SP nerfed. We were lied to.

[Kensei]

It also is a very clear indication that leves are not intended to be the sole method of xp'ing.

The problem I see here is people want to continue playing as they did before the patch, without changing or adapting to the changes... and are finding that doing so isn't as effective.

So, they could be saying, "Okay, well, Yoshi *did* say that leves would no longer be the core content or the key method of leveling up, but more a way for casuals to log in and get some stuff done in a short amount of time... He did also say that there would be other content to level up with... So maybe I should just diversify and not put all my eggs in one basket".

Instead, they're basically stomping feet and complaining.

While others are adapting, mixing up their activities, and leveling up... these people are raging on a forum.

Sad.

But then, not unexpected. This happens in every MMO after every major patch that changes up something in how it's played. There's a lot of people who simply don't like to step outside their comfort zone and do something different. They'll rage against change every time they're faced with it.

That's not the main issue. Yoshi specifically said ranking would no be nerfed. It is now slower to gain SP thus SP was nerfed. Why did he go through the trouble of posting that in his letter, giving a lot of players a false sense of confidence that the process of progression would remain untouched only to go nerf it?

[Kensei]

guys that complaining on the changes of leves are lame! >:O Yoshi-P already stated that leves will be changing and you guys didnt read/comprehend what it means! >

Who cares about leves. He said ranking up wouldn't be nerfed and then he nerfed it. Thus he lied.

[Abriael]

That still leaves a broken game until it "smoothes" out, and that's of course assuming that it does. Not really fair to players.

I'll have you go and check a dictionary for the meaning of the verb "broken", because I'm afraid it doesn't mean what you think it means

[Nero]

Wow so many people with this point of view is alarming. Seems like some people really do have all the time in the world. "It took 6 hours to rank up pre-patch that's easy mode, you are not earning it if you don't grind for at least 12 hours per rank" GTFO. Like I said those of you who get a sense of accomplishment of doing the same things than pre-patch except that now it takes 3 times as much time to rank up you got your wish so by all means go grind and feel accomplished and fulfilled.

So many people with this view is alarming? Well yeah.. it should ring a bell that you are wrong maybe about how you think exploiting is the way to go? All the time in the World? Seriously listen.. You need 4 Hours to get 100k SP in a Combatclass.. if i would have all the time in the World i would level 20 Hours a day and not just 4 and would have everything at 50. Get real please.

6 Hours for a rankup pre-patch? i lol'd.. You are seriously doing something wrong. If you are not able to do some simple Math about how much SP you can get now a hour, i really cant help you. If it took you 6 Hours to burn 8 leves.. i really really cant help you and dont want to.

And yes i go out and grind.. i explore the Areas of the Game and will have Fun. Im sorry for all those lazy people who cant exploit anymore.. im SOOOO sorry for you. Im getting sarcastic here... <_<

[Xmbei]

He also said as it was posted a few pages ago that (party) sp will be bad for sometime till they can get the complete changes done and reformed. So again wait for them to finish balancing as he as asked us to do. I believe we will start seeing the sp balance fixed for the most part in 1.19 to 1.20 yes thats another patch but it should be out sometime in August so remain patient and all will be well if you dont like the changes wait till the changes are finalized... because as it has been stated this is the ground work for everything patch. This should mean going up hill from here.

[Kensei]

I disagree about 90%, Have you done a dungeon? Massive SP gains and better SP gains from mobs in general. IF you are complaining about leves he never stated it wouldn't be nerfed he said it was changed and also said leve linking would no longer provide the same EXP as usual. As for solo he said you would only gain SP at the end and ofcourse through common sense that only means you are going to get less SP. Is this something to really complain about? IMO the rank up process was way too quick for an MMO or a video game in general even for the casual players. I hit rank 50 in the first or second month the game was released. He also clearly stated that Leves were going to be no longer the main focus of things to do for SP and it was a mistake to make them be that in the first place.

The dungeons only benefit close to the range of the dungeon itself. I'm 36 and got ~40-50 per mob in the dungeon. Player 25-30 and 45-50 are the ones getting the most out of it. The best option for the rest right now is grinding parties which are pathetically slow even with capped tanked SP.

