Let Producer Matsui Know How He Should Catch Up on 2 Years!

[Camiie]

Mr. Producer, I'm not going to ask you for any specific changes. I'm simply going to ask you to play the game. Play it the way we play it. See it through our eyes. Hop on a live server of your choosing and follow today's progression from square one. I think that's the only way to truly understand what needs to be done.

[Mirage]

Hello Mr. New Producer.

I would like for you to look closely at some of the content that was never really popular, or where popularity decreased very quickly, and see what could be done to make them more popular.

Often times, it is not the gameplay in the events that is undesirable, but the rewards you get from them compared to the time you put into them.

Some examples include:

WotG Campaign:

A cool concept, I think. Join one of the forces of a huge war and help turn the tides, which in turn unlocks certain areas with (at the time) all right rewards. However, the Allied Notes rewards weren't that great, and after not very long, it became very hard for the few players that actually did campaign to actually capture the areas needed to do the more challenging fights.

Walk of Echoes:

Another event that I thought was pretty fun to participate in. However, the rewards from these are greatly overshadowed by a lot of abyssea stuff, and in many cases, the stronger abyssea version takes less time and effort to complete while also being stronger. Additionally, as a result of so few people doing WoE, the dice and residue items that are used for the lv95 and lv99 upgrades become prohibitively expensive for the players that these weapons are meant to be for.

It seems to me like these weapons are meant to be for mid-tier and somewhat casual players, however, the effort and cost of these items is more in the ballpark of what a non-casual and high-tier player would want to spend on getting them. The problem though, is that such a player would simply go for the real Empy weapons instead.

Here are some ideas on how to fix this: Add more desirable items to WoE, items that lots of players would want to get. Increase the drop rates for coins and perhaps add a feature where you can spend undesirable coins on a minigame where the rewards could be other coins (hopefully one of the coins you need), dice, residues, or other items. Make more fluxes that are tailored for various common low-man groups and that still give good rewards. Like I've said in a different thread, some fluxes could be for a DD-heavy party of 6 people or less, other fluxes could be for mage-heavy parties, while some fluxes are best dealt with by having a balanced group of healers, damage dealers, tanks and nukers. Then you'd also have some fluxes that are clearable by maybe just 3-4 players (without these players having to be pet jobs), and fluxes that are made for large groups of over 10-15, and in some cases more than 20-30 players.

Oh, and remove alliance-wide hate from it. All that encouraged was that you'd have 20 people fighting solo instead of one or two alliances working together, because it was safer. If you were in an alliance, you could risk a bunch of mobs coming right for you even if you hadn't even done a single action yet and were outside their aggro range.



Other than that, I'd want you to consider the fact that new players still join the game, and that you'd want the game to make a good first impression on them. The leveling speed for new players is probably fine nowadays, but there are some things about the leveling nowadays that I don't think they find very exciting.

For the first 70 levels, you'll be spending 99% of your time fighting skeletons in a dungeon, then crawlers in a dungeon, and then bats in a dungeon. Of course, the old FF11 did not have the greatest variety in enemies either, but nowadays it is kind of ridiculous. It is made even worse by the fact that you're punished for leaving the area, because the exp from pages resets.

I think perhaps you should just remove the gradually increasing exp from GoV and put in place a static exp value which is perhaps at 90-95% of what you could get from a page when you reached the exp cap of it. Additionally, Fields of Valor should be balanced up against Grounds of Valor. Currently, it is a lot faster to level up with GoV than it is with FoV,and the buffs offered are much better. I think this is a shame, because it encourages players to stay in dark, depressing dungeons all the time, instead of trying to level up in some of the much prettier zones in the game. Speaking of pretty zones, some of the CoP and ToAU zones should definitely get field manuals/grounds tomes too.

Then there is also the issue of gear for new players. Levels 1-60, you will find extremely little gear on the AH. In the past, we could do things like spend Conquest Points to get all right weapons and armor for the first 30-40 levels. However, now that the game has shifted to killing EP mobs and get page rewards, people make extremely little conquest points as they level, far from enough to buy any of the gear available from conquest guards. Solution: Make page exp give conquest points as well, like it would if you got the exp from a monster. Now, new (and returning players without lv75 jobs) will be able to get gear from conquest guards as they level up, instead of having to look at the (for them) almost entirely empty auction house.



