A Realistic and Perfect Way to Implement Airships and Chocobos [dev1002][dev????]

Ok, I'll start by saying, those of you who want Chocobos/Airships NOW, will not like this. And those of you who say its too soon/too small, will hopefully, agree with me here.

Now, saying the game is too small to implement these two features, is mostly true. I don't honestly think many people grasp that FFXIV currently takes place in Eorzea, which is in reality a PART of a continent, While Hydaelyn is the actual WORLD that FFXIV takes place in.

Current Issue with Implimentation

That being said, here in lies the problem, all areas that we can go to are tied together by an Aethyrite network, where we can teleport with Anima to anywhere instantaniously, as long as we have anima (if not thats your own damn fault.), even when you do not have anima, the walks really are NOT that long to warrant having another means of transportation.

So until more continents are added, theres no reason to add chocobos and airships, because, we can get to everything with anima right now.

How it will be useful

Once new continents are added, new "Aethyrite Networks" will be available. There should not be ANYWAY to teleport between different networks...the only way u can get to another continent and use its network is from airship or chocobo, therefore added a neccessity for having chocobos and airships. All the while adding more quests and missions to unlock these features.

While I realize this is probably the plan of SE from the beginning, not many others have stopped to consider this. So consider this a suggestions/information/discussion.

Thoughts or comments?

Not gonna agree/disagree on time implementation, because meh I could care less, but

"Once new continents are added, new "Aethyrite Networks" will be available. There should not be ANYWAY to teleport between different networks...the only way u can get to another continent and use its network is from airship or chocobo"
this is a great idea.

I guess that does make sense. I'm not going to say I'm entirely happy about it, just because I would really like to be able to raise and ride a chocobo now only from a content standpoint. However, it does make sense and I could see this being in their plans for transportation.

yea, I agree though, I have been wanting chocobos from day one, and been periodicly checking the chocobo NPC throughout my time playing the game. But realisticly this is the only way I can see implimentation with the current Anima system.

If it doesn't function like a personal mount that is useable anywhere in the open world i'm gonna be extremely disappointed.

I get the feeling that Anima was supposed be used to make doing leve's easier on a casual level. However I got to believe there is going to be a lot more content outside of leve camps, places that will be off the grid so to speak where a chocobo will come in handy.

I can agree with the OP on the point concerning airships, but I always viewed a chocobo as a short-range transportation method. In that respect, I can see no reason why they wouldn't come in handy even in the current zones we have.

The OP's argument against the immediate implementation of chocobos is based solely from a transportation standpoint. There can be so much more to a chocobo than transportation. As it was said before, there is a valid argument of content. A chocobo can be raised, raced, used to dig, and maybe even bought and sold. Personally, I want to raise my own.

That said, I wouldn't be heartbroken if they waited a while to implement them. My anima rarely completely runs out anyway.

For right now, there is not much reason to bring in airships until they release more areas that would warrant an airship. However, developers have always said that we need to use our Anima wisely. People use Anima for the following reasons.

1. Laziness
2. Area is surrounded by high level enemies.
3. Need to get to a party or NM quickly.

I am sure there are more reasons, but these are pretty much the top ones. I would say the average player uses about near 30 anima a week. I know I do.....

Now here is where chocobos come into play. Having the ability to mount would make it more of a reason to not use anima, and would help prevent having to use it for the three reasons I said above. Having your own mount influences you to see what is going on around you.

One thing I do ask is that SE not make the concept of the Chocobo more complicated than it needs to be. Make it like other MMO's and have the ability to summon your chocobo at will on the field, but at the expense of still having enemy encounter to balance it out.

I would welcome back Chocobo Breeding/Racing/Hot & Cold again, these were fun when you did it on FFXI, and sure it would be just as fun on FFXIV. However, with that though, I would not make it so it affects your normal mounting privlages like it did in FFXI. I loved my chocobo, but I was meh when I found out I had to breed and raise him to make him worthwhile. The concept should be completely separate. So basically what I am saying is, keep normal field mounting and mini-games apart from each other.

I'd like chocobos to be implemented with basic expected functions (riding from point to point) because:

A.) The theme is already in the game data
B.) Even though you can warp to places you've already been, its quite a long walk to places you've been to before. And even if you HAVE been there, sometimes you want to travel to out of the way locations or hamlets, and a chocobo would be very handy. Not to mention another way to circulate gil since you'd have to rent them.

