Suggestions: Quality of Life Stuff and other suggestions

[Evogolist]

I was replying to the person who pounced on my original post, and he took one line out of context while ignoring the point I was making. He made it into a 'qualify the amount of intellect' issue, when in fact my own view is that RPG games have always incorporated "puzzle solving" and overcoming challenges etc. Back in 2004 when I joined, I would just run around talking to NPC's and trying to use the clues they gave me (which were sometimes incredibly vague or even non-existent) to try and work out where the next stage of the quest was. This is classic puzzle-solving, and has been a key part of gaming for 40 years, especially in RPG virtual-world games. If you don't like talking to NPCs or solving puzzles, then RPG's might not be the best game for you. And the fact that there is a wealth of online data you can access with a mouse-click, so you don't have to solve the problem yourself, makes it even easier.
In my original post all I said was your ideas were great, and that I would only want the "!" thing if I could disable it in config. Because I actually enjoy exploring new areas and chatting with the NPCs and trying to work stuff out myself, whenever possible.

I started like a year before you and I loved adventuring and talking to the npcs and seeing who had something interesting to say, why? Because it's what I was use to in an offline rpg. But afterwhile, for me it got old and tiresome and patience would wear thin. Sure every once in a while I get curious and will talk to a npc or two to see if they every offered anything lore wise or if a new expansion or update is implemented I'll run around talking to the npcs just to see what quests they offer and if the reward is worthwhile. Like I said in an earlier post, I honestly think and am seeing that when you mention quest icons, everyone immediately goes into WoW panic and we all know that's a big no no in FFXI.

Stompa I understand where you're coming from, but think about it. Does it really have to be a big ugly "!" on every npc? It could always be something else or like someone else suggested maybe a different set of map markers offered by a special npc like the ones that mark all the shops and special places to visit. Another thing someone suggested was an expansion to the quest log info. So it doesn't have to be the overused "!" that is in almost every modern day standard MMO.

My point is that my little suggestion is only the kick off and I need you guys help to expand it, make it better, and get it done. I created this thread so that people with ideas and suggestions on how to make the game better and less tedious could voice their suggestions in one big thread like the one on the forum for XIV that the devs could look at and take from, instead of making fifty different threads a day. Don't like WoW or any of it's clones? Fine...screw WoW, but let's help make XI better so that it will survive another 11-12yrs.

[Evogolist]

Honestly I don't mind how they implement it, with "!" over the head, or a glowing circle under the NPC. Just so long as they add a Disable NPC Icon function in config. They have added Disable Armor which made all player-characters run around in pyjamas, so I don't see why Disable NPC Icon in config would pose a technical problem. <That way> everyone is happy, people can get their 'dog-on-a-leash' style of being walked through the quests using icons (c'mere sparky! arf arf arf!) and those of us who would prefer the actual real-world RPG atmosphere without icons, can toggle it off. So its not even an issue at all, everyone can get what they want if theres a toggle for it.

And really that's fine, both sides of the coin are winners. Really though, I'm about to kill any hopes for my first suggestion of making questing easier as I doubt SE would even bother to implement such a thing. They've already expanded wide scan which makes locating npcs on any job less of a hassle. Not to mention the amount of time it would take to implement this with there being any where from five hundred to over a thousand quests in game, so it would likely be at the bottom of their list of things to do.

[Crevox]

A lot of things need to just take less time to obtain...

Mythic weapons are a good example. For many jobs, they aren't very good. However, for some, it's like class defining, and the difference between having one and not having one is insane. A great example is Nirvana, which pushes Avatars to level 121, and has Blood Pact damage +40% on it... and that's just two of the insane stats it has on it. The difference between a Summoner with Nirvana and without Nirvana is ridiculous. It puts the job on a whole other level.

I want Nirvana, but looking at the requirements... it's just not worth it. No one should have to go through that anymore... hours, days, weeks, months of work. Claustrum and Hvergelmir aren't even options in comparison.

While the amount of effort to get it is staggering and the time it takes is crazy, what's worse is the fact that everything is time gated. I can't even work at it at my own pace because I will constantly get stopped. That's not to say that simply removing the time gates would be the remedy... because that's still an enormous amount of work.

It's really demoralizing, and almost makes me not want to play. For SMN, it's a gigantic leap in power that you can basically consider yourself to never have. The amount of effort it takes makes it basically "impossible" to obtain, and yet, it is FAR, FAR beyond anything else in power. Nothing even comes close. I could understand if it's a drop off a really difficult boss, but it's not, it's just a gigantic long chore you have to exhaust days of your life on.

How is that "fun?"

[Vivivivi]

A lot of things need to just take less time to obtain...

Mythic weapons are a good example. For many jobs, they aren't very good. However, for some, it's like class defining, and the difference between having one and not having one is insane. A great example is Nirvana, which pushes Avatars to level 121, and has Blood Pact damage +40% on it... and that's just two of the insane stats it has on it. The difference between a Summoner with Nirvana and without Nirvana is ridiculous. It puts the job on a whole other level.

I want Nirvana, but looking at the requirements... it's just not worth it. No one should have to go through that anymore... hours, days, weeks, months of work. Claustrum and Hvergelmir aren't even options in comparison.

