State of the Game: The Problem with the Current Progression System

[Delmontyb]

There is a lot to love about Final Fantasy XIV, and having given the latest expansion some thought, I figured I'd like to share some ideas that would add to the overall replayability of the game as a whole.*I'm not here to say these are what the devs need to do, but to offer my own ideas, and hear from you and yours.

While I have a lot of ideas that I want to share, this post is focused on the idea of the current state of progression with respect to how add value, restore XP, while maintain the current system to allow for players to take breaks and return without the impact of being too far behind to catch up to anyone else.

YouTube video

The Current Problem

One issue that we have in the game right now, is that XP loses all value once you are at the current level cap, the spirit bonding system was in place back in the day to allow for it to go somewhere and let players generate matria in it's place, but that system hasn't had any updates or impact with how matria is dolled out now. Furthermore, the main crux of progression falls into the same gear progression we've seen since 2.0. Plus, while we've seen new progression systems added in Deep Dungeon Content, and Eureka, there isn't any real conversion to those types of systems outside the fact that both feed into the main gear progression tomb collection game.

The Challenge

If you add in more progression systems you run the risk of making players feel like they can't take breaks, and since housing is already that type of system currently in the game, having more systems like this could end up hurting the community in the long run. So any type of system put into action would need to respect a players time, while not making it mandatory to do content to keep up with everyone and add an extra level of stress.

Possible Solutions

Like I said before, I'm not here to say these are what the devs need to do, but to offer my own ideas. Personally, I think any system they introduce should be cosmetic or quality of life in nature. Thus all these ideas would not make any player better at running content in the game.

1. So first up, give a treasure coffer of random rewards for getting a level's worth of XP on any job at level cap. Destiny 2 does this quite well and is a good example of how to keep XP worth it at level cap.
2. Give us a Merit Point System, for those of you who aren't aware, a merit point comes from FFXI, where you'd level up and earn merit points that could be applied to your job, or other values. For FFXIV these points wouldn't be applied to stats or traits, but to different quality of life, or cosmetic items to choose from, things like:

a. Reducing teleport costs to a specific Aetheryte by 1% for each point spent (up to a cap)
b. Reduce the cooldown time of sprint outside of battle
c. Increase the duration of sprint outside of instance content
d. Increase the amount of any currency with a cap by 10 per merit point spent
e. Increase movements speed (outside of battle) per zone by 1% up to a cap
f. Increase Mount Speed per zone up to a cap
g. Increase magic find by 1% up to a level cap of some value (wouldn't impact rolls on loot, just how things could drop in the open world)
h. Use Merit points to buy unique mounts/minions/glamour gear (all tradeable too)
This list could go on and on with different levels or features that could be tied into this type of system, plus as the game expands, there would be lots of opportunities for players to always start fresh on different zones and more. Players would earn merit points by playing the game, earning XP, and leveling up, and since this wouldn't impact battle it would be a nice reward that players could use those points to pick what is more interesting to them while at the same time keeping XP worthwhile in a passive content type of way.
3. Upgrade our static gear progression system with different types of gear that are infused with traits, and allow that gear to level up by feeding it tombs or XP, or both… Glamour is a nice system for styling said gear, but and while controversial to the concept of balance, it would be fun to see gear introduced that has an impact on how the jobs acted. This has been talked about and the objections to this system which I agree with are rooted that if a player doesn't have X trait or skill then they are suboptimal. And I share those concerns, so my hope here is to continue to encourage thinking outside the box so that the progression system we have now isn't so cookie cutter, and that gear doesn't become useless every three to six months. I go back and forward on this all the time, so I'd love to know your thoughts here.

And finally
4. Allow for different progression systems to work together, while I'd like to see Eureka content be content that exists in all zones right from the start, it would be nice to be able to utilize the wonderous tails to tap into Eureka level rewards thus keeping all content relative to all other content in the game. The risk here is that you cut the legs out from under the content that you want people to do, and thus this and everything above needs to be looked at and balanced as needed.

Anyway, thanks for your time, consideration, and feedback.

[Nariel]

I fail to see the problem you seems to point.

But... Why not... I guess...

1. My inventory is already full of trash loot/useless materia and other thing I just give to Doma rebuilt project, damn I'd give them for free if I could.

2. All those "quality of life" perks are totaly useless, waste of money and dev' time. And at best will just spoil the discovery of the next expension by running so fast Sonic would blush.

3. What ?

4. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD NO, I'm so glad to hit level cap and be able to do everything without having to restart a new boring xp process like this Eureka trashplace.

[Ilyrian]

4. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD NO, I'm so glad to hit level cap and be able to do everything without having to restart a new boring xp process like this Eureka trashplace.