The Aetheryte system works just like XI's telepoint system, except everyone can do it at any given time, provided they have enough anima. Both require you to have touched the crystal or energy point at the wanted location...so why not just implement the expected function of chocobos now, and worry about additional functions later?

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Originally Posted by BlaiseLallaise

The OP's argument against the immediate implementation of chocobos is based solely from a transportation standpoint. There can be so much more to a chocobo than transportation. As it was said before, there is a valid argument of content. A chocobo can be raised, raced, used to dig, and maybe even bought and sold. Personally, I want to raise my own.

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I agree, the raising aspect is one thing Im hoping they implement rather than just renting because renting is nice and all, but no really involvement there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Velhart

Now here is where chocobos come into play. Having the ability to mount would make it more of a reason to not use anima, and would help prevent having to use it for the three reasons I said above. Having your own mount influences you to see what is going on around you.

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I figured no matter what, most people are going to take the quick way to places. Im one of the few who would take a chocobo to see extra places or potential opportunities (NM pop), but like the way the game currently is, people would rather fork up 50k or more for people to teleport them places rather than save and walk.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Teknoman

The Aetheryte system works just like XI's telepoint system, except everyone can do it at any given time, provided they have enough anima. Both require you to have touched the crystal or energy point at the wanted location...so why not just implement the expected function of chocobos now, and worry about additional functions later?

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Two comments:

1) I think they want the game playable and as a source of income before they start adding in stuff like chocobos
2)While teleport acts like the teleport from FFXI, the fact that (like you said) anyone can do it, and that you can change jobs on the fly (u couldnt in FFXI) makes the dynamics of teleporting in FFXIV MUCH different.

Post wall of text: anything that's worth reading will be bolded, the rest is probably just a rant. That's right, I'm looking out for you FFXIV community and trying to save you time!(hint hint SE!)

Wow. I feel like I'm the only one that just wants a damn chocobo to get around on. I must also be alone here actually wanting to play outside of thanalan and not spend 30+ minutes just running across the same copy/pasta zone. "Running out of anima is your own damn fault"? I don't even know where to begin.

Let's see... if you want to do NMs you've got one in Dhona, Coerthas, Black Shroud, LL, Thanalan. That's five spots right there. If you want to do Leves 33+ you've got to hit BW, Noph, Cedarwood, Cassio. I find running to cedar > cassio not that bad, so I'll say 3 teleports right there. This isn't even considering people with x2 leves for each area. If you want to grind raptors you need teleport to camp dragonhead but you can get by with camp glory and running a bit. If you port to any camp from outside of that zone you will use your 6 anima recharge for the day on one teleport assuming it's not your favored destination

See what I'm getting at? You can't log in to do leves, get a little raptor grind in to complete your tnr, take a break, then come back to find your ls getting ready to kill GB and get there in time. There's no way unless you're a 'casual' player that plays ever couple of days or something. Pooling anima together? Someone is still gunna be out. How about your ls aiming to kill NMs every night? Even if 5 people got those camps as their 5 favored destinations they're still out half their anima regen for the day with one teleport. One teleport! Don't get me wrong, I don't mind running from Uldah to camp horizon that much then returning back(deathport of course) but for the love of God this is 2011 and I'm not wasting 30+ minutes of play time running from one city to the next! That's not what I play for! The 'oooohh ahhhhh' of the run ran out probably the 2nd week after launch AND if you still want to enjoy it there's no reason that moving DOUBLE the speed on a CHOCOBO would make it any less of an experience!

Maybe I"m not playing the game right. Maybe you're only supposed to log in to do leves then log out staying within your anima recharge for the day. Maybe you're only supposed to log in to kill an NM or two then log out. Maybe if I've used all my anima regen for the day I should just sit in town and grind a craft. Maybe SE fixed this issue by making it F2P so you can get a second account(like myself and a few others in my ls have done) to make a teleport mule to get around(sorry all you people that can't meet the hardware requirements of running two instances of FFXIV).

Oh but I am not without solutions!
1) Double our anima recharge rate! Simple, easy, no need to use idea numero 2 and it'll make everyone happy. Ok, maybe not the people that are happy with wasting their life running from point a to point b and cry the system is good how it is but hopefully they can somehow get over it. Or maybe they can spend the time they would be running from point a to point b here on the forum bitching about it since they've just saved all that time by a simple teleport. --- Anyway, with 12 anima a day you can teleport outside of your favored locations(twice max!) at least once and still have some anima left to get home or go somewhere else within your playtime for the day.

