More Options for Character Growth

[Onidemon]

I feel that we don't have enough options available to make our characters stand out from the rest or to customize them to fit our personal style. Let's say you have a L50 BLM. It won't be any different or play any different from any L50 BLM out there. It will be an exact copy minus the equipped gear.

Even when equipping spells from other classes, you are pretty much forced to chose the best spells to fit your job. So in the end you still end up with the same setup as everyone else and as things will go on, it will be like XI where you need a specific combination to play with others or they won't invite you.

Other MMOs out there have come up with systems that let's you tailor your character to your linking and still make it that you are just as useful in a group then other players from the same Class but with a different setup.


We have been asking for such a system from the beginning, there is tons of threads on the subject and Yoshi-P's answer was the job system. But that is hardly what we asked for, it is just an advanced job/class system a la Ragnarok Online or the advanced jobs in XI. Yes you keep the skills from your previous job but that is the only difference.


WOW for example has the talent tree, you can chose from 3 different play style for each job. A single job can then fit different roles in a group, from Tank to healer to DPS. It's your choice. This approach makes it that you have more options available to you when searching for team mates. If PLD and WAR for example are the only tanks and are not too popular, then you will have a hard time forming a group. Same thing for healers, if only one class is a suitable healer then it will be much harder to find one.


There are many different systems out there in other MMOs and i think that it is time for XIV to have it's own. Take ideas from existing systems or make one from scratch but i believe we need one if we are to have diversity and prevent the game from becoming like XI where you need the perfect combination to even play.

[Yves]

OMG I saw this and was hoping this was a request to add breast implants!

No, but totally serious - I 100% agree that more options is great. I don't like the idea of permanent effects like talent trees (this will block some people from some content) but I can think of ideas like the ACP body, the Promy ring, etc.

More variety never hurt anyone - it can't be missionary all the time.

[fusional]

i typed up a novel only to realize at the last minute that it would be completely futile. instead i'll sum it up with this:

games that go over the top with combat customization fail for a reason.

[nasomi]

Know what's neat about ffxiv? It's not wow.

Your character is not a clone of the next 50blm, unless you're a clone of the person controlling that other 50blm. This is where the importance of a neat little concept called "player skill" comes in. Look at life, the best racecar drivers don't win because one drives backwards, another drives sideways, and two do barrel rolls. They win because everyone drives forward, around a track, but someone does it a little better. Even among the best the difference in skill is minimal, because of the practice. Then there's the idiot bringing up the tail end of the pack because he has no idea what he's doing, probably because he went out and had all his jobs PL'd to 50. He's not THAT much worse than the other drivers, but there is an undeniable difference between how fast they switch from nukes to enfeebling, and don't randomly cast the wrong spell or mis-negotiate a turn.

And then there's the "but it's a game, it's not THAT hard". No, and neither is starcraft, yet your ass gets zerg rushed everything so you ragequit. Experience(irl) makes a difference.

[Onidemon]

OMG I saw this and was hoping this was a request to add breast implants!

No, but totally serious - I 100% agree that more options is great. I don't like the idea of permanent effects like talent trees (this will block some people from some content) but I can think of ideas like the ACP body, the Promy ring, etc.

More variety never hurt anyone - it can't be missionary all the time.

Yeah the talent tree was just an example of what another game does for character growth. I would much rather see them come up with their own system then to see yet another game rip off the talent tree....

[Onidemon]

i typed up a novel only to realize at the last minute that it would be completely futile. instead i'll sum it up with this:

games that go over the top with combat customization fail for a reason.

Examples please? Cuz i could just as easily say games without enough combat customization fail for a reason.

[Gramul]

We can choose things like what skills we use from other jobs, what grand company we follow, and how our stats and materia work. So that's a fair start I think.

[fusional]

Examples please? Cuz i could just as easily say games without enough combat customization fail for a reason.

is that why ffxi is still going strong after a decade? is that why WoW still crushes the competition and doesn't even flinch when the next overhyped "WoW-killer" drops? is that why said overhyped "WoW-killer" always falls flat on its face?

be objective.

[Onidemon]

Know what's neat about ffxiv? It's not wow.

Your character is not a clone of the next 50blm, unless you're a clone of the person controlling that other 50blm. This is where the importance of a neat little concept called "player skill" comes in. Look at life, the best racecar drivers don't win because one drives backwards, another drives sideways, and two do barrel rolls. They win because everyone drives forward, around a track, but someone does it a little better. Even among the best the difference in skill is minimal, because of the practice. Then there's the idiot bringing up the tail end of the pack because he has no idea what he's doing, probably because he went out and had all his jobs PL'd to 50. He's not THAT much worse than the other drivers, but there is an undeniable difference between how fast they switch from nukes to enfeebling, and don't randomly cast the wrong spell or mis-negotiate a turn.

And then there's the "but it's a game, it's not THAT hard". No, and neither is starcraft, yet your ass gets zerg rushed everything so you ragequit. Experience(irl) makes a difference.

I don't mean to be rude, i really don't, but you are not very good with examples or metaphors or wtv you tried to do there. You are besides the point here. How good of a player you are and character customization have nothing to do with one another. I'm talking about personal play style and personal taste not how experianced you are with your class.

Your approach is exactly what i am trying to avoid. A game where you need to play a certain way and have certain skills/job if not you are called a noob or not experianced or a bad driver if you wish. I don't want my White Mage to be able to DPS as well as BLM or WAR just for the sake of saying im a better player but only because i would like my class to play the way i want it to. Actually it doesn't even need to be that drastic as healers being good at DPS but i'd like to be able to add my own flavor in there that's all im saying.

[Onidemon]

is that why ffxi is still going strong after a decade? is that why WoW still crushes the competition and doesn't even flinch when the next overhyped "WoW-killer" drops? is that why said overhyped "WoW-killer" always falls flat on its face?

be objective.

Last time i checked WOW is doing 1000000 times better then XI. I would even go a step further and say XI is pretty much dead and far from going strong. You should give it a try, only the hardcore fans are still playing these days.