will we eer get a "Trust system" like what 11 has?

I would like to see a trust system like what 11 has, I'd like to be able to bring my retainers into the battle field, or maybe even NPC's from the story, has anyone else noticed when hiring a retainer you can chose a voice? I think it wouldn't take much to make it so your retainers or NPC's could join you in battles or dungeons.

In 1.0 we had companions that were part of the path of the twelve with us. They even were in main story quests with us it was pretty cool! I would love to get them back in some form again.

+1 from me!

Well I definitely wouldn't say no to a different companion than my chocobo. Would prefer to fight with my retainers though. I wouldn't say no to a story arc that involved guiding another adventure that travels with you for the future either. I do love the story content in this game.

Hopefully we could do duties with them.

eh why not just have a new choice like mounts and minions except have it companions if we do it that way, so we can more than just retainers maybe let us pick a few select mounts like the Ahriman or beast tribes.

I don't see this working in the game as most everything is a well-scripted dance. Trust AI is fine for XI as battles are completely different, but I don't see them being able to program them for XIV to dodge and jump around the non-stop ground AoEs.

I mean, if they could somehow get it to work, i would LOVE to have the option, but i just dont think they could make it happen :X

whats the point of a COMPANIONS tab if we only have 1? Maybe its different in the jp version though...

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Originally Posted by Skivvy

I don't see this working in the game as most everything is a well-scripted dance. Trust AI is fine for XI as battles are completely different, but I don't see them being able to program them for XIV to dodge and jump around the non-stop ground AoEs.

I mean, if they could somehow get it to work, i would LOVE to have the option, but i just dont think they could make it happen :X

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I can see that being a problem. It seems like all NPCs, whether allied or enemies, all use the same AI system and will not bother to move out of the stupid. Only way they could work around this is if they made your NPCs be extremely tanky with high defense or tons of HP to compensate, though we don't want to have them basically carry players either...

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Originally Posted by bass9020

In 1.0 we had companions that were part of the path of the twelve with us. They even were in main story quests with us it was pretty cool! I would love to get them back in some form again.

+1 from me!

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didn't know there was something like that in 1.0, but I just thought it'd be great to see, here's to hoping they bring it back

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Originally Posted by Skivvy

I don't see this working in the game as most everything is a well-scripted dance. Trust AI is fine for XI as battles are completely different, but I don't see them being able to program them for XIV to dodge and jump around the non-stop ground AoEs.

I mean, if they could somehow get it to work, i would LOVE to have the option, but i just dont think they could make it happen :X

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well I have seen plenty of DPS's that refuse to move out of AoE due to keeping their DPS up so whats the difference?

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Originally Posted by Cakekizyy

Hopefully we could do duties with them.

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I'd like to see that as well

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Originally Posted by ADVSS

whats the point of a COMPANIONS tab if we only have 1? Maybe its different in the jp version though...

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good point never thought of that myself.

Didn't they say we'll get our companions back somewhere down the line?
Or was that just wishful thinking?

Kyleee~
Come back to me, my boy..:o

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Originally Posted by DarkStaoneDragon

well I have seen plenty of DPS's that refuse to move out of AoE due to keeping their DPS up so whats the difference?

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While I'm sure this is a bit tongue-in-cheek, things wouldn't go so well when your healer trust just stands there eating everything.

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Originally Posted by Skivvy

While I'm sure this is a bit tongue-in-cheek, things wouldn't go so well when your healer trust just stands there eating everything.

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What about having AOEs ignore non-players?

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Originally Posted by Cakekizyy

What about having AOEs ignore non-players?

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That would be quite broken.

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Originally Posted by Skivvy

While I'm sure this is a bit tongue-in-cheek, things wouldn't go so well when your healer trust just stands there eating everything.

