[SIZE="6"]Books of Conquest[/SIZE]
[SIZE="5"]Explanation of FoV
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In FFXI there was a small content based leveling system called Fields of Valor. FoV was a "bingo book" with lists of different mobs in each zone and different tiers of difficulty depending on your level. When you finished a page of FoV you gained exp and points. These points were used for self buffs, including, food buff, Protect, Shell, Refresh, Re-raise, and a wide other variety of buffs and items you could purchase. You could do several pages and once you hit the maximum amount, you had a two hour or so CD. It was used to help players with jobs that had a low invite rate for parties and people who just wanted to solo, of course, it was much slower than a party itself, but, parties could also dabble in the FoV and kill the higher tier of mobs for a little boost in exp. After you got soo many points and a higher enough level you could do pages that spawned NM's that could drop something special. That is pretty much the basic layout of how FoV works.
A viable Suggestion
Okay, now that we understand the basics of FoV we can look at a possible look at a great tool for content, with plenty of thought and logic put into it, this also is an easy add in due to the fact it does not conflict with the mechanics of mobs and how they work. We start of with a floating book, or even a file at the desk registry at each camp, You click the book, and a list appears for Crafting, and for Disciples of War & Magic. You pick what you wish, with both Crafting and War/Magic on the same global CD with each other to stop an exploit in levels for either of the two. When you chose your Disciple of War/Magic or Land/Hand you get a list that shows different tiers of difficulty just like those of the Leves. You chose your difficulty, and you get another sub list, showing you different pages that you can complete. Each of those lists or pages has a different set of mobs that will need to be killed in order to complete the page. Each mob while under the effect of the FoV will grant a bonus to exp gained when slaying the mob in the "bingo book". Now here comes the fun part. When you complete a page, you turn it back into the same registry or book that is either floating or sitting on the desk at the camp. You get basic rewards, gil, food, and maybe a couple potions.
The next reward compromises of something everybody has a problem with, Anima. When you complete a FoV page you get a set amount of anima (1-3 Anima per completion depending on the difficulty; Like 1 for solo tier, and 3 for the hardest tier) the thought of people not needing Chocobos if you have Anima able to be restored like that, the answer is simple. Use the Anima as a universal currency like guild points, but only for FoV registries/Books. With these points you can buy special mats, that can cost anywhere from 10 anima to 100 anima depending on the mat. With these mats you can craft special higher-tier weapons, armor, food, potions, or whatever your crafting fancy. To limit the fast influx of these weapons, each of them could require ten total items attained from the FoV, which would equal out form anywhere from 600 Anima to 1000 Anima depending on the tier of weapon or armor you want to craft. As a counter-part to this idea, you could make these items Unique and non-trade-able, this way, those that buy gil, or just have everything given to them normally have to actually work towards it.
A final aspect I would like to talk about htis is the implementation of special NM pages. These pages would actually require a set amount of Anima (Anywhere form 80-100 Anima PER person) from each participant in the group, which, should be hard enough so that 15 players would struggle in the fight. What these NMs are is like a ZNM in all cases, you get your page, and that page spawns the NM, claimed, to that party. These NMs drop gear that are non trade able and are very difficult to obtain, much like an HNM fight, but the mob is claimed by those who get the page. These mobs actually drop already made gear that is higher than the crafted tiers, but, remember, it is very hard to obtained and must require a lot of organization with a 15 man party for this to work (Rank 50 players only).
To end this i would like to restate that this system would work, for one, people could actually get anima back, they could use the Anima on more important things, they can implement a sense of "skill" that is needed much like how FFXI had their NM fights, people could feel a sense of pride in completing something new and could bolster themselves with the fact that they did what gil buyers most likely can't. This balances out the game with some level of content for people to work towards, it gives people a reason to log in more often, and it improves morale of the game in general. If you look at it, it also separates the bad shells from the good shells, and creates a sense of competition between people and different shells, and finally gives people a reason to log in every day, or come back to the game.
In conclusion,
the implementation of a FoV system would benefit the player, benefit, the integrity of shells and the community, and build a firm structure for SE to build off from and even use as a way to lure fans back to the game.
This idea is solely a part of the ideas from Areeya Jaidee, Gath Akiro (Me), of Lindblum server, and the base foundation of the whole idea from SE's FFXI Fields of Valor Content.
All suggestions that compliment this in a logical manner is welcomed, and as ideas are presented to improve this system, I will update this. The more people that show interest in this idea, the more likely SE will turn a head towards this. They are listening to their customers, this new team is proof of this. Support Article BoC (Books of Conquest)