Anima

[viperld]

I enjoyed reading your input Viperld! I think Anima holds a more temporary purpose then actually being there for the long haul... It's convenient... but it's also a hassle.

Thanks! And thats exactly how I feel. Once the games hit it's stride Anima won't be necessary. Until then however, as it's the only option to walking, why not just let those who want to use it for leves and meeting up with other players go nuts with it?

[buritoslicer]

Thanks! And thats exactly how I feel. Once the games hit it's stride Anima won't be necessary. Until then however, as it's the only option to walking, why not just let those who want to use it for leves and meeting up with other players go nuts with it?

Very true..

I'm very stringent with my anima... once it drops below 30 I walk everywhere lol! I like to save up for a rainy day :P

[grausekopf]

I honestly feel that there either needs to be more anima, or that anima should regenerate *alot* faster.

Coming from FFXI I'm very used to long travel. Catching a teleport to a Zilart crag and then running 10 minutes, chocoboing for 5 minutes, running between cities, running to out of the way mining spots, etc. Also, my main was a Beastmaster so I'm very used to seeing the farthest inches of a game world (scenic routes and dungeon sections that no one ever goes to).

That being said, I can say without a doubt that when you want to play the game for it's content (quests, leves, linkshell event, party, w/e) you are under a completely different mindset then when you're exploring. Casual player or hardcore, you simply want to get to the destination, begin the event, finish the event, and repeat the process with the same or similar events. When you want to explore, you will do just that, explore. The two experiences (seeking to complete an event, and exploring) should only be both forced on a player when their either discovering a city/staging point for the first time, or doing some event where traveling on foot is a part of the process (sky,sea,dynamis). Players who want to explore will do so regardless of the game's supported modes of transportation. These players do not need to be considered as you can not stop them from crawling through every zone they wish to. Anima doesn't mean anything to someone who actually wants to see the farthest corners of Ul'dah desert. Nor does it have any value to someone who chooses to walk everywhere regardless of their options. These player's were never a part of the equation in the first place. The event seekers take priority as they often operate under some time restraint (getting 15+ people from all over the country together can create a tight time table for actually completing events).

FFXI has multiple modes of transportation. You chocobo/teleport/airship to a linkshell event, and you warp/get warped/teleport home after your done. I understand full well that 14 hasn't yet implemented many modes of transportation. I will not bark at the developers for what they haven't done yet. But I will say that the current options are walking and anima(whether it's yours or a party member's). Walking to places I could teleport to but can't for lack of anima honestly makes me feel stupid. It feels like a hoop I have to jump through. Friends that I've gotten to play the game with me have actually quit because getting around was such a pain. They felt that they had better things to do/play then run on foot between leves. Ul'dah to Camp Horizon to Limsa Lominsa, trips like these become stale very quickly (and leve locations only force you to even farther out of the way places).

Anima doesn't have to be the ultimate answer to transportation. Actually, I honestly don't see how anima could fit into a game with a well defined system of transportation (there's no need for everyone to be able to teleport in that situation, whether the player be casual or hardcore). However, until more standard means of getting around are implemented(chocobos, airships, w/e is planned) anima should be plentiful and one shouldn't ever have to worry about running out of it, ever. If the developers feel that anima shouldn't be infinite, leves/quests/events should offer a free teleport to the corresponding crystal. Anything less just feels like a hassle, and not actual gameplay.

Good input.

I also think that the anima system will go through many balancing phases whenever other means of transportation get introduced and I support that. Really looking forward to future developments here since even if I love exploring and with the world feeling smaller with the anima system, walking to every location you want or have to visit really can become a nuisance.

[MattyWS]

I posted this in my own thread but no one really replied about it

With the upcoming changes I know there will be Airships and Chocobos to come, and while I'm excited about this, I'm also rather unsettled about Anima. Again, a touchy subject, people like having it the way it is and others think it ruins the game. Now I know Anima will be seeing some changes in the next few patches too, but I will still suggest a few things, so here goes!

