Petition against Level Sync

[Levian]

I get where you are coming from but honestly majority of the time it is like two parties are 4/8 and you just can't get a group together. I rather get a group and exp on mobs I killed before than to sit in town for an hour shouting about a party and get 0 exp. Level sync is actually coming (confirmed) and majority of the people are for it than against it. Need proof? http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...l=1#post531699

This is just me playing devil's advocate at this point, but I wanted to point out that nothing is set in stone until 2.0 goes live. Though to his credit, so far everything on Yoshi P's agenda has been delivered as promised.

[Kailok]

Honestly, the ability to play with my friends is way more appealing to me than leveling in lower areas because it's faster. I'm not using Level Sync to level my high class/job, I'm using it to spend time with a friend. Now, I know that doesn't go the same with all players, so yes it will need to be fixed, but in no way should we even chance not having it simply because someone doesn't want a group of people leveling in this area instead of that area.

[Captaindownsyndrome]

im staring to think Rokien is the true face of gifthorse

[Levian]

Honestly, the ability to play with my friends is way more appealing to me than leveling in lower areas because it's faster. I'm not using Level Sync to level my high class/job, I'm using it to spend time with a friend. Now, I know that doesn't go the same with all players, so yes it will need to be fixed, but in no way should we even chance not having it simply because someone doesn't want a group of people leveling in this area instead of that area.

Here's the thing though, it wasn't a case of this area vs that area, it was a case of these 4, and only these 4 areas, forever and ever amen. Some people (former FFXI players that played up through WotG) have been burned by level synch. So you should be able to see why some would approach with trepidation, and even disdain. Square Enix's history with levels and synching isn't all puppies and rainbows. If they can figure out how to implement it so that it doesn't channel the leveling grind into a small handful of areas, I'm all for it.

[KaplanHomahru]

I disagree with you OP, I think level sync would be a nice addition. I also think you are stupid for assuming 2 people on the same server will have the EXACT SAME experiences when trying to level up. The whole 'I had no problems, so you shouldn't either' line was a bit ridiculous.

[ChiefCurrahee]

you are a level 46 war, you see there are two parties shouting. One is a level 25 party, the other is a level 45+ party. The level 25 party is at 7/8 people, the 45 one is at 4/8. What one will you choose?

Do you really wanna re-level your levels?

Join the level 45+ PT.

You are a level 39 War and two parties are shouting. one is a level 25 PT, the other is a 45+ PT. The lv 25 party is 7/8, the 45 one you can't join. What will you do?

Do you really wanna not-level your levels?

[Dargoth_Draconia]

Here's the thing though, it wasn't a case of this area vs that area, it was a case of these 4, and only these 4 areas, forever and ever amen. Some people (former FFXI players that played up through WotG) have been burned by level synch. So you should be able to see why some would approach with trepidation, and even disdain. Square Enix's history with levels and synching isn't all puppies and rainbows. If they can figure out how to implement it so that it doesn't channel the leveling grind into a small handful of areas, I'm all for it.

Also to go along with area vs that area things are going to change in 2.0. We are going to have zones with more diversity and hopefully a ton of zones. Hopefully multiple same level gap zones as well to add diversity that conduces party play for all level ranges.

[Resheph]

There just aren't even enough levels between 1 and 50 to even warrant a system like level sync. Do we need something more than Leves vs PL? Yes. Level sync maybe isn't the best solution.

[Chardrizard]

im staring to think Rokien is the true face of gifthorse

Giftforce was more intelligent. While he doesnt like many ideas of FFXIV, he came with logical reasoning, not just "Oh well, i dont like it, so it should go away"

[Dragon]

Don't think for one second you could've escaped the Ronfuare level synch parties by refusing to use the level synch option.

You are completely full of shit. I refused level sync all the time, and other people I know did also.

Once people found out about it (and similar level synch exploits) all other forms of XP vanished. Just like getting party in one of the old conquest areas together after the release of TOAU.

