[FFXIV] : Are you in the Alpha/Beta? Cause I'm not :(

Silas Brown

You've got the right of it, Tetsuo. The ideal MMO shouldn't necessarily require obsessive devotion, but it should be a long-lasting experience that grows as your character does.

Asamof the Horrible

i've been through the dunes and i honestly don't remember it as a bad experience at all

infact i remember the danger aspect of it very fondly, putting the atmosphere of the game up there with old EQ1

also i don't recall dying all the time

lucky me i suppose

Yougottawanna

I enjoyed the dunes but I might've enjoyed them more without all the irritating crap.

I remember a problem being that sometimes they were so busy that every possible pulling spot was taken by a full party though.

TheStig

tetsuoZshima wrote: »

TheStig wrote: »

The best dunes tank is whm, well, that's who ends up tanking anyway :P

Things like the Dunes are what I hope they fix in FFXIV. Anyone who played XI could have told you the dunes was a terrible place and yet they never really fixed it, and even made it worse it a way.
Other than kuftal which could really only support 1 part it was the only place to level from 10-20, for a full size party, but it was just horrible for a beginner zone. If you entered in from the north you had to dodge goblins all the way to town to set your homepoint there, if you came from the south you likely had to pass through a cave with unavoidable bats that can kill anyone that should be partying there at that level. The place was entirely newbie unfriendly, full of roaming goblins that could wipe a party. And up until recently you couldn't change your job there so the only hope of resurrection was a higher level that was passing by.

I'm sure that zone alone turned off a ton of players who never returned to try the game again. SE's just barely added nomad moogles to it but before that they added even more party destroying goblins, what the hell? They could have easily made that place much more newbie friendly just by changing around a few monster spawns/types of monsters.

Here's a list of monsters in the area:
Lizards: the most friendly of them all, though they only last you until about level 13.
Crabs: not too dangerous but have high def, making some classes like thief hit for 0 damage and making fights drag on. Such an exciting introduction to partying for new players
goblins: roving aggro machines of party wipe
pugils: good xp, not tough to kill but have an attack that can 1 shot your tank, remember, no raise until lvl25
Flys: horrible downtime causing aoe and poison in a game with 20 jobs and only 1 of them can cure poison at this level.
bats: they guard choke points and murder anyone below lvl18, why are they blocking the path to town in the newbie leveling zone?
night time: horrible, horrible undead

So, nearly everyone's first partying experience in a game where partying was required was almost guaranteed to be horrible. And SE never realized this or fixed it, I really hope their policy changes with FFXIV.

edit: man what a rant, look at what this game did to me. :P

people really only should have had the travel issue with their first job; I'm not sure why people were so lazy and never completed the OP quests that let you teleport all over the damn game, including like 3 feet outside selbina.

Aside from that, the Buruburu pennisula was the dunes more friendly twin. More crabs, dahmels, goblins and pugils, and more friendly camp spots -- during the same 10-20 stretch most ppl do in the dunes. If you were from Windy, especially, there was no reason to party in the dunes. Of course, people did, because they are stupid. But that isn't SE's fault. BTW, antidotes have never been expensive -- again, people just being lazy with not being able to cure poison. That is my issue. Not the game, a large portion of the people. REALIZE you are going to a PARTY and stop thinking about YOURSELF. If you're party lacks cures, or poisona, or whatever, you can a) find another, b) make your own, or c) ADAPT and bring what you need to survive.

I LOVE the fact that the game is so damn hard. I like the books they added that made it easy mode, I like the removal of so many RPK methods etc. I'm not sadistic, but I WANTED (and got!) a game that would last me years. I don't want to start FFXIV and be high level in a week. I understand that's exactly what many people want, and that's probably what will drive me away from it, but oh well.

I've been playing FFXI for 5 years, and I still log in regularly. Not as much as I once did, but that goes for everything. Lately I've just been soloing crap on Sch (<3 that job); but I enjoyed partying also. I've played the hell out of this game, and have the Herald's Gaiters and Novio to prove it; so I wouldn't mind something new... but I just don't want what the public wants, I suppose.

Until 6 years into the game you couldn't OP to the dunes unless you were over level 20. Popping 284 - 328gil antidotes is not realistic for a beginning player, especially when the game was new.
The dunes is ok when it's your nth time through and you know all the ins and outs of it and know how to build a good party for it. If have your stupid rare/ex lowbie gear that you have collected that's not obtainable for a first time player and are playing with other people who have played the game before, but it is the first zone, the introduction to parting and it's like it's designed to be a newbie meat grinder that makes people never want to play the game again.

