Eureka NEEDS some changes to dissuade people from simply afking next to fatetrains

[Pyroclastic]

I was super excited the first 2 days when it seemed like I finally had a reason to grind my ass off on my beloved BLM. I love grinding and farming. Atma was one of my favorite relic steps.

But then fatetrains came to life...

The problem here is this:

The #1 most optimal way of getting exp is farming mobs 6-7 lvls higher than you in group, and running to a fate when it pops.

BUT! The 2nd most optimal way -simply afking next to a fate train- gives you 90-95% of the exp/hour of the 1st one. We have gotten to the point now (atleast in Chaos datacenter) where I can't even fill a grind+fate PF within 30 minutes anymore (during peaktime!), because everyone joins fatetrain pfs or simply enters solo and shouts "LFG fatetrain". And they're right. Why would anyone actually tryhard when they can literally do nothing and get 90-95% of the exp?

On top of that, the few people who are still doing it the intended way, have a relatively high chance of not even making it in time for the fate, because there are 120+ people NUKING the shit out of an NM the second it pops.

So basically, the fair and honest and hardworking players are getting punished, and for what, the 5-10% extra exp/hour, IF you dont miss any fates? As soon as you miss 1 fate, you would have been better off just afking next to the fate train while watching a movie.

Right now I am being forced to join these fatetrains against my will, because I literally cannot fill up "grind+fate" PF's, and solo'ing is also not an option because my 24" monitor is too small to have the map open 24/7.

Please do something about this, SE! Nerf fate exp and boost mob exp or something, I dont know. But just standing around and waiting for fates is the most boring thing ever. (And I cannot help killing mobs with my fire 4's that deal 80 dmg)

Edit: Someone posted a VERY good solution to this problem: On top of boosting chain exp/nerfing NM exp, make it so that fates spawn semi random, that way people are forced to spread out + this way there will be actual hype for NM's when they spawn, instead of just "if we afk here it will spawn 100% within 5-10 minutes"

[ManuelBravo]

It's more of the party leaders actually if they AFK they should kick them off -.-, they have a 10 min no movement they get kicked off auto. What they should do is if they don;t do mini damage they get Zero credit, no crystals, no items.

[Ayirez]

Indeed, it is quite awful that the entire chain system isn't being used how it was intended. I think there lies the solution though, simply buffing the chain system. If instead of starting at +0% and then gaining +3% every mob in the chain (plus bonuses at every multiple of 10) it could be viable. For instance, if the chain were longer, let's say 50 as a placeholder, and it gave +2% every mob that would make small chains less rewarding but big chains extremely so. For every multiple of 10 in the chain they could increase the Protean Crystal drop rate further, give a chance at a higher Protean Crystal yield (from 2 to 4?), and after chain 40 add the chance for an Anemos Crystal to drop would make chains vastly more desirable and worthwhile. Would be nice if at chain 50 it gives you 10 Anemos Crystals guaranteed as well as a pat on the back for getting there. As for the chain's time window, it could start at 90 seconds and decrease by 1 second for each mob you kill, the last mob needing to die in 40 seconds.

Either way the devs definitely need to address things so that the train as it exists now dies. It isn't a fun ride for those carrying their weight, it isn't a fun ride for the afks, and it's ruining the entire Eurekan experience.

[Ayirez]

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Yes but if the entire Full Party *are* AFKers, why would they kick their own? Plus the fact that 99% of AFKers aren't actually AFK, they're there and typing or doing something else while glancing at the screen every now and then, otherwise they wouldn't kill the NM when it's up. That's why none of the AFK people are booted from the instance. I can already see SE's "Solution" to it IF they even cared to try fixing it, and it'd be to reduce the time until you're booted from the instance to a much shorter window, which wouldn't solve a thing and would also punish those who actually need to afk quickly to use the restroom or get food.

[Vahlnir]

I've seen people straight up afk next to the fate train (including group leaders) and it can be frustrating. I understand low level characters not wanting to get involved with higher level mob farms, because they do next to nothing damage wise and can die very easily. That's what I've seen more of. Best to just stay out of the way and let the higher levels do their thing until the fate spawns. Some people genuinely do have to AFK during fate spawning, it happens. Done it myself a couple times. But people who are blatantly obvious, mounted up and everything...come on now. Do things die in seconds? Yes, but at least contribute.

