Don't change a thing!!!

[Choc]

I need to explain a few things so that people aren't mislead by others putting words in my mouth.

-I enjoy the game. (Shocking I know!)

-The game needs tweaks, but it is already FAR deeper than people understand. Many people just don't know because they would rather see things handed to them or changed and made simpler. Take a good look at monster weaknesses for instance, has anyone even tried using weapons to exploit monsters weaknesses for leveling up? If you have, bravo ^.^ if not, I think you should look deeper into the games systems before you cry that it needs an overhaul.

(Also see:
Element wheel (and monster weaknesses)
Incapacitation
Monster weapon type weaknesses (slashing, blunt etc...)
Monster directional attacks received weakness (rear, right side etc...)
Weaponskills that do additional damage vs monsters
Afinity with weaponskills and their damage on class vs off class
Class specific standard attacks with additional effects
Effective stat allocation
Battle regimen types (and their additional effects)
Additional damage from BRs (combined with any of the previous in this list)

Point is, its deep... people are just lazy. (on a side note, if you are thinking about any of the above when killing things, you are doing it right XD)

-My linkshell and I worked very hard to get ahead efficiently and gain levels and knowledge faster than others by means of teamwork and cooperation. I work a full time job and have a wife, so I am not the unemployed grinding machine a lot of people think I am. I play with effectiveness in mind and I get the best use of my playtime.

So, while I am not in the opinion that playing more gives my voice more weight because I understand the game more than some others, I am in the opinion that a lot of people just don't know how deep this game really is. With its current mechanics, an overhaul would ruin so many wonderful things the game offers that people just don't know about or are willing to do. (see above paragraph)

I am trying to show some of these things in my videos, I hope people take a look at them sometime.

My final note is that I do kind of find it funny how hostile people get when I say I like FFXIV. Just because you don't enjoy the game doesn't mean someone else can't possibly enjoy it. Please think about that before you rant on about how terrible things are for you and how you lost $80 buying the box lol. Please be smart enough to see both sides of the table before you post potential changes, they could break the game.

~Mog

Nearly everything you listed there isnt even implemented properly.

Theres plenty of things I like about this game, if there wasnt I wouldnt still be playing. However I also know that if things DONT change then I wont be around for too much longer.

"elemental wheel" - Yeah I have tried this many times over, and it goes with the stats being broken (something yoshi has admitted to!). Being a conjurer I have tried different elements, boosting lightning affinity and carrying a walnut wand of storms while casting thunder II hardly does any extra damage against water types than casting earth or fire even without all those boosts

"Incapacitation"- Normally done just for better chance at loot (buffalo horns) but at times it can be useful in battle (knocking down buffalo with flashfreeze). This is actually one aspect I love but it doesnt have too many uses yet, and the fact that conjurer doesnt get any part damage without taking from other classes is annoying.

"Monster Weapon type weakness"- Dont play any melee classes but I havent really seen this make any sort of difference in combat, nor have any of my friends noticed it.

"Monster directional attacks received weakness" - isnt this a norm for pretty much any mmo? Attacks from the rear do more damage....not really original.

"Weaponskills that do additional damage vs monsters"- First time I ever heard of this, as their desciptions dont provide any info on damage calculations or anything. Again I dont really play melee though.

"Afinity with weaponskills and their damage on class vs off class"- Another reason why the system doesnt work well, weaponskills on other classes arent worth using over the ones you already have on yours besides the ones that do something extra (part damage)

"Class specific standard attacks with additional effects"- im assuming you mean the difference between something like "heavy" and "Light" thrust. I would hope that everyone knows the difference between these...

"Effective stat allocation"- Again Yoshi already said stats are broken, while I do my best to get the most effective stat allocation they really dont mean much. Im going to heal for maybe 30 extra hp with 140 mnd than a conjurer with 50 mnd. Im going to nuke for maybe 30 more dmg with 140 int than a conjurer with 50 int.

"Battle regimen types (and their additional effects)
Additional damage from BRs (combined with any of the previous in this list)"- Yoshi has admitted that this dont work properly as well. I do notice a difference in damage from BR, but they are horribly clunky and having to stop and wait for everyone to queue up is absurd, yes with a very organized group you can make this semi fast but your not always going to have that luxury and its very difficult to get this down without voice chat.

Some effects from BR like lowering defense is nice but the wasted time that 4-5 members spend in br kind of offsets that, and people like healers cant even contribute because you dont want to be stuck in br mode while people die.

