Alpha First Look: Video 5 - Quests and Combat

[Triairy]

We hope you enjoy our fifth installment in the Alpha First Look video series, in which we witness our heroes undertaking quests and engaging in battle.

The Duty List allows players to complete a quest from start to finish without needing to refer to the journal, as quest objectives and destinations can be easily confirmed through this new feature. Combat is also improved to be more intense and varied—weaponskills can be used to initiate battle, and spells can be cast from further away.



* The battles in this video involve low level enemies. Targeting and actions are demonstrated with the mouse instead of keyboard for greater clarity.

* Level progression is primarily quest-based.

* The battle system is currently undergoing significant revision, including changes to all damage algorithms and the claim system.

[lolodin]

i luv u triairy

[MizoreShirayuki]

Quests smell cookie cutter... Same thing over & over... Just like in TERA

[Elexia]

Quests smell cookie cutter... Same thing over & over... Just like in TERA

Yes, this is how you make level progression possible.

[Preypacer]

Yes, this is how you make level progression possible.

This is how you make level progression, repetitive, mindless and boring if you have no imagination and have decided instead to just copy almost every other MMO for the past 8 years with the same repetitive "kill x of y" crap.

Talk about uninspired and derivative.

And why even have the quest dialog in there at all? Hell even the person in the video isn't taking the time to read it. And why bother? They have *3* different indicators showing you exactly where to go for the kill quest, and 2 showing you where to go for the "moist depression".

"Well, we have all this dialog but, you probably won't read it anyway. But, in case you do, you're probably too dumb to figure out where we're directing you to. So, we'll show you on the mini-map. And because you're probably too dumb to realize the circle on the mini-map indicates where you should be, we'll put markers for the mobs on the mini map too. Now don't panic... We know you're too dumb to figure it out even then. We've accounted for that by also putting large markers over the mobs' heads in-game too. You don't even have to know what the mobs are called or what they look like. Just look for the big, intrusive golden markers walking around."

For the other quest.. "go to the clearly marked, pulsating markers on your mini-map and look for the moist depression. Okay, you're too dumb to figure out the purple hazy looking spots that just happen to be exactly in the same spot as the mini-map markers are likely them, and you're probably too much of a mouth-breather to figure out that targeting those spots will tell you what they are. So, don't worry. We'll make sure to have the words "moist depression" hovering over them as well. Hopefully it's not too presumptuous of us to assume you can read big words like "depression".

"See? We have your time in mind! We know you don't want to be bogged down with boring stuff like interesting content that actually requires your participation, attention and, you know... usage of your brain (I mean, pfft.. who wants to use that?). We realize what you're really interested in is getting all this boring gameplay stuff out of the way so you can get back to serious stuff... like jumping up and down on tents."

Give me a freaking break already with this patronizing, hand-holding "we will show you exactly where everything is so you don't even have to try" crap already. Seriously. Gamers are far smarter than this nonsense.

What a cop-out.

[Meta]

Please explain, oh glorious MMO designer, how sidequests should be implemented. Are we to expect Yoshi-P and all of Square Enix to churn out hundreds of hour-long quests with fully-voiced cutscenes? Should every single quest be as cryptic as a Myst game and feature unclear objectives so that we're constantly ALT-TABing between the game and http://www.eorzeapedia.com/ to see where to go next?

What's wrong with having a healthy supply of mini-quests that have meaningful EXP and Gil rewards? How else are you supplement the game's primary content (Raids, story missions, PVP, FATEs, Hamlet Defense, etc) to ensure that players will gradually develop their characters, especially with a Leve allowance reset? What's wrong with simple conveniences like map markers? And what makes you think that every quest is as simple as the ones featured in the video? I bet some of our lucky Alpha players could tell you that some quests actually more meaty and varied than you think...

[Rutelor]

Please explain, oh glorious MMO designer, how sidequests should be implemented. Are we to expect Yoshi-P and all of Square Enix to churn out hundreds of hour-long quests with fully-voiced cutscenes? Should every single quest be as cryptic as a Myst game and feature unclear objectives so that we're constantly ALT-TABing between the game and http://www.eorzeapedia.com/ to see where to go next?

