The FFXI "Gyms of Vana'diel" Self Improvement Reborn!

[kingfury]

Well said. I applaud in your direction. Is Kingfury your name IG? That way I don't have some random person adding me when the servers go back live lol.

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Thanks Harp / And yeah, it's Kingfury in-game ^^ you'll see Kingsfollower as well, but he's my dual-boxed whm taru

[kingfury]

perfect images ^.^ still hope the SE people will come and have another look because this looks like such a great idea. *fingers crossed that this gets added*

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/kneel Thanks for the compliment ^^/ I do too!! They're most likely dealing with a lot of important things right now, so I can be as patient as need be until they can focus on stuff like this ... but I got blessed with comfort of knowing that this concept very well might be on the Dev Teams laps as we type thanks to >Camate's post<(which is SO awesome of Camate btw ^^/cheer Thank you a zillion times lol), so I'm more than happy with just that fact

[kingfury]

This idea is phenomenal... I really love this.

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Thanks for the feedback and support ^^/

[kingfury]

Ive been reading this forum for the past 3 days and i cant stay silent any longer!
(ahem) just wanted to say the concept is absoballyflippinlutely fantastic... and to all you nay sayers out there no ones forcing you to join us.
I for one would enjoy the PVP and bonus skillage. And the sketches of many of this thread's "spokespeople" lol... take the cake. Its true what some of yall say about keeping the game fresh and fun. Npc boss battles pwn and tbh wouldnt mind seeing a King Fury Npc in the mix, You deserve it! +2 King Fury NPC boss!!!
(/bow) Keep it comin Foo!

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/kneel Thank you much friend for the support and feedback ^^/ I'd be lying if I said it doesn't make me smile to know that others would enjoy this addition as much as I would @ a King Fury NPC Boss: ><; I wouldn't know how to act if it came true! /stagger lol

[Kuwabaraone]

YO! King! I'll make this simple! This idea is CRAZY! SO LET'S RUN WITH IT! Btw, we need to befriend each other when we get back! >.<)b

KB1

PS. Good God(dess) you got some brilliant ideas. You need to be in the Dev Team. SERIOUS here.

Edit (10:03 AZMT): O.O Um, no. LAST thing we need is a Galkan WAR like Kingfury for a NPC Boss. It'll be like the LORD OF SHADOWS in the past with almost NO WEAKNESS. T.T)

[kingfury]

**EDIT TO ORIGINAL POST**
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Gymnasium Games

TP/MP Bonanza
Description:
"TP/MP Bonanza" is a Gymnasium game where players must repeatedly find and defeat the "Bonanza Key Monster" to unlock a special temporary status called "Primal Rush" to gain access to the chance of progressing to higher levels of the game and ultimately emerge victorious. In a BCNM-like setup, a group of up to 6 players could participate within special game rooms.

System Mechanics:
Combat and Magic skill ups will be possible to acquire during these battles. In the middle of each training room would be a "Gym Manual" that would offer Difficulty options that once set would begin the game session. The selected difficulty can range from Easy Prey to Incredibly Tough, and even Impossible to Gauge in special elite game sessions, with the number of level Boss NM combatants varying on the number of participating players during the game session(ex. One Player would produce one level Boss per level. Three Players would produce one to three level Bosses per level reached).

Playing the Game:
Upon starting the game, a random number of monsters would spawn around all participants and begin to attack any near by players(all hitting for low damage). All monsters have relatively low HP and will be easily disposed of. Hiding among the group of enemies, is the "Bonanza Key Monster"(BKM), who behaves like all other surrounding monsters and has no visually distinguishing differences.

