Support NeoGAF

[Alex]

MMOGs have always been time sinks, that is a fundamental mechanic of MMOG gameplay and outside of maybe Guild Wars no MMOG has ever not been a time sink.

Yeah, this is kind of a crock of shit. Unlike FFXIV, not everyone is stuck in the past, looking longingly at Verant's dead brand. If they were, I sure as heck wouldn't be playing any with my time table as of late. =/

Unless you're going to go after RPG basics in some flailing defense, there's quite a few releases out there that lood you with intuitive content, allow you to pick your pace, cut out the majority of nonsensical padding and and cater to great amounts of play types in a mechanical manner that improves further with player skill and isn't just focused around confusion and convolution.

Even if we were still back in the early growth of the genre where this would be something that'd be tolerated as a core game device, FFXIV has something obtuse, laggy or time consuming involved with every aspect of it to cover up for the fact that it has almost no content and it has no mechanics to legitimately challenge a player at the moment, and judging by XI's end game, it'll be surprising if it ever does.

I'm sure it'll improve and meet it's audience half way, but Square can and should be doing a lot better in their second generation MMO, I'm dying to know the story behind the development here.

Sure you may not be the best or even go on raids, but you can still do 4-5 quests a day and have fun with the game.

This isn't true for quite a few releases. I'm rocking fantastic progress in LOTRO (Hooray Bard!) right now on my staple 6-8 hour a week schedule. It flows very well. Having a good time with a friend pushing through what we can with a Mines of Moria CE box in time under the new system.

Back when I actively did shit in WoW, which to be fair, was ~18 months ago (I think), Ulduar, I blazed through normal mode into hard mode (probably had no chance of finishing Algalon on that schedule though, Mimiron, which is probably my favorite game fight altogether, was a big badge of pride though) raiding and got about half of it down before I ceased, did arena, did my dailies and always had some time for other misc fare.

This is also on that same 6-8 hour a week schedule that I set after I settled down, the game had virtually no required time sinks and greatly rewarded raw player skill through mechanics based play, not decade old genre simplicity + near-broken tuning which is the old school (and XI) norm, which I'll be really (really, really) shocked if it isn't the way FFXIV attempts to gate people as well.

You also have other outliers like DDO, GW, Vindictus for a recent crowd darling that all adapt a newer, progressive manner of things as well. In general, I think the ol' EQ methods are just about dead, especially considering how almost none are coming out anymore, Cataclysm is crazy about genre hopping mechanics and humor and barely resembles original WoW which was full of bullshit EQ-isms (I detested most of vanilla WoW), and all kinds of unique models are popping up. TOR is like the most normal-esque upcoming MMO I think...

Anyhow, I wont shit up the thread, apologies, just thought it was something worth dropping some commentary and thoughts on while I watch this game and hope for some 180.

 

[FieryBalrog]

If you only have an hour or two to play a game, then no MMOG will ever be playable for you, not even WoW.

False

Especially given what he's talking about

 

[Teknoman]

So has anyone cataloged what food/drink does what yet?

 

[Jinko]

So has anyone cataloged what food/drink does what yet?

There was a post on ZAM, detailing all food stats with info taken from teh data files.

It seems that SE haven't implemented a lot of the food buffs and that many of the higher level food have the same values as the low level food.

Each food has an optimal rank much like gear so some are suspecting that food works something like buff x ranks, others just think SE didn't have enough time to put in all the seperate food buffs and have left placeholders on many of them.

It's kind of a shame though, I really liked how FF11 was so dependant upon food and cooking, I hope they don't neglect it this time round.

 

[Ravidrath]

It's kind of a shame though, I really liked how FF11 was so dependant upon food and cooking, I hope they don't neglect it this time round.

I doubt they neglect it, but they really should put the food stats in the actual fucking item description. That would do a lot to help people actually want the shit.

 

[Jinko]

I doubt they will, but they really should put the food stats in the actual fucking item description.

Haha Yes, SE should do a lot of things, like telling us how stats work and what effects they have on accuracy etc.

I duno, is it some Japanese thing to be so secretive and what to hell is with the random luck when crafting.

