The "New Direction"Follow

Warning: Wall of Text

It seems that Delve is the be-all-end-all of Endgame content for the foreseeable future, people are indeed delving into it with some enjoying having such power at their fingertips but others like myself have been shut out and are consequently sceptical about the direction Square-Enix is taking this game.
Before I go any further please do not dismiss this as the ranting of a bitter and/or jealous soon-to-be-former-player but rather as a level-headed person evaluating and predicting what may well happen in future updates.

Delve is going to kill this game;
Not through the content itself although that is a slight problem but because of the manner and pace that it was introduced.
Allow me to argue my case.

When Seekers of Adoulin was first released Skirmish and Wildskeeper Reives were released along with it. These two events offered players, casual and elite, the opportunity to obtain powerful weapons and armor that gave pre-existing content a run for its money but did not outright invalidate it. This, coupled with the exploration and new jobs gave the game much needed invigoration. At this point we understood that Delve was indeed on its way but none of us could have foreseen the impact it would have on the entire makeup of the games' community. Delve introduced weapons and armor that not only invalidated the content they had released a mere month earlier but completely decimated every single piece of content that had come before Seekers of Adoulin in terms of effort:reward ratio.

Unsurprisingly the outcry from those whom had invested so much time and effort into previous content such as relic and mythic weapons, content that Square-Enix had shown they were willing to allow being upgraded to keep up with new content as it was being released, was immense. Seemingly in response to this the development team asked players to "not throw away your relic weapons!" but has since offered almost nothing to stop said players from doing so. Some of the more vindictive casual players may well laugh at these unfortunate players who have had their effort brushed aside and made invalid but I have a feeling that they will not be laughing for much longer. Consider these hypothetical situations,

What happens when the rush to obtain Delve equipment is over?
What is stopping the stagnation of existing content?
What is stopping Square-Enix from releasing the next batch of Delve equipment which may completely outclass what has just been released?
What will happen when new Seekers of Adoulin content which is not Delve-related, such as new Wildskeeper Reives, come out and provide inferior rewards compared to that of Delve?
What happens when people don't bother partaking in new content because the rewards on offer have already been trounced by Delve rewards?

Short Answer: People will start quitting, fully aware that nothing they achieve really matters anymore. Anything that they do achieve either means nothing or will be outdated.
Long Answer: Read On.

I embedded this video in another thread but I will put it here as well unless you missed it. The relevant segment starts around 2:08.


Despite the gripes certain sections of the elite player base have with it the age of Abyssea and Voidwatch was masterfully managed by Square-Enix and showcases a prime example of how to keep "power creep" at bay. In both cases content was introduced in installments which meant many things: content could be checked for consistency, content could increase in strength as player level did and new content could be kept in alignment with existing content. New powerful weapons and armor were made available through these events but it did not stick previous content on the funeral pyre in the process. Abyssea and Voidwatch did not destroy the relevance of everything that had come before them, rather they complimented existing content. Not only was existing equipment such as relics and mythics given a series of trials that kept their relevance evident as player power increased but old content such as Dynamis, Nyzul Isle, and Salvage was given new life at the Lv99 cap. Those that were unable to acquire stuff in one event could always find a viable alternative in another. Whilst these revised systems had problems such as an over-reliance on the 'random number generator' they still succeeded in breathing life into content and brought players back to content what was on the verge of death.

Now, one could argue that the addition of stronger equipment was inevitable and that is the nature-of-the-beast that is MMORPG's.
I know that is a valid point and I cannot hope to argue against it. However, what I can argue against is the pace and manner that it was introduced and the repercussions that people may not even see coming. When it was first added to the game Delve should have started out with only the first 3 teirs of NM's being available both in the field and in fractures. Then, as player understanding and skill increased the 4th and 5th teirs should have been added. At the same time Square-Enix would have figured out which direction existing equipment and content such as relics should go to pacify the inevitable anxiety and outrage from the elite playerbase, creating a release valve of sorts.

Instead what we got was the whole package in one go and a silence from Square-Enix which suggests that they have no idea what to do with existing content beyond this point. We find ourselves with a mixture of elite players that have either quit or who are fanatically grinding away at Delve content to re-affirm their position on the playground, casual players who are trying in vain to keep up for various reasons, and almost no direction for the future of the game. It is now absolutely redundant to do any other content than Delve because in the larger picture, whatever you achieve there doesn't mean diddly-squat anymore. The deafening silence from the development team and the complete lack of direction is only increasing player anxiety and cannot end well.

Remember all of those "Development Roadmaps" such as these which clearly outlined what developers had planned for future updates? We sorely need one of these now.
Sure, they did not implement everything on that particular example but it still gave the players something to refer to so they felt more secure in what they were doing and where they were spending their time.

Delve is essentially a massive shot of ecstasy, a shot that runs the risk of fatally overdosing the game as a whole.

Edited, May 10th 2013 6:07pm by Tatham

It seems like SE is trying to reinvent progression in FFXI. For years, the ability to beat the top bosses in this game depended on your level and player skill... gear was important too, but not terribly so. For a very long time, any fight/mission could be won with good gear from the AH. Although endgame gear existed, and although it was more powerful, nobody really needed it to accomplish all the content.

However, now they're trying to emphasize gear progression over levels and skill. It's a fundamental change.... but, from what I've heard, this is how other MMOs operate, too. I'm pretty sure this is what's in the works for FFXIV... pretty sure I've read that in at least one interview.

