Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn - Beta Phase 3 Impression: Phase 4 August
- Thread starter N.A
- Start date
- Status
devious.one
Member
Eh, I've seen you bring up the NM thing quite a few times now, and I just don't see why you would want something like that to return. It breeds all types of bad game play in terms of gilsellers and further encourages creation and use of bots.
Aside from that, what could you do in FFXI off the beaten path to improve your character before hitting cap? Having played the game for 4+ years, only things that come to mind are crafting, leveling, NM camping and the odd BCNM here and there.
Great sense of accomplishment.
You really felt like the world was alive since nothing was instanced, not even airships.
Armors and weapons were pretty iconic and recognizable.
Dungeons that felt like dungeons.
CoP.
Um, the current max rank GC gear (from 1.x, so whatever that was Second Lt. I think? which is currently max in ARR but won't be for long since there are several more tiers of ranks visible at the GC shop) is actually much better than AF across the board even without Sanction (for applicable jobs--for example the LL GC longboots are a mage piece so you wouldn't wear the entire set on a melee job but those boots are better than BLM AF boots). Limsa's officer's coat provides 80 points of good stats for melee while AF body provides only about 70 (for comparison, DL corselet has 87).
Furthermore, the high-end (from 1.x) crafted gear such as Gryphonskin and Vanya, now that jobs can use it instead of just classes, are almost on par with AF without any materia and will easily beat AF once multi-melded.
Go to xivdb.com and do the compares and you'll see.
Pai Pai Master
Banned
Phase 4 (probably early next month) will be open beta so you can try it on PS3 then.
Of course. While a lot of things in FFXI were a bit too extreme and punishing, the ideas behind a lot of the content was very good. Skill Chains/Magic bursts are a type of collaborative gameplay that no one else is doing; it was a lot o fun which is why there is so much demand for a similar feature. The story driven quests were a first for the genre. You also had a game world full of danger, which adds immensely to the fun of exploring an unknown world.
A straight copy/pasta of FFXI aren't a good idea, but theres a lot Yoshida can take from it that will improve the game.
Teletraan1
Banned
The problem with this type of gear, at least from the perspective of a long time WoW player is that these set bonus' are very hard to balance properly and a lot of the time are out of touch with how you actually play the game. One class/job gets a bonus to their most used spell where some other class gets a bonus to something they used once every 30s. It becomes very imbalanced once those 2 classes are then compared against each other. Perhaps it can make a return when they can do it right.
Baleoce
Member
An MMO that remembers is was also an RPG. It actually had a story, and a great one at that. The expansion stories were fantastic too, especially CoP. Iconic characters like Prishe, Shantotto, Maat, Shadow Lord. Iconic fights like the CoP airship battle, Ark Angels in Sky, Promathia.
Like was pointed out above, a sense of accomplishment. I mean really, when you got that piece you'd been working ages for in Dynamis Xarcabard/Tav, or Omega/Ultima, Odin, King Behemoth, it was the greatest feeling. You revel in it, enjoy it. Breath it in, get about 4 or 5 screenshots-worth from your LS all giving you /tells congratulating the hell out of you.
I could think of so many more things. But that game (in its prime) was something special.
Fatalmephisto
Member
When the beta goes up again tomorrow, just sign in with your account. Unless you don't have the client on the PS3 well, i can help you with that since i have an extra beta client code for PS3 if you want it.
V1.0 NMs were cool, as in they would repop at the minute 0 or 5, regardless of when you killed them (say you killed them at the minute 41, they'd respawn at 45, if you killed at at 19, they'd respawn at 20). So even with low drop rates and all, with that type of respawns and unique drops, they were hassle free.
Also I liked the pop NMs, the various kinds from XI and that's the only type of NMs I'd like to see in 14, open worlds with crazy respawn times are just a thing of the past from the Ultima, Everquest, FFXI days. I truly enjoyed playing them but I wouldn't at this time in life.
Baleoce
Member
This is for EU region SE accounts. http://eu.alienwarearena.com/giveaways/FINAL-FANTASY-XIV-A-Realm-Reborn-Closed-Beta-Key-Giveaway
3855 left it says.
Shows 0 for me.
devious.one
Member
Well, it's an instance in the sense that you can't look down and see other people going about their lives. That segment is definitely different then the rest of the world when you're on it, unless something changed after Aht Urhgan Expansion (Where I quit).
