Keeping content relevant

[Ketaru]

So level 75 content is intrinsically based around a mix of jobs, and heavily reliant on strategy. At 75 I have to gear swap a lot, for the STR+6 bonus or whatever, because my gear is not statbombed with attributes everywhere. There is a lot less room for error at 75, because of the more basic gear and abilities, you have to play a tight game or you get KO on your first error. I found the 119 game was a lot more forgiving of errors (in most cases).

That's kind of an overexaggeration. On RDM, when I'm soloing stuff, if I switch to magic-oriented gear to cast enfeebles or something, my accuracy very noticably goes down. If you're not experiencing this, it's because you're fighting mobs well below your capacity.

Lottery pops were always, always, always a bad system, at any level. The smug satisfaction of winning a claim was completely outweighed by the hours of waiting and praying that you could overcome the bots the other parties were (allegedly) using. The only people (IMO) who liked them were the ones that exploited to win them more often. Personally, I want to fight things. Not wait for and then watch other people fight things. The fun should be in the fight itself.

It's as though somebody has finally seen reason. I've criticized this about the old NMs time and time again, yet people clung to the legitimacy of this system like battered wives with Stockholm Syndrome.

Scaled versions of content are available all over, not just in new areas, and I think they should keep doing that. I don't like level sync or other artificial feeling means of making something harder than it is.

At this point, they should probably keep on doing that (especially when there are still content from WotG that could use iLevel equivalents). We should even be glad they provide the content to be experienced at a range of levels. If you're playing a job that is weaker at soloing, you can enter higher tier battlefields at a lower level. If you want a challenge with other players, you can opt for the Very Difficult setting. Content designed like that ensures there is accessibility for everybody.

[OmnysValefor]

IF they did introduce 75-cap content, they'd probably reorient what level GEO and RUN attain some abilities and they'd throw an array of handbell/geomancy+ gear to make GEO valid.

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Guys, level 75 gear frequently sucked. A lot of melee, who cared to build PDT sets, were wearing things like "Darksteel Subligar +1" (DEF:29 Light/Dark +3, PDT-3%) or the NQ. Arhat's, a beautiful mnk/sam/nin PDT set was also only about PDT and Enmity+ and Arhat's Gi +1 was probably the best among the terrible selection. Haste, you remember haste? Haste cap wasn't even a concern for most players in their gear sets, whereas my paladin can now simultaneously pdt cap, haste cap and have fair accuracy (with food) in 119 content (So Zitah t1s/t2s~).

The much better approach to reliving the old content is how they're doing it, making bigger versions of the old fights. The only reason this sits so poorly with so many people is that everything is nuked. This just means they need to rebalance content.

[Alhanelem]

Different people like different things.

Well, on that, I totally agree. I'm just trying to come to some kind of understanding about why some people like particular things. Don't take my comments to mean "STOP LIKING WHAT I DONT LIKE!" - Even if I don't agree with something, I like to understand why it is others feel the way they do.

Like the lottery pop system. I can't imagine why anyone likes this. Without a guide (wiki) or someone to tell you how it works, the average player will probably have no idea what's actually happening. not know that a specific mob spawn is a placeholder for a special enemy, and even if they do know, you could kill that PH for hours an d never see anything. I'm just really struggling to understand what's fun about this. It doesn't make any kind of logical or even fantasy sense that one particular ordinary monster out of a crowd of ordinary monsters is acting as a stand in for some overlord.

But really, the job variety point is indisputable. While the jobs we're using the most now are different from the jobs we used the most back then, the problem has ALWAYS existed, and in fact it's only natural that the playerbase will gravitate over time to a handful of jobs deemed the most efficient.

[Olor]

Honestly what they should do is add avenues for people to solo/ duo /trust stuff like this in a longer route to get good 119 gear. The geared players, or players with contacts / linkshell can still do it the faster way and the "scrubs" can gear up at a much slower pace to possibly get to the point they are acceptable to the minority for inclusion.

The current system still favors the minority and leaves the majority out in the cold, there is no slope to gear up anymore.

FFXI these days is mostly centered around mercing content, because there simply is no slope to build yourself up. .

Yep, this is what kills my will to play.

[machini]

Yep, this is what kills my will to play.

The fact that there's only a handful of jobs that can even participate in content even when well geared doesn't help, either. Or that even when you can do a thing with other set ups, you're doing it "wrong" if you do.

[Alhanelem]

I don't see all this mercing you speak of. There's easily obtainable 117+ gear, that helps you get early 119 gear, that helps you get later 119 gear... seems like there's a slope to me.

[machini]

I don't see all this mercing you speak of. There's easily obtainable 117+ gear, that helps you get early 119 gear, that helps you get later 119 gear... seems like there's a slope to me.

An awful lot of people won't take people in 117 gear for anything. I've seen a lot of a specific problem which is "we will not take you for content X unless you have gear from contentX+1 or equivalent." Like the time I got told off for suggesting we take a 119 mythic MNK on a tojil run over a MNK with oatixur because "oatixur is the best you noob". It's like people who refuse to take you into alluvion skirmish unless you're already in alluvion skirmish armor.

You cannot pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.

[Vae]

An awful lot of people won't take people in 117 gear for anything. I've seen a lot of a specific problem which is "we will not take you for content X unless you have gear from contentX+1 or equivalent." Like the time I got told off for suggesting we take a 119 mythic MNK on a tojil run over a MNK with oatixur because "oatixur is the best you noob". It's like people who refuse to take you into alluvion skirmish unless you're already in alluvion skirmish armor.

You cannot pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.

Well, let's be completely honest, if you can find 2 competent humans, and you all have "usable" jobs with the worst 119 gear, there's basically nothing you can't do or obtain.

I'll give you that finding 2 not complete retards, is essentially impossible... unless a player quits leaving an opening.

There is literally nothing 3 people can't do (that you really need to bother with). Yeah 3 can't finish an Aeonic, who cares. Bother with things that matter.

You can literally start a new account right now, be 99 by midnight, solo some skirmish, get zitah 119, and start working on Risenjima gear with your 2 competent players. Yeah THE BEST gear, is out of your reach, it's always been. Nothing has changed. If you have nothing to want, you have no reason to play.

That's why i'm re-quitting. No interest in the Aeonics, the current meta doesn't do "it" for me.

[dmuller30]

The problem still comes down to finding 2 competent players that are able to play with you when you are playing. I have friends that help me but they are never on when I am but sometimes on rare occasions. I am a returning player, and only after a year the game has changed so much. I shout all day and get no replies to get the said gear you are talking about sometimes I wait days to get any help at all. I think solo instances would be perfect for under geared players striving to get the gear they need at a slower pace would be perfect that would have helped me a ton. As far as grouping I couldn't get into anything because my Sparks gear just wasn't cutting it. The only sure fire way to get into anything is go GEO, WHM, COR which aren't really gear restrictive jobs but I don't really want to do any of those. So in conclusion solo instances would be nice and if you have a group it could be done faster .

[Alhanelem]

An awful lot of people won't take people in 117 gear for anything.

You don't need anyone to take you for anything. You can do easy things on it to get your first 119 things, and with that you can get into the early 119 content ad do BCs on lower difficulties and then gradually move in to other things. I actally think it's a bigger issue if people don't have job points, but you don't need help for that either (though it will be slower...)