[DoctorMog]

Nearly everything you listed there isnt even implemented properly.

Theres plenty of things I like about this game, if there wasnt I wouldnt still be playing. However I also know that if things DONT change then I wont be around for too much longer.

"elemental wheel" - Yeah I have tried this many times over, and it goes with the stats being broken (something yoshi has admitted to!). Being a conjurer I have tried different elements, boosting lightning affinity and carrying a walnut wand of storms while casting thunder II hardly does any extra damage against water types than casting earth or fire even without all those boosts

"Incapacitation"- Normally done just for better chance at loot (buffalo horns) but at times it can be useful in battle (knocking down buffalo with flashfreeze). This is actually one aspect I love but it doesnt have too many uses yet, and the fact that conjurer doesnt get any part damage without taking from other classes is annoying.

"Monster Weapon type weakness"- Dont play any melee classes but I havent really seen this make any sort of difference in combat, nor have any of my friends noticed it.

"Monster directional attacks received weakness" - isnt this a norm for pretty much any mmo? Attacks from the rear do more damage....not really original.

"Weaponskills that do additional damage vs monsters"- First time I ever heard of this, as their desciptions dont provide any info on damage calculations or anything. Again I dont really play melee though.

"Afinity with weaponskills and their damage on class vs off class"- Another reason why the system doesnt work well, weaponskills on other classes arent worth using over the ones you already have on yours besides the ones that do something extra (part damage)

"Class specific standard attacks with additional effects"- im assuming you mean the difference between something like "heavy" and "Light" thrust. I would hope that everyone knows the difference between these...

"Effective stat allocation"- Again Yoshi already said stats are broken, while I do my best to get the most effective stat allocation they really dont mean much. Im going to heal for maybe 30 extra hp with 140 mnd than a conjurer with 50 mnd. Im going to nuke for maybe 30 more dmg with 140 int than a conjurer with 50 int.

"Battle regimen types (and their additional effects)
Additional damage from BRs (combined with any of the previous in this list)"- Yoshi has admitted that this dont work properly as well. I do notice a difference in damage from BR, but they are horribly clunky and having to stop and wait for everyone to queue up is absurd, yes with a very organized group you can make this semi fast but your not always going to have that luxury and its very difficult to get this down without voice chat.

Some effects from BR like lowering defense is nice but the wasted time that 4-5 members spend in br kind of offsets that, and people like healers cant even contribute because you dont want to be stuck in br mode while people die.

Elemental wheel still exists, and even though stats are not effective as they can be, elements still exists and this is still more than most other MMOs can say that don't carry this feature. Wow, Aion... All have elements, but play almost NO role in monster weaknesses. Fix stats, and this becomes a WONDERFUL strategy to pay attention to. It already is worth doing, so don't get me wrong here, pay attention to it.

Monster weapon type weakness is more effective than people give credit for, I urge you to test for yourself and find 2 player with equal stats but with different weapons, one effective vs the monster you are fighting and one ineffective, nothing ground breaking but it is definitely worth paying attention to.

Affinity isnt what people think it is. Affinity KEEPS class uniqueness by penalizing the skills off-class. The classes in FFXIV are unique on their own right because of affinity. When you fight a crab NM for instance, you want archers and lancers for piercing weaponskills and attacks that are innate to the classes. While you CAN have your PUGs and MRDs use piercing attacks, they will never be as effective as LNC and ARC at dealing with crabs and this creates the class definition people are complaining doesn't exist. Well, it does.

Light strike and heavy strike are not the only skills in the game, far too many people aren't purchasing these skills with guild marks, they are HIGHLY effective if used correctly:

Archer:
-Close Shot: Attack with your bow, dealing projectile damage and rendering the target immobile.
-Light Shot: Attack with your bow, dealing projectile damage.
-Heavy Shot: Attack with your bow, dealing projectile damage and reducing the target's TP.
-Far Shot: Heighten the angle of your attack, increasing range and reducing attack power

Lancer:
-Heavy Thrust: Attack with your polearm, binding the target.
-Light Thrust: Attack with your polearm, dealing piercing damage.
-Pierce: Attack with your polearm, dealing piercing damage to the target and all enemies between.
-Full Thrust: Attack with your polearm, dealing piercing damage and increasing TP

Gladiator:
-Light Slash: Attack with your sword, dealing slashing damage.
-Light Stab: Attack with your sword, dealing piercing damage.
-Heavy Slash: Attack with your sword, dealing slashing damage and increasing enmity.
-Heavy Stab: Attack with your sword, dealing slashing damage and increasing enmity.

