Starting City Restriction = Bad Idea

[Wise Donkey]

Re: Starting City Restriction = Bad Idea

Yes, it was on. I also used both the the Tier 1 and Tier 2 "where's the closest mining point?" abilities and it said there were none to be found.

[Aeni]

Re: Starting City Restriction = Bad Idea

Yes, it was on. I also used both the the Tier 1 and Tier 2 "where's the closest mining point?" abilities and it said there
were none to be found.

Thanks for posting this. I had the same issue (over on Bahamut) where I couldn't find a single mining point throughout La Noscea (South of LL, East of LL, West of LL) It was literally driving me nuts all the while aggoring monsters on my level 1 miner in those high zones (swept from lower to higher to be thorough with my search)

[Malacite]

Re: Starting City Restriction = Bad Idea

huh, weird. make a bug report then.

EDIT: There aren't actually tiers anymore, or there aren't supposed to be anyway - it's just the 1 skill and then you learn 1 that does it automatically. The other ability just locates the nearest resource node of the highest level.

[Wise Donkey]

Re: Starting City Restriction = Bad Idea

huh, weird. make a bug report then.

EDIT: There aren't actually tiers anymore, or there aren't supposed to be anyway - it's just the 1 skill and then you learn 1 that does it automatically. The other ability just locates the nearest resource node of the highest level.

1. I don't think it is a bug, I think it is just not in this phase of beta. If it is still like this in phase 4, I will do a report.

2.There are tiers. It starts with "level 5" mining points, then IIRC at 6 you get the ability to detect the closest "level 10" mining point.

[Aeni]

Re: Starting City Restriction = Bad Idea

huh, weird. make a bug report then.

EDIT: There aren't actually tiers anymore, or there aren't supposed to be anyway - it's just the 1 skill and then you learn 1 that does it automatically. The other ability just locates the nearest resource node of the highest level.

It's not a bug (at least according to SE) so I'm going to defer to Wise Donkey's assessment of the situation. Which totally blows for beta testing since it doesn't aid in the testing process (what with the limited playtimes especially with us folks out east just beyond the Intl'l Date Line, e.g., -18 to -23 hours of JST) I'll stand by my statement that SE shouldn't have bothered releasing LL in Phase 3 in this half-assed state. The outcry would've been worse if this was an issue for the players in Ul'dah, but as usual, they got that side more polished (They even have cutscenes for some of the classes and professions upon accepting the intial quest which Gridania did't get and still doesn't have)

[Malacite]

Re: Starting City Restriction = Bad Idea

Yeah, as gorgeous as LL is, it does feel half-assed in some respects but I still love it.

Thankfully, it's not open beta just yet so exposure is still minimal in comparison but even so, they really need to get their shit together ASAP - can't be making mistakes like this so close to launch.

[Etra]

Re: Starting City Restriction = Bad Idea

I know. What the balls? How dare they screw us over a second time and release the game without mining points in LL? Fuck you, SE. That's acceptable during beta testing, but not release.

Oh wait.

[Aeni]

Re: Starting City Restriction = Bad Idea

I know. What the balls? How dare they screw us over a second time and release the game without mining points in LL? Fuck you, SE. That's acceptable during beta testing, but not release.

Oh wait.

Well, tongue-in-cheek, granted, but Etra, isn't that what Alpha was for?

[Etra]

Re: Starting City Restriction = Bad Idea

Well, tongue-in-cheek, granted, but Etra, isn't that what Alpha was for?

No. Alpha was for basic server and engine testing on a large scale. Beta is for content testing, adjustment, and server load peaks.

[Aeni]

Re: Starting City Restriction = Bad Idea

No, what I was getting at was that they bothered to put those nodes (at all) in Alpha when the test was primarily, as you said, server load, game engine optimization, and data integrity. What I was getting at was why bother to put in LL in a half-assed state when they could do themselves and everyone else a big favor by not even putting it in. That way, they can focus on getting Uldah area right, and then move into Phase 4 with a more complete LL, having taken care of (a) Fishing (b) Scholar and (c) accurate assessment of both speed of leveling, numbers of quests, proper FATE testing, etc.

