Make FFXIV a 'Sandbox' game. No way it can compete against upcoming 'Themeparks'.

[Reika]

But did they have to go and use an '!' exclamation mark symbol? They could have personalized the symbol and made it more in line with the FF theme/world. Come up with something new. I believe that FF11 used 'floating books' for battle quests and designated 'NPC's' gave you all your story game quests. When you were sent out into the field to look for story NPCs you were given a vague idea about where in the field to find them, but you actually had to explore the map to find them, and it was not difficult IMO. I could be wrong though.

I don't mind a system being implemented to 'hook n00bs by the mouth and be pulled a long' through the game, but I forsee ppl loggin in, going around the map adding '!' Exclamation marks to a quest list, then systematically completing them, and logging out. If ppl get used to doing this for 40+ levels, why would they ever bother partying or collaborating? It's an MMO after all? And the developers would be focusing resources to make this happen. Guildleves are already a form of '!' exclamation mark system, except now there will be more of them.

I don't think this classifies as "whining". If you pay for and play an MMO, you want to play with other people and you expect MMO content. If the developers are trying to keep single players happy as a priority, they shouldn't encourage single player game play in an MMO? Otherwise why would they ever attempt to make the jump into and actually play the game as an MMO, the way it was intended to be played?

This is because whiney little titty babies are putting unneeded pressure on the developers to make FFXIV like wow and other games. I would rather they have just thrown the sidequest NPC's out there and said 'go find them' with no markings.

[Nephera]

This is because whiney little titty babies are putting unneeded pressure on the developers to make FFXIV like wow and other games. I would rather they have just thrown the sidequest NPC's out there and said 'go find them' with no markings.

man thats not casual friendly at all

[gifthorse]

Regardless, I won't like seeing people dying all over the place in maps, or trying to avoid a LNC who wants to spear me with a Doomspike when I'm merely crossing an area. Established arenas for people to shed blood, yes, but no PvP in the middle of the land. It just...doesn't seem to fit into a game like this.

Of course, if I get rewards for killing people....heheheh. [kidding]

So Garlean troops, Fallen enemies, and Bandits can all attack you, but heaven forbid another player? Isn't that a little safe. One is just an artificial way of producing the other.

[gifthorse]

Have you been on a desert island or something? They have been busy cleaning up the last dev teams mess (which they're very close IMO). Once they have the game running well, and having the basic things it should have has upon release, they can focus on content, which with SE's track record on 11, they can better than anyone.

Playing catch-up content-wise won't make FFXIV a leader.

[MariyaShidou]

You also forgot TSW, it's more sandbox-ish than themepark as well, and Funcom might likely learnt something from launching two MMOs before, albeit terribad without realising their potential. If anything TSW skill system looks exactly like Armoury system, anyone can use anything.

[yukikaze_yanagi]

"FF MMORPGS"

Plural.

And this is based off, what, the one FF MMORPG?

Pointless post. FFXI didn't have almost any pvp and almost nobody wanted (the playing one at least).
in FFXIV pvp was already scheduled, but don't really think will ever be open pvp, and very few would welcome it. And foremost, the game don't have the basics for a rvr/open pvp gameplay

[Rockne]

I wholeheartedly believe in the idea of DDR mats in FFXIV.

It'll make the game stand out and make crafting WORK.

[whoopeeragon]

So Garlean troops, Fallen enemies, and Bandits can all attack you, but heaven forbid another player? Isn't that a little safe. One is just an artificial way of producing the other.

Yes, I would. Garlean troops, fallen enemies and bandits attacking will be controlled by AI, whereas other players will use the opportunity to nail you down to the floor without so much as a breathing space. At least the AI can be controlled to be responsive in only a certain area, whereas players will see you anyway on the mini-map, and come running after you with a nuke or weapon skill ready. And when the players are f***tards who want nothing more than to ruin people's pleasure of playing a game, I'll take the AI kills over PvP any day. So yea, I'll say it's safer.

[Siatdiat]

But did they have to go and use an '!' exclamation mark symbol? They could have personalized the symbol and made it more in line with the FF theme/world. Come up with something new. I believe that FF11 used 'floating books' for battle quests and designated 'NPC's' gave you all your story game quests. When you were sent out into the field to look for story NPCs you were given a vague idea about where in the field to find them, but you actually had to explore the map to find them, and it was not difficult IMO. I could be wrong though.

