Your thoughts on the direction of this game?

[Fendred]

So because you don't watch videos other players are forced to teach you all the mechanics they learned from videos or carry your dead body to victory

You watch videos because learning these fights by trial and error with random people is unadulterated pain and suffering. The only way to enjoy these fights is to be in a set group of people you feel comfortable with, but the entire game is all about playing with random people to get things done. It all just becomes a utilitarian slog fest full of kick-button anxiety due to fear of being that one unlucky guy or gal.

[Appleh4x]

bad design isn't countered by "mandatory" preparation you have to do outside the game. it's just that: bad design that causes a lot of headaches for everyone.

I agree that it's bad design, but you're wrong about the prep. Watching videos/reading a guide is a very direct counter and does much to alleviate issues. Knowing the gimmick mechanics doesn't make the fights any less fun or interesting, if anything it makes them less terrible.

[SonRyo21]

well this has deviated very quickly into a video necessary not necessary yada yada.....we were talking about how we felt about the direction the game, Oh I forgot lets talk about that once again.

[Dyvid]

I made a thread that has a few of my thoughts on how combat could be improved. If you search for it I'm sure you would be able to find it. To sum up what I said in that thread...

1) Distinguish between localized heals and ranged heals so that monsters can have AI's that will take advantage of players trying to make too much use of either (either encouraging monsters to try flanking the healer if he is ranged healing, or encourage the use of AoE attacks if players clump up all the time).

2) Use more non-elites that have specialized strategies for taking down individual players instead of elites, and tanks should be more limited in the number of monsters they can hold aggro on at any given time. This way the DPS have some opportunity to contribute some actual team work instead of just being the guys who take advantage of it all the time. Actually, most fights shouldn't even be elites because it just leads to tanks being the center of the universe and forcing the design of the game to gimp their damage.

3) Take into account a monster's detection range when calculating threat. Standing in plain view of a dragon boss that is currently being tanked by a paladin while throwing heals at that tank should generate tremendous threat, if not serving as an outright taunt mechanic. Threat management as a group thing forces others to stop and consider their actions as opposed to just monotonously doing the same thing over and over again.

1) I can see this as interesting. It would be more in lines of having both melee and ranged attacks to shake up the group.

2) Not sure if adding more mechanics to "trash mobs" would make people happier. Take for example the mole from 1.0. The dove under ground and resurfaced at another location. This would add to the time it takes to kill them and those making them annoying rather than challenging. As far as dps becoming back up tanks, not sure I care for this either. We have instances that require a back up tank and tank trade offs. We also have instance that require dps to refocus their attention on adds or the group wipes. Honestly the whole point of a tank is to absorb damage and keep the monster attention on them. Like healers, if you can add a little extra dps good but that shouldn't be your prime focus.

3) This too seems like a interesting idea though not sure how important it would be since the tank should be facing the monster away from the party.

But like with all things, once you learn how to do something it can become tedious and boring. I'm replaying the Last of Us and it's not having the same impact as it did the first time around mainly because I now know the ends and outs of the game. I know what's about to happen and how to approach it.

Exactly my point on why you should watch videos/read about the mechanics beforehand

Well this is hardly the first game where the community required players to know about an encounter before they actually did it. FFXI had many guides, walk through, and online hints that became required reading in many groups. FFXIV is only in the modern age now where you can youtube things.

[Appleh4x]

well this has deviated very quickly into a video necessary not necessary yada yada.....we were talking about how we felt about the direction the game, Oh I forgot lets talk about that once again.

Yeah, how dare we talk about something totally relevant to the topic? Do you just want us to deliver our posts in a specific "My thoughts on the direction of the game are:" format?

Anyways I think we're in a limbo phase right now until the expansion comes out where all content and gear will feel the same and boring, but I have really high hopes that 3.0 will be bringing a lot of unique and interesting changes.

[allecs]

I talk about coil because you were talking about difficulty. I question your accomplishments because I can look at your character. I don't answer your question because if you've done half the stuff you claimed to have do you'd already know the answer. You either haven't and don't, or you have and are being willfully ignorant to serve your own argument.

And on the topic of unanswered questions, I'm still waiting for the names of these mmo's and great boss encounters you were touting.

Actually you asked what makes an interesting encounter to me and I told you.
BUT mmos I've played that I enjoyed and they don't require dodge; Aion, Rappelz, Iris online, WoW, Archeage, and Guildwars 2 just to name a FEW.

I understand you were talking about coil because of difficulty but that's just ONE dungeon, I'm talking about the entire game. ONE dungeon can not save/make up the entire game. You do realize that right? Not to mention that's a weekly ran dungeon you can't even keep running plus I don't feel like it's as hard as people claim it to be.
Like someone else said earlier people have multiple chars. I stated before I was gone for awhile and game back. Due to me not knowing my log in information and square enix providing NO help. I made this char, I've been playing this game since early release. That's why you shouldn't assume things with out asking. ._.

