I have just recently came back to the game after taking about 8 months off from the game. I expected all my hard fought gear to be outdated as that is the norm for any MMO that is regularly updated.
What I didn't expect was how boring the grind would be to do the upgrades. While I hated Titan HM (especially as healer, oh god how I hated him) it was frustrating but not boring. Instead of doing an extended quest line with some kind of climax, we have hours upon boring hours of grinding boring fates. The system is not fun in any aspect. Even if the quest line took several weeks to complete it would be more entertaining than mind numbing borningness that is fate grinding. I've done the Atma grind for my Blm and am working on my Smn and Scholar. Does this sound like fun? To me? No not really. It feels like a chore and that is not why we play this game. We don't play it to make it our lives or to be bored. We as players play for fun.
This system feels less thought out than a particular DLC for Skyrim. It has no FF love to it. At the end of all the mindless hours of grinding the only thing you'll feel is a sense of relief and dread when you know you will have to do it all over again for the next relic weapon. You shouldn't dread playing the games content, you should have a sense of anticipation and excitement to see what is next. We dont' have that with this system. I implore the developers to change the system and make it true to the FF Legacy, not this half baked system we have right now. This current system does not make me want to keep playing due to the dred I feel in getting my relic weapon upgrades complete due to how boring it is to do, it isn't even hard just plain boring.
Relic Weapon Upgrade
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09-30-2014, 01:51 PMZaresinRelic Weapon Upgrade
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09-30-2014, 02:53 PMNutz
While I'm certainly not disagreeing with you, this particular system is made long (and boring) I think in an attempt to make players focus on a single job (as it pertains to their relic anyway). I would absolutely not recommend trying to do the full quest chain on multiple jobs unless you have a ton of free time and patience. The atma gathering portion can be extraordinarily long (or short if very lucky) and the next few legs aren't any shorter (and can't be made shorter through luck -- except perhaps Novus but you'd require an absurd amount of luck).
Since you just got back, you are probably unaware that roughly everyone hates gathering atma. This is likely the 500th thread calling for them to rethink/ reconfigure/ tweak this portion of the quest and they mostly don't comment on it at all. -
09-30-2014, 03:28 PMZaresinI pose this question:Quote:
Originally Posted by Nutz
If I as a provider have a large part of my target consumer base hate an aspect of my product, that would tell me that something needs to change. Wouldn't you if you were a provider of a service?
Now to comment on your thought about it being their attempt to make players focus on a single job. I personally think if that were true, they would have not implemented or done away with how jobs are switched and gone to the classic single job unchangeable per character created. -
09-30-2014, 04:56 PMCuervo78
They provide alternative weapons that are about as strong as the relic and can be easily obtained. So go to Syrcus Tower, get yourself an UAT and trade it in for a ILvl 100 weapon.
Get a Sand of time from Syrcus and upgrade said weapon to 110. -
09-30-2014, 05:45 PMNutzOh, I definitely agree that keeping atma the way it is seems counterproductive. I'm sure several people have quit in frustration (maybe they would have quit soon enough anyway...). The sheer fact that they know everyone hates it and they keep it the way it is is what makes me think that they want players to only ever bother with 1 relic (zodiac) weapon. I don't think they want players to restrict themselves to 1 class/ job really, just that as it pertains to the zodiac weapon quest they want players to have a single preferred job (or perhaps 2 or 3 for hardcore players).Quote:
Originally Posted by Zaresin
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10-02-2014, 10:06 AMXephierQuote:
Originally Posted by Nutz
His point still remains though that even doing this on one player is a long boring struggle. If they at least boosted the % of atma drops above like 1-2% then it'd be bearable but who wants to farm fates for 2-3 hours at a time to get nothing? I won't even put out the effort to get this on one character because it's not fun. I'd have more fun fishing(irl) than doing this quest and that's saying something, cuz fishing is about as fun as starring at rocks. -
10-02-2014, 10:07 AMXephierBook of diamonds is it(I'm a SCH)? That'd be great if the stats on it weren't garbage. It's a pretty weapon don't get me wrong but for functionality it isn't worth the sand.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cuervo78
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10-03-2014, 05:43 PMServerCollaps
everything that counts is the ilvl of the weapon, you wouldnt notice a difference between novus and book of diamonds anyway, because the weight of the other stats is just too small
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10-06-2014, 06:01 AMZaresinNot to mention those items will have a finite number of upgrades but the relic weapons are iconic to the classes and will constantly be upgraded. One thing that has been a staple is that customizability in weapons makes them more stronger than their static counterparts in the long run in reguards to power. Yes the best weapons in the game should be a challenge to get, but the challenge should not be the challenge to stay awake.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xephier
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10-06-2014, 09:06 AMRyuRoots
I don't think you'll find anyone really disagreein with you Zaresin but, sadly, I don't really see SE changing it. They'll probably say it's "working as intended". It took me several months to get atma for ONE weapon (since apparently RNGesus utterly hates me with a fiery passion) and I have 3 other jobs I play regularly with Zeniths...so that'll be GREAT. A 5% drop rate for low level content that locks out almost all of the abilities you're used to using with no end in sight? I can't imagine what buffoon thought this was the best way to go about upgrading relics. Hell, even for the book upgrading phase with the Atma, at least you're doing specific tasks with defined goals so I don't even mind those as much. Anyway, I know I'm not saying anything new or exciting either.
