Game Balance and User Frustration

[Grizzlebeard]

Re: Game Balance and User Frustration

I'm level 90 and I die to EP all the time.

You should be ashamed of yourself!

[Malacite]

Re: Game Balance and User Frustration

[Murphie]

Re: Game Balance and User Frustration

You should be ashamed of yourself!

I really should. I mean it says it right there! EASY prey.

Y U NO EASY, EASY PREY!?

[KoLAddict]

Re: Game Balance and User Frustration

As a newish player I can attest to what the TC said on gear. It is way overpriced in the AH, and aside from the mission gear, the only way for us soloing or with little help to get better weapons. I know I've amassed 20-30k then run to the AH to see what one piece I wanted to upgrade at my level. Should get better once I hit 50-60 and solo more missions. Right now at 38 I don't think I could solo The Emissary.

[Squiggs]

Re: Game Balance and User Frustration

I'm pretty sure you can solo it. If not, hit me up. I just did that one recently for Windy, and am going to be doing it for Sandy later this week.

[Murphie]

Re: Game Balance and User Frustration

As a newish player I can attest to what the TC said on gear. It is way overpriced in the AH, and aside from the mission gear, the only way for us soloing or with little help to get better weapons. I know I've amassed 20-30k then run to the AH to see what one piece I wanted to upgrade at my level. Should get better once I hit 50-60 and solo more missions. Right now at 38 I don't think I could solo The Emissary.

Unless you are a WHM or a BRD you can solo it most likely. But even if you couldn't, you could duo it with someone at your level or have one person a bit higher than you help you with it. Hell, it was able to be beaten in a duo at 25 before the cap was removed, so seriously, you'd be fine.

Yes, a lot of gear on the AH is priced high. But you don't actually NEED to buy it. You can subsist on a combination of Vendor Gear and Conquest Gear until you raise the funds for better armor/weapons. And you can always take time away from EXP in order to raise some gil in order to buy better gear.

Don't' assume that you need to have the absolute best. That was true at one time, but most people don't really care all that much. Plus, hell, there isn't that much mid-level gear on the AH these days anyway.

[Mhurron]

Re: Game Balance and User Frustration

As a newish player I can attest to what the TC said on gear. It is way overpriced in the AH, and aside from the mission gear, the only way for us soloing or with little help to get better weapons. I know I've amassed 20-30k then run to the AH to see what one piece I wanted to upgrade at my level. Should get better once I hit 50-60 and solo more missions. Right now at 38 I don't think I could solo The Emissary.

Over-priced and expensive are not the same thing.

[Icemage]

Re: Game Balance and User Frustration

There has always been a perception in FFXI that all the best gear is super-expensive. Frankly that just is not true, and never has been. There are very, very few items in the game that you can buy with gil that will cause anything more than a slight numeric improvement over something commonly available, and honestly those sorts of items don't even come into the picture until you're at least level 50 or so.

Basic gear is NOT expensive, never has been, and is NOT severely underpowered compared to the more expensive alternatives. A little time searching around or asking around can get you lots of great recommendations for gear. Basic investment in things like harvesting/mining can also go a long way to providing a steady income.


Icemage

[DakAttack]

Re: Game Balance and User Frustration

Sorry, RMT wasn't so active in FFXI because money was so easy to come by and things were cheap. They were active because everything was expensive and making money was a huge time-sink chore. I haven't played FFXI in years, yet I know things haven't changed.

[Murphie]

Re: Game Balance and User Frustration

Except that they have totally changed.

[Icemage]

Re: Game Balance and User Frustration

Sorry, RMT wasn't so active in FFXI because money was so easy to come by and things were cheap. They were active because everything was expensive and making money was a huge time-sink chore. I haven't played FFXI in years, yet I know things haven't changed.

RMTs are active in most MMOs because people are lazy and ignorant, not because the super-expensive gear was in any way special, particularly in the case of FFXI, where frankly most gear isn't really very special. FFXI is even less so these days, because all the REALLY good new gear is earned and not tradeable.


Icemage

[Firewind]

Re: Game Balance and User Frustration

There has always been a perception in FFXI that all the best gear is super-expensive. Frankly that just is not true, and never has been. There are very, very few items in the game that you can buy with gil that will cause anything more than a slight numeric improvement over something commonly available, and honestly those sorts of items don't even come into the picture until you're at least level 50 or so.

Basic gear is NOT expensive, never has been, and is NOT severely underpowered compared to the more expensive alternatives. A little time searching around or asking around can get you lots of great recommendations for gear. Basic investment in things like harvesting/mining can also go a long way to providing a steady income.


Icemage

Pretty much this. The best example of a bit of gear in the game that is dirty cheap and universally useful is the Earth Staff. For under 10k you get a staff that mitigates incoming Physical Damage by one fifth and is usable by everyone.

The Scorpion Harness is another great example. For 30k you get a piece of gear equippable by fourteen different jobs. It raises your hit rate by 5% and gives a nice chunk of evasion.

[Samson]

Re: Game Balance and User Frustration

El oh el.

I think you guys made him rage quit. Not the game, but the forum. Wow.


I'm thinking if he bitched less and put forth a little effort, he'd been fine. Of course, he obviously wasn't asking questions either.

I also think that comparing FFXI to WoW is like apples to oranges. Yes, they're both MMOs, but different aspects.

[Murphie]

Re: Game Balance and User Frustration

RMTs are active in most MMOs because people are lazy and ignorant, not because the super-expensive gear was in any way special, particularly in the case of FFXI, where frankly most gear isn't really very special. FFXI is even less so these days, because all the REALLY good new gear is earned and not tradeable.


Icemage

Absolutely true. And to clarify, above when I said that it was once required to have the "best" gear, I meant exclusively by the playerbase. It didn't make that big of a difference, and if you weren't playing with jerks, you could get along just fine without it.

[Neverslip]

Re: Game Balance and User Frustration

I haven't played FFXI in years, yet I know things haven't changed.

For starting players it's still way easier than it ever was before. Still have many venues to get gil from simply lvl'n up if you do some research. Honey, chips, silk thread, moat carps, and KRT at low lvls. Leeches in Pash around 20 something. Leeches on the beeches at 30 (no competition any more). Bat blood later... Moss lil later than that.

At high level or "endgame" income is always flowing in as long as you research, put stuff up on AH, bazaar, and NPC crap. I have over 3mil (and can't find anything to spend it on at this point) and I haven't done any farming for quite a few months if not a year(though I lvl'd THF so I could).

To the OP: FFxi is a daunting game to start. Tbh, if I'd started it alone and didn't have a buddy that was mid-lvl already helping me learn how to play and how to research FFxi, I'd not be playing it anymore. I started right before SE implimented some things that really made FFxi more accessible. I remember being turned down constantly for parties cuz I didn't have /nin for my THF yet I hadn't gotten a job to 30 to unlock NIN. If they'd let me in, I'd typically get ridiculed for not having Leaping boots and a Emp pin or just turned away flat-out. Oh, those were the days. I spent a couple months sitting between 20-30.

Instead of just complaing about it, use that energy to figure out how to beat it into submission. If you don't want to do that, then just chalk it up as not your type of game. It takes patience and persistance to get into this game. That's why a lot of people like it. Main thing... if you're not having fun. Stop. Try something else.