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Controls similar to how summoners control there egis? That could be something to look into. Might be more difficult with an NPC though

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Originally Posted by DarkStaoneDragon

didn't know there was something like that in 1.0, but I just thought it'd be great to see, here's to hoping they bring it back

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There was, Minfilia assigned a Path Companion to the player during the 1.0 main storyline when they joined the predecessor organization to the Scions the Path of the Twelve, and Tataru would take the player to a room where you choose a desired class for them and then were shown various 'preformed' companions in terms of race, gender, appearance and gear (the only things you sadly you could sadly personalize with them was their class and name). That companion would then show up automatically during certain main scenario quests and would participate in related duties - they sadly could not be called at will like we can with our chocobo companions here in ARR (or the Trust npcs/npc Fellow in FFXI either). Sadly they could only be used also during the Path of the Twelve storyline that was basically abandoned at patch 1.18 when Yoshi took over and the game's storyline was re-purposed into the Seventh Umbral Era story as part of the lead up to the game's shutdown and replacement with ARR.

They were also there to serve a gameplay function in that because the player started 1.0 with the Armoury System completely unlocked and could choose to start the game even as a Disciple of the Hand or Land (unlike ARR), naturally the game had to make allowances for this during the storyline for those who wanted to play a more pacifistic role - the Path Companion was one of those ways that a crafter or gatherer could do story quests (in that the Path Companion would do all the fighting automatically and the player's character could stand back out of harm's way if they weren't a melee or mage class).

Either way, I've said it repeatedly that I would love to have the Path Companions back, they weren't just there to fight but actually had personality and actual dialogue in cutscenes (my companion Imarah was rather... sultry and kept making passes at my character ;), something that I dearly miss in ARR:

http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/s...pscwk4gvkv.jpg
http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/s...psquytub1z.jpg ;)

The chocobo companion is satisfactory as a fighter, but it seems like animal abuse every time I summon him to my side, and retainers are definitely not adventurer material (the game actually shouted that in 1.0 when you hired them, that's why they're retainers in the first place!) so I wouldn't trust them at my side - I want an actual trained adventurer like myself helping me, which is what the Path Companions actually were, they were actual adventurers like the player - they even had the Echo as well! ;)

One final point about the Trust system in FFXI that needs to be remembered is that the whole reason it was even added in FFXI in the first place is because FFXI has reached it's Indian Summer and thus between lack of interest in doing anything other than the most recent content, a very low and declining player population and a level cap that is now maxed out at 99, the Trust system was added to allow players to play previous story content without a party (because trying to get a party to do anything like that now is virtually impossible) - this is especially helpful for new players just joining. FFXIV isn't at that stage yet, plus apparently the development team is looking at adding the ability to command a troop of Grand Company soldiers in duties like dungeons in the future (when GC ranks are increased), so this is kind of already planned technically. But I guess we'll see. :)

@Enkidoh thanks for the Screenshots I would love to see that especially if they interacted with you like that, I know on 11 if you had certain trusts in your party they would have conversations with each other either a simi-romantic chat or insulting chat, it was interesting to say the lest.

The partners or whatever in 1.0, did you have to gear them?

Didn't they say they would like to add controlling troops in the new grand company ranks

trust system is awesome in FFXI because the game is based around parties (doing mission with trusts is awesome u dont need to LFP to do that genkai or AF , or boss ect...) , FFXIV overworld zones ....however is based around 1 player (chocobos are useless or near useless)

now if they add content thinking that every1 is going with 3 trusts (light party) then ok ....

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Originally Posted by Derio

Didn't they say they would like to add controlling troops in the new grand company ranks

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I think that it was almost a year ago(?), YoshiP said something that they were looking at (before Solo & Unsync options were added to Duty Finder I think) is having GC followers that can join you in Dungeons for solo, instead of looking for live players.

Not very confident it's going to happen though.. the dungeon navigation with followers can work. We've had MSQ quest where NPCs follow and fight with us, that AI is practically finished already (Choco AI too). But the boss fights, they may have underestimated how much new AI scripts would be needed or how many boss mechanics would need to be removed to get many bosses playable solo with NPC followers.