I'd quite like to see some sort of progression at level cap.
I've leveled everything I possibly can now and I really only need to log in once a week to run Alphscape to upgrade gear I don't need.
Having some sort of incentive to log in and progressively improve my character is and should be what an MMO is all about imo.

[Nariel]

Yeah... Hummm...

Once your new progression system will be cap the "not any progression" will stand... aaaaaaaaaaaand people will cap it first month like every thing else. A infinite progression system will be pointless because of balance and will be at best illusory.

[Dzian]

If you add in more progression systems you run the risk of making players feel like they can't take breaks, and since housing is already that type of system currently in the game, having more systems like this could end up hurting the community in the long run.

Arguably It's been said quite a few times the game is already like that. players feel they can't take breaks because of lockouts and restrictions and stuff. miss 1 weekly drop and you're behind for the entire patch cycle. same kinda things with tomes. don't cap one week and you fall behind with no way to catch up. the only saving grace is how fast gear is outdated. but that in itself causes an even bigger boat load of problems... one of the biggest complaints recently and one thats been growing more and more common since well 2.0 really is players are getting more and more fed up witht he endless treadmil grind and trash gear...

progression needs to actually mean something. it needs to feel worthwhile and valuable. that piece of gear you just got needs to feel cool and awesome not just some trash you'll toss next month...

[Ilyrian]

Yeah... Hummm...

Once your new progression system will be cap the "not any progression" will stand... aaaaaaaaaaaand people will cap it first month like every thing else. A infinite progression system will be pointless because of balance and will be at best illusory.

True, but still better than nothing.

[Jojoya]

It's a MMO. You can't have continued progression or the gap between long time players and new players creates an unbalanced experience.

XP points exist to get the player to level cap. There's no reason for there to be continued reward once there. XP also gets replaced by things like tomestones in some content once you've reached level cap so there's your equivalent of a treasure coffer.

Regarding things like teleport costs and speed increases: if you put a cap on those, then you've once again stopped progression and you've recreated the original issue you want addressed. People will start asking for more rewards to replace the ones they can no longer earn. Where does it end? Do those bonuses get taken away once level cap is raised so they can become meaningful again once the player has reached the new level cap?

Your idea for using merit points to buy unique items sounds an awful lot like the Achievement Certificate system already in place. The only current drawback to it is that it primarily offers the old veteran rewards with few new rewards being added. SE really needs to expand what rewards are being offered.

Regarding using gear to impact how jobs function, just a flat out no as far as I'm concerned. Once you start moving job function from character progression to gear progression, you've just killed the player's investment in their character because their character no longer can progress and they rapidly lose interest in the game. Go play WoW and see what a disaster that turns into.

I'd quite like to see some sort of progression at level cap.
I've leveled everything I possibly can now and I really only need to log in once a week to run Alphscape to upgrade gear I don't need.
Having some sort of incentive to log in and progressively improve my character is and should be what an MMO is all about imo.

No. An MMO is about playing with other people. It's not about endless progression.

If you feel like you've hit the limit for what you can do with your character, create an alt and start the process over again. That used to work very well for WoW because it kept characters fairly close in progression regardless of whether a player had 6 hours a week to play or 30. Then Blizzard caved into the part of the player base that wanted endless progression. People felt overwhelmed. They felt tied to a single character and every moment not spent playing that character was the character failing to progress. It went from being a game to being a never ending job.

Go play WoW if you want endless progression.

[Ilyrian]

No. An MMO is about playing with other people. It's not about endless progression.

If you feel like you've hit the limit for what you can do with your character, create an alt and start the process over again. That used to work very well for WoW because it kept characters fairly close in progression regardless of whether a player had 6 hours a week to play or 30. Then Blizzard caved into the part of the player base that wanted endless progression. People felt overwhelmed. They felt tied to a single character and every moment not spent playing that character was the character failing to progress. It went from being a game to being a never ending job.

Go play WoW if you want endless progression.

Why go to such extremes? I need something to do. There is literally nothing to do in this game once you've leveled all the jobs.
If you remove progression you're not playing an MMO - you're playing the Sims.

[Nariel]

Why go to such extremes? I need something to do. There is literally nothing to do in this game once you've leveled all the jobs.
If you remove progression you're not playing an MMO - you're playing the Sims.

Its false.

Gatherer and/or crafter, PvP, treasure map, triple triad or verminion or whatever. Gear every job, sadic raid or ultimate trial are here too.

There is plenty to do, but you don't enjoy them its quite different.

[Kazgrel]

Why go to such extremes? I need something to do. There is literally nothing to do in this game once you've leveled all the jobs.
If you remove progression you're not playing an MMO - you're playing the Sims.

ROFL. Nothing to do once you simply level jobs up?

I’ve spent far more time this xpac with everything leveled doing things that aren’t leveling. They’re also more fun to me than leveling. Just about anything is, really.