Producer Matsui, you have significantly improved the new player experience.

[OKOA]

There's just so many advantages people have now to gain exp, yes you can solo and do it the hard way. That's always been an option. And I also realize that exp parties are all but literally completely gone.

I would totally go for something conditional; IE "while soloing" or "does not apply to limit points" or "if your account is new" etc, but just a broad stroke of EVERYTHING NEEDS TO GIVE 2x EXP THIS IS TOO SLOW WHINEWHINE is ludicrous.

You shouldn't be able to just log in, play blindfolded and hit level 99, that's exactly what breeds situations like we have now, where players can't even grasp simple concepts. And skipping game content that should've been required to be beaten, as with this CoP whining about reforging gear.

Ok I actually agree with that to some degree.

I like your conditional idea, for one. For instance, they could do a "hotspots" system, to try to encourage leveling in specific regions...or encourage group play.

I too find complaints about "having" to do missions a bit peculiar being that it has always been one of the core motivations for playing a Square-Enix MMO versus any other ones.

I also see the reasoning that if you gut the exp grind out of the game, AND the missions, AND then you just hand out the gear ... what is really left?

But none of those were actually my point, and I certainly think there is a nicer way of saying those things.

Also, the Trust system is qualitatively good even outside of the ability to make things easier. It reclaims a desirable mechanic from bygone Final Fantasys.

Finally, the point I was really trying to make is they already DID gut the exp mechanic effectively. The saying goes "there's no use crying over spilt milk." Well, Abyssea already spilled the milk, so it seems a little bizarre to cling to the idea that Abyssea-like exp shouldn't be obtainable anywhere else under any circumstances.

If anything, that is the whine in this thread.

[Spiderturk]

Only I problem I can really see from exping you can gain is that it lacks the challenge. Anyone can go start a lvl 1 job have trust,FoV/GoV,exp ring and RoE you will fly through levels pretty quickly where is the challenge there?
It does need balance and maybe a system as you both have said to start with just to give it some edge.
Know one can complain that it's to easy as it's just as easy to sit on afk hill in a worm party an death the levels rack up inca again no challenge to anyone to do that.
The update is really fun and interesting and gives you a brand new way of experiencing ffxi from 1-99 but it needs something to give it that challenge (exp)!!! What that is I don't know ( my brain capacity isn't that big to think of an idea lol)

[Olor]

I too find complaints about "having" to do missions a bit peculiar being that it has always been one of the core motivations for playing a Square-Enix MMO versus any other ones.

I also see the reasoning that if you gut the exp grind out of the game, AND the missions, AND then you just hand out the gear ... what is really left?

I dunno, I've been spending my game time lately leveling thf, and even with trust/ROE AND someone power leveling me a bit in abyssea, I am still only level 68 after a couple weeks. I don't have a lot of time, so I am not finding lack of things to do.

I play this game because I like the job system/combat and the general feel of the world. I don't mind doing battlefields and stuff but I don't like quests/missions very much, mostly because they just involve a lot of running around trying to find a random NPC - not really doing anything.

That said, I've been working on sea and sky and various quests around the world WHEN I FEEL LIKE IT. Doing it that way, it's enjoyable. But I strongly dislike modern content being roadblocked with ancient questlines. It's arbitrary, unnecessary and only serves to make it harder to attract/keep new players to the game. It doesn't hurt anything to leave those quests/missions optional (except to get their specific rewards) - it doesn't take away from the good memories people have, it doesn't remove the content - but it also doesn't stop people from playing with their friends.

People don't like (say) having to get to sea to get access to reforged AF1. Why? Because they were busy playing with friends doing modern content - yet, instead of being able to continue PLAYING WITH FRIENDS, they are forced to go solo 3 days worth of cut scenes?!?

I only get to play 5-10 hours a week, I don't want to spend it doing 9 year old content that is no longer relevant by myself. I'm definitely not asking for anything to be sent to me for free - I am just asking for SE to stop trying to force the playerbase to complete storylines that are no longer relevant. People play games for different reasons. I personally don't play them to run between NPCs by myself.

[Xantavia]

Having since gone back to bring my support job up to the same level as my main job, I can't say that I found the rate of leveling that much slower due to the fact that GoV and RoE are my two main sources of exp. It sort of begs the question though why they would even be apprehensive about making those numbers a permanent change and continuing to run 50% weekend campaigns or something like that.

I've found that with RoE rewards, it goes pretty fast as is without relying on GoV pages. (And if you look, FoV zones give more for kills than GoV zones). That 5-600 extra per 10 kills seems to make up for not killing certain mobs only. Sure, I'll tag a page, but I no longer feel that a kill is wasted if it doesn't count towards page completion. And it can stretch the life of a zone out longer, when you are just about to level but more mobs are popping as too weak. You can kill them and get some credit to the zone bonuses.