 

[Coldsnap]

I am the mysterious chef, I tell you what my food does and you have to believe me because there's no system to tell you otherwise.

 

[JudgeN]

Problem with that is weapons wear out in less than an hour of grinding. It is impractical to expect your party to wait while you walk to a city (or blow 32 hours worth of anima) to roll the dice shouting for a repair and/or pay the NPC exorbitant sums for a 75% hack job that will break in 30 minutes. Similarly, expecting everyone to carry multiple copies of X00,000 gil weapons, or spend 100+ hours grinding a craft to the 30's are equally ridiculous. I will not even dignify building parties around craft ranks with a response, cause it is too stupid to even recognize as a possibility. Regardless of how you spin it, the system is broke and no amount of time is going to change it. Increases in level caps will continue to move the line and keep all these issues relevant long down the road.

While I agree that durability need to be reduced but SE gave you a FREE way to level crafting through the use of local leve's. I'm an 19 carpenter/14 alchemist/11 weaver/11 leather craft/10 Blacksmith that Ive leveled completely for free. I can repair my own armor/weapons all on my own for my rank 18 archer.

I'm also not sure if people know this but the repair formula is: Your craft has to be within 10 ranks of the items optimum rank to repair. So I don't see why people wouldn't take the opportunity to craft when you can do it for free. Not like there a ton to do in the game anyway.

 

[Teknoman]

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/pl/topics/detail?id=1e61594542692375bcf4e3f19739271b62246c3b

Maps and quest unlock info.

 

[JudgeN]

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/pl/topics/detail?id=1e61594542692375bcf4e3f19739271b62246c3b

Maps and quest unlock info.

You know its a shame all these Q/A aren't in the instruction manual or in a beginners tutorial. They have been very informative so far and I hope they continue to do them.

Here is a video of how the party search/party system works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRMSfqngweE&feature=player_embedded

It actually works really well to bad it took someone a month to figure out how to use it.

 

[DrDogg]

While I agree that durability need to be reduced SE gave you a FREE way to level crafting through the use of local leve's. I'm an 19 carpenter/14 alchemist/11 weaver/11 leather craft/10 Blacksmith that Ive leveled completely for free. I can repair my own armor/weapons all on my own for my rank 18 archer.

I'm also not sure if people know this but the repair formula is: Your craft has to be within 10 ranks of the items optimum rank to repair. So I don't see why people wouldn't take the opportunity to craft when you can do it for free. Not like there a ton to do in the game anyway.

I agree with this. I'm in the same boat (see below link for ranks), and while I'm ranking slower than others due to my wide range of classes, I'm doing all of it for free. I can count the number of mats I've bought in the Market Wards on one hand. I've had a few things crafted by other members of the LS (thank you!), but 99% of my ranking has been through leves, making my own gear, making other gear (for super cheap), or using mats I gather from MIN/BOT.

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/rc/character/status?cicuid=1558891

There is a slight issue with the repair system as I discovered over the weekend. There are times when you can make gear, but can't fix it for several ranks. Coldsnap asked me to fix a pair of his pants, which were rank 28. I can make the pants at rank 15 Weaver, but can't fix them until rank 18 weaver. That makes no sense...

 

[JudgeN]

I agree with this. I'm in the same boat (see below link for ranks), and while I'm ranking slower than others due to my wide range of classes, I'm doing all of it for free. I can count the number of mats I've bought in the Market Wards on one hand. I've had a few things crafted by other members of the LS (thank you!), but 99% of my ranking has been through leves, making my own gear, making other gear (for super cheap), or using mats I gather from MIN/BOT.

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/rc/character/status?cicuid=1558891

There is a slight issue with the repair system as I discovered over the weekend. There are times when you can make gear, but can't fix it for several ranks. Coldsnap asked me to fix a pair of his pants, which were rank 28. I can make the pants at rank 15 Weaver, but can't fix them until rank 18 weaver. That makes no sense...

This is my only real issue other then the durability decrease and SE said they were going to adjust synthesis recipe in Nov if I remember correctly. So I'm hoping a fix for this issue is on its way, but I agree it is a little stupid. Also wish i could repair my underwear without without having to go to the NPC, underwear should be the only items you can repair while equipped :lol

 

[Teknoman]

You know its a shame all these Q/A aren't in the instruction manual or in a beginners tutorial. They have been very informative so far and I hope they continue to do them.

