Of course I'm still going to keep playing it though, but its not tough in any way. I'm enjoying my time in this game right now, and as long as I'm having fun, thats all that matters. Its what I pay my sub fees for, entertainment. My monthly entertainment budget is $150, and as long as its under that and keeping me entertained its a go for me.
I honestly dont see why anyone would force themselves to play anything or for that matter do anything they aren't enjoying. And seriously, MMORPGs are entertainment, not jobs. Even the cost of one should be figured in as part of your entertainment budget. And you should never pay anything for entertainment your not willing to see go away. Its not an investment, its something to keep you occupied and happy. If playing football i the park is fun, go play football in the park for Christ's sake. Play FFXIV if your having fun playing it, if your not, please, go find something that entertains you.
It should never come down to wether your willing to 'tough it out', thats like saying 'HEY, I really hated that movie the last five times I spent $35 on it, but ya know what, I think I'll try it just one more time!". Seriously...why?!?!
(DISCLAIMER - The use of the word YOU in the above post is not directed at any one person in particular, but towards those who fall into the category itself - there is no personal attack here, neither intentional nor implied.)
I see the core of this game being very "bad". The entirety of the game, content-wise, has been developed around the guildleve system. You can see this just by looking at each of the maps. Every map clearly has camps scattered around to be starting points for leves.
It just amazes me that they actually thought this was a great system. Who in their right mind could possibly think this type of system would be fun for more than the first 10 to 20 levels. Did they really think going back to one of the main cities, grabbing 1, maybe 3 guildleves for a camp way out in the middle of BFE, traveling to that camp, killing a few spawned mobs, then repeating the same thing over ad nauseum for 50 levels 18 tiimes over was going to be fun gameplay?
I want to like this game, I really do, but if slapping on more guildleves ends up being their solution to adding more content, then I can't believe anyone would want to play this game very long. Where are the deep dungeions? Where are the nameds? Where is the exploration?
I seriously wish I could go back in time and be a fly on the wall to listen in on the meetings where they descussed and came to the conclusion this was going to be a great system.
How is the guildleve system all that different from the quest hubs scattered around WoW or LotRO? Do to a location, do the quest leves there, move on to the next.
Well you can do them with friends, even if your not on the quest you still get Gil for it. Theres quest for the tradeskill professions also an even harvesting. how many times in other games have you had a quest an you can't even do it with your friends? well here you can . like 15 or 16 or so per party also breaks away form tradition 4-6
Every mmo out there either allows you to share quests with others who don't have it or you just join up with others that do have it.
And the guildleves are like "daily quests", they are nothing like the "quest hubs" of any other mmo, especially LotRO or WoW. In a "quest hub" in other mmorpgs, there are dozens of one time quests that get you through without having to repeat the same quest over and over, plus they don't tell you you can only do some of the quests and then have to wait a day and a half to do some more.
It's called content, other mmorpgs have it.
No, no they don't. By and large, the quests are the same, just with a different background. The vast majority boil down to go to this location, kill these enemies. Just like guild leves. Go to this location search for this objective. Just like guild leves. Retrieve/make these items, take them to this person. Just like guild leves.
I see the core of this game being very "bad". The entirety of the game, content-wise, has been developed around the guildleve system. You can see this just by looking at each of the maps. Every map clearly has camps scattered around to be starting points for leves.
It just amazes me that they actually thought this was a great system. Who in their right mind could possibly think this type of system would be fun for more than the first 10 to 20 levels. Did they really think going back to one of the main cities, grabbing 1, maybe 3 guildleves for a camp way out in the middle of BFE, traveling to that camp, killing a few spawned mobs, then repeating the same thing over ad nauseum for 50 levels 18 tiimes over was going to be fun gameplay?
I want to like this game, I really do, but if slapping on more guildleves ends up being their solution to adding more content, then I can't believe anyone would want to play this game very long. Where are the deep dungeions? Where are the nameds? Where is the exploration?
I seriously wish I could go back in time and be a fly on the wall to listen in on the meetings where they descussed and came to the conclusion this was going to be a great system.
How is the guildleve system all that different from the quest hubs scattered around WoW or LotRO? Do to a location, do the quest leves there, move on to the next.
Well you can do them with friends, even if your not on the quest you still get Gil for it. Theres quest for the tradeskill professions also an even harvesting. how many times in other games have you had a quest an you can't even do it with your friends? well here you can . like 15 or 16 or so per party also breaks away form tradition 4-6
Every mmo out there either allows you to share quests with others who don't have it or you just join up with others that do have it.
And the guildleves are like "daily quests", they are nothing like the "quest hubs" of any other mmo, especially LotRO or WoW. In a "quest hub" in other mmorpgs, there are dozens of one time quests that get you through without having to repeat the same quest over and over, plus they don't tell you you can only do some of the quests and then have to wait a day and a half to do some more.
It's called content, other mmorpgs have it.
No, no they don't. By and large, the quests are the same, just with a different background. The vast majority boil down to go to this location, kill these enemies. Just like guild leves. Go to this location search for this objective. Just like guild leves. Retrieve/make these items, take them to this person. Just like guild leves.
