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Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward |OT| The Midas Touch

Sorian

Banned
But it's not getting back to the same status quo.

Take the time between 2.5 and 3.0 and the time between 3.0 and 3.1. The game is more dead now then it was before the expansion pack at it's lowest moment.

It's natural for MMO attrition to happen, especially when an expansion pack doesn't revitalize the game. We're seeing it in action.

I'm talking about expac status quo. Not patch to patch. When 4.0 comes out, game will shoot back up to same numbers as 3.0. I'd also argue that the game had much lower log in numbers during the 2.55-3.0 time frame than it did during the 3.05-3.1 time frame but there is 0 way to prove that one way or the other.
 

Tabris

Member
I'm talking about expac status quo. Not patch to patch. When 4.0 comes out, game will shoot back up to same numbers as 3.0. I'd also argue that the game had much lower log in numbers during the 2.55-3.0 time frame than it did during the 3.05-3.1 time frame but there is 0 way to prove that one way or the other.

See that's what I disagree with. I think 4.0 will have less people then 3.0 like 3.0 had less then 2.0 launch, unless 4.0 radically reinvents the game to attract both people back that are done with the game and new people that stick with the game. It's just natural attrition. For every couple of new players that may play for a while then quits, you are losing a person who was playing since the beginning.
 

Sorian

Banned
See that's what I disagree with. I think 4.0 will have less people then 3.0 like 3.0 had less then 2.0 launch, unless 4.0 radically reinvents the game to attract both people back that are done with the game and new people that stick with the game. It's just natural attrition. For every couple of new players that may play for a while then quits, you are losing a person who was playing since the beginning.

Nothing will ever hit 2.0 launch numbers, that was the release of a brand new video game so comparing 3.0 to that means nothing. If marketing is on point (which SE finds a way for people to be hype even when there is nothing to be hype for), then people will always be attracted back to X.0 expacs. It's just the way it is. Even the grumpy "meh, meh, this game is for baddies and meh, meh, I hate everything SE does" people still see new jobs, new level caps, the promise of hours and hours or story content and they all peek their head back in.
 

Tabris

Member
Nothing will ever hit 2.0 launch numbers, that was the release of a brand new video game so comparing 3.0 to that means nothing. If marketing is on point (which SE finds a way for people to be hype even when there is nothing to be hype for), then people will always be attracted back to X.0 expacs. It's just the way it is. Even the grumpy "meh, meh, this game is for baddies and meh, meh, I hate everything SE does" people still see new jobs, new level caps, the promise of hours and hours or story content and they all peek their head back in.

Nah, I think you are taking a single kind of players perspective.

There's so many MMO players that make a decision to quit and then they are done with that game since it's such a time investment. And there's enough of that where you just have natural attrition between each expansion of players that just won't come back that exceeds the new players.
 

Sorian

Banned
Nah, I think you are taking a single kind of players perspective.

There's so many MMO players that make a decision to quit and then they are done with that game since it's such a time investment. And there's enough of that where you just have natural attrition between each expansion of players that just won't come back that exceeds the new players.

I'm taking the average MMO player's perspective. You can look at WoW, Rift, SWTOR, Guild Wars, etc. etc.

If you have fond feelings about the game, you usually throw in for a couple months at new expac time.

So yeah, if someone left the game on very bad terms then they will not be returning, but someone that left just because they had nothing to do? Those people are easily swayed back and that would be most of the case here. The people burned by Alex savage are a vocal minority.
 

iammeiam

Member
Reddit says Boring Group Comp LB Restrictions to be retracted.

I'm currently catching up to the patch notes live reading and I don't think this info has been posted yet. When they get to the new LB restrictions, Yoshida says that they've received a lot of feedback on the preliminary patch notes, and decided they shouldn't have added new restrictions in the middle of a raid cycle without advance notice.
The new restrictions will still be part of 3.1 because it's too late to change that. They will however be removed in the following hotfix. They still want to encourage people to use "standard" party makeups, and will come up with something again for 3.2.

A good decision, but whatever they do needs to distinguish between caster and physical ranged. It's dumb that you're encouraged to stack melee and potentially penalized for anything else.

Although "middle of a raid cycle" is worrying. Inc no LB3 in A3S?
 

Allard

Member
Nah, I think you are taking a single kind of players perspective.

