Interim Report – Sorry to keep you all waiting!

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Originally Posted by Caketime

Lost in translation, perhaps?

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Which is why I also asked if they could rephrase it.

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Originally Posted by ManaKing

Bump for new page. Selfish, I know.

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What about for the people with 40 posts per page?

Hello everyone! :)

Producer Akihiko Matsui responded to a couple comments, and I thought you might like to hear what he had to say.

In regards to a player's suggestion to make the final level cap quest battle less stressful by removing the rare status on the Olde Rarab Tail item, he mentioned that it was a good idea that was viable and possible to implement in a short period of time, and gave a follow-up response:

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

QA testing on this has concluded and we will just barely be able to implement this adjustment in the December version update. Specifically we will be changing the below:

• Removal of the rare status on Olde Rarab Tail / Fossilzed Fang / Fossilized Bone
• Increase of stack size from 1 to 12 for Olde Rarab Tail / Seasoning Stone / Fossilized Fang / Fossilized Bone

We also looked into the removal of the rare status from the fossils as well, and decided that we did not want to increase the amount of times players need to run around to get them, since we already have players taking time gaining battle experience and going around to defeat monsters to obtain these items.

We'd like to see a great deal of players get past this quest and become level 99, so please give it a shot.

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

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This touches on something that is unrelated the topic at hand and might be traumatic for you, but creating an evasive tank with Utsusemi expanded the game and I really enjoy tanking as a ninja.

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I probably didn't explain this part too well.
I wasn't talking about the strategy of evasion tanking, what was traumatic was the history of mass producing monsters that countered evasion tanks. ><

I vaguely remember reading a blog post of an acquaintance that really stuck with me and made me realize evasion tanking has spread beyond just ninja:
"Today I was thinking, wow, I'm not having any trouble getting shadows up, but it turns out the dark knight was timing my shadows perfectly and supporting me with stuns. It was too awesome ♡”

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And finally, a response in regards to a comment about scholar and the position that they will be placed in without the current Embrava effects.

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Originally Posted by Akihiko_Matsui

I believe that scholars who have very potent regen and the ability to extend enhancement effect durations will be useful in content such as the salvage that is to be implemented. However, I realize that there are disagreements between the thoughts of the development side and the thoughts of all of the players. Moving forward we will be closely monitoring the conditions of the public servers and be making adjustments as necessary based on all of your feedback. Please continue to hold discussions on the forums.

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I'm really impressed with his replys I've been reading. He comes foward with a good ounce of humlity along with a willingness to listen to the playerbase with some open ears instead of the closed windows we'd been used to dealing with for years on FFXI when it came to the Dev team in terms of actually making content more viable.

I'm still pushing for a slim chance the devs will introduce a currency exchange NPC for Walk of Echos seeing as nobody really ever wants or uses Coins of Ruin for nothing then throwing away. Walk of Echos is ok for the most part but, it's a pain when you do 12 to 14 runs for one single coin and it's not even the one you wanted. :|

The basic problem with the final Limit Break is that it still needs a group, and players stuck on 95 often can't get groups unless they pay asinine mercenary fees. Making the quest items less painful to get is fine, but until the fight itself doesn't need a full group, or anything like, then this roadblock remains intact.

Not really, you fail to understand this I believe. By making tails stackable, and non-rare, you can use more, 1 tail is amazing, it allows it to be trioed effortlessly now, so far as I understand. That means with 2 or 3, it would be easy to solo, them allowing the items you trade to be able to stack, and be non-rare, means more people are likely to sell them as well, prices will likely be fairly cheap due to ease of obtainment, making it overall a simple task of farming or buying a few items, and walking away with the prize.

Still not convinced until they do something about RDM's Elemental Seal -1. It's kind of become a test to see how much they are actually listening.

As far as the tail allowing a Limit Break 99 solo, it would, but you would need to time it correctly, because the interim between tail uses is more than enough time for him to kill you instantly with a WS. It's probably best to still go with 2-3 people so you don't end up wasting tails.

Really, even now, with a tail, a well-geared SAM could probably solo him. I helped a group of pink-clad clowns once and they were able to beat him with just one tail, too.

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Originally Posted by saevel

Still not convinced until they do something about RDM's Elemental Seal -1. It's kind of become a test to see how much they are actually listening.

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RDM SP2 is not designed to work with the current system but a future version of FFXI. The previous SP2 would definitely be nice, but it wouldn't do anything to give RDM an edge over /RDM so we'd still be out of a job...
Just wish SE would release more info about it.

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Originally Posted by Kristal

RDM SP2 is not designed to work with the current system but a future version of FFXI.

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Lol wishful thinking.

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Originally Posted by Kristal

RDM SP2 is not designed to work with the current system but a future version of FFXI. The previous SP2 would definitely be nice, but it wouldn't do anything to give RDM an edge over /RDM so we'd still be out of a job...
Just wish SE would release more info about it.

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Bulvine Scatology

It's Elemental Seal but worse on a 60m timer. There is absolutely no difference between

Elemental Seal Slow II
RDM SH!T MOVE Slow II

They both jack Magic Acc up to cap though RDM SH!T MOVE only works on enfeebles and can be resisted vs ES which works on everything and is significantly higher magic accuracy (damn near cap on anything).

