Suggestion: Break the game, SE

[Anapingofness]

Your post just proves that you keep missing the point Shipp. I refuse to get into a battle of numbers with you, which is what you seem to want.

Yes, you are right in the sense that it is very much so a cumulative effect. One snow ring won't do much for you... which is what I said, mind you. Two snow rings won't do it either, but if you do upgrade everything else so that it adds up to +30, +50, etc INT yeah. Then you do see a difference- also something that has been said over and over in this thread.

That part has never been debated so why are you debating it now? What is being debated (well one of the things being debated) is the fact that gear, especially end game gear is giving you such marginal increases that you have to rely on that cumulative effect. Moreover, that cumulative effect isn't that great either but at least it's something. Would it hurt the game if we could equip +50 INT rings, no, it really wouldn't.

But then we get into another problem, gear slots and space. Which I really don't want to touch right now.

[Aquilla]

Zinato, you make a good, if dangerous point. Honestly, I am not an expert on WoW, but I did give it a shot for a bit, and yes, some of those mechanics I did like. For example, the tutorial was nicely done. The game was very good at explaining where it wants you to go and what to do. And, WoW did have mini-games. I particularly enjoyed the plants vs. zombies minigame and I enjoyed this.. thing where you go shoot at dragons with your dragon.. I don't remember the name for it, it was a repeatable quest. The point is, you get a dragon and you shoot down other dragons. That was kinna fun. Mainly, though, WoW tried to appeal to as many players as possible. The game struck me as something that the developers truly had fun putting together. There was much humor in it, for example, and a lot of fun.

I never got into WoW terribly -- mainly cuz I can't be paying for two MMOs, and I didn't like the community at all -- but yeah, you're right.

In fact, a ton of their proposed changes to XIV seem to be the stuff that WoW has. not that WoW has monopoly on stuff like dungeon finder...but yeah. XIV was too unique in certain aspects (We won't have any classes!) and not unique enough in other aspects (copy-paste terrain, copy-paste races from XI with a different backstory, so it made no sense) but that's neither here nor there.

FFXI's major problem has been -- and remains -- is that it's damn hard to get into. It's unfriendly to new players. It takes too many hoops to start playing it, and that probably turned a ton of people off. They never took a long, hard look at their shortcomings. They never said 'Yeah, the LFG system has sucked for years. Let's go change it.' In fact, they seem downright unwilling to make major changes like that.

That's mainly where I want innovation. I dont' care if they take my ideas, or not. I'm not a game developer. But I would like to see that someone at SE is looking at this game critically and saying 'Here's something new to this game, something we didn't have. Here's events which are designed to be enjoyed by a lot of people. Here's how we plan to attract new people. ' Instead...hell, I've no clue what they're doing instead. Spinning their wheels in the mud, it seems, creatively.

[Duelle]

And, WoW did have mini-games. I particularly enjoyed the plants vs. zombies minigame and I enjoyed this.. thing where you go shoot at dragons with your dragon.. I don't remember the name for it, it was a repeatable quest.

Probably Defending Wyrmrest Temple.

There was much humor in it, for example, and a lot of fun.

The pop culture references and the fact the game in certain aspects never took itself seriously is why it was a lot easier to digest. I mean, we have an NPC in Shattrath that's called Haris Pilton who has a dog named Tinkerbell that sells a 24 slot bag called Portable Hole. We used to have a Battlemaster called Adam Eternum going on about how he found a magical loincloth (and some guy coming after him for stealing his "Gray Skull") and has a battle tiger and a short sidekick that's there for comic relief. The PETA parody known as DEHTA. Characters like Lunk, Mylune, Linken (and his Sword of Mastery). Recurring characters like Harrison Jones, and the immortal Captain Placeholder.

They never took a long, hard look at their shortcomings. They never said 'Yeah, the LFG system has sucked for years. Let's go change it.' In fact, they seem downright unwilling to make major changes like that.

Indeed. I don't know if it's due to staff or budget limitations or just downright stubbornness, but a lot of aspects of the game do need to be looked over, fixed where possible or redesigned when all else fails.

[Aquilla]

yes! exactly!

This game needs a breath of fresh air. Yet, I don't see that. The last few updates that they gave us were either minor nerfs (certain empy weapons, Dipper yulu) in the name of balance, or grinds (1500 heavy metals, for one). no lightheartedness. No innovation. Just.. nothing. Yeah, i've mentioned it a few times -- but the straw that made me make the original post was the 'These stats are nuts!!!' on the red body piece from legion. Dear heavens, why was that exciting?

There is funny things in this game. Certain story-lines are funny. Missions are funny. Finding 300k in the library in windurst is funny. Heck, clicking on the dyna-CoP cutscene is funny..but recently, none of that has made it down the pipeline. the only minigames are the seasonal events, and Mumor's starting to make me see red.

More creativity, SE! Hire some new peeps, or something. College students tend to be pretty creative, and they'll work for peanuts.