How long do you believe Pankration II has before being forgotten?

[Spectreman]

Let's face it. It's another MMM/Pankatration/Garrison/Chocobo Race attempt. I give it less than 6 months before people even remember it ever existed.

[Vivivivi]

I disagree, mainly because, well, to put it bluntly... it's fun as hell! MMM/Pankration/Garrison/Racing was nowhere near as fun as Monstrosity is (in my opinion).

I think it's popularity will diminish over time if playing as a monster is excluded from end game content, but if 6-12 months from now we're able to bring a combination of adventurers and monstrosities to something like Delve, I think it will be a lasting component of the game. Key word is "if" though ^^

[Demon6324236]

I dont think it will die so easy, its very fun to me and we are missing half the event right now, the entire PvP aspect, a great deal of Families, we do not know what all we can become. I can see this going on for quite a while, I myself can not wait till one day when I can fight my friends as a NM or HNM and watch as they struggle to take me down(unless they stunlock me >:O) but that's just me. I am sure some people will not like it, but I have to say, as much as I hate soloing and old leveling, in the last 2 days I got a lv20 Lizard, lv20 Mandragora, and lv32 Bee, and have intentions to keep playing it.

[Rustic]

Let's face it. It's another MMM/Pankatration/Garrison/Chocobo Race attempt. I give it less than 6 months before people even remember it ever existed.

You apparently haven't realized that effectively, this is adding new "jobs" to the game, in the form of monsters.

You go ahead and wait for it to die off. I'm gonna be the bunny kicking Swiftblade in the face over in Castle O and working on my Behemoth unlock.

[Umichi]

I dont think it will die so easy, its very fun to me and we are missing half the event right now, the entire PvP aspect, a great deal of Families, we do not know what all we can become. I can see this going on for quite a while, I myself can not wait till one day when I can fight my friends as a NM or HNM and watch as they struggle to take me down(unless they stunlock me >:O) but that's just me. I am sure some people will not like it, but I have to say, as much as I hate soloing and old leveling, in the last 2 days I got a lv20 Lizard, lv20 Mandragora, and lv32 Bee, and have intentions to keep playing it.

But what if you can build an NM thats immune to stun? or has a great resistance to it?

[Vivivivi]

You apparently haven't realized that effectively, this is adding new "jobs" to the game, in the form of monsters.

You go ahead and wait for it to die off. I'm gonna be the bunny kicking Swiftblade in the face over in Castle O and working on my Behemoth unlock.

That's a good point, we now have new things to level, but without the intricacies of skilling up, no need to worry about gear or inventory space or xp loss. All of my friends who have tried it have nothing but positive feedback about it.

Even without rewards yet, there are a ton of monsters to unlock, interesting combinations to try, and plenty to do. I absolutely cannot wait for monster parties and pvp. I'm hopeful eventually monsters can party with adventurers in one form or another. I was thinking about how this could work and came up with the following suggestions:

Limit 1 party per alliance to monsters OR one party slot per party to monsters. Having an alliance of 18 Hahava's might be a little broken lol.

Have monsters share the same types of rules as pets- no casting buffs on pets or cures, but allow monsters to use abilities or magic on their adventuring party members. Allow monsters to buff/cure other monsters (currently allowed! a player playing as a beetle came by and cast cure on me when I was a mandragora).

When partying with adventurers, 'spawn' near the party leader, and include a weakness cool down if KO'd. I say keep the no weakness/random respawn for soloing or monster only parties.

Allow a special relationship between monsters in the same party as a beastmaster, either via the charm ability or a new ability. This would allow the beastmaster to use pet food on the monster, and use killer instinct, maybe even run wild etc. When "charmed" the beastmaster wouldnt actually have control over the monster, but could use those abilities listed above. Disallow the ability for a beastmaster to have an additional pet out while the monster is "charmed".

One other idea I had was to introduce a new method for "trading" otherwise rare/ex gear. This could be restricted to specific items, disallowing delve equipment, REM weapons, and other trial weapons, but perhaps allow VW pulse gear for example. The idea would be to have a monster and adventurer square off in a confrontation status, agreed on by both players, and both put something on the line such as a Toci's Harness and Anhur Robe. At the end of the bout, the winner recieves the item that the other player put up.

[Zyrs]

This thread was worth it for just finding out I can cure other monster players.

[Fynlar]

IMO it is gonna need some sort of practical reward eventually if it is going to stay popular. As it is, you can't even use it to get beastmen's seals off lowbie mobs again, because no mobs drop anything while in monster form.

Currently the only purpose it really serves is for amusement, which is pretty much what Pankration was prior to the ZNM system and why it didn't take long to die off. ZNMs brought about a resurgence to the first half of the Pankration process (getting soul plates), at least.