Here is a video of how the party search/party system works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRMSfqngweE&feature=player_embedded

It actually works really well to bad it took someone a month to figure out how to use it.

Well the majority of lodestone info has been in game since launch. Check out "Call to Adventure" through any Aetheryte.

EDIT: I think thats the way the party search/recruit was always supposed to work...just that it was busted in beta, and no one really messed with it at launch.

 

[pancakesandsex]

Oh I see, it's kind of the opposite of FFXI. Instead of searching for members, members search for the party. I guess it's kinda like creating a match room in a fightman game.

 

[Rentahamster]

underwear should be the only items you can repair while equipped :lol

You should be able to repair any item while it's equipped, and without having to use your bazaar, too.

And they need to fix the repair requirements for HQ+3 items, it's ridiculous...

 

[Unknown Soldier]

You should be able to repair any item while it's equipped, and without having to use your bazaar, too.

Yes, it's ridiculous that first you need to go into your equipment menu and scroll through a list of 80 items to unequip it, then go into the inventory menu and scroll through a list of 80 items to pick it to put it in bazaar or repair it, then you change all your clothes and switch to your craft class (or wait for the person repairing the item for you to do this), and then you repair it, and then you (or the other guy) change all your clothes back, and then you go back into your equipment menu and scroll through a list of 80 items to re-equip it.

And you get to repeat this for every item you want to repair (or get repaired)!! :lol

And they need to fix the repair requirements for HQ+3 items, it's ridiculous...

Honestly it's easier just to throw away your Skull Eyepatch +3 and just equip a +2 one you have sitting around in your inventory rather than try and get it repaired. Hell, we can always take 5 minutes and go farm some more if we need them. Which we don't. :lol

Oh I see, it's kind of the opposite of FFXI. Instead of searching for members, members search for the party. I guess it's kinda like creating a match room in a fightman game.

Rentahamster and I tried to figure out how to work this thing. I got as far as searching for and finding his open party which he set to recruiting, but then I tried to join it and all it said was "Unable to Join" and we couldn't go any farther than that. :lol

 

[Jinko]

Red : Very tough (there are several shades of red, the darker the red, the tougher the opponent)

Oh really ?

Why could you not make them purple and black just to be clear !!

It actually works really well to bad it took someone a month to figure out how to use it.

No offence but it takes like 10 mins to learn how it works, I agree its not bad but we could still do with a better search function /sea would be nice and a LFP icon.

 

[jiggle]

less than 1300 ppl on what should be prime playing hours
but let's wait 30+ more days to release some fixes to fix some (but not all, or even most) of problems
surely ppl will stick around!

 

[Haint]

While I agree that durability need to be reduced but SE gave you a FREE way to level crafting through the use of local leve's. I'm an 19 carpenter/14 alchemist/11 weaver/11 leather craft/10 Blacksmith that Ive leveled completely for free. I can repair my own armor/weapons all on my own for my rank 18 archer.

I'm also not sure if people know this but the repair formula is: Your craft has to be within 10 ranks of the items optimum rank to repair. So I don't see why people wouldn't take the opportunity to craft when you can do it for free. Not like there a ton to do in the game anyway.

Yea, that's kind of why I was referencing higher levels where this discussion started. Local leves will not really carry you past 20 within a reasonable time frame. I will agree it's not really an issue up through maybe even the (Combat Class) 20's, but believe me, leveling a craft (or God forbid multiples) into the upper 20's, 30's and 40's are probably going to have you looking back on your comments and apologizing for them. All of this is ignoring the fact that a vast majority of players probably dislike crafting period, and do so only because SE has almost forced it on them with the punishing repair system and incentive-ized it with PHY XP. These people probably already consider it a time sink worth quitting the game over, you can imagine what this means when the investments increase 10 fold with higher levels. Even people that stomach it now will have had enough well before reaching 30. The feature is simply far too punishing (either in time, gil, effort, and sanity) to be a core mechanic of the game. It is so comical they actually try to represent this game as being casual friendly, even FFXI is "easy mode" compared to 95% of the mechanics and curves in XIV.

