Interim Report – Sorry to keep you all waiting!

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Originally Posted by Eyeballed

Because you find it boring does not, in any way, make it unnecessary. The grind will exist, because it has to, in some shape form or fashion if the MMO is to survive. Your way of thinking will destroy the open world, lock everything in an instance, stagnate the community and wither away most of what real adventure is left in these games today.

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Wrong, because you still think I mind grinds. I don't. I said so several times in this very thread. I liked old Dynamis. I like Salvage. I don't like VW. I like Legion. I don't like new Dynamis. All of them are grinds. Some I like, others I dislike, that's because the grind itself is not involved in that decision.

If you were insane and went back a year to look at the posts about Abyssea, you will see that I argued against it a lot, partly because it removed part of the grind. I made the exact same argument as you, because you're right: a certain balance of grind and reward is required, it cannot be all reward without hurting the game.

But that has nothing at all to do with EXP. EXP is entirely needless in this game. It's not required in any way, shape or form. It's not the only grind, pretty much every single thing in this game is a grind. Empyreans are a grind, relics are a grind, mythics are a grind, Dynamis AF2+2 are a grind, even more so the augmented versions, new Salvage and old Salvage are both still grinds, Voidwatch is a nearly unlimited grind. The game is full of them, you can't look anywhere without finding grinds. Losing EXP will do nothing to remove that aspect of the game at all.

Directx 11, frame less window mode and an option to turn off help bar for those of us who may not want it on would be nice.

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Originally Posted by Carth

The reason why it's so hard to get members in the first place is because the people that actually have CoP done doesn't dare do them again because they don't want to farm the items needed just to simply help out (this is why SE eventually allowed Anima and other "boss rape" items to be buyable on the AH). I can't blame them either. Who wants to waste their time getting items and a proper job and proper equipment(pre-level sync) for someone else, when your chances of success aren't guaranteed?

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After SE made the above changes (minus the removal of the level cap), CoP as very much doable. In the beginning, when the content came out, I'd agree with you, however. The level cap removal was an overkill, however I am in no way stating that players who wish to do it without a level cap on, be forced to have one on. No, I am asking for an option to do it WITH the cap while still allowing other players who wish to breeze through it choose not to. Maybe a nice token of some worth of doing it the without a level cap should given so players who which to go "above any beyond" the current difficultly can be rewarded for doing so.

That way CoP is no longer a barrier to those who wish to finish it to get to higher content quickly, but still be there for those who wish to replay it (or try it for the first time) the way the developers intended. Like I said, it wouldn't be too hard to code.

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Originally Posted by Demon6324236

I determined a while back that thats basically the case with everyone on the same side of this as Eye.

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Why? I want cake for both sides. I side with Eye on many issues but also see that people don't think the same way I or she does. I want an option for both sides and I believe there is room for both playstyles. Does anyone comment on a new interface to finding party members? No. They just sit and complain about the "old days" where finding one was "impossible". Well if it was impossible, make it possible with comments that can FIX the problem instead of posting like bitter old men.

A problem right now is that people are digging in ditches and sitting on sides, not seeing that there is room for compromise. What follows is a civil war war on the forums, dividing the playerbase and forcing a "my way or the highway" mentality that is spreading like poison throughout the community.

What I see mostly here are suggestions made... and instead of a simple agree or disagree post, I see flames coming out of every orifice. I also see posts by a small group of members (that I can count on my hands) that outright intimidate players of opposing view points to post at all. This goes for both sides. I bet you that 100 people read these posts but don't make a single post because they fear to get their heads blown up at the simple fact of poking their heads up and posting. All they say is that this thread is a cluster**** Enough already.

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Originally Posted by Semsenorie

Directx 11, frame less window mode and an option to turn off help bar for those of us who may not want it on would be nice.

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I agree, as it was most people didn't know how to turn off the ? icon next to their name without a lengthly discussion with them. Some form of tutorial (offline) should be added as well, to teach new players the battle dynamics and how to look for a party etc. (that can be flagged off easily as well).

A new player shouldn't have to find a vet player to learn the game's basic features. When I got the game back in 2004. I got a nice large manual. Now that is downloadable, one is needed.

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Originally Posted by Demon6324236

It still does, people simply seem to prefer a grind for gear rather than a grind for experience points.

