Sortie - Owning a tier 4 Prime weapon punishes players

[Zenion]

What Effects These Changes Had

We are aware that some of you have expressed concerns that it is more difficult to simply collect spoils and gallimaufry in a “normal” Sortie run if someone with a stage four Prime Weapon is in the party.
The game automatically checks the stages of each player’s Prime Weapon, so if someone is in possession of a stage four Prime Weapon, this phenomenon is unavoidable.

As a result, the player in possession of a stage four Prime Weapon might feel responsible for causing other players to have a more difficult version of Sortie than intended, and may in fact feel some hesitation at joining a party that is simply there to farm resources, as they wish to not make things harder for others.

We did not intend for players to have their gameplay experience or ability to participate in Sortie adversely affected, but if this issue is causing consternation for players, then I feel it must be addressed.

This really is the entire issue. If there were some way to make the check compare Prime Weapon progress and current job, so someone who has a stage 4 Helheim could still enter Sortie on Dragoon without triggering the enrage mechanic (at the cost of not receiving the mesohedrite drops they normally would), that would make this situation so much easier to live with. It's largely the fact that getting to a certain point in the process on any weapon irreversibly poisons the well for that character that makes it so divisive within the community; making the added difficulty an option that you choose to face by entering with the appropriate prime weapon would turn this into a simple "this fight is very tough and we need to learn it."

[Yoji_Fujito]

Good day, everyone.
Thank you all for your feedback on my previous post.

Let me first offer a dual apology: first, for failing to provide a sufficient explanation before implementing the system the way we did, and second for causing confusion and disappointment for those of you who were so passionate about upgrading your prime weapons.

Having pored over all of your comments, questions, and concerns, I sat down with the development team and discussed your various opinions and proposals on the following two issues:

• The difficulty change is automatic, and thus party members who aren’t looking to upgrade their Prime Weapon to stage 4 are unwillingly roped into a higher difficulty boss.
• The lack of notification surrounding the difficulty adjustment before entering Sortie.

The way the system currently works is that ownership of a stage 4 Prime Weapon triggers the change in difficulty. We are going to adjust this system, as we believe it is causing the most consternation amongst all of you.

• The difficulty of notorious monsters in Lower Sortie E-H will no longer be increased if someone with a stage 4 Prime Weapon is in the party.

Even if we were to add a difficulty selection toggle for the notorious monsters in Lower Sortie E-H like with the last boss, the last bosses’ toggle would be independent of the individual HMs, so there would be no reason for players to go out of their way to defeat “hard mode” NMs. Simply removing their adjusted behavior is the more sensible option.
* While it would be possible for us to add two different difficulty options, doing so would require all party members to have access to both options, which would make finding the appropriate party members even more different than currently, so we believe that this option is off the table.

• We will add an option for players to choose hard/normal mode difficulty when entering the #? boss area in cases where one or more players possess a stage 4 Prime Weapon.
  * This option will not display if no stage 4 Prime Weapon bearers are present.
  • Hard Mode:
    • Aminon’s behavior will change and he will gain 25% damage reduction
    • Materials needed to upgrade Prime Weapons will have a chance to drop when he is defeated.
  • Normal Mode:
    • Aminon’s behavior will not change.
    • Materials needed to upgrade Prime Weapons will not drop.

This adjustment is being made with the intent of making it easier for people to form parties based on their objectives, whether it be to earn gallimaufry or to obtain items needed to upgrade Prime Weapons.
The goal is not to make it easier for players to upgrade stage 4 Prime Weapons, so the adjustments to Aminon are intended to keep the difficulty roughly equivalent even though players are no longer required to tackle harder difficulty NMs in Lower Sortie E-H.


Notes:

The difficulty of the Lower Sortie boss is intended as trial for those wishing to upgrade stage 4 Prime Weapons, and once the Prime Weapons have reached their final stage this difficulty adjustment is no longer necessary. The upshot of this is that players looking to upgrade their second and subsequent Prime Weapons will not have to continuously face powered-up versions of bosses, so there is no need to worry about being endlessly locked into hard mode content.

These changes are currently scheduled to go live in the September version update.

[Gwydion]

Good day, everyone.
Thank you all for your feedback on my previous post.

Let me first offer a dual apology: first, for failing to provide a sufficient explanation before implementing the system the way we did, and second for causing confusion and disappointment for those of you who were so passionate about upgrading your prime weapons.

Having pored over all of your comments, questions, and concerns, I sat down with the development team and discussed your various opinions and proposals on the following two issues:

• The difficulty change is automatic, and thus party members who aren’t looking to upgrade their Prime Weapon to stage 4 are unwillingly roped into a higher difficulty boss.
• The lack of notification surrounding the difficulty adjustment before entering Sortie.

