Free hand-outs?

[Olor]

Aby was a lot more fun than SOA or Escha etc. imho.

Oh yes, so much more fun. I really wish the devs had not thrown out all of the things they learned in Abyssea/voidwatch era about not punishing people for bringing extra players. All the most useful content since Voidwatch has basically punished players for bringing extra people along, whereas VW/Abyssea there was, at worst, no loss for bringing others. Gone are the days when you could just show up at a boss pop and get a clear from people farming it who had no reason not to let you in to get the title. Gone are the days where a person could focus on a little niche (for me it was proccing on BLU in voidwatch) and join in on high level content.

I mean, sure I had no way into neo-nyzul at the time - so that was still something that gave elite gear to better players, but there was real endgame shouts I could join. I really really really miss that.

Anyway, maybe the devs wouldn't feel like they need to give out free 119 gear through a lottery box if events were designed to better allow players to join in on relevant content. Right now everything is either fairly useless (unity stuff is nice for a player like me but completely irrelevant for the most part for better players) and thus it's hard to get groups for it, or it's super duper hard and you have to already be geared to join in.

I am fully willing to take some responsibility for not being set up for hardcore endgame, I only play a bit here and there and I haven't optimized my macros, don't use helpful addons etc... but I see it as a problem that it is hard to find group content to do if you're not 100% top of the line... I used to be able to do lots of the content that the top tier players were doing.

Maybe it would help if they extended yells to more areas? I don't know, it just sucks that you have to sit around in town if you want to try to find something group oriented to do. FFXIAH shouts help, but it's still not ideal.

The box definitely gives me an incentive to stay subbed and MOST definitely gives me a reason to login. Often I'll decide to play a bit more once I've done my logins, since I've already loaded up the game... whereas when there is no campaign I rarely log in at all.

[Diavolo]

Even though you and I may prefer Relics and Mythics, and we can see they are more powerful in some ways, and we love the Jobspecific bonuses on those weapons, which are totally missing from Empys, that doesn't change the fact that when Empy-building was introduced, it was designed to be the "latest and greatest" legendary superweapon class. So because SE viewed Empys as the latest and best of the RME, they made the content extremely challenging for a level 99 player.

Except this is 2016 and a lot of content in this game has been made far more accessible (re: solo-friendly) whereas Voidwatch has yet to be scaled down that way. As you pointed out in the HMP, Riftcinder, Riftdross thread the drop rate of these items was officially said to increase as the size of the party/alliance increases, yet the days of being able to gather an alliance, let alone a single party, to tackle this content is long behind us. That is exactly why all this other content has been made solo-friendly. So, what reason is keeping Voidwatch from going down that same path?

It is entirely possible to build a 119AG Empy today, with the right amount of effort. I don't see it as a balance issue.

The fact that something is possible can't be used as a reason against scaling it down, that makes no sense here. It was possible to build a relic weapon when Dynamis was introduced, so why make it easier over the years? It was entirely possible to build a mythic weapon when Salvage was introduced, so why make that easier? It's all relative, except while relic and mythic weapons were made far easier to build since their introduction, level 95-99 empyrean weapons remain a painful grind that's only realistic during a Voidwatch campaign or if you're lucky enough to get a group of people who A) want to farm empyrean weapons everyday and B) have enough voidstones to do it.

In my case, I went and farmed the currencies for my main Empy, which is why I don't see the lack of balance you speak of. If you farmed all your Mythic and Relic currencies instead of buying them, you would notice that it actually takes a while. The same is true of Empys, only more so, because it is from a higher-level stage of the game's timeline.

Whether you farm every piece of currency or buy it all the unmistakable differences in difficulty of farming the level 95-99 R/E/M's should be readily apparent. You are reading the thread about the availability of HMP, Riftcinder and Riftdross, aren't you picking up on the frustration of the players attempting to tackle this content, or maybe you believe they're all just spoiled and should suck it up the way we did years ago?

Similarly, on the balance issue, I would rather have an Afterglow Relic or Mythic, than have an Aeonic. Yet you can solo Relics/Mythics or buy them with Gil. Aeonics are way harder to solo farm or buy from the AH.

Except the option of buying an Aeonic is open to me whereas the option of buying a 119 Empy isn't quite there due to lack of interest from the player base.

[Stompa]

this is 2016

Yes it is, unfortunately.

and a lot of content in this game has been made far more accessible (re: solo-friendly) whereas Voidwatch has yet to be scaled down that way. As you pointed out in the HMP, Riftcinder, Riftdross thread the drop rate of these items was officially said to increase as the size of the party/alliance increases, yet the days of being able to gather an alliance, let alone a single party, to tackle this content is long behind us. That is exactly why all this other content has been made solo-friendly. So, what reason is keeping Voidwatch from going down that same path?

