So, how is Pagos?

[Ilan]

Anyone else having issues finding groups? I don't like it but I'm trying to slowly go through it. My main issue is Eureka in a while seems a lot less friendly. I finally hit 23 last night after going back to Anemos to do my challenge log because I couldn't get a group in Pagos. I eventually had to make my own but still couldn't find a full party of 8 that wanted to do the same things. Luckily we got group of about six to work together on our challenge log. This was during prime time hours. This is going to be very difficult for people to catch up even with the challenge log.

Yes its hard to find a party if you are not 30+ because this content is already over a week old. I don't even want to think about the poor souls who go into pagos in a month or later.

[Ploudret]

My Pagos experience today as lvl 25 : get a party to kill lvl 31 mobs, die 4-5 times on the way, have everyone distracted on the first pull and party wipe. Eat the penalty to go raise the party, delevel to 24, get beaten to the punch for the raise, die on the way anyway. Got raised but then FATE spawns at the other side of the map. Get in time for it, get some exp back but then party disbands.

Real fun for masochists. Even in FFXI we had prism powders/sneak oils to navigate dangerous areas. I think I'll pass on the relic this time even though I got ARR and Heavensward ones...

[Duskane]

That is terrible game design. Games you pay a subscription to are supposed to be fun, not "tolerable".

but the sensation of finishing a relic is nice and a good feeling
the opposite of "its not about the destination its the journey along the way"

[Ilan]

but the sensation of finishing a relic is nice and a good feeling
the opposite of "its not about the destination its the journey along the way"

But there is something wrong if the relic is a braindead grind without any form of diversity. Take a look at the old relics, they had some really tedious steps but they also had some steps that had diversity and weren't as annoying. This now is just tedious.

[Nestama]

but the sensation of finishing a relic is nice and a good feeling
the opposite of "its not about the destination its the journey along the way"

A nice and good feeling is finally clearing Kefka Savage with your main group of friends (we're mostly casual).
If I genuinely don't enjoy something and get the reward for finally beating/completing it, I don't feel good. I still feel frustrated. "That was dumb. I did not like this at all."

If Pagos was just Anemos 2.0 and then some (page 54 I mentioned a couple of things), it would be fine. Levelling up would be bearable and going afk for one reason or another wouldn't cause parties to break the chain... also reduce the heatwaves. Please SE.

[Aikaal]

but the sensation of finishing a relic is nice and a good feeling
the opposite of "its not about the destination its the journey along the way"

Just to let you know on something. It took me about 80 hours of prog to clear Ultimate Refrain: Ultima. Now it takes me 1 hour to reclear to get a second weapon. It's probably faster to get 1 relic from Pagos than clearing UwU. But if you take the silly time it takes for me to reclear, on the long run. It'll take me less time for obtain, stronger, more prestigious weapons. Outside of the WHM relic, there's none that can be currently be used and you can be sure Alphascape savage WILL drop 405 iLevel weapons and your relic won't be 405 for a very long time.

[Duskane]

Just to let you know on something. It took me about 80 hours of prog to clear Ultimate Refrain: Ultima. Now it takes me 1 hour to reclear to get a second weapon. It's probably faster to get 1 relic from Pagos than clearing UwU. But if you take the silly time it takes for me to reclear, on the long run. It'll take me less time for obtain, stronger, more prestigious weapons. Outside of the WHM relic, there's none that can be currently be used and you can be sure Alphascape savage WILL drop 405 iLevel weapons and your relic won't be 405 for a very long time.

Having difficulty understanding your point?
because i don't care for these "prestigious weapons" since they are just ugly recolors in my eyes,I get weapons and gear because i like the look of them, i don't care for this rush to get high ilevel or best gear when 99.9% of the content can be done at a lower ilevels.
I really have no issue with my gear being outclassed at some point because its bound to happen anyway why stress about it.
I like the look of some of the Elemental weapons and i will get them regardless of the stats or Patch when there is better weapons

[Tint]

A nice and good feeling is finally clearing Kefka Savage with your main group of friends (we're mostly casual).
If I genuinely don't enjoy something and get the reward for finally beating/completing it, I don't feel good. I still feel frustrated. "That was dumb. I did not like this at all."

i feel the exactly opposite. after i have beaten my head against the mechanic wall in a raid fight and finally have cleared it i feel nothing but "That was dumb. I did not like this at all."

the biggest excitement i ever get in this game is from fishing. it's RNG after RNG after RNG, a horrible grind and - completely useless. it also involves basically no skill at all. but catching those legendary fish after weeks or even months of trying it over and over again feels awesome! :O

what i don't like in Pagos is the leveling and the exp penalty you get when the levels don't match. i also don't like the chain system, because i don't like to play with that clock. i want to be able to take breaks. after finally getting a party together and then locked inside for 3 hours and the chain timer is no fun. but i have no problem with the grind per se.

