Early Thoughts on 1.18 - THANK YOU Yoshida-san! :)

[Kiara]

To: Yoshida-san and the FF XIV Team,

Just wanted to say, "THANK YOU!" for Patch 1.18. I've only been able to spend 10 hours with it so far, but I'm really enjoying it.

• Love the New Music for The Black Shroud, and the Grand Companies, and Dzemael Darkhold! (and I heard there are other tracks around).

• Grand Companies: Awesome! It's early, but you've provided us with a more meaningful system / way to strive towards something in the game. The Grand Company Rewards look pretty good so far (Twin Adders' Company Store has some nice items offered so far).

• I LOVE the new Animations you've put in so far! Rage of Halone is beautiful, Bloodletter is nice, and Chaos Thrust is AMAZING!

• The Dzemael Darkhold Raid Dungeon: FUN! Thank you so much for giving us some HARD content! Finally! I've gone through 5 times already and can't get enough (haven't cleared it yet), but it's got the addictive, fun properties of something you want to explore again and again.

• I love how you there are little side paths and places where Treasure Chests can appear. It reminds me a little of Dynamis-Xarcabard (original days)... choosing if you want to head off to different parts (and waste valuable time) trying for something, or going for the End Boss. It adds nice replay.

• The Combat System is rough... but our LS is slowly getting used to it.
  • My initial worries about the Hate Meter were unfounded: It's helpful (in light of the new Combat System changes) to know how Hate is being handled throughout a fight.
  
  
  • Auto-Attack is a bit slow, but it's helping you focus on using your Skills and WS at the right time, positioning yourself, avoiding things (like All Seeing Eye).
  
  
  • I LOVE the Conjurer Magic Changes: No more mindless spamming of AOE Cures / Sacrifice with no thought about MP Management. MP and Casting Spells feels more precious and strategic now (so far). Raise II and Rebirth are a godsend. You really feel that those spells are important.

• Played Thaumaturge a bit as well. It feels very different (but in a good way). I was so used to just spamming Sacrifice III AOE in the old days, and throwing wave after wave of Debuffs with little care about MP, but now it's changed a lot.
  • Scourge II does far more damage than it used to (nice offensive spell now), and the DOTs still feel good (Poison II, Dia II, Bio II).
  • Shadowsear seems weaker, but I need more testing.

But ultimately, there's a real buzz in the air (at least during this initial run). Seeing some old players log back in, and many people (strangers, friends, JP and Western players) just running around, prepping, cheering each other on at Dzemael...

I haven't had this much FUN in FF 14... ever. I love the presentation at Dzemael Darkhold (the cinematics, featuring your whole party w/ friends, etc.).

Can't wait to explore the rest of the 1.18 patch / new stuff.

So again, Thank you! and I look forward to seeing how Combat / Classes continue to change in 1.19 and 1.20!

[Harle]

This guy is having the time of his life.

[alexi14]

Wait untill those old players find out there is no good way to rank up mate. I'm sure they will quit.

[DNO]

there is a good way to rank up. grinding, leves, and raids plus you can go all day as surplus is gone. My leve run gave me lots of xp... i think peole need to play before they talk

[Kiara]

there is a good way to rank up. grinding, leves, and raids plus you can go all day as surplus is gone. My leve run gave me lots of xp... i think peole need to play before they talk

Yah, and I also wanna try out those Behests where no one's cleared them for a few cycles to see how big the Bonus SP is on those. (A brilliant idea, IMHO.)

It encourages adventurers to go out and try a Behest at lesser-traveled camps, rewarding them with more SP.

[Bigglesworth]

This guy is having the time of his life.

can't resist...... the urge......to fight off......the patrick swayze.

I HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE, NO I'VE NEVER FELT THIS WAY BEFORE, AND I SWEAR.... IT'S THE TRUTH....AND I OWE IT TO YOU...

[TheVedis]

Wait untill those old players find out there is no good way to rank up mate. I'm sure they will quit.

im looking into how im gonna finish my last few jobs
leves arent the answer(not a static like it was at least) but i got some good ideas on what ima do

and i can grind gathering more in the meantime

[Abriael]

Wait untill those old players find out there is no good way to rank up mate. I'm sure they will quit.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.co...9493659604.jpg

[thenewzero]

I haven't had much time yet to mess around with things, but I have to say that I was surprised by how Auto-Attack 'felt'. I was one of those who didn't really feel it was necessary (though I didn't mind it being added). But now that I see it in action, yeah, it's a tad on the slow side, but it really makes the combat feel a lot more fluid and a lot less spam happy. It kind of made me realize that what I didn't like about DPSing in other games was how spam happy it was, because I actually enjoyed playing a damage dealing class today.

[Chezen]

I just soloed the opening Gridania company quest on conjurer, and that was FUN. ^^

I'm enjoying so far.

My only negative comment at this point is, while I'm glad we can go from passive to active while moving, sliding on the ground looks very odd. I would be guessing they are working on those animations? I could see that taking longer than just implimenting it.