing through a point system of weekly races that go over a season, say 2 months. Weekly races have decent prizes winning the season needs to be an awesome prize. Item idealy, something different every 2 months, but hallways a BIG item or items and gil from gambling (some of the “track’s cut”). The sort of thing where Linkshells have racing teams and there is rivalry etc...




Division 2

A few races a week. Win get a get prize and gil from gambling proceeds . (could be a lot if watching and gambling could be made popular enough) Do well enough you are allowed to Qualify for Div 1. Once you qualify you are in Div 1 for the next season.




Division 3

Races every few hours decent prizes. Do well enough chance to get into Div 2. Everybody can compete play gamble etc.




Now the races, prises, and odds need to be promoted, so there should be NPCs to do this in each city. Also, it would be ideal if it were easy to watch a race regularly. Tired of smithing? Head over to the Bastok track; watch and wager on a few races. Maybe even buy tickets, more for front row of course (more gil to the winner), watch at the stadium. AND/OR as much as I hate to say it, it would be nice to have a really good view, Moogles eye ideally (Stick a Ahriman Lens to a Warp Cudgel with some animal glue and a malboro vine and have the moogle follow the race around); Or at least some craft able binoculars. How about a “Racepearl” so you can keep track of that race no matter where you are. After all you did put 500K on Moma’s Little Devil, you should be able to enjoy the race from where ever.




It would be nice to have something entertaining to do while waiting on a party and this could be a nice diversion if done right. I have always thought that Jeuno should feature a game room full of 2+ player mini games to play while looking for group. But if thats not in the cards, taking odds on the next race might be nice.

[bobobiggs]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

Betting should be set up just like the real races. the prize pool and bet return is soley based off of players GIL No gill should be added to the game for winning a race , maybe a min amount like 10k that wont put a huge influx of gil into the system but will cover players time if people dont bet.

[Fasitwere]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

I agree totaly about no new gil. I was just saying that if the "sport" is competitive and interesting enough there would be plenty of player gil from the house "vig" or maybe even admision to go to ridiers. lol think having a LS event in an expensive box seat to the race of the season.

[jayjayjojo]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

Sure there may be speed hacks in racing, but wouldn't it be easier to monitor within just that area. In my opinion it would be blatant if one was using these said hacks to change the outcome of the race and then bam "DELETED!"

I read about people saying that if the chocobos were player controlled that the races could be easily thrown. Assuming that there is some stamina system involved with the commands given to non-player-ridden chocobos, could one not merely deplete its stamina in an attempt to throw a race? I am merely speculating.

[Volkai]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

I actually like the idea of chocobos not being player controled, though allowing for the queueing of commands. I suppose then there are some ideas that we can do to improve on that:

Jockies: Since we aren't the controlers of the chocobos, who is? Someone has to ride them right? As it is we have NPC buddies. Why not NPC jockies, or in this case, Chocies (pronounced with a long O sound like in Chocobo, not short as in jocky)!

I'm not saying they are someone we can "play" like we do with our NPCs, but having your own jockies opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

- Every Chocy starts out at same relative level
- Winning races increases your bond with your chocy/chocobo for improved performance
- New commands become available at higher levels, rewarding avid chocobo owners
- Quests to improve relationship between your Chocy and your chocobo

It could very easily handled through a randevouz system, menu driven through conversation like your current NPC is, and of course at any time you could "fire" them and start the process over. Its probably far fetched, but race has always had little significance in the game when push comes to shove, and some racial benifits could be added.

For example, Tarutaru could have better speed (smaller Chocy) on a janet chocobo than a Mithra would, but a mithra could likely have more finesse over them. Galaka might be heavier and thus slower, but they can certainly exert a lot more control over thier chobos. And lets not forget those firey red chocos that might have a better disposition to the riders of thier herritage - the Elvaan.

Just an idea, I guess.

Double Post Edited:
Oh yeah! Fooooood.... I would love to be able have a set time to have a moment alone with my chocobo before the race. Give it a little encouragement, maybe feed it some of that super rare Movement Speed +1% food that I want SE to add to the game.

Of course, feed it too much food and it will be affect them in a bad way. I'd hate to have my chocobo run by the way side mid-race.

Betting: Betting should not, should not, should NOT create new gil, IMO. I think at this point - at least in Odin - the economy seems to be fighting back but a new large influx of NPC generated gil in the form of "Big Wins" would just suck for all the efforts against RMT. It would also be a really crap and easy way for RMT to make it big, which is bad.

