The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

[Aksannyi]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

Some would argue that a WHM worth their salt wouldn't really need a refresher in an XP party. I've had several parties on WHM without one and suffered very little because of it. A good WHM is a hell of a lot better than a mediocre RDM, even if "endless" MP is what you seek in a healer.

[dirtyclown]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

Red mages don't enfeeble anymore. D:

[Ziero]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

First off, let me just say that I lol'd at the first post in this topic. The whole idea is to talk about things that are very rarely discussed and yet the majority of the opening OP is talking about how the new jobs get hosed on god/relic/Abj gear? Yea, that's lol-worthy.

Well, you might have noticed that Campaign did sort of strengthen the feeling of Allegiance to your nation again.

With Conquest, we're basically mercenaries taking missions for the city and nothing more. But in Campaign we're actually joining that nations standing military force. So that's the reason why it seems that feeling of allegiance is increased...because in reality it is.

Its in the game - no one uses it because no one cares about PvP in FFXI.

Plenty of people care about PvP, a lot of people love PvP. And that's one of the things that makes FFXI so frustrating for them, because PvP in this game is very poorly executed. Me, I could care less about playing PvP. I'm not the type to go randomly slaughtering other players, even if they did piss me off. But I would absolutely LOVE it if SE really pumped up the PvP system in this game...all the PvP systems. But I'll come back to this in a bit.

Infact, that's one of the things I think this game could stand to be improved upon. All it's awesomely half-assed Mini games, which PvP currently falls into. Chocobo racing/raising, Pankemon, Ballista, Brenner, and so forth, all fun things...that just aren't worth it. PvP especially should get major overhauls and additions, to make it easier to get into and more worthwhile to do. I'm not saying that people should get god gear or anything from it, but how about something more then pocket change, pitence Exp, a funny hat and a plaque.

Pankemon suffers from this the worst because once you get a mob to 50...what's left? You bought a funny hat that can only be useful for more Pankemon, and then nothing. Throw in the fact that there's still a ton of interesting mobs from the past that we can't use...but they allow use to take pictures of Chariots and Soulflayers? Yea, that don't make sense.

And while Chocobo raising is, with good reason, a long, expensive and somewhat difficult task to accomplish (if you're after a specialized bird), it provides very little rewards. And unless you go out and buy the tags of colored birds to mate them, your chances of getting a non-yellow choco drop dramatically...and you won't know which one you're getting until you're a few weeks in anyway. And then being able to race these birds, well it's highly limited and horribly ignored. The track is a great place to be and hang out...but no one ever goes there and it's a damn shame.

PvP should be expanded upon. Both in direct combat situations like Brenner and 'training contests' like Pankemon. I would personally love to see the addition of actual, ingame, Ballista leagues. It's supposed to be a sport, why not treat it like one. Let players build their own teams within multiple divisions, and grant the winning teams (relatively) large sums of cash/exp/merits/points/whatever. And even make a specialized zone, and not just some 'diorama' zone (which I think is a total waste because we can only utilize a small part of said zones), where people go play, and watch, these teams compete. Hell, it doesn't even have to be ballista, it could be a new sport entirely on it's own.

Dueling could easily be added as was suggested earlier, but it would be best to keep it to certain, specific, spectator friendly zones. Similar to Pankemon, only with more rooms.Winner gets exp/points, loser gets less exp/points. You'd be able to set handicaps, lvl caps, item usage and all that crap to keep it as fair as possible. And the rewards should be something usable in the 'outside' world, so there's a reason for people to play it casually as well as go hardcore into it.

And for crimety sakes, open up the damn Colosseum already. And no, the Pit is not the Colosseum. The Colosseum is a seperate door in whitegate that doesn't have a use yet. It was supposedly going to be like the FFVII one where you fight monsters for prizes but nothing happened with it.

And a 'Golden Saucer' type area with tons of fun, simple, rewarding minigames would be a great addition to the game. Make the rewards be special Meds or Food or Charged items so you can play them, get something useful, use it and have to play again. Pretty much being similar to the Treasure box rewards you obtain during Assaults, even adding in ??? items...those are always(slight sarcasm here) popular.

Also, an in game card game. It's speaks for itself, it's a simple idea and would add another form of 'indirect' PvP that players can do to kill time while waiting on stuff (though it's probably impossible to execute). The rewards would be the cards themselves, which could be bought/sold/traded and won at a players will. Do a mini quest to obtain your 'starter pack', which would have semi random cards, and even 'sell' better ones at the previously mentioned 'Saucer' area for 'points'. If done right(HA!) it'll take off on it's own and persist and thrive without any more enticement then what is needed to start. Hell they could even market a real life version and cash in on the CCG craze.