[Etra]

Re: Starting City Restriction = Bad Idea

Because they still want the basics of LL tested. It's better to have some test than no test at all... Come on now. Beta test is not "let's try the game for free." It's to test. Game not complete? Omgaggle beta. If we were three weeks before release, then yeah. That'd raise an alarm. As it stands, we're still not even two months away and if the only issue is mining nodes... I think we're fine.

[Aeni]

Re: Starting City Restriction = Bad Idea

Because they still want the basics of LL tested. It's better to have some test than no test at all... Come on now. Beta test is not "let's try the game for free." It's to test. Game not complete? Omgaggle beta. If we were three weeks before release, then yeah. That'd raise an alarm. As it stands, we're still not even two months away and if the only issue is mining nodes... I think we're fine.

There's only 3 weeks for Phase 3 where "major changes" can occur. Phase 4 is minor alterations and stat balancing and adjustments. Not major things like, oh, we need to move this town over by 250m in-game, or, oh, let's REVAMP class X because we feel too many players dislike it. Phase 4 is bugs and exploits reporting. That's when most of the shit is already cemented and all they're going to do is adjust difficulties in the dungeons, or of the characters, or the strength/potency of the spells. If you think they're going to be able to make fundamental changes during Phase 4, you're wrong. Yoshi-P already stated with near certainty in that 4Gamer interview that they will not move the August 27th date further down. Sounds familiar? It should. They made the same kind of exact statements during 1.0 beta, where between the time closed beta ended/open beta started and the game was released, hardly any changes were made, despite the numerous feedback they were receiving which suggested the game was nowhere near ready.

And I don't think this game IS anywhere near release ready. 2 months is a piss in the pot considering that the first of those two is still in "Alpha" mode (The first two phases of Beta were effectively what Alpha should've been ... stress testing should've been handled internally through server virtualization simulating more users than what a server is rated to handle) Looking at what difference there may have or may not have been between Alpha and Phase 2 Beta, I have to say, there weren't drastic changes. Most of it was UI (e.g., cosmetics) ... but as far as the rest of the system went, from Combat to Crafting, they remained pretty much unchanged. Only the biggest change I saw was the Armory system and how the Inventory system played off of it.

We'll see if the next test this weekend introduces a mega patch update which will show me that they are going to be continually changing the game to the point that from this day of this discussion to the time the game gets released, we'll barely recognize the two versions.

http://gdl.square-enix.com/ffxiv/dow...Roadmap_EN.pdf

According to that roadmap, the plan for Phase 4 seems to be, "we're wrapping up beta, thanks to those that participated, and we'll see you at release!" The stress testing that goes on is to make sure they don't repeat the debacle from having a broken registration system or a down lobby server which prevents players from actually getting on to their respective servers and also for the new Player Housing (which for whatever reason they think won't pose any issue that they are confident to wait till the last minute to test it) To me, that just says, "no more major changes, we feel the game is good, just need to tweak things".

Again ... 3 weeks left for fundamental changes and to change their minds about the release date (if they have to delay it)

[Etra]

Re: Starting City Restriction = Bad Idea

I just don't see the point about whining there's no mining points in LL while it's beta and they'll obviously be added soon. Shrug.

[Taskmage]

Re: Starting City Restriction = Bad Idea

Are they allowing the boat transportation out at release or is that going to require you to actually get some kind of boarding pass? The NPC told me I didn't have enough funds (LOL apparently 15K gil was not enough) so I wasn't too sure ...

I can't comment on the boat, since I'm not sure. However, I would assume it's one of those "not yet implemented" thing, since the general "you don't have enough money" speech isn't specific. If it were implemented, it'd tell you how much you need or how to obtain a pass another way, yeah? :s

Saw this on the dev tracker today:

The cost of the ferry has been set high to limit its use during the beta test.

In phase 4, this will be adjusted to reflect the actual cost at launch. Don't worry, you won't need to spend so much!

[Aeni]

Re: Starting City Restriction = Bad Idea

Well, it's Phase 3, so I can spend away my gil and not worry about it (Gets reset in Phase 4 so I get it all back) What I'm interested in is experiencing the pirate attacks and other things that I liked about in FFXI's ferry rides. I hope they do the same for airships, but maybe that's beyond the technical abilities of SE and their current system (Battles versus Garleans in the air? Sign me up!)