Gated Content: content in the game in which you put a series of quests, or requirements before allowing access to said content.
At first pass through this game, I felt that having your quest chain lead into instances was a very cool idea... and it was actually very easy to get groups to complete content. And then the 8 man content hit in my story quest and suddenly I saw incredibly wait times and not being able to work my way through it. I can actually see now what a completely terrible idea this was and suddenly I'm brought back in time to days of old where you had to do painfully long quest chains to get Keys to be able to enter instances... and complete sets of resistance gear just to advance further in the game.
Defiance also ran into an issue with gated content which I saw in week 2 of their release... and then I just closed up the game: not worth it.
I'm also at that stage right now with FF14. I think that if you took an honest poll and asked players if they prefer an "open sandbox" type access to ALL content vs gated content you would find that the majority of your playerbase doesn't want to be stuck endlessly assisting guildies with content that has no meaning other than to become "unlocked" in a quest chain... they get zero benefit running people through that content.
It's a major under sight in your game. And I'm pretty sure I'm not tolerant enough to sit around endlessly waiting on 8man groups to be able to see the end of my story and then "unlock" even more content to play as a level 50.
Gated Content:
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10-22-2013, 09:07 PMAmonXFGated Content:
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10-22-2013, 09:16 PMZfz
To be honest, it is a central design paradigm of Final Fantasy. The existence of a main story line.
Once you get past that, the world is basically open to you.
The wait times are not related to having this design philosophy. It's related to not having enough server resources. -
10-22-2013, 09:18 PMShaone
Is this real?
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10-22-2013, 09:28 PMAmonXFAbsolutely real.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaone
I have about 2-3 hours of play time per sitting - last night in prime time I sat in a queue for 1.5 hours for an 8man instance and then decided I didn't have any longer to wait. I can't even start on "end game" dungeon grinding - or relic yet as far as I know until I complete my story mode.
Why mix "raid" content with 4man too... that's just stupid design also. Especially if there's really a low incentive to queue up to help others finish. -
10-22-2013, 09:42 PMEightbit
Honestly I don't feel the gated aspect is the issue, the issue is there are some things that have no point in being rerun after the first time through. Essentially any of the story mode trials (story primals and Westwind) have very few people returning to do them as they offer no reward to the members outside of story progression. This does get alleviated by having an active and helpful FC the first time through, or if you are an in demand class such as healer or tank.
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10-22-2013, 09:48 PMTupsi
Yep, the problem is after the initial population rush, there's no reason to go back, like ever unless you want certain gear pieces - Even XI had content you'd redo for various reasons like Limbus even if you didn't do it for the AF+1 or Omega/Ultima/accessories pieces you could always do it for coins and make money. Here, there's honestly no real reason for me as a 50 SCH to go back into Copperbell or Haukke Manor.
However, Gated Content is a staple of FF games - every single one (maybe not as much as the new ones) had content that was inaccessible to you for a while either till main story completion or certain side activities were done - so the problem is, especially as DPS, DF times are extremely long especially after instead of everyone seeking together, SE broke the servers into groups that SIGNIFICANTLY raised search times. -
10-22-2013, 09:50 PMShaoneOK, surprised it's taking that long, but I guess most people prefer going premade into those 8 man dungeons by now, usually with single tank/healer. But people do get a benefit from helping on the later ones, it gives tomes. I've helped people doing story runs 4-5 times on both the later 8 mans, if you can find a fully premade group then you won't be queuing at all. They do exist, other people need the clear the story too. try putting out a shout or two in Mor Dhona while you are queuing.Quote:
Originally Posted by AmonXF
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10-22-2013, 10:09 PMAegisQuote:
Originally Posted by Tupsi
There was no incentive to Farm magicked skulls for others or the 2:3 fight or help them with LBs. People still did it, even though it took longer to complete than the ~30 mins s dungeon takes now. -
10-22-2013, 10:12 PMToranjaWe do. You get a gil and a exp bonus. Even if you aid them with your main, you still get some gild. Although, to be honest, the amount should be a bit higher. I'm not sure, but I think the amount is only enough to repair your armour.Quote:
Originally Posted by AmonXF
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10-22-2013, 10:17 PMMillerna
Unfortunately, a good portion of the players seem to refuse to help unless they benefit from it in some form. After the changes to AK and WP (which I think were good changes btw), fewer people run CM/PRAE, and Cape has always been a problem finding people for after the first week or two.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, whoever needs help, especially with story mode stuff, feel free to ask me. I know that doesn't help people who aren't on the server I'm on though :/ -
10-22-2013, 10:18 PMAsiaine
Is not most of the 'gated' content really 4 person? The only '8' person ones I know of are the ones at the end (that offer tomestones as a reward for helping others). I do not see it as much of a gate right now, and I would hope that there is a continuous influx of people such that one can always find 3 others for these dungeons.
Presently, the only real 'gate' is a few dungeons along the main storyline. Once that is done, then it is Ifrit -> Garuda -> Titan -> Coil. One could call those gates, but one hopefully also sees this as a good way to see if one can progress to the nest challenge.
I think calling it 'gated content' is perhaps a little over emphasis. -
10-22-2013, 10:55 PMLord_Zlatan
Its not really gated content, its tiered content.