As for Linkshell changes, all I ask is to be able to obtain a list, and modify the status of, all those who've gotten a pearl to my group. Mainly so I can give my Mules pearl sacks. That, and maybe purchasble meeting rooms/house(but I think moving ones MH to the LS house would be stupid as people live in all three nations and would thus have to 'move'). But otherwise, for what it is, I think it works fine. What they should do however is add a more 'business' oriented grouping system, something in which you all seem to have discussed, designed to take down big monsters/events and stock and store gear/cash/points and the like. Keep linkshells as being that mass group, semi-disposable communication system that can be easily obtained and shared and create a new method for the big boys to communicate along side LSs.

More storage, though nice, isn't something that's ever going to be perfectly soved because the more we get the more we need. Though I do like the special R/E Storage idea, even if it's NPC storage. Though one thing I think should be changed is that furniture in your room should not take up Bank space. There is already a limit to how much furniture one can have in a room, why not let that be an 'extra' storage system. I.E., you set up a bed and it's removed from your Mog Safe and put into your 'Mog Space'. It can fill up while giving us both extra Mog Safe space and Mog Storage space.

I think those two changes would open up a *lot* of extra inventory space for players.

Prime example - http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/gen...tml#post731540

Sure that wasn't just an /em examines you? People do that in crowds just to piss people off

[Pteryx]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

And I wish I had yet more words available in auto translate. ; ;

Things I'd like to see added to auto-translate:

{Enmity}
Color words -- at least {white}, {yellow}, {orange}, and {red}, but {pink}, {blue}, {green}, and {black} would be handy too.
{Evasion}
{resist}, in reference to reduced magic effectiveness
{Blue Magic}
{maybe} -- if I never see {May}{Bee} again...
{I'm on my way.}

Just off the top of my head. -- Pteryx

[Aksannyi]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

{Maybe.}

For god's sake, please give us Maybe.

[Mhurron]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

Some would argue that a WHM worth their salt wouldn't really need a refresher in an XP party. I've had several parties on WHM without one and suffered very little because of it.

Undoubtably for Merits and EXP at later levels a Refresher is not needed. However, is that what the party wants, or are they going to get a refresher as well? Many times, it will be the latter.

A good WHM is a hell of a lot better than a mediocre RDM, even if "endless" MP is what you seek in a healer.

Merit or later levels exp, RDM and WHM are pretty interchangeable with no negative consequences. This is because, wait for it, RDM is good enough for those situations. Where WHM shines as the premier healer, where the best healer is actually needed, are the same situations where RDM is busy doing it's support duties. When you aren't going against a mob that smacks you into next week at every turn and you don't have to throw 4 enfeebles at it and keep them on come hell or high water you can have a WHM or a RDM as the healer and no one would notice.

[Aksannyi]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

It's true, I'm just trying to get people to think that us WHMs need some love too. :p

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

Plenty of people care about PvP, a lot of people love PvP.

Then how come most Ballista on NA hours go cancelled and no on ever uses the Dioramas? After the first three weeks, who does Pankration anymore.

PvP in this game does not succeed because the majority does not care for it in FFXI.

One big reason for that is 60+, there's no real PvP balance between the jobs. BLU, MNK and RDM will own most of anything they come across. RNG will obliterate anyone without shadows of buffs. This game was balanced for PvE, for PvP there is no way to fully balance the uncapped fights. The most balanced fights are at 60 caps.

And guess what? No one wants to do those because its capped. And, worse, is that gear swapping - a way of life for most people in PvE - is penalized in PvP. That's really stupid.

WoW was balanced for PvP and they still don't have it down right. How long did Shaman get to be god in that game? Every job is a hybrid in that game, though, so without specialists, how can you hope to balance it?

Anyway, its not an easy thing to add into either game and be fair about it at the same time. I've yet to find a finely-balanced PvP game in any MMO. I can find them in FPS everywhere and the reason there's balance there should be obvious:

Nothing levels up. If it does, not so much that it makes a tremendous game-breaking difference.

[DakAttack]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

One would think that a finer overall balance would occur when you take both PvP and PvE into account. I only know of Blizzard's endless quest for balance so my opinion is limited. In their case they've found themselves playing tug of war between what the devs want and what the current voices of the people want.