 

[Awntawn]

There was a post on ZAM, detailing all food stats with info taken from teh data files.

It seems that SE haven't implemented a lot of the food buffs and that many of the higher level food have the same values as the low level food.

Each food has an optimal rank much like gear so some are suspecting that food works something like buff x ranks, others just think SE didn't have enough time to put in all the seperate food buffs and have left placeholders on many of them.

It's kind of a shame though, I really liked how FF11 was so dependant upon food and cooking, I hope they don't neglect it this time round.

They're placeholders in the dats, but I'm told that tests show that the stat boots are indeed higher for higher rank items ingame.

The problem with food this time away is they're single crafts (shitload of mats for 1 piece of food) that lasts a fraction of the time it did in XI. Basically it's too annoying/expensive for people to bother

 

[JudgeN]

Yea, that's kind of why I was referencing higher levels where this discussion started. Local leves will not really carry you past 20 within a reasonable time frame. I will agree it's not really an issue up through maybe even the (Combat Class) 20's, but believe me, leveling a craft (or God forbid multiples) into the upper 20's, 30's and 40's are probably going to have you looking back on your comments and apologizing for them. All of this is ignoring the fact that a vast majority of players probably dislike crafting period, and do so only because SE has almost forced it on them with the punishing repair system and incentive-ized it with PHY XP. These people probably already consider it a time sink worth quitting the game over, you can imagine what this means when the investments increase 10 fold with higher levels. Even people that stomach it now will have had enough well before reaching 30. The feature is simply far too punishing (either in time, gil, effort, and sanity) to be a core mechanic of the game. It is so comical they actually try to represent this game as being casual friendly, even FFXI is "easy mode" compared to 95% of the mechanics and curves in XIV.

My entire LS is crafting, and I already know a ton of people 25+ crafters. None of these people seem to be thinking about quitting crafting or the game for that matter :lol So how did you come up with this?

Now don't take this wrong it needs to be adjusted because shit degrades way to fast, and the overall grind int his game needs to be decreased because it is ridiculous. But I think the durability mechanic isn't so bad it just needs some "tweaks".

 

[Jinko]

They're placeholders in the dats, but I'm told that tests show that the stat boots are indeed higher for higher rank items ingame.

The problem with food this time away is they're single crafts (shitload of mats for 1 piece of food) that lasts a fraction of the time it did in XI. Basically it's too annoying/expensive for people to bother

Most cooked food's last 30 mins FWIW.

I can see SE updating many recipes over time (possibly to make 6 or 12 items), plus with the addition or being able to repeat a synth it won't take as long to make single items. (hopefully)

Now don't take this wrong it needs to be adjusted because shit degrades way to fast, and the overall grind int his game needs to be decreased because it is ridiculous. But I think the durability mechanic isn't so bad it just needs some "tweaks".

I agree with this, in theory the durability loss isn't much different from WoW, its just the fact that it happens far too fast, you can't tell which piece is broken and repairing it is a complete nightmare.

First they need to add a frame around the items icon yellow/red depending on durability status so you can see which pieces in your inventory/equip screen are broken.

Add durability percentage instead of 107678987/284764858.

And allow players to repair armor whilst they are wearing the item, sure they would need to tweak the bazaar functionality, but TBH repairs shouldn't be sharing the bazaar in the first place.

 

[Haint]

My entire LS is crafting, and I already know a ton of people 25+ crafters. None of these people seem to be thinking about quitting crafting or the game for that matter :lol So how did you come up with this?

Now don't take this wrong it needs to be adjusted because shit degrades way to fast, and the overall grind int his game needs to be decreased because it is ridiculous. But I think the durability mechanic isn't so bad it just needs some "tweaks".

It's common sense really, crafting is mind numbingly boring and less engaging than most browser games. XIV's take is probably more mundane and job like that most people's RL occupation--unless you work on an assembly line or something. It should go without saying that a vast majority of players are not going to like it, and historically, they don't as crafting is almost always limited to a very small minority of players--by SE's own admission no less. I'm not sure why you think your circle of friends is at all representative of the population at large. The number of concurrent players is down almost 50% since launch window, and there doesn't seem to be many new folks joining. Admittedly that is for a number of reasons, but I don't think it's a stretch to assume the repair system and effectively forced crafting are contributing factors.