And last, but not least: I would like more nation missions! Let us get to rank 15 or something, and introduce some nice gear from the new missions. Perhaps add some conquest point items that are relevant for levels above 75 at the same time.

P.S. Even if we're going to stay at level 99 for a long time now, please do not be afraid of making us stronger. I would not want a repeat of the situation at lv75, where a lot of new gear that was introduced would only be 0.0005% better than what was available before.

P.P.S. Let future reward systems not be extremely reliant on luck. FF11 is not a slot machine. Let rewards be slowly but surely built up to, and/or let extremely hard mobs give very good gear at a high drop rate. The challenge should be in the fight, not in how many times you can do the fight without dying from boredom.


-edit-
This turned out a lot longer than I planned, but you did ask for specific examples, so then I thought I'd oblige.

[Twille]

I would like to see the merit caps removed if possible. However, I figure that's rather unlikely, so at least consider lifting some of the caps, most notably in the Weapon Skill category, along with combat skills.

[Bersty]

I would like to see serious consideration for the requirements of completing a level 75 Mythic weapon. The following needs to be taken into serious consideration:

1. Alexandrite: I sincerely hope you consider the Alexandrite component of the Mythic quest as being the aspect in most need of change. Instead of suggesting the amount be changed; as I am sure you will see positively throughout these forums as being the "only" solution. I feel that instead, what needs to be addressed is moreover the means for obtaining it. As it currently stands, the counterparts to Mythic Weapons (Relics and Empyreans) can for the most part be solo'd as far as the items required for completion (items/currency). Mythic weapons, on the other hand, for the most part requires a team to "farm" the Alexandrite so I would encourage you to either consider allowing the entry requirements for Salvage/Nyzul to 1; or more importantly, to increase overall the drop rates for Alexandrite, Alexandrite pouches. Consider making a linen-pouch 100% (or 99.99%) guaranteed when killing a Salvage zone boss.

2. The completion of Assault Books: i.e., The completion of assaults for the second time. Was it not challenge enough to obtain captain status? for those who are in need of obtaining 150,000 Nyzul Assault Points, this severely hinders their ability to even start focusing on that aspect of the quest. My suggestion would be something along the lines of the updates done with Einherjar; in that, the said player who obtains Captain status would automatically receive the "clear" for each page of the books for Assaults in Key Item form. This would alleviate having to them again.

3. Spawn conditions for Aht Urghan Kings: Currently, it seems as though it can be anywhere from a week to two or more for these Notorious Monsters to spawn. Would it not be possible to reassess (as it was promised in the past) the spawn conditions for these Notorious Monsters? Is it completely unreasonable to adjust their re-spawn rate to a 24hr pop time?

Bersty

[BDSM]

Firstly, I would like to thank the producer and dev team to allow us this incredible opportunity to express what we as a community would like to see, even if it's not implemented it's nice to know you guys are listening, it is because of this I feel we're heading in a great direction.

As there are many many reply posts already, I'm sure not all posts will be read ( I haven't read them all myself ) however I hope that my voice will be heard. All the posts I've seen in the replies deals with Job Abilities or Changes to current content. What I would like to see myself change is very different I think what will really change this game is the Community

There has NOT been any updates to the social aspect of this game, since it's launch. I have only heard countless times "I would quit this game if it wasn't for my friends" I would like to see us be able to kick members our of the LinkShells even if they are not online, I would like to see us be able to chat in more the 1 linkshell, I would like to be able to Blist a player even if he's not online anymore. These are only a few things that I, personally would like to see, I understand if not everyone feels the same way. However with the game population decreasing rapidly (look at how many servers we have left and what the avg log in is now compare to a year ago) It's more then ever important to allow players to make good friends to keep each other going. Any updates to the UI or Social aspect of the game is a huge plus for me.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post.

[Nala]

Not just insulting, but every ability slot, every byte of memory used on an ability no one wants will prevent countless possible future improvements from being made for years to come. And of course developer time is all too scarce these days, so that must not be wasted either. I honestly believe that no new ability at all is better than one that is bad.

was posted under http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...ilities/page13 (ps how choose a name for a hyper link again?)

Quoted because as it stands alot of the new two hours as you intend to implement them are beyond lack luster both on paper and in practice, for example no BST would use the new 2 hour, BST's solo, by sacking their pet they are also directly impacts a bst's ability to survive, the ability is essentially an oxymoron.

