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[SleazyC]

Maybe I'm just in a different mind set coming from the original launch and what a disaster it was. I just remember being thrown in the world not knowing what the heck I was doing and figuring out important things too late in the game.

As for voices the main story will be voiced in the final.

I played the 1.0 beta and it was a train wreck. I had the game pre-ordered at the time and the beta ended in me cancelling my pre-order. This beta isn't anywhere near as much of a trainwreck as 1.0 and I feel like I'm going to keep my pre-order and play through at least my first month. Good to know that the main story will be voiced, maybe thats why it feels a bit weird right now since it should be voiced and music is at a very low-level/you have a lot of silence during them.

If I weren't comparing XIV against the other MMOs I have played I would feel like it was a very solid game but I can't help making the comparisons and it might make things tough as far as attracting players to the game if XIV isn't seen as bringing something new to the table compared to whats out on the market currently.

 

[Augemitbutter]

Did you do... Halatali?

not yet. can i just walk in?

 

[-bakalhau-]

A FC is like a traditional guild. You can only be in 1 at a time. A LS is like a chat channel and you can be in several at the same time.

RE: PS3 performance vs PC... I still plan to pick up the PS3 version but only to use occasionally like for when I feel like just laying on the floor for some crafting or gathering something when I don't really care if there's a bit of look/performance difference.

On that note..... I messed with NVIDIA inspector a bit last night. Check out the difference in jaggies on those spires in the background.


I need to check with 4x again and see where the load was--CPU or GPU. I have a 4GB 670GTX--was honestly a bit surprised and disappointed that 4x caused such a performance hit.

Which AA settings did you use in order to have the AA activated in game?

 

[Ala Alba]

Let's look at levels 1-10 in other MMOs...

WoW: Many more combat abilities. Quests were similar to FFXIV at WoW's launch, but expansions and the post-cata main world modernized the game by adding much more quest variety like shooting cannons, piloting a vehicle, escorting an NPC, etc.

Vehicle driving and shooting cannons sounds like some kind of minigame. Not necessarily a bad or good idea. Escort quests do exist in FFXIV (not sure why you'd actually want to do one, but they're there).

Rift: Aside from more combat choices, you're helping other players fend off rift invasions together, running across the map, closing rifts, taking out boss mobs and getting lots of loot. This game has the best early game of any MMO if you ask me.

So... killing things, running around (seriously?), (probably) interacting with something, killing something, and getting rewards for it.

I'm not impressed.

Guild Wars 2: From the very beginning you're working alongside other players to complete tasks, watching mini stories unfold in each public quest area. Even the intro quest ends with a cooperative fight with other players against a massive monster.

Honestly, is there really that much of a difference from FATE content?

The only example of a type of quest that you want that FFXIV doesn't offer is minigame-like quests.

 

[TheMink]

Also requires you to have beaten

Spoiler

Ifrit

during the Main Story missions and to have chosen a Grand Company to serve under.



Talk to a Calamity NPC inside of any of the main cities, he holds all your legacy characters possessions that couldn't fit in your inventory during the transition. In Gridania hes standing next to the Amphitheatre.

Got it thanks

 

[DarknessTear]

not yet. can i just walk in?

You gotta go back to the burning sands before the solar and turn left before the hallway where.. .whatever her name is. There's a guy with the quest in there to unlock the dungeon.

 

[SleazyC]

Vehicle driving and shooting cannons sounds like some kind of minigame. Not necessarily a bad or good idea. Escort quests do exist in FFXIV (not sure why you'd actually want to do one, but they're there).

The vehicle based quests were very fun and were a nice change of pace from your more traditional MMO quests. Escort quests are very well written (super witty) in WoW and I hope Square did the same thing in theirs.

So... killing things, running around (seriously?), (probably) interacting with something, killing something, and getting rewards for it.

I'm not impressed.

Honestly, is there really that much of a difference from FATE content?

