Make FFXIV more like FFXI and less like WoW!

[Sandpark]

Last, can we come up with a new name for our fictional hero? Speaking of myself in the third person, while kinda humorous, is also kinda weird.

No I can't sorry.

You are my hero from this day forth. I shall sing your name in praises all about Eorzea until the dawn of the new era.

[Sandpark]

But you still clash with others who can easily ruin your night. Why would you pick that over instanced which the only people who can ruin your night is the ones you took with you? I recall entire nights ruined because too many LS's were in Sky, Sea, or take a spot in Dynamis.

If I play with fear that is not playing. There are a thousand reasons that could ruin a night and they don't even have to be in game. Phasing would fix competitive PvE for the most part. Even now nights get ruined sometimes as you state.

[Velhart]

If I play with fear that is not playing. There are a thousand reasons that could ruin a night and they don't even have to be in game. Phasing would fix competitive PvE for the most part. Even now nights get ruined sometimes as you state.

You are not answering my question. Why would I pick this type of game play that clashes with other people when I can have an instance of the game thing and not conflict with others? Why would I pick a feature that can ruin my night because of other people instead of a instanced group where that is not an issue? I have a feeling you can't give me a very good answer.

I guarantee you if Sky, Sea, or Dynamis had a choice to be instanced, people would most definitely of taken it. Too many nights our LS's plans were cancelled because of frustration of dealing with other people. Doing things like Einherjar or BCNM/KSNM were ever rarely the case because there was no real clash. Even SE agreed to an extent and made HNM Kings have force pops.

[Skivvy]

You are not answering my question. Why would I pick this type of game play that clashes with other people when I can have an instance of the game thing and not conflict with others? Why would I pick a feature that can ruin my night because of other people instead of a instanced group where that is not an issue? I have a feeling you can't give me a very good answer.

I guarantee you if Sky, Sea, or Dynamis had a choice to be instanced, people would most definitely of taken it. Too many nights our LS's plans were cancelled because of frustration of dealing with other people. Doing things like Einherjar or BCNM/KSNM were ever rarely the case because there was no real clash. Even SE agreed to an extent and made HNM Kings have force pops.

So what I'm taking from this is that games can change to keep up with the needs/desires of their player base. Perhaps one day XIV will add some spice to the world that is Eorzea. :P

[Shurrikhan]

You are not answering my question. Why would I pick this type of game play that clashes with other people when I can have an instance of the game thing and not conflict with others? Why would I pick a feature that can ruin my night because of other people instead of a instanced group where that is not an issue? I have a feeling you can't give me a very good answer.

I guarantee you if Sky, Sea, or Dynamis had a choice to be instanced, people would most definitely of taken it. Too many nights our LS's plans were cancelled because of frustration of dealing with other people. Doing things like Einherjar or BCNM/KSNM were ever rarely the case because there was no real clash. Even SE agreed to an extent and made HNM Kings have force pops.

For starters, shouldn't your comparisons be to the systems already in XIV where this can be a problem (Hunts, FATEs, and Diadem), or where that problem is (albeit awkwardly) avoided, such as in leves?

Sorry to answer a question with a question, but are these open world interactions condemned to be ever disappointing just because someone else can have an affect on the resources or tasks available to you? The same concepts are largely lauded in other MMOs, wherein the players must make an effort together in order to keep a given zone functioning, or where world PvP can push opportunities for players in their respective factions for better or worse. Are those people just all crazy for enjoying that element of risk and/or (forced) community?

[Bourne_Endeavor]

• Make 4 man content, public dungeons, solo content for casual with light to moderate difficulty.
• Make 4-8 man content, public dungeons,solo/group content for midcore with moderate difficulty, lenient mechanics/group number composition. Not reffering to roles but numbers.
• Make 4-24 man content, solo content for hardcore with high difficulty, strict mechanics.

Make instanced/open world content for all groups, strive for accessibility and clear instructions and remember the different groups. Maintain the instanced contents ilvl for casuals. Create open world systems with long term progressive systems similar to Sky or Sea but not as long lasting for midcore and hardcore. Retain tight knit instances for midcore with group number and mechanic leniency, and keep pumping out the savage version for hardcore.

Here is a look at a type of different content.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...=1#post3809761

You could possibly fit some of that into something equivalent to Deep Dungeon, however FFXIV will never have this on the open scale due to balance and cost issues. Non-instanced content creates an enormous load on servers. Larger ones simply wouldn't be capable of handling the influx of thousands of players in one play, alongside everything else that needs to load. Furthermore, public dungeons would devolve into zerg fests ala hunts presuming you mean players could simply run into them.