 

[Dorga]

For Nvidia card-users, be sure to install the newly released drivers (260.99). It specifically address performance issues with Final Fantasy XIV. After installing it, I noticed a nice increase in frame rate.

 

[Cmagus]

So I decided to go full on Conj/Thurm tonight.Got kind of tired playing as a Marauder I think the major problem with the class is alot of the attacks that aren't your main attack either have some cone area of attack or group attack.This got kind of frustrating because I have been finding now that most of the enemies in the leves have some sort of other creature round and it makes it way to hard to use your specials without risking hitting them.Also as a Marauder its good to tank and I just didn't want to go through the gladiator class and stuff to get that kind of tired of standing there like a post.

Also I found you had to have top armor to keep up as well and its impossible for me to fix it and the NPC costs a fortune and doesn't even fix most high end stuff 100% I saved up 130K to fix my iron hab and he fixed it to like 80% like thats a crap ton of money not to have it fixed.I also downgraded big time bought all new armor and made sure it is within my fixing limit Im gonna stick to that from now on and try to avoid going much higher than what I can do.It just always felt like I was workign towards fixing my armor all the time.

 

[Salaadin]

A lot of the MRD AOE stuff is turned off the moment you take a step so thats how Ive been dealing. If theres another mob around that I dont want to hit, Ill just move an inch and remove Steadfast. Its the only solution really.

I do tend to move around a lot during battles anyway. That battle position chart shows MRDs arent supposed to be right in the mobs face so I try to stay an Axe swing distance away. I have no idea if its helping but thats what I do.

I agree about the gear though. Part of the reason I skilled ARM is so I can make my own stuff. I was also adamant about not wearing any high rank gear unless I was close to being at the optimal rank but here I am at r22 wearing r27 gear. I dont get the full benefit yet but its just easier for me now because I can repair it all myself. Ill probably stick with it until 35ish. By then, my ARM will easily be high enough to craft the Iron Hauby and all other similar pieces.

Weapons degrade far too quickly too and thats going to be my biggest issue because Im not going to rank BSM high enough to fix my later axes.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Well yeah, that's why you don't want to use armor and weapons that are that much higher than your current rank. It's gonna cost you way more to maintain it than you can support.

I lol @ all the rank 10 gladiators running around in r30 gear,

 

[Azzurri]

I changed to Pug from a MAU, just missed to much. I can see a huge difference with Pug. Plus, I like the H2H Boxing, :lol

 

[jiggle]

high cost probably one of the reasons they're uncharacteristically generous with gil rewards
doesn't make it any less annoying though, with stuffs constantly breaking across all the disciplines




just discovered boiled eggs
is it placebo or are they just that good? XD

does anyone carry around secondary crafting tools?
i carried all of them around but never ever used them (prefer + over extra items)
so i dumped them onto retainer
but that's running low on inventory space too
safe to permanently ditch them all?

 

[Rentahamster]

the major problem with the class is alot of the attacks that aren't your main attack either have some cone area of attack or group attack.

That's not a problem. That's what makes marauders awesome. There are plenty of single-attacks at your disposal if you need to use one.

Also I found you had to have top armor to keep up as well

No you don't. I was fighting giant lighting-breathing salamanders in a cotton tunic and no pantsu - true story.

I lol @ all the rank 10 gladiators running around in r30 gear,

Yeah, I know :lol To be fair, however, some of them might just be leveling sub jobs.

just discovered boiled eggs
is it placebo or are they just that good? XD

does anyone carry around secondary crafting tools?

Eggs are good. I don't carry off-hand tools, but then again, I just do local leves to get phys exp.

 

[Coldsnap]

I hope they have a halloween event, that will bring me back this week.

 

[RocketDarkness]

I didn't play this weekend. It felt very refreshing. I think I'm going to keep up this whole "not-playing-FFXIV" schtick.

 

[Forbiden]

Is there a specific way to make guild marks become a reward from leves? I got a couple of leves that offered guild marks in the past, but now they seem to have disappeared.

