Please fix/tokenize Darklight drops

[Enfarious]

I wouldn't call working dads, technologically-impaired aunts and retired grandpas the kiddy pool, but okay. Though there was a lot of untapped potential (the "Betty White playing a warlock, mercilessly killing people in PvP while saying 'eat my DoTs, noob'" super bowl commercial that was proposed by the fans before that terrible commercial with Chuck Norris aired, for one...).
I don't think anyone would disagree with this, though I also like having a larger selection of goods purchased through points/badges/totems to encourage repeated runs.

Ok I didn't mean to discount the non-kiddy pool players, but you have to admit, WoW was accessible to 10 year olds, the design was made for it, and they even went so far as to make servers just for the kiddy pool players. I wouldn't ever say that there aren't plenty of adults playing, I'm one of them, and so are all the friends I have that game. I would say that WoW began a trend, it was hook-em-young and most other games have destroyed themselves by trying to follow that path. Look at all the crazy successful WoW clones out there. I just don't want to see FF end up that watered down to cater to an even younger crowd.
Se has always managed to have complexity/strategy involved I don't want to see that go away.

Yeah getting a totem a win and a everything costing 20+ totems to buy, depending on the gear so that at least we'd see something returned. Hell even @50 totems a weapon from the primals at least I'd have a weapon guaranteed so long as I keep putting in the wins.

[Ravidrath]

So a while ago I went to a GDC talk by someone from WoW, and they mentioned that on quests, they adjust the drop rate with each kill so it never feels "too random."

So, for example, say you have a quest to kill things for a particular drop. The creature might have a natural drop rate of 10%, and if it doesn't drop, the game will quietly bump the drop rate up on the next one to 15% behind-the-scenes. Each subsequent kill will increase the drop rate 5% until it's 100% or until the item drops, after which it will reset the drop rate to its normal rate.

So... could something like this work for FFXIV's raid content?

1. Each player would have a hidden "affinity" rating for that particular event. The higher your "affinity," the higher your chances of getting a drop would be, and this rating carries over across runs.

2. Every time a chest is opened or a drop opportunity occurs and you don't get the drop, your affinity increases, and with it the chance that the next opportunity will give you a drop.

3. Whenever a valuable item drops into your inventory, your affinity resets to zero.

What I like about this system is that it keeps some of the essential randomness that keeps these games rewarding, while also making it feel like there is no such thing as a "wasted run." All without resorting to tokens.

And... hell, part of me thinks this might be even better if it were a global "karma" value for all events, to encourage people to help others with old content. In this scenario, say you do a bunch of Ifrit runs with new members and didn't get a drop, Aurum Vale runs after would benefit from that.

[Enfarious]

So a while ago I went to a GDC talk by someone from WoW, and they mentioned that on quests, they adjust the drop rate with each kill so it never feels "too random."

So, for example, say you have a quest to kill things for a particular drop. The creature might have a natural drop rate of 10%, and if it doesn't drop, the game will quietly bump the drop rate up on the next one to 15% behind-the-scenes. Each subsequent kill will increase the drop rate 5% until it's 100% or until the item drops, after which it will reset the drop rate to its normal rate.

So... could something like this work for FFXIV's raid content?

1. Each player would have a hidden "affinity" rating for that particular event. The higher your "affinity," the higher your chances of getting a drop would be, and this rating carries over across runs.

2. Every time a chest is opened or a drop opportunity occurs and you don't get the drop, your affinity increases, and with it the chance that the next opportunity will give you a drop.

3. Whenever a valuable item drops into your inventory, your affinity resets to zero.

What I like about this system is that it keeps some of the essential randomness that keeps these games rewarding, while also making it feel like there is no such thing as a "wasted run." All without resorting to tokens.

And... hell, part of me thinks this might be even better if it were a global "karma" value for all events, to encourage people to help others with old content. In this scenario, say you do a bunch of Ifrit runs with new members and didn't get a drop, Aurum Vale runs after would benefit from that.

That's not a bad alternative, I think, I'm not sure how it'd work in a cross content way, if say you went to do Ifrit and have all the drops already if your cross content rate caused a drop in Ifrit it'd be kinda sad to think that now it's reset just before you go for AV, but if it only was affected if you actually opened a chest that'd be cool.

[Ravidrath]

That's not a bad alternative, I think, I'm not sure how it'd work in a cross content way, if say you went to do Ifrit and have all the drops already if your cross content rate caused a drop in Ifrit it'd be kinda sad to think that now it's reset just before you go for AV, but if it only was affected if you actually opened a chest that'd be cool.

