Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

[neotamashii]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

I am sure someone has already mentioned this (I only read about 50% of the current posts before formulating this), but here goes.

I am saddened by the aspect of not being able to ride and/or directly control my chocobo during the race. I was looking forward to showcasing my riding abilities when matched against others. However, I understand why SE would not implement this, what with the, all but, unchecked use of 3rd party software.

Someone posted that a jockey to ride our chocobos could be similar to our NPC Fellows. While this is a good idea, I think this would add an unnecessary complexity to the racing system. If anything, perhaps a player merely selects from a list of 10 jockeys to ride your chocobo in a given race (each one with specific stats and traits that affect your decision as to whom will ride your chocobo). A jockey system seems imperative, but having your own (as in the NPC Fellow) does not.

On the subject of gambling: As long as the outcome of a race is not simply random (thusly independent of jockey choice and chocobo stats), I would not be completely opposed to the idea. My preference, however, is that there be no form of gambling applied to the races. Ultimately, regardless of any system SE might devise for this purpose, outside "casinos" and gambling venues will likely crop up.

Of course, I would like a reward system in place for those chocobos that win. Whether that be in the form of gil or in racing/riding related items, I am not partial. Personally, a point system that accrues based on wins/losses/placing seems very appropriate. These points could be treated in the same manner as Assault Points but be applied to the purchase of select "enhancing" gear/items for your chocobo.

I think I could go on about all of my thoughts in more detail, but about halfway through on just this bit, I got lost (train of thought derailed) and so... this post ends here.

-t

[Shadowneko]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

Just to put my idea in: I think you should have limited controls...like being able to change stragities mid-race or just have go, sprint and slow down buttons.

As for items from betting you make them like doing a BCMN...you can get good items for wining or you can get lowsy drops...it's totally random!

[Macht]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

Does a weapon need constant care and attention? No.

It's different with a chocobo though. If you don't properly raise it, it will do poorly in the upcoming race and it will be negatively effected due to negligence.

Lol, I love this. If you want to talk in realisticly speaking then yes weapons do need to be cared for and attended, some weapons needs that care and attention after every single use while other only need it 1 time every 3 months to 1 year.

Swords/Axes/Scythes need to be repolished and sharpened

Metal clubs/staffs/bows need to be repolished
Wood clubs/staffs/bows need to be revitalized wood polish to keep from splintering and becoming brittle

If you mean in terms of skill:

For perfection of use you have to constantly practice with it everyday to keep your skill up as well as strength in using them.


For game sake though the matter of what needs an upkeep depends on how much hassle vs. worth it is. Then with that also adding what the developers are trying to persuade the players to use.

[Ramsey]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

Acctual stats should never be displayed. If they were displayed gambling would be completely unbalanced. If you want to be a good gambler at any kind of races you need to keep track of the various possible contestants, I'm sure some people will race often and you'll recognize their bird and/or jockey. Of course you can always communicate with the riders to learn the birds stats, but It is entirely up to the rider whether or not to give them. As for having an /anon thing for wins losses. Again that totally breaks it as well, there is not really any reason why a person would care who bets on them or against them, considering the betting and racing asepcts will most likely be seperate. The only reason /anon would be desirable is if you had an insanely embarassing track record, and that wouldnt really help you other than save you some imaginary embrassament, because no one would raelly care.

As for having jobs etc affect the racing. This is not Mario Kart, this is not Chocobo Racing (PS1) this is more like Chocobo Stallion (Which was for all who did not play the import pretty much a Horse Racing Sim reworked with chocobos) The engine is not built for twitch gaming, you wont be dodging land mines and shooting missles, ( no lightning bolts here! >_>) It's just not going to happen.

I think a good suggestion was made a while back about the jockey's. I wouldnt minda jockey if there was a wide selection of jockey's each with their own individual back stories that could be investigated and played out between quests or simple cutscenes, and if you had some conversation/relations with the jockey. Don't make it so involved that you have your own personal jockey that you have to train or anything, but make it involved enough that you have a bond with your jockey and I think that the whole not racing part would go over fairly well, as long as we get a chase cam!