This is one of those things that some dip sh!t said "Hey we want RDM to be focused on enfeebles right, so lets like give them an ability to enhance their magic acc" and the next guy over says "dude I was just trying to thing of a limited SP ability for RDM that they couldn't possibly use to solo any content with, thanks for helping me out"

That is exactly (or a close approximation of) how it happened. There was no careful planning, no reviewing game mechanics, none of that. No it was a random a$$ idea someone pulled out, something BTW that RDM's have actually mentioned being given on a 10m timer, and threw on a table.

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Originally Posted by FrankReynolds

Lol wishful thinking.

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That Encomium is meant to be used against formerly immune NMs was hinted at by the devs.
It's wishfull thinking RDM might actually be wanted again for endgame content because of it.

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Originally Posted by saevel

Bovine Scatology

It's Elemental Seal but worse on a 60m timer. There is absolutely no difference between

Elemental Seal Slow II
RDM SH!T MOVE Slow II

They both jack Magic Acc up to cap though RDM SH!T MOVE only works on enfeebles and can be resisted vs ES which works on everything and is significantly higher magic accuracy (damn near cap on anything).

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You fail to see the difference between "Magic Accuracy +X" and "Ignores Magic Evasion". While in effect they might be the same RIGHT NOW, the upcoming changes to resistance will change the playing field. Elemental Seal will not allow you to land enfeebles on formerly immune NMs, because their Magic Evasion is so frigging high it takes ES'd Immunobreaks to land a gimp enfeeble.

Wether or not that makes RDM wanted again remains to be seen, but at least it's a step in the right direction. (It beats yet another solo ability.)

Even if RDM was the only job that could land said enfeeble with the use of this ability, that still wouldn't be useful, because it's on a 1-hour recast and slow II only lasts 3 minutes. I doubt the same monsters where something you would NEED these enfeebles to stick are the same ones that only last 3 minutes.

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Originally Posted by Kincard

As far as the tail allowing a Limit Break 99 solo, it would, but you would need to time it correctly, because the interim between tail uses is more than enough time for him to kill you instantly with a WS. It's probably best to still go with 2-3 people so you don't end up wasting tails.

Really, even now, with a tail, a well-geared SAM could probably solo him. I helped a group of pink-clad clowns once and they were able to beat him with just one tail, too.

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Indeed, and a samurai doesn't even need to be that well-geared for it.

Also, there's plenty of time to use a new tail after the effect wears off. The tarooo~ does no longer unleash a barrage of weapon skills like it used to at that point. It is quite disheartening to imagine that anyone would still have troubles with it (or trouble with having anyone to help with it), but I guess it is possible.

So with that said, it's definitely a good direction to go, allowing the items to stack and become less rare... so to speak.

Ii no tsuushin. ^^

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Originally Posted by SNK

I'm really impressed with his replys I've been reading. He comes foward with a good ounce of humlity along with a willingness to listen to the playerbase with some open ears instead of the closed windows we'd been used to dealing with for years on FFXI when it came to the Dev team in terms of actually making content more viable.

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Agreed.

Now if we could get rid of this 10 mob/xp at once cap that kills blu CW in favor of war's FC (who are mostly rmt anyway), and of course help the tarus out, we'd be golden! :D

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Originally Posted by Sapphires

Im going to rant on voidwatch a bit here since some others brought it up:


Right now there is a voidwatch shout after not seeing any for a couple hours. I am posting on this forum instead of joining that shout because I am second guessing whether i should spend 120k gil yet again for 6 more chances at something that has a 1 in 1500 chance of dropping.

You have game content I want to play and enjoy but you have turned it into a moneysink that has become increasingly frustrating due to 'bad luck' and a system that replenishes voidstones too slowly.
Something like Qilin is not hard game content, it is now a loot grind that I have to keep paying gil to participate in for a rare/ex drop.

I use rubi cells, red alignment always capped to 550% so what gives with your battle content design and sense of balance? I enjoy the luck factor but there comes a tipping point where players get bitter and angry their time and gil invested does not yield the treasure they desire from these events.


To compound this frustration, voidwatch participation has been suffering also partly due to not everyone being willing to 'gamble' on voidwatch and buy voiddust. Your perceived success of the event in the past was largely tainted by the cruor->gil abuse that had been going on.
Since that correction to the cruor->gil was made, event participation has dropped off significantly because voiddust are no longer subsidized through the previous cruor->gil conversion.

When I want to play FFXI and do voidwatch, most of the time im doing something else like reading forums and glancing at the chatlog window for a voidwatch shout. This is why people say they 'log in and have nothing to do' because they are doing the same thing. People are standing around waiting for something to happen, but your game design and RL time limtations on things like voidstones replenishing are largely to blame here.

I feel that the dev team should rebalance the event and encourage participation in voidwatch by having stones replenish quicker or implement an optional reward system where perhaps some lofty goal of turning in 1000 petrifacts would entitle the player to a pulse weapon/item/abjuration of their choice. At least with an absurd requirement of 1000 petrifacts, there is a 'light at the end of the tunnel' for someone grinding voidwatch that much.

The problem with FFXI battle content design and balance is that it is afraid of people 'winning too fast':
far too many hours before voidstones replenish
1 day wait to enter dynamis again
20 hour cooldown on meeble phermones
3day wait for einherjar
1 day wait for an imperial ID tag so I can do 1 assault/nyzul run
and so on.....

stop making game content that I have to wait around for to play. People making more than 1 empyrean/relic should have made this obviously clear to you by now that people will keep playing even if they 'win' at something. People wont quit, they'll find something else to do and keep paying their subscriptions instead of quitting out of frustration.

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There is no words to define how I love this post.

