Patch n: Quality of Life

Or Project Slow Down. Something along those lines. Here's what I mean.

Yes, I know everyone appreciates new content. Yes, I know a very small minority of the playerbase burns through every new content, regardless of amount/size, way too quickly (that's just their playstyle). Yes, I know a sense of achievement is important. However... It looks like SE is trying to cater to that very small minority, with churning new (or "new") content every few weeks/months. It looks like being switched to the "just get it over with" and "glad I'm over it" mentality constitutes to feeling like actually having achieved something (doesn't even make sense if you ask me). The game is just over a year old and the item level is over double of the actual job level maximum - and what for, really, when the latest batch of dungeons has an ilvl requirement of 80? Even Turn 5 only requires i82 as far as I remember - the fact that it's still virtually impossible to do for so many, despite being in DF, is an entirely different matter, no ilvl increase or Echo buff will assist against the instant death mechanics.

So, what I'm wondering about is why doesn't SE take a break from building new content? There are so many minor (or not-so-minor) issues in the game that fixing those could really contribute to quality, for a change, instead of quantity. Because, as I said, it is nice to have things coming in so often, but the way I see it (and going by the forum posts, it feels the way many see it), it's created quite an imbalance between those two.

First thing first, and I realise this can't happen at a snap of fingers, but really, SE needs to spend some money. Obviously we can't be 100% aware of what goes on in the background, but when on one hand we can read about profits and hear about so many millions of players, while on the other hand we're given the "small dev team / hardware limitations / infrastructure limitations" argument left, right, and center - it does create a sense of contradiction, in my opinion. Yes, we will be getting an actual EU data center. Which is nice for everyone in Europe (like myself), but ain't gonna do much for everyone else. And if everything else remains as it is, it'll only go so far to improve things. So yes, hire more people, even a few could help decrease the workload and I'm sure there are a lot of enthusiasts who are both talented and skilled enough to fit in. Upgrade the hardware and the network infrastructure, because it is frustrating that, reportedly, much smaller teams can do much better, in several cases even on non-sub-based games. (Personally, I'd feel not only frustrated but embarrassed if I was for SE.) These should be top priority, in my opinion.

And during that time, there's a slew of things that could be worked on. Here's a list that's probably far from complete, in no particular order:

• body types - every individual of a given race is an exact replica of the other (save for height) in 2014....really?
• hair styles - being asked so much I lose count of it sooner than the Sabotender Emperatriz loses count of her needles
• facial hair - see hair styles
• makeup and facepaint - should not be the same, also see hair styles
• tattoos - both for body and for face, also see hair styles
• storage options - immense amount of stuff, insanely inadequate ways and space to store them
• housing - not even going into details, could use a complete rework
• glamour system - the way it works, the availability of items, the restrictions
• relic weapons - please find another way to keep old content relevant
• crafting materials - at the very least, move them from boss chests to side ones, replacing potions in dungeons
• conversation options - is bad enough that our PCs are completely mute, at least give us a few dialogue choices please
• NPC relationships - I don't even mean romance, but roleplaying is more than just being tank/healer/dps
• chocobo - skills, usage, training, coloring... pretty much a complete overhaul again, because none of these is fun
• desynthesis - having to balance improving this, in a game that's built on a strong multi-class system is simply ridiculous
• clipping - seriously, fix it (at the very least, for the love of Menphina, if you have races with tails and "weird" ears, have alternative versions of gear that properly accomodate to these)
• those butts - yes, I went there, as they're also completely ridiculous in my opinion
• friend requests - why do we have to not accept once and then decline too to make it disappear?
• inventory - not being able to reorganise when doing certain things because why exactly?
• handling alternative characters - please let us send stuff to our alts, at least those on the same server
• ordering lists - while several features were introduced to help organisation, the emote list, for example, is still completely random
• duty registrations - can't be done while chocobo is summoned, withdrawn when summoning chocobo... why do we have the companion again?

