8 Reasons why the /assist channel isn't working

[Kylos]

All this /yell talk... are you not in the wrong thread??

>> Yell chat spam driving me nuts <<

This thread is about /assist and the Mentor system.

[Sirmarki]

All this /yell talk... are you not in the wrong thread??

>> Yell chat spam driving me nuts <<

This thread is about /assist and the Mentor system.

Apologies. I was responding to Pixela's comment regarding the /assist and mentor system within this thread.

I'm starting to wonder if the intention was never to help new players and just to beta test a system to enable "trusted" players to censor RMT in /yell. I hope they don't do this, it will silence the RMT shouts but it will also be abused by people to stop "trolls" or other chat they don't like and although some like this, some of us find them enjoyable.

[Pixela]

The issue with this channel is that they don't get feedback from players when they are working on it, instead they add it and people hate it and then it's abandoned.

The developers don't seem to understand that ffxi players are incredibly blist happy these days (and the reason is because they merge all chat into one channel by default), if they see stuff on the screen that bothers them even slightly they will blist people. They even increased the blist to 200 people now. Which is hilarious, who needs to block 200 people? I've blisted less than 10 people since I started the game 18 years ago.

Modern FFXI is this: don't say anything in /yell at all, don't use /yell to build groups (or if you do, say it once every 5 minutes or you're "spamming"), don't use assist channel AT ALL.

If you do any of these things you will have people blist you. I cringe when I see anyone talking in /assiste because I know lots of people are blisting them every time they say anything, at all. You can want to help people and end up ruining the game for yourself because hundreds of people have now blocked you. you know that time you complained about RMT on yell for 5 minutes? people blocked you because you're "spamming", you know how you asked if anyone needed help and were surprised nobody replied? guess why.

What's the point of adding these things if you're afraid to use them?

If anything they should have lowered the blist to 10, not 200.

The problem with modern players is they don't have much common sense, they will blist hundreds of people for all manner of silly things then complain because they shouted for help with something and nobody helped them or they tried to make a group for CP and nobody joined. "I blist people for silly things, why is nobody replying to me!?"

Assist should have a totally seperate channel, or or be off by default (and only on when "new" players are able to talk on it)

Nothing, should be on by default, we need more splitting of chat. There should be a dedicated LFG channel where people can spam for groups, there should be a dedicated trade channel (for selling, buying services and goods) and yell should be purely for "world chat" that people can turn off if they don't want to see it.

Every other MMORPG does it like this, it's not hard to know why.

[Sirmarki]

Which is hilarious, who needs to block 200 people?

Me... (Job Point Sellers, EXP sellers, Mercs and Trolls). Don't care for it....

If anything they should have lowered the blist to 10, not 200.

Ridiculous statement.. Every public forum has moderation, without it, social media as an example would be more chaotic that it already is. Anybody should have the option to be able to not view stuff they simply don't want to view for any reason they see fit to do so.

[Pixela]

You don't need to block 200 people, you can remove people and add others.

All it does is ruin the community, people seem to forget that when you block someone you can't see anything they say ever again.

When you shout for help or to make a group for something and some of those bored people you blocked send you a tell, you won't see it.

If you go off in yell about RMT and how awful they are and lots of people blist you, you have put limits on how many people you can ever play with after that point.

[Sirmarki]

You don't need to block 200 people, you can remove people and add others.
All it does is ruin the community, people seem to forget that when you block someone you can't see anything they say ever again.
When you shout for help or to make a group for something and some of those bored people you blocked send you a tell, you won't see it.
If you go off in yell about RMT and how awful they are and lots of people blist you, you have put limits on how many people you can ever play with after that point.

You can block 300 people now and no, I'm not going to spend my time going through a list to figure out who is still around and not, unless it gets full again.
And no, people I have blocked, I have blocked for a reason. They aren't the type that create content, invite people, they just log in to cause trouble or are here to sell content for gil.
Anyway, if you wish to talk more about this subject... Move it to here:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/t...riving-me-nuts
As it is kind of hi-jacking Kylo's original post.

[Kylos]

Thank you Sir, I know you was just replying to Pixela.

This thread isn't about the black list either, although I will go off topic for a brief moment to say I welcome SE giving us more room to block nuisance players and RMT. I'll probably never reach the limit, but maybe others on higher pop servers have been blocking those who yell a lot (it seems to be an Asura problem though) and need the extra room? It won't affect their chances of playing with others, because they are already enjoying a well-populated server and are only blocking those they won't play with.

Anyways... back on topic.

A good point from Pixela is the fact that players may "fear" chatting in /assist because it will get them blocked. I guess it depends on the type of player, but generally, if you're not spamming /assist every minute of the day, I can't see it being an issue. If you do get blocked by someone because you made one or two posts in the space of 1-2 weeks? Then they probably aren't worth playing with.

That's like blocking every player who uses the Unity chat to get their Records of Eminence objective. It's rare and doesn't affect you, unless it becomes a nuisance, which I believe most mentors would know they shouldn't be blowing up /assist.

However, there may be a problem where some players who want to be mentors feel like they would be rude to use /assist. Granted, this system only works in towns, so it's not like it would be interrupting anyone doing battle content. On lower pop servers you don't get that many yells or unity chat, so it's not like it's adding to the kind of spam Asurans have to deal with.

If someone is blocking a player for trying to be useful when it's not really spam... I'm assuming they aren't the type of player you do content with. Another problem I forgot to mention is the embarrassment factor for new/returning players.

#9: There's a reason players join linkshells or send /tell to veteran players. They don't want the entire server to see them asking silly questions. Now, we all know that any question about how the game works isn't silly, but put yourself in their position.

Do you really want to use a chat function that is shared across the server to ask your questions? I know I wouldn't. You see players in Linkshells saying things like "Sorry if this is a silly question", and we have to respond with "Not at all, your question isn't silly and it could in fact help others too".

Magnifying that for new/returning players is daunting, and I would expect them to choose not to use it. Now, if /assist worked like a temporary Linkshell? They might not feel as bad in sharing their "silly" questions with strangers, because it's either a mentor or other players in the same boat.

[Pixela]

I'm on Asura, nobody is using it for the intended purpose. I've seen 1 person ask a question since it was added.

99% of the chat I see on assist is mentors saying hello, in that same time I've seen 20-30 people asking questions or asking for help with missions in /YELL.

It's a failure because they never ask for player input when designing this stuff.

[Dzspdref]

Can we just get rid of /yell then?
Cannot imagine RMTs wanting to pay for so many more subscriptions to keep up their ability to contact every city/town area without just one bot.
Might boost up the population and help SE's coffers, but think it might keep a LOT more areas a bit more peaceful.

Just an idea....

[Pixela]

You can filter yell just fine.

Fyi I was here before /yell and RMT just had a bot that did a /seal all and then spammed everyone with tells, and they made characters to do this every few hours to exaust your blists.