SE made displacers cheaper, made VW stones appear in your inventory without visiting the NPC, added VW capped lights events, added Trusts for solo cures etc. and also added all the VW currencies to Ambuscade. I would say that this is a lot of bonuses, compared to a few years ago. It should certainly be enough easiness for somebody who was complaining in this thread, that Free Stuff is killing the legitimate farming achievement feels, and that people should go out and grind stuff instead.

The fact that something is possible can't be used as a reason against scaling it down, that makes no sense here. It was possible to build a relic weapon when Dynamis was introduced, so why make it easier over the years? It was entirely possible to build a mythic weapon when Salvage was introduced, so why make that easier? It's all relative, except while relic and mythic weapons were made far easier to build since their introduction, level 95-99 empyrean weapons remain a painful grind that's only realistic during a Voidwatch campaign or if you're lucky enough to get a group of people who A) want to farm empyrean weapons everyday and B) have enough voidstones to do it.

In the past, a person couldn't solo farm Relics, Mythics or Empys.

Today, a person can solo farm Relics, Mythics, and Empys.

I hope you will see how this is infact totally balanced.

Except the option of buying an Aeonic is open to me whereas the option of buying a 119 Empy isn't quite there due to lack of interest from the player base.

Some parts of the player base are still farming VW, but they are for the most part using the HMP/cinders for their own Empys. You could team up with them.

My friend realised that half the server had unfinished Empys, so he started a VW Linkshell, and /shouted in town until he had like 20 members. They farm VW twice weekly, have static designated jobs, and they don't have to shout for extra members before a run. Nothing is stopping you from doing this too.

Earlier on this thread, you were criticising SE for giving Free Stuff away, and the impact it was having on authentic legitimate farming and Triumphant Achievement Feels. You were basically saying that people should team up and do content, instead of asking for Freebies. A few pages later, and your philosophy has done a full U-turn, and you don't want to start a VW Static LS group to farm your Empys. You would prefer to buy all the Empy materials with Gil, if only the playerbase would go out and farm the materials for you!

[Diavolo]

SE made displacers cheaper, made VW stones appear in your inventory without visiting the NPC, added VW capped lights events, added Trusts for solo cures etc. and also added all the VW currencies to Ambuscade. I would say that this is a lot of bonuses, compared to a few years ago. It should certainly be enough easiness for somebody who was complaining in this thread, that Free Stuff is killing the legitimate farming achievement feels, and that people should go out and grind stuff instead.

If it was up to me a lot of the changes/additions made to the game wouldn't be here today for reasons that have probably become quite apparent at this point. Except those changes have been made and despite all the "bonuses", as you call them, farming items for Empyrean level 95 and 99 trials from Voidwatch remains a far more daunting task than Relics or Mythics, in some cases impossible just by virtue of how slowly voidstones accumulate (1 every 12 hours if you have the two key items to reduce restock time). I posted Byrth's math behind it all in the HMP, Riftcinder, Riftdross thread and after grinding through the Voidwatch campaign myself, his numbers held up: it takes about 3,500 stones, give or take, for you to farm up the necessary items if you happen to be using just one account. Telling someone they have to wait 4+ years in order to accumulate enough stones to farm up the items for a level 99 Empyrean goes against everything the dev team has been trying to do with this game (re: make it accessible).

No, I don't want it made easier, but I DO want the option to farm up another 119 Empyrean if I so choose and right now that option is wiped clear off the table for me because of the settings in place.

My friend realised that half the server had unfinished Empys, so he started a VW Linkshell, and /shouted in town until he had like 20 members. They farm VW twice weekly, have static designated jobs, and they don't have to shout for extra members before a run. Nothing is stopping you from doing this too.

Just to drive home the point: Yes, something IS stopping me at this point - voidstone recharge time. You're only getting 14 stones a week, which means 14 chances at a 6% drop rate for Heavy Metal Pouches and half that or less for Riftcinder/dross.

Earlier on this thread, you were criticising SE for giving Free Stuff away, and the impact it was having on authentic legitimate farming and Triumphant Achievement Feels. You were basically saying that people should team up and do content, instead of asking for Freebies. A few pages later, and your philosophy has done a full U-turn, and you don't want to start a VW Static LS group to farm your Empys. You would prefer to buy all the Empy materials with Gil, if only the playerbase would go out and farm the materials for you!

This isn't about making the content easier, it's about making it available - there's a difference. Someone that subscribes to FFXI today or is returning from an extended hiatus has no viable option to pursue an Empyrean weapon unless they're on an active server where those Voidwatch items are readily available on the Auction House or via bazaars, in which case they're absolutely forced to buy them at great cost. Do you consider this good game design?