[Ziero]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

Ok, only got to read half this topic so don't shoot me if I say something that's already been said.

First off I would like to clear up two things, if they haven't been already:

1)

It is possible to give orders (i.e. sprint ahead, come from behind, etc) to riders before the race.

This shows there WILL be NPC riders, so no chocobo racing on their own like some have mentioned. It also means you wil have some aspects of control in the way you plan your race, just not directly involved in the stearing and such. This is the best way to do it IMO as it prevents both unfair botting and unfair connection issues. It would be a heartbreaker to be racing in the 'big race' only to D/C moments away from a win.

2) http://community.livejournal.com/fin...1/3069714.html

List of selectable names for Chocobos, and it's pretty long. You can also find info and dialogue about raising chocos in there so warning: spoilers in there and such.

3) To the people who want to 'show their racing skill', you could always have done that. Just grab a group of friends, a bunch of chocos and make your own 'track' in any of the zones you can ride a bird in. Place bets on each other and see who wins. If you want 'official' times you could all do the choco quests at the stables and see who gets the shortest time. Now that I think of it, I might suggest this to my LS as an LS event for the future. Should be fun with enough people.

Now as for my ideas, though I'm sure some others share and have stated similar ones.

I think there should be betting, from both generic spectators and actual racers. But it should be NPC controlled. Spectators should be able to wager gil for gil rewards like at a normal race while Racers get rewarded via the chocobo racing points others mentioned as well as cash pots at the end. Those racers who raise strong chocos who win often will be rewarded by not only gil rewards, but R/E prizes like trophies and other choco gear. Though I think it's kinda ridiculous to reward HNM and NM drops from choco racing.

Now to prevent people from fixing races, you would just have to create seperate racing ranks between the racers. This would instantly kill the 5 weak vs 1 strong concept. Another thing that would kill that is being able to see the 'odds' of which choco will win based on it's stats and record and such. With more people betting on the best, the rewards from the race will be sread thiner so more people will gain a smaller amount of gil. So if a few friends tried to do the 5 weak vs 1 strong rigged race, the odds would show in favor of the strong and other people could place bets lowering the payout upon victory. But if someone bets for the underdog, and that choco pulls out a win, the payout should be pretty great.

The scheduale should be similar to ballista's, where there is plenty of time between them to prepare but there is usually one happening soon. You should also be able to see advanced versions of the schedule to help plan accordingly. When there are no official races the track could be opened to 'free time' races where players can just ride their birds around the track for fun with no NPC controls or bettings. When a race is close to start all people on the track will be removed into the stands or whatever and the race can go on as planned.

New tracks to be added in the future would be nice, and I like the concept of 'special' annual races that are held every few months for different events. The weather idea was a good one too imo, but something that shouldn't be put in place unless new tracks are actually added.

All in all I think they should make choco racing as close to normal horse racing as possible. Something that can be both a casual entertainment or a 'full time' profession. Not everyone will make award winning chocos, and those that do should get something special for it. But everyone should be able to win from Choco racing.

[Ramsey]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

Although the schedule for ballista keeps being mentioned, and I would like a small amount of downtime between races, I really really hope it's much faster than ballista. Races themselves shouldnt be too long looking at the track, and I can't imagine it going for more than 10 laps (max) so I'd really like to see maybe 5-10 min between races. maybe 15, anymore and going to the track to watch races and bet on them during your downtime will be kind of impossible, because you'll have to wait some ridiculous time for the races to start. I'm sure a lot of people will want to race so having races often helps, and if NPC racers fill in the spots it should prove to work well.

Like the hireable jockey's it would be cool if NPC birds and racers are persitant as well, building their own reputation amongst bidders.

[Lionheart]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

Man, I don't know if I will like this or not. Once again, the thing that will determine who wins probably will be , who has more money to put into their chocobo. Which is kind of dumb I think, considdering EVERYTHING in the game pretty much this far has been money dependant. If good chocobo's need a certain food, expect it not to be cheap because of gil sellers.

