Do you still do Dynamis?

[ItazuraNhomango]

How many people still go to Dynamis? For what reason? Do you enjoy it?

I came across this negative dismissal (which is quite typical for that poster) in the pet peeves thread:.

I'd imagine Dyna will be trivial content at that point although there will be little reason to touch the content then anyway outside of macro pieces and Dyna is a particularly soul-destroying place to spend your time waiting for that one specific drop.

Yet, there are still Dynamis runs on Ifrit (which is probably now considered a low population World), and it got me thinking about those questions.

As for myself, I've completed sets for all my Lv.85 jobs, and just collecting stuff for jobs I may be interested in the future. Dynamis can be fun--and frustrating, when people don't put in the effort. But, I don't see anything "soul-destroying" about it.

Of course these also help my Dynamis LS' members stay interested:

Oct (Wed): 905,544
Oct (Sun): 412,973

Sep (Wed): 716,765
Sep (Sun): 645,829

Aug (Wed): 556,785
Aug (Sun): 968,768

Jul (Wed): 683,838
Jul (Sun): 503,946

Yes, monthly payouts/bribes; the figures are for per (qualified) person. Though they probably don't look like much to the players knee-deep in endgame, from informal conversations with the members, I'd say the monthly payouts are one of the the biggest draw for most people.

It certainly made the difference between "I'm interested in some gear" to actually showing up for a lot of them.


* * *

So, again: How many people still go to Dynamis? For what reason? Do you enjoy it?

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Do you still do Dynamis?

Ok, I know that I don't play FFXI anymore but I'd like to comment. If I were playing, I would most definitely do Dynamis. I enjoyed Dynamis for the fact that you had to work together with one another. It showed where your weakest links were in the ls so it was a way for us leaders to see who we could count on at other events. I also liked to see how efficiently we could do a run to get the most out of it.

[Raydeus]

Re: Do you still do Dynamis?

I don't do it for the simple reason that I don't want another job on top of the one I already have in the real. So I tend to take end-game activities very casually when I join a LS, which usually rubs people the wrong way.

Not to mention taking it casually means I'd always be behind everyone else for lots and stuff, which rubs me the wrong way.

So yeah, I'm not end-game LS material at all.

[KingOfZeal]

Re: Do you still do Dynamis?

Don't confuse Dynamis with end-game. While they often mix, they don't have to. Case in point, my Dynamis shell is actually the a social shell's event shell. It's purposely set up in a way to be done casually. It's a point system, so if you don't show up you don't get the points. It's run once a week on a weekend, at a time that's good for both US and Europe players.

If it's not obvious, I still do dynamis, as do a number of my social shell. Attendance has been down the last few weeks, to the point of less than a full alliance last week, but we still have enough of a turnout to clear entire zones (including sandy a few weeks ago end to end, and beaucadine last week for all except the mega boss). This week we're up to do Tavnazia, which is nice since we won't have many more than 18 this week so it makes it easy to figure out who is going.

I mostly go because it is still fun. I also feel a little bit of an obligation from my Pantin Cape I got a while back in Bubu, which we only got because I poked the leader enough to pull one more cockatrice and it dropped on the last kill. But I will say I don't think I've ever had so much fun on Bard before, even at 75. Lullaby 2 puts me at one of the most active sleepers in our group, and I've been known to keep 5-6 hecteyes slept at the same time in sandy, not to mention sleeping after nukes on bosses. It's an adrenaline rush, to say the least. And, if 2-3 people can get some halfway decent gear in doing it, so much the better.

[Clever Ninja]

Re: Do you still do Dynamis?

Like I said in the thread you pulled that quote from, I am not fond of Dynamis. It's a extremely long run where things tend to always go the same every zone. Most fun I actually had in Dynamis was when I joined a different shell for abit before I took a break before the summer where they did CoP zones more. Being in there for only 2 hours did not phase me as much and I had more fun in there.

That and frankly any item I am still missing that's actually still of any good(which I think comes down to Duelist tabard + chapeau, and I guess melee gloves which I never got) are mostly highly sought after still so not too interested in doing the event constantly unless it was strictly Icelands since those zones are at least bearable due to the increase in difficulty compared to city zones.

[Grizzlebeard]

Re: Do you still do Dynamis?

I came across this negative dismissal (which is quite typical for that poster)

Oh, this is new. You have an issue with something I post elsewhere so you start a new thread up to make a snarky remark.