I'm sure it's still missing a lot of things, but these are the ones I noted as being left "unattended" or "swept under the rug". And I've seen way too many posts about each of these on here, so it's kind of mind-boggling. Churning out content is probably the simplest way to retain players, but on the long run? Keeping them happy with such "quality of life" improvements goes much further, in my opinion. Having a feature that's more of a hassle than anything else to use - not gonna make people happy. Sure, it might be used, but being used out of necessity is very far from actually having fun with it. People appreciate having the details paid attention to as well much more than just a rough "here it is, use it" content or feature.

And for Heaven's sake. So much emphasis on dedication to players. So much emphasis on communication. Poll the players! Not about what should happen tomorrow, but about what should happen in a year, for example. From the looks of it, it turned out perfectly fine having done that to rebuild and relaunch the game, so why isn't it done anymore? Heck, poll the players about this, how many of us would be okay with less (or no) new content for a few months but which of these things being done. I don't know. Just a suggestion, just my thoughts. But even SE might be surprised.

Wow so a long list.
I'll be happy just with PLD's Shield Bash taken out the general cooldown.
Pretty nonsense, PLD have silence out the gcd but not the stun, pretty overlooked as long as any other stun around is out the gcd.
Or PLD that can stun are too much OP?

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Originally Posted by LalaRu

Wow so a long list.
I'll be happy just with PLD's Shield Bash taken out the general cooldown.
Pretty nonsense, PLD have silence out the gcd but not the stun, pretty overlooked as long as any other stun around is out the gcd.
Or PLD that can stun are too much OP?

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Because shield bash doesn't have a cooldown. Can't exactly have a skill that's both off GCD and have a cooldown. They can already chain stun better than warriors for some fights that warrant it.

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Originally Posted by BreathlessTao

• body types - every individual of a given race is an exact replica of the other (save for height) in 2014....really?
• hair styles - being asked so much I lose count of it sooner than the Sabotender Emperatriz loses count of her needles
• facial hair - see hair styles
• makeup and facepaint - should not be the same, also see hair styles
• tattoos - both for body and for face, also see hair styles
• storage options - immense amount of stuff, insanely inadequate ways and space to store them
• housing - not even going into details, could use a complete rework
• glamour system - the way it works, the availability of items, the restrictions
• relic weapons - please find another way to keep old content relevant
• crafting materials - at the very least, move them from boss chests to side ones, replacing potions in dungeons
• conversation options - is bad enough that our PCs are completely mute, at least give us a few dialogue choices please
• NPC relationships - I don't even mean romance, but roleplaying is more than just being tank/healer/dps
• chocobo - skills, usage, training, coloring... pretty much a complete overhaul again, because none of these is fun
• desynthesis - having to balance improving this, in a game that's built on a strong multi-class system is simply ridiculous
• clipping - seriously, fix it (at the very least, for the love of Menphina, if you have races with tails and "weird" ears, have alternative versions of gear that properly accomodate to these)
• those butts - yes, I went there, as they're also completely ridiculous in my opinion
• friend requests - why do we have to not accept once and then decline too to make it disappear?
• inventory - not being able to reorganise when doing certain things because why exactly?
• handling alternative characters - please let us send stuff to our alts, at least those on the same server
• ordering lists - while several features were introduced to help organisation, the emote list, for example, is still completely random
• duty registrations - can't be done while chocobo is summoned, withdrawn when summoning chocobo... why do we have the companion again?

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A lot of this will never be done, either due to PS3 limitations (Your desire for more hairstyles, body types, facial hair, makeup, facepaint, and tattoos) or because they work fine as they are (glamour, housing, relic, chocobo, desynthesis), or are never going to get changed (clipping - which has been discussed and is staying as is, Alts - staying as is as an attempt to help curb RMT)

Overall your list comes off as being whiny because you don't like the game. You want more conversation options (something that has only really been in SWTOR - which did have a fun leveling experience but when that was done the game was garbage) or NPC relations (really? why? It's an MMO, go be social. Make friends with people) it just seems like the game isn't for you. We're getting new content because people want to have things to do. They want to go play in the Golden Saucer. They want new PvE challenges to take on. They want new items in the game. They want to increase their character's power. Heavensward is aimed for a spring release, content will be going at a blazing pace from now until then - and hopefully afterward.

And yet, like the op said, these are issues that have been brought up by many people in these forums over and over and over and over. Clearly we are dissatisfied by the way they've been (not) handled. This person pretty obviously likes the game; they took the time to type up this fairly massive post.

