Why was the game built around guildleves?

[Rowyne]

Ahhh yes how can i forget the tanks o.o sorry dps,dps,healer,tank

I love a good meatshield!

[Malakhim]

Leves are an excellent idea, much like a lot of stuff in Final Fantasy XIV. The idea of being able to grab different kinds of work at an easy to find central location and get stuff done in a relatively short amount of time? Sign me up. As a few others have said, they tie into the story of the game(or at least give the impression that they will), and they make you feel like a mercenary taking work for different people.

The problem, much like other systems in Final Fantasy XIV, is in how they were realized. There's hardly any variety other than "go kill x number of mobs", "go kill x number of mobs to farm y item", or "go kill x number of mobs at y locations to spawn z big mob". These are admittedly staples of MMOs in general, however they're hardly enough for the kind of gameplay experiences we're used to in games nowadays.

What we need are different types of objectives. Let me escort cargo/people through beast(or beastmen)-infested territory, let me defend an aetheryte camp, let me aid some gladiator in his daily training regimen, or explore some areas for a survey expedition, etc. The system for all of this is already in place, now let's kick it up a notch. With the way they introduced sidequests, they have the ability to incorporate non-repeatable story chains in addition to the small quests they've added here and there.

Yoshi and his crew have pointed out several times that they plan on adding more quests and leves through every update, and I hope(and like to think) that he and his team understand that it isn't just about quantity as much as it's also about quality and variety. I really think that leves can be something pretty special if they can pull that off.

[Sovereign]

I think Malakhim pretty well nailed it. I would just like to add that I would love to see some Levequests that are not just combat-oriented. If they add chocobos (for example) then I would love a levequest to go race one around somewhere, or some other kind of mini-game-ish objectives.

One other thing I would like to bring up is the reset timer on levequests... 36 hours just makes it really wonky for me to try and plan when I am going to play, and I would really appeciate like a 24 hours reset. At least then I know I can play at around the same time each day and have a full battery of levequests available.

[Zenaku]

I love a good meatshield!

yep you can't forget the meatshield god i hope this game get good i have high hopes still for this.

[Malakhim]

]One other thing I would like to bring up is the reset timer on levequests... 36 hours just makes it really wonky for me to try and plan when I am going to play, and I would really appeciate like a 24 hours reset. At least then I know I can play at around the same time each day and have a full battery of levequests available.

I'm willing to say that I think a lot of the game concepts(well two specifically) were pretty much killed by arbitrary timers.

[Rowyne]

One other thing I would like to bring up is the reset timer on levequests... 36 hours just makes it really wonky for me to try and plan when I am going to play, and I would really appeciate like a 24 hours reset. At least then I know I can play at around the same time each day and have a full battery of levequests available.

Agreed! A 24-hour timer would really make more sense.

I remember being excited when they dropped it down from 48 hours, and then heard they weren't going for 24 but 36.

[Kilta_Firelotus]

The reason guildleve take center stage is prob the lore behind it. Watch the intro. The games story and lore are not fleshed out yet. FF games have stuff take center stage for a reason. There might be more to the guildleve then we know yet as it isn't in game yet.

Also leve are not really quests. Its more like a Mercenary style job or a work order. (dom/dow are the mercs, doh/dol are the work orders) They are glorified fields of valor from ffxi. And ppl love doing those that they even took off the 1hr wait from doing them. It was suppose to give you a reason to go out and kill mobs, or craft.

Maybe get rid of the limitations and switch them so you get the sp but rewards every "reset" or every hour. This is what they did in ffxi. PPl slowly started to hate grinding for sake of grinding. Having an objective helps. Levequests just give you an objective.

[Tahlia]

I think leves fine for now though they do get abit repetitive over time, especially when you start repeating the exact same leves.

When the game was first announced and I heard about leves I must have got the wrong idea about them. I thought we were going to obtain basic leves to start a levequest through various ways. This could be npc issued as it is now, crafted, quest, purchased, or dropped from NMs. And through the same methods we would obtain upgrade leves that would allow the player to customize the levequests.

Like I could have a levequest that asks me to kill 6 crabs. Then I'd add a modifier leve to double the number to 12, then another that makes them breathe fire or something. Or a "many becomes one" leve that turns them into just one big super megacrab.

While the rewards could possibly vary based on what you use to later the levequest, it's more for the sake of both challenge to the player and to make each time a new, fresh experience.

Roughly like MMM in FFXI but with better and more varied customization options. Also linkshells would be able to store a collection of special leves and create custom levequests for their members to try out everyday (another reason for a calender). Maybe the rewards (possibly linkshell/company points) from those would then be used for any potential linkshell reputation or perks systems.