Interim Report – Sorry to keep you all waiting!

[saevel]

RDM SP2 is not designed to work with the current system but a future version of FFXI. The previous SP2 would definitely be nice, but it wouldn't do anything to give RDM an edge over /RDM so we'd still be out of a job...
Just wish SE would release more info about it.

Bulvine Scatology

It's Elemental Seal but worse on a 60m timer. There is absolutely no difference between

Elemental Seal Slow II
RDM SH!T MOVE Slow II

They both jack Magic Acc up to cap though RDM SH!T MOVE only works on enfeebles and can be resisted vs ES which works on everything and is significantly higher magic accuracy (damn near cap on anything).

This is one of those things that some dip sh!t said "Hey we want RDM to be focused on enfeebles right, so lets like give them an ability to enhance their magic acc" and the next guy over says "dude I was just trying to thing of a limited SP ability for RDM that they couldn't possibly use to solo any content with, thanks for helping me out"

That is exactly (or a close approximation of) how it happened. There was no careful planning, no reviewing game mechanics, none of that. No it was a random a$$ idea someone pulled out, something BTW that RDM's have actually mentioned being given on a 10m timer, and threw on a table.

[Kristal]

Lol wishful thinking.

That Encomium is meant to be used against formerly immune NMs was hinted at by the devs.
It's wishfull thinking RDM might actually be wanted again for endgame content because of it.

[Kristal]

Bovine Scatology

It's Elemental Seal but worse on a 60m timer. There is absolutely no difference between

Elemental Seal Slow II
RDM SH!T MOVE Slow II

They both jack Magic Acc up to cap though RDM SH!T MOVE only works on enfeebles and can be resisted vs ES which works on everything and is significantly higher magic accuracy (damn near cap on anything).

You fail to see the difference between "Magic Accuracy +X" and "Ignores Magic Evasion". While in effect they might be the same RIGHT NOW, the upcoming changes to resistance will change the playing field. Elemental Seal will not allow you to land enfeebles on formerly immune NMs, because their Magic Evasion is so frigging high it takes ES'd Immunobreaks to land a gimp enfeeble.

Wether or not that makes RDM wanted again remains to be seen, but at least it's a step in the right direction. (It beats yet another solo ability.)

[Kincard]

Even if RDM was the only job that could land said enfeeble with the use of this ability, that still wouldn't be useful, because it's on a 1-hour recast and slow II only lasts 3 minutes. I doubt the same monsters where something you would NEED these enfeebles to stick are the same ones that only last 3 minutes.

[Dragoy]

As far as the tail allowing a Limit Break 99 solo, it would, but you would need to time it correctly, because the interim between tail uses is more than enough time for him to kill you instantly with a WS. It's probably best to still go with 2-3 people so you don't end up wasting tails.

Really, even now, with a tail, a well-geared SAM could probably solo him. I helped a group of pink-clad clowns once and they were able to beat him with just one tail, too.

Indeed, and a samurai doesn't even need to be that well-geared for it.

Also, there's plenty of time to use a new tail after the effect wears off. The tarooo~ does no longer unleash a barrage of weapon skills like it used to at that point. It is quite disheartening to imagine that anyone would still have troubles with it (or trouble with having anyone to help with it), but I guess it is possible.

So with that said, it's definitely a good direction to go, allowing the items to stack and become less rare... so to speak.

Ii no tsuushin. ^^

[Godofgods]

I'm really impressed with his replys I've been reading. He comes foward with a good ounce of humlity along with a willingness to listen to the playerbase with some open ears instead of the closed windows we'd been used to dealing with for years on FFXI when it came to the Dev team in terms of actually making content more viable.

Agreed.

Now if we could get rid of this 10 mob/xp at once cap that kills blu CW in favor of war's FC (who are mostly rmt anyway), and of course help the tarus out, we'd be golden!

[Waldrich]

Im going to rant on voidwatch a bit here since some others brought it up:


Right now there is a voidwatch shout after not seeing any for a couple hours. I am posting on this forum instead of joining that shout because I am second guessing whether i should spend 120k gil yet again for 6 more chances at something that has a 1 in 1500 chance of dropping.