I think you misunderstood the "running across maps" comment. Running across maps to close rifts before they expired (or were completed by other characters) was pretty fun. Usually you had people hoping from rifts to rifts and you were riding around with like 20+ people at a time just tearing across to other rifts. Whenever I got bored of leveling in Rift I would just run around closing rifts with a groups of like 10-30 people and it was pretty damn fun.

The other big difference between FATEs and rifts were that you got some pretty awesome loot from doing them. I'm not sure if this changes as you do higher level FATEs in FFXIV but so far all I have gotten is money and exp.

The rifts could also have some huge boss like characters or you could run across bosses on the world map. Haven't seen any open-world bosses in XIV yet but I hope Square has them around and doesn't restrict them to max-level playes.

 

[Northeastmonk]

Once this beta test ends it goes into the next phase and then its going to be beta till the release?

Does this mean my character wont be deleted?

R.I.P. Bruinir Mldir - Beta Phase 3

 

[erawsd]

Vehicle driving and shooting cannons sounds like some kind of minigame. Not necessarily a bad or good idea. Escort quests do exist in FFXIV (not sure why you'd actually want to do one, but they're there).
.

Technically, you could call them minigames. I do think that a lot of them are enjoyable and it really helps bust up the monotony of the kill-fetch. WoW's quest design is definitely far and away better than any other MMO I've played; of course they had way more time to refine that design.

 

[Riposte]

Chocobo companions are pretty neat to use. I wish path companions had worked this way to some extent.

I do believe this combat system needs more complexity altogether. The main quest missions are difficult enough to be somewhat interesting, but they should add some new mechanic or two that scales well throughout the game and makes every battle a little more interesting for all the classes. That could be a lot of things, perhaps starting with totally redoing Limit Breaks and make them available everywhere.

Another thing this game needs is a temp-party/auto-party feature. Everyone a monster's hate list should be temporarily added to your party up to 8 slots. Protect would work on them, etc. Then it breaks a few seconds after the monster dies (maybe have a simple way to make it a permanent party). Would make FATEs feel communal. Last night I had an experience where three people, including myself, were completing our hunting log at the same spot and then we joined a FATE together. Something like that would have been just the right thing to make it even better.

 

[Ala Alba]

The vehicle based quests were very fun and were a nice change of pace from your more traditional MMO quests.

Done well, you're right, minigame-like content can be a very nice change of pace. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing a few minigame-like quests in FFXIV.

I think you misunderstood the "running across maps" comment. Running across maps to close rifts before they expired (or were completed by other characters) was pretty fun. Usually you had people hoping from rifts to rifts and you were riding around with like 20+ people at a time just tearing across to other rifts. Whenever I got bored of leveling in Rift I would just run around closing rifts with a groups of like 10-30 people and it was pretty damn fun.

You can do the exact same thing with FATEs.

The other big difference between FATEs and rifts were that you got some pretty awesome loot from doing them. I'm not sure if this changes as you do higher level FATEs in FFXIV but so far all I have gotten is money and exp.

I thought I remember reading something in some interview about gear rewards from FATEs, but I don't know if that's still in the works.

The rifts could also have some huge boss like characters or you could run across bosses on the world map. Haven't seen any open-world bosses in XIV yet but I hope Square has them around and doesn't restrict them to max-level playes.

Yeah, again, NM FATEs are a thing, they're level-synced, and they're pretty common.

 

[Polioliolio]

Played for about 5 hours. I'm not sure if I'm having a good time.

So far I'm just running around a very confusing map, back and forth, finding green check marks or whatever. There are hundreds of other players, but no one is doing anything together, not even acknowledging each other. I haven't seen anyone speaking or emoting or partying.

I'm going to give it more play time, but I think I may be a little upset about pre-ordering already. They gave me a game code, so I imagine it's too late for an order return.

 

[Boss Man]

There are hundreds of other players, but no one is doing anything together, not even acknowledging each other. I haven't seen anyone speaking or emoting or partying.

