A Shantotto Ascension Rewards... Pre-Sale Going on Now

[Karinya]

Re: A Shantotto Ascension Rewards... Pre-Sale Going on Now

Well, QQ pretty much sums up the reaction to add-on scenarios in general, doesn't it? You have to do stuff that being 75 doesn't get you through for free, oh noes! Avoiding aggro from mobs that could kill you is Promyvions all over again! It takes (gasp) time! Time when you could be at some insanely broken merit camp whining about the merit grind, or doing endgame and whining about the drop rates!

Add-ons are different than what you probably spend 99% of your time in this game doing, and IMO, that's a *good* thing.

[Grizzlebeard]

Re: A Shantotto Ascension Rewards... Pre-Sale Going on Now

If you can't comprehend why most people felt cheated by ACP's pitiful content you're clearly beyond hope even considering you're the number one S-E apologist on these forums. That said, the idiots who bought the next add-on and moaned and will do so for the final installment of RMT goodness are deserving of zero sympathy.

[Ziero]

Re: A Shantotto Ascension Rewards... Pre-Sale Going on Now

Well, QQ pretty much sums up the reaction to add-on scenarios in general, doesn't it? You have to do stuff that being 75 doesn't get you through for free, oh noes! Avoiding aggro from mobs that could kill you is Promyvions all over again! It takes (gasp) time! Time when you could be at some insanely broken merit camp whining about the merit grind, or doing endgame and whining about the drop rates!

Add-ons are different than what you probably spend 99% of your time in this game doing, and IMO, that's a *good* thing.

Being 75 gets you through 3/4ths of these mini-expansion contents for free. The only exceptions are the 4 BCNM fights (two of which are stupidly simple) and the Tower Climb, which is nothing more then a Sn/In fest. Add in two annoyingly cheap boss fights, one of which requires you to have at least 2-3 of a specific job in order to win (where as with CoP and ToAU I can win almost every fight with a basic exp pt style set up) and these add ons are worth QQing over. I learned my lesson after that first PoS they called a story line, but there is a strong possibility SE will continue on with this mini-crap way of releasing content. And if that happens, then it will just plain suck.

[Armando]

Re: A Shantotto Ascension Rewards... Pre-Sale Going on Now

Being 75 gets you through 3/4ths of these mini-expansion contents for free. The only exceptions are the 4 BCNM fights (two of which are stupidly simple) and the Tower Climb, which is nothing more then a Sn/In fest. Add in two annoyingly cheap boss fights, one of which requires you to have at least 2-3 of a specific job in order to win (where as with CoP and ToAU I can win almost every fight with a basic exp pt style set up) and these add ons are worth QQing over.

This. Compare CoP, where 75's have to go through a 30-cap zone in a full party and beat a boss for their first mission, to add-ons where 75's get sent all over the world to farm shit. You're really surprised we're irritated? Both can waste similar amounts of time in a mission, but the latter keeps you doing work so trivial they might as well let the 75's skip straight to the BCs and be done with it.

You know what happens when you fail CoP 8-4? You raise and try again. You know what happens when you time out on ACP11? You waste 1 hour of your life regrouping and doing the climb again, on top of the 30 minutes you just wasted failing. Never mind the fact that AMK had an idiotic plot and final boss on top of being more tedious than ACP, because on top of having to do asinine scavenger hunts, you need the maps of those zones.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: A Shantotto Ascension Rewards... Pre-Sale Going on Now

Hey, kids! What happens when you quest for great power in FFXI?

If you fail on Maat, gotta get a new testimony. Relic? Hours upon hours upon hours of senseless grinding even Zeiro has been known to defend!

Mythic? Prepare to flush more of your life down the toilet!

But an hour lost because someone fucked up? Man, we lose HOURS on CoPs for one fuckwit in the group.

but a small amount of retread for a powerful reward is obviously asking too much!
OK, posting from psp sucks, back to fixing computer

[Armando]

Re: A Shantotto Ascension Rewards... Pre-Sale Going on Now

If you fail on Maat, gotta get a new testimony.

Maat fights come from a point in time when SE thought it was smart to have Astral Rings come from Oztroja Coffers, EXP tnl was much higher despite EXP/hour of a typical party being much much lower than it currently is, trains didn't despawn, and we didn't have half the traveling shortcuts we do now. In other words it's a byproduct of a sadistic and out-of-touch-with-reality mentality SE has been forced to gradually discard.

