A Realistic and Perfect Way to Implement Airships and Chocobos [dev1002][dev????]

[CrstyCaptin]

Post wall of text: anything that's worth reading will be bolded, the rest is probably just a rant. That's right, I'm looking out for you FFXIV community and trying to save you time!(hint hint SE!)

Wow. I feel like I'm the only one that just wants a damn chocobo to get around on. I must also be alone here actually wanting to play outside of thanalan and not spend 30+ minutes just running across the same copy/pasta zone. "Running out of anima is your own damn fault"? I don't even know where to begin.

Let's see... if you want to do NMs you've got one in Dhona, Coerthas, Black Shroud, LL, Thanalan. That's five spots right there. If you want to do Leves 33+ you've got to hit BW, Noph, Cedarwood, Cassio. I find running to cedar > cassio not that bad, so I'll say 3 teleports right there. This isn't even considering people with x2 leves for each area. If you want to grind raptors you need teleport to camp dragonhead but you can get by with camp glory and running a bit. If you port to any camp from outside of that zone you will use your 6 anima recharge for the day on one teleport assuming it's not your favored destination

See what I'm getting at? You can't log in to do leves, get a little raptor grind in to complete your tnr, take a break, then come back to find your ls getting ready to kill GB and get there in time. There's no way unless you're a 'casual' player that plays ever couple of days or something. Pooling anima together? Someone is still gunna be out. How about your ls aiming to kill NMs every night? Even if 5 people got those camps as their 5 favored destinations they're still out half their anima regen for the day with one teleport. One teleport! Don't get me wrong, I don't mind running from Uldah to camp horizon that much then returning back(deathport of course) but for the love of God this is 2011 and I'm not wasting 30+ minutes of play time running from one city to the next! That's not what I play for! The 'oooohh ahhhhh' of the run ran out probably the 2nd week after launch AND if you still want to enjoy it there's no reason that moving DOUBLE the speed on a CHOCOBO would make it any less of an experience!

Maybe I"m not playing the game right. Maybe you're only supposed to log in to do leves then log out staying within your anima recharge for the day. Maybe you're only supposed to log in to kill an NM or two then log out. Maybe if I've used all my anima regen for the day I should just sit in town and grind a craft. Maybe SE fixed this issue by making it F2P so you can get a second account(like myself and a few others in my ls have done) to make a teleport mule to get around(sorry all you people that can't meet the hardware requirements of running two instances of FFXIV).

Oh but I am not without solutions!
1) Double our anima recharge rate! Simple, easy, no need to use idea numero 2 and it'll make everyone happy. Ok, maybe not the people that are happy with wasting their life running from point a to point b and cry the system is good how it is but hopefully they can somehow get over it. Or maybe they can spend the time they would be running from point a to point b here on the forum bitching about it since they've just saved all that time by a simple teleport. --- Anyway, with 12 anima a day you can teleport outside of your favored locations(twice max!) at least once and still have some anima left to get home or go somewhere else within your playtime for the day.

2) Give me a chocobo! I duno how this hasn't been implemented yet but it's an easy fix(though more difficult I guess than 1)). You've used them to get around in every Final Fantasy ever. Why change now? You want them to have a 'twist'? You when them to be armored so we can ride into combat on them? You want us to raise them, race them, herd them, dress them, feed them, use them to jump tall buildings in a single bound? Cool. You can still do that, just implement that later. ---- Right now I'd kill for a chocobo that I could rent from Uldah to run to horizon and cut my commute in half. Or when I'm out of anima and I need to run to another city this will make it not as bad! You don't want us to easily explore Dhon/Coerthas with a 'monster free ride' on the chocobo? No problem, just give us a little "The chocobo refuses to enter the next area!" message when we try to zone in! This game would be so much more pleasant if the commute time was cut in half by paying a small fee(ah mah gad, gil sink! halp the ecny to!) to ride a bird to areas that I WOULD teleport too but do not at the moment have the anima for.

[Takeshi_Eiketsu]

I dont really have a problem with Anima and I only have one account. Yes Im a casual player, but thats because Im married, have a job, AND go to school. Once Im out of school Ill go hardcore like I did in XI, but I still dont see how its NOT someones own fault for their anima running out. Careful planning and making the right choices of when to use and your fine.


PS. Though, your not the only one that wants Chocobos now...I want them too, I just dont see a plausable way of doing them now.

[CrstyCaptin]

I'd say just [insert some story/lore here] and the chocobo population has increased to the point where we can rent them out to adventurers now! Then allow us to rent them at the city and preferably camps as well. Hell they don't even have to make the lore ingame, just post on the lodestone. Their goal is to attract people back, not provide some well thought out story as to why we can now rent chocobos but couldn't 8 months ago(they were sick?)

[NeoEarth]

me 2 cents.

my solution is easy... implement all the transportation.

w/ grand compaines... if the region you wish to teleport is under beastmen control, you can't teleport.

sorta like... ffxi w/ outpost warps.

[Takeshi_Eiketsu]

Like I said earlier I think it boils down to making the game more playable and worthy of a monthly fee, than giving us a mode of transportation.

[Leonesaurus]

Well, first off, I think chocobos could be very useful for a number of reasons:

1) I not only use chocobos to get from point A to point B, but I also ride them for fun. Chocobos would serve as protection to explorers moving through vast new areas with high speed movement and zero aggro along the way. Since there's no King Kupofried magic to enable week-long quickened status, like in FF XI, or prism powders/silent oils, this is the only other option for players.

2) The biggest factor going against chocobos/airships etc. is the teleportation system. I see it working in 2 ways.

A) You have a realm where players who have less time on their hands like to get a few hours in and teleport around to the different cities and camps. Chocobos are a nice option, but they may want the quicker solution.

B) Then you have the hardcore players you clock in numerous hours of gameplay everday and use an exceeding number on anima to get levesquests completed, NM parties set up around the world, exploring uncharted locations and hamlets, and more. Eventually you either end up running everywhere (which is a pain in the ass without quickened status) or you teleport to every location you need to get to in time. If you choose to save anima and enjoy the scenic route or want to have the chance to ride a chocobo for the thrills, you can rent one in the city or any nearby camp and take off.

I can see either of these options given to players in the future, but my question is: Why not give players more choices in the game? Have the choice to teleport and waste all your anima -- or spend your gil on a bird and go wherever you want!

Airships are another story, and think chocobos would be best implemented first over the ships. I've located most, if not all the airship docks around the continent of Aldenard and I can understand the lack of their presence at the moment. Almost all the docks are fairly close to a camp anyways, that you can already just teleport to. Each city has their own hidden airship dock on higher/lower levels, they just have no access to the them at the moment. Maybe in the future when more areas become unlocked and more content is added they will become more relevant.

All in all, I think the birds have more of a presence and place here and now. I think they should focus on implementing them first and adding them to all cities and camps for ease of access.

Who knows? Maybe after we get them implemented we can obtain our own personal chocobo for travel and also use them to store items as another retainer/pack mule source out in the field. That's another addition to adding the birds. Maybe your bird can be used to transport items to a friend out in the field also? Just another idea... More options, the better in my opinion.