[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Deleted]

Anyone know of any preview of Job changes coming in 4.2?

Hey everyone btw

[StrawberryZebra]

Incompetent and being downright lazy are mechanically identical if you think about it.

The difference in the two is intentionality. The incompetant player doesn't know any better or is otherwise unable to perform better, where the lazy players are making a choice to be lazy. They may both lead to a similar result, but they're not both coming from the same place.

[Strangebrew]

Incompetence can be fixed, though, provided the incompetent person isn't lazy as well. Course, then we get things like "u dnt pay muh sub" as a response. So while one could be easier to resolve, it doesn't change the fact that it's irritating no matter what.

No need to be competent when people can just cheat their way through the game with zero repercussions from Squeenix.
Which is the big deal with SMN's now, a guy in my static made a good reddit thread on it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme..._the_state_of/


There's no secret that people have used camera cheats before, openly streaming it aswell, or wintrading in PvP for that matter, but this takes it to a whole new level.
And absolutely nothing is done about it.

Don't you dare use parsers though, having performance information that's already in the game is clearly so much worse.

[StrawberryZebra]

Don't you dare use parsers though, having performance information that's already in the game is clearly so much worse.

As bad as Parsers are, this is so much worse than that. Getting the SMN to a playable state is outrageous behaviour! They should be IP banned immediately. Or hired as a Developer. One of the two.

[Granyala]

I've gone from being frustrated with group to basically laughing as I answer in my own mind "How much am I going to carry this group?".

Pretty much, although I am a healer, so I always take note of good groups where people dodge avoidable damage and allow me do DPS more aggressively.
If stuff dies fast AND people avoid crap, me = happy camper. I don't look at DPS numbers much, to be honest b/c in 99% of the cases I simply forget to start ACT ^^.

[Strangebrew]

As bad as Parsers are, this is so much worse than that. Getting the SMN to a playable state is outrageous behaviour! They should be IP banned immediately. Or hired as a Developer. One of the two.

Haha you thought we would fix the blatantly clear SMN "hack" that let's people cheat their way through game, or fix jobs that needs to be fixed? Haha think again.

Now buy this carbuncle mount with pixelated nose.



I can be considered a FFXIV fanboy, but seeing how Squeenix do absolutely nothing about actual, real fucking cheats while they will gladly ban people for being mean in PvP is fucking infuriating.
This isn't a new thing aswell, this has been going on for 1-2 years now.

Especially when people fucking cheat, openly on stream. Big streamers with camera cheats that people normally dont have access to, that trivialize mechanics on certain fights, yet you have Yoshi sitting there on liveletter bitching about parsers because it "let people have too much information" or some bullshit.

[Graeham]

Anyone know of any preview of Job changes coming in 4.2?

There's another Live Letter in the middle of the month so it's possible that they'll discuss some of the job changes there. If not, then they'll likely just be revealed during the maintenance for 4.2 instead.

[Faroth]

I'm strangely glad there's not much to do in game because I got laid out sick for most of my week off. Mostly recovered, but not quite 100% yet.

I did get on for the Heavensturn and have a tail wagging dog statue in the FC house for now, though.

That carbuncle outfit, and the mount, may finally get me to bite and buy something from the store. We'll see... Probably wait til they're on sale, though. There's a few emotes and another outfit I wouldn't mind getting, but missed the last sale and so I'm still sitting on waiting there.

[Wrecktangle]

I disagree.
Incompetence means inability to do harder content.
Lazy means being able to assess whether top notch performance is required for success and if that is not the case, allowing one to slack.

I wasn't discussing the difference between the two, merely that the outcome to an individual teammate is identical. Whether someone is lazy or incompetent, they're both incredibly draining to play with due to forcing others to carry their weight. You disagree with that?

Incompetence can be fixed, though, provided the incompetent person isn't lazy as well. Course, then we get things like "u dnt pay muh sub" as a response. So while one could be easier to resolve, it doesn't change the fact that it's irritating no matter what.

