A few answers on Hamlet Defense Battles

I am interested in the concept of the beastmen currency serving a purpose.

Make beastmen currency drop rate begin low and increase based on the overall party score in hamlet defense, its optimal when over 50,000 or 60,000. Trade in to a new shop npc at the hamlet for militia gear that can only be found there. The better the gear, the larger expense.

Not only will this allow folks to solo farm currency when parties at hamlet are unavailable, but it gives people incentives for accessing the higher scores, even if actual gear droprate is dismally low.

Granted I dont like the idea of company seals as rewards, since Gold bazaar wouldn't give Maelstrom or Twin adder anything.

This encourages more isolationism, and Uldah is already overcrammed out of convenience.

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Granted I dont like the idea of company seals as rewards, since Gold bazaar wouldn't give Maelstrom or Twin adder anything.

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That's why you do it in aleport or hyrstmill. That's why there's three, one associated with each city-state. that's why they aren't all active at the same time, so that there's still reason to visit the other two.

You guys get the achievement in all 3 hamlets... that's going to take long time lol

Wonder how much players SE thinks would grind on just getting achievements without any actual item reward.
OMFG I GOT A ACHIEVEMENT IN THE HISTORY!!!!!

I like achievements personally but just saying there are those who don't give a Snurbles a**

Wouldn't mind the beastmen seals idea but I sold so many to NPC when YoshiP said we're not going to use them, I'm gonna be one sad Sublimen for a day or two... lol

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Originally Posted by Reinheart

And once everyone has AF weapons it's going to go to crap status again where least amount of ppl will participate and people who join the game late will get shafted from getting there weapons since it's outdated content.... NICE!!

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I fail to see how it is any different than any other 8 person content currently available in the game. Granted, you have to fill supply orders first, but as the content gets used less and less, they could easily just reduce the amount that needs to be donated in order to compensate for this.

Also, there could be more to it we are not aware of since they havent actually given us AF weapons yet. There is also the very small possibilty that the system itself could change once 2.0 hits.

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Originally Posted by Biggs

I fail to see how it is any different than any other 8 person content currently available in the game. Granted, you have to fill supply orders first, but as the content gets used less and less, they could easily just reduce the amount that needs to be donated in order to compensate for this.

Also, there could be more to it we are not aware of since they havent actually given us AF weapons yet. There is also the very small possibilty that the system itself could change once 2.0 hits.

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it isnt different from any, they just need a reason to use that excuse


they cant accept the fact that some people will do stuff just to do it
and people like me will be donating long after i get my stuff, cuz i need to donate 10k materia infused items and 10k provisions for achievemnts, and i probly will time them when i see a chance to boost the hamlet up pretty high

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Originally Posted by Biggs

I fail to see how it is any different than any other 8 person content currently available in the game. Granted, you have to fill supply orders first, but as the content gets used less and less, they could easily just reduce the amount that needs to be donated in order to compensate for this.

Also, there could be more to it we are not aware of since they havent actually given us AF weapons yet. There is also the very small possibilty that the system itself could change once 2.0 hits.

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That is the main different though the fact there is a 50hr supply phase automatically makes it more of a pain to do then any other event. Not only is it a 50hr supply phase but you still have to wait 15mins when you win, just like any other event out there. So not only are you strapped for time but you have to wait. Rather then complete a Hamlet in 10 mins and go in again, you beat it, wait 15 beat it again and repeat. so every hour you can get possibly 2 completed. Simply removing the wait period would allow people to have more chances at it getting 4-6 done an hour rather then 2 an hr. At the rate in which you only have 25hrs, if you spent the whole time doing the event then a person can only go in 50 times about. Sure you can juts gravitate to another Hamlet but since each area offers different items it doesn't help if you want x item.

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With that said I did think of some ideas that could help out Hamlet and make it more of an even that people would want to do.

