[Devs] Power leveling - abuse, please important

[syntaxlies]

If they want to put a kybosh on it, its a pretty straight forward fix. (Well straight forward in terms of what needs to be done, I have no clue the difficulty on the back end)

they would just have to re-instate the old system of limiting party functions when in battle.

[Innes]

Instead of encouraging others to blow through the levels, maybe the devs should be creating meaningful content so that people will want to legitimately play through them.
Powerleveling is on the fast track to ruining FFXIV.

wisdom. have some content where players can play and lvl up simulateously. instead of wanting to blow through levels, beating end game content, then become bored and play something else.

As I've said a few dozen times: power leveling and a short trip to cap are a neccassary evil in XIV.

XIV cannot afford many archaic MMO conventions.

neccessary evil? /face palm.

@ OP i completely understand, during PL where players would have to be ACTIVE and not be afk. When players stand afk, and progress through the game, thats when this becomes abuse and exploitation.
constructive and insightful OP.

[Sephrick]

neccessary evil? /face palm.

That's right. Because when they start charging they want new players to feel welcome as long as possible. How good for the game do you think it'd be if they said "Come experience the one-time calamity event! But not really because it'll take you six months to get to any of the content we made to occupy people who already were 50."

That's what it's all about. Yoshida said we'll see the first 2.0 trailer at E3 2012. They're more likely to retain more subscriptions that it pulls in if those new players can actually experience what little content they're capable of providing over the next year.

/facepalmcuzthatswhatthecoolkidsdo

[Eldaena]

I guess people just need to weigh how little you care about people getting power leveled vs how much you like being able to invite someone on the fly, even in battle (or oust for that matter). Personally, I don't care if people power level this way, and why should I? Levels are not what make players good in this game, and the players getting power leveled and just standing there are going to be at a disadvantage in the long run because they do not know how to play their classes. I do, however, enjoy being able to invite someone that d/ced right away or add them to the party when they log in, etc. I could kind of care less what others are doing unless they're botting, and even then there isn't much anyone can do about that either.

[Sephrick]

I guess people just need to weigh how little you care about people getting power leveled vs how much you like being able to invite someone on the fly, even in battle (or oust for that matter). Personally, I don't care if people power level this way, and why should I? Levels are not what make players good in this game, and the players getting power leveled and just standing there are going to be at a disadvantage in the long run because they do not know how to play their classes. I do, however, enjoy being able to invite someone that d/ced right away or add them to the party when they log in, etc. I could kind of care less what others are doing unless they're botting, and even then there isn't much anyone can do about that either.

I could understand a longer experience if it was done through storylines and epic quests.

But I just can't find the logic in grinding the same few months being seen as a "journey."

It's not at all. I did it in XI and it was insanity. If a developer isn't going to put gameplay in their game they shouldn't bother.

It doesn't even have to be a series of quests. Tell me I'm a private first class in a Grand Company and need to prove myself. Then give a system like Assault in XI accept the reward is mostly exp.

Save the open world fodder mobs for soloing and getting over the hump of "those last few exp" that sometimes happen. That's what I had hoped leves would be but, alas, SE pushed a fragment of a game to market.

XI-style Grind Parties are neither challenging or engaging. So that's why I believe Yoshida has it right. He had to make some tough decisions to achieve the most good. I hope the exp grind is a really journey in 2.0, so when they do raise the level cap (note: when they raise it to 60, with the current rate of exp curve growth, 51-60 will require as much exp as 1-48) we have an experience befitting the Final Fantasy name and not an XI-style staring contest with our screen.

My memories of Final Fantasy aren't of grinding. The leveling occured on the way to the next piece of the story. Just because it's an MMO doesn't mean it can't also be that way.

Darkhold is a good example. It'd be a great place to level from 45-50 if there was no time limit and we were encouraged to explore it. Then the leveling curve could be a hell of a lot longer because the player wouldn't be focused on leveling. They'd be playing the game while getting exp in the process.

[Eldaena]

I could understand a longer experience if it was done through storylines and epic quests.

But I just can't find the logic in grinding the same few months being seen as a "journey."

It's not at all. I did it in XI and it was insanity. If a developer isn't going to put gameplay in their game they shouldn't bother.

