Originally Posted by
FaeQueenCory
I was arguing that what was healthy before was that there were viable and equal alternatives to get you to "the best weapon in the game."
Don't like Dynamis? Make an Empy.
Don't like NM camping? Make a relic.
Alexandrite? Relics and Empys exist.
All three were functionally interchangeable... and thusly, more people had access to "being teh best" by the virtue of alternatives.
Obviously there are exceptions... Like Gungnir... Or Claustrum.... Poor super-crappy relics...
But now.... It's all funneled into Delve.
Which is an event that excludes just over half the playable jobs in the game. (mnk, sch, drk&sam, drg, whm, brd, cor, geo... that's pretty much it... 9/22)
Sure, one can argue that there's a BCNM that you can farm too... but unless you're seeing the comparable drop rates to 6NMs dropping 1+ per kill....
Then that's not a real viable alternative.
It's not an argument over which gives you more money base or dreamworld dynamis...
It's an argument for the NM camping to make an Empy over being forced into any dynamis area to make a Relic.
THAT's what had contributed so much to FFXI's longevity... Or at least a part of it anyways. (and Hater's gonna hate... but Abyssea didn't kill off server populations.)
Funneling the REM update through delve is exactly like not updating the REMs in the first place... because it tells you "go-play-delve-NOW!"
Some people don't like Delve.
Some people (this is me) don't like the people who play Delve. (I've met too many dbags and not enough nice ppl in Delve, endgame has always brought out the worst in ppl... but not like Delve.)
And then there are those that just don't have access to the means to get to Delve.
Making the drops be sellable is good... but, again, not all of us have 400M to blow on these items.
And it's... almost adorable... this update for the REMs... because I can see why the devs did it like this instead of just adding to the translurry table.
It's part of the critical failure that they have at understanding the human emotional attachment to the REMs...
They discarded them because they didn't understand that humans create an emotional bond with something that they spend a lot of time with (see GLaDOS and the Companion Cube).
But what the Devs saw when they saw ppl wanting their friends back... was the timesink.
It seems that a lot of ppl are taking this update as a slap in the face...
But I'm sure it wasn't meant as such...
In fact I'm pretty sure... No. I am 100% sure that they Powers that Be thought that this 300 BS item farm was JUST what people were asking for...
TBH, I don't think there'd have been much backlash had the number been something "big but reasonable" like 50 or even 100.
Sure there'd be bitching and moaning... but there'd be a BUNCH of support for it.... at least more than there seems to be now.
And if the 300 BS item were to be maintained... Had these items been "the new geodes/-ites" that drop off of any Adoulin mob but drop in troves in Delve...
Then I don't think there'd be as much resentment either. (That'd be a dreamworld vs normal Dynamis debate/choice.)
One of the reasons for the backlash against requiring to do delve is the ease in which the delve 119 weapons can be gotten.
A "why spend a month getting 300 thingies when I can just spend an hour and have a w/e"...
Other reasons are what I've already mentioned above this "paragraph."
On that note... I actually think the effort might be worth it... all REMs have that +30% damage... so... theoretically... 119 REMs might just blow all the current 119 weapons out of the water...
We won't know for a bit.
But I suspect that the 119REMs will out perform the 119 MegaBoss drops.
It's sadly adorable imo that the Devs thought that the grind is what people missed from the REMs...
But then again...
It seems like the REMs are also the "red headed stepchild".
Let us look at the "legitimate children" who got their iLvs boosted: the skirmish weapons.
IMO, I say that they Yorcia skirmish was probably the BEST thing to happen to Adoulin.
Because it turned these crappy 105 weapons into weapons that were comparable to Delve 113 weapons. (This is also an example of alternative variety. You don't have to Delve to have a 113 weapon anymore.)
And the process of upgrading them was a simple: Trade <item>; check KI: 1/0; if;then spawn <item+1>
And what's even better, is that due to the augments... a skirmish 113 weapon or a 113 delve weapon can be used based upon a player's gear and playstyle.
Some setups the Delve will be superior, others, the skirmish...
But for all intents and purposes... the difference between them is negligible.
(Again, player agency comes to bear here. For instance, I prefer the straight +10str and +acc from a rank15 Bereaver over a comparably augmented Crobaci+1. But I'm Elvaan so... a higher acc from more "fake" skill and augments is more important to me than that sweet +2% DA that comes with the trade offs of higher base dmg and longer delay... There are strengths and weaknesses to using each of these 113 GSs... but it's ultimately up to playstyle and player agency to pick which to use.)
I could argue that the reason why REMs didn't use the simple updater of the translurry is because they are the "redheaded stepchild"...
But that would be wrong I think... I mean... maybe that is why they did it the way they did...
But I honestly believe that they believed they were giving the people what they wanted: a 300 BS item grind.
Because I honestly think that the Powers that Be believed that the complaints against the REM-outdate was a lack of magian trial grinding in Adoulin.
Last thing: Is anyone else worried about Afterglow? I don't even actually think I've seen one... But... I think we might have broken things... Or at least I hope the devs realized this too...
What happens when I make my 99REM a 119REM... and then want to Afterglow it?
Can... that even be done anymore using a 119 version?
Someone needs to find that out because....
That's kinda a big thing to no longer be able to do... >_>