Anyone not so excited for 2.2 and the future of this game?

[Edellis]

I couldn't agree more on the rationale, but couldn't disagree more on the execution.
FFX-2, FFXIII, FFXIII-2 and now FFXIII - LR are horrible games. They completely broke away from FF tradition. FFXII's major sin was turning Avatars such as Odin and Alexander into lame airships. Where is the "Fantasy in that?" But FF12 was still much better than anything after it.

There was nothing odd about this. The Ivalice titles always had a round-about way of incorporating those types of elements into Final Fantasy, as they have always had their own Avatars to draw from (of which there are plenty to summon and use in-game.) Since Ivalice is a long-running world, it would be pretty hard to incorporate Bahamut/Odin/Alexander into a persistent history as they were in the other FF titles.


The real problem with modern Final Fantasy is that it no longer has a realistic view of its own scale. It seems like the higher-ups of Square Enix want Final Fantasy to be this super dramatic, highly emotionally drawing tale, so all of their focus is on trying to be super popular.


The older games just had naturally compelling stories that never tried to be anything other than a good story. Most importantly, gameplay always came first, and was ultimately used to progress the story MORESO than the storyline itself (coughFFXIIIcough).


This is what happened to Final Fantasy 7, a game with an absolutely amazing script that's been fanserviced and plagued with melodrama (that never existed in the original game) since Square realized they could make tons of money as long as they give Cloud a face in CG and make all the characters sulk around.

[Orophin]

I don't see the allure of staying one level for 7 years and swapping between 8 different gearsets.

[Tupsi]

I thought they changed to entire dev team after the fail of 1.0.

No, they changed only the managerial positions - they stated (and as shown by credits) they pulled in people from all divisions and even off of FFXI to relaunch XIV.

[Zantetsuken]

The game needs some meaningful long-term goals (and no, FC Housing doesn't count)


The problem is that nearly all rewards in this game are merely a stepping stone for the next level of rewards - a tragic side-effect of the un-inspired 'linear gear-progression model'

Solution idea:

• Raise the class level cap to 60 over the next 3 patches. Announce that the cap will not increase again until after 2016.
• introduce cap-unlocking quests for class levels 50 and 55. (eg FFXI 'Genkai quests')
• re-define current Lvl gear to actual Lvl [Lvl50:iLvl150] = Lvl51 | I'd prefer something like 'star levels' to differentiate future gear power of the same lvl: ie. lvl50☆☆☆, lvl53☆, lvl60☆☆, etc..
• Introduce branching horizontal gear progression beginning at Lvl 55 - give players new types of gear to experiment with and debate over.
• Introduce new Lvl55+ materia/gear/recipes/food that boosts the effects of traits and abilities at the expense of a % of raw power.

And finally:

• Introduce ultra rare RNG drops from dungeons/FATES/etc of lvl55~60 gear each with unique attributes that cannot be obtained in any other way. (these don't have to be the most powerful, but they should be useful and interesting prestige items) - These would be U/U
• Put in place a super powerful lvl60 weapon/gear quest that takes a minimum of 6 months to complete for the most dedicated of hardcores - and an average of 18-20 months to complete for mid-core players. - Most of it should either be soloable or should piggyback on other content, but it should require expertise and dedication in all aspects of ARR gameplay (ie. a rare item from each of the game's dungeons, FATEs, primals, raids, etc. ultra-rare gathering items, and hard-to-make crafted items, drops from treasure hunts, Beastmen quest items, special Guildleve rewards, 100k GC item, etc, etc, etc.. -- Have it all culminate in an epic battle vs a new boss that must be solo'd [eg Maat] to complete.)

[Gucci_Charms]

How can you not be excited for Primal Ultra Difficulty Edition?!

[Skotie]

How can you not be excited for Primal Ultra Difficulty Edition?!

Super Ultra Primal Difficulty Edition soon to come!!!

[Defmetal]

Yeah I want to see more horizontal progression of the same ilvl variety. Gear treadmills get old after awhile because it takes away purpose from what you do. As in, I don't want to spend 3 months getting full ilvl 90 gear, and then have ilvl 100 come out as soon as I do. And then when I'm full 100, 120 comes out. And then 140.

That kind of progression is what turned WoW into a borefest. I'd much rather have FF11 style where they introduce gear sets of similar strength, but vastly different stats and builds. Haste builds, Double Attack builds, Critical Hit builds, Parry Builds, etc. New classes are great too! Just loathe gear treadmills. (Level cap raises are fine .... )

[Orophin]

Yeah I want to see more horizontal progression of the same ilvl variety. Gear treadmills get old after awhile because it takes away purpose from what you do. As in, I don't want to spend 3 months getting full ilvl 90 gear, and then have ilvl 100 come out as soon as I do. And then when I'm full 100, 120 comes out. And then 140.

To be fair, it will have taken 6-7 months before a higher tier of gear came out to replace the i90 stuff, which is about what I predicted would happen. Every 6 months isn't bad.

[IStolzI]

I'm giving it to the first expansion. There are a lot of things about this game I don't like, mostly fail economy, The way gear stats work, and no skill trees/ specialization options.

However, I played XI for years and want this game to succeed. I still have a lot of fun playing it. 2.1 was a vast improvement over 2.0. I'm definetly sticking around for more than a patch or two after supporting the game all through 1.0 ( which I actually enjoyed around 1.2+)

[CYoung187]

I am excited for 2.2, as I still feel like this game has a lot of potential.

I played and loved XI for a long time, but there is no way I could play a game like that anymore. Unless you had 4-5 hours to sit and play you couldn't get much done. There was 0 casual aspect to it. However there are many things XIV could benefit from taking from XI. There is definitly a middle ground between the 2, a game doesn't need to be extreamely easy (XIV) or mind-numbingly grindy (XI). NMs, BCNMs, to get rare drops were great time sinks for hardcore players, there is none of that for the hardcore. The absense of an economy also makes things very stale end-game. There is nothing extreamely difficult for the hardcore to strive for. It seems as though SE wants to avoid that because it will deter the casual player. I am a casual player and it is not going to upset me one bit that the hardcore player has better equipment then me, they should. I love that I can get great gear by casual means, but it is retarded that I can get the best gear that way. I can get a i90 body piece in a few weeks and there is nothing better then that? Come on .