FFXIV 2.0 - Chocobo Suggestion

Chocobo FFXIV 2.0 -

Overview: A robust chocobo subsystem to supplement multiple gameplay styles in quick to access, efficient manners that will result in cross over between casual and core players.

Reference:
FFXI Chocobo Breeding System
FFXI Chocobo Racing System
FFVII Chocobo Breeding System
FFVII Chocobo World map Mount System

1 - Introduction

The chocobo is a long adored member of the Final Fantasy franchise with a large fan base. Every effort must be made to retain the brand name through exceptional content and functionality as well as accessibility, which is increasingly important.

Suggested in this report is a full, robust system to support the Chocobo icon in FFXIV 2.0. This subsystem of FFXIV 2.0 branches into the following categories:

- Beginner Mount (Rental Usage)
- Including a quest of increased difficulty to compare with FFXI's unlock.
- The gate for this quest should be a zone reached on or around level 20.
- Rentals available from major cities and major aetheryte crystals.
- The above assumes a return to the crag system of FFXI (Dem, Holla, Mea, etc.)

- Intermediate Mount (Personal Owned)
- Obtainable through your Grand Company (or City-State if a return to FFXI standard)
- Usable in NPC Based Races, Tournaments and Jousts.
- Equipable with Grand Company issue armor
- Can equip 1 item for NPC Based Races, Tournaments and Jousts.
- Can use Chocobo Whistle to summon anywhere chocobo are allowed.
- Random array of customization but only standard Yellow chocobo allowed.

- Advanced Mount (Personal Owned, Breed)
- Obtained through breeding
- Vast array of customization including FFVII based chocobo colors
- Can use Chocobo whistle to summon anywhere chocobo are allowed
- Displays advantage of breed on world map
- Can be used in NPC / Player Races, Tournament and Jousts.
- High level of equipment
- Can equip 2 items

2 - Breeding

Breeding will be an involved process similar to FFXI but offering more control over the end result with the use of difficult to obtain items and quests. Users will be able to breed a wide array of colored chocobo that demonstrate various abilities based on breed. Some will run faster, some will be bulkier and able to joust, some will run over water, some will run over small elevation changes, some will fly.

All of the traits will lead to usable advantages on the world map and beneficial advantages in Player vs. Player Racing, Joust and Tournaments.

Unlock: Breeding must be a difficult process to unlock but not overwhelming as to drive players away. Ideally, if player housing exists, a prerequisite should be the purchase of a Chocobo Stable / Yard. It would be possible for Guilds/Companies to purchase large ones for use of guild members. Users should be around level 30 to undertake the quest to unlock and there should be a new set of requirements based on the user's usage of chocobo:

- Chocobo Renting - 20, time quest, item turn in, similar to ffxi
- Personal Owned GC - 20, requires chocobo renting unlocked, takes rank, conquest points and a quest
- Breeding - 30, takes the above unlocked, requires chocobo stable, requires difficult quest complete.

Process:
Receive initial chocobo egg via quest when Breeding is unlocked.
Nurse egg at stables
Introduce specific incubation items that will increase "luck" stat for trait determination
- Make these items craftables
Once hatching, three stages of development:

Hatchling:
- Youngest stage, showing basic traits that are indicative of multiple final traits.
- Can be fed, played with, scolded, given gifts
- No equipment
- Can be summoned anywhere as a pet that does not interact with or is affected by anything, just aesthetic.
- Cannot gather
- Completing daily activities and summoning the chocobo elsewhere increase chocobo stats

Adolescent:
- Medium growth stage.
- Traits are now narrowed. Color is showing, size is almost done, beak, etc., everything is pretty final.
- Chocobo can now show an aptitude for different things, including:
- Gathering
- If your chocobo shows an aptitude for gathering, he/she will not be suitable for racing or joust. Gathering will be a fairly robust and useful skill to nurture in a chocobo, however.
- Speed
- Water walk (depending on color)
- Minor elevation
- Flying (depending on color, rarest by far, golden chocobo)
- Competitiveness
- Chocobos can learn skills later used, related to speed, stamina conservation, racing maneuvers, joust bonuses and gathering.
- Chocobos can be summoned anywhere and can use the gathering skill, which is beneficial to overall development and does not lead to a gathering based chocobo.
- Chocobos can be attacked by aggressive creatures. If the chocobo dies, it is not permanent but could have a lasting effect on the overall growth of your chocobo.