I just can't wait for the expanded areas they say are coming. 88 GEO now and I've resorted to getting crystal bonuses in C. Mire for now. I burned myself out of high level GoV zones like 4 jobs ago.

[OKOA]

I dunno, I've been spending my game time lately leveling thf, and even with trust/ROE AND someone power leveling me a bit in abyssea, I am still only level 68 after a couple weeks. I don't have a lot of time, so I am not finding lack of things to do.

I play this game because I like the job system/combat and the general feel of the world. I don't mind doing battlefields and stuff but I don't like quests/missions very much, mostly because they just involve a lot of running around trying to find a random NPC - not really doing anything.

That said, I've been working on sea and sky and various quests around the world WHEN I FEEL LIKE IT. Doing it that way, it's enjoyable. But I strongly dislike modern content being roadblocked with ancient questlines. It's arbitrary, unnecessary and only serves to make it harder to attract/keep new players to the game. It doesn't hurt anything to leave those quests/missions optional (except to get their specific rewards) - it doesn't take away from the good memories people have, it doesn't remove the content - but it also doesn't stop people from playing with their friends.

People don't like (say) having to get to sea to get access to reforged AF1. Why? Because they were busy playing with friends doing modern content - yet, instead of being able to continue PLAYING WITH FRIENDS, they are forced to go solo 3 days worth of cut scenes?!?

I only get to play 5-10 hours a week, I don't want to spend it doing 9 year old content that is no longer relevant by myself. I'm definitely not asking for anything to be sent to me for free - I am just asking for SE to stop trying to force the playerbase to complete storylines that are no longer relevant. People play games for different reasons. I personally don't play them to run between NPCs by myself.

Thank you for your reply.

I actually agree that it is nice to have storyline content that is fully optional. WoTG is probably a great example of that, and the 3 mini-expansions. It seems like recently they kind of went for an even mix of required elements and skippable ones.

My view on the storylines though is that as long as the fights are easily soloable, making missions required content is not necessarily the worst thing.

If the new homepoint warp system allows them to be completed with a reasonable travel time, all the better.

One of my main motivations for playing however IS to finish to CoP storyline though, so I'm quite biased.

[OKOA]

I've found that with RoE rewards, it goes pretty fast as is without relying on GoV pages. (And if you look, FoV zones give more for kills than GoV zones). That 5-600 extra per 10 kills seems to make up for not killing certain mobs only. Sure, I'll tag a page, but I no longer feel that a kill is wasted if it doesn't count towards page completion. And it can stretch the life of a zone out longer, when you are just about to level but more mobs are popping as too weak. You can kill them and get some credit to the zone bonuses.

I just can't wait for the expanded areas they say are coming. 88 GEO now and I've resorted to getting crystal bonuses in C. Mire for now. I burned myself out of high level GoV zones like 4 jobs ago.

Thank you for this post, and for the GREAT idea.

I too have pretty much been through all the GoV grinds I care to. With the FoV pages added to ToAU zones and the new crystal spoils RoE initiatives, it would be agood time for me to branch out and see some new places without feeling like I'm missing out on exp.

I will have to experiment and report back in, thanks.

[OKOA]

I decided to report back in and update my progress, along with a few observations.

Gustaberg pages: 15.

Dangruf Wadi Leech/Hare page: 23.

Korroloka Tunnel Bat/Worm page: 33.

Korroloka Tunnel Thread Leech page: 43. (you keep exp bonus if you don't zone) *I was here last post.

Since that post, I have progressed as follows:

Upper Delkfutt's Tower Gigas page: 49.

Crawler's Nest Crawler/Bee page: 50 99/100ths.

At some point I went back and soloed my support job, and leveled RDM to 44. I then purchased every critical spell for RDM and WHM up to that point which I could afford.

Contrast this with a few times I have returned to the game and the usual solution is to zone into Gusgen and just have a high level drop a magicked skull into the treasure box. It's lame, and unheroic. So it felt good to get it all done by myself.

Last time I played, they added the ??? points so that "In Defiant Challenge" could be completed solo. It was a nice touch, but still kind of lame.

This next part I am especially proud of. For the first time ever, I completed "In Defiant Challenge" BY MYSELF, by killing the requisite monsters using my team of trust NPCs.

There is no real way for me to describe the satisfaction of doing so, other than to say that the Lich I battled was one of the most exhilarating fights I have ever had in the game. Thank goodness it dropped the parchment, because it took everything I had + my 2hr to get through it.

Crawler's Nest Crawler/Bee page: 55 99/100ths.

"Atop the Highest Mountains" is actually the first time I grouped. I treked out to Xarcabard and put out a shout. A JP who spoke no English (but I'm assuming knew that as a level 55 in zone shouting I needed help on the level cap) actually grouped up with me and killed the NMs.

My understanding was that this was changed to just allow you to grab the Frigicites and run off. I'm assuming the intention is that you just grab the key item and suicide?

