FFXIV Bitter Sweet

[Soukyuu]

People just continue to prove my point...

[Merceus]

God I'm so tired of all these moaners! Posting about how bad this and that is. Why can't you stop playing and leave the forums for us who wants to stay? We don't care about your whinning!

People "whine" because they don't want to just stop playing. They find some level of enjoyment from the game but it leaves them feeling like there are things that could be done better. I'm included in this.
If you don't contribute to the thread in a meaningful way, why post in that thread?

[MistressAthena]

How so? Each class had it's set of "optimal" gear everyone wore. Leves were just as repeatable. Granted, GC quests were a lot more involving, but that was because of the Umbral era storyline - they were essentially the continuation of the main story - something that is filled by hard primals & coil this time. Class quests were just "done once and forgotten", the only difference was that they started later in the game, lv30 afair. Chocobo caravan escorts were just as much of a grindfest (for seals) as CM/Prae/AK are now - and people wanted only a specific setup for them, else it wasn't efficient. Back then it was "AoE only" now it's "full DL/relic please".

Are you sure you're not falling victim to the rose-tinted glasses? 1.0 did some things better, like the 1.23 battle system, elemental wheel and monster AI, but it certainly wasn't better in anything else. Powerlevelling to 50 by abusing the party claim system. Now FATE spamming. Grinding same dungeons over and over again for a low drop rate item. Now speedruns for tomes. Open world was just as dead as it is now - additionally being plain copy pasted environment.

I agreed with your initial post, but I don't think 1.0 should be the first example on how to do it right. They had to make 2.0 for a reason.

His Gear and Appearance he said he wanted it to be more customizable, and it was. You could wear any level of equipment at any level. Of course that piece of equipment would be level synced, however, you could ultimately customize your look however you wanted it to be. They also had alot more customizable looks, such as undergarments, could choose 4 different rings to show, could wear 2 diff types of earrings, etc. etc.

Belts also were visible. Just like he said.

Leve's: Yes they were the same old same old, however, the leve's in general were much more immersive. You had to go out and hunt bandits, which were tough. It felt like they really were terrorizing that area, and you had to get rid of them. IF/when you won, sometimes they'd try to run away making it feel like you were giving chase to a wounded enemy, etc. It was more immersive and fun for those small reasons, and you had to travel out into the world quite a bit like he said. The Guildehests also were much more involved, and much harder with better rewards.

Grand Companies: Basically the same thing, a bit more involved, felt more real. They had a big building just to themselves, and the quests were a little more numerous if I remember correctly. They felt like a real entity, not just some mis placed bands of mis fits.

Class Guilds: Also, again, felt more immersive, each one had a long, instructive, and immersive storyline you could get into. Just like he wanted.

Duty Finder: Ok didn't have Duty Finder, but I agree with him on this entirely.

Basically everything he said he wanted 1.0 had in some form or another, whether entirely or partially.

I'm not saying 1.0 was perfect, don't fall victim to the same thing those who claim I'm a FFXI Die hard and flame me for it :P. I'm simply saying just as you said, it did some things right, but initially everything he pretty much wanted in 2.0 WAS in 1.0 in some form or another, please don't mis understand what I'm saying

People just continue to prove my point...

Yes, sadly yes...

[Meklore]

I totally agree with you MistressAthena, not for the want of not liking the game. I want to love this game, I really do.
Along with everything you posted I feel there is another aspect which isn't as tangible as the mechanics or the story.

As I noticed on another thread somewhere and I wish I could find it to give credit where it is due, somebody had posted that this game "has no soul".

The more I thought about that statement the more I realized what is missing, for me, from this game.
Community, Camaraderie, Cooperation and a sense of accomplishment.

Having come from FF XI after almost a decade, and no this isn't a I wish this game was more like XI post.
I realized that it wasn't the game, strictly speaking, that kept me playing as long as I did.

It was being a part of a community, caring about the well being of others and the world(server) as a whole. trying to maintain a good rep, being helpful & friendly to others.
Hell, there were times a random player would run halfway across the zone to give you a raise, and expect nothing other than a "thank you" & /bow in return.

