Interim Report – Sorry to keep you all waiting!

[Carth]

FFXI is a live horse? Hahahaha.

This actually just proves his point.

RDM SP2 is not designed to work with the current system but a future version of FFXI. The previous SP2 would definitely be nice, but it wouldn't do anything to give RDM an edge over /RDM so we'd still be out of a job...
Just wish SE would release more info about it.

You are playing right into SE's hands and you have no idea just how much sh!t this RDM SP2 actually is regardless of system changes. Since I know you mean well, I'll break it down for you.

Many people are commenting that the effect is no different than Elemental Seal. While Elemental Seal greatly increases the accuracy of spells, its effect is still limited by resistances, so there are cases where highly resistant monsters will still resist a spell used in conjunction with Elemental Seal. On the other hand, red mage's new special ability will guarantee the spell to land ignoring resistance, so the effect is stronger than Elemental Seal.

The development team has been working on adjustments to greatly reduce monsters with immunity, and nearly all of the monsters that have immunities have been adjusted for Voidwatch, Legion, and the higher-tier Limbus/Einherjar. We will continue to address other monsters for each content. (The ability cannot be used on monsters with immunity; however, the effect will not wear off in these cases and you can use the effect in conjunction with your next spell.)

This post tries to state the difference between Elemental Seal and RDM SP2, but you and I both know that in reality, they really are just the same thing. The one difference they have (outside of duration), is that the SP2 is a guarantee to land. This means that no matter how resistant the mob is (barring immunity), the spell will land regardless of your statistical deficiencies.

But there's two things to notice here:

1: The RDM SP2 does not enhance the potency of the enfeebling spell. All it does is guarantee that the spell will land.
2: They are making sweeping changes to negate immunity to multiple NMs.

#2 is extremely important, because if mobs are no longer able to just go "lolimmune" to a RDM's enfeebles, that means RDM will be able to land enfeebles normally without the help of MAcc+ JA's.

But the next question would be, "what if they don't make them immune, but so resistant that you would need to use MAcc+ JA's for them to work anyway"? Then we're back to where we started and nothing has changed at all. RDM still has crappy enfeebles they can't land without riding on Immunobreak, and since Elemental Seal is on a 10 minute timer and has a massive MAcc buff, people will op to use that over the RDM SP2.

Ah, but here's the last question, "What if they make them so resistant that not even Elemental Seal would work?"

Then they are immune.

This may sound silly at first, maybe absurd. But it makes perfect sense if you sit back and think about it. If you make them so resistant that only a 1 hour JA can break that resistance, then SE ends up doing the very same thing that they stated was a mistake on their test servers, that RDM SP2 cannot break immunity. But if you make it so that only the RDM SP2 can land an enfeeble immediately (changing 100% resistance to 99% resistance), then the mob is considered immune, and the SP2 just happens to break that rule.

You see the problem here? In order for the RDM SP2 to considered useful, they either have to jack up monster resistances to such high levels that not even Elemental Seal can break it, or the RDM would have to be so gimped in gear and skill that the SP2 would be the only way for them to land an enfeeble. The former just makes RDM more useless than it already is. The latter only makes the SP2 a crutch until the RDM gets better MAcc. Either way, one of two extremes have to happen to make the SP2 look useful, and neither extremes help RDM in any way possible.

[Carth]

Sorry if I missed it, but wasn't he speaking to Prrsha's recollections as though they were dead and bid good-riddance in light of the "new" FFXI whose current number of active players so greatly outnumbers those during that period? The game today versus the game then is a blatant joke.

He's saying it'll never happen because FFXI is so old that new players hardly trickles in, so it's better to cater to the folks who still plays. Remember, FFXIV: ARR is Square's golden child at the moment. They're not looking to bring in new players, just maintain the current ones.

[Eyeballed]

He's saying it'll never happen because FFXI is so old that new players hardly trickles in, so it's better to cater to the folks who still plays. Remember, FFXIV: ARR is Square's golden child at the moment. They're not looking to bring in new players, just maintain the current ones.

Oh, FFXIV... you mean that "live" horse that adopted the "new" FFXI and failed beyond miserably? As XIV is currently being rebooted and servers have been shut down, people have tossed around the idea of coming back to XI. From what I've read, the consensus is "I would, but it's a shadow of its former self and I wouldn't enjoy it as it is now." This is due to the fact that many of XIV's original subscribers migrated from XI in 2010. They got shafted in that game, and found themselves to be twice shafted as there was no returning to the type of gameplay XI once had. That is why in the last year the total subs between both games has been knee-slappingly laughable.

And I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I read that Yoshida's primary concern was not retaining the current playerbase. His focus was to bring new players in and quitters back. Of course keeping the current players is not a bad idea at any rate. But, how miniscule is that total number opposed to the potential number of people he could have playing the game, the latter makes better business sense to me.

Essentially, SE's fucked up so bad the name of the game now is "Let's see how many of our fans we can shit all over and still come out on top."

[Carth]

And I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I read that Yoshida's primary concern was not retaining the current playerbase.

What does Yoshida have to do with anything about FFXI's playerbase?

[Eyeballed]

What does Yoshida have to do with anything about FFXI's playerbase?

That comment was aimed toward XIV players. So essentially, nothing at all. Unless you consider the design philosophies both games have suffered, which is exactly what Yoshida is pushing for. Honestly, I'm not sure why XIV got brought up to begin with. But naturally when you switch the focus from XI to XIV mid-paragraph and then follow it with the suggestion of, "They're not looking to bring in new players...etc.", I assumed you were referencing 14.

