[dev1058] Battle Reform Blueprint General Discussion and Feedback

[UnguwaChin]

I like that things are moving but i have some concerns...
I like having no auto attack cause it means paying attention to game play...also with auto attack there goes the all time buff for 1 awesome regimen:skillchain (which my group doesn't have a problem pulling off)...also if they restrict more class moves it sounds more like XI then some new idea...i understand that jobs are not exactly singled out by any defining things but the game isn't finished to completion which is why we are not paying for it ...I would like to see changes yes but not a mirror image of XI with enhanced graphics ps the 30 sec damage delay on AM is very sad

[Arya]

Wow!

That's given me a lot of food for thought.

First impressions....

1) I like the idea of changes being driven by the need for encouraging "skillful play". Hopefully, we won't suffer from players struggling with the changes - making fights "too hard", requiring things to be "scaled back" to allow easier fights...etc....

2) I like the idea of dungeons (or raids/instances, w/e you want to call them). It would be nice to see dungeons be large enough to perhaps not finish in a single session. Obtaining "locks" as you progress in would allow you to pick up where you left off the day before. Resets of all "locks" could be done after 7 days from the time you went in, regardless of how far in you are. But if you're going to give "awesome" rewards to match "awesome" dungeons, please make sure they really are "awesome" and have a reasonable drop rate. There's nothing more annoying than spending weeks working together in a party and learning how to complete a dungeon, only to get to the end and find that not only does the "awesome reward" have so poor a drop rate (I'd recommend it is made 100% rare/ex) that you'd actually need to do the run 100 times to get it for 1 person, but the stats on it and the look of it are so poor that you will wish you had all that time back because apart from the "challenge", you've just wasted your time.

3) I'm very interested to see how the new Hate Control will be managed. Wondering whether the "most cases" means class specific modifiers, or action specific modifiers might be involved (or perhaps both). Would be very interested in having the ability to not only see your hate (as a percentage bar), but also that of the entire party's - would potentially encourage players to watch what they're doing more carefully in a big fight to prevent wipes...etc...

4) Auto-attack? The lazy part of me likes, the other part isn't so fond, but overall I'm not too fussed. I wasn't aware implemeting auto-attack would be so hard, though (shows how little I know about these things). I would have thought it was just a matter of converting the "light strike/hit" action into the standard "hit", and setting a reasonable delay between hits. Guess we'll see what they plan.

5) I like the idea of potentially not having to change gear every time you change class. It would mean you can setup gear/action combos as you like for every class and now have to worry that you're missing a certain needed skill/piece of equipment when you're in a hurry.

6) I think leaving Battle Regimens till later is a good idea. Fix the basics, then add to it. What's there at the moment will suffice for now.

7) I'm guessing physical levels might therefore be on their way out completely if attributes are now going to be allocated on Rank? Physical doesn't really have much place in the world if that's the case. And I am looking forward to see what the changed "profound effect" of the attributes will be. Perhaps we will finally see a change in damage/evasion/defense in reality when changes are made, and not just numbers....

8) Altering who can use what skills for each class? That might annoy some people in the short term who've already levelled a load of classes. Saying that, a lot of the high end actions (especially the Rank 50 ones) are pretty poor compared to some lower Rank ones, so adjusting existing skills and potentially adding new ones instead could be good.

9) Whoa! Job system?! Wow. Especially the fact that you will need to have reached a certain Rank in the corresponding Basic class before you can do the unlock quest....I guess the question is: "What Rank will that be?". I would guess around 30, but I could see some people arguing for anywhere between 20 to 50. Personally, I think 20 too low, and 50 potentially too high (especially for the casual players). 30-40 would be reasonable I think. And the return of Job Specific Equipment (JSE)? I like the idea of that (AF is likely coming back in some form, lol).

Bottom Line: Well done Devs, a very good blueprint. Now let's see you put your money where your mouths are, and make this reality.

[UnguwaChin]

would also like to add that i agree with origamikitsune on the hate monitor if you know what your doing you dont need one nuff said

[Teknoman]

Im sure it will be optional, and can be turned off much like the current enemy icons.

On the other hand, how is Matsui and the team going to approach the advantage of various distances in battle? In other words, this:

http://k.min.us/jwpiW.jpg

Also, are stances still going to come into play? It really stunk that they didnt actually go all the way, implementing that aspect:

http://k.min.us/jsnNQ.png

Of course, if Matsui and the team have a better idea in store, then i'm all for it.