The first would be to make a distinct connect with the Hamlet and Grand Company, By this I mean either reintroduce the mechanic of everyone obtaining GC seals of each nation or add a new currency. If you use the same Grand company currency you can basically have it where each player can obtain all 3 of the seals currency.

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The way Hamlets would work is like this, basically Hamlets would be the answer which allows players to get certain pieces of equipment from other Grand Companies but at a higher price, just like the teleport pass you can obtain from the qirin.

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So under the Grand Company list there would be a "Militia Rank" which would show the other two companies that you didn't join and most likely start at Rank 1. In order to increase your rank you can use a combination of seals from the proper company or help with supplies.

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So let's say the following is true:

I'm part of the Gridania Militia Rank 1, the max rank for the Militia is let's say 15, every 5 ranks would unlock a new set of items you can purchase, Rank 5=Recruit, 10=Enlisted and 15=Petty Officer.

Now you are Rank 5=Recruit and the following items would be made for purchase at the Militia NPC as well as a represenative put in each mercentile which is related to said company, so all Gridi mercentiles would have the Gridi Hamlet exchange related to the Militia.

So I pick "Recruit" and the following items appear:
Grida Crook=5k
Grida Wand=10k
Grida Cesti=5k
Grida Bang=10k
Grida Targe=5k
Grida Shield=10k
Grida Doublet=2.5k
Grida Jacket=2.5k
Grida Cowl=2.5k
Grida Coatee=2.5k

Basically the items you wouldn't be able to buy would be made purchasable through these methods if you met the requirement at an increased price compared to the regular price. While those attached to the Gridi GC would be able to view these items as well they would be better off purchasing the item at their own GC for the normal price. With the above idea all other GC would have the same exact concept for their Hamlet, players would obtain the proper GC seal from the Hamlet so LL=LL GC and such.

With this simple idea people could obtain loot that they though was lost to them if one was interested in a piece of crafting gear that they felt was better to them compared to what their GC offers and so forth.
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Under Petty Officer another item would be added which would be these:
Lily and Serpent Earring=45k
Lily and Serpent Ring=45

The shield's requirement is to high to actually place on the list lol. But 45k is a big investment in which the only way to obtain the seals for the people not in the GC is through the specified Hamlet.

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Another concept which could be added and was slightly mentioned above is making use of beastmen currency. This could be the way fighters can obtain their form of gathering to help the cause. "Currency" gathering could be a concept in which you give money to the company to bribe the enemy forces and weaken them. Making said Hamlet that much easier for that round. This way while gatherers gather and crafters craft to strengthen their forces, DoW/M can take the time to obtain the beastmen currency to weaken the enemy forces.

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Of course remove the Top 20 and make it a 100k and 200k investement, investing 100k grants the secondary reward while 200k offers a 50% better chance at loot of more.


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As for Miltia gear and tools I would say to keep it as a main/secondary loot only since obtaining seals and increasing your rank in the Hamlet would be enough content to keep people interested in obtaining loot from other grand companies that they may be interested in.

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I think I have more to this idea but I feel this basic concept could easily turn around Hamlet and make it a very engaging concept in which other players are given teh opportunity to show their loyalty to the other GC and be granted to obtain loot they would otherwise be unable to obtain. This way you wouldn't have to take the time to make more new gear you can easily just use gear that is out of reach for others and give them a chance to obtain it. while keeping the drop rate for the militia and hamlet gear the same.

I'm not sure about the details, but I do like the idea of obtaining seals. However, it will have to be balanced with provisioning/supply rewards (i.e., the equivalent of 3 seals for a piece of wood) or that content would be abandoned.

Also the battle phase would have to be balanced with Chocobo quests (or that content would be totally abandonded).

In essence:

A good hamlet run would get you up to 300 seals (perhaps an additional modifier based on hamlet level. So level 5 would get you 2.5x = 750 seals).