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Well said. I think the matter at hand is to examine why. Both are progress, both make you more powerful. I think herein lies the answer. The gap. The inability of lower level players able to play with higher ones. Why? Level synch is still there... I think the problem is inherent in the system that enables you to group up with others. I really hope SE sees that the game needs a massive overhaul to its user interface. There should be little to no work in finding a party. It's a simple as that. The clunky old LFP system was a MAJOR complaint the entire length of the of the lifetime of this game and it has not been addressed. The only thing that was added was a little hard to find "comment" area to a player's name on the server list.

What the game needs is an overhauled GUI (like I said many times before) that makes it as easy as point and click, to find players to do the SAME quest with or level with. This feature should not be an inactive/active one but ALWAYS active. A player should always see 24/7 a list of quests I am on (and I am flagging that I need help with). It should always be active and not have to be reset when I log back on. It would allow players to click on their quest they are on, click on "Look for members needing help" and POOF. A list of players should appear. They should be able to click on a player and engage in a /tell. There should also be an option to go /anon so one is not spammed if they are doing something important that needs concentration.

Why oh why was this not added YEARS ago is beyond me. Instead of fixing the problem, they decide that exp is broken and they eliminate the exp ladder (and group events for lower level players... and a vast amount of content) almost altogether. This was the #1 reason why people left the game, it was the #1 reason why people complain about "leveling in the old days". This is why to some, gaining exp was fun, to others a big hassle. I never had problems finding a party, I made one. Maybe this is one reason why I found those good ol' days fun and not others?

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Originally Posted by Prrsha

Email me!

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Prrsha? You going to respond to my email? :o

The LFP system is the way it is for ease of use with a controller, since it was made to be a console MMO. The console having limited memory leads to limits on what info can be stored for flagging which quests you want help on. If the game was PC-only then it would probably be doable, but with consoles in the mix, it's not. Maybe the LSC could allow for that sort of communication...

All of that information can be stored server-side, so none of that is an issue.

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Originally Posted by Arcon

First of all, I never said any of that applied to me, and it doesn't. If I didn't have anything left to experience in this game, I'd quit. Second, every item you mentioned except for EXP I love and I would do again, and I help everyone out with. You are completely off base listing all of that, because none of it I have a problem with, and none of it I want to keep from others (again, EXP being the sole exception).

And even back when I never did any of it at all, I still hated EXP. I already said a few posts ago, there is only one thing I dislike about EXP. I can deal with grinds. I can deal with time sinks. I can deal with slow (or even no) rewards. The only thing I cannot deal with is boredom, and that's what defines EXP to me. You're trying to make it out to be a lot more than it is.

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And in that regard, I'm in the middle. I think oldschool exp rates were mind-numbing. I think Abyssea exp rates are overdone. But I also think that without people having reasons to go out there, you don't have people even thinking about those zones. I don't think we need people going to the same zone for a month straight grinding away in Garbage Sit-adel slapping bats and beetles around- but they should have a reason to go there for a level or two, for a day or two. Not because of some masochistic need for people to grind, but so people actually experience the zone and a feeling of progress that isn't "blink and it's gone".

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Aside from crafting, it very much is.

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And heck, crafting is more of a 100% game in the sense that it takes people all over the game world, from the basics in Zerhun/Saruta/Ronfaure as newbie crafters all the way out to the guy smacking around an HNM and hoping for a crafting drop. Endgame is -not-. Endgame is "doing what's at the end", and it focuses around the stuff that gives you the top-end gear in a limited number of areas at the top levels the game allows. You want the endgame to be a "100% game", start putting endgame HNM's in 100% (or near to it) of the game zones- just not all at once. Kill one? Another one spawns somewhere else. Maybe your alliance takes down an HNM Antican in Quicksand Caves. A Giga Behemoth pops up in Qufim. He dies. Deep in the Outer Horutoto Ruins, a Wild Cardian appears. It goes down. Castle Zvahl gets a new Demon King. Blam. A Gold Hydra in Mamook. Boom. A Great Tauri in the Aqueducts. Bang. A Fomor in Arrapago Reef. Biff. A Golem in Ro'Maeve. They don't have to have a huge unique loot table (indeed, quite the opposite) - but let them have drops that relate to the area they spawn in. Random AF2 pieces and some ancient currency in one case. Some Salvage armors and alexandrite in another. A mixed bag of AF3 seals for a third. Crafting materials. That sorta thing. Things relevant to the care and feeding of L99 players, in other words.