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Originally Posted by Kristal

That Encomium is meant to be used against formerly immune NMs was hinted at by the devs.
It's wishfull thinking RDM might actually be wanted again for endgame content because of it.

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So your theory is that they are going to design monsters that are only susceptible to one specific debuff and only when cast by a red mage under SP2 effects... think about that for a minute.

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Originally Posted by Kristal

You fail to see the difference between "Magic Accuracy +X" and "Ignores Magic Evasion". While in effect they might be the same RIGHT NOW, the upcoming changes to resistance will change the playing field. Elemental Seal will not allow you to land enfeebles on formerly immune NMs, because their Magic Evasion is so frigging high it takes ES'd Immunobreaks to land a gimp enfeeble.

Wether or not that makes RDM wanted again remains to be seen, but at least it's a step in the right direction. (It beats yet another solo ability.)

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The purpose of "bullvine" totally whooshed you while you were trying to formulate a response.

Umm ... you realize the RDM one doesn't "ignore magic evasion right? It can be resisted meaning MA / ME is still in effect. All it does is give a boost to MA and set the critical resist limit to 1/2 instead of 1/4 or 1/5. Elemental Seal does far more and is on a 10m timer.

Their "magic resistance" change already happened, or did you miss that train? It was called immunobreak. Our current resistance system is what we will have for the next couple of years.

I thought this comment from the ala forums sum up many thoughts of returning vets (or those long departe) and the complaints of a certain loss of "heart" in FFXI that has been eating at it's soul for a while now. I joined FFXI in 2004 and was leader of MithraPride Phoenix for 6 some years. I have played just about every aspect in the game from combat related content to passive content such as chocobo raising, fishing, pankration, whathaveyou. I enjoyed mentoring players from little'ol level 1s to level 99 powerhouses. Many of the people I taught went on to form HMN Lses to dynamis lses and lvl 75 content beyond.

The most fun I had in FFXI was mid level oddly enough. I enjoyed the steady pace of leveling and helping others along the road as well. I made tight knit friendships in those days. I made a LS for the SOLE intent of involving lower level players in large group events. Yes... large scale battles for new players which they has a BLAST doing. Garrisons, eco-warriors, CoP, expeditionary forces. All of those COULD be done by low level players BECAUSE there were level caps back then. There was some content back in the day that gave new players a bang for their buck WITHOUT having to warp to level 75 or 99. People were interested in those events because they gave gear that could be used solely in events like CoP and the before mentioned ones.

Now the level caps are gone. Leveling is set to light speed. 75% of your existing game content that was made in the past serves NO purpose now. It's far too easy to complete and offers no rewards of any use. After all, if you warp players to 99, why do you need special gear or items for them? There is no need and 75% of vanadiel becomes tumbleweeds.

You are pandering to existing and returning players, yes, but what about new ones? If FFXI is to survive you need NEW blood. New players, with meaningful things to do on the way to level 99... or the game seems... unfinished. I miss the old members of my LS:

Brynmor
Aadfiyyuna
Califlower
Yamamotokenshin
Emphulax
Wayako
Aeona
Tedz
Kogoro
Tofu
Shdwlancer
Crouriant
Reginhart
Taz
Volkai
Quibly
Quorc
Quintessa
Jimi
Okatsu
Siconda
Slander
Ryth
Tinythumbs
Igigi
Keirah
Esyra
Tazmaliah
Laaha
Imori
Sampson
Aroshen
Aeroz
Thorquin
Genisis
Nomax
Uway
Renald
Aspen
Kakerot
Mickdangerous
Blaquepearl
Bolvvek
Coltrain
Rihku
Iruka
Demonicafox
Rossjr
Pumira
Parabellum
Eion
Kyulu
Atada
Datu
Arkumi
Silverdragon
Baldmonkey
Giblit
Danza
Pumyra
Tigriess
Amphiruru
Mertutu
Umpaloopa
Tsafyah
Maddia
Sunn
Hanagumi
Ultirian
Lynnisadi
Igothl
Evey
Xanthiris
Shazzaak
Cerealkiller
Nomax
Murdy
Verdei
Harvin
Frosted
Karma
Soulstorm
Shupyuu
Shizuko
Khaled
Maxiex
Anumi
Inyourwasha
Satrams
Praeline
Bazel
Katrity
Kmgb
Ishamael
Zortho
Tinacat
Chaoskitten

I still keep in contact with them on facebook and many wish to return... they really do... but they find the lack of low level content, the fast exp and just the plain unity of the community is gone in FFXI.

If you don't wish to re-instate the level caps for CoP... or slow down the leveling process, at least include an option for those who WANT to play the game how it was. Maybe add better rewards for completing CoP with a lvl cap on, or add new relevent rewards for older content like garrison and maybe retool it.

Now about that ala quote:

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I came back from a 2 year break and had to start over. I have been here from 2006 on and thought it was great there was a challenge in the game. Challenge meaning for instance, the dreaded Airship battle, old style. There was only a certain percent of people that could beat that battle. I really liked the fact that it challenged my playstyle, thinking about enmity, how much to cure, how to act and how my team members had to act. In fact, it wasnt hard at all, as long as you had people that knew how to play, iow, had experience and insight. People without the knowledge or skill had little chance of beating this fight. Yes, I kinda regret that I couldnt get a casual team through this fight when leading a CoP run myself, what I really disliked is that they took away the option to try the old difficulty and took the challenge away.