Turning in provisions would be equivalent to provisionin/supply (so, a militia bow for example would be about 10 seals, or 100 points = 1 seal). There could be a futher bonus for hamlet level, so at level 5 you would 2.5x = 25 seals for a bow.

Points should be permamently cummulative (but the only reward is 'achievements'). So you could get an achievement for 1,000,000,000 points.

This would all be on top of the present drop rate (and bonus drop). This gives the end result:
Lots of people would participate --- yaay, fun way to get seals.
Lots of people would be happy -- yaay, seals.
Some people would occassionaly be very happy -- yaaay, super rare drop item on top of seals!
It makes sense -- I think Hamlet Defense is supposed to be organized by the grand companies, so only makes sense they reward you.

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Originally Posted by Reinheart

You guys get the achievement in all 3 hamlets... that's going to take long time lol

Wonder how much players SE thinks would grind on just getting achievements without any actual item reward.
OMFG I GOT A ACHIEVEMENT IN THE HISTORY!!!!!

I like achievements personally but just saying there are those who don't give a Snurbles a**

Wouldn't mind the beastmen seals idea but I sold so many to NPC when YoshiP said we're not going to use them, I'm gonna be one sad Sublimen for a day or two... lol

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I don't dislike achievements but I'm certainly not going to grind purely for epeen points. If it happens by itself while I'm just working on other stuff then it's a nice little surprise when the achievement thing pops up but otherwise nope, not a single snurble's a**.

I think the dev's envision players teaming up on a massive worldwide scale to help get a lvl 2 on specific hamlets. Then working toward the seals on that hamlet only. Wait a week or 2 and store up supplies then repeat on a new hamlet to get that seals take care of. Going to be interesting how they balance this out. I think for drops wise we just don't understand the drop conditions and how to maximize our efforts just yet.

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Originally Posted by Tango

I think the dev's envision players teaming up on a massive worldwide scale to help get a lvl 2 on specific hamlets. Then working toward the seals on that hamlet only. Wait a week or 2 and store up supplies then repeat on a new hamlet to get that seals take care of. Going to be interesting how they balance this out. I think for drops wise we just don't understand the drop conditions and how to maximize our efforts just yet.

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and also, since there are obviously going to be 5 levels of each hamlet...i have a feeling until its all released we wont see the full potential of all this

why get to rank 5 if you can do everything at 1/2?

We no longer know for certain if there will be 5.

Why? the achievements that say lvl 5 can be earned even at lvl 1.

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Originally Posted by Camate

Greetings!

Based on feedback and checking in-game conditions after the release of Hamlets for each city-state in patch 1.22a, we will be performing adjustments to points.

The adjustment, which will take place in a 1.22a hot fix coming soon, will focus on reducing the amount of points needed to advance to a level 2 rating by about 1/3 of the current.
*We will be announcing the time of maintenance via Information.

Also, these will not be the last adjustments for this system. We are currently looking into changing the needed values per world and will be performing adjustments moving forward based on in-game conditions as well as the feedback we receive.

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Hi Camate,

Thanks for bringing us this new information. :)

As others have said, simply a reduction to reach "Rank 2" is NOT the solution to fixing Hamlet Defense.

Some good ideas that people have brought up include:

• Add a Point Threshold (besides the Top 20), that if ANY Player contributes enough to reach the Threshold, they will gain access to a "better Loot Pool / Higher Chance at Drops."

• Drop Rates are Too Low. Playing against the super low Random Number Generator for any meaningful drops (like Militia Gear or Primal Seals) has disincentivized the majority of the players.
  
  There's one thing to be said about being "Rare" and then there's "Ridiculous" (which is what the current Hamlet Drop Rates feel like).

• Add a Cumulative Point System (so you Earn Points that you can trade in for Items). At least with a Point System EVERYONE has a chance to work their way towards a goal (some rare / nice Militia Item) and they know they're making progress & not wasting time.

Right now, most people no longer want to bother doing Hamlet Defense, unless they were one of just *20* people on an entire server(!). And you've only just released this new content.

