new SE interview by Bercus over on BG

[DakAttack]

Re: new SE interview by Bercus over on BG

PiNG is going to have to look into new methods of banning people, because at the moment it isn't too hard to get around it. A complete IP ban might stifle them more efficiently.

In practice, the more open-ended you leave the question, the more room they have to wiggle out of it. They look for any tangent they can find, and then answer that instead of the main thrust of the question.

I definately think it'd be more respectful to give them the room to wiggle, rather than hit them over and over with real specific questions and force them into "Uh... um... sure... we'll look into that or suggest it to the team or something" mode. If it's information they're willing to or allowed to divulge in the first place they would have no trouble unless you complicated the question.

[Gentoo]

Re: new SE interview by Bercus over on BG

What's really unfortunate, is this thread had some decent potential.

This was a perfect chance for a small group of people to rally larger group around them for a goal.

Instead, I keep reading responses that are sanctimonious and supercillious. I don't care how poignant or sublime the underlying motive is if it's wrapped in manure, filth, and muck.

I come away from this thread with the impression that end-game is a cesspit, and want nothing to do with it; ergo you have made your issues unimportant to other people.

[Icemage]

Re: new SE interview by Bercus over on BG

I come away from this thread with the impression that end-game is a cesspit, and want nothing to do with it; ergo you have made your issues unimportant to other people.

It's unfortunate that this and other threads like it give that impression. FFXI's end-game doesn't have to be about drama, but you really have to work hard and make sure you associate with the sort of people that don't create drama.

Even though the members of my endgame LS are aware of drama, we have a solid no-drama rule in our shell, which means we generally don't do things that the "leet" HNMers do : trash talking, taunting, etc. We just show up, fight, and do some private linkshell-chat celebrations when we get something nice. For that matter, we try hard not to accept applications from people who are prone to create drama around them (we've made one exception to this in two years, and very nearly regretted it). We're not alone in our thinking in this; pretty much all of the best HNMLSs on every server operates in nearly identical fashion.

What you're seeing from the more vocal majority are often the people who wouldn't make it in the nicer linkshells.

Rest assured, though, it IS possible to play at end-game with a minimal amount of drama on every server. If you're allergic to drama, find the best people on your server and join up with them, and don't settle for second best - it's worth it.


Icemage

[Legal Fish]

Re: new SE interview by Bercus over on BG

The reason they aren't so many 75s is because so many are quitting lol. The population since Xbox's release has not increased at all, but its obvious there is a lot of new xbox players. Hmmm...

EDIT: Not to forget, the population used to be 700,000 at the release of CoP.

[Mog]

Re: new SE interview by Bercus over on BG

Ello everyone; Let me explain something to you. You are a sponcered site by Play Online. You all know this correct? Then let me explain something to you. Nothing you are doing now in the game MATTERS. No one cares about riding their wyvern, NO it wont grow up, WHY DOES THAT MATTER. I'm not flamming you I'm simply pointing out the really STUPIDLY SIMPLE FACT that it does'nt matter. End game is what matters, beleave it or not, there are alot higher levels then there are people your level, we really really really really dont care about low level activities. Now to bring me to why I pointed out your a sponcered site. Stop posting stupid crap and having SE read it, its stupid. No one besides you cares about WHM melee. No one but you cares about anything else. We care about end game. End game is what this game is about, not about silly little perks that you all are whinning about. Stop filling the dev's head with stuff like you are and let them fix the real problems, the hundreds of bots daily claimming Fafnir, the hundreds of unfair advantages people have over others. People warping around the game. People flying to places they shouldnt be aloud to get too.

Seriosly this is getting old. You guys have no idea what your talking about. This interview was handled perfectly, all of these questions [besides the micky mouse one] were all asked by BG and the end game. Its old. I have been camping fafnir for 2 years now and I still don't have the gear I would like to have becasue of the bots.

Also, mods. Stop sending me emails I'M TIRED OF IT. Learn to read! I'm getting warnings like this:



I get a warning for saying my ls [END GAME HI SOMETHING NEW TO YOU GUYS HUH!?] doesnt bot? What the fuck. These forums are a total and utter joke. You all despritly need to quit this game. You sicken me.

