Gaining SP/EXP - Moving forward

[DonC]

One thing I am concerned that is never really mentioned is how SP/EXP is gained..

I have played a few MMOs and they all do it slightly different but in FFXIV I am concerned that there is no viable way to realistically level up.

If a new player logs on, they should be able to grind to Rank 20 (I think they changed the SP nerf to around 23 now?) by soloing/partying on world mobs, guildleves and Behest. This is what I did at first.

Since then I have managed to grind to Rank 30 with a friend doing Leves and Behest. What else is a player to do after 23? If you grind world mobs the SP becomes awfully low and you can only do 8 Leves a day solo, if you are lucky you may get a party to do them. After the 8 leves are done you are left with Behest and that is pretty much it..

In Rift you can mix grinding with quests, Rifts and grinding world mobs all day, in FFXI you can party up, do some campaign, fields of valor etc all day, whereas in FFXIV you are stuck with Leves and Behest where Leves do not last all day. You can't party up and grind in FFXIV as the SP needed to level up is extremely high compared to how much SP you gain grinding world mobs.

The above suits some people which is fine but when the influx of new players comes and everyone is stuck doing 8 Leves a day with some Behest they will get bored and quit again..

I am hoping the Devs can do something further to maintain player interest. It appears they are scrapping Surplus which is great but now they possibly need to make adjustments to how much SP is needed to gain levels or boost SP from world grinding to make parties viable again. This will require a new method to LFP, which I think they are implementing? I really want to see this game get a real boost from the PS3 launch and I can see the need for 'content' being worked on but I think another look at leveling is needed to hold on to them new players that may come.

Its good to have the 'carrot' but let the players feel they have a decent chance to get to it..

[Betelgeuzah]

Unfortunately

http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...6f3ebf51738a11

Players do not feel that making guildleves a viable way to progress is important, so fixing and fleshing it out is not their priority.

What you are proposing is not the solution they should aim for, though.

[DonC]

To be honest I am not really proposing we should grind in parties but more to extend our options to level so it can be done as often as you like.

The problem with the poll is that it is likely it will be answered by current players or players who got to 20-30 and quit. If this game is to survive and become a popular MMO then SE will need to keep new players from PS3 in mind. If they stay then the old players that quit could well come back to play with their friends etc.

If you were to log on the game on your day off with the aim to level up so that you can get that 'next piece of equip', you were level 35 and you had 5 levels to do. How would you do that right now? Your intention was to play most of the day, which is what alot of MMO players do. Right now I can only see that you could do your 8 leves, possibly in a party, which should get you a level. You could then camp Behest every 30 minutes. It just isn't enough..

[Betelgeuzah]

Yes, and I'm sure SE will do something about it, but expect the more popular choices on that poll to come first.

[DonC]

I am sure they will, just wanted to bring it up as I never see it spoken about! Was interested in other opinions

[Betelgeuzah]

Well, they ought to make the leve system less predictable with more consistent rewards. They also need to make it so a) groups want more members and b) members want to join the group. This creates a mutual interest that stimulates people to create more parties.

[ChiefCurrahee]

Unfortunately

http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...6f3ebf51738a11

Players do not feel that making guildleves a viable way to progress is important, so fixing and fleshing it out is not their priority.

What you are proposing is not the solution they should aim for, though.

I actually think that the restriction imposed on guildleve resets falls under the umbrella of the 36.8% vote for "lack of in game content"

If you turn down the restriction from a 36 hour reset to a 2hr reset, magically you've created more content for people to do.

It's might not be new content, but it doesn't leave people with the "now what do I do" mentality.

I think we can all agree FFXIV was released way to early. But it seems like they've restricted the players who want to play the game, play the game!
You're allowed 8 quests every 36 hours. Period.
You gain fatigue the more you play until you can't progress any more.
Story quests are triggered by your class rank, not your physical level. So if you want to see the story stick to 1 class. but look out for fatigue, and don't play other classes.

Seriously what were they thinking when they came up with those concepts. Lets make a game, that hampers the player the more they play it.

Reduce the guildleve resets to a more reasonable time (2hrs like in alpha) or get rid of resets all together and allow players to carry only 8 at a time. - balance this with reduced SP/EXP from mob kills.

Add alternative repeatable content, Behests @ 30 min are great! But allow more than 8 people to take part. Add something like grp A B and C, you sign up for a grp and you are auto partied with that sub grp.