I was also a little let down that you can't control your chocobo, but if you do have to spectate, I hope it's like FF7, with the commands they were talking about and whatnot.

I also think you should be able to give your chocobo unique nicknames, when I named my dog I didn't choose from a list of 20 names , I choose what I wanted.

Another thing I don't want, are lame chocobo tracks, I get a feeling the track will just be some circle. Hopefully they will be creative and make crazy looking tracks, kinda like gold saucer stuff. (Obviousley FF7 is the only game I can refer to)

I don't know, that's about all I have to say, just that it will probably be kind of a let-down unless they do alot to make it nice.

[Newbusarcanemus]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

Excuse me if this is a repeat of someone else's reply (but this is my first day and kinda hard to sit and read through pages and pages of other comments ). I do know that I picked up on a couple of things, one being who would ride the chocobos in the races (if any at all). I say that if we do, why not pick the most suited npc for the job, our beloved moogles. That way it's all fair, moogles are all same size, so none of this disadvantage because galkas are much heavier than taru's or whatever, plus everybpdy loves a moogle.

-I think that the races can be more than just gil, i like the idea of items (especially ex/rare, prevent monoply). Maybe some flashy new threads, some chocobo gear (maybe equipment, accessories, to put on your chocobo, you know, a ride with style , Maybe manuals to teach your chocobo new tricks and abilities, the possibilities are endless).

-For the mechanics of the racing, need some crazy and different camera angles for the whole thing, and maybe for fun make one of those picture and picture boxes, that has the players face in the little corner in real time as he shouts out all the queuing commands and stuff. But most importantly, need some really ripping choco racing music, gotta get the "feel" of it.


-Definetly need to setup a system of ranking races, tournaments, grand prixs, what have you. That way as you get better, you move up in the league, allowing you to better yourself with others and not dominate that one circuit alone while others are still new and getting the hang of it.


-An idea that just popped into my head, unless the area of where the "chocobo raising" will take place, why not make a back door from your moogle house that leads to your little friend so you can interact with him, like training, feeding, playing, grooming, etc.

Thanks for hearing me out, hope my brainstorming helped in any way possible

[Karinya]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

(Note: the bold quoted comments that Ramsey is replying to are originally mine.)

"please try to be fair to all three groups."

Why? Seriously, some people don't want anything to do with HNMs, some people don't want anything to do with Limbus, or Dynamis, or Assault, or crafting etc etc etc. Why should those players who want to be involved with Chocobo's be screwed over in "fairness" sake. Your using this word incorrectly, because it would acctually be unfair if there were no unique prizes. It would also greatly lessen the popularity of the event. I'm sure you know there are quite a few people who do not like end game or do not have time for end game, and you want to screw them over further by not allowing them to get anything remotely good from something they can acctually do and enjoy doing it?

Chocobo raising/racing should give you unique ex items that are good for chocobo raising/racing. Killing HNMs should give you unique ex items that are good for killing HNMs. That's fair. Killing Kirin doesn't make you better at chocobo racing, so chocobo racing shouldn't make you better at killing Kirin. That's all I'm asking for.

Note how the only ex items you can get from crafting are for... crafting. There isn't a 50 DMG Blacksmith's Hammer or something like that. On the other hand you don't see +5 crafting skill items drop from Dynamis or Jailers. Combat-oriented activities give you combat-oriented rewards; non-combat activities give you non-combat-oriented rewards. Except for that one cooking knife from Uggalepih.

Mainly it was a reaction to some people earlier on the thread asking for chocobo racing prizes to force-pop Behemoth and stuff like that.

* No gil prizes. Minimal or no gil entry fees. For at least the first few months, the races will probably be essentially completely packed. Any net gil gain/loss will affect the economy.

I agree with no gil prizess, however, saying now entry fees, especially when it's packed is silly. Of course it will affect the economy, that is the point of NPC fees, to take gil out of the economy, now naturally it shouldnt be anything ridiculous, but it should definatly be a small fee. Anything that takes gil out of the economy is very good.

