Dev response to Server Merge please.

[Dale]

How did you meet them? I'm genuinely curious! If it isn't being too personal

It's not too personal at all. And I'll give you a few examples:

I was introduced to my dragoon friend through a paladin I had met while hunting down PLD AF pieces. I met a ranger I later became friends with while hunting down coffers in Garlaige. I met a thief buddy of mine through a LS I had joined. A lot of my friends were met through links shells in fact now that I think about it. And we ended up forming our own since the current LS leader was too busy in his other so-called endgame LS to be of much use.

Anyway, I can legitimately say not a single one of my FF XI friends were met through shouts.

[InpendingDeath]

It's not too personal at all. And I'll give you a few examples:

I was introduced to my dragoon friend through a paladin I had met while hunting down PLD AF pieces. I met a ranger I later became friends with while hunting down coffers in Garlaige. I met a thief buddy of mine through a LS I had joined. A lot of my friends were met through links shells in fact now that I think about it. And we ended up forming our own since the current LS leader was too busy in his other so-called endgame LS to be of much use.

Anyway, I can legitimately say not a single one of my FF XI friends were met through shouts.

I don't know how different is was back then but when i go to hunt coffers the zone is completely empty, even if there is someone there they don't reply to a simple /tell "Are you doing coffers?". I have met many many people in my linkshell but I didn't get my linkshell until the 5-6th day on the game which I only got because of a shout offering it as a social linkshell everyone welcomed. So I guess I kinda met the people in the linkshell due to a shout. How did you get the linkshells? I don't normally have people walk up to me and give me pearls but like I said I don't know if it was different back then or what.

[Dale]

I don't know how different is was back then but when i go to hunt coffers the zone is completely empty, even if there is someone there they don't reply to a simple /tell "Are you doing coffers?". I have met many many people in my linkshell but I didn't get my linkshell until the 5-6th day on the game which I only got because of a shout offering it as a social linkshell everyone welcomed. So I guess I kinda met the people in the linkshell due to a shout. How did you get the linkshells? I don't normally have people walk up to me and give me pearls but like I said I don't know if it was different back then or what.

Maybe the coffer zones are now empty. But plenty of zones aren't - so the same concept applies really. You can still meet people out in the open world. I see people all the time while running around doing reives and coalition quests etc.

And I have been invited to many link shells and none of them were through shouts. Most were just by people I met while fighting who took an interest. Some were due to inquiries I made of others because I liked the name of it or something. There are plenty of ways to get invited to link shells without shouting.

[Olor]

Maybe the coffer zones are now empty. But plenty of zones aren't - so the same concept applies really. You can still meet people out in the open world. I see people all the time while running around doing reives and coalition quests etc.

Yeah and then you send them a tell or say hi out loud and they ignore you. Maybe I've just had bad luck but I find people out and about in the world are often really really unfriendly.

I know it was different in the past but today's XI - a lot of people rely on shouts to do group content. The archaic linkshell design makes it so shells can die out in a matter of a week (seen it happen several times this year, I go away for a week come back and there is never more than 2 people in the shell anymore) - the playerbase is fragmented, most people aren't in solid, dependable shells. A lot of people play infrequently (hello, that's me!) and so can't really do statics etc, even if people wanted to do them.

Then on top of it, most of the jobs are considered crap tier, so god forbid you actually want to play a job you like... then you are screwed shouts or not.

And then SE makes matters worse by having "variable difficulty" content - where most of the difficulties drop nothing, and have extremely high costs to enter. It's nuts. Either E/VE should just be eliminated altogether, or they should cost less to enter, or their drop rates need to increase.

You know when was a good time to play? During abyssea. Why? Because the content was easy - and people were happy to invite scrubs just to help them out because they didn't lose out. If these new battlefields actually dropped anything on lower difficulty - or cost less to enter even, then people could do causal shouts with less than perfect jobs.

Instead most people are locked out of playing at all because the developers think it is necessary to punish people for being casual or daring to like a job that they feel should suck.

Anyway, server merge won't fix any of this. What the game needs is more causal content that can be completed by mediocre/reject job groups. They also need to stop punishing people for being casuals. Seriously.

[InpendingDeath]

Yeah and then you send them a tell or say hi out loud and they ignore you. Maybe I've just had bad luck but I find people out and about in the world are often really really unfriendly.

