Replace Ambuscade with a cash shop.

[Numquam]

Ambuscade is fun when it favors a large variety of playing styles and tactics, but I don't have an AG Nirvana SMN or an Aeonic BRD or an Ergon RUN. Hell, sometimes I can't even find enough members to do runs with and if I solo a bunch of people start with their attitudes. Get rid of it and just make a cash shop for FFXI with its drops.

[Khiril]

So, I get the point, and yeah.

But, this month Ive done over 100k hallmarks. Not once have I used bard, not once have I had a smn, not once has it been a RUN tank.

So, just sayin, BLM the job EVERYONE should have leveled and usable by this point since it was the ONLY way to do content for 2 entire years, is still the most viable and easiest win.

Never. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. Solo. Under any circumstances. Ever.

[Dale]

Ambuscade is fun when it favors a large variety of playing styles and tactics, but I don't have an AG Nirvana SMN or an Aeonic BRD or an Ergon RUN. Hell, sometimes I can't even find enough members to do runs with and if I solo a bunch of people start with their attitudes. Get rid of it and just make a cash shop for FFXI with its drops.

No offense meant - but this is the worse idea ever. If they did this - I would quit this game so fast.

I agree with you though about the attitudes toward soloists being unwarranted - assuming they are willing to group up if given the chance that is.


So, I get the point, and yeah.

But, this month Ive done over 100k hallmarks. Not once have I used bard, not once have I had a smn, not once has it been a RUN tank.

So, just sayin, BLM the job EVERYONE should have leveled and usable by this point since it was the ONLY way to do content for 2 entire years, is still the most viable and easiest win.

Never. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. Solo. Under any circumstances. Ever.

People only have themselves to blame for others who choose to solo Ambuscade - as these are usually the same people who are often turned down or snubbed because they don't have a specific job or fail to meet some set of specific standards other players for some odd reason seem fit to demand of others.

We do not always have to do very difficult intense in under 3 minutes. And if players end up having to wait longer to get inside Ambuscade because they refuse to settle for anything less - well then that is a problem of their own making really.

[Nefario]

I was about to do the shadow lord fight yesterday for Windhurst 5-2 when someone dashed in and entered. When i clicked on the door to enter after, it said 'Please wait a little while longer'. After a couple minutes i was able to go in. The area was otherwise empty... so it struck me that the servers can only accommodate ONE party at a time....

Then i remembered how the devs said in an interview that they are the only game left in existence using the SCEA server site...

And then i thought hmmm.... This game is still using the launch servers from 2002 isn't it?
Fantastic game, but some of the oversights or lack of attention to kinda important things like maybe upgrading the servers once in the last 15 years is rather baffling. I agree with your sentiment that the players have only themselves to blame for their own behaviour, but if we're waiting to get into Ambuscade because the servers running this game are on dail up modems from 2002, that ... uhhh.... for sure rests on the company, not the players. LOL

[Folken]

If the free campaign is any indication of how many people would play for free, I'd welcome f2p with a cash shop.


BLM the job EVERYONE should have leveled and usable by this point since it was the ONLY way to do content for 2 entire years,

Get off your high horse. Not everyone plays like you.

[Khiril]

If the free campaign is any indication of how many people would play for free, I'd welcome f2p with a cash shop.



Get off your high horse. Not everyone plays like you.

It wasn't an opinion, or a suggestion, it was a statement. and a true statement.

BLM burst set up was the literal only way ANYTHING was done for an entire 2 years+ there's no valid excuse for not having one of the jobs leveled for that style. Unless you're new.

Time is an invaluable and irreplaceable commodity. You're wasting EVERYONES time, especially your own when you solo ambuscade. Do. Not. Do. It.

[Ketaru]

It wasn't an opinion, or a suggestion, it was a statement. and a true statement.

BLM burst set up was the literal only way ANYTHING was done for an entire 2 years+ there's no valid excuse for not having one of the jobs leveled for that style. Unless you're new.