I've been a little miffed about this too. Everything just feels a bit automated. You aren't getting anything special, you aren't experiencing anything special, etc.

Apparently group stuff starts around level 15 though, so I'm about to see if things change up. I'm hoping 1-15 is just sort of a big tutorial. Overall I do like the game. There's a lot of quality here.

 

[Northeastmonk]

Played for about 5 hours. I'm not sure if I'm having a good time.

So far I'm just running around a very confusing map, back and forth, finding green check marks or whatever. There are hundreds of other players, but no one is doing anything together, not even acknowledging each other. I haven't seen anyone speaking or emoting or partying.

I'm going to give it more play time, but I think I may be a little upset about pre-ordering already. They gave me a game code, so I imagine it's too late for an order return.

That's how most MMO's are. You get into the world, find out where all your resources are, and do like a few hours of just fetch quests or group monster kills (low level creatures like rats). From my non FF14 experience, MMOs are basically grinding to dungeons and good quest.

Like doing errands for merchants, grabbing lamp oil, etc... in the world outside your main city there's a huge world to explore. So its not like this is the entire game. I mean, I personally hate crafting. I don't mind saving gill up for new weapons though. I'm doing all these missions now to level up. You don't gain a lot of exp in this area after you reach a certain level. So the missions make me level up faster. Level1-10 is all fetch crap quests. Some I just skip the blabbering on about sea ships and what not. MMOs tend to be more based on economy. Instead of traditional RPGs where you get the whole thing thrown at you. Like the King meeting you once you arrive.

- Phase 3 characters will be deleted at the start of phase 4.
- Data centers will be located in Japan and overseas.
- More than 20 Worlds will be available.
- All character customization options will be available.
- Beta Phase 3 characters can level from 1-35.
-Version 1.0 characters can be used.
* In this case, the level cap will be that of the Version 1.0 character’s.
- Testing will commence on the PlayStation®3.
- All FFXIV service account holders qualify as testers in phase 3.
- The following elements will be introduced for testing:
Limsa Lominsa and Ul’dah leveling paths / Additional side quests Additional class quests / Additional Full Active Time Events / Additional dungeons Free companies (formation and management) / Free company points

This sucks, I created a character for nothing.

 

[Ravidrath]

I've been a little miffed about this too. Everything just feels a bit automated. You aren't getting anything special, you aren't experiencing anything special, etc.

Apparently group stuff starts around level 15 though, so I'm about to see if things change up. I'm hoping 1-15 is just sort of a big tutorial. Overall I do like the game. There's a lot of quality here.

I would say that 1-15 is pretty much a big tutorial, yes.

Get familiar with the mechanics of the game, get a solid intro to the story, and prep you for partying with other people.

Some of the class quests even have mechanics in them to teach you what you should do in a party with your class, such as healing an NPC or using Flash to keep hate off of an NPC. Just like you would with real people!

 

[Trojita]

Since you can use 25% off on GMG for the Collector's edition as well, I was able to get the collector's edition for $37.50.

How much does it cost to upgrade a regular edition to collector's edition again?

 

[Augemitbutter]

You gotta go back to the burning sands before the solar and turn left before the hallway where.. .whatever her name is. There's a guy with the quest in there to unlock the dungeon.

thanks.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Well, my archer hit level 19 and I'm calling it quits for the day. Is this the last test of phase 3? I'll be sad to see my character wiped.

I'm looking forward to seeing those

Spoiler

Ifrit

cutscenes again with spoken dialogue.

 

[Gaiaknight]

Can the beta only be played on certain days or can i play it outside of test days?

 

[theta11]

The rifts could also have some huge boss like characters or you could run across bosses on the world map. Haven't seen any open-world bosses in XIV yet but I hope Square has them around and doesn't restrict them to max-level playes.