Mhmm. That's the worst. Lazy AND incompetent.

The difference in the two is intentionality. The incompetant player doesn't know any better or is otherwise unable to perform better, where the lazy players are making a choice to be lazy. They may both lead to a similar result, but they're not both coming from the same place.

Again, I'm not discussing the differences between the states of mind or where the premise originated. I'm merely demonstrating that regardless of the difference, the outcome is still identical for an individual player. In that whether someone is lazy or incompetent, they're both incredibly draining to play with due to forcing others to carry their weight. My experience ends up being identical regardless of which attitude said player utilizes.

I'm strangely glad there's not much to do in game because I got laid out sick for most of my week off. Mostly recovered, but not quite 100% yet.

I did get on for the Heavensturn and have a tail wagging dog statue in the FC house for now, though.

That carbuncle outfit, and the mount, may finally get me to bite and buy something from the store. We'll see... Probably wait til they're on sale, though. There's a few emotes and another outfit I wouldn't mind getting, but missed the last sale and so I'm still sitting on waiting there.

Sorry to hear that mate.

Do Wreck a solid. Don't support the cash shop!

[lawow74]

Do Wreck a solid. Don't support the cash shop!

Too late, I got the Witch's Broom back when they did the mount sale.

[Faroth]

Do Wreck a solid. Don't support the cash shop!

You're not the boss of me!

I've bought things from Blizzard's shop when they were cheap enough (or during their charity drives). Same with FFXIV, if it's on sale cheap enough, I'll eventually consider it if it's something I want enough (currently I have bought 1 emote when it was around $3 I think). I've been interested in 2 more emotes and an outfit or two, but never did buy them. Now I'm interested in another outfit and a mount, but I still wouldn't buy them unless there's a promotion.

Looking through the shop the other day, it seems like there's more on there than there really is. Most of it is past promotional items or past seasonal items than masses of brand new created-just-for-the-shop items. Emotes are the biggest cultprit of shop-only creations, I think, which does annoy me.

I would prefer all items be available in game for at least a window of time before becoming cash shop items, though. I've never felt every item should be available in game for eternity, so I'm fine with seasonal/limited time events going there after they wrap up, though.

[Graeham]

You guys don't want to know how much I spent on Final Fantasy related stuff during the past year alone...

[Wrecktangle]

You're not the boss of me!

I've bought things from Blizzard's shop when they were cheap enough (or during their charity drives). Same with FFXIV, if it's on sale cheap enough, I'll eventually consider it if it's something I want enough (currently I have bought 1 emote when it was around $3 I think). I've been interested in 2 more emotes and an outfit or two, but never did buy them. Now I'm interested in another outfit and a mount, but I still wouldn't buy them unless there's a promotion.

Looking through the shop the other day, it seems like there's more on there than there really is. Most of it is past promotional items or past seasonal items than masses of brand new created-just-for-the-shop items. Emotes are the biggest cultprit of shop-only creations, I think, which does annoy me.

I would prefer all items be available in game for at least a window of time before becoming cash shop items, though. I've never felt every item should be available in game for eternity, so I'm fine with seasonal/limited time events going there after they wrap up, though.

lol.

This is a double edged sword. There have been games in the past I really liked and joined in on and when I found out I couldn't get xyz because it was a promotional thing and I missed it and it actually hurt my desire to play the game.

Hell the reason I no longer play BNS despite it being one of my favorite games was because it went to a P2W (not really, but it's EXTREMELY heavily P2progress) and the exclusives that I may have missed. I don't support those types of decisions, and as such I stopped supporting the game.

I almost quit overwatch during the olympics promo if I didn't get that Genji costume because it was ridiculously cool looking. I wasn't willing to purchase boxes at a chance to get it, so I grinded out the games and got it on the LAST possible day. Had I not got the costume it's EXTREMELY likely I'd have quit the game then out of frustration. I ended up quitting anyway, but much much later and only because my IRL friends stopped playing.