There are a lot of abilities that have been added recently that are in similar states, where the utility is limited or non existent due to being outdated, under powered, unsupported ect.

For example steal, mug, despoil and aura steal at this point in the game you couldn't put enough gold or revamp any one of these for me to care about them (unless there was a 100% chance of stealing high end crafting gear from VW mobs) considering as it stands currently we have a cool down limit hence the plethora of shared timer abilities, i'd rather see new and unique abilities added in their stead.

That is another matter, when ever you fix what is needed to up or remove the limit of cool down timers in the game, seriously consider unbinding shared timer abilities, hell might fix DRG if they could access all their jumps (I don't play drg would that break the job? idc atm just throwing out suggestions /sigh)

In anycase going to cut it short here as to not ramble on.

[Economizer]

I've got a laundry list. I'm not sure if these should be posted separately so people can add likes to each idea or not, so I'll just list it all of them with explanations. These are roughly listed from most important to least.

• Third Party Add-ons
  Allow sanctioned third party add-ons to enhance the UI and Macroing Systems in a manner that you can regulate and set rules on.
  Key Community Websites that SE itself works with like FFXIAH have to resort to using illegal third party add-ons to get their information, so it isn't like there isn't a major case for letting players have a legitimate way to enhance the UI we're given.
• Deeper explanations of reasoning behind certain dev decisions, especially historical ones.
  We like math. We like stories. You've got both. I don't think there is an easier way to make us happy.
• Answer selected questions about game mechanics on a weekly or monthly basis.
  It would be nice to know how Barsilence works after all these years because testing it is roughly impossible without even a hint. Feel free to keep Treasure Hunter all mysterious if it means we can learn some other stuff we haven't been able to figure out after ten years.
• More UI information about specific stats
  I remember that this may be in the works to some extent, but it is worth repeating.
  Accuracy, Evasion, Ranged Accuracy, Ranged Attack, Magic Accuracy, Magic Attack Bonus, and Magic Affinity to start.
  Look, we already know how Haste works and we know it isn't a 1:1 value with what is displayed, so being able to know if we have met the exact 25% gear Haste cap without wearing 26% Haste would be nice.
  So exact Haste values would be a nice start. Also, Barstatus resist (like Barsilence), "Killer" effect values.
• Food Adjustments
  Primarily the problem with high level foods are that they haven't been scaling as well for certain roles as others - mage foods in particular suck.
  (See thread for more info.)
• Potion Adjustments
  Remove medicated off of potion drops such as the item "Potion Drop". Consider making different potions stackable and adjusting potion drops to compensate (such as potion drops having a 99 stack size vs. a 12 stack size for normal potions).
• Options that make using a Shield a viable trade-off vs. Dual Wield for Non-Paladins.
  Part of this would be more, and stronger shields for us non-Paladins. Shields don't feel like they have scaled very well with levels like other gear has, even the new 76+ shields don't feel any more powerful then the best non-Paladin shields below that level.
  One suggestion to start, a universal magic affinity shield that is similar to the Chatoyant Staff, but higher level.
• Universal Day/Weather Bonus Obi
  Pretty self explanatory, but basically, I'd like to be able to use Synergy to merge a full set of Day/Weather Obi into one piece of gear.
• Continue the Job Specific Storylines
  Or at least the ones started in the Artifact Armor Quests that just abruptly cut short.
• Artifact Armor +2
• Give White Mage and Red Mage Hastega
  Level 80, let it be casted cross-party, then let Scholar Accession Haste. This won't affect balance, it will just make life easier for mages so they can focus on having fun instead of running cycles. At very least, give it a try on the Test Server.
• Chemist Job
  Potion-usage based class.
• Medicine Bags
  Allow us to store stacks of stackable medicines in bags, starting with Echo Drops.
• Give White Mage Banish IV
  And maybe do it at 76, and have a Banish V as well!
• Give Blue Mage Throwing Skill
• Throwing Weapon Skill
  Preferably two different sets of weapon skills, one for returning weapons, and one for expendable ones, this way you can balance the base damage that expendable weapons do, or even only have throwing weapon skills available if the user has a returning weapon.
• H.Q. Frog Jugpet for Beastmaster
  Make it blue colored. Name it something like Trouncing Trevor.
• Allow Melee Mage setups to be more powerful
• Skill ups in Campaign Battle
• Give Red Mage Sanguine Blade natively
• Give Red Mage the Fencer Job Trait
• Bastokan Railway System

I'm sure there are more things I missed, but here you go.