As for payouts, they're only an incentive as long as people keep buying Dynamis currency for relics and with a dwindling population (both legitimate players and gilbuyers/exploiters which happens to be the majority of relic owners from my experience) combined with the marginalisation of relic weapons and armour by Abyssea equivalents there will be a greatly reduced demand for that currency. Even when I quit months ago we were having issues shifting currency but that aside, the cashout carrot was enticing less and less people to turn out with Abyssea all but relegating every other piece of gear to a storage or macro piece people's need for a constant cash inflow was greatly diminished as the need for gil is at one of its lowest points anyway.

Of course, that is entirely server dependent and you've already established on seperate occasions your server, or at least the people you know, do things very differently to others.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Do you still do Dynamis?

The Zilart endgame was, is and shall forever be some of the most outdated and decrepit content ever devised for an MMO. Limbus, Assault and the majority of the content that has emerged since after Zilart has been more progressive and served the players better.

Is Dynamis still worth doing? I suppose it is. There's a worthwhile macro piece in many corners of the game for most jobs and FFXI is a game of min/maxing on gear. Would I subject myself to it were I to come back? Not when you have content like ToM out there. Not when you've designed stuff like Limbus, Assault, Campaign Ops.

That stuff is a grind, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. You will get what you have worked for and it will not be left to absolute chance. And there will not be a line you have to wait in run by a point system humans have to manage. There is no "I deserve this because I've stood in this zone longer than you" bullshit.

Dynamis is a soulless grind. Oh sure, they upped the drop rates, but that makes it only slightly less of a soulless grind because they also added five more jobs of relic armor when they did that. Worst of all, its still not instanced and that city requirement is going to be a massive stopping point for future players that want to see the Northlands and such. It might as well just go the way of a WoW expansion, but SE keeps it around for some bullshit reason.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Do you still do Dynamis?

You have an issue with something I post elsewhere so you start a new thread up to make a snarky remark.

Actually, I was amused by the remark because it differed so much from my experience. It did get me to think that you're not the only one to view Dynamis so negatively, which in turn made me wonder why others who still go to Dynamis still do so--and if they share the same reasons as myself.

Of course, that is entirely server dependent and you've already established on seperate occasions your server, or at least the people you know, do things very differently to others.

You may have mistaken me with someone else; I've never been on any other World besides Ifrit, and wouldn't know how different other places are or not.

Would I subject myself to it were I to come back? Not when you have content like ToM out there. Not when you've designed stuff like Limbus, Assault, Campaign Ops.

That stuff is a grind, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. You will get what you have worked for and it will not be left to absolute chance.

Considering that it took me nearly as long to collect two sets of Limbus armor as five sets of Dynamis relic armor, I'm wondering if you put in Limbus as an example by mistake?

(Having completed five sets, I'd say the experience is somewhat like fishing--chance is a big part of getting the catch, but knowledge, circumstances, and perseverance do play their parts.)

And there will not be a line you have to wait in run by a point system humans have to manage. There is no "I deserve this because I've stood in this zone longer than you" bullshit.

Oddly enough, both Limbus LS's I've been with had that line thing for Homam and Nashira. There were two Dynamis group I was with which entirely dispensed with the lines, and merely went with "Put the X number of armor you want in search comments." And, there was one which used the "Lot if you can use" rule.

That wait-in-line thing isn't intrinsic to Dynamis (or Limbus). Did you really hated Dynamis? Or was it just the groups/rules you were with/under which made you grind your teeth?

Worst of all, its still not instanced and that city requirement is going to be a massive stopping point for future players that want to see the Northlands and such.

While I'm all for having personal opinions, I think you're viewing through blood-stained glasses here.

I can agree if SE can spare the devs' time, would be nice to have Dynamis instanced, but that hardly affects whether a Dynamis run is fun or not once you're inside.

Moreover, the LS I'm with now regularly get city wins (and Beaucedine wins when needed--like last Wednesday, in fact). The LS I started Dynamis with regularly got city wins--and it still does (yes, it's still around, and I know a lot people in it). Heck, to speed up ice zone access, a few weeks ago some of our newer members went to another LS to get a city win we wouldn't get to for another week or two.

City win isn't really a problem, as far as I can tell.

Mega records (Wednesdays)

06-OCT-2010
Dynamis-San d'Oria
Mega: ×

13-OCT-2010
Dynamis-Beaucedine
Mega: â—¯

20-OCT-2010
Dynamis-Jeuno
Mega: â—¯

27-OCT-2010
Dynamis-Xarcabard
Mega: ×

03-NOV-2010
Dynamis-Windurst
Mega: â—¯

10-NOV-2010
Dynamis-Beaucedine
Mega: ×

17-NOV-2010
Dynamis-San d'Oria
Mega: â—¯

[Grizzlebeard]

Re: Do you still do Dynamis?