Time is an invaluable and irreplaceable commodity. You're wasting EVERYONES time, especially your own when you solo ambuscade. Do. Not. Do. It.

Since we're gonna open the door on how much time is worth, what amount of waiting time is acceptable before you, in fact, would have gained more from consistently soloung the whole time.

Thing is if there are 6 people solong in Legion (and there often are), they could have easily grouped together. They just didn't want to. There could have been any number of reasons, even one unique to each one of them.

Not all of are always in the mood to do Ambuscade 10 times a day. Just like we aren't always in the mood to hang out outside with our Seek up.

[Khiril]

Since we're gonna open the door on how much time is worth, what amount of waiting time is acceptable before you, in fact, would have gained more from consistently soloung the whole time.

You can literally NEVER get gallantry while solo, so, it is impossible to make that statement. It is never acceptable to solo. One partied up set, even going one time is worth more than an entire 30 days of soloing.



Thing is if there are 6 people solong in Legion (and there often are), they could have easily grouped together. They just didn't want to. There could have been any number of reasons, even one unique to each one of them.

No, the -only- reason someone enters the legion zone solo, is they are a dbag. period. There are no multiple reasons.



Not all of are always in the mood to do Ambuscade 10 times a day. Just like we aren't always in the mood to hang out outside with our Seek up.

You don't have to. you get SIX seals now. Join ONE shout, ONCE a WEEK for 4 weeks and be DONE. That's not an unreasonable goal. If you join a group for 2 runs, 4 times you will get 10k gallantry and 20,000 marks.

8 runs, spanned across 30 entire days, vs how many billion solos it would take, it's a no-brainer.

(1200*3*6+1200*2) 24000 marks
(500*3*6+500*2) 10000 Gallantry

And V1VD this month (like at least half the months are a JOKE.)

[Nyarlko]

You can literally NEVER get gallantry while solo, so, it is impossible to make that statement. It is never acceptable to solo. One partied up set, even going one time is worth more than an entire 30 days of soloing.



No, the -only- reason someone enters the legion zone solo, is they are a dbag. period. There are no multiple reasons.



You don't have to. you get SIX seals now. Join ONE shout, ONCE a WEEK for 4 weeks and be DONE. That's not an unreasonable goal. If you join a group for 2 runs, 4 times you will get 10k gallantry and 20,000 marks.

8 runs, spanned across 30 entire days, vs how many billion solos it would take, it's a no-brainer.

(1200*3*6+1200*2) 24000 marks
(500*3*6+500*2) 10000 Gallantry

And V1VD this month (like at least half the months are a JOKE.)

Those that I've confirmed to be soloing have always been in mediocre gear at best, low/no JPs, and had experienced being kicked for underperforming in V1D/VD. Which makes sense, since the difficulty levels are directly connected to mob levels inside, and I don't see someone fulltiming reforges (since those are the only 119 gear they have) being able to even leech their way thru the runs required on V1VD. ^^;; When was the last time you did V1VD w/ no well-geared and/or job mastered groups? It's only easy once you are geared/prepped for 135+ content.

I fully agree that it is hugely less efficient to solo, but for some, that is about all they are going to be able to do right now and they have the right to do so.

[Khiril]

Those that I've confirmed to be soloing have always been in mediocre gear at best, low/no JPs, and had experienced being kicked for underperforming in V1D/VD. Which makes sense, since the difficulty levels are directly connected to mob levels inside, and I don't see someone fulltiming reforges (since those are the only 119 gear they have) being able to even leech their way thru the runs required on V1VD. ^^;; When was the last time you did V1VD w/ no well-geared and/or job mastered groups? It's only easy once you are geared/prepped for 135+ content.

I fully agree that it is hugely less efficient to solo, but for some, that is about all they are going to be able to do right now and they have the right to do so.

Literally anyone with zero JP and about 13 minutes of effort can be PLD RUN SCH or WHM for the event. All you have to do is have a brainstem, a pulse and ilvl gear. Whm/Sch can even be completely naked.

