Why should I be excited for Grind Parties?

[Seikninkuru]

Can we just settle the debate here simply. The fact is the people who played FFXI excusively are really throwbacks to the mmorpg genre. They're outdated, their views on gameplay are antiquated... and while I would hope they get some representation, the reality is they're a dying breed and will eventually be phased out. Bad gameplay can only be covered up by a good name(arguable) for so long.

In short.

FFXI is bad, do not replicate it.

[Jericho]

Can we just settle the debate here simply. The fact is the people who played FFXI excusively are really throwbacks to the mmorpg genre. They're outdated, their views on gameplay are antiquated... and while I would hope they get some representation, the reality is they're a dying breed and will eventually be phased out. Bad gameplay can only be covered up by a good name(arguable) for so long.

In short.

FFXI is bad, do not replicate it.

I just threw up in my mouth a little.

[Verecund]

In order for "slow leveling" to actually work these days, there must be plenty of varied content filling in the game itself. (*this argument only applies to countries outside of Korea) Not that I'm complaining about that aspect at all, but this game definitely hasn't come close to filling that bit yet.

Also, one major problem with slower party-based leveling is that if the game fails to have solid hooks to keep new players wanting to level, people aren't going to want to stick around if they join a game half-way through to another expansion and find they have to solo a party-based leveling game (because everyone is at max level).

[Xatsh]

Can we just settle the debate here simply. The fact is the people who played FFXI excusively are really throwbacks to the mmorpg genre. They're outdated, their views on gameplay are antiquated... and while I would hope they get some representation, the reality is they're a dying breed and will eventually be phased out. Bad gameplay can only be covered up by a good name(arguable) for so long.

In short.

FFXI is bad, do not replicate it.

Have to define bad game play.

Was FFXI bad... highest gross profit FF game, was in the top 3 mmo for over 6yrs in terms of population only fell below 5 after Aion I belive, held almost its entire playerbase for 8yrs. Only Existing mmo that WoW didn't destroy population wise more or less after it released.

ATM you have 3 scenarios:

1) Old School Grind: Current Gen Western players hate it (Asian grind is what most people consider it now days)
2) Newer Gen: Repetitive Solo Quest Grind (honestly just as bad as option 1, except you are playing an online mmo like a offline one)
3) Current Gen Western games: You get to endgame with quest really fast (WoW's Style now days... can get to cap in 1 week if you are a semi-hardcore player, makes the game way to fast)


Honestly all 3 of those fail in their own way. So what is broken and what isn't. One caters to those who hate grouping the whole point of an online game, one caters only to those who have a lot of time (ffxi/eq style), one caters to those who want a offline experience who hate waiting and want instant gratification.

Atm you have an issue with XIV.
-The current FFMMO players for the most part want a party centric game with the option to solo when they are low on time. Solo Quest based Leveling will not work in this case.
-You have people who came over from the WoW age, who want well mainstream western style (WoW's quest based leveling system until endgame where you group for raids)... Grind Partys are looked down apon here. And the people who want to party simply will quit over this, Solo quest grind forces everyone to solo.

Only Solution: Offer multiple options. You cannot screw your fanbase over and but you also cannot ignore Western destruction advancement of the genre. (Depending on your point of view)

You want to do quest this game needs to have them, but you need to level alot slower. You want to play a mmo (socialize and stuff) then group up and get there faster. You want crazy fast progression buy XIII-2 and stop playing XIV (MMOs are not suppose to be fast). They are even adding group quest thing to sorta combine both sides.

Your opinion of FFXI being bad game proves more or less your ignorance. It is not your cup of tea, but is also one of the worlds most successful mmos and there are a ton more people then you think who want a party centric mmo, so many are sick of WoW clone after WoW clone. I mean that is what a mmo is all about the community, this genre is not about solo quest.

[DonMega]

Why is anyone excited about chain xp and grinding incentives? Wowee! Bonus xp for killing 1 enemy type in X seconds or less is soooooooo much better than doing actual quests. Gosh, Let's all sit in one area killing the same thing over and over again. I realize all games have grinding, and yea sometimes it's not bad to camp out and grind out a level. But having to do it from start to finish is not ok.

How about instead of feigning excitement for this let's get some quests that are worth completing. Not a quest that sends you to some obscure location to kill 3 mobs, then return for as much xp as 1 mob gave you. Hell, I'd rather sit in one spot and kill the same thing over and over again than do that, at least then i'm getting some real xp out of the same time investment.

