Repair NPCs Do Not Charge Enough

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Originally Posted by Irondude

so the general consensus is the repair system sucks. Why add dark matter? Why not just eliminate it?

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This please. Repair could have been an opportunity for crafters to get some nice exp while helping others out. But the shift to 100% npc repairs is silly. And with dark matter costing gil that is close to what the npc charges, why bother.

It would be nice if there was a little more incentive to have a player repair gear, while not completely punishing people for being unable to trek all the way back to a major city.

Crafters will destroy this game .. :(

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Originally Posted by Jinko

Crafters will destroy this game .. :(

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I thought the moon was destroying the game...

I get it now, all those synths that crafters do is pulling the moon toward Eorzea!_!_(#(_*$111!!!(#_4

Stop ya Kraftz now! Especially the MacNCheese

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Originally Posted by Hachiko

This please. Repair could have been an opportunity for crafters to get some nice exp while helping others out. But the shift to 100% npc repairs is silly. And with dark matter costing gil that is close to what the npc charges, why bother.

It would be nice if there was a little more incentive to have a player repair gear, while not completely punishing people for being unable to trek all the way back to a major city.

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Does this imply that repairs were needed often enough and gave enough EXP to actually be a supplement to the already insane grind? o.O

Gear worked fine damaged in the beginning, which leads me to believe you weren't SUPPOSED to repair it for monotonous bullsh!t like farming items, grouping up, long-term partying. Not only was it functional at 0%, but it got from 100% to 0% FAST, leading me to believe the original repair system was something you did to add BONUS power to your items before AN (1) important battle.

The first time we went into the darkhold, even, it was BAM! 0% -- it wasn't what the system was built for.

The only way to maintain the game's direction and still include gear damage is to do it the way we have it now. Players want to repair it every time it breaks? Fine - cheap and easy.

It's a compromise. It's not getting rid of the ridiculous and out-of-place mechanic entirely, but it's good enough. I guess.

I have mixed feelings about the repair changes, but in the bigger picture I see it is for the best.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

I'm glad the repair system is starting to be seen in the same light I've been saying since day one (an action rpg sink-element for maintaining basically free gear that is irrelevant in a sandbox where it takes effort to even get the gear; used as a justification of giving legitimate class ranks and exponential exp curves to crafts).

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OT: Just for clarification as this confused me a bit, are you implying FFXIV is a sandbox?

I think its good as it is atm for repair's if they want to make it were a craft type job has a recipe to enhance the dark matter to to were it give some kind of status boost etc I could see a benifit to crafter's and the player commuity.

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Originally Posted by Fieros

I have mixed feelings about the repair changes, but in the bigger picture I see it is for the best.
OT: Just for clarification as this confused me a bit, are you implying FFXIV is a sandbox?

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A sandbox that borrows elements from many types of games, yes.

• Based on repetitive monotonous actions? CHECK.
• Free to level any class you want on the same character? CHECK.
• Not disqualified from skill trees or limited to role development? CHECK.
• Content largely driven by player community leaving much up to choice (such as partying in chosen groups with chosen setups in chosen locations as opposed to the grouping and completion of specific quests in specific places for exp)? CHECK!

The overall basis of the game is built on a sandbox dynamic, but with the themepark (WoW being the go-to example in our era) being the standard and most popular, certain elements need to be borrowed or the sandbox starts to look pretty dull and like a waste of time.

Merging the two philosophies of game development into one? Not really Tanaka's forte. We'll see how Yoshida does by the time 2.0 hits, but for the most part I like what he's done with the place.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

A sandbox that borrows elements from many types of games, yes.

The overall basis of the game is built on a sandbox dynamic, but with the themepark (WoW being the go-to example in our era) being the standard and most popular, certain elements need to be borrowed or the sandbox starts to look pretty dull and like a waste of time.

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OT again just for clarification: I agree that the multi-class character and vast skill choice is atypical, but think your idea of FFXIV being sandbox is incorrect. I won't further derail the thread with definitions, just struck me as odd someone thinking this game was sandbox at its core or being developed in such a direction. Especially after the most recent letter.

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Originally Posted by Naoki_Yoshida

Hello everyone! Yoshi-P here, back for my twentieth letter.

MMORPG = Theme Park

That’s why I think that in the world of the modern MMORPG, which should be everything like a theme park, diverse rides, facilities, and specs are an absolute necessity.

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Back on topic- The cheap NPC cost seems great now, but I miss selling buffalo spetch for repairs. T-T

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

Does this imply that repairs were needed often enough and gave enough EXP to actually be a supplement to the already insane grind? o.O

Gear worked fine damaged in the beginning, which leads me to believe you weren't SUPPOSED to repair it for monotonous bullsh!t like farming items, grouping up, long-term partying. Not only was it functional at 0%, but it got from 100% to 0% FAST, leading me to believe the original repair system was something you did to add BONUS power to your items before AN (1) important battle.

The first time we went into the darkhold, even, it was BAM! 0% -- it wasn't what the system was built for.

The only way to maintain the game's direction and still include gear damage is to do it the way we have it now. Players want to repair it every time it breaks? Fine - cheap and easy.

It's a compromise. It's not getting rid of the ridiculous and out-of-place mechanic entirely, but it's good enough. I guess.

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I'm not saying that at all. As a crafter though, you could sit there by the repair npc doing synths and then stop to repair people as they came by. You can still kind of do so, and it's a nice cheap way to get exp (because you generally get paid for doing the repair).

So while you wouldn't gain levels repairing your own gear, people would come by frequently enough that repairing others was at least a supplemental source of income / exp for DoH.

@Fieros

One of us is misinterpreting Yoshida-san's words, and not to sound arrogant, but I'm pretty sure it's you. (Pretty sure).

The way I see his statement, he is using the term theme park as a metaphor for what an MMO is supposed to be - something with attractions for everyone; where an amusement part has shopping, games of skill, and rides - an MMO has crafting, gathering, and battle. Where a theme park has rides that are exciting, scary, scenic, slow, and romantic - an MMO has tank, healer, PDPS, MDPS, Buff, Debuff, and strategy support roles.

I don't think he was saying, "Final Fantasy XIV is being built based on the 'theme park' approach to MMO development."

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Originally Posted by Hachiko

So while you wouldn't gain levels repairing your own gear, people would come by frequently enough that repairing others was at least a supplemental source of income / exp for DoH.

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Ahh, I understand what you're getting at. The only trouble with that, though, is that the overwhelming majority of people with a 40+ crafting class don't do that. They carry around repair material's they'll be using, and use them on others only when a linkshell member specifically asks, or there's a profit offered that is large enough to take notice. Very few crafters actually bother looking for people to repair, and very few people want to pay more than 500g to 1000g more-per-piece than what the Dark Matter cost them in the first place.

This, combined with the things I said above (short version without the evidence: how I don't believe gear was originally meant to be immediately repaired every single time it hit yellow) made the Gear Damage / Repair system extremely tough to make people find acceptable in the old format, and yet there is no choice unless we want to bring back EXP loss, instead. And I don't think we do. (Maybe.)