Stat squish confirmed: How will unsynced old content be handled?

[Daeriion_Aeradiir]

"440,000,000HP!"

oh, are we still using windows 98?

No, but they're likely approaching the 32-bit integer limit which with their current scaling, enemy HP would 100% hit that overflow point in 6.0.
And no, simply re-assigning certain values to higher datatypes isn't as simple as it looks. Since packets would have to encapsulate that data, any change in the variable size for certain values would increase packet size. Which magnified by -x- amount of players doing the boss across -y- amount of instances (which at the beginning of new raid patches, can be thousands of instances) can increase server I/O load substantially.

Given that increasing our inventory by even 1 slot seems to be a big task that they have to meticulously plan out due to the increase in packet size it brings, it's no surprise they'd rather stat squish than re-program many of the int values in the game into higher encapsulating datatypes.

[MsQi]

No, but they're likely approaching the 32-bit integer limit which with their current scaling, enemy HP would 100% hit that overflow point in 6.0.
And no, simply re-assigning certain values to higher datatypes isn't as simple as it looks. Since packets would have to encapsulate that data, any change in the variable size for certain values would increase packet size. Which magnified by -x- amount of players doing the boss across -y- amount of instances (which at the beginning of new raid patches, can be thousands of instances) can increase server I/O load substantially.

Given that increasing our inventory by even 1 slot seems to be a big task that they have to meticulously plan out due to the increase in packet size it brings, it's no surprise they'd rather stat squish than re-program many of the int values in the game into higher encapsulating datatypes.

The simple truth is they didn't plan ahead and are stuck with the WoW mentality of stat growth. One of the first things you learn is how to prevent overflows and rollovers. If you know you have limits (which you should) plan on NOT hitting them. If you want the game to have longevity design it around 20, 40, 100 years down the line as if there will be no technological improvements with maximums short of the technical maximum. Ask what kind of numbers do we want to be hitting and how they work in THIS system? Test with these numbers and adjust.

A linear progression is fine, gaining 1 stat point per level or every couple levels, including potential gear options. But you need to develop more engaging types of character growth: Choices about what you learn and increase. Gear can serve other purposes besides a steady stat increase.

[Feronar]

The problem is pretty much the exact same as WoW had at the end of Mists of Pandaria. Blizzard had to design around the problem in Siege of Orgrimmar, the final raid. The second-to-last boss, Paragons of the Klaxxi, was actually multiple bosses daisy-chained together, and the final boss, Garrosh Hellscream, self-healed twice over the course of the fight (Three times if playing on the highest difficulty level). Garrosh's effective total HP across all phases was about 3.77 billion (37.7億) on 25 player heroic difficulty.

[Hycinthus]

The problem is pretty much the exact same as WoW had at the end of Mists of Pandaria. Blizzard had to design around the problem in Siege of Orgrimmar, the final raid. The second-to-last boss, Paragons of the Klaxxi, was actually multiple bosses daisy-chained together, and the final boss, Garrosh Hellscream, self-healed twice over the course of the fight (Three times if playing on the highest difficulty level). Garrosh's effective total HP across all phases was about 3.77 billion (37.7億) on 25 player heroic difficulty.

Okay, so it does seem similar to WoW's problems, and Yoshi has been known of taking solutions from WoW before.

So from whatever has happened in WoW already, what should FFXIV expect? What should we be prepared for, is it all bad news? Is there anything to learn?

[Deceptus]

Okay, so it does seem similar to WoW's problems, and Yoshi has been known of taking solutions from WoW before.

You mean like the Glamour Dresser? Look how well that turned out.

So from whatever has happened in WoW already, what should FFXIV expect? What should we be prepared for, is it all bad news? Is there anything to learn?

WoW has tried it twice now and both times have gone really bad and they had to spend months re-doing it. They have never got it right yet.

[Bacent]

One version of stat shrink I know they have in the game already is with Paladin's blocking. The highest block chance Paladin always gets is near the end of the expansion, with the next one getting shrunk back down otherwise Paladin would be able to block too much damage.

[AleXwern]

One version of stat shrink I know they have in the game already is with Paladin's blocking. The highest block chance Paladin always gets is near the end of the expansion, with the next one getting shrunk back down otherwise Paladin would be able to block too much damage.

That's what all substats and defense already do. They don't really "shink" but reset as the strength of X substat is dependent on level.

[Fawkes]

Ultimately I don't think it will be a problem, because he said they'd still have the current style powerup from 80 to 90, so level 90 will still be OP unsynced. So you can just level up to the max before you do stuff. BLU might be the only real victim but they already have OP abilities at every level.

[AnotherPerson]

On the plus side, with stat squishes, buffs can be more common right? After all, I figure a large portion of buffs stacked together increased damage so significantly that they had to take some away as well besides for balance issues, but if all stats get squished, the actual effect to buffs is a lot smaller than before.

[Rongway]

if all stats get squished, the actual effect to buffs is a lot smaller than before.

No, if your relative at-level power is still the same, then the effect of buffs doesn't change.