My friend the "content locust" :(

[Xatsh]

After reading through this entire thread what I understand the least is why those that won't do any content unless it has "relevance" even play MMOs? The common theme seems to be that nothing is worth doing unless "my" character reaps some benefit. Said benefit being the next iLvl piece. If that's the only reason to do content then I have to agree, you will never be satisfied. There are only so many shinies a Dev can put out at a time, and they will always be obtained by some faster than the next shinies can be created. There is no sense of community, no sense of being a teammate. So why play an MMO to begin with?

We play mmos because we want an endless game. It is a genre that was focused on building a strong guild to accomplish things. It was a genre where we could play thousands of hours and never run out of content.


You are right the devs will never be able to keep up when it is the "Next Ilvl". Linear content is a ultra casual design concept and should never be the focus of anything in a mmo. Add horizontal content and situational stats and you will hear almost all the complaining go away. AS long as the only upgrades are +3-4 of the same stat or similar stat then yes the devs are shooting themselves in foot. Where are the enhance stats on gears, where is the negative statis but more powerful enhancements (LIke +50str on hands but has +15% dmg recieved or movement speed -5%).... Everything is minor upgrade and exactly the same as before it. Heavy Allegan body and the lvl 15 tank body are exactly the same except the HAB has more def and more of each stat. I cannot understand how SE had a system that the overwhelming majority agreed with and they go and change it to this.

I want at least 2000hrs of relevant (Non-negated) content in this game at endgame. I want at the min to be able to play 30-40hrs a week... and honestly I do not think that is a ridiculous demand. Hell I played XI for over 20,000 and never ran out of stuff. Yes this game is new, but the direction it is going we will always have a shortage of content that is dropping non-negated items. The WoW syndrome at endgame.

It is a direct decision for the devs to negate things, IF they would stop doing that it would be much closer to an endless game. Oh and for teamwork this game is the most anti guild mmo that has ever been developed, you are more or less punished for joining a guild due to everything requiring statics more or less... either that or you have half your group sitting out every week unless you have the exact # of tanks, healers, brds, blms, and melee who can all play at the same time.

[Artemed]

After reading through this entire thread what I understand the least is why those that won't do any content unless it has "relevance" even play MMOs? The common theme seems to be that nothing is worth doing unless "my" character reaps some benefit. Said benefit being the next iLvl piece. If that's the only reason to do content then I have to agree, you will never be satisfied. There are only so many shinies a Dev can put out at a time, and they will always be obtained by some faster than the next shinies can be created. There is no sense of community, no sense of being a teammate. So why play an MMO to begin with?

I blame the current style that this MMO is adhering to, which at the moment is a basic themepark mmo, the main point of game at this time is character advancement. There just isn't much, if any 'fluff' content available to us, and we have limited options available to us that let us 'create' content, no factions mean no TM/SS spontaneous pvp, you can't start trouble and have it jump into a full scale battle. Crafting/Gathering is a joke, and there is no real open world content aside from FATEs, and everything else is basically limited to a grind, some just lengthy to complete, others actually locked behind daily limits. Thankfully this style of game is slowly waning as more and more MMORPG developers are working to bring back the sandbox to the genre.

[Imapooonu]

I want to recommend that you read this guy's post again. I don't think he's about the instant gratification. So far, ARR is the MOST instant gratification game I've seen, and yet, we have people that are unhappy with it. From what I read in Yashnaheen's post, there just isn't anything fun. Once you have your favorite job geared out in the BiS stuff, that's it. There's nothing else to work for. To me, that didn't seem like instant gratification. I feel like he's looking for something challenging or fun, and just not finding it here.

That’s a fair request, so I did. I think it’s both. However, as I reread my own post, I do feel my wording was poor. “Instant gratification” sounds almost like saying someone has the attention span of a gnat or something, a connotation I was NOT trying to leave.

Yashnaheen mentions something that directly contributes to my opinion about their post:

I have multiple DOH/DOL at 50. I don't touch them as I have enough gil to buy HQ crafted gear for every job... Which is moot in itself as I have full DL for every job. I log on 3 – 4x a week. I could play the economy which I do find fun, but there is none.

In this part they specifically state they are not going to do something they find fun because there’s no justification in the now, not the possible future. It’s pretty clear crafting and playing the economy will have future rewards, what the extent of those rewards will be we do not know yet.

But I feel like I’m beginning to split hairs now. I like your take on their point of view much better. Thank you for bringing this up. It was late, I was tired, please forgive me.

