So they won't make FF14 like FFXI....NICE!!!

[vax]

More people will join if SE makes the game like FFXI and this (not making this game into something like ffxi) is why ffxiv will fail so badly.

[Jennestia]

As I always say, the main issue was them not even taking the basics from XI and making them better because as far as basics went in terms of MMO mechanics, XI's was absolutely basic back in 2002 lol. They coulda done so much more with those systems as a building block.

Doesn't have to be a clone (which they said it won't be) but a lot of changes lately does seem like they're finally building off of what they did with their last MMO.

[NefGP]

It's not like XI didn't get anything right - hell there are still a lot of aspects of XI that they did do right that ought to be copied.

But at it's core, I too, am glad that they aren't just trying to copy it. Eorzea needs to have it's own distinct feel & flavor. One clear difference that I LOVE as of this update, is Ifrit - sure he's not summonable (yet) but they actually made the fight HARD! And rewarding too! Those weapons are awesome.

Contrast that to XI, where the Prime fights (except Waking the Beast) are a total joke, avatars are STILL underpowered (SMN Is borderline useless in the faces of the other mages) and the rewards suck. Ifrit's sword was kinda nice, once upon a time, but got outclassed fast.

What I'd like to see is when the level caps go up (and we all know they will) the Primal fights get adjusted accordingly. I hope the fight to earn Ifrit as a summon is even harder than the current lv 50 battle. The challenge needs to be in the fight itself, something XI for the most part got wrong. I'd rather struggle to figure out how to win a really tough battle with friends and come out with epic rewards to match, than spam the same stupid easy fight a million times for (sometimes) uber gear (though often junk until recently with abyssea) that drops at an phenominally retarded rate (see; Kraken Club, Twilight Gear etc...)


Come to think of it, Shinryuu was a huge let down in XI. He was cool at first, until I noticed it was a 90 cap fight and everyone just brews him anyway (yay for God mode...). If they do add him to this game, and I hope they do, they ought to reserve him the way they typically have in the offline games.

Shinryu (along with Omega) is traditionally the hardest freaking mob in the series. It's just shameful what they did to him in XI.

I wonder how SE will handle the other Primals though, and which ones? Shiva is a no-brainer, but what about wind & lightning? Those slots have been changed around several times. Ixion, for example, would make more sense to me as an elemental being, though Ramuh fits the "God" title a little better I suppose.

This post is long enough, so I'll just close by saying I can't freaking wait to see the others, especially Bahamut. Oh man that is going to be GREAT when he comes out.

[AmyRae]

The lessons learned from FFXI should shape this game.

I can look at how they've turned their backs on the Auction House and think to myself, this is not something they should be dismissing, but building upon. On the other hand, the slow pace of FFXI's level progression and its harsh death penalties should be viewed as an area they should reject, and I believe they've done this nicely.

For FFXIV, I would say no to a FFXI clone, but yes to learning what worked in FFXI and what didn't.

[Jennestia]

Come to think of it, Shinryuu was a huge let down in XI. He was cool at first, until I noticed it was a 90 cap fight and everyone just brews him anyway (yay for God mode...). If they do add him to this game, and I hope they do, they ought to reserve him the way they typically have in the offline games.

Shinryu (along with Omega) is traditionally the hardest freaking mob in the series. It's just shameful what they did to him in XI.

Uh, Shinryuu was the hardest fight in FFXI @90, especially @85. You couldn't brew him at all unless you had 2 million curor saved up.

One to be feared, aka the original capped 60 fight Omega and Ultima were the hardest fights in the game back then, Proto- Omega and Ultima were challenging at first. The Omega in Abyssea is one of the most beastly versions of Omega since SNES era lol.

Heck even Bahamut v.2 fight was challenging back in its implementation, like all MMOs, cap raises, gear introduction and rebalancing make things easy or insanely hard. Brews are also counter productive in the long run. and saps your curor pretty quickly, but SE allowed brews to mainly get everyone over with Abyssea so they could move over to Voidwatch -- very common practice with MMOs these days. Shinryu was never "hard" in other games he was introduced in, he was a challenge yeah, but never one of the hardest.

[NefGP]

The lessons learned from FFXI should shape this game.

I can look at how they've turned their backs on the Auction House and think to myself, this is not something they should be dismissing, but building upon. On the other hand, the slow pace of FFXI's level progression and its harsh death penalties should be viewed as an area they should reject, and I believe they've done this nicely.

For FFXIV, I would say no to a FFXI clone, but yes to learning what worked in FFXI and what didn't.

Not to mention axing skill ups. That was far, FAR worse than the level grind in XI. I still haven't capped Guard and I likely never will.

EDIT: Not hard? LOL ok, go try him in FFIV: The After Years where you don't have water rings to absorb his Tsunami and then tell me he's not hard.