Did patch 1.18 make the game more appealing to new customers and potential customers?

[Wynn]

Impossible to say? you mean impossible to stay?

What do you expect them to do mate? Solo grind?

What?

/10char

[Krausus]

Impossible to say? you mean impossible to stay?

What do you expect them to do mate? Solo grind?

There is more then just ranking up DoW/DoM to this game.

[Xatsh]

Impossible to say? you mean impossible to stay?

What do you expect them to do mate? Solo grind?

They are expected to group up and play it like a mmo.

If they refuse to group up and pull in 20-30k /hr it is of their own choice.

[Azurymber]

I would say it made the game less appealing. Before you could choose to do a lot more. If you had cure you could solo almost any job to 50 by grinding, could solo behests (since most are DEAD), etc.
Now with the MP costs so high this isn't possible.

SE has basically tried to force group play on underpopulated servers with a horrible party search method and people who don't want to party. Worst idea ever.

Behests and leves are now useless for the most part

on the other hand however, if you want to be a gatherer or a DoH, this patch is win lol

[Maxi_Irving]

Since sidequests give skill points now, I think it'll be easier for new players to ease into the game. Just the traveling issue needs to be resolved. I hope 1.19 comes soon. >.<

I would say it made the game less appealing. Before you could choose to do a lot more. If you had cure you could solo almost any job to 50 by grinding, could solo behests (since most are DEAD), etc.
Now with the MP costs so high this isn't possible.

SE has basically tried to force group play on underpopulated servers with a horrible party search method and people who don't want to party. Worst idea ever.

Behests and leves are now useless for the most part

on the other hand however, if you want to be a gatherer or a DoH, this patch is win lol

I didn't know solo MMO was appealing. My bad.

[alexi14]

They are expected to group up and play it like a mmo.

If they refuse to group up and pull in 20-30k /hr it is of their own choice.

I would honestly LOVE to pull in 20-30k an hour group grinding. To bad it's next to impossible to get a group unless you have a LS with a bunch of people the same rank as you who WANT to to do it. If you find a LS rank 25-30 who loves group grinding, you let me know mate.

[Xatsh]

I would honestly LOVE to pull in 20-30k an hour group grinding. To bad it's next to impossible to get a group unless you have a LS with a bunch of people the same rank as you who WANT to to do it. If you find a LS rank 25-30 who loves group grinding, you let me know mate.

That is the issue the community has to change to be able to do it outside Linkshells. But that cannot be blamed on SE honestly it is there, there is a party seek feature now. If people refuse to use it and group up it is the players fault at this point and it is thier choice to get very subpar sp.

There are active linkshells on every server, most my linkshell's members have not soloed since rank 30 and we have around 36 active members most with 1-2 50s.

Every night we have group that where doing leves or grind partys from around 8pm-1am est. Now that leves are out it will be dungeons and Grind partys.

[giftforce]

I would NEVER in good conscience recommend this game to anyone.

But I dunno. Maybe it made the game more appealing, who knows? Stranger things have happened.

What does the general populace have to say:

http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07...es-patch-1-18/

[Malakhim]

I've been thinking about it, and I really think that if SE wants to attract the highest possible audience for the game come PS3 launch, then they should focus on the following 3 items:

Company content for both Grand and Player-run companies.
Crafting as a very relevant practice.
The Armory System as being very flexible.

For Companies, they're really going to have to make good on their promise of Company-owned housing and ships, as well as adding elaborate content for both public and private companies in order to foster a larger sense of community and purpose.

For crafting, they're going to have to get that group-crafting mechanic down as well as crafting materials and items for said private companies, and really try to make the crafters as relevant as possible without being too much of a detriment to the combat classes.

The Armory system NEEDS to retain its flexibility more than ever, as that was probably the biggest selling point for a lot of people in the first place. The whole 1 to 1 class/job thing can't last too long, as that pretty much goes against the idea of the system in my eyes. Do whatever balancing needs to be done, but the most important theme in this game as evidenced by Yoshi-P's thoughts is "flexibility" and "being able to play your way", and the Armory System is probably the most important element to that strategy.

[giftforce]

The Armory system NEEDS to retain its flexibility more than ever, as that was probably the biggest selling point for a lot of people in the first place. The whole 1 to 1 class/job thing can't last too long, as that pretty much goes against the idea of the system in my eyes. Do whatever balancing needs to be done, but the most important theme in this game as evidenced by Yoshi-P's thoughts is "flexibility" and "being able to play your way", and the Armory System is probably the most important element to that strategy.

Yes, you always read reviews about this. Everyone always praises it.

The only people who don't are those who were not able to make the specific role they wanted with the class-system. To accommodate these peopl, all that SE needed to do was help facilitate people to make their own roles and play the way they wanted (but this does not mean imposing specific jobs onto the players = awful idea, Yoshi!!!).

And I agree on all your points. Player run companies are something the game needs to emphasise that this is a multiplayer game. FF MMOs have always been about playing with others, so they should try to deepen that connection instead of running from it in favour of solo-content.

(Although I think there should be both solo and group content).