"In from the cold" was fine. Please keep trying new things, SE (spoilers)

I'm one of the RP duty haters. But this one they did right, I enjoyed it.

I know the timer will cause problems for those who get anxious in timed situations but it was also generous to give the player time to look around and figure out what to do.

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Originally Posted by Vexander

Speaking for myself, this was the one thing in the expansion that killed my enjoyment of the game.

I don't like timers. At all. So, that stressed me out right from the start.

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Every duty you've ever joined has a timer.

I really enjoyed in from the cold. I did not enjoy any of the follow an npc quests, but I can "accept" their existence.

I would like to see more actual emphasis on picking and choosing your battles tho. I see a lot of mixed opinions on the quest, but this quest was rather memorable for me.


Deep dungeon on the deeper floors has a lot of that dread feeling, not necessarily just trying to find the fastest way to get to a duty complete but, we should try to avoid this or that at all costs etc.. and you don't have to be switched to an alternate character to enjoy that stuff.

Anyhow put me in the camp of enjoying something a little more than face roll Haha content but also outside the camp of first week savage clear bros.

I did the quest a day after having surgery. I was on oxycodone and medical marijuana and I did the quest just fine on the first try. It isn't difficult in the slightest. The enemies are damn-near blind and you have tons of time. The only thing that would have been nice is some sort of direction, but I pieced it together just running around and clicking on shinies until I figured out what I was supposed to do based on the content of the information each shiny gave me.

I enjoyed it more than any other mission I've done where I had to play as someone else. This made sense. The character you had to play was supposed to be weak and on their last legs. So playing as them felt right to me. When I play as a scion I feel like "why am I doing this? They'd do so much better on their own instead of me playing them. I don't know what their abilities even do."

With the soldier though? It's super simple. And you could feel the hopelessness and despair of being trapped among the enemy.

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Originally Posted by Rhysati

I did the quest a day after having surgery. I was on oxycodone and medical marijuana and I did the quest just fine on the first try. It isn't difficult in the slightest. The enemies are damn-near blind and you have tons of time. The only thing that would have been nice is some sort of direction, but I pieced it together just running around and clicking on shinies until I figured out what I was supposed to do based on the content of the information each shiny gave me.

I enjoyed it more than any other mission I've done where I had to play as someone else. This made sense. The character you had to play was supposed to be weak and on their last legs. So playing as them felt right to me. When I play as a scion I feel like "why am I doing this? They'd do so much better on their own instead of me playing them. I don't know what their abilities even do."

With the soldier though? It's super simple. And you could feel the hopelessness and despair of being trapped among the enemy.

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I'm gonna need to beta test this game play. ^^^

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Originally Posted by DinahDemiurge

There are very few times in the course of FFXIV where you feel like you have to think a bit before acting. Due to this, I am appreciative for this quest. It was still a bit too easy for my liking(had like 4 medpacks remaining by the end), but kudos for the creativity. What happened after was epic as well.

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People really had problems with this quest?
Jesus, how used to everything being babies first MMO easy mode are those people?

this was literally a simple stealth Duty where you just had to look where enemies backs are... there was one mandatory fight at the beginning and the next time you even need to fight anything is when you meet the friendly NPCs who tank for you...

The Duty was awesome, i actually felt like I was under pressure for the first time since the Samurai Duty on that Boat...

I just did this quest last night and honestly I did not seeing this coming.
While doing this quest, I also get that feeling of disparity and worry that Zenos will either conduct genocide in my character's body and kill at least one Scion entire time.
This is a definitely much better quest that I have never being able to fell in WoW

I was slightly frustrated by it due to camera angles and clipping. The target ring glitched in one attempt and remained over my head so had to redo the quest. So I hope they fix the target ring.

That said. I did enjoy this quest it captured emotionally what I should be feeling at the time. It did take a bit to figure out but its nicer than a lot of the brain dead fetch quests.