I know it was different in the past but today's XI - a lot of people rely on shouts to do group content. The archaic linkshell design makes it so shells can die out in a matter of a week (seen it happen several times this year, I go away for a week come back and there is never more than 2 people in the shell anymore) - the playerbase is fragmented, most people aren't in solid, dependable shells. A lot of people play infrequently (hello, that's me!) and so can't really do statics etc, even if people wanted to do them.

Then on top of it, most of the jobs are considered crap tier, so god forbid you actually want to play a job you like... then you are screwed shouts or not.

And then SE makes matters worse by having "variable difficulty" content - where most of the difficulties drop nothing, and have extremely high costs to enter. It's nuts. Either E/VE should just be eliminated altogether, or they should cost less to enter, or their drop rates need to increase.

You know when was a good time to play? During abyssea. Why? Because the content was easy - and people were happy to invite scrubs just to help them out because they didn't lose out. If these new battlefields actually dropped anything on lower difficulty - or cost less to enter even, then people could do causal shouts with less than perfect jobs.

Instead most people are locked out of playing at all because the developers think it is necessary to punish people for being casual or daring to like a job that they feel should suck.

Anyway, server merge won't fix any of this. What the game needs is more causal content that can be completed by mediocre/reject job groups. They also need to stop punishing people for being casuals. Seriously.

Yes more people ignore others rather than even giving a simple reply. Most of the merit BCs can be done on normal with whatever setup you like, but finding the people is the issue the most time, more people would be helpfull especially when it comes to voidwatch.

[Dale]

Yeah and then you send them a tell or say hi out loud and they ignore you. Maybe I've just had bad luck but I find people out and about in the world are often really really unfriendly.

I know it was different in the past but today's XI - a lot of people rely on shouts to do group content. The archaic linkshell design makes it so shells can die out in a matter of a week (seen it happen several times this year, I go away for a week come back and there is never more than 2 people in the shell anymore) - the playerbase is fragmented, most people aren't in solid, dependable shells. A lot of people play infrequently (hello, that's me!) and so can't really do statics etc, even if people wanted to do them.

Then on top of it, most of the jobs are considered crap tier, so god forbid you actually want to play a job you like... then you are screwed shouts or not.

And then SE makes matters worse by having "variable difficulty" content - where most of the difficulties drop nothing, and have extremely high costs to enter. It's nuts. Either E/VE should just be eliminated altogether, or they should cost less to enter, or their drop rates need to increase.

You know when was a good time to play? During abyssea. Why? Because the content was easy - and people were happy to invite scrubs just to help them out because they didn't lose out. If these new battlefields actually dropped anything on lower difficulty - or cost less to enter even, then people could do causal shouts with less than perfect jobs.

Instead most people are locked out of playing at all because the developers think it is necessary to punish people for being casual or daring to like a job that they feel should suck.

Anyway, server merge won't fix any of this. What the game needs is more causal content that can be completed by mediocre/reject job groups. They also need to stop punishing people for being casuals. Seriously.

Yes I know. Heaven forbid you a play a job you enjoy because it might take a couple more minutes to beat a battlefield or clear a raid. You are singing to the choir on that one. So I won't disagree with you. And this type of business-approach to video games is something that was less prevalent in the past. So you make a good point.

But as you say, server merges wouldn't fix this. And there are still nice people out there. But I'll concede you will probably have to look harder to find them.

I do slightly disagree with you about them needing to add more casual content for rejects though. Because it's been my experience the content can be completed by unusual jobs that don't fit the typical mold. I'm a casual player myself - and enjoy the challenge of figuring out how to succeed using different strategies. The ideal set up isn't needed to win on this game. Though you would never know that if you were to listen to some of these elite players who believe they have a monopoly on how to play the game.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say this game punishes people for being casuals. I can certainly understand how other players do. But if you could elaborate on why you feel the game does I would comment.

[InpendingDeath]

Yes I know. Heaven forbid you a play a job you enjoy because it might take a couple more minutes to beat a battlefield or clear a raid. You are singing to the choir on that one. So I won't disagree with you. And this type of business-approach to video games is something that was less prevalent in the past. So you make a good point.

But as you say, server merges wouldn't fix this. And there are still nice people out there. But I'll concede you will probably have to look harder to find them.

I do slightly disagree with you about them needing to add more casual content for rejects though. Because it's been my experience the content can be completed by unusual jobs that don't fit the typical mold. I'm a casual player myself - and enjoy the challenge of figuring out how to succeed using different strategies. The ideal set up isn't needed to win on this game. Though you would never know that if you were to listen to some of these elite players who believe they have a monopoly on how to play the game.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say this game punishes people for being casuals. I can certainly understand how other players do. But if you could elaborate on why you feel the game does I would comment.

