Are Hunts Ruining Final Fantasy XIV?

[Makuro]

Short answer: No.

Long answer: It's completely natural for people to go crazy, fighting over some source that provides some type of reward. There's a lot of issues with the hunt but all the attention in game has been placed on the hunt when there are other aspects of ffxiv that still need improvement. This is the biggest cliche but people really need to take a deep breath and learn to move on to something else. Every single person wants a type of instant gratification through hunts, it is not good for the gaming community or the individual person. Of course when you put the hardcores, cheaters, and casuals together on the same playing field of course drama will stir up.

[KingOfAbyss]

Yup - The idea is super good - I love to think of myself as a bounty hunter, trying to be the first to catch my prey -

The rewards are simply too much (don't worry I am super happy about sands and oils) as well as the amount of myth and soldiery, makes me feel that I am somehow 'forced' to do my expert roulette for my mysterious map for my alexa.. oh wait! I can even get Alexandrite for 200 allied seals?

Man.. Hunting is a new job in itself - forget Coil runs, Dungeons, Trials.. you can gear up all your alts to 90 and now 100, fast like speed runs..

If: you use the super-duper 3rd apps.

It's really a shame, it's a good idea, but 2 things:

1- lessen the rewards a tad.
2- banish the use of 3rd apps. (I'll be nice - don't perma-ban them)

This will make some at the top tier to rage, but this game might become more stable, hopefully.

"Hey guys - fresh lvl 50 in here, what would be my next steps?" - Start hunting - in no time, you'll get all of your 8 battle class iLvl90, and your main iLvl100-110.

*Now back to Naul! Hehehe

[Merryl]

For me I haven't really figured out how this hunt thing is profitable. When I look at the hunt board, I see 2 types if tickets; daily and weekly.
Last night I find out that there are other targets beyond that. Very confusing though not really explained.

And since its all just random RNG I'm not sure that I care lol. I don't feel like wasting my time.

[NorthernLadMSP]

Honesetly, as much as I hate to admit it, they probably should NOT have put sands/oil as rewards for the hunts. I am very happy they decided to add them to something other than just SCOB. However, maybe they both should have been restricted to Syrcus Tower with the one-a-week lockout. That way, the static-less people who don't do SCOB still have the opportunity to get them, but not in the ultra-fast, drama causing scenes that the hunts have seemed to cause.

[Kardayel]

I would not say it ruin the game... but it cause really many problems.
The "farm" way to end-game gear made it the event to do, for one week the Party finder is almost empty except for "Hunt Party".
The multiple dramas on shout channel between people blinded by the greed for sands and oils.
The accusations (sometime true, sometime false) of Radar use...

You know, i've 1h free right now, i would have like to search an area to see if i can find a monster to win some points in order to buy vanity gear or a minion... just for fun... you know, what the hunt looked like when it was announced, a fun event just to spend some time... But no, i want have the less to do with the mess... It's sad, i think it could have been so much fun with only a few foresight and understanding on the player mind...

[Brainberry]

I've mostly just ignored hunts to save myself having to deal with the people.

I think it's the more hardcore endgame raid people that are going after allied seals for the sands of time that are taking it too seriously. I bet the problem would be solved if oil/sands of time was removed from the rewards.

Most HC raid people are doing it for the other rewards like GC glamour gear and minions.

Its the ones who can't down SCoB and want the sands who are the biggest crackheads from my experience.

[Risvertasashi]

I am hoping it will eventually calm down but as it stands now, getting people to do the Second Binding Coil is like pulling teeth. I am worried that with the hunts, they may have inadvertently killed raiding. The rewards from hunts are good enough for most people it seems and the rewards from raiding are not strong enough to lure them back.

To be fair, if you don't know people or have an in, it can be damn hard to find people to raid with. And a lot of people aren't willing to give newcomers that want to try it out a chance. (I'm fortunate that I do have the social connections for when I feel like raiding, but for someone without those... getting started isn't easy).

Edit: And sands and oils aren't everything. No amount of them will get you whichever High Allagan pieces that are BiS for you. But for those that couldn't do SCoB (whether due to skill, latency, RL commitment, or simply not-having-a-static issues) now at least have some way to get i110.

[Xystic]

So my question is, are the Hunts ruining your experience with the game?

Not at all.

People are really hyping it up to be over dramatic. The fact that the content was new and that many people would be interested in the rewards caused a huge ruckus because a huge surge of players entered the hunt producing a huge amount of competition. To sum it all up, people are trying to eliminate the need of competition thru any means possible, accusation of 3rd party bots, harassment, lack of enjoyment, end of the world/game and so forth.

Yesterday we saw a post of people already posting screenshots of the rewards, meaning everyone else who were partied with such individuals should be close or in the same position. Once people obtain what they want, its most likely they will leave the hunts.

[JTribal]

I don't think so. Really it's the Debbie Downers that are causing the problem. My LS buddies and myself spends hours on end scouting different areas for marks and have a blast in the chat and Mumble while we are doing it.

What really kills the buzz though are the people that send you nasty tells or shout in zones when they dont get to a mark in time. These usually end up being the ones that do not actively hunt, and expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter.

So I guess my answer is kind of contradicting. No, I don't think hunts are ruining the game, but I think that a minority of the player base that are not putting in any effort and are expecting to get then same rewards as the ones that do put in effort are.

[Kallera]

...People go as far as to Blacklist, name shame or say things like, "I'll trace that guys IP address & I'll make him wish he was sorry."

"And I know who pulled Naul becaused I BACK-TRACED IT! " (/olddeadmeme)

So my question is, are the Hunts ruining your experience with the game? To me it seems like Hunts are all people do now because the rewards vastly outweigh everything else.

Thoughts?

Not mine personally(I'm catching up with things) but it has brought several unsavory things about the community to surface that are a concern. I wonder when we'll hit that "cloudsong" moment.

But frankly atma got me closer to quitting than Naul.