What's your first impression of Eureka?

[Ruf]

I like Eureka, however if SE don't update it regularly (and they have to if all Relic steps are going to take place in Eureka), then it'll eventually become stale and I'll be disappointed in SE.

If you're saying that I'm not allowed to be disappointed over time (gonna repeat myself: content not being updated regularly. Key Item/Treasure Hunt spawn NM's could be a realistic step for 4.35) and that I can only be "I love it!" or "I hate it!" then you're not being very reasonable.

By the way Vstarstruck, there's a possibility Eureka wouldn't be released until they got the 999 stack thing finalised. Can you imagine having...5-10 stacks of 99 Lockboxes and Protean/Anemos Crystals? Even those of us who like Eureka wouldn't find this acceptable.

While I understand what you are saying Nestama, a lot of us are already at this point (A LOT OF US)::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

disappointed in SE.

We have seen it for a tremendously long time, you are entitled to not feel like it,the more power to you if you like this forever,some players can't even handle this once & not everyone state reasonable things, some persons IRL are completely gullible & so easily influençable that its a major dilemma when it comes to this.

By the way Vstarstruck, there's a possibility Eureka wouldn't be released until they got the 999 stack thing finalised. Can you imagine having...5-10 stacks of 99 Lockboxes and Protean/Anemos Crystals? Even those of us who like Eureka wouldn't find this acceptable.

That's a good point, yet I still dont think its an excuse & nothing dispatch the fact that we need a better communication with the dev team because in the end the only thing we get told for the first impression is that fireworks are disliked...

also goodbye, I've had enough. One more in the blacklist.

I hate most memes,specially "get good"BYE

[Raven_Darkstar]

First, second and third impressions? I hated it. It was boring, too slow to make any progress whatsoever, and seriously, the constant getting one shot.... when does that get fun? O.o But then some fc mates and I went in and decided to follow the NM train instead. Must have been good luck that night, cause NM's were popping fast and xp and crystals/boxes/etc were steady. Like others though, it wasn't even the change in progress that swayed me, it was the community. We may have our trollish types here and there, but overall, this community is still an awesome one. From banter in shout chat, the always willing rezzers, to the impromptu cheering section we made while waiting to spawn Fafnir. It was just a lot of fun.

The following nights have been much slower progress wise, with way more waiting; which honestly is more fatiguing than anything else in there. My little group is only level 7. 20 feels forever away at approximately 1 level a night.

So, basically, I have a love/hate relationship with Eureka. Love the beauty of the place, the interaction with the community, and that awesome feeling when you're fighting an NM close enough in level to actually give you some loot as well as xp. Hate, hate, hate the lag effect on NM fights. There are no words to describe how sick I am of dying to things I can't even see, bosses disappearing, people dragging trash mobs into the area to squash all of us underleveled people, the snarky types tossing around the word leecher anytime people start to have fun waiting for the spawns, and having my healing efforts completely crippled cause I can't even target my own party members!

I still have fun, it's still worth doing, I am glad I gave it yet another chance, but there are some serious improvements to be made here.

[Cidel]

Ok, so I posted my very first impressions previously between this thread and another sometime last week, but now that I've spent a good bit of time at EL 20 and upgraded quite a few AFs/relics, I have a more solid opinion about Eureka. I apologize if I repeat/parrot what others have already said, but in that sense, consider it reaffirmation of their points.


To start off, Eureka to me isn't actually "bad," but it certainly isn't polished nor completely acceptable. Yeah, yeah, we've heard this type of opinion so much already-- but because that seems to be the most accurate way to describe it. I know many of us already have the preconception that content outside of their "cycle" of boss fight gauntlets and dungeons tends to get released to us as rather incomplete glorified beta tests (Diadems, PotD, PvP and even Eureka itself). It's not a complete disaster if they refine and update the content; a luxury PotD enjoyed, not so much either Diadem (even if Diadem 2.0 was an attempt to do so). So a lot about Eureka's "success" or "failure" hedges on what happens in the near future. Yeah, I've seen some of the recent "planned adjustments" for Eureka, but beyond some QoL fixes that should have been a feature from day 1, they're still acting tight-lipped about it, which is how they were about Eureka up until right before it was released. But anyway, moving on:

