Moderating Rate of Exp Gain

[darkstahr]

The idea of options in xp gain is nothing new to FFXI. Even in Aht Urghan, one can trade imperial standing points (earned during Besieged) for imperial currency. This would be a great way to enable players to trade experience points for other items. Only after lvl 75 can the Merit point system be used. It would make sense to offer lower level players some sort of option as well. Besides, it’s hard to cap skills with rapid xp gain, so having this trade-off would be better for that too.

[Alekzandar]

When I first started playing back in April 2004, the thrill of accomplishing missions and quests at their level caps meant our LS had to be on top of their game. We had to know when to use an ability, when to use an item, when to engage and when to back away. I remember doing the Mammet fight when there was a level cap to it. Hard as heck and something to brag about when you beat it, the first attempt, with your linkshell. Now, people just walk in and one-shot the 3 mobs. Done. Not exactly the right of passage it used to be. It makes the victory hollow and shallow. I feel it’s worth re-instating the former level caps as an option to any team that wishes to utilize it, having the challenge in place for those that want the challenge. These fights were created to be serious milestones in the game that players would talk about long after they won or lost. Let’s provide that experience to the current group of players, if they so choose to accept it. Let them earn their titles.

[Byrth]

CFH reduces xp gained to zero. Just CFH every other monster if you want to keep the xp/kill down.

[Shadax]

I got really mad when I learned they were lifting the level cap on CoP content. Like Alek says above, beating CoP was a right of passage in a lot of ways. And then going back and sharing your expertise to get the win for other people was even more rewarding than winning it yourself. I really do miss that sense of camaraderie that came with these challenges, but alas, the game has moved on, I suppose.

Of course, if you'd have told me nine years ago that I'd be longing for the old level-capped CoP missions, I'd have laughed in your face. (Damn you, Snoll Tzar!)

[Demonjustin]

Allowing you to set an optional cap to content like that would be nice. Going back to the days of it being forced would be a disaster, just as leaving it as it was would've been. Saying it was a right of passage isn't wrong, but to think it could remain the way it was forever would be. Eventually too many players had beaten it, the amount looking to beat it had went down, and it was no longer content that could reasonably be completed due to lack of people to do it. An optional route is the best due to it allowing those who want it to have it while also letting those who don't to progress without it being necessary, that way no true unsurpassable roadblocks present themselves in the wake of a shrinking player base and lack of people needing to still complete the content.

[Lex222]

I had heard that the level caps were removed in Promy, so I went in to try it. The level caps ARE removed, but the lvl cap symbol still shows up on the status bar. Because of that, you CAN’T level sync on those fights. It’s like the level cap was removed, but not all of the pieces that go with it. Square should put the option back in. Seems like the programming is still mostly there anyway.

[Lithera]

If you go and look at the cap symbol though it should read different than when it was an actual cap. At least that is what I remember, but that was a few years back

[Marada]

For Missions like that they should just put a similar code that they have for Assaults. You get to choose whether you go in at a certain level, 75 or uncapped for assaults so why not do it for all the other missions?

[Rexaliya]

The suggestions Tristan has made for xp management are good ones. It would enable players more control over the level of challenge they wish to take on in game.

I've seen several posts above that suggest his group use the "Call for help" feature, and I've tried that in the past and would STRONGLY advise against it. My group of three used "Call for help" to avoid XP gain, and it was a hot mess. Very kind people kept stopping to help us, some losing their chocos, and we had to keep explaining that we didn't really need help. We just didn't want to gain XP, but we did want to cap a handful of our combat skills. We tried multiple areas to avoid the player population, but in the end, we spent a ton of extra time explaining that we didn't really need help when high level players would still show up and come in and one-shot the mob we were skilling up on. We felt bad for bothering so many people who just happened to be in the area.

Call for Help was clearly never intended to be an XP management tool, and if used that way, be ready to tick off a lot of people and spend most of your time in /tell explaining to other players what you're really doing.

Another side note on "call for help", once you use it, the AoE of the mob you're fighting will affect other players in your area, whether they've engaged the mob or not.

Again, for all of the good people who do actually try to come to the aid of adventurers in need, "Call for Help" is not the right tool to use for XP management.

I think Tristan's suggestions for a change in the game programming are very welcome as a solution to his group's XP management problem.

[Blah]

Looking back, this optional cap probably would have solved the issue much better than completely removing it way back when, making things much more optional is a better way to go really to balancing out the game. Not that I want the population to drop but if it did for both Japanese and NA EU they would again run into a lot of "I can't complete X because no1 is around" and again have to adjust which would more than likely be unnecessary if they did this and optionized everything else.