Incentive to help "Practice" Party Finders.

[nekolilie]

One of my friends, who introduced me to this game, told me to make this post, hence why the account/profile is new. I've never posted here before so please bear with me.

Bronze Chocobo Feathers.

In depth mechanics: Once a player has cleared an Extreme 10 times, or a Savage 5 times, they will qualify to earn points towards a Bronze Points tally when assisting in that specific duty. (10 EX and 5 SVG because at that point you fully know what you're doing.)

Example: If Player A cleared Everkeep (Extreme) 10 times, then joins either a "Practice" or "Duty Completion" party finder for Everkeep (Extreme), if the duty is cleared while someone in the party clears it for the first time, Player A will gain 1 point towards their Tally. Once 10 points are achieved, Player A will receive 1x Bronze Chocobo Feather. The Tally will be reset and can be filled again, this is repeatable. Different high-end duties count towards the same tally system, however the player will have to individually clear additional duties the required amount of times for them to obtain points from them. This tally system is limited to duties that correspond to the current level cap.

Idea: Maybe a new branch of the Adventurer's Guild opens in Mor Dhona, with an NPC that keeps track of your tally and also acts as a 'Shop' to exchange the feathers.
Lore: Perhaps the Adventurer's guild is starting a project, teaming up veteran adventurers with novice adventurers in order for the latter to gain more experience while having a mentor-figure. (In order to have access to the quest that unlocks this feature, players are required to clear any current-expansion Extreme or Savage at least once.)

To prevent becoming overpowered (i.e. immediately having access to a full set of augmented tome gear) and forgo farming for augmentation items and gear in savage, Bronze Chocobo Feathers appear in the currency tab, and the amount will cap at 20. The player is also limited to only being able to receive 5 feathers a week.

What can be exchanged for Bronze Chocobo Feathers?

In exchange for 1x Bronze Chocobo Feather, players can buy;
- 1x Clan Nutsy Voucher - The player receives 100 clan nuts
(If a new hunt currency appears in the next expansion, the voucher will be for that new currency instead.)

In exchange for 5x Bronze Chocobo Feathers, players can buy;
- Minions
- Profile Effects

In exchange for 10x Bronze Chocobo Feathers, players can buy;
- Mount (2-seater)

- - -

That's pretty much the rough idea. It's not very refined, it can probably be polished and improved. But end of the day, it was just a restroom thought. I didn't think of every single scenario or problems this could cause, just the biggest, most obvious ones.

If this idea goes nowhere or goes unseen, I won't be mad. At least I put it out there instead of keeping it to myself, right? Knowing me, I'll probably just post and run.

Stay hydrated ~ ♥
- Love, Himi

[Ajisaii]

It sounds like a good idea.

[Jeeqbit]

People help Practice parties all the time. My 50+ Doomtrain clears were helping people with phase 5 to enrage progs. Everkeep Extreme is a 1-pull prog at this point - you can clear it on the first pull. The only reason people don't join it is because they have memories of how hard it used to be on release.

Helping others for no particular reason than fun is what makes an MMO great and replayable, and helping people clear Extremes and low level Savage floors is one of the most fun things - to the point I have a raid alt that I use to do this in some tiers. The key thing, though, is that they need to not be extremely difficult - that's why Extremes or low level Savage floors are the more fun option to help people with clears.

People would help others clear savage a lot more often if them joining did not reduce loot. It's a big problem, because you know that by helping, you are depriving them of loot that they need to be better in the next fight. It's a poorly thought-out system. Loot shouldn't reduce, but rather the person who already cleared for the week should automatically roll and the loot should go into a void if they win.

[CaptainLagbeard]

They do have the system for giving out rewards if there's someone who hasn't cleared it yet in the group... Though the only thing it gives out is the uncapped tomestones, or tomestones of poetics for past expansions.

They could add some more substantial rewards for a having someone who hasn't cleared to Extremes and Savages.

[KthAura]

It defs would be nice to have other rewards for clearing EXs for these kinds of parties! More incentive and more fun!

[Minarisweet]

The game would definitely benefit from reasons to help practice pfs fill faster since even when the content is relevant it becomes harder to fill these pfs as the tier drags on and its really demotivating sometimes.

[nekolilie]

I really wish I had the same experience you had There's so many times my "Fresh prog" parties have gone completely ignored, or the practice parties I join either don't fill or get people who don't have the patience to stay.
I have Kinetic Aphantasia so I get yelled at often for not being able to resolve mechanics like Forged Track in Everkeep Extreme.

I try to help clear parties when I have time, and I don't doubt other players do!
But this post is more so incentive for those people who will stay for 2 wipes then run out of patience and leave, which will prompt more people to leave more often than not unfortunately. I'm not sure what things are like in other DCs, but that's at least my experience in Primal.

[Miradelle]

This is a great idea. I've been thinking that SQE should be making FFXIV content more replayable, and nothing works better than a cosmetic reward structure. I personally think it'd be really cool if clearing a current expansion ultimate, with players who had not completed it yet, rewarded you with a chocobo feather that allows you to take up more bids on a slot for a house--like consuming a feather gives you 5 extra bids. Obviously would need an extra use for them too, since once you get a house, you won't need them anymore. This would make ultimates more active, too. Maybe for legacy ultimates, you could get 1 extra bid.