There's so many MMO players that make a decision to quit and then they are done with that game since it's such a time investment. And there's enough of that where you just have natural attrition between each expansion of players that just won't come back that exceeds the new players.

Say what you will about the games diversity, but part of FFXIV 'charm' is that it does not take long at all to get back into the swing of things and get your item lvl up so you can join the more recent content. Yoshida said part of the design philosophy is to make it possible for people to go on breaks and come back. Other MMO's like FFXI or some of the even older ones have so many systems on top of systems that even when people do come back they are swamped by content alongside content that must be unlocked to unlock other content that they can't even touch the new content everyone else is doing that it becomes too much a hinderence to want to come back. I would even say one of 3.0's biggest problem was the story plot block at the beginning, I know a bunch of people who complained and ultimately quit because of how much time was spent trying to catch up on the story despite being lvl 50 already. People can and will come back if the right content catches their interest.
 

Sorian

Banned
Say what you will about the games diversity, but part of FFXIV 'charm' is that it does not take long at all to get back into the swing of things and get your item lvl up so you can join the more recent content. Yoshida said part of the design philosophy is to make it possible for people to go on breaks and come back. Other MMO's like FFXI or some of the even older ones have so many systems on top of systems that even when people do come back they are swamped by content alongside content that must be unlocked to unlock other content that they can't even touch the new content everyone else is doing that it becomes too much a hinderence to want to come back. I would even say one of 3.0's biggest problem was the story plot block at the beginning, I know a bunch of people who complained and ultimately quit because of how much time was spent trying to catch up on the story despite being lvl 50 already. People can and will come back if the right content catches their interest.

More than anything else, this will be their biggest hindrance at 4.0. People are going to remember that they were blocked out of a lot of shit in 3.0 because they hadn't played story since leviathan. That sting will still be there and I'm sure a lot of people will not even bother to research to see that a similar situation won't be present in 4.0 because they won't care.
 

MrHoot

Member
Yeah the plot block for me was a bit of a hindrance. Although i'm also kinda worried about other stuff become irrelevant or simply ignored if they're left untouched.

There's a bunch of dungeons and questlines for extra content released between 2.0 to 2.55 which i'm sure new players won't even know exists as they'll just rush to 3.0 content to catch up with everyone else. And as the expansions come out, these will become more and more irrelevant (I'm talking for example of the hildebrandt questline with the associated content, or some of the hard dungeons. Or EX stuff even at some point).

You also have leves which seem to be mostly ignored, or guildhests which once you reach level 50 are shoved in the back of your mind. If you're a veteran player and start leveling other classes, that's all nice. But there's still a big chunk in the future that will mostly be busy in just catching up to whatever new expansion comes out.

I'm hoping myself that part of the 3.2 to 3.x (whatever number before the next expac comes out) effort will be to revitalize some of the old content to help futureproof it for future stuff.
Ideally i'd also like them to rework some older dungeons from hard mode. Because man compared to the heavensward stuff they feel severely outdated (and they weren't super thrilling before too). But i'm being too optimistic for that to happen
 

Sorian

Banned
Remember that leves and guildhests are a relic from an old and ugly game that they just imported over, they don't care about those and neither should you :p

Expect an expac (4.0 might even be it) where a ton of stuff is re-tuned to be done at the new level cap. This may not help with dungeons but their are creative ways to get time out of old dungeons.

IMO, the smartest thing they could do is make a daily roulette that pulls from any dungeon in the game. Make that give what the current expert roulette gives. Still keep in level sync how it is except for one change. Don't lock abilities. If you've learned it then it's still accessible. Don't lock everything just because you got sastasha (and it's fine that higher leveled people will be a little OP throwing around Fire IVs). My two cents.
 

MrHoot

Member
Remember that leves and guildhests are a relic from an old and ugly game that they just imported over, they don't care about those and neither should you :p

Expect an expac (4.0 might even be it) where a ton of stuff is re-tuned to be done at the new level cap. This may not help with dungeons but their are creative ways to get time out of old dungeons.

IMO, the smartest thing they could do is make a daily roulette that pulls from any dungeon in the game. Make that give what the current expert roulette gives. Still keep in level sync how it is except for one change. Don't lock abilities. If you've learned it then it's still accessible. Don't lock everything just because you got sastasha (and it's fine that higher leveled people will be a little OP throwing around Fire IVs). My two cents.

