Stronghold Boss Chests

[Shosasosa]

Is it just me or is the gear in these chests (and the other chests to a lesser degree). Not worth the time and effort. For the chests you need to kill an NM, which you usually need a full party of 50s to kill, then it will SOMETIMES drop a key to one person, who then opens the appropriate chest and has a CHANCE to get the item inside......

This becomes even worse when you go after the boss chests because it takes more than one full party of 50s to kill. So the party that does not claim has no chance of getting anything from the boss, not even the achievement for killing it. And the aforementioned dropping and chest loot system applies again.

I think that for one there should be an alliance system if some parts of the game require more than one party to accomplish, and either make it so the boss or key monster ALWAYS drops a key, OR the chests ALWAYS yields the item it is supposed to. in the case of the boss chests the boss should drop more than one key since there is more than one chest. The way it is now you can bring 16 people to farm items, and do that for 3+ hours and get NOTHING. Massive time sink.

[Shosasosa]

Also wanted to add why its not worth the time. The gear you get isn't that much better than gear you can craft so spending tons of time on getting these items isn't even worth it. The gear provides stats that cannot be added with materia, but since untradable items cannot be melded, its only really "look at me" gear.

[MANTASTIC]

Is it just me or is the gear in these chests (and the other chests to a lesser degree). Not worth the time and effort. For the chests you need to kill an NM, which you usually need a full party of 50s to kill, then it will SOMETIMES drop a key to one person, who then opens the appropriate chest and has a CHANCE to get the item inside......

This becomes even worse when you go after the boss chests because it takes more than one full party of 50s to kill. So the party that does not claim has no chance of getting anything from the boss, not even the achievement for killing it. And the aforementioned dropping and chest loot system applies again.

I think that for one there should be an alliance system if some parts of the game require more than one party to accomplish, and either make it so the boss or key monster ALWAYS drops a key, OR the chests ALWAYS yields the item it is supposed to. in the case of the boss chests the boss should drop more than one key since there is more than one chest. The way it is now you can bring 16 people to farm items, and do that for 3+ hours and get NOTHING. Massive time sink.

You have a chance to get a key from the mob, and then a chance to get the piece you want from the chest. And if you're competing against another group, you have a chance of a chance of a chance! Good times.

Whoever designed these areas does not understand the concept of risk versus reward.

Ways of making this shit less...shit:

A) Killing the key dropping mobs gives all who participated in the fight a token of some sort, x amount of which can be exchanged for the desired gear piece. You can even keep the keys the way they are now if you do it this way, and instead of sometimes being rewarded with gear, your group randomly gets an extra reward instead.

B) NMs drop the gear directly, removing a layer of random.

C) More mobs drop keys, NMs always drop keys. Increase the availability of the keys, decrease the cockblock that is waiting for repops/claim.

D) All of the above. Mobs in the area drop keys for the chests, which would work the same as it currently stands. NMs drop the gear specific to their chest and a token specific to the stronghold (ex: natalan token, etc). NMs may or may not also drop a key.

I'm personally a fan of option D, but whatever happens, its important that the effort of players is always rewarded in some way.

[Raldo]

I would like to throw in my vote for option D as well, from the options listed in the above post.

[Teia]

Whoever designed these areas does not understand the concept of risk versus reward.

It seems like someone down the line grabbed an FFXI style design, since the whole system is basically set up for the maximum amount of grind with the minimum possible chance of reward. Which makes it seem out of place compared to some of the new stuff that's downright generous compared to what we had before.

[Kiote]

Is it just me or is the gear in these chests (and the other chests to a lesser degree). Not worth the time and effort. For the chests you need to kill an NM, which you usually need a full party of 50s to kill, then it will SOMETIMES drop a key to one person, who then opens the appropriate chest and has a CHANCE to get the item inside......

This becomes even worse when you go after the boss chests because it takes more than one full party of 50s to kill. So the party that does not claim has no chance of getting anything from the boss, not even the achievement for killing it. And the aforementioned dropping and chest loot system applies again.

I think that for one there should be an alliance system if some parts of the game require more than one party to accomplish, and either make it so the boss or key monster ALWAYS drops a key, OR the chests ALWAYS yields the item it is supposed to. in the case of the boss chests the boss should drop more than one key since there is more than one chest. The way it is now you can bring 16 people to farm items, and do that for 3+ hours and get NOTHING. Massive time sink.

I won't argue against the armour not being the best, But trying to get it is a great to way to grind materia for your superior crafted armour lol

[Cycloptichorn]

Leave it tough and hard to get - what else to top-level people have to do right now??

I like the rarity, I'm still being surprised by seeing new sets of armor on people in Ul'dah.

[Kiara]

Hi Shosa, Mantastic,

Totally agree.

It's very clear that SE added this system as a Time Sink... IMHO, to buy them time before 1.20 hits.

The Beastmen Fortresses (Strongholds) are a fun diversion for a bit, and a good EXP place as well. They could have easily implemented some of the ideas you mention, but seeing Ifrit's broken loot system and the Beastmen Fortress Chest Key System / Rarity, they're definitely Time Sinks.

It certainly is keeping some people busy that want to try this, but after a while, it becomes old, really fast.

Here's to hoping they remove some of the bad Time Sink factors when more content comes online.

[MANTASTIC]

It seems like someone down the line grabbed an FFXI style design, since the whole system is basically set up for the maximum amount of grind with the minimum possible chance of reward. Which makes it seem out of place compared to some of the new stuff that's downright generous compared to what we had before.

Hi Shosa, Mantastic,

Totally agree.

It's very clear that SE added this system as a Time Sink... IMHO, to buy them time before 1.20 hits.

The Beastmen Fortresses (Strongholds) are a fun diversion for a bit, and a good EXP place as well. They could have easily implemented some of the ideas you mention, but seeing Ifrit's broken loot system and the Beastmen Fortress Chest Key System / Rarity, they're definitely Time Sinks.

It certainly is keeping some people busy that want to try this, but after a while, it becomes old, really fast.

Here's to hoping they remove some of the bad Time Sink factors when more content comes online.

[Neko_Yanagi]

Personally, I've liked key farming. It has something that this game has been lacking... Challenge. I don't want something to be so easy as "let's go kill this nm, get the drops for everyone, and leave within 30 min." And some of the gear is awesome, especially when they allow materia socketing in unique/untradables.

Only thing I agree with is the need for an alliance system. Rotating NM claim works, but it a alliance system would prevent ninja claiming.