Fostering Skillful Play

[Rustic]

Well in that case, I would love it if they made it so that people could form a 6 man group and get Exp. in outside zones at the same rate that they get it in Abyssea. I don't really think they should mess with AOE in abyssea though. People use that exp. as a lure to get people to hold pop sets or to make money etc. I don't think they should punish those people just because it's easier than weeding out the RMTs and increasing the Exp. gained from traditional groups.

Depends. Truth is, people will go for whatever's clearly the best over a sustained period of time.

AoEing is currently that. Being able to do it in alliances that can handle exping (with huge exp multipliers) at high rates with minimal people just turned out broken, IMHO. I don't think it's going away, but I also think it damages the game when you're getting better rates with two-three people doing the work for 18 vs. six people doing it all for themselves.

[Rustic]

The dressup idea has oddly enough been mirrored on the Japanese forums. It has gotten some feedback in the positive manner from the developers. It seems one of the main concerns of adding extra macro lines, is that RMTers will make elaborate bots with large strings of commands (or so the dev were saying there). A Japanese player mentioned the above solution, just like you and it got a positive remark from Matsui and the rest of the population.

I'm not surprised. A lot of thoughts on UI get mirrored between player groups- it's just the language barrier (and until FFXI had it's own forums, a lack of easy direct communication) that means we get good ideas thought up in different ways towards the same problems.

[Prrsha]

Well in that case, I would love it if they made it so that people could form a 6 man group and get Exp. in outside zones at the same rate that they get it in Abyssea. I don't really think they should mess with AOE in abyssea though. People use that exp. as a lure to get people to hold pop sets or to make money etc. I don't think they should punish those people just because it's easier than weeding out the RMTs and increasing the Exp. gained from traditional groups.

I agree. My only adjustment I would advocate add to this would be to restrict Abyssea to level 75+. That would in effect get rid of leechers and foster 6 party development outside of Abyssea if they adjusted the AoE just a tad like for example, one idea: Make mobs highly resistant to AoE spam. Have non-abby (and non-BCNM/mission mobs) resist a large amount of damage after each AoE done. Give the resistance a cool down of 60 seconds or so. That way players can't spam AoEs to get massive chains quickly. They would be more inclined to incorporate other strategies along with AoEs to get the chains they desire. If the cool down isn't too long, it would still allow AoEs to help gain those chains, but more skill and timing would be needed to do it correctly.

[Prrsha]

What FFXI needs is an overhauled GUI that makes it as easy to find players to do the same quest with. This should also apply to finding an exp party. This feature should always be active. A player should always be see a list of quests I am on by searching. They should also see what quests I have selected that I need help with as well.

It would allow players to click on their quest they are on, click on a button to find a match for a quest, mission or PT and *POOF*. A list of players should appear. They could then click on a player and engage in a /tell. There should also be an option to go /anon as well.

松井です。

ご意見ありがとうございます。
ご指摘の点は、松井も重要なことだと考えています。

まだ、具体的な施策を提示できない状況ですが、
スタッフと共有して検討していきます。

（翻訳ありがとうございました）

Roughly translated: Matsui is.

Thank you for your comments.
The ideas you pointed out, I would say, are important.

But the situation is the same. We cannot provide information for the specific measures yet.
We will consider it, and have shared it with the staff.

(Thank you very much for the translation)

Edit: The forms are also asking for a way for NA players to type in Japenese text and visa versa easily.

[Toadie-Odie]

I think the main concern is that this statement actually does mean something and will be pursued half-way. So, we'll be forced to drive nails with the handles of screwdrivers or forcibly hammer in screws.

I share the same concern here.

In addition to that, I'm the kind of gamer that likes to tinker around with stuff and experiment. Nothing was ever more frustrating that to hear "why are you subbing that job?" even back in the old days. When I play solo you might see me doing all kinds of weird things just.. well because, but stick me in a party and I'm just a cookie cutter whatever like everyone else.

I would like to see that change. I would like to see more wiggle room for experimentation in ALL aspects of the game. Not just in main/sub choice, but in party build choices, and gear set choices.

New gear shouldn't always make previous gear obsolete. I wouldn't mind seeing new gear that was different but equivelant to what already exists. Heck I would even be happy with new gear that was just reskinned versions of old gear.

I would like to see Evoliths with more "oomph" to their buffs if you will and a wider variety. I liked the idea of making and customizing gear that fits your play style but was disappointed in the options the Evoliths provided. I was further disappointed in seeing that this system was more or less pushed aside.

When the Trial of the Magians came out I was disappointed to see that once you reach certain branch points of a path, you're stuck on them. I would like to see a series of trials added that were not linked in fixed paths, but rather having a max number of trials for a weapon and being allowed to choose the trial that you want. Such as making a weapon/armor with a minor PDT- buff with a MND+ and AGI+ boost (or any other combination) for example. Maybe even include trials that gave a minor boost in some job abilities. This will allow us to think, plan, and consider the path of the weapon/armor and the trials taken on for it. Gear like this would reflect the play style of the player. Learning how to build and use it would foster skillful play.

[Toadie-Odie]

There is a massive discussion going on in the Japanese forums right now on that very matter. As is the problem with inventory space.

Yes, thank you for the insight.

I sometimes wish the schools I went to had taught more than just French, Spanish, and Sign Language. Playing an international game like this makes the language barrier more apparent, frustrating, and daunting. It's little wonder that so many of the NA players, like myself, feel ignored or pushed aside.

I do however greatly appreciate the effort that goes into translating and reading ALL these posts.

[Toadie-Odie]

As for macros: でもマクロ増設には期待。(Expect macro expansion), so yeah, Matsui gets it.

That is awesome and very reassuring to know.

@FrankReynolds:

Perhaps you could mention that no RMT in his right mind would choose to use the in-game macro system over spellcast anyways? I doubt that changes to the macro system would have any effect whatsoever on RMT activities.

That was exactly my thought too. I can't believe RMT people aren't already using 3rd party programs to completely by-pass the current in-game macro system. What ever changes are made to the in-game macro system isn't going to have an impact on them other than maybe legit players can play on a more even ground. I can't see how that would be a bad thing. The more the legit players can do for themselves, the less the RMTs have to entice the community.

[Toadie-Odie]

This is because the Japanese forum is heavily moderated as the Admins there delete posts that are unrelated or off-topic. This is very unlike the NA as they let us run rampant until the end of time.

I'm not sure... it was my understanding that in Japan the focus is on the whole compared to the U.S. the focus is on the individual. With that in mind it makes sense to me that we see more group oriented thinking and suggestions on the Japanese forums than we do here in these forums. I'm not saying we Americans are selfish people, it's just that group oriented thinking is a rather alien process for many of us.

[Toadie-Odie]

The forms are also asking for a way for NA players to type in Japenese text and visa versa easily.

This would be incredibly helpful if they could it.

[Godofgods]

I've always thought this was loltastic, they've even stated they were against it but have since moved in the opposite direction and yet refuse to address macro line limitations. I currently use 3 macros just to hit a 4th macro to use Ruinator, trust me when I say it's horrid. I play on Xbox though, so I guess I can't complain.

Oh i no. I dont use windower so im stuck with the same methods. Some times it can rly take the run out of what ever you are doing.

E: I didn't even mention my WHM macros. There are literally pages of them.

Thats another reason i find it insulting that they said they wern't going to add two new macro books for the two new jobs. Saying that 'we have enough already' ><