The way the system currently works is that ownership of a stage 4 Prime Weapon triggers the change in difficulty. We are going to adjust this system, as we believe it is causing the most consternation amongst all of you.

• The difficulty of notorious monsters in Lower Sortie E-H will no longer be increased if someone with a stage 4 Prime Weapon is in the party.

Even if we were to add a difficulty selection toggle for the notorious monsters in Lower Sortie E-H like with the last boss, the last bosses’ toggle would be independent of the individual HMs, so there would be no reason for players to go out of their way to defeat “hard mode” NMs. Simply removing their adjusted behavior is the more sensible option.
* While it would be possible for us to add two different difficulty options, doing so would require all party members to have access to both options, which would make finding the appropriate party members even more different than currently, so we believe that this option is off the table.

• We will add an option for players to choose hard/normal mode difficulty when entering the #? boss area in cases where one or more players possess a stage 4 Prime Weapon.
  * This option will not display if no stage 4 Prime Weapon bearers are present.
  • Hard Mode:
    • Aminon’s behavior will change and he will gain 25% damage reduction
    • Materials needed to upgrade Prime Weapons will have a chance to drop when he is defeated.
  • Normal Mode:
    • Aminon’s behavior will not change.
    • Materials needed to upgrade Prime Weapons will not drop.

This adjustment is being made with the intent of making it easier for people to form parties based on their objectives, whether it be to earn gallimaufry or to obtain items needed to upgrade Prime Weapons.
The goal is not to make it easier for players to upgrade stage 4 Prime Weapons, so the adjustments to Aminon are intended to keep the difficulty roughly equivalent even though players are no longer required to tackle harder difficulty NMs in Lower Sortie E-H.


Notes:

The difficulty of the Lower Sortie boss is intended as trial for those wishing to upgrade stage 4 Prime Weapons, and once the Prime Weapons have reached their final stage this difficulty adjustment is no longer necessary. The upshot of this is that players looking to upgrade their second and subsequent Prime Weapons will not have to continuously face powered-up versions of bosses, so there is no need to worry about being endlessly locked into hard mode content.

These changes are currently scheduled to go live in the September version update.

This is a relief. Thank you for sharing. 4 questions:

1.) Will subsequent Stage 4 Prime Weapons have this increased Aminion difficulty? (or it a first-weapon only condition?)

2.) Would you consider Sortie: Movement Speed+25% feet armor for all jobs?

3.) Will you consider adjusting on the distribution and drop ratio for +2 earrings? (We're concerned they seem to favor basic jobs, which was an issue for Abyssea items in the past).

4.) Can we exchange excess items (octahedrites, NQ, +1, +2 earrings for Gallimaufry at a rate of 1/5? Our inventories are overflowing).

[VoiceMemo]

Well in that post it does list only hard mode aminon can drop upgrade items, which has to be Mesosiderite. So you'll always have to fight hard mode aminon anytime you need upgrade items.

[Sp1cyryan]

Good day, everyone.
Thank you all for your feedback on my previous post.

Let me first offer a dual apology: first, for failing to provide a sufficient explanation before implementing the system the way we did, and second for causing confusion and disappointment for those of you who were so passionate about upgrading your prime weapons.

Having pored over all of your comments, questions, and concerns, I sat down with the development team and discussed your various opinions and proposals on the following two issues:

• The difficulty change is automatic, and thus party members who aren’t looking to upgrade their Prime Weapon to stage 4 are unwillingly roped into a higher difficulty boss.
• The lack of notification surrounding the difficulty adjustment before entering Sortie.

The way the system currently works is that ownership of a stage 4 Prime Weapon triggers the change in difficulty. We are going to adjust this system, as we believe it is causing the most consternation amongst all of you.

• The difficulty of notorious monsters in Lower Sortie E-H will no longer be increased if someone with a stage 4 Prime Weapon is in the party.

Even if we were to add a difficulty selection toggle for the notorious monsters in Lower Sortie E-H like with the last boss, the last bosses’ toggle would be independent of the individual HMs, so there would be no reason for players to go out of their way to defeat “hard mode” NMs. Simply removing their adjusted behavior is the more sensible option.
* While it would be possible for us to add two different difficulty options, doing so would require all party members to have access to both options, which would make finding the appropriate party members even more different than currently, so we believe that this option is off the table.

