Guildleves Reform info up

[VydarrTyr]

Well said, Lucian.

There's a reason that players have all congregated in one city. It's because it makes the game more enjoyable for the players. It's a way that players have minimized many of the game's problems. If we didn't like being in one place, we wouldn't have all moved to the same place.

1) No Means of Travel. As Lucian said, the regeneration rate for anima is already painfully slow, compared to the amount of anima players use daily. Spreading people out throughout the world is going to make this problem worse. Players are going to be forced to spend more of their game time running -- which everyone hates -- rather than fighting, gathering, or crafting -- which are the reasons we play the game.

2) Market Wards. Buyers and sellers like having everyone in Uldah because it's one market where everyone can go. You don't need to travel to 3 different cities just to see if someone is selling one item. Having everyone in Uldah gives us the benefit of a central, worldwide market ward, even though one is not in the game currently.

So forcing everyone to divide into 3 different cities is going to hurt the economy and make it more difficult to buy and sell goods.

3) Party Diversity. Increasing class uniqueness is one of the stated goals of the new battle system. Ideally, every party would be made up of a variety of classes.

But under the new leve system, different classes are going to want to do different leves. Conj/Lnc/Arc in Gridania; Thm/Pug/Glad in Uldah; Mar in LL.

It's going to be difficult to find tanks to do leves in Grid. It's going to be difficult to find melee DPS in Uldah. And it's going to be difficult to find anyone except Mars in LL.

So parties are going to be made up of the same limited classes. That's going to discourage party diversity.

4) Social Aspects. Currently, one of the biggest benefits to having everyone in one city is that there are usually people on to socialize and interact with. The drop in the number of active players is going to be much more noticeable if we're forced to spread out through 3 different regions.

5) No Mailboxes. There's currently no way to give someone else items unless you're standing right next to that person. Forcing us to spread throughout the world is going to make it much more difficult to give items to other players.

Someone from my LS is trying to level Leatherworking, and I've got dodo skins to spare? Sorry, man. You're in Gridania, and I'm working on Blacksmith in LL. I want to help, but not so much that I'm willing to run for a hour just to trade you some skins.

I don't mean this to be a doom and gloom post. I understand that it's going to take time to implement everything that's going to make this game whole. I'm just not sure that dividing players and spreading them out throughout the world is going to be good for anything right now (except maybe server load).

[Kiara]

3) Party Diversity. Increasing class uniqueness is one of the stated goals of the new battle system. Ideally, every party would be made up of a variety of classes.

But under the new leve system, different classes are going to want to do different leves. Conj/Lnc/Arc in Gridania; Thm/Pug/Glad in Uldah; Mar in LL.

It's going to be difficult to find tanks to do leves in Grid. It's going to be difficult to find melee DPS in Uldah. And it's going to be difficult to find anyone except Mars in LL.

So parties are going to be made up of the same limited classes. That's going to discourage party diversity.

I don't mean this to be a doom and gloom post. I understand that it's going to take time to implement everything that's going to make this game whole. I'm just not sure that dividing players and spreading them out throughout the world is going to be good for anything right now (except maybe server load).

Hi Vydarr,

You bring up some great points. I agree with most of them, but a few things to consider:

Re: Party Diversity - At first I was thinking of this as well, but remember one key thing Yoshida-san said - that Guildleves are going to be Solo-focused - there isn't going to be a need for Guildleve Parties the way we're used to, now.

So it's not going to be as much of an issue for Party Diversity for Guildleves, because they're going to be refocused to be more Solo activities.

In addition, people will get to a point where they don't need / want Guild Marks any more for their class. At that point, if they want to still do Leves with friends, they can go wherever suits them (but again it's more of a Solo activity now).

So for SP Parties (out in the open world), we can still have parties as they are and diversified just fine.


Re: the other changes and spreading the players out, I agree that right now, it's tough (with low populations), but at the same time, *something* needs to change. The game is stagnating, there are 2 entire Nations (LL, Gridania) that are ghost towns and abandoned, wasting away.

It'll be good to get some traffic and incentivize people to move about.

The status quo of everyone on the server sitting, crowded in Ul'dah all day and going to Broken Water only is making for a stagnant, boring and dying gameplay experience (even with its many conveniences).

[VydarrTyr]

Hi Vydarr,

You bring up some great points. I agree with most of them, but a few things to consider:

Re: Party Diversity - At first I was thinking of this as well, but remember one key thing Yoshida-san said - that Guildleves are going to be Solo-focused - there isn't going to be a need for Guildleve Parties the way we're used to, now.