Not sure if this is power creep or just the development team trying to implement progression in a game that's already at its level 99 cap.

If your job was up to par pre Seekers, you shouldn't have much of a problem. Earlier I was in a plasm farm with a lvl 85 Ukon War and a TP bonus SAM, along with a few other mid level DDs. Still made 6.3k in Ceizak. As long as you have good support (removing slow/hasting, keeping buffs up, dia II every mob, dispelling buffs, etc.) you'll be fine with any DD who is on the level to do Voidwatch.

This is yet another instance of the playerbase overstating the importance of having top tier DDs. Kill speed isn't the problem in farms. The main limiting factor is the soft cap imposed by the mob repop rate. The faster you kill, the longer you'll be waiting around for repops.

I will say that I can't speak on the NMs. Since the changes were made, I haven't been in an NM fight.

I don't know if it's a good direction yet, but I don't think Delve alone will bring about the end of FFXI. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things going on right now, so Delve may play a part, but it will be a culmination of many different changes/problems with delve being a minor focus.

I do, however, think SE completely screwed up with the addition of Delve. The entire system should have been released months later, after a lot of other content or, at the very least, in stages (T1-3 NMs outside, then T4-5 NMs outside, then finally fractures). I know there's this big complaint about weapon damage, but it should not have been a big deal had players been able to access Skirmish more easily and rme plans laid out beforehand. Many of those weapons could be upgraded to be roughly on par with relic weapons. Instead, the entire event was completely invalidated (at this point) for many players that were able to obtain weapon KIs. To make things worse, not only did SE split the casual/hardcore population more deeply, they just split the casual crowd as well (those with and without delve weapons).


I truly believe SE will nerf farming trash mobs inside fractures soon and boost plasm from NMs to create interest. I don't know if this is a good approach, but to me, it sounds like something SE would do. Their thinking will most likely be along the lines of minimizing the damage created with the addition of Delve.

That content is going to become exactly like that. If anything, this direction further separates the well geared from the just getting by geared.

What's ironic is the same people rejoicing in the suffering of prior well geared are going to be quitting because they "hit a wall". It's inevitable.

I don't want to speak for all casual players, but I actually think casual players would be taking this harder than the "elite" ones.

"Elite" players had their relic weapons, their top of the line gear. Casual players had bits and pieces, and AH gear. Until recently, where casual players were able to chip away in Dynamis and eventually get themselves some of the top weapons they'd always thought about, but never actually had a chance at getting. Gear was available now too due to the level cap going up for old events, and Abyssea allowing small groups of friends to accomplish goals on their own schedule.

This new direction looks to be bringing all the problems you described, and might bring them faster than anyone thinks. I used to have to /sea Dynamis zones one by one to find an empty-ish one, and even then sometimes had to gear up pup and go for WS mobs. Last night there were 9 people in Dynamis on Leviathan. Not 9 people in the zone I was in, but 9 people total. Event after event has been killed off in the matter of a week or so. People do things in this game for the rewards. Once they get those rewards they move on to the next slow event. After they're done all that, it's time to sit afk in Jeuno or watch your Moogle spin. In a couple months' time I wonder how many people will be logging in just to have a staring contest with their Moogle.

hmm not sure if this is relevant or not but I just did a search of my character's name on FFXIAH and it was at 144 last week and it's 124 now.
I haven't done anything to make my character move up at all so does that mean some people quit on my server? o.o

I would reply to this thread, but I preemptively did it here:

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1366999375208385031&h=50&p=1#30

Yeah. I've been trying to get clears in PUG's this weekend. So far I've gotten 2/6 and died so much I was 5k xp from deleveling... and I have Empy and NNI gear etc. The 20 minute depop combined with NM's that are highly evasive and have 500k hp makes getting KI's very difficult in a PUG. The people who got their clears pre-update just farm points in the fracture now, have already begun gearing themselves in the new gear which, in many cases, is quite a step up from the previous "best in slot" items. They can't be bothered to do Field NM's anymore. And I've already been turned down for stuff because I"only" have an Empy and not a Delve weapon. But I'm glad everyone was so sure this would close the gap between casuals and the hardcore crowd... LMFAO!

Edited, May 11th 2013 2:20pm by ChaChaJaJa

which is why I haven't bought it. abyssea keeps me PLENTY busy. I haven't even started VW, haven't done ANY ToAU, nor ANY WOTG.

the only 'expansion' I've 'completed' is CoP. there's more than enough in game for me to do, without having to deal with seekers and elitist jackasses who expect people to have delve gear in order to get delve gear

This game survived Abyssea, it can pretty much survive anything no?

What's going on in all my shells right now is the RME holders ******** and whining about everything while at the same time doing everything they can to get their grubby little mitts on Delve.

What was disturbing was how empty Gusgen was last night when I was trying to work on my GEO. There was barely half an alliance there, and it dropped down to a single party by the time I left.

Lol @ Vlor! Didn't see that Hitler vid yet haha

I Think that's the gist of it tho. We've seen it at the level cap increase from 75, the introduction of empyrean weapons and now too. I'm just glad I can use my war again on the new content. Why so worried? I'm still being outclassed by RMEs cause I have casual gear. Plus Upheaval doesn't stack with str. Ukon still stronger through modifiers. And I'm definately not gonna level my weapon to Rank 15 so you'll still be stronger.

I'm glad to be able to get invited to events I COULDN'T participate in when I didn't have an Ukon, or didnt have Sch. Which I'm gonna do all week long. NNI here I come! Thanks SE