Even besides that, while a lot of the game wasn't instanced, I wouldn't say nothing was instanced. BCNMs, limbus, Dynamis and plenty of story battles were indeed instanced.
Edit -- I'm not trying to take anything away from FFXI btw, I loved that game to death and it consumed me for many years.
Boss Man
Member
Progression wasn't on such a strict straight path. You could do missions (various paths), NMs, BCNMs, quests, crafting, farming and saving, etc. to obtain gear - and at all levels. You could do all of those things to various extents for one class for levels 20-30 if you really wanted to be as best as you could. How much is up to you.
In FFXIV the idea seems to be that you follow the main quest into the highest instances and that's your gear and your levels. You can't do anything extra to get something that not everyone else is getting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjoh3VEPyLU&t=15m55s
I am having fun with it but I just worry how long it'll last when it feels so episodic. I mean, it'll be hard to get very excited over obtaining anything in this game. I think that's important.
Granted, I like how easy it is to progress through the story and enjoy the main content. I don't mind that the way it is. I just wish there was some of the other stuff surrounding it.
The argument against it from Yoshi seems to be that he doesn't want min/max situations where everyone is required to put that extra effort in, but that's a big sacrifice to just not include it at all and I think the whole concept of the Duty Finder makes it moot anyway.
I do like the game and I am giving it as much of a shot as I can, but it feels rather cheap in some respects in terms of design and that's disappointing for a subscription MMO. It feels like they're taking the easiest possible route to gain the casual crowd instead of building a game that draws and keeps everyone. The comments about the limit break system and the blandness of the classes exemplifies this to me too. It's balanced I guess, but what a lazy way to do it.
/longpost
Find it on the list here: http://eu.alienwarearena.com/giveaways
It should say the correct amount then.
Riposte
Member
I like the idea of world NMs mainly being there to harass players and maybe to lock them out of something (a passage way, FATE, etc).
The only problem with NMs as FATE is that they lose a lot of character for not having some unique drops (or some kind of reward) associated with them. The larger problem though is that because gear in this game is so damn boring (even trying to examine differences between Lancer and Pugilist), what could you do other than "more main stats, more damage+"? Dungeon gear is already that.
The only problem with NMs as FATE is that they lose a lot of character for not having some unique drops (or some kind of reward) associated with them. The larger problem though is that because gear in this game is so damn boring (even trying to examine differences between Lancer and Pugilist), what could you do other than "more main stats, more damage+"? Dungeon gear is already that.
Wow, I just realized what happened.
You are actually right, highest GC tier (lv50 stuff) is mostly better than AF, and maybe on par or just under with Militia stuff.
The thing is, that all that stuff, wasn't particularly the best at the end of 1.23, these are some of the items I have which I used as BLM when needing the extra Acc that Militia Robe didn't have, or that I full-timed on MNK since I didn't have DL.
Storm's Sergeant's Tabard and Storm's Sergeant's Bliaud
Both of these pieces are now lv40, while in 1.23 they were lv50, and the Sanction gear from Limsa wasn't particularly good for anything but maybe tanks.
So right, what happened isn't that AFs aren't better than GC stuff, what happened is that my GC gear got gimped and now I don't have a decent body piece for MNK lol
That is a concern of mine, about gear being sort of unexciting and readily available... I wonder what they have in mind to combat that problem, if any.
I'm pretty sure Dynamis weren't instanced, hence why couldn't enter more than 1 LS at time? You are right about the rest, though.
Fatalmephisto
Member
I agree that Progression is fairly easy at the moment but I'm hoping that's just part of the Beta so people can get in there and level up quick to try out new features and dungeons but i doubt it. My guess is for the reason behind this, is to get more people who don't touch MMO's due to the grindfest that most of us here like or hate depending on how the grind is. Can easily get in there and get there characters leveled up quickly. I don't like it myself and i hope it doesn't ruin the game in general for those of us who don't want it like that.
Riposte
Member
To make matters worse: skill speed and spell speed are both practically useless.
I've heard a rumor that enemy evasion is based on level too, which would make for even less stat management between encounters.
Mister Zimbu
Member
Bah, I figured out what I want to name my character going live, but it's going to require me to be a pugilist (was wanting to start in Gridania).