I agree completely about the "no ability lock" thing. Right now ability lock is partly why redoing these old dungeons in roulettes feel so tedious as you're suddenly stripped of abilities you felt comfortable with and now are back to being gimped.

But yeah, as much as i'm not too concerned about leves and hests (though weird they decided to continue leves in heavensward =p), my main worry is about the accessibility of old content. I'm guessing the carrot of accessing the hard roulette will still be enough for some, but it's still kinda jarring now that 3.0 is released. Also stuff like Coil and Crystal Tower which, as expac go on, might need a little boost to stay relevant as well.

That and stuff like the relic/zodiac weapon which i'm doing now mostly for glamour/achievement which were already obsolete before. Kind of a wonder if they're just gonna condense all these quests into just one or two big ones (zenith > zodiac > zodiac brave> that can then chained straight into the new Anima weapons.

I dunno, maybe i'm just completely paranoid. There's a bunch of little things sprinkled here and there from 2.0 to 2.55 which I think would be a shame to be wasted away
 

Jeels

Member
So I am ready to go with this new patch. :) Switched back to Lala and ready to party.


Patch notes look pretty interesting...

Need to prioritize all the things I want to do:

-Gold Saucer - Want to at least try out Verminion but I don't think it will be a regular thing. That and the new minigames, hairdress and minion vendors...
-Triple triad - def want that Cactaur and Lalafell card (I forget his name..Raughban's son)
-Sightseeing log - New entries
-Vanu Vanu dailies
-Story
-Two new dungeons
-Knights of the Round Extreme
-Airship exploration
-Work towards any new minions or mounts I want

;_; I am going to have a busy week.

So many new achievements too...!
 

Tabris

Member
Oh man I just watched a couple of videos on Fallout 4 and I'm going to get it.

As soon as I'm done work I'm going to bed as I got lots of FFXIV and Fallout 4 tomorrow
 
The following mounts can now fly:
Ahriman

All I needed to see. Now male Lalafell will look like their lives are at risk now.

Male Lalas ride Ahriman by hanging on for dear life like their scared of falling off.
 

scy

Member
Reddit says Boring Group Comp LB Restrictions to be retracted.



A good decision, but whatever they do needs to distinguish between caster and physical ranged. It's dumb that you're encouraged to stack melee and potentially penalized for anything else.

Although "middle of a raid cycle" is worrying. Inc no LB3 in A3S?

Retracting it this fast is interesting but them sticking caster and Bard / Machinist together is still weird. I guess their idea is that tanks and healers share their item pool and each DPS has their own? Feel like incentivizing combinations is better than this.

also, rip LB3 dreams. Maybe we were all wrong on it hitting Savage. May make for funny DF content I guess.

Remember that leves and guildhests are a relic from an old and ugly game that they just imported over, they don't care about those and neither should you :p

Expect an expac (4.0 might even be it) where a ton of stuff is re-tuned to be done at the new level cap. This may not help with dungeons but their are creative ways to get time out of old dungeons.

IMO, the smartest thing they could do is make a daily roulette that pulls from any dungeon in the game. Make that give what the current expert roulette gives. Still keep in level sync how it is except for one change. Don't lock abilities. If you've learned it then it's still accessible. Don't lock everything just because you got sastasha (and it's fine that higher leveled people will be a little OP throwing around Fire IVs). My two cents.

They kind of have to at some point simply due to content bloat that would make the catchup a literal impossibility. I guess thats the point of eventual NPC queues (what happened to this?) but they could just find ways to make them relevant or at least used content regardless. Seems like they have these weird fears of when to reuse content and when not to.
 

iammeiam

Member
Retracting it this fast is interesting but them sticking caster and Bard / Machinist together is still weird. I guess their idea is that tanks and healers share their item pool and each DPS has their own? Feel like incentivizing combinations is better than this.

What? Only Melee DPS gets special snowflake loot pools. Maiming/Striking/Scouting vs of Aiming or of Casting. It'd actually make more sense if they just penalized you for three or more of the same left-side loot type.
 

dramatis

Member
For the lazy.
T3cOByQ.jpg
 

WolvenOne

Member
So, when do they usually update that website with all the weapon/armor info? I rather want to see what secondaries the new Thorden Weapons have.
 

aceface

Member
So, when do they usually update that website with all the weapon/armor info? I rather want to see what secondaries the new Thorden Weapons have.

