Letter to SE Development Team: Tanka I hope you read this

[Ravenmore]

I am very probably the only one, but I am happy that there is finally an event where stuff isn't handed to you just because you are present. I like the idea of not everyone getting the gear immediately after release and it trickling slowly into the system. Kind of like Salvage when it was first released.

That's how FFXI should be - and how it always was.

Another thing you need to keep in mind is that the whole Abyssea area was 'filler' content. No one at all seems to realise this. The end-game content is going to be at 99 as it was at 75 because its, and I'll bold this for effect, End Game.

Abyssea was great transition content. It aided us in progression to 95~, quick gear, fast leveling. Now the level 99 content arrives, and people are surprised at the mahoosive amounts of items needed to finish off Empyreans, Relics and Mythics to their ultimate state (glowy effect, etc). It's meant to take time and give you a long distance goal.

Nyzul is no different. I hope Salvage is the same too.

So to you getting bent over by the RNG is bettter then real content. Thats what thier latest pile is and no amount of skill will help you when it is total random. Oh and everything from here on out is clear to be filler content till 2.0 hits. Rehash and reused crap they manage to take one of the best events and ruin it.

[Dazusu]

For once I agree with you. They are rehashing classic events instead of giving us new content. They think it will wash - and it wont as a trickle of players continue to quit.

However, drops have always been a case of random numbers. Even when the NMs were available to smack around. This is just working the other way around. Kill an NM, you're guaranteed to get a drop - but getting to the NM is the RNG part, instead of kill a readily available NM and *maybe* (RNG) get a drop.

What you need to understand is that in MMOs there has to be an artificial wall of some sort, else you'd kill all content once or twice - get all the best drops and ultimately stop doing anything in game other than standing around with your amazing gear in a town until you call it quits. What gives an MMO life is random numbers. SE have proved time and time again they struggle with adding genuinely difficult content that's hard to complete but not impossible - so they get around it by towering artificial walls. It works well for this game, and did for many years - until Abyssea hit.

The big problem here is Abyssea (filler) gave people a taste of easy gear. Now they take it away and out come the tantrums.

So no, RNG is not better than real challenging content with a learning curve. On the other hand - RNG is better than Abyssea-like content. Just my opinion.

[Karbuncle]

What you need to understand is that in MMOs there has to be an artificial wall of some sort, else you'd kill all content once or twice - get all the best drops and ultimately stop doing anything in game other than standing around with your amazing gear in a town until you call it quits.

Not entirely true.

They could make a "Progression" system. Those NMS could be a part of a point system, Like legion will be... Or einherjar was, Or Assault was. They could keep the Drops on some of these floors, But have a point system in place to purchase some armor if you haven't gotten it from going up the floors.

it doesn't need to be Handed to us, But Something like a Point system, Where you could over time collect points from success or failed runs to get High Floor Armor, Something Like...

Floor 100 Armor = 200,000 Points
Floor 80 Armor = 100,000 points
Floor 60 Armor = 50,000 Points

Could even throw in Alexandrite here, Or some other Unique Stuff for Nyzul, Maybe more "Assault" Armor? Or Assault Weaponry? Every Floor you clear would net you 50 points, So if you cleared 10 floors, You'd get 500 points, Clear 50 Floors? 2,500 Points. Clear 100 floors? 5k points.

You could also have an Item purchasable with these points(maybe 10,000 points) that, When used on the Lamp, for that 1 run, It increases your ??? Jump Yield from 3 to 9, to 5 to 12. increasing your odds for Hitting a higher floor.

Bosses Would be worth an extra 100 points. Now, There could also be an NPC who would give you points for Unwanted Nyzul Armor....

NQ Armor is worth 1,000 Points,
HQ1 Armor is worth 2,000 points,
HQ2 Armor is worth 4,000 points,
HQ3 Armor is worth 10,000 Points,

This way, The Top floor armor is still really hard to go. You'd need to clear 4,000 Floors to have enough points for a top Floor armor. This keeps people doing it, Cause you know, You probably want full sets, or multiple pieces, but also gives them a Sense of PROGRESSION.

Allowing you to buy floor 60 and 80 Armor would be like a Short Term goal, something you could settle on, something even casuals could progressively work on.

