Few Questions.

Uberfromage

First off I will say I have been playing MMO's since Legend of Mir was still kicking (google it if your under twenty, it was great for its time) and have played every major MMO since then, from EnB to Lineage 2, from WoW to Aion, you name it I played it. Some how I have completely missed the build up to FFXIV and now feel I am catching up. So please could a few of these points be clarified or please feel free to correct me or comment.  

 

First of all I have read that everyone plays on the same server? This raises two thoughts in my head, either A) the game will be simply unplayable due to horrendous lag, or This game is going to be extremely niche orientated so only a couple of tens of thousands are actually expected to play it?

Second, there is no official endgame content, the idea is to play the game and enjoy the experience and the story line, but raiding seems unlikely and mass PVP is going to be an afterthought, if it is actually going to go in at all? (Will admit PVP is not a make or break, Aions supposed ground breaking PvPvE was simply normal gaming with ganking, which Lineage 2 invented years ago!)  

This game is going to be extremely player driven, with people not actually able to repair their own equipment but will have to hope someone on the giant server speaks English and knows what they are doing? Also there will be player housing? (YAY! Loved it in SWG, but with every house on the same server hows that going to work?)  

You can only level your character for a certain amount of time effectively before its better off switching to crafting or gathering? (I am torn on this, I actually think it will be enjoyable to not have to RACE to the level cap, but then again it may mean the game simply lacks any content at all) 

The interface is horrendous and your better off buying a PS3 controller and plugging it in to play? (not a huge problem, but is the problem actually fixed with getting a controller or simply mitigated a little bit?)

People have mentioned there is a lot of grinding (I played Lineage 2 on release, now thats real grinding!) I do not mind grinding at all, unless its like grinding in Aion when you end up half dead after every fight and have to sit down for 20mins, I guess the question in that is, how is the down time in the game? I hear mana does not regen normally? and you have to run back town???? I think I will be sticking with a melee character.  

 

I feel I have put the game in a negative light but I am merely trying to grasp the core of this game, is this generally what the game is looking like on the run up to release? I feel since there is next to nothing else to play I may very well get this game any way just to keep me busy for a month or two, (unless Halo Reach distracts me adequately)  

Any thoughts? 

  

romerok

I'll try to answer a few of your questions

 

I'm not sure about their hardware(if there really is just 1 server machine), but there are multiple realms to play on, last time I checked it were ~20 ?

Just like most mmos you create a char on realm A and you can only play it on realm A,

 

From what I have heard, they will be adding endgame content in the time comming. as they did with FFXI

 

and for combat and exp, well the system is kinda complicated, you pickup quests, then you can activate 1 at a central hub, you get  ## amount of time to complete it, and once you finish it, a becon will spawn ( and the epic Final fantasy victory theme will play) and that becon will allow you to port back to town and heals you up again.

You can also buy or find food for well fed buffs which ease things.

 

For the exp, I'm not so sure how the system exactly works, but as far as I understand it reduces your exp gained for the job you play by 12,5% ever hour, till it reaches zero.  then you can pick another job to level and you're back in front of the cycle for that job again ( on the same char) and it resets every week.

 

I Hope I informed you a little

holdenhamlet

When they say that everyone plays on the same server, they mean EU, Japanese and NA all play together (there's an auto translate feature that allows you to play with people that speak a different language from you).  It doesn't mean there's only one server.  Last I heard, there were 20 servers.

Atlan99

Originally posted by Uberfromage

First off I will say I have been playing MMO's since Legend of Mir was still kicking (google it if your under twenty, it was great for its time) and have played every major MMO since then, from EnB to Lineage 2, from WoW to Aion, you name it I played it. Some how I have completely missed the build up to FFXIV and now feel I am catching up. So please could a few of these points be clarified or please feel free to correct me or comment.  

 

First of all I have read that everyone plays on the same server? This raises two thoughts in my head, either A) the game will be simply unplayable due to horrendous lag, or This game is going to be extremely niche orientated so only a couple of tens of thousands are actually expected to play it?

Second, there is no official endgame content, the idea is to play the game and enjoy the experience and the story line, but raiding seems unlikely and mass PVP is going to be an afterthought, if it is actually going to go in at all? (Will admit PVP is not a make or break, Aions supposed ground breaking PvPvE was simply normal gaming with ganking, which Lineage 2 invented years ago!)  

