Item Levels

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

Cute...maybe even fun...but mostly irrelevant.

Ah, because fun is irrelevant.

Lowman content updates are for everyone else that cannot or has not gotten to the delve level yet.

Around here, "lowman conent" tends to be nothing more than a euphemism for Salvage and maybe Nyzul. I wasn't aware that "everyone" had to go through those.

Your opinion on R/E/M updates is very short sighted. R/E/M holders are the people organizing events and making the shouts you respond to.

Hell, I've personally had /yell filtered pretty much since Adoulin came out; the spam gets in the way of the dialog I'm trying to read. But I do remember what they looked like before I hit that switch: RME holders were looking for... other RME holders, which sounds rather circular.

And I am aware of your flowery opinion of such "leaders," but it seems there are other opinions. After all, when the entire goal of these self-appointed leaders is "get stuff for myself," there's not a lot of motivation for these folks to make things fun or enjoyable for those they boss around.

The only reason people join such groups is in the hopes of getting the castoffs that are left over after the top tier gets their first pick (e.g. relic armor rather than currency). Lacking the interest and/or patience to pursue RME's myself, I've for years loathed the mechanic that forced me to associate with the self-interested and self-important if I wanted to go beyond a certain point. So... yeah: I'm not crying over the potential departure of my "betters." Power to the proletariat!

That's just one aspect. The other thing you need to consider is the economy. Dynamis Currency, Alexandrite, Heavy Metal plates is a viable source of extra income for many solo and casual players. It also fuels almost all other markets.

What "other markets?" Players sell one to buy the other. Crafting and other such fundamental wealth-creation overall have problems wholly unrelated to anything you've touched upon, but Seekers of Adoulin seems poised to make fundamental changes there.

The larger picture here is that the game is hemorrhaging subscriptions at the moment.

[citation needed]

[FrankReynolds]

Someone is interested.

"No one" is a term commonly used in the English language to describe an insignificant number of people. If English is not your first language then perhaps you should be posting in the forums of your native tongue so as to avoid any further confusion and to ensure that your ideas are properly interpreted.

Now for you.

In a game that is losing its "Fun" and people are growing bored with the lack of variety, you're saying they should focus....less...on fun? Sounds fairly logical.

If this were Disney land, all the rides would be broken and you would be worrying about adding another "Win a gold fish" by tossing a ping pong ball in a cup games instead of fixing the rides.

I have both a Kannagi and an Ochain. Ochain is useful, and will continue to be useful. Kannagi was just so I could look all flashy using Blade: Hi.

I don't know about your server, but R/E/M people on mine are nothing special. They don't lead the pack. They don't form all the events.

Somehow I find it hard to believe that all the events on your server are led by people wielding magian / AH weapons. Come up with a better story and get back to us.

I'm not speaking ill of those who have put in the time on these weapons, but just because they have them, doesn't mean the entire endgame gameplay revolves solely around these select few.

Given the low droprate of Heavy metal plates, and the lack of circulation, I fail to see how this would be considered a viable source of income.

He explained it pretty clearly.

Also, why would R/E/M holders organize an event such as Delve? Hmm....for....Delve equipment perhaps?

You do realize that people can want two things at once right? See how RME have all existed side by side for years? If you add the letter D to the end like this "RMED", the world will not implode.

I'm very sorry you spent time making a R/E/M and that SE decided to remove you from your shining horse you used to ride on as you rode through town looking down on the peasants who were not as grand as you, but I just can't understand...SE killed your horse...Why must you continue to beat a dead horse?

It's called CPR

[Demon6324236]

I don't know about your server, but R/E/M people on mine are nothing special. They don't lead the pack. They don't form all the events.

Your server is different than mine by far then, of all of the people I see shout and lead parties I know of only 1 person who has no RME, the rest of them have one, and a few of not been around much since the collapse of the weapons. As a friend of mine pointed out yesterday, the game was dead, no shouts, no one really doing anything in our LS, just lifelessness, and today I still see almost no shouts going, there is a single group doing Delve right now that shouted, nothing more.

[Dew]

Flawed logic on most those REM leader posts. Having REM doesn't make anyone a good player or leader. Being a good leader has nothing to do with having a REM. Being a good player also has nothing to do with having REM. I've seen plenty of bad players with REM. Obtaining a REM doesn't automatically make you a good player.

Bad players can get all the REM in the world and still be bad players. In the end REM =/= leader/good player.

One thing most people don't seem to get with SE is they say a lot of things, but follow through with very little of them. Till you see SE do something I wouldn't get your hopes up.

[Glamdring]

Ok, gonna try to comment on the most recent Matsui post.

1st off, even though I don't have any, let me echo those who complained about the lacl of automatic upgrades to existing R/M/E, previous statements led us to believe that-for once-no grind would be necessary for further upgrades, and knowing your style from the past "additional content"=more grind. sorry, just not cool. BUT, since I know that this comment is falling on deaf ears on that subject I'll move on.

I don't really have a major want list for new solo content, with one exception. I'm still leveling crafting but I expect to have leather capped soon. It might be nice to be able to make stuff people would actually want at end-game levels for 2 reasons: 1, I could use the cash, 2, some players prefer to just buy viable stuff to use instead of having to quest all their gear. Now, it shouldn't outclass the quested stuff, but a "good enough" alternative should be there for those that are happy with that level, there are a fair number of players that fit in that category. The fact it would have the added benefit of reviving crafting is a side bonus (and to make SE happy, materials farming is a type of grind...).