Also Maat is not a mission. And his difficulty is severely overrated on most jobs. Unlike ACP11 where the chance of failure is pretty high. So yeah. PERFECT ANALOGY. Try bringing up something more recent and something that doesn't very clearly break the game with its power (i.e. non-relic/mythic.)

Man, we lose HOURS on CoPs for one fuckwit in the group.

You don't have to retrace your steps at any point in CoP when you fail a fight. You reraise and try again. The same can be said of ToAU. So, uh, yeah. Foot->Mouth.

[Karinya]

Re: A Shantotto Ascension Rewards... Pre-Sale Going on Now

Look, I get that some people hated the add-ons. They're very different from normal (read: combat-heavy) content. (Although not *that* different. Farming shit, what does that remind me of... oh yeah, Pso'Xja chips. One of which dropped from goddamn MIMICS. And if you failed the fight where you used those items, you did not reraise and try again, you reraised and went farming again. In level capped zones, before you could use equipment above the level cap. BTW, what's the difference between running through a zone under a level cap trying not to get aggro, and running through a level capped zone trying not to get aggro? Other than the fact that sneak and invis didn't work in promys and they had a mini-boss every floor, that is.)

What was my point again... Oh yeah, different people like and hate different stuff. No content pleases everyone and there's no guarantee any given content will please you in particular. SE didn't force anyone to buy add-ons blind anymore than they forced anyone to buy expansions blind. You could wait and see and a lot of people did. And even if you did spend $10 on an add-on, you could still say "aw, fuck it" and it's less money than most people spend going to a movie. But people just want someone to blame for something they, personally, think is not fun.

[Armando]

Re: A Shantotto Ascension Rewards... Pre-Sale Going on Now

What was my point again... Oh yeah, different people like and hate different stuff. No content pleases everyone and there's no guarantee any given content will please you in particular. SE didn't force anyone to buy add-ons blind anymore than they forced anyone to buy expansions blind. You could wait and see and a lot of people did. And even if you did spend $10 on an add-on, you could still say "aw, fuck it" and it's less money than most people spend going to a movie. But people just want someone to blame for something they, personally, think is not fun.

That's all fine and dandy - I don't have a problem with that point - but what were you really expecting when you came in here defending the add-ons by implying that everyone who didn't like it is a whiny Lv.75 that wants leet gear handed to them on a silver platter and with minimal effort?

It would be one thing if you just said that from the start, or just said the bitching was getting old, but you had to go and flame half the forum in one fell swoop.

[Aksannyi]

Re: A Shantotto Ascension Rewards... Pre-Sale Going on Now

Not only that, but when the MAJORITY of people dislike something, maybe that means their complaints have merit.

[DakAttack]

Re: A Shantotto Ascension Rewards... Pre-Sale Going on Now

Vocal minority, etc.

[Kailea]

Re: A Shantotto Ascension Rewards... Pre-Sale Going on Now

Not only that, but when the MAJORITY of people dislike something, maybe that means their complaints have merit.

kind of hard for SE to gauge if people really hate something....

person buys ACP > complains about it > buys AMK > complains about it >buys ASA

if its so "horrible" stop buying the, and that would give SE more of a hint then just complaining.

Besides they are not THAT bad, they are not well thought out, and the stories are alittle bland, but they are not horrible, and you get cool stuff at the end.

[Aksannyi]

Re: A Shantotto Ascension Rewards... Pre-Sale Going on Now

I actually almost bought the moogle one, because it went on presale like two days before I quit. So glad I didn't now, lol.

I think some people have put their money where their mouth is, but too few haven't. If it weren't considered by some "gimp" to not have the items with the proper augments, I think more people would have skipped the content completely.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: A Shantotto Ascension Rewards... Pre-Sale Going on Now

Vocal minority, etc.

As much as I hate to ever agree with Dak or Kailea, a vocal minority is not a majority. Were such a vocal majority to exist that SE wasn't frequently sent mixed signals by.

"I hate your game, here's more money"

I look at the Modern Warfare 2 nerd rage about dedicated servers and for all the people who complain about its lack of dedicated servers, most of the 50,000 + that signed the petition still have it pre-ordered and are still going to pick up the game. They are outraged they are still giving Infinity Ward money, even though any sane person knows were IW to entertain their requests it would lead to a delay the PC or all versions because adding several dedicated servers is not done with the wave of a wand.