1) The journeygrind to Elemental Level 20:
This really does seem to be the bread and butter of Eureka, and I did find a couple issues with the way they designed it. For starters, yes, as everyone has noted, you either get an exp chain grind party or follow the "FATE train." You can try to do both, but that can result in missing quite a few FATEs given how fast some of them die. However now that the content is older than a week, nearly everyone seems to forgo trying to get a exp chain party and instead just try and get onto the "FATE train," even if they're as low as level 1. It doesn't seem to matter which type of party is more "appropriate" for them, the stigma seems to be increasingly "NM train party or bust." I think the level disparity of party members affecting exp from regular monsters is partly to blame, as I do remember in the first few days having parties with a 2-3 level gap between the highest and lowest party members' Elemental Level. What might be "fine" for your lowest party member won't be for the highest. I'm aware that the developers are mentioning an incoming "level sync" for parties, but again, why wasn't this included on release?

2) NMFATE train exp vs. Chaining monster exp:
I think the devs really dropped the ball here, and it only goes to show that the devs are seemingly pigeonholed into using and keeping their beloved FATEs relevant wherever they can. On paper, being able to do either/or seems like a fair personal choice, but it's clear that NM monsters FATEs are the most rewarding. Back in the 1st few days, exp chain parties were the way to go- until people started getting their Elemental Levels higher and discovering more/how to spawn Notorious Monsters FATEs. In exp chaining parties I would get like a dozen or so Protean crystals tops before I would leave/the party disbanded. That's already beat by even just doing the lowest 3 tier NMsFATEs, which leaves me wondering why anyone would bother trying to form a party of closely-levelled players (much harder beyond the 1st week) when FATEs seem better in every way (unless you are grossly underlevelled for the "train"). IMO the devs should have struck a balance between good exp chain parties being the better exp choice whilst FATEs being the better crystal-farming choice, instead of it all being skewed towards FATEs. And no, soloing is so eye-gaugingly slow compared to either.

3) Eureka's Endgame: "Pazuzu! Paz spawn yet? Paz pt plz! Pazuzu status?"
Like, I am so sick of seeing people zone in to an instance with this being their 1st words uttered in /shout- or any wraith party variation- "lvl 19/20 x lfg wraiths!" ...at freakin 8:00am or something! *sigh* okay rant -off. But honestly, I can't blame them. Like, this is the only thing to look forward to at the end of Eureka right now. Yes, you could argue that it all starts at level 17 when you can ride a mount and have better traveling options, but the carrot ultimately is our relic weapon and AF armors, which points to Pazuzu and crystal farmingthe FATE train (which we've been doing well-before level cap). Right now the only thing that seems to matter for a lot of players (and again, I don't blame them, there 'aint much else to do) is when Pazuzu is spawning. Pazuzu (and the NM FATEs) don't exactly meet, but damn-well approach my initial concerns about them sticking NMs in this content where people would only be concerned about timers and respawns because relic progression would be gated behind them (thank heavens there's no RNG tied to it though... yet). Some people talk about wanting to experience FFXIV 1.0 (pre-Yoshida anyway)? This is it. Get to max level and have only a couple things to do and wait for them to add more in a future patch. **In the context of Eureka-only*

4) Moving Forward and Misc. Thoughts:
Despite my grievances I don't hate or even fully dislike Eureka, I'm just yet again disappointed (but not surprised), like so many others, at the "finished product" we were given after the delays and feedback. But I am willing to give them a chance to show they haven't given up on Eureka like they have with Diadem; see what they may add to it. For all of it's flaws, I do enjoy how inside Eureka feels more like an MMO to me than all of their 1-and-done DF dungeons and trials where the other players with you might as well be NPCs. How there is/was still danger you had to navigate around (and not just trivialize by flying over) and consequences to carelessness. Obviously (like people pointed out) there needs to be more to do inside of Eureka besides level-up, slaughter mobs to force a FATE to spawn, and obsess over Pazuzu (all of which are usually done at once). Daily quests, Hunt bills, hell- even a challenge log that awards Elemental Level exp. The lockboxes is a thing too I guess, but I had all the possible items from the lockboxes by level 12ish and right now I have almost 2 stacks of lockboxes I don't want to bother opening just to have to sell the contents within (a lot of which are a pain just to vendor NPC them due to being untradeable/market-prohibited).