We need to be able to quest to get an airship pass, otherwise, no ride! it's not to late for this. That pretty much my only suggestion for airships. :P

Chocobos! I think rent-a-chocos should be there, but so should the ability to raise your own, similar to FFXI, so here are some points to make, again, numbers are just theoretical, so don't take them literally.
Rented chocos should kick you off after a certain time of riding them, in which case you start walking or just go to the next closest rent-a-choco stand (from now on known as choco stand) or airship or whatever you wanna do.
Raising a chocobo should be the "quest" that you need to do before you can rent one. Sounds silly, but if dunno how to ride one, why would they let you rent one? They need to know you're a safe person to lend you their chocobos!
Raising a chocobo's quest should involve looking after the chocobo from egg to adult, gaining it's trust and strengthening it's stats, working out it's personality and eventually gaining the chocobo's trust in you. Once you gain it's trust, you will gain the choco whistle that lets you ride it, and also finishes the quest, granting you the ability to rent chocos too!
Chocobo whistles will have charges on it, you will need to do [something] in order to get these charges back once you run out. I dunno what yet, a quest? maybe pay someone to repair it for you? I dunno, you guys can suggest?
Now it's probably too late for this but you guys are redesigning the zones so I can only hope I'm not too late with this. Lets say you rent a chocobo and after 30 minutes of riding you get kicked off. How about adding zones where you need a chocobo to get to through long, thick grass, slightly deep water or high cliff edges that only chocobos are able to traverse. The best part is that some of these zones can be more than a 30 minute chocobo ride away, so in order to get into some of these zones you will need to call your own chocobo when you get closer to the zone's entrance (or whatever's blocking your way that you need a chocobo to get past). These zones will be now known as ChocoZones, just for now..
ChocoZones can be anything, secret zones to explore, beastman encampments, perhaps even a zone for chocobo digging! (hot or cold anyone?)
Renting chocobos will cost more if renting from an encampment than it would in the cities.
Well now we have my chocobo ideas out of the way.. how about we talk about the Ferry. Now it's so boring compared to barges and ferries in FFXI.. You had mobs and sometimes NM's spawning on board, sometimes even pirates! give us this fun back.. And while you're add it, add some damn scenery. Maybe dolphin type things at the front of the Ferry, or a whale or something. It needs to be fun to travel.

Now it's time for the Anima talk. Sorry to bring this up, I do not want another heated thread about this, but with other transports coming in, Anima becomes more obsolete so it shouldn't matter too much what I say.

Anima takes the fun out of the game, sure it's fast and everything, but it's not an accomplishment using it, how can you call yourselves adventurers if you don't even do that. Here is what I suggest;
Anima should cost points earned by Behest, quests and levequests alongside gil.
You can only have a maximum of 25 to start off. to go above this, you need to quest for it.
Each quest you do to raise the max Anima will get progressively harder.
Each quest will raise Anima a certain amount, for example "Quest 1 raises to 40, Quest 2 raises to 55, Quest 3 raises to 70, Quest 4 raises to 85, Quest 5 raises to 100".
In the future, more quests should become available to get more maximum Anima.
To get the ability to use anima, there should be a basic starting quest from starting the game (maybe challenging to rank 5 and almost impossible for rank 1).
Do not make it possible to be able to get teleported by someone else using Anima to a place that you have never been! Otherwise you would not have earned that area yourself. I do not know if this is fixed now but it used to be possible from my knowledge.
Well, that's my Anima ideas, and as you know, numbers are theoretical and and whole concept needs ironing out but I think I explained it well enough. And remember, airships and chocobos will be added so Anima will matter less. The reason I suggest this system be in place is because being able to teleport anywhere is a massive gift and at the time is the only transport, but with more transport options this should be an ability that you need to work for, just like riding chocobos or getting the airship pass. Auto-regen anima points is something that you aren't working for, and thus is free transport, something that needs to change. This also means that I will have a harder time getting around, so like I said, it's a system that may not sound good to you, but it's a system that is there for the good of all players, not myself.

EDIT: It did have bullet points but copy/pasting deleted them lol here is the actual thread it's easier to read http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...tions-for-FFXI

[Coraline]

At least have it reset weekly or something. I much rather pay gil to travel somewhere.

[Laughlyn]

I kinda miss Teleport from FFXI.

But dont actually mind the Anima option, so if Teleport ever got implemented i guess
it would be ok if it was Class Required only. (like Whm / Time-Mage)

Besides the spells themselves could have long cooldowns.
(in case many think its too "Easy" to get around with)

[indira]

they should just make it where you have to be at a crystal to beable to use anima so you can go to the nodes that are part of that area.

[Ethir]

I dont get it; why do you need to travel fast to 1 point in town; i mean if you doing main quest or grand quest; ya ok you need to travel fast since they're long. But to travel fast just for guildleves ? what the point of playing a MMORPGs; they create the whole area for us to enjoy and see and you guys dont care about it ? then just play some web MMOs; all you need is training no need for anything. And from level 0-25 how far you guys need to go that need chocobo ? really ?; and from 30 you people already have your own chocobo so why need instance travel ? I myself rarely use my chocobo; you should really enjoy what the developer brings to you not just training for GOLD, LEVELs - it's sound like a bunch of loser in real life and seeking success in game - .