FFXIV Bitter Sweet

[Linadae]

I enjoyed the elemental wheel in 11, though it would get me in a lot of trouble in parties. In any case the elemental wheel would cause unneeded problems. For instance, blms would never be allowed to fight ifrit HM or extreme because their major damage spells would be useless. It would require a complete re-working of the class/job that would bleed into conjurer because they have stone/wind spells.

Besides that, there are lore reasons for the spell split.

In any case, while the elemental wheel was fun, mmos have progressed to the point where it has become a needless hinderance in games with more than enough complicated mechanics as it is.

[MistressAthena]

In any case, while the elemental wheel was fun, mmos have progressed to the point where it has become a needless hinderance in games with more than enough complicated mechanics as it is.

Complicated mechanics where? It's nothing more than a button mash circuit. You spam the same rotation of spells over and over while dodging the obvious and very easily spotted AOE's.

Nearly every MMO since WoW has started doing this.

mmo's have not "progressed". Unless you count turning a Ferrari into a VW Beetle progression. They've devolved into simplistic mechanics saturated with even easier hold-your-hand simplistics in the quest, story, crafting, and everything else in the MMO for the sake of "casuals".

problem is, not all casuals want a stupid easy game. Me being one of them. Simply because I'm not a I-have-no-life hardcore MMO player that focuses only on end game and getting the best everything, doesn't mean I don't want a really good challenge at every corner.

That being said, as I've said before, its sad Square Enix copped out to the mindless drawl style of MMO's of today instead of sticking to their tried and true versions of being unique and different. While FFXIV 1.0 came out of the gate in a terrible way, towards the end before ARR it was getting good, and was starting to have a soul, at least a tiny shimmer.

Now you have no soul, and an empty world filled with nothing more than mindless, useless, and ultimately un rewarding dungeon grinds, where everyone is spamming the same exact rotation on every single boss, day and night.

complicated mechanics where? Progression where?

[Mook_Mook]

I'll nostalgia nut all over 1.23 it had its flaws, and some really bad game design present. It was coming into its own though and I enjoyed it. I could nit pick it to hell back in the day, but part of me wants it back, not that I think 2.0 is bad i just liked attributes better

[MistressAthena]

I'll nostalgia nut all over 1.23 it had its flaws, and some really bad game design present. It was coming into its own though and I enjoyed it. I could nit pick it to hell back in the day, but part of me wants it back, not that I think 2.0 is bad i just liked attributes better

I liked when stats actually mattered..

[Mook_Mook]

I liked when stats actually mattered..

like when we actually had a lot of stats to work with ; ;

[MistressAthena]

like when we actually had a lot of stats to work with ; ;

When stats actually did something worthwhile, and all classes/armors, etc. were not just copy paste? Yea...

[Lemuria]

I'll be the first to admit that playing a Black Mage never really feels like a Black Mage in FFXIV. I always felt that limiting us to 3 elements felt counter to the whole concept of Black Magic, though I'm often quick to point out that Conjurer was the class originally wielding the 6 main elements. Thaumaturge aka Black mage used to be more unique, with drain spells, Scourge and Dia before the sweeping changes that pushed away from its roots. Now it feels like a mindless spam-a-thon with the astral/umbral mechanic purely intended to give players an excuse to cast a different element (why else would BLM get no native regen and abhorrently expensive spells?).

While we're too far in to make any big changes, I will say that losing elemental weaknesses was the one major drawback I felt was most conspicuous in 2.0. Blizzard spells are basically useless aside from using it to regen MP (moreso now they've nerfed Blizzard II into submission) and Thunder has become a DoT spell, with only Thundercloud giving us an excuse to cast the higher tier versions. Even elementals lack appropriate weaknesses for goodness sake!

I can see why they were removed. With Black Mages only having access to 3 elements, and the other 3 being taken up by conjurer, no single class could use them strategically, potentially making some fights artificially difficult as a result. Could you imagine having to face enemies resistant to fire spells on a BLM? It would effectively separate those players from the content.

On the whole though, I'm pleased with the game. It has it's moments, but it's been thoroughly enjoyable since returning to 2.0, and while recent nerfs to white mage left a sour taste the game is still great fun to play so no heavy complaints from me.

[MistressAthena]

I'll be the first to admit that playing a Black Mage never really feels like a Black Mage in FFXIV. I always felt that limiting us to 3 elements felt counter to the whole concept of Black Magic, though I'm often quick to point out that Conjurer was the class originally wielding the 6 main elements. Thaumaturge aka Black mage used to be more unique, with drain spells, Scourge and Dia before the sweeping changes that pushed away from its roots. Now it feels like a mindless spam-a-thon with the astral/umbral mechanic purely intended to give players an excuse to cast a different element (why else would BLM get no native regen and abhorrently expensive spells?)

Very good Point, and that's the first thing I saw as well, even as far back as closed beta. Nobody listened to me though >.<;

[Mags]

MMO's are a different animal now, and while some do still hold true to the old grind-it-out-fest mentality, there is a reason the MMO genre saw a huge participant spike after WoW's successful model. Sure I loved the old games that got me hooked into MMO's to begin with, but games like XIV are all about I can handle what with all I need to do in real life these days.

However not one of us can have our cake and eat it too. We will never have a balance, because you can't balance out a player base. In your opinion what you desire in the game is not what someone else will want. You must realize they designed this game to attract a type of player and that is what they will aim for.

[Lamentations]

MMO's are a different animal now, and while some do still hold true to the old grind-it-out-fest mentality, there is a reason the MMO genre saw a huge participant spike after WoW's successful model. Sure I loved the old games that got me hooked into MMO's to begin with, but games like XIV are all about I can handle what with all I need to do in real life these days.

However not one of us can have our cake and eat it too. We will never have a balance, because you can't balance out a player base. In your opinion what you desire in the game is not what someone else will want. You must realize they designed this game to attract a type of player and that is what they will aim for.

The real life argument doesn't stand valid with the new gil grind inherent with housing, I see it as pandering to the gimme easy mode right now children of the real life parents who toss them a credit card to shut them up.