It's ridiculously easy to get good gear nowadays, good gear that doesnt matter what you do, you can get it done with very little skill involved whatsoever. No content (besides certain battlefields or events that require ace gear to complete, for instance New Nyzul Ilse, that only gets you more uber-gear which there is no need for anyway but e-peen or completing the same content in an easier way), is hard. It's mostly boring and needless to do.

The problem I have is that I want to try difficult battles and I can find few people that have the skill involved to complete it. That DOESNT mean "Spam this monster 1000 times and maybe get the drop you want". That's not difficult, that's boring. Voidwatch high tier bosses might be difficult to beat without empyrean, relic or mythic weapons, but it's certainly possible. I would like to try them without relics, mythics and empyrean weapons and have the droprate increased for rare items if I complete it that way. Yes, that will upset all the people who can only do it the easy way by buying displacers, demanding relic wielding players and get a lower droprate on that gear. Doesnt really matter if they spam those fights or try the hard fights. At least, I have a CHOICE to choose to do it the hard way, and get rewarded in the process, somewhat. I replayed CoP and all the other add-ons and the only thing I was thinking was: Damn, this content is easy and there are almost no players to team up with/or willing to help me out. It's the journey of sharing, failing and finally succeeding that is the most fun to do. Where is the challenge? Shinryu? Maybe the first time without atma's and stats boosts, or without people brewing, having top tier gear, etc etc. There is NO challenge in this game, and when there is, it's because of unfair difficulties or ridiculous demands for a party to have gear-wise.

My point is, level 75 had a balance, yes the game was harder, I didnt mind at all. HNMs were a problem to get drops from. Did you need those drops? Not at all. You could complete all the storyline fights without any problems with a good team or help from experienced players WITHOUT top-tier gear.

The game's difficulty is a joke. Especially after coming back when 2 years have passed. And the new director wants to LOWER the difficulty?? Are you kidding me? Are games meant to be easy nowadays to be enjoyable? Or does difficulty means, get all the top-tier in the game and maybe you can win? With horrible droprates?

The problem with FFXI nowadays is that the majority of players are all casual players. That means there's not much knowledge of game strategy or structure on how battles are fought. It means grinding for all the top-tier gear and lower the difficulty by doing that. I remember doing certain battlefields and boss fights with a weird setup, without the "required" setup, like rdm for refresh, bards, blms etc etc. And winning! That was fun. Those were the good times. Going in with Pups, Smns and other jobs that weren't considered to be needed or useful and getting the win. I had a choice in doing so, even with difficult fights. I had a choice to make it harder by going in without the usual setups.

Now I dont have that choice, cause the storylines particularly have been pathetic in difficulty since the increase of the level cap. My only choice is to increase the difficulty by level syncing to 75 (and then it's still dumbed down from the initial difficulty). Guys, Im sad. Im glad I see lots of hardcore players returning and they are even more easy to recognise because of skill, but the way things are going, even more distance between the hardcore and casual players are being created. You need to bring everyone together again. Give us a reason to play together, to do content together. With the current difficulty and the coming lowering of the difficulty it's gonna be more soloing or dumb teaming up for Voidwatch and just zerg everything with a little incentive of strategy (read not really strategy).

I really hope A Realm Reborn is gonna be very difficult, or at least Seekers of Adoulin, cause im already bored after 6 months of playing from the start and there is no need to get better gear, I can trio everything in the game besides the level 99 hard fights. With decent, AH bought (mostly) gear. I miss the community, which you needed to have if you wanted to progress. I miss the hardcore players. I miss the hardcore players to help the casual players. Now, there is almost no need to. There is almost no knowledge about how to play a job given to newer players, they dont need to, they can leech almost anything, there is no reason to learn.

As a closing statement, Im by no means an expert player, or the best player there is out there, im a decent player, who thinks up fun strategies to beat a boss, and was known for that too. Beating bosses with very different setups. Now, there is no need to think up fun strategies, the game is too easy. Especially for returning players. I was never a fan of HNMLSs or doing Dynamis a 1000 times to maybe get a gear drop through a point system based egls. I would love to play casual, as long as the difficulty is still there, and not this dumbed down game that has stolen my heart with challenge in the past.

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Please please please... I know you wish to cater to casual players but you don't have to dumb the difficulty to do so. Just give them more things to do along the way. More things to accomplish. Toss out some capped events that lower level players can take part in while high level (and low level) players can unite to have a fun gaming experience, with a dash of challenge. Warping speeding every character to level 99 is the easy way out and you know it. You can make the game equally as fun if you spread around events with rewards that benefit all. Do that and you will have the happy medium you desire.

-Prrsha and the MithraPride (also Emerald Arcanum) crew.

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Originally Posted by Eyeballed

FFXI is a live horse? Hahahaha.

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This actually just proves his point.

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Originally Posted by Kristal

RDM SP2 is not designed to work with the current system but a future version of FFXI. The previous SP2 would definitely be nice, but it wouldn't do anything to give RDM an edge over /RDM so we'd still be out of a job...
Just wish SE would release more info about it.

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You are playing right into SE's hands and you have no idea just how much sh!t this RDM SP2 actually is regardless of system changes. Since I know you mean well, I'll break it down for you.

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Originally Posted by Camate

Many people are commenting that the effect is no different than Elemental Seal. While Elemental Seal greatly increases the accuracy of spells, its effect is still limited by resistances, so there are cases where highly resistant monsters will still resist a spell used in conjunction with Elemental Seal. On the other hand, red mage's new special ability will guarantee the spell to land ignoring resistance, so the effect is stronger than Elemental Seal.

