Losing passion for MMO'sFollow

I do not disagree with this. But it is only part of the of the problem and does not solve the rudeness over duty finder. It may help so you dont have to use duty finder though.

My social linkshell is much bigger than my FC.

Thing is, we're a crafting linkshell. We've talked about expanding to a FC (considering we're maxed out on people 99% of the time) but 1. People are already invested in their FCs, as Thayos said and 2. There is absolutely no benefit whatsoever to having a crafting based FC over a battle based or social based FC.

We're still thinking about doing it anyway, if for no other reason than we're the richest people on the server and we could get a nice big house. But for what end? Until there's a crafting bonus attached to the house, it's just e-peen.

I see parties for learning groups in the PF quite frequently. Also, if you don't see one there yourself - start one. It is really quite simple. That is literally how I got my Garuda EX experience. I formed a learning group. We eventually cleared it, then I formed some "Please have EXP clearing it" groups with a higher ilvl and farmed it for my ring. Its a pretty natural progression.

Garuda EX is just one example. I also would recommend only using PF for runs like Titan HM, the other EX primals, Ultima HM etc. Even BC when it gets added to DF - I would likely stick to running it with the FC or maybe PF to catch up, but not DF.

The problem with the server transfers being free is this: 1. Someone could make off with an entire FC bank, transfer to another server, and have no repercussions right now. If the process was free, we'd see it happening more often. 2. It actually is a bit of work for them. It's a database splice and dice, and there is a risk that they can crash the entire damn game if they make one teeny mistake in execution. They don't want people doing it willy nilly.

I've begun to feel a little burned out myself.

While there is certainly a buttload of "things to do" by the numbers, the real meat and potatoes of FFXIV boils down to running dungeons and acquiring gear. I have three jobs I need to gear up. My WAR is going from DL to Allagan directly. My SMN is getting pure Myth. And my SCH is currently doing endless CT runs for a robe that won't ever drop.

The thing is, it has started to dawn on me that acquiring all this gear, this new "power source", as it were..... just to keep doing the same content. Over and over. Only a little easier from the stat boost. When that dawned on me I kinda went O.o;;;

I.... don't have anything to look forward to. Back in XI I had so many "far off, impossible" goals that there was always something to strive for. "Oh I'll probably never see Sky" I said as a level 40 SMN in the Nest. "Oh I'll never get around to beating Promy: Holla" I said as a level 50 RDM. "I'll probably never even SEE a fight against Kirin" I said the day I dinged 75. "I'll probably never get a complete relic armor set" I said as I started my first Dynamis run.

FFXI took long term planning. Long term planning meant long term goals. That meant a long term reason to log in. Because TODAY might be that one in a million shot where someone will invite me on an Ohat run. Or when I got my Carby Mitts. Or maybe TODAY is the day I'll finally get claim on Shikigami Weapon.

And one by one as the years went by I gradually ticked things off of that list. And there were always plenty more to follow. "Wow I finally made it to Tavnazia! Now I get to try for Sea access." "Wow I got my Relic boots! Maybe I CAN get a full set!" "I finally saved enough gil for a Vermillion Cloak! 2.5 mil!" "I finally saved up and bought a Kyudogi! I can sub /RNG on my SAM again!"

XIV has nothing like that. The list of "stuff to do" is all very finite. "Run dungeon for tomes. Buy item. Run CT for drops. Repeat til drop. Run Coil T1-T4. Roll on loot." Success in XI took time, but it also took perseverence and patience, and it had plenty of ways to unwind when you burned out on a goal. FFXIV requires only time. Finite, quantifiable repetition. There's no freedom to its form. No random chance to win the lottery. No far flung hope suddenly realized in an instant. No..... thrill.

That's all. That's really all there is. You can make "busywork" for yourself, sure. I could level CNJ to 50, and all the others and all the crafts. That would take up time. But I already have the three jobs I want. I don't like the others. When I got burned out in XI, I'd adventure off to some inhospitable hellhole in the world, like Toraimarai or the Den of Rancor, and I'd hunt random NMs with my 75 SMN. Solo. Peaceful, calm, focused, zen, Carby. I didn't care about the drop - I was having a little adventure in a dangerous place with a character I had poured my heart into. XIV doesn't even offer that.

I like XIV, but once you go on all the rides a hundred times, the theme park starts losing its luster.

When I left FFXI for good, my character still had the O-hat pop item in his inventory... never got my shot.

It is important to remember though that FFXIV (ARR) is still pretty new. FFXI took a long time to become what it was... also, MMORPG players weren't what we are today. We didn't know how to play the genre to our advantage. If we were all to restart FFXI again today, we'd blaze through the game much quicker. We're optimized. We know what to focus on, what not to focus on. We'd immediately start testing where we could get the fastest kills for the most rapid amounts of experience. We'd start skipping small gear upgrades in favor of buying better gear at the end. Ultimately, we'd all be level 75 (or 100 now, I guess), all jammed up against the same NMs, doing nothing but grinding out the same content against horrible drop rates.

I do agree that FFXIV needs to have different kinds of content with different kinds of goals. There's still plenty of time for that kind of stuff to enter the game... I'd honestly be shocked if all of those goals were in place so soon.

From my perspective, though, I still haven't done BC or extreme primals (or the moogle fight), and my FC still doesn't have a house (we're about 1/3 of the way toward getting a small house). These are all goals that we're shooting for... and reaching these goals will be very exciting for us. So, for the more casual/cas-hardcore players, FFXIV still offers a lot to shoot for.

I think something FFXIV could do that worked really well in XI is "Trials" content, where you work over long periods of time to upgrade weapons and armor with really cool stats.