I'd appreciate it though if they got it to work, hope for it too

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Originally Posted by Warlyx

trust system is awesome in FFXI because the game is based around parties (doing mission with trusts is awesome u dont need to LFP to do that genkai or AF , or boss ect...) , FFXIV overworld zones ....however is based around 1 player (chocobos are useless or near useless)

now if they add content thinking that every1 is going with 3 trusts (light party) then ok ....

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The question then becomes "how much access are you giving to the companions?" in an MMORPG. I LOVE the XI Trust system, but that comes from the want for solo content. The only reason it exists is because of that lack of players to form parties. Giving players a means to bypass a need to interact and deal with other players (because of lack of a necessity or to avoid the bad ones) has a noticeable history of removing group needs. The Trust system is an obvious one, but another is something like Garrisons in the current expansion of WoW. While it doesn't involve NPCs joining in you combat (technically), it does involve removing the player from needing groups to get what you want. (Edit: This is referring to the perspective that players willingness to group declines further, not that the group content won't be there.)

While this is obviously not the case for everyone, and it's clear they wouldn't allow such a feature to work in max level content, it would absolutely hit the mentality of many players to avoid groups or interaction whenever possible. If players are okay with a move that creates different content away from groups/interacting (think if PotD was solo only with an NPC party if wanted), then it'd be fine. I'm certainly okay with it (since it'd essentially make the game more single player friendly with varied content), but I'd imagine that sooner or later, others wouldn't be lol.

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Originally Posted by Xenosan

I think that it was almost a year ago(?), YoshiP said something that they were looking at (before Solo & Unsync options were added to Duty Finder I think) is having GC followers that can join you in Dungeons for solo, instead of looking for live players.

Not very confident it's going to happen though.. the dungeon navigation with followers can work. We've had MSQ quest where NPCs follow and fight with us, that AI is practically finished already (Choco AI too). But the boss fights, they may have underestimated how much new AI scripts would be needed or how many boss mechanics would need to be removed to get many bosses playable solo with NPC followers.

I'd appreciate it though if they got it to work, hope for it too

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My assumption was that it'd be for primarily low level content or select story dungeons. Stuff that really doesn't matter on the mechanics end that couldn't just be brute forced through. That would obviously mean that the few mechanics that are dangerous to us, the players, would have either have an improved AI or not affect NPCs as much (like if the companions had a natural buff that reduces environment/AoE damage taken by 80%). Notably, this is referring to bosses like the last one in Stone Vigil or maybe the ones in AV.

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Originally Posted by KitingGenbu

The partners or whatever in 1.0, did you have to gear them?

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Sadly no. Their appearance, gear and class were locked and could not be changed at all (presumably they had default stats that probably matched the player) - the only way to do so was to go back to the Waking Sands (at that time, it was in the centre of Ul'dah where the Hall of Flames now is) and ask Tataru to assign you a new Companion, where you went through the selection process again. In battle they also fought completely automatically, the player had no control over what they did (their AI did seem to follow what the player did though). Either way, it was a sadly underrated aspect of 1.0 that actually worked and which I miss. ; ;

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Originally Posted by Atoli

Didn't they say we'll get our companions back somewhere down the line?
Or was that just wishful thinking?

Kyleee~
Come back to me, my boy..:o

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It's there... somewhere hidden... Along FC primals capture in the open world.

I don't see that XIV really needs the Trust system? We have Duty Finder, XI does not. Duty Finder takes care of finding us other players and sure there's a queue, but most of the time you'll get there and this game is still more than active enough to be able to ask in linkshells/shout for people to help out for obscure/rare things (like Ifrit story mode etc).

The only real use for Trust I could see in XIV is for things like fates, but most of the time there's still enough people around to form a small party and chocobos to fill the rest (at least there are on my server).