tldr: I don't hate Eureka, but it's clearly incomplete and I find that fact and some design choices (and lack of some features) unacceptable to be released the way that is was. I do appreciate the player interaction/consequences for carelessness that the rest of the game lacks elsewhere. I know the devs will be working on it more, but that's its only saving grace. Also, everyone obsessing over Pazuzu as the only thing left to do at level cap because there's not much else to do.

[Ruf]

snip

good post.

[Mesarthim]

It's annoying sure but I'm not sure what they expected when you lock the most important item for stage 1 relics behind a fate with the same spawn conditions (give or take) as every other notorious monster. People will fixate on that one enemy by instance hopping, repeating themselves, etc.

I would rejoice if they spread the means to acquire NM specific items like lockboxes or crystals beyond simply fate grinding.

Some kind of repeatable quest, something beyond merely grinding the same enemies or killing fate enemies. There's a lot they could've done to make it a little more enjoyable.

[Vstarstruck]

if it was not for following my SO and following them, i would be level 2 and never enter it again. it is sooo boring, just feels like it drags on and on like the 50 MSQ quests.

the level thing is a bad aspect to it as it makes people feel forced to do it so they are not behind later

[Alleo]

You know what would have made the grind a bit better? A different battle system.

Lets look at the start of an MMO: If you have not informed yourself you are going in blind with no idea what will happend with the class you are playing, what skills you get and more. Even if you grind monsters its always amazing to feel more powerful while you are leveling up since you get new skills, can test them out and be awed by their look. Honestly its one of the good points when the level cap raises and you wonder what you will get next.

Palace of the Death had it a bit like that because you could go into this with jobs that you did not even level that high and test it. You also had the pomanders which changed your look and made it quite interesting. It was not much but it was a different.

Eureka just throws you in this beautiful place as a lvl 70 with all of your already quite known abilites and just let you level up again from 1-20 without any changes. Even the elemental wheel does not really feel grand. How much more awesome would it have been to have some kind of visual effects with different elements, maybe even changing the look of some attacks. Or they could have simply given us a complete new battle system with that. (Then I could at least understand the amount of needed time too) Use Eureka as a test ground to see how people like huge changes. Give us different spells and attacks. This way you will again wonder what you will get next, how it will look and more.

I'm aware that the developers are mentioning an incoming "level sync" for parties, but again, [I]why wasn't this included on release?

First thanks for the great post!

But sorry to burst your bubble. The one that translated Yoshidas visit made a correction after they look at it again. It seems that we will get changes to the elemental wheel not a true level synch. So instead of being able to use the power of all of your stones from the wheel those will get level synched at a fate too. (Which makes this harder for solo players and really small groups..)

[BillyKaplan]

Finally got my mount. There is absolutely no reason to lock it behind such a high level. It's the base mount speed to boot, they could've easily introduced the mount at level 9, and then increase the movement speeds at 13 and 17. Granted that would've made the early NM pulls all the faster

[Granyala]

After reaching 20 and having more pazu feathers than I play active classes, I still think Eureka is braindead and uninspired.
But the FATE train hilarity at least made it bearable to push through.

There were a few fun moment, dodging snake trolls as low level and bear memes but in general the chat seems to be dominated bei "xxx pazuzu xxx" related queries.
High point of Eureka was getting my Samaritan V achievement. Wanted that ever since the ARR days.

[Teraluna]

The development team has managed to introduce the mechanics of ftp garbage offerings into a subscription game - and you want a verdict?