FFXIV was made for ME!...and that's what is wrong with it.

Trying to repost with Dev Tags (per suggestions) but unsure how to do it...


I am one of the "Casual Players" that SE tried so hard to satisfy in making FFXIV. In FFXI I was the loner you passed in some remote area with only his Adventuring Fellow (Nanoko) for company. Sometimes I was EXPing (sloooowly), sometimes farming, sometimes fighting my way to complete a Quest (more often than not for a lame reward).
If I got a PT invite I usually replied, "I'm sorry, I'm busy now" but occasionally I would accept (esp. if they begged). I played for years this way and it took many years just to get to lvl 70, then I ran into a Brick Wall named Maat!
Yes ultimately it was MY fault for choosing to be a Galka RDM from the very start (yet I cursed SE constantly for the huge MP hit I took) and also it proved to be my ineptitude as I could not beat Maat as a WAR either. I was on my way to lvl 70 SAM & Archer when I was farming for Tests (with Nanoko) and either she or I or both died repeatedly that I finally gave up and quit FFXI. (This was also prior to any Abysea's.)

My point here is that FFXI was Very Hard to Incredibly Difficult to Solo-Play. Even on BST you had to have the patience of Job to succeed. I know it's an Online MMO and you're "supposed" to play with others, and I did whenever I felt like it (which was not often but alot over the years) or when I was forced to (which was often and most of my time over the years).

My main issue with FFXI was being "forced" and "pigeon-holed" in most every aspect of the game but it was still the best MMO I ever played (I've played many) and the most fun (and frustration) I've ever had in ANY video game.

So SE made a Solo-friendly version of XI for me, where I could be any job (cuz there all about the same) with any race without any penalties (or bonuses) and pretty much do anything and everything I want to (Lvl appropriate of course). The problem is that I don't want to do anything because it's all so bland and uninteresting and I feel no attachment to my City, my Class or even my Character.

There's just so little to do (so far) no sense of accomplishment and no reason to party with anyone...ever. (Even the Lone-Wolf needs to hunt with the pack sometimes).

I realize alot of this has been said before and probably better but please don't flame me yet as I have a few suggestions that (if not too late) I think might improve FFXIV for everyone, or at least for me since it was made for ME!

( I will repost these suggestions in the appropriate forums as well)

1.Dump SP and replace with GP
Guild Points should be the focus of this adventure not general skill points. The SKill Points are essentially meaningless except for designitating a lvl up and rank. They really have no bearing on your abilities other than the "Skills" that miraculously appear after a lvl up. I would prefer to earn Guild Points for each class and then spend my points as I see fit (with due peer-pressure, of course). ALL Spells/Abilities/Weapon Skills should be bought AND/OR granted from the various Guilds.
I know it's a Fantasy Game but I still expect some logic to back up the fiction. Why do I just suddenly "Know" how to cast a spell or perform a WS? And why do the Guild Leaders ask if you want to join their Guild but ignore you completely untill you reach Lvl 20 in that profession? And even then their interest and mine is lackluster, which brings me to the next change...

2a.Start every Class in the respective City for each Guild.
AND
2b. Move the majority of the GuildLeves to the Guilds. ("Duh, Winning!") tm pending

...and you rank up each Class primarily from that Guild (with special Guildleves that
send you to other cities/areas). I need stronger ties to my Guild and to my city and it should start at Rank 1 NOT Rank 20 !
Why the Guildleves are not in the Guilds is beyond my understanding. And why am I offered a Leve that is not for my current class? I would prefer to get my GP related Leves from the proper Guild but EXP Leves from the General Counter.

3. Split GuildLeves into 3 seperate catagories: Solo, Small Group, Large Group.

Solo Guildleves: These are issued solely from each Guild to each adventurer that wishes to prove their worth and earn more GP to learn more skills/spells (and possibly some rare items)

Small Group Guildleves: These are also issued solely from each Guild but involve traveling to other cities and areas to team up with adventurers from the other Guilds who have the same Leve. Possibly NM quest's with rare/good drops to encourage replay but can be beaten by a good party of 6, very good party of 3 or an insane party of 2.