To be BLM BLU GEO takes slightly more effort, maybe an entire day worth of effort. That's it.

If you don't like any of those 7 options, play a game thats more your style, instead of making everyone hate you for soloing for zero gain.

[Stuzey]

Has ambuscade really been that bad on asura this month? I've pretty much taken the month off, but when I've done it (with a full party ;p) I've not encountered a queue longer than 30 seconds.

But, again, the event was designed to be played solo, low man, with a full party, whatever.... You can't blame the players for playing an event as intended.

It's also funny that on ffxi, beating hard content solo used to be a sign of a real pro player, it was a challenge, usually taken on by people who had beaten the content in a party or alliance. I used to love going up into sky/sea on blm with a few other mage friends and taking on nm's that would destroy a much bigger group (not saying I was a pro player, just saying I enjoyed the challenge).

I feel sad that blm is so restricted as a burst job now

[Khiril]

Ambuscade is "that bad" on asura EVERY month. There is a queue no less than 10 pages a good 50% of the time.

There are lulls where you can score low queue, but as soon as someone notices it they start going too and it goes to crap.

[Stuzey]

Some of what I say is because I miss playing blm, in my opinion ToAU was a release for blm and (as you say) it's now just a burst job.... remember the thrill of having a mob that could one shot you slept, gravity and bound while you were on 37 mp, having to rest praying it wouldn't wake up :)

Just don't be blaming the people for playing an event as intended, why have very easy options otherwise?

[Stuzey]

and I play on eu times, so forgive me if I haven't seen these queues you speak of

[Khiril]

Eu time is the only time it's not overcrowded basically

[Folken]

So, just sayin, BLM the job EVERYONE should have leveled and usable by this point



BLM burst set up was the literal only way ANYTHING was done for an entire 2 years+ there's no valid excuse for not having one of the jobs leveled for that style. Unless you're new.
.

Changing your argument twice in a single line shows why it's really difficult to argue with you, as well as speaking in absolutes, and considering your opinions as facts.

If you don't like having to queue for Ambuscade, maybe you should be on a server that better suits your playstyle, because the fact is that Asura doesn't fit your opinion of how other people should play.

[Khiril]

I don't have opinions. Only truths.

If you've been playing long enough to care about what ambuscade is, and don't have a usable BLM tank or healer. I don't know why you're still bothering to play this game.

[Folken]

It seems you aren't interested in discussions. Maybe a blog would be a better place to share your point of view, rather than a forum.

[Gannon]

Seems like the answer here is to move to less populated servers. On Quetz, I never experience more than a few moments wait, even on day one after updates.

[Khiril]

Seems like the answer here is to move to less populated servers. On Quetz, I never experience more than a few moments wait, even on day one after updates.

That's the furthest thing from "the answer". The answer is to force people to team up. 3 minimum. just like delve. or, give a different queue to solos.

Or open servers. Play on a populated server when you want content, and play somewhere with no population when you don't. Instead of making people pay and have to deal with the pros and cons of picking high pop vs low pop.

Any answer that involves you having to pay more money for a solution is a non-solution.

[detlef]

So this discussion again. Other than money drops, the whole reason to do Ambuscade is tied to Gallantry now. Please team up. Nyariko, you mention gimps with mediocre gear soloing? Two of those people teaming up will still improve their results while using half the number of Legion instances and requiring fewer mobs killed for a new KI. And they will get Gallantry. We have this discussion every time.

Also the reason Ambuscade doesn't seem busy is because of the Adventurer Appreciation campaigns going on that will end after this weekend. Things will resume being unbearable within a few days so please look forward to it.

[saevel]

Please if your a lowbie player without high end status, group together with other lowbie's in parties of 3 and use trusts for the tank / healer jobs. You can do spam Normal difficulty and get plenty of hallmarks and gallantry while not clogging up the servers. You don't need to solo, it's never a good idea, ever.

[Aysha]

Literally anyone with zero JP and about 13 minutes of effort can be PLD RUN SCH or WHM for the event. All you have to do is have a brainstem, a pulse and ilvl gear. Whm/Sch can even be completely naked.

