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Let's not try to troll this one up folks, I'm sure the bunch of you have the restraint.
Now I mean, I'm no "new-age casual MMORPG" fan, actually I'd say my enthusiasm for FFXI is rivaled only by few, but I'll be lying to myself if I didn't think the beginning-game of FFXI wasn't a large abyss of frustration and boredom waiting to swallow WoWers/ect or even just average people who never played a MMORPG before and spit them out with the feeling of never wanting to return. This leaves a bad impression not only on that player, but everyone that player talks to. This is where FFXI's bad rep seems to come from, but those who push through the dark ages or has a friend who holds their hand through it will be able to experience deeper content(maybe anyway, but thats another topic).
Problem is, I don't think it should require a guiding hand or blind luck to have a good time at the start of the game. Things have changed and I think the beginning-game should change a long with it. You can't get rid of money beggers, but it would be nice if the good players didn't have to resort to it either. It would be nice if powerleveling was just a rare bonus, not as a condom for the hell that is Dunes. These are not exactly my opinions, so watch out there, these are the opinions that I constantly here as I help new players(which I've been doing as a solid hobby for at least a year now and always since I've started playing).
So let's say you are a creative Square Enix head and this the situation you have to deal with. You want to make money, but let's imagine, you love your job, so let's have fun with this. Fun, okay? Not making a political statement, so don't bring up how this isn't WoW. It's getting a bit old.
In closing, this isn't about justifying making the game easier at the beginning, it's just doing it out of fun(hopefully without violating what the game is all about).
I'll just throw a few out there to start the flame.
Change the whole Adventurer's Coupon deal. The NPC doesn't hand you the Coupon directly, but tells you it has been sent to you in your Mog House and he directs you there, but you still get the NPC marker and all. So you go to your mog, pick it up, and you trade it to the NPC for 600 gil. This is enough to actually buy level 1 gear from the vendors in-town. Also important to note it becomes rare/exclusive. So a player gets it, he trades it, and he is instructed to where he can buy the armor and weapon he'd like, and it isn't the auction house, but the NPC shop selling for 1/5 of the price usually.
To avoid this from being exploited, there will be a 1 month limit to how many Adventurer's Coupons can be sent to characters in an account, hence the whole delivery deal. If two character were made, the second character would get his Coupon one month after he got his first one. Kind of complex for such a simple thing, but completely necessary to limit it.
Resting Bonus. This will probably be the most controversial I'll mention, because it will have a big effect at the higher level, but... with Signet on players are granted a bonus to HP and MP recovered while healing(hHP and hMP often called) while in regions their nation controls. This bonus is equal 1 + 1/2 their level, rounding down. (+1 at level 1, +6 at level 10, +11 at level 20, +38 at level 75). A +5 bonus is granted while players are in the following areas(no matter of nationality, as long signet is on) : East/West Ronfaure, South/North Gustaberg, and East/West Sarutabaruta. At level 1 player in his nation's starting area would get a +6 and at level 8 +10... a blessing for those frustrated BLMs who have not prepared themselves well enough to make it well. Or that soloing WAR without a WHM sub to back him up or a friend to cure him.
Its important to remember this bonus will not be available Limbus, Dynamis, Aht Urhgan, or Al'Teiru, hopefully prevent anything too overpowering to happen. If its too much of a concern, it can be capped at an earlier level so it doesn't exceed +15 or +20.
Outpost NPC Assistance. As a trade-off of not being able to do Outpost warps and the natural annoyance leveling 1 to 24 can be without a raiser(could end a party that someone took an hour to form), players will be able to buy a cheaper Reraise effect or Warp (not scrolls mind you). Let's say 200 for reraise(double, 400 if your nation is not in control of the outpost) and 300 for Warp(double, 600 ditto). A party of signet users will only see a wipe or tank death as a minor setback. Players who need to upgrade their armor after hitting level 16 or 17 can do so more freely without having to kill themselves. Lets not even get into how this could be helpful outside a party situation or for someone who is leveling their newest job.
Scrolls of Warp and Reraise won't take a hard hit as they will still have their uses. This might even actually encourage players to use the previous two, as they now will know how useful such an effect is. Kind of far to reach the outpost if you are leveling in secret beach(many goblins in the way) or worse, you died and reraised there and now the outpost is a bet far and that scroll could really be useful in your hand.
Once the player hits 25 with that job, they lose that service.
Have fun.