That should be a clear enough warning sign that something is fundamentally wrong.

If you can, please pass along our feedback and the major points in this thread to Yoshida-san (there are some great ideas here and listing of problems with the current Hamlet Defense):

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/44280-Hamlet-defense-feedback-from-a-top-20-provisioner-Critical-problems-and-solutions?p=669971&viewfull=1#post669971


Thanks!

This is what is wrong with these forums:

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Originally Posted by Camate

Greetings!

Based on feedback and checking in-game conditions after the release of Hamlets for each city-state in patch 1.22a, we will be performing adjustments to points.

The adjustment, which will take place in a 1.22a hot fix coming soon, will focus on reducing the amount of points needed to advance to a level 2 rating by about 1/3 of the current.
*We will be announcing the time of maintenance via Information.

Also, these will not be the last adjustments for this system. We are currently looking into changing the needed values per world and will be performing adjustments moving forward based on in-game conditions as well as the feedback we receive.

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This gets 35 likes...

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Originally Posted by Gidonoidon_Sur

Make militia drops like dynamis (i.e., low drop rate from mobs and bosses). Higher drop rate for higher difficulty (i.e., rank 2 vs. rank 1). Give seals based on score. Give 1 anima per win. Provisioning gives anima, exp, seals, and raises level of invasion. Let us know via in game announcement when battle phase starts.

BAM, fixed.

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I fix entire system (IMO) and I get 5 likes...What is wrong with you people!?

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Originally Posted by Gidonoidon_Sur

I fix entire system (IMO) and I get 5 likes...What is wrong with you people!?

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http://mozk-tabetai.com/icon/8/icon82577.png

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Originally Posted by Duuude007

We no longer know for certain if there will be 5.

Why? the achievements that say lvl 5 can be earned even at lvl 1.

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the achievemnt was originaly worded for any levle
i think its a bug we can earn them still

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Originally Posted by Biggs

I fail to see how it is any different than any other 8 person content currently available in the game. Granted, you have to fill supply orders first, but as the content gets used less and less, they could easily just reduce the amount that needs to be donated in order to compensate for this.

Also, there could be more to it we are not aware of since they havent actually given us AF weapons yet. There is also the very small possibilty that the system itself could change once 2.0 hits.

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Hell no... this just kills the game's future players

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Originally Posted by TheVedis

and also, since there are obviously going to be 5 levels of each hamlet...i have a feeling until its all released we wont see the full potential of all this

why get to rank 5 if you can do everything at 1/2?

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better drop rate? better item drop c.C?

If lvl 2 is hard for a pickup and a good group gets about 30k.... what the heck are people gonna do for lvl 5? I would think that getting level 3 and even doing poorly as a good group would net you better chances at items, but still allow a group to pull off a win. though it would prolly take some time/patience and a good strat. As of yet, I see a lot of people holding "their way/strat" close to their chest to be "top group". I can only imagine what type of hurting those Lvl 5 would put on my gear.

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Originally Posted by Gidonoidon_Sur

This is what is wrong with these forums:



This gets 35 likes...



I fix entire system (IMO) and I get 5 likes...What is wrong with you people!?

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rofl...its a dev post. They are posting real changes, you're posting your opinion

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Originally Posted by ShadowWolf

If lvl 2 is hard for a pickup and a good group gets about 30k.... what the heck are people gonna do for lvl 5? I would think that getting level 3 and even doing poorly as a good group would net you better chances at items, but still allow a group to pull off a win. though it would prolly take some time/patience and a good strat. As of yet, I see a lot of people holding "their way/strat" close to their chest to be "top group". I can only imagine what type of hurting those Lvl 5 would put on my gear.