Maybe on your server, but of all the servers I've been to (Fairy, Sylph, Remora, Diabolos, and Phoenix), XP was just fine. Level Sync was nowhere near as abused as some here claim it to be, and most people eventually learned that Lv.Sync wasn't necessarily the best option outside of certain ranges.

I tried to take a party to Lufaise meadows for some fly action for nostalgia's sake. I want to say it was a level 70-ish group. Anyway, the Ninja couldn't get in because he hadn't touched the CoP content. We got brave and switched gears, decided to try Xarcabard for some demons. Oh God talk about a mistake. Within 6 months TOAU had done it's damage, only half the party had sneak and invis, and they were also the only ones that could perform simple tasks like following the leader and not aggroing everything in sight. Catastrophic failure doesn't even begin to describe it.

Now you're blaming Level Sync for the problems that may have possibly been at the fault of an expansion pack, and I say possibly because ToAU didn't start until you were Lv.55, which clearly gave plenty of time for people to learn about RoZ/CoP zones.

If you turned your back on conquest areas for toau zones and never looked back, and did the same thing with wotg and level synch you probably don't realize how those of us that liked the challenge of conquering the old RoZ/CoP zones felt when we'd walk through King Ranperre's tomb and not find a single party killing the insanely easy bats that lie down there. Cape Terrigan and Bibiki Bay devoid of life, no one going to East/Western Altepa because no one could be bothered to make the trek to pick up the apropriate teleport crystal. Too hard. Not worth the effort. Talking to an old friend of the good times, reminiscing about skill chains and magic bursts and hearing a TOAU baby utter the phrase, "I don't like doing SC, it's too hard." In the span of 2 patches our game was ripped from under us, gutted and turned into an empty husk of it's former self, even though the option to play the way we used to still exists to this day. Why?

Oh please. FFXI was never gutted until Abyssea.

Point blank, the vast majority of people are going to take the path of least resistance. We were even doing it before CoP and didn't even realize it. And once an easier way was found, people abandoned the more challenging routes. Sure there were some of us that pined for the glory days, and once in a while you could get a group to try something old school. But as time went by that section of the population got smaller and smaller, whether it was because we didn't like the new things and quit or because we got tired of trying to go against the grain and were forced to flow with the tide. Just try it if you don't believe me, reactivate your FFXI account or if you can't start a new one and just TRY leveling the way it was done before level synch, colibri in TOAU and Ronfuare (S), Field of Valor missions, and now Abbyssea which has even taken away ALL of that or so I've heard. You won't get passed level 10.

All that being said, Firon is probably right. The reason level synch destroyed FFXI was because from lvl 1 through 75 the xp cap was 200 a kill (before chains). Most groups up to 55-ish didn't see more than a chain 5, which was easily obtainable on worms. Which meant you could get the same XP/hr @ qufim as you could in any other zone with less risk and less travel time until you hit the TOAU areas with warps straight to the XP camps and 100+ chain counts. And once you got to the TOAU areas, it was Colibri until you were so sick of pink things just seeing the color would make you want to stab a kitten and kick a puppy. But in a game where xp/hr varies per level isntead of being unilaterally capped across the board until nearly end game it should be less of an issue. The fact that it destroyed one game doesn't mean that I think the idea can't work, though I will say I don't think it should've been so beneficial to the people synching down 20 levels.

Wow, that post turned out a LOT longer than I wanted it to.

FFXI was saved by Level Sync as it actually allowed veterans to play with newbies. ToAU actually saved FFXI by making melees more important than just mere sacrifices for the BLM bursts. WotG made the game interesting by introducing conquest and making older zones reusable. And all of these had certain level requirements (save for Lv.Sync, which still had a silent requirement), Abyssea was the only thing that didn't, and it'd have been fine if there were a high-level requirement for it.

P.S. ToAU was all about colibri? How about how pre-ToAU endgame grinding was all about... skeletons and requiring BLMs to be in every party for manabursts while melee DPS were just sacrificial meat?