While the amount of effort to get it is staggering and the time it takes is crazy, what's worse is the fact that everything is time gated. I can't even work at it at my own pace because I will constantly get stopped. That's not to say that simply removing the time gates would be the remedy... because that's still an enormous amount of work.

It's really demoralizing, and almost makes me not want to play. For SMN, it's a gigantic leap in power that you can basically consider yourself to never have. The amount of effort it takes makes it basically "impossible" to obtain, and yet, it is FAR, FAR beyond anything else in power. Nothing even comes close. I could understand if it's a drop off a really difficult boss, but it's not, it's just a gigantic long chore you have to exhaust days of your life on.

How is that "fun?"

I agree with the first line of your statement, but maybe I'm in the minority, but I actually like how difficult mythic weapons are to obtain. They are truly mythical, and whenever I actually see a character with one, I examine them and stop dead in my tracks lol. And aside from camping the HNMs required for mythics, are they actually difficult to obtain? You can solo assaults and salvage now extremely easily. Don't mythics mainly just take a lot of time?

I think things like empyrean weapons could be tweaked to be able to obtain a little easier (the NM spawn time reduction was a good first step). Obtaining key items from NMS in Abyssea could be made easier– it's difficult to find help for this content now, so I'll often fight these solo either as NIN/WAR which is risky sometimes, or as PUP/WAR and be missing half my procs. I don't mind farming the pop items and fighting the NMs to get the key items to fight the other NMS, but for example- fighting Amarok multiple times without getting the KI for Orthus is very frustrating... just as frustrating as trying to find someone else to fight these in 2014. I won't even touch the heavy metal plate discussion... lol.

I think relic obtainment is fine as it is. It takes some time and/or gil, but it's soloable for the most part without much issue (except for ADL, which even still, I would venture to say is easier to get a static together for to share marrows and/or marrow profits than trying to get people to help with Abyssea content).

I honestly prefer the rarity of these legendary weapons in FFXI to how it could be in another online FF game that will remain nameless where everyone has glowing relics.

[Olor]

I think mythics could remain difficult without being so very ridiculous. The alex requirements alone are ridiculous, let alone all the quests/NMs/events etc.

Honestly given how for the most part R/M/E are not as important anymore, I'd like to see the difficulty of all of them cut in half. I probably still wouldn't work on one, but I might consider it at that point.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

Adventuring by its very nature involves leg-work, running around talking to NPCs.

Also you have to use online websites, which are essential in any case - for map routes, synthesis, etc. in some of the more confusing areas.

No. Pick one. Either you do the legwork, you click all the things, you figure out the obscure or non-existent clues like an "adventurer," or you go to somebody else who has figured it all out for you and given you a hand-holding wiki.

If gameplay requires third-party sources of information, gameplay is broken.

[Vivivivi]

If gameplay requires third-party sources of information, gameplay is broken.

Key word: requires. I agree with that 100%.
I think it's totally fine to rely on third party websites for battle strategies, gear recommendations and in general the "finer" points of information. Quest and storyline mission progression should be able to be completed without the use of those sites.

I also think it's worth pointing out that as of late, SE has been rather helpful as far as explaining new content by creating microsites (for things like trust and RoE), and even most of the Seeker's of Adoulin missions (if not all of them) can be completed without having to look them up in a wiki. The NPCs tell you what to do next, and if not telling you specifically where to go, they give enough clues to where you actually can figure it out.

[Twille]

If gameplay requires third-party sources of information, gameplay is broken.

quoted for truth.

[Demonjustin]

You can solo assaults and salvage now extremely easily. Don't mythics mainly just take a lot of time?

Yes, but a literal minimum of around 4 months of doing Assaults every single possible day wasting not even 1 tag, is stupid. To do a Mythic in 4 months you can't miss a day really, 50 Assaults, have to do them twice each which means at very least roughly 3 months and 10 days, then you have to do the Tokens involved in Nyzul Isle, and thats not counting the potential fails on some of the more annoying Assaults like standing with your back to a door while waiting for a monster to shoot a fireball at you to break the gate behind you for instance.

To me part of what makes Mythic requirements stupid is the very thing you said, they are extremely time taking and extremely easy, which to me defeats the point, its giving you something great but its asking you to do months and months of work completing content you could do without breaking a sweat, basically demanding you waste time on easy things and rewarding you if you can waste enough time on it without providing any real challenge to you, and in all honesty I wish they had a version of Assaults for 99 or something that you could do once and get credit for both times or some such, so you can power through it and have some form of challenge rather than just spending months doing old easy things that don't really even matter and only serve to waste your time.

Being rare is fine, its just annoying that its rare not because its hard, not because its difficult, but because most people don't want to spend months upon months of time wasting away doing old content just for a weapon that is so slightly more powerful than the other 119s of today.

[Crevox]

a weapon that is so slightly more powerful than the other 119s of today.

Except for some classes (Summoner, Puppetmaster, White Mage) they either offer something that you can't get elsewhere or is far, far beyond anything else you can obtain...

I mean, here, you can have an example. Here is the best staff in the game for physical blood pacts, and then here's Nirvana. Remember, Nirvana's Blood Pact bonus is +40% damage to both magical and physical blood pacts.



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