Large Group Leves: These Leves are not issued from the Guilds, tho they tell you when a call to arms has been sent or received. The Call to Arms come periodically from each city/state, "Ul'duh requests the best Archers and Thuamawhatevers (I HATE that name) that Girdania can spare", and so off you go to Ul'Duh, check in at the front desk and sign on for glory as you once again save the Pugilists from really nasty invaders. Basically Behest but with one big improvement (if possible)...
...Auto-Party.... you can sign up as a party of 1-6, the "BattleWarden" can team everyone up to a maximum of 18 in an Alliance (with hopefully smart Class balancing). If you are snobby or don't wanna risk getting stuck with a noob or worse an ass, then turn off Auto-Party and take your chances with a partial group.

These 3 changes, which I don't think would be that hard to do would greatly improve the overall experience while other tweaks are made to various game mechanics. I can be patient for improvements to Battle-systems, Retainers, WS DMG, spell effects and even Class Abilities, but I cannot be patient for much longer waiting for something to do and a reason for doing it. (My Number One vote in Poll #1 was for "CONTENT"!)

Sorry for the long post but I have been playing off and on and reading these forums often and finally decided to put my 2 cents in. If anyone would like to discuss these ideas further (SE, Yoshi, anybody?) feel free to post. I'll be sure to read them...after all, I spend more time reading about Final Fantasy 14 than I do actually playing it....
...what's that tell ya?

^ CAT OUT OF BAG.

actually the elsder scrolls fan in me is shout GREAT IDEA
talk about a contradiction. :/ dang u dude and your well made idea.
I hate to say it but i kinda agree. or at lweast a bonus for starting in the city where the main guilds hq is in. I actually thought this how it would be.
I also wouldn't mind getting ride of the leve rest and have the choice to do leve non stop since ppl only play when they can do guildleves.

personally I wouldn't mind how its done in the elder scrolls. But i dugrees b4 i get flac for agreeing with you. :3

You know how at the end of V for Vendetta, thousands of citizens finally snapped into reality, put on their V masks, and stood up to the government and its army at the end?

Just replace V for BR and Government for SE. That's pretty much what's going on here.

Remember Remember the 19th of April,
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot;
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever... be... forgot...

BR's ultimate fate will align with V's. Come April 19, BR will be leaving this place.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BelgianRofl

BR's ultimate fate will align with V's. Come April 19, BR will be leaving this place.

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Why wait?

/10char

BR the goverment was ppl like you. Watch the movie....
Actually you remind me of the blow heart ancor who dies in the shower.

You crack at poerty is making my a few ppl in my family tree cry.

John greenleaf whittier and charles dickens.

What's up my fellow casual MMO player! Brofist!

Also, I agree. I feel no attachment to anything in the game except for my LS-mates. But I'm not going to (eventually) pay 15 bucks a month for a glorified chatroom.

OP, it's not that your casual status at all that is the problem, and you are not the problem. You could have played much more casually in FFXI as a red mage in a party, but it would have been the same thing, every day, blended into no memories at all. Refresh. Haste. Regen. Haste. Cure II. Haste. Refresh. Regen. Cure II. Regen. Cure II. Haste. Refresh. Cure II. Cure. Convert. Repeat.

That's not what you want. That's not what a lot of players want. That's what drones and cattle want.

You want a memorable experience, and I agree. This ain't it. To make it memorable, you have to make it more difficult. To players like us, we don't take any pleasure at succeeding at the easy.

Maat as a RDM Galka was not fair though. For warrior it's really just a matter of sleeping potions, opo necklace and an icarus wing. Cheap tactics, yes. But sometimes you just have to grin and bear it.

Welp i was pretty surprised to see ideas that werent tantamount to "Make the game into xi" from someone who played xi to 70.

I think your proposals could work, though they would have to garauntee every city had healer/tank guild

(Currently limsa lacks a healer (but has the arcanists guild) and Gridania lacks a tank (lancers arent so good at that by themselves).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Davorok

("Duh, Winning!") tm pending

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lol.

I agree with you that you should be able to join the guild immediately, or at most level 10. As far as splitting up the guildleves, they are already split up by the choose difficulty function at the aetheryte. It doesn't work great though since you generally only play them on 1 setting with party and 1 with solo. Your GP idea isn't bad but I think the idea with knowing abilities is just a convenience thing. Did you enjoy running all over the world just to learn Fire 2 in FFXI? It's just simplified. Other modern games don't have the nagging of trying to individually unlock each and every ability. So I'm ok with that aspect.