November 2019 FINAL FANTASY XI Digest

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Originally Posted by Typral

You're advocating for automation, that is against the rules actually. With the keyboard thing.

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It's not against the rules for me to use my hardware's built in functionality. And even if it was, to the PC it's just normal inputs. Gaming input devices today can do this at the hardware level. This isn't a bot or a script, it's just repeatedly mashing a key. Something any human being can do. And I do not advocate walking away and leaving the game unattended. I only advise it as a means to reduce the number of keys you have to press.

These devices do not interact with the game software in any way. This is no different than putting a clamp on a controller button to hold it down.

If you want to press the enter key 100 times to synth a couple stacks of items, be my guest. but my keyboard doesn't enable the game to play itself- it just saves me from carpal tunnel.

FFXIV now lets you synthesize repeatedly with a simple checkbox ingame. Until SE does that for FFXI, I see no reason not to leverage my PC's innate ability to make that easier without any third party programs.

(Disclaimer: I don't even craft much at all, much less actually use keyboard macros) but I don't appreciate the insinuation I'm some kind of cheater if I were to use my keyboard's built in features to ease a repetitive task.)

I mean really: are turbo buttons on controllers cheating? I don't agree that it is. Turbo buttons are doing something I can do already, just without injuring my hand.

By your logic, using in-game macro features to simplify tasks is against the rules, because it's no different- one ingame macro saves you from many dozens of keystrokes. You can in fact do *most* of this with ingame macros- it just doesn't reduce the number of keypresses by as large of a number.

It's no different having those gaming keyboards that have hotkeys. In a sense, it's kinda like automating, but the difference is that it's done with hardware and is a function that is not exploitatious. You aren't going to be able to do the same thing again and again and again of complex tasks like a bot. But it's like rapid-fire for a controller, which exists. Are they cheating? No.

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Originally Posted by Nyarlko

The discussion about "Classic" and "Private" servers really does not belong here.
It also needs to die in general as a discussion topic.

In the hopes of killing it, I'll just point out that a few years ago, the devs went on record during a live event that there will never be "Classic" servers, so the entire argument is moot. (Due to legal/licensing reasons I believe, so this qualifies as a "can't" rather than "won't" issue even if the company wanted to do so.) In the same event, they also said that FFXI will never go F2P, that they won't/can't accept crowdfunding for FFXI, and that there won't/can't be any ports to new hardware platforms. It doesn't matter how hard you plead, or how pinpointed your desired content specs are, or anything else that you want to try to use to justify your desire, if it is a literal impossibility.

@Seish: If I were you, I'd be careful about any "Private" server discussion on the official forums in general beyond condemning the practice. It is straight-up stealing both IP and revenue from the company after all.

@DevTeam: Can we please get a response to this thread? I want to have reassurance that this is not all that you are planning for BST, and to stop feeling disgusted and insulted that you were hoping to get away with counting the addition of two types of ammo as a "job adjustment". :( If you are simply not sure about what adjustments the job actually needs or that players want, might I suggest opening a thread officially requesting player feedback for ideas? Most of the vocal BSTs in the community are very reasonable people and would be overjoyed at the opportunity to provide reasonable feedback for improvements that won't damage game balance. ^^

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Thank you for doing what I wasn't capable of.

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Originally Posted by Nyarlko

@Seish: Not one word of your last post has anything to do with the November 2019 update, so it has no place being in this thread. I also did not accuse you of anything, other than posting about an irrelevant topic to the thread, which also happens to be a dangerous topic on these forums to be discussing as a general rule, unless you are actively trying to get yourself banned from here. ^^;;

Back on topic, are there any SCH-main players who have any feedback about what they gave to /SCH? XD I don't really play the job, so I'm not that familiar with what would work as "good" adjustments and can't give any feedback beyond laughing at how /SCH benefits far more than SCH/ from the changes.

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With all due respect though, you aren't a forum moderator and don't make the rules. Whilst I agree that the tangental discussion is better served in another thread (if at all) It isn't your place to tell people where they can and can't post things. If the community team/SE has a big enough problem with it, they'll take action. Don't be a backseat mod. As a moderator on various other forums it REALLY irritates me when users try to take moderation issues into their own hands.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

With all due respect though, you aren't a forum moderator and don't make the rules. Whilst I agree that the tangental discussion is better served in another thread (if at all) It isn't your place to tell people where they can and can't post things. If the community team/SE has a big enough problem with it, they'll take action. Don't be a backseat mod. As a moderator on various other forums it REALLY irritates me when users try to take moderation issues into their own hands.

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I've seen people get banned from here for less potentially-objectionable-to-the-devs posts, so my advice really was given in the spirit of a friendly warning to a fellow player. There are few enough of us who bother to type in these forums these days for me to just idly stand by and watch someone throw themselves face-first into a banhammer. :(

I will admit that I was probably getting a tiny bit irked at that point because I got a full screen rant in response to a two sentence warning to be careful, all of which had nothing to do with complaining about this update's "job adjusments". ^^;; Since I happen to play BST and can talk to the shortcomings it has currently, personally, I want to focus on the slap in the face that I received this month in the thread dedicated to this month's update. Can you really blame me for that? lol

BTW, I would be offended as a player if they did this with any job, even one that I don't personally enjoy. I just don't know what to really make of the SCH adjustment, (other than the obvious joke about it being a great update for /SCH,) and even the few people I know who do play SCH couldn't come up with any sane improvements, so I'm also curious what anyone else has to say about it.

