Sparthos
08-13-2012, 08:29 AM
With the introduction of Meeble Burrows I've come to same the question that has been bugging me since this system was introduced by the devs:
Why was MMM canned?
MMM may not have been the most widely popular event and it rose at a time where XI was in a rut shortly before Abyssea but it did have something so many events fail to deliver and that was its raw potential. The concept of influencing a dungeon with runes, the varied objectives, the casual and hardcore appeal, the ease of access via Jeuno and the trading card nature of collecting items made for an event that had something for everyone but the incomplete nature of how MMM was handled resulted in it never being polished, rewards were never expanded and thus the event quickly became banished to obscurity.
In a time where people constantly bring up old HNMs, Fafnir, Ebon Panels, Abyssea and all the popular events of yesteryear, how about a quick recap on MMM?
Voucher 01 - Kill everything.
This voucher was pretty much the most popular event back when MMM was relevant due to the comparable EXP to parties of the time but with EXP becoming an afterthought suggestions have been made to:
-Repurpose this run into an event designed to assist in magian trials via weather runes.
-Add some rewards based on clearing runs to placate those who yearn for the old EXP style. Gather friends, kill some VT-IT mobs and have a shot at getting something 99 relevant in the process in addition to EXP/marbles/runes/cruor/whatever.
Voucher 02 - Survive the swarm.
Not quite as popular as Voucher 01 because of the fact that you could become overwhelmed and wipe nevertheless this run saw some popularity during the height of MMM. Voucher 02 had a simple concept that has always been exciting to some aspect in that you're surrounded, scared as hell that crowd control might fail and you're tasked to beat back the enemies slowing trying to pick you off. Damage output, support lines and healing outputs are all tested here but:
-A system that awards marbles for each enemy defeated similar to Blitzkrieg.
-Add useful drops to marble rewards.
Voucher 03 - Not quite Nyzul Isle
This was an interesting maze setup because it combined basic monster destruction with a multi-tiered dungeon however due to the random nature of floor layouts, runes only influencing the likelihood of seeing a favorable monster type and the number of monsters per floor it never caught on in popularity. The layout itself would be pretty conducive to a dungeon crawl as the random nature of what appears coupled with wide open areas that scream 'put a boss monster here'.
Voucher 04/08 - Crafting
The dreaded crafting run has always been pretty terrible as not only does the game require you to make items in a time limit while farming materials from the zone but the random nature of the event could have your entire progress wiped out via the random number generator blowing up your final craft task. With the recent expansions to crafting skill caps this would be a pretty good place to skillup if adjustments were made to the skillup rate similar to the Fishing maze or craft related items be put in these mazes.
Voucher 05/06 - Gobbie Adventure Time / Metal Gear Gobbie
These mazes were designed with a pretty good casual concept of something to do with minimal gaming time and the objectives were 'unique' in that you were tasked with raising an NPC to beat a boss or dodging agro while recovering items. Such mazes would be ideal for handing out inconsequential trophy items (akin to the miners hats or cavers shovels) or a place for players to build up marbles for rewards.
Voucher 07/09 - NM battles
If Legion is supposed to be the alliance battlefield for HNMs then MMM was the place for 6man boss battles against NMs that were very little else other than suped-up normal mobs and for its simplicity the overall event itself was pretty fun. Divine Magic using Dhalmel? Got it. Badass Rabbit of Monty Python fame? Possible. It seems like this was the place for players to have fun tailoring mazes to their hearts content while potentially getting some loot in the process.
This is a great idea but why wasn't it expanded upon? These vouchers were the place to crank out the rehashed models and to stick loot on monsters because ultimately the whole thing is meant to be a playground.
Why was MMM canned?
MMM may not have been the most widely popular event and it rose at a time where XI was in a rut shortly before Abyssea but it did have something so many events fail to deliver and that was its raw potential. The concept of influencing a dungeon with runes, the varied objectives, the casual and hardcore appeal, the ease of access via Jeuno and the trading card nature of collecting items made for an event that had something for everyone but the incomplete nature of how MMM was handled resulted in it never being polished, rewards were never expanded and thus the event quickly became banished to obscurity.
In a time where people constantly bring up old HNMs, Fafnir, Ebon Panels, Abyssea and all the popular events of yesteryear, how about a quick recap on MMM?
Voucher 01 - Kill everything.
This voucher was pretty much the most popular event back when MMM was relevant due to the comparable EXP to parties of the time but with EXP becoming an afterthought suggestions have been made to:
-Repurpose this run into an event designed to assist in magian trials via weather runes.
-Add some rewards based on clearing runs to placate those who yearn for the old EXP style. Gather friends, kill some VT-IT mobs and have a shot at getting something 99 relevant in the process in addition to EXP/marbles/runes/cruor/whatever.
Voucher 02 - Survive the swarm.
Not quite as popular as Voucher 01 because of the fact that you could become overwhelmed and wipe nevertheless this run saw some popularity during the height of MMM. Voucher 02 had a simple concept that has always been exciting to some aspect in that you're surrounded, scared as hell that crowd control might fail and you're tasked to beat back the enemies slowing trying to pick you off. Damage output, support lines and healing outputs are all tested here but:
-A system that awards marbles for each enemy defeated similar to Blitzkrieg.
-Add useful drops to marble rewards.
Voucher 03 - Not quite Nyzul Isle
This was an interesting maze setup because it combined basic monster destruction with a multi-tiered dungeon however due to the random nature of floor layouts, runes only influencing the likelihood of seeing a favorable monster type and the number of monsters per floor it never caught on in popularity. The layout itself would be pretty conducive to a dungeon crawl as the random nature of what appears coupled with wide open areas that scream 'put a boss monster here'.
Voucher 04/08 - Crafting
The dreaded crafting run has always been pretty terrible as not only does the game require you to make items in a time limit while farming materials from the zone but the random nature of the event could have your entire progress wiped out via the random number generator blowing up your final craft task. With the recent expansions to crafting skill caps this would be a pretty good place to skillup if adjustments were made to the skillup rate similar to the Fishing maze or craft related items be put in these mazes.
Voucher 05/06 - Gobbie Adventure Time / Metal Gear Gobbie
These mazes were designed with a pretty good casual concept of something to do with minimal gaming time and the objectives were 'unique' in that you were tasked with raising an NPC to beat a boss or dodging agro while recovering items. Such mazes would be ideal for handing out inconsequential trophy items (akin to the miners hats or cavers shovels) or a place for players to build up marbles for rewards.
Voucher 07/09 - NM battles
If Legion is supposed to be the alliance battlefield for HNMs then MMM was the place for 6man boss battles against NMs that were very little else other than suped-up normal mobs and for its simplicity the overall event itself was pretty fun. Divine Magic using Dhalmel? Got it. Badass Rabbit of Monty Python fame? Possible. It seems like this was the place for players to have fun tailoring mazes to their hearts content while potentially getting some loot in the process.
This is a great idea but why wasn't it expanded upon? These vouchers were the place to crank out the rehashed models and to stick loot on monsters because ultimately the whole thing is meant to be a playground.