2) Give me a chocobo! I duno how this hasn't been implemented yet but it's an easy fix(though more difficult I guess than 1)). You've used them to get around in every Final Fantasy ever. Why change now? You want them to have a 'twist'? You when them to be armored so we can ride into combat on them? You want us to raise them, race them, herd them, dress them, feed them, use them to jump tall buildings in a single bound? Cool. You can still do that, just implement that later. ---- Right now I'd kill for a chocobo that I could rent from Uldah to run to horizon and cut my commute in half. Or when I'm out of anima and I need to run to another city this will make it not as bad! You don't want us to easily explore Dhon/Coerthas with a 'monster free ride' on the chocobo? No problem, just give us a little "The chocobo refuses to enter the next area!" message when we try to zone in! This game would be so much more pleasant if the commute time was cut in half by paying a small fee(ah mah gad, gil sink! halp the ecny to!) to ride a bird to areas that I WOULD teleport too but do not at the moment have the anima for.

I dont really have a problem with Anima and I only have one account. Yes Im a casual player, but thats because Im married, have a job, AND go to school. Once Im out of school Ill go hardcore like I did in XI, but I still dont see how its NOT someones own fault for their anima running out. Careful planning and making the right choices of when to use and your fine.


PS. Though, your not the only one that wants Chocobos now...I want them too, I just dont see a plausable way of doing them now.

I'd say just [insert some story/lore here] and the chocobo population has increased to the point where we can rent them out to adventurers now! Then allow us to rent them at the city and preferably camps as well. Hell they don't even have to make the lore ingame, just post on the lodestone. Their goal is to attract people back, not provide some well thought out story as to why we can now rent chocobos but couldn't 8 months ago(they were sick?)

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Originally Posted by Velhart

1. Laziness
2. Area is surrounded by high level enemies.
3. Need to get to a party or NM quickly.

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4. Chocobo music is sweet traveling music!

me 2 cents.

my solution is easy... implement all the transportation.

w/ grand compaines... if the region you wish to teleport is under beastmen control, you can't teleport.

sorta like... ffxi w/ outpost warps.

Like I said earlier I think it boils down to making the game more playable and worthy of a monthly fee, than giving us a mode of transportation.

Well, first off, I think chocobos could be very useful for a number of reasons:

1) I not only use chocobos to get from point A to point B, but I also ride them for fun. Chocobos would serve as protection to explorers moving through vast new areas with high speed movement and zero aggro along the way. Since there's no King Kupofried magic to enable week-long quickened status, like in FF XI, or prism powders/silent oils, this is the only other option for players.

2) The biggest factor going against chocobos/airships etc. is the teleportation system. I see it working in 2 ways.

A) You have a realm where players who have less time on their hands like to get a few hours in and teleport around to the different cities and camps. Chocobos are a nice option, but they may want the quicker solution.

B) Then you have the hardcore players you clock in numerous hours of gameplay everday and use an exceeding number on anima to get levesquests completed, NM parties set up around the world, exploring uncharted locations and hamlets, and more. Eventually you either end up running everywhere (which is a pain in the ass without quickened status) or you teleport to every location you need to get to in time. If you choose to save anima and enjoy the scenic route or want to have the chance to ride a chocobo for the thrills, you can rent one in the city or any nearby camp and take off.

I can see either of these options given to players in the future, but my question is: Why not give players more choices in the game? Have the choice to teleport and waste all your anima -- or spend your gil on a bird and go wherever you want!

Airships are another story, and think chocobos would be best implemented first over the ships. I've located most, if not all the airship docks around the continent of Aldenard and I can understand the lack of their presence at the moment. Almost all the docks are fairly close to a camp anyways, that you can already just teleport to. Each city has their own hidden airship dock on higher/lower levels, they just have no access to the them at the moment. Maybe in the future when more areas become unlocked and more content is added they will become more relevant.

All in all, I think the birds have more of a presence and place here and now. I think they should focus on implementing them first and adding them to all cities and camps for ease of access.

Who knows? Maybe after we get them implemented we can obtain our own personal chocobo for travel and also use them to store items as another retainer/pack mule source out in the field. That's another addition to adding the birds. Maybe your bird can be used to transport items to a friend out in the field also? Just another idea... More options, the better in my opinion.