• We will add an option for players to choose hard/normal mode difficulty when entering the #? boss area in cases where one or more players possess a stage 4 Prime Weapon.
  * This option will not display if no stage 4 Prime Weapon bearers are present.
  • Hard Mode:
    • Aminon’s behavior will change and he will gain 25% damage reduction
    • Materials needed to upgrade Prime Weapons will have a chance to drop when he is defeated.
  • Normal Mode:
    • Aminon’s behavior will not change.
    • Materials needed to upgrade Prime Weapons will not drop.

This adjustment is being made with the intent of making it easier for people to form parties based on their objectives, whether it be to earn gallimaufry or to obtain items needed to upgrade Prime Weapons.
The goal is not to make it easier for players to upgrade stage 4 Prime Weapons, so the adjustments to Aminon are intended to keep the difficulty roughly equivalent even though players are no longer required to tackle harder difficulty NMs in Lower Sortie E-H.


Notes:

The difficulty of the Lower Sortie boss is intended as trial for those wishing to upgrade stage 4 Prime Weapons, and once the Prime Weapons have reached their final stage this difficulty adjustment is no longer necessary. The upshot of this is that players looking to upgrade their second and subsequent Prime Weapons will not have to continuously face powered-up versions of bosses, so there is no need to worry about being endlessly locked into hard mode content.

These changes are currently scheduled to go live in the September version update.

Thank you Fujito, I am sure this was not an easy conversation and decision. This choice sounds like a far more ideal of a system to implement. Thank you for taking the time to speak to us all, and thank you for all of your hard work.

As a final remark, please consider adding more variety to Sortie. Sortie still has more potential in it to become a more enjoyable event.

[ragnarzero]

Good day, everyone.
Thank you all for your feedback on my previous post.

Let me first offer a dual apology: first, for failing to provide a sufficient explanation before implementing the system the way we did, and second for causing confusion and disappointment for those of you who were so passionate about upgrading your prime weapons.

Having pored over all of your comments, questions, and concerns, I sat down with the development team and discussed your various opinions and proposals on the following two issues:

• The difficulty change is automatic, and thus party members who aren’t looking to upgrade their Prime Weapon to stage 4 are unwillingly roped into a higher difficulty boss.
• The lack of notification surrounding the difficulty adjustment before entering Sortie.

The way the system currently works is that ownership of a stage 4 Prime Weapon triggers the change in difficulty. We are going to adjust this system, as we believe it is causing the most consternation amongst all of you.

• The difficulty of notorious monsters in Lower Sortie E-H will no longer be increased if someone with a stage 4 Prime Weapon is in the party.

Even if we were to add a difficulty selection toggle for the notorious monsters in Lower Sortie E-H like with the last boss, the last bosses’ toggle would be independent of the individual HMs, so there would be no reason for players to go out of their way to defeat “hard mode” NMs. Simply removing their adjusted behavior is the more sensible option.
* While it would be possible for us to add two different difficulty options, doing so would require all party members to have access to both options, which would make finding the appropriate party members even more different than currently, so we believe that this option is off the table.

• We will add an option for players to choose hard/normal mode difficulty when entering the #? boss area in cases where one or more players possess a stage 4 Prime Weapon.
  * This option will not display if no stage 4 Prime Weapon bearers are present.
  • Hard Mode:
    • Aminon’s behavior will change and he will gain 25% damage reduction
    • Materials needed to upgrade Prime Weapons will have a chance to drop when he is defeated.
  • Normal Mode:
    • Aminon’s behavior will not change.
    • Materials needed to upgrade Prime Weapons will not drop.

This adjustment is being made with the intent of making it easier for people to form parties based on their objectives, whether it be to earn gallimaufry or to obtain items needed to upgrade Prime Weapons.
The goal is not to make it easier for players to upgrade stage 4 Prime Weapons, so the adjustments to Aminon are intended to keep the difficulty roughly equivalent even though players are no longer required to tackle harder difficulty NMs in Lower Sortie E-H.


Notes:

The difficulty of the Lower Sortie boss is intended as trial for those wishing to upgrade stage 4 Prime Weapons, and once the Prime Weapons have reached their final stage this difficulty adjustment is no longer necessary. The upshot of this is that players looking to upgrade their second and subsequent Prime Weapons will not have to continuously face powered-up versions of bosses, so there is no need to worry about being endlessly locked into hard mode content.

These changes are currently scheduled to go live in the September version update.

Thank you for Addressing this quickly and for all your hard work, as a developer myself I know turn around on things like this is not always easy.

I know Some people will struggle still to kill the Last boss (hard mode) as his moves are very unforgiving or harsh. Has the idea of making the upgrade item 100% on hard mode but on normal mode making it 1% meaning there is a very small chance you could get one on normal but guaranteed on hard?

also Gwydion had some very good questions.

