[dev1007] Voidwatch: Obtaining Spoils

[Byrth]

It's not actually more generous than pre-Abyssea loot systems.

If you and your 17 friends zerged Dynamis Lord 50 times at 75, you'd all have Shadow Mantles and most (if not all) of you would have Shadow Rings. It would take half a year.

If you and your 17 friends zerged Qilin 50 times, some of you would get boots, some of you would get gorgets, some of you would get Lux Puglios, and maybe one or two of you would get a Corsucanti. It could theoretically be done in one to two days, assuming you never lose and don't need to sleep, eat, piss, etc. Furthermore, you have no control over who gets what drop, so one of your friends may have nothing while another has gotten seven pairs of boots.

If you don't think the drop rates are that bad... think again! The main difference between this system and pre-Abyssea loot systems is that it's spammable. Pre-Abyssea, none of the "big" events were spammable. Limbus had a 3 day timer. Dynamis had a 3 day timer. Kings were 4-7 days with NQs every 21-24 hours. The drop rates were higher, but the event rates were lower. Now that SE has effectively eliminated xping/meritting as an event, they need something else to fill the time. Cue Voidwatch, because you could fight the same monster once every 30 minutes for the next week and still not get the drop you're looking for while your friend gets four.

[Yinnyth]

It's not actually more generous than pre-Abyssea loot systems.

If you and your 17 friends zerged Dynamis Lord 50 times at 75, you'd all have Shadow Mantles and most (if not all) of you would have Shadow Rings. It would take half a year.

The thing that confuses me is that we seem to agree on the underlying idea, but you're still saying VW has a less generous loot system than pre-abyssea events. When I say "generous" I don't mean the drop rate per kill is better, I mean the return on investment is better. If VW had come out at the same time as LoO, I'm certain there would be more Coruscantis than Kraken Clubs, Ridills, and Defending Rings combined.

[Insaniac]

The lower tier AH-able trade-able stuff is fine. If you cap lights you usually see at least 2 of them and they can be given to other people if you are in an LS setting. Saying the drop rates on the good stuff from T3/4 vwnms is better than pre-abyssea? You are out of your mind. Yes you will probably get at least 1 of the rare drops every 15-20 fights but that in no way makes them a 5% drop rate when you consider that you have to be the lucky one to get it to drop into your chest. If you are just a little unlucky you could kill the same NM 300 times and never get the drop you are after.

[Byrth]

I just don't think that's true. The time it takes to get stones, gather, and kill four Qilin is about equal to the time it took to do a DL run at 75 (probably longer - we used to clear DL in an hour and a half), and the odds that you'll get a Corsucanti (1% or less) are lower than the odds that you'd win Shadow Ring free lot against an alliance (~2%).

The fact that it is possible to spam Voidwatch doesn't mean it has higher drop rates or takes less time to get drops, it just means that you can waste time on the event faster.

[Yinnyth]

How old was the event when you were clearing in 90 minutes? Did you then leave Dynamis, or spend the last 120 minutes farming? How many people did you have and how frequently did you wipe? A wipe in Dynamis means game over, a wipe in VW means you can get up and try again from the start.

VW still has a long ways to go (They've announced 2 more chapters over the coming year). There will be new levels, new gear, new atmacites, new strategies, etc. Don't compare getting a coruscanti now to getting a shadow ring the day before they changed dynamis. Compare getting a coruscanti now to getting a shadow ring back when Dynamis - Xarcabard was a few months old. Or to getting an Usukane body when Salvage was a few months old. Or getting a Nashira body when Limbus was a few months old. Or W legs when Kirin was new.

[Insaniac]

How old was the event when you were clearing in 90 minutes? Did you then leave Dynamis, or spend the last 120 minutes farming? How many people did you have and how frequently did you wipe? A wipe in Dynamis means game over, a wipe in VW means you can get up and try again from the start.

VW still has a long ways to go (They've announced 2 more chapters over the coming year). There will be new levels, new gear, new atmacites, new strategies, etc. Don't compare getting a coruscanti now to getting a shadow ring the day before they changed dynamis. Compare getting a coruscanti now to getting a shadow ring back when Dynamis - Xarcabard was a few months old. Or to getting an Usukane body when Salvage was a few months old. Or getting a Nashira body when Limbus was a few months old. Or W legs when Kirin was new.

Game knowledge and player skill/gear is the only thing that made killing DL any easier 5 years into dynamis than it was 1 month in. Same with the other crap. No one is having any trouble completing VW content which was the only limiting factor on the things you mentioned. There's nothing we can learn about the voidwatch loot system that will make it not a huge steaming pile of trash. At 99 we will be able to smoke Qilin easier than we do now but it won't change the fact that you could easily kill him 300 times and never get a coruscanti.

[MarkovChain]

Don't compare getting a coruscanti now to getting a shadow ring the day before they changed dynamis. Compare getting a coruscanti now to getting a shadow ring back when Dynamis - Xarcabard was a few months old.

I'll compare it for you they both suck ; so linkshells going after DL (nowadays and in the old days) were pretty dumb.

[Rearden]

Procing the mob and then getting logs isn't going to go any faster at 99 than at 95. You're still doing the same thing: waiting, and killing. The killing part is already easy.

[Sparthos]

Procing the mob and then getting logs isn't going to go any faster at 99 than at 95. You're still doing the same thing: waiting, and killing. The killing part is already easy.

This is already a problem with the first batch of Voidwatch mobs as you can barely hit any trigs before the mobs are already half dead.

Overall, Voidwatch is getting the flak it's getting because the game has fundamentally changed and with Abyssea steamrolling everything, the game has boiled down to:

-Voidwatch
-Dynamis II: Electric Boogaloo
-Abyssea

From a sea of content down to 3 options and it's starting to show. Players held out (false?) hope that beyond Abyssea a new sea of content awaited but yet here we are months after Heroes mulling over what amounts to ANNM redux.

In an era where the most casual player can finish EXP/merits effortlessly, get amazing gear in Abyssea for little to no effort and further possess weapons on nigh-equal footing with relics, the list of things to do drops dramatically. What does a non-existent list of things to look forward wind up doing? Canning subs.

Yeah, yeah I know someones going to pepper me with the 'plethora of content' that now be done but frankly if you're still playing FFXI at this point you're an old player and that crap has been out for years. I just wrapped up WOTG Sandy a week ago and really the walls are closing in for stuff to do.

I imagine others share similar sentiments.

[FrankReynolds]

Maybe you will get lucky and Square will lock you out of your account (I have an account that I made before NA release, that they won't let me link because I don't live in japan *SE racists), then you can level a mule and do everything all over again. Wouldn't that be super fun?