I've run across one multistage FATE in the world so far. I assume there's a boss at the end of it but I couldn't get past the second stage by myself. There's also quite a few fates that spawn with powerful monsters that you need to coordinate for if you have a smaller group. (Though kiting is broken as shit ATM and you can do a fair bit of damage without getting hit using an Archer.)

I thought I remember reading something in some interview about gear rewards from FATEs, but I don't know if that's still in the works.

Once you join a GC FATEs start awarding Seal which you need to purchase your personal Chocobo but can also be used to purchase GC gear that have set bonuses which are better than gear you get as quest rewards but not as good as dungeon drops.

 

[Alexanderon]

Let's look at levels 1-10 in other MMOs...

The first 10 levels are slow, yes. Thankfully you can easily plow through it in a sitting or two.

Once you hit level 13 or so, the story quests start to ramp up in difficulty. Once you hit 15 you can start doing dungeons. They're great. They're well-balanced. And they get tougher and tougher. They really require a lot of coordination, aggro management, and patience. Burning the Limit Break at the wrong time by the wrong person can severely hamper your success rate. They also play a huge emphasis on mobility and positioning, which may be why you find the low levels slow, since you can just facetank everything.

The Ifrit fight is fun. Guildleves are a great way to group up with players and try to tackle stuff above your level by scaling up the difficulty. Guildhests are probably my favorite non-dungeon group feature, which operate similar to BCNMs from FFXI. Just quick, instanced fights that hand out piles of experience.

I understand that it's annoying that you have to plow through the first 10 hours pressing 2 buttons before stuff gets fun, but was Guild Wars 2 and WoW really any different? Was completing Renown Hearts and discovering Vistas/POIs really that fun? And to have to do that all the way to level 80? Content here is way more varied, and when soloing starts to feel dull, pull some skills from other classes, fight alongside your Chocobo, and the game becomes a totally different experience.

 

[Ravidrath]

Can the beta only be played on certain days or can i play it outside of test days?

Currently it's only playable on weekends during the designated testing times.

 

[Boss Man]

I would say that 1-15 is pretty much a big tutorial, yes.

Get familiar with the mechanics of the game, get a solid intro to the story, and prep you for partying with other people.

Some of the class quests even have mechanics in them to teach you what you should do in a party with your class, such as healing an NPC or using Flash to keep hate off of an NPC. Just like you would with real people!

That's good to hear. I do like the game a lot fundamentally, but I am worried that it won't open up.

I mean, I haven't heard of anyone doing anything cool or finding anything awesome. I just never feel like I'm going to find something interesting, experience something not many people get to, or obtain something unobtainable. I know the Ifrit fight is supposed to be fun.

..but see? "The Ifrit fight is fun." It's not optional, it's not novel, it's just another thing you see along for the ride. It's like there's no place to branch off and improve your character or anything. It's all just a straight path that everyone is on.

I don't know if this is just because of the state the game is in right now or if it's indicative of how much more 'modern' this game is than what I was expecting it to feel like (FFXI). I wouldn't say that it's totally linear, but it feels more like what an actual main line FF game should be. That's not too bad, but it doesn't fit into a sub fee for me.


Hopefully this is just because all I've experienced so far is early levels in a beta. But I mean, shouldn't I have had an opportunity to do something on my own by now? Is there an NM I can go hopelessly camp for a rare item that most people don't have? I get the feeling that there's not, and that there never will be.


I'd love to hear some veteran players chime in on this. Because there's a big part of me that likes this game a lot, but it feels like a necessary piece is missing.

 

[Alexanderon]

I don't know if this is just because of the state the game is in right now or if it's indicative of how much more 'modern' this game is than what I was expecting it to feel like (FFXI). I wouldn't say that it's totally linear, but it feels more like what an actual main line FF game should be. That's not too bad, but it doesn't fit into a sub fee for me.

What was nonlinear about FFXI?

 

[Boss Man]

What was nonlinear about FFXI?

You could get to max level on all jobs and beat a monster that no one has ever beaten before without ever even beating the first story mission.