You have game content I want to play and enjoy but you have turned it into a moneysink that has become increasingly frustrating due to 'bad luck' and a system that replenishes voidstones too slowly.
Something like Qilin is not hard game content, it is now a loot grind that I have to keep paying gil to participate in for a rare/ex drop.

I use rubi cells, red alignment always capped to 550% so what gives with your battle content design and sense of balance? I enjoy the luck factor but there comes a tipping point where players get bitter and angry their time and gil invested does not yield the treasure they desire from these events.


To compound this frustration, voidwatch participation has been suffering also partly due to not everyone being willing to 'gamble' on voidwatch and buy voiddust. Your perceived success of the event in the past was largely tainted by the cruor->gil abuse that had been going on.
Since that correction to the cruor->gil was made, event participation has dropped off significantly because voiddust are no longer subsidized through the previous cruor->gil conversion.

When I want to play FFXI and do voidwatch, most of the time im doing something else like reading forums and glancing at the chatlog window for a voidwatch shout. This is why people say they 'log in and have nothing to do' because they are doing the same thing. People are standing around waiting for something to happen, but your game design and RL time limtations on things like voidstones replenishing are largely to blame here.

I feel that the dev team should rebalance the event and encourage participation in voidwatch by having stones replenish quicker or implement an optional reward system where perhaps some lofty goal of turning in 1000 petrifacts would entitle the player to a pulse weapon/item/abjuration of their choice. At least with an absurd requirement of 1000 petrifacts, there is a 'light at the end of the tunnel' for someone grinding voidwatch that much.

The problem with FFXI battle content design and balance is that it is afraid of people 'winning too fast':
far too many hours before voidstones replenish
1 day wait to enter dynamis again
20 hour cooldown on meeble phermones
3day wait for einherjar
1 day wait for an imperial ID tag so I can do 1 assault/nyzul run
and so on.....

stop making game content that I have to wait around for to play. People making more than 1 empyrean/relic should have made this obviously clear to you by now that people will keep playing even if they 'win' at something. People wont quit, they'll find something else to do and keep paying their subscriptions instead of quitting out of frustration.

There is no words to define how I love this post.

[FrankReynolds]

That Encomium is meant to be used against formerly immune NMs was hinted at by the devs.
It's wishfull thinking RDM might actually be wanted again for endgame content because of it.

So your theory is that they are going to design monsters that are only susceptible to one specific debuff and only when cast by a red mage under SP2 effects... think about that for a minute.

[saevel]

You fail to see the difference between "Magic Accuracy +X" and "Ignores Magic Evasion". While in effect they might be the same RIGHT NOW, the upcoming changes to resistance will change the playing field. Elemental Seal will not allow you to land enfeebles on formerly immune NMs, because their Magic Evasion is so frigging high it takes ES'd Immunobreaks to land a gimp enfeeble.

Wether or not that makes RDM wanted again remains to be seen, but at least it's a step in the right direction. (It beats yet another solo ability.)

The purpose of "bullvine" totally whooshed you while you were trying to formulate a response.

Umm ... you realize the RDM one doesn't "ignore magic evasion right? It can be resisted meaning MA / ME is still in effect. All it does is give a boost to MA and set the critical resist limit to 1/2 instead of 1/4 or 1/5. Elemental Seal does far more and is on a 10m timer.

Their "magic resistance" change already happened, or did you miss that train? It was called immunobreak. Our current resistance system is what we will have for the next couple of years.

[Prrsha]

I thought this comment from the ala forums sum up many thoughts of returning vets (or those long departe) and the complaints of a certain loss of "heart" in FFXI that has been eating at it's soul for a while now. I joined FFXI in 2004 and was leader of MithraPride Phoenix for 6 some years. I have played just about every aspect in the game from combat related content to passive content such as chocobo raising, fishing, pankration, whathaveyou. I enjoyed mentoring players from little'ol level 1s to level 99 powerhouses. Many of the people I taught went on to form HMN Lses to dynamis lses and lvl 75 content beyond.

