Eureka: Like it or hate it, life once again returns.

[Galaktica]

It's been one week.

Rival Wing queues were still less than 5 minutes a week after it's launch. The real test is going to be a month or two out. I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade, but every patch brings back a surge of people for at least a few weeks. If Eureka is still jam packed and active after a month, then great, I'm glad people are still having fun. More power to 'em. But this borderline "lol all you haters are wrong, Eureka = da best" bs is wack. At least give it time lol.

[Marluxia]

So you don't think Eureka, POTD or any of the new classes qualify as even minor additions to gameplay?

Your problem is you don't like what is being added, not that nothing is being added.

Palace of the Dead was released in Heavensward which I consider by-and-large to be a decent expansion. Other examples of good gameplay variation are Gold Saucer and its accoutrements, Lord of Verminion (despite how much flak it gets), the different PvP modes, the class changes made in Stormblood, and others.

Of course, I'm not arguing that Eureka isn't "new" by the literal definition of the word "new", I'm not an idiot.

That said, I think it's silly to think that Eureka is variably different from Hunts.

There's not much point to debating it in detail since I'm probably going to get picked on over the definition of "new" and "variation", so I'll just give examples.

1). Making the Magia board essential rather than just a tepid damage boost. You cannot damage something without the correct element, making it necessary to strategize and manage board rotations based on what kind of monsters you want to hunt. This would make putting 5 magia all in different elements a somewhat viable strategy if you're looking to hunt a variety of monsters.

2). Eureka is a dangerous place, so adventurers have to defend settlements. You could mix this with crafting/gathering classes to rebuild and reinforce settlements after they've been attacked by dangerous monsters, or building defenses like usable cannons or barricades against the next attack.

3). Exploration goals: the expedition will give you rewards for going into dangerous areas and planting beacons, necessitating that you stealth your way through areas. What this does is add an additional dimension to dodging monsters, and if you make the monsters in this area very high level (level 30, for example) it allows Level 20s to feel a sense of danger as well.

And yes, if you want to use a ridiculous reductionist fallacy, dungeons and raids are all "the exact same" thing with different window dressing: spamming a rotation in hallway. That is a pretty core gameplay mechanic of FFXIV. Again, I'm not arguing for changing the fundamental core of the game. You can keep a strong core while having reasonably different variations of it.

[Remedi]

Maybe HW was a decent expansion (I think so too), but at this exact time the opinion of HW was terrible and the game was really in a terrible state, if we have to do a 1:1 comparison atm the game is much better now than how it was in HW.

Frankly the [current expansion] is bad the [one before it] was much better is essentially a staple in MMO gaming

Tbh dropping that extra dungeon which was going to be mostly a reskin of an old one brought a chance to the endgame raiding, now raid gear has a meaning if you wish to tackle ultimate also what I'm warm about eureka is about the fact that a group of ppl that doesn't know each other spends some time together creating a cohesive group (well this is a personal opinion ofc).
It was something missing in the MMO genre of late. In fact I believe that the grinding and anything related to it isn't the really content in eureka but the social aspect of it is and let's be honest some of the problems of the lower levels can also be fixed by us as much as the company which imho still has to do her part

[ko_]

That's like saying wars breathe new life into military strategies.

I mean.. it does. So he's not wrong.

[MageBlack]

Just for the record, I didnt say ANYTHING about Eureka being "quality" content. I meant it is creating more conversation on the forums and I am seeing more people in the game than I have since PotD or the launch of an expansion. either because they like the new content, hate it and want their opinion heard, or are curious what all the fuss is about.

[MageBlack]

1). Making the Magia board essential rather than just a tepid damage boost. You cannot damage something without the correct element, making it necessary to strategize and manage board rotations based on what kind of monsters you want to hunt. This would make putting 5 magia all in different elements a somewhat viable strategy if you're looking to hunt a variety of monsters.

