The Future of Endgame

[Natenn]

I was just wondering what the future of endgame is going to be once 99 is released. Right now everything revolves around grinding and thats it, VWNM grind to get drops, Abyssea grind to get Empryeans, stuff like this. I'm sure i'm not the only one who hopes for an endgame with something different then the current trend, grinding is a necessity in MMOs but thats to a degree. If every part of it revolves around grinding for an abysmal drop rate or item that needs "X" amount of items to complete the player base will continue to decline.

So back to the question: What is the future of endgame? Is this it? Will there a PvP element implemented or ballista/brenner rebirth? A new sky/sea thing perhaps? Will HNM make a comeback? Just wanna know if there will be anything new/interesting to look forward to in future updates.

[Tsukino_Kaji]

It's been posted, there's a new dungeon crawll and something called "we're all screwed" or something like that.
Also, ballista was nothing more then a fad. If you want PvP, go play WoW.

[Soranika]

Lot's of battle oriented content. I'm looking forward to the dungeon crawl addition oddly enough but I don't really expect a new story expansion. I feel like the level cap increase should have came with one but it's a little late for that.

I'd love some emphasis on PvP but it doesn't seem to be big on this game compared to others because of how poorly SE handled PvP in general and the communities mentality that they have to get something out of it... like beating other's face in for the fun of it isn't gratifying enough. But I'd love to see a non restrictive PvP addition.

[Natenn]

Mention pvp and out come the ppl being hateful on it.

[Soranika]

It's been posted, there's a new dungeon crawll and something called "we're all screwed" or something like that.
Also, ballista was nothing more then a fad. If you want PvP, go play WoW.

And this is mentality I was speaking of....

[Natenn]

Also i play on PS2 and that sig makes me angry.

[Glacont]

The Grind, along the standards of Abyssea & Relic NOT Voidwatch, I am comfortable with. You earn your way and learn to appreciate the gear and weapons you now own.


PVP was never something I could never get into, because of the restrictions. If someone challenges Me I want to be able to give it My all; And they should be able to do the same. Macros is apart of My set up. (-Damage% WS JAs). I understand the whole argument of blinking with macros. That is something I am willing to deal with.


The Future of EndGame for Myself is a Return of Fast Pace old conent (Einherjar, Nyzul Isle, Limbus) which is more to My liking. (Of couse I'll never grow weary of godmode Abyssea) The only slow pace event that has ever maintain My interest is Salvage. Old 75 HNM Claiming (LS Politics/ Bots/ Trash Talking) Sea & Sky farming can remain dead. And hopefully they will increase the percentage of Alex Drop Rate by 30 to 40%. If so, then the potential to make a Mythic Weapon will open doors to a series of events; in addtion you'll need even more leg work (high-end ZNM fights) to bring them up to date. That is enough to keep Me Busy. The Crawl system? I'll have to wait and see before passing any judgement.


The Sig you mention is meant to inflame emotions. Take anger out of the equation.

[saevel]

I seriously hope they return to a dungeon style content, hopefully instanced. Limbus was one of the best designed and laid out systems in the game. You had ash & trash monsters and you had super NMs and mega boss's. Just running a regular zone could net you random loot in the form of AF+1 upgrades and coins that could later be traded for items. Once you tiered up all the zones you could then do a mega boss run where special gear would drop. The only part they screwed up was the mage set sucked hard core so Ultima wasn't done nearly as often as Omega. They also screwed up the super special *bonus stage* with the metal chip, they could of had that place drop much more gear / items, all at the cost of coins.

Salvage was messed up from the get go. The whole "locking" of gear / abilities meant that only MNKs were considered DD's. Eventually the starter chest fixed some of the issue, but it was still WHM + MNK with a THF for TH. Then the spawn conditions for the NM's were ridiculous, you could do a run every day for an entire week and never once see your NM pop. This then led to the ridiculous drop rates on the pieces, you could kill your NM dozens of times and never see your piece drop, and when it did drop you had to fight over it with a bunch of people. Other then those issues the whole idea of salvage was pretty good. They eventually fixed the drop rates after it became obsolete, should of done that years ago. Should of introduced an earned points system that would allow you to trade them in for gear or items, that way even if you get nothing from the run you still walk away with something.

Original Dynamis was a pretty well conceived system. Not being instanced is what hurt the most, and gear having ridiculous drop rates. Thankfully the zones had so many monsters that if you could full clear you'd be more likely then not to get your item somewhat fast. Event was too long though and the 1mil (500K) entrance fee was abused by people desiring relics.

Hopefully we go back to similar systems that combine trash mobs with mega NM's and super boss's that drop loot and have a points system.

[Rohelius]

PVP should come with a reward and it does in many other games, i have and account on a game and its just for the PVP.
I very much like the idea of PVP revival in any way, the only thing that stops me from going these days is people do not show up for official matches in both Brenner and Ballista.
I do not need rewards in it i just suggest them because they attract the common folk.