You may have mistaken me with someone else; I've never been on any other World besides Ifrit, and wouldn't know how different other places are or not.

No, I don't have you mistaken. The point, which you appear to have missed, was that your posts reflect your experiences on Ifrit, which often seem to go counter to what other posters on here experience on their servers. Pulling something randomly out the air, your merit party discussions which frequently had other posters scratching their heads at your party compositions.

I'd be interested in how many people are required for Dream zones. I can see the older zones being cheesed through with low numbers but I'm not seeing zones like Valk being steamrolled as easily due to the heavy requirement for stunners and bodies to soak up 10k needles. This is considering most of the seasoned players I know who have been doing Dyna for 5-6 years are only really interested in the accessories and +1s now anyway. Problem there is, you need numbers for Dream but the NQ armour droprate, while seeming to be higher from normal mobs, is lower on the accessory dropping ones and you're limited to 2 hours at most so it's hard to entice people who don't possess the NQ relic equivalent to turn out.

[Firewind]

Re: Do you still do Dynamis?

i don't do Dynamis for two reasons:

1) There's only one WHM piece in Dynamis that can be classed as an upgrade (the hat). Any other piece is a macro piece at best.

2) Ever since the level cap increases I haven't had a single Dynamis run where I was specifically asked to come as WHM and never saw a single WHM in any of those runs. It was all RDM/SCHs and SCH/RDMs with the odd SMN/WHM that had Alexander.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Do you still do Dynamis?

Considering that it took me nearly as long to collect two sets of Limbus armor as five sets of Dynamis relic armor, I'm wondering if you put in Limbus as an example by mistake?

So you missed that whole part where you can trade in Ancient Beast Coins in for accessories?

Okay.

(Having completed five sets, I'd say the experience is somewhat like fishing--chance is a big part of getting the catch, but knowledge, circumstances, and perseverance do play their parts.)

Also doing what your told, getting lucky and being chronically unemployed. You know, like all the "best" players in MMORPGs.

That wait-in-line thing isn't intrinsic to Dynamis (or Limbus). Did you really hated Dynamis? Or was it just the groups/rules you were with/under which made you grind your teeth?

Don't turn this around to make me sound like I'm not a team player. All the same, there's a difference between working as a team and enslaving yourself to a virtual corporate structure full of inept middle-management and self-appointed "leaders."

If everything is working out for you - as seems to always be the case since everything is sunshine and rainbows with your JP parties and EGLSes - that probably means you're in the middle-to-top. It means you know people or have LS officer status.

No one gets to be an officer or leader by being a skilled or knowledgeable player, that's for damn sure.

Moreover, the LS I'm with now regularly get city wins (and Beaucedine wins when needed--like last Wednesday, in fact). The LS I started Dynamis with regularly got city wins--and it still does (yes, it's still around, and I know a lot people in it). Heck, to speed up ice zone access, a few weeks ago some of our newer members went to another LS to get a city win we wouldn't get to for another week or two.

Yes, we know, your situations are always perfect, everyone gets what they want.

And no one ever complains that you're not doing Northlands today, right?

Of course not!

But really, if your LSes and your server were the utopia you constantly make it sound like, then everyone would have jam-packed Ifrit instead of Odin and Bahamut years ago.

[KingOfZeal]

Re: Do you still do Dynamis?

Our job requirements are very loose, in keeping with what I described about my shell above. You come on what job you want to come on, and we'll try our best to accommodate you. You might be asked to change if the strategy requires something, but more often than not it's a different class, not a different job. IE, you want to come on WHM but we need a DD. We would never ask you to come RDM if you want to come as a healer and prefer WHM.

Also kitten, I just wanted to point out that while they DID add new jobs, they didn't put those drops in the same slot as the other job's gear. As I recall, they simply added a second drop slot to all the mobs for those new jobs, so they didn't effect the existing armor's drop rates.

As far as the gear itself, I can certainly understand people saying that it is (or soon will be) virtually useless, especially since you can get from 71 to 81 (the level of the first relic piece to the level of the first AF3 piece) in less than a day with very little effort, and as far as I know all the AF3 just blows relic out of the water once it's upgraded. But even still, I keep out both my job's relic because almost all of them are useful in some situations. And until heroes comes out and I can get the full AF3, my relic is still awesome to look at

[Mog]

Re: Do you still do Dynamis?

I can't stand dynamis. I'm glad I don't do it anymore. < .>

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Do you still do Dynamis?

