Can we get an idea on what to expect from the open world in version 2? (A bit long)

[Rokien]

I played FFXI since NA release up until shortly after Voidwatch came out - intermittently I should admit. I took breaks when life, or the game, got to the point where I couldn't justify paying for it.

To be flat honest, I've talked with many former FFXI players outside the game after we all quit and our experiences were different. However many of them openly confessed to cheating as well, yet they had a good time, not caring that it came at the expense of many others. (Not even touching Gear Swap and Windower.)

So when you talk about D.Ring, or any of the King Drops, I don't give it thought, intentionally. That was a field I avoided after finding out how suspect it was first hand. It after that it was irrelevant to me. It was how a person conducted themselves that mattered. It became a bad correlation, however, when I noticed that the more advanced someone's gear was, the more likely that person was going to be unpleasant. That wasn't always the case, but it happened often enough to give pause, and eventually become jaded by it. This was galvanized on how the Aht Urgan mentality prevented my Fiance and I from playing together in the same Merit party. (She was Whm, I was Rdm. We actually switched servers because of how poorly she got treated as a WHM.)

Now conversely in FFXIV, I look at someone walking around with weapons like Ifrits spear and I smile a bit. Not because 'oh look, you got lucky at the loot', but because they went through the experience of Ifrit, and the feeling of being rewarded after their trials. So far, fights in FFXIV at the very least feel more tense and interesting, so naturally the rewards are going to feel better by me.

I'll also take a note of their other gear they're wearing, see what they're settling with. (You'd be amazed at the number of AF Wielders with Primal weapons.) Doing so often shows me that I've spent my time on Armor rather than weapons, and that's a fair exchange to have.

My only miffed comment is how the weapon is now a bit obsolete before I got my hands on it. Though, I'll want one just for collection.

Overall, I'm more about people than loot. It's far easier to help a person gear up, then to try to change their attitude, so when I see rare weapons and armor, I'm usually not as impressed as others are - because I don't know their story. Loot gets me thinking about the experience of going through the necessary steps of getting it though. And I'm far more open minded about FFXIV's achievements than I am about FFXI. Except perhaps Garuda weapons with the BLM exploit.

I will look more fondly on my normal Quality Centurion's Sword from FFXI and my Joyeuse than any of the epic loot other people got out of that game - because it's more about the experience. I really do hope they make Weapon racks in 2.0

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Sorry for the triple post. I had a lot addressed to me here, and in order to prevent confused I wanted to break it up somehow.

Sooo you never even touched hnms...........

[Eclipse]

Why I want to see open world content and what drew me to FFXI and kept me there until 2009.

1. Competition:
- The thrill of the hunt and capture. From NM's to coffers to farming and mining it was all fun.

2. Reward
- Watching other shells take down or being watched take down an HNM.

3. The Unknown
- Never knowing what you were going to experience outside of an instance. May run into an angry antlion or attacked by an angry tonberry.

4. Beauty
- You could go from zone to zone and within that zone into another zone and it flowed, the world was designed so that the world would flow. You put anything into an instance and you don't necessarily have to make anything flow, just add a crystal or portal into some random cave and poof, your all set.

5. Discovery
- Ability to go through large maps and learn ways to move through the map, the safe spots, the drop downs the pit falls the enemy locations.

6. More practice.
- Sometimes instances are only opened by someone who has ability to access the quest. In the open world you can always experience the content with or without someone needing access.

7. Fear
- The fear of getting lost, the fear of death... I don't fear anything, I have no anxiety about dying, about getting lost.

Open world content allows for a different dynamic, a different feel for the game. If people don't like it they do not have to engage in it, if people don't like instances they don't have to engage in it.

If your a hard core gamer and you need access to either to meet your goals then you will access it and compete with it.

If we have instances we should have more outdoor content as I like to call it. What I mean is there is more than one type of gaming dynamic, so why not include both to encourage a wider variety of gamers to play? Wouldn't that allow for a larger player base with a wider variety of content?

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I miss my adrenaline getting pumped up when we were camping Nidhogg or Fafy or chasing down Ixion... I miss that. The only time that happens now is when I am farming Karakul Fleece and someone starts to farm against me. Haha I think my adrenaline would be better placed on an NM.

[Jynx]

I think the current claim and leashing system is downright terrible. It's nice to be able to lend a hand without people needing to Call for help but otherwise it just causes issues all-around.

[Rutelor]

I think the current claim and leashing system is downright terrible. It's nice to be able to lend a hand without people needing to Call for help but otherwise it just causes issues all-around.

Claims should be restudied; however, if they remain the same for v. 2.0, I hope the community speaks up during beta. I also think some mechanic, similar to public-quest grouping in Warhammer Online should be introduced for events like Behest and Hamlets. Griefing should really be a thing of the past.