It doesn't even have to be a series of quests. Tell me I'm a private first class in a Grand Company and need to prove myself. Then give a system like Assault in XI accept the reward is mostly exp.

Save the open world fodder mobs for soloing and getting over the hump of "those last few exp" that sometimes happen. That's what I had hoped leves would be but, alas, SE pushed a fragment of a game to market.

XI-style Grind Parties are neither challenging or engaging. So that's why I believe Yoshida has it right. He had to make some tough decisions to achieve the most good. I hope the exp grind is a really journey in 2.0, so when they do raise the level cap (note: when they raise it to 60, with the current rate of exp curve growth, 51-60 will require as much exp as 1-48) we have an experience befitting the Final Fantasy name and not an XI-style staring contest with our screen.

My memories of Final Fantasy aren't of grinding. The leveling occured on the way to the next piece of the story. Just because it's an MMO doesn't mean it can't also be that way.

Darkhold is a good example. It'd be a great place to level from 45-50 if there was no time limit and we were encouraged to explore it. Then the leveling curve could be a hell of a lot longer because the player wouldn't be focused on leveling. They'd be playing the game while getting exp in the process.

They are definitely adding more to help with this. Dungeons, strongholds, quests, primal battles with repeatable quests, etc. I wish I had a battle class I could level these days.

[Zenaku]

I guess people just need to weigh how little you care about people getting power leveled vs how much you like being able to invite someone on the fly, even in battle (or oust for that matter). Personally, I don't care if people power level this way, and why should I? Levels are not what make players good in this game, and the players getting power leveled and just standing there are going to be at a disadvantage in the long run because they do not know how to play their classes. I do, however, enjoy being able to invite someone that d/ced right away or add them to the party when they log in, etc. I could kind of care less what others are doing unless they're botting, and even then there isn't much anyone can do about that either.

Level up does not make a good player you joking right? how many time i have to deal with players not even knowing how to play there class doing ifrit or dungeon. you learn a lot more in a party then you think but w/e i guess people think that you learn noting that ok

[NoctisUmbra]

Level up does not make a good player you joking right? how many time i have to deal with players not even knowing how to play there class doing ifrit or dungeon. you learn a lot more in a party then you think but w/e i guess people think that you learn noting that ok

You don't need to level a class slowly from 1-50 to learn how to play it. You certainly can learn how to play the class this way, but you don't need to learn it this way. People learn in different ways.

I for one certainly didn't learn to play any of my 50s leveling them to 50. I learned more about them in 2 hours of endgame content than I did in a week+ of leveling.

If you determine a player is not good at what they do, then you don't play with them. Simple as that. Arguing, however, that leveling at a slow, active pace is necessary primarily so players can learn to play their classes is a horrible argument. It would make more sense, again, if we leveled through content instead of a mindless grind.

[Eldaena]

Level up does not make a good player you joking right? how many time i have to deal with players not even knowing how to play there class doing ifrit or dungeon. you learn a lot more in a party then you think but w/e i guess people think that you learn noting that ok

What I said was simply leveling up (aka being powerleveled) does not help a player to become better at that class. Same with botting, etc. They may have the required levels for end game events, but not necessarily the skill.

[Rowyne]

I could understand a longer experience if it was done through storylines and epic quests.

{SNIP}

Darkhold is a good example. It'd be a great place to level from 45-50 if there was no time limit and we were encouraged to explore it. Then the leveling curve could be a hell of a lot longer because the player wouldn't be focused on leveling. They'd be playing the game while getting exp in the process.

The first and last paragraphs of this post are where I find the most insight.

Why isn't the leveling process done this way? Why is it mindless grinding? Why are all instanced dungeons timed when they were meant to be one of the new leveling options? People can't feel free to explore or kill all the monsters (trash) if they're pressed for time, thus, it isn't really a viable leveling option.

This isn't the first time I've brought up this quote, but I can't help but citing its relevance:

We still have some ways to go, but FINAL FANTASY XIV will gradually shift from being a grind-centric game to one that offers enjoyment for all playing styles and circumstances with its ever-expanding variety of content.

When will we see this new mission statement come to fruition? 2.0?