Is this really worth complaining about? OK, they could have used a book to show the npc that will give you a quest. This wasn't your original complaint but if your goal is to find something to complain about, I obviously can't stop you. Let's see what you want to say next, since here you imply your main beef is the symbol that they use, not that they have a symbol at all.

I don't mind a system being implemented to 'hook n00bs by the mouth and be pulled a long' through the game, but I forsee ppl loggin in, going around the map adding '!' Exclamation marks to a quest list, then systematically completing them, and logging out. If ppl get used to doing this for 40+ levels, why would they ever bother partying or collaborating? It's an MMO after all? And the developers would be focusing resources to make this happen. Guildleves are already a form of '!' exclamation mark system, except now there will be more of them.

OK, I thought I clarified already that these symbols show the starting npc for a quest, yet the game doesn't show new ! for any other npc in a quest or show. But you are once again painting this in a false light. I'm wondering if you neither actually played the game with these quests or read a reputable source at the minimum about what the quests were like. You are operating on so many false assumptions it isn't even funny. You say people will solo level with these quests for 40+ levels. First of all, if there was a way for those who choose to level solo, why should it bother you? However, in this case that point doesn't make the slightest sense, for 2 basic reasons. First, the quests don't give exp, at all. In fact, if the quest tells you to kill mobs for part of it, those mobs don't give normal mob exp. I would like to see someone use these sidequests to level. Additionally, you imply that all quests ever offered would be soloable, and that they can't add challenging quests that will require putting together a group. You say developers should be focused on forcing people to party, in other words, the goal of developers should be to focus on the gameplay you want solely. This is incredibly selfish. Bringing up guildleves at all in this discussion and comparing them to these sidequests also shows you are unaware of the popular opinion verified by player polls that guildleves are boring and grindy excuses for a normal quest. Ultimately there are many issues with this game, and I think asking for changes to a part that is new and are NOT hurting anything is incredibly silly. Especially when you are unsure whether you just hate the symbol they use, which is an aesthetic argument, or whether you hate the fact it is in even in the game, which is a wholly different complaint.

I don't think this classifies as "whining". If you pay for and play an MMO, you want to play with other people and you expect MMO content. If the developers are trying to keep single players happy as a priority, they shouldn't encourage single player game play in an MMO? Otherwise why would they ever attempt to make the jump into and actually play the game as an MMO, the way it was intended to be played?

First of all, whether your whining is whining or not is moot. That is a completely objective idea, based on your outlook and opinions and mine being different. There is no doubt what you are doing here sounds like whining to me. If it makes you feel better I won't use the word anymore, especially since it is beside the point. You make another assumption here, that is someone pays for an MMO, they only want to do a specific activity always. Once again, this is incredibly selfish for you to assume you speak for all players of this game, and all potential future players of this game. The rest of this paragraph is a train wreck, get a bit more mastery of the english language. I can kind of guess a meaning to that last section but it is no help from you writing it. Only using the context of the rest of the post, and ignoring the third line mostly because it is a broken sentence with no meaning. Let's pretend that sentence makes sense though! If the developers are trying to keep single players happy as a priority, ... they shouldn't encourage single player game play in an mmo? Hmm, ok I can't even pretend that makes sense, but I can examine another assumption in it. The idea they are focusing on solo content is first off your opinion, but I can understand why you would look at it that way considering there is barely any content in the game. Guildleves are a implementation failure as usual of what was initially a great idea on SE part. As it is, they are soloable and easy, and the only carrot for linking up with others is xp bonus. The difficulty stars do not work well. A better way would have been to make the stars increase actual difficulty to the point larger partys were needed, and instead of small xp bonus, make it so that the rewards, from xp, to item, were better or higher quality. I would have loved to spam party guildleves to get the FF14 equivalent to some leaping boots, or similar items for other classes.

There are tons of ways to encourage party play other than forcing it. Grow up, SE is making this game for a majority, not you and the other few niche gamers.

[Jennestia]

Well, given their track record for NOT releasing any meaningfull content over the past few months, it was a pretty fair assumption that they will keep it up.

FFXI proves they'll release meaningful content -- They kind of have to FIX XIV before doing so though.