Highly Notorious Monsters

[Abhayaa]

I never camped those NMs because people would think I was gimp and lazy. In my XI experience I encountered very few people with that mentality, and I didn't associate with the ones I did. I camped those lower level NMs because I actually wanted the best gear to improve my party performance while I was leveling: something you rarely encounter in XIV. I'm not sure if our XI experiences differed greatly or what, but people I encountered were usually sympathetic and didn't make you feel bad about not having a particular piece. They knew they weren't easy to come by.

On top of that, I actually enjoyed camping those NMs, not only for the hunt, but because I knew my investment would be returned.

[Levian]

I don't ever recall Emp. Hairpin or Leaping boots being deemed required. I do however, remember some of the expensive crafting gear falling under that category. But that was because without sniper's rings/hauby/O. Hat (Gonna consider O. Hat crafted because you had the pop item synthed and he was 100% chance to drop but it could go either way there) you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, not just because people were elitist jerks that would only group with you if you were decked out.

It isn't HNM's fault that a meelee DD's base accuracy was 60%, or that without proper gear XP mob would resist a good chunk of your spells. And it only got worse on high level end game mobs. I'm pretty sure even with +40 ACC I still had maybe a 70% hit rating on the Lesser gods and like 50% on Kirin. I never did get to take a stab at them after finishing my weapon merits to see where things stood. At any rate, the point is the real problem at hand is that the bar for minimum effectiveness was high, and the amount of viable gear choices was low. It was a long time before they put lesser alternatives to the gear choices I listed in game, it was literally either those or gear that did nothing for your role in the party.

[Alerith]

How about an Oversoul system ala FFX?

Each time you kill a certain mob (Say a...Sphene Doblyn), you get a point towards a soul counter. This counter could be a tab in your attributes.

After you've killed a certain number of them (Say...100), an NM of that type of mob spawns. (Oversoul Doblyn)

The Oversoul'd NM would be a bit harder and have some better drops. Maybe a good yield for HQ crafting materials from lower-end mobs.

Now, what about Oversouling NMs?

Say you defeat Great Buffalo 10 times. After it's 10th defeat (at your hands), the Oversoul Buffalo would spawn. A bit tougher, better drops, etc.

And then Oversoul'd Primals.

Defeat Ifrit 10 times, the 11th time you enter the Bowl of Flames (Hard), you fight Oversoul Ifrit. MUAHAHAHAH. Blue flames! Multiple Inferno uses! AHAHAHAHA! Firaga!

Reward: Choice of Ifrit Weapon...... or grade 5 dark matter.

...*ahem*

But yea. Something akin to that.

[Momita]

Defeat Ifrit 10 times, the 11th time you enter the Bowl of Flames (Hard), you fight Oversoul Ifrit. MUAHAHAHAH. Blue flames! Multiple Inferno uses! AHAHAHAHA! Firaga!

Reward: Choice of Ifrit Weapon...... or grade 5 dark matter.

...*ahem*

But yea. Something akin to that.

Freaking idea! I hope in a Dark Matter *__* Need! lulz

[XStruckX]

How about an Oversoul system ala FFX?

Each time you kill a certain mob (Say a...Sphene Doblyn), you get a point towards a soul counter. This counter could be a tab in your attributes.

After you've killed a certain number of them (Say...100), an NM of that type of mob spawns. (Oversoul Doblyn)

The Oversoul'd NM would be a bit harder and have some better drops. Maybe a good yield for HQ crafting materials from lower-end mobs.

Now, what about Oversouling NMs?

Say you defeat Great Buffalo 10 times. After it's 10th defeat (at your hands), the Oversoul Buffalo would spawn. A bit tougher, better drops, etc.

And then Oversoul'd Primals.

Defeat Ifrit 10 times, the 11th time you enter the Bowl of Flames (Hard), you fight Oversoul Ifrit. MUAHAHAHAH. Blue flames! Multiple Inferno uses! AHAHAHAHA! Firaga!

Reward: Choice of Ifrit Weapon...... or grade 5 dark matter.

...*ahem*

But yea. Something akin to that.

Close I give you credit for a good idea but not quite with that method though. Imagine killing 9 buffalos how's it gonna know you are there to "spawn" the oversouled one. What about if you are on your 10th Ifrit but I've only killed it twice...

Maybe a personal increase in drop rate for the same mob if its your "oversoul" kill. Hard to see it happening on roaming world NMs/HNMs.

[Alerith]

Close I give you credit for a good idea but not quite with that method though. Imagine killing 9 buffalos how's it gonna know you are there to "spawn" the oversouled one. What about if you are on your 10th Ifrit but I've only killed it twice...

Maybe a personal increase in drop rate for the same mob if its your "oversoul" kill. Hard to see it happening on roaming world NMs/HNMs.

