[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Dugna]

Sure it had a lot of asian influence but that first city in Stormblood is literally a Japanese city. It just doesn't match the overall aesthetic of the rest of the mmo. Yes there's other FF games (not FF mmo) with heavy references to asian culture but not 1 for 1. There's a difference.

Just kills immersion for me. I don't like seeing things that are too close to the real world. Japan doesn't exist in FF14, then don't make entire cities that can be placed in the real world. Same with MOP, they had entire areas where you can place in the real world, didn't feel like wow. I get we are comparing to other games but i'm strictly comparing the game itself, the aesthetic they established years ago in ff14. Every Expac and add-on prior to Stormblood had a specific look. But beyond that the story isn't that good either. So there's that.

Ishgard besides being stupidly high up is all European architecture, it has quite literally THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE, a religion heavily influenced by Christianity with a pope, where you fight European style dragons. You can dislike a theme all you want but it doesn't mean it doesn't fit in the game at all.

[lawow74]

There's truth to both sides. SE does want to cater more to its current playerbase, the ones who stick with the game, and reward those who keep playing and stay at least somewhat up-to-speed with the gear curve. SE also wants to encourage people to keep in that groove with staggered content releases and steadily increasing requirements so people aren't as apt to lax on their chosen job(s).

But SE also has (IMO at least) dropped the ball on design of some of their catch-up content (like Eureka) to make it feel more a chore than it really needed to be in order to do so. I really feel sorry for those coming late to Eureka; while I know people will chase Relics just for completion and glamour it's only going to get more and more obnoxious to get them as time passes and these stop being relevant, and they remain mired in the godawful 'leveling' experience of the areas.

[Aruhen]

You shouldn't be doing Eureka anyways for catch-up. There's dungeons and normal mode raids for that. Why do you think the gear in dungeons exists? Not for raiders like some of us here who are already 370. If you choose to just participate in one part of the game that's your choice but don't complain that it's slower as the game does give you options.

[Rogalicus]

Also, they have to make a compromise between active players and returnees. Balancing around i330 or i335 when people wear i360+ when the content is released makes it already pretty boring and easy. You want to balance to an even lower item level, making it even less exciting for all players just so some barely active player does not have to farm a few dungeons for a few days?

I know it's probably a novel concept for you, but they could have lowered minimum item level while also adding maximum item level like in Castrum Abania, Ala Mhigo, Kugane Castle and The Temple of the Fist. That way they can make sure that mechanics matter without setting stupid roadblocks for newer players. Especially considering that Tsukuyomi doesn't drop any gear upgrades.

[Granyala]

There's no progression like that with 4.3. Skalla drops 315 and...that's it. Nothing else in the MSQ period to gear up at a smooth rate. Even if you were fully geared from Skalla, you're 20 item levels short from even queuing for Tsukuyomi.

1st: there is a second dungeon that is newer than skalla and awards higher ilvl.
2nd: you can buy 330 gear for the cheap, unlimited tomes, tomes you get in ANY dungeon which puts you at -5 item levels
3rd: by the time you have the entire 330 set you can afford one 360 piece from the limited tomes.
4th: @330ish you can do sigmascape normal that drops 350 pieces.
5th, you can ask friends/marketboard to help craft 350s. In NQ these should not cost an arm and a leg.

I agree that Eureka is far too dragged out in order to serve as a catch-up mechanic. It takes non hardcore NM choo choo players quite a while to get their elvl up in order to gain shards at an acceptable rate, so yeah: SE dropped the ball here.

- - - Updated - - -

I know it's probably a novel concept for you, but they could have lowered minimum item level while also adding maximum item level like in Castrum Abania, Ala Mhigo, Kugane Castle and The Temple of the Fist. That way they can make sure that mechanics matter without setting stupid roadblocks for newer players. Especially considering that Tsukuyomi doesn't drop any gear upgrades.

