Mount Farming and the 99 Totem Issue

[DrWho2010]

once the drop rate increases and it becomes purchasable by that time people will have better gear. PF will pick up again after that happens. Whether they're actually good at doing the fight.... well that's another story.

[Deveryn]

New flash, they made an MMO, in which the raison d'etre is to waste your time. This is like complaining about the tobacco company not care about your health.




There is one thing you get right, and that is some people just generally enjoy wasting time. As I said above, I'm playing an MMO, I'm literally wasting time for which I can use toward much more productive and healthy activities. That's why I at least make those time enjoyable. Since stormblood I run most EX well into the hundredth (I think I clocked in ~220 runs on twintania), and for the most part, I enjoyed those times, not antagonized over them. You know my secret?

- It's the perfect testing ground for new classes. There is only so much you can practice on dummy, and I don't want to trap people fumbling around in savage. EX is the place where I can practice while still do meaningful contribution.

- I use it to cap weekly tome when I needed instead of running roulette or daily. A bit less efficient but more fun, and go toward multiple goals.

- I set a daily limit of 3 runs a day, unless I just feel like I want to run more (and thus can enjoy it). Like really, with the time frame between when the EX come out and the token exchange become available, just 2 runs a day will net you 99 totem long before that. Heck, I can even suggest more extreme, wait a couple expansion until you can solo the instance, or when they made it into the moogle quest. That's exactly what I did for the Phoenix mount.

At the end of the day, I have multiple reason to run EXs, getting the mount is just one of them.

And before you say "but I run out of thing to do but to grind" than just take a break. I had often come to the game defense on here, but even for me, I know how to take a break. After hundred of savages and EX runs, I legit arrived at a point where I think I don't have any contents left to play. So ... I decide to take a break, today is actually the last day I can post because my sub run out tomorrow. And I won't renew it until the next savage tier patch. It's not hard.


Face it, the only reason it feels like a grind to you because you want it ASAP and throw yourself into it. SE made a game, it's not their fault some people decide to turn it into a job.

Echoing this because it's true.

[Liam_Harper]

If anything, the ability to run it over and over in a couple weeks to get 99 totems and then never touch it again has more of an impact in killing the content in the Party Finder. Endsinger parties are few and far between already and people I've talked to have said they ran it nonstop to get their totems early on, and then are never setting foot in it ever again.

That's not the only reason. The big reason is the 99 totem trade doesn't exist right now, so there's no point in doing Endsinger EX until later. Then you have better gear, get the Echo, the totem trade and a buffed droprate and can faceroll it under in a week.

The cats aren't exciting and the main mount is the one you get for collecting all 7. We won't get that until the last patch. The system we have now discourages running EX while current.

Face it, the only reason it feels like a grind to you because you want it ASAP and throw yourself into it. SE made a game, it's not their fault some people decide to turn it into a job.

Posts like this are a little sad because it makes me realize just how bad this game is. The height of gameplay, done the intended "fun" way, is to kill the same thing 99 times ...but break it down over time while you get your weekly chore tomes or play an alt class! Maybe I'm the crazy one here, but collecting irrelevant tomes or a different flavor of 1-2-3 isn't all that exciting compared to just logging out and picking one of hundreds of single player games filled with story and interesting challenges.

[technole]

They don't allow the 99 cash-in on the same patch, cause people in this thread proves it works as-is. They just keep going like it's an addiction instead of sitting on totems. Always brag about having the latest color of the mount, now.

I did around 300+ Zurvan EX when that thing came out, when pity buys didn't exist. Was the pre-ultimates era, and we had cleared A12S on week 3 so really was bored. I didn't always go it alone, did PFs with people in my FC and played Paladin, Bow or Gun Mage to keep it interesting. So I'm not speaking out of spite, at-least the longer fights you get x2. Even though Endsinger isn't anything close to Emet's EX fight.

[Deveryn]

Posts like this are a little sad because it makes me realize just how bad this game is. The height of gameplay, done the intended "fun" way, is to kill the same thing 99 times ...but break it down over time while you get your weekly chore tomes or play an alt class! Maybe I'm the crazy one here, but collecting irrelevant tomes or a different flavor of 1-2-3 isn't all that exciting compared to just logging out and picking one of hundreds of single player games filled with story and interesting challenges.