The development team has been working on adjustments to greatly reduce monsters with immunity, and nearly all of the monsters that have immunities have been adjusted for Voidwatch, Legion, and the higher-tier Limbus/Einherjar. We will continue to address other monsters for each content. (The ability cannot be used on monsters with immunity; however, the effect will not wear off in these cases and you can use the effect in conjunction with your next spell.)

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This post tries to state the difference between Elemental Seal and RDM SP2, but you and I both know that in reality, they really are just the same thing. The one difference they have (outside of duration), is that the SP2 is a guarantee to land. This means that no matter how resistant the mob is (barring immunity), the spell will land regardless of your statistical deficiencies.

But there's two things to notice here:

1: The RDM SP2 does not enhance the potency of the enfeebling spell. All it does is guarantee that the spell will land.
2: They are making sweeping changes to negate immunity to multiple NMs.

#2 is extremely important, because if mobs are no longer able to just go "lolimmune" to a RDM's enfeebles, that means RDM will be able to land enfeebles normally without the help of MAcc+ JA's.

But the next question would be, "what if they don't make them immune, but so resistant that you would need to use MAcc+ JA's for them to work anyway"? Then we're back to where we started and nothing has changed at all. RDM still has crappy enfeebles they can't land without riding on Immunobreak, and since Elemental Seal is on a 10 minute timer and has a massive MAcc buff, people will op to use that over the RDM SP2.

Ah, but here's the last question, "What if they make them so resistant that not even Elemental Seal would work?"

Then they are immune.

This may sound silly at first, maybe absurd. But it makes perfect sense if you sit back and think about it. If you make them so resistant that only a 1 hour JA can break that resistance, then SE ends up doing the very same thing that they stated was a mistake on their test servers, that RDM SP2 cannot break immunity. But if you make it so that only the RDM SP2 can land an enfeeble immediately (changing 100% resistance to 99% resistance), then the mob is considered immune, and the SP2 just happens to break that rule.

You see the problem here? In order for the RDM SP2 to considered useful, they either have to jack up monster resistances to such high levels that not even Elemental Seal can break it, or the RDM would have to be so gimped in gear and skill that the SP2 would be the only way for them to land an enfeeble. The former just makes RDM more useless than it already is. The latter only makes the SP2 a crutch until the RDM gets better MAcc. Either way, one of two extremes have to happen to make the SP2 look useful, and neither extremes help RDM in any way possible.

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Originally Posted by Eyeballed

Sorry if I missed it, but wasn't he speaking to Prrsha's recollections as though they were dead and bid good-riddance in light of the "new" FFXI whose current number of active players so greatly outnumbers those during that period? The game today versus the game then is a blatant joke.

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He's saying it'll never happen because FFXI is so old that new players hardly trickles in, so it's better to cater to the folks who still plays. Remember, FFXIV: ARR is Square's golden child at the moment. They're not looking to bring in new players, just maintain the current ones.

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Originally Posted by Carth

He's saying it'll never happen because FFXI is so old that new players hardly trickles in, so it's better to cater to the folks who still plays. Remember, FFXIV: ARR is Square's golden child at the moment. They're not looking to bring in new players, just maintain the current ones.

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Oh, FFXIV... you mean that "live" horse that adopted the "new" FFXI and failed beyond miserably? As XIV is currently being rebooted and servers have been shut down, people have tossed around the idea of coming back to XI. From what I've read, the consensus is "I would, but it's a shadow of its former self and I wouldn't enjoy it as it is now." This is due to the fact that many of XIV's original subscribers migrated from XI in 2010. They got shafted in that game, and found themselves to be twice shafted as there was no returning to the type of gameplay XI once had. That is why in the last year the total subs between both games has been knee-slappingly laughable.

And I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I read that Yoshida's primary concern was not retaining the current playerbase. His focus was to bring new players in and quitters back. Of course keeping the current players is not a bad idea at any rate. But, how miniscule is that total number opposed to the potential number of people he could have playing the game, the latter makes better business sense to me.

Essentially, SE's fucked up so bad the name of the game now is "Let's see how many of our fans we can shit all over and still come out on top."

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Originally Posted by Eyeballed

And I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I read that Yoshida's primary concern was not retaining the current playerbase.

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What does Yoshida have to do with anything about FFXI's playerbase?

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Originally Posted by Carth

What does Yoshida have to do with anything about FFXI's playerbase?

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That comment was aimed toward XIV players. So essentially, nothing at all. Unless you consider the design philosophies both games have suffered, which is exactly what Yoshida is pushing for. Honestly, I'm not sure why XIV got brought up to begin with. But naturally when you switch the focus from XI to XIV mid-paragraph and then follow it with the suggestion of, "They're not looking to bring in new players...etc.", I assumed you were referencing 14.

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Originally Posted by FrankReynolds

Stop beating a dead horse. Go find a live one to ride.

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Same could be said for all the "woe is rdm" posters who insist on bringing up the same shit in every popular thread.

I'd rather read random yearning for the nostalgia of days gone by than the cacophony of whining rdms who just can't accept that the world has moved on.

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Originally Posted by Carth

1: The RDM SP2 does not enhance the potency of the enfeebling spell. All it does is guarantee that the spell will land.
2: They are making sweeping changes to negate immunity to multiple NMs.

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If they made the ja bypass and overrule immunities, and go on a 30 minute timer, then it might not be so bad.