This game is going to be extremely player driven, with people not actually able to repair their own equipment but will have to hope someone on the giant server speaks English and knows what they are doing? Also there will be player housing? (YAY! Loved it in SWG, but with every house on the same server hows that going to work?)  

You can only level your character for a certain amount of time effectively before its better off switching to crafting or gathering? (I am torn on this, I actually think it will be enjoyable to not have to RACE to the level cap, but then again it may mean the game simply lacks any content at all) 

The interface is horrendous and your better off buying a PS3 controller and plugging it in to play? (not a huge problem, but is the problem actually fixed with getting a controller or simply mitigated a little bit?)

People have mentioned there is a lot of grinding (I played Lineage 2 on release, now thats real grinding!) I do not mind grinding at all, unless its like grinding in Aion when you end up half dead after every fight and have to sit down for 20mins, I guess the question in that is, how is the down time in the game? I hear mana does not regen normally? and you have to run back town???? I think I will be sticking with a melee character.  

 

I feel I have put the game in a negative light but I am merely trying to grasp the core of this game, is this generally what the game is looking like on the run up to release? I feel since there is next to nothing else to play I may very well get this game any way just to keep me busy for a month or two, (unless Halo Reach distracts me adequately)  

Any thoughts? 

  

When they say everyone plays on the same server they mean that there are no regional servers. They are all located in Japan. So there well be many servers but not region specific ones.

If its like FF 11. There will be raids or bosses. Whether they will be in at launch or not is anybodies guess. As for PvP maybe an arena at some point will be the extent of it I would guess.

You can get an NPC to repair your gear but only so much. You need a player or yourself to do full repairs.

I haven't heard anything about player housing.

Supposedly you can only level so much without taking a serious xp hit. Though I haven't really been affected by it in open beta so far. Mind you I have been experimenting with different jobs. I got enough magic so I can cast cure with my Maurader now. Fooled around with gathering and crafting a bit as well. Crafting is definitely not for the faint of heart.

It's a Final Fantasy game. Pretty much like the rest of them except an mmo. So it definitely seems like it was designed with controllers in mind. Even the log in screen has a button you can push to bring up a keyboard display so you don't have to type in your info.

The mana was a bit of a pain when I leveled my magic. Killed three mobs and ran back to the camp to recharge. Though I am mostly melee so I don't have a large mana pool. The camp is usally only a 30-60 second walk away though, so its not horrendous.

If money isn't a problem and you want something to play, I'd pick it up. Though since there is an open beta, you might as well try it for yourself. I'd recommend downloading from another site rather than running the patcher though.

Azorith

Originally posted by Uberfromage

First off I will say I have been playing MMO's since Legend of Mir was still kicking (google it if your under twenty, it was great for its time) and have played every major MMO since then, from EnB to Lineage 2, from WoW to Aion, you name it I played it. Some how I have completely missed the build up to FFXIV and now feel I am catching up. So please could a few of these points be clarified or please feel free to correct me or comment.  

 

First of all I have read that everyone plays on the same server? This raises two thoughts in my head, either A) the game will be simply unplayable due to horrendous lag, or This game is going to be extremely niche orientated so only a couple of tens of thousands are actually expected to play it?

-There are already 20ish servers. 5 were just added a couple days ago. What you heard was all regions can play together, meaning your server will have germans, japanese, americans, canadians, etc...

Second, there is no official endgame content, the idea is to play the game and enjoy the experience and the story line, but raiding seems unlikely and mass PVP is going to be an afterthought, if it is actually going to go in at all? (Will admit PVP is not a make or break, Aions supposed ground breaking PvPvE was simply normal gaming with ganking, which Lineage 2 invented years ago!)  

-Currently there isn't a whole slew of end-game raids. So many games mess up by making their game "start" at the end. This one is all about the journey. The mobs are hard, the fights are fun, grouping is epic, crafting is just downright confusing! Over time more content will be added, but for release the focus IS the storyline of the 3 cities (each has a fully playable storyline), and entering random dungeons with groups of 2-15. Leveling will be a task, and that's how it should be. This game IS PvE based, if there is ever any PvP it will be 1+ years from now, no classes will be balanced around it, and it will be a side thing with minimal rewards. There will be numerous dungeons added and there are already numerous leveling dungeons.

This game is going to be extremely player driven, with people not actually able to repair their own equipment but will have to hope someone on the giant server speaks English and knows what they are doing? Also there will be player housing? (YAY! Loved it in SWG, but with every house on the same server hows that going to work?)  