Riposte
Member
I'm a much bigger fan of horizontal progression than vertical. I appreciate variety above a straight sequence. We already know that this game will be about full sprints into higher stat gear, leaving old content to die off, so there isn't much to say about it.
Perhaps, this could help: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/forums/491 :3
Perhaps, this could help: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/forums/491 :3
Yeah, my MNK gear got shuffled, too. I used the GC tabard on my MNK for the 10 STR/ACC/GC set bonuses because that piece was really great if you didn't have DL. I had the officer's overcoat just because, but it wasn't a good MNK piece in 1.x. I also used the thighhigh officer boots
because they looked hot
Now in ARR the tabard is nerfed down to a lower level item (with lower requirement too) so it kinda sucks, the boots are only good for mages, and the overcoat that I bought just for the hell of it in 1.x (during atomos event when it was raining seals) is now the best body piece for MNK that I have.
SoraanTribal
Member
Yeah, I played both FFXI and WoW for years, so I know exactly what you are talking about. I think they could work on balancing them better so they could still add in some of those unique stats.
Agree with you on the v1.0 NMs - that was a nice way of doing FFXI style NMs without the annoyances. They had such quick respawns, you didn't mind fighting them over and over - it was fun actually. I'd go with a friend of mine and hunt them for various pieces of gear for our other classes, and a lot of the times, the fights would be pretty tough because we were trying to kill them earlier than we should have. Was very fun.
Honestly, in both FFXI and XIV 1.0, it was really exciting seeing some random NM walking through the world. The NMs in FATEs now just do not feel anywhere near the same... I saw some huge malboro NM in the Gridania area, and just said "meh, it's a FATE NM... who cares."
I don't think any of us are saying to make them NMs like FFXI - there are other ways to go about that. I just don't think the FATE NMs are all that interesting. I remember reading on one of the feedback lists that they didn't want to give FATE NMs items or gear because then people would camp for them. So I assume the FATE NMs will give nothing exciting and will really have no point in doing them besides seals and exp. And because they are done in FATEs, it's just a clusterfuck of people spamming every ability, so they aren't even that fun to do, anyways.
Oh and yeah, pop NMs are nice, too.
They could use some improvement and they don't do much for trash mobs but they're not useless in boss battles. One or two tenths of a second wouldn't have made any difference in 1.x with its laggy combat but it can with ARR's faster paced system.
The LAST thing this game needs is spell/skill speed shenanigans with huge impact right out of the gate. Kudos to SE for not making these stats overpowered. We don't need a repeat of XI's haste-cap-or-GTFO crap.
devious.one
Member
In a sense that still means instanced, you still went through a black screen transition and were cut off from the rest of the world until you left that area. Not like you could come across that area naturally within the game world and see other people doing it.
Vs. Crafting, farming, questing, dungeon Instancing (It's not like you'll see that coveted helmet or weapon you want on the first run.), FATEs for Seal farming GC items and lastly missions (various paths as you put it also). Seems about the only thing missing from XIV that your comparing XI to is NMs and BCNMs. One of which wasn't all that common considering BCNMs required Beastmen or Kindred seals, neither of which was that common.
I agree, that worked really well in 1.x, in fact the gear couldn't be sold either IIRC. I'd love to see a return of that.
Fatalmephisto
Member
Man i wish i was apart of 1.0 back when it came out but didn't have a powerful computer to run and still don't to this day. Yet with that said, I'm sure Square will correct the issues or feedback that people have with the FATE system. Make them worth doing, i mean don't get me wrong i had fun doing them for a while since i never played 1.0. Now i really want to see them do some more unique ideas with the Fates to encourage fans to do them.
Riposte
Member
TBH, I rather not have the stat in the game (or see regular use), but it really goes to show you how dull gear is in this game so far.
Also this song won't leave me alone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBtsgGoXia8
It is like the new toto-rak/dungeon (1.0) theme.
I think I might hva that full set, which I also bought during Atomos, but it was probably on a retainer so I didn't get to check it, well at least it saves some seals from trying to buy it. Although I'm not too sure how it fares compared to Militia stuff, I have almost the 3 full sets, missing the pants on all of them.
I hope they add loot to these FATE NMs, even if they are given randomly to anyone that got a gold ranking during the fight. The items won't be the best thing in the game, but at least it is something else to look forward to besides the normal exp.
Also Yoshida has mentioned how we wants to make high level FATE NMs special, to make FC go fight them, so probably they will have some sort of loot, and they won't just be achievement NMs that you kill once and never care again.