I just feel (rationally or irrationally you decide) that by purchasing these things even if we want/need them we're sending a signal that says, keep the base game sparse and prop up the MTX for more profits. It's a business afterall and if they can make more revenue/push more dividends by doing X instead of Y, dev will shift to accommodate that, and IMO it looks like it is heading that way to me.

[lawow74]

I just feel (rationally or irrationally you decide) that by purchasing these things even if we want/need them we're sending a signal that says, keep the base game sparse and prop up the MTX for more profits. It's a business afterall and if they can make more revenue/push more dividends by doing X instead of Y, dev will shift to accommodate that, and IMO it looks like it is heading that way to me.

This is true, I felt the same way the first time I heard about DLC (I believe it was when Dragon Age came out with Day 1 DLC) and said 'No, fuck that, not gonna support it'. But, it's basically shoveling shit against the tide. Past a certain point, yeah, people will eventually say 'enough is enough' like with the recent SW: Battlefront fiasco, but the model itself is here to stay. Of course, if such is your conviction, then by all means stick to it. Just realize it's about making yourself feel better and not actually making a change.

[Faroth]

Hell the reason I no longer play BNS despite it being one of my favorite games was because it went to a P2W (not really, but it's EXTREMELY heavily P2progress) and the exclusives that I may have missed. I don't support those types of decisions, and as such I stopped supporting the game.

P2progress and P2Win are a whole different can of wrong, I agree.

I almost quit overwatch during the olympics promo if I didn't get that Genji costume because it was ridiculously cool looking. I wasn't willing to purchase boxes at a chance to get it, so I grinded out the games and got it on the LAST possible day. Had I not got the costume it's EXTREMELY likely I'd have quit the game then out of frustration. I ended up quitting anyway, but much much later and only because my IRL friends stopped playing.

On that note though, would it have had the same impact if you knew you could spend a flat rate in 6-12 months for it if you ultimately didn't get it and felt it was cosmetically cool enough to warrant the price point? If I knew I could have that option later, it might help me decide how much burn out is worth it.

I just feel (rationally or irrationally you decide) that by purchasing these things even if we want/need them we're sending a signal that says, keep the base game sparse and prop up the MTX for more profits. It's a business afterall and if they can make more revenue/push more dividends by doing X instead of Y, dev will shift to accommodate that, and IMO it looks like it is heading that way to me.

That said, I do typically only buy cosmetic items months, if not years, after it's released when they're at least 50% off, if I buy them at all. I don't think a cosmetic outfit or some wallpaper in player housing is having a drastic impact on how the game is designed or how resources are going into content development.

[The Casualty]

I just feel (rationally or irrationally you decide) that by purchasing these things even if we want/need them we're sending a signal that says, keep the base game sparse and prop up the MTX for more profits. It's a business afterall and if they can make more revenue/push more dividends by doing X instead of Y, dev will shift to accommodate that, and IMO it looks like it is heading that way to me.

I feel that FFXIV does a pretty good job of keeping glamour options interesting even before considering cash shop items (the majority of which you can't even dye, sadly). I have quite a few of the costumes and I tend to still default a lot of the times to looks of my own creation. Granted, I would probably use Aymeric's full time on my DRK if they could ever separate out glamour per class or item set.

[Kazgrel]

I just feel (rationally or irrationally you decide) that by purchasing these things even if we want/need them we're sending a signal that says, keep the base game sparse and prop up the MTX for more profits. It's a business afterall and if they can make more revenue/push more dividends by doing X instead of Y, dev will shift to accommodate that, and IMO it looks like it is heading that way to me.

I can't help but think similarly. "Would me buying this whatever (be it a mount skin, armor skin, etc.) encourage further such things from this dev?". Thankfully, such a thing hasn't happened for me with the games I've played, but I can't help but wonder if/when things start snowballing out of control all over the place. A bit fearmonger-ish, but the thought sits there in the back of my mind.