[Jynx]

Are those people just all crazy for enjoying that element of risk and/or (forced) community?

There is no free lunch I should say in this regards. We pay one way or the other for interactions like this, and it's just a matter of how we pay that dividend that matters to some.

As a fan of the forced interaction of players I was a staunch advocate of enjoying the open world of FFXI, much of it's content could be enjoyed by anyone you ran into on the map and that shared interaction/struggle knit a tightly woven community. They even had their own primitive solutions to some of the issues people came across in such a world.

BCNM fights were "Instanced" boss fights you could access once you have traversed the open world area, much akin to many other storyline and other quests would have a open world interaction mingled with a closed instance. The main issue was that the instances were not really instanced as they were a separated arena, of course now such things can be solved as we have instances now aplenty.

Some people however want to nix all the middle-manning and just get to instanced content, that's how you wind up with our glorified lobby world now.

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I wont lie and say I enjoyed being locked out of dyanmis because it was "Full" but even then things like the dynamis system presented players with challenges they had to solve as a community and many did with shared callendars to organize the event. God help the man who decided to try and break that scheduel you would find your entire linkshell black-balled by the community because you didn't just ram a few buttons and meet up with anonymous people your actions had a profound effect on the world.

This could of course be for good or for ill but I happened to like that aspect of the game. I don't play to just que up in a dungeon I play to be part of a community.

[Sandpark]

You are not answering my question. Why would I pick this type of game play that clashes with other people when I can have an instance of the game thing and not conflict with others? Why would I pick a feature that can ruin my night because of other people instead of a instanced group where that is not an issue? I have a feeling you can't give me a very good answer.

I guarantee you if Sky, Sea, or Dynamis had a choice to be instanced, people would most definitely of taken it. Too many nights our LS's plans were cancelled because of frustration of dealing with other people. Doing things like Einherjar or BCNM/KSNM were ever rarely the case because there was no real clash. Even SE agreed to an extent and made HNM Kings have force pops.

Phasing. You don't have to compete against hundreds of others and people can still get their open world fix.
http://support.enmasse.com/tera/channels

There were times I would go up into Sky alone and solo stuff I wasn't supposed to. But I couldn't solo everything. It was amazing for the option to run into people and have an experience of community, not an event of community. An example of event type is everyone going to a huge peace/love festival like The Burning Man, and even though there are thousands of people, you are really only interacting with who you came with if you are staring at your phone and the people two feet in front of you the whole time.

Having a zone with interconnecting areas and the ability to get lost, gives you the Christopher Columbus feeling you can't get with bread crumb trails and lobbies. Not saying I don't enjoy my share of instances. But when a game puts all it's eggs in one basket and shuns another, that is a limit on what someone might consider fun.

[Sandpark]

You could possibly fit some of that into something equivalent to Deep Dungeon, however FFXIV will never have this on the open scale due to balance and cost issues. Non-instanced content creates an enormous load on servers. Larger ones simply wouldn't be capable of handling the influx of thousands of players in one play, alongside everything else that needs to load. Furthermore, public dungeons would devolve into zerg fests ala hunts presuming you mean players could simply run into them.

I played ESO public dungeons, because the zone didn't consist of only killing an NM, you could solo or party and it didn't turn into a zerg fest. That happens when hundreds of people can hit on the same enemy. Which the claim system would have to be reworked if it became a thing.

And if the worry is that it will be tedious competing against others for kills. The channel thing fixes that too.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/32337...2999971267013/

Just because XI had a PvE vs PvE aspect to it doesn't mean things haven't advanced in the open world aspect since XI's inception. Or has GTA always had multiplayer online? Open World has advanced, instances have advanced. It doesn't have to all be naughty.

[Zojha]

Are those people just all crazy for enjoying that element of risk and/or (forced) community?

Preferences don't make people crazy - however, playing a game that does not have these elements over one that does against one's own preference and better knowledge does seem a little crazy. I mean, one of the main reasons I am not playing guild wars 2 right now is the horizontal progression, but that just means guild wars 2 is not a game for me (as much as I adore the Asura), so I naturally picked another with a different model. The market is pretty diverse after all, so everyone should be able to find a pretty good fit (although 100% fit is likely never achieved), which in turn sends signals to companies.

I mean, don't get me wrong - monitoring the market, reacting to trends, adjusting the product to the customer's needs and serving profitable nichés are good things! But you also have to consider that not all customer needs and nichés are compatible and it's often better for everyone involved to have different needs served by different games.