I don't know because I didn't try. If that were the case, that is horribly designed. Point blank, this quest is bad and needs to be adjusted. It would still take more than 1 full group of 55 capped players to beat all 3 of these NMs.

Based on my experience with "In Defiant Challenge," a smart move would just be toning these fights down to the point that a player and 3 trusts make for a VERY TOUGH fight, but a doable one.

Crawler's Nest Crawler/Bee page: 57

Crawler's Nest Exoray/Fly page: 60 99/100ths.

I've never had any issue with the next limit break, so I don't anticipate any obstacles other than the time required to get to rank 5 in my home nation and then run through the quests. I'm not certain, but if there are home points that will save me some time, this may have gotten even easier.

I started my account on Sunday night of last week. It took me exactly 1 week to get to the point above, 36 hours exactly of played time.

That's about 4 hours a day, with a little extra on the weekends. That's pretty high for me as pretty much a life-long casual gamer.

This amount of progress feels right to me, personally.

I think a definite improvement would be adjusting the battles in the second limit break so that it was a fun and exciting quest, not just an inane chore.

I think an acceptable difficulty level would be on par with soloing an Explosure or Exoray or Lich at job level 50 with Trust NPCs out.

Let me make one final suggestion.

In my opinion, the RoE system can be used to improve and expand on a lot of the weak points the game has right now.

One thing in particular could be an RoE popup coming up every time your level caps, and directing you to see Maat.

That way new players would know exactly where to go and what to do.

But in particular I believe the RoE system offers the opportunity to "do old things in new ways." That is to say, you already have 2 ways to do "In Defiant Challenge," which is great.

I don't think either one is particularly good though, in the context of attracting new first time players.

At the end of the day though, you still turn the same 3 items in to Maat, and it doesn't really matter where you get them. And RoE can be programmed to drop any item, right?

Logically, this gives Square-Enix a third avenue to go down.

Think about things that were truly fun in previous Final Fantasy games...

I for one thought of going through the battle arena in FFVII and having to consecutively win fights in progressive difficulty.

Something like that could replace the existing "In Defiant Challenge" by allowing the player to accept an RoE objective, be warped off to a burning circle by Maat (just like the 95 limit break), and then have to fight through consecutive arenas with their trust NPCs to fulfill the RoE objectives and claim the 3 quest items. You could always have the option of getting them the old fashioned way.

So why bother doing all of this?

Number one, it's low hanging fruit. Number two, it could open doors to do more of this stuff for end-gamers.

And also for the same reason I stated above. The older quests come across as more of a stale chore nowadays than anything else. They were also tailored for larger teams, and they are pretty brittle in that regard. Most people just have a high level completely eradicate any challenge.

Frankly, the logic for changing things up is because it would make the game more palatable for new players.

I think it's great that everybody here did these quests and didn't rage quit. That doesn't make them good quests, or fun quests for that matter. And it also doesn't guarantee that the next guy will have patience for them. The "next guy" is the one whose $13 keeps the lights on and the servers running.

FFXI has always been the "Taco Bell" of MMOs, just taking the existing ingredients and re-combining them ad nauseum. Well, RoE is a great opportunity to reinvent some of the existing quests by putting a new spin on them.

Anyways, that's just my 2 cents.

[Stompa]

I like the new Home-point nexus system a lot. I also really love being able to wear my AF1 sets again, without them being totally gimp. I've had my AF1 sets in storage for over nine years, I would sometimes wear it for farming EP mobs, just because I love the appearance of AF1. Its great that those sets now have some powerful stats and are useful in real battles. And the ROE system is okay, in the sense it enables you to obtain stuff on solo, on a casual time-frame.


Huge applause & credit to SE for those three things.

[OKOA]

I like the new Home-point nexus system a lot. I also really love being able to wear my AF1 sets again, without them being totally gimp. I've had my AF1 sets in storage for over nine years, I would sometimes wear it for farming EP mobs, just because I love the appearance of AF1. Its great that those sets now have some powerful stats and are useful in real battles. And the ROE system is okay, in the sense it enables you to obtain stuff on solo, on a casual time-frame.


Huge applause & credit to SE for those three things.

Thank you for leaving the positive feedback here for the team.

That's what this thread is all about!

[Stubbin]

They could merge servers to make things better. I am on Carbuncle, and we have maybe 600-700 people on during NA peak time. I have not played in 7 years, so i am completely lost and am finding it hard to get into a linkshell. Thank god I was at least able to solo to level 28, get my subjob and chocobo, and now I am working on rank in Windurst along with trying to go from broke to get enough money to buy my vendor spells. I have 25k gil at level 28, this isnt enough. I know some can be quested for, and thank god because there is no way I can afford the AH hehe.

Fortunately for me I am NOT looking for the fast way to 99. I want to experience most of what I can from all the expansions, but I am worried that some will require grouping, and grouping at low-mid level does not exist on Carbuncle