 

[Jinko]

does anyone carry around secondary crafting tools?
i carried all of them around but never ever used them (prefer + over extra items)
so i dumped them onto retainer
but that's running low on inventory space too
safe to permanently ditch them all?

If you are a serious crafter/gatherer you will want any and all the extra stats you can gain, which yes includes using secondary tools.

And 3 sets of gear, 1 for crafting, 1 for gathering and 1 for fighting.

I changed to Pug from a MAU, just missed to much. I can see a huge difference with Pug. Plus, I like the H2H Boxing,

Accuracy is a huge problem for any fighting/magic class, you probably dont notice it so much as a PGL because you get 2-4 hits per attack is all.

 

[Rentahamster]

Is there a specific way to make guild marks become a reward from leves? I got a couple of leves that offered guild marks in the past, but now they seem to have disappeared.

Like so many other things in this game, it's random.

 

[Rentahamster]

No you don't. I was fighting giant lighting-breathing salamanders in a cotton tunic and no pantsu - true story.

To clarify - don't wear anything more than 5 ranks above your current rank, and if possible keep all your gear as close to optimal rank as possible.

For weapons - don't use anything more than 1 or 2 ranks above your current rank.

 

[Cmagus]

Well yeah, that's why you don't want to use armor and weapons that are that much higher than your current rank. It's gonna cost you way more to maintain it than you can support.

I lol @ all the rank 10 gladiators running around in r30 gear,

Yeah well Im also 20 rank mar and 24 phys level and alot of the armor for me I simply cannot make and I really can't find anything other than harbs anywhere at least maybe on my server.I have a iron harb which is high for me but the bronze Harb is 24 so its in my range just not in my crafting range.The iron harb I found for like 100K thats why I grabbed it for a second set of armor cause I couldn't fix the first one.As for Marauder I'm still gonna go the other way Im just not feeling it.I put my armor up for repairs but no one has fixed it so I dunno and im not paying that NPC d-bag to not fully fix it.

 

[Ravidrath]

Does anyone know what the tier 2 basic attacks for for THM and CON?

They sound... AoE?

 

[DrDogg]

just discovered boiled eggs
is it placebo or are they just that good? XD

does anyone carry around secondary crafting tools?
i carried all of them around but never ever used them (prefer + over extra items)
so i dumped them onto retainer
but that's running low on inventory space too
safe to permanently ditch them all?

All of the crafting food and crafting gear have a significant impact on crafting results.

Also, I carry all of my secondary crafting tools. I have found that there are some recipes that work FAR better with the secondary tool. For example, with GSM, turning quartz and other raw stones into fine gems (like sunstones) works FAR better with the GSM off-hand tool. I've tested this numerous times, and while I'm high enough to complete the synth with either GSM tool, it's much easier to do so with the off-hand tool. I've noticed this with other classes as well.

If you are a serious crafter/gatherer you will want any and all the extra stats you can gain, which yes includes using secondary tools.

And 3 sets of gear, 1 for crafting, 1 for gathering and 1 for fighting.

Accuracy is a huge problem for any fighting/magic class, you probably dont notice it so much as a PGL because you get 2-4 hits per attack is all.

My CON is only 17, but I have no issues with ACC and I've never added anything to my DEX stat. In fact, I'd go as far as to say I have more problems with spells getting resisted than my Spirit Dart missing. And I've poured stupid amounts of points into Piety and Intelligence.

Also, I have 4 sets of gear, 1 for weaver/alchemist, 1 for the rest of my crafting class, 1 for gathering and 1 for CON/THM (although I change gloves for the two classes since one is 17 and the other is only 12).

I've actually made some interesting observations. There are no CON gloves, only THM gloves, which give you +MP. However, you don't get the +MP as CON since it's not a favored class.

Also, there are no pants or head pieces for gathering classes, and the lowest gathering waist piece is rank 17. :lol

 

[Salaadin]

Also, there are no pants or head pieces for gathering classes, and the lowest gathering waist piece is rank 17. :lol

Sheepskin Culottes give Gathering +6.
Theyre a rank17 peice. Higher rank variations add more to the Gathering stat.

