Questions for the OB testers......

Dolmong

Just like Others, I'm on verge to see if I should buy this game or not.

I do not mind to put effort and time into one game, however I'm not a rusher (due to real life busy) and I rather hope to enjoy the game in my own pace.

Also I love some MMORPG features aspect such as craftings, housing, or questing with great story to back behind.

Here are some questions to OB testers now that I hope you can answer !!! Thank you!!

1.)  Hows the crafting in this game?  I heard that this game is deep in crafting or depends crafting a lot (which is really good).  Can you explain more?

2.)  Is there Housing at launch?  Or are they planning to?  They had hosing right off the bat at FFXI (even though I don't like zoning housing).  Will Housing open zoned?  and are there any Housing vendors that you can put inside your house and let people come and visit you to buy stuffs from you?  (like SWG?) 

3.)  Hows the pace of combat in FFXIV?  FFXI is damn tooooo boring and slow that put me off at that time, I watched some of the videos already but still I wanna get some answer from real OB testers perspective.

4.)  Is this game solo friendly?  I need a game that is solo friendly because of my real life issue and I can't spend toooooo much time in a game like WOW 3-5 hours raid.  =(  Also FFXI was very solo unfriendly which I remember I hardly kill a mob at my same level in early game!  And constantly death reduce my xp too =(  Also constantly need to auto heal by sitting after just killing 1-2 mobs really making the game pace slow as hell.

5.)  Whats the Death Penalty?

6.)  If you don't mind, please state your impression so far too !!   Thanks

So far I only have these questions, thank you for taking time to respond !!

Uldah

Dont preorder, wait till release or a bit after.Theres plenty of reviews to answeer all your questions, just do a bit of search on the forums.

No1 with doubts about the game should preorder, or prepare yourself to be deeply disapointed.

HensenLiros

Originally posted by Dolmong

Just like Others, I'm on verge to see if I should buy this game or not.

I do not mind to put effort and time into one game, however I'm not a rusher (due to real life busy) and I rather hope to enjoy the game in my own pace.

Also I love some MMORPG features aspect such as craftings, housing, or questing with great story to back behind.

Here are some questions to OB testers now that I hope you can answer !!! Thank you!!

1.)  Hows the crafting in this game?  I heard that this game is deep in crafting or depends crafting a lot (which is really good).  Can you explain more?

I haven't tried crafting myself yet, but a friend of mine told me it was more complex than most games. Also, as far as I know, you can only buy level 1 weapons/armor at the capitals (the second major city I visited had no weapon/armor shop), so it may be reasonable to assume that you'll have to buy great part of your equipment from players (or craft them yourself).

2.)  Is there Housing at launch?  Or are they planning to?  They had hosing right off the bat at FFXI (even though I don't like zoning housing).  Will Housing open zoned?  and are there any Housing vendors that you can put inside your house and let people come and visit you to buy stuffs from you?  (like SWG?) 

It doesn't have housing yet, and I don't know if they're planning to implement it.

3.)  Hows the pace of combat in FFXIV?  FFXI is damn tooooo boring and slow that put me off at that time, I watched some of the videos already but still I wanna get some answer from real OB testers perspective.

It wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but it also isn't all that tactical like people were saying it was. The stamina you spend to land an attack takes around 2.0 seconds to regenerate, but you'll be able to land like 6 in a row before having to wait for your stamina. When you put skills in the mix, the pace gets a little better, but it is way less tactical than I imagined.

4.)  Is this game solo friendly?  I need a game that is solo friendly because of my real life issue and I can't spend toooooo much time in a game like WOW 3-5 hours raid.  =(  Also FFXI was very solo unfriendly which I remember I hardly kill a mob at my same level in early game!  And constantly death reduce my xp too =(  Also constantly need to auto heal by sitting after just killing 1-2 mobs really making the game pace slow as hell.

Yes, very solo friendly. The major advantage of partying up is being able to do quests (that your party member has, not you) again before waiting for the 48 hours cooldown.

5.)  Whats the Death Penalty?

Around 2 minutes of 50% reduced HP and slowed down stamina regeneration.

6.)  If you don't mind, please state your impression so far too !!   Thanks

I don't want to risk making anyones mind.

So far I only have these questions, thank you for taking time to respond !!

Quicksand

Originally posted by Dolmong

Just like Others, I'm on verge to see if I should buy this game or not.

I do not mind to put effort and time into one game, however I'm not a rusher (due to real life busy) and I rather hope to enjoy the game in my own pace.

