Does anyone like this game's RNG / focus on luck?

[Azurymber]

Social psychology shows that randomness keeps people addicted to a game. It's what casinos use with slot machines to get people to keep playing, even though they are almost guaranteed to turn out to be a loser.

But this isn't a casino. This is a Pay-to-Play MMO.

At this point in time, getting elite gear in the game has in large part been a result of randomness. Many people spend months trying to get one single item from coils 1-5 because they either didn't drop, or they got outlotted when they did. Now, the Atma system has people farming for 30+ hours with almost no results.

Personally I just watched the entire house of cards season 2 plus a few other shows (13+ hours). All I have to show or it is 1 single atma (and i farmed the entire time).

Now I'm a fan of grinding, don't get me wrong. In 1.0 I spent days if not weeks grinding gathering and crafting for luminary. Sadly in 2.0 luminarys were made essentially worthless and a joke to get.

A little randomness is okay
But when one person has to farm 200 hours vs someone else farming 12 hours, all due to a RNG and luck, there seems to be a problem.

So I'm seriously wondering. Are there people who actually prefer this system -strongly- based on luck, over one based on progression, skill, or time?

[Zaels]

Doesn't bother me at all. Not saying it's the best option, but it's not bad enough to bother me.

[Foo01]

The RNG here looks like cake compare to what Blizzard did to D3 and then they shoved down all their throats forcing it all to be bind to account. So I don't know if this RNG here is really that bad.

[Arkista]

The Dev Team should just make everything luck based. Like Myth/Soldiery Tomes, You might get lucky this run and get tomes.....

[TheUltimate3]

It's in no way the best option, but it is the lesser of two evils.

Either RNG gods and luck or "We've beaten all the content and gotten everything we need in a week. What do we do now?"

[Azurymber]

It's in no way the best option, but it is the lesser of two evils.

Either RNG gods and luck or "We've beaten all the content and gotten everything we need in a week. What do we do now?"

What bout grindy content with guaranteed progression. like luminary. Where you have to do something x-times but you are guaranteed your item.
For example, make atma purchasable for 30k great company seals ontop of the RNG. You get the company seals mainly from grinding the fates. And the extra option "removes" the "luck" from the equation.

Getting anything in life or in a game is more rewarding when you feel as though you worked for it, rather than just getting lucky. Players will become more attached to the game if they feel they invested time, working towards "elite" gear.

[Starlord]

Personally it's doesn't have to be skill based:

1) If it has to have RNG make it "reasonable"
2) It can be quest based that takes time to do and doesn't have to require skill
3) Parts of the quest(s) could require skill ( Example HM's for Relic)

[Cap75]

The RNG here looks like cake compare to what Blizzard did to D3 and then they shoved down all their throats forcing it all to be bind to account. So I don't know if this RNG here is really that bad.

Huh? The D3 loot system is awesome compared to this. You're at least garaunteed decent gear and the drops are weighted to your class type. An nothing of any worth is tradeable in FFXIV at all as far as gear. At least in D3 you can still trade in party so long as you don't put it on.

[TheUltimate3]

What bout grindy content with guaranteed progression. like luminary. Where you have to do something x-times but you are guaranteed your item.
For example, make atma purchasable for 30k great company seals ontop of the RNG. You get the company seals mainly from grinding the fates. And the extra option "removes" the "luck" from the equation.

Refresh my memory, how does one get a luminary and how long does it take?

[L-D-Omlette]

Gonna quote myself here.

The patch has been live for three weeks, the next one won't be out for another nine or ten (not counting 2.25), and even that will probably not add progression content since it is a CT patch. The next progression patch would then be 2.4, which is presumably close to twenty four weeks out.

With RNG some people could have their upgrades already, while most will still be grinding it out. If everything were moved to a token system where everyone were guaranteed something after X amount of work, then you would have to set the payout at a point in time that keeps content relevant for a majority of a patch cycle, otherwise people will grind it out in a week and the "nothing to do" threads come back even faster.

There has to be a balance.

If you were to completely remove RNG from the game, there would be nothing left to do after X amount of weeks. If content is going to last a dev cycle, then that X has to be large enough to cover the majority of the current dev cycle. Is that what you really want?

And saying that they can pump out content faster is not realistic. No form of digital entertainment (or non-digital for that matter) will be developed faster than it can be consumed.