Make FFXIV more like FFXI and less like WoW

[Kiara]

And therein lies the crux of the problem. What's the best way to tackle the issues of power creep & content? How can we give players who want to have the activities they enjoy remain relevant without things becoming stagnant for those who want something new? There are way too many people on here arguing for 1 side or the other, when it's a false choice to begin with. There are plenty of other issues as well, but I feel these are the most pressing by far in terms of the long-term health of the game.

I don't want to see older events and gear simply thrown away each update - I liked having a persistent goal in XI, gear to work toward that I knew wasn't just going to become trash shortly after getting it. That made getting friends together to go after it easier and more exciting. XI did a pretty good job of making the content fun (for the most part anyway) even if the drop rates were generally crap (it wasn't all smiles and sunshine, I did a loooooot of complaining over XI back in the day so no, it's not all rose-tinted nostalgia so please stop insinuating that.)

I don't see why that necessarily has to conflict with folks wanted to experience new content and go after new shinies on some kind of regular basis either, though. Doing it every patch is a bit much though. It's like the people who spend $800 on the new iPhone, only to ditch it for the next model that comes out. That really shouldn't be the standard.

Furthermore, why is it us XI vets are the jerks, exactly? Where are you pulling this whole notion that we simply want to hold the rest of you back for our own gratification from? If you actually played XI you'd know that you were never forced to do any one event, that was the whole point of horizontal progression - to give people options for what they wanted to do. It only sucked if you really wanted a specific item and hated the event, and generally that wasn't a fault of the content's design so much as the devs just relying too goddamn much on the RNG and beyond crappy drop rates.

How about looking at yourselves the condescending attitudes that have been directed at us? How about stopping with the finger pointing and name calling. What is so horrible and wrong about having a sense of accomplishment? It's hilarious how some people on these forums whine about the game being easy mode, and that everything is spoon fed to us and then turn around crying that Titan is too hard, or that they have to have their new shinies right away because they already got bored with their current ones.

THAT is precisely why Chains of Promathia was so brutally difficult for people who didn't take the time to learn the game and prepare for each mission accordingly. The fights were challenging but not impossible for a dedicated group that actually bothered to find out what they needed to do, like farming polymers for the airship battle or salts for the bomb etc. It also kept the bad kids out of end game until they learned to be better at the game, if ever.

I'm all for accessibility, it IS still a game after all and should be treated as such. But maybe we need to have a more serious separation of content - stuff purposely designed for the average player, and then events tailored to the serious/hardcore crowd. Right now Coil is the only form of the latter and even then it's not really the case; Enemies were generally pretty OP in XI, but it did at least force us to make the most of our tools. XIV seems to simply just rely on nonsense like landslide where if 1 person doesn't move fast enough, it screws everyone over. There's no skill in that, especially when lag can be a major factor. That's just as dumb as Pandemonium Warden spamming astral flow over and over or Absolute Virtue having access to every single Super Ability.

Hi NefGP,

Great post. I totally agree.

No one in favor of Horizontal Progression is asking for SE to keep it that way forever, but there should be *some* Horizontal Progression and enough time to allow more than the top 1% of players to earn, use and relish their newest gear, before it all becomes invalidated.

There's nothing wrong with wanting a sense of accomplishment looking at the RPG Roots.

For those only wanting Vertical Progression, how would you feel if Yoshi P released a weekly patch raising the Item Level and making last week's gear worthless? I know it's an extreme example, but at some point, even for Vertical Progression lovers, it becomes silly.

Besides the top FCs out there, it would probably take a solid 1 - 2 months to clear the latest "hardest content" (e.g., Coil 1 - 5, Extreme Primals), and then beyond that, dealing with the Random Number Generator to get the drops you actually want (and/or what place in line you are with your FC to receive drops), etc., which is probably another month or 2, let alone finishing up a full set of whatever highest gear set is released. Then what about your 2nd or 3rd Job and gearing that up?

At this pace (with 2.2) of about 6 months (and that's with a month delayed to Server upgrades / transfers, etc.), most average to veteran players wouldn't be close to done, or if they were, they'd have all of, maybe, a few weeks to a 1 month or so(?) to actually use and relish their rewards, before it's all invalidated by the next major patch?

This just isn't healthy. Ultimately, a lot of players come to Final Fantasy XIV because of the name of "Final Fantasy" and the hopes of some RPG aspects in this game. Having a long term goal, finally earning it, and being able to enjoy it for a little while at least, before it becomes worthless isn't too much to ask. Especially if you can use it to help you flesh out your 2nd, 3rd, 4th Jobs, and help out fellow FC / LS / Friends in the game to reach their goals.

Thanks.