Now I mean, I'm no "new-age casual MMORPG" fan, actually I'd say my enthusiasm for FFXI is rivaled only by few, but I'll be lying to myself if I didn't think the beginning-game of FFXI wasn't a large abyss of frustration and boredom waiting to swallow WoWers/ect or even just average people who never played a MMORPG before and spit them out with the feeling of never wanting to return. This leaves a bad impression not only on that player, but everyone that player talks to. This is where FFXI's bad rep seems to come from, but those who push through the dark ages or has a friend who holds their hand through it will be able to experience deeper content(maybe anyway, but thats another topic).
Problem is, I don't think it should require a guiding hand or blind luck to have a good time at the start of the game. Things have changed and I think the beginning-game should change a long with it. You can't get rid of money beggers, but it would be nice if the good players didn't have to resort to it either. It would be nice if powerleveling was just a rare bonus, not as a condom for the hell that is Dunes. These are not exactly my opinions, so watch out there, these are the opinions that I constantly here as I help new players(which I've been doing as a solid hobby for at least a year now and always since I've started playing).
So let's say you are a creative Square Enix head and this the situation you have to deal with. You want to make money, but let's imagine, you love your job, so let's have fun with this. Fun, okay? Not making a political statement, so don't bring up how this isn't WoW. It's getting a bit old.
In closing, this isn't about justifying making the game easier at the beginning, it's just doing it out of fun(hopefully without violating what the game is all about).
I'll just throw a few out there to start the flame.
Change the whole Adventurer's Coupon deal. The NPC doesn't hand you the Coupon directly, but tells you it has been sent to you in your Mog House and he directs you there, but you still get the NPC marker and all. So you go to your mog, pick it up, and you trade it to the NPC for 600 gil. This is enough to actually buy level 1 gear from the vendors in-town. Also important to note it becomes rare/exclusive. So a player gets it, he trades it, and he is instructed to where he can buy the armor and weapon he'd like, and it isn't the auction house, but the NPC shop selling for 1/5 of the price usually.
To avoid this from being exploited, there will be a 1 month limit to how many Adventurer's Coupons can be sent to characters in an account, hence the whole delivery deal. If two character were made, the second character would get his Coupon one month after he got his first one. Kind of complex for such a simple thing, but completely necessary to limit it.
Resting Bonus. This will probably be the most controversial I'll mention, because it will have a big effect at the higher level, but... with Signet on players are granted a bonus to HP and MP recovered while healing(hHP and hMP often called) while in regions their nation controls. This bonus is equal 1 + 1/2 their level, rounding down. (+1 at level 1, +6 at level 10, +11 at level 20, +38 at level 75). A +5 bonus is granted while players are in the following areas(no matter of nationality, as long signet is on) : East/West Ronfaure, South/North Gustaberg, and East/West Sarutabaruta. At level 1 player in his nation's starting area would get a +6 and at level 8 +10... a blessing for those frustrated BLMs who have not prepared themselves well enough to make it well. Or that soloing WAR without a WHM sub to back him up or a friend to cure him.
Its important to remember this bonus will not be available Limbus, Dynamis, Aht Urhgan, or Al'Teiru, hopefully prevent anything too overpowering to happen. If its too much of a concern, it can be capped at an earlier level so it doesn't exceed +15 or +20.
Outpost NPC Assistance. As a trade-off of not being able to do Outpost warps and the natural annoyance leveling 1 to 24 can be without a raiser(could end a party that someone took an hour to form), players will be able to buy a cheaper Reraise effect or Warp (not scrolls mind you). Let's say 200 for reraise(double, 400 if your nation is not in control of the outpost) and 300 for Warp(double, 600 ditto). A party of signet users will only see a wipe or tank death as a minor setback. Players who need to upgrade their armor after hitting level 16 or 17 can do so more freely without having to kill themselves. Lets not even get into how this could be helpful outside a party situation or for someone who is leveling their newest job.
Scrolls of Warp and Reraise won't take a hard hit as they will still have their uses. This might even actually encourage players to use the previous two, as they now will know how useful such an effect is. Kind of far to reach the outpost if you are leveling in secret beach(many goblins in the way) or worse, you died and reraised there and now the outpost is a bet far and that scroll could really be useful in your hand.
Once the player hits 25 with that job, they lose that service.
Have fun.
. See what happens to that buff. And that last thing I want is to increase the popularity of Valk/Qufim when areas like Maze, Buburimu, Pashhow, Jugner, and ect are being ignored. Worse exploit possible is that people running to Jeuno will have it on... and I don't see that as an exploit.
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