SOoo... Betting I think would have to be on system that was player driven, but NPC supported (to keep people from opening /sh loan sharks mroe than they already will).

Betting could be done with official Cocobo Circut races say, three times a week on the weekend, one race, or one set of multiple races during each peak time. If there were an official chocobo racing schedule, the week pririor (Starting after conequest tally, and extending through the week) various trial races for placement in the official races could work.

A point system like NASCAR uses seems like a winning idea. 10 points for a win, 9 for 2nd, and on down to 1 point. Could even have different tier circuts for people 1-50 points, 50-200 points, 200-500 points total, etc. That way, people who dominate lower level circuts must move on to bigger fish, preventing ringleaders and RMTers from dominating the bets.

A cool down time on races would be nice also. Only three races a week, for example, or 5 races a week.

This all assuming an "official" race schedule of course.

open races would totally rawk too. <.< I talk to much.

SECONDED!!

[meanest]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

There has to be claiming races, and races for breeders only in each country.

Gambling: there is only one way to do this, any bet available at the track needs to be in game.
WPS Exacta Trifecta pick6 pick4 whatever, Dissapointment will quickly arrise if players cant make there bet of choice.

Charts, a must as well as past performances, betters will need to get a read on how the breeder races the cho, otherwise there is no point for the comands you can give for stretch run or full go.

Remember, the whole point of a racing circuit is not the money given to the cho owners, but the money movment through betting, People should not be as excited over the opportunity to race but the opportuinity to bet, otherwise there is too many chos in the circuit. A race with only 4 chos is just as exciting as on with 16.

A Breeder and an Owner are separate things, both should be alloud to own and stable an unlimited amount of chos. CLAIMING CLAIMING CLAIMING there has to be some risk when entering your chos.

There is no point to have any other race than taru as a jockey period. We are betting on the cho not which jockey race is fast or slow.

I could spend my whole time in game as a jockey, but that opption isn't available. Do not give non playable jockey's stats. If they were playable, wners could pay them for there services, they would gain experience and fame.

Double Post Edited:
Also it's not called the sport of kings for nothing, people own horses, whealthy own thouroughbreds.

Double Post Edited:
If we cant select unique names for the chocobos in our care, forget about racing it would be to confusing. I just don't think you will put in the effort to make this anything worth while. Just make the raising fun since thats all you really intended.

[Dashiel]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

Some of the ideas in here may have been mentioned already, didn't really read the previous posts.

First of all, make the fellowship NPC involved, somehow. Making it be your chocobo rider would be nice. It would also be cool if its level, or affection, would have some sort of effect in riding performance or assigned ridding strategies. This would actually give a reason for players to exp their npcs.
Make it so there's at least a race an hour, make players have racing tags (same as assault tags), that way it will keep races from being booked by hardcore players. You should be to expand your maximum tag holding number through rank or quests (I'm not sure why it isn't like that with assault).

Gambling is a must. Should work the same way as horse and dog racing does. People who are riding shouldn't be able to bet on that round. If your chocobo wins, besides racing points you should get some of the money that was placed in favor to your chocobo (or some percentage of the winnings, I'm not sure how does gambling work.).

You should be able to sign up your chocobo in different racing categories provided that your chocobo met certain requirements. That way players won't fix races by having nine bad chocobos against one awsome one.

The racing track should be divided in different areas, you should be able to suggest your fellowship NPC (meaning your rider) before the race what sort of commands you want it to perform in each part of it. Each command should drain stamina from the chocobo, that way (just as with blue magic points) you'd be able to assign different commands in a limited ammount of slots. Each command should have different levels of stamina, and each command would depend on your chocobo's status. While a chocobo with high stamina might be able to dash more times, a chocobo with high agility would be able to dash faster and keep a steady faster running rhythm.

Racing should award points, those points should be exchanged for prices to dress up A- your chocobo, B- your NPC and C- yourself. Chocobo and NPC gear should affect your racing performance, while your personal gear should help with chocobo breeding or something of the like. But do give us something to show off. All of this gear should be displayed on the chocobo, NPC or player. Be noticeable, even when you summon your chocobo outside. Make it so the NPC riding gear you've obtained is set automatically for racing, that way we can keep our personal clothing styles when exping it.
Make different types of chocobo, npc and player gear, each should boost different aspects. This will make every racer more unique.

Keep a server rank of top racers and top gamblers.

While setting a cap on gambling depending on the difficulty of the race sounds good, don't make the cap too low. That way players who like to stay in town instead of going to exp or camp NMs, or just can't afford crafting, will have something to do and actually profit.