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Originally Posted by NozomiKei

This person pretty obviously likes the game; they took the time to type up this fairly massive post.

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Everybody playing this game likes this game otherwise you would not be playing this game.

OP, where are this so-called QoL changes from? What game can you list that has this stuff? A Korean F2P MMO? Fix the body shapes? Why? Why get the design team to work on body shapes that look really good already when they could be working on new content?

You tell SE to spend some money? How can you not realise that SE work non-stop producing new content? New content doesn't just pop out of thin air, it takes a lot of time and money to produce it. If you are claiming that SE are not working hard on their game just because YOUR so-called QoL changes are not in game then you need to think hard about being in the work force.

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Originally Posted by NozomiKei

And yet, like the op said, these are issues that have been brought up by many people in these forums over and over and over and over. Clearly we are dissatisfied by the way they've been (not) handled. This person pretty obviously likes the game; they took the time to type up this fairly massive post.

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In the words of Yoshi-P,

http://www.siliconera.com/wordpress/...03/photo32.jpg

"Whining and complaining" should be seen as warning signs.

When players abandon your game for good, they will be doing so quietly as they won't care enough about your game to knock out a post much less a long thesis.

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Originally Posted by RiceisNice

Because shield bash doesn't have a cooldown. Can't exactly have a skill that's both off GCD and have a cooldown. They can already chain stun better than warriors

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Chain stun pretty useless, as long as this mount resistance and after 3rd stun you can have fun 1 minute waiting resistence wears off.
Not to mention, if you have to chain stun it means the mob is spamming skills and again useless stop just the first few seconds, after that the mob can continue happily spamming its skills.

Then, 30s cooldown is very welcome, it that means an USABLE skill. Actually, the only way to stun is stay still and pray the mobs start cast before aggro goes away from you.

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Originally Posted by RiceisNice

for some fights that warrant it.

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I'd like play my PLD full time, not only some fights. All the rest, forget stuns. GCD always progressing when it happens it is the time to use them and when finally gcd off, it is too late for it. Unless you really meant PLD have to stay still waiting to stun... maybe if he does offtank... but... wtfudge...

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Originally Posted by BreathlessTao

very small minority of the playerbase

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For a well written post, this sentence is a big fail, i have seen this argument in both sides of this and other discussions, which make clears that there's no real minority until the make an in-game poll.

These QoL changes are in some cases harder to implement than new content, because in term of code changing something will take more work than making something new. I agree in part with you, the new content the add so fast is just the same kind of content we already have since day 1, we rarely see brand new content.
About the QoL changes, some are impossible to implement, at least for now, and others are being fixed slowly.

Finally, you mentioned something very important, the EU servers, a lot of people who understand nothing about how internet works asked for this, and a big part of the cash shop income will be used for this, for something that will only please a number of players affected by lag who will not notice big changes, because the heavy lag most experience is caused by low quality ISPs.

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Originally Posted by Chiramu

OP, where are this so-called QoL changes from?

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His imagination?

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What game can you list that has this stuff? A Korean F2P MMO?

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Is this relevant? Why does it have to be "done before"?

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Fix the body shapes? Why? Why get the design team to work on body shapes that look really good already when they could be working on new content?

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Why are your wants (content) more important than his wants (body shapes)?

So tired of self-appointed "defenders" of SE's "honor". /smh

Who react to any suggestion that the game isn't perfect and could use improve/change is perceived as a slight against SE.

When all they are doing is silencing feedback - negative or not, it is still feedback - and preventing the developers from receiving the information they need.

Why do people do this? I honestly don't know. I have a pet theory that they do it just to inflate their own ego - no offense, just a theory - so they can get the feeling that they are "speaking for" the developers and are somehow superior to other players.

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Originally Posted by Bishop81

In the words of Yoshi-P,

http://www.siliconera.com/wordpress/...03/photo32.jpg

"Whining and complaining" should be seen as warning signs.

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That is the realest most self-aware image i've ever seen come out of an MMO developer's mouth, let alone put in text on a screen.

I really wish this guy would direct the main FF titles as well, for gods sake they need the memo.



