Job Quest woes from a noob

[White_Glint]

Imho....

...this is a prime example of why FFXIV will continue to be a relatively unpopular MMO. Accessibility for newer players. Its bad enough having to do a 5 part quest just to unlock all the skills of your job of choice, but you also have to find an over-leveled group for the content. Having a LS does help, that's for sure. But resorting to bugging high level LS mates is not fun for noobies or the LS mates (or anyone for that matter). That is NOT intelligent game design.

Like it or not, noobs, newbies, and nooblets are an important part of any MMO. If you can't make the game easy enough to get players hooked (then you can make things tough @endgame), then you will ultimately fail.

I love this game (as I loved FFXI), and it does a ton of stuff right; gameplay is interesting and fun, music, artwork, graphics, emphasis on grouping are all top knotch. But accessibility is the major flaw that will prevent FFXIV from taking off...

[Peptaru]

All the hate for job quests, how long would it take to pick up the extra five levels a group of four would need to do these quests? next to no time at all as it currently stands. I'm happy there is challenging content now, there is enough click 1-2-3-1-2 to win fights.

That said, i understand how it can be frustrating, but i think sticking with it is the way to go as it -should- then feel more rewarding when you accomplish your task. It might take another day or two of leveling, potions and foods and working job combinations to win, but that's part of what has always made FF enjoyable for a lot of people. (no i don't mean tank healer 6x thm for ifrit kind of job combo as he works just fine with melee too)

[Wicka]

I don't hate the job quests. I just think that the info for them is, quite simply, wrong. Going and grabbing 5 more levels is fine and dandy. The problem is that I just finished grabbing 5 more levels to get to the recommended quest requirements, only to find out that it is not enough. Probably a different scenario for those people who already have a few 50s, but for me I feel like if the quest says 'recommended light party of 30s' then a light party of 30s should have a chance. I'm not saying that it should be easy, but it should be possible within the terms provided. If the actual recommendation is that a light party of 35s should tackle the quest, then that is what it should say, and then I would have little issue running out to level till I meet the requirements.

What I am saying is that getting to 30 is part of the threshold for the initial job quests (must be at least level 30 to start quest, recommended party of 30s to complete quest). So when I finally ding at 30 for my PUG I am thinking to myself, "Fricken sweet man, time to go MONK IT UP! Whats this? Recommended party of 30s? Awesome! That's us man! Enough talk, lets do this thing!" Bam, thunk, dink, splash, wiped. WUT!? It is misleading and frustrating. No hate here, just some teeth grinding.

[casker]

All the hate for job quests, how long would it take to pick up the extra five levels a group of four would need to do these quests?

I already just came off a grind, from getting 25-30 on my main class doing godawful GC leves, and getting lancer to 15 with no quests to make it less boring since I already did them all on pugilist. Grinding up levels =/= challenging fight, it's just an exercise in tedium. When we finally get there, it's still going to have the same 1232123 dynamics either way.

When 2.0 is ready to be shown off, hopefully they have a lot of other content to pad this, because when they adjust exp gains down again, are you really wanting to just say "suck it up, grind 5 levels, then try it." People aren't going to suck it up. They're going to quit, and continue making fun of this archaic game design. It just screams "we don't have enough content, so to bridge the gap to from 30 to 50, we made this quest 5 levels higher than when we give it to you."

My hypothesis: The tuning for this quest is bogus. I'd urge anyone who has level 30-35 classes and job quests left to try it out like they were new players to help test this. They said they want this to be progression content, instead it's a brick wall.

[Peptaru]

Instead of putting in more effort to achieve things people will quit? that's about what i expect out of many people, in many regards, anymore. this isn't the place to talk about what i think of that, though lol

[casker]

The quest is misleading. And yes, people will quit, no matter what you think of them.

I already grinded up to 35 to try a level 30 quest, grinded lancer, and grinded before that just to start the quest. I'd actually say tons of people would be quitting before putting in as much effort as I did.

You can only say "just put a little more effort, just put a little more effort, just put a little more effort" in this case, effort being grind, before people will say "wtf? No. This is just grinding. I'll just go a play a game that is FUN"

BTW, shoulder tackle is basically a level 2 WoW warrior skill. Grinding 10 levels just to get a level 2 warrior skill? Naw.

[Peptaru]

WoW players vs. FF players? that's an age old debate already.

[Rousseau]

I'm pretty sure all the job quests are tuned for parties, since they're meant to be used in party play. At level, I imagine you would need a full party of 30s for that quest.

If you really want to solo them, get yourself to around 45 or so, which will make everything but the two 45 quests and the 50 one easy enough for you to do. You will still need to group up for the last two or three, though. The 45 AF will send you to an instance that requires a party to get in. The other AF pieces can also be tough to get alone. The level 50 fight is basically impossible to solo right now, unless someone has found some kind of cheap exploit.

Personally, I don't think you'll need the job for much until 45+ anyway, so if you have trouble getting it, don't fret too much. Get that class up as high as you can, first, since you can't start doing endgame content until then, anyway. Experience parties work either way, and you'll want to avoid the use of most jobs when soloing, as they just aren't versatile enough.

[Wicka]

I'm pretty sure all the job quests are tuned for parties, since they're meant to be used in party play. At level, I imagine you would need a full party of 30s for that quest.

This is what I am saying. And having tried that, I am also saying that a party of 30s is not enough. I don't think that peoples willingness to grind more levels is the issue here. Its that the quest is misleading. Either they need to be tailored to fit the recommendations, or the level requirement needs to be boosted to 35 or so. The availability of content, or rather the lack of content, is of course a subject that people (myself included) will hang on.

Putting in more effort to achieve things is one thing, being unable to complete quests, even though you meet ALL requirements, until you grind 5+ more levels is another thing all together. I'm sure it is simply an attempt to pad the mid-game content a bit, but if that is the case, then just change the quest text to say party of 35s and I'm good.

[Charismatic]

This is what I am saying. And having tried that, I am also saying that a party of 30s is not enough. I don't think that peoples willingness to grind more levels is the issue here. Its that the quest is misleading. Either they need to be tailored to fit the recommendations, or the level requirement needs to be boosted to 35 or so. The availability of content, or rather the lack of content, is of course a subject that people (myself included) will hang on.

Putting in more effort to achieve things is one thing, being unable to complete quests, even though you meet ALL requirements, until you grind 5+ more levels is another thing all together. I'm sure it is simply an attempt to pad the mid-game content a bit, but if that is the case, then just change the quest text to say party of 35s and I'm good.

This game always seems to have content geared toward players that are 5+ levels above what the quest says, no idea why.
Toto-Rak? 25, content geared toward Lv30ish and all gear gained can't be equipped til 30+. Same with Darkhold and its Lv45 restriction.

This, to me, seems silly... but it is the way they chose to make the game.