[Aldersyde]

Stop beating a dead horse. Go find a live one to ride.

Same could be said for all the "woe is rdm" posters who insist on bringing up the same shit in every popular thread.

I'd rather read random yearning for the nostalgia of days gone by than the cacophony of whining rdms who just can't accept that the world has moved on.

[Llana_Virren]

1: The RDM SP2 does not enhance the potency of the enfeebling spell. All it does is guarantee that the spell will land.
2: They are making sweeping changes to negate immunity to multiple NMs.

If they made the ja bypass and overrule immunities, and go on a 30 minute timer, then it might not be so bad.

[Kincard]

Even if it could bypass immunities it wouldn't be terribly useful, because slow II (Which is probably the most desirable enfeebling I can think of, aside from maybe Dia, which doesn't get resisted) only lasts 3 minutes. Something that is hard enough to actually warrant a RDM a spot so they can 100% land a slow II is going to live longer than 3 minutes, which means that either
1. You need a bring multiple RDMs to keep your enfeebles up constantly, because it is simply that unmanageable without the debuffs present, or
2. The enfeeble is not essential enough to warrant 1, so you don't bring a RDM at all.
Neither one is a good idea.

[FrankReynolds]

Same could be said for all the "woe is rdm" posters who insist on bringing up the same shit in every popular thread.

I'd rather read random yearning for the nostalgia of days gone by than the cacophony of whining rdms who just can't accept that the world has moved on.

I'd prefer neither, but they did say "We would like to see people get to level 99 quickly". They never said "we would like to see people stop playing red mage". Although it wouldn't surprise me at this point if the devs just said "Look, that job is never going to be good again. We are concentrating on other things that we like better now".

[Prrsha]

I'd prefer neither, but they did say "We would like to see people get to level 99 quickly". They never said "we would like to see people stop playing red mage". Although it wouldn't surprise me at this point if the devs just said "Look, that job is never going to be good again. We are concentrating on other things that we like better now".

His comment about lightspeeding players to level 99 made my jaw drop. It's far too easy already plus it is done using such horrible and lackluster strategies like AFK book burning in dungeons. Players just... sit there AFK and leech! It's like the game is populated by dual boxers and zombies. It doesn't give new players that warm and fuzzy feeling that FFXI had before.

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode...cing-for-skill

I beg you to check out this link. It really is relevant for the current state FFXI is in. "Fooing" is the name of the game in FFXI now. There are so many exploits now it makes my head spin. People have already proven you can climb the latter to level 99 in TWO days just from leeching alone... and now they want to speed it up more?

If what he is saying is true (that a player needs to get to level 99 just to have "fun" in the game) then you should erase levels all together. It's a crazy statement but he's making a crazy proposal. That is the EASY way out.

Slow down the leveling process but add content along the way is entertaining for ALL playing levels. A level cap on certain events is one way to do this. For example: One could design a system like conquest in WotG but have battle fields of varying levels caps and (here is the key to this) make it EASY to access. In a campaign battle, all a person has to do is walk up to a NPC and join in to earn points. The are no flags or LFP nonsense. You just join in and leave when you wish to. Everyone obtains points... and should leave with something of value (no booby prizes please). Let the point system take care of that. The key is to make the battles have level caps of various levels (like in garrison) 20, 30, 40, 50 e.g. Let each tier of capped events give out different items that players of ALL levels need. That way players of ALL levels... level 20-99 can unite and play beside one another and have... dare I say it... fun.

When people are not in group events like this (and are in downtime), bring back the 6 party dynamic again but, please do away with the current archaic of searching for party members. There should be no need to type in a string of syntaxes to find players willing to party. Add a new form of GUI that replaces the old one. Players should be able to flag quests/missions etc they need help in and it should show up on a global board (or even a chat room). That way players can co-ordinate and meet up with ease to tackle certain group centric goals with a click of a mouse.

If I need help with a mission, I should be able to choose it from a list and flag it. It then should appear on a global board for all to see and assist if they need help with the same thing. The same could go for leveling parties. Have people enter a desired amount of people they need to level with and other players could just fill the list until the limit is reaches (six people or less).

I know this seems like alot of work, but to be frank, FFXI needs alot of attention. It has been neglected for a long time now. If you wish to bring it back to its glory days, don't just take the easy way out and have people "skip" 75% of the content of game... bring it back by introducing new interfaces that embrace it.

The fun of a game should not be in the goal at the end, but in the journey too that goal. Currently FFXI lacks that from 20-99 and placing a "speed" band-aid on it just makes things worse not better.

Edit: To make this work btw, there needs to be a better form of armor storage that is newbee friendly and free of charge. Maybe a GUI that gives you a "paper doll" to equip and have those armor/weapon setups appear in your inventory with a click of a mouse. (Maybe make use of the mannequins that sit idle in moghouses). It would be a macro system for quick equiping a character with various setup for level caps (A data dump for level 20, 30, 40 etc) that can be accessed at the moghouse or nomad moogle. No cards to mix up like the current system has.

This concept would also make certain armor/weapons/gear worth money again. It would give a boost to low level crafter's wallets and give new players low level NMs to hunt again.

Last problem I see that needs addressing is... placement of mobs in newbee zones. It is NOT fun for a newbee to take a left turn instead of right just to be one shotted by a level 75 goblin that resides in a level 10 area (and has level 10 quests in). It just leaves new players with a bitter taste in their mouth and more confusion, which leads them to quit. The Brass canteen quest in Bastok is a prime example of this. This should be MMO 101 here. Never EVER place mobs of incredible level to a low level player one or two zones from a STARTING town. It's just silly.