[dev1079] PVE and Battle System Suggestions

[Roughgalaxy]

I would like to put this out there... If you are a ff11 player... I'm sure you recall a time when you were standing in a zone of tough mobs staring across the zone wishing there was an easier way to get over there, when out of nowhere some high level person showed up and gave you a "follow me" and escorted you through, safe and sound, to the other side. Now if you played XI you know why players went out of their way to help others... if not, let me explain.

FFXI was HARD! going against something of the same level was almost always suicide, and those who had earned their stripes by winning every hard fought battle understood the struggles of people at lower levels. The difficulty created something I've never seen in another mmo. A camaraderie forged though the beatings and satisfying victories. Many people, after leveling up a ways, eventually returned to those places that had once been nightmares, like long lost guardians. I myself took my redmage back to the deserts around selbina and helped poor groups that pulled an extra mob or had started failing cause the healer had DC'd.

The challenge posed by XI brought the players together. Every fight, even against regular monsters felt satisfying because you knew there was a chance you weren't going to make and you would lose some xp when you fell in battle. Most mmo's these days are mso's, Massively singleplayer online games. Grouping only needed for the most advanced content which was all optional because the stories in those games are forgettable and generic. But this... this is Final Fantasy... Story is what we come for, struggle against insurmountable odds is what we expect, the sting of loss and elation of victory are our bread and butter. This is Final Fantasy...

[Malevolance]

I would like to put this out there... If you are a ff11 player... I'm sure you recall a time when you were standing in a zone of tough mobs staring across the zone wishing there was an easier way to get over there, when out of nowhere some high level person showed up and gave you a "follow me" and escorted you through, safe and sound, to the other side. Now if you played XI you know why players went out of their way to help others... if not, let me explain.

FFXI was HARD! going against something of the same level was almost always suicide, and those who had earned their stripes by winning every hard fought battle understood the struggles of people at lower levels. The difficulty created something I've never seen in another mmo. A camaraderie forged though the beatings and satisfying victories. Many people, after leveling up a ways, eventually returned to those places that had once been nightmares, like long lost guardians. I myself took my redmage back to the deserts around selbina and helped poor groups that pulled an extra mob or had started failing cause the healer had DC'd.

The challenge posed by XI brought the players together. Every fight, even against regular monsters felt satisfying because you knew there was a chance you weren't going to make and you would lose some xp when you fell in battle. Most mmo's these days are mso's, Massively singleplayer online games. Grouping only needed for the most advanced content which was all optional because the stories in those games are forgettable and generic. But this... this is Final Fantasy... Story is what we come for, struggle against insurmountable odds is what we expect, the sting of loss and elation of victory are our bread and butter. This is Final Fantasy...

WOW!!!!

Thats why I played ffxi for 7 years because of what you said right there that is what kept me going in XI. The fact that it was not an easy.

[Irana]

I wish FFXIV would drop the strict attack spam forced combat and allowed for a more free battle system...

RIP 14 as soon as GW2 comes out specially because of what they are promising with the storyline of GW2 (we will shape the state of cities and how the story progress? F yeah).

Yoshi! The game as it is is just a mindless grind with NOTHING TO DO.

[SinMassfx]

bump bump 0.o

[AreeyaJaidee]

Yes. FFXI brings shame to FFXIV. I hope, REALLY hope SE pulls their head out and takes a look at the market around them. Players these days have usually experienced the "OLD SCHOOL" gameplay for a long time.

As a game developer, it is your JOB to be able to make a game sell. Sells only happen when people like your product.

BOTTOM LINE: The customer is always right. No one is going to buy your crap if it fails to meet or surpass current trends in a unique way. You need to frikin listen to EVERY suggestion as if it were your last hope SE. WE ARE THE GAMERS, we know what we want.

[Roughgalaxy]

Bumpity bump bump

[MeowyWowie]

Agree with OP. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The ONLY game SE has to worry about is GW2. Everything else is just copies of what's already out there. Everything about GW2 looks promising. I'm not a big fan of the look of the UI or that its F2P, but those hardly matter considering the rest. If there's any "WoW killer" in development right now, this is likely it. If any game pulls me away from XIV, GW2 will be the one to do it.