I agree I have done most all Merit BCs with unique-non cookie cutter build setups but the fact is people are too stubborn to try. Maybe the real problem is lacking people who are willing to help others with nothing to gain for themselves. Maybe they should add a function like WKR to AA's and once clear them all can chose an item of your choice or something. I understand what he means by saying they punish people for being casuals because casual players are left to do content no one is doing nor willing to do because they have better harder things to do that you can't do yet. So if your left behind your not catching up without people not needing something from said event to help you, which is rare. Maybe a server merge would bring more people not so elite to the table, those willing to help others without getting anything from it.

[Dale]

I agree I have done most all Merit BCs with unique-non cookie cutter build setups but the fact is people are too stubborn to try. Maybe the real problem is lacking people who are willing to help others with nothing to gain for themselves. Maybe they should add a function like WKR to AA's and once clear them all can chose an item of your choice or something. I understand what he means by saying they punish people for being casuals because casual players are left to do content no one is doing nor willing to do because they have better harder things to do that you can't do yet. So if your left behind your not catching up without people not needing something from said event to help you, which is rare. Maybe a server merge would bring more people not so elite to the table, those willing to help others without getting anything from it.

Maybe but I doubt it. Chances are the amount of open-minded players would be drowned out by the influx of new elite-minded players; especially in regards to activities on shout. Rarely if ever do I see people shouting for all-comers. They usually always want very specific and ideal job combinations - the cookie-cutter set ups as you refer to them. And I doubt this would change after a server merge even though having these specific set ups isn't necessary at all.

Part of the problem is after someone views themselves as becoming an elite and taste the so-called endgame they have this habit of viewing the entire game in that very limited context. So even when doing something as simple as a chapter 1 REM battlefield for example they act as if they are getting ready to do some very difficult endgame alliance raid. I see it happen all the time. A battlefield you can solo yet I see players making a huge fuss about what job and gear everyone has. It's silly and very punishing to casuals who are trying to gear up I agree. I wish I could change their minds but I can't. They are set in their ways and for some it makes them feel special to exclude others.

I don't really think there is a good solution to this. I wish there was. But there isn't. That's why my best advice is to try and build a circle of friends you can depend on to help you with content and not nitpick of every minor detail. But I do now recognize that may be more difficult to do in today's climate. Most of my friends are from older times when the difficulty on this game was merciless and people were all but forced to befriend each other if they wanted to succeed. That is less the case now - so I'm sure that has lead to people being a lot more anti-social.

[Olor]

I'm not sure what you mean when you say this game punishes people for being casuals. I can certainly understand how other players do. But if you could elaborate on why you feel the game does I would comment.

Because Normal and below battlefields drop essentially nothing (except chapters), and no, special snowflake jobs with average gear cannot clear higher difficulties. Normal should be at least a reasonable drop rate - or the entry fee for entering lower difficulty fields should be lower so that people can do them more times (so still rewarding higher difficulties by making them more efficient, without making it unrealistic to even bother trying to get items on lower difficulties)

This is a game design flaw, not a player design flaw. Again, look at abyssea - that content was designed to be welcoming to new players and casuals because the entry fee was low and the rewards were able to be shared better (every monster dropping several things pretty much, and then ATMA as an infinitely shareable reward)

Forcing people to use full amount of seals/merits to do lower difficulties means there is a HUGE disincentive to fool around/be causal/help people out. Essentially people are being elitists about it because the time sink to even qualify to enter the content is so large.

[Dale]

Because Normal and below battlefields drop essentially nothing (except chapters), and no, special snowflake jobs with average gear cannot clear higher difficulties. Normal should be at least a reasonable drop rate - or the entry fee for entering lower difficulty fields should be lower so that people can do them more times (so still rewarding higher difficulties by making them more efficient, without making it unrealistic to even bother trying to get items on lower difficulties)

I'm not sure what you mean when you say special snowflake jobs with average gear.

What I do know is you do not need the ideal or cookie-cutter set up to complete difficult content on this game. I know this from personal experience. And difficult content isn't meant for average players anyway. It's not suppose to be easy and is meant to be a test for above-average players. That is the whole reason for having the higher difficulty levels to begin with. And casual players can be just as skilled as other players after all.

All that being said, I really wouldn't have a problem with increasing the drop rates for normal modes though. That's fine by me. So I'm not really in disagreement with you on this point. I'm just clarifying that it's a myth you need certain jobs or certain set ups to complete difficult content on this game. Because you don't.