Also bumping this since it got buried

How are people freaking out with timers? Did you guys not play video games in the 80's and 90s? Almost ALL of them had 10 min timers to finish a stage. I'll never understand it I guess. I'm not trying to make fun either but I am seriously confused.

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Originally Posted by Gameovers

How are people freaking out with timers? Did you guys not play video games in the 80's and 90s? Almost ALL of them had 10 min timers to finish a stage. I'll never understand it I guess. I'm not trying to make fun either but I am seriously confused.

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Shhhhhh.....
New generation is raised under of culture of last place still getting reward.
They won't understand

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Originally Posted by CrystZ

Same, it wasn't even hard. I cleared in on first try with a lot of time to spare. People just doesn't want to use their head.

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Because 3 buttons makes you really use your head..

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Originally Posted by Wolwosh

Because 3 buttons makes you really use your head..

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How about 3 buttons is terribly boring design? It wasn't fun the first time they did it, it wasn't fun on this quest either.

I liked the story portion of it, the gameplay was pretty unengaging though.

I honestly thought it was incredible. Such a perfect way to make you feel helpless and desperate to reach the camp before Zenos murders your friends in your body. I was like "OH SHIT," when my character's body was sitting there helpless before Zenos took her over. Then to have Fandaniel basically call you a rat on top of it. And to see your character crawl their way to the camp in silence was outstanding. Just to see how much the Scions mean to the WoL was impactful. It took me 2 tries to beat on normal difficulty. It was so satisfying to call Zenos a bastard afterwards lmao.

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Originally Posted by Deceptus

How about 3 buttons is terribly boring design? It wasn't fun the first time they did it, it wasn't fun on this quest either.

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shhhhh..... don't you see? mediocre content is the most engaging content out there and if you don't like it you fucking suck!!!!! why oh why do not like the thing i like :(

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Originally Posted by SeverianLyonesse

The duty itself was fine. I didn't mind it.

But everything surrounding it was definitely a low point in the story.

* You got diverted into a one-duty side quest completely irrelevant to the main plot that was going on at the time.
* The villain never performs any actual evils while occupying your body, making the whole affair kind of uneventful.
* Both villains just come off as impotent, making all these threats that they don't actually intend to (or manage to) carry out.
* We already saw the Ardbert impersonation in ShB to greater effect.
* Totally inconsequential dramatic twist--with a lot of potential to meaningfully affect the plot--that is resolved almost as soon as it began.

It seemed that they wanted to draw dramatic parallels between WoL and Zenos, but they forgot two crucial details:

1) Dramatic parallels that don't have their own independent value are just as bad as bad writing without literary devices.
2) The Zenos body possession was also a terrible plot development and probably the series' OTHER low point (after the Waking Sands).

Hated it. I probably would have ragequit the game for a few days if I didn't know that Anima was right around the corner.

Escorting missions have gone smoothly for me. Metal Gear Thancred was a nice change up. But GD In from the Cold was just a waste of everyone's time.

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I had the same reaction too, while I enjoyed Metal Gear Thancred...

In From the Cold was a clusterfuck of annoyances "Where the hell do I go? Here?" "Can I jump through all that debris? WTF invisible walls" "Where do I go?" "there's an npc I can talk to? WTF I can barely see the bastard behind those walls" "Huh gotta click on some fuel thingy? Where the fuck is that?" "Fuck this, Google this shit"

And none of that mattered later anyway except to convey we're vulnerable blah blah, some characters to comment on how the WOL is not invincible etc, Zenos is an asshole, FannyDan is an asshole etc

In from the cold was REALLY stupid. And there's nothing new about crappy shoehorned stealth missions in games that have no business dealing in stealth.

Don't do any of these stealth or escort missions or quests ever again.

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Originally Posted by Kyrj

I liked it, it was new and fun but I wouldn't want them to do it over and over. Yoshi and Co. are notorious for finding something new and using it every single chance they can.

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This was my feeling too. I really liked it because it was unique, so if they did something like it again it would be significantly worse.