And it gives a use to the Shitty Armor (Floor 20, 40, 60, etc), Which can be turned in for bonus points. And it still encourages doing boss floors, Since that Armor is worth significantly more.

So even if you fail to get floor 60, 80, or 100, You still have a sense of progression, something to keep you going, Something to give you a feeling that, even if you dont meet your goal, You're working toward an even higher goal.

Every problem SE Has is that there is no actual progression. You basically start from ground 0 every time. The best system SE ever came up with are all from ToAU. Assaults, Einherjar... Why are they so afraid to go back to systems like that? Systems that have both Rare drop-RNG Crap, and Progressive Builds toward something useful.

I thought of this system in a matter of 10 minutes, And it would still be 10x more enjoyable than 99% of the content introduced by SE in the last two years, offer more progression, Keep people interested for a long period, and keep people happy because they would be able to work toward improvements and have a sense of progression with the system.

-- But Honestly, The Point of this is simply that: It doesn't need to be handed to us, That point systems can be really long journeys, keeping armor rare, but appeal to peoples want of progression, the feeling of progression would alleviate 99% of the bitching.

We don't care if Armor is hard to get, If its really rare, but giving everyone a means of obtaining it by some method other than dumb luck is what we all want. Reward hard work and dedication, not the roll of a dice and to the luckiest man go the spoils. Give us progression damnit!

Give us progression!

[Dazusu]

Or einherjar was

Once every 3 days. Artificial wall.

Or Assault was.

As many as you have tags available. Artificial wall.

Your ideas for a point system are good, but don't think that the two examples you gave were free of artificial blocks. MMOs have to limit progression to a certain point, and almost every bit of content in the game is stuffed with said blocks. All except Abyssea (assuming you know how to farm time).

That's my original point. People were generally fine with it until Abyssea, now they've had a taste of XI without the blocks, etc etc

Other than that, I agree with a lot of your points. Progression, points, feeling of accomplishment all work. Rehashing old content doesn't give that, though.

[Kimble]

I don't mind a wait time to do an event if it means I can actually make progress when I do the event.

Oh look! new Nyzul isle has a time wait AND a RNG factor that makes it so you cant even farm the floors you want! Gee golly! I sure do love getting double stuffed in the ass with no lube!

[Runespider]

For once I agree with you. They are rehashing classic events instead of giving us new content. They think it will wash - and it wont as a trickle of players continue to quit.

Like it or not Abyssea did change the playerbase and it can't be undone, trying to force them to change to this new punishing system is going to simply make them quit...most of us are older and wiser to this crap now. They either have to understand that we have changed and alter their design ideas into something better (doesn't have to be abyssea but it damn well has to be better than the insulting RNG, massive time sink and unimaginative crap they are shoveling right now) or they will continue to bleed players. The number of players this game has is dropping quite quickly, do a sea all and compare it to last year or during Abyssea.

As Karbuncle said, what they should be doing is making lower tier items drops (for that yay dropz! feeling) to lot on and the best gear should be obtained via points from an NPC from your effort doing it, if they keep the love affair with RNG they are just turning everyone off. People need to think their time isn't wasted and the systems they employ right now do just that.

It was easier to make us do stupid crap in the past because we were all younger and a lot more addicted, it's not going to work so well now, as shown by the hilarious boycotting of the new event they just added. "hmm it's shit, i think I won't do it at all", that will lead to more boredom and that makes people stop paying and look elsewhere (and no not to lolFFXIV, if they are banking on that they are in for a nasty suprise).

[Dazusu]

People need to think their time isn't wasted

For me it's about the journey, not the destination. Like I said though, I agree that a point system is a good direction to go in. My comparison was between Abyssea-like content or Random Number influenced content. I would prefer the latter.

You may be older and wiser, but there are a lot of people that enjoy that type of content who are also just as wise. But heaven forbid that some people out there like something that you don't. How very dare they. Let's lock them up and throw away the key.

[Kimble]

You're going to be very hard press to find others who enjoy new Nyzul Isle.

If you love RNG, im sure you'd love to play Russian roulette.

[Runespider]

For me it's about the journey, not the destination. Like I said though, I agree that a point system is a good direction to go in. My comparison was between Abyssea-like content or Random Number influenced content. I would prefer the latter.