Adult:
- Chocobo is no longer in the breeding stage.
- Chocobo can produce breeding certificate to combine or sell with the opposite sex to produce a new egg.
- Chocobo can be ridden in the over world
- Chocobo can only raise stats via equipment, temporary boosts and rare skill/stat permanent increase items.
- Chocobo can now compete in NPC/PVP Racing, Joust and Tournament.
- While the chocobo's appearance is final, certain intervals triggered by amount of races, jousts and tournaments as well as ride time will adjust the look of your chocobo slightly. For example, a chocobo that jousts often will develop battle scars. A chocobo that races often will be very lean.
- Chocobos can gather while the user is riding. Gathering is an incredibly useful and important skill.
- Chocobo can now be used in potential open world mounted battle content.

3 - Events

Events will be accessible to anyone with a personal chocobo and up. Player vs. Player events will only be accessible to players with personally breed Chocobos. This is a prime opportunity to increase the PVP scope of a FF MMO. Offering Racing and Jousting in quick join and ranked bracket style PVP will offer users a quick, easy method of pvp that will work within the FFXIV systems future and present.

Golden Saucer is home to the CHOCOBO RACES!

NPC Races, Jousts and Tournaments - Instanced, begin by speaking with NPC.
PVP - Real-time, including spectators, running on cycles aka seasons

Racing:
Much like FFXI racing, the user will not have complete free control. There will be a basic set of skills that remap to logical keys (WASD, etc.) and gamepad controls. These skills include speed burst, defensive (stamina boost, defense boost), left push, right push, special skill, item 1, item 2 (if a breed chocobo).

The race track will be a full track run, not a scripted sequence. The instanced version will allow for some scripted sequences, but real-time version will need to be spectatable, with stands and overhead walkways.

Jousting:
This will consist of a first to 5 point affair. Jobs do matter in Jousting as specific jobs and combinations make various skills available. The user is able to equip 1 skill per round, possibly more depending on gear unlocks. The controls for this are simpler; the user will have a period before impact to make a selection on the position or special skill to use for impact.

Various types of hits will result in varying scores, ultimately, the first to 5 points wins, and you must win by 2.

There are knock outs.

Tournaments:
Tournaments consist of multiple brackets of either racing, jousting or possibly a combination (may require multiple chocobos!). Rewards are greater, time investment is greater. Tournaments for NPC will be rank based, timer based, instances. PVP tournaments will begin once the server peak times are taken into account, run on automatic timers to give all users a chance to participate.

4 - Rewards

Rewards for participating in events range from:
- Chocobo Items
- Aggressive, defensive, skill boosts, etc. Usable in events.
- Breeding Items
- Food, trinkets, rare: skills, incubators, activities
- Chocobo Equipment
- Standard aesthetic, stat/skill modifying, elite epic PVP equipment
- Chocobo Tokens
- Can be used to purchase ingredients, items and equipment
- Chocobo Rank
- NPC Based Race / Joust Ranks
- PVP Based Race / Joust Ranks
- Based on seasons
- Chocobo Titles / Achievements

^ I approve of this message

If they do add some form of Chocobo breeding into the game I really hope to see a White Chocobo. I won't get my hopes up though ; ; They teased us in XI with some white chocobo that would only randomly appear in races (I think), and in XII the only white chocobo in the game you kill in a hunt =\

I also want a bit of IX's hot and cold mixed in, but this is the proper way to do a mount system in a FF MMO, it's something different.