[Hyrist]

Mmmeaeeehhh.

Yeah. In Aion, there was a Elyos Guild that was in kahoots with a Asmodian one. Whenever a world boss we would have claimed was one this Elyos guild wanted, they'd call their Asmo friends over to attack us directly so we'd wipe and they'd get claim. Hear it was vice versa as well.

Yeah, grieving tactics are douchey.

[Andrien]

Mmmeaeeehhh.

Yeah. In Aion, there was a Elyos Guild that was in kahoots with a Asmodian one. Whenever a world boss we would have claimed was one this Elyos guild wanted, they'd call their Asmo friends over to attack us directly so we'd wipe and they'd get claim. Hear it was vice versa as well.

Yeah, grieving tactics are douchey.

I know what you mean. They would like hold the boss until their buddies show up to kill it. People did that in FFXI, but a little worst. They would also hold it to prolong its pop time in their timezone for as long as possible before it rages.

[NumenarMithrandir]

I know what you mean. They would like hold the boss until their buddies show up to kill it. People did that in FFXI, but a little worst. They would also hold it to prolong its pop time in their timezone for as long as possible before it rages.

Yeah there was always a lot of grieving tactics going on in ffxi over mob claims lol. Guess it just shows true colors, and how well a mature person can handle a situation.

[Eclipse]

Two of the tactics which were used that I remember were:

1. Players would bring over mobs that AoE'd and attack them while their AoE would be aimed at PLD or WHM.

2. Healing bombs, the LS without claim would Healbomb the PLD tanking the current NM which they wanted and build up emnity against the NM.

- I don't even understand why they are making a claim system like the one stated above with the rewards for helping and what not if they were not planning for Open World content. I could see one of two things from this,

A. They are going to allow Free Company members to join in and assist with instanced battles even if they are not in party. May not be all instances but some.

2. There will be open world content and competition.

[Hyrist]

The grief tactics and issues is some of the things I want buttoned up, on behalf of those who would rather play fairly. Even in a PVE game like FFXI, grieving tactics were used, and used a plenty in the early days. And while some particulars look back on it and say it's exciting and memorable - the truth of the matter is, when it was being done, people were furious, angry, and worse, little gets done about it, even though it was a clear ToS violation.

People will grief one another if you let them, and the sad fact is fair play needs to be enforced strictly if it is to exist. That clashes directly with many of the 'open' concepts people like to romanticize.

There are several ways to get around this, or at the very least encourage comradeship somehow. Healthy rivalry instead of a degenerative one.

And then there's this feeling that I can't shrug off about HNMs that doesn't settle well, and take this as personal opinion.

I want the sensation of hunting something, and that's been missing in pretty much any MMO set up involving world bosses. I absolutely adored Dark Ixion's set up. An epic mob that you had to chase down and claim in a specific way. And it could FLEE from you. You had to coordinate with your LS not just to fight the monster, you had to catch it.

I really hope they institute that at least a few of the HNMs in this game. If anything, that would get me excited about the content more than anything else.

[Rutelor]

The grief tactics and issues is some of the things I want buttoned up, on behalf of those who would rather play fairly. Even in a PVE game like FFXI, grieving tactics were used, and used a plenty in the early days. And while some particulars look back on it and say it's exciting and memorable - the truth of the matter is, when it was being done, people were furious, angry, and worse, little gets done about it, even though it was a clear ToS violation.

People will grief one another if you let them, and the sad fact is fair play needs to be enforced strictly if it is to exist. That clashes directly with many of the 'open' concepts people like to romanticize.

There are several ways to get around this, or at the very least encourage comradeship somehow. Healthy rivalry instead of a degenerative one.

And then there's this feeling that I can't shrug off about HNMs that doesn't settle well, and take this as personal opinion.

I want the sensation of hunting something, and that's been missing in pretty much any MMO set up involving world bosses. I absolutely adored Dark Ixion's set up. An epic mob that you had to chase down and claim in a specific way. And it could FLEE from you. You had to coordinate with your LS not just to fight the monster, you had to catch it.

I really hope they institute that at least a few of the HNMs in this game. If anything, that would get me excited about the content more than anything else.

I agree fully with you that developers should climb every mountain, so to speak, in order to make the game as immune to griefing practices as humanly possible.

I think those figurative mountains include, however, the task of finding ways of making open-world content grief-proof. This is one of those cases in which I believe going "instanced" and giving up openness would amount to throwing out the proverbial baby with the bath waters of grief.

Another line that should be drawn, by the way, is the differentiating one between competitiveness in the open world and griefing practices. Competing for prey has, in my experience and that of many others, increased the excitement of the open-world environment, whereas deviousness of purpose, and the intent of reducing the effort you and your linkshell invest, at the expense of my work and the effort of my linkshell, are a completely different category of things.

R