The Bonanza Key Monster:
Players must find this monster and successfully destroy it to unlock the special temporary status mode called "Primal Rush" to gain access to the chance of progressing to higher levels of the game session. There are 3 steps to finding and destroying this key monster.
1st Step- find and reduce the monsters HP to 20%(red). The monster will flash red with the "!!"(Abyssea trigger animation) to signal that it is in fact the BKM once this is achieved. Successfully identifying the BKM, however, activates a unique "area of effect" aura around the monster that inflicts a heavy gravity effect on players while it gains "Flee"-like movement speed. This leads to the 2nd step which is successfully damaging the now frantic monster before it despawns.
2nd Step- Players will have exactly 10secs to inflict any kind of damage(physical or magical) on the BKM during it's triggered state before it despawns. Upon inflicting even the slightest damage(has to be more than 0 dmg) on the BKM, the monster will be stunned for 5secs(not counting toward the 10sec despawn countdown), thus disabling it's aura and allowing players the opportunity to engage and fulfill the last step.
3rd Step- Step 3 is simple; destroy the monster! Once the killing blow has landed on the BKM, all players participating will flash a 2hr-like animation signaling the activation of the "Primal Rush" status. Once this occurs, all remaining monsters will despawn and one or more level Boss NMs(depending on the current game session level and number of participants) will appear and engage the participants. All Job abilities will be reset and all HP/MP will be restored to all participants upon activation of Primal Rush. Failing to successfully destroy the BKM will result in the monster despawning and the session ending.

Primal Rush:
Primal Rush is a special temporary status that grants the player unlimited, instantaneous use of any TP move or magic spell for 30secs without penalty as well as invulnerability to all damage. This explains the "Bonanza" part of the game's name. Players must successfully defeat the level Boss NM to progress to the next game level for the opportunity to find the next BKM. Failure to do so will result in the session ending. The difficulty setting set before the start of the game session will determine the ferocity of each level Boss NM and how many reachable levels there are in each session. Upon reaching the final level Boss NM, both players and the NM will have access to the Primal Rush status effect, making it essential to quickly dispose of the Boss before the player's status effect wears off. Special conditions during Primal Rush would allow players the chance to instantly K.O. any level Boss should players meet them. Clues as to what these conditions are could be found during the process of finding and destroying the BKM. Defeating the final level Boss NM will result in the game being won.

Rewards:
"Tokens" and "Medals" are the rewards for completing a TP/MP Bonanza game. The use of "Medals" could drastically improve game session results since they will be designed to enhance certain aspects of a players performance, like the rate of which skill ups occur, enhanced attack speeds, rapid refresh, and more, while undertaking game sessions. Such Medals will require moderate amounts of tokens to acquire, but the end results would be well worth the effort.

[Strife]

Wow! 5 pages of posts in the not even 2 days since I posted I think you've redefined the “Hot topic” status King! lol

/blush
Thank you for the credit but I only thought of them because I was so inspired by your amazing OP^^

Regarding changes to:

Healing Magic regimens
This sounds good but personally I don't think it should be made to easy/ instructional as if you do a regimen repeatedly that tells you “cure 3 here, cure 5 there, do 4 more cure 3s & your done” it might not be that effective for teaching people how to play their jobs as people might begin to go into autopilot -or even just write a script to do it automaticly- for that regimen after a few wins. Having a more dynamic environment where a player has to decide how to best handle the situation might make it a bit more challenging & fun. The NPC could for example give tips at the start like “Did you know even though Cure 5 restores so much HP it still only generates the same enmity as Cure 3?” & at other times throughout the regimen like a fellow NPC does. For instance if you were RDM the NPC might say “Cure 4 restores the a lot of HP but generates the most enmity, try using more cure 3s & keeping my HP high.” or when you pull hate they could say something like “Thanks for the cure 'player name' but your putting yourself in danger! You don't need to cure me so often I can take the hits!”. Personally I learn more from trying things & making mistakes than I do from being told exactly what to do.

Having a regimen to teach a player to cure the tank after a particularly damaging Spell/ TP move & to be on guard for it is a good idea though (makes me think of another possibility for a regimen for BLM where you have to stun X number of a particular Spell/ TP move). I've partied with a few people that could've used a bit of training in these areas lol. Perhaps the idea you suggested focusing on curing after damaging abilities could be one regimen & one where you cure a NPC fighting a mob with rapid enmity decay & try not to pull hate could be another?