What seems more entertaing to you? Doing the same EXACT guildleves every 36 hours, or doing the same TYPE of quests but with different stories behind them and having NO LIMIT to how many you can do any time you want?
So yes, yes they do.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.- -And on the 8th day, man created God.-
No, no they don't. By and large, the quests are the same, just with a different background. The vast majority boil down to go to this location, kill these enemies. Just like guild leves. Go to this location search for this objective. Just like guild leves. Retrieve/make these items, take them to this person. Just like guild leves.
What seems more entertaing to you? Doing the same EXACT guildleves every 36 hours, or doing the same TYPE of quests but with different stories behind them and having NO LIMIT to how many you can do any time you want?
So yes, yes they do.
I love reading the stories, actually. The actual storyline quests in FFXIV are fantastic, even better than most of LotRO's stuff. However, a vast majority of players simply seem to read the objectives and go do it, paying little attention to the 'wall of text' they're presented with. I feel they're simply making the assumption that their resources would be better spent on other things rather than something most players are going to ignore so that they can get to leveling.
It sort of follows the trend that SE has been following recently. For the past few Final Fantasy games, they've seemed to put less effort into the story and world (making them progressively more linear) and more on new types of gameplay. FFXIV seems to be continuing that.
I was one of the people who bought the Collectors Edition for 80 bucks. I enjoyed the open beta, but I did see the "flaws" ahead of time.
However, with that being said.. every single MMO I've betaed or played in the past year or more have all had pretty horrendous launches. FFXI was a different beast, because it wasn't even released in the states first.. it had a full year of play in Japan before we ever got to see it. Plenty of time to iron out any issues that could arise, and add all the content we could stand.
SE has an entire library of games full of content, and fun.. FFXI has so much stuff to do, you''ll never get it all done. I know that they will be patching and adding alot of stuff as it goes along. The core of the game itself isn't "bad" just alot of the ways things were done initially. Alot of these things probably looked good on paper, but its an entirely different story once you throw 2000 random people into the mix and tell them to "have at it". I'm gonna give em the benefit of the doubt, because I've really never been let down by SE even with their latest RPG efforts.. I mean, once you've made 12 games.. there's bound to be a dud in there somewhere. I kind of want to stick around and grow with the game. I mean, I don't want to play WoW and I don't want to play any of the other old games and the only other game I am interested in is GW2 and thats because there's no sub fee. Who else is going to stick around despite the bad reviews and flaws?
/raises hand
I agree an understand what you mean. I love their games . i still right now find it best game to play right now because the rest are just not challenging enough for me at all to play anymore an don't look good either. Played every mmorpg on the market an this one like the last one they did is challenging. with the issues more challenging ^^. We laugh an talk about it sometimes when we play but we all still progress an have fun still as a linkshell. Sometimes the funny stuff is due to bugs, we have a group of strong players. We play together all the time daily a nice dozen on ventrilo even. We move as a unit an each outpost in the game is still currently stacked with 70+ players at almost all times. Even have tons of japanese there with us also the game never sleeps it makes a constant community of people there. There is lots of people still playing it despite of the reviews its gotten. There is a different crowd for sure if your actually playing the game rather than watching it. We had some nice wipes before putting the difficulty on insane since we have teh option to before we start group questing at low levels. This game surely does have a slower pace than any of the final fantasy I have ever played. but its why i think we seem to love it hahaha, its very deep ^^ we all walk miles right now to do stuff like soldiers an teleporting when our anima is there. I believe there is a patch tmr im very anxious to see whats gonna be included. thats why theres downtime which was announced week back or so. suppose to be telling us updates on the marketplace wards an such. Not sure what else though.
To be honest i have been playing for a little under a month and i do not think i will renew my sub simply not because of the chalanges but because of the lag that i keep having, i lose icons and they dont show up unless i relog (and some times that doesnt even help) i do enjoy the fact that you can pretty much do it all and solo in this game (at least low levels my highest toon is like 8 body and 7 lancer) so really dont know if the lag wasnt there i would consider playing a bit more but as it sits right now the bugs and the lag are just way to damned annoying for me to have some true fun with the game
To be honest i have been playing for a little under a month and i do not think i will renew my sub simply not because of the chalanges but because of the lag that i keep having, i lose icons and they dont show up unless i relog (and some times that doesnt even help) i do enjoy the fact that you can pretty much do it all and solo in this game (at least low levels my highest toon is like 8 body and 7 lancer) so really dont know if the lag wasnt there i would consider playing a bit more but as it sits right now the bugs and the lag are just way to damned annoying for me to have some true fun with the game
I know someone else who doesn't play the game just because of lag. the disappearing icons no one in my group has or i experienced that. interesting, it is more fun with a group of people thats for sure. I picked someone else up in a stranded state like that an now hes in our LS daily an vent. i don;t even do leves for instance solo hardly anymore because i mine craft all day working for materials an then someone logs in an is like i wanna go kill an do leves. we like ok.. then everyone else hears about leve runs an next thing you know we have 15 man teams doing nonstop leves for hours because you can do the next persons quest also then we port to the next city an do them until we get tired then we go back to our own journeys own leve. this happens about everyday :P. an its very exciting. due to the lag you may not even feel the need to i know because your not having the fun you want etc or cant get past those obstacles yes it hurts us,but hell here we are!