Even if it could bypass immunities it wouldn't be terribly useful, because slow II (Which is probably the most desirable enfeebling I can think of, aside from maybe Dia, which doesn't get resisted) only lasts 3 minutes. Something that is hard enough to actually warrant a RDM a spot so they can 100% land a slow II is going to live longer than 3 minutes, which means that either
1. You need a bring multiple RDMs to keep your enfeebles up constantly, because it is simply that unmanageable without the debuffs present, or
2. The enfeeble is not essential enough to warrant 1, so you don't bring a RDM at all.
Neither one is a good idea.

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Originally Posted by Aldersyde

Same could be said for all the "woe is rdm" posters who insist on bringing up the same shit in every popular thread.

I'd rather read random yearning for the nostalgia of days gone by than the cacophony of whining rdms who just can't accept that the world has moved on.

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I'd prefer neither, but they did say "We would like to see people get to level 99 quickly". They never said "we would like to see people stop playing red mage". Although it wouldn't surprise me at this point if the devs just said "Look, that job is never going to be good again. We are concentrating on other things that we like better now".

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Originally Posted by FrankReynolds

I'd prefer neither, but they did say "We would like to see people get to level 99 quickly". They never said "we would like to see people stop playing red mage". Although it wouldn't surprise me at this point if the devs just said "Look, that job is never going to be good again. We are concentrating on other things that we like better now".

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His comment about lightspeeding players to level 99 made my jaw drop. It's far too easy already plus it is done using such horrible and lackluster strategies like AFK book burning in dungeons. Players just... sit there AFK and leech! It's like the game is populated by dual boxers and zombies. It doesn't give new players that warm and fuzzy feeling that FFXI had before.

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode...cing-for-skill

I beg you to check out this link. It really is relevant for the current state FFXI is in. "Fooing" is the name of the game in FFXI now. There are so many exploits now it makes my head spin. People have already proven you can climb the latter to level 99 in TWO days just from leeching alone... and now they want to speed it up more?

If what he is saying is true (that a player needs to get to level 99 just to have "fun" in the game) then you should erase levels all together. It's a crazy statement but he's making a crazy proposal. That is the EASY way out.

Slow down the leveling process but add content along the way is entertaining for ALL playing levels. A level cap on certain events is one way to do this. For example: One could design a system like conquest in WotG but have battle fields of varying levels caps and (here is the key to this) make it EASY to access. In a campaign battle, all a person has to do is walk up to a NPC and join in to earn points. The are no flags or LFP nonsense. You just join in and leave when you wish to. Everyone obtains points... and should leave with something of value (no booby prizes please). Let the point system take care of that. The key is to make the battles have level caps of various levels (like in garrison) 20, 30, 40, 50 e.g. Let each tier of capped events give out different items that players of ALL levels need. That way players of ALL levels... level 20-99 can unite and play beside one another and have... dare I say it... fun.

When people are not in group events like this (and are in downtime), bring back the 6 party dynamic again but, please do away with the current archaic of searching for party members. There should be no need to type in a string of syntaxes to find players willing to party. Add a new form of GUI that replaces the old one. Players should be able to flag quests/missions etc they need help in and it should show up on a global board (or even a chat room). That way players can co-ordinate and meet up with ease to tackle certain group centric goals with a click of a mouse.

If I need help with a mission, I should be able to choose it from a list and flag it. It then should appear on a global board for all to see and assist if they need help with the same thing. The same could go for leveling parties. Have people enter a desired amount of people they need to level with and other players could just fill the list until the limit is reaches (six people or less).

I know this seems like alot of work, but to be frank, FFXI needs alot of attention. It has been neglected for a long time now. If you wish to bring it back to its glory days, don't just take the easy way out and have people "skip" 75% of the content of game... bring it back by introducing new interfaces that embrace it.

The fun of a game should not be in the goal at the end, but in the journey too that goal. Currently FFXI lacks that from 20-99 and placing a "speed" band-aid on it just makes things worse not better.

Edit: To make this work btw, there needs to be a better form of armor storage that is newbee friendly and free of charge. Maybe a GUI that gives you a "paper doll" to equip and have those armor/weapon setups appear in your inventory with a click of a mouse. (Maybe make use of the mannequins that sit idle in moghouses). It would be a macro system for quick equiping a character with various setup for level caps (A data dump for level 20, 30, 40 etc) that can be accessed at the moghouse or nomad moogle. No cards to mix up like the current system has.

This concept would also make certain armor/weapons/gear worth money again. It would give a boost to low level crafter's wallets and give new players low level NMs to hunt again.

Last problem I see that needs addressing is... placement of mobs in newbee zones. It is NOT fun for a newbee to take a left turn instead of right just to be one shotted by a level 75 goblin that resides in a level 10 area (and has level 10 quests in). It just leaves new players with a bitter taste in their mouth and more confusion, which leads them to quit. The Brass canteen quest in Bastok is a prime example of this. This should be MMO 101 here. Never EVER place mobs of incredible level to a low level player one or two zones from a STARTING town. It's just silly.

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Originally Posted by Phafi

solo contenttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

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/unlike

MORE party conteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeent!!!

Or play soloooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

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Originally Posted by Prrsha

The fun of a game should not be in the goal at the end, but in the journey too that goal.

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This can be applied to real life in a very sound regard, and a notion that I'm sure every person with an ounce of wisdom on the planet is aware of. The journey is not just a means to an end - it is the defining characteristic of those ends. But people today don't understand this, apparently.

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Originally Posted by Prrsha

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode...cing-for-skill

I beg you to check out this link. It really is relevant for the current state FFXI is in. "Fooing" is the name of the game in FFXI now. There are so many exploits now it makes my head spin. People have already proven you can climb the latter to level 99 in TWO days just from leeching alone... and now they want to speed it up more?

