[Dev1058] Hate Meter / Pros / Cons / Open Discussion

[Altano]

*You have to glance at the meter for half a second and you know what's going on. That's like saying because a car has a speedometer it encourages you to watch that instead of the road.

I drive a manual transmission and know the speed and rpms of my car based on gear and sound of engine, not the meters. :P But I've also been driving this car for seven years, so I know exactly how to work it. My analogy follows below...

On a serious note, however, I think this display has a place in this game as long as it doesn't allow you to see beyond your own enmity level as a percentage of the person currently drawing the mob's attention. I do think it encourages smart gameplay by giving people the opportunity to know if a (for example) 3000 TP Doomspike II fully loaded with Ferocity II will draw aggro (Protip: It probably will). I imagine that players who don't need it will ignore it. I also imagine that as players learn how much their playstyle and class/job tends to accumulate enmity, they will pay less attention to it in everyday settings.

Admittedly, I played WHM in FFXI in the same shell as OP, joining generally around the time he no longer played much and had about the same level of respect among the same group of people that he had earned. It felt nice and all because I knew I did what I needed to do correctly. I rarely used Stoneskin or Blink in everyday gameplay because I was either confident or cocky enough (or both) to not need/use them. And I was almost always right. The times I was wrong tended to be calculated risks (needing to use a -ga Cure spell against flies comes to mind) knowing full well that I could end up face-down but at least the whole party wouldn't wipe (Protip: I probably would). And in general I was proud of how well I managed hate.

But this isn't FFXI (although judging by the way these forums have reacted to last nights battle adjustments post, you'd think it is on its way there). And I think that in terms of optimizing high-end battle content (something this game has been SORELY lacking), it just might have a place here. I doubt it is a necessary tool, but I don't see it harming the overall gameplay. People will use it when/if necessary and not always stick to it by the letter, judging for themselves what is needed from them in the battle...just like after running through a zone enough times, you know it well enough to not need a map even when you aren't sticking to the path.