- - - Updated - - -

No need to be competent when people can just cheat their way through the game with zero repercussions from Squeenix.
Which is the big deal with SMN's now, a guy in my static made a good reddit thread on it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme..._the_state_of/


There's no secret that people have used camera cheats before, openly streaming it aswell, or wintrading in PvP for that matter, but this takes it to a whole new level.
And absolutely nothing is done about it.

Don't you dare use parsers though, having performance information that's already in the game is clearly so much worse.

The OP of that reddit post looks to have updated it indicating that SE is looking into it:

Update 22nd December 2017 - The GM's are aware and are investigating the root cause of the issue. Thank you everyone for your support and Thank you SE for reacting so quickly to this.

Given that was over the holidays, I could see why it may not be resolved as of today. No idea whether it is or not, though.

Not seeing any links to Twitter or whatever concerning the SMN bug/exploit. I do remember that BLM thing being a big deal back in Gordias, though.

[Wrecktangle]

This is true, I felt the same way the first time I heard about DLC (I believe it was when Dragon Age came out with Day 1 DLC) and said 'No, fuck that, not gonna support it'. But, it's basically shoveling shit against the tide. Past a certain point, yeah, people will eventually say 'enough is enough' like with the recent SW: Battlefront fiasco, but the model itself is here to stay. Of course, if such is your conviction, then by all means stick to it. Just realize it's about making yourself feel better and not actually making a change.

While true I'm just a bit player in a big sandbox, I've seen firsthand the damage that a community can do to a company if they're caught overstepping. SFV took huge hits and forced capcom to scramble because their DLC practice was one of the most blatant crimes against the FGC community.

MVCI, suffered similar pushback by hiding unique characters behind DLC and stuffing only a handful of new designs in the main roster. Not to mention the whole graphical fidelity issue where a game on an older system looked better than the successor on new hardware that just screamed of redirection of assets from game quality to supplement an aggressive DLC schedule.

P2progress and P2Win are a whole different can of wrong, I agree.

On that note though, would it have had the same impact if you knew you could spend a flat rate in 6-12 months for it if you ultimately didn't get it and felt it was cosmetically cool enough to warrant the price point? If I knew I could have that option later, it might help me decide how much burn out is worth it.

That said, I do typically only buy cosmetic items months, if not years, after it's released when they're at least 50% off, if I buy them at all. I don't think a cosmetic outfit or some wallpaper in player housing is having a drastic impact on how the game is designed or how resources are going into content development.

Not sure I follow your example. If the costume was up in the shop for $5, I'd probably just pony the funds up if I didn't get it naturally. It's that cool to me personally and worth the money. I could not justify dumping cash on RNG boxes for a mere chance to get what I wanted though.

I'm 100% ok with a lootbox model, if there's no timed exclusives that prevent that disappear forever, etc. For instance in HotS the lootbox model works for me because I don't need/want to spend any money and I get free random stuff all the time, even stuff I thought was cool enough to purchase, but I wouldn't due.

That said, I did recently find out there are costumes that can ONLY be acquired by purchasing bundles in the past and are no longer available and THAT triggered me pretty hard. In fact, it's actually significantly waned my desire to play, to the point that I play maybe once a week these days.

I feel that FFXIV does a pretty good job of keeping glamour options interesting even before considering cash shop items (the majority of which you can't even dye, sadly). I have quite a few of the costumes and I tend to still default a lot of the times to looks of my own creation. Granted, I would probably use Aymeric's full time on my DRK if they could ever separate out glamour per class or item set.

For sure, the thing that tilted me was Aymerics armor. Not only was it already in game, but the version in shop wasn't even improved (i.e. a model made for females, dyeable, and an accompanying sword). It's by and far my favorite look in the game, but not only can I not get it without spending cash, I can't even wear it without spending more cash to fantasia/name change.

Fuck that.