Then they'll wildly blame random shit for the decision. Hardcore PC gamers are not mentally stable people, I saw DLC on Wii and PS3 get blamed for leading up to this. What the fuck does that even mean? Downloading Super Metroid to Wii or FFVII to your PSP are clearly the harbringers of doom to PC gaming, it appears.

You don't think you're that crazy. Karinya just dropped the slam-dunk example on you guys - Pso'ja/Airship fight, quite possibly the most tedious, tightest and frustrating fight of the game where even if you do every thing right you could still run the chance of timing out - and you guys are still pulling out the "buts. "

If those disagreeing with you are "apologists" explain how the airship fight is any different. A lot of people did it for a Rajas ring.

All these end reward missions tend to have a frustration point.

RoZ - ZM13 - requires a large group of people that are not idiots since you can't get anyone for the other version. You are literally stuck there and can't progress the remainder of the missions until you can find a group for it.

CoP - Mammets, Airship and Pot fight. One made more frustrating by bringing back mammets. Not to mention those damned BSTs down there in Pso'xja making it even harder because they're arrogant enough to want EXP and avatar bloods from that area. Go somewhere else BSTs, you're not even getting a polite warning that we're coming to kill everything in your camp for chips. No, we're not reading your search comment about camping there or asking you to help. That lizard you charmed could have a chip in it, we need to kill that one, too.

ToA - Alexander and his BLU buddy, nuff said.

We're not quite there yet in WotG, nothing to speak of in terms of challenge aside from party members again not being complete idiots when getting to the BC.

Mini-expansions - they'll do a 30-cap run somewhere. I personally find them fun. I had to repeat my ACP fight, its was just something I did another day with a more familiar group. i didn't even have a problem rerunning it to try to help someone else after I won. They have an earring the beats Triumph as a potential random reward. Why not try for it a few times at least? They have pet buff gear from that stuff to.

If still had the drive to play FFXI and collect gear, I'd be doing this stuff. I personally just needed new experiences separate from FFXI.

[Malacite]

Re: A Shantotto Ascension Rewards... Pre-Sale Going on Now

Maat fights come from a point in time when SE thought it was smart to have Astral Rings come from Oztroja Coffers, EXP tnl was much higher despite EXP/hour of a typical party being much much lower than it currently is, trains didn't despawn, and we didn't have half the traveling shortcuts we do now. In other words it's a byproduct of a sadistic and out-of-touch-with-reality mentality SE has been forced to gradually discard.

Not fast enough either. Now if only Capcom would also take this message to heart.

---------- Post added at 10:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:01 PM ----------

kind of hard for SE to gauge if people really hate something....

person buys ACP > complains about it > buys AMK > complains about it >buys ASA

if its so "horrible" stop buying the, and that would give SE more of a hint then just complaining.

Besides they are not THAT bad, they are not well thought out, and the stories are alittle bland, but they are not horrible, and you get cool stuff at the end.

Like with everything in XI, it's an abusive love-hate relationship

Also, late to the party but... with Maat (after 1st try anyway) you lose EXP; with mission fights you don't anymore. I'm actually dreading to think what asinine bullshit they are going to force down our throats for the ASA missions. The augments had damn well better be worth it.

[Grizzlebeard]

Re: A Shantotto Ascension Rewards... Pre-Sale Going on Now

If those disagreeing with you are "apologists" explain how the airship fight is any different. A lot of people did it for a Rajas ring.

The airship fight was close to the conclusion of a very large and significant expansion that provided forty new zones, a wealth of adventuring content, and massive amounts of gear choices by FFXI's standards. While some parts of it were tedious like the climb up the tower for the individual race's Lights you were still travelling through new zones designed specifically for the expansion. Compare this to all three of the add-ons where the price is the same as CoP at launch and all you have is three pathetically thrown together storylines, artiificial level restrictions imposed in order to make tired old zones remotely challenging while forcing you to repeat content you loathed half a decade ago such as the climb up Delkfutt's Tower for Mission 4-1. No new zones, no new classes, only three pieces of RMT loot, and missions that are instantly forgettable with zero repeat value. So yeah, what was your point again?

Also, CoP wasn't released with the carrot dangled up front like the add-ons were. The ring reward didn't come out for over a year after the expansion was officially launched. Whereas the central selling point for the add-ons was the item you were essentially buying and jumping through hoops for.