The only thing crazy is the idea that everyone has to get their entertainment the exact same way you do and anyone that doesn't is potentially crazy in some way.

Some of us get our fill of stories and entertainment from things like TV and YouTube. Look back at the original video games or what people have on their phones these days and it's all the same thing, some simple pleasure.

I'll say it again and again. It's all about personal choice. There's no encouragement or discouragement of one thing or another. You're presented with options every step of the way. You can have the thing sooner, if you go about it one way or you can go about it another way. Oh, look. Here comes a tomestone event, featuring some of those mounts.

They don't allow the 99 cash-in on the same patch, cause people in this thread proves it works as-is. They just keep going like it's an addiction instead of sitting on totems. Always brag about having the latest color of the mount, now.

I see very little bragging. Some people are happy to be lucky and that's it.

[DixieBellOCE]

Now I am fine with the PF and I understand that obtaining a mount from any of these EX trials is intended to be a rare reward.

Are you over 700 kills deep on EX1, thinking the mount will actually drop before 6.2?

Nope?

Please don't complain.

[ZhenyaOkami]

Personally I think running a fight 99 times isn't that much. I was surprised how fast I got more than 100 tokens of every current EW trial, especially the first two easy ones. But of course it turns into a braindead farming after some time. It helps, when the fight is really good, I for example enjoyed farming Hades EX a lot, just because it's one of my fav fights. (The 3rd EW trial not so much, it's just boring and far from being an epic fight...)

What I don't like is, that you can't buy the mount right away. Like, people farming the fight 99 times deserve the mount the same way those people with luck does. I mean, I get it, they want to keep content alive and you have more than enough time to collect all totems for the mount from the time the trial is released until you can buy the mount without running it hardcore every day.

Of course, those mounts are no "need" and no one is forced to run this content so often. (I just like collecting mounts...)

[RocciaSolida]

It's honestly one of the best systems in place, better than most other MMORPGs. Fairly low chances of the mount dropping but you have a parachute, you're pretty much guaranteed to get your mount because you can trade in your tokens.

P.S. Another titanmen alt?

[Gararr]

OP is right. 99 is a bad number. 50 is better. Most people I know in the EX community never want to see a fight again after 90. But many - myself included - are happy to do up to 50 and then help out again later / hit it when needed.

Otherwise? We just wait for totem buy to be added.

I had started running Zodiark EX again. When I realized the buy wasn't up, I immediately stopped. My reasons were 3 fold:

1. DPS will be higher in 6.2 due to all having 610+ gear, making it faster
2. Echo will be added in 6.2, making it faster and easier.
3. Having a greater chance to get the mount means I can stop sooner if I get the drop via RNG.

The way the system is now; I'll at best run it for gear for some jobs, hoard my totems, then stop running it so I don't feel like I'm wasting time. Because that's exactly what it is.

Either have it release with the enhanced drop rate & purchase option (seriously why make us waste an inventory slot holding the totem), or reduce the token requirement. But the EX grind is always a slog.

[chaotix69]

Not sure what a titanmen alt is, keep seeing that name throughout the forums. Seems like a convenient way to cast aside anyones opinion that doesn’t line up with yours.

Anyway, there hasn’t been a single defense out of anyone in this thread about why having the required number of totems set to 99 is a good thing. Arguments such as, “not everyone has to play like you do,” “it’s an MMO, it’s supposed to be a grind,” aren’t reasonable retorts to the main topic of this post. If you enjoy grinding and wasting your time doing the same mundane thing over and over, great. Doesn’t mean everyone else should have to suffer that nonsense.

I wanted the mounts, and I’ve grinded them out now, and I hated the entire process. Do i believe they should be handed out or that the drop rate should increase? No, I don’t. There needs to be some effort required of course. Should that effort be 99x totems? No. It shouldn’t. It should be 50. That number still requires a significant amount of time without the burnout.