You may be older and wiser, but there are a lot of people that enjoy that type of content who are also just as wise. But heaven forbid that some people out there like something that you don't. How very dare they. Let's lock them up and throw away the key.

Didn't you just return from WoW? It's a lot easier to swallow the sheer love affair they have with randomness (put in purely to extend the event in the crappiest way possible) if you play other MMOs and don't have to put up with it to this extent, for those of us that see XI as our main or only MMO it's not quite so nice.

I recently spent 6-7 months doing Voidwatch and 99% of it was not only totally unrewarding but I was no closer to my goal than the person that just started (I saw people that just started countless times that got the drops I was after, me being experienced and good at it did nothing to aid me being rewarded), the journey speel is cool for the first month or two when you are enjoying it...then it's mindless grind on content you can do while sleeping and there is no fun, skill or enjoyment in it...just the mad rush to check the loot and be dissapointed at the end cause you rolled a 1. Didn't matter how well you did the event, how quickly or flawlessly you killed it, you still rolled a 1. When you did get your reward you were no better than the aurore pink power ranger thief that died 20 times and lucked out and going 1/1 while other people killed it for them.

So yeah, forgive me mr just got back from wow and RNG is cool but nah not really, I think most of us want something better. When you get bored and run off to wow again we will still be here plugging away at the horrible design ideas you cheered on a few months earlier but no longer have to put up with.

[Disifer]

For me it's about the journey, not the destination. Like I said though, I agree that a point system is a good direction to go in. My comparison was between Abyssea-like content or Random Number influenced content. I would prefer the latter.

You may be older and wiser, but there are a lot of people that enjoy that type of content who are also just as wise. But heaven forbid that some people out there like something that you don't. How very dare they. Let's lock them up and throw away the key.

Any content where I don't have to sit in a LS, gather tons of points, get "rank 1" and still ask the LS Leader when ebody drops "Can i haz it masta?" just to be told not yet Toby, get in the back of the Nidhogg express is a great event to me. Abyssea opened it up for some of us players who were in college when we started and now we are married and have jobs or own business'. I cannot fathom coming on here everyday so help some snot nosed prick to get his elitist gear while I have to work 8-12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week to keep my business afloat and growing.

The VW loot system sucks and the need to progress upwards to advance your stone is painful to me and many others but it is what it is. It's great for the person who feels that an item as good as some of the bodies should take that long to get, and more power to them, I couldn't see myself mind-numbingly fighting the same boss over and over and tossing a prayer up to whatever you pray to, in order to make progress in this game. Einherjar's point system for rewards revolutionized how drop systems should work. You could still farm as a normal LS and use a points system, and hand out ebodies and the such while people still got rewarded every couple weeks with a new ring, a new neck or back piece, animator +1 for any pups out there, ect...

I don't mind the abyssea burning for weapons and such, at one point i really did hate it, but when you get ass-slammed by all the other "new content" that they are releasing, you realize that ochain, that af3, those Trial of the Magian Weapons,
and other things where you don't have to shout for people (hate it) and can do it with the remaining 2-6 "friends" you have left who haven't quit yet is where i have the most enjoyment.

Made me feel like I accomplished something in this game whereas from 2004-2011 my character felt like an incomplete project of anything I wanted to get done on it. The original Abyssea hating grew from the Empyreal Weapons and the fact that after 3 months of scars being released, most emp weaps shit right on relic weaps. People who spent years dealing with LS's, about 200 people for a 30 man LS cause people came and went like crazy, bought all their currency at high prices, sat in jeuno for months and goldsmith'd items into oblivion to make money to buy currency when they weren't and dynamis, and for what? To have a weapon which took 4 days to 2 weeks to complete and just mopped the floor with the relic version. After that, people became to nitpick small things while still doing the content gladly, enjoying the spoils and making progression towards something while they sat there and visibly said "i dont like it, meh"

Not saying it's the best thing since sliced bread. The elite players still have their VW gear, the good/normal players have all their af3+2 done and an emp or two, and the noobs and people you hate are still stuck in perle/pink gear, such as the 99 Cor in full pink with 90 armageddon i saw running around soloing in dynamis. Trust me we still have tiers, and i'm fine looking upwards still, while those at the top find it hard to see the person below them, isn't a mile like before. And thats all thanks to those 3 thrown together, god mode expansions with crap proc's and 3 job system we hate to name, abyssea.