Enhancing Magic regimens
This is a good idea to actually make people have to cast based on the situation instead of just entering, loading a macro script & afk'n. An idea to expand on this might be to have the NPC a PLD, MNK or NIN type NPC that blocks, parries/ utsus or counters all a mobs melee hits negating the damage. The only damage the NPC would take then would be from spells, enfeebles & TP moves & the player would have to cast enhancing spells to stop/ mitigate these forms of damage. For example shell -which would have a greatly reduced duration to require/ allow you to cast it multiple times- & the appropriate bar spell would negate magic damage -the mob could have some way of displaying its current elemental affinity such as an en-spell or TP move that switches it's affinity. Protect would severely reduce/ negate damage from physical TP moves -again with a reduced duration. A player would have to cure statuses with na spells/ erase to stop DoT & cure ailments such as paralyse which would inhibit or stop a NPCs ability to block, counter, cast & parry which otherwise would cause them to take damage from melee hits (some feedback on this particular point please as I'm pretty sure normally block, parry & counter rate isn't effected by paralyse). You could need to cast haste to allow the NIN to cast frequently enough to have shadows absorb all melee damage. The only way to cure your NPC might also be with regen -any job that has enhancing spells would have some form of this even if it were from a sub & it would have a greatly enhanced effect during the regimen. This might make the regimen a little less purely reactive & more strategic as usually if you wait to cast bar fire until after a bomb has exploded or shell after the mobs cast Thundaga 5 half the party is already dead lol. Again the NPC could give you tips on this during the regimen IF a player needs them -e.g. If a player isn't removing poison & the NPC is dying.

Defensive skill regimens
I like this -mainly because of the 100% proc. rate lol- though I can see some old school players saying 100% proc. rate makes this to easy when they did theirs the hard way. I'd ask them to think if they hadn't already capped their skills & something like this had been offered while they were if they wouldn't jump at it & then to answer honestly lol.

Melee regimens
I know that since Sekkanoki has been available as /SAM a lot more people self SC but I think the broader use & harder thing to learn with SC is not just timing yourself but timing it with someone else as they may go early of late & you have to adjust. With this in mind a different idea along the same line as yours might be to have to SC with a NPC who would spawn with a weapon based on what weapon you have equip -to make sure you can SC with them- but otherwise random. They would give hints on when they might WS, what WS they're using & what WS you should use but perhaps becoming less precise the higher the tier of regime e.g. in a beginner regimen the NPC might say “Get ready to SC!” then say what they're using & what to use to SC & then always WS a few seconds later. Where as in an expert level the NPC might say something like “I almost have enough TP to SC” & only hint at the elemental properties of the SC then WS 2-10 swings later & you have to be ready -you would have a regain effect so you always would be. There might also be a line of NPC BLM in the back ground that MB off the SC & kill the mob, a certain number mobs might need to be killed this way to win the regimen & if you keep missing a few NPCs could get annoyed & warp out making it harder to win lol.

OP Kingsfury:"...I would absolutely love to do an official FFXI comic..."

Do it then! =D It doesn't have to be an “official” comic -though it would be cool if it was- look at the official SE community sites most of them started as unofficial fan sites & I'm sure if SE themselves don't pick you up if you contact those community sites one will. Please let us all know if you do so we can send them emails/ messages of support.

OP Kingsfury: "...the types of these sort of regimens could be endless.."

Indeed! I sense another topic coming if SE picks up this idea titled “Regimen ideas” I'm sure everyone's got tons^^

OP Kingsfury: Told ya it was coming lol ^^/
-Tag Team Game Mode

Lmao ouch!

[Strife]

I like your ideas, but more and more suggestions that I see for this game are ways to make the game MUCH easier, not much better. (imo)

I'm sure to some people easy game = good game and challenging game = waste of time but I for one, did not choose FFXI because it was seen as an easy option.