And as others have stated, please make enemies have actually weaknesses to certain elements or damage types (blunt, slash, pierce, etc). As well as archer arrows actually having different noticeable effects.

Cool that Matsui specifically made a point that the job system would cater to those looking towards challenging battles and content, while the default classes would be a means of supporting casual players.

I wonder if crafters and harvesters are going to end up having specialization jobs as well...funny how this turned out exactly how most of us wanted it too. I'd like for them to pull some other jobs besides the ones that appeared in XI though.

As for the boss battles at the end of the dungeons: PLEASE MAKE THEM UNIQUE MONSTER MODELS WITH A FITTING UEMATSU COMPOSED BOSS THEME TO GO ALONG WITH THEM.

...ahem.

[Steggun]

2. Battle Regimen: Really bummed that they haven't dumped the system yet, but I'm glad they're confirming it'll be totally reworked from the ground up (Skillchains (or the next version of them, yes please! ).

Yeah this is great news. Hopefully we don't have to wait too long for more info on this. Skillchain V2.0 yes please!

[Teknoman]

Well at worst, the battle system will be like a faster paced XI system with a focus on group vs group battles (which aint that bad at all ). Of course i'd also like to see more original ideas continue to emerge, such as how the job system will play out, what jobs make it into the game beyond the standard set from XI ( the system here seems closer to FFV or 4 Heroes of light, with classes working as a Freelancer), and how the battle regimen system will be reworked...hopefully with accompanied with special effects dictating the regimen taking place.

Also i'm wondering if the complete reworking of skills and actions for everyone, along with auto attack being implemented will revamp some of the animations and special effects along with them?

I really hope some of the dungeons implemented have music...also that they are actually decent looking and worthy of the Final Fantasy name with a diverse set of enemies.

EDIT: Will the first set of jobs be implemented in patch 1.18 along with the rest of the introductory battle changes? It would be nice to have that, along with new dungeons to explore and company missions all at once.

[Vesper]

I wasn't impressed. Maybe I will be when I see all this in action. Until then, we'll see.

[Teknoman]

I wasn't impressed. Maybe I will be when I see all this in action. Until then, we'll see.

What were you expecting to be said?

[Draven]

First things first.


Thank you so much for sharing this incredible information with us. The timing of this couldn't be better I think.

I read every word of this post and some parts multiple times. heheh And as a long~ time fan of the Final Fantasy series, I am very pleased with this news and appreciative of your hard work. I know it must have taken a lot of meetings and collaboration with a lot of people just to get to this point of revising the game based on the player poll results.

Having said that, there are a couple of points that I would like to bring up. I'll try to keep it simple....

* threat meter * I'm a Tank first and foremost in XIV and all I can say is, I hope this meter is optional/togglable (on/off) like head gear for example. I don't want to know the exact percentage of hate I have against the rest of the party. Takes the mystery and fun out of fight I think.

* Quote * "Lastly, in conceiving these changes, we have kept one fact close to heart: simply making enemies stronger does not equate to an environment that fosters and rewards skillful play."

The above statement gives me great confidence that you're not artificially improving the game but instead really taking the ingredients of your MMO recipe seriously.


* Point Allotment * So let me get this straight. Physical no longer gives points, Ranks in your class do....so does that mean each Class has it's own points you set for that class? If that's the case, that would solve the cumbersome "Reassign" feature I think. Allowing each class to earn and set their own points is the smartest thing to do. If there's a better way than that, I'd like to hear it for sure.


That's about it really, only other thing I can say is make sure when you're making all this technical stuff right you don't forget to keep the story of FF XIV entertaining.

Thanks again for all your hard work. Your fans piss and moan as much as they do only because they love you so much ;-D

[kukurumei]

I'm sadden by the fact that it looks like a dull middle ground of merging FF14 and traditional (FF11ish) ideas without any elegance.

But am tempered by the fact that it's a starting point so that it can be molded to something that is worthy of a FF, not just try to shove aside.

But again it's saddening to hear it's still in "basic" stages after...5months of work and feedback.

There is no plus minus in this, simply more "wait and watch". At the very least though, it'll get people back into the game to try something new.