-Right now there is nothing but lvl 1 gear sold. We think more gear will be sold at release, however anything good will be player crafted. Repairs are also done by PCs. NPCs can only repair to 50%, and repairing requires a material that is sometimes pretty expensive. Each crafting class has recipes that take mats from multiple harvesting classes, so joining a guild that focuses on trading resources instead of selling will be a huge plus. Not only is gear player driven, but the game itself is too. Nothing is pushed onto you. You have to WANT to do it, and you have to explore. Most quests won't tell you what to do unless you ask some random NPC along the way, and even they will only give you a clue to the location.

You can only level your character for a certain amount of time effectively before its better off switching to crafting or gathering? (I am torn on this, I actually think it will be enjoyable to not have to RACE to the level cap, but then again it may mean the game simply lacks any content at all) 

-This is by far the BEST system I've ever encountered. Most hate it. I love it. I'm a core gamer, restricted by RL. This prevents hardcore gamers from blasting ahead, and prevents devs from having to release half-ass content to please those hardcore players. The hardcore gamer can still switch classes, and max say 4-5 classes, whereas a casual/core gamer may max 1-3. You have 18 classes total, 6 combat and the rest crafting/harvesting (which have a few combat abilities) You can mix and match some skills from another class, as long as you learned it on it's main class already and the weapon you use is compatible. Switching classes requires macros to be set, so you can do it instantly. You can also revamp your statpoints, to aid in switching from say caster to melee. If you play, you want to decide a role, damage dealer, tanker, support and raise classes going for skills that benefit your role.

The interface is horrendous and your better off buying a PS3 controller and plugging it in to play? (not a huge problem, but is the problem actually fixed with getting a controller or simply mitigated a little bit?)

-The mouse currently runs about .5-1 seconds behind your actual movement due to being software driven. The game is still playable, most times you won't notice it. Menus were slow before but have sped up with the first 9/05 patch. I played with my ps3 controller, and it is like 10x better just because it's easier, not because of the lag difference. I did have frequent crashes (15min-1hr) when using a ps3 controller, which I think is the driver I was using, not FFXIV. (ds3tool, motioninjoy).

People have mentioned there is a lot of grinding (I played Lineage 2 on release, now thats real grinding!) I do not mind grinding at all, unless its like grinding in Aion when you end up half dead after every fight and have to sit down for 20mins, I guess the question in that is, how is the down time in the game? I hear mana does not regen normally? and you have to run back town???? I think I will be sticking with a melee character.  

-Being a caster I generally have to heal after 2-3 mobs if I'm solo. That being said, going into passive mode you get back to max hp within 30 seconds, without using a heal spell. There will be xp grind, but the leveling is ENJOYABLE because of the combat system and the toughness of monsters. The downtime is minimal, and you can build your character for soloing to have the least downtime if you want. (this game has the most character advancement customization I've ever encountered, character creation is the same.. took me 45 minutes to make a beta char i did not care about. Mana is used minimally so far, you use stamina or TP for a lot of skills. My heal takes 11 mana and heals 90 +gives regen. My mana max is 500ish. Going to town I can recharge for free at an aetheryte every 10 minutes, or I have an ability that does the same.  Basically, no there is no downtime. The only downtime is travel because we cant get chocobos in beta. On guildleves (missions) you get to tele back to town for free on completion though.

 

I feel I have put the game in a negative light but I am merely trying to grasp the core of this game, is this generally what the game is looking like on the run up to release? I feel since there is next to nothing else to play I may very well get this game any way just to keep me busy for a month or two, (unless Halo Reach distracts me adequately)  

Any thoughts? 

I definately recommend trying this game, especially if you like the FF series, if you like having to work a bit harder, or if you just want something DIFFERENT from the last 10 years of MMOs. I also recommend finding a group to play with.

  EDIT: Seems I missed a few questions:

Player Housing: I can't tell you for sure, but there was player housing in FFXI.

Grind: There is a lot of leveling, but it is fun. Lineage 2 was a grind. I got to 64 on a warsmith using poles, clearing a whole camp at a time, with my friend a SE buffing and healing me. Took FOREVER. At least 100 hours of grinding, if not more. The cap on FFXIV currently is 50, and while I can't tell you if the grinding is tough later on I can tell you it will take time to get maxed.