Do something about the AH and lower level gear????

[Olor]

GamerGuy it all depends on the server - merges will help - so will merging AH's together - however - I am of the belief more needs to be done, namely - increasing skill ups on crafts (preferably to at least 0.1 per synth) - which would encourage more players both old and new to level up crafting and/or putting more gear at a fair price on NPCs.

The truth of the matter is players of a modern mmo expect to be able to get gear when they need it - camping the auction house or having to beg a crafter to make what they need are just not on for most gamers. If that is what they need to do to be decently geared - they will quit and play rift or a game where the population is not all at max level/uninterested in new players

[blowfin]

Any other ideas?

There's plenty of them in here.
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...ll-Limitations

[Karbuncle]

The idea of all these other Systems, NPCs, Conquest Points, Etc, is to Mesh with the Auction house. They are a collaborative effort in collecting Armor. They are there for the strict purpose that if you can't find what you want on AH, Chances are if you look around you will find the armor at an NPC or at a Conquest Points NPC. All these things are there to obtain armor, Utilize all of them!

Auction house should always be a primary stop when looking for armor, But SE has Secondary Stops, and beyond. The Conquest NPCs and Shops are there for when the AH Isn't providing. And really, Most crafters are pretty nice people, Not all of them mind you, but most are willing to craft some small item for a new player if the new player asks nice enough. Its just a matter of finding one. FFXIAH used to have a "Find a Crafter" option on their item pages, IDK if they do anymore.

You can always use the AH to buy the materials, and find a crafter to help you. you could even HQ. FFXI is a collaborative effort between Community, AH, NPC, Crafters, Etc etc. You must utilize all of them, Not rely solely on one. For instance, The other day i needed a pair of Tigerfangs for my Automaton Frame, None in stock. I Bought the Items off AH to craft it, and went to farm a Scorpion Shell cause none in stock. Came back with 2 Shells, The First on HQ'd so i couldn't use it, Second one NQ'd and i put it to use. They person did not ask for a reward, But i let them keep the HQ and gave em 50k for being helpful. You don't have to tip, I did cause they were very nice, friendly, and even waited for me to get a Scorpion shell. Crafters are nice people, don't be afraid to ask for help. (BTW, I shouted in port jeuno for the crafter)

The auction House Merge should help, But its also up to to the player to get the item they want. Buy ahead too. For instance, I just purchased a pair of T.M Hooks +2 (Check Asura Server: Mule WilliamRiker) for 100k, My PUP is only 33, But when i get to 50 I'll have them ready. I prepared ahead. If i didn't get them when i got to that level, I would have bought a NQ, AH or NPC, and had it crafted. HQ or NQ it would be nice to use.

[Ravenmore]

Its been said so much before but if it wasn't for the easy leveling of abyssea most people wouldn't have even touch alot of the jobs. When jobs like rdm and whm main role expected by the player base from 1 to 75 is cure/buff why do it two times. DDs play the same in parties, engage biuld tp WS repeat. Tanks engage spam spells or voke to get hate if you even bother to invite one in the first place. Alot of these jobs people had already had at 37+. So really what logic are people using when they say making abyssea 70 or what ever going to help low lvl gear, cause even if they did make it that way would it really increase people crafting low gear when gil is so easy to get its just not worth the time to make the gear.

[Vaash]

SE could always auto add like 1 of every piece of gear every set time, up to a certain limit. It could be for a certain level group or maybe certain days of the week will add certain things to the AH.

[Octaviane]

"Some people in this thread seem to believe that new players have the intelligences of 5 year olds. I'm sure if they wanted to know something they would look it up. Most people have access to the Internet....especially people who are playing an online game".

I hate to say it, but there are a lot of players exactly like this. How many times the questions are asked "how do I do this", "what do I need for that", "where do I have to go", "I don't have a map", "what do I need to do for this quest/mission", etc, etc.

Before I bought a laptop, I printed everything out that I thought I might want to do on any given day or if I knew our LS was going to do something.

There is plenty of information out there for anyone to use. Imagine what is was like for the first ever players of FFXI, no wiki guides, nothing.

[RAIST]

The truth of the matter is players of a modern mmo expect to be able to get gear when they need it - camping the auction house or having to beg a crafter to make what they need are just not on for most gamers. If that is what they need to do to be decently geared - they will quit and play rift or a game where the population is not all at max level/uninterested in new players

Sounds like a personal problem, and not a game design problem.

If this were as big an issue as you guys are making it, FFXI woulkd have never gotten off the ground in the first place.....

[blowfin]

Sounds like a personal problem, and not a game design problem.

If this were as big an issue as you guys are making it, FFXI woulkd have never gotten off the ground in the first place.....

*COUGH* there is obviously an issue or they wouldn`t be merging the auction houses. It`s been mentioned countless times in this thread. I mean you can deny it all you like, but it doesn`t change the fact that we even got a post from the development team saying exactly that. Please stop implying people are lazy, either intentionally or unintentionally. It`s getting really old, and it`s making you look very rude.

Also, regarding your second statement. Expectations from MMO`s were far different when this game first got released. This is not 2003 anymore. New and returning players will be driven away by empty auction houses in 2011, its that simple.

[Olor]

Sounds like a personal problem, and not a game design problem.

If this were as big an issue as you guys are making it, FFXI woulkd have never gotten off the ground in the first place.....

Times have changed. It is not 2002 anymore. The expectations of MMO players have changed.

Witness XIV. I'll tell you straight that a good number of the people that quit almost immediately did so because it was difficult to find the gear they wanted.

And I will also say - that 75% of not being able to find the gear (in the first two weeks to a month especially) was due not to the horrific market system (which was horrific) - but because crafters hadn't gotten high enough to make it yet. So even if there had been an AH (for the sake of argument lets pretend there was) - there would have been very few (if any) of the item up - so players would be SoL (like FFXI today on many servers for newer players).

It should have been obvious to people that they shouldn't expect to be well geared right away in a game where most equipment was made by players because the crafters would need to get high enough to make the items. They didn't care. I had one friend who couldn't find bone hora for his pugilist and pretty much quit on the spot.

Knowing why the items aren't there doesn't lessen the frustration of being unable to gear your character properly. And no, telling someone to spend 100,000 in gil (and probably 1 week or more of playtime - not counting time spent farming gil/mats) leveling a craft to make a single piece of equipment is not a very good answer either - and it is totally senseless to oppose changes if established players don't think it is worth their time to help make the market work.

If you don't want to make what we have work - then don't oppose development changes which would adapt the market to the current reality for new players.

[Olor]

And honestly - which is more lazy - wanting to be able to spend the money you worked hard to earn on gear so you can work your character up in level and become part of the gaming community?

Or having a craft/multiple crafts leveled and REFUSING to supply the market for a small profit because it is easier to buy things with cruor and then npc them?

The hypocrisy is stunning.