It was the camaraderie of your party, alliance, or LS completing a goal. Reaching level 18 with a pug in the dunes to unlock your subjob WAS a big deal, and everybody threw out congrats to you, because they had all been there and remembered what it was like for them. It was the random WHM healing you when you were getting pummeled by a mob. It was the higher level player who took the time to explain how agro worked and about enmity, or would 'run' you to Jeuno at level 20 so you could get your chocobo license. It was the cooperation of the player base as a whole that made the game what it was.

There was a REAL sense of accomplishment. Unlocking your subjob, unlocking the advanced jobs, crafting a HQ piece of gear that everybody wanted, getting your AF, etc.
Completing these took time & effort and gave the player a real sense of accomplishing something.

As I stated before that although I enjoyed playing XI I don't want ARR to become a clone, I enjoy this game, I do. But, I want to love playing ARR as much as XI.
I want to feel part of the story, I want to be immersed in the game. I want it to suck me in to it so I cannot wait to log in and play.

I want it to have a 'soul'.

[Tenkiei]

"Endgame is grinding a dungeon over and over"

Until you've cleared coil turn 5 you can't say this...most people seem to be confused with ENDGAME (Coil/Crystal Tower) and GEARING, Gearing = leveling (think about it leveling = gaining xp in small increments to increase your effectiveness, gearing = gaining currency in small increments to increase your effectiveness). Why should be slow down levels when leveling is...boring and lacking in depth, are you saying giving me 8 more buttons will suddenly make "Kill 4 mobs, now kill 5 mobs" more interesting? If we want to make leveling fun lets add actual mechanics to leveling mobs say... "if you're within 5y of this mob when this skill goes off he hits for 10,000 damage" or "the mob glares at a person inflicting paralysis if it isn't cleansed they die when it expires", that might actually make leveling engaging, it would of course also alienate most of the player base...

[traja]

Until you've cleared coil turn 5 you can't say this...most people seem to be confused with ENDGAME (Coil/Crystal Tower) and GEARING, Gearing = leveling (think about it leveling = gaining xp in small increments to increase your effectiveness, gearing = gaining currency in small increments to increase your effectiveness).

End game refers to things you do to progress once you reach maximum level. Coming up with your own niche definition for it and calling it fact is just silly.

[MistressAthena]

I totally agree with you MistressAthena, not for the want of not liking the game. I want to love this game, I really do.
Along with everything you posted I feel there is another aspect which isn't as tangible as the mechanics or the story.

As I noticed on another thread somewhere and I wish I could find it to give credit where it is due, somebody had posted that this game "has no soul".

The more I thought about that statement the more I realized what is missing, for me, from this game.
Community, Camaraderie, Cooperation and a sense of accomplishment.

Having come from FF XI after almost a decade, and no this isn't a I wish this game was more like XI post.
I realized that it wasn't the game, strictly speaking, that kept me playing as long as I did.

It was being a part of a community, caring about the well being of others and the world(server) as a whole. trying to maintain a good rep, being helpful & friendly to others.
Hell, there were times a random player would run halfway across the zone to give you a raise, and expect nothing other than a "thank you" & /bow in return.

It was the camaraderie of your party, alliance, or LS completing a goal. Reaching level 18 with a pug in the dunes to unlock your subjob WAS a big deal, and everybody threw out congrats to you, because they had all been there and remembered what it was like for them. It was the random WHM healing you when you were getting pummeled by a mob. It was the higher level player who took the time to explain how agro worked and about enmity, or would 'run' you to Jeuno at level 20 so you could get your chocobo license. It was the cooperation of the player base as a whole that made the game what it was.

There was a REAL sense of accomplishment. Unlocking your subjob, unlocking the advanced jobs, crafting a HQ piece of gear that everybody wanted, getting your AF, etc.
Completing these took time & effort and gave the player a real sense of accomplishing something.

As I stated before that although I enjoyed playing XI I don't want ARR to become a clone, I enjoy this game, I do. But, I want to love playing ARR as much as XI.
I want to feel part of the story, I want to be immersed in the game. I want it to suck me in to it so I cannot wait to log in and play.

I want it to have a 'soul'.

Exactly... It doesn't have a soul, and nor will it if it just focuses on End Game how it is currently.. Even with 24 man raids... it's legitimately no different than the smaller versions other than just more people as a whole spamming the same combo rotation over and over and over and over against enemies which never stood a chance against even half of them......