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Two days if you're in crappy leech parties. 10 hours if you're in a decent one.

You have the very same misconception as every single player that has ever brought the EXP argument though, namely that EXP somehow trains the player. It doesn't. It trains the character, nothing else. You do not pick up skill in EXP, and there was no point in FFXI history when you ever did, and I've explained before, why this is the case.

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Originally Posted by Prrsha

Slow down the leveling process but add content along the way is entertaining for ALL playing levels.

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There's two ways to do that. Either add new content for lower levels, which would mean leveling up will exclude higher levels from doing that content, or offer the same content but make it scale to level, which would remove the desire to level up at all. Why waste a month to get to 99, when you can do the same crap at 20?

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Originally Posted by Prrsha

That way players of ALL levels... level 20-99 can unite and play beside one another and have... dare I say it... fun.

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Your definition of fun is not shared by the majority of players (I am of course extrapolating by what I see on here). That does not work, and it cannot work by definition. It's why campaign is completely dominated by whoever is the highest level around. It makes it boring for lower level players, and a drag for high level players.

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Originally Posted by Prrsha

When people are not in group events like this (and are in downtime), bring back the 6 party dynamic again but, please do away with the current archaic of searching for party members. There should be no need to type in a string of syntaxes to find players willing to party. Add a new form of GUI that replaces the old one. Players should be able to flag quests/missions etc they need help in and it should show up on a global board (or even a chat room). That way players can co-ordinate and meet up with ease to tackle certain group centric goals with a click of a mouse.

If I need help with a mission, I should be able to choose it from a list and flag it. It then should appear on a global board for all to see and assist if they need help with the same thing. The same could go for leveling parties. Have people enter a desired amount of people they need to level with and other players could just fill the list until the limit is reaches (six people or less).

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I agree with the UI update, but it would not change much about how the game is played or enjoyed.

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Originally Posted by Prrsha

The fun of a game should not be in the goal at the end, but in the journey too that goal. Currently FFXI lacks that from 20-99 and placing a "speed" band-aid on it just makes things worse not better.

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Again, completely wrong. The fun is in the journey, it's your misconception that leveling to 99 is the journey (this is to you as well, Eyeballed). Doing missions, winning battlefields, progressing through events and building your character by improving on skill and gear, that is the journey, not watching an arbitrary number climb from 1 to 99. Your entire perception of what the game consists of is askew. FFXI lacks content in the road to 99, that is completely true. But that only affects a very minor part of the game.

It is a part many people are completely finished with, by the way. Whatever they add to EXP now, will not affect me in the slightest, because I am done leveling. Does that mean I won't get to enjoy that content anymore? Or can't I enjoy the game at all anymore and now that I am fully leveled I should just quit?

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Originally Posted by Arcon

Again, completely wrong. The fun is in the journey, it's your misconception that leveling to 99 is the journey (this is to you as well, Eyeballed). Doing missions, winning battlefields, progressing through events and building your character by improving on skill and gear, that is the journey, not watching an arbitrary number climb from 1 to 99. Your entire perception of what the game consists of is askew. FFXI lacks content in the road to 99, that is completely true. But that only affects a very minor part of the game.

It is a part many people are completely finished with, by the way. Whatever they add to EXP now, will not affect me in the slightest, because I am done leveling. Does that mean I won't get to enjoy that content anymore? Or can't I enjoy the game at all anymore and now that I am fully leveled I should just quit?

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My comments just aren't focused on levels. The above examples: Doing missions, winning battlefields, progressing through events and building your character by improving on skill and gear... I am addressing that as well. I just don't think a player should have to be level 99 to do it, or have fun.

Edit: As for the road to 99 being a minor part of the game, SE has tossed 75% of their enjoyable story content out of the window for new players by focusing so much on the rate of climb to 99. The vets have their levels and endgame content galore but SE axed their beginning content when they removed level caps for zones and lifted the level cap past 75. It threw off the balance and challenge of many of the expansions, storyline areas and storyline quests.

Have you replayed CoP, Zillart as level 99? It just seems like a dev's afterthought now. It doesn't do justice to any of the creators.

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Originally Posted by Arcon

I agree with the UI update, but it would not change much about how the game is played or enjoyed.

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Eh? A MAJOR problem with forming a six man party dynamic is the dreaded LFP flag. This has been a #1 complaint for years and years...

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Originally Posted by Arcon

Why waste a month to get to 99, when you can do the same crap at 20?

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Ummm... that's exactly what SE wants. Players who can play casual if they wish (and take part in group events and have fun) and other players who want more from FFXI and wish to take it up a knotch and keep increasing their powers for a change of pace.

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Originally Posted by Prrsha

My comments just aren't focused on levels. The above examples: Doing missions, winning battlefields, progressing through events and building your character by improving on skill and gear... I am addressing that as well. I just don't think a player should have to be level 99 to do it, or have fun.

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I agree on the fun part, but disagree on the statement that a low level player should be able to do that. Because building your character is an extension of the leveling system, it's what happens after levels can't go any further. Developing your character at level 50 is pointless if it becomes obsolete again just a few levels later. Of course leveling should be fun, but it isn't, and I can't even think of a way how it possibly could be, unless you make it play through a pre-programmed course that forces you to fight through customized mission-style battles to progress.

