How to make chocokeeps relevant for new players.

http://i.imgur.com/Uwqt1wo.png

This man has no roof to put over his head. After seeing his friend make a fortune on his chocobo rental business at the Horizon Aetheryte, he thought he'd finally be able to wed his passion for chocobos with his desire for gil. But it didn't work out, he has no home to his name. Why, you ask?

Many an adventurer pass by him, only throwing a brief glance his way before moving on with all of their coin in hand. Even those new low level adventurers who are still struggling to make it in the world, with no mount to their name. The impoverished entrepeneur was left scratching his head. Surely these new adventurers could reach their destinations faster on a chocobo right? So then why are these gentle bird loving fellows sleeping on bales of hay at night, barely able to scrounge a meal a day? Well, you can't choose where you want to go on rental chocobos, it just takes you on autopilot to a certain location.

Why is this? When you rent a car, is this restriction placed upon you? So then why is a chocobo, FFXIV's ground transportation, restricted to a rigid path? My suggestion is to allow the rental chocobo to run free. Keep a price per minute on the majestic creature, perhaps even adjust it to make it more expensive, but allow new players to ride this chocobo anywhere they wish in the zone for a gil cost. Perhaps even remove the time limit altogether, or have the chocobo dismiss itself automatically after a certain time. If new adventurers have arrived at their destination, they can dismiss the chocobo manually as they would their battle companion, or allow a button in general actions to do this(along with a mouse click option next to where the dismount button is on rental chocobos now.)

Please SE, help our friend, so that he doesn't have to sleep in the cold at night. Help his rental chocobos, for they are starving. If this change is implemented, our friend doesn't have to freeze on bitter cold nights. His rental chocobos will once more be able to lift with their heads and "wark" with a joyous vitality. New adventurers won't collapse from exhaustion from having to run uphill through the snow both ways.

Before I had mounts I used these all the time, I loved the auto routes because then I could minimize the game for a minute or two and look at something else on my computer...

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Originally Posted by AskaRay

Before I had mounts I used these all the time, I loved the auto routes because then I could minimize the game for a minute or two and look at something else on my computer...

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In all seriousness, I rarely used this guy. What's the point when teleport is faster(albeit more expensive.) But even when I started this game, I did not find myself unable to afford teleports. Only times I used chocokeeps were in Horizon(for Waking Sands) and Southern Gridania I believe, because in those two locations the chocokeep was faster. I feel rental chocobos would be more useful if they were allowed to go to the far to reach places in the zone that a normal chocobo could go. As of now, with the exception of two locations, this NPC feels kind of useless to me, even for new players to use, poor guy :(.

I'm afraid think you're suggestion would result in even fewer reasons to use the chocobo porter. As it is now, the autopilot is handy if we want a break from the action for whatever reason, but we would no longer have that if we had to drive the rented chocobo ourselves. The feature might be useful for very new players, but since we're all issued a company chocobo the only reason to use a porter after that point would be if we wanted to waste Gil.

I would prefer them to have a small permanent benefit instead of a small temporary one.