[Rekin]

Remove merit caps. There is a whole topic about why you should do it and why it doesn't hurt the game's balance.

For many of the new 2hrs players want an ability that willl actually turn the tide's of battle on the scale of Perfect Defense and Embrava.

For a job specific change, I feel that DRG could benefit from a 2hr that boosted both the dragoon and wyvern's defenses against all damage types and ailments. What good is restoring your wyvern when doom or instant death will just kill it a moment later?

Lowering DRG's call wyvern recast timer to 10 minutes would be a boon as it stands DRGs are put a severe disadvantage when dying compared to any other melee class as now their two main damaging JAs that are also used for TP gain is left useless with their wyvern gone and now they've also lost access to 5%-10%(depending on content) of their damage and healing breath their main source of sustainability. Not even BST a job shown to be universally hated is hit by such a penalty for dying.

If lowering DRG's Call Wyvern recast possess some issue with the developers I propose DRG get a JA that allows them to be significantly buffed to make up for the loss of their companion. Something in the lines of offense, perhaps 20% attack bonus along with minor haste?

Also consider reworking Jump and High Jump as of now the only times I'd use either is when my wyvern is dead or I've 2hred. Both situations in which the effects of the jumps are still less useful then simply using spirit/soul jump with my wyvern around.

Reconsider DRG's current 2hr; as it stands it has no use for a dragoon in almost any situation. Namely because if the situation is dire enough in which a player would sacrifice their wyvern, which is their main source of healing solo, one of two things will happen. 1. the wyvern is dead and thus the 2hr is unusable. 2. the dragoon will simply use Restoring breath JA or cast a quick spell like dia in order to restore their health.

Health restoration aside, the haste/str/damage bonus and additional effects to first 3 jumps are not enough to change a bad situation. 1. loss of wyvern means that in a low man group where the drg maybe /mage they cannot heal their teammates. 2. what ever caused the drg to use their 2hr will quickly burn through any amount of HP restored. 3. the jump effects aren't nearly useful enough to use them as now most jobs have some means of self-preservation making the enmity removal by high/super jump insignificant. The haste bonus means nothing to a drg in a zerg situation as the drg will prefer having their wyvern present for the boost to spirit/soul jump and the str/damage bonus is so insignificant that the benefits mean nothing.

TLDR: DRG's current 2hr and new 2hr is useless and a new 2hr that gives both the wyvern and master a bonus without sacrificing the wyvern would be a boon.

[Lushipur]

what i really want, and hope for the new expansion, is lots of new story. ffxi, for me, is first an beatiful experience lived throu the quest and mission i do with my friends.

since wotg we did not see new sidequest storyline (like the serpent general or the npc fellow)
wotg was nice with the national quest and the main storyline.
we need more of this.

and when i say story i mean true story with cut and long text (i was really pissed off by some vw quest. just a line of text and its all there really?)

i know most of the player dont care about mission if the reward is not enough. so make it cool. hard quest with nice fight to get some cool piece of equip. maybe some augmented equip so one can personalize.

please consider some new job specific storyline to get acces to new equip/emoticon/af/ja/spell
same for the npc fellow. last 3 quest was really poor of design. at least put some nice cut in it.

and an epic final for toau/wotg would be amazing (like the rotz/cop final mission). we all want to know something more about odin.

edit: please all cut should show your pt member like in the wotg final cut.

[FrankReynolds]

1) Please start a level 99 character and go out and try and make friends and get it geared as if you were an average player. You will learn a lot.

2) Please revamp the macro system. Preferably through the addition of full gear sets that can be called from macros.

3) Please make all future events progressive and lower the amount of luck required. Do this for current events as well. Luck sucks. People doing an event should see progress. Abyssea seals etc. is a good example.

4) Please read the link that Spankwustler posted about merits, and make the requested changes.

5) Please revamp any content that is currently being done primarily through perfect defense / embrava / stun lock. There should be more to these events, both in terms of how they can be won and what jobs can win them.

6) Please fix enmity. There are several jobs who have been geared and given abilities based solely around this mechanic and it doesn't currently work. Thief and Paladin suffer especially from this.

7) Please read through job specific forums and try to at least read the first 10 posts on each thread. I know that you can't read all this stuff, but you should get a pretty good idea what is liked / hated by the likes on the first page of each thread.