To be BLM BLU GEO takes slightly more effort, maybe an entire day worth of effort. That's it.

If you don't like any of those 7 options, play a game thats more your style, instead of making everyone hate you for soloing for zero gain.

Are we talking Vol 1?

I took my PLD in to Vol 2... not Vol 1... a few months ago when it was the Flan boss. A couple of those runs, which featured a well-geared BLU and GEO, I got killed, several times and I was clearly not good enough to tank the stuff.

I was casting all of the spells I had available to me, Crusade, Reprisal, Phalanx, the works. I had Cizin+1 (Skirmish 119), Skirmish+1 shield, Ark Angels 119 sword, and whatever PDT jewelry I could find, VIT if I couldn't find that.

That was Volume TWO.

I think you're vastly understating what you need to be successful in Ambuscade.

EDIT: I am not trying to condone soloing as it is indeed a waste of everybody's time, but yanno... if other players would be more willing to group up, I'd happily try again. I now have BLU which I could probably get into Ambuscade, but my family member has THF as her main job. How willing do you think people would be to take her? Not very unless they finally gave us a piercing-weak mob for Vol2.

[saevel]

I think you're vastly understating what you need to be successful in Ambuscade.


What difficulty level are we speaking about?

VD Intense requires extremely good players

VD Normal / D Intense requires good players

D Normal / N Intense is for average lowbies

Ambuscade is an event that rewards players for being good and versatile without punishing players for not.

[Khiril]

What difficulty level are we speaking about?

VD Intense requires extremely good players

VD Normal / D Intense requires good players

D Normal / N Intense is for average lowbies

Ambuscade is an event that rewards players for being good and versatile without punishing players for not.

I mean, not really. I do VD intense V1 every month. with a mediocre effort blm or blu depending on the month. You don't have to be exceptional. grab 4/5 Ea and jhakri+2 feet with an ambu cape a lathi and you're good to go. Very low effort very low energy.


Are we talking Vol 1?

I took my PLD in to Vol 2... not Vol 1... a few months ago when it was the Flan boss.

That was Volume TWO.

Each month is different. THIS months V1VD is cakewalk easy for tank and healer. Just don't tank in an Aegis, the shoulder tackle might OS during MS. It can effortlessly be done in 5/5 Sulevia with the JSE shield and 0 jp.

V2 is actually HARDER than V1

Difficult should be the minimum anything gets done on. It's ambuscade ffs. It's blindfold easy. Put in a little effort.

[BobbinT]

Please don't follow what FF14 did with their mogshop. Besides, I like it when the content encourages to team up, which is the whole point playing MMO. I know it's sometimes hard to group up on these situations, but IMO I rather go back playing offline games if I have to rely on soloing all the time. Can also consider transferring to more populated server (or worse... start over at that server). ^^;

[Ketaru]

Please if your a lowbie player without high end status, group together with other lowbie's in parties of 3 and use trusts for the tank / healer jobs. You can do spam Normal difficulty and get plenty of hallmarks and gallantry while not clogging up the servers. You don't need to solo, it's never a good idea, ever.

No, 100 isn't "plenty" of hallmarks or gallantry. It's a pretty terrible amount, actually.

[detlef]

If 100 is a terrible amount of gallantry then what word would you use to describe 0 gallantry?

[Ketaru]

If 100 is a terrible amount of gallantry then what word would you use to describe 0 gallantry?

Both are 0 if you don't go in at all. And Gallantry is immaterial to somebody who isn't all that interested in those items. Shouldn't that it be obvious by now that the soloers don't care about Gallantry?

[Khiril]

Both are 0 if you don't go in at all. And Gallantry is immaterial to somebody who isn't all that interested in those items. Shouldn't that it be obvious by now that the soloers don't care about Gallantry?

If you dont care about +2ing gear through gallantry then don't do it at all. There is absolutely zero reason to solo this. it's not debatable.