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Originally Posted by Nyarlko

I just don't know what to really make of the SCH adjustment, (other than the obvious joke about it being a great update for /SCH,) and even the few people I know who do play SCH couldn't come up with any sane improvements, so I'm also curious what anyone else has to say about it.

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I just leave it to BLM vs SMN problems. It's their own problems. Not to try to use FFXIV jokes. I'd rather to balance WHM instead though.

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Originally Posted by Nyarlko

I will admit that I was probably getting a tiny bit irked at that point because I got a full screen rant in response to a two sentence warning to be careful, all of which had nothing to do with complaining about this update's "job adjusments". ^^;; Since I happen to play BST and can talk to the shortcomings it has currently, personally, I want to focus on the slap in the face that I received this month in the thread dedicated to this month's update. Can you really blame me for that? lol

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It doesn't matter if you had a bad day, or if you had whatever, you divest emotions and try to remain logical in a discussion that had no personal attacks thrown to anyone--at all. Bad grades, bad day, disagreements with others, or a job nerf on a video game, shouldn't be motivation to personally attack someone. And if you disagree with me, keep it with the topic not deviate and personally attack the indvidual. Don't try to scare me into submission. I read the rules and I posted what I did knowing that I won't get in trouble. I understand your frustration. When MNK got nerfed to the ground, my one and only job, that I honestly cared for the most, was not the same and my motivation for playing went away. It took my motivation to play. So seeing that you are passionate about a job that you are willing to defend it makes me happy. We need the community to continue that passion--no matter the opinion for that matter. Ergo, why I brought up trying to create a classic server, from a job mechanic perspective--to include BST which we can get into.

I don't take offense personally what you said, knowing that your passion is what drives this. But the biggest takeaway is try to divest emotions from it. There is a ignore list if you really dislike what I say and I would encourage you to utilize that resource if you feel any ill emotions towards me. But we are all in the same community, and like you I want to see it grow.

I have serious question for the devs. I am not trolling or flaming. This is a serious question.

Why do you insist on releasing repeat jug pets instead of actual new ones? I would really appreciate an answer. There has to be a reason, right?

Hoping this thread receives an official response from the DEV team. It has been years since an update received such an overwhelming response on these forums.

Thank you for the large number of feedback responses.
We understand that there are many requests to increase the range of beastmaster abilities, such as Ready.
However, upon careful discussion with the Lead Job Designer, we have decided that the range of these abilities will not be adjusted.

▼ Beastmaster is designed as a frontline job.
I’d like to provide a brief history of beastmaster from a developer perspective.
Some points may greatly differ from player opinion, but please give it a read.

The original concept of beastmaster was a frontline job based around Charming monsters to turn the tide of battle.
The process of Charming would sometimes result in direct combat with the monster, so beastmaster was given the equipment and damage output to thrive until they succeeded in gaining control over a monster.

As time went on, Battlefield content became the main focus of the game.
This was difficult to enjoy as a beastmaster as many BFs do not feature monsters that can be Charmed.
Our solution was the addition of Call Beast and broth items, which allowed players to call out monsters as obedient pets.
These pets always obeyed commands, providing a sort of consumable battle resource for beastmaster and stabilized the state of the job.
Things were good up until this point.

▼ Balance Issues caused by Pet Adjustments
As stronger enemies were introduced over time, it became apparent that beastmaster and their pets weren’t keeping up.
Unlike other jobs, pet-based jobs had to be balanced around both the player character and pet, which in turn made it difficult to implement powerful new equipment or pets.

In order to resolve this situation, we made major changes in the very first version update in 2015.
Monsters were now able to participate in skillchains and magic burst, making them an overwhelmingly powerful source of damage.
While this method required some preparation, the changes allowed beastmaster to easily catch up and deal high damage more effectively than any other job.

Ultimately, this allowed beastmaster to issue commands from a safe distance, while pets that were far stronger than the beastmaster themselves would continuously fire off powerful abilities.
Pets also had decent survivability, and even if they were defeated, they could be called out again at full power after a five minute cooldown.
At this point, beastmaster was capable of battling with almost no risk to themselves.

Player skill was not involved in this version of beastmaster, since no matter what attacks enemies had, they could be defeated by endlessly sending out powerful pets.
This was even more effective in parties with multiple beastmasters, which created some extreme cases where pets did all the fighting and players didn’t battle at all.
Battles were streamlined into a monotonous process, and enemy mechanics became meaningless.

▼ Corrective Measures and the Future
To address this, we kept beastmaster’s strength while making sure its equipment and traits were used to fulfill a frontline role, and shortened the range of commands to bring back a sense of risk to the job.
While these adjustments lowered beastmaster’s capabilities, it was compensated for with the continued implementation of various meals and equipment, and that brings us to today.

With this history in mind, we don’t have plans to alter the job’s design as a frontline role and would like this source of damage to be accompanied by some risk.

As we’ve often mentioned, these job adjustments aren’t final, and we’ll continue making adjustments to improve its frontline capabilities.