What's wrong with having a healthy supply of mini-quests that have meaningful EXP and Gil rewards? How else are you supplement the game's primary content (Raids, story missions, PVP, FATEs, Hamlet Defense, etc) to ensure that players will gradually develop their characters, especially with a Leve allowance reset? What's wrong with simple conveniences like map markers? And what makes you think that every quest is as simple as the ones featured in the video? I bet some of our lucky Alpha players could tell you that some quests actually more meaty and varied than you think...

Just remember what was achieved by chastising the critics during the ß for version 1. We have a right to demand a challenging, engaging game for all the energy we have spent.

Let's, of course, remember not to be destructive in our criticism. But let's not be destructive of those who criticize either; this, even if they show more frustration than we like to see, for frustration is difficult to contain, after this long wait. This is my firm belief: If we do not heed the critics because they strike us as strident, we'll be throwing out the proverbial baby with the bath water.

[Reika]

This is how you make level progression, repetitive, mindless and boring if you have no imagination and have decided instead to just copy almost every other MMO for the past 8 years with the same repetitive "kill x of y" crap.

Talk about uninspired and derivative.

And why even have the quest dialog in there at all? Hell even the person in the video isn't taking the time to read it. And why bother? They have *3* different indicators showing you exactly where to go for the kill quest, and 2 showing you where to go for the "moist depression".

"Well, we have all this dialog but, you probably won't read it anyway. But, in case you do, you're probably too dumb to figure out where we're directing you to. So, we'll show you on the mini-map. And because you're probably too dumb to realize the circle on the mini-map indicates where you should be, we'll put markers for the mobs on the mini map too. Now don't panic... We know you're too dumb to figure it out even then. We've accounted for that by also putting large markers over the mobs' heads in-game too. You don't even have to know what the mobs are called or what they look like. Just look for the big, intrusive golden markers walking around."

For the other quest.. "go to the clearly marked, pulsating markers on your mini-map and look for the moist depression. Okay, you're too dumb to figure out the purple hazy looking spots that just happen to be exactly in the same spot as the mini-map markers are likely them, and you're probably too much of a mouth-breather to figure out that targeting those spots will tell you what they are. So, don't worry. We'll make sure to have the words "moist depression" hovering over them as well. Hopefully it's not too presumptuous of us to assume you can read big words like "depression".

"See? We have your time in mind! We know you don't want to be bogged down with boring stuff like interesting content that actually requires your participation, attention and, you know... usage of your brain (I mean, pfft.. who wants to use that?). We realize what you're really interested in is getting all this boring gameplay stuff out of the way so you can get back to serious stuff... like jumping up and down on tents."

Give me a freaking break already with this patronizing, hand-holding "we will show you exactly where everything is so you don't even have to try" crap already. Seriously. Gamers are far smarter than this nonsense.

What a cop-out.

And going out and mindlessly slaying the same monsters over and over is not repetative? Theres not much you can do to avoid repatition to level up uneless they start us off at max level or it simply is not level base, like super mario brothers.

Feel free to point out a successful MMO where you did not repeate X action to gain exp.

[pool842]

You guys are way over simplying the leveling process there is going to be tons to do beyond quests or group grinding... and honestly I like this type of solo content. So please get off your soap box, this model will sell and this model will help people who have never played an mmo learn to play. Mindless maybe, but I can guarantee it will be better mindlessness with a final fantasy flare then any other mmo so don't kid yourself. And I am sure quests will be interesting later on and throughout the process this is Alpha this is a video on basics this is not the whole game... do people even think before they post or do they just trollolol all day?

I agree. This version of XIV is terrible. The graphics are fantastic, the environments are stunning but the quests are an insult to gamers. The battle animations are a giant leap backwards as are the spell casting animations and the spells themselves. All weapon skills so far look identical too each other not to mention they happen so fast you dont even know what just happened. I could tell you how every weapon skill looks and functions in 1.0 but this.... this is all forgettable mindless icon spamming..

I didnt play WoW, Rift, SWTOR, GW2 because they all look and play like this game now. I stayed away from all of those titles because they were all clones of WoW; its safe to say this game is too. They want what's popular in the MMO market to make a buck. This is all just mindless fetch quests, mind numbing, time sinking garbage.

Why cant we just have a main story line and progress through that? By the time we get done with our 1 millionth quest of kill 6 of X and 3 of Y, we will have forgotten what the story was even about.

I think current customers that stuck it out for 2+years will leave for good now that this game has morphed into yet another standard MMO. So much for innovation. But hey.. at least the graphics are good huh!?