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when its new of course itl be hard

but when has that stopped people from trying?

given time people will figure out strategies to survive it and so on and so forth and more pugs will be able to win as orginized groups do

thats normal for all other instances, as it will be for this

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Originally Posted by ShadowWolf

If lvl 2 is hard for a pickup and a good group gets about 30k.... what the heck are people gonna do for lvl 5? I would think that getting level 3 and even doing poorly as a good group would net you better chances at items, but still allow a group to pull off a win. though it would prolly take some time/patience and a good strat. As of yet, I see a lot of people holding "their way/strat" close to their chest to be "top group". I can only imagine what type of hurting those Lvl 5 would put on my gear.

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Its only hard for a pickup if they don't understand the mechanics of the fight. a good 70% of the battle is just making sure your whitemages keep the npcs alive. If you can do that then you are pretty much golden, even for a mediocre party.

The Problem has nothing to do with the Donation system. The problem is that SE made this 8 player party only content. Everyone and their mother would be donating if they thought they had even a remote chance of having a party to do Hamlet defense when it actually came time to fight. But they don't. Expecting people to have 8 man parties ready and waiting is quite literally the worst possible design for this content.

If people new for sure they were going to be able to participate, they wouldn't mind Doing the donation period. They should have set this up like 7th Umbral Era content or Behest. Anyone can sign up, and the parties are made after the event begins.

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Originally Posted by Kiote

The Problem has nothing to do with the Donation system. The problem is that SE made this 8 player party only content. Everyone and their mother would be donating if they thought they had even a remote chance of having a party to do Hamlet defense when it actually came time to fight. But they don't. Expecting people to have 8 man parties ready and waiting is quite literally the worst possible design for this content.

If people new for sure they were going to be able to participate, they wouldn't mind Doing the donation period. They should have set this up like 7th Umbral Era content or Behest. Anyone can sign up, and the parties are made after the event begins.

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the 8 player syste, has nothing to do with the issue, the issue is that people dont want to put the effort in required to earn stuff from this

if it required more then 8, youd see even less people doing it because then they wouldnt be able to get groups big enough together for it\

sorry if you wanted this to be open world content, but thats something on your end, you were never promised this to be as such and therefore it isnt the issue

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Originally Posted by Kiote

The Problem has nothing to do with the Donation system. The problem is that SE made this 8 player party only content. Everyone and their mother would be donating if they thought they had even a remote chance of having a party to do Hamlet defense when it actually came time to fight. But they don't. Expecting people to have 8 man parties ready and waiting is quite literally the worst possible design for this content.

If people new for sure they were going to be able to participate, they wouldn't mind Doing the donation period. They should have set this up like 7th Umbral Era content or Behest. Anyone can sign up, and the parties are made after the event begins.

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Agreed. Though I doubt we're getting any large scale pve content like ffxi campaign until the new engines and stuff are in in 2.0.

I just find the current version of Hamlets boring. The phases are so long, the provisioning phase is even less entertaining than DoH and DoL leves (that by the way takes talent), to get rewarded as a DoH or DoL you need to be in the top 20 list and given the extremely dull nature of the provisioning phase devoting several days to purely grinding the same synth or gathering the same mats just doesn't appeal to me in the slightest.

As for the actual battle phase... again agree with Kiote that yet another piece of content where you need a party all set up before you go in is annoying. Every piece of content we have revolves around having a full party and we need more content that people can just drop in and waste a few hours (leves is not enough). I'm not saying Hamlet should be soloable but it shouldn't be so rigid. This was their chance to make something fun that players could just waste a few hours on and what we have is yet another samey instanced repetitive fight with disheartening drop rates.

In a perfect world where the fight isn't another instance, DoH and DoL would have been able to repair or add to the fortifications of the Hamlets while DoW and DoM characters fend off the attackers. When I say repair and add to the fortifications I mean in an active way, not perform a synth then just hand over the same item a million times. We have that already in the form of GC provisioning.

Course everyone has their own opinion but I just wanted it to be known that the reason I personally dislike Hamlets is I find them extremely boring, not because I don't want to expend any effort in content.