As for the grind, people have always said that is what makes a final fantasy game a final fantasy game and not WoW.
I picked up Guild Wars for the PVP a long time ago and ended up buying all 4 expansions and beating them in less then 2 weeks solo using only NPC party members the game provides and got the top tier armor skins from every expansion available(After beating each u get an option to Synth it) my Necromancer looks cool and evil as sh**T yet... if i don't play it or if i stop playing it i really would not care.. Something i cant say about FFXI definitely the grind makes u appreciate those little digital tid bits a lot more in my opinion.

Dungeon Crawl: looking forward to this :)

[Natenn]

Is there any info on Dungeon Crawl? Is it more grinding content?

[saevel]

Ok this is for the PVPers. The reason there isn't a very active PvP system inside FFXI is that the jobs are balanced for PvE and would require a major overhaul to make it otherwise. There are just certain combinations that are absolutely broken.

RDM/BLM for example. Strongest PvP job in the game. They do to you the exact same thing they did to Genbu, Suzako and every other NM before SE made everything immune to enfeebles.

Open with Sleepga (no shadows and your slept for at least 2~3s for a DoT to kick in)
Silence (no more shadows until you pop an echo)
Sab Paralyze II (ridiculously potent on non HNMs)
Sleep (2~3 more seconds)
Gravity
Slow II (mess up your utsu timer and another thing to blow a remedy on)
Poison II (if your using poison pots, otherwise don't use this)

Then start spamming Drain / Aspir along with Bind and an occasional nuke. Bleed the player dry while keeping them at max distanced and fully enfeebled. And once the RDM is fully buffed their pretty impossible to kill quickly.

It's cheap, it's dirty and it'll piss of anyone your PvPing against, but it's effective vs every job combo in the game.

Want it faster? Then do BLU/anything. The basically just stun lock you while they zerg down your HP.

Sandspin (no more shadows)
Disseverment (high damage, 18hp/tick poison)
Head Butt
CA Efflux Q.Continum (ridiculously high damage)
Sudden Lunge
Goblin Rush
Head Butt
Disseverment
Whirl of Rage
Head Butt

And so on and so forth, they even have frypan and another magic based aoe stun, just as backup. If things turn badly they can use regurgitation for damage + bind effect and run away. Cannonball is an effective long range damage maneuver and they can self heal. Only two jobs I've known to survive a BLU zerg, PLD and RDM.

So there you have it, all PvP would break down to RDM, BLU, and PLD.

[Natenn]

When are we getting new HNM? Im talking about lnce a day or week pops to camp.

[Tsukino_Kaji]

When are we getting new HNM? Im talking about lnce a day or week pops to camp.That's not the game anymore.

[Vold]

If they're talking about turning the remaining HNM into force pop, I wouldn't hold my breathe for new ground HNM. It seems the idea they had for new HNM was called voidwatch.

[Natenn]

That's not the game anymore.

Oh i wasn't aware you were a DEV

[Tsukino_Kaji]

Oh i wasn't aware you were a DEVOne dose not have to be. You obviously don't play the game anymore if you think that is what end game is anymore.

[Natenn]

One dose not have to be. You obviously don't play the game anymore if you think that is what end game is anymore.

you obviously know everything. You are not a dev, till a dev comes out and actually says there will be no once a day/week timed HNM i will keep asking.

[Loir]

Course you'll keep asking, since you blindly keep sitting there asking for more HNMs without realizing the luster behind that outdated mechanic is not the appeal of the overall playerbase. Though I am guessing you are just thickheaded in not being able to ascertain with the last updates since march that it will never come.

Though could always take the Dev's silence as an answer. But guessing thats beyond you.

[Nynja]

oh look is this guy again

[Natenn]

winning team etc right? lol

[Natenn]

Basically, we need some pvp/pve somewhere in here.

[saevel]

Basically, we need some pvp/pve somewhere in here.

You just described every MMO, MUD or single player RPG in existence or that will be in existence. The player will always be expected to fight something, either the environment or other players.

I've already listed how PvP is a no-win situation for FFXI. You would celebrate the changes until you got your chest mud stomped, over and over again, by one of the small number of broken combos in the game. You would then cry at how it's unfair and all that jaz, unless you were playing one of the broken combos, then you'd go around thumping your chest saying how awesome you are.

Face it, to implement PvP the Devs would have to re-engineer all the jobs and implement a system radically different then regular play. With all the other things that need to be done and most of their manpower being stripped to go work in FFXIV I ~really~ don't see them being able to do this.

[Natenn]

add HNM to fight over = Problem solved

[Limecat]

Dungeon crawl will be a FFXI-themed conversion of Nethack. If you die while inside your character will be deleted.