The major complaint I have with EXP is that it was a boring and tedious grind. If SE were able to magically fix that somehow, then yes, it may be fun again. But first, it wouldn't do anything for high level players, which is almost everyone by now, and second, it's pretty much impossible to implement. If you can think of a fun way to introduce EXPing again, do tell. But for the first reason, I will still be against it.

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Originally Posted by Prrsha

Edit: As for the road to 99 being a minor part of the game, SE has tossed 75% of their enjoyable story content out of the window for new players by focusing so much on the rate of climb to 99. The vets have their levels and endgame content galore but SE axed their beginning content when they removed level caps for zones and lifted the level cap past 75. It threw off the balance and challenge of many of the expansions, storyline areas and storyline quests.

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Very true. But here's the thing: people who are actually leveling without leeching and want to experience that content while they're leveling can still do that, and some of them still do it, and they don't complain about it. You do.

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Originally Posted by Prrsha

Have you replayed CoP, Zillart as level 99? It just seems like a dev's afterthought now. It doesn't do justice to any of the creators.

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I have, and again, I agree. It's no issue for me, because I've already done it, as have most people who still play. Same as before, SE made a conscious decision to introduce new content tailored to older players in favor of newer players, which is a rational choice given the distribution of the player population. If they left the level cap, they would have made it almost impossible to complete for new players, because fewer people are around, and of those fewer are willing to help, and of those even fewer are prepared. The times of keeping extra level capped gear is over (and it was before the level cap increase too), and everyone just syncs their equipment, which isn't nearly as good as proper weapons.

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Originally Posted by Prrsha

Eh? A MAJOR problem with forming a six man party dynamic is the dreaded LFP flag. This has been a #1 complaint for years and years...

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Dead wrong. It is a major annoyance, but not a problem at all. If you wanna party, you type /inv. If you're looking for members, you type /sea all <whatever criteria you desire>. It has never prevented anyone from teaming up for anything. I have never heard anyone complain that it was actually preventing them to party up with people.

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Originally Posted by Prrsha

Ummm... that's exactly what SE wants. Players who can play casual if they wish (and take part in group events and have fun) and other players who want more from FFXI and wish to take it up a knotch and keep increasing their powers for a change of pace.

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But what's the motivation in "taking it up a knotch [sic]" if you still do the same crap as the Lv20 guy? Level-scaled content can exist, but it will never work simultaneously. The Lv20 guy can not fight the same mob as the Lv99 guy, and he can not get the same reward. And if that's the case, why fight it at Lv20? Why not level to 99 and fight it then?

I used to believe that leveling still held some merit, even if I personally don't really care for it. Now I just say levels are an entire unnecessity. SE should auto-cap everyone to 99.

I'd really like to see job BALANCE implemented at some point... not nerfhammers, but real balancing of the jobs, job abilities, timers and magic so that each job brings something so useful, so unique that when forming up for events, be they casual or hardcore, the question "Ok, I can come PUP, COR, SMN, RDM or BST" can be asked in all seriousness.. and that its response wouldn't be a range of mirth from mild lulz to roaring guffaws. That question should really make party leaders pause and consider each tantalizing possibility, as each job would be invaluable in any given situation and the giving up any one of them for any of the others would be sorely missed.

And given that FFXI is moving toward more and more fast-paced zerg style battles for everything, timers need to be lowered CONSIDERABLY. From minutes to seconds.

Or just make more content where fast zergs aren't won't work.

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Originally Posted by Prrsha

Whole buncha stuff....

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I say quit beating a dead horse because it has been debated a million times on a million forums (numbers exaggerated to illustrate a point) and the debate always ends with this argument followed by some memes and insults:

All the old methods of leveling etc. are still available. People are not using them because they would rather be doing something else. You don't need to petition the development staff to fix that. You need to put that energy into finding other people who feel the same as you. Did you find any? Good. No need to adjust the game then. Couldn't find any? I guess no one else feels like you then. No need to adjust the game.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

Or just make more content where fast zergs aren't won't work.

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Except:

That isn't the direction we've been heading in for years
Nobody wants drawn out battles
Game mechanics favor shorter battles

And finally:

SE can't seem to design any kind of fights other than "If you're doing it long, urdoinitrong"

Which is fine by me, because even in 2005 I thought 45+ minute Kirins made me wanna die. Compare that to now. My last LS literally farmed and popped 75 Chloris in 1 night. The farming was terrible but the actual fights for 75 Chloris didn't set us back anything that 2 time extension chests didn't recover and then some. Imagine doing a mob like Chloris back in 2005...? You'd handle it like Golden-Tongued Culberry and kite/zombie/recover like we seemed to think was so smart back then.

I like the Powerthirst approach. Insert credit card (pop items), dispense tasty high fructose energy drink (NM), drink (destroy), win at everything forever (get the drops), use your sweat to fuel sweet rave parties (rest and recover). Repeat as necessary until you acquire 400 babies. Then finish up your day as usual. I like rewards that don't require literally wasting an entire day/month(s)/year(s) that are still fun and challenging to obtain. Timesink =/= difficulty, sense of accomplishment, or put you any closer to achieving personal enlightenment. Timesinks just make you overweight greasy couch potatoes that disdain RL as a necessity because it detracts from gameplay time.

Except:
The world isn't black and white, fights don't have to be either 2 minutes or two hours.
Do game mechanics really favor shorter battles? Why? Because we are building every single strategy around 2-hour super buffs?

I'll agree that we haven't headed in that direction for years, but at the same time, during these years, a lot of the game has been broken, limiting the number of options and possible strategies.