[detlef]

Both are 0 if you don't go in at all. And Gallantry is immaterial to somebody who isn't all that interested in those items. Shouldn't that it be obvious by now that the soloers don't care about Gallantry?Are we talking about soloers or people who aren't doing Ambuscade at all? I don't think anybody has a beef with people who aren't doing the content.

Again though, why wouldn't people want gallantry? Am I missing something, or isn't gallantry the biggest reason to do Ambuscade right now?

[Folken]

If you dont care about +2ing gear through gallantry then don't do it at all. There is absolutely zero reason to solo this. it's not debatable.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4104/5166465451_ded900eaf8.jpg


Again though, why wouldn't people want gallantry? Am I missing something, or isn't gallantry the biggest reason to do Ambuscade right now?

The biggest (only) reason I've had to do ambuscade is gear. It's not that people don't want gallantry, it's they can complete their goal with hallmarks and not earn enough gallantry to be useful.

[detlef]

The biggest (only) reason I've had to do ambuscade is gear. It's not that people don't want gallantry, it's they can complete their goal with hallmarks and not earn enough gallantry to be useful.Thing is, gallantry and hallmarks aren't mutually exclusive. Teaming up is the only way to get gallantry yes, but it also allows you to get hallmarks more efficiently as well. There's no reason not to team up and that is the point I've espoused here and elsewhere. That's the only way to reduce congestion that players have control over. Requesting major changes from SE will yield bandaid results at best; it's far more important to change the mentality of the playerbase.

[Folken]

Thing is, gallantry and hallmarks aren't mutually exclusive. Teaming up is the only way to get gallantry yes, but it also allows you to get hallmarks more efficiently as well. There's no reason not to team up and that is the point I've espoused here and elsewhere. That's the only way to reduce congestion that players have control over. Requesting major changes from SE will yield bandaid results at best; it's far more important to change the mentality of the playerbase.

But there is no congestion.

Also, no one is avoiding gallantry. When I want something from ambuscade, I do the highest difficulty I can with whatever people I can. If that means duoing 11 runs on normal/normal then that's what I have to do. That means I get the gear and virtually no gallantry.

[detlef]

But there is no congestion.A few things.

World: Leviathan. Ask any Asuran player how they feel about congestion and soloers. I usually don't have any sympathy for that server but it's a legitimate issue there. On Valefor, I want to quit and do something else when there are more than 1-2 other groups competing for KI mobs or if there are more than a few groups queued up ahead of me. Can you imagine what it's like for Asura?

Also, you sound like a new player. Have you been playing for the longer than the last 3 weeks? Ambuscade traffic was way down because there were a lot of popular campaigns going on. Ambuscade traffic is heavily dependent on concurrent campaigns. Traffic was at a trickle in May but it's going to pick up again because players know they only have a week or so before the June update hits. Players need to farm their metals.


Also, no one is avoiding gallantry. When I want something from ambuscade, I do the highest difficulty I can with whatever people I can. If that means duoing 11 runs on normal/normal then that's what I have to do. That means I get the gear and virtually no gallantry.Well good, keep doing that. A lot of players refuse to do that, and even ignoring the fact that they are slowing things down for everybody else, they are not even doing what's best for themselves.

[Folken]

Can you imagine what it's like for Asura?
As I've heard hundreds, if not thousands of times from asurans, switch to a different server if your current server isn't working for you.


Also, you sound like a new player. Have you been playing for the longer than the last 3 weeks?
I have been playing since 2004.



Ambuscade traffic was way down because there were a lot of popular campaigns going on.
Or maybe Ambuscade traffic is down because there's no new gear. Perhaps you should look outside your social circles and realize that not everyone plays like you. Not everyone has consistent playtimes to play with their LS consistently. Not everyone plays with the same goals/ambitions that you do.



Well good, keep doing that. A lot of players refuse to do that, and even ignoring the fact that they are slowing things down for everybody else, they are not even doing what's best for themselves.

If I didn't do that, I would have 0 ambuscade gear. You will not decide what's best for me.