……………………………………

After reading through this entire thread what I understand the least is why those that won't do any content unless it has "relevance" even play MMOs? The common theme seems to be that nothing is worth doing unless "my" character reaps some benefit. Said benefit being the next iLvl piece. If that's the only reason to do content then I have to agree, you will never be satisfied. There are only so many shinies a Dev can put out at a time, and they will always be obtained by some faster than the next shinies can be created. There is no sense of community, no sense of being a teammate. So why play an MMO to begin with?

Well, I was just getting ready to post before I seen this. Glad I did because it’s an excellent point. And thank you btw for actually reading everything. That’s rare in forums nowadays.

“sense of being a teammate”

This really hits the nail on the head. I was a leader in a league in DC Universe Online for two years. I quit a few months after gates and prime came out. I remember tanking those raids for people long after I got my prime weapon and gates drops. Why? Because it benefitted the league, no other reason.

This is the only reason I’m even concerned with my friend honestly. That and he’s just fun to play with. See a couple months back, if someone needed a meld, he was there, someone needed help on their relic, he was there, company chest got low, he filled it.

That seems to be a huge problem with the community as a whole. To sum it up:

How I feel about content- The point is to get your Allagan and stand in your favorite spot showing it off.

People should be able to achieve “instant gratification”, and imo a part of that gratification is watching the community and your friends evolve around you. Juh feel?

[Doo]

After reading through this entire thread what I understand the least is why those that won't do any content unless it has "relevance" even play MMOs?

The common thing I find with your type is that they are good at making their own fun, helping others, chatting with friends, and all the simple things that you can find in any mmo. They care more about fashion versus function and pretty much treat mmo like The SIMS.

There's no wrong way to play a mmo I guess

1) The SIMS way - Just want to look pretty, collect vanity stuff, role play, and be social.
2) The normal way- Progress by getting your character stronger to fight harder battles I.E most games.

[ApolloGenX]

The common theme seems to be that nothing is worth doing unless "my" character reaps some benefit. Said benefit being the next iLvl piece.

That is a design issue.

Ilevel used to not be the only means of advancing... In fact gear used to be diverse, so Ilevel wasn't even visible- theorycrafting was done an "item budget", which was a more comprehensive comparison of diverse gear based on various weight given to different stats such that different pieces were comparable, but not unilaterally superior.

The problem is the oversimplification of advancement to a linear design. There are lots of ways you used to be able to advance your character... without those other ways, systems, complexity, games have become an Ilevel fest that is what many players are calling "dumbed down" and is the root of dissatisfaction of some players- myself included.

When you create one dimensional games- then people tend to focus on that single design feature...

[Jadmus]

I imagine if this all could be corrected with one, simple fix... let myth be a job-specific currency. Like if I cap 450 myth on my DRG, I can still grind my weekly 450 myth on my PLD. That way, people who want to raise a ton of jobs can keep playing them throughout the week.

EDIT: Tomes of philosophy could still be global to all classes

[TrickedOutHoro]

I'd say your friend is entitled to his feelings. PVP isn't for everyone, the chocobos ARE worthless, and while sure the GC seals may be helpful in the future, it sounds like the last thing he wants right now is a grind. He should take a break, play/do something else and come back at 2.2.

I'm not bored of the game yet but I can totally see how some would be. I certainly am ready for 2.2.

[Gamemako]

1) The Sims way - Just want to look pretty, collect vanity stuff, role play, and be social. And pretty.
2) The e-peen way- Progress by getting your character stronger to fight harder battles or wealthier to control more market share.
3) The OCD way - Must do everything because it's there. Open quests in your log REALLY annoy you. So do players who haven't cleared everything from their quest logs. What are they waiting for!?
4) The goon way - Got bored of griefing computer-generated characters and want real people to piss off. Brings conjurers in INT gear to CT.
5) The snowflake way - Do things to make snarky posts on message boards about having done them and why you're unsubscribing next month. Again.

Fixed that for you. Everybody's somebody's something, sometimes.

[Grizzlebeard]

Fixed that for you. Everybody's somebody's something, sometimes.

Your list doesn't appear to hold any way to play the game that you view in a positive light yet you still presumably play yourself. The alternative, that you've quit and continue to post acerbic comments on here is altogether far sadder.

[Gamemako]

Your list doesn't appear to hold any way to play the game that you view in a positive light

Well, if we're pigeonholing everyone into "normal" and "the Sims", I thought we aught to be honest with ourselves and give a totally complete picture of what each individual does in a game without any overlap. As gamers, it's our responsibility never to cross the streams. It would be bad.