The only gated content in they game presently is the Coil turns, being that you have to pass through 1 gate (turn) to get to the next. They cap you weekly on tomes as well, but unless you are gearing out multiple toons to the max that really isn't that big of a deal at least IMO. -
10-22-2013, 11:38 PMRyios
What gated content is there that you need help for.
Ifrit and Garuda HM can be pugged in the DF. Leaving only titan. And titan is a gate to get your Relic and get Into BCB, it should be hard. Relics should not be free. They are the best item's in the game. If anything, imo, it's still to easy to get relics. In FFXI to get your relic you had to go through 100 floors of a tower.... I mean relic +1 in ffxi is the equivalent of the epic weapon in wow where you needed the 100+ something of w/e they were called from Ulduar.
Making titan a non gate and giving people their relics... No thanks -
10-22-2013, 11:56 PMTeraluna
Gated - I'd use a description I saw in a post a couple of days ago:- Choke Point
The format funnels the entire player base through HM's. Now some people will say that's easy - or whatever. But of course for some people its not. Wonder why you have people selling Titan hm?
All players are not the same, but the game needs to retain as broad a playerbase as possible to survive and hopefully grow. This choke point design doesn't help do this.
Lose those players! Translates directly to Lose those Subs! - not exactly a good business model. Players who feel they cannot progress through these choke points will get frustrated - and the game will definitely suffer for it. -
10-23-2013, 12:05 AMLuvbunny
Basic game has great structure and story progression for first timer. Once that is done, and the initial rush is over. The game completely buckled and fall apart at the end. Unless you are leveling a second job, there is no need at all to redo any of the lower levels dungeon, effectively making things much harder for newer people to get things done down the line. Once you completed main story line, you do FATE grinding over and over on your second job. No repeatable daily quests for each class also hurt the game. Endgame right now is severely lacking and just plain bad, you will want to tear out your eyes after a week of mindless grind. The game does have potential, but too many choke points. Wait till patch 2.3 or 2.5, by then you should be able to judge if this will indeed works for long term or it becomes a niche game like FFXI.
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10-23-2013, 12:17 AMWHS
I do not see constant influx of new players such as it was during early access or the first 2 weeks. That's not to say new people aren't starting up but I feel it is smaller and more sparingly than before. That may leave some on servers feeling gated or left out till they complete the quests or story line dungeon. Lack of enough DF matches and you have huge wait times. True shouting sometimes proves fruitful but not daily and not instant. More times than not it might take a week of on and off shouting to get a story mode group together. I however did need story mode titan for a member of my FC and had no problems getting people via shout the other day. I understand though how it can be. Most of the time shouts are for 8 man end game runs and not so much story mode stuff. Happens just not so often.
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10-23-2013, 01:20 AMJohnist
The OP only has a Level 30 CNJ/WHM... How can he know what any of the 8-man content is considering the 1st 8-man required event is a Level 40 Guildhest and the dungeons aren't 8-man until 49/50 (Cape Westwind, Castrum Meridianum, Praetorium, Ifrit Hard Mode, Garuda Hard Mode, Titan Hard Mode, Binding Coil)...
I'm sorry, but to me 'raid content' means 3+ Full Parties (Crystal Tower, Odin, Behemoth) all of which are Level 50 content... there is no 'Gated Raid Content' that the OP has even encountered. -
10-23-2013, 01:30 AMMithrasInvictus
At the risk of stating the obvious: get a free company, friends, a linkshell, anything. There is value in re-doing old dungeons, you get tonnes of experience points, and gear that you can trade in for company seals, and a lot more entertainment than FATE grinding. Some people actually enjoy playing with others, and not just grinding all the way to 50 for the sake of being level 50. Find friends like that.
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10-23-2013, 01:56 AMAmonXFI have no clue what's wrong with my profile - but that being said I have a 50 PLD and a 50 BLM... 50 ALC/50 CLN (I think that the last time I logged in to my PS3 version of the game I was level 30 - maybe I should log in to get this thing updated I guess)Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnist
Vs: "get a free company - friends - etc" a lot of people on Famfrit are very rude, immature, and getting groups via global channels is a massive pain. My complaint here about the content being set up this way is simple: they should have anticipated long ago that once the first and maybe 2nd wave of players made it through their story quest, there needs to be INCENTIVE for people to go back in and do it again - otherwise maybe allowing us to complete the story quests without needing the 8man content? I don't know - basically it's terrible design and expected from small minded developers back in the 90s. Come on now. We've already seen this design type fail - why use it again now 20 years later? Terrible choice.
The design here is that you want to have people constantly going back in to content that is meaningless to them - just for the lolz? Get real. This also adds tremendous strain to all FCs because people get stuck in a loophole constantly helping those below them in the quest chain - adds frustration to people who eventually just quit the FCs to go to pure "end game" FCs just to avoid having to do the CHORE of helping out those still working through it.
It's a vicious - near sighted circle. Such a flawed and terrible terrible design. Thank christ I just got beta accepted into a few games as well as a couple more coming out in a day here... something to do until the next MMO or SE gives their heads a shake and wakes up... NO significant patches or anything since release.