Suggestion: Remove Abyssea Time restrictions

[Broso]

It is not an issue for anyone but the soloer. Is your argument that soloers should be punished? If I have less than 2 hours a day to play you can bet your ass I'm not going to spend a second even trying to shout for members for a group. I've chosen to bypass this limitation by having multiple characters but that option isn't available to everyone. There are casual people who want to enjoy the games functionality without a group, abyssea is a great opportunity to do so. I have a small LS of friends that would be willing to help me but unfortunately -I- am the one who the wonky playtime that can't commit to set schedules even on a daily basis.

The point is that the time limit does not function as it did when abyssea first came out. For 99% of the player base it does not limit their time in abyssea. I have hundreds of stones on all of my characters and can go in and out as needed, so I am not affected by the time limit at all. This debate doesn't really hurt me either way but I can still see why the people who are asking for this would ask for it. There is reason and opportunity to solo in abyssea, I can go NIN/DNC and solo for 2 hours, leave my camp for a few minutes, come back and solo for 2 more hours and that will create no less congestion than just going for 4 hours.

This issue doesn't even effect the people who do these kinds of things with friends, or even a PUG for that matter, organized or not. Just saying.

[RAIST]

the content is not designed as soloable content--it was designed first as group content. It is a freaking MMO for heaven's sake. So, by going in solo, you are automatically hindering your efficiency...pure and simple. This is a known fact, and should be expected.

As for not being able to team up....is your schedule completely random? Are there no times that you routinely get on, or is there no way to know in advance that you will be able to be on this Saturday from 9pm to 10pm your time? If you have absolutely no way to schedule anything, then that is more a real-life problem than a game design problem--I seriously doubt it is so common an issue that warrants removing a key game mechanic. If there actually is some level of predictability to your schedule, then you have an opportunity to plan things. Bring it up in LS, use the /lsmes feature (or get your leaders to post it for you), ask for help in your server's forums here or on other sites--there are ways to get help. Whether your LS/FL has people that can be on to help you at that time is a completely different issue that really has nothing to do with Abyssea time management--it's more an issue with who you've linked up with to play the game. We have people in odd time slots like that (players range from west coast to EU, even JP at one time), and when we can swing it, we will go and help people with stuff--helpin' a brotha' out kind of thing. If you don't have that kind of support in your playing circle....perhaps there is a bigger issue that needs to be addressed?

[Broso]

The argument through this whole thread has been that abyssea is made for 2-3 people, but should somehow be inaccessable for 1 person. I guess that just isn't going to soak in for me.

For me personally, yeah my times are basically entirely random, which is why I've chosen to have mules and just go do stuff when I'm on rather than shout. I would rather multibox than deal with people I don't like and that is why I am in a small LS with people I do like. My main reason for not asking for help with stuff is because in reality I would probably never be able to return the favor, and because I can do it by myself I can dedicate my longer playing days to doing stuff for them. There will be anecdotal evidence for both sides.

To address the more important pieces of what you said: How is the abyssea time limit a key function if for a vast majority of the player base it does not limit their time in abyssea? There has been more than enough commentators that have mentioned having hundreds of stones that they will never use. My personal experience aside, the time limit does nothing but hurt people who can't/won't be able to find groups. The time limit does nothing to the rest of us.

[Scuro]

I got a better suggestion.... Remove Abyssea lol

[Miera]

Yeah, might as well-

\

People would idle in there 24 hours a day, botting your favourite NMs like Gukumatz. The zones would become congested. If you don't have any friends - that sucks for you. Level BST

Y'know on second thought I change my mind, that would suck. I cosign Dazusu

[FrankReynolds]

Yeah, might as well-


Y'know on second thought I change my mind, that would suck. I cosign Dazusu

First of all, I can already camp Guku 24 hours a day.

Second, what would the point be? you can only hold one ki.

Third, really? congestion? really? there are 9 zones and literally hundreds of NMs spread all over them.

Fourth, BST? Wtf does BST have to do with this?

[Waldrich]

But, as mentioned earlier, there is soooo much more a new player can do OTHER than abyssea. Things like unlocking subjobs, leveling said subjobs, earning home nation's (and optionally other nations') rank, completing quests to raise fame, getting Chocobo License, Airship Pass, Sea Access, Sky Access, TAU Access, farming Artifact Armor, Limit Breaks, completeing quests for quested only spells/equipment/weaponskills, skilling up, Campaign Battles to increase WotG rank, getting the WotG maps (quested), Dynamis and Limbus (and gear from said zones, which require repeated participation to acquire), Nyzul Isle, Assaults, Salvage, Einherjar....omg the list goes on even longer.

All the while.....because you aren't spending any time in Abyssea while working on all this other content, your base stones are building in the background. Then, when you get a nice linkshell you are comfortable with and can then gather a few friends to help you find your abysites, you will get one that will multiply your stone stock immediately (Celerity Abyssites are retroactive--it recalculates the time passed since you started Abyssea and you gain the extra stones you would have aquired at the faster rate, so if it's been one month or so since you started abyssea, for each Celerity you get, you can pick up to ~18 free stones instantly).

All you have to do is just unlock Abyssea as soon as you can, then play the game somewhere other than in Abyssea for a while and then go get your Abyssites of Celerity--the first two of which are basically purchased. One is quested by simply trading an item you can buy off the AH (which you get back and can re-sell it back on the AH), the other is purchased for 9000 cruor. So.....after farting around for a month or so after unlocking Abyssea, then spending a spot of gil on the AH, and joining ONE decent Abyssea party for farm a spot of Cruor.....you can get up to a FREE 36 stones, depending on just how much time has passed. At this point, you get 2 stones every 24 hours. After that, you can farm the third Celerity off the Tonberries (fairly easy to do...some jobs could solo these early on) to get another ~18 free stones. This will finally cap you at getting a stone every 8 hours.

Stone stock problem virtually fixed for a new player....work smarter, not harder.

Man I'm hardcore, I did all that in 2 weeks

I want to say I feel punished for getting in the game later...
I can't do a Empy Weapon.

3 Stones a day each one is 45mins for me... really nothing to me.
If you think it's enough, good luck for you

you mentioned all past events... All what worth nowdays(To me) is VWNM, Dynamis, Legion, New Nyzul Isle, Abyssea.

Good luck getting invites to (VWNM) as WAR w/o an Ukonvasara.

I'm all against removal of Abyssea time restriction.

[RAIST]

Man I'm hardcore, I did all that in 2 weeks

I want to say I feel punished for getting in the game later...
I can't do a Empy Weapon.

3 Stones a day each one is 45mins for me... really nothing to me.
If you think it's enough, good luck for you

you mentioned all past events... All what worth nowdays(To me) is VWNM, Dynamis, Legion, New Nyzul Isle, Abyssea.

Good luck getting invites to (VWNM) as WAR w/o an Ukonvasara.

I'm all against removal of Abyssea time restriction.

Nice try. No way you completed even just that list in two weeks. A lot of the quests and missions require next RL day to progress....some even 5 days, so at best you'd be looking at roughly 3 months.

[Xantavia]

Just think of the time restriction as SE trying to reinforce the Player Warning when you log on. Go into Abyssea to do what you want to do, and when its time to restone, walk away from the game for a little bit. This seems like it would work well for the casual player. If they only have a limited time to play, they will know that "hey, I've only got 2 hours to play, turn in my stones and when I time out, time to go".

[svengalis]

I can kinda see where some of these new players are coming from but I think removing the time limit at this point in the game is a bad idea. I can see it turning into a big problem for empyrean weapon farmers. Maybe in a year or two though...