There were always several things going on at once that you could choose to be working on, and things that you could choose to never mess with at all. You could spend months farming for one item while people in your linkshell spent that same time beating missions while people in another linkshell spent it leveling up. It wasn't a chain of fetch quests that you follow to proceed.

I don't know if this pacing is what the final game is aiming to be, or just the introduction. It feels like everyone is just always on a certain part of the game in FFXIV, which is what I mean by linear. Everyone is on the same path, and all aspects of the game are taking place on it.


edit: Again, this is only based on what I've experienced up to level 15 and the impression I'm getting listening to everyone else talk about what they're doing. Also, beta. I'd genuinely like to be wrong about this, and very well could be.

 

[Moobabe]

Just ore-ordered the Digital Collector's. I'm so ready.

 

[Hedge]

So far I'm having trouble getting really into the game. It all feels to static. Go there, kill that. The game is beautiful, though. Like, incredibly so. But I'm not sure I care for the combat or movement. The fact that movement still interrupts skills is also an annoyance, but maybe I've been spoiled by the one other MMO I'm playing (not mentioning names).

So far, the only reason I'm really feeling the need to play it is because I think the story has potential to be interesting, and also, I love Akihiko Yoshida's style

Spoiler

and I will love him forever and ever and ever and ever and I want him to do a mainline FF soon. :C

 

[devious.one]

You could get to max level on all jobs and beat a monster that no one has ever beaten before without ever even beating the first story mission.

By monster I'm going to assume you're talking about HNMs?

 

[theta11]

That's good to hear. I do like the game a lot fundamentally, but I am worried that it won't open up.

I mean, I haven't heard of anyone doing anything cool or finding anything awesome. I just never feel like I'm going to find something interesting, experience something not many people get to, or obtain something unobtainable. I know the Ifrit fight is supposed to be fun.

..but see? "The Ifrit fight is fun." It's not optional, it's not novel, it's just another thing you see along for the ride. It's like there's no place to branch off and improve your character or anything. It's all just a straight path that everyone is on.

I don't know if this is just because of the state the game is in right now or if it's indicative of how much more 'modern' this game is than what I was expecting it to feel like (FFXI). I wouldn't say that it's totally linear, but it feels more like what an actual main line FF game should be. That's not too bad, but it doesn't fit into a sub fee for me.


Hopefully this is just because all I've experienced so far is early levels in a beta. But I mean, shouldn't I have had an opportunity to do something on my own by now? Is there an NM I can go hopelessly camp for a rare item that most people don't have? I get the feeling that there's not, and that there never will be.

I'd say I've done most of the content in the beta (except crafting due to certain materials not being readily available) and there's a lot of things missing, Despite everyone saying 1-15 is a tutorial phase I'd go a bit further and say about 1-20 which is more or less to the Ifrit fight and join a GC. At that point is where I'd assume the game opens up but really there's no content past that. There's specific towns with NPCs tied to different GCs but really there's nothing there that works.

As it is right now the "meat" of the game just isn't there but you can see where it fits in. My main concern at the moment is the size of the world. It's a small-mid sized world but the organization of the monsters was done by someone who is probably on drugs. Within 1 small map you can find monsters ranging from level 1 all the way to 48 (maybe there are 50 monsters further but I stopped exploring.)

Secondly FATEs are a mixed bag, the gear you get from them is pretty good but the you have to jump through more hoops to get the gear in that you need to farm and get promoted in your GC to purchase and equip the gear. As it is right now dungeons are simply too good. They give superior experience to anything else, they give superior gear to anything else, they don't take any time to complete and are relatively easy. There needs to be things out in the world that have meaningful combat rewards.

 

[Boss Man]

I'd say I've done most of the content in the beta (except crafting due to certain materials not being readily available) and there's a lot of things missing, Despite everyone saying 1-15 is a tutorial phase I'd go a bit further and say about 1-20 which is more or less to the Ifrit fight and join a GC. At that point is where I'd assume the game opens up but really there's no content past that. There's specific towns with NPCs tied to different GCs but really there's nothing there that works.