Well, I guess that's for SE to decide. I'm not convinced that sucking more gil out of the economy is going to solve everything, or anything. If they want to add more gil sinks they certainly can, but I'd prefer if chocobo racing interacted with gil as little as possible. No need to muddy the waters further.

1k per player x 6 players per race x 12 races per Vana'diel day x 25 Vana'diel days per Earth day = 1.8 million gil per Earth day per server (assuming all races are full). And 1k is a minimal fee.

But SE will do what they want on this issue regardless of what we say - which is fine with me. They have more information about the internal workings of the economy than I do, anyway, so I trust them not to screw it up. They've done pretty well so far, despite the whining.

* If spectators can wager on races, I suggest letting them wager Imperial currency and win items, so the gil supply isn't affected. (Not chocobo racing points - those are for contestants!) People without TAU can still get Imperial currency via the AH or bazaars, but people who wager often will want to get the expansion so they can earn their own. People who have a bird in the race shouldn't be allowed to also bet on it.

Again, taking gil out of the economy is a good, not a bad thing. Though I do agree that regardless of what currency is used for betting, points should be different for racing than for betting. Perhaps have two seperate point systems.

Well, it's up to SE to decide if they want to take gil out of the economy or not.

I don't see the need for a point system for spectators - let them get their rewards immediately. Spectators shouldn't be getting anything unique anyway - that should go to the dedicated raisers/racers. Spectator betting could be a back door to allow an extra supply stream for some monopolized or low-supply items, particularly HELM, gardening and chocobo digging stuff that is currently botted or RMT monopolized. It might seem a little weird to bet on a race and win an elm log, but frankly, Vana'diel needs more elm logs (and many other unglamorous but useful items), and anyone who doesn't like the prize selection can sell their prizes on the AH or not bet in the first place.

Again, this is for *spectator* betting, which is separate from entry fees for, and prizes from, entering the races with your own bird. Tying spectator betting to Imperial currency won't stop level 20s from raising their own bird or entering it in the races with the same chance to win as anyone else; it'll just force them to buy Imperial currency from the AH or bazaars if they want to bet on someone *else's* race.

Also, a bit off topic, not in the racing but in the chocobo general department. I think I speak for "most" people when I say, we'd rather have to pay to call out our own chocobo than wait some ridiculous amount of time between calls. Don't give us another 16 hour or 24 hour item to call them.

Chocobo whistle is already in the .dats from the Aug 1 update (although currently unobtainable). I think the reuse timer is 5 min. It does have limited charges, though. We'll have to see how hard it is to get one, and how hard it is to get another once your first runs out of charges. Hopefully not too hard, because I predict this is going to be a VERY popular (and useful) feature.

Make chocobos callable in non chocobo accesible but outdoor zones. I.E. Beaucedine Glacier. The fact that one of the earliest FFXI trailers featured players riding chocobos in the glacier still pisses me off today XD

*Perhaps make only certain chocobos calleable in certain areas, similar to how in past games certain colors could scale mountains, certain colors could swim etc. For instance a normal yellow chocobo couldnt get to the glacier maybe, but if you had a black or green chococobo you could call them. Etc. etc. Based on the intervening topogrophy.

Interesting possibility. Only an arctic chocobo can survive Beaucedine/Xarc/Uleguerand, only a hot weather chocobo can be called in Mount Zhayolm, only a swamp chocobo in Caedarva Mire. Would that apply to existing areas too (Altepa, Yuhtunga and Yhoator, Pashhow)? Should the Altepa stables start renting out desert chocobos instead of normal chocobos? I think this might end up being too complicated, particularly since the different breeds are apparently already tied to different stat profiles.

I definitely agree with allowing chocobo whistle in Qufim, Beaucedine, Xarcabard, Uleguerand, Lufaise, Misareaux, Attohwa, Purgonorgo, Teriggan, Sorrows, Caedarva, and Mt. Zhayolm (in addition to all the areas reachable on a chocobo now), though. Of course all those areas need chocobo digging result tables then, which gives another opportunity to provide extra supply sources for items or ingredients that are in short supply.

