INTRO
I'll begin by saying that I am a very rational person. It saddens me to see the population of FFXI dwindling daily. I’ve watched many a friend leave the game and yet to return. Some say they will when Seekers is released so I hope SE has a concrete plan to get people to remain in the playerbase. That being said I have three ideas that could possibly enhance the gameplay experience for current players and hopefully bring back some old. Instead of focusing on this ever so familiar “balance” issue let’s focus on things that could make players return and keep current ones around.
1) VOIDWATCH/DROP/AFTERGLOW
I have no idea why SE though it would be OK to make heavy metal pouches only drop from the tier 3 Zilart Voidwatch bosses. This is a huge reason we see Qilin as the only Voidwatch shout. He is simple and drops pouches. Those going for the dagger and those that are not counter-rewarded with pouches so it makes this run desirable. It is sad that the reward ratio for most of the tier 6 Jeuno bosses is null. If people have the gear they no longer do the fights. This accounts for the lack of shouts for these monsters and the painfully long grouping times. Adding pouches and cinders/dross to these fights would enhance how many people would actually want to do Voidwatch. These fights are also harder than the Zilart tier 3 fights so I’ve yet to understand why they only drop 1-2 of the Voidwatch set armor and not anything else. That being said, all voidwatch lower tiers should be able to drop heavy metal plates, let’s say Cities 1-3, Jeuno 1-5, Zilart 1-2, Tavnazia and Aht Urhgan tier 1 respectively. Tier 4 cities, 6 Jeuno, 2 Tavnazia/Aht Urhgan should all have the possibility of dropping heavy metal pouches. I’d also be so inclined to say dross/cinders too since they only come from 4 monsters in total.
Secondly, who in their right mind would spend billions of gil and time to get the weapon afterglow? For starters dross/cinder are almost inexistent because the fights that drop these items are lacking. Relic and mythic upgrades have the same problem. The playerbase is getting to small so this is almost never going to happen—even for extreme players. Instead, why not get this effect that helps other players by helping other players. Make Empyrean afterglow upgrades achievable by killing higher tier Voidwatch monster X amount of times (would also bring less gimps to Voidwatch). This would put more dross/cinder/plates on the server and allow for more Voidwatch on the server. I feel relic afterglows should have the same trail concept. Kill such dynamis arch bosses X amount of times and Arch Dynamis Lord X amount of times. Mythics could group into the same concept. Kill a Neo Nyzul floor boss X amount of times, new or old Salvage bosses or a ZNM final tier or PW. The mythic concept is a little shaky but the dynamis concept would bring dynamis parties and linkshell events back into play. This would let those members with relics play those jobs and have fun with stuff! I really feel SE should implement this concept. Less people would be sitting around in Jeuno doing nothing and the concept of team work would be heightened.
2) ALEXANDERITE
This has been said a billion times before and I still have no idea why SE is still trying to implement other things and is still ignoring this! I know the new Salvage is on the way and Neo-Nyzul helped with Alexandrite drops but still. Testing shows Mythics to be situational or weaker than most Relics/Empyrean weapons but take as much as 3x the time and gil. The people that created this game are intelligent people right? Last time I checked programing isn’t the simplest of tasks. Let’s get rational and make these weapons more achievable.
I don’t really think the number of alexandrite should be lowered. They should just add 100 drops such as a “prism alexandrite” and drops to Besieged and ZNM, heck even stronghold NMs. Salvage bosses should also have 100% drop rate for linen pouches—nothing makes me angrier than getting TH12 on them and no drop. This would bring players back to the favored Aht Urhgan area. Giving players something to do and achieve is better than giving players nothing to do and having them quit. I’d surely stay around longer if the idea of a mythic wasn’t a year of torture. Jobs that do not make use of relics/empyreans also need to be taken into account. It is not fair for those who main these jobs to have such a horrible feat.
3) H-NOTORIOUS MONSTERS
Many people will surely disagree with this, but adding HNM and favorable timed NM drops to the game again. This was HUGE time sink but this is one of the reasons why players stayed around so long. Getting gear so quickly and having monsters that can be done over and over again takes some character out of the game. I didn’t necessarily like camping these but many people did. I do recall though, the rush I would get when I would stumble upon a rare notorious monster, get the claim or get a rare drop. It gave an aspect of excitement to the game and is one of the reasons why I gave FFXI a “gold star.”
I proposed an idea many months ago about adding the remaining light/thunder/water elemental wyrms to areas and having them drop 10+ stat rings/new elemental weapons (where are the glowy staff/bow/gun!) corresponding to their element among other situational drops. I’d even enjoy seeing HNM elementals since there are yet any elemental notorious monsters. I noticed many players left when these were removed. Again, I don’t support the third party programs that were used to claim some of these monsters but I believe it having these timed HNM around is a niche for some players. Adding the challenge and desirable drops would revive some of the pep FFXI lost as it formed around the remaining players. This concept should probably be added to the Seekers expansion or even to some areas. Thunder wyrm in The Sanctuary of Zi’Tah please!
Thanks for reading this and let me know what you think! JL
Quick fix for FFXI: counteract why players quit.
Printable View
-
12-10-2012, 04:46 PMsteadymedicQuick fix for FFXI: counteract why players quit.
-
12-10-2012, 05:50 PMArconDisagree strongly. The amount required is the sole problem, not how much is obtainable. That should not be touched. Lower it to 10k and lower Salvage entry requirements to 1 person and you'll have a lot of new mythic owners in no time.Quote:
Originally Posted by steadymedic
-
12-11-2012, 01:30 AMMirage
Should already existing mythic holders get their alexandrite back in that case?
-
12-11-2012, 01:59 AMArconNo, why should they? Makes no sense.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirage
-
12-11-2012, 02:23 AMsteadymedic
Well viewing it at the games standpoint and my posts topic, adding more viable ways to get alexandrite would in return allow players to have extra task they can perform therefor decreasing the "doing nothing" factor.
-
12-11-2012, 03:53 AMsteadymedic
And, I don't know if this is posted in the correct area. I'm not familiar with forum posting.
-
12-16-2012, 11:53 PMAfaniaI highly doubt ppl stay around for so long solely for HNMs. I know a lot of long time players, and they still keep playing even though HNM era is dead(and probably won't touch HNM again if there are HNM). There are some ppl who quit due to lack of HNM probably, but certainly not majority. Even back at 75 era the ones who does HNM were the minority, majority of ppl still do group content.Quote:
Originally Posted by steadymedic
HNM also favors small group of ppl: That means ppl who bot, or ppl with no job or have a job with flexible schedule. For ppl without flexible schedule, it become an out of rich content and that's majority of players.
IMO FFXI's strong and tight community is what makes ppl kept playing. HNM does add some spice and excitement, but it's not necessary the main factor making the player stays. If SE want to keep players around, make contents that's fun, accessable for majority, (including those playing on EU or GMT+3~8 timezones and no flexible schedule), but not necessary beatable by everyone easily.