[AreeyaJaidee]

Agree with OP. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The ONLY game SE has to worry about is GW2. Everything else is just copies of what's already out there. Everything about GW2 looks promising. I'm not a big fan of the look of the UI or that its F2P, but those hardly matter considering the rest. If there's any "WoW killer" in development right now, this is likely it. If any game pulls me away from XIV, GW2 will be the one to do it.

I wish GW2 was the only one.

Check out this one:
http://archeage-online.com/

Elements:
- Races other than the same old crap: even races that can seamlessly go from biped to all fours while running.
- Players can build ships together or solo... and then sail them... and then shoot cannons from them... at other ships... without requiring a PVE instance...
- Players can build their own homes
- Mostly all of the terrain is traversable (You can even climb the freaking mountains in the distance...)
- You can swim
- You can climb ropes and operate cannons in AND out of PVE events
- You can create VERY unique looking characters at character creation screen: You can even resize and move tattoos around as well as recolor them.
- Dynamic Battle events
- Very good looking high quality graphics
- Jobs which utilize some VERY cool looking effects: First that comes to mind is a mage that summons a giant rock hand from the ground to HOLD a mob in place while the mage attacks another target of that set of mobs.
- Music: The music is actually pretty nice. It is obviously Korean and seem to be very ethnic which is peaceful at times.
- so much more to name but it would be idiotic to list them all
BEST PART: Everything mentioned and SEEN in the videos on their site... ALL this awesome stuff... IS CLOSED BETA!

Wait: You mean to tell me a CLOSED BETA is this much better than FFXIV?

How is that even logical? FFXIV is a RELEASED game...

Trust me... after the several months since I started playing FFXIV (CE release) I STILL find myself asking that SAME question.

Message still stands: SE step it up. You got Koreans AND Americans developing MMOs which make your product look like a little kid ate a box of crayons and crapped it out onto a High Definition piece of paper.

[MeowyWowie]

I have to agree, AreeyaJaidee. Although I only saw a little bit of the game's footage and didn't really research any of the game's progress, it does look pretty amazing. Everything you listed is definitely intriguing, not to mention far more advanced than XIV at the moment. GW2 also just looks like a completely different animal in the MMO world. I'm sure both titles will do well.

Like you said, SE needs to step it up. I've been a FF fan ever since I was a kid and to be looking at other MMOs instead of theirs makes me extremely upset. How can the king of RPGs for 20+ years (my opinion of course) fail so hard with what was supposed to be their flagship MMO title. It boggles my mind. Tic Toc SE.

[MeowyWowie]

I would like to put this out there... If you are a ff11 player... I'm sure you recall a time when you were standing in a zone of tough mobs staring across the zone wishing there was an easier way to get over there, when out of nowhere some high level person showed up and gave you a "follow me" and escorted you through, safe and sound, to the other side. Now if you played XI you know why players went out of their way to help others... if not, let me explain.

FFXI was HARD! going against something of the same level was almost always suicide, and those who had earned their stripes by winning every hard fought battle understood the struggles of people at lower levels. The difficulty created something I've never seen in another mmo. A camaraderie forged though the beatings and satisfying victories. Many people, after leveling up a ways, eventually returned to those places that had once been nightmares, like long lost guardians. I myself took my redmage back to the deserts around selbina and helped poor groups that pulled an extra mob or had started failing cause the healer had DC'd.

The challenge posed by XI brought the players together. Every fight, even against regular monsters felt satisfying because you knew there was a chance you weren't going to make and you would lose some xp when you fell in battle. Most mmo's these days are mso's, Massively singleplayer online games. Grouping only needed for the most advanced content which was all optional because the stories in those games are forgettable and generic. But this... this is Final Fantasy... Story is what we come for, struggle against insurmountable odds is what we expect, the sting of loss and elation of victory are our bread and butter. This is Final Fantasy...

Man... I miss FFXI. Anyone who has played XI for more than just a few levels will understand where Galaxy's coming from with this. If XIV had the same atmosphere as its predecessor I wouldn't be looking at other games at all.

To anyone that says XI is still there, it's not. The game we knew and loved is gone, destroyed by SE's foolish attempt at trying to make it more casual friendly. It's a shame when SE let their passion and skill of making good games go out the window in an attempt to try to appeal to a larger audience. Their attempt failed, it's that simple. Do what you do best SE. Stick to your roots and you'll be fine.