Moral of my post:

1: Stop suggesting stupid things to the devs and wasting their time, There are other matters that need to be fixed.

2: you all are unbeleavably huge nubs. Learn this fact. Stop acting like your some super end game guy because you killed a level 55 NM [Simurgh]

3: These forums are a joke

4: Mods, learn to read.

5: Stop bashing people for doing a GREAT interview. You have no idea what your talking about.

I lol'ed!

It would be very hard to believe that someone like you has obtained 75.

[Taskmage]

Re: new SE interview by Bercus over on BG

The reason they aren't so many 75s is because so many are quitting lol. The population since Xbox's release has not increased at all, but its obvious there is a lot of new xbox players. Hmmm...

The highest ever reported percentage of 70+ players was in March of '04, and even then those players comprised less than 10% of total subscribers. Endgame isn't a concern for the majority of the playerbase, and never has been.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: new SE interview by Bercus over on BG

The highest ever reported percentage of 70+ players was in March of '04, and even then those players comprised less than 10% of total subscribers. Endgame isn't a concern for the majority of the playerbase, and never has been.

I honestly think the "overcrowding" of Endgame is more due to the fallout/reforming/creation of HNM shells than more people getting to endgame. Sure, there are more people in endgame now, but people quit all the time too along with people just starting.

I've seen two of the "big dogs" on our server have people split off and form thier own HNM shells. So that's two HNMLSes becoming four, but that doesn't mean tons more people. These same shells have pulled various antics because they've been shorthanded on members at a camp. From alliancing with another HNMLS because there weren't enough people to fight the claim to CFHing the HNM and letting the RMT wear the HNM down as a stalling tactic - if endgame were really that overcrowded, would people really be doing this?

There is a LOT of content betweeen level 1 and level 75. If you thought the game was overwhelming in October of 2003, try starting now. Ya got people at level 20 not only doing the chocobo quest, but breeding them right after now. Let's not even get started on Rank, ZM, CoP, ToA and Assault missions. There's a lot more to do at various levels of the game and much of it can be just as lucrative or interesting to players as endgame content is to others.

Endgame stuff really only feels meaningful to me if I do it with my friends. Most of them have finally arrived there and I'm excited about helping them succeed and glad to have them still there for me as well. When I look at various other shells, I can understand them being "all business" but some take it a smidge too far and turn the game into a job.

As hard as some HNM drops may be to obtain, they're not requisite to a full endgame experience nor does SE force camping HNMs on you. Only the players can turn the game into a job and that's where this bad attitude about competition and "overcrowding" comes in to the picture.

I mocked the interview because it was some guy (along with lots of others) getting really wound up over some of the most optional portions of the game.

What made it even more laughable was this attitude that FFXI should be more "fair" in endgame. You know, I don't get high score in Pac-Man just for putting quarters in the machine, why would it be any different in an MMORPG? The dedicated get rewarded in time and there's plenty of good stuff to find. Thing is, human nature leads us to being greedy and only wanting the "best" when there's plenty of "pretty damn good" stuff we could be working towards instead.

[Vyuru]

Re: new SE interview by Bercus over on BG

End game is what matters, beleave it or not

I'd comment on this, but you since you said it so well yourself, in the same post, I'll just quote you Gingercookie:

Nothing you are doing now in the game MATTERS.

Yup, nothing we do ingame matters, so why should we care about HNM LS stuff?

/shrug I am a dragoon, I've spent 2 years reading forums about how useless we are in general pickup HNM LS, it's only within the last year, year and a half that I've read how much better Wheeling Thrust is over Spirits Within after all. Funny how those dragoons who either started their HNM LS or joined a friend's have been doing so well on them.

No one cares about riding their wyvern, NO it wont grow up, WHY DOES THAT MATTER.

Ah, so my baby wyvern will never grow up? How'd you like it if your baby chocobo stayed a baby for all time?

Why does it matter? Simple, it'd be nice, it'd make the game more fun and interesting.

