MMO on Rails

[Wobi]

My thoughts exactly. These flashing arrows everywhere make listening to NPCs completely pointless and they take away all exploration and adventure from the game.

Also they ruin the community. There is nothing on the game for us to figure out or talk about here. The depth is skin deep.
Compare this to Monster Hunter 3 for example that has an awesome community and it's not even an MMO. Mh threads are stock full of strategies and crafting knowledge.

None of that is in XIV as absolutely every activity boils down to:

1) follow the marker
2) hit the action button until the activity be it combat or cooking is over


Repeat the same thing endlessly.

You might want to wait until you actually do some of the more challenging content to make such accusations.

I've recruited quite few new players in the past few days and unless you come from FFXI and hunt down Wiki articles the game does not exactly hold your hand. It could use a little more direction on what to do but certainly not the overboard quest hub to quest hub you find in say Tera.

[Seif]

You might want to wait until you actually do some of the more challenging content to make such accusations.

I've recruited quite few new players in the past few days and unless you come from FFXI and hunt down Wiki articles the game does not exactly hold your hand. It could use a little more direction on what to do but certainly not the overboard quest hub to quest hub you find in say Tera.

While that sounds promising in theory I'm rank 30 for the love of 12!
That's more playtime than almost any single player MMO in it's fullness.

I hope interesting content you speak of starts at level 1 and lasts to the cap in 2.0.

So far the amount of variety and thought required by this game is like they're assuming we can't handle even fifth of the complexity found in any other FF title including CCs and XI.

[Curcio]

The game story and missions should be on rails while the actual content shouldn't be. The story they have down pretty much completely. Make some areas that are challenging to get through with a group (Like CoP and the aqueducts/riverne sites/etc) and I'll be happy story wise. Journal can take care of you if you get lost.

Leveling and exploring should be freeform. You should be able to group up with a small group of people and hunt a camp of monsters. You should be able to team up with a band of linkshell members and explore a cave (Sposhae) and level up while adventuring. And you should even be allowed to solo in a forest while looking for trees to chop down.

Quests should be done as they are now, but I wouldn't mind quest hubbish towns or NPCs. I'd rather you do quests for the material rewards than the EXP ones.

EXP should be the side factor: You level up as you have fun. It shouldn't be: You have fun when you level up.

End game should be also factor into the exploration. Having to find a HNMs inhabiting a pond in the middle of a forest or knowing that in a certain part of a zone when you see a sandstorm a Sandworm is ripe for the killing.

I don't mind direction, but let's be honest: The only direction you really need is for the quests/missions in your journal. Maybe some starting camps or locations to check out for new players, recipes for crafts, etc for people who are overwhelmed.

[SuzakuCMX]

While that sounds promising in theory I'm rank 30 for the love of 12!

>_> You can get to 30 in less than a week.

That's more playtime than almost any single player MMO in it's fullness.

I'm not sure you know what an MMO is. You can get to 30 in like 15 hours of gameplay if you stick to leves only/parties (though there are no low-level parties since most of the playerbase is already 50 and there's hardly any low-level players that want to party or aren't being Pleveled).

I hope interesting content you speak of starts at level 1 and lasts to the cap in 2.0.

There is interesting content at low-mid levels, just nobody actually does them. I'm talking about the lower-level NMs and the public dungeons. Those start at ~17, which is easily doable in 2 days. So you can start doing content after 2 days of playing.

So far the amount of variety and thought required by this game is like they're assuming we can't handle even fifth of the complexity found in any other FF title including CCs and XI.

Wait for 2.0. CC was sorta overcomplex to the point of being prohibitive (at least the first one). XI scared a lot of the players away because of a lack of guidance and "complexity." If you're looking for something complex to the point of scaring a lot of players away, FFXIV isn't the MMO for you. Of course, the guidance will probably be toggled off just like the current pop-up messages, optional leve tutorial, and mouseover help text....so you can have your "complexity" if you want it.

[Felis]

How do you guys feel about a mmo being on rails?

I love railroads and trains in a mmo

[Sehro]

How do you guys feel about a mmo being on rails?


"making sure players know where to go and what activities are there to do once they enter a new map."

wow....what he meant is that he want players to know what activities available to do in the map like location of behest ...etc so players dont get lost ! not to make it on rails lol....didnt you see the maps for god's sake?

really stupid thread with all respect.

[Felis]

wow....what he meant is that he want players to know what activities available to do in the map like location of behest ...etc so players dont get lost ! not to make it on rails lol....didnt you see the maps for god's sake?

really stupid thread with all respect.

But there are rails

Maybe it would be like: enter the train -> let you drive to the next location -> clear the location -> enter the train again ^^

[Altanas]

As a new player in 2010 I felt lost that there was no reason to go to camps other than for leve quests.

Levelling an alt in 2011 I felt lost as loads of npc's just had bubble ? over their heads.

I would be glad if on the rails meant quest hubs/quest lines per zone, with a good story, a good sense of progression, and all linking as mini story arcs

From the v2 concept maps from last year you can tell there are a lot of new landmarks near aethrytes. Make quest lines like "explore lake ruins quest 1-10", "explore empire base quest 1-10" rather than generic guildleves.

In LOTRO there is a sense of adventure as you churn through quest hubs from place to place.

In SWG there were quest lines making your way up ranks in the factions.

In 11 you had nation missions even that progressed from town -> beastmen lair -> beastmen stronghold -> etc i.e. working from one area to the next farther and farther away.

In 14 we have class quests and missions that send us from one end of the world to another back again then again to the end of the world oh and your guaranteed to have to go to some remote spot in coerthas for the lolz and then back again.

[Mudd]

Okay. Now I see why people don't enjoy your posts all that much. I never had a problem, but seeing how you took this from that other thread and needed to make a whole other thread about it gives me a decent idea of the problem.

[Ingolf]

I don't mind, House of the dead was hella fun.