The Hunt - a game breaking feature

[Geist]

IMHO, the game isn't dead yet, and the Hunt does actually have potential - as a proper Hunt.
However, these concerns need to be addressed, both in terms of game mechanics and community building.

I'm sure the Devs are taking into account all the feedback that's flowing in during these first few weeks (both Yoshi-P and Komoto seemed to be aware of it during the last Live Letter).

Aside from rebalancing seal/gear drops, the chances for zerg rushing might be lessened by adding situational factors. Someone mentioned initial invulnerability, others instancing, I would add licensing (a finite number of times per week) and prerequisites (completing intermediate objectives to unlock the actual mark).

Lastly, we need the elite Marks to be smarter. I'm thinking back to FFXII; there was always a situational factor or an attack pattern to surprise you. Top Marks required good planning and some luck; another thing FFXII did right was that you would always gather fragments of lore along the way.

[Covenant]

I'm sorry but this is a step back into FFXIV days. This standing around waiting for pops "camping" is the worst thing possible. Nevermind, the "ease" people speak about rewards.

I would have preferred a "new tier" of beastmen tribe quests that require parties of 8 players(this is a compromise...I can't stand parties events either). Killing old mobs to fill the area maps with players is a waste of time.

The "new tiers" would feature a simple pop dynamic with "boss/nm's". Rewards can be exactly the same as Elite hunts now, but without the waste of time camping.

I used to play FFXIV, get what I wanted and move on to another game within a given night. Now, Im standing around waiting for Fates and NM pops...easily two hours wasting standing around

[Eddard]

LMAO, what are you all talking about hunting breaking the game and its now dead?? Do you know that the game has only been out for such a short while, and they are still changing stuff.

Did you also know that a new BIG expansion is coming around the corner (said to be as big as the original game). I don't think the game is dead by any means. I mean, SWTOR which I have stopped playing for now, is more deader than this game and it doesn't have hunts.

[FriendlyUncle]

LMAO, what are you all talking about hunting breaking the game and its now dead?? Do you know that the game has only been out for such a short while, and they are still changing stuff.

Did you also know that a new BIG expansion is coming around the corner (said to be as big as the original game). I don't think the game is dead by any means. I mean, SWTOR which I have stopped playing for now, is more deader than this game and it doesn't have hunts.

The original release was also mostly shit. Hunts are bad because it is a mindless zerg. There are no tactic and strategy involved. It is just throwing as many bodies at the mark as there are in the zone. It is not fun. It is not engaging. It is poorly designed.

[Eddard]

Lastly, we need the elite Marks to be smarter. I'm thinking back to FFXII; there was always a situational factor or an attack pattern to surprise you. Top Marks required good planning and some luck; another thing FFXII did right was that you would always gather fragments of lore along the way.

Having marks be somewhat a challenge would make hunting worse I think. Trying to coordinate with a gigantic group of people to do things (noobslayer) isn't going to work AT ALL! Not to mention some marks cause extreme lag because of the amount of people the screen and whatnot, you wouldn't be moving in time or doing something in time to avoid death attacks. Or something that wipes the group because you failed to do something. This is part where half the area is calling each other noobs, idiots, swear words I won't say on here, etc.. NO ONE wants to be nice and helpful to go into a pug hunt.

[ThirdChild_ZKI]

Call me mean to say this, but it seems like, for TOO long now, SE has been quite intent on forcing the FATE style of gameplay on us, to the point that they've essentially just rebranded it, removed the FATE title/mechanic, and began dumping rewards on people. No.

The hunts are FATE grinding without level sync. They are Odin and Behemoth on a daily basis. A first-come, first serve easy access to unlocking the highest gear you can outside of raiding, skills not required. You don't have to be good. You just have to get there first and take a swing. Many times, I've heard of people only landing a single hit, and scoring the log needed for sands/oils. Hey, more power to them, but why is that okay? Why is it even possible?

[rejaan]

here here
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[EricCartmenez]

It's definitely gotten out of hand. People are standing at typical A and S spawn sites and if you call out a B mark, you get, "who cares". I took 3 B marks with a 2 person/2 chocobo party last night in a matter of 30 minutes, and I wasn't hunting! 2 of the marks were the same mark, it had just moved from one location to another on the same map. I was actually going mining when I stumbled on it. A cap on hunts might quell some of this. Everyone I meet has got iLVL 90 or above gear. I bought a full set of iLVL 90 gear for my Warrior and she's only LVL 46! I've max'd out the number of myth tomes I can carry, but who cares? I can't buy level 100 gear with them anyway, so they're just there to pay for my next animus book. It's all about buying sands and oils of time with Allied Seals. Maybe a weekly cap on those as well might help?

[Geist]

Well, the lesser kind can often be tackled in reasonable time with just two players and a chocobo: this happened to me as a black mage while on Beast Tribe Quest duty, I stumbled into a warrior and her bird squaring off against a B Mark. At that level, they tend to telegraph their moves pretty clearly, so it's a fairly safe learning experience and a way to test your skills and rotations; moreover, you might have just found somebody with good party potential.

Going solo was probably easier before the patch, but it should still be OK if you're good, only a matter of time.

But yes - the situation with the top ranks is far from pretty. As ThirdChild noted above, Odin-style rushing makes these targets much less hot, provided you can even glance at them before they go poof, alongside any curiosity of yours about the way a creature fights or the skill of your companions.

IMHO, I wouldn't say it's (early) FATE all over again or just "easy money" (seals - you get the idea); to me, it's about the way people keep gaming the system. We can fix the mechanics through trial and error, it's the attitude that is disheartening.

[Bubblegum01]

When patch 2.3 came, I had a feeling The Hunt was a content i would not enjoy. After trying it a couple of times and experienced how toxic the community suddenly became I knew that I don't like the hunt. now, after a couple of weeks and seeing the map chat being spam with curse and name calling while I gather my materials, I HATE The hunt. I HATE that the first thing I see in map chat when teleporting into a new map is "bloody moron"

I play games to release stress not add more stress to myself. This content was not well thought of. I don't see how they can fix this.