Razgriz-Specter
Member
Finally found the song that I said I thought was right out of Kingdom Hearts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DZ3MGAZgMU
been stuck in my head lately.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DZ3MGAZgMU
been stuck in my head lately.
Kaori's Babydaddy
Banned
Ugh gamers and all there abbreviations. What are y'all talking about?
Hey guys, to my delight I just got an email saying I've been accepted on the PS3 beta! Whoo!
So I have created my Square Enix account. Downloaded the Beta on PSN. I boot the beta up and it updates the launcher or something.
Now it says I have to do three things:
Setup a SE account - Done!
Enter your registration code - Done!
Link your SEN/PSN account - How on Earth do I do this?
Help a brother out.
So I have created my Square Enix account. Downloaded the Beta on PSN. I boot the beta up and it updates the launcher or something.
Now it says I have to do three things:
Setup a SE account - Done!
Enter your registration code - Done!
Link your SEN/PSN account - How on Earth do I do this?
Help a brother out.
I've seen the tests about those stats and you are right, but for all we know so far from this phase, the stats have been said to change for phase 4. I'm not expecting any revolutions in the way most things work, but maybe some formulas will change and SS will gain a little more weight besides being completely useless.
Although there's another thing to consider, in the big feedback list they gave in the beta forrums, the explanation they did for many things is that they have designed the game already thinking on the endgame level cap, and that's not level 50. If everything goes as planned, the first cap raise should happen around the March update or 2.2 So maybe some things won't really feel that important until we are at higher levels.
Mister Zimbu
Member
Does anyone else have extra PS3 beta keys? Already got the PC version, but want to try it on my TV + couch.
From the last few posts these are the meaning of those abbreviations:
NM: Notorious Monster (special named enemies harder than normal monsters and with rare drops)
GC: Grand Company
FATE: Full Active Time Event system.
LS: Linkshell
SS: Skill/Spell Speed
AF: Artifact armour
DL: Darklight armour
Anything else you might have not understand?
Boss Man
Member
It's not really just about lists of words though. The fact is that in FFXI there was always something to work towards to make my character exceptional at any level. It was up to me how much time I dedicated into making my character more powerful, and up to everyone else how much time they dedicated to improve their character.
I could get further along in the game, or I could take some time off of the path to make my character better at the game.
In FFXIV, it seems these things are one in the same. You do your quests which take you to the instances and that's where you get your EXP and rewards. If you get off of the train to try and beef up your character, all you see is FATE and hunting logs. You can't go and get that rewarding feeling of obtaining something that you know will change your character's performance relative to everyone else's. There's no way to stand out because everyone is progressing along the same path.
On top of this, even with all things equal for everyone making it bland enough, your new powerful gear is just some Dragonball Z stuff where the new most powerful thing is coming with the next mission.
I feel like this is taking it to the extreme. We can have casual, clear-cut story progression where people can enjoy the scenario and the dungeons without worrying about doing anything extra. But can't we also have that extra stuff for people who want to dedicate more effort into their characters for more reward? Why can't those cool mandragoras drop a rare item that pops an NM that drops a rare, lasting item for my character? That's such a good feeling, and it's not necessary for everyone if they don't want to do it.
Again, the only argument I've seen against this is that you don't want people locked out of content. To me, making everything equal seems like a cop out instead of trying to design the game better. But still, doesn't the Duty Finder already remove the issue of not being able to join a party anyway?
Wouldn't it be awesome though if she was the last Boss in a huge freakin raid,hard as hell to kill and after she wipes the group she does her brushing of hair and puts on the sunglasses lol...people would be infuriated...
until they find the way to beat her...Pai Pai Master
Banned
I'm hoping that the kind of variety seen in FFXI has been shifted towards higher level content. Eventually FATEs and Hunting Logs will only get you so far. I'm holding my judgment on this until the full release and once they have a few post-release months to round-out endgame content.
darkside31337
Tomodachi wa Mahou
It's weird. I want to enjoy this game a lot, everything about it is well made and its fun to roam around in but I hate the game. I just don't enjoy combat at all.
I messed around with Thaumaturge but I really am not enjoying it. The whole rotating spells thing is clunky, I feel like I'm playing an Arcane Mage in wow and that was the least enjoyable thing ever. I tried a little bit of Archer and that was okay but it didn't grab me either.
