To Discourage Power Leveling, Please Change the Party SP Formula

[Ferth]

The SP system needs to be reworked from the ground up. There was another thread, I forget who it was by, but it used an analogy with a ball of duct tape.

The sp system started out flawed, so they rushed out quick fixes to make it more palatable without actually fixing the system as a whole, now they have to add more minor tweaks and fixes and the more they add the bigger the ball becomes until eventually they realize they've got a huge ball of fixes on a flawed system and have to throw it out and start over.

I know that people will complain that your recommendations are too much like FFXI. But I for one hardly see that as a problem. Personally I'd like to see experience chains make a comeback too.

The exploitation of leves is one of the reasons I stopped playing when I did, (the other being that I hate the leve system even without the potential for exploitation.)

And I think that leves, geared and designed to be the casual option, are exactly what they need to be. I think that a guy soloing leves should make less than a well organized party that is chaining mobs.

When FFXI added Fields of Valor it was right about where I thought they should have been in terms of a casual option. You can log in, put your flag up, and do FoV. If you get a party invite you can join the party and get better experience. If you didn't get an invite, you could still chip away at doing FoV. Yeah the progress in FoV was slow, but it was still faster than trying to solo grind.

The last time I had a conversation like this on a forum for ffxiv, the main defense leveled against it was that not everyone wants to grind to gain rank. And kudos to those of you who feel that way.

But don't try to tell me leves aren't a grind too. They are just a stupid easy grind that is easily exploitable.

[Rentahamster]

But don't try to tell me leves aren't a grind too. They are just a stupid easy grind that is easily exploitable.

Indeed. On the most basic of levels, it all boils down to "killing things for SP".

The devs have to look deep inside themselves and answer this question - "How do we make the process of killing monsters fun, entertaining, and universally appealing for extended periods of time?"

[Ferth]

"How do we make the process of killing monsters fun, entertaining, and universally appealing for extended periods of time?"

Absolutely.

The system in FFXI was a bear sometimes. Sometimes it was a grueling slog through a horrible level range. But other times there was such a feeling of accomplishment.

Before TP burning was discovered I had a static party with my Ninja, it was Nin, Whm, Brd, Blm, Rng, Thf. Before accuracy food existed, before people aimed any higher than chain 5s... and we could consistently get to chain 6 before we had to switch mob pools and lost our chain.

I remember fighting Torama at level 61, and ousting other people because they couldn't keep up with our kill rate. There was a joy and a pride that went along with a good party.

Reaching your first 75 in FFXI may have been brutal at times, but at other times it was amazing. It was an achievement, something to be proud of. And after you achieved it it opened up a whole new world of achievements.

That's what this game needs.