[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Granyala]

Can't help but chuckle that Nighthold raid is apparently coming out mid-January. Right around the same time as our next patch.

Did you expect anything else? Pretty clear now that Blizzard sees FF-XIV as their main competition. Not that that is a bad thing, mind you. More content in both games is better for both playerbases.

[Wrecktangle]

WoW regularly "coincidentally" releases patches head to head with every other MMO. I noticed it frequently when I was dedicated to WoW.
Other MMO expansion release? WoW patch 1 week before.
Other MMO patch coming? WoW patch same week or week before/after.
Other MMO patch coming? WoW expansion same week.

It's happened too frequently over the last numerous years for anyone to convince me it's a coincidence. Blizz has top notch marketing and they know how to work the release dates and maintain interest in their product when something new is coming out. It's not a sleight, it's smart scheduling, though it still makes me chuckle.

I like a healthy and respectful rivalry. FFXIV and WoW's Twitter "battle" when Revenge of the Horde released was a thing of beauty.

I commend Blizz having a more XIV-esque release cycle for WoW too, though with the nature of the MMO beast, I question if it would have worked better to plan releases so you're cycling almost opposite with a chief competitor. Yoshida has mentioned it's natural for players to wander away and that's fine so long as your product is good enough for them to come back when the new patch drops.

Anyhow, don't read too much into my chuckle. It amuses me, nothing more.

I mean I get what you're saying, but then I'd pose the question if that was truly their goal why wouldn't they do it every time and not randomly? If your goal is to undermine your competition, doing it every once in a while wouldn't provide a significant enough benefit to warrant the expenditure. You know what I mean?

The argument could go the other way too, Maybe SQEX knew when patch 6.2 was going to go and shot to release their expac around same time?

Not defending one over the other, just trying to see if there's a bit of prejudice in the assumption that they did it because X with no actual evidence to support it.

As far as the rivalry goes, fully support it. Only going to make things better for both games.

[Faroth]

I mean I get what you're saying, but then I'd pose the question if that was truly their goal why wouldn't they do it every time and not randomly? If your goal is to undermine your competition, doing it every once in a while wouldn't provide a significant enough benefit to warrant the expenditure. You know what I mean?

The argument could go the other way too, Maybe SQEX knew when patch 6.2 was going to go and shot to release their expac around same time?

Not defending one over the other, just trying to see if there's a bit of prejudice in the assumption that they did it because X with no actual evidence to support it.

As far as the rivalry goes, fully support it. Only going to make things better for both games.

Well, WoW simply can't do it every time. In some cases that would mean waiting an extra month or two just to release at the same time. In other cases, they can't because they FFXIV was releasing 3-4... to 8 patches before they had new content to release.

And I wouldn't lean towards the other way because SE has stayed fairly consistent with their release schedule since ARR launched with only a few minor deviations whereas the WoW trend I'm citing doesn't only apply to XIV, but other MMOs as well.

[Kazgrel]

I've always noticed how Blizzard would have some sort of patch/xpac/etc. ready to go for just about any competitor's major releases. I think 4.1 patch or such (maybe it was Cata launch itself) coincided with SWTOR launch. The aforementioned HW launch right next to 6.2 patch. Think they had something in place around ESO launch. I don't blame Blizzard for this; it's a smart thing to do, marketing-wise (and for attempting to retain players).

Now for something bound to ruffle some feathers: SE looking to move forward with a "jump potion" or potions. The original post from Yoshida is in Japanese; official translation (for English) should be available later today (if not already, can't check currently). Based on what Google Translate obtained, they are entertaining the idea of 2 separate "jump potions"; one is strictly for the story quests, letting you skip everything up to the current expansion. The other is for jobs, boosting one job up to the point it can participate in the newest xpac. The decision to go this route seems to be all but finalized now.

Personally, I would've rather seen them provide skips through the patched in story quests, because those (at least with all the stuff added in ARR) are what tend to bog people down the most. I mean, it is rather strange to be leveling along at a reasonable clip..say, one level per day on your first DoW/M, then hit 50 and it take the better part of a week or so just to clear through those in order to continue leveling again. I have a friend who's just about done with the 2.0 story, so then the slog really begins.

I'm not 100% opposed to the jump potion idea. It seems to be the path of least resistance (and more $$$ for SE), though. Won't affect me that much; won't have to buy any of them since I'll have every class at 60 by the time SB releases, and I'll definitely have the story fully done though.

[Graeham]

I think WoW and FF14 benefit from competing with each other because it ensures that they both remain on their toes. With that said, however, WoW's developers seem to lack the same drive and passion about the game. You can tell the company in general seems more enthusiastic about Overwatch - and it shows. I've never really liked WoW's habit of rushing releases to match FF14's patch cycle very closely - they should release stuff when it's polished, ready and meaty.

[lawow74]

People who throw a fit over jump/skip potions are silly, IMO. Their argument basically boils down to:

A)YOU DIDN'T EARN IT LIKE I DID!!!!

or

B)It doesn't teach you how to play!

While A) is basically players getting butthurt over people being able to skip over them in a video game the same way people skip over them in RL, B) has a tissue of merit, but only a tissue, and here's why I say that: Only by DOING (insert content) will you truly LEARN (insert content). Whining and crying that this or that or the other thing doesn't teach you how to do (insert content) is like complaining that riding a bicycle doesn't prepare you for parachuting. Yes, both are physical activities, but that's where the similarities end.

Much like how you can sit and play with your class abilities against a training dummy all day, but that doesn't teach you about using them in the field, whether alone, in a light party, full party, dungeon, raid, PvP battleground, or what have you. If someone is motivated to prepare and learn, they are. How much time they invested in getting to the point they can do the activity and what they did to get to that point is largely irrelevant.