So I guess I was looking to try out a melee class for once. Pugilist sounds like the way to go but I was wondering if anybody had anything positive to say about Lancers.
I messed around with Thaumaturge but I really am not enjoying it. The whole rotating spells thing is clunky, I feel like I'm playing an Arcane Mage in wow and that was the least enjoyable thing ever. I tried a little bit of Archer and that was okay but it didn't grab me either.
So I guess I was looking to try out a melee class for once. Pugilist sounds like the way to go but I was wondering if anybody had anything positive to say about Lancers.
Lucent
Member
LOL! All the Lightning hate. But yeah they sure are using her way too much. I love how they're happy to give us games we never asked for and refuse to do the ones we do ask for.
Azzurri
Member
I hate to talk about another game, but this what makes WildStar so intriguing. They have their casual stuff, and they have their hardcore stuff that only a % will ever do. Not to say the casual crowd won't get cool stuff, but it gives you the best of both worlds.
Boss Man
Member
I've been holding out hope for end-game as well, especially since we keep hearing that everything gets better at [insert new goal post distance].
But this part of this clip in particular:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjoh3VEPyLU&t=15m55s
Has made me pretty pessimistic honestly. It all just sounds episodic, like everyone is on the same ride. Instinctively this doesn't feel like what a paid MMO should be to me. To me, a subscription pays for the content in all corners that you stumble upon by virtue of being part of the world - because you can't sell that directly. It feels like they just want to make the same thing everyone else is, but charge a sub for it because it's good money.
Lets see, I'm still fairly new to MMO's so I'm not familiar with all this jargon just yet.
NM's sound fun, but I wouldn't want them to be too common.
Equipment with more than simple stat boosts would be nice, I suppose. I'd want them to be fairly subtle though, since anything too overt would create a certain class or character that'd have an overwhelming advantage over other players.
I guess, for me, balance is more important than these issues. I don't want to see everyone suddenly playing as a GLD or whatever, just because that one class has a huge advantage over the rest. We have enough similar looking characters, without everybody flooding a single class as well.
NM's sound fun, but I wouldn't want them to be too common.
Equipment with more than simple stat boosts would be nice, I suppose. I'd want them to be fairly subtle though, since anything too overt would create a certain class or character that'd have an overwhelming advantage over other players.
I guess, for me, balance is more important than these issues. I don't want to see everyone suddenly playing as a GLD or whatever, just because that one class has a huge advantage over the rest. We have enough similar looking characters, without everybody flooding a single class as well.
I don't exactly recall needing the third step? You just login with your SE account on your PS3 when you reach a screen with FF14 on it and it asks for login details.
Shouta
Member
Horizontal progression was actually one of the biggest problems with FFXI for a long time. Incremental upgrades or gear that wasn't an upgrade but still equally difficult to attain was a huge issue. It's still remained a problem in fact because the levels of customization to make proper horizontal progression work didn't actually exist.
XIV has that base to work with though, being far based around the skills you use than just the stats, so there's some flexibility when it comes to what they can do for gear.
You can still do a lot of that in this game.
Story quests, class quests, dungeons (BCNMs), crafting, farming, and saving gold are all very much apart of the leveling experience and mostly optional. Not everyone is going to run dungeons until they get every drop they need or run fates all day to collect GC gear. Not everyone will go back and level their subjobs to ensure they've got the best sub skills they can have. Not everyone will slot materia or score an HQ craft of a weapon. Assuming it stays like 1.0, you'll start your job and af quests in yours 30s/40s, which are also not required content. If you really want to stand out it'll certainly be possible. 20+ you can scoop up gear from crafting, questing, farming GC seals, or dungeons.
People missed out on much of that stuff in FFXI because it was far too obtuse and gear progression was very poorly conceived. In this game, a pair of boots you pick up at level 7 aren't going to be superior to a pair of boots at level 30 -- and I'm ok with that. FFXI kinda tossed you out into the world with little to no explanation, this game does a much better job of introducing/explaining its feature set -- I'm ok with that too.
I think the bigger difference is the amount of time it takes to get from 1-50. In FFXI you might spend many months getting to the level cap, so you were able to appreciate the little things you picked up along the way. In FFXIV it'll probably take most people a week or two, so you might only wear those awesome new lvl 20 gloves for a day before you move to the next thing.
- Status