For example, imagine if you could upgrade a weapon for your job that would be on par with a relic, but not require you to go through Titan. The time sink on creating this weapon could be huge... and the weapon could be made upgradable somehow with each patch. This way, you could either go for the primal win or the trial completion, and there would be incentive to do both (can't upgrade the relic, but you can get it faster with a good party). Perhaps the trial gear could even have job ability bonuses, or something like that.

The problem is that XIV would have to have some kind of slow-moving content to make this a true time sink. The game has no NMs, FATEs pop too fast and dungeons can be spammed like crazy. The only way to pace things out would be lockouts, which players don't like.

It's actually the opposite for me.

I have a linkshell that contains a group of players I first met in this game when I joined my first FC. We went our separate ways when we wanted to raid but, thruogh this LS, we keep in contact all the time despite being in different FCs.

I really like my FC but at the same time, that LS contains members that I would consider family.

You can see it around your server too. There is most likely an Odin/Behemoth watch LS. There probably is a LS that recruits only a certain race just for fun. So on and so forth. However, you will probably never see people advertise for these LSs (except for Odin/Behemoth watch). I find it a little sad. :\ People should treat LSs as ways to bridge the community.

But there aren't many things you can do within your LS besides seek people for help on certain things if you don't know them personally already. Crafting FC? Most people are self-sufficient right now with crafts. Weekly event static like Assault and the like? No content like that so no point. I suppose you could form a static of people you want to farm mythology with.

Outside of that, there isn't really a reason. You do what your FC is doing because you're locked out (coil) or you don't do what they're doing because you don't need them. This is where socializing would come into play...but that role has been taken up by duty finder.



As for which demographic to choose...

I touched upon this topic in another post. Right now they're trying to cover all demographics...which is fine: if they had the resources to do so. This approach might get you some money off of the initial purchase and sub for a few months but that's it.

What you desire is long term players. To do this, you need to have two separate teams working full time on both casual and hardcore aspects of the game (much like WoW does). You can't just decide to cater to one demographic one patch and then another demographic the next. You lose people this way: especially when you wait 3 months between patches!

2.1 gave us a hint about possible directions this game is going. 2.2 is going to tell us a lot about this game in a very obvious way.

Edited, Jan 30th 2014 8:51am by HitomeOfBismarck

As for Titan I dont want to avoid it. I just want it fixed so that lag isn't a issue for loosing...

But I have to say this. I think we realize that this is a new game and it will change and there is less content in the beginning... Tes and I were talking about that last night how in a year or two this might be different.


I was excited about the new live letter and again nothing new and nothing we did not know about, More hard mode dungeons and primals and the same story line.

Nothing about housing, nothing but dodging the questions, no talk about any type of new content, no talk of the economy. Like has been mentioned before I think they are so far behind and trying to play catch up right now and trying to fix the holes in the game.. No talk of expansions really, how do you hold on too people that long. The only thing I am excited about is the hildi story and a summoning bell in RT, and new coil turns. They need to start talking beyond patches and give us some sort of road map, something to excite people.

Thaos trials is a good start and easy to add... Tes used to spend so much time on those trails, nothing hard they just used up time. There was several weapons in the trials, elemental which were easiest, the the fake empyrean and the real empyrean which was the hardest.
I agree with what you said earlier that the real problem is people got to end game to fast with not allot of end game content.. Trials is a good start instead of the beast quest which are pretty much the same thing.

They can fix the market by not making all pieces of gear available by tomes or dungeon drops. Like you cant get hands and legs except through crafting, this gives crafter something to make and sell... Make people use food by giving it better stats that can really make a difference. Make potions that work like echo drops again, silent oil, prism powder.

Sometimes it is not good to release a game without enough content or some extra content in the pipe.. now it feels like they are just rushing to put contention out with the least amount of effort.

To bad they could not updated FFXI and dump the ps3.. Graphic update, make the crafting like this game.. See what happened is one game is too much too the right and the other game is too much too the left. We need something right in the middle to satisfy most people.. This whole thing of not being like FFXI but then having the same character models doesn't work.. If they really wanted to not be compared to FFXI then they should have made the game completely different.

Edited, Jan 30th 2014 10:11am by Nashred

Edited, Jan 30th 2014 10:12am by Nashred

I just checked the dates from XI. The NA version was released about 1.5 years after the JP version, with the first expansion included. (I don't know whether the JP players got the expansion any earlier, as the JP release date is simply "2003".)

The content infusions we've been getting so far are on pace with what gets released in XI. Thing is, XI's content patches often contained totally useless and unexciting crap too. We all remember the "/bell" fiasco.

Keep in mind that in two years from now, midlevel content will include things like choosing a GC, getting a chocobo (which does require grinding seals), avatar fights, and (stage 1?) relic.

But yes, the game needs more goals available off the beaten path. Not sure how that shapes up though. Again, if we all went back in time with the knowledge we know now, nobody would probably spend days in Saruta camping a NM with a measly level 10 drop (with no endgame use). Part of the reason we explored so much in XI is we simply didn't know where to go. Now, we know what's logical and what's not, and the overall experience isn't new.

While quite effectively making sure that nobody without a lot of time on their hands will never be on-par.

Which raises the question on whether to throw these kind of people a bone in the first place.

ARR's bone is the Housing feature, which is completely optional side-content and to top it off pretty much for vanity purposes with few additional perks.

If the matter of the fact is players were to be divided between those with plenty of time and those with limited time, I'd rather have this divide be related to optional side-content than the driving force behind playing the game (becoming stronger). Lots of time on your hands = be stronger than everyone else? Nope, not cool.

Edited, Jan 30th 2014 7:33pm by Hyanmen