I wont go on, too much spam, you get my point... there is more here than heavy and light attacks. People aren't using them, if you are, good for you!

Yoshi admitted battle regimens in their form, not functionality were not working correctly. The mechanic of using them is indeed clumsy, but the idea of teaming up for a larger attack like skillchains in 11 is not "broken" simply the mechanic of how it is being done is what they are going to take a look at. Do not mistake the method of doing battle regimens with the outcome or effect of them. These are different things.

It does not change my point that battle regimen EFFECTS are something that people are not looking at or using effectively. Regardless of HOW they happen, people aren't using them for their effects.

Also, coordinating BRs with a group of people that know its coming and know how to look and see that another player has TP doesn't take 20 seconds to accomplish. My shell does them effectively and efficiently in anything we do. Yes it takes practice and coordination to do them. BRs are only as effective as the people behind the keyboard sir. Don't blame the mechanic because you are playing with people who can't do them.

And finally, healers didn't skillchain in 11 either, doubt that's going to be a ground breaking thing here, not sure why you brought it up... In this game however, they can if they want and healing isn't needed. The mele in this game all have heals at their disposal and if healing is at all an issue for you in this game, well, you are bad. AOE healing is absurdly simple, keep all the mele together and you should have no issue Cure 3ing them to full pretty easy. Unless of course you mean NM's, in which case your healers shouldn't be BRing anyway....

[Shikyo]

doctor mog you are obviously in love with this game as is and that is ok but all i can say is that for better or worse i think we all know some drastic changes are needed and that they are gonna happen, now to what degree idk only the team that is in charge of that does the rest of us can just wait and hope its along the lines of the things we would like to see. but for you who seems to want nothing at all changed sorry to tell you but you are shit outa luck my friend. your like that one dude that just loves the homely unkept girls.... you can have'em champ.. keep fighting the good fight for no change at all gl with that...

[Choc]

Elemental wheel still exists, and even though stats are not effective as they can be, elements still exists and this is still more than most other MMOs can say that don't carry this feature. Wow, Aion... All have elements, but play almost NO role in monster weaknesses. Fix stats, and this becomes a WONDERFUL strategy to pay attention to. It already is worth doing, so don't get me wrong here, pay attention to it.

Monster weapon type weakness is more effective than people give credit for, I urge you to test for yourself and find 2 player with equal stats but with different weapons, one effective vs the monster you are fighting and one ineffective, nothing ground breaking but it is definitely worth paying attention to.

Affinity isnt what people think it is. Affinity KEEPS class uniqueness by penalizing the skills off-class. The classes in FFXIV are unique on their own right because of affinity. When you fight a crab NM for instance, you want archers and lancers for piercing weaponskills and attacks that are innate to the classes. While you CAN have your PUGs and MRDs use piercing attacks, they will never be as effective as LNC and ARC at dealing with crabs and this creates the class definition people are complaining doesn't exist. Well, it does.

Light strike and heavy strike are not the only skills in the game, far too many people aren't purchasing these skills with guild marks, they are HIGHLY effective if used correctly:

Archer:
-Close Shot: Attack with your bow, dealing projectile damage and rendering the target immobile.
-Light Shot: Attack with your bow, dealing projectile damage.
-Heavy Shot: Attack with your bow, dealing projectile damage and reducing the target's TP.
-Far Shot: Heighten the angle of your attack, increasing range and reducing attack power

Lancer:
-Heavy Thrust: Attack with your polearm, binding the target.
-Light Thrust: Attack with your polearm, dealing piercing damage.
-Pierce: Attack with your polearm, dealing piercing damage to the target and all enemies between.
-Full Thrust: Attack with your polearm, dealing piercing damage and increasing TP

Gladiator:
-Light Slash: Attack with your sword, dealing slashing damage.
-Light Stab: Attack with your sword, dealing piercing damage.
-Heavy Slash: Attack with your sword, dealing slashing damage and increasing enmity.
-Heavy Stab: Attack with your sword, dealing slashing damage and increasing enmity.

I wont go on, too much spam, you get my point... there is more here than heavy and light attacks. People aren't using them, if you are, good for you!