Granted, right now we basically only have a beta version of the event, but if all we're going to get added to it is "more mobs + NMs" and "PvP option" then I don't see its eventual fate being any different from stuff like Pankration in the long run. They'd need to give us some sort of benefit that we can make use of in our "adventurer" forms.

[Djbeat]

dont forget Ballista

[detlef]

Monstrosity is much more fleshed out and interesting that Pankration ever was but I agree, eventually people will want some sort of reward. I personally think that the type of reward should be cosmetic in nature or a quality of life improvement rather than a high level armor. I also hope that if the rewards do end up being battle armor, that they are not tied to specific types of monsters so that people aren't forced to level this or that.

[Spectreman]

IMO it is gonna need some sort of practical reward eventually if it is going to stay popular. As it is, you can't even use it to get beastmen's seals off lowbie mobs again, because no mobs drop anything while in monster form.

Currently the only purpose it really serves is for amusement, which is pretty much what Pankration was prior to the ZNM system and why it didn't take long to die off. ZNMs brought about a resurgence to the first half of the Pankration process (getting soul plates), at least.

Granted, right now we basically only have a beta version of the event, but if all we're going to get added to it is "more mobs + NMs" and "PvP option" then I don't see its eventual fate being any different from stuff like Pankration in the long run. They'd need to give us some sort of benefit that we can make use of in our "adventurer" forms.


Agree entirely and i believe it will not have rewards good enough to keep interest going on. As soon as the "new thing" feeling fades out it will have the same destiny their friends had.

[Futan]

It's the only reason I'm playing anymore to be honest. It's definitely a very welcome break from the gear treadmill Matsui has us running through now.

[Umichi]

the developers already have sated they are going to figure out a way to reward players for fighting NM and HNMS

maybe lol i forgot where I saw it but i know it was mentioned.

[Vriska_Serket]

There are a few ways they could prvide adequate rewards;

- Let us learn Blue Magic from PvP Monster v Adventurer. It's a small thing, but there you go.

- Let me exchange infamy for a variety of silly prizes. Consumables that give costume effects so I can screw around in town and stuff, things like the Leafkin Shield, fireworks with animations of mob attacks I can use on people...

- Put some good stuff in there too, not necessarily NM drops, but good stuff. Vile Elixirs spring to mind as a fantastic choice. NM pops like from the login campaign. Synth materials, from common for low points, up to rare ones like the Provenance and Legion materials for like 15k a shot. Puppetmaster attachments. Scrolls of instant whatever. Teleport rings.

- Give us an arena with several instances, that you can book for a fight, and let people spectate PvP matches. Maybe even bet gil/Infamy on them (though people could just do that themselves I suppose.)

[Kristal]

Monsterplay candies so they can dress up as humes and tarus while in the field? :D

[Calatilla]

Chocobo racing failed hard because its not even an event, it's a cutscene of your chocobo running in a circle with little to no control over the race. It should have been like FF7 chocobo racing.

[Trumpy]

I dont think a event like pankration where you pretty much get to watch your monster fight compares to monstrosity where you actually get to do and its really fun. Plus you get to run around at extreme speeds on a few of them (some are non extreme) and other fun stuff.

[Renaissance2K]

You really can't compare Monstrosity to events like Pankration, Chocobo Racing, or Moblin Maze Mongers. None of those events were introduced to the same positive reaction that Monstrosity is getting right now.

They could have debuted the event with four different monsters, given it a level cap of 20, and limit it to sixty minutes a day, but there are dozens of monsters, even more instincts to farm and collect, it's easily accessible, and it's a blast. Want to run across the zone like Roadrunner? Get revenge on all those rabbits with one TP move? Sneak up on a linkshell member as a Malboro and make quips about his breath? BE FRIGGIN' BYAKKO?

It doesn't need a reward. Certainly not now. Once you add loot that you can carry back to your character, the event just becomes a grind like everything else. Soon, we'd start seeing shouts for "COR BRD GEO only with Byakko 80+" or some nonsense like that. No thanks. Monstrosity is a huge playground. No inventory to manage, no loot to sort, no camping, no beating up on roots... Just pick a zone, pick a monster, and go nuts.

Let's sit back and enjoy it for a bit without figure out what rewards we can squeeze out of it. We didn't make it through a page of posts before somebody wanted to use it as another way of obtaining a Defending Ring or Plasm gear.

[Sothis]

I am having more fun with Monstrosity than I have anything else in XI in years.

[detlef]

Right now I find that my main issues are:

1. Spawning near deadly mobs
2. Status ailments
3. The leveling is grindy (by definition)

Aside from that, it's been a welcome breath of fresh air into the game. I didn't think I would like it but I'm glad I gave it a chance.

