Action needed: Job changing and linkshell management

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07-28-2011, 06:59 AM
VisionHolder

Action needed: Job changing and linkshell management

First of all, I've said it before and I'll say it again: I like the direction of the 1.18 patch. Yes, it could use some tweaking, but those issues have been beaten the dead horse into glue. I am eager to see the next updates, including the new job & crafting systems and upcoming transportation options. I am also excited about the (albeit long-term) plans to improve the map variety.

However, there are still some major issues I'm having with everyday activities, some of which have not been addressed by the developers (as far as I've seen). I'm not going to dig up old threads to bump them, but the two biggest issues I wrestle with on a daily basis are:

1) Job changing - I currently use macros to do this, and with the latest update (necessitating more specialized play) and my increasing levels (adding more actions & abilities), the macros simply aren't cutting it. This game advertised that job changing would be as simple as equipping the appropriate weapon. It's not! Even with my macros, I usually spend 3 or 4 minutes going through my actions and abilities cleaning up the mess the macros made when they were unable to replace previously set items or mysteriously move things around rather than replacing them. I'm about to create a "blanking macro" to wipe all abilities, which I can then use before using my job changing macros. This is ridiculous. Please allow the game to save your settings for each job, including gear, actions, and abilities. Save each job separately. Is it really that hard to implement? Or will it come into conflict with the new job system? Honestly, I want to an answer... from the mouth of the developers.

2) Linkshell management - It's been said before, and I'll say it again: Among several things, we need the ability to add/remove people from a linkshell remotely. In particular, we need to be able to remove people who are offline and appear to have left the game. With people coming and going from this game, it's hard to manage a presentable linkshell to people looking for an invite. Why are only 5 people online and 40 people offline? Hitting the size limit is also a serious problem. It really sucks when you have to disband the LS to recreate it, then track everyone down as they come online to re-add them. This game needs a cohesive community, and linkshells are key to that. If we can't manage them, they don't hold together well, and the community suffers as a result. If the community suffers, the game loses players. It's that simple.

Please add these two basic changes to the 1.19 to-do list. I'm willing to wait an extra week or two for the update if you'll include them. I encourage other players to add their support, the same way they did for the lengthy map discussion. Let's keep this alive until we get a response. These are fundamental game features that cause considerable inconvenience. I suspect that most people would agree.
08-07-2011, 08:35 AM
VisionHolder

Having seen several comments within posts about the serious need for LS management, I'll bump my own post and offer this again. Admittedly, I was surprised by the lack of interest. I kind of figured people wanted the ability to quickly change jobs (with having to mess with actions/gear or those far-from-perfect macros), as well as the badly needed LS management (so your LS doesn't have to be wiped and restarted from time to time). If you disagree about the need for one of the two, then feel free to say so. If you're not willing to see a patch delayed over this stuff, that's fine. That's just my opinion.

But anyway -- here it is again. If no one cares, then so be it.
08-07-2011, 08:42 AM
Arcell

The suggestion about saving gear/skills bars/etc... has been made many times before and I think even got a community rep response once or twice.

LS management is an obvious one and I also believe got a community rep response before but mostly that they were going to add in the text commands first with a proper interface coming later.
08-07-2011, 08:51 AM
Tezz_Xivectro

Both very good points. Both needed.

There are even a few other things that should be addressed as well, but the main concern is the flow of doing these things.

SE, find more preferred methods for utilizing the GUI, please.
08-07-2011, 09:01 AM
ChiefCurrahee

I agree, Hopefully with the introduction of "Jobs" they create an "ability palette save" feature which can be loaded via macro. equip your weapon gear and actions all in one fell swoop.

And LS management tools ARE SORELY MISSED!

If there was a dev response to both of these before, Maybe a reminder or an update on the progress of these is needed.
08-07-2011, 09:03 AM
VisionHolder

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcell

The suggestion about saving gear/skills bars/etc... has been made many times before and I think even got a community rep response once or twice.

LS management is an obvious one and I also believe got a community rep response before but mostly that they were going to add in the text commands first with a proper interface coming later.