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Originally Posted by Gameovers

How are people freaking out with timers? Did you guys not play video games in the 80's and 90s? Almost ALL of them had 10 min timers to finish a stage. I'll never understand it I guess. I'm not trying to make fun either but I am seriously confused.

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No, it wasn't almost all of them. It depended on the type of game.

The games you'd find in the video/pinball arcades did have those timers because the point was to get the customer putting more coins into the machine as fast as possible or to move on to another machine so other customers would have a chance. A lot of people (like me) avoided them because they don't enjoy time pressure. Home versions of those and similar games naturally included the timers as well because that's what players came to expect.

Other types of games did not have those timers. They were especially lacking from RPGs, which had almost exclusively turn-based combat at that period in time. Players had all the time they wanted to think out a strategy. I could walk away from my computer mid-encounter to answer the phone, make dinner, do chores, etc. and pick up exactly where I left off without problem. Even RTS games like Starcraft and Command and Conquer only had a timer on a small percentage of missions. Usually you had all the time you wanted to complete a mission (unless you were recklessly spending resources and ran out).

All I can do is repeat what I said earlier about this duty - the timer is very generous for what needs to be done. If someone experiences anxiety under time pressure, try not to let it worry you. Instead, be willing to fail as you figure out where to find what you'll need. Once you know what to do you can get through the duty quickly.

The quest was absolute garbage but I'm glad that they're taking the steps to make MSQ actually fun to play

Metal Gear Thancred was kino

I don't mind the RP part with other characters. Before FF14, I used to play Lord of the Rings Online where it throws Session Play, aka RP session, with similar premise. However, unlike FF14 where you RP as major characters, the roster in LOTRO varies from playing as a nameless Ranger who witness the fall of Aragon's father, a half-naked man who wrestled a giant boar to death in Central Gondor, a nameless dwarf who runs away from Durin's Bane (the Balrog), to Grima Wormtongue who does nothing but listen NPC talking.



Still, I prefer FF14 version more, cuz I'm familiar with the NPCs I RP with, instead of just a series of one-time and nameless NPCs. In the end, however, they both do the favor of unfolding the story in another respective. WoL cannot be everywhere, and there is a limit of how a NPC can retell you his story with wall-of-text. I mean, what would be more impactful: Einstein just told you Varis was killed by Zenos and he ran away with Gaius, vs you RP him and witness how overpower he actually is. He literally do AoE attack with single-target potency in his normal combo, lol. Too bad his Trust version has to be dumb down for the sake of balance



Back about "In for the cold", I dislike the instance, but doesn't mind its existence. If anything, it tells a story of a struggle in a foreign body, being stripped of all of your power that makes you the WoL, and racing against time. There is an easy option for me too if I decide it is a pain to do at intended difficulty. Though I think it needs polish. If SE wants to do stealth game, they should add the line of sight telegrapth that you see in stealth quests where you follow a NPC unseen, cuz the only way for me to see where tempered soldiers are looking are either zoom in to see where they are facing, or tab-target to see their target ring's direction indicator. Also much more preferable if they don't turn around randomly. SE can learn some lessons from Thancred's stealth mission where enemies patrol and turn around in fixed intervals.

Cleared it on my first go.
It made me feel weak and powerless without it actually being hard at all.
It achieved everything it needed to. It was a really good quest and I kinda wish it lasted longer.

This game isn't made for stealth, and I don't get why it needs to be lauded for such portions. The timer is not the problem.

From beating it in one go with 6 minutes to spare; think the instance would've been good if it didn't take your mind out of the game into try hard mode on how to actually beat it. At first it was "ok cool another stealth, this'll be a breeze" into "forget the story how do I get out of here?!"

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

No, it wasn't almost all of them. It depended on the type of game.

The games you'd find in the video/pinball arcades did have those timers because the point was to get the customer putting more coins into the machine as fast as possible or to move on to another machine so other customers would have a chance. A lot of people (like me) avoided them because they don't enjoy time pressure. Home versions of those and similar games naturally included the timers as well because that's what players came to expect.

