Occult crescent feels safe and mid

[Misutoraru]

Society Quests, Mandervillous relics, DoH/DoL stuff, Island Sanctuary, V&C Dungeons. Even Raid and Trials farm could easily fall in that category. Even Shared Fates don't take really that long.

There has always been plenty of casual grinds. If anything, casual grinds do seem to tend to get the bigger appeal when about the short life expentancy of the game's contents (which sounds exactly the opposite of what people who like long grinds want). Let those who like running the treadmill have their (optional btw) piece of the cake instead of pushing away other people's niche until they're back to only getting obscure achievements that come from even more repetitive tasks than Occult Crescent is.


And regarding Phantom Job's deal... Yeah, that's about as I expected. Some phantom actions seem interesting to use but, without the chance to customize the job actions, it's bound to get stale. But there is always the possibility that they bring that possibility with Phantom Mimic, though it would've been better by now, as it would further incentivize leveling up as many PJ's as possible.

Overall I don’t mind the “ARR” pace of slow grind, but the RNG base. Some kind of “guarantee” would be great like EX farm, or at least the more FATE/CE and not getting a drop, the increase chance of drop (eventually 100%) and reset once a drop happen would be appreciated.

[AmiableApkallu]

Some kind of “guarantee” would be great like EX farm, or at least the more FATE/CE and not getting a drop, the increase chance of drop (eventually 100%) and reset once a drop happen would be appreciated.

It's funny that you should mention EX farms, because they have no "guarantee" on release. If you want the mount on release, you roll the dice with RNG until you get it. If you're willing to wait, then you wait for a later patch where they increase the drop rate and/or add the token exchange.

It wouldn't surprise me if demiatma work out in similar fashion: If you want them now, then be prepared to put in some time. If you're willing to wait, then you wait for a later patch where SE, will, inevitably nerf the drop rate.

[Valence]

Make people work for relics. .

I don't want to work. I want to play a game.

The drop rate is low because people wanted a grind. Not a tomestone relic.

If your life’s ambition is to grind tomestones there is literally nothing stopping you from doing that. That is just not what relics are

That's interesting for sure. My friend can get all their atmas in a day while with my usual luck I'll draw the short straw and have to keep at it for weeks. I don't like this kind of design, some players are shafted by default and never asked for this (as if actual IRL life rng wasn't enough to deal with), and the irony is that the ones that might get lucky are the ones that actually asked for the grind... If that's not a joke I don't know what it is.

[Misutoraru]

It wouldn't surprise me if demiatma work out in similar fashion: If you want them now, then be prepared to put in some time. If you're willing to wait, then you wait for a later patch where SE, will, inevitably nerf the drop rate.

Don’t think I have a choice, 4 hours grind in FATE without getting a single drop and my friend in FC even spend more than 6 hours without any luck. With this rate, I guess I won’t get it all done when next patch drop lol

[Highlady]

Welcome back, XIV forum discourse over whether the new foray is good or not.

[BokoToloko]

Overall I don’t mind the “ARR” pace of slow grind, but the RNG base. Some kind of “guarantee” would be great like EX farm, or at least the more FATE/CE and not getting a drop, the increase chance of drop (eventually 100%) and reset once a drop happen would be appreciated.

And how is a slow grind with a more reliable drop rate less of a thing for people with enough free time? You will still have to apply about the same time to grind the atmas, only in a more consistent manner.

If you want a more consistent grind, by all means, so do I. Feels better if you can measure the progress reliably and every bit contributes.

But stop pretending this is some way of SE ignoring the casual player when a large of the content caters specifically to them. Even if that content is just boring (which, frankly, it mostly is).

Not that the atmas came without warning and, even then, it's still far more lenient as the atma step is one and done that moves then to 1.5k tomestone buys (which is now very easy to repeatedly grind for).

[Heavenchild]

Yeah, I’d also say mid. The relic grind isn’t much fun — it feels random and the drop rates are too low. Overall, it just feels really unrewarding.
I am also not a fand of how the weapons look.

