Alpha Video #7 - Levequests and Party CombatFollow

Just to make sure we're clear, I was talking about GW2 with those statements, not FFXIV. I see plenty of potential for XIV's global cooldown to be an arbiter of strategic decision-making, rather than rapid and indiscriminant button-mashing. That will depend upon the individual viability of all those abilities, however. My hope is that they will make that effort, and every three seconds I am calculating, "Which ability should be next?" My suspicion is that they will give up on it because it's hard and players won't appreciate it at a glance, and the game will be the same boring button-mashing-fest as most MMOs on the market.

As for other things; we'll just have to agree to disagree. It irritates me when I come here to talk about FFXIV and people complain because they don't like what I have to say. I enjoy reading KaneKitty's comments for the record; they've been relevant and mostly on point. But I really don't care enough to get into a debate about so-and-so's comments being better than others. When someone is talking about FFXIV, their opinion is valid if not factually supported, and what I came here to be exposed to. When people start attacking each other without making a substantive counterargument, it adds nothing meaningful to the dialogue, and I can go anywhere else on the internet for that crap.

YOU SHOULD REALLY READ THE OTHER POSTS!

This is right under the video, and I posted it about 25 posts back in this thread...

* The battle system is currently undergoing significant revision, including changes to all damage algorithms and the claim system.

This one is about 20 posts back in this very thread...

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/59211-7th-Alpha-video-Levequests-and-Party-Combat?p=923866&viewfull=1#post923866

Greetings!

In regards to all of the comments about how the enemies visibly react to player attacks, we'll be adjusting these animations around the time the Beta Test begins.

Specifically we are looking into addressing it in the following ways:
•Vary the damage animation according to the amount of damage inflicted.
•Tone down the damage animation for large monsters.


Edit: Fat fingers

Edited, Dec 23rd 2012 8:24am by LebargeX

Edited, Dec 23rd 2012 8:27am by LebargeX

Herein lies the problem, the mobs really can't be tuned to be all that challenging due to scaling. It's the same problem you ran into if you played XI. Mobs that con 'Decent Challenge' would send you running for your mommy if you weren't [insert one of the 3-4 good solo jobs here]. SE needs to iron out the scaling of players vs mobs in their MMOs before they could hope to accomplish what you're asking for. I'd love to see it happen but given that we still have the same boring combat mechanics, I wouldn't hold my breath.

I would expect at least that much, but that's an example of general strategy. If a spell does 60 damage over time compared to spells that do 30 damage at once, then I'm always going to lead with the 60 damage DOT and then use my 30 damage spells until I can maybe use the 60 damage DOT again. That's what I'll do every time. A good strategy game is going to require decisions be based on dynamic factors (the efficient expense of resources in particular). "Which number is higher" isn't a particularly strategic challenge.

FM, I agree you are right, it is indeed a scaling issue. It's just sad that we can't expect them to make a change that seems so intuitive to the rest of us.

Intuitive is something that SE doesn't do very well, but if the alpha vids are any indication; they're learning. Essentially, they'd have wanted to create a foundation that they could adapt, and I guess that's still possible, but it'll be harder to pull off.

People didn't like the taste of 1.0 for obvious reasons, but there are a lot of people who were turned off by changes made from release to alpha. Slippery slope when you keep turning the game upside down and even though it may bring improvements, people don't like to get shaken around like that.

[Insert obligatory comment about people quitting XI when SE decided to raise the cap and obsolete gear players worked for ages to get here]

somehow i don't think the scaling will be as bad as some might think, but i've certainly been wrong before.




It shows that you don't care much about the dialogue, which is fine; just don't post in that case. I just read 2 pages of this thread. Then again, i was actually participating in the first page, thus had motivation to read it all. Sometimes I'm guilty of posting before reading, but i always go back and make sure i didn't re-state something(and usually give myself a little flak for it if i find that i did). Its just good forum manners.

As for GW2, by all means give it a go. Everyone would do well to at least see what it's like. But if you attack a group of mobs 5 levels below you in that game, you're going to see the exact same results ;)



Edited, Dec 24th 2012 5:31am by Llester

I can't wait until this game is released so everyone can stop worrying about nothing. NDA prevents further explanation.