Balance in FPSs is evidently difficult to come by as well. Bungie just couldn't do one thing without creating and destroying cheap and overused tactics. Not that they would get points for trying. I'm not sure saying anything on BF2142 is worth the effort while DICE hesitates to admit it even exists. Like BF2 you can gain points, ranks, and earn unlockable weapons. Most of what you can unlock is useless, while some of the starter weapons are of the most all-around efficient.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

Red mages don't enfeeble anymore. D:

That's because I'm leveling Paladin right now. Paladins have no Enfeebling Magic skill.

. . . In all seriousness, maybe it's just because spells become so impossible to get off without resists, even with the atrocious Staves, that some don't even bother wasting the MP anymore. But, that's just me.

(I would love to see our rosy Weapon-skill to be introduced later on to either give a bonus to Magic Accuracy or hit the target with some kind of reduced Magic resistance: either way, it has to be steep. Of course, since the weapons are going to be on the level of relics . . . S-E has to make with the Magic Accuracy in other areas, first. And a lot of them.)

And, worse, is that gear swapping - a way of life for most people in PvE - is penalized in PvP. That's really stupid.

Now, just hold on a moment and let me speak my opinion here: my opinion is you've got it backwards. If anything, it's the whole gear-swapping concept that's stupid, and I feel the penalty will not be permanently shunned by any more than the fiercest elitist begrudgers in the game if it became the law of the land everywhere else.

You're entitled to your opinion otherwise, but don't try telling me that my opinion is "wrong."

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

Now, just hold on a moment and let me speak my opinion here: my opinion is you've got it backwards. If anything, it's the whole gear-swapping concept that's stupid, and I feel the penalty will not be permanently shunned by any more than the fiercest elitist begrudgers in the game if it became the law of the land everywhere else.

You're entitled to your opinion otherwise, but don't try telling me that my opinion is "wrong."

Before we can even give any validity to your "opinion," you must first give reasons to back it up. Opinions CAN be wrong and yours doesn't even have a reason behind it.

In many cases, players have found it to be incredibly effective and that is why the penalty is an annoyance - a lot of players use gear swaps and don't want to waste a ton of time writing a macro set just for PvP.

[dirtyclown]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

That's because I'm leveling Paladin right now. Paladins have no Enfeebling Magic skill.

. . . In all seriousness, maybe it's just because spells become so impossible to get off without resists, even with the atrocious Staves, that some don't even bother wasting the MP anymore. But, that's just me.

Not trying to kill your boner or anything, but how hard can it possibly be? Not all ToAU mobs have resist rates that are off the charts, do they? I think the answer is that there is a majority who play the job, but would rather stand there in their cool hats and occasionally throw a refresh or a Cure IV my way, and outside from that, do little else. Not even a Regen comes my way. I don't see Haste very often anymore either, and when I do the Red mage casts it on the DDs and me like twice then stops bothering with it unless asked. I don't just stand there and use Provoke sometimes when tanking, the PT would die if I did. I've played Red mage before, and I don't see why it's difficult for someone to perform their job in a slightly less than half assed manner.

Before we can even give any validity to your "opinion," you must first give reasons to back it up. Opinions CAN be wrong and yours doesn't even have a reason behind it.

Open mouth, insert foot.

[Murphie]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

. . . In all seriousness, maybe it's just because spells become so impossible to get off without resists, even with the atrocious Staves, that some don't even bother wasting the MP anymore. But, that's just me.

I'm not picking on you personally, YM, but this is a clear example of when your lack of actual experience shows through.

The situations where even with staves you can't land an enfeeble are few and far between. For most content that players will encounter, enfeebling is fine. The reason most of them don't bother in endgame meripo is because there isn't any time for it, or the mobs are too weak to warrant enfeebles, because they die too quickly. It's not because they've just given up.

The staves aren't atrocious. They are one of the best tools any mage past level 51 has. When you eventually get to that level, maybe you'll understand it better.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

Open mouth, insert foot.

Go ahead and shove your foot in your mouth then, I have no reason to here. Hell you didn't even touch the topic of staves, which what YM was clearly protesting, instead, we got some diatribe about RDMs not hasting or regenning you, which has nothing to do with staves.

I mean, people only do gear swaps for the accuracy/haste/TP/Damage increases they see from it, I'm sure those thousands of tests out there proving it to be true are totally wrong

[dirtyclown]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

Go ahead and shove your foot in your mouth then, I have no reason to here. Hell you didn't even touch the topic of staves, which what YM was clearly protesting, instead, we got some diatribe about RDMs not hasting or regenning you, which has nothing to do with staves.

I didn't mention anything about staves because I thought it was rather obvious that they're invaluable for a Red mage and didn't feel like repeating something that doesn't need to be repeated. I forgot that you like to nitpick small details that have nothing to do with anything, though. My mistake.