[Aruhen]

I wonder how they'll handle the fact that you need a second class at 15 to unlock a job. It would be sorta weird if they boost the second one to 15 and now you just have some random job at 15. Maybe they're getting rid of classes? That'd be a nice change.

B)It doesn't teach you how to play!

Yeah this argument is so broken. The people who don't care to learn how to play wont suddenly change while leveling.

[Eleccybubb]

Yeah I had a good laugh at the morons on Reddit posting "muh immersion" or the jumping potion will "kill the game".

[dope_danny]

The thing i dont get is people acting like deep dungeon hasnt filled the game with players at lvl 60 with no idea how to play their jobs already.

[Kazgrel]

I wonder how they'll handle the fact that you need a second class at 15 to unlock a job. It would be sorta weird if they boost the second one to 15 and now you just have some random job at 15. Maybe they're getting rid of classes? That'd be a nice change.



Yeah this argument is so broken. The people who don't care to learn how to play wont suddenly change while leveling.

The combat revamp, which is stated to touch on how cross class skills are handled, should address that issue. Hopefully they will shine more light on that during Tokyo Fanfest.

Unrelated note; if they bundle a story + level jump with Stormblood, I can have an alt on another server (likely in Primal DC, since I'm in NA).

[dope_danny]

That would be a shame since thats a good tutorial for class swapping/cross skills as well as incentivising experimenting with a different playstyle.

[Kazgrel]

I think WoW and FF14 benefit from competing with each other because it ensures that they both remain on their toes. With that said, however, WoW's developers seem to lack the same drive and passion about the game. You can tell the company in general seems more enthusiastic about Overwatch - and it shows. I've never really liked WoW's habit of rushing releases to match FF14's patch cycle very closely - they should release stuff when it's polished, ready and meaty.

So every 9-12 months?

Semi-related, I have to grit my teeth every time I see someone in either /sh or linkshell complaining about how slow this game is with new content...

[Eleccybubb]

So every 9-12 months?

Semi-related, I have to grit my teeth every time I see someone in either /sh or linkshell complaining about how slow this game is with new content...

I have that same exact thing when people I know say stacking Mind on a Black Mage is ok because "his/her sub".

[Aruhen]

So every 9-12 months?

Semi-related, I have to grit my teeth every time I see someone in either /sh or linkshell complaining about how slow this game is with new content...

Well in a way its sorta true. For example for a more casual player who enjoys things like Void Ark and just getting gear from tomes then really there's a six month wait until a new set of gear with an upgraded item level arrives. On the other hand its the same for people who enjoy Savage as their main form of gameplay and they also have to wait six months. Granted the people who focus entirely on one thing in this game seem to be on the low side compared to people who give everything a try.

[Kazgrel]

I have that same exact thing when people I know say stacking Mind on a Black Mage is ok because "his/her sub".

Makes sense...they aren't showing signs of having high Int.

[Eleccybubb]

Makes sense...they aren't showing signs of having high Int.

Hah well played.

[Kazgrel]

Well in a way its sorta true. For example for a more casual player who enjoys things like Void Ark and just getting gear from tomes then really there's a six month wait until a new set of gear with an upgraded item level arrives. On the other hand its the same for people who enjoy Savage as their main form of gameplay and they also have to wait six months. Granted the people who focus entirely on one thing in this game seem to be on the low side compared to people who give everything a try.

Keep in mind that when I see such comments by those folks about content being slow, I'm sitting there thinking "Has this person ever played WoW? I'm thinking not".

If people are only logging in to run raids then logging off...well, that's their preogative. That said, I'm someone who simply can't wrap their mind around being a raid logger, though; I'd just sooner not play any MMOs if that's all I was doing. It's part of why I quit WoD. Reached the point where only thing I could benefit from would've been to move into a mythic raid group and then have to be on for raiding at set times, combined with the fact I was in the garrison "trap" of making gold for tokens so I could make gold...to get more tokens...and so on.

[Eleccybubb]

So Yoshi-P recently discussed about level boosts though waiting for a English translation...

Damn thread on general discussion going crazy... sure those carebear moderators are having a field-day banning players and their entire account cause they deem it hurts ffxiv reputation

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...Potion...again

Yeah people are blowing it way out of proportion. I see no issues with a boost to 50 or hell even 60. We have enough bad players from Palace of the Dead anyway.

[Eleccybubb]

So far I'll only accept them under one condition... its included in the purchase of Stormblood no where else

Though it possibly mentioned two kinds of boosts... MSQ boost and level boost

Adding MSQ boost just immediately admits that the MSQ chain just suck

I don't care how they introduce them. Mogstation or one time. Won't affect me because I won't buy it. Well of course I'll buy it if it came with Stormblood but I wouldn't if it was on Mogstation.

Well it does. Even the devs have admitted the breadcrumb and fetch quests were stupid. That's why Heavensward is a lot shorter than ARR.

[Aruhen]

Yeah people are blowing it way out of proportion. I see no issues with a boost to 50 or hell even 60. We have enough bad players from Palace of the Dead anyway.

Some of the arguments people use as an argument towards a boost are cringy too... like

This game doesn't become MMO until you hit the current content. Before that, it's a single player RPG with a sub. Jumping will be necessary to get new players eventually.

I guess I imagined those people I leveled alongside while doing FATEs in parties or dungeon runs.

It'll be nice though and like the above post mentioned I hope its part of Stormblood. I have some friends who enjoy the game but haven't played in a long time and they're just incredibly lazy to do the story... even though they enjoy it. Don't ask me how that makes any sense but that's how they are.