Rather than this system, I'd prefer it if we got a "Chocobo feather" item like that one kid wore on his hair in Final Fantasy: Ultimate that let's us speak to our Choco companion and understand what he's saying. That should give them the personality and stuff that the people in this thread seem to desire. There are plenty of human "NPCs" in this game, and I'd much rather they expand upon this existing system rather than dumpster it for something from 1.0.

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Originally Posted by Welsper59

My assumption was that it'd be for primarily low level content or select story dungeons. Stuff that really doesn't matter on the mechanics end that couldn't just be brute forced through. That would obviously mean that the few mechanics that are dangerous to us, the players, would have either have an improved AI or not affect NPCs as much (like if the companions had a natural buff that reduces environment/AoE damage taken by 80%). Notably, this is referring to bosses like the last one in Stone Vigil or maybe the ones in AV.

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yeah , a trust system could work for low lvl dungeons and some trials (since there is a lack of ppl doing that and u need to do that dungeons in order to advance the MSQ) , is true that we have DR low lvl and DR trial and new players are put first on queue....but that doesnt stop waiting for hours (that can be true....in some data centers i guess)

In FFXIV we have tons of content for parties , raids , dungeons , trials , deep dungeon , diadem, pvp ....outside leveling/questing , there is a lack of "solo challenges" Deep dungeon was supposed to be 1 , but going solo is more handicapping than challenging yourself , plus some jobs (dps mostly) have no way to advance bosses are a huge barrier when u have little to no healing , trusts could alleviate this...

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Originally Posted by loreleidiangelo

Rather than this system, I'd prefer it if we got a "Chocobo feather" item like that one kid wore on his hair in Final Fantasy: Ultimate that let's us speak to our Choco companion and understand what he's saying. That should give them the personality and stuff that the people in this thread seem to desire. There are plenty of human "NPCs" in this game, and I'd much rather they expand upon this existing system rather than dumpster it for something from 1.0.

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Just so long as your Chocobo companion isn't making lewd passes at the player, like the 1.0 companions did! :eek:

I miss my path companion...evil lil caster!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe when you chose them it would go into a cut scène and you would view various random ones? and they would tell you a bit of a story about each one? Or maybe I'm thinking of something different. They asked various questions of what you'd like. Or maybe that was retainers??

I find it interesting that you can chose a voice for your retainer (seems like it was mentioned here already), but of all the times I have called my retainer I've never heard their voice, maybe that could be our trust system? or maybe bring back the 1.0 companions, we can only hope,

While I did once wonder why they allowed us to select a "voice" for retainers I eventually just figured it was "easyer" for the dev team to use the Character Creator to let us make our Retainers as they were trying to rebuild a game from the ground up and had a lot or preasure with little time for some things that seamed to small to work hard on (like the texture detail on old 2.0 gear, zoom in on old 1st coil gear & compaire the texture detail to 2nd coil gear... not sure if they even cared to fix this when they added the "replica" versions)

That said I would welcome a NPC, non-bird, ally for open world ( would just make my "new" NPC ally look like a retainer I use class & all just for the lol's if they went that way)

Please god no, I don't play an MMO to play with NPCs.

I'd only be okay with it like 10 years from now when this game is dead (if it even is dead by then).

Wasn't the trust system in part used because FFXI did not have enough active players going through leveling and story content? The story content in FFXI was much more difficult compared to FFXIV, which usually required full parties. So, they basically needed these NPCs to help. That is my impression of why Trust NPCs were implemented though.

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Originally Posted by FoxyAreku

Please god no, I don't play an MMO to play with NPCs.

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Wait, the other 3 people that pop up on most of my DF parties aren't NPCs??

Mind. Blown.

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Originally Posted by Cidel

Wait, the other 3 people that pop up on most of my DF parties aren't NPCs??

Mind. Blown.

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They seem it most of time lol GOTTA LOVE DF!

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Originally Posted by FoxyAreku

Please god no, I don't play an MMO to play with NPCs.

I'd only be okay with it like 10 years from now when this game is dead (if it even is dead by then).

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Then don't use them.