I hadn't see the posts with the rep responses, but the fact that they're not listed among the forthcoming changes is starting to upset me. Yes, the game mechanics need fixed, but these are basic features that should have been fixed from the start. The fact that we haven't even seen command line options bothers me. Knowing that it's on their list offers some comfort, but how many more months will it take? I really want a timeline for these basic features.
08-07-2011, 09:04 AM
Fated

They've already said that they are looking into both of your issues multiple times. There is really nothing else that can be said or done at this point except to wait, wait and wait some more.
08-07-2011, 09:13 AM
TonyMontana

1.5 months from now we will be at the 1 year mark its really disturbing that we still have such terrible LS controls. My LS is about to have to remake our LS because we are at 120 members and many of them are people who havent played in 6+ months. WE NEED BETTER LS CONTROLS! Stop telling us how hard it is to fix and fix it!
08-07-2011, 10:45 AM
Keith_Dragoon

Quote:

Originally Posted by VisionHolder

I hadn't see the posts with the rep responses, but the fact that they're not listed among the forthcoming changes is starting to upset me. Yes, the game mechanics need fixed, but these are basic features that should have been fixed from the start. The fact that we haven't even seen command line options bothers me. Knowing that it's on their list offers some comfort, but how many more months will it take? I really want a timeline for these basic features.

I've been campaigning for ls admin tools since beta. Only response we got was "We'll look into it AFTER the battle system overhaul is complete."

As you can tell we refuse to accept this answer because most active LS have disbanded multiple times since launch. My shell is full of inactive members just 2 week after remaking it.
08-07-2011, 11:13 AM
VisionHolder

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keith_Dragoon

I've been campaigning for ls admin tools since beta. Only response we got was "We'll look into it AFTER the battle system overhaul is complete."

As you can tell we refuse to accept this answer because most active LS have disbanded multiple times since launch. My shell is full of inactive members just 2 week after remaking it.

Then my response is that we should keep this thread (or another one like it) alive until the devs realize that we're serious: we need the tools, even if it's just a command line. It can't be that hard to add.
08-07-2011, 11:35 AM
Murugan

Quote:

Originally Posted by VisionHolder

First of all, I've said it before and I'll say it again: I like the direction of the 1.18 patch. Yes, it could use some tweaking, but those issues have been beaten the dead horse into glue. I am eager to see the next updates, including the new job & crafting systems and upcoming transportation options. I am also excited about the (albeit long-term) plans to improve the map variety.

However, there are still some major issues I'm having with everyday activities, some of which have not been addressed by the developers (as far as I've seen). I'm not going to dig up old threads to bump them, but the two biggest issues I wrestle with on a daily basis are:

1) Job changing - I currently use macros to do this, and with the latest update (necessitating more specialized play) and my increasing levels (adding more actions & abilities), the macros simply aren't cutting it. This game advertised that job changing would be as simple as equipping the appropriate weapon. It's not! Even with my macros, I usually spend 3 or 4 minutes going through my actions and abilities cleaning up the mess the macros made when they were unable to replace previously set items or mysteriously move things around rather than replacing them. I'm about to create a "blanking macro" to wipe all abilities, which I can then use before using my job changing macros. This is ridiculous. Please allow the game to save your settings for each job, including gear, actions, and abilities. Save each job separately. Is it really that hard to implement? Or will it come into conflict with the new job system? Honestly, I want to an answer... from the mouth of the developers.

2) Linkshell management - It's been said before, and I'll say it again: Among several things, we need the ability to add/remove people from a linkshell remotely. In particular, we need to be able to remove people who are offline and appear to have left the game. With people coming and going from this game, it's hard to manage a presentable linkshell to people looking for an invite. Why are only 5 people online and 40 people offline? Hitting the size limit is also a serious problem. It really sucks when you have to disband the LS to recreate it, then track everyone down as they come online to re-add them. This game needs a cohesive community, and linkshells are key to that. If we can't manage them, they don't hold together well, and the community suffers as a result. If the community suffers, the game loses players. It's that simple.

Please add these two basic changes to the 1.19 to-do list. I'm willing to wait an extra week or two for the update if you'll include them. I encourage other players to add their support, the same way they did for the lengthy map discussion. Let's keep this alive until we get a response. These are fundamental game features that cause considerable inconvenience. I suspect that most people would agree.

I see you said you were going to setup this macro, but it really does fix all your problems and only requires 3 macro spaces.

For anyone who doesn't know how just make a set of macros with:

/eaction 1
/eaction 2
/eaction 3

etc left blank. It will clear all your bars. Then press the macro to change into your abilities for that class. But anyways I thought I heard them say on here that they would be saving action bars to classes in a future patch maybe.

The linkshell management really needs to happen though. Though they said that is coming soon too. We got a tiny little update in the last patch on this, but not what most people wanted (the ability to remove offline/not in chunk members).