[detlef]

Haha wow you took offense. Okay then, keep it up. Wait no, you're free to keep it up or not, it's not for me to decide.

[Folken]

Haha wow you took offense. Okay then, keep it up. Wait no, you're free to keep it up or not, it's not for me to decide.

Does my reply sound defensive? If so, I apologize. I haven't taken any offense. Try reading it again with that in mind. I've had to reply to others enough that I know that other people on this forum need other people's POV spelled out to them, so that's what I did. Did you have any actual reply to my comments?

[detlef]

Hey maybe I read it wrong, it reads that way to me though.


As I've heard hundreds, if not thousands of times from asurans, switch to a different server if your current server isn't working for you.I'm not on Asura. Valefor is a ghost town just like Leviathan and that's what I prefer. I was just talking about Asura because even though I shit on the server a lot, it's important that the concerns of the largest concentration of NA players be addressed. Aside from that, there are still times (especially JP time) where the queue reaches a point where I'm starting to look for something else to do. And that's usually caused by at least half of the Legion instances being occupied by soloers.


I have been playing since 2004.Your posts tend to read like that of a new or returning player. You also seemed to be unaware of issues on other servers so that's the impression I got.


Or maybe Ambuscade traffic is down because there's no new gear. Perhaps you should look outside your social circles and realize that not everyone plays like you. Not everyone has consistent playtimes to play with their LS consistently. Not everyone plays with the same goals/ambitions that you do.But... There is new gear. It's +2 versions of all the 1st generation of Ambuscade gear and a bunch of rings. Not only is a lot of the gear very strong, you're limited in how much you can get per update. I'm not sure what all that other stuff you said was for, it seemed kind of personal.


If I didn't do that, I would have 0 ambuscade gear. You will not decide what's best for me.And this, why'd you have to respond that way? I was just encouraging you to keep doing what you're doing because it's a playstyle that benefits everybody. Basically team up when you can and do the highest difficulty you can. Do we not agree? I don't think anything I said warranted a "you can't tell me what to do" response.

[Folken]

I'm not on Asura.
...
Your posts tend to read like that of a new or returning player. You also seemed to be unaware of issues on other servers so that's the impression I got.

I know you aren't asuran, but in my experience, asurans tend to assume they're the only server. I don't feel that decisions from the devs should be based on problems with a single server since there are 15 other servers that may not be having the same issues.

You also seem to be confusing new players with casual players. Again, not everyone progresses equally. What's easy for you to accomplish can be out of reach for others.



But... There is new gear. It's +2 versions of all the 1st generation of Ambuscade gear and a bunch of rings.
Rings aren't nearly as good without set bonuses and speaking for myself, +2 gear is out of reach. I'm not willing to grind that much for a single piece of gear that isn't at full-power.


I'm not sure what all that other stuff you said was for, it seemed kind of personal.
It seemed like you didn't consider others' point of view. The only reason you could see that ambuscade traffic was down was because of campaigns, despite inflated population from free logins.

And this, why'd you have to respond that way?

It sounded like a backhanded compliment. "That's a great idea even if it makes life worse for everyone else".

[Clou777]

just do what the people that spam VD have been doing.... git gud! stop whining that you dont have what is required to make a good party, take your attention away from ambuscade for a while then and focus getting better at your job and gear better, then you'll be doing ambuscade on VD much more

[Khiril]

just do what the people that spam VD have been doing.... git gud! stop whining that you dont have what is required to make a good party, take your attention away from ambuscade for a while then and focus getting better at your job and gear better, then you'll be doing ambuscade on VD much more

So this is sarcastic, but it's the truth.

Why are you even playing if you aren't going to improve.

Life is about optimization. Really, git gud. Spend 2 hours a MONTH doing ambuscade instead of 10, and get on to more important things. It really, honestly, doesn't take much effort. If you're willing to waste hundreds of hours being bad, imagine what you could channel that energy into instead.