So it's not going to be as much of an issue for Party Diversity for Guildleves, because they're going to be refocused to be more Solo activities.

In addition, people will get to a point where they don't need / want Guild Marks any more for their class. At that point, if they want to still do Leves with friends, they can go wherever suits them (but again it's more of a Solo activity now).

So for SP Parties (out in the open world), we can still have parties as they are and diversified just fine.


Re: the other changes and spreading the players out, I agree that right now, it's tough (with low populations), but at the same time, *something* needs to change. The game is stagnating, there are 2 entire Nations (LL, Gridania) that are ghost towns and abandoned, wasting away.

It'll be good to get some traffic and incentivize people to move about.

The status quo of everyone on the server sitting, crowded in Ul'dah all day and going to Broken Water only is making for a stagnant, boring and dying gameplay experience (even with its many conveniences).

Good point, Kiara. You're right. Since leves are going to be primarily solo-content, party diversity in leves is not a concern. (Thanks for correcting me. )

I guess I'm mostly concerned about the timing of these changes.

They're taking away leves as party content before they add in other party content. They're (potentially) nerfing SP from leves before they add in other ways to get SP. They're forcing us to travel before they implement new ways to travel. They're sub-dividing the economy before they fix the economy. They're spreading out the population before the population increases.

I realize we should all be looking long term. And I hope to be here long term. I'm just concerned that the short term might end up being a drag. At least until they implement more stuff to fill the holes in content.

My primary problem with the game is lack of content. I understand that they can't add too much content until they fix the basic battle system. But they're taking away content before they add new stuff in to replace it. They're adding 2 dungeons, but they're taking away leves. Maybe the 2 dungeons will be more content than all the leves, but that would be pretty surprising.

Another example -- In the gathering Q&A, lots of people mentioned that fishing has grade 6 - 10 gathering nodes, but Mining and Botany only go up to grade 5. So people were asking for grades 6 to 10 for Mining and Botany. Instead, SE said they were going to be getting rid of the grades 6 -10 fishing nodes. So instead of adding in more content, they're taking it away.

Of course, 1.18 may have some surprises. Maybe it will actually increase the amount of content. So maybe I'm worried over nothing. Man, I really hope that's the case. We'll probably just have to wait and see.

[Kiara]

Good point, Kiara. You're right. Since leves are going to be primarily solo-content, party diversity in leves is not a concern. (Thanks for correcting me. )

I guess I'm mostly concerned about the timing of these changes.

They're taking away leves as party content before they add in other party content. They're (potentially) nerfing SP from leves before they add in other ways to get SP. They're forcing us to travel before they implement new ways to travel. They're sub-dividing the economy before they fix the economy. They're spreading out the population before the population increases.

I realize we should all be looking long term. And I hope to be here long term. I'm just concerned that the short term might end up being a drag. At least until they implement more stuff to fill the holes in content.

My primary problem with the game is lack of content. I understand that they can't add too much content until they fix the basic battle system. But they're taking away content before they add new stuff in to replace it. They're adding 2 dungeons, but they're taking away leves. Maybe the 2 dungeons will be more content than all the leves, but that would be pretty surprising.

Another example -- In the gathering Q&A, lots of people mentioned that fishing has grade 6 - 10 gathering nodes, but Mining and Botany only go up to grade 5. So people were asking for grades 6 to 10 for Mining and Botany. Instead, SE said they were going to be getting rid of the grades 6 -10 fishing nodes. So instead of adding in more content, they're taking it away.

Of course, 1.18 may have some surprises. Maybe it will actually increase the amount of content. So maybe I'm worried over nothing. Man, I really hope that's the case. We'll probably just have to wait and see.

Hi Vydarr,

Oh definitely, you have a right to be concerned (as am I). (^_^;

We can only hope 1.18 and 1.19's content and changes make up for the things they take away. Not sure if you saw it, but in one of the JP Interviews, they did mention that 1.18 is going to come with a major storyline (I'm guessing the opening of the Grand Companies of Eorzea / Garlean Empire Invasion / War).

Hopefully 1.18's The Dzemael Darkhold (R50 Dungeon) is tied into a long term Grand Company progression and rank / reputation system, where we can earn rare items and rewards.

No matter what, I hope for the best. Soon!