Yoshi admitted battle regimens in their form, not functionality were not working correctly. The mechanic of using them is indeed clumsy, but the idea of teaming up for a larger attack like skillchains in 11 is not "broken" simply the mechanic of how it is being done is what they are going to take a look at. Do not mistake the method of doing battle regimens with the outcome or effect of them. These are different things.

It does not change my point that battle regimen EFFECTS are something that people are not looking at or using effectively. Regardless of HOW they happen, people aren't using them for their effects.

Also, coordinating BRs with a group of people that know its coming and know how to look and see that another player has TP doesn't take 20 seconds to accomplish. My shell does them effectively and efficiently in anything we do. Yes it takes practice and coordination to do them. BRs are only as effective as the people behind the keyboard sir. Don't blame the mechanic because you are playing with people who can't do them.

And finally, healers didn't skillchain in 11 either, doubt that's going to be a ground breaking thing here, not sure why you brought it up... In this game however, they can if they want and healing isn't needed. The mele in this game all have heals at their disposal and if healing is at all an issue for you in this game, well, you are bad. AOE healing is absurdly simple, keep all the mele together and you should have no issue Cure 3ing them to full pretty easy. Unless of course you mean NM's, in which case your healers shouldn't be BRing anyway....

No element affinities arent worth paying attention to, Naturally I do this without even noticing it as years of playing various ff games has taught me to use thunder on water elemental creatures, but like I said ive been a conjurer since beta and while there is a very very very small difference in the end it doesnt really matter to stress over it.

None of those special effects from weaponskills are useful aside from the classes that already have them. Binding mobs? I tried it a couple times, but nearly everything has a ranged attack anyways so it doesnt prove as a strategic advantage, and mobs dont run away aside from a very limited number of leves. Having a skill to bind 1 mob for 1 leve isnt exactly useful.

TP increasing attack is less effective than something like siphon tp, or invigorate or other skills to raise tp, also while Ive never used it cross class I doubt it will give more tp than your normal attack on your own class which would do much more dmg as well.

Increasing enmity...not many classes aside from gladiator is going to want that. I suppose if you need to make due with tanking as a lancer it might help, although...again I dont play melee so I cant test out weapon skills. The only cross class ws casters get is levinbolt and flashfreeze, both of which i use on both casters.

I dont get your point of nobody buying skills with guild marks though, maybe its just the people you run into. Guild marks are insanely easy to come by, and I have nearly 100k on my 2 classes with no purpose (have bought all skills). Everyone I talk to has bought all their as well. FYI the only one I really can get is natures fury (or other variations) and I love it.

So limiting the use of battle regimens to ONLY our immediate friends/ls mates is a good idea? This is supposed to be an mmo and people are usually encouraged to party/socialize with everyone within the game, not just who you usually hang out with. BRs should be at least doable/worth your time with those random groups you happen to join up with.

As you said healing is insanely easy/simple in this game. It would be nice to give us something to do other than casting Cure III over and over again with aoe on, since theres no downside of having it turned on (another stupid idea imo) and its our only healing spell unless you count sacrifice. Which is another major concern I have with XIV, healing is always my forte. Its the most fun I have on any mmo, yet how simple and boring they made it in this game is mind boggling. Did they want healing to just not be an issue in this game? want to make it easy? or just not care about the people who find healing fun?

Yes most classes will have various healing abilities, but hardly any of them use it because its the healers job to heal, those are meant to be available mostly as a panic button...so no casters job is primarily to just cure III nonstop.

[darkstarpoet1]

yes choc as you pointed out each of the things mog mentions have issues, but as you also mentioned each of them have a specific issues that are easily remedied. it takes alot less time to make the adjustments to those that need to be fixed and working off the things that work than it does to completely remove them and start from scratch and hope the new set of things work. just think if they change completely they will have to fix issues with those also and in 6 more months we will be right back here complaining, but with even less people.

[Catapult]

I am in agreement that the game as it is is not essentially bad, but is indeed a skeleton.

What we need are not fundamental changes, but fundamental *additions* to build some meat on to the bones.

[BadJoeRed]

I also agree with Op for the 'most part'. I want the advanced job/job diversity/classic names things to happen for sure. However, I'm good with the rest of it. Just wanted to cast my vote in case they're keeping score.

