[Dev1019] Voidwatch Reward System Suggestion
Let me start off by saying that Voidwatch is an enjoyable change of pace from Abyssea, and I want to see more of it (made harder). It encourages people to bring a wide array of jobs and presents challenging monsters to overcome.
Voidwatch Part I is just the tip of the iceberg, and I sincerely hope that it's a bucket of cold water to prepare us for jumping into a frozen lake in terms of challenge. The current Voidwatch is a step in the right direction, I want it to be even more difficult in the times to come.
However, what I want to say is this: We should be challenged by the difficulty of killing these monsters, not suffering a seemingly random yet binding lewt pool for the individual players. I understand the notion behind this, and I want to applaud you for coming up with a way to ensure that everyone participating gets something out of it. However, I do wish to see a feature implemented that allows a player to place specific items into a group treasure pool.
Don't make it an all or nothing system like abyssea when placing the contents of a gold pyxsis into the pool within abyssea, but rather a piece-specific option. This way, the player has the option of taking it directly for themself, but also the option of giving an item they don't want to a party member that does.
Say for example, I'm fighting Voidwrought. I get the Strendu Ring (M.Acc+2, MAB+4) in my pool. I am a Dragoon, Paladin, and Ranger. Obviously, this item is of no interest to me, but because it is rare/ex, it will not find its way to a proper home. Now say my mage friend gets a Fazheluo Radiant Mail + Strendu Ring in his pool. He's obviously delighted by the ring, but the body is of no use to him.
What I want to see is a system refinement that allows him to take his Strendu Ring directly, but place the Body into a group treasure pool, so that it might go to someone who would make use of it.
Yes, I do see the downside to my proposed adjustment, which would result in players selling Voidwatch gear. Perhaps a requirement where the pool is limited by players who possess the appropriate stratum abyssite (in this example: Jade Stratum Abyssite IV) and consumed a Voidstone in order to be elligble to lot.
I do not want to see Voidwatch made easy like Abyssea, I want it to continue INCREASING in difficulty, but I want the difficulty to be in the monsters, not the reward system.
I apologize if there is already a thread going for this. I tried a search, and didn't find anything.
Noble intentions, but a bad stance to take.
Okay, upon further digging, I came across an older thread on this topic, found here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Camate
Since the voidwatch reward system was set up so that each player could receive their own individual rewards, we have no plans to add a feature that allows you to place the rewards into the treasure pool.
To be a bit more specific, this system is different than the original treasure system so that no matter how many players you have participating in a voidwatch battle, as long as you succeed, you will always be able to receive something as compensation.
Do not get me wrong, Camate, I applaud the notion behind this. But the sheer fact of the matter is that it ends up in terrible application when it comes to rare/ex drops. Each person technically has the potential to get the best / desired drop in their chest at the same time, even in a full alliance, but the sheer drop rate says that even one person obtaining the item they want is VERY unlikely to happen. And it can be very disheatening to envision fighting a difficult monster over and over, trading cells and doing allignment every single time, not seeing a drop, and then to have someone come along and get it on an early try, only for them not to even want it, because their jobs are different from yours. They cannot give it to you, because it is exclusive, and there is no means for them to tell the system "I want someone else to have this."
Consider this:
Even by using the allignment system (including cells), drops are rare, except for key items.
Upper-tier monsters have multiple drops for the treasure pool to select from.
The method for determining which of these shows up in a given player's box is completely random, and independent of their jobs.
The system will not even check if the player HAS a given rare item before placing it into his box. You will not raise your odds of seeing the item you want by holding onto the ones you don't.
The rare/ex gear is often very job-specific in its usefulness.
I want to say again, that it was a good idea behind the system, to ensure that everyone participating got a chance to see rewards from the endevour, but the vast majority of what fills the treasure boxes is nothing more than NPC food. I would personally rather see nothing at all than the dirt cheap crafting materials that often make up my rewards.
Now I'm not suggesting a total overhaul of the entire system, I'm not requesting something entirely different, all I'm asking to see is an option where exclusive items are not bound by the fate the random number generator deals them in regards to who obtains them. Voidwatch is slated to have at least four parts, and we've only seen the first. It saddens me to think that we're liable to end up fighting a war of attrition similar to the initial release of salvage for gear that currently isn't even all that great.
Which leads me to my next point: Don't hold yourselves back in the limitations of gear. I'm sure you often think of AF3 as being this whole "vision of the job" gear that everyone should strive to obtain...but if you refuse to make anything better than that, you're going to find it VERY difficult to release anything players are going to pursue at 99. AF3 was released too early and is FAR too easy to obtain. You NEED to make gear that dedicated players are going to want, even if it means dethroning the empyrean armors. It's fine to make good staple gear, that anyone can obtain with a little bit of work, but make the absolute best hard to obtain, so that not just anyone can obtain it.
Voidwatch is a difficult event, and I want to see it continue down that path. And difficulty should reap rewards. As-is, Abyssea is easy to the point of making skill obsolete, yet results in most of the best gear available at this time. Voidwatch is very difficult, but very few of the drops are actually worthwhile. The grasshopper players do not feel they're missing out by not rising to the challenges, because there's nothing jaw-droppingly amazing in it.
To be fair, we're still 90, and I don't know what the devs have planned for the future of gear. I just don't want to see FFXI at lv99 where the grasshopper players are wearing the same gear that the ants are, when the ants work hard to be the best that they can be, but are held back by a lack of means to improve themselves.