Eeh hat would solve the hardcore's "problem", aye although they don't care that much, since we only do normal mode once and then move over to ex where the actual rewards are.
Implementing scaling that harsh in current content would make the whole gearing process pretty moot.
I mean the general population has what 345ish when Tsuyu was released? Scaling to that or even lower would be pretty lame. Why have a gear progression and then scale people out of it so soon? It makes sense to do it later on, so older content doesn't get trivialized too ridiculously.

But in current content?
No thanks.

[Sorrior]

The simple answer might be to give the former gear awady when it' tomestone ks retired as opposed to when it is pre expansion and maybe lower what is required for purchasing gear with outdated tomestones akin to end of expansion prices

[Granyala]

I'm all for lowering prices, since the gear is obsolete anyway.

[Wrecktangle]

No, but give something to discuss if there's a thing you like and want more of in place of the things you don't.

Because what I'm currently seeing as the trend of this thread is:

Savage Raids are okay, but ultimately not good enough.
Dungeons are crap.
Roulettes are crap.
24 mans are pointless crap.
Crafting is disregarded.
Eureka is crap. Diadem was crap, but now Diadem was good and Eureka is crap.
Heaven on High is crap. We liked PotD, but more PotD is crap.

As much as I've butted heads with @Wrecktangle, at least he's pretty detailed in what he'd like to see implemented in place of things he didn't like.

Awww thanks for the props my buddy.

I've been MIA for a bit:

1) I got promoted at work and it's actually been eating a lot of my free forum time (heh, ironic)

2) Currently on vaca down in VA beach

That said, while I'm sitting here on the beach, there were a ton of posts I wanted to respond to, but can't.

That said I wanted to touch base here on your comments above:

1) Savage raids are ok. 4.5 fights is a little shallow though every 6 months. I'm ok with the first 2 fights being cake walks IF and ONLY IF that doesn't constitute nearly 50% of my raid tier. Ultimate is great, but IMO still too long of a fight.

2) Dungeons are only crap because of how one dimensional they are. A little variability in exploration (i.e. boss order, maneuverability around mobs, etc.) would go a long way. So would some scaling. Basically M+ lol.

3) Roulettes are fine.

4) 24 mans are ok, but ultimately shallow. I think they could design 8 man versions of these fights (a la normal/savage raids) to bolster the midcore content shortage. Given the assets are already there it's an easy thing. I HATE difficulty toggles as much as the next guy, but honestly it is such a stupidly powerful tool it's dumb not to use it.

5) Crafting would be cool if it wasn't overburdened by menus, saddled with oppressive prices to be relevant, and had more fun things to make. I'm really not enough of an expert to offer a solution though. If I had my way with gearing/itemizatrion/materia that'd be a function of crafters. Shifting, adding, socketing, and maybe some iteration of reforging, etc.

6) Eureka and Diadem both were crap. Eureka more so because it's a later iteration that clearly learned nothing from previous mistakes. Eureka is one of the most reductive content designs I think I have ever seen in gaming. I stand by an earlier statement that I am wholly confident that a junior level unpaid intern could have developed this content and likely did. It really should have had more content inside the zone. A lot more.

7) HoH is crap because it didn't do enough to set itself apart from PotD. I could go on about my issues with PotD in general, but fuck mobile.

All IMO of course.

[Graeham]

Heaven on High is pretty engaging, especially if you tackle it solo style. It was never really touted as anything groundbreaking, just a continuation of what POTD was but with a few tweaks and additions.

[StrawberryZebra]

Heaven on High is pretty engaging, especially if you tackle it solo style. It was never really touted as anything groundbreaking, just a continuation of what POTD was but with a few tweaks and additions.

It's not even that really. It's a new coat of paint on old content. It's fine, I suppose. It's just more of the same without anything new or interesting to really add to the formula. It could have been something much more interesting with a few little modifications to it. Keep the same basic structure, but add something new into the mix. The entire premise of Deep Dungeons seems to be that they have Rogue-like elements to them, why not embrace that a bit more?