But overall, i'd take fun, playable content over little character aesthetic changes any day. Clipping is annoying and nobody minds having a bit more ass, but honestly it's not that important.

I for one wouldn't mind if they take time off from end game content and do a touch of work on the actual 1-50 (soon to be 1-60) content. Yes getting your first class/job to cap is fun and exciting. Unfortunately the other combat classes/jobs...not so much. For a game who's big selling point is only needing one character to do it all, they've certainly made it as un-fun as possible to do it. I actually rather make multiple characters to level jobs at this point because it's simply too painful otherwise.

My suggestion is this, simply unlock the sidequests when on a new class. Just only allow the exp reward that way it limits the items and money coming into the economy. And when a quest is marked as done on a certain class it can't be turned in again on that class. That gives players on dps classes something else to do besides the same 5 leves for 5 levels at a time while waiting an hour for a dungeon run.

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Originally Posted by BreathlessTao

[*]body types - every individual of a given race is an exact replica of the other (save for height) in 2014....really?[*]tattoos - both for body and for face, also see hair styles

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These are the 2 things that are absolutly bothering me ATM.
Really can't stand that everyone has the exact same body type. Even just a couple options would be a good start. Skinny, Thin, Medium, Muscular, Chubby.
Almost every MMO i've played since 2009 has the possiblity to fully customize your character, including sliders for every face part and body part.
(can't say it's not possible and honestly at this point would actually be pretty easy to implement since the height slider is already in the game, it's completely changing every bodyparts size. This hints towards the other body parts "sliders" already existing but just not available in our client. INB4 ps3 limitations with option to disable customized bodies for less dataflow.)

Alittle more freedom on height would be nice as well.

And addition of permenant tattoos on the body would be awesome.

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Originally Posted by Chiramu

You tell SE to spend some money? How can you not realise that SE work non-stop producing new content?

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Working non-stop is not enough when they've told us themselves that their dev team is pitifully small. They really should spend money on hiring more people. The same is true for better servers, which they've said they wanted to avoid spending money on. And they did avoid spending money on them, and gave us the housing subdivisions instead that people were complaining about because they're being treated as inferior residents.

Ok, so a few things.

PS3 limitations. When that's the straight argument why features/content are not getting done - you know it's holding back development. So there's the answer to everyone wondering about that.

Things "working fine as they are". Like I pointed out, something being used out of necessity - because that's the way it's been done, because there is no alternative, because it's "needed" one way or another in the game - is not equal to that something actually working fine. If it was fine, there would not be complaint threads about it which show up not only once but time and time again. It can be argued, sure, but the fact that it's argued about is a sign in itself that the given thing is not fine as it is.

Discussed and never going to change. Clipping: a game has a race fully available for character creation, yet most of the gear fails to actually accomodate to its basic body features - that's really ok? Might as well have boobs poking through every chest piece, what's the difference? RMT: already way too abundant, already way too intrusive, already nothing's being done about it (eg. limit /tells to friend list, decline friend request AND blacklist with one click), we might as well have the convenience of mailing stuff to our alts at least.

It's an MMO. Yeah, it should be social. Which would start at actually respecting first-timers, for example, in main scenario roulette, and not forcing them to skip in-gamecutscenes while at the same time expecting them to have watched all available 3rd party guides and know the fight blindfolded and backwards. Sadly, not the standard. Also, it is an MMO - and it is an RPG as well - which doesn't only mean being able to choose from tank/healer/DD.

People want things to do? How about helping others out? Teaming up with them to get them through the story/quests/dungeons, to help them gear up faster, to teach them fights or crafting or gathering or whatever else - y'know, being social in the process? Yes, that needs certain designing as well, maybe a few changes. Actually reward the "teachers" for their time and effort so it's worth it for them. (See low level roulette right now, for example.) Alternatively, dump in the harder modes for dungeons/raids/trials - it's been said that what we get in game are the toned down versions, so it shouldn't be too difficult to add in the "originals" as well, having more challenges for those who are into such. With proper rewards, of course, so that it's actually motivating (hint: NOT the relic "quests").

