Idea: Merit system

[linay]

So you're saying people would rather stay subbed when there's nothing to do than stay subbed when they're given something to do? /doubt

Stay subbed? Probably not. Unsub at a rate that would alarm SE and make them change their chosen formula? Probably not either.

[Toystore]

Any time this kind of idea comes up in the post WOTLK landscape, it's always a majority 'no' from the playerbase. It's just the way it is now. I have no idea why. We got this same kind of irrational hatred for players putting more into progressing their characters in legion with artifact power came out.

The MMO genre is just not built for some people. There's this mentality to get capped at max level and then have no more character progression under the guise of being 'required' to have some theoretical max. MMOs just didn't work like this prior to Wrath of the Lich King.

People would rather sit in cities with nothing to do and kneecap other actual people's endgame character progression because they'd feel behind some hypothetical curve for endgame content. Which they won't do anyways.

So yeah, this is why we can't have nice things in MMOs anymore. Like merits/AAs/class mastery points. And everyone is collectively miserable sitting around the cities with nothing to do except complain about how they wouldn't be able to keep up with the Joneses in some hypothetical scenario where a few players have all the merit points capped.

[Jonnycbad]

I think the game will cease level at 100 because that's the standard for FF games (i would say 99, but FFXIV doesn't have a subjob system and usually capstone skills are awarded on the 50/60/70/80 levels, not to mention having a lvl99 cap would be awkward). That said, progression beyond level 100 would probably be something else, like mastery levels or some other form of progression.

Merits would be bad only because it's an illusion of choice. Skill trees are fine in offline games, but as many have pointed out, the merit system in XI was a failure. They're only now after 15 years trying to fix them in FFXI.
As a reminder, in FFXI every job had 5 categories of merits to choose from, ranging from new spells/job abilities to passive traits. Each of the 5 categories ranged from level 1-5, and you had 10 max upgrades. So you could merely unlock all 5 categories at level 2 of their potency, or max out 2 categories to level 5 and leave the other categories locked. Problem was, it was nearly always the case that the most optimal scenario was maxing out 2 categories, and by not doing so you were chastized or unwanted.

[LineageRazor]

While I'm not opposed to a merit system, it will never happen. Job progression over the years has served to HOMOGENIZE the jobs, not to differentiate them. They want all jobs to have the same general abilities, the same capabilities, and, above all, the same desirability. The idea that a player would be rejected from a raid group because they don't have the proper merits is anathema to them.

An expansion or two from now, it wouldn't be surprising to me if every job has exactly the same ability rotations, stats, and gear. You could play optimally as a WHM, then switch to MNK, and with exactly the same button presses, play optimally as a MNK. Then, we will have achieved the Singularity. :P

[Kisshu]

The way this game works with it's instanced content, this won't work.

Do the devs balance content with players having merit point abilities/enhancements, or without?
If it's with merit point abilities/enhancement, it will simply be a requirement for all people in a group to have their abilities/enhancements.
If it's without the points, then a group with full points would just make the content easier. And would proably still want all their members to have the abilities/enhancements.

The only place I can see this work is in an Eureka style content where balance is less of a thing.

[RoyalBeef]

Stay subbed? Probably not. Unsub at a rate that would alarm SE and make them change their chosen formula? Probably not either.

You completely evaded the actual point, but I assume that was on purpose so I'll save myself the time to bring the question I actually asked up again :P

[linay]

You completely evaded the actual point, but I assume that was on purpose so I'll save myself the time to bring the question I actually asked up again :P

Your point is irrelevant unless you can show that what SE is doing is not working for them. There are people who unsub from WoW because of perceived busywork, so it's not like SE is going to stop people from unsubbing either way.

[Bacent]

I think the game will cease level at 100 because that's the standard for FF games (i would say 99, but FFXIV doesn't have a subjob system and usually capstone skills are awarded on the 50/60/70/80 levels, not to mention having a lvl99 cap would be awkward). That said, progression beyond level 100 would probably be something else, like mastery levels or some other form of progression.

Merits would be bad only because it's an illusion of choice. Skill trees are fine in offline games, but as many have pointed out, the merit system in XI was a failure. They're only now after 15 years trying to fix them in FFXI.
As a reminder, in FFXI every job had 5 categories of merits to choose from, ranging from new spells/job abilities to passive traits. Each of the 5 categories ranged from level 1-5, and you had 10 max upgrades. So you could merely unlock all 5 categories at level 2 of their potency, or max out 2 categories to level 5 and leave the other categories locked. Problem was, it was nearly always the case that the most optimal scenario was maxing out 2 categories, and by not doing so you were chastized or unwanted.

Max level in XV is 120. Max level in FFTA is 50. With XIV, since it's an MMO they could go well above 100 if they wanted to. As of right now the +10lvl/+135ilvl cap per expac thing seems to be doing well enough. They'd been trying to bring in newer systems, like with the, what I personally find god AWFUL, elvl stuff/deleveling/special actions in Eureka which the community was really split on (Personally think they forced way too much into one side area).

Skill trees though have always had an optimum way of getting stuff that would help you the most or so (Or the best way to level them up if you could unlock everything). There's always going to be 'the best way to do it' no matter how a skill tree is brought in, and everyone will be forced into the same cookie cutter paths, and I personally think they should stay out of MMOs as they're either volatile or boring.