Has the new content direction spoiled ffxi for anyone else?

[Cabalabob]

So I've been playing ffxiv, I came back to ffxi for a free login a while ago and decided to resub.

I resubbed because I was so burnt out on ffxiv's lockouts and timed resets making me feel like I was being forced to play. Then I came to ffxi and it felt like I was playing on my own time. Content like reforging armour, delve, vargary, escha and sinister reign, where the only limit was how many pops you were willing to farm. I didn't feel the mad rush to get everything done, it didn't matter how long I took or when I did it.

Then came ambuscade which single handedly spoiled that feeling. It was back to the mad rush to get the gear before it was gone in a month, I hated it.. now to top it off omen comes with a daily reset which feels like ffxiv's daily roulettes...

My sub just ended and I find myself asking why should I resub ffxi when the thing that drew me back to it is now gone?

[Domille]

Alright, for one, ambuscade gives you an entire 30 days, even if you only log in for a week, you shouldn't have much issue getting 14500 points.

I mean honestly, I know that some servers are incredibly small. And shouts are bad. You -can- make your own groups, ambuscade is very easy content. It doesn't take any knowledge or skill whatsoever to do/run a VD regular.

That being said, ambuscade is incredibly boring. 300 points per run really sours the experience. You should easily be capable of doing 1 or 2 runs a day for a week. There really isn't any forced rush. And the gear is 90% garbage anyway, so don't really stress it. I think 500 per run is more realistic.

Omen, is absolute garbage though. The gear +3 is not worth the effort for 97% of the pieces. Don't stress that either.

As far as the sub situation, I have said for a while now ffxi is not worth its sub fee anymore. No one can talk you into or out of your sub. The game value is low enough to be "worth" but square doesn't deserve the money for the work they're now doing, so it's totally up to you.

[Eckamus]

Yeah, Omen is new and the 20 hour lockout is a bit annoying, but I'm over that now, mostly. Be nice if it was less as not everyone is able to play everyday. I'm only able to actually do Omen 3 maybe 4 times a week if I'm lucky. So I won't see a full set for 4-6 months most likely. Some of the gear is really nice for certain jobs, others not so much. A 4-6 hour recharge KI and being able to hold 4 + KI would be a much more reasonable approach to the lockout. This way a player wouldn't be locked to a static group and be free to join shouts here and there.

As for Ambuscade, it does get old fast, since it is so repetitive, get KI > kill > get KI > repeat til you achieve desired effect or lose your sanity, lol. I really think they should have doubled Regular points when they doubled Intense points. Making them both respectively 1200 Intense and 600 Regular for VD and not how they have it now 1200 Intense and 300 Regular.

There is quite a bit a disparity, between how long it takes to complete the 14500 points to get all the gear also. As a example, Intense VD at 4 runs and hour would take ~3 hours vs the same 4 runs an hour on Regular takes ~12 hours. Essentially, it comes out to less geared or more casual players are required to invest significantly more time than better geared and advanced players.

[Jin_Uzuki]

You really don't need to rush ambuscade. It's similar to FFXIV in a way, but you really have PLENTY of time as said to get the points for all gears.

And any other event but Omen is pretty much always up.

[Shiyo]

I agree 100% with the OP. The #1 thing I enjoyed so much about this game is I could take everything at my own pace and do content when I felt like doing it and never felt rushed or forced to log on.

However, recently ambuscade and now omen(especially omen) changes this completely and makes me feel "rushed" and "Forced to log on and play".

The current content direction for the game will ruin this game for me entirely if they continue down this path of "everything bad every modern mmo does".

I do not want temp content that FORCES me to spam it or I lose out on that gear forever.

I do NOT want excessively long lock outs on content(20 hours per omen run).

This is bad for the game and exactly what I tried to get away from by playing this game and not the other 604600460640460 other modern mmos I could be playing.

Ambuscade is bearable, but omen is "DO NOT EVER DO THIS AGAIN AND FIX THIS IMMEDIATELY" territory.

The content design direction needs to change or they will run this game into the ground.

edit:
Protip for devs:
Trying to force people to play/login is the fastest and easiest way to make them NOT want to login and play.

[Diavolo]

I made my dislike for Ambuscade clear early on and I find Omen to be even worse as it comes across as a desperate attempt to deliver new content that can be exploited for long periods of time thanks to its restrictive entry conditions. Rhapsodies of Vanadiel gave us content that was able to stand the test of time and had me hopeful for the future of the game, but Ambuscade and Omen have changed that opinion. It's looking like the dev team is likely going to continue down this road since there's been great interest in the content despite what anyone says about it.

[Olor]

I am really not a fan of the ambuscade "disappear your points system" - it's a big reason why I'm letting my sub drop. Like you, I liked that I could do content on my own time, Ambu made me feel like if I didn't do ONLY AMBU then I would miss out on really good gear (I would).

I've said it a number of times, I'd be happy to grind out twice as many points to be able to get the items on my own time, but that's not an option. I mean, I could just not worry about the content - but given the fact that the gear sets were really good for a lot of my jobs and once they are gone they are pretty much impossible to get... yeah... no... not a good system.

So, yeah, I feel you.

[Nyarlko]

I am really not a fan of the ambuscade "disappear your points system" - it's a big reason why I'm letting my sub drop. Like you, I liked that I could do content on my own time, Ambu made me feel like if I didn't do ONLY AMBU then I would miss out on really good gear (I would).

I've said it a number of times, I'd be happy to grind out twice as many points to be able to get the items on my own time, but that's not an option. I mean, I could just not worry about the content - but given the fact that the gear sets were really good for a lot of my jobs and once they are gone they are pretty much impossible to get... yeah... no... not a good system.

So, yeah, I feel you.

If you do let your sub expire, make sure to keep an eye on the main page here. Devs have already said that older Ambuscade gear would be made available again, and I'm thinking we'll probably see a switch to a pure voucher system around March/April. I just don't see them continuing to add new gear sets continually and I'd say that odds are good that the content will also go somewhat easy-mode-ish after the 1yr anniversary. They seem to have decided on a 1yr content cycle after all, so it wouldn't make much sense to continue focusing/adding to "last year's model" when they are trying to drive interest in "this year's model" like Omen.

Even currently though, as long as you have a job geared enough for V1 Difficult+, it's not that hard to knock out 15k hm in 2-3 hours. The problem is getting to the point that you can handle 130+ clvl in order to get the gear to be able to handle it. You might want to consider leveling/gearing one of the Big3 Party Roles (tank/healer/support) to help you get into groups to farm gear for your favorite jobs instead of pushing to join with jobs that are less in demand.

On a personal note, looks like we're on the same server, so hit me up ingame on Nyarlko or Cthuuko before you poof. Might be able to help you kill a few you've been having trouble with. ^^

[Shiyo]

Voucher system doesn't fix the problem. In the time I've grinded out the entire HQ set this month I haven't even gotten 1k gallantry.
Gallantry is HILARIOUSLY awful to get.

[Eckamus]

Gallantry isn't bad to get, you need to have a full party though. Believe with 6 people you get 50% of what you get for Hallmarks. So, 300/150, but not sure how it calculates below 6 people. Maybe something like 50% > 40% > 30% > 20% > 10%, but I can't say for sure.