Stop the Grind-to-the-Endgame madness!

[Jynx]

was turned into a rat race not by design, but by its players.

Again I had no issues with the game, it was far from perfect but the system was in place where I comfortably took about a year to max out my first job. Thief, I never hurt too much for parties I made my own I found ways to get experience outside the norm of 200chain parties that people whined about.

Again, let's not nueter the dev team into making a McDonalds MMO and let them make the game they want to make with our suggestions being something they can bounce their own ideas off of.

I did not Ignore any part of your post, I just didn't quote it because it wasn't relevant to my response.

It wasn't anyones fault but their own if they let the players of the game decide how they should personally enjoy their game experience. I had more fun killing Piests in the Marshes at level 50 on my corsair than I did killing Lolibris. Don't like mass chain fighting? Get some friends and go kill something exciting, it was a madhouse dodging the petrify gaze fun as hell to play my job Corsair/Ranger because I didn't have to worry about being a useless curebot because I decided to.

I had all these options because the developers made a rich system that we could play with, XI did alot of things right in the terms of open world design and giving players alot of freedom in how they consumed content.

Instanced garbage has more limitations that people like to let on, it's good and all for a scripted event and specific boss battles but the entirety of the game shouldn't be set on rails for easy consumption. Some people enjoy not knowing where to go next, going against the grain, playing with a smaller or larger group than was deemed required.

Your right it was the players who turned the game into a rat race, but let's not let them win by telling the developers to remove any motivation to grow, to see your character grow more powerfull. To go back to content and smear the walls with the blood of your former nemises just for the fun of it by yourself. Enough with asking the developers to railroad the game down our gullets so we can "Get to the endgame"

Why not make unique experiences the whole way through? Let people who want to skip all the fun stuff and smell the roses do so, but give us players who want to stop and smell the roses and have a surmountable goal take some time. Let the people in a rush cry themselves to sleep when they have to wait for the fairy boat while I chat with my linkshell, (Play a card game!) or do whatever I want to do (bang out a few crafts).

Let people consume all their anima and grimmace when they are forced to actually traverse the world that is for the most part unknown to them, maybe they might see someone having a gay old time and think. "How can they have fun doing that it's....it's not OPTIMAL!" and that player will continue on their merry way playing the game how they feel fit.

I don't see how XI was a rat-race to anyone but the people who decided that's what they wanted out of the game. If anything the "Endgame" everyone is so desperate to reach is turned into a rat-race due to peoples ever increasing cry for difficulty making it impossible to do content without a certain setup of players.

So in my opinion slowing down the track to "Endgame" does little less than give others a option to enjoy the journey while others continue to treat it as a hinderance to life itself, because even as fast as it is I still hear many people just wince at the thought of actually leveling a class/job. You wont and can't ever please those people they will muscle through it regardless of how the devs dress it.

[Jocko]

snip

I agree with absolutely every single word. Bravo.

[Duelle]

It wasn't anyones fault but their own if they let the players of the game decide how they should personally enjoy their game experience. I had more fun killing Piests in the Marshes at level 50 on my corsair than I did killing Lolibris. Don't like mass chain fighting? Get some friends and go kill something exciting, it was a madhouse dodging the petrify gaze fun as hell to play my job Corsair/Ranger because I didn't have to worry about being a useless curebot because I decided to.

And once you hit the level cap the "standards" set by the players slam into you like a freight train.

Instanced garbage has more limitations that people like to let on, it's good and all for a scripted event and specific boss battles but the entirety of the game shouldn't be set on rails for easy consumption. Some people enjoy not knowing where to go next, going against the grain, playing with a smaller or larger group than was deemed required.

Yet again you miss the fact that players create the trends no matter what. And its aggravated when it comes to forced grouping, which is what made XI particularly bad in that regard. Everyone went to the dunes until 20. Everyone went to Qufim until 25. Everyone went to Kazham until 29/30. Everyone went to Altepa until 34/35. And so on. If you suggested anything outside of those people started dropping faster than anything because they knew they weren't going to be guaranteed easy kills for exp and because people tent to stay clear of the unknown.

You're right it was the players who turned the game into a rat race, but let's not let them win by telling the developers to remove any motivation to grow, to see your character grow more powerfull. To go back to content and smear the walls with the blood of your former nemises just for the fun of it by yourself. Enough with asking the developers to railroad the game down our gullets so we can "Get to the endgame"

The major difference here is that while WoW and it's ilk supported the rat race, games like XI were designed to hinder the rat race, but people still did everything they could to rush to the level cap. It negatively affected people who wanted to play as certain jobs and forced them to settle for second best solutions. Do you think all summoners liked avatar burns? Or all monks killing nothing but skeletons? Or black mages being forced to solo their levels?

There's simply too much to lose and too little to gain from the OP's wish. It's almost like the OP and people like him don't think of the consequences that come with that type of design. What saddens me is that this is despite having a clear example in SE's previous MMORPG.

Why not make unique experiences the whole way through? Let people who want to skip all the fun stuff and smell the roses do so, but give us players who want to stop and smell the roses and have a surmountable goal take some time.

This I can support, provided there is balance to support both camps.

Let the people in a rush cry themselves to sleep when they have to wait for the fairy boat while I chat with my linkshell, (Play a card game!) or do whatever I want to do (bang out a few crafts).

So your fun at the expense of others. No thanks.

I don't see how XI was a rat-race to anyone but the people who decided that's what they wanted out of the game. If anything the "Endgame" everyone is so desperate to reach is turned into a rat-race due to peoples ever increasing cry for difficulty making it impossible to do content without a certain setup of players.

Which was aggravated by poor job balance and design, among other things.

So in my opinion slowing down the track to "Endgame" does little less than give others a option to enjoy the journey while others continue to treat it as a hinderance to life itself, because even as fast as it is I still hear many people just wince at the thought of actually leveling a class/job. You wont and can't ever please those people they will muscle through it regardless of how the devs dress it.

It increases the desire to get there as quickly as possible. XI greatly suffered for this, giving birth to idiocy like the princess RDM, overhunting, stat stacking to overcome level correction, inflation of gear because of said stat stacking, gear "standards" (AKA if you were lv59 and had no haubergeon, you were a gimp) and so on.

PS: Not entirely related, but while you may prefer to hide among your cluster of friends to avoid the standards and trends set by the masses, I like actually being able to play with the community without fear of being put down or ostrasized for my playstyle choices. If it means the design has to be streamlined in order for that to happen, then so be it.