You don't answer my questions because you can't. Also you don't think that's lop sided? You want me to answer you questions but you can't answer mine lmfao GTFO. I've played this game and it's all dodge rather you agree with that or not and it's boring.

So because you don't watch videos other players are forced to teach you all the mechanics they learned from videos or carry your dead body to victory

/faceplam

Because this game is SO hard to grasp, moving out of the glowing yellow areas OMG how could I possibly not know what to do? Also I'm the healer, they can't "carry my dead body to victory" as I provide the heals. If you're that bad where you NEED a video, that's your fault.

So I'm guessing you have never done any of the extreme primals, Ifrit especially. If you have then either someone taught you the mechanics who watched a video or you watched a video yourself.

/facewall

Is this all we can say now? "Have you done any of the primals?" Yes I have! Will you like me to record it? Lmao I went into them blind. It's not hard follow other people stay out of the circles.
You do realize that this game is the ONLY one were people are like "WATCH A VIDEO BRUH" yet this game has the HIGHEST population of BAD players? Go figure.

No, it's a shame that some people can't be bothered to learn them before joining a group and have to be taught the mechanics at the expense of someone else's time. This isn't a single player game, this is an MMO designed so that fight mechanics can't be learned in a standard amount of time vs other types of games for the sake of longevity. The reason all the fights are scripted is because the information is meant to be shared via interwebs for everyone to learn. They just don't want people clearing new instances the day they get implemented

You do realize this is what's been going on in like every other mmo right? This is the first one I've played where they scream go watch a video.
Even the newer mmos, people aren't saying go watch a video. So again if you're that bad where you can't pick up on simple dodge mechanics, that's your fault.

[Appleh4x]

/faceplam

Because this game is SO hard to grasp, moving out of the glowing yellow areas OMG how could I possibly not know what to do? Also I'm the healer, they can't "carry my dead body to victory" as I provide the heals. If you're that bad where you NEED a video, that's your fault.

So I'm guessing you have never done any of the extreme primals, Ifrit especially. If you have then either someone taught you the mechanics who watched a video or you watched a video yourself. Please enlighten me on how you discovered how searing wind works, and how you told the other healer when to switch so you wouldn't murder half the party, or how you knew where to stand during each part of the fight. How about on Titan Extreme, tell me how you discovered how to handle the superbomb.

You know we can look at your lodestone, see your main job in full myth gear except two pieces of jewelry (an i70 DL ring and a turn 1 earring) and tell you are lying, right? Have you even done Garuda extreme? Lies on the internet don't make you cool

[IgnisFatuus]

I agree that it's bad design, but you're wrong about the prep. Watching videos/reading a guide is a very direct counter and does much to alleviate issues. Knowing the gimmick mechanics doesn't make the fights any less fun or interesting, if anything it makes them less terrible.

my personal preference is that all things should be teached by the game itself, if I have to look outside than the game has failed to give me everything I could possibly need on my journey (which is funny, considering the insane amount of tutorials for non-battle-related stuff). to be honest that has never stopped my if a game is really drawing me in (like star ocean), but I feel XIV's combat is too shallow on the basic stuff like equipment and rotations and too complicated (read: obscure) on the encounter-specific-mechanics-side for some battles - missing balance in that department.

it's also the reason why I don't play XI anymore, although I never got very far in it I still have the urge to go back - but without a dozen wiki sites open it is virtually unplayable.

[Appleh4x]

my personal preference is that all things should be teached by the game itself, if I have to look outside than the game has failed to give me everything I could possibly need on my journey (which is funny, considering the insane amount of tutorials for non-battle-related stuff). to be honest that has never stopped my if a game is really drawing me in (like star ocean), but I feel XIV's combat is too shallow on the basic stuff like equipment and rotations and too complicated .

it's also the reason why I don't play XI anymore, although I never got very far in it I still have the urge to go back - but without a dozen wiki sites open it is virtually unplayable.

I don't know about current XI as I played it like a decade ago, but it was actually a pretty great system. I agree about XIV being too shallow in pretty much all aspects and am really hoping that all changes with the expansion, kind of like Rise of the Zilart expansion changed XI

[Volcano]

it's also the reason why I don't play XI anymore, although I never got very far in it I still have the urge to go back - but without a dozen wiki sites open it is virtually unplayable.

Ah, the days of blind FFXI "Go find this item, it's somewhere in the world"

"Go find this NPC, he is hiding somewhere where in the world"

Really....?