New content is fun, but more often than not it's relevant for a few months and then gets - no, not even old, just replaced. Exactly because of this pace of the dev team, which is actually probably quite punishing for them as well, since they are so few in numbers. The things I listed, however, are more general, more at the core of the game, meaning they'd be along for the long ride, as opposed to left behind and becoming obsolete.

And no, these are not my things - maybe one or two that I've seen brought up less than once, but all the rest is only a compilation of what I see showing up time and time again. These are things that the community apparently wants enough to have them pointed out / discussed / argued, pretty much on a constant basis. I know that what's on this forum is not the entire playerbase, but it's what we (I) can go by, at any rate. SE could initiate a player poll, but there's no guarantee everyone would do that, either. So the forums really are the best resources for now, even more so because they do have a specific feedback-atmosphere in general.

Far be it from me to belittle their work; nowhere have I said they don't work hard enough. In fact, even with all the hostility Yoshi and the team's been getting lately since the housing fiasco, I could never even be mad at them. I've been upset, perhaps disappointed, but I couldn't bring myself to diss them, I couldn't bring myself to hate on them, I couldn't bring myself to agree with people demanding their heads. Sure, I could leave the game - if I didn't like it. But I do, hence this quasi-desperation. You can't get emotional over something that you don't like, and I'm clearly emotional over this. Sure, anyone can leave at any given point. But indeed, if someone wants to leave, they do it quietly, they don't care to offer parting words, let alone any kind of feedback. It's not a solution to anything. It won't get your next raid more interesting, it won't get you have different options to dress your character in the next ilvl gear, it won't spark an idea to solve any specific issue at all. It'll only lead to SE noticing they're losing money on the game, which will be too late, and the next thing you know is that the game you've stuck with because you claim you like it is being shut down.

So no, I'm not ignoring their hard work. But yes, I am saying they need to reach deeper into their pockets. Take a little look back at how many times we've been told "it would be difficult" / "hardware limitations" / "infrastructure limitations" / "the team is very small". Hearing these so often, while at the same time seeing several sites reporting how much profit SE has been making? I'm not sure it's wrong to react with shouting "SPEND SOME DAMN MONEY" at the screen.

Again, just my 2 gil. But I like to think I'm making some sense at least.

I don't know about you but I consider QOL to be changes that help something that can be done currently to some extent but make it easier.
While I'm not saying butt and other appearance changes wouldn't be nice (I'm sure lots of people would appreciate them), I wouldn't categorize them as QOL.
So here's how I would reorganize your list:

Non QOL: Either additions, visual bug fixes, or NEW feature

• body types - every individual of a given race is an exact replica of the other (save for height) in 2014....really?
• hair styles - being asked so much I lose count of it sooner than the Sabotender Emperatriz loses count of her needles
• facial hair - see hair styles
• makeup and facepaint - should not be the same, also see hair styles
• tattoos - both for body and for face, also see hair styles
• relic weapons - please find another way to keep old content relevant
• conversation options - is bad enough that our PCs are completely mute, at least give us a few dialogue choices please
• NPC relationships - I don't even mean romance, but roleplaying is more than just being tank/healer/dps
• clipping - seriously, fix it (at the very least, for the love of Menphina, if you have races with tails and "weird" ears, have alternative versions of gear that properly accomodate to these)
• those butts - yes, I went there, as they're also completely ridiculous in my opinion

Somewhat QOL if it's just asking for actual small improvements (like asking for a mass desynth, for example, as it means not clicking 3x per item) but asking for a complete rehaul is usually beyond the scope of a QOL fix

• housing - not even going into details, could use a complete rework
• desynthesis - having to balance improving this, in a game that's built on a strong multi-class system is simply ridiculous
• chocobo - skills, usage, training, coloring... pretty much a complete overhaul again, because none of these is fun

QOL:Improvements on existing systems that make that system a little less annoying such as less clicking, or more information, or making things easier to find.
The stuff that would actually show up in a QOL patch:

• storage options - immense amount of stuff, insanely inadequate ways and space to store them
• glamour system - the way it works, the availability of items, the restrictions
• crafting materials - at the very least, move them from boss chests to side ones, replacing potions in dungeons
• friend requests - why do we have to not accept once and then decline too to make it disappear?
• inventory - not being able to reorganise when doing certain things because why exactly?
• handling alternative characters - please let us send stuff to our alts, at least those on the same server
• ordering lists - while several features were introduced to help organisation, the emote list, for example, is still completely random
• duty registrations - can't be done while chocobo is summoned, withdrawn when summoning chocobo... why do we have the companion again?