The treasure chests feel like they just threw in the ones we used to hand over to an NPC to get what’s inside. Still mostly trash inside, qwq. (very unrewarding.)
The chests we have to actively search for are worse than before. The golden ones don’t give 100k anymore — now it’s just 30k. (Very, very unrewarding.)

But to be completely honest, my biggest complaint is the music. The Bozja theme was amazing — it really pulled me in and made me want to keep farming.
The music in the new zone is just... well, forgettable. I’ve already forgotten it, even though I spent hours farming there. D:
Isn’t it reused Eureka music? Or am I wrong?

I was also super frustrated when I heard that ONE theme during a quest at the beginning of the island. I don’t know its name, but my brain just switches off whenever it starts playing…
I seriously can’t listen to it anymore. It’s been around since ARR and they’ve used it way too often. For me, it completely ruins any dialogue it plays under.

Critical engagements spawn too often imo. And maybe it would have been better to allow flying than push people to overuse the return teleport. This feels very unimmersive.

So for me the new zone is mid.

Short form:
1. Grind with no flow
2. Rewards are meh
3. Chests are disappointing
4. Music is forgettable
5. Very little to discover, hardly any surprises

I also liked the fights in Bozia more. Can't say why. It's just how I feel about it.
Really feels like more of the same, but less.

I say this with all respect, but maybe it’s time for some fresh talent and new perspectives. The game feels like it’s stuck in a loop.

[xbahax92]

My 2 cents after second day:

Good:

- Extra chests on the map are a nice touch. Loot has been okay-ish. I've looted mounts, glamour, materia. It’s fun spotting them occasionally.
- PJ buffs last 30 minutes and feel useful.
- Map design and exploration are great. The aesthetics are a step up.
- The story starts off like an adventure and grabbed my attention. Honestly, I expected something similar for DW into, but alas... lol
- The mount speed scroll is a great way to reach CEs faster. I can only recommend saving 3k tokens.
- Mounts and Aetherytes are not progression locked.

Neutral:

- Challenge log looks like a weekly, but it’s easy to forget.
- Why are the potions so expensive? You can find loot to sell for Gil, though you have to scavenge for chests first and be lucky.

Suggestions:

- CE's pop back to back and it can get exhausting. In Eureka, you'd trigger them by killing monsters and in Bozja you'd need to complete normal FATE's to trigger the CE.
- FATE's are badly optimized and sync to late. They're completed within seconds.
- There's nothing to do between CEs. Bunny/pot FATEs don’t really fill the gap. The fast CE spawns risk losing your pot.
- No daily or weekly quests tied to this content, which is a missed opportunity.
- Mob aggro range seems very short. Bug?
- Relic RNG isn’t the worst (personally), but it feels unrewarding for many. The quest design needs a serious refresh.
- Phantom skills aren’t customizable. Would love to pick my own roster like in Bozja. It would be a nice incentive to maximize all phantom job.
- Bring back solo CEs. They were fun to watch and do. No idea why they didn’t return.
- I’d love to see dynamic open field raids. Not FATEs per se, but a system akin FATEs that require coordination. Think multiple objectives across the map that need to be cleared simultaneously to weaken or unlock a main boss. GW2 handles this style really well.

[Mecia]

Lukewarm in comparison to Eureka and Bozja so far. These CEs though...i dont like a single one except RE4 merchant. This fight design is fucking ass.

[Eastwall]

I just explored the entire zone and completed the map while level 1. While doing this, I aggro'd enemies TWICE, despite hugging enemies that were over 20 levels above me constantly. I was also mounted going at full mount speed. And exploring it was as if the enemies were not there. One of the enemies that went on me I could have avoided and kinda knew it would happen.

I did a few CEs and racked up 9 vuln stacks on a PLD+Knight and I took such little damage (unmitigated) that I could virtually handle another 10 or 20 stacks most likely. Even for a tank, 9 vulns is usually the breaking point but it's not in Occult.

All the aethernets can be got right away, which trivialized it a lot more.

I haven't tried fighting the enemies or using the jobs properly yet but I don't get the impression I even need all that stuff so far.

The story and CE battles themselves seemed OK so far though.

Oh nice to know. I thought if enmities higher level than me will aggro from a further distance. I think l will get all the aertheryte tonight