[Victor]

I'll have you go and check a dictionary for the meaning of the verb "broken", because I'm afraid it doesn't mean what you think it means

Still lurking this thread? Thought you ran away with your tail between your legs, what a shame.

Also, I'm sorry if the english language has you in such a stupor as to be in doubt about the definition of the word broken. Is it not your first language?

[Onidemon]

In Letter from the Producer XIV Yoshi dedicated a section of it to discuss ranking up. I will quote parts of it.

Ever since I posted on the forums, we’ve been receiving feedback from players worrying about whether or not we’re going to be nerfing the ranking up process. The simple and emphatic answer to this, just as I posted in the forums, is no.

Well Yoshi it was nerfed in every single way. Killing mobs gives less SP, Behest gives less SP and it can't be done back to back, guildleves give far less SP per kill and the final bonus is pathetic. What the heck is the use of Guardians Favor? I was getting 83 SP per kill and it increased to maybe 89 SP with favor and the final bonus was unaffected. I tried for a while with a party and the best we were getting was 340 SP with mobs 10 ranks higher than us, the problem was that every 3 kills our CON needed an MP break because of the outrageous MP cost increases.

I don’t want there to be a huge loss of skill points imposed for dying, or for players to have to grind 5–6 hours a day for 8 months to get to the high ranks.

Well, Yoshi, with the current state of SP gains it may not be for 8 months but it will certainly take 6+ hours a day of mindless grinding to make progress a decent pace now from 30s onward.

I do think ranking up should take longer in MMOs than in non-MMOs, but I plan to make the process both possible and enjoyable for players willing to invest the time, even if they’re solo, and even by doing quests and guildleves.

Are you serious? You just nerfed SP gains which you said you wouldn't do, we are now forced to grind to make decent progress for hours which you also said you wouldn't do and I already discussed leves' pathetic excuse of SP. As for quests they would have been viable if there were more than 5 and it would be more enjoyable if a quest in Gridania didn't sent me to Coerthas and back for a grand total of 1,700 Skill Points. I could get much more grinding in the same amount of time it takes to make that walk.

Why was this done? Are you really thinking that slowing ranking up to a crawl will retain population? Because this sort of thing is exactly what made everyone quit. Considering the state the game was slowly recovering from I would think this was the last thing they would consider doing.

Patch 1.18 was hyped so much as the patch that would save the game but it looks like it was a massive disaster from every aspect. All i see is threads that complain about it everywhere and these are not just the trolls.

Bayhone, can you get us some feedback from the dev team regarding the SP nerf issue and the devs' thoughts about the community's reaction on patch 1.18?

To answer your question Kensei, i think they did nerf SP on purpose and they do want leveling to be super slow, for now at least. The reason? The same reason we had fatigue, it is all meant to buy time. They want us to keep busy so they have more time to fix the game.

[Abriael]

Still lurking this thread? Thought you ran away with your tail between your legs, what a shame

No, differently from people that play Final Forum XIV like you, I tend to sleep, and have a job

Who cares about leves. He said ranking up wouldn't be nerfed and then he nerfed it. Thus he lied.

Nope. ONE way of ranking up has been lowered in order to even out the ranking field. That doesn't equated to "nerfing ranking up". The fact that that one happened to be your personal favourite (and by ranking up solely that way you were already doing it wrong) has no bearing to the fact that most other ways of leveling are pretty much the same and a LOT of SP has been added to activities that had one and party grinding has been considerably improved due to the addition of beastmen camps.

Thus, you're the one that's falsely accusing someone of laying. Guess that makes you the liar.

[Kensei]

as I said in another post these player's were conditioned into believing that Leve's or behest are the only content in the game and raged when it changed... When one is conditioned to do something in a certain set of guidelines that they start to rely on it. When it changes they will complain about it and ignore everything else.

First of all, if they had provided alternatives with the same SP/hour gain as behest I certainly would have tried them but that was their decision not to improve the other ways to gain SP pre-patch. Behest was the most efficient one and so any smart player would only focus on that. As for changes it wasn't me who wrote a letter saying the ranking up processes would not be affected at all and then did it.

He could have easily increased the other ways to earn SP and I wouldn't be complaining because he would have kept his word and ranking up would remain as efficient as before.