Full Post - http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=29&mid=1118914638704596782
The key concept essentially was for an arena where you could go to and set up your own fights. These days, it's probably less work to implement than it would have been thanks to the test server. Imagine a place you could go where you could say 'I want to fight against Absolute Virtue as a level 99 Dancer in full NNI gear' just cause you could. Or 'put me in a gauntlet where I fight 5 NMs back to back with no rest in between'. Or anything really, any scenario and any mob in the game with any combination of levels and gear you wanted. The catch is you don't get the drops the mobs normally provide. But you can mess with strategies, practice fights, or just go and fight something you've always wanted to but never tried.
Expanding onto that was tournaments - players could be pitted against tougher and tougher NMs to see how far they got. Players progress through the tournament and ultimately end up winning some good loot if they rank high up in the tournament.
At the edges of this was also some additional side-show type events that could also be a part of the arena - some of these have since been implemented in one form or another.
Drusenija wrote:
Chocobo Racing
I was just perusing through the main boards and someone was pointing out the lack of any real type of gambling in Vana'diel, and suggested chocobo racing as a form of gambling. Since the type of gambling suggested earlier is open to abuse, then why not gamble on chocobo races?
Much like the system in Final Fantasy 7, where you can see all the various statistics on the chocobos that are racing, you can bet on the chocobos, and then watch them race around the arena. Since the chocobos would not be player controls, the system is not open to anywhere near as much abuse.
I was just perusing through the main boards and someone was pointing out the lack of any real type of gambling in Vana'diel, and suggested chocobo racing as a form of gambling. Since the type of gambling suggested earlier is open to abuse, then why not gamble on chocobo races?
Much like the system in Final Fantasy 7, where you can see all the various statistics on the chocobos that are racing, you can bet on the chocobos, and then watch them race around the arena. Since the chocobos would not be player controls, the system is not open to anywhere near as much abuse.
Well, this one is obvious. Chocobo racing is now in the game, albeit a virtually ignored part of it. The concept above though was pretty much on the money in terms of how SE implemented it, ignoring the raising your own chocobo part.
Drusenija wrote:
People often complain that the Japanese have an unfair advantage over the rest of the world when it comes to camping HNMs. Personally I haven't experienced this first hand, however I've read through many of the solutions that people have proposed to it, ranging from making any drops Rare/Ex to forced spawns.
Whilst I'm not sure why SE have not implemented the forced spawn idea (most likely through a lengthy quest to obtain the item needed to still create the time sink with less frustration), if these monsters could be fought in the arena, you could have the option of paying a much larger fee for the fight, but still be able to get the drops. The fee could be variable based on the recent auction prices of the items the HNM could drop, or it could be a fixed price (although this would likely have to be in the millions, however split across multiple people, it would be easily achieveable).
Whilst I'm not sure why SE have not implemented the forced spawn idea (most likely through a lengthy quest to obtain the item needed to still create the time sink with less frustration), if these monsters could be fought in the arena, you could have the option of paying a much larger fee for the fight, but still be able to get the drops. The fee could be variable based on the recent auction prices of the items the HNM could drop, or it could be a fixed price (although this would likely have to be in the millions, however split across multiple people, it would be easily achieveable).
Okay... so forced spawns is hardly my idea, heaps of people had the idea prior to this, and the items went from being quested to being drops from lesser NMs. Probably a 50% prediction at best.
Drusenija wrote:
Match Style - Gauntlet
Borrowing from the arena in the Golden Saucer in Final Fantasy 7, a gauntlet match would pit either an individual or a group against increasingly difficult enemies (or groups of enemies). A level cap would be placed on participants based on the difficulty of the fight.
The objective would be to get through as many battles as possible without having everyone in the party die. A dead player would not be able to be resurrected in the gauntlet, meaning gradually players will fall until none are left.
At the end of each fight, prizes will be awarded and added to a pool. You will be given the option after each fight to take the prize pool, or continue fighting. By continuing to fight, you risk losing the entire contents of the prize pool, however the prize amounts increase as you fight.
Borrowing from the arena in the Golden Saucer in Final Fantasy 7, a gauntlet match would pit either an individual or a group against increasingly difficult enemies (or groups of enemies). A level cap would be placed on participants based on the difficulty of the fight.
The objective would be to get through as many battles as possible without having everyone in the party die. A dead player would not be able to be resurrected in the gauntlet, meaning gradually players will fall until none are left.
At the end of each fight, prizes will be awarded and added to a pool. You will be given the option after each fight to take the prize pool, or continue fighting. By continuing to fight, you risk losing the entire contents of the prize pool, however the prize amounts increase as you fight.
Again, not exactly an original idea (hell, I even reference FF7 in the original post!), but Einherjar does something somewhat similar to this, only it's not endless as such.
Drusenija wrote:
Fighting
If you want to hone your fighting skills without the threat of losing any of your well earned experience, then you can fight in the arena! With the ability for one on one fights all the way up to full alliances waging war on each other, you can either join alone, or sign up with two opposing forces for a friendly fight.
If you want to practice your tactics against some of the rarer fiends of Vana'diel, then you can do that as well. Want to pratice fighting against Kirin? Or King Behemoth? Fight against them here! Of course, you won't get the rare drops these enemies usually provide, but you can hone your abilities so when you do decide to go up against them, you're already ready for it. You can also use it to practice new skills in a safe setting. Just learnt Convert and Refresh, but want to practice using them without costing your party any experience? Come and try a few rounds in the arena!
Fights will cost you varying amounts of gil based on the type of fight you are participating in, varying from relatively low costs for 1v1 duels, to larger costs for the Kirin or King Behemoth fights. These larger fights will be hosts on the public arenas where possible to allow people to watch them.
If you want to hone your fighting skills without the threat of losing any of your well earned experience, then you can fight in the arena! With the ability for one on one fights all the way up to full alliances waging war on each other, you can either join alone, or sign up with two opposing forces for a friendly fight.
If you want to practice your tactics against some of the rarer fiends of Vana'diel, then you can do that as well. Want to pratice fighting against Kirin? Or King Behemoth? Fight against them here! Of course, you won't get the rare drops these enemies usually provide, but you can hone your abilities so when you do decide to go up against them, you're already ready for it. You can also use it to practice new skills in a safe setting. Just learnt Convert and Refresh, but want to practice using them without costing your party any experience? Come and try a few rounds in the arena!
Fights will cost you varying amounts of gil based on the type of fight you are participating in, varying from relatively low costs for 1v1 duels, to larger costs for the Kirin or King Behemoth fights. These larger fights will be hosts on the public arenas where possible to allow people to watch them.
Whilst not exactly using players, Pankration has made this a reality... kind of. You can level up your monsters, teach them skills and have them compete in the arena against other monsters. And you can watch other people's Pankration fights too, so we have spectating... again, kind of.
Regardless though, I still think the concept of the arena would make for a fun addition to the game, and with a new expansion due to be released next year, some new content for players to interact with each other in a different way would be welcome.