Yeah, making it cross-content and good could be difficult, but I think the benefit to the community would be important. If I were to have my druthers, I'd roll it out on an individual basis first and then adjust to be global if it seemed to be working out.

You could also have both: affinities for specific events, and a global "karma" rating that basically tallies all events you've ever done and has a very subtle pull on things all the time. Like... 1% per 1000 points, or something.

Also, to make it work correctly, all raid drops would need to be passable... which obviously isn't the case now.

[Enfarious]

Yeah, making it cross-content and good could be difficult, but I think the benefit to the community would be important. If I were to have my druthers, I'd roll it out on an individual basis first and then adjust to be global if it seemed to be working out.

You could also have both: affinities for specific events, and a global "karma" rating that basically tallies all events you've ever done and has a very subtle pull on things all the time. Like... 1% per 1000 points, or something.

Also, to make it work correctly, all raid drops would need to be passable... which obviously isn't the case now.

I think that raid drops would have to not be passable, but rather that each person would get thier own chest, like in Primal fights, I wouldn't want to do CC 22 times then have DL drop to someone else in a pick-up that's never been in before. Each player getting their own unique chest so that their "karma" rating only affected their own drops seems a better way to go about this.

[Geo]

This thread has become: TLDR

[gamerdude]

Despite WoW being a dirty word, here we go.

I am not so much for big fat piece tokens dropping (like a single token dropping to exchange for a head piece), however after a lot of thought I've come to believe more and more that the Justice Point and Valor Point system is one of the most well-done reward systems in an MMO.

To those who do not know how it works, I'll explain.

Both points are essentially a type of currency rewarded for either killing bosses or beating a dungeon. Valor Points are the higher value of the two, and you could only receive so many in a week while you could continually grind up Justice Points. Each point allowed you to buy high-end gear, but Justice Points would buy your entry-level armor and Valor Points bought your higher end pieces.


Now, if you wanted to apply this system to FFXIV in a way I think might be more interesting, you could have a type of point that would be received for beating all types of enemies in a dungeon (IE trash mobs), and then have a special type of point rewarded for beating a boss. Furthermore if you achieved a speed run, you could be rewarded a larger amount of points, or you could make the high-tier points only rewarded for completing speed runs, etc. These high tier points could then be spent on the Darklight pieces the players wanted, and the players would be rewarded for their time when they came on a run and not rewarded if they sat out. The rewards would more appropriately reflect the amount of work put in by a player.

I'm more than open to the idea that there are several tiers of this so that players achieving speed runs or special conditions gain access to gear that can't be bought through points obtained only through killing trash or beating a boss without extra effort. But I believe this system would heavily benefit the game and make players feel much more rewarded for their time and efforts. Furthermore, it would allow multiple members of the group to essentially gain rewards at the same times and gear up at an equal pace, making it less likely that members of a group would be left behind in gear simply because of bad luck with a random number generator.

Interesting idea, rewards time invested, suits both the hardcore and the casuals, you grind at your own pace.

[Eclipse]

(Okay >.> <.< Looking around, on the last page... see no new topics... wondering if Lodestone is glitching and how this got on the popular topics board (thought they were recent topics)... Decides to add two cents seeing as I agree.)

Alright,
Well I happen to agree with this primordial post even though it is a necro bump and ask that someone please take the following into consideration regarding the harder content and for those who have just gotten to experience it.

Many people feel like they are running out of time and even though they are speed running the dungeons and clearing the content the drops are not dropping. So I can see this making sense in many ways.

1. Garuda - Lower totem cost for weapons
2. Dungeons - Well something anything, allow for a greater % of loot to drop.

Anyway I agree that we need something now, more than ever. Don't we want others to experience the joy of a carrying or wearing some amazing end game gear?! I do. I am not saying just hand them out at the street but if people are clearing the content in the proper amount of time and what not, shouldn't they see good drops. Or will all these amazing armor and weapon pieces just vanish.

Speaking of >.> Where is our "Items that are going away in 2.0 list."

[Jinrya-Geki]

To me all Darklight gear for Black Mage does is -1 inventory slot :/

As for primal weapons, I have yet to get any, only Garudas is good and I hear her drop rates aren't as bad as Ifrit or Moogles. Which is good and bad, good cause her weapons are better, but then warrants to why the hell are the other primal weapons harder to get since they aren't as optimal for damage.

[panzertroll]

Since Aurum vale and Cuter's cry pop in the game, we saw 0 Body armor with speed run chest .... Our linkshell is cursed