Other types of games did not have those timers. They were especially lacking from RPGs, which had almost exclusively turn-based combat at that period in time. Players had all the time they wanted to think out a strategy. I could walk away from my computer mid-encounter to answer the phone, make dinner, do chores, etc. and pick up exactly where I left off without problem. Even RTS games like Starcraft and Command and Conquer only had a timer on a small percentage of missions. Usually you had all the time you wanted to complete a mission (unless you were recklessly spending resources and ran out).

All I can do is repeat what I said earlier about this duty - the timer is very generous for what needs to be done. If someone experiences anxiety under time pressure, try not to let it worry you. Instead, be willing to fail as you figure out where to find what you'll need. Once you know what to do you can get through the duty quickly.

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Other then RPGs, name a platformer or a fighting game, or a beat em up or a shoot em up from the 80's and 90's that didn't have a timer. I'll wait. And that was almost all of the games that came out on a Nintendo, SNES, Sega, etc. Like I said. It;s like people didn't play video games. Hell THIS GAME HERE, every duty had a timer. Every single one. The dungeons, raids, etc. I'm not trying to be mean but listing the timer as stressful is odd. It's such an odd complaint because it's pretty much everywhere here.

You are right about one thing tho, the timer here is generous and people just need to play and it'll be fine. The mission doesn't need any nerfs.

From Patch 6.01 Notes

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The following adjustments have been made to the instanced battle for the quest "In from the Cold":
* These adjustments are only applicable when choosing the Easy or Very Easy difficulties after failing the duty.

The effects of the Indomitable Spirit status effect have been increased.
The initial number of uses of the duty action has been increased.
To more easily locate certain items required to progress in this duty, the amount of fuel-concealing wreckage in the area has been increased.

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The quest was OK. The problem is, the engine is not built for stealth games. So it does not feel snappy and right.

And generally speaking, my experience is, players hate content when they are not controlling their own characters. It was exactly the same in WoW WotLK. There was an instanced content called "The Oculus" where you controlled flying dragons with some special abilities. The players hated it so much and Blizzard never made such content again.

But from the roleplaying perspective the quest was good. You got a good insight why the Garleans evolved in this way. Without their magitec toys they are really weak because they cannot use magic.

But the quest was not hard at all. I oneshotted it but in the beginning i was really confused what i have to do.


Cheers

It's actually really easy to bypass most of the enemies. They all basically work like normal enemies and monsters roaming around the open world. Just sneak around their blind spots, kill the ones that are easiest to pick off to open up a congested path and your golden!

Just don't get to close the magitek ones. Better to take the risk with the soldiers, as they're way easier to kill than the magitek.

I really enjoyed the mode. Really made you understand what it felt like to be just a normal fighter instead of the uber experiences WoL.

I had no idea what to do with it. I had to get help from the forums to find what I needed to do, and where the items were.

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Originally Posted by RobynDaBank

This game isn't made for stealth, and I don't get why it needs to be lauded for such portions. The timer is not the problem.

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In "In From the Cold" you can walk right up to a mob's back and it won't do anything to you. The duty doesn't require stealth, just paying attention.

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Originally Posted by DinahDemiurge

There are very few times in the course of FFXIV where you feel like you have to think a bit before acting. Due to this, I am appreciative for this quest. It was still a bit too easy for my liking(had like 4 medpacks remaining by the end), but kudos for the creativity. What happened after was epic as well.

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It was kind of boring. But to each their own!

It wasn't difficult at all. It was nice to have an MSQ that didn't have you march thru everything like its a field of cardboard standees pushing only 2-3 buttons while sipping a cup of tea.

^
If anything, we need more stuff like this to actually make people learn to think before acting, not the reverse.

I would have enjoyed it more if there wasn't a timer. Or, if they wanted to keep the timer, there was more of an indication as to where I was supposed to go. The two mechanics together just frustrated me. The story part was fantastic.

It was a good quest. People just don’t like playing as other characters or quests that aren’t just “pick up my vegetables” or kill x or y.

I loved both quest, this one and the Thancred one