Originally Posted by
Xilk
There appears to be a trend in the development of FFXI, in which the fighting is becoming more homogeneous.
Examples would be nerfing the effectiveness of repeated blood pacts, and ready moves; nerfing geomancy effectiveness, nerfing the effectiveness of Area of Effect spells.
I do not like this trend. I understand that amongst players there is a tendancy to latch onto 1 strategy and stick with it. However, I really don't like it when the design limits to a single strategy for success.
I would mention the example of Absolute Virtue BEFORE the level cap increased. The design was so narrow, and the information so lacking that no one had a legitimate victory. Whenever players came up with a win, the game was patched, calling it an exploit.
The variety of different battle styles is one of the things I think makes FFXI so enduring and fun. I think most current FFXI players have played Final Fantasy XIV, however we came back to FFXI instead. I think the battles are the main reason.
As wonderful as many aspects of 14 are, the game really doesn't compare to the freedom and demand of 11 in battle and gameplay. I think 14 is far more Homogeneous in its battle strategies. I think going the same direction with 11 would be a mistake.
I'm reflecting about Odyssey when these thoughts are coming together. I know that more content will be added to Oddysey, presumably in the near future. However, currently it is a time-gated, slow upgrade process. I feel like it fails to meet the objective of 'exploration' and 'adventure'. I think it quickly became only more grind.
How can you explore, when limited to a 30 min window per day? The only objective is farming lustreless scales. Franky, even though there is gear that will improve my sets.. I'm not motivated to farm it.
I feel like Abyssea was MUCH better at aspects of exploration and adventure.
Abyssea had time limits, but they were flexible. You could enter abyssea, solo, party, or alliance with meaningful and various objectives. There was alot to explore, and it felt free to go at one's own pace.
Odyssey is not like this. Odyssea, is simply: hurry and farm as much as you can. Its boring. Omen is much better than Odyssea for fun farming also..
I don't see the value in the variety in Odyssea. There are many monster camps, but there is no value in touching any of them except for the Halos.
I don't like the non-targetable mobs. I don't like the nerfed AoE.
I want to go in with and explore, but these trends keep pushing towards a uniform play style, which is boring.
If I wanted that, I would play ff14, or something else.