A QOL patch would be nice, but it'd be easier for them to focus on what to develop if we focus on actual QOL, not rehauls and non-QOL improvements.

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Originally Posted by BreathlessTao

RMT: already way too abundant, already way too intrusive, already nothing's being done about it (eg. limit /tells to friend list, decline friend request AND blacklist with one click), we might as well have the convenience of mailing stuff to our alts at least.

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I agree with 99% of your main quote, with the exception of the above one.

SE/Yoshi-P is doing something about this. If you think it's easy...well it's not.

Remember when they thought they could mass ban people for having RMT gil...when it was distributed to non-gil-buyers. They kept track of the gil, and it was distributed too fast, and a lot of people were banned that did nothing wrong...I just want to say and reiterate this is a very tricky hard, difficult, grossly misunderstood, thing and it takes time and effort.

Then I shall say this, bash the RMT supporters (people that buy gil) instead of hating on Yoshida-san, and teams effort.

Do some research and you may be surprised...

-Tari

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Originally Posted by Linadae

I for one wouldn't mind if they take time off from end game content and do a touch of work on the actual 1-50 (soon to be 1-60) content. Yes getting your first class/job to cap is fun and exciting. Unfortunately the other combat classes/jobs...not so much. For a game who's big selling point is only needing one character to do it all, they've certainly made it as un-fun as possible to do it. I actually rather make multiple characters to level jobs at this point because it's simply too painful otherwise.

My suggestion is this, simply unlock the sidequests when on a new class. Just only allow the exp reward that way it limits the items and money coming into the economy. And when a quest is marked as done on a certain class it can't be turned in again on that class. That gives players on dps classes something else to do besides the same 5 leves for 5 levels at a time while waiting an hour for a dungeon run.

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thisx1000000000000000

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Originally Posted by Linadae

I for one wouldn't mind if they take time off from end game content and do a touch of work on the actual 1-50 (soon to be 1-60) content. Yes getting your first class/job to cap is fun and exciting. Unfortunately the other combat classes/jobs...not so much. For a game who's big selling point is only needing one character to do it all, they've certainly made it as un-fun as possible to do it. I actually rather make multiple characters to level jobs at this point because it's simply too painful otherwise.

My suggestion is this, simply unlock the sidequests when on a new class. Just only allow the exp reward that way it limits the items and money coming into the economy. And when a quest is marked as done on a certain class it can't be turned in again on that class. That gives players on dps classes something else to do besides the same 5 leves for 5 levels at a time while waiting an hour for a dungeon run.

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This is just not true...

F.A.T.E.S., Guildhests, and GC Leve's are also things you can do, you limit yourself by not doing these other viable, leveling options. Plus, you might learn something or some game mechanic from the Guildhests

-Tari

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Originally Posted by Meshico

This is just not true...

F.A.T.E.S., Guildhests, and GC Leve's are also things you can do, you limit yourself by not doing these other viable, leveling options. Plus, you might learn something or some game mechanic from the Guildhests

-Tari

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I disagree with this. F.A.T.E.S., Guildhests, and Leves are often boring and inconsistent. There is no steady sense of progression chasing FATES, if your not a healer or a tank you have to wait for Guildhests for long periods of time, and you can only do so many Leves before you run out/die of boredom. At least with side quests you have some sort of story to play through and you get a consistent sense of progression as you move upwards from zone to zone.

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Originally Posted by LalaRu

Wow so a long list.
I'll be happy just with PLD's Shield Bash taken out the general cooldown.
Pretty nonsense, PLD have silence out the gcd but not the stun, pretty overlooked as long as any other stun around is out the gcd.
Or PLD that can stun are too much OP?

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this this this this this!
I hate having to stand around doing literally nothing while waiting for a boss/monster to start an attack so I can interrupt it.

http://i.imgur.com/L7tB8oD.png