[Ketaru]

Thing is, gallantry and hallmarks aren't mutually exclusive. Teaming up is the only way to get gallantry yes, but it also allows you to get hallmarks more efficiently as well. There's no reason not to team up and that is the point I've espoused here and elsewhere. That's the only way to reduce congestion that players have control over. Requesting major changes from SE will yield bandaid results at best; it's far more important to change the mentality of the playerbase.

You keep saying "There is no reason not to team up" when there can be plenty of reasons not to want to team up sometimes.

- My linkshell isn't on. They're on the west coast and I'm on the east coast so we're not on at the same often. And I don't feel like partnering up with strangers today.
- Today, I don't feel like going other peoples' pace. I feel like going at my own pace.
- I'm only going in once each for both Regular and Intense. I'm not going to waste time finding a party when I only intend to be on for less than an hour anyway. I want to log on and log off.
- Maybe I'm a person who doesn't care for gallantry drops; I just want to work on capes today. Otherwise, we already have all the gear we desire already and it's just a matter of upgrading it. There are 5 very low cost metals from just hallmarks and if someone is satisfied to just update one piece every two months, so what?

You may condescend others, talking as if they haven't experienced this game enough to have an opinion. But if I might say, you sound as though you can only speak to the perspective of somebody who still plays this game for hours at a time. That is out of touch with a portion of the playerbase that has aged and is content to be casual at this game.

It shows in the attitudes of people who have a problem with soloers in this thread that you assume many of the players soloing aren't "gud". Plenty of them are are "gud", probably even by your standards. Sometimes people just feel like soloing and owe you no explanation for why they want to.

So before anybody comes up with a solution that would mandate partying, I get you Asura people think you still have the purest experience of this game and all, but think about how that will impact people on other servers.

[detlef]

I think you've misinterpreted some things and confused a few other things.


You may condescend others, talking as if they haven't experienced this game enough to have an opinion. But if I might say, you sound as though you can only speak to the perspective of somebody who still plays this game for hours at a time. That is out of touch with a portion of the playerbase that has aged and is content to be casual at this game.First, the whole reason I even bring up new/returning players. Ambuscade's been around for what, a year? A little more than that? I've been around for all of that. You need 14.5k hallmarks per month to get the +1 body from total hallmarks, and I've done that. My response to Folken was that I didn't think he'd experienced Ambuscade on a monthly basis because I disagreed with his assertion that there is no congestion in Ambuscade. I came to this conclusion because he's trying to farm hallmarks for vouchers and I assume he was trying to obtain gear he had missed due to being unsubscribed or something so he wouldn't have a good idea of what it could be like when people were competing for instances. If he's been doing it all this time then I was wrong. But casuals should as concerned about congestion as anybody, because often times they don't have a choice when they can log on and can only run during peak NA or JP times.


- My linkshell isn't on. They're on the west coast and I'm on the east coast so we're not on at the same often. And I don't feel like partnering up with strangers today.
- Today, I don't feel like going other peoples' pace. I feel like going at my own pace.
- I'm only going in once each for both Regular and Intense. I'm not going to waste time finding a party when I only intend to be on for less than an hour anyway. I want to log on and log off.
- Maybe I'm a person who doesn't care for gallantry drops; I just want to work on capes today. Otherwise, we already have all the gear we desire already and it's just a matter of upgrading it. There are 5 very low cost metals from just hallmarks and if someone is satisfied to just update one piece every two months, so what?All legitimate reasons of course. I keep to myself a lot of the time for many of the same reasons you do. I guess I should have been clearer. There is no reason not to team up from a rewards standpoint. You could solo Intense VE for 200 hallmarks, or you could team up with a stranger and clear VE faster for the same 200 hallmarks plus a small bonus of 20 gallantry. Or attempt a higher difficulty. I will grant you that 20 gallantry is a piddly amount and you'd be in the right to be critical of that.


It shows in the attitudes of people who have a problem with soloers in this thread that you assume many of the players soloing aren't "gud". Plenty of them are are "gud", probably even by your standards. Sometimes people just feel like soloing and owe you no explanation for why they want to.