[Soukyuu]

His Gear and Appearance he said he wanted it to be more customizable, and it was. You could wear any level of equipment at any level. Of course that piece of equipment would be level synced, however, you could ultimately customize your look however you wanted it to be. They also had alot more customizable looks, such as undergarments, could choose 4 different rings to show, could wear 2 diff types of earrings, etc. etc.

Belts also were visible. Just like he said.

Well, yes, but you can do it as well at higher level here. But if you want to be functional, you had to wear a cookie cutter set of equip that maxed out your stats. There were nearly to no alternatives, just like now. Belts is something I miss, personally, their explanation they wanted to give the devs more creative room is kinda stupid, I'd buy it if they said time constraints. If you can only have one belt per body piece, you don't have to test how well it meshes with the other body pieces. Losing different earrings is sad, as well.

Leve's: Yes they were the same old same old, however, the leve's in general were much more immersive. You had to go out and hunt bandits, which were tough. It felt like they really were terrorizing that area, and you had to get rid of them. IF/when you won, sometimes they'd try to run away making it feel like you were giving chase to a wounded enemy, etc. It was more immersive and fun for those small reasons, and you had to travel out into the world quite a bit like he said. The Guildehests also were much more involved, and much harder with better rewards.

Enemies do run away now as well. Not on every leve, as before, which makes it less dull imho. If you know beforehand that the enemy is going to run away, it ruins the experience. If anything, now you have even more diversity, running enemies, having to pacify enemies instead of killing them, having to weaken them before you can kill them, etc.

Grand Companies: Basically the same thing, a bit more involved, felt more real. They had a big building just to themselves, and the quests were a little more numerous if I remember correctly. They felt like a real entity, not just some mis placed bands of mis fits.

Agreed, but I gave the reason why it was like that in my last post.

Class Guilds: Also, again, felt more immersive, each one had a long, instructive, and immersive storyline you could get into. Just like he wanted.

The only class quests that suffered immersion-wise are DoL/DoH. Long live the lala miner brothers!

[MistressAthena]

Snip

So we pretty much still agree minus a few small personal flavors.

As for the small tid bit about having only 1 suit if you want to maxamize, this is true, and of course could of been expanded on if they had been given the chance. Either way for casuals, and or if you just wanted to play dress up, it was an amazing mechanic (I myself loved to throw together different parts to see how it looked, or just to strut around in a cool outfit I put together).

[Arriverderci]

God I'm so tired of all these moaners! Posting about how bad this and that is. Why can't you stop playing and leave the forums for us who wants to stay? We don't care about your whinning!
And for those of you that don't like to level fast: Stop doing fate grinds. Go do dungeons and Guildhests, leves and whatnot. Not complaining about fates - no one is forcing you to speed level! I simple cannot see how fates are ruining the game when it's just an option and not a requirement to level.

Ppl are always crying about players not knowing their class because of fate grinds. Then join a FC and do endgame with your fellow FC mates to ensure the players you are teaming up with knows what they re doing.

And the whole duty finder is bad blah blah blah. Stop using it! Again... no one is forcing you to use it! Join a FC and do dungeons and primals with the players from your FC or even random players on your server. Duty Finder is just a tool to make things easier.

And that is what's wrong with peoples.
Ya'll don't care. This is why the term "White Knight" goes a flying because the moment people say something negative, shit hits
the fan and we're all slashing one another's necks. It gets tiring y'know?
If people, more importantly the Dev's don't listen to us, then have fun having this game fail AGAIN. They seriously MUST step up their game this time around.
It's 2013 with very old boring gaming mechanics. It has to have some competition. I'm not a huge FF fan and I've never really paid to play a game before but this isn't even Sub worthy as it stands.

Leve's people need for their Craft because of allowances. FATE's aren't even a big speedrush. They have lag and crap doesn't even load. It is just the best way to level.
Please make repeatable quest each class or just bump up EXP everywhere else. No one is going to sit and wait 5 years to log into a dungeon that gives less EXP than a FATE. I don't want this game to fail again so we all need to hold hands here and talk about what can be fixed, should looked into, thought about and so on so we can have a really gem of a game here.
They also need lil' fun things here and there so thank God for housing and that Casino thing.

If these posts seriously make you ill, then I suggest just not replying and/or reading them. Not trying to be rude but I have no clue why folk get so hostile when people have legitimate concerns for this game.