Also bubu simply has too many bogy on the beaches when night comes. Also don't the pugils link there?

edit: It is possibly to get through the dunes with little incident, mostly by lucking out and getting decent party members or someone in the party who knows what's up to tell all the newbies what to do and the actually listen. But many people were completely turned off by the experience to the point of not wanting to give the game another try. That is what I hope they fix in FFXIV, let people have a chance to learn before throwing all that bullshit at them. And make the game improving changes sooner, they didn't need to wait 5 or 6 years to add nomad moogles and low level OP warping.

Gahmrious

Tetsuo mentioned loving the game because of the difficulty factor, I can atest to this as well. FFXI was an experience for me , more than it was a game. I didn't play it to grind to the next level or sit around being miserable trying to craft, I actually enjoyed everything about the game. The zones were amazingly detailed, and had a lot of personality. XI has been the only mmo that I've taken the time to just explore the zones and really appreciate the time put in.

Having that experience in XIV is what I'm looking for. The game shouldn't be about the grind to lvl cap and THEN enjoy the game, it should be enjoyed throughout. I get the feeling that a lot of mmo players just glaze over the foundations of the games, and that attributes to the lack of interest after 10+ hours.

Just_Bri_Thanks

I could never get into WoW because of that. Everyone was only eager to get to max level and raid.

Silas Brown

Just_Bri_Thanks wrote: »

I could never get into WoW because of that. Everyone was only eager to get to max level and raid.

This will kill any MMO for me. Aion has the benefit of being new, but already I can tell that the PvP aspect, which is the focus of the end-game as well as a majority of the levelling areas, is going to drive people to prioritize maximum level. When I start feeling that, I'll probably quit.

If FFXIV doesn't get me first, of course.

DisruptedCapitalist

Just_Bri_Thanks wrote: »

I could never get into WoW because of that. Everyone was only eager to get to max level and raid.

That's exactly how some gold farmers make their money; by offering powerleveling services. I've heard it for many an MMO where new players join new parties and they say "This sucks, when can I start raids?"

There is often an assumption that most games suck except for endgame, so it's better to hire someone to power level your character to the max level asap so you can play the "real" game.

Silas Brown

In this sense, I feel like WoW has had a detrimental effect on the MMO market. Character progression and questing is fun, when done right! I don't see why good mid-game development and good end-game content has to be mutually exclusive.

Yougottawanna

A benefit of the job system IMO is that you have a reason to "roll an alt" so to speak and keep replaying the beginning and midgame. You even have an excuse to go to different starting zones and try them out when you level another job, whereas in WoW you could conceivably play a single race/class combo to the level cap and go straight to raiding, thereby bypassing a big chunk of the game's overall content.

Basically, the job system rules and I'm glad they appear to be keeping the essential elements of it in FFXIV. The biggest difference I can see is that you can switch between jobs more easily, which ought to make getting all the components together for a good party easier.

Great, now I'm all impatient for this game.

Silas Brown

The job system was my favorite thing about FFXI, and the spirit of it is why I'm excited for FFXIV. I like that levelling any class still qualifies as progression for the overall character, and I like having the one face in the game no matter which class I wish to play. I feel my attachment to a character in other MMOs will diminish at the point where, after three or four alts, I'll stop thinking of them as my avatar and just as "The Warrior" or "The Healer" or whatever.

Gahmrious

So is it too soon to start talking about the characters we're going to be starting? I think I'm going to go with a Roegadyn and some kind of tanking class... In XI I played a Elv RDM and thing I'd like to mix it up a bit this time.

Tre

Gahmrious wrote: »

Tetsuo mentioned loving the game because of the difficulty factor, I can atest to this as well. FFXI was an experience for me , more than it was a game. I didn't play it to grind to the next level or sit around being miserable trying to craft, I actually enjoyed everything about the game. The zones were amazingly detailed, and had a lot of personality. XI has been the only mmo that I've taken the time to just explore the zones and really appreciate the time put in.

Having that experience in XIV is what I'm looking for. The game shouldn't be about the grind to lvl cap and THEN enjoy the game, it should be enjoyed throughout. I get the feeling that a lot of mmo players just glaze over the foundations of the games, and that attributes to the lack of interest after 10+ hours.

Not enough lime...

