[Dev1033] [Dev1014] [Dev1032] An Open Letter

I am writing this letter in its own space, as the suggestions fall under multiple areas covered in other threads, and I do not wish it to fall through the cracks unnoticed by players who skim an original post before stating their opinion and moving on in order to avoid reading dozens of pages of disorganized suggestion (as I believe many, myself admittedly included, do). At the same time, it is an open letter to the Development Team, hopefully not too late into the process of solving the issues at hand to be considered as a possibility if well received. If they are not, my letter can fall behind better threads into realm of dead topics at least having had its chance to plead its case.

My suggestions pertain to the player-base's desires for the establishment of anchors to the traditional Final Fantasy elements, as well as desires for the further development of current classes, battle mechanics, and overall feel of Final Fantasy XIV.

The current Armory System boasts several classes, with more on the way. Most have seen these as the new set of "Jobs." I, however, do not see them as such. I see my Class Ranks menu not as a list of jobs I have leveled, but sets of weapons I have mastered - much like the very same window in FFXI where I could check which physical weapons I had built skill to use on any job I choose. (Example: Polearm on PLD, DRG, SAM, WAR, etc.)

The true "Jobs" of FFXIV are whatever we choose them to be. Let us use Gladiator (Or, for the sake of this letter, "The Sword") as an example. By allotting attribute points and "hotbarring" certain cross-class abilities from other mastered arts, The Sword can easily emulate the role of a Red Mage, or a Paladin - or perhaps something new and inbetween. We can also look to the Magus of FFXIV for such inspiration. Depending on ability, weapon, and attribute choices, the "The Staff" and "The Wand" can emulate literally any of the Magus to ever grace a Final Fantasy title - White Mage, Black Mage, Green Mage, Time Mage - and as more classes and abilities are introduced, this list can only expand.

I find this system to be brilliant, but I do agree that it lacks the Final Fantasy feel that we've come to know and love. How can we reclaim it, as many are vocal about the desire to do, without tarnishing the brilliant potential of the Armory system we have now? Do we let xenophobia trample these possibilities in favor of what we know and are comfortable with at the risk of not expanding our horizons to a place we find more preferable?

I have a simple suggestion for a solution.

If the classes are the new weapons, and the abilities our jobs - I feel the gear can bring back the Fantasy by establishing our roles. I propose the introduction of tiered stages of Classical Attire - suited to the Armory System - that will LOOK Final Fantasy, and by playing to their strengths, FEEL like Final Fantasy.

An Example:
Let us continue onward from my Gladiator example. Under my proposition, we could have several tiered sets of "Red Mage Attire" and "Paladin Attire" similar to the Artifact and Relic armor of FFXI. Each of these attire sets would be equipped to Gladiator, but boast radically different stats. The Red Mage attire would boost both physical and magic attack to moderate and balanced levels, while the Paladin Attire sacrificed that strength and brutality in favor of gratuitous bonuses to Defense, Magic Defense, Vitality, and Mind.

In order to obtain these sets of attire, players would have to achieve a certain mastery over certain weapons and abilities, much like was proposed in the class development thread under the idea of "Expanded Classes." However, instead of unlocking new classes on which we would be forced to rank up from zero, they would be ROLES we would fill on the battlefield wearing attire fitted to that purpose. For our Gladiator example - a master of both healing conjury and the sword would be able to initiate a story-based quest in search of their Paladin Attire, progressing through a specific storyline to that end.

This would solve not only battle role desires and content expansion desires, but also bring back that Final Fantasy feel we all know and love.

As a master of destructive thaumaturgy and elemental conjury, I would love very much to seek out my Black Mage Attire with massive bonuses to INT, PIE, and Potency through story-based missions. In my own opinion, someone detached from my suggestions on account of its bias, this would be an ideal direction for the game.

And as the game expands, (EDIT) a long ways down the road, when the game is actually ready for it (/EDIT) and level caps raised, we would of course be opening our characters up to mastering all new weapons and abilities - at such a time, even more classical attire could be released, and further, more powerful tiers of existing attire added as well - all with story-driven content and role-specific statistics.

Please, tell me what you think of these ideas, and if they are received well, I hope they would be considered for the future.

Thank you,
Anonymoose of Karnak

The last thing this MMO needs is a boosted level cap.

They already have trouble enough having enough content for just 1-50, or having enough players for their to be people to play with before the cap. A higher level cap would just exasperate the worst problems we have as a final fantasy game.

When I think of final fantasy I think of lots of story that doesn't run out. And parties. I feel what we have now are pretty lacking.

I'm definitely not saying boost it anytime soon - much the opposite. I hope it's 50 for a good long time and raises 5 at a time max. I was trying to convey that this system could very easily be expanded upon even that far down the road. That's why I'd love these classic gear stories - we would be able to keep the current class structure (even those that haven't been released yet such as the rumored Arcanist, Mystic, Assassin, etc) and, at the same time, be able add content for as many of the classic jobs as are wanted -- at any rank. The first tier of classic attire could be akin to an initiation into discovering the "lost ways," and the longer the game goes, the deeper into it we can progress in search of ways to combat the "growing threat to Eorzea" we keep hearing about.

I hope I'm clearing this up a bit, the idea is still fairly fresh. At the moment, my head is more swarming with what the story quests for these "long forgotten (in Eorzea)" roles would be, and how the different tiers would look. You know, idealistic fantasies that will probably be shot down with ease... {shifty eyes}

ADDENDUM:
As pertains to the current state of parties in XIV, a properly formed group of four strategically using their leves can amass a considerably satisfactory amount of SP with each reset. Every 36 hours, my static and I engage in a 4+ hour party of specific leve-spam that amounts to a very sizable piece of progress. As far as time-in and reward-out, I'm about on par with XI's parties. Without the wait, or chess pieces. I feel like SE is aiming for groups of more than four to be engaged in less monotonous things than grinding - but I'm entirely offtopic there.