FFXIV Online Community seems to be dying?Follow

I think this aspect actually strikes the right balance. If you play hardcore, chances are, you're already waiting for 2.3 for something new to do. If you play casually, you're not really grinding out gear in the first place. Really, the only ones this aspect bothers are hardcore players who've fallen off the wagon and who question whether it's worth getting back on. And I have to tell you, either choice is fine. It is a game after all, and you should play it as much as you enjoy the challenge of it.

Keep in mind, sports teams fight every year for the same trophy. And even if they win it, it does nothing to help them win the next one. Talk about a pointless grind...

Well, you can +1 and augment the brais too, and they're iLvl 106 at the base.

Point is, you can replace Haidate in one night with something better in XI now.

No, you wouldn't toss them, but I learned the hard way that the iLvl gear in XI makes a huge difference. I had to make a friggin level 113 idle set for my bard because I kept getting eaten. +1 puts you at lLvl 119. Defense actually makes an enormous difference now, too. We just ripped through a level 106 story battle in about 45 seconds.

So yeah. You'll wear the Haidate until you get Otronif, which you can probably do in 3-4 35 minute runs of Yorcea Weald Skirmish, which is basically killing waves of slow moving mobs without them tearing down your tent. No strategy, no effort other than slaughtering things fast enough.

And then you'll put the Haidate on a mannequin and let him relive the glory days for you.

Don't underestimate the power of a polished, bug-free game. That's why I passed on Wildstar. I gave it a try during beta... and gave up after a day because of all the bugs.

People are like scared they will be blasted if they suggest the population has decreased lately. While the regulars still seem to around and grindy grinding away, the casuals are declining daily and I haven't seen really anyone excited about anything since Atma pooh-poohed in their ice cream.

This is not a normal between-patch lull. It's a between patch lull + a variety of bad game design choices that you no one wants to listen to people gripe about.

Especially since SE would have fixed them by now if they considered them to be problems. The frustration is that they are problems, but no one wants to hear that players don't like:
- dodgefests with 1 hit and you lose consequences
- random drop rates amounting to stretches of easily 10+ hours of useless feeling playtime with possibly no reward at all
- Myth rewards so unblanced that one dungeon, wait only part of one dungeon, is by far the most efficient means of progression

The discussions have all played out. SE has done nothing.

Let's get a good old-fashioned Player's Poll on Lodestone and then use the results to decide on on design priorities the way they did when the 1.0 **** became a polished successful MMO. Or, we can keep laying developer-knows-best which, IMO, does not seem to be working.

Gotta say. This site has been pretty lacking since the games launch. I moved to redit and there is actually alot of comments/advise etc there.

I think there is wisdom in what you are saying. Certainly three have been many times, in getting what I thought I wanted, I find out its not what I wanted at all. Perfect example is the automated party mechanics in FFXII.

Still, there's a point when you have to actually take a second look at what the players are saying.

Perhaps my experiences with a half dozen RL friends leaving FFXIV and watching a second dedicated LS wane away are not typical. From where I'm standing, things are not exactly healthy, and new content alone will not fix the underlying problems.

Simply spreading the Rewards around more evenly to make more of the content relevant is not a unreasonable request.

Ultimately, no one should care if their gear is obsolete as long as we have the glamour system. I'll just get the better stuff and make it look like the armor I liked. My black mage will pretty much always be decked out in full allagan caster gear, even though most of my stuff is now evenstar.

Edited, Jun 4th 2014 11:29am by Valkayree

And that's why I didn't play 1.0 until it was 1.23

Say what you want about Wildstar, but goddamn that game is fun to play. It's nice to be actually active during a fight and being punished for being lazy/slow, and by god there is some things that Yoshi could and should've used in FFXIV. The order system is awesome if you need quick money or a slew of mats, and while I admit I'm pretty sure its not new (think the same system was present in GW2) it would've been a welcome addition to the pretty basic auction situation with XIV.

Got to ask, which issues were you having with the user interface?

Well, for one, I like the idea of working for a piece or a set of gear and being able to equip it for a long period of time. Something about getting gear, then having a new set that is better in every way 6 months later just doesn't appeal to me. It's like I'm basically throwing away perfectly good armor for no reason other than it's not new enough.

Perhaps it's a bit of nostalgia leftover from FFXI still and how gear there actually meant something, but to be honest, that's one of the things I liked about the game. I certainly didn't like the crazy grind to get that gear, and perhaps if that aspect had been removed I would have felt differently, but now, that mentality is pretty much engrained in me and every time I see a new mmo with vertical progression, I just groan to myself and wonder how long before I get bored of constantly trashing old gear that I worked for.

Memories and nostalgia are great, but I like the more physical quality of actually wearing gear I worked for and not just trashing it every new tier. I don't expect everyone to agree with that, it's just my personal preference.

But since you asked, let me ask YOU this. What do you have against gear that is upgradable as opposed to new tiers? If, as you say, digital items ultimately mean nothing, then why would you care if the gear was just upgradable as opposed to constant new tiers?

Edited, Jun 3rd 2014 3:19pm by BartelX