tl;dr is that yes, it IS an utterly atrocious system but SE will probably never do anything about it. -
10-06-2014, 08:48 PMJonBigwoodI think atma drop rate is higher now than it used to be at first (no proof), and I think it will be made easier in the future.Quote:
Originally Posted by RyuRoots
At launch it used to take several weeks. I used to get 1 or 2 atma per week, twice I got 3 atmas, twice 0 atmas in a week. I did the daily roulettes so didn't farm atma all the time. And don't play a lot of hours a day. Other friends who play more time and farmed hard got it not a lot earlier than I did.
Increasing the drop rate of atmas and alexandrites is super easy, and they don't need to go making it public. By the way, I don't know from where comes the fact that alexandrites and atmas have the same drop rate and is 5%. I have never seen an alexandrite drop and I have been doing FATES for it (not farming, just doing the ones I met.) I think atmas drop rate was more near 1 or 2% at first than 5%. Now it might be 5%, I don't know. -
10-07-2014, 06:40 AMZaresinMy biggest issue with this system is how lazily planned it feels. I LOVE FF games and they were always exciting (FFX lightning dodging while annoying was exciting because you got excited when you dodged that lightning) but this??? No it isn't exciting nor is it fun. This is something I would expect from an intern with no experience in game design...not from an actual game developer. Maybe I had too high of an expectation in reguards to quality when it comes to the FF franchise. I don't want the system to be easy, I just want it to be fun and not feel like my time would be better spent sleeping.Quote:
Originally Posted by RyuRoots
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10-08-2014, 05:43 AMRockGodOneYou most certainly are not getting nothing from 2-3 hours of fate grinding. You are getting tons of GC seals. Even the gil adds up and more than covers teleporting costs. I use all my GC seals on Ventures so I have a constant 3 retainers always out. I complained too until I got my animus and quickly ran out of Ventures due to me no longer having GC seals.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xephier
You also have to think about more than yourself here. That\\'s why SE won\\'t ever change this. Fate grinding can really help lower level people. People who aren\\'t 50 yet. Dps ques are terrible for under 50. I usually do fates while I wait. It be nice to have other people help me with them. Oh look, an Atma farming party! -
10-09-2014, 09:07 AMZaresinFate farming actually used to be the fastest way to level a class after you finished your first due to the abysmal xp you got from dungeons. The devs said they were happy with the xp from dungeons at the time. That is no longer the case, hence the increase in xp gained from quests. Yes the horrendous and poorly thought out system that is the relic quest line will change as time goes on as the iLVL increases and due to casual gamers being the money makers, it will be made easier and faster as time goes on. To be honest, I look forward to that day as doing two relics has made me hate logging in as it is the same crap over and over again. Farmed two sets of atma and still missing a couple to complete for my second set.Quote:
Originally Posted by RockGodOne
Customizable weapons will always be the best in the game due to how flexable their stats are in the end compared to their static counterparts of the same iLVL. I like having the best gear. I like working hard to get it. I don't like the hard part is trying to stay interested in a game because you are doing the same thing for hours on end. I should be having fun. This was the same argument made about leveling classes when the game first came out. As smart as the developers are, you have to wonder if they have alzhiemers or some other mental disorder to recycle the same issue back into another area of the game. -
10-13-2014, 01:31 AMRockGodOne
Well I'm currently working on my 2nd Atma set and I don't really find it boring at all. I go with friends and chit chat to make it go by faster. I'm also loving that I have tons of GC seals again. I went like a week without sending any of my 3 retainers on Quick Explorations due to not having any seals to buy Ventures with.
Idk, I've just played the worst game ever for many years (GMS Maplestory), so I'm used to getting thru a lot of really bad game mechanics. FATE grinding is way better than what that game had you do..... Forcing you to buy the gear off of the market for billions of in game currency (some people even sell the games on other websites for hundreds of real life money...). Hackers control that game so they just DC you if you try to kill the boss (that's the ONLY way to get mid-end game gear in that game.... boss drops).
I'll take this over that any day lol. -
10-13-2014, 01:34 AMRockGodOne
Well I'm currently working on my 2nd Atma set and I don't really find it boring at all. I go with friends and chit chat to make it go by faster. I'm also loving that I have tons of GC seals again. I went like a week without sending any of my 3 retainers on Quick Explorations due to not having any seals to buy Ventures with.
Idk, I've just played the worst game ever for many years (GMS Maplestory), so I'm used to getting thru a lot of really bad game mechanics. FATE grinding is way better than what that game had you do..... Forcing you to buy the gear off of the market for billions of in game currency (some people even sell the gear on other websites for hundreds of real life money...). Hackers control that game so they just DC you if you try to kill the boss (that's the ONLY way to get mid-end game gear in that game.... boss drops and most of it isn't even instanced).
I'll take this over that any day lol.