The most fun I had in FFXI was mid level oddly enough. I enjoyed the steady pace of leveling and helping others along the road as well. I made tight knit friendships in those days. I made a LS for the SOLE intent of involving lower level players in large group events. Yes... large scale battles for new players which they has a BLAST doing. Garrisons, eco-warriors, CoP, expeditionary forces. All of those COULD be done by low level players BECAUSE there were level caps back then. There was some content back in the day that gave new players a bang for their buck WITHOUT having to warp to level 75 or 99. People were interested in those events because they gave gear that could be used solely in events like CoP and the before mentioned ones.

Now the level caps are gone. Leveling is set to light speed. 75% of your existing game content that was made in the past serves NO purpose now. It's far too easy to complete and offers no rewards of any use. After all, if you warp players to 99, why do you need special gear or items for them? There is no need and 75% of vanadiel becomes tumbleweeds.

You are pandering to existing and returning players, yes, but what about new ones? If FFXI is to survive you need NEW blood. New players, with meaningful things to do on the way to level 99... or the game seems... unfinished. I miss the old members of my LS:

Brynmor
Aadfiyyuna
Califlower
Yamamotokenshin
Emphulax
Wayako
Aeona
Tedz
Kogoro
Tofu
Shdwlancer
Crouriant
Reginhart
Taz
Volkai
Quibly
Quorc
Quintessa
Jimi
Okatsu
Siconda
Slander
Ryth
Tinythumbs
Igigi
Keirah
Esyra
Tazmaliah
Laaha
Imori
Sampson
Aroshen
Aeroz
Thorquin
Genisis
Nomax
Uway
Renald
Aspen
Kakerot
Mickdangerous
Blaquepearl
Bolvvek
Coltrain
Rihku
Iruka
Demonicafox
Rossjr
Pumira
Parabellum
Eion
Kyulu
Atada
Datu
Arkumi
Silverdragon
Baldmonkey
Giblit
Danza
Pumyra
Tigriess
Amphiruru
Mertutu
Umpaloopa
Tsafyah
Maddia
Sunn
Hanagumi
Ultirian
Lynnisadi
Igothl
Evey
Xanthiris
Shazzaak
Cerealkiller
Nomax
Murdy
Verdei
Harvin
Frosted
Karma
Soulstorm
Shupyuu
Shizuko
Khaled
Maxiex
Anumi
Inyourwasha
Satrams
Praeline
Bazel
Katrity
Kmgb
Ishamael
Zortho
Tinacat
Chaoskitten

I still keep in contact with them on facebook and many wish to return... they really do... but they find the lack of low level content, the fast exp and just the plain unity of the community is gone in FFXI.

If you don't wish to re-instate the level caps for CoP... or slow down the leveling process, at least include an option for those who WANT to play the game how it was. Maybe add better rewards for completing CoP with a lvl cap on, or add new relevent rewards for older content like garrison and maybe retool it.

Now about that ala quote:

I came back from a 2 year break and had to start over. I have been here from 2006 on and thought it was great there was a challenge in the game. Challenge meaning for instance, the dreaded Airship battle, old style. There was only a certain percent of people that could beat that battle. I really liked the fact that it challenged my playstyle, thinking about enmity, how much to cure, how to act and how my team members had to act. In fact, it wasnt hard at all, as long as you had people that knew how to play, iow, had experience and insight. People without the knowledge or skill had little chance of beating this fight. Yes, I kinda regret that I couldnt get a casual team through this fight when leading a CoP run myself, what I really disliked is that they took away the option to try the old difficulty and took the challenge away.

It's ridiculously easy to get good gear nowadays, good gear that doesnt matter what you do, you can get it done with very little skill involved whatsoever. No content (besides certain battlefields or events that require ace gear to complete, for instance New Nyzul Ilse, that only gets you more uber-gear which there is no need for anyway but e-peen or completing the same content in an easier way), is hard. It's mostly boring and needless to do.