[Rufalus]

This is bugging me too. Just left an instance which I felt was moving too slowly because 100% of the players gather in one place then 70%-80% of them afk while waiting for the others to pop an NM on that position. They use persistent cheering emotes with the glow sticks while they wait; it's like a meme thing now. I suggested a couple of times for us to split up and farm multiple monster types simultaneously to make use of all players and make more efficient progress to popping NMs, but I didn't sway anyone.

There's actually one specific NM I've never seen because nobody ever works on that one. I hear it's a cerberus type enemy but it's not viable for me to trigger it solo because the drakes in that cave are a few levels above the player cap I think so I at least need 1 party there, not just me alone. Like you said, if I do go off alone somewhere I'll miss the one NM that everybody stacks on because all the afkers return when they hear the fate music and mow it down in 15 seconds. It's always the low/mid level NMs like Serket which people farm on my datacenter, even the players up to the lv20 cap, so I will see those ones 50 times each before I've seen the higher one that I'm interested in but other people aren't.

Somebody in my FC admitted to just going into Eureka to afk and play Nintendo 3DS games while waiting for the one "fate train" NM to pop. She hates the content, but I feel it's the way people are playing which makes them dislike it so much. If people spread around the map, farmed things at their own level range and then courteously waited for arrivals from other parts of the map when their NM spawns, I feel we'd have more fun and progress faster.

I think we at least need better protean gains when playing solo or in a small group just chaining enemies.

[Zolvolt]

I hit level 19 by day 4 of patch (day 2 of me not being suspended) and have done it all. 8 finsihed relics. a finished dyable gear set. 33 feathers and 1k anemos in my bags. I've chained mobs for xp. spawned high level fates. Grinded mobs for proteans. and done pazuzu more times than I have a use for feathers. I'm at the point where I just need anemos to finish the last relics and honestly I afk a lot of fates now. If mob chaining groups rewarded better protean and anemos I would do that. But I get the "whats the point attitude" when the mob died before I get off a fire III or IV or even a blizzard III as blm.

I'd say multi-spawning is the answer but I tried switching to that and found I was missing fates because the NM's are dying so quickly that I am not getting there in time even with a mount.

[Ayirez]

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I've managed to spawn every NM multiple times save for one, the level 19 NM Lamashtu, as people simply don't want to spend the time it takes to grind her mobs up for her to spawn when there are easier alternatives that, while not yielding the highest of rewards, take far less time to spawn. That's why Amarok (the Cerberus doggo) is rarely spawned as well, the only time you'll convince people to spawn him is if Pazuzu is up but it's not quite night yet and most NM's are down as the mob required to spawn Amarok is right there beside Pazuzu. You'd need a full party of 19/20's to farm the required mobs for him as well so for those who want to actually do content outside the train.. well, it just won't happen, there's zero incentive to do so as you'll likely miss other NM's the train is plowing through.

[NorthernLadMSP]

It's really quite sad and telling of how people have grown into apathetic leeches. This mentality is kind of the same mentality as people who bot in PVP because they want the reward with zero work. Personally, it disgusts me, but I know SE will never do anything about it, much like they have let bots run freely rampant for 9 months in PVP.

[Ayirez]

...

I straight up reported two players who were gathering via bot scripts, they're of the same FC and the telling part is how exact and precise their movements are, the fact that they follow a set path every single time, and that it's the exact same path shared between them. Literally all a GM would have to do is watch them do it for ten minutes like I did and they'd be through, but what happened? Still botting to this day. Honestly, I love FFXIV, I've played since 1.0 (lost that account after quitting mind you, before picking it back up again in 2.0), but with each passing season I see nothing but the same, and the same is bad. If things continue the way they are, if SE keeps pushing out cash shop items like candy for ridiculous prices, if SE doesn't put an ounce of innovation into new gameplay, but especially if SE doesn't listen to the playerbase of FFXIV, I see nothing but its gradual death in the next couple years to come.