Bring skills back to Campaign! Yeah, there's plenty of mobs there, it can be tough for solo DD jobs yeah, but you're there to skill, not to get EXP. Waiting around for the fights is a good thing in regards to skilling up. The "super-easy-mode" style of the OP's idea means you can essentially walk into a gym and press a "max skills" button. If you have to wait around or be unlucky getting tags just as the campaign finishes a few times then so be it.

Again, OP's idea is a nice idea but no room/need for it in FFXI. Plenty of other places to skill up, SE have even put newer mobs in older zones to help with this too and of course there's Abyssea EXP parties, just get yourself in one of those and skill away.

PS: There is 1 awesome way to avoid getting VERY behind on your skills by the way guys........... STOP ABYSSEA LEECHING 30-90! :P

Campeign ends when I arrive almost every time for me T_T I hate campaign lol.

I do see your point though & a lot of people have voiced the same concern. I guess the flip side is there are a lot of players that can spend a lot of time regularly playing this game & a lot that can't & up until recently XI has been unfairly stacked against those of the latter group. SE has thankfully been trying to redress this in recent updates but I think skilling up is still one area where there's great inequality.

Kings idea I think helps fix this for players who can't spend hours shouting for a party, running to remote locations & thwacking on a mob or letting a mob beat on them & Delani's idea that I tried to flesh out a bit I think -I hope- fixes the issue of players getting skill points but no skill -which I think has become a larger problem since level sync & Abyssea. Still I wouldn't be adverse to measures to make this system more challenging, either by way of how regimens actually work or restrictions on how many of each type you can do per Vana 'deil or RL day -1 per skill type per vana week or only a few per RL day.

A fairer game for those that can't play 20+ hours a week {yes please} an {easy prey} game {no thanks}. I think everyone that plays this game is a masochist to some degree & we live for those +.1's & that elated feeling of finally capping something even if half or more of that elation is the relief we never have to do it again! ...Until the next level cap rise lol.

OP Kingsfury: The reason is, you have to have a balance for all player types or you'll fail as developers trying to create a versatile and rich-content MMORPG.

I agree, what's the use in introducing new content if people are to busy playing catch-up to enjoy it?

OP Liam: Ha. I used to be a devoted WAR on Valefor until ninja came and usurped me from my tanking position. Then we faded into obscurity and got used only as a sub T_T I needed a job change anyway.

WARs great in Abyssea, Fell Cleave FTW!^^

OP Jeffanddane: GET RID OF PS2 SUPPORT SO WE CAN HAVE THIS D:<!

From your ears to SE lips! ..wait that's not right <.<
Who even plays on PS2 any more? Who even has a PS2 any more that isn't a dusty relic in a dark corner of the living room behind their PS3/ X box?

[kingfury]

Wow! 5 pages of posts in the not even 2 days since I posted I think you've redefined the “Hot topic” status King! lol
/blush
Thank you for the credit but I only thought of them because I was so inspired by your amazing OP^^
Regarding changes to:
-Healing Magic regimens
-Enhancing Magic regimens
-Defensive skill regimens
-Melee regimens
-FFXI Comic

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/kneel Thanks again for all the great feedback Strife ^^/ I added another link towards the bottom of regimen example post that links to your recent post
Yep, at this point I believe the Dev team should have the notion of what we're proposing in regards to possible regimens lol. I just wanted the concepts to make the most sense for the overall Gym idea. Thanks to your contributions, and others, I believe Dev team can tweak all the little details that would make it just perfect
On the topic of a FFXI comic, I've had the idea spinning in my mind for years now, and I'm sure after my time here on these message boards, I'll start something up lol. I'll definitely let folks know if I do though!
Thanks again man, /salute

[Tsukino_Kaji]

Morning King! I haven't slept. lol
Servers back up friday morning. ^^
Maybe we'll get your update implemented then.