The problem I have is that I want to try difficult battles and I can find few people that have the skill involved to complete it. That DOESNT mean "Spam this monster 1000 times and maybe get the drop you want". That's not difficult, that's boring. Voidwatch high tier bosses might be difficult to beat without empyrean, relic or mythic weapons, but it's certainly possible. I would like to try them without relics, mythics and empyrean weapons and have the droprate increased for rare items if I complete it that way. Yes, that will upset all the people who can only do it the easy way by buying displacers, demanding relic wielding players and get a lower droprate on that gear. Doesnt really matter if they spam those fights or try the hard fights. At least, I have a CHOICE to choose to do it the hard way, and get rewarded in the process, somewhat. I replayed CoP and all the other add-ons and the only thing I was thinking was: Damn, this content is easy and there are almost no players to team up with/or willing to help me out. It's the journey of sharing, failing and finally succeeding that is the most fun to do. Where is the challenge? Shinryu? Maybe the first time without atma's and stats boosts, or without people brewing, having top tier gear, etc etc. There is NO challenge in this game, and when there is, it's because of unfair difficulties or ridiculous demands for a party to have gear-wise.

My point is, level 75 had a balance, yes the game was harder, I didnt mind at all. HNMs were a problem to get drops from. Did you need those drops? Not at all. You could complete all the storyline fights without any problems with a good team or help from experienced players WITHOUT top-tier gear.

The game's difficulty is a joke. Especially after coming back when 2 years have passed. And the new director wants to LOWER the difficulty?? Are you kidding me? Are games meant to be easy nowadays to be enjoyable? Or does difficulty means, get all the top-tier in the game and maybe you can win? With horrible droprates?

The problem with FFXI nowadays is that the majority of players are all casual players. That means there's not much knowledge of game strategy or structure on how battles are fought. It means grinding for all the top-tier gear and lower the difficulty by doing that. I remember doing certain battlefields and boss fights with a weird setup, without the "required" setup, like rdm for refresh, bards, blms etc etc. And winning! That was fun. Those were the good times. Going in with Pups, Smns and other jobs that weren't considered to be needed or useful and getting the win. I had a choice in doing so, even with difficult fights. I had a choice to make it harder by going in without the usual setups.

Now I dont have that choice, cause the storylines particularly have been pathetic in difficulty since the increase of the level cap. My only choice is to increase the difficulty by level syncing to 75 (and then it's still dumbed down from the initial difficulty). Guys, Im sad. Im glad I see lots of hardcore players returning and they are even more easy to recognise because of skill, but the way things are going, even more distance between the hardcore and casual players are being created. You need to bring everyone together again. Give us a reason to play together, to do content together. With the current difficulty and the coming lowering of the difficulty it's gonna be more soloing or dumb teaming up for Voidwatch and just zerg everything with a little incentive of strategy (read not really strategy).

I really hope A Realm Reborn is gonna be very difficult, or at least Seekers of Adoulin, cause im already bored after 6 months of playing from the start and there is no need to get better gear, I can trio everything in the game besides the level 99 hard fights. With decent, AH bought (mostly) gear. I miss the community, which you needed to have if you wanted to progress. I miss the hardcore players. I miss the hardcore players to help the casual players. Now, there is almost no need to. There is almost no knowledge about how to play a job given to newer players, they dont need to, they can leech almost anything, there is no reason to learn.

As a closing statement, Im by no means an expert player, or the best player there is out there, im a decent player, who thinks up fun strategies to beat a boss, and was known for that too. Beating bosses with very different setups. Now, there is no need to think up fun strategies, the game is too easy. Especially for returning players. I was never a fan of HNMLSs or doing Dynamis a 1000 times to maybe get a gear drop through a point system based egls. I would love to play casual, as long as the difficulty is still there, and not this dumbed down game that has stolen my heart with challenge in the past.

Please please please... I know you wish to cater to casual players but you don't have to dumb the difficulty to do so. Just give them more things to do along the way. More things to accomplish. Toss out some capped events that lower level players can take part in while high level (and low level) players can unite to have a fun gaming experience, with a dash of challenge. Warping speeding every character to level 99 is the easy way out and you know it. You can make the game equally as fun if you spread around events with rewards that benefit all. Do that and you will have the happy medium you desire.

-Prrsha and the MithraPride (also Emerald Arcanum) crew.