[dev1137] Caravan Security

[Ruisu]

From what I've seen, this looks like a glorified escort mission. I dunno, it could be fun. Just the idea of having to escort a chocobo doesn't seem all that great, in my opinion. I guess we gotta wait for the update.

[Seif]

I've yet to see a game "do it right" MMO wise.

Just something that I thought was funny. Perhaps I was wrong to assume everyone knows escort missions are doomed to fail 99% of the time in game design. Anyway if somebody knows an example of a good example in a game (it doesn't have to be an MMO) please point that out and let me know. I'd love to buy that game just to see it!

[Razor]

@Everyone Ragecakin' about: ONLY the caravan quest (to my knowledge) will be company limited, and I highly doubt being able to do this single quest with your friends is going to discourage them from joining their particular company. I'm personally more worried about weapon availability. I play Gladiator and Pugilist (both guilds are in Uldah) but PUG GC weapons come from Gridania while GLA's are from Uldah. You can still do ALL the rest of the game's content with your multi-company friends.

If you want to relate this to XI, relate this to the outpost missions and garrisons. As a San'd'Orian I could not do outpost missions to outposts my Bastokan friend's nation owned. Also, I couldn't do lolGarrison with him and vise versa. It's not really much different. The caravan quest is tied to one particular nation, and calls to that specific nation's army to handle it. This quest will likely be the repeatable seal quest, which makes sense why it would be company-specific.

Just something that I thought was funny. Perhaps I was wrong to assume everyone knows escort missions are doomed to fail 99% of the time in game design. Anyway if somebody knows an example of a good example in a game (it doesn't have to be an MMO) please point that out and let me know. I'd love to buy that game just to see it!

Most of the time they do fail, mostly because the nature of combat is stationary, against a single target. While escort missions request you fight on the move against multiple targets. This concept works "okay" in FPS because the player can quickly neutralize targets quickly, not so much in an MMO lol.

A few games I have played have circumvented this problem very well though. When they place the player ON the caravan having to defend the caravan (and themselves) works very well. A lot of times they will throw in a big gun or cannon for you to play with making it that much more exciting. Being able to not worry about the "chasing after the convoy" part of it and being able to focus specifically at the threats (who are also moving at YOU, not running FROM you after a convoy) and makes it much smoother and fun.

Examples of this:
Call of Duty 4 (last mission)
Red Faction: Guerrilla (multiple instances)
Dirge of Cerberus: FFVII (somewhere in the first few hours of the game you defend a wagon from wolves with a cannon)

Due to the nature of XIV I imagine we'll see the traditional face-to-keyboard convoy missions that will be severely frustrating for all classes other than ARC and mages lol. I think of the Bombard event and how annoying that was when you were a melee class and had no one to help you lol. Especially when the enemies are ranged themselves /rage

[Celtodeno]

i
Nope, you won’t be able to join in the operation with a member of a different Grand Company. Also, you will only be able to take part in caravan security from the aetheryte associated with your Grand Company’s city-state. For example, only members of Ul'dah's Immortal Flames can join the caravan security operation in Camp Horizon.

On my server that translates into, only people in Ul'dah will be doing these.

[viion]

this is just 1 diaster after another, "luck" spam join, not only do you have to spam it you have to hope your 3 other friends also spam it otherwise you have to split, then restricting who you can plwy with and what rewards you can get, people will just got for the better, or if im a mage and i think grid would benefit me but my brother is a tank and uldah benefits him then we are forced not to play together.

Bad move Se, thats put a big CON on caravan security for me.

im not to bothered about it in this case, but in future, if they keep deciding to use this approach, then its gunna just make things worse.

[Corrderio]

Meh, really not looking forward to this any more. 4 man limit = bad. Restricted to the company you join = bad. Going to suck telling my friend they're SoL because of the limit or because we're from different companies.

[Davorok]

Maybe we have to successfully complete a Chocobo Caravan Quest in order to be able to get a Company Choco.

Where do you think they gonna get the chocos from?

[Bayohne]

Sorry if I was unclear about the "function the same way as Behest" part, but yes, it is like the current Behest system where whoever speaks with the NPC first will be able to take part in the security. There won't be multiple caravans, just like there is only one Behest, but with a 15 minute wait until the next one, it won't be long before you have another chance.

[SilvertearRen]

Sorry if I was unclear about the "function the same way as Behest" part, but yes, it is like the current Behest system where whoever speaks with the NPC first will be able to take part in the security. There won't be multiple caravans, just like there is only one Behest, but with a 15 minute wait until the next one, it won't be long before you have another chance.

ಠ_ರೃ

I am not impressed. Not until we have an Ishgard Grand Company and associated quests.

[BruceyBruceyBangBang]

Sorry if I was unclear about the "function the same way as Behest" part, but yes, it is like the current Behest system where whoever speaks with the NPC first will be able to take part in the security. There won't be multiple caravans, just like there is only one Behest, but with a 15 minute wait until the next one, it won't be long before you have another chance.

This is the only repeatable I see so far that gives company seals. I sure hope there are other methods for obtaining them....

Also, with the distance of client to server, caravans will become a Japanese event. With behest it's the same thing, they see the behest NPC 2-3 seconds before NA do and get first dibs. This is a problem.