This is the reason I played this game for 5 years and also the reason why I have no problem with XIV's zones looking like HD versions of XI's. I loved wandering around zones randomly with no map. Then I come across an entrance to dungeon and poke my head in and before you know it, I'm getting eaten by Vrtra .

The first thing I remember doing when ToAU came out was hopping on the boat to Nashmau with a bunch of LS mates and getting destroyed by imps and chigoes while exploring Caedavra Mire. Getting sweet loot and level 75 is nice, but those are the memories that stay with me whenever I think about my FFXI experience.

The Dude With Herpes

Gahmrious wrote: »

So is it too soon to start talking about the characters we're going to be starting? I think I'm going to go with a Roegadyn and some kind of tanking class... In XI I played a Elv RDM and thing I'd like to mix it up a bit this time.

Only that we really don't know yet quite how characters will work.

I imagine there will be typical MMO roles of tanks, dps, healers, support though.

My problem is that the Taru-wannabies are not little balls of awesomeness like they are in XI.

I will probably make an Elvaan-ish duder again. I'm getting mind numbingly bored of tanking in WoW though; maybe I'll go with the heals.

EDIT: Fixed my taru statement.

Feldorn

once i know more about the pros/cons of the races, i can make a decision, but as of now, i'm thinking about a roegadyn pugilist. as i enjoyed the monk class

Yougottawanna

It's been so long since I played I'll probably just do what I did before and be a Hume/Hyur RDM. I always like the jack-of-all-trades classes.

toolbert

Sweetness, I signed up for the fun. Lets hope I can get in! I spent way too much time on FFXI before work kicked in, but I would love to start something new.

Yougottawanna

So is only the PC beta scheduled? I said I wanted in on the PS3 beta, because they asked me about my video card and such and I was worried that if I said I was playing it on PC they'd say "your computer is not muscly enough, application denied."

Topia

Yougottawanna wrote: »

So is only the PC beta scheduled? I said I wanted in on the PS3 beta, because they asked me about my video card and such and I was worried that if I said I was playing it on PC they'd say "your computer is not muscly enough, application denied."

They are planning on a PS3 beta, but just not yet. I assume they will take your application and file it away.

Secondly, as long as your PC isn't a total shitpile answer honestly. They want people with bad computers in the beta so that they can test out how the game works on mediocre machines.

Silas Brown

It's too early to say, but I for some reason I kind of have a hard-on for the Galka equivilants in this iteration. I'm thinking Roegadyn Lancer for me.

GPIA7R

Taru for life.

TheStig

They should have made female galkas and male mithras. There was really no reason why they couldn't, I mean, they're not the same races after all, they just look alike.

PikaPuff

The only thing I lied about was the fan sites (since you can't say no) and how many hours a week do i play games. Instead of a truthful 72+ hours I put the 48-72 so I don't fall into the "oh he may die from playing this awesome game so much so we won't invite him" bracket

Louie

Must signup but cannot move from the sofa. I'm not injured or anything, just hungover and lazy.

Hang on, does it need a dxdiag if no I can do from my phone.

TheStig

Louie wrote: »

Must signup but cannot move from the sofa. I'm not injured or anything, just hungover and lazy.

Hang on, does it need a dxdiag if no I can do from my phone.

good for you (but bad for me,) I don't think this is first come first serve

GPIA7R

Louie wrote: »

Must signup but cannot move from the sofa. I'm not injured or anything, just hungover and lazy.

Hang on, does it need a dxdiag if no I can do from my phone.

I did it from iPhone

Feldorn

Louie wrote: »

Must signup but cannot move from the sofa. I'm not injured or anything, just hungover and lazy.

Hang on, does it need a dxdiag if no I can do from my phone.

new levels of lazy found today :P you'll be perfect for this sort of thing as long as you have a laptop.

Gahmrious

Hangover!? You're letting a hangover stop you from signing up!?

Wait, is this a beer/liquor/beer/liquor/puke/beer/food/puke/beer/sleep , hangover? Shit.. I'm sorry bro.

Adda

Louie wrote: »

Must signup but cannot move from the sofa. I'm not injured or anything, just hungover and lazy.

Hang on, does it need a dxdiag if no I can do from my phone.

You have reached a new level of laziness that does not even surprise me. You can sign up from your iphone.

nb. I am two rooms away from louie so have possibly matched his laziness in writing this post.

AtomBomb

I'm with the folks that really like FFXI as an experience. It was a gorgeous game and just exploring for explorings sake was a lot of fun.

