Repetitive grind parties should NOT be the main source of leveling

[Betelgeuzah]

Personally I don't see how you can say you don't like the direction, instead of forcing us to be able to level up only two ways they give us more options and there should be no complain whatsoever now.

And some of these options have inferior aspects to them as opposed to leves. If you want to give me more options, make sure that they're at the very least equal to what I was doing before.

[Hubert]

One thing I'd like to people to respond to is this:

the main staple people plug for grind parties is "better world immersion/exploration and stronger sense of community" but there are literally HUNDREDS of other ways a game can accomplish this and be ten times more entertaining than killing the same monster 100,000 times.

What then would you suggest? Should we have xp events going on 24/7? In that case, the event itself would become a grind, no better than killing the same mobs over and over again out in the field. In my opinion a basic grind is necessary in order to not only give players a viable way to rank up that can also be done at almost any time, but to also make events more appetizing - that is, something else to do besides grinding. If the players just did events all the time, they would eventually grow bored of that and event participants will dwindle.

On top of that we can explore the world while being part of the game's story without grind parties. Plenty of other MMOs have you doing limitless exploring while taking you along a fun storyline.

Sounds like questing to me, something that FFXIV already has. Not to mention the main storyline quests now give very good exp. Both can be done either solo or in a group.

[Davorok]

Grinding is fun...if the environments are fun....http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...l=1#post170599 The now infamous "One Long Zone" thread.

Make the environments, the monsters and the progression more diverse and funner, and the grinding doesn't seem like such a grind.

[Ventus]

What then would you suggest? Should we have xp events going on 24/7? In that case, the event itself would become a grind, no better than killing the same mobs over and over again out in the field. In my opinion a basic grind is necessary in order to not only give players a viable way to rank up that can also be done at almost any time, but to also make events more appetizing - that is, something else to do besides grinding. If the players just did events all the time, they would eventually grow bored of that and event participants will dwindle.



Sounds like questing to me, something that FFXIV already has. Not to mention the main storyline quests now give very good exp. Both can be done either solo or in a group.

Please reread what I've posted originally because I'm telling you this here and now so everyone else can understand:

Just because I disagree with party based monster grinds as a main method of leveling up it does not mean or imply I wish to resort to some cheap, overused stereotype from other MMOs such as questlines for a main mode of progression.

Although I may seem negative in presenting the topic, I truly just want these people on the forum who I think are smart, creative, and really great people to band together and challenge their thought process and come up with new ideas, brainstorm together as a community.

Everyone talks about how grinding parties help instill a sense of community, but how can we even call ourselves a community NOW if people aren't even willing to work together at this very moment to find a way to revolutionize and change this game to be something different and enjoyable for everyone?

There are far more than two sides to this argument. This isn't a matter of whether we have questing or group grinding for leveling up. This is a matter of how can we foster a great community and find creative, fun ways to level up together without making it even feel like one whole xp grind but instead a journey with twists and turns and all sorts of different adventures. Not killing regular monsters for months of your life THEN getting to submerse yourself in the game's content.

[van_arn]

It doesn't matter what "it" is that grants experience, "it" simply needs to be fun. FFXIV needs an transfusion of fun; I don't care how they add it.

[KitCat]

FF has always been a grind fest, from FF1 to FFXIV, part of the grinding experience is exploring new areas, fighting new monsters, making new friends, or even dragging your friends onto the game to play with you, the leve system and quest system is boring, repeating the same quests with the same mobs over and over, kill X here, kill Y over there.

Be happy with the grind, get out there and finally explore, find a strong mob and put yer foot in its arse

I agree with the general idea you're presenting.. but the problem with that here, is the world is just way to small. It's got 5 real areas to see, within each one just a copy and pasted chunk over and over and nothing interesting to see. With the exception of maybe mor dhona. There's really just not much to explore. A few dungeons in those areas, thats it.
While the area design IS se's fault, the square surface itself isn't really. More surface area didn't come to XI until many expansions, and the same will happen to XIV if it lives that long.

They need to do something about the zones to make them interesting though, because running around is like being stuck on a broken record. Check my map every 30 seconds because there are no discernible landmarks to help me gauge wtf i am.

All in due time though. I hope

[Korbei]

Mob grinding is my favorite means of leveling. People who focus on 'the grind' are simply focused on the wrong thing. It's about friendly competition between you and your party mates. It's about peak performance from every member of the team contributing to each fight for faster kills and higher gains.

It's simply the best practice for battle leading up to endgame. Not providing suitable means to do so is detrimental to everyone who aspires to kill the big stuff in endgame. "Cry in the dojo. Laugh on the battlefield."

[Nero]

I prefer grinding mobs over grinding leves. I just wish SE would set up actual camps where a party could grind old school: Everyone sit at camp, puller pulls mob, people kill mob.

Go figure it. Its in the Game... <_< We did yesterday a very nice "Oldschool FFXI" Party. Was really nice SP, very fast repops. We were sitting at Camp and Archer was pulling.. we had the time of our lives.. i felt finally like this is the right way to get SP and it was lots of Fun.. And no.. i dont talk about the Beastman-Clusters.

There are TONS of new Camps, which are actually giving you a very nice amount of SP. We found it by looking for a good SP Camp.. and yeah.. we found more. And just a hint.. do 4 Man Parties.

[SeleneVenizelos]

The unfortunate part about 11 was there was only one real way of levelling up until they added abyssea, which made levelling so easy that they never did achieve a balance between grinding and speed. Before abyssea, though, players experimented over time to find the fastest and most enjoyable ways of levelling. I have faith in our community to once again do this with 14, in the event they did make it a grind.

Whilst the 'grind' that we are familiar with now isn't the most exciting thing, it could be we're not at the right camps, not fighting the right monsters, or something completely different.

Personally, though, it would be nice for grinding, leves, new methods of levelling they add, etc, to be equally rewarding so that the focus does not shift to only one. Variety makes anything fun, because even the most grinding of tasks (crafting anyone?) is enjoyable in small doses.

Unfortunately when it comes to thinking of new ideas for levelling I'm completely stumped.

[ReapKarmah]

I remember when Final Fantasy use to mean that you could adventure throughout the story and level up appropriately based solely on how far you've traveled. That has never been the same in FFXI and it seems it will never be the same in FFXIV either. In these two games we seem to have to force ourselves to look, feel and act like any/every other MMO out there. It's quite pathetic and we've completely lost the feel of Final Fantasy. Is it really that hard to make "Final Fantasy" "online"?

We should NOT have to grind anything to progress in any game, period.