Power-leveling is absolutely BROKEN

[KenJammin]

I think burning people to 25 is okay, I did it for a friend, and i also did it to recruit new players into my LS. I think it'll get exploited but I don't think it'll be much worse then the healer PL's, and that took a few years to become common and only up until level's 50 after that it wasn't worth the effort of begging an LS mate or dual boxing. I don't expect to see people PLing past 30, and in all honesty anything other then a max level is pretty much useless.

I think crafting deserves some sort of buff, between the time it takes to get the materials/money + the time it takes to level far outweighs the time it takes to level a DoW, or DoM...

[Issac]

Another thread that is currently relevant (IMO), so it is being bumped self-righteously.

Feel free to be hatin'.

[Llewelyn]

There's already a new thread about how "PLing ruined FFXIV."

That said... 1.19a was NOT enough. It's just as bad now. One PLer with one PLee harvests an entire zone, and prevents a legitimate XP party from being there.

Being able to get from 1-50 in a few days (or even a week) is honestly the weakest part of XIV right now. I remember a few months back the devs said they wanted you to hit 50 after a month or two. And prior to the insane XP parties in 1.19 (ignoring the PLing... parties are nearly as good), it seemed to take about that long. I was really enjoying the XP curve.

Now... I end up leaving parties if they're too good because I don't want to hit 50 and have no more XP grind to do on the classes I enjoy the most.

XP nerf. Please. Not just for PLers but for all xp chains.

[darkstarpoet1]

i'm finding it funny to see there are actually groups now that are selling power leveling services. i've seen everything from 100k per hour to 1mil from 1-50. the funny part is there are people that are paying it and going afk and getting free levels, but that is accepted.

[Nikita]

This thread was dead for a month before being necro'd by the OP. Yoshi-P himself said he likes the rate of leveling as is, and for once I am almost enjoying EXP parties. Give it up - Players have the choice of being power leveled or grinding out levels.

Also, as I have mentioned in another thread:

I like Yoshi-P's idea that if someone wants to be power leveled, they can be. Nobody is forcing you to power level. I play on Selbina, the same server as a particular anti-powerleveling fanatic who says they cannot escape it, and I haven't been in a party that has even tried to find a power-leveler since it was broken and level range didn't matter.

[Issac]

This thread was dead for a month before being necro'd by the OP. Yoshi-P himself said he likes the rate of leveling as is, and for once I am almost enjoying EXP parties. Give it up - Players have the choice of being power leveled or grinding out levels.

Also, as I have mentioned in another thread:

I like Yoshi-P's idea that if someone wants to be power leveled, they can be. Nobody is forcing you to power level. I play on Selbina, the same server as a particular anti-powerleveling fanatic who says they cannot escape it, and I haven't been in a party that has even tried to find a power-leveler since it was broken and level range didn't matter.

Hohoho, it seems I have a fan! I wonder what you think about whenever you see me running by. Goodness, I think I'm blushing.
But damn, you might be talking about Zen. Who knows?

As fanatical as I am, I would be hyper-sensitive to noticing ill-effects all around me at all times given -any- chance to notice it. That said, I encounter it a lot and it grinds my nerves to a pulp. I hope one could understand.

I have seen many forms of powerleveling, as I'm sure we all have. But I have never seen it encouraged to this degree. It shouldn't be allowed to be so mainstream. Have some damn pride, you lazy louts.

[Jynx]

My main thoughts on powerleveling.

If you design content with the intent of players skipping it or "Getting it out of the way" with methods like powerleveling your doing it wrong. Why have levels in the first place if 1-50 is "Pointless" as many people in favor of PL's say.

[Raikki]

I have seen many forms of powerleveling, as I'm sure we all have. But I have never seen it encouraged to this degree. It shouldn't be allowed to be so mainstream. Have some damn pride, you lazy louts.

Really, you preferred leve-failing and AFK follow leveling just because they were less "mainstream"? This just leveled the playing field and took away the smug "I'm so clever for using this trick" attitude that the people using the old methods had.

If you design content with the intent of players skipping it or "Getting it out of the way" with methods like powerleveling your doing it wrong. Why have levels in the first place if 1-50 is "Pointless" as many people in favor of PL's say.

Because it's a Band-Aid® on the problem. They had an already-live game with a horrendous level up process, but an existing playerbase that had mostly already endured it and were waiting impatiently for endgame content and balance fixes. With most of their resources on 2.0, they gave us some novocaine to numb the leveling pain while they worked on endgame content. It's a pragmatic compromise. If they give us endgame and make leveling easy, their work can be appreciated by the entire playerbase. If they put those resources into level-up content instead, it only helps new players while the loyal players who already leveled up are left in the cold.

