The Journey - Is It Still Wanted?

[Kiara]

This is a wonderful thread. ^^

The journey made with friends is all important to me.

Some people would no doubt say I'm doing it wrong because I've been playing long hours almost every day for over a year, and I only reached Level 50 on my second battle class the other week. But I do have fun every day I log in, so even if I'm just a lousy player this is "right" for me.

I never understood all the hate towards FFXIV, but I guess it's because this is my first (and still only) MMO game. Starry eyed and new to Eorzea, I've had quite a few "Oh wow!" moments -- some of them are:

- Stumbling upon the ferry from Thanalan, and the grandeur of first setting foot in Limsa Lominsa. By chance I made my first friends there, and they are still some of my best friends today.

- Admittedly someone teleported me to Gridania the first time, but I was so amazed by its beauty that I spent a few days (earth time) just wandering and looking around the city, talking to NPCs, and exploring all the little nooks and crannies.

- First seeing the dragon and airship in Mor Dhona through the purple fog was awe inspiring. I'm still looking forward to the day when it might become more than a backdrop.

- Laying eyes on Ishgard for the first was absolutely majestic. I have a Linkshell group photo that we took there, that I will treasure forever.

There are still many things I haven't done or places I haven't been to in FFXIV, so I hope my journey will continue for many years to come. ^^

Hi Mikita,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on XIV. It's good to know that people new to MMOs have found some interesting and memorable situations even in this rough version of XIV we play now.

I definitely agree seeing Ishgard (the outside) for the first time, from a distance was special, but also sad that we couldn't enter or interact with it in any way.

I hope that the 2.0 World Redesign will better facilitate adventurers to more memorable locales and that Ishgard turns out to be everything we hope it can be.

[kanjitai]

I want a journey that makes me forget about the grind. one of the things I liked about other MMOs is that leveling was an after thought. I think SE needs to learn that lesson. they are great story tellers and a story oriented game is better then a grind oriented one. that's one thing that held XI back.

most of the game was just leveling. then doing the same end game stuff over and over again. an MMO should be like a never ending book. it's fun to read parts over and over. but from time to time a new chapter must be added.

[Sheth]

I am 100% sure there is nothing in FFXIV that will make me have any kind of nostalgia.
With all the grind in FFXI every single zone I still remember vividly and I still to this day listen to the soundtrack, and I have quit FFXI around 4 years ago.

The moral story is, as much as people try to play down some aspects of FFXI it doesn't matter because that game made me live it, not just play it. So one day after 5 years if you remember my post tell me if anything in FFXIV made you nostalgic.

Ahhh good times! OP thanks for the post and the pictures.

[weeble]

i think that is what the players who scream bloody murder over grinds don't get, they are just grinding threw mmo's that die out every year, 6-12months after they are already onto another mmo instead. the journey of mmo's won't stop till a dev team creates something as great as ffxi did.

until then they will just keep copy paste things and make easy to make mmo's ... a planned obsolescence if you will of mmo's since none of them are really stickin any who. early launches, making you pay for developments, cash shops for stuff that should be in game and what ever else they can muster, then just selling the mmo or turning it f2p. yaaay.

and again right now easy mode and no grind or journey just means your paying for your things threw your monthly fee, it's called giving the baby it's bottle so they keep handing over there cash.

[Bearforce]

i think that is what the players who scream bloody murder over grinds don't get, they are just grinding threw mmo's that die out every year, 6-12months after they are already onto another mmo instead. the journey of mmo's won't stop till a dev team creates something as great as ffxi did.

which mmo,s that die in every 6-12 monthes? at least ffxi did merge servers because of the low population. no where reaching more than 30k subs. yeah i could see why ffxi was great... /sarcasm

[weeble]

which mmo,s that die in every 6-12 monthes? at least ffxi did merge servers because of the low population. no where reaching more than 30k subs. yeah i could see why ffxi was great... /sarcasm

umm after NA launch ffxi open transfers to New servers, hades and i think a few others. and i've yet to play another mmo since ffxi for more then a year. and games like warhammer to me weather they are still up and running, they are as good as dead. maybe not shut down servers but either way you know what i meant, they become games your ready to already leave by then.

[kensredemption]

As much as I love to bask in the landscape, when I start wiping against mobs solo it becomes more irritating than relaxing. There must be some sort of balance between the endeavor of getting to the level cap and enjoying XIV for the aesthetics it has to offer.

[Firon]

The single worst argument on the forums "No one is forcing you to XYZ/ABC".

Yes others are forcing you to do certain things against your will ex: if you try to shout in FFXI for a party and you are a lvl 50 rdm with no subs and no refresh you are NOT going to get in any parties ever. You are forced to have subs lvl'd and basic required spells. Of course no one forces you to have them but if you dont' you dont' get the invites.

In ffxiv you are forced to deal with PL's in parties and groups that maximize gains and prefer beastmen/raptors from 30-50.

ffxiv: no one forces you to have sentinel for ifrit but if your whole party does not have sentinel expect to wipe.

ffxiv: no one forces you to use LNC but if you bring 6PGL to ifrit expect to wipe from sear dmg + hate control issues

funny story is i glitched my SUB away in XI and got brd and rdm to 75 w/o subs >.>

[Jinko]

1 simple fix to achieve some of this "Journey" that we speak of is if they revised the GuildLeves in a couple of ways:

In 2.0 Yoshi plans to have quest chains, he said that he plans to add quests chains at the start of the game for new players as a kind of tutorial which send them to different places and you won't beable to switch class until level 10.

I am only hoping that he plans to have quest chains after this and lots of different camps populating the new map.

I know everyone likes to put Wow and Rift down but I feel the kind of quest progression they provide is a great way to direct players to new areas and have them discover places.

This doesn't mean I only want to see solo quests either, part of the problem with the current sidequests is that they provide no challenge, what I would like to see is 3-4 chains of solo content finished off by a party based semi-boss fight.

[Kiara]

In 2.0 Yoshi plans to have quest chains, he said that he plans to add quests chains at the start of the game for new players as a kind of tutorial which send them to different places and you won't beable to switch class until level 10.

I am only hoping that he plans to have quest chains after this and lots of different camps populating the new map.

I know everyone likes to put Wow and Rift down but I feel the kind of quest progression they provide is a great way to direct players to new areas and have them discover places.

This doesn't mean I only want to see solo quests either, part of the problem with the current sidequests is that they provide no challenge, what I would like to see is 3-4 chains of solo content finished off by a party based semi-boss fight.

Hi Jinko,

Well said. What are some examples of types of quest chains that you're referring to? (I've never played those games so it'd be great to document some examples in the hopes that the dev team sees this thread and your post)

I loved all the quests from Chains of Promathea (early days) getting friends together and really tackling the challenges, while being treated to some great Final Fantasy Cinematics and interesting Story that had me engaged till the very end.

I really hope this Garlean Empire / Legatus XIV Story develops into something as dramatic as that, if not exceed that.