Wish they had airship landing near the hamlets opened up... pretty sure you all seen it already been there since day 1 and never used, now infested with beastmen lol

http://i47.tinypic.com/2hmmzol.jpg

The best type of pvp is the kind where you are competing against 30 other people waiting until the last second to turn in all their items so there is no way to have an accurate estimate on how many points you will need to get in the top 20.

Edit: Went from rank 12 to off the top twenty within the last 45 seconds of the turn in period.

lol ya, the obvious does happen, it'll be a low 40k, then in the last 10 mins it'll be at 100k for lowest and by the time the last second kicks in suddenly everyone's at the 211k+ points, which basically shows that supplying beforehand is pointless. Kinda amusing how quickly it bumped up in a short time, I wonder why. it couldn't be because even though we had alrady reached Rank 2 people just had to be in the Top 20 lol. We gave enough mats to supply a 2nd rank 2 fight if they had just held onto them XD.

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So a basic idea popped into my head. Since the 50hr period is suppose to give every a "fair" chance at hitting Top 20 perhaps they should change the method in which the Top 20 is decided. If they don't want to change the Top 20 and for the love of god don't make the Top 3 actually mean something they should just change the period for each placement.

Basically the idea is every 10hrs 4 places get locked into place based on the Top 4 at that time, So after 10hrs 1-4 are locked into place, 20hrs later 5-8 are locked into place 30 9-12, 40 13-16 and finally all of them once the 50hr hits.

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Though overall Top 20 just doesn't make sense in an event like this, this event is designed for people to work together yet during the supply phase the supposed "peaceful" time before the fight begins everyone acts like savage animals in hope of being in the Top 20, to the point where they go 5million over the required materials needed to hit the top rank. Now don't you think that's just a tad ridiculous considering that once all is said and done the items are lost lol.

While sure this could also create a period where every 10hrs a group will come over to attempt to make a spot for themselves but overtime when the event dies down it will give those a fairer shot at reaching Top 20 and that is if they refuse to chance it to something more cooperative.

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Honestly though I have my own type of reform I'd like to do for Hamlet so that they offer more then just items and a boost in popularity if said items are used for AF weapons, though judging from how many were around i'd say that popularity spike is alrdy taking place.

So of course for 2 days in a row now, not enough people come to contribute supply points to raise hamlet defense rank to rank 2, which I expected to start happening. The current methods may have been fine when entire servers wanted it to be rank 2 for seals and items, but now that the number of people needing anything from hamlet defense is dwindling, rank 2 just isnt happening. Perhaps it is also people taking a break now that it is very close to nov 1, but it is still the same thing - not enough people caring about hamlet defense. There are other suggestions to help this, but wont go back over them cuz they are here in other threads.

I now suggest that winning hamlet defense raise the supply rating. Beastmen that invade the hamlet obviously come with supplies, and these supplies could be used to raise the hamlets rating. This way, in the future when rank 3 and beyond is possible, it wouldnt take entire servers to gather up materials ONLY during supply phase to raise hamlet rank, and is another way to do it besides Chocobo escort. This way would also not raise individual supply rating towards provisioner, so individual deliveries stay the way to do that.

Tho the delivery method is fine, there aren't enough ways to obtain supply materials. Crafters and gatherers can do it quickly, but a battlers only way is to buy from crafters and gatherers or do chocobo escort for the 10 ore/fish/branch reward at the end. Around Eorzia there are beastman camps, and also beastman groups in various places. All beastman lvl45 and above should have supply items added to their loot lists on decent drop ratings. Beastmen inside their strongholds (52+) should have higher drop rates for the groups slaying them. Not the same as crafted militia supplies, but with different names appropriate for captured beastman supplies. Battlers could slay beastmen for these items to turn in during supply phases, and also help their individual rating without having to rely on only chocobo escorts or buying from crafters and gatherers.