For those of you about to tell me "This has been talked about, use the search feature." Don't really care if this has been discussed a million times before. You know how things get fixed? You keep bringing it up and talking about it.
For those of you about to say "troll attempt 2/10" congrats on lurking in forums and offering nothing but a stale joke that's been beaten into the ground.
Also, for the diehards: please stop telling people "stfu, it's a free game. If you don't want to play don't, it's free. GWAAAAHHHHhhh!" Well I've got news for you... might be shocking... you bought the game. I bought this game at launch. I've paid money for it, so stop yelling at people that are upset about wasting their money.

I don't expect everyone to be excited about it but it was much needed, I hope its just one of the many ways to gain good exp in the future and not the main/only good one, I like grinding somewhat but like variety more and if they want this game to succeed in the way that I get from the stuff I read about what they are trying to do there will be plenty of good ways to get exp to suit more players and playing types across the board. I think variety in exp gaining and player friendliness will be a bigger selling point for the re-release. I hope to see many good ways of gaining exp in the future with solo,casual, and hardcore players in mind.

[weeble]

i'd agree a combination of group play an solo for when u waiting or short on time works. i think of it as this se wants us all to level from rank 1-max in this amount of time, make everything = that much time, lol probably not sounds as easy as i think it but wtf. theres got to be a logical equation that equates to this.

[Bobjohnson]

Why is anyone excited about chain xp and grinding incentives? Wowee! Bonus xp for killing 1 enemy type in X seconds or less is soooooooo much better than doing actual quests. Gosh, Let's all sit in one area killing the same thing over and over again. I realize all games have grinding, and yea sometimes it's not bad to camp out and grind out a level. But having to do it from start to finish is not ok.

How about instead of feigning excitement for this let's get some quests that are worth completing. Not a quest that sends you to some obscure location to kill 3 mobs, then return for as much xp as 1 mob gave you. Hell, I'd rather sit in one spot and kill the same thing over and over again than do that, at least then i'm getting some real xp out of the same time investment.

For those of you about to tell me "This has been talked about, use the search feature." Don't really care if this has been discussed a million times before. You know how things get fixed? You keep bringing it up and talking about it.
For those of you about to say "troll attempt 2/10" congrats on lurking in forums and offering nothing but a stale joke that's been beaten into the ground.
Also, for the diehards: please stop telling people "stfu, it's a free game. If you don't want to play don't, it's free. GWAAAAHHHHhhh!" Well I've got news for you... might be shocking... you bought the game. I bought this game at launch. I've paid money for it, so stop yelling at people that are upset about wasting their money.

There are quests and leve's you can try. I've leveled almost exclusively off that, I've only had one SP grind party (was only level 14 when 1.18 hit, didn't start playing seriously until then). I played XI for years, and I'll probably hit up some SP grinds after that, but I've been doing fine without.

[Madruk]

Can we just settle the debate here simply. The fact is the people who played FFXI excusively are really throwbacks to the mmorpg genre. They're outdated, their views on gameplay are antiquated... and while I would hope they get some representation, the reality is they're a dying breed and will eventually be phased out. Bad gameplay can only be covered up by a good name(arguable) for so long.

In short.

FFXI is bad, do not replicate it.

Translation: I like to collect bear asses and roleplay FedEx.

[Overkill9000]

i thought Aion's questing system was smart. set you up with a quest that involved you going to in a dangerous area for optimal level and let you decide how it got done. group questing was the staple of advancing (when i played). i liked it.

but as far as solo play (which consist 80% of my time) quests are not fun. i don't care about the story (no matter how interesting it is), i don't like chores, and i DESPISE pointless running around.

BRING ON THE INCENTIVES for productive killing. imo this will be positive for leves and quests, as well.

[Venat]

We need more major changes faster... do we really need summon prime fights.

Main updates are most important and would layout the game in the direction so it can be devloped faster. They are currectly working with important broken parts of the game.

We really dont need any leve layouts, enemy location changes till the Landscape of the hole game is redid from its copy and pasted.

Landscape issues is a big problem which I think needs to be addressed quickly. They should redo each area at a time and release it every update. There is only 5 zones in the game.

Patch 18.0 was good overhall update but we need more.