What would make Fates better?

[Ferth]

The problem with the FATE system is that it is too simplistic. If the only goal is to provide a means for players to gain experience that is ancillary to dungeon grinding and main scenario quests then that is fine, but the developers need to recognize that certain content can't be implemented as a FATE because it is not compatible with the end result nor the venue for that content.

If the only gain from FATE is experience then there shouldn't be any NMs in FATE. Notorious Monsters are supposed to be challenging content and it is IMPOSSIBLE to balance challenge when you can't limit the number of players that can participate in any meaningful way. That doesn't mean there can't be FATE that have NMs in them, it just means there shouldn't be any FATE that ONLY feature NMs, nor should the developers think that by throwing NMs into a FATE it will fulfill the niche that NMs from most MMOs do.

Scripted events also shouldn't take place in the current FATE system, because no one enters these FATE with the goal of saving the bland NPCs in this game. Why? because who gives a rat's ass if this rat-ass kidnaps a superfluous npc? Especially when this superfluous npc will be fine when the next FATE expires or is beaten by someone else.

If they want to create events that have meaning to the player then we need something deeper than "help the good guys beat the bad guys!" We need a sense that what we do affects the world around us, we also need to be able to choose where our priorities lie and which side we want to be on.

For an example of a FATE that is mind boggingly stupid in wasted potential, there is an event near Bronze Lake that begins when a mamool-ja npc wants to use the hot springs. The FATE begins when he is told by the guards that he is not allowed, and if the player wants to participate in the FATE he has to help the guards beat up the mamool-ja. Personally, I think the mamool-ja should have every right to bathe in the hotsprings and that the guards are biggots who need a good punch to the head. How much cooler would this FATE be if I could choose either to help the guards evict the mamool-ja OR to stand up for the mamool-ja and rough up the guards a bit so that they stop being asses? Now let's say we win and the mamool-ja enters the hotsprings, but now he is a vendor who sells something unique, but his presence disables a different vendor. Players suddenly have agency. Of course for this to work both vendors would need something that is meaningful to different players to promote a situation where some people want the mamool-ja there and others don't.

The problem with FATE that I see, is that SE thought it could crank out an easy system for repeatable content and ascribe arbitrary meaning to it, when in reality it just doesn't work that way. And if they want the FATE system to be more than trite throw-away experience grab bags then they need to actually take the time to make a system that both gives players a feeling that we actually can affect this world as well as gives us a feeling of accomplishment for doing so.