Give us repeatable quests (Grand Company quests?) That send us out into the world to party up and kill.

Give us Guildeves that last the full 30 min! Have mobs spawn in waves, each getting progressively harder with small NM thrown in every so often. At the end of the 30 min you're rated and rewarded for how well you've done. (this could be great grp content!)

FFXIV isn't a sandbox, it's a freakin' desert. There is something on the horizon, it looks good. But please don't let it be a mirage!

[Danniedeadboy]

There are few places you can party but it's just whether people are interested or not, it also depends on who you play with because in a way Guild leves has made players soft. People rather rank up on guildleves then in an actual party. They see the end results in a few minutes rather then hold true skills attained from a monotonous grind. Guild leve mobs are easy and if you fail you can adjust the difficulty, in actual combat outside of guildleves you're not given that option and have to adapt to learn your Class better. There are camps you can grind on but the party people are most familiar with are Raptors at R43-50, you can also do Efts in the 30's gaining about 300-400sp per mob if i remember correctly. R12-18 you can do Cassopeias for 300sp a pop and go from 12-15 in an hour i think. As for 20's im not sure but you can do the tedious Iron Coblyns in Nanawa in the back by bomb quest mobs netting about 20k per hour in a duo-trio party.. When people do the Math they rather get 60k sp in 1 hr rather than 3 hours, but you'll notice the difference between guildleve players and some that still party.

[Betelgeuzah]

If you turn down the restriction from a 36 hour reset to a 2hr reset, magically you've created more content for people to do.

"I don't know anything about game design".

Do you seriously fail to realize that when they reduce the cooldown from 36h to 2h, they will also adjust the SP rewards accordingly? Instead of having to do 8 leves in 36h to acquire, say, 30k SP, you now have to do 144 leves in a matter of 36h to acquire the same amount of SP. S-E controls how fast we can level, and if one variable is changed, the others must be adjusted just as well. If they have determined that in 36h and by doing 8 leves you can get 30k SP, you are still going to get 30k SP after the changes are done in a matter of 36h. Your suggestion is so bad that my pupils are bleeding out of my eyeballs.

You're allowed 8 quests every 36 hours. Period.

Similarly to how you are allowed to do one MMM run per 24 hours. Period.

Oh, wait. You can do as many as you want as long as you are in a party with someone who hasn't depleted his daily run yet!

Oh man, how could we take that approach and apply it to XIV? OH! The same applies to guildleves! Amazing! Eight is not the maximum number of leves you can do after all! You can do as many leves as you want as long as you group up with someone that has leves on him.

I wonder what SE is attempting here? Oh, hmm. Hmmmm.

Seriously what were they thinking when they came up with those concepts. Lets make a game, that hampers the player the more they play it.

Limiting the time it takes to progress? Making us group up to level up efficiently? Wat were dey thinkgn, omfg

Reduce the guildleve resets to a more reasonable time (2hrs like in alpha) or get rid of resets all together and allow players to carry only 8 at a time. - balance this with reduced SP/EXP from mob kills.

"Sorry dear, I'll come to sleep soon. Only 122 more leves 'till I've hit 30k SP gained."

Give us Guildeves that last the full 30 min! Have mobs spawn in waves, each getting progressively harder with small NM thrown in every so often. At the end of the 30 min you're rated and rewarded for how well you've done. (this could be great grp content!)

In the end you've at least partially redeemed yourself.

[DonC]

You can do as many leves as you want as long as you group up with someone that has leves on him.

The problem with the above is that apart from Behest, the above is the only way to level provided you can find somebody who has leves on them. You should be able to go and level and do so all day if you wish. Being restricted causes people to get bored and log off.

Also, I fail to see why reducing Leve timers means you will only ever gain a set amount of SP, your example being 30k in 36 hours. If they reduce the Leve timers it may be possible to gain far far more SP in this time. If SE control how fast we level maybe they need to change that as well. Again, restricted play causes people to get bored.

In FFXI or any other MMO I have played, I can logon, EXP for 3-4 hours with your equipment/stats/skill increasing the speed in which I gain the EXP, go do some content, go back 1-2 hours later and continue.. In FFXIV this isn't really the case as I can only gain a set amount of SP in the 36 hours with some Behest chucked in.