I also think my Miner is wearing a scarf (Cotton?) that adds Perception.

 

[DrDogg]

I've figured out what my main complaint is. FFXIV is just too easy compared to FFXI.

There are a variety of things that make it too easy, but I think that's why I'm not really enjoying the game.

- You die and it doesn't matter. In FFXI I was afraid every time I heard the grunt of an aggroing mob. In 14, even if I get aggro from the few mobs in the initial areas that actually aggro, I can either outrun them, or if I die I just go back to my home point with no real penalty.

- There's practically no skilled involved in playing the mage classes. When soloing I spam my dart attack and cast spells whenever I feel like it. I can count the number of times a spell cast has been interrupted on one hand, and as long as I keep myself cured I have no fear of death... but even if I do die, see above. In parties, I have to watch hate control, but even if I draw hate, I can just spam more cures. In FFXI, it took a lot more effort to control hate, and if I drew hate, I had to time my spells to ensure I didn't get interrupted while saving my life. I also had to pay attention to far more buffs/debuffs.

There are a lot of tedious, time consuming things in FFXIV, but they're far from "difficult". When I accomplished something in FFXI, I felt satisfied. Like I had worked really hard to achieve whatever goal. In FFXIV, it just feels like that's missing due to how easy everything is. In fact, the hardest part of FFXIV is managing my inventory. :lol

Sheepskin Culottes give Gathering +6.
Theyre a rank17 peice. Higher rank variations add more to the Gathering stat.

I also think my Miner is wearing a scarf (Cotton?) that adds Perception.

I was looking through YG at 3am, so I must've missed those pants (or maybe I stopped before rank 17). But Perception is not a gathering stat. As far as I know, it's only gathering, output and scanning. Most sites list perception has a stat that helps with evasion.

 

[Teknoman]

Well yeah, that's why you don't want to use armor and weapons that are that much higher than your current rank. It's gonna cost you way more to maintain it than you can support.

I lol @ all the rank 10 gladiators running around in r30 gear,

I think an ideal range is about 10 ranks above your current. Maybe 15 ranks higher than your current...but thats pushing it...for armor anyway.

EDIT: Death matters to me since I dont want to have busted armor :lol

Oh and wear a straw hat when gathering.

 

[kiryogi]

I think an ideal range is about 10 ranks above your current. Maybe 15 ranks higher than your current...but thats pushing it...for armor anyway.

EDIT: Death matters to me since I dont want to have busted armor :lol

Oh and wear a straw hat when gathering.

Oh man I should totally invest in one for that purpose. Beats being completely naked :lol

 

[DrDogg]

Correction... it seems as though perception on gear is what increases the scanning stat. Makes no sense, but whatever.

So now I need to look at hats and see which is best for my rank.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

That's not a problem. That's what makes marauders awesome. There are plenty of single-attacks at your disposal if you need to use one.

I do sort of understand the intent that Square had when they thought up the positioning system for fighting mobs, where gladiators are supposed to be humping it while tanking, pugilists are a bit further away punching away, then marauders a little further out with their longer axes, lancers at a moderate distance poking away at it, and archers a mile away sniping with arrows. It's just that right now there's absolutely nothing in the game which uses this mechanic at all. All mobs have identical aoe attacks which always hit just about everyone in the party (including the mages) and only archers who are practically on the other side of the zone shooting arrows can avoid them. This is especially ludicrous for the mages who often get one-shotted by these aoes because their spell range is so short and they have to stand as close as lancers do just to make sure they can heal everybody.

No you don't. I was fighting giant lighting-breathing salamanders in a cotton tunic and no pantsu - true story.

No other class except yours can do that and get away with it. Not even gladiators.

This is how I think Squenix intended the classes to break down:
Gladiator - designated tank class. Huge shield, low DPS.
Marauder - DPS/off-tank class. Huge HP pool, balance of DPS and defense.
Pugliist - melee DPS. Huge DPS, crumples like paper.
Lancer - melee support. Buffs and debuffs for fellow melee party members.
Archer - ranged DPS. Crumples like paper, aoe/single-target nuker.
Conjurer - magic DPS. Crumples like paper, aoe/single-target nuker.
Thaumaturge - magie support. Buffs and debuffs for party members.