Also I love some MMORPG features aspect such as craftings, housing, or questing with great story to back behind.

Here are some questions to OB testers now that I hope you can answer !!! Thank you!!

1.)  Hows the crafting in this game?  I heard that this game is deep in crafting or depends crafting a lot (which is really good).  Can you explain more? 

-- The best way I can describe the crafting, is to compare it to Vanguard, its very very close to that (which I loved) the mining however, is very different, and again, I love it.

2.)  Is there Housing at launch?  Or are they planning to?  They had hosing right off the bat at FFXI (even though I don't like zoning housing).  Will Housing open zoned?  and are there any Housing vendors that you can put inside your house and let people come and visit you to buy stuffs from you?  (like SWG?) 

-- Dont know anything about housing

3.)  Hows the pace of combat in FFXIV?  FFXI is damn tooooo boring and slow that put me off at that time, I watched some of the videos already but still I wanna get some answer from real OB testers perspective.

-- Not slow at all in my opinion, but I think that has a little to do with the controls, and which set you use. However, the fights do last a bit longer than most MMO's but the actual combat. swings animations and attacks and overall feel of the combat are not slow.

4.)  Is this game solo friendly?  I need a game that is solo friendly because of my real life issue and I can't spend toooooo much time in a game like WOW 3-5 hours raid.  =(  Also FFXI was very solo unfriendly which I remember I hardly kill a mob at my same level in early game!  And constantly death reduce my xp too =(  Also constantly need to auto heal by sitting after just killing 1-2 mobs really making the game pace slow as hell.

-- I have not got to a very high level yet but to the point I am at, it is solo friendly. but then again, most mmo's are solo friendly at the lower levels so I cant really answer this one.

5.)  Whats the Death Penalty?

-- A few minutes of stat penalty but that only last a couple minutes. then the run back from your bind point is if you didn't get a player rez. (I'd prefer a stiffer penalty but ohh well)

6.)  If you don't mind, please state your impression so far too !!   Thanks

-- I am having alot of fun (but then I had fun with Tabula Rasa and Vanguard) I think the biggest issue people will face is the controls and interface, for me I cant get comfortable with a gamepad so I use keyboard and mouse (well, a Belkin N52 keypad) And at first the mouse lag was simply unplayable, but every since I used the mouse fix patch over on the forums at FFXIAH it has been perfect!!!

I never played FFXI so I cant compare them at all, I will add that I am a big fan of graphics and animations, so that does sometimes push my opinions a bit and tends to make me more forgiving to a game that has really good ones (which this game has some of the best I think)

I do think that if you liked Vanguard, AoC and Aion (very different games but the three games all have a presence in in the feel of FFXIV in my opinion) then you will love FFXIV. If you hated those three games then you will most likely hate this.

 

So far I only have these questions, thank you for taking time to respond !!

geldonyetich

Originally posted by Dolmong

1.)  Hows the crafting in this game?  I heard that this game is deep in crafting or depends crafting a lot (which is really good).  Can you explain more?

Like the rest of the game, crafting doesn't really pull any punches.  You'll spend an inordinate amount of time cobbling together the necessary resources to put together an item, spend a ton of shards/crystals synthesizing the necessary components, only to have the final product blow up in your face at 99% completion, leaving you with little more than a fraction of crafting xp for your efforts. 

But this is definately a crafter's game.  8/18 of the classes are crafting classes, 3/18 of the classes are material gathering classes.  The economy is extremely crafter-driven, you won't get the best gear (or, at least during beta, usually gear post level 1 at all) unless somebody has crafted it.  You can choose to play your character completely as a crafter (disciple of the hand) or gatherer (disciple of the land) and play the game very comfortably.  The sample of the recipes already in the game apparently are only a small fraction of those we'll see at release.

2.)  Is there Housing at launch?  Or are they planning to?  They had hosing right off the bat at FFXI (even though I don't like zoning housing).  Will Housing open zoned?  and are there any Housing vendors that you can put inside your house and let people come and visit you to buy stuffs from you?  (like SWG?)

 

Currently, no housing. Some hints there may be housing later, e.g. areas fo the map that look like they'll open up into housing, but Square-Enix 'aient telling if that's their intention or not.  Instead, what you have are retainers, NPCs you can hire to hold your stuff and sell it for you in marketplaces.

3.)  Hows the pace of combat in FFXIV?  FFXI is damn tooooo boring and slow that put me off at that time, I watched some of the videos already but still I wanna get some answer from real OB testers perspective.