As it is right now the "meat" of the game just isn't there but you can see where it fits in.

Is the GC stuff supposed to be the "meat"? Or is the rest of the game just not created yet because it's essentially a new game? Glad to hear that I'm probably just not grasping it all yet.

 

[Sophia]

The cutscene direction is absolutely amazing in this. Just finished Duty, Honor, Coutnry, and all the little quests after it. Wooow.

 

[Alexanderon]

You could get to max level on all jobs and beat a monster that no one has ever beaten before without ever even beating the first story mission.

There were always several things going on at once that you could choose to be working on, and things that you could choose to never mess with at all. You could spend months farming for one item while people in your linkshell spent that same time beating missions while people in another linkshell spent it leveling up. It wasn't a chain of fetch quests that you follow to proceed.

I don't know if this pacing is what the final game is aiming to be, or just the introduction.

I don't have the same memories of FFXI.

I remember it as a game where you farmed zones like Valkurm Dunes to level up. You stood there and killed crabs, bunnies, and skeletons. For hours. For days. Weeks.

And all that progress you made the past hour? Yeah, that doesn't matter. Because here comes a train of mobs. Those memories with everyone rushing to the Konschtat Highlands for their life are etched into me. Burned into me.

But if you wanted to get a good item, you had to camp HNM spawns, which sometimes took days to appear. And if someone else attacked it milliseconds before you did, they claimed all the loot.

I remember staring at walls in Jeuno for hours whenever I felt like playing my Dragoon.

I remember getting invited to Sky/Moon groups. I'd have to pay some jerk White Mage to port me, spend thousands of gil on a Chocobo, and then run for 20 minutes through three different zones to get there. And then if I had to leave, I'd have to sit in /search for 30 minutes trying to find one of the other dozen Bards that actually managed to hit level 75.

I remember spending thousands of gil on crafting materials only to watch it explode in my face.

FFXIV is absolutely nothing like FFXI mechanically, and I'm happy for that.

 

[theta11]

Is the GC stuff supposed to be the "meat"? Or is the rest of the game just not created yet because it's essentially a new game? Glad to hear that I'm probably just not grasping it all yet.

I'm sure it's created, we just don't have access to it.

 

[Riposte]

The cutscene direction is absolutely amazing in this. Just finished Duty, Honor, Coutnry, and all the little quests after it. Wooow.

They still haven't topped the better cutscenes of 1.0 yet. Everything involving Merlwyb is way more tame now. No axe-catching or genitals-shooting.

 

[Hedge]

I don't have the same memories of FFXI.

I remember it as a game where you farmed zones like Valkurm Dunes to level up. You stood there and killed crabs, bunnies, and skeletons. For hours. For days. Weeks.

And all that progress you made the past hour? Yeah, that doesn't matter. Because here comes a train of mobs. Those memories with everyone rushing to the Konschtat Highlands for their life are etched into me. Burned into me.

But if you wanted to get a good item, you had to camp HNM spawns, which sometimes took days to appear. And if someone else attacked it milliseconds before you did, they claimed all the loot.

I remember staring at walls in Jeuno for hours whenever I felt like playing my Dragoon.

I remember getting invited to Sky/Moon groups. I'd have to pay some jerk White Mage to port me, spend thousands of gil on a Chocobo, and then run for 20 minutes through three different zones to get there. And then if I had to leave, I'd have to sit in /search for 30 minutes trying to find one of the other dozen Bards that actually managed to hit level 75.

I remember spending thousands of gil on crafting materials only to watch it explode in my face.

FFXIV is absolutely nothing like FFXI mechanically, and I'm happy for that.

I remember trying out XI waaaaay back when. I remember that it lacked a tutorial and I got lost in the city and eventually - when I just gave up - I spent a good 10-15 minutes trying to find out how to log out.

