[dev1015] Still no Abyssea VNM adjustments still a major point of congestion

[Kyte]

I don't know, a friend of mine was competing for VNM pops and he too said it seemed as though the other guy was able to track them through some new method. I would't completely rule it out.

[Zumi]

I don't know, a friend of mine was competing for VNM pops and he too said it seemed as though the other guy was able to track them through some new method. I would't completely rule it out.

If you outclaim someone couple times in a row they usually start to complain and say they will call a GM on you for botting ect when in fact you are not botting they just suck at claiming the VNM. It's the "sore loser my competition must obviously bot syndrome". Had this happen last night me and my friend were duoing VNM T2s for upgrade and some guy with a party there that obviously wanted seals cause he kept spamming us with tells about how he wanted seals then said he was calling a GM on us for botting which we were not doing at all.

[Tinuviel]

Currently the development team is looking into making adjustments to the rate in which the demilune abyssite changes color (no plans to make these adjustments to VNMs outside of Abyssea). However, they currently have no plans of increasing the number of VNM spawns. Since the degree of difficulty between Empyrean Weapon related monsters and VNMs is so different, even if we simply increase the amount of VNM spawns like we increased the amount of “???,” the results of the adjustments will not be the same. To be a bit more concrete, for Empyrean +2 items and Empyrean weapons you need to spend time gathering multiple trigger or key items and likewise for VNMs you need to spend time changing the abyssite.

There are two completely separate issues here: success rate of demilune upgrades and number of VNM spawns. Camate (or the dev team) are completely lumping them together it appears. Looking at both of these issues merely as a "spend time gathering" is completely incorrect, and SE should seriously reconsider this perspective. Overall time spent for the player base is completely content driven. Competing against other groups over a single VNM spawn results in degraded playtime content. This is the issue I believe SE should address.

What SE could do, for example, is increase VNM spawns, and then either reduce colorful demilune upgrade success rate or (preferably) introduce a VNM fatigue mechanism, that doesnt allow any particular person to spawn a T2 or T3 too frequently.

[Leonlionheart]

If you outclaim someone couple times in a row they usually start to complain and say they will call a GM on you for botting ect when in fact you are not botting they just suck at claiming the VNM. It's the "sore loser my competition must obviously bot syndrome". Had this happen last night me and my friend were duoing VNM T2s for upgrade and some guy with a party there that obviously wanted seals cause he kept spamming us with tells about how he wanted seals then said he was calling a GM on us for botting which we were not doing at all.

Except more often than not players are using third party programs.

[Zumi]

Except more often than not players are using third party programs.

SE fixed any kind of radar/tracking 3rd party programs a few months ago by making VNM locations server side so you can't find it unless you rest just like everyone else. There is no way you can cheat on this as much as some people like to believe there is.

[Leonlionheart]

SE fixed any kind of radar/tracking 3rd party programs a few months ago by making VNM locations server side so you can't find it unless you rest just like everyone else. There is no way you can cheat on this as much as some people like to believe there is.

I didn't know that, as I haven't had such a problem for like, 3 months now.

I don't remember that being in the update notes though.

[Malacite]

Except more often than not players are using third party programs.

Yup, gotta love it when people snipe pops before the ??? is even visible.

[Zinato]

A few thoughts on the VNM issue.

First of all, Adding colorless souls to other zone T3 is not realistic, the gap in monster strength is to great. For example, a relatively poorly geared NIN or THF can often solo Tahrongi Canyon's Usurper. On the other hand even a well geared, moderately skilled WHM and MNK duo can run into issues with the Heroes T3. I know everyone who browses the forums are the best geared, most skilled players on their server but, SE does need to think of the other players as well.

Second, In terms of creating additional T2 pops. (I'm assuming T3/Change rate is left alone) While this would help create less congestion in terms of competition for T3, excluding Visions/Scars T2, this would greatly increase the ability to obtain the +1 body pieces of select jobs. Additionally, Considering the state of the other Empyrean mobs such as Sobek, Briareus, Bukhis and so on, adding more pops only served to increase the number of people attempting to complete weapons. On top of which more pops just means more pops to monopolize by large linkshells helping the larger groups finish even faster but, doing nothing for low-man or soloers. As a final note on additional T2, this would likely not affect Scars or Visions as much as the dev. team may think. Since even with 3 pops the change rate is still poor, and with new places to find +2 items (not to mention the ease of poping the KI NMs thanks to chest updates) the T3 in those zones now hold less value.

The last of the potential fixes I would like to address is change to upgrade rate. Now, like with more pops faster means more people will become interested. With this solution the many seal parties will find themselves with T3 faster, meaning the players content with purchasing souls/pops will see a larger supply. Adversely, this will also make equipment like Ocelot trousers, and Honchomasamune easier to obtain since the creation of a T3 will be much faster. This fix however, would retain the Many:1:1 ratio of the VNM tiers, meaning there will still be a lot of competition either for seals or upgrade.

I am not saying there is no fix, I simply wish to show that the decision must be made carefully and that the dev. team can't just hit the add enemy button and fix the problem. Each of the methods has a draw back and implementing multiple would only compound the issue.

TL;DR Each method of "fix" has drawbacks simply changing an aspect of VNM without consideration wont work as a final solution.

[Ashael]

And of course, this "fix" does nothing for people who get a T3 in say Grauberg, then reupgrade a new Colorful so they can continue to pop Gamuyan over and over and over again without the upgrade affecting them.
More spawns, or instant respawn, make crystals upgrade or shatter. I'm tired of all 3 Heroes zones being None in Area every single hour of the day. Seriously, last two days, I've checked on them every couple hours trying to get an uncontested time... nope.
Or change shield to some Megalugbard and outside VNM just kills. I'll take that over this colorless crap. Or here's an idea to increase cooperation. Make it 58 Maere or Ogopogo or Brulo kills. That way I can team up and enjoy Trials like I did doing them with random pickups (when people didn't /join and sleep...).

[Ashael]

Tuesday 9:15 am CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area." X3
Tuesday 11:55 AM CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Tuesday 11:45 PM CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Wednesday 12:50 AM CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Wednesday 2:20 AM CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Wednesday 9:55 am CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Wednesday 12:05 pm CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Wednesday 2:15 pm CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Wednesday 3:30 pm CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Wednesday 4:05 pm CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Wednesday 5:25 pm CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Wednesday 6:55 pm CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Wednesday 8:45 pm CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Wednesday 10:05 pm CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Wednesday 11:45 pm CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Thursday 1:05 am CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Thursday 3:25 am CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Thursday 9:35 am CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Thursday 11:05 am CST. "There seem to be no monsters in area."
Today 12:14 pm CST. JP alliances camping all three T2 VNMs.
I am very tired of "There seem to be no monsters in area." And when I arrive at the monsters origin point, horde of inconsiderate jacknapes.

Thank you SE for merging servers and creating this clustercuss.
Thank you SE for creating 1 monster that respawns every 15 minutes, in a timed zone. I so missed doing nothing truly productive for 15 minutes just to not claim the monster I need, and wait another 15 minutes again.
Thank you SE for making sure there's no alternate method to gain a spawn for the actual monster that I need to complete my trial.
Thank you SE for making my decision so utterly easy.

For your kindness SE, let me offer you a nice Either/Or tree.
Either SE corrects VNMs in August, or I will not bother mucking around with Crysta.
Either SE corrects their stupidity with Click and Buy and returns a more sensible auto pay arrangement, or I will use this opportunity to quit this game and move on to more rewarding titles.
Thank you SE, I'm an addict and y'all might have performed the necessary intervention.