Well, there could always be a simple prompt.

"Claws reach from the afterlife as if you grab your soul..."
"Face the Oversoul Buffalo?"
Yes< No

-You are now bound by Duty-
You're taken to an instance for the Oversoul fight.

Your 10th buffalo kill could cause a (!) to appear on your minimap NEAR his usual location that you can use to initiate the duty.

For Ifrit (or other BCNMs), it's a bit easier. You would simply have to be the one who takes the party in. Check the aether:

Bowl of Embers (Hard)
Bowl of Embers (Oversoul)<

[ThePatriarch]

The oversoul idea is kind of neat.

The only problem I see are people complaining about the "Oversoul" mob messing up their EXP session.

Would need to make them a little spread out, as to not disturb the casual EXP-ing player. But I do like the idea.

Well, there could always be a simple prompt.

"Claws reach from the afterlife as if you grab your soul..."
"Face the Oversoul Buffalo?"
Yes< No

-You are now bound by Duty-
You're taken to an instance for the Oversoul fight.

Your 10th buffalo kill could cause a (!) to appear on your minimap NEAR his usual location that you can use to initiate the duty.

This changes my last post, and would nullify any problems that your average EXP pt would encounter. Unless they accidentally clicked the "!" and dragged their level 10 PT into a dogfight with a level 65 buffalo.

[Taika]

Lots of different kinds of NMs, (Yes please!)

I would love to be able to hunt open world NMs at all levels, both alone and with friends. It would be great to have minor NMs for lower level gear with different pop conditions, and also huge roaming beasts that you need an alliance to beat. Just don't make them have 8 hour windows (I really almost lost my sanity camping Argus - and never even got the drop) or pop at one small place. The biggest problem with NM camping in XI was that it was mostly standing at one spot for hours at time, /anon and not talking to anyone, spamming wide scan or claim ability. It was boring and stressful at the same time - nothing you want your game experience to be like.

Let us really hunt the open world NMs (well, at least the bigger ones), not just stand at one place for hours. Make their pop areas huge (several zones) and make us run around searching for them, maybe kill certain monsters to make them pop.

The problem with current FFXIV NMs is - as others have already said - that they are always there. I can just decide to go kill certain NM and I know it will be there. And when I kill it, I know it will be there again in 3 minutes. It takes the hunt - the excitement - out of NM hunting. I've never had my heart pounding and my hands shaking when I've seen a NM in XIV, and that's one of those things I miss in XI.

Open world NMs make the world feel more alive. Imagine yourself running around the world, exploring your surroundings, finding a dark cave and peeking in, just to find yourself staring at a huge dragon NM. That could be a beginning of a great adventure with friends (or an epic wipe), and definitely something to remember. I feel this game is in desparate need of some open world content (and especially open world group content).

I would also like to see something similar to ZNMs in XI to be implemented in XIV (and I think it was also mentioned earlier in this thread aswell). For those of you who are not familiar with the concept, ZNMs were pop item NMs in high level expansion areas. You could gather a party for a ZNM run, everyone would bring their own pop items and you would kill them as a group. ZNMs dropped some really nice pieces of gear, and were available for everyone. There were 5 different tiers of ZNMs: for the first ones you only needed a few people to kill them, whereas the fourth tier ones required a fairly skilled alliance (18 players) to kill. The last ZNM was a really difficult monster called Pandemonium Warden which was the second hardest (which means unkillable for most groups) boss in the game at the time I played XI. You had to kill lower tier ZNMs to get pop items for the next tier, which was great for a static ZNM group, because it pretty much guaranteed all members would get all drops they desired from the lower tier monsters. Farming pop items also required taking tons of "photographs" from different monsters in game, but I'd like to black that part out.

[XStruckX]

Well, there could always be a simple prompt.

"Claws reach from the afterlife as if you grab your soul..."
"Face the Oversoul Buffalo?"
Yes< No

-You are now bound by Duty-
You're taken to an instance for the Oversoul fight.

Your 10th buffalo kill could cause a (!) to appear on your minimap NEAR his usual location that you can use to initiate the duty.

For Ifrit (or other BCNMs), it's a bit easier. You would simply have to be the one who takes the party in. Check the aether:

Bowl of Embers (Hard)
Bowl of Embers (Oversoul)<

As much as it sounds like a good idea, it also kinda just says "redundant"

Its like trying to fix a small leak with 100 tons of cement. It's not really needed and it could start a brand new thread with new problems.

[Abhayaa]

Couldn't have said it better myself, Taika. Just wanted to make sure you understood we were suggesting 8 hours between windows and not 8 hour windows (for previously 24hr type hnm). I had forgotten about ZNM. I really liked the tier structure there. It was fun to do the lower ones solo.