I joined with a few work friends who played SWG. This was my first MMO. Turns out they were very min/max and level above all. They went back to SWG after a week or so because they hated the grind of FF. They would come into work excited about bots and RMT and shit. "Guess what I'm doing now? Leveling! I found a spot I could script where my character is killing these stupid things that spawn at just the right speed so that I don't even have to be there!" That sounded awful to me. You couldn't do that in FF.

I hope that the servers are country mixed, but I know I'm in the minority on that. One of my best early experiences was running into a hume bard outside Sandy. I was a monk, and I saw this guy get an add and I jumped in to help. I was new to the game, so I didn't realize that bards were a new class that none of the NA players had access to yet. I also probably thought this guy was in trouble when he was pulling that way on purpose. Anyway, I try to help him out, using the translator to "explain" how adds work and stuff. I was really trying to be helpful, but it must have sounded like a 6 year old explaining why your car won't start. Guy was really cool, we formed a party and we went around for a few hours. Lots of fun.

Next time I was on he whispered me and asked if I wanted to see some cool stuff. I said sure and he showed up as a high level BLM. WALKED with me to all these cool places that I wouldn't have been able to survive (since I couldn't ride a chocobo at that point). It was a lot of fun and really set a standard for MMO community that I was never able to find in another game.

I also played at odd hours and ended up in a lot of Japanese parties. Almost always good experiences. Took time to explain stuff to me, really generous, never got mad if I got us killed by doing something stupid.

Another thing I liked about FFXI was that there were so many standards that were only enforced by the community, not by the game itself. Things like no one rolling on items, just let it time out and see who gets it. Some people found that annoying, but I thought it was neat. You could easily snag an item just by rolling on it, but hardly no one did.

I had a ton of jobs, but the highest I got was 55 or 60. Played for a couple of years, then went to WoW and then quit MMOs for awhile.

I rejoined earlier this year and I was pretty disappointed. I did my thing in the early levels, didn't find many people to party with. Got to the Dunes, got a party pretty quick and set up camp. We were struggling a bit, no one seemed to know wtf they were doing, but it was still fun. After 10 minutes or so someone's high level friend shows up and power levels us. Awful. No risk, no skill (everyone attack, half the time the aggro was on the high level doing the healing). If we got an add the high level would just 1-shot it. I hung out for a bit thinking the high level would get bored, but his patience was greater than mine. I logged for the night, thinking it was probably a fluke. I was wrong though. Over the next week or so I'd party up and the same thing would happen. One party I joined was waiting for their PL to show up and I couldn't even convince them to try anything while we waited. I quit after that.

I think that most MMOs turn into something similar after awhile. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to relive some of the fun I had with XI when XIV comes out.

TheStig

I'm willing to bet that was someone in your party dual boxing, not an actual person PLing. So many people have quit the game over the years and given accounts to friends/guilds that a ton of people have access to a second account.

A duck!

Signed up. I still lovingly think back to FFXI, even though I never actually finished the level 50 Genkai because I could never get a fucking parchment. I think I had one job at 50 and 4 stuck in the 30s before I gave it up for good. I just liked the way they built the world, in that things felt a lot more organic, and wasn't just guys with exclamation marks over their heads.

Arcibi

Loved FFXI and still play it to this day

Here's hoping I got into the beta

Also: I'm a tarutaru in FFXI and I'll be a lalafell in FFXIV (because tarus rule)

Just Some Dude

Does anybody plan on Ramuh? I'd really like to get in touch with my old FFXI buds for this but I have no idea how to do it outside of the game really, or even see if they're still active.

Topia

AtomBomb wrote: »

[FFXI] really set a standard for MMO community that I was never able to find in another game.

FTFY. FFXI had the greatest online community I've ever experienced. 90% of people were helpful, friendly, and just in general good people.

And the lack of names like XLEGOLAZX was really very nice.

TheStig

xlegolazx was replaced with xsefirothx (xsephirothx was already taken)

The community was much better when the game first came out than it is today, but it's still a lot better today than wow is.

Capt Howdy

Man, I was hoping it was for the PS3 beta. If get one for Windows, I shall pass it on to one of you.

Now the wait for the PS3 Beta announcement begins.

seabass

GPIA7R wrote: »

Taru for life.

A tiny fist-bump for you sir.

KiTA

Is a "Square Enix ID" the same as that shitty Playonline random string they assigned me?

Topia

KiTA wrote: »

Is a "Square Enix ID" the same as that shitty Playonline random string they assigned me?

nope, gotta signup on their members square enix page or whatever.