Shops in hamlets.

[Tetsaru]

This is a CON post.

While i like many of ideas exposed here, i cant help thinking this has nothing to do in a FF game. And i would hate my FFXIV to turn into some kind 4X building kind of game. I personnaly play FF to get that sense of adventure, long and hard story lines and quests, NOT to defend my poor little hamlet lost somewhere in Thanalan, and all this for what ? a shop ? are you guys kidding me ?

The idea of players defined environment has already been explored in a lot of MMOs. Age of Conan, Whahammer online or Ryzom to name a few. Everytime the idea sounds great on the paper ; everytime its far from a blast in terms of gameplay.

The one main black point is that for this idea to flourish, SE needs a community in FFXIV. Players would need to work together (omg!) to achieve a mid or long-term goal. As of today, there is not enough players in FFXIV, people leave everyday and come back for a few days after each patch just to leave again. With such a fragile community, how can you "grow your hamlet" (civ4 anyone?) to max power if that takes like, say, 2 months ?

One workaround would be to tie the Hamlets to Linkshells, forcing LS to grow and get organised, maybe with the help of instanced housing facilities, just like in LOTRO, but to a much higher extend. Game is not ready for this, period.

If SE wants to bring new and exciting things with the idea of hamlets, they have to keep it SIMPLE. Best ideas are always the simplest. Bring in PvP. Bring in PvPvM. Have people from the Maelstrom beat on The Immortals to control that one shop in Thanalan and get access to the products required to craft anything 45+. Sounds quite easy to do after class revamp and balancing which is coming. PvP is much waited by players, and would bring in new fresh blood. More moniez SE, more moniez for less hassle, think about it.

tl;dr stop dreaming about what sounds like a totally different game. Continue bringing FFXIV to a standard MMO and bring in wanted features : instanced PvP / PvPvM.

Eh, I dunno... I see a lot of people on the forums complaining that there isn't enough content in the game to keep them busy and interested lately. "I've done Ifrit a gajillion times and he still hasn't dropped the weapons I want, so I'm tired of doing it," "Dzaemel Darkhold isn't worth doing cuz of Ifrit and beastmen strongholds," "Crafting is so boring," etc. I think having something more dynamic than just "go here, kill this, get item" would hold players' interests more if done properly, and give them something to work towards, as well as a greater sense of accomplishment and cooperation.

And besides, player-made content has been used in a wide variety of games and genres: LittleBigPlanet, ModNation Racers, Minecraft, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, Saint's Row: the Third, Soul Calibur series, Animal Crossing series, White Knight Chronicles... tons of stuff. In fact, having that kind of freedom and customization is often why such games are so successful, because there's no limit to what you can do. Much can be said about a game that has near infinite replay value.

I do like the idea of involving Grand Companies, linkshells, and possibly free companies(?) in with hamlet defenses. Certain LS's could claim certain areas as their own, make their own guild halls, housing, etc., and possibly even compete or cooperate with other LS's to prosper. Just imagine: two different hamlets/LS's could exchange goods and services between each other, or even build up armies of airships, Magitek armor, and various mounts to take siege of the other's areas for total domination. Then, some other force, such as the Garlean Empire and/or beastmen tribes show up and take it for themselves, and then everyone has to cooperate together to drive them back out... I dunno about you, but Final Fantasy or not, that sounds pretty damn fun to me.

It keeps players working towards a common goal, allows for cooperation or competition, makes crafting and gathering jobs more viable, AND it always keeps everyone in suspense because you never know what's going to happen next. And if that doesn't appeal to you... well, you can still do leves, quests, and all the other stuff that's still in the game. I see nothing wrong with it, other than the fact that it's not in the game yet.

Sorry for the double post. ><