I can't help but think similarly. "Would me buying this whatever (be it a mount skin, armor skin, etc.) encourage further such things from this dev?". Thankfully, such a thing hasn't happened for me with the games I've played, but I can't help but wonder if/when things start snowballing out of control all over the place. A bit fearmonger-ish, but the thought sits there in the back of my mind.

I feel you!

[Strangebrew]

Given that was over the holidays, I could see why it may not be resolved as of today. No idea whether it is or not, though.

Not seeing any links to Twitter or whatever concerning the SMN bug/exploit. I do remember that BLM thing being a big deal back in Gordias, though.

A GM contacted him ingame and asked him about some of the details, but that's about it, nothing else has happened.
But like Harold stated, cheats isn't anything new, we still have cheats from launch to this day, we have people streaming openly with cheats(camera cheats in particular) and nothing is done about it.

Anyways, i don't know if you know anything about SMN, but take this log for example(completely random, just one i found on fflog's discord)

https://www.fflogs.com/reports/gvZk6...one&source=143

There is something that sticks out, in particular look at how many Ruin IV casts they have compared to the Further ruin buff.
Basically what is happening is that they are casting Ruin IV outside of further ruin, which shouldn't be happening, it's straight up an exploit, or a cheat if you want to call it that.
I don't know the details, but it has something to do with server side and user side that let's people cheat like this, something something doesn't register on server side.

If those logs were legit, you would be seeing at most 2-3 casts difference between Ruin IV and further ruin, not over 30.
There is a ton of people exploiting this, the fanartist in question is what exposed all of this really.

[Faroth]

Not sure I follow your example. If the costume was up in the shop for $5, I'd probably just pony the funds up if I didn't get it naturally. It's that cool to me personally and worth the money. I could not justify dumping cash on RNG boxes for a mere chance to get what I wanted though.

I'm 100% ok with a lootbox model, if there's no timed exclusives that prevent that disappear forever, etc. For instance in HotS the lootbox model works for me because I don't need/want to spend any money and I get free random stuff all the time, even stuff I thought was cool enough to purchase, but I wouldn't due.

That said, I did recently find out there are costumes that can ONLY be acquired by purchasing bundles in the past and are no longer available and THAT triggered me pretty hard. In fact, it's actually significantly waned my desire to play, to the point that I play maybe once a week these days.

Yeah, that's what I mean. If it's a limited time acquisition in game, but you know it will be on the cash store for a flat fee later, I think that takes the sting out. You can decide to go for it during the window for free, but if you get to a point where you're just getting burned out because luck isn't favoring you, you can say "Meh, I'll buy it on the cash shop for a few bucks when it goes up later." or you can even have situations where you say "Man, I've got so much going on there's no way I'll be able to play and get that during this event.... oh well, at least I can buy it later."

That's the utilization of the cash shop I'm totally comfortable with. It's available in game (either events, loot boxes awarded for playing, etc.) for a limited time as a way to get it for free, but it will go on the cash shop later for those who weren't able to get it.

Lightning's outfit is the perfect example of what I mean. That's my favorite utilization of the cash shop. That was available at one point in game and players who were playing got the benefit of getting it for no cash, just time spent playing. But rather than deny new players ever having any chance of ever getting it, it's in the cash shop now.

I think it's a good balance between available in game and company benefit of cash shop.

HotS and Overwatch are a little different since they're built around their loot box systems, so I can't really make too many comparisons between them and what I'm comfortable with in an MMO (as I don't play HotS or Overwatch).



Square related, but not FFXIV, I'm really enjoying the throw back feel of I Am Setsuna! Playing in very short segments so far.

- - - Updated - - -

I can't help but think similarly. "Would me buying this whatever (be it a mount skin, armor skin, etc.) encourage further such things from this dev?". Thankfully, such a thing hasn't happened for me with the games I've played, but I can't help but wonder if/when things start snowballing out of control all over the place. A bit fearmonger-ish, but the thought sits there in the back of my mind.

I look at my backlog of console games and realize if the industry goes full microtransaction to the point of ruin, I've got a plethora of adventures awaiting, thankfully.