Lies. You never heard this in the first Alpha. Everyone was complaining about it. This Alpha is giving me a major Cassandra Complex.

Edited, Dec 24th 2012 10:34am by Louiscool

Why did SE think it was going to be a good idea to release a video with graphics that will be updated, a combat engine that will be revamped, only 3 jobs, limited gear, cap level, star wars-esque wipes because they KNEW it was kind of boring in places, and accelerated xp values on quests/leves?

If they're trying to show off their game, they might want to not show off this temp game... it leads to people getting the wrong idea. Unless this IS going to be the game... and then... uh.... my brain hurts.

On the other hand, Adamantoise looked coo.

Edited, Dec 24th 2012 2:58pm by Catrim

Question stands.... why advertise a game that isn't going to be the game. Didn't even mention missing animations at all... there are missing animations?! Also... this game isn't coming out for 10 months? When did this happen?

Wow... what a richard.

Edited, Dec 24th 2012 4:33pm by Catrim

Edited, Dec 24th 2012 4:37pm by Catrim

They advertised it because they have a base of players who won't be accepted to the alpha or beta, and thus will have to go a whole six to ten months (depending on release schedule) without being able to play.

The alpha video isn't for the new players, it's for the old players who are crossing their fingers that the broken sh*t gets fixed. So far, a lot of it appears to be fixed from what I've seen (and heard from folks who are being naughty.)

Once the NDA is over (and I imagine that will be soonish) then those of you under it can let loose to your hearts content. Until then, I'm making a list and checking it twice for you naughty little elves

Sure I care about the dialogue. With that said, my post was in response to the movie posted in the opening remarks by the OP. If my "initial" thoughts happen to have already been mentioned, then that's great. It just means people share my sentiment.


Edited, Dec 25th 2012 12:56am by je355804

Lets watch the vitriol here guys. Disagreements are fine, but keep it civil or I'll start stepping on necks.

^^^^ Did you play XIV ?

Please forgive Duo, he did not play 1.0.



Duo, don't mind Ostia, he doesn't mean this to be negative towards you. He only means that there were several things that many people thought were horrible ideas that did make it into the final build of 1.0.

Correct, i was not trying to be negative towards him with my question, as you explained and i commented, there where issues on the original alpha/beta that testers where concerned about and they where meet with the same "It's just alpha/beta" then when the game released we all know what happened.

Thus far there's yet to be any really compelling evidence that they're rebuilding the game "from the ground up." There are significant improvements, but if you replace half the parts on a totally busted bike, you still have a bike you can't ride.

Dammit Wint, I have a gf now, I can't have you titillating me that way.

Square is not Square anymore, whoever thinks they are, is either living the past, or is one hardcore Fanboy. Did they make a major blunder in the past with spirits within ? Sure! But hey it was doing something totally out of their comfort zone.... Unlike Squenix where they fail doing what they are supposed to be 100 light years ahead of everybody... Video Games....

And save that crow pie for when Versus comes out....

so answer this question... if SE isnt gonna bother to make FFXIV what it SHOULD have been when it first came out... why are they bothered to fix the game now? why not just leave it as it was and just say "if you dont like it dont play it" like most companies would do with a game that fails?

it makes no sense for SE to start "fixing" the game if theyre not gonna do it right when leaving it as it is would be much easier and cost less money

but theyre gonna "pretend" to fix it even though theyre really fixing nothing at all?

so then I ask.. why does 2.0 even exist? considering theres a review site that has been rereviewing FFXIV after every major patch update and according to one of their reviews FFXIV had already achieved being "where/how it SHOULD have been at launch" with one of its previous pathched.. thus the game was already "fixed" before ARR was even announced. so Why even bother with ARR/2.0 then?


Also why couldnt 2.0/ARR just be a new patch instead of goin through the whole proces of rebranding and new ads etc etc when the game is gonna be nothing more than a patch instead of a full overhaul/new game from the ground up according to you?