Why does it matter if so many people bot the Kings? Yeah, it'd be nice to have everyone in abjuration armor, why does that matter more over something else? Do you HAVE to join a HNM LS and fight the Kings? No, no you don't. Have you tried crafting? Have you tried Dynamis? Have you tried helping your friends through the game? Are you fully merited?

On the one hand, I can understand people wanting the HNM stuff fixed, on the other, you don't have to do it, there are plenty of other things to do in this game.

If you want something to do go and figure out how to kill Absolute Virtue, or how to get the Parade Gorget.

Come up with new ways to fight the HNMs, I can't help but think that any strategy that involves an alliance of mostly blm, smn, or rangers to kill something is a flawed strategy. That's like saying you have to have T.G. Cid in your party if you want to win FFT.

In my opinion this is very ironic as those are some very unimportant questions.

Some are, but I feel justified in asking about the Two Hand ability, if you don't, ask a dark knight how they feel about their two handed weapons in comparison to a war/nin's two swords/axes in exp parties.

Not to forget, the population used to be 700,000 at the release of CoP.

I thought it was 1,000,000+? I seem to remember SE having a big announcement on their main page.

What you're seeing from the more vocal majority are often the people who wouldn't make it in the nicer linkshells.

Rest assured, though, it IS possible to play at end-game with a minimal amount of drama on every server. If you're allergic to drama, find the best people on your server and join up with them, and don't settle for second best - it's worth it.

It is nice to see that pointed out, because to be honest, I see so many posts like GingerCookie's, that is how I think most HNM or other endgame LS act. It gives me some hope that if I ever do become interested in that sort of activity, I might be able to find a good LS without dragging my current LS with me.

[Stromgarde]

Re: new SE interview by Bercus over on BG

The Pac-Man analogy is poor. So the arcade you go to has 2-4 machines that are undisputedly the best machines in the arcade. Now these machines, they're only turned on for maybe 30 minutes out of the day, out of which you only have a 3 hour window in which it might be... sometimes these windows overlap, sometimes they don't. Also, imagine that every time you head down there, there's 100+ people crowding these machines.

I don't mind challenging fights, and I don't know what server you're on, but on Siren there's usually at least 4 different factions at every Behemoth and Fafhogg camp, not including RMT... who are usually there as well.

[Legal Fish]

Re: new SE interview by Bercus over on BG

Some are, but I feel justified in asking about the Two Hand ability, if you don't, ask a dark knight how they feel about their two handed weapons in comparison to a war/nin's two swords/axes in exp parties.

Yes this is justified, however, the rest of your questions are so bad that anything good isn't visible. The interviewer has admitted he was dumb to say micky mouse, what he really meant was Fiends of FF1, or Kain of FF4, or Locke of FF6. Kickbacks to the older versions.

And man, your explainations for the Wyvern only made you look really dumb(er). People need to think before they say stuff, because you paint yourself as a crazed fool, which is worst than a loud-mouth low level.

Some of your guys points are such great examples of tunnel-vision. May it be a low-level or a high level without experience. Don't you realize that even if you don't "care about the end-game", end-game pretty much plays a huge role in your FFXI life. So you don't care about end-game, but the people you are doing CoP with do. The people who are too busy camping HNMs on a horrid schedule instead of doing something they want to do, care about the end-game. There is no reason to be against this, and people are proving that showing their blind ignorance on the matter. "I want to do fun things, not play for rewards, I want to experience the content", well look at that, it seems HNMs and end-game would be on that list of "content", so what the hell is the point or using that arguement.

"I play for story", "I don't want to do end-game", "blah blah I have tunnel vision". Unlike idiots who only care about gear or hypocrits(right here and now) who are doing the same thing except with "story", I rather play many different styles not just one. I want to get good gear and explore the storyline, I want to have fun, which comes from monsters who right now only botters can fight. And the whole "I play for storyline" jazz is full of shit, since it seems everyone rather read the storyline than play it. What are you playing for again, oh right, grinding to see stuff you already read all about on the internet. Fanboism if there is any in FFXI.