It would also be nice to see different racing tracks with different weathers and different effects. Ice tracks would have slippery floor, muddy areas would slow chocobos down, fire areas would drain stamina. All these effects would be countered by the chocobo's personal status and racing strategies.

Gambling should be done in Imperial Standing or Aht Urhgan currency to keep the system clean from gil seller's inflation. Besides, this is Aht Urhgan. It'd make sense.

One of the cheap racing (meaning points awarded by racing your chocobo) rewards (as cheap as warp or reraise scrolls are with conquest points) should be experience point scrolls. Make it so they are compatible with the merit system too.
This will give an alternative to players who don't enjoy hunting. There should be different scrolls for different racing ranks (as there are ranks for assault and nation), depending on rank you got the scroll from this would give more experience.

Make it so players can look at the race when its taking place, and set different 'still' cameras through the track which they'd be able to browse through. A camera per chocobo would also be nice. And what would be even nice would be a chocobo first-view camera.
Also make a couple (not sure one for every area) of catchy hyped up background songs depending on the race. Songs get repetitive really fast.

It'd also be nice to have a NPC outside of the racing tracks shouting data of the upcoming race.

[Dragonly]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

Gambling should be done in Imperial Standing or Aht Urhgan currency to keep the system clean from gil seller's inflation. Besides, this is Aht Urhgan. It'd make sense.

That's a good idea in thought, but as it stands right now Aht Uhgan currency does very little, and IS is easy enough to get.

[DonCorneo]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

15. Possible reward from Players v. NPC would be an item to call your Chocobo every 2 hours rl time for regular use to go from point A to point B to encourge affinity. Possible reward of "Best of the Best" would be an item to call it every 30 minutes rl time. Each of these items would have 20 uses each, then you would have to get a new one.

first of all<,> most of the people that were looking forward to chocobo raising would probably be looking forward to <sic> being able to calling their chocobo anywhere anytime, not getting it as an award

What I was looking at is not making the ability to call your Chocobo for a ride a prize, but the ability to call it more often, similar to the Tactics Pearl. Rumor has it that we'll be able to calll our Chocobos on a very limited basis (possibly once every 24 hours rl time), and I think that really sucks. I'm just putting forth the idea that if SE does make it so we can only call our Chocobos once in X amount of hours rl time, then it would be really nice to get an item that will make it so we can call it more often. There are a lot of areas (Baeuduex<sp> Glacier for one) that are a really long walk/run where it would be great to get a ride to and from. If we are severly limited on how often we can call our Chocobos, I don't want to be in the position of just using it and then needing it again before the timer runs out (like an exp ring and the party breaks up soon after you use it). I'm looking to have it available when I finish a EXP party which I called my Chocobo to get to after using OP teleport, or doing quests and missions.





Slightly off topic, but I really wish everyone would stop believing that FFXI works on rl economics. The more gil taken out of the game, the more RMT profits. If SE wants to kill RMT, then gil most flow extremely freely. Flood the game with gil. If everyone in game has plenty of gil to spend on whatever they want, RMT wouldn't be able to sell gil. Plain and simple, the LESS gil available in game, the more it is worth to RMT, the more RMT will monopolize it.

FFXI economy's STANDARD is the BALANCE between making the game a challange without making it too easy or too hard. It is not the actual amount of gil in the game, but it does have an effect on the BALANCE. By "removing" gil from the game, SE is throwing the BALANCE off, making the game too hard and making RMT really profitable, thus our frustration with the game.

If there are only 5 gils in the whole game, how much will each be worth in rl money? If there are 999 quadrillion, trillion, billion, million (yes, an impossible and ridiculous amount) gils in the game, how much is each worth in rl money? Do you understand now?

My point here is that if SE makes Chocobo raising/racing a gil "sinkhole", it won't be fun for the majority of players and RMT will have yet another way to profit from the game.

[Dashiel]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

That's a good idea in thought, but as it stands right now Aht Uhgan currency does very little, and IS is easy enough to get.

This is proposed as an alternative to those who don't enjoy exping. I have currently 400 IS left, I need 4 mythril coins for my blu AF body and the only place where I get it from is besieged. Currency can be sold at the AH.

[Ghoulie]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

Of course if you can only bet on your chocobo that would make people not be able to monopolize.

[Aerogenji]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

I'm just curious but do we have to have the ToAU expansion pack to raise/breed/race chocobos?

[Scapester]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

that is like the best thing ive heard all year.. well besides getting the game.. and playing it ... well anyways chocobo racing sounds effin awsome!!!