So before anybody comes up with a solution that would mandate partying, I get you Asura people think you still have the purest experience of this game and all, but think about how that will impact people on other servers.Hey maybe I have the wrong idea then. A lot of the soloers I see on Valefor (I'm on Valefor by the way) are plenty capable. But at the same time, a lot of the most vocal players on this forum are much less than that. I just wish they'd partner up. A player like you doing a couple Ambuscade runs in a night isn't even noticeable. What I see are people spamming runs back to back to back for a couple hours who would stand to benefit from partying up.

So yeah, I'm not on Asura. I just recognize an issue that negatively impacts a lot of players.

[Stompa]

It shows in the attitudes of people who have a problem with soloers in this thread that you assume many of the players soloing aren't "gud". Plenty of them are are "gud", probably even by your standards. Sometimes people just feel like soloing and owe you no explanation for why they want to.



You're right, and it often takes more skill to "solo with trusts" on the lower difficulty levels, than it takes to just hammer Very Difficult with a team of real players.

My Trusts spam WS that heal the NM when it is in Absorb Skillchain mode, and my healer trusts always make sure they are standing in the path of frontal AOE. Also my healer trusts sometimes prioritise casting Erase on my Gravity effect, instead of curing me. This despite the fact that Gravity does not bother me at all, I have no plans to go jogging, I'm standing still and my health is in the red, but they are removing my Gravity effect. This is especially bad when the NM is using Aura Gravity, so it is a permanent effect.

By contrast, a full party of players, we will all agree beforehand that Gravity is not an issue, and that the priority is to spam cures. And that certain Skillchains will be absorbed, and should be avoided. Etc. Players also have a lot of -DT gear and such, even the healers. This is not the case with Trusts.

There has always been a certain resentment towards solo players in FFXI, dating back to Beastmaster in 2004~ when people would literally stalk BSTs across a map and kill the charm pets. People would wait until the BST was about to switch pets, and the people would suddenly voke the new charm pet, and the BST would be killed by the VT mob s/he was soloing. I also got a lot of resentment when I solo'd on my PUP, although it was never as bad as on BST. I hold the view that people hated solo BST because people were simply ***jealous*** of the mad winly skills that solo BSTs had, and the huge amount of loot BSTs could farm alone.

Re; Ambuscade specifically, I think it is unfair to blame solo players for Ambuscade problems. I would argue that there are too many treasures in Ambuscade, there are the capes and the huge number of cape upgrade materials, there are the armour sets and the metals for +2 armours, and then ontop of that there are all of the valuable RME items and Afterglow rocks which can be purchased.

It is a lot of treasure to offer from one entrance point. I think we should be asking why all of this stuff wasn't spread around 5 different events / entrance points, instead of just blaming people who happen to play solo, either because they simply enjoy playing solo, or because they can't get a decent party on their server / time of day.
:)

[scaevola]

Brace yourselves for a post that will not convince anyone of anything:

Ambuscade queues are only a problem on Asura, and I strongly oppose any change, like a 3-person minimum, that narrows the QoL choices for all players based on the experiences of one server people could leave if they wanted to.

But. But. Ambuscade's structure since its implementation has leaned so heavily towards doing Intense (bigger rewards, harder Regulars, fewer kills for the KI) that I wonder if there's any reason to do Regular at all. This isn't just an efficiency thing: V1VE is as rewarding as - and usually much easier than - V2D, and the KI quest is quicker, too. Shout out to my solo homies, I find soloing Ambuscade while listening to podcasts fun, too, but just shout for three other DDs, get a tank/healer if you can and Trust those slots otherwise, and YOLO V1VE until y'all get bored. It's 119.

[Urmom]

A better restriction would be time limit (or maybe bonuses/penalties based on completion time). Even if you going full pt if you taking that full 30 min you are just as bad as the guy soloing in 5. And that guy taking 15 minutes to solo is really bogging things down. If you taking more than 10 minutes to do this you should be doing an easier difficulty