[Issac]

Really, you preferred leve-failing and AFK follow leveling just because they were less "mainstream"? This just leveled the playing field and took away the smug "I'm so clever for using this trick" attitude that the people using the old methods had.



Because it's a Band-Aid® on the problem. They had an already-live game with a horrendous level up process, but an existing playerbase that had mostly already endured it and were waiting impatiently for endgame content and balance fixes. With most of their resources on 2.0, they gave us some novocaine to numb the leveling pain while they worked on endgame content. It's a pragmatic compromise. If they give us endgame and make leveling easy, their work can be appreciated by the entire playerbase. If they put those resources into level-up content instead, it only helps new players while the loyal players who already leveled up are left in the cold.

But don't you see? That's the entire point.

Powerleveling in its current form in this game completely removes the player from what kind of experience a MMO should provide. It's an insult to implement such a brash and hasty compensation. A f#%!ing insult.

At release, it was slow and painful. But it wasn't painful because it was slow. It was painful because there were no meaningful incentives to keep going. The main story missions were simply pitiful. Here, have a 30-second cutscene that gives you little more than an inkling of what you're involved in. From the first to the last it was all the same.

The sense of adventure is far removed. The "climaxes" are mere whispers, devoid of excitement. So, how do they fix this? Release a few r50 "endgame" (If you can even call it "endgame") instances and essentially give everyone a mainstream route to get there from level 1 in 1-3 days?

People tend to bring up the point of not wanting to work when they come home from work. In reality, it's all a matter of perspective. I consider it fun and relaxing to experience the game through different roles, slowly bringing myself to mastery while in the company of friends. I don't enjoy waiting for the next bit of "endgame content" to bash my head against with the same attitude every single friggin time.

So what have they done to address those who enjoy the "adventurous journey" style of gameplay, like in XI? They added Shposhae (Which, by the way, will become another meaningless instance soon enough,) and a r25 instance that has only one good thing going for it: Immersive music. Oh, and moogles.

What about stuff like mid-rank open dungeons that you have to complete a minor questline to access? That would be a golden opportunity to learn a bit more lore surrounding the game and to give more depth to the quite empty main story missions. And hey, if powerleveling to this extent were to stick around, said open dungeon would be a sanctuary for people who want to grind their own way and experience the game. As anyone would know, those who are hyper-focused on getting to cap ASAP to do endgame wouldn't bother with doing a mid-rank storyline to gain access to a mid-rank open dungeon that would have no "epic lootz" to benefit their PLVL'd 50.

At the very least there should be a few places like that, one in each region, if they plan on keeping this broken system around. People are constantly complaining about being overcamped by powerleveling twats. Sure, it wouldn't stop all of them but even a little bit of help makes it worth it.

Alas, one would argue: What is the point of that? The "main goal" is to get to cap and grind that endgame as quickly as possible, after all. Stuff like that would just waste the dev's time and detract them from the important stuff: New endgame lootz that we will strive to get every couple months.

I'm sorry, what were MMOs again?

And I ask, what is a MMO to you?

[AmyRae]

But don't you see? That's the entire point.

Powerleveling in its current form in this game completely removes the player from what kind of experience a MMO should provide. It's an insult to implement such a brash and hasty compensation. A f#%!ing insult.

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Alas, one would argue: What is the point of that? The "main goal" is to get to cap and grind that endgame as quickly as possible, after all. Stuff like that would just waste the dev's time and detract them from the important stuff: New endgame lootz that we will strive to get every couple months.

I'm sorry, what were MMOs again?

And I ask, what is a MMO to you?

I'm going to have to throw this back at you, I'm afraid, and ask you to reconsider the future of FFXIV.

We all know that 2.0 is coming, and it's going to have the sorts of things you are complaining don't exist in this game. New players of the PS3 version are going to have the sort of easing into the game that we never experienced.

But we (us PC players) don't need this. We've played the game for a year already, there aren't really any new players coming, especially now that subscriptions are returning.

So why not have powerleveling? What is the point in holding us back from sampling the never-will-be-seen-again end-of-the-world content that will exclusively provided over the course of 2012? So we can have the nuances of a world that's going to be completely tossed when 2.0 hits drilled into us? That's ridiculous.

50 isn't going to the be the be-all-and-end-all of the game. There will be more levels. There will be more jobs and classes. There will be more content. There will be more gear. And the whole world will look nothing like it used to and work differently than it used to.

What we have in 1.0 now is a once-in-a-lifetime window of play that will never be repeated, and I think it's working exactly as intended. To me, there's no point in complaining about powerleveling in a doomed world. Let people experience what they can before it's gone forever.