[RabidSquirrel]

Unfortunately, SE is a business. If a profit cannot be made on a product, then it's dropped. Because there is still potential in FFXIV as it is right now, they are continuing to make it better. When they decide to roll out the PS3 version of the game, that will be their last big chance to get new players. If that game gets bad reviews and no one picks it up, I'm willing to bet the end of FFXIV will be close. But you know what? Packaging the game the way it is now and reselling it on the PS3 will literally kill this game. Please don't do that. Everyone on these forums wants this game to live on. Even the whiners. Even SE understands the game is currently unworthy of anything more than being free to play.

[BadJoeRed]

^ oh yeah, choc you brought up some good points about battle regimens and the curing be mind numbingly boring and too easy.

[Amsai]

Someone mentioned before that all the people not interested in the game or not having fun would have left by now. I am still hear, but I'm in wait and see mode. I got a class to 50, have most battle classes over 15, and even played around with (barf) crafting. However, I have not played much for a while and won't til I know its worth my effort. I'll be honest with you, when I first heard about this game I thought yes everything I love about FFXI with a new setting, graphics, and story. I thought they would take the lessons they learned from FFXI and make a better version of it.

You ask me why haven't I left if I don't enjoy the game? Its SE and FF!! I love their games and I know that they are capable of making amazing games. FFXIV was supposed to be the game that I would play and love for the next 10 years, but so far that hasn't happened. But I desperately want this game to turn into the MMO of my dreams, and right now it isn't there.

Where would I go though if I gave up on it? I loved FFXI but played it for far too long and I have left it and wont go back. Besides I'm not in love with the new direction. Other MMOs? I hate most of them. The battle systems always feel like spam fests with no depth of battle involvement and no weight to you decisions. You just end up cycling through a patern for the best DPS and what not. Other than that most of them almost always have a large or a complete focus on PvP at endgame. This in my opinion makes for poor gameplay and is an excuse for devs to be lazy and call it "player driven" content. This doesn't leave me any real options but to either crawl back to FFXI, hope this game becomes the game I know it can be, or give up MMOs.

There are aspects of FFXIV that I like, and there are things about it I dislike. Unfortunately right now, the bad outweigh the good. Most issues though I would agree though are minor and only need tweaking. However, there are a few glaring ones that if not changed I will leave.

1. There needs to be a focus on party dynamics, and right now there isn't. It all just feels like one big clusterf**k when you group. There is a difference between a group that acts in a coordinated and strategic and DEPENDENT way, and a group of self-reliant people that all just happen to be beating on the same mob. You might say this isnt true, but form my perspective it is true. Not too mention I really don't like how much soloing goes on in this game, it needs to be toned down.

2. Class uniqueness/role specific classes. This issue is actually tied in together with party dynamics, because role specific classes could help a party dynamic by creating a NEED for class interdependency. I also want to be able to tell the difference between being different classes. Again, you might say this isnt so or isnt necessary, but I think it is. And even if you say these thigs exists, then I would say that it is not nearly significant enough. It also encourages more soloing (horrible for an mmo) and all-in-one builds (hello mr. tankdpshealnuker). People want to much freedom, and to me it just destroys the game.

3. Repair: They have made more improvements to this, but its not enough. I want to be able to play a couple of full days in a row before I need to worry about repairs. I want players to be able to repair equiped gear (the NPC can do it why cant we?) And I want the NPC to repair ALL equipment to 100%. Though it could still be expensive, and treated more as an emergency situation. Again, you can disagree with me, but this is a matter of my comfort zone and tollerance for useless BS.

4. Gear Drops: I want SE (when they release more content) to have endgame and NMs and epic tyled quests drop epic gear. Thats gear NOT materials. This epic gear should ALWAYS be better than crafted gear. I am sick to death of this focus on crafting, at least keep it out of my endgame. Nothing could be more disappointing than getting to the end of a dungeon, killing the boss, and finally getting that rare drop, only to discover its a material and not an awesome piece of gear. In my opinion to do that would be tragic and very uninspiring. If endgame dungeons drop mats instead of gear its instnt /ragequit for me.

5. Epic Content: This is the only thing I am not worried about......... I mean this is SE........ this is what they do!! People that have grinded away and have nothiung left to do want this, and I understand that, because so do I. However, as I said before I have every confidence that SE will deliver. Its the other 4 issues I am uncertain about.

I sure would like them to announce a direction for this game. I'd really like to see what ideas they want to implement and a general timeframe. And I mean give us specifics, because we can all argue all day over how the game is good as is or needs minor changes or needs an overhaul. At the end of the day, what matters is what direction the devs take this game in, and the sooner we all know the better.