Add HQ drops to HTBF

[radar]

HTBF have drops that players can obtain and never have to do again, it's universal content for solo and group players over different difficulties.

Maybe consider adding HQ drops to HTBF, or if a player has an item that drops just have the game drop a crafting item instead.

Then the player can use Synergy to turn an NQ item into a HQ if they have +5 crafting items from the HTBF.

Every HTBF item could be +1, this would give a lot of content for players with minimal development work. Also none of the gear would be OP, since the stat boost to HQ would not have to be massive.

example

[Chromium]

Just saw the changes coming for HTBF on the AMAN video, with tickets or items that can be exchanged to get what you want from these fights instead of pure RNG.

If this is the case, please add +1 gear to these fights too. These fights are a mainstay of many players time, and although it's great to get the specific piece of gear they want it would still be good to have +1 gear that players can continue to try chase if they want to.

Otherwise all these fights will stop being done so much.

[Uroah]

No one wants to keep doing the same fights. The whole point is for them to be temporary. You get your gear and then you stop going so there's no congestion.

[Chromium]

No one wants to keep doing the same fights. The whole point is for them to be temporary. You get your gear and then you stop going so there's no congestion.

For many casual / solo players HTBF and a few other things are what they do when they login, if they stop this content being relevant they are not going to progress onto Sortie bosses or Ody bosses (cause they require groups), they are going to have nothing as a casual / solo player to login for (ambuscade is already capped for many).

If a person likes to walk up hills, and you destroy the hill they are not going to go climb mountains.



I think it's great to be able to get the specific pieces (esp on lillith with so many possible drops), but they should also add +1 to carry on grinding out if they want to.

[Alhanelem]

If you add "HQ" drops all that really does is devalue the originals.

[Chromium]

A blurred shield +1 is better than NQ, and you want a HQ. However if you cannot get a HQ, you can use NQ and it's 90% there.

I think it will be a huge mistake to make it easier to get all the normal drops from all htbf and not add a system to still grind out HQ versions (the HQ don't even need to be wildly better), they don't have the staff to pump out new "for all" content fast enough to just invalidate evergreen content like that.

HTBF content is relevant to a lot of casual players, cause they can't do the higher tier stuff.

I'm seeing them allowing lower tier content to be finished and it's a big mistake, there really isn't a path to the higher content for casuals as they seem to think there is, XI higher tier content is too hard for a large chunk of its players.

Are players that login and spam HTBF content gonna cap out and go kill Omen bosses, Sortie bosses, Ody bosses or farm Dyna D?

[Chromium]

I really worry the developers are out of touch with the 40-50% of casual players and what motivates them to keep logging in.

I feel if they don't do something to keep HTBF relevant once everyone can "easily" cap out, they will really hurt the game. As much as people want the loot, they also need a reason to login and have something to work towards. This is basic mmo psychology, we need the hamster wheel even if we hate the hamster wheel.

So either they are going to add all new HTBF, or upgraded versions of these fights with all new drops that people can progress to or they need to add extra drops to them (+1 is the easiest). You can't kill evergreen content (capping out drops is killing it) and have no path of progression to something else most players can do, much of the relevant content is too hard to progress to for casual / solo players.

They have done the same with Ambuscade, by not adding a higher tier of gear to work towards and that is also a mistake.

They seem to want to try make 11 into 14 and get us to fixate on relic/af/emp constant upgrades, and it's not going to work. I can feel the desire to get this game to eventually have everyone wearing +9 af/relic/emp with marginal upgrades each time, and that will kill the game if they try to push this avenue of vert progression of specific sets of gear and ignoring everything else.

FF11 has lasted 23 years as a PS2 game, because it's different from WoW and has lots of different types of gear and content to do when you login. If they try to push this progression system where all we do is constantly work on upgrading relic/af/emp to +4, +5,+6,+7,+8,+9 for the next 10 years, with minimal upgrades each time they should think again.

Cause that's totally not going to work on a lot of XI players, me including. I can see them trying to push the game that way, and it's not going to work out.

I think most players would much prefer systems where all current gear and endgame is upgraded (ambuscade +3, +4, malignance +1,+2, Ody +30-35, higher tier upgrades to augments on Reisen gear) as well as af/relic/emp upgradges, this maintains variety and isn't hard to keep going (you just add the next tiers of the same gear) instead of trying to funnel everyone into af/relic/emp upgrades forever. I fear this is what they are trying to do.

When a dev makes it easier to get gear, it feels like it's cause they are wanting to invalidate it in the coming years, to the point you stop wearing it.

[Alhanelem]

A blurred shield +1 is better than NQ, and you want a HQ. However if you cannot get a HQ, you can use NQ and it's 90% there.

The playerbase at large doesn't really see it this way. Especially with crafting, no one wants to settle for the NQ in most cases. No one wants to be "90% there." Sometimes you have an HQ that's worth millions and the NQ might be worth 20k, because there's many more of them available.

If there's an "HQ" drop the NQ will be treated as trash and no one will be excited to get it.

[Chromium]

A) No it's not, lots of people use NQ because most people are not min/maxers (especially on smaller servers)

B) if HQ isn't on the auction house, would you not use the a blurred shield at all for your savage blade set? or would you use nq until you can get hq?

The point is adding HQ/+1 HTBF drops keeps the content relevant for the next years and is very easy to do for a developer, and that keeps variety in things to do when people login. Variety of content, wide range of difficulty in content, different kinds of gear and it continuing to be relevant is why people play ff11. While some people are killing Sortie bosses and grinding out primes, others login every day and try to 5/5 malignance from lillith on ve (it may not be it for you, but it is for many and sit at the hrbf npc if you think otherwise and see the traffic).

If the only things I had to do when I logged in was sortie, farming mlev, besiged and limbus, I'm quitting the game, I'm depressed just thinking about that being the future of 11.

I can see the mindset they have already with the refusal to upgrade ambuscade gear further.

They need to keep the variety and I can 100% see they are trying to do away with that, and it's a massive mistake..

By making it easier to get gear/max augs, they are in effect capping and keeping that stuff stationary and pushing progression onto af/relic/emp and I know they plan to take it to +9 cause I see how the color/number system works, and we also see by the minimalist upgrades this time they plan to just +9 in the most lame way possible.

Just upgrade all gear with +1s, and not just af/relic/emp.

[Alhanelem]

A) No it's not, lots of people use NQ because most people are not min/maxers (especially on smaller servers)

You don't have to be a "min maxer" to want the HQ. Sometimes HQ items add totally new effects, making the NQ completely inadequate bcause it doesn't do the thing you want it to do. And ultimately, the longer you play an MMO, the more you need to aim higher to feel like you're progressing.