When the patch is up to download.

Although Yoshi very seriously said not to do that last time. I don't know if that will dissuade anyone.
 

tearsofash

Member
I didn't know that leves and hests were leftovers. I find leves to be pretty useful for leveling up crafting and gathering even now.
 

Alric

Member
I've yet to do any sightseeing logs, they worth it? I know trying to get to the right place at the right time is a pain though.
 

Ken

Member
When the patch is up to download.

Although Yoshi very seriously said not to do that last time. I don't know if that will dissuade anyone.

I think he means the Lodestone Database? I can only remember there being an actual site dedicated to datamined gear once for 3.0 stuff, and I'm not sure if that site even went around on here.
 

Jeels

Member
Thanks for the excel Drama.

Uhh, I just realized I am not i190 on either of my combat classes...guess I am locked out of Knights of the Round :/

When are the servers back up?
 

Valor

Member
I think in 3.0, you didn't even need to datamine. The weapons and armor will all put up onto the lodestone or something.

The entire thing was datamined quite a ways before it launched. The issue with datamining was story spoilers that people were seeing. There's less of a spoiler issue now with regular patches again.
 

studyguy

Member
Cause data mining hurts yoship's feeling guys.

;_;

He hasn't cared about mine in a while.

Plus more interested about the bits they don't mention that are added every time there's a patch. Last time we had the NPC gear already datamined long before they said anything about it.
 

Tabris

Member
I have a feeling Thordan EX will actually be decently challenging and will take a couple sessions at least for most people to clear. Maybe even a week or two?

It'll be more in line with Titan EX at 2.1 launch maybe?
 

Sorian

Banned
I have a feeling Thordan EX will actually be decently challenging and will take a couple sessions at least for most people to clear. Maybe even a week or two?

It'll be more in line with Titan EX at 2.1 launch maybe?

I think it'll be in the higher part of mid tier content but no, people will beat it tomorrow.
 

Tabris

Member
I think it'll be in the higher part of mid tier content but no, people will beat it tomorrow.

Well of course some people will, that's why I used the word most.

I have a feeling it'll be more like Titan EX then any of the much easier EX fights after them.
 

Sorian

Banned
Well of course some people will, that's why I used the word most.

I have a feeling it'll be more like Titan EX then any of the much easier EX fights after them.

I guess I could re-phrase. The only people that will have any long standing issues are the brain dead sections of the community. Just like any other EX, beware when entering PF because it will be constant hit or miss and any hope of farming will be blocked by whining at the slightest forgivable mistakes.
 

Raijinken

Member
I have a feeling Thordan EX will actually be decently challenging and will take a couple sessions at least for most people to clear. Maybe even a week or two?

It'll be more in line with Titan EX at 2.1 launch maybe?

I can promise you Ultros will sell it by the end of the first week after everyone has farmed it for everything they want.
 

iammeiam

Member
From what they've described I'm kind of expecting an obscene amount of mechanics but Shiva-level forgiveness. Like, it'll be a potentially tricky fight to execute perfectly, but I'd expect a number of second chances. Hard enough for people to feel like beating it is an accomplishment, not so hard that people will actually get stuck.

I'd love to be wrong, but I kind of expect them to default easier at this point.
 

Frumix

Suffering From Success
From what they've described I'm kind of expecting an obscene amount of mechanics but Shiva-level forgiveness. Like, it'll be a potentially tricky fight to execute perfectly, but I'd expect a number of second chances. Hard enough for people to feel like beating it is an accomplishment, not so hard that people will actually get stuck.

I'd love to be wrong, but I kind of expect them to default easier at this point.


4 Megiddo Flames into T9 Savage meteors coupled with full-party Holy Chains chaining into 4 Hailstorms (and Megaflare towers were there in Normal in this phase, but I can't see them in the trailer cut).

Sacred Cross (Evil Eye type DPS check), except this time with large voidzones and Hailstorms!

Oh, and Thordan isn't going away.

I mean.
If Ravana is any indication this shit is gonna be out of reach for so many.
 

WolvenOne

Member
Apparently it was confirmed in the Patch-notes reading that the Adamantoise Mount would be made into a flying mount as of 3.2.

gamerazigra_shot0l.jpg


Please be excited.
 

scy

Member
Edit: Regarding the Thordan EX difficulty, just sort of expect a lot of mechanics to execute down to individuals and not really mass coordination. That seems to be their big defining factor for Primal difficulty vs raids, the expected coordination.