This is really how classes are right now (IMHO):

Gladiator - tries to be the tank but can't take a hit. Miserable DPS, hard to level because SP is split between sword and shield. Only class which has to level 2 jobs at once, sword AND shield. Like in many MMOGs, the designated tank class in this game is impossible to level solo and levels more slowly in groups than other classes.

Marauder - a better tank than gladiator because of huge HP pool and unnecessary weapon parry bonus no other class has. A better DPSer than pugilist and pulls less hate than pugilist because 1 hit per attack instead of 2. A hilariously overpowered class right now because instead of balancing defense and DPS, it's too good at both.

Pugilist - crumples like paper when a mob looks at it funny. Draws hate too easily because of 2 hits per attack instead of 1, and then dies when the mob nukes it. DPS is not nearly as good as it should be considering how much hate it draws.

Lancer - nobody plays this class. As is typical in many MMOGs, nobody wants to play the "support" class. Sigh.

Archer - I play this class, so my opinion is probably biased. Nuking DPS is pretty much where it ought to be, but like the ranged DPS in many MMOGs, regular attack DPS is intentionally poor. The goal is to build TP to set off nukes, but against stronger mobs TP builds so slowly that it's very difficult to prepare the nukes this class depends on to generate DPS. I spend most of my time trying to build TP during a fight which makes me pretty useless for actually doing my job, which is fucking the mob's shit up with my nukes.

Conjurer - hilariously broken. Can't survive a hit because it doesn't have Firm Conviction. (Thaumaturge does.) Gets hit a lot because it almost has to be in melee range to cast spells and heal. Worst SP gain of all classes right now, which is why it basically can't do it's job of nuking mobs because nukes net almost no SP compared to spamming healing spells. Every conjurer we have in our parties go through a cycle of stand near mob, heal a lot, die to the mob's aoe nuke, watch the party finish killing the mob, return to home point, run back, rinse and repeat. And they get the worst SP of all of us!

Thaumatuge - buff spammer. Because of Firm Conviction, hilariously becomes a super-tank when casting a spell at level 30, which thaumaturges naturally try to be doing continously to get the defense bonus that trait grants. SP gain is better than conjurer just because they actually stay alive throughout the entire fight and can withstand the mob's aoe nuke if they are casting when it goes off. Punishing Barbs is such a great and broken buff right now that everybody should level a thaumaturge to 10 just to have that buff up so when a mob nukes them to death, they can reflect the damage back and kill the mob instantly. Reflecting damage doesn't give SP the way direct damage does, but there is no other way to finish a leve which is impossibly hard because the number of stars was set too high other than using barbs to cheese the mobs to death.

Spoiler

Yeah, I'm stuck at work right now. I would rather be playing the game rather than typing TL;DR posts about it. :lol

 

[kiryogi]

The cries of sorrow from a gladiator (me) So it is true that I level slower! nerf those marauders so I can shine in my role!

 

[Teknoman]

Cant Pugilist work as an evasion tank? I mean they were given taunt, so that has to mean something right?

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Cant Pugilist work as an evasion tank? I mean they were given taunt, so that has to mean something right?

I get the feeling that Pugilist was supposed to be like Ninja in FFXI and rely on evasion to survive since they can't take a hit. But their evasion isn't nearly as good as it should be to be relied on. Pugilists should get an evasion bonus the way Marauders get a parry bonus, but they don't. So they just fall over when the mob decides it's tired of being punched a lot, which is quite often.

 

[Teknoman]

Does light strike constantly build evasion to a certain level, or does it just boost evasion once? I know either attack gives an eva or def boost, but not sure if it stacks to a certain point.

 

[Kronotech]

Does light strike constantly build evasion to a certain level, or does it just boost evasion once? I know either attack gives an eva or def boost, but not sure if it stacks to a certain point.

Light Strike is just a temp boost. It wears off after 10 seconds or so. At 14, my PUG will start with Featherfoot (Increases Evasion until attack is evaded), then throw a Light Strike down, and then Concussive Blow (reduces targets accuracy - can be stacked) once my TP reaches 1000.

With all that, I still get hit frequently.