As to solo content, my biggest problem is if, for example, I go all out on making my relic horn I will be precluded based on available time from making my empy harp, building a delve set and farming to get my alternator. I would like to see all of these grind items up on the AH or some type of new trading post, something. That way people who rock at 1 system can farm say heavy metal plates while I farm Dynamis currency and Alfard's Fangs in my playtime. I keep my currency, but trade/sell the fangs and buy the HMP or whatnot. I can't be the only one with this dilema. There are only so many hours of playtime available to anyone, and so most of us are largely precluded from working in more than 1 of the multiple grind systems that are running. Honestly, what do you care if I'm in Dynamis all the time as long as someone else is in VW all the time? In fact, what does SE care that we bother logging in at all as long as our user fees keep being paid? We are paying them, we are grinding, but with so many different grinds we need to do some of us simply can't get anything done! I dynamis 2 days a week at the moment, I'm helping friends with their mythic/salvage gear grinds 3 days a week, skilling jobs 1 day a week and trying to keep enough gil to stay afloat on the last day. I've used up all my playtime! pray tell, where am I supposed to be bayald/plasma/gear farming in all of that?

[Demon6324236]

Flawed logic on most those REM leader posts. Having REM doesn't make anyone a good player or leader. Being a good leader has nothing to do with having a REM. Being a good player also has nothing to do with having REM. I've seen plenty of bad players with REM. Obtaining a REM doesn't automatically make you a good player.

No one said only people with RME weapons can be leaders, or only people with RME weapons are good. Also no one said having one makes you either of those by default.

Bad players can get all the REM in the world and still be bad players. In the end REM =/= leader/good player.

This is correct. See, here is where people are coming from, ok? If you have the ability to lead, chances are you put forth the work and organization to make yourself a RME weapon at some point, and thus, have one. If you are a good leader, you probably have many, as you could effectively do so, and end up with more in less time, meaning you have more motivation to make them in the first place. Lastly, there are obviously a few people with the ability to lead who had no desire for RME weapons, but the amount of people who could make a group and lead them to making these weapons, but choose not to, is likely low. After all, why would someone be willing to make a group for random content when they are unwilling to make a group for one of the best weapons in the game?

No one said that only RME weapon wielders are fit to lead or good players, it is just highly common for leaders to have them, and so, by not updating these weapons, they are potentially driving leaders away, and thus, less groups will be around...

One thing most people don't seem to get with SE is they say a lot of things, but follow through with very little of them. Till you see SE do something I wouldn't get your hopes up.

I think most people if not everyone gets this, the problem is, if you think like that and do not lie to yourself you would end up losing all hope for this game and leave most likely. I, lie to myself all the time, telling myself that RDM will be updated, put on some real melee gear sometime, that RME will be fixed so the Excalibur that took 6 months to make will not go to waste, and that the game will become much more enjoyable for me sometime. These are all lies in reality, I honestly expect none of this to happen, or at least not soon enough for me to care anymore, but at the same time, it is those fleeting hopes that keep me playing with those I care about who are on this game, so I lie to myself.

[Oddwaffle]

Some people just don't want to participate in large alliance or linkshells. Some people prefer 3-6 person events. The current FFXI cripple these players and make them either useless or get laughed at. It's either go delve or go home. This is so imbalance that low man events take hours and hours with several successes to reward a few players while an alliance event take 45min with 1 success to reward everyone in the alliance. 1 Hour of time a single player is the same regardless of where he is: solo, 3-man, 6-man or full alliance. He should get roughly similar rewards for the time spend if he put enough efforts in it.

SE needs to make low man content with rewards the same or similar to large fights. DO NOT make low man content with less powerful rewards as NO ONE will do it. Most low man content take hours or even months to give the players the rewards. If the reward is less than a single successful delve run then nobody would do it. Why would anyone want something that takes more time and effort and will perform less than something that can be done in 45min?

The ideal situation should allow EVERYONE: soloers, low-man or large alliance players get the same items with their preferred events. One type of reward but different ways to get it. You only need to scale it such that alliance would reward everyone after 45min then soloers would get the exact same reward after no more than 5 hours, and no more than 2hours with 6-players party. Of course, there should be some form of difficulty so not everyone can win it. However, some form of rewards like NNI for those who can not make it all the way should be introduced so people don't go out empty handed.

[Angrykitty]

wow, another shiney turd. thanks SE.

[Nebo]

Ah, because fun is irrelevant.

Yes. That is exactly what I said.

Finally....someone gets it.

[Nebo]

Flawed logic on most those REM leader posts. Having REM doesn't make anyone a good player or leader. Being a good leader has nothing to do with having a REM. Being a good player also has nothing to do with having REM. I've seen plenty of bad players with REM. Obtaining a REM doesn't automatically make you a good player.

I didn't say any of that. What I said was that good leaders, people with knowledge, confidence and skill to form groups and lead people with success, tend to be R/M/E holders.

They generally have the means, knowledge and motivation to acquire them...since they are (were?) the best weapons in the game.

I agree that it is incorrect to say that R/M/E causes skill+leadership+motivation. But I would be comfortable in saying that skill+leadership+motivation causes R/M/E more often than not (most of these types strive for the best).

And this leadership problem is not only for shout groups, but also for established linkshells. Many times, when leadership leaves, shells fall apart..more people have nothing to do with friends they've been playing with for years...causing more players to unsubscribe.

No, not all leaders currently have R/M/Es. But if the ones that do have R/M/E leave due to anger or burnout or "what's the point", after this new philosophy of "release gear and out-date it a month later," FFXI will be MUCH worse off.

These are the people that pave the way and post all the battle strategies you read about. These are the people that care about this game and spreading information and strategy. These are the people that organize and motivate people to accomplish larger goals.

Losing them will do nothing but hurt Vana'diel, and killing R/M/E will have a negative effect on the economy for everyone.