I can't stand dynamis. I'm glad I don't do it anymore. < .>

Thats so funny because I really miss it. Its one of the things that could lure me back into the game actually. lol

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Do you still do Dynamis?

Dynamis is an activity which is scale-able from one party to easily 30+ people, all working toward the goal of getting to and defeating the mega boss of the zone. (Well, capped to 18 for Tavnazia.)

It's a bit sad it has such a poor reputation with many players. On the other hand, out of all the Zilart/Promethia era 'endgame' content, Dynamis seems to have the longest legs, and has always drew a larger number of players than other activities.

* * *

So you missed that whole part where you can trade in Ancient Beast Coins in for accessories?

I guess so. Did you miss the part about getting payouts from currency sales so the members can go buy what they want with the gil? Greater flexibility is good, yes?

If everything is working out for you - as seems to always be the case since everything is sunshine and rainbows with your JP parties and EGLSes - that probably means you're in the middle-to-top. It means you know people or have LS officer status.

Why does every debate have to turn into sarcastic personal accusations? /sigh

To clarify, I been with five Dynamis groups that I can remember, and they offered quite different experiences (both good and bad--but mostly good) on the rules/LS interaction fronts. It's actually been a journey to find a LS with both longevity and fair rules. And, yes, I did ended up having to help build and maintain that LS as an officer.

If you really, really want to know, here are some personal details:

Dynamis History (boring, long)

HH: Peon status; slaving away for other people's relic weapons. This LS uses lines--points system (similar to "suicide king" DKP), to be precise--for every armor, but I've never heard of anyone complaining about that. The Dyanmis experience itself was enjoyable--my issue was with the leader's explosive temper and the unfairness of the sponsorship rules.

KoR: Mostly Dreamland runs. Lot choices were done with search comments, much like JP Dynamis groups. The currency were sold exclusively to pay for hourglasses; basically go to ice zones once in a while to keep the LS bank balance borderline black to fund Dreamland runs--when short, members pay to play. This was my first taste of benefit of currency drops shared equally. I left when my RL schedule changed.


VA: Again, lot choices were done with search comments. Currency were sold, and profit shared on per run basis. This was awesome--getting paid to go to Dynamis was new to me. Unfortunately, the attendance waned, and the group had always suffered from people cherry picking zones instead of showing up consistently. Eventually, it died.


GN/IP: Low-man group, very informal. Mostly after currency--sold and shared, of course. Lotting on armor was basically "Lot what you can use--or whatever no one else can use." It had horribly inconsistent attendance because of the small number of people it drew from, and died officially when many IP people left FFXI.


FF: My current Dynamis LS, the only Dynamis LS which I am an officer in--guilty as charged. It started as a /shout LS recruiting in Whitegate.

We share gil (on monthly basis with attendance requirements, to avoid people cherry picking zones).

No lines for city drops--not worthwhile to keep track, but people with high enough level on the job gets priority if they set it as "main lot". Attendance points used for ice zone drops, the system designed so new member can catch up if older members get items. Prioritized ice zone drops ("main lot" is our term) cost 1/2 of point total--in a manner of speaking, getting a desirable item drops you to the same points as someone who has attend half as long/well.

Yes, this means the officers do not automatically get all the goodies. That includes the leader--he didn't get one month's Sunday payout because he didn't make the attendance requirement.


* * *

By the way, there was one characteristic shared by all four out of five groups: barring unintentional errors, their rules were applied consistently to all members.

(HH was a major exception in one aspect:the leader picked who got to sponsor without any apparent rules or guidelines. Otherwise, the drop rules were applied to all, including the leader himself, barring one Shadow Mantle incident. Note that is the only LS I voluntarily left on my own.)

No one gets to be an officer or leader by being a skilled or knowledgeable player, that's for damn sure.

Ouch. lol.

But really, if your LSes and your server were the utopia you constantly make it sound like, then everyone would have jam-packed Ifrit instead of Odin and Bahamut years ago.

Fireflys is hardly utopia; it started as a /shout LS, and it's definitely no EGLS by any stretch of imagination. Heck, the name is misspelled, of all things.

But, this Dynamis group is nearly 10 month old and was able to field 15+ people every run for the past month. Plus, it survived the introduction of Abyssea, whereas most new Dynamis groups couldn't last three months even before Abyssea.

I'd like to think our focus on sharing the currency profit and operating transparently contributed greatly to our success, or at least prolonged our existence. (I doubt it'd be a draw people from other Worlds, though--the only thing it has going is Dynamis. lol.)