In light of your story, I feel that maybe it was a good thing I got lost then.

 

[Azzurri]

The problem I have is that the combat feels so meh. It's hard to explain why, but it feels so dull; even though, it's basically just like WoW or Rift, yet, it's not as fun.

 

[tenchir]

I had a lot of fun with this game and this is coming from someone who played WoW for almost 7 years. There are some control issues like targeting in large FATE battles, but I prefer using controller over mouse+keyboard with the PS3.

I am definitely going to play it a lot. I am not putting in a lot of effort to explore everything or do every quest so far because they will just by wipe once Phase 4 of the beta starts. It is true that characters that you play in phase 4 will be carried into the headstart and then into the launch day right? I think I will start putting in a lot of my time into it then.

 

[Akainu]

Do the people that forage and do smithing stuff have the same story missions?

 

[Teknoman]

Played for about 5 hours. I'm not sure if I'm having a good time.

So far I'm just running around a very confusing map, back and forth, finding green check marks or whatever. There are hundreds of other players, but no one is doing anything together, not even acknowledging each other. I haven't seen anyone speaking or emoting or partying.

I'm going to give it more play time, but I think I may be a little upset about pre-ordering already. They gave me a game code, so I imagine it's too late for an order return.

Are you on Ultros are Sargantas? Both seem pretty lively. Also you should focus on scenario quests more than anything else.

 

[kch]

I really like how you can simply run to a FATE area and take part in some really cool and long fights. Sadly the rewards seems to just be exp and some gil but I havn't seen what lv 50 FATEs has to offer.

 

[major_killjoy]

Are you on Ultros are Sargantas? Both seem pretty lively.

Which server is livelier?

 

[falastini]

Honestly, is there really that much of a difference from FATE content?

Yes. It really is. The FATE content feels like a tacked on version of dynamic events. Guild Wars 2, Rift, and even Warhammer had more entertaining events then what FFXIV offers with FATEs. I'm told they become more impressive at higher levels, so I may be wrong, but everything I've experienced in the early zones pales in comparison to what they had in something like GW2.

To be fair though... There's a reason I don't play GW2 anymore. All that emphasis on making that leveling experience amazing, detracted from compelling group play in my opinion.

So if FFXIV can create some compelling end-game/group play... I'm OK with subpar leveling content.

 

[QisTopTier]

FATES are fine and I can completely agree with what yoshi was saying about how they will be good for party play in the open world They become pretty important later on.

I'm OK with subpar leveling content.

lol

 

[Teknoman]

Which server is livelier?

I guess Ultros since that was open during the first part of Beta phase 3? But Sarg is pretty up there too, since you have all old players there too, as well as new characters.

GAF is on both.

 

[Polioliolio]

I've been so spoiled by Dark Souls...

But I'm going to take the free month and get my money's worth out of that.. It'll have to do a lot to get me addicted.

 

[Riposte]

Here are the three things I think they need to do with FATEs (ignoring changes to the combat system and enemy design I feel may also be necessary):

1) Unique rewards for the NMs and hamlet defense recreations. Each major FATE should have its own unique reward(s) or a pool of rewards shared by very few other FATEs. If they don't want to do this with on random drops (likely based on evaluation), then they could have clearing FATEs (again, perhaps based on evaluation) unlocking new purchasable rewards at Grand Companies (or lock current reward behind such barriers in the final release).

2) Doing multiple FATEs within a short a period of time between each other granting a bonus to rewards. Basically, "FATE chains" (or Chains of FATE if you want to get cheesy!). The basic execution of this is that if you participate / evaluate well enough within 30 minutes of your last FATE, you get a bonus. This bonus could increase with more successions. You may need to evaluate higher to keep it going after awhile (I don't see evaluating lower ruining your chain, it just won't count towards continuing it). This would grease the wheels of FATE parties and also have them compete better with leveling dungeons.