What? Only Melee DPS gets special snowflake loot pools. Maiming/Striking/Scouting vs of Aiming or of Casting. It'd actually make more sense if they just penalized you for three or more of the same left-side loot type.

They dont want any of the DPS to be shared loot pools within a group is what I mean. So no caster / caster or Bard / Machinist. But then they went and screwed things with the while allowing classes doubling up too in the change so I dunno. The reasoning here gets really weird at that point.

I have a feeling Thordan EX will actually be decently challenging and will take a couple sessions at least for most people to clear. Maybe even a week or two?

It'll be more in line with Titan EX at 2.1 launch maybe?

I totally expect Thordan EX to go down around the time the first Void Ark is done.
 

Bladelaw

Member
Given all the chatter over "dead game" I figured I'd give a New Player perspective on the game.

My wife and I wanted an MMO we could play together to relax and have fun after the kids are asleep. From everything we heard FFXIV is pretty newbie friendly in terms of mechanics, quests, and skills. The ability to change jobs on a single character is huge for me and means I don't need to run around with a dozen alts.

My wife and I are in the middle of our 14 day trial working from separate areas. I started in Ul'Dah (Gladiator) and she started in the Black Shroud (Lancer) somewhere. This was kind of intentional as we wanted to see if we liked the solo part of the game as well as the teamwork aspect. I didn't realize how long it takes to get ready for the big wide world though.

I'm really enjoying the game. it feels like a transitional game between hotbar combat and real time since you can move while acting to avoid enemy telegraphs. The quest design for the first 15 levels so far has been super dull, but the story is pulling me in and the combat is still opening itself to me. FATEs are probably my favorite implementation of the "zone event" concept Rift ran with. Simple tasks with worthwhile XP rewards with incentive to do more/better than the heroes around you.

The first real "shit going down" encounter with the Masked Man was great with the lead up. I think I'm about at the point where I can travel out of Thanalan so as soon as I can I'll be heading to the Shroud to meet up with my wife.

She's not 100% sold on the game yet, the quests are working for her and the story is keeping her attention but she's still on the left hand side of the combat learning curve(this is her first MMO). I'm wondering if a Gamepad would be better for her, anyone prefer to play that way?

We're not planning on going super serious high end EX raiding so as long as there's things to entertain us along the way we should be in for the long haul. Neither of us have touched crafting or any of the profession stuff so if that's something worth exploring at this point please let us know.
 

studyguy

Member
Glad you're having fun, most of us are just shooting the shit or just bored despite having actual content available to us that we might get around to eventually. Just remember, ded game. Personally I lost my soul somewhere around patch 1.16 so I've been dead for ages now.

tumblr_inline_nd5drnQOhC1r3z2yq.jpg


Also it's unfair how much more fun WAR is than PLD in battle. I just don't want to gear it though :/
My group is currently bouncing between Vermintide, Tree of Savior, soon Fallout 4 and XIV. I'm sure we'll get in void runs and fly our stupid ship somewhere before settling back in to forget dedgaem before hitting it again seriously at the end of the month or so.
 

Tabris

Member
Edit: Regarding the Thordan EX difficulty, just sort of expect a lot of mechanics to execute down to individuals and not really mass coordination. That seems to be their big defining factor for Primal difficulty vs raids, the expected coordination.

But again they used T9 as an example. Korra mentioned seeing some kind of Fire/Ice element in the trailer, and if so, that's co-ordination involved.

I totally expect Thordan EX to go down around the time the first Void Ark is done.

People seem to be missing the word 'most' in my statement. I'm talking about the average end game player. Except for raid there's nothing to going to hold back content from being cleared on first session or two in this game by someone, so I don't know what you're arguing here.
 

Frumix

Suffering From Success
Glad you're having fun, most of us are just shooting the shit or just bored despite having actual content available to us that we might get around to eventually. Just remember, ded game. Personally I lost my soul somewhere around patch 1.16 so I've been dead for ages now.

I'm having fun by actually playing with people I like. Somehow makes even the most mundane content like leveling or pony farming rather enjoyable. Beats kicking it with randoms. God am I glad to have someone to dive into new content with.
 
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