You now must queue every attack from your hotbar.  It looks faster than FFXI and requires more frequent interaction.  However, the actual pace of combat is otherwise about as slow as it was in FFXI.

4.)  Is this game solo friendly?  I need a game that is solo friendly because of my real life issue and I can't spend toooooo much time in a game like WOW 3-5 hours raid.  =(  Also FFXI was very solo unfriendly which I remember I hardly kill a mob at my same level in early game!  And constantly death reduce my xp too =(  Also constantly need to auto heal by sitting after just killing 1-2 mobs really making the game pace slow as hell.

It actually is considerably more solo-friendly than FFXIV.  As you go up in job rank, you seem to be able to tackle bigger and bigger mobs solo without the xp dropping off too severely.  (This seems to be the case from 1-10, perhaps higher.)  Plus, since you can equip most abilities you have learned from other jobs, it's not all that hard to make your character self-sufficient (e.g. mix and match self-healing, protecting, crowd control, etc abilities you learned in other jobs). 

However, there's nonetheless heavy incentive to group because you can share your Regional GuildLeves (quests which are limited to eight per 2 days), you can tackle considerably better (and more rewarding) threats when grouped, and not to mention there's just safety in numbers since the balance is so tight the battle can go south if you're unlucky.

5.)  Whats the Death Penalty?

Currently, you're given a debuff where your hitpoints, mp, and speed in which your ability bar refreshes are slashed in half for 5 minutes, you're functionally weakened to the state where combat is ill-advised.  I get the feeling this is only a temporary death penalty because I read somewhere (probably the beta manual) that this is the penalty "in beta."  Post-release, we're probably looking at xp loss like in FFXI, but that's just a guess.

6.)  If you don't mind, please state your impression so far too !!   Thanks

This game isn't for everyone.  The interface is laggy (hopefully that wil be addressed somewhere before release) and the balance is tight/unforgiving.  However, it's not like there's really a shortage of casual-friendly games to be found elsewhere.  This one's really for the core gamers who can stomach a few speedbumps if it means getting at a solid experience. Oh, and the game is the prettiest MMORPG out here, bar none, for whatever worth that is.

sudo

1) I will let others answer that since I haven't tried any crafting so far, only fishing and mining, loves those a lot. Best fishing system I've seen in a game so far, mining is quite fun as well, especially since it makes you travel a lot and traveling in this game is lots of fun.

2) No idea, really. I'm quite sure nothing will be open zoned because of PS3, though.

3) I am a level 9 marauder and trust me, it's very entertaining. I already have 6 buttons to press at level 9 and stamina system makes the combat very tactical and doesn't let it become the button mashfest that games like wow and aion are (and lotro to some point).

4) Very solo-friendly. It actually rewards you greatly for logging for less than one hour a day. Healing is easy even if you didn't pick up any healing spells from other classes or using your own healing abilities (most classes have some). Healing is automatic while running so you don't have to sit around and usually restore the HP before you get to another mob or group of mobs you are about to kill.

5) Around 3 minutes of 50% of HP and lower stamina regeneration (will make you attack slower). You can still kill stuff while having the penalty, just don't get over your head. I think there is a durability loss penalty after level 10 as well, not sure.

6) So far I enjoy exploring the most, talking with random npcs and just getting my ass killed by some random mob is hella fun. On release random NPCs will have quests, so I bet it will even be better. So far, I've only found one random NPC at some level 10 camp who asked me to help him kill some mobs on a mission to protect the town. I didn't get any extra experience, only 2.5k gil (in game money), which isn't bad at all. Luckily, some friendly Japanese player accepted my party invite, we barely did it duo

Dolmong

Hi everyone, Thank you for taking time to response my questions !!

So far from what I read, this game is pretty good as in role playing aspect.  Especially when you described their craftings similar to Vanguard and it plays a big role similar to SWG.  That is exactly the same I am looking for!  (in SWG, I was 2 years Architect/crafter, and I really enjoy it).

Now a days, most of the MMORPGs are less role playing, which makes me felt missing the MMORPG aspect.  I hope they add Housing too asap, then it makes me feel more complete about this game.

Also I like to know whats the level cap?  And also what channels I can sell my stuffs to other players (such as auction house?  Vendors board?)  Some interesting ideas are from Asheron's Call too if you remember we sell items to vendor and the vendor will still hold on the weapon for people to browse.  Then first come first serve to buy that weapon.  That will be something refreshing too !!