[dev1007] Voidwatch: Obtaining Spoils

[Insaniac]

TL;DR:
You're oversimplifying things intentionally to exaggerate your point.

It's nice that you decided to define generous but you're still wrong. Salvage easily put out more -> wanted <- gear than VW does per man hour invested. Only the 3 kings/competition part of your argument holds water but any moderately motivated shell could cap their core members on everything but D. ring eventually and camping kings is in no way equal to the amount of effort required to cap/kill VW nms. A full window king camp required between 7 and 23 minutes of actual effort. For the record imo old FFXI bottle necks sucked too but VWs loot system makes me long for the days of no pop ramparts and DI camps.

[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.

[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?

[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.

[Runespider]

The more I do voidwatch the more the drop system annoys me, just take the top tier drops out of the loot system and add some r/e point items (with the drop rate of silver mirrors) and make it so that you trade 25-35 of those to an NPC for the armors. The current system is getting really really stupid and it's making everyone sick of what is a fairly fun event.

[detlef]

Last night we finally got our first good T4 drops as a LS. Anhur Robe went to someone who didn't want it. Fazheluo Radiant Mail went to someone who didn't need it. Langeleik went to somebody who will never use it.

[Alderin]

Wow guys seriously stop Q.Q'ing because you didn't get your loot in one run - doesn't mean the whole system should be changed. Did you get the full Askar set the first time you climbed Nyzul? This game is a grind - always has and always will be. If you don't get your loot, warp to jeuno and pick up a few more Voidstones. If you don't like the system, don't do it like the 80% of the population on most servers. The loot system is fine. Cap lights, plant TH, if you don't get it - repeat.. Drop rates are low because they are meant to be RARE items. Not items that can be found on a lvl 95 mule account. History states that you have to grind for the best gear in the game.

[Elanabelle]

In summary,

Players like the increased challenge provided by Voidwatch NM's, compared to other recent content.
Players like the "instanced" style of spawning the Voidwatch NM's, which eliminates absurd waiting times for "old" NMs to spawn, and greatly decreases the stupid inter-linkshell drama/bickering we have witnessed in the distant past.
Players are attracted to some of the potential rewards from defeating Voidwatch NMs.

So, given those positives, the loot distribution system is a MAJOR buzzkill. The Voidwatch loot distribution system does not live up to the other aspects of Voidwatch, as highlighted above.

No one (as far as I can see) is asking for Voidwatch NM's to be easier.
No one is asking for the Voidwatch NM battles to be "quicker" (lol?).
Very few people are asking for the "!!" NM weakness triggering/proc to be easier.

None of that needs adjustment, and if the Development Staff thinks or decides to waste their time and effort adjusting THOSE things, instead of what ACTUALLY needs adjustment, well then, the Development Staff is wasting their time and effort.

What NEEDS to be fixed, is the loot distribution system for Voidwatch. AND!! As far as I can tell, the Development Staff has MULTIPLE options for how this could be achieved:

1. Add unwanted Voidwatch loot to Treasure Pool,

OR

2. Increase the chances/rate of uncommon highly desired Voidwatch loot from the "personal treasure chest" when the player has maxed/capped Blue and Red alignment,

OR

3. Remove the "Ex" tag from Voidwatch loot.

Seriously, based on everything that's happened in FFXI Development over the past year or so, the player base has become accustomed to the Development Staff making ACTUAL DESIRED adjustments to FFXI ... instead of the seemingly-random and often-useless adjustments that we all saw during 2005-2009.

DON'T TURN BACK ON US NOW, FFXI DEVELOPERS. Fix Voidwatch, and if you lack the desire, listening skills, or manpower/resources to fix Voidwatch, then move the Rare/Ex Voidwatch loot items to another FFXI event, like Dynamis, Abyssea, KC/HKCNM battles, or something else, please.