Repetitive grind parties should NOT be the main source of leveling

[RemnantWolf]

Well, I have a some ideas, but none of them seem to be within the scope of FFXIV's potential.

Here's a defense scenario.

Invasions within the main cities. Mobs don't "spawn" but literally storm the entrances of the cities. They destroy buildings, kill npcs, set things on fire, the whole 9 yards.

We protect the city, obviously. There would be a limit as to how far outside the city gates we can stand and be able to participate in events like this. We try our best to halt their advance into the city, usually unsuccessful, but still work to force the invaders to retreat with their tails between their legs.

Throughout the event, anyone and everyone can be a target. You would form parties to help ensure your survival. Mobs can drop rare loot, and that rare loot can drop in multiple persons' parties at once (though very rarely, of course.) All mobs reward experience as we defeat them in relation to the amount of actions, damage, enmity you generate per mob (good use of the new enmity algorithms here.) The better we fare at the end of the invasion, the more bonus exp we get for completing it.

After all is said and done, we change to our crafting classes and begin to rebuild the broken walls and burned homes, and heal the injured NPCs. We can also change to our gathering classes and, just outside the city, gather materials to help rebuild our city that is now in shambles. Again, throughout this, we will also have a chance of receiving rare items, the chance of which depends on how well we did with defending the city.

So there you go. One way to progress, that doesn't feel like a grind, and includes EVERY CLASS IN THE GAME.

But ask yourself this. Do any of you really think that this could be possible in FFXIV? I don't know.. but I have my doubts.

I have to agree that this would be a great addition to FFXIV, but I also know it would be quite difficult to implement. BUT not impossible. Especially with the "World Reconstruction" they are working on.

Basically to make the entire city destructible would probably be impossible. but it would be quite possible to make a lot of new buildings (and turn some old ones) into what I am going to call "key structures".

Key structures are buildings set to be blown up, smashed, torn apart, or otherwise dismantled by our enemies. This is done by making multiple models of the buildings in different states of disrepair and animations (or just let parts come off and let the physics engine take over) to be played once a building goes from one state to another. Each key structure is then given an HP so that they can be destroyed. They then set the building to show different models at a certain amount of HP.

This could also promote other forms of grinding. Mob killing parties have a new purpose as killing mobs can reduce the intensity of their raids of cities. Getting together with other crafters can help strengthen city defenses, making NCP guards stronger and more affective in battle. And gathers can bring in money before the battle to help with repairs after the raid is over.

[MeowyWowie]

I have to agree that this would be a great addition to FFXIV, but I also know it would be quite difficult to implement. BUT not impossible. Especially with the "World Reconstruction" they are working on.

Basically to make the entire city destructible would probably be impossible. but it would be quite possible to make a lot of new buildings (and turn some old ones) into what I am going to call "key structures".

Key structures are buildings set to be blown up, smashed, torn apart, or otherwise dismantled by our enemies. This is done by making multiple models of the buildings in different states of disrepair and animations (or just let parts come off and let the physics engine take over) to be played once a building goes from one state to another. Each key structure is then given an HP so that they can be destroyed. They then set the building to show different models at a certain amount of HP.

This could also promote other forms of grinding. Mob killing parties have a new purpose as killing mobs can reduce the intensity of their raids of cities. Getting together with other crafters can help strengthen city defenses, making NCP guards stronger and more affective in battle. And gathers can bring in money before the battle to help with repairs after the raid is over.

I agree that it's definitely possible to make content like this in FFXIV. My doubt stems from SE's unlikely decision to do so.

I think most of us, even Yoshi-P and the Dev team, would agree with your explanation of how it would work behind the scenes. The problem is that it would take hundreds of development hours to complete something like this, something SE might not view as worthwhile, at least for the time being. It's definitely possible though, perhaps probable in the game's future. But for now, I wouldn't hold my breath.

I have other ideas as well, but they're pointless to post since most of them are on about the same level as far as development time goes. Ideas too soon for their time, maybe I'll share in a year or two when SE has time to take suggestions like these seriously.

No offense to SE or the Dev team of course. I'm positive they're capable of designing content like this. But right now, fixing the game is at the top of their list, and rightly so.

[RemnantWolf]

Well that is true. I didn't think that me posting the explanation would make it happen. I just wanted to have a bit of hope, a little fun brainstorming how it would work, and I knew that I wouldn't lose anything for doing so. That plus there may be a chance (though as likely to happen as finding one specific grain of sand in the desert -scale of exaggeration may vary-) that they may decide to do it and seeing how I said to to it may save them a meeting or two (sometimes deciding on the mechanics of something like this is half the battle).