Throw random mini-boss encounters in there with gaurenteed chest drops to keep players on their toes, or maybe have a wider range of possible buffs/debuffs - Ones that would have an effect on how you need to approach combat. Something like doubling the range of all AoE perhaps? It's potentially beneficial to the player, potentially deadly when mobs have it too and always risky because you can hit more than you intend. Even a simple twist on existing mechanics can have a drastic effect on the content.

[Graeham]

It's not even that really. It's a new coat of paint on old content. It's fine, I suppose. It's just more of the same without anything new or interesting to really add to the formula. It could have been something much more interesting with a few little modifications to it. Keep the same basic structure, but add something new into the mix. The entire premise of Deep Dungeons seems to be that they have Rogue-like elements to them, why not embrace that a bit more?

Throw random mini-boss encounters in there with gaurenteed chest drops to keep players on their toes, or maybe have a wider range of possible buffs/debuffs - Ones that would have an effect on how you need to approach combat. Something like doubling the range of all AoE perhaps? It's potentially beneficial to the player, potentially deadly when mobs have it too and always risky because you can hit more than you intend. Even a simple twist on existing mechanics can have a drastic effect on the content.

There's already a lot of random elements involved, though. On the higher floors, regular enemies essentially serve as mini-bosses and can easily wipe an entire party if a mistake is made. They're even more deadly when solo. Pomanders of Fortune allow for bonus chests in exchange for kills - though it's a matter of weighing the risk versus the reward when on higher floors as to whether or not you want to fight more enemies than is needed to activate the teleportation circle.

[Dugna]

just wondering since this is the only FF14 thread thats semi active, how many of you got all the classes maxed now since HoH? I'm super close and honestly kinda wondering what i'm going to do once everything is 70....

[Eleccybubb]

just wondering since this is the only FF14 thread thats semi active, how many of you got all the classes maxed now since HoH? I'm super close and honestly kinda wondering what i'm going to do once everything is 70....

To be honest I just used it to get my 365 weapon for now. I'll level alts prob in 4.4.

[Dugna]

To be honest I just used it to get my 365 weapon for now. I'll level alts prob in 4.4.

I already have like 3 weps from lvling in HoH so much, the wep/armor upgrades sooo fast even with just spamming 21-30

[Wrecktangle]

Shit like the MHW collab remind me what FF14 systems could look like imagined in other ways. I look at that DRG and go, shit I might just pick up MHW just to play DRG in fashion that does the job justice with high jumps, acrobatic combat and stuff.

[Granyala]

I did the "all 60" (almost) in HW. Not sure whether I will do it in SB again.

We'll see, vacation days are coming in 2 weeks

[lawow74]

I was finished with combat jobs back in 4.1 I think. Just kept doing dailies and Hunts like clockwork. Don't recall when I finished DoH/DoL, well before Namazu though.

[Granyala]

Yeah DoH/L were finished a long long time ago.

[StrawberryZebra]

Shit like the MHW collab remind me what FF14 systems could look like imagined in other ways. I look at that DRG and go, shit I might just pick up MHW just to play DRG in fashion that does the job justice with high jumps, acrobatic combat and stuff.

Honestly, it's not how I would have envisioned a DRG playing in a more action orentated setting, I always imagined they were less acrobatic and more straight forwards brute force, but MHW does at least do the job justice.

Then again, Noctis plays really well in Tekken 7 too. Not, perhaps, a style as flashy as he has in FF15, but well realised with his long ranged weapon attacks and Magic specials. It seems that lately, the only series that can't make Final Fantasy characters play well is Final Fantasy. Also FF14 colab with Tekken when? I want Heihachi's hairstyle damn it!

[Jtbrig7390]

Considering getting a PS4 copy of Stormblood and coming back so I got a stupid and lazy question.

Did Stormblood change a class enough to where it can be played on one bar? I don't plan to do high end endgame raiding, Just basic stuff u can que for.

Prefer not to play healer and I honestly don't have the reaction time I use to.