3) I mentioned this elsewhere as a more general mechanic in and outside FATEs, but temp-party/auto-party: up to 8 strangers (including parties of strangers if they fit) on an enmity list are automatically put into a special form of party which lasts until 5 to 10 seconds after that enemy has been defeated. All the benefits of a party, none of the hassle. There are more complications (multiple temp-parties for groups of 8+ players, etc), but the point should be clear.

EDIT: If there was one more thing I would, although this starts to get into "battle system" stuff, is have multiple objectives and objectives unique to party roles. If you took hamlet battle and took the stuff DoH and DoL were doing and made it available to everyone, that would be a complex FATE. I would also have to be a harder FATE for it to be worth doing.

Which server is livelier?

Going to say Ultros, but it isn't a really fair comparison as the legacy servers came after and new players were locked for a week longer. Personally I spent more time on Ultros because I didn't want to do the quests to unlock dungeons and such again. I believe Sargatanas has been qualified as a "relatively crowded" server (fully crowded servers do not accept transfers). I believe that means it is quite healthy.

 

[Alexanderon]

Yes. It really is. The FATE content feels like a tacked on version of dynamic events. Guild Wars 2, Rift, and even Warhammer had more entertaining events then what FFXIV offers with FATEs. I'm told they become more impressive at higher levels, so I may be wrong, but everything I've experienced in the early zones pales in comparison to what they had in something like GW2.

To be fair though... There's a reason I don't play GW2 anymore. All that emphasis on making that leveling experience amazing, detracted from compelling group play in my opinion.

So if FFXIV can create some compelling end-game/group play... I'm OK with subpar leveling content.

I guess what Guild Wars 2 did well in its system was making dynamic events connected to one another. You can really see how this works in areas like Straits of Devastation and Cursed Shore, but even in lower areas like Harathi Hinterlands.

Right now it feels like you run to one spot, complete a FATE, and then wander elsewhere. In GW2, dynamic events led into one another, even in the starter zones. Even if they were something simple like the Seraph controlling all centaur camps in Queensdale, you could notice how the zone shifted. More waypoints were available to port around in, so you felt like you were affecting the world you played in. In GW2, if you ignore dynamic events in zones you lose access to dungeons, like Citadel of Flame or Crucible of Eternity.

I'm not saying that SE should necessarily do something like this, but even something as simple as NPCs being stolen away would add some incentive to participate and make you feel like you're doing something that matters.

 

[Riposte]

I guess what Guild Wars 2 did well in its system was making dynamic events connected to one another. You can really see how this works in areas like Straits of Devastation and Cursed Shore, but even in lower areas like Harathi Hinterlands.

Right now it feels like you run to one spot, complete a FATE, and then wander elsewhere. In GW2, dynamic events led into one another, even in the starter zones. Even if they were something simple like the Seraph controlling all centaur camps in Queensdale, you could notice how the zone shifted. More waypoints were available to port around in, so you felt like you were affecting the world you played in.

That is in FFXIV too, although I haven't personally participated in one like that yet.

EDIT: For example of this, check out the developer commentary video on FATEs.

 

[QisTopTier]

I guess what Guild Wars 2 did well in its system was making dynamic events connected to one another. You can really see how this works in areas like Straits of Devastation and Cursed Shore, but even in lower areas like Harathi Hinterlands.

Right now it feels like you run to one spot, complete a FATE, and then wander elsewhere. In GW2, dynamic events led into one another, even in the starter zones. Even if they were something simple like the Seraph controlling all centaur camps in Queensdale, you could notice how the zone shifted. More waypoints were available to port around in, so you felt like you were affecting the world you played in.

I've already done stuff like that in this. They are in the game hell they even mention them on the website.

 

[Alexanderon]

I've already done stuff like that in this. They are in the game hell they even mention them on the website.

Where?

I'm level 23 and all the FATEs I've participated in didn't affect anything at all except my experience bar.