[Mirakumi]

I'm going to give my honest opinion now to pagos after getting 35.

I enjoyed it to a degree. Now there are some things I wished they changed.

Music, for example, is one of them. Giving us the same Eureka type music just made the experience a down watering curve. So the fact that I didn't like the train, brought back the undesirable feeling to play with the music.

I wish they gave us daily quests, things that would help progress besides the once a week dailies. That way people wouldn't get totally burnt out. Challenge log was great but it wasn't enough that people felt any change at lower levels. They needed something to get them out of the disparity of grinding.

Now for some insight, I love grinding and I loved the harsh world they set out. I liked the dangerous feel it made me feel like 1.0 again. So this thing made me very happy. It brought back some memories of dying and exploring and it was great. I'm glad they did it no matter how many people hate the death walk. I liked it. Loved the elementals that cast with healing aggro and I love the agro HP mobs. I liked the dragons that aggro to sound but even when I was walking they would aggro me so idkwtf but its a cool concept none the less.

What I didn't like about the grinding that in 11 you could still grind and chat. In 14 your powering through rotations in silence just trying to hit a chain. You have to be on top of your shit to get to 30. I feel that is something they majorly need to change. At least so you can enjoy to grind and joke. More time for chains so it's not a total disparity or lower HP on monsters a bit more - take your pick. (People were complaining about Carpal Tunnel for goodness sakes!) In 11 you had magic bursts etc so chaining would be easier - this isn't the case here so SE needs to elevate it so it is not so mind numbing of a button-bashing silence through each run. This really would have changed the feel a lot.

Also please change the music again.

NMs should have a higher spawn rate. Not like overtly so but I've been in an instance fresh through the whole nine yards and no NM spawn makes you feel kind of - slap in the face. Especially so when all that grinding with no pause and chatter. It's just not good. It really isn't. So it needs to be changed if it already hasn't.

I do again like Pagos as terms of dangerous and less train - but I still feel like they shouldn't have made mounts so hard to gain.

I have been however at 35 - with my lowbie friend at 30. He does gain 2k exp on crabs with me and another 35 power leveling him. You might say that's not much but considering how fast we killed and how much chain 30 we gained it was not a steep slope. Much better in the end so there is not loss hope for those trapped on lower stuff. Find your 35 friend - and ask them to help you until SE sorts the mess out.

[HyoMinPark]

Having difficulty understanding your point?

I think the point he's making is that, some (raiders, to be specific) can invest less time and effort into getting weapons that are better than the weapons from Pagos. And while this is typical, as the relic is never on par with Savage weapons until the end of an expansion, I do think it at least speaks volumes when Sigmascape Savage or UwU weapons are less tedious to obtain than their casual/non-raider equivalent.

My biggest gripe is that Pagos was introduced so late into 4.3, that it will have relevancy for less than a month before i380 weapons come out that will be even easier to obtain. Considering Patch 4.4 is due in September. And if they continue to delay further installments, the Relic will spend less time being relevant/on-par with Alphascape weapons compared to past relics. Personally, I can't seem to justify investing the time into Pagos when I can jump into a God Kefka and get better weapons for the jobs I play - especially since they are of little use to me.

At least in previous incarnations, relics could be decent for progression before eventually becoming BiS. But with how late they introduce them, they will struggle to serve this purpose save for those who are progressing in tiers relatively late.

Edit: on the BiS aspect, I seriously wonder if they will ever be BiS. There has been little indication of us being able to customize stats on them. And some (BRD, Healer relics) will struggle for that BiS slot even with 5 guaranteed melds unless the Alphascape weapons are absolutely trash stat-wise (for example, if the BRD Alphascape weapon is like Skill Speed/Determination).