Moderating Rate of Exp Gain

[Ranmikel]

From someone who loves a challenge, if the option is there to fight a battle like that uncapped then chances are you after a couple of trys and spending time gathering items needed for the fight you probably will just think 'F-it' and burn through that one forgetting all about it.

Yeah, actually, that sort of "f*** it" moment is what I look forward to. It's true that a party might get frustrated and then decide to just level up to take the edge off of a particularly difficult battle. But there's something (like you said) that is really satisfying about beating an opponent on pure teamwork, strategy, communication, and knowledge of the game and your fellow adventurers (the Bio effect KO'ing the mob sounds pretty awesome, if I'm reading you correctly.)

It's pretty easy to just take on a dungeon over and over after failing and getting stronger stats-wise just by leveling. If you didn't have problems beating pre-NM/event mobs on the way to the NM, then you probably won't have much trouble the second and third times. But it'll get easier just by getting stronger in levels. The problem I see with that is that you're not necessarily having to rely on teamwork aspects when you begin to gain levels incidentally after several tries.

Having an optional level cap lets anyone enjoy that challenge in whichever way they choose.

If you want to repeat it (and it's repeatable), you could get it out of the way for the rewards or the story, and then take some newer players into it later and enjoy the challenge with them as they learn the basics of the game.

If you want to challenge it and beat it on pure acumen and teamwork alone, then you can do that as well with an optional cap, and then repeat it with the cap off once you had the satisfaction of taking on a challenge and beating it with your comrades.

You wouldn't have to wait until endgame-ish sorts of scenarios where you need a level 99 job with really nice abilities and gear to stand a chance to have that sort of experience.

[Lex222]

For anyone reading this and is part of the group that Tristian is talking about, could you give me a rough timetable of when you plan on starting Chains of Promathia missions? If it's ok, I would like to keep tabs on your progress (or lack of)

Thanks for your interest, Youby! Here’s a quick VALOR update. As Asmo previously (and quite enthusiastically^^) mentioned, the 1G of Valor just began their Promyvion missions and successfully completed Promyvion-Dem (congratz^^) @30. We are using the time between now and our next Promyvion Mission (Mea) to improve on enfeeble cycle, renkei, and magic bursting.

At level 30 the fight seemed easy. Does that mean when we fight the next spire boss that it will be even easier because we’re 31?

You are very right, Asmo. It did seem like a pretty easy fight, even at level 30. I know you and the rest of 1G trained hard together for the two weeks prior to the fight and were ready for a big challenge. Bren had them doing things like learning how to identify elements by the inner glow, choosing the correct spells to cast based on the elements, and then communicating to each other effectively during fights. They had even worked out multiple renkei so that the renkei element was customized to the mob element.

Putting that much preparation and hard work into a fight that seems easy is just one more reason to add optional level caps. Preparing and being ready for a challenging battle to be met by a weak mob (due to player level) is a big letdown and certainly doesn't encourage that much excitement for upcoming Promy battles. I have to say that I am also a very big supporter of the optional level caps so that preparation, creative battle strategy, and hard work pay off.

[Ranmikel]

For anyone reading this and is part of the group that Tristian is talking about, could you give me a rough timetable of when you plan on starting Chains of Promathia missions? If it's ok, I would like to keep tabs on your progress (or lack of)

Thanks kindly to those of you who have supported this post up to now. For those that might be cautious (or even skeptical) about our request, I’m hoping that by explaining a little more about our linkshell, our reasons for requesting the optional level cap might become clear.

VALOR is a static linkshell. This means we move through all aspects of FFXI as a unit. Whenever we enroll new members, the veterans halt storyline progress and join the new members as they work to catch up to everyone else. When the newer members are caught up, everyone moves forward in the storyline together, once more.

In an attempt to make do without an optional level cap, we have had members level 5-8 different jobs with newer players. As our linkshell grows, we are running out of jobs to join newer members with. Level sync is only good for non-mission caliber events and, as the OP noted, is severely limiting when it comes to managing rate of exp gain.

We recognize that our style of play is an older, outdated way of approaching the game, and our goal is certainly not to force our beliefs on everyone else. This is why we are requesting the optional level cap. An optional level cap allows us to go back and join in the fight with lower level players without stealing a new experience from them (i.e. Mission Battlefields). We aim to fight with them and not for them.

Please consider the OP request. Our linkshell only has 31 members at the moment (up from 13 members in May), but that may not be enough to promote change. Still, V.A.L.O.R. is structured for providing all members with teamwork development and leadership opportunities. Optional level caps would help enrich that experience that much more.

