The new era of communication with the playerbase.

To expand on that notion, the player base has changed. Since Abyssea, we've realized we may not like working with large groups of people for the sake of bodies being present. People left. Circles got smaller. Content should reflect that. If the game were newer, it would be a little different. But facing facts, it's pushing 9 and a half years right now. The idea of a hive mentality of a HNMLS is kind of gone, because all the players who enjoyed that and made the game functional in that way are for the most part gone and have moved onto other things.

tl;dr Abyssea is still going to be where the bulk of people are unless the devs can come up with content that can make a bigger impact on people than Abyssea did.

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Originally Posted by xbobx

Is ffxi considered the mail room now?

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Sadly, I believe it is.

VW is Endgame. If you don't like EG, don't do it. Simple enough, no?

Abyssea is not endgame. It's an EXP camp designed to quickly level players and get them the new Hauby/O.Hat/Turban/SB/SH type gear they needed to compete with Endgame, where they'll get the more powerful gear to push their character further for the extra dedication.

EG is not where the largest jumps in gear power have ever come from. EG is and always has been a bunch of relatively minor upgrades, with a few exceptions, that result in a large difference when combined.

Let's look at 75cap gear progression:
Brigandine (Lowbie)> Hauby (Casual/EXP)> Adaberk (Endgame).

The Brigandine is utterly destroyed by the higher AH gear. The Hauby is clearly inferior to the Adaberk, but obviously there is nowhere near as obscene a stat jump as before.

Now we have AF3+2 that has, for the most part, set the bar ridiculously high compared to our previous gear options. This AF3 is easily obtained and not too badly outclassed by the new armor. As VW progresses, I bet we'll see an Adaberk like jump in gear over AF3+2. This is smart because Casuals will not be too underarmed, and the "elite" crowd will be able to push for better gear. Everyone wins.

Can you people really not see this?

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Originally Posted by Return1

VW is Endgame. If you don't like EG, don't do it. Simple enough, no?

Abyssea is not endgame. It's an EXP camp designed to quickly level players and get them the new Hauby/O.Hat/Turban/SB/SH type gear they needed to compete with Endgame, where they'll get the more powerful gear to push their character further for the extra dedication.

EG is not where the largest jumps in gear power have ever come from. EG is and always has been a bunch of relatively minor upgrades, with a few exceptions, that result in a large difference when combined.

Let's look at 75cap gear progression:
Brigandine (Lowbie)> Hauby (Casual/EXP)> Adaberk (Endgame).

The Brigandine is utterly destroyed by the higher AH gear. The Hauby is clearly inferior to the Adaberk, but obviously there is nowhere near as obscene a stat jump as before.

Now we have AF3+2 that has, for the most part, set the bar ridiculously high compared to our previous gear options. This AF3 is easily obtained and not too badly outclassed by the new armor. As VW progresses, I bet we'll see an Adaberk like jump in gear over AF3+2. This is smart because Casuals will not be too underarmed, and the "elite" crowd will be able to push for better gear. Everyone wins.

Can you people really not see this?

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Knowing your type, that's the best reason NOT to have that kind of jump. You folks are already consigning Paladins to the scrap heap for not having a level 90 Aegis/Ochain/Almace based on really absurd standards. What makes you think you professional endgamers won't do that to every other player that isn't into Voidwatch?

Pretty soon, you'll be putting down people who wear their complete AF3+2 gear. It's no different from high school when it comes to MMO elitists, except for the fact some of you have long left.

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Originally Posted by Malamasala

It is a bit random when they listen. I'm still amazed they adjusted shock squall when they could have done their usual "working as intended, go away" solution.

The problem is that they managed to make the game fun with abyssea, then decided that fun was yesterdays news and we should return to boring.

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Voidwatch is more fun than abyssea. It's nice that all jobs are useful again and everyone can play any job they want instead of WHM BLM/BRD THF NIN MNK BLU ONRY

Abyssea <~ Exp camps
WoE <~ Sky
Voidwatch <~ Sea
"Dungeon Crawling" <~ Einherjar/ZNM

this is basically what SE looks to be following along the lines of now.

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Originally Posted by Hayward

Pretty soon, you'll be putting down people who wear their complete AF3+2 gear. It's no different from high school when it comes to MMO elitists, except for the fact some of you have long left.

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Baring a few macrod situational examples (Such as rdm's casting buffs on someone with composure up) if you wear complete af3+2 you are doing it horribly wrong. Good players who understand the merits of gear swapping, and compare pieces of gear against each other based on their actual stats, not their ease of obtaining or model design, have been putting down people who fulltime 5/5 AF3+2 since it was intoduced.

There are very few situations when you should use 5/5 AF3+2 accross all the jobs, and for most of those it's a case of being macrod in for one spell (Whm barspells, Rdm composured buffs, etc) or ability.

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Originally Posted by Shiyo

Voidwatch is more fun than abyssea. It's nice that all jobs are useful again and everyone can play any job they want instead of WHM BLM/BRD THF NIN MNK BLU ONRY

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You must not do Voidwatch at all with that statement.

noodles monk was here af3+2 is ok for us! * i hate the fact but it still stands*

I have to agree with her, voidwatch is fun. It's challenging, requires good strategies, and SE totally got the whole "make EVERY job useful" thing right.

The only thing SE fucked up (really, REALLY fucked up...) is the drop system. That's it. If they can fix that, voidwatch will be pretty much awesome all around.