Again thank you for your time.

[Urioh]

Yes, you did the bare minimum, such a great effort worthy of praise. Hurray for you.

The bar is so disgustingly low.

[Aslani]

Good day, everyone.
Thank you all for your feedback on my previous post.

Let me first offer a dual apology: first, for failing to provide a sufficient explanation before implementing the system the way we did, and second for causing confusion and disappointment for those of you who were so passionate about upgrading your prime weapons.

<...>

Thank you very much for addressing this issue so quickly, the community greatly appreciates when the developers take our feedback seriously and implement changes to address our concerns.

There are a couple other concerns regarding Sortie / Prime weapons that still persist, though:

1) I mentioned this in a previous post, but many of the Prime weapons are quite weak compared to existing weapons in the game. I believe ALL of the one-handed weapons are weaker than Naegling, for instance. Are there any plans to consider strengthening the linked Prime weaponskills so that these weapons are not so weak? Are there any plans to implement augments after the final stage is completed? I would like for the weapon that I worked so hard to make to actually be useful when it's done. From what many of us have seen in game so far, this is not the case presently.

2) The drop rate of +2 earrings is still unreasonably low. Are there any plans to improve the drop rate, implement +2 cases with guaranteed +2 earrings inside, or implement some sort of earring trade-in system?


Thank you very much, and I hope you continue to implement improvements to make Sortie more enjoyable and rewarding content.

[Zattano]

Good day, everyone.
Thank you all for your feedback on my previous post.

Let me first offer a dual apology: first, for failing to provide a sufficient explanation before implementing the system the way we did, and second for causing confusion and disappointment for those of you who were so passionate about upgrading your prime weapons.

Having pored over all of your comments, questions, and concerns, I sat down with the development team and discussed your various opinions and proposals on the following two issues:

• The difficulty change is automatic, and thus party members who aren’t looking to upgrade their Prime Weapon to stage 4 are unwillingly roped into a higher difficulty boss.
• The lack of notification surrounding the difficulty adjustment before entering Sortie.

The way the system currently works is that ownership of a stage 4 Prime Weapon triggers the change in difficulty. We are going to adjust this system, as we believe it is causing the most consternation amongst all of you.

• The difficulty of notorious monsters in Lower Sortie E-H will no longer be increased if someone with a stage 4 Prime Weapon is in the party.

Even if we were to add a difficulty selection toggle for the notorious monsters in Lower Sortie E-H like with the last boss, the last bosses’ toggle would be independent of the individual HMs, so there would be no reason for players to go out of their way to defeat “hard mode” NMs. Simply removing their adjusted behavior is the more sensible option.
* While it would be possible for us to add two different difficulty options, doing so would require all party members to have access to both options, which would make finding the appropriate party members even more different than currently, so we believe that this option is off the table.

• We will add an option for players to choose hard/normal mode difficulty when entering the #? boss area in cases where one or more players possess a stage 4 Prime Weapon.
  * This option will not display if no stage 4 Prime Weapon bearers are present.
  • Hard Mode:
    • Aminon’s behavior will change and he will gain 25% damage reduction
    • Materials needed to upgrade Prime Weapons will have a chance to drop when he is defeated.
  • Normal Mode:
    • Aminon’s behavior will not change.
    • Materials needed to upgrade Prime Weapons will not drop.

This adjustment is being made with the intent of making it easier for people to form parties based on their objectives, whether it be to earn gallimaufry or to obtain items needed to upgrade Prime Weapons.
The goal is not to make it easier for players to upgrade stage 4 Prime Weapons, so the adjustments to Aminon are intended to keep the difficulty roughly equivalent even though players are no longer required to tackle harder difficulty NMs in Lower Sortie E-H.


Notes:

The difficulty of the Lower Sortie boss is intended as trial for those wishing to upgrade stage 4 Prime Weapons, and once the Prime Weapons have reached their final stage this difficulty adjustment is no longer necessary. The upshot of this is that players looking to upgrade their second and subsequent Prime Weapons will not have to continuously face powered-up versions of bosses, so there is no need to worry about being endlessly locked into hard mode content.

These changes are currently scheduled to go live in the September version update.

Fantastic, thank you for this. I welcome the challenge on Aminon, but I would not want others and myself be subjected to the increased difficulty 100% of the time. I can’t wait to upgrade to the next tier now.

[Tamalle]

Could we please have the currency to upgrade Emperyeon Armor and the Prime Weapon be different? Please and thank you.