2). Eureka is a dangerous place, so adventurers have to defend settlements. You could mix this with crafting/gathering classes to rebuild and reinforce settlements after they've been attacked by dangerous monsters, or building defenses like usable cannons or barricades against the next attack.

3). Exploration goals: the expedition will give you rewards for going into dangerous areas and planting beacons, necessitating that you stealth your way through areas. What this does is add an additional dimension to dodging monsters, and if you make the monsters in this area very high level (level 30, for example) it allows Level 20s to feel a sense of danger as well.

And yes, if you want to use a ridiculous reductionist fallacy, dungeons and raids are all "the exact same" thing with different window dressing: spamming a rotation in hallway. That is a pretty core gameplay mechanic of FFXIV. Again, I'm not arguing for changing the fundamental core of the game. You can keep a strong core while having reasonably different variations of it.

1) What Elemental Level are you? Just curious. Cause I'm only 15 and I can tell you if I dont have the correct magia board on for damage, I'm doing 10's of thousands less damage than if i have the correct one active. Same for tanking, the higher leveled NM's will wreck you if you arent in the right elemental setting.

2) I would love them to add in Hamlet Defense to the next stage of Eureka, that would be amazing! I would also love to see them bring back 1.0's Black shroud to another Eureka map but have it procedurally generated so its different for each instance and confusing to navigate (why? I guess I'm a sadist...)

3) Well, they have mobs that are triggered by sound (Fan Mobs) and by the use of magic to close to them (sprites) and I know there are areas that I cant easily get to if i didnt have the protection of the NM Train. There will be more Isles added for the next stages of the relic (Anemos is the Isle of Wind, read into that what you will), I'm positive thats where the devs went who used to make dungeons, putting that talent to something new.

Eureka is far from perfect but I do like how it functions differently than other content currently in the game, my only lament is that this wasnt the overworld in general from the get go.

[Marluxia]

1) What Elemental Level are you? Just curious. Cause I'm only 15 and I can tell you if I dont have the correct magia board on for damage, I'm doing 10's of thousands less damage than if i have the correct one active. Same for tanking, the higher leveled NM's will wreck you if you arent in the right elemental setting.

I'm currently Level 15 (with the requisite Magicite) and the only time the board noticably speeds up killtimes is when I'm fighting things vastly below me.

The defensive bonuses are nothing to sneeze at, sure, but for the most part it's not particularly detrimental to be attuned to an irrelevant element, making the element system and the Magia board a gimmick rather than a core mechanic.

Level is far more important than the Magia board for surviving and dealing damage.

[MageBlack]

I'm currently Level 15 (with the requisite Magicite) and the only time the board noticably speeds up killtimes is when I'm fighting things vastly below me.

The defensive bonuses are nothing to sneeze at, sure, but for the most part it's not particularly detrimental to be attuned to an irrelevant element, making the element system and the Magia board a gimmick rather than a core mechanic.

Level is far more important than the Magia board for surviving and dealing damage.

Yes, the level definitely makes a big difference, if you are too low leveled compared to the mob, even the magia board wont help, but that is kind of the point. It does make a difference when fighting your level or lower as is intended. I mean, you could not bother but then you are hobbling yourself and your party (unless its the NM train then who knows if you even make a difference farming the mobs)

[Tridus]

Maybe HW was a decent expansion (I think so too), but at this exact time the opinion of HW was terrible and the game was really in a terrible state, if we have to do a 1:1 comparison atm the game is much better now than how it was in HW.

Frankly the [current expansion] is bad the [one before it] was much better is essentially a staple in MMO gaming

It's like the old saying: "MAD Magazine was at it's best right before you started reading it."

I recall HW early on as being a thing I quit. When I came back it was at the tail end and it was awesome, but I didn't have tons of waiting around for the storyline to be filled in. It was all handed to me on a platter.

[Sylvina]

Games seemed alive and vibrant to me since I started playing mid HW and hasn't ever slowed down. Content has always been good. Maybe it's just becuase I've played games which were actually dead, and know what that is.