[Rexaliya]

At level 30 the fight seemed easy. Does that mean when we fight the next spire boss that it will be even easier because we’re 31?

Invited three friends to try out the game during the promotions this past week… realized that I could not join them on their lower level adventure mission fights… found myself back at this thread. I was hoping it would have been addressed by now, giving the four of us something to look forward to, but I guess not.

All of my jobs are at level 60 or higher. I convinced my friends to try it out under the promise that we would be adventuring together. For us, adventuring meant going through the different mission storylines together. So far we have done nation rank missions 1 thru 4 and CoP missions up to the Minotaur fight. In all cases, I joined them with my jobs and destroyed the mission fights quickly and easily, with no challenge. Two of my friends are already bored because instead of adventuring with them, I ended up pretty much doing the fights for them.

So, once again, I really support this thread and I hope that optional level caps will be available soon. Please give us a chance to create our own challenges at any level, together. It will be hard for me to keep telling my friends that they have to wait until level 99 before we can enjoy challenging fights together.

I’d like to point out that right now blazing through 90% of the game just to get to the remaining 10% for a challenge together seems unnecessary and wasteful to me. FFXI is a great game that I feel lends itself to being enjoyed with friends. Rushing through to get to the end/challenging part shortens the enjoyment.

[Tidis]

You know you don't have to blaze through the game for them right? If you want to join in with them there's already level sync in place to reduce your level to theirs.

[Ranmikel]

You know you don't have to blaze through the game for them right? If you want to join in with them there's already level sync in place to reduce your level to theirs.

Yes, that would put us all on equal footing for an immediate challenge. But wouldn't that still net experience for fighting Easy Prey or more difficult mobs? One can fight and fail, fight and fail, and fight and fail some more. But all the while, you're gaining experience points and leveling without completing the objective or quest. If the aim is to get better at a task through solely teamwork and strategy, then just one or two levels can make the exact same approach and execution yield different results. You "won" not through teamwork and strategy. And that's very disappointing.

It is a suggestion, so thanks. And I appreciate that the forum community is giving it a thought with proper responses and aren't dismissing it straightaway.

But it doesn't quite address the concern, I don't think.

After leveling on such mobs, you'd have to find yet another character who was at a desired level to achieve the same level of difficulty on a task. You'd never be able to do it without "enlisting" or creating another character and having them be at a certain level.

[bungiefanNA]

Yes, that would put us all on equal footing for an immediate challenge. But wouldn't that still net experience for fighting Easy Prey or more difficult mobs? One can fight and fail, fight and fail, and fight and fail some more. But all the while, you're gaining experience points and leveling without completing the objective or quest. If the aim is to get better at a task through solely teamwork and strategy, then just one or two levels can make the exact same approach and execution yield different results. You "won" not through teamwork and strategy. And that's very disappointing.

It is a suggestion, so thanks. And I appreciate that the forum community is giving it a thought with proper responses and aren't dismissing it straightaway.

But it doesn't quite address the concern, I don't think.

After leveling on such mobs, you'd have to find yet another character who was at a desired level to achieve the same level of difficulty on a task. You'd never be able to do it without "enlisting" or creating another character and having them be at a certain level.

Well, if you don't want the EXP from it, you can intentionally get KOed by a mob and lose the EXP you gained. You just can't delevel below 30 that way. That would allow you to keep your Level Sync target at a specific level.

You can also lower your effectiveness by equipping lower level equipment. If you're level 60, but wearing level 25 gear, you're not going to blaze through content like you would if wearing level 60 gear. You still have the benefit of the increased HP and MP pools, but the extra attack and defense power from the stats on the equipment won't be there. Evasion is really the only thing you have going for you at that point.

Many of the NMs that Rexaliya fought are not in battlefields, so Level Sync was an option.

[BlankM]

I would love dev acknowledgement of this. I'm just coming back from FFXIV and I really like the flexibility of FFXI's level sync over the way FFXIV does it. However FFXIV has the advantage of redoing instances and even rewards people daily for level syncing to dungeons they've already done and helping possibly new players.

Thats exactly what I want from FFXI. A way to redo old content with my friends without it being trivialized very quickly. At least let level sync be available in missions? Or maybe something that temporarily delevels you?

I want to play the game and be able to invite friends later to adventure with. Without trivializing the experience of older content for them if we so choose to challenge ourselves.