[Araius]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

I love the idea of having players not have control, this prevents people from interfering via 3rd party tools, or shoot, just latency issues. Thumbs up on that one, its unfortunate that the nature of some people to cheat have made it necessary to take some of the skill aspect of Chocobo Racing, but if it means making it actually fair, then that's what you've got to do.

On the same token though, in order to avoid people just buying gil to be able to afford ways of improving their chocobo, a lot of these things should be attainable in ways not associated with gil. I did see that Chocobo Eggs are Ex, which I think was a great move.

[robinkle]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

- The ability of raised chocobos will be reflected during Chocobo Racing.

Yes I like this Idea, after hard work with the chocobo I would like to see the results of it. I think it will be alot of fun. But I would perfer that the chocobo can learn from its oponents too, and learn new abilities/skill/gain experience points of some kind or gain tricks and make it show emotions behaviour, make it whistle songs, show a happy face, or sad face, and the chocobo dance. "Make them as Cute and funny as possible."

- Chocobos will not be controllable by players during Chocobo Racing.

Thats okay with me, basically you do controll it before the race so how good you have treated your chocobo will have an effect on its performance in race. Though I would like to have my character ride the chocobo, I mean actually be on the chocobo.

- It is possible to give orders (i.e. sprint ahead, come from behind, etc) to riders before the race.

Have a command based system where you can have a chocobo whistle to make it do a speed boost.. etc so you have a slightly tactical influence on the race. Would be big part of the fun with the racing.

The Rewards:
Perferably, if there is even more Rare/ex items added, please add yet again more space to mog locker, I'm sick of having inventory full of Rare/ex items. Or atleast add the oportunity to store items in a bag of your chocobo.

Yet another currency, Chocobo Racing Points ?
We allready have Gils, Conquest points, Imperial Standing, assault points, coin pieces of aht urghan probably more. Why not be able to choose the price if you want gils or any of the other.

If there is one racing Arena for each city; gain Fame?

Ingame Ranking board where you can see the best times and Names of the Chocobo owner, just like the Bcnm, but a bigger list with several categories.

Rank system? To get your chocobo breedable and get better breeds, you could need higher rank in racing to do this. Just like in FF7. Would make it a bit more challenging and fun.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

Officially support gambling in an online environment with lot's of young teenagers cannot be a good thing. >_>

I challenge S-E to find other ways to foster non-racer involvement. (The only thing I can think of is more people cheering give speed boost to all chocobos in the race--helps to set record times. I'm sure S-E can think of something better.)

[Anheuser]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

other FF games have featured gambling. it's just data.

[Dragonly]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

Man, I don't know if I will like this or not. Once again, the thing that will determine who wins probably will be , who has more money to put into their chocobo. Which is kind of dumb I think, considdering EVERYTHING in the game pretty much this far has been money dependant. If good chocobo's need a certain food, expect it not to be cheap because of gil sellers.

Your right about that, but I'm sure not only gil will make your chocobo good you'll have to do certin things to make it happy and I'm sure the different Breeds will come into effect.


I hope for the Jocky idea, I would like to see a jocky of each race and sex, so thats 8 adn of course a Moogle Jockey. but they can always come up with more.


And I was reading though that list of names(real or not It's fun to pick one) There were couple that caught my eye that people will take Cloud and Ninja anyone >.>

[kenshin-san]

Re: Feedback, Chocobo Raising (From SquareEnix)

There would definitely have to be gambling with Chocobo Racing! Also rankings (if there are any) should be decided every month on the average placing of the Chocobo.

My greatest concern though is that, Chocobo Racing will be very static and not fun since the direct input of the rider will not be there.

Skill would be greatly appreciated by putting some kind of client side timing device to give the Chocobo a boost in stamina and such. It would have to be client side because of the latency difference between all the other continents in the world.