There is no excuse to have such a shitty system in place as of now, and the system that Sage Sundi and those two other clueless PRs looked at is better in everyway, for everyone, you, me, person who never shuts the fuck up about the storyline, person who never shut the fuck up about Ridil.

To anyone who says "end-game never mattered", thats all crap. Don't you realize how many people quit at level 75, because the end-game's main focus sucks hardcore or its impossible to break into? Look at an old page of end-game on this forum. You will see over half of the players are gone. There are new players everyday, yet the population has remained remain "static", this gives the illusion that no one is quitting. However, there seems to be at least 2-3 new people everyday on my server, let alone others.

[Gentoo]

Re: new SE interview by Bercus over on BG

The Pac-Man analogy is poor.

It isn't, You misunderstand the analogy. The analogy is, in fact, very elegant in it's simplicity.

You play the game.
Events unfold.
Sometimes you get what you want, other times you don't.

That middle bit doesn't describe your the frustration you go through adequately, but Omgwtfbbqkitten's point of view is very zen like; refusing to get caught up in the strife and discontentment are the result of attachment to circumstances and things.

Just because you don't hold the same point of view doesn't mean the analogy is poor.

[Caspian]

Re: new SE interview by Bercus over on BG

Fish, its entirely possible to disagree with someone w/o resorting to personal attacks.
The problems I see with having the wyvern grow, especially to the size or Bune or Guivre as mentioned, is now you have a huge NM sized pet that blocks the entire screen of anyone who parties with the drg. Thf's have a hard time telling which way the mob is facing and if you have chat filters on, then its hard to know what effects and spells are being used on the mob. Plus, I could really do withough 50 Bunes standing near the AH in Al Zahbi. Lag is the majority of the reason I don't use the AH in whitegate, 50 wyverns as big as my screen in Al Zahbi really wouldn't help matters there.
Now, there are things that should be fixed at endgame. They have an effect on a population of ffxi that is constantly growing. This doesn't mean that all questions not directly related to endgame are stupid and useless. Some aesthetic changes can be nice to have. Oddly enough I like the different login screens and stuff. Now, I'm sure I'll be bored with them in a few more days, but the occasional change is nice to have, if for nothing more than the sake of being changed.
All that said, please be more courteous and less derogatory in your responses to other peoples recommendations. This goes for everyone here.

[Stromgarde]

Re: new SE interview by Bercus over on BG

It isn't, You misunderstand the analogy. The analogy is, in fact, very elegant in it's simplicity.

You play the game.
Events unfold.
Sometimes you get what you want, other times you don't.

That middle bit doesn't describe your the frustration you go through adequately, but Omgwtfbbqkitten's point of view is very zen like; refusing to get caught up in the strife and discontentment are the result of attachment to circumstances and things.

Just because you don't hold the same point of view doesn't mean the analogy is poor.

Refusing to let things affect your emotions negatively is all well and dandy, that doesn't change the fact that the problem exists. This isn't something like blackjack, where sometimes the cards are simply against you. When you can't even find an open table half the time to play your game of choice, something should be done to allieviate the problem.

[neighbortaru]

Re: new SE interview by Bercus over on BG

To anyone who says "end-game never mattered", thats all crap. Don't you realize how many people quit at level 75, because the end-game's main focus sucks hardcore or its impossible to break into? Look at an old page of end-game on this forum. You will see over half of the players are gone. There are new players everyday, yet the population has remained remain "static", this gives the illusion that no one is quitting. However, there seems to be at least 2-3 new people everyday on my server, let alone others.

perhaps the more accurate statement would be "end-game never mattered that much to SE."

perhaps, as ondori, berticus, etc. have noticed, they just aren't concerned as much with end-game content as you all (the hardcore end-game players) would like them to be.

perhaps, they are perfectly content to cater to the wider audience.

[Legal Fish]

Re: new SE interview by Bercus over on BG

perhaps, they are perfectly content to cater to the wider audience.

This is incorrect. At least since mid-way of CoP, they do more for the end-game than they do for any other area of play. However they are bad at it.