[Infidi]

I thought I remember reading somewhere an example of PCs fighting PC controlled mobs was some of their drop tables dropping. I think with things like Defending Ring and the like maybe defeating PC controlled NM/HNM x amount of times would net you a item such as that.

[Demon6324236]

I have to doubt that, otherwise Drings will become common place as would any other currently rare item, after all, just ask your LS to let you kill them for a few hours and the item is yours.

[Fynlar]

I dont think a event like pankration where you pretty much get to watch your monster fight compares to monstrosity where you actually get to do and its really fun.

I personally don't see that much of a difference between controlling/leveling a monster that isn't your own character and controlling/leveling a monster that is your own character, but maybe that's just me

Personally, I've already grown tired of the event and that's unlikely to change until these extra "jobs" have some reason for existing. If all we can do is kill random NQ fodder for no drops (because you certainly aren't going to waste your time camping NMs for no drops) then I'm not interested

[Zarabi]

This is the most fun I have had in ages in FFXI and the only reason I am still paying for the game.

They have already stated their future plans:

- Rewards of some sort.
- PvP, at least monster vs. monster, perhaps also monster vs. adventurer? Fun!
- Partying as monsters.
- More monsters to play.

This is awesome. :)

[Tohihroyu]

Tried this out a couple days ago, it is pretty fun, so far got them all lvl 10, rabbit is 22 and I chose the blm one, pretty fun to solo stuff blm solo style as a wabbit:p current goal is to get all 3 30 and then decide from there what family I'll "main" So far its Beast family.


This is the most fun I have had in ages in FFXI and the only reason I am still paying for the game.

They have already stated their future plans:

- Rewards of some sort.
- PvP, at least monster vs. monster, perhaps also monster vs. adventurer? Fun!
- Partying as monsters.
- More monsters to play.

This is awesome. :)

For what I bolded...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v53/jess55598/1002883_10153117946375089_770162079_n_zpsaecc3859.jpg

Incoming 1000's of "Wet Fantasy Malboro" vs female character.

But back to the rest, a "Monster party" would be fun. Wonder what this would do for Blue Mage (headcanon)lore... "You can become a monster..." "Sir I have been several monsters already, why be a Soulflayer when I can be a Behemoth? or a Raptor, or a Bee or a..." "Silence!"

Differently a nice break from grinding Baylid in Rieves

[dasva]

I have to doubt that, otherwise Drings will become common place as would any other currently rare item, after all, just ask your LS to let you kill them for a few hours and the item is yours.

Like they aren't now lol? I recently watched a guy get 2 in a row <.<. But yeah I think this has alot more staying power than the other events even if there is no reward. It is already more in depth and has more to do (pank was fun and all but the lvl of control and what you could actually do was almost non existant) and if they add the whole nm/hnm and pvm mvm thing will just get better and drops will just be icing on the cake. This will probably be my go to when I'm bored and don't feel like doing other random stuff and no good shouts going on and I don't feel like minting money er I mean fishing

[Maledict]

Yes, it's an incredibly fun event just through leveling alone, though I agree it's still a little grindy when you hit the mid-20s (and Mandragora is sort of at a disadvantage while leveling compared to the other species so far).

I'm very much hoping that Wyrms will be an option so I can mercilessly Spike Flail anyone who dares stand against me. As it stands now, though, I'm rather content just with unlocking stuff. Currently I'm playing the universal theme song of merciless destruction (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkF13YQkPx0) while finishing up Sabotender. =D

[darkhorror]

It's setup for a lot more than what is out now, what is out to start us off is a good time, level 1-30 is really fast. When you can get chain 20 in qufim getting 500-600 a kill it's kinda fun. It starts to slow down around 45, as it just takes a lot longer to kill mobs. When we will be able to party it should speed up a lot again.

[Tohihroyu]

Anyone know if you get more notoriety from fighting NM's? or if its just the same as defeating normal monsters.

[Infidi]

Anyone know if you get more notoriety from fighting NM's? or if its just the same as defeating normal monsters.

I think it's just based on the amount of EXP you get .

[Siviard]

It works the exact same way as Conquest Points.

200 exp = 20 Infamy
120 exp = 12 Infamy

It's 10% of the exp you receive per fight. Getting nice EXP chains going for 300, 400, 500+ will quickly build up your Infamy.

[OmnysValefor]

OP, have you tried it yet? I really wasn't looking forward to what I also dubbed Pankration v2, but it has been quite enjoyable.

I'm the type that needs a reward to work for though, so if there isn't, this interest will fade, but a lot of others love merely playing and this surely is one of the most pure fun things I've done in XI for a long time.