I really can't see myself sticking around unless huge changes are made between now and the release of Cataclysm, GW2, TOR, and Rift. SE picked the worst possible time to release a half-finished game. If I want a Final Fantasy MMO, I'll go back and play XI. I don't play games for potential. I play games for fun, and the more I play XIV the less fun I have.
I think they picked the perfect time. A lot of people are waiting on next year, regardless if FFXIV came out or not. Most are bored of current games and wanted a good fresh game to enjoy until some of the games come out next year. So essentially, releasing now got them a lot more box sales, compared to next year when the others come out.
Seriously, if this was launched a month before or after one of the big ones next year, do you really think it would of sold half as many box sales? I sure don't.
I am not going to tough anything out. I am still on my free 30 days. After that i am back to EQ2 till SWTOR and GW2 release.
Who could have thought that WOW could bring super power like USA to its knees?
Originally posted by Arcken
To put it in a nutshell, our society is about to hit the fan, grades are dropping, obesity is going up,childhood the USA is going to lose its super power status before too long, but hey, as long as we have a cheap method to babysit our kids, all will be well no? Im picking on WoW btw because its the beast that made all of this possible
No, no they don't. By and large, the quests are the same, just with a different background. The vast majority boil down to go to this location, kill these enemies. Just like guild leves. Go to this location search for this objective. Just like guild leves. Retrieve/make these items, take them to this person. Just like guild leves.
Just so people that haven't played this game don't take this spin this guy is throwing as the truth, the quests in WoW/ LOTRO and FFXIV are not remotely similar. When you max level in WoW you can do the dailies to get money but they weren't designed as content in the game, the dailies in WoW are very similar to FFXIV quest system, which I find really boring and lazy programming.
As for partying with up to 15 people in a group, that really made me excited that is was breaking the norm. Then I played the game and realized there is a very smart reason for smaller groups and that is programming. It is much easier to program a game around 5 people in a group that you know will be x,y,z classes and do x,y,z things. Therefore you can more easily understand how to design your mobs to be fun and engaging. FFXIV again took the lazy approach, they made really easy and really hard monsters (can't really tell which is which without testing the waters and dying) and so you just throw 15 people at the problem, doesn't really matter what classes or skills, it's all so random and not designed well if you ask me.
But back on track, as for the main quest lines, first off you cannot do these in a group. I was stuck on a part, so was another guy near me and he asked me what to do. I did what any good FFXIV player would do, I got on my laptop (cannot tab out unless in window mode which I think kills all immersion) and learned what to do and told him. He said cool, thanks, can we team up to do it? I of course said SURE! as I was glad to party with others and I get to the cutscene spot and it says "Please leave your party before you initate the quest". Awesome questing system right?
And as for the story being great? Also not true. It doesn't make sense, it's tons and tons of text reading (line by line) without any voice or link to when you leave the story of why you are doing guildleve now or how the story ties to what you are doing. Sorry, WoW/LOTRO both have tons of variety, interesting and challenging quests of all different types, FFXIV has virtually nothing in terms of content right now, NOTHING. That is just... mindboggling.
No, no they don't. By and large, the quests are the same, just with a different background. The vast majority boil down to go to this location, kill these enemies. Just like guild leves. Go to this location search for this objective. Just like guild leves. Retrieve/make these items, take them to this person. Just like guild leves.
Just so people that haven't played this game don't take this spin this guy is throwing as the truth, the quests in WoW/ LOTRO and FFXIV are not remotely similar. When you max level in WoW you can do the dailies to get money but they weren't designed as content in the game, the dailies in WoW are very similar to FFXIV quest system, which I find really boring and lazy programming.
As for partying with up to 15 people in a group, that really made me excited that is was breaking the norm. Then I played the game and realized there is a very smart reason for smaller groups and that is programming. It is much easier to program a game around 5 people in a group that you know will be x,y,z classes and do x,y,z things. Therefore you can more easily understand how to design your mobs to be fun and engaging. FFXIV again took the lazy approach, they made really easy and really hard monsters (can't really tell which is which without testing the waters and dying) and so you just throw 15 people at the problem, doesn't really matter what classes or skills, it's all so random and not designed well if you ask me.
But back on track, as for the main quest lines, first off you cannot do these in a group. I was stuck on a part, so was another guy near me and he asked me what to do. I did what any good FFXIV player would do, I got on my laptop (cannot tab out unless in window mode which I think kills all immersion) and learned what to do and told him. He said cool, thanks, can we team up to do it? I of course said SURE! as I was glad to party with others and I get to the cutscene spot and it says "Please leave your party before you initate the quest". Awesome questing system right?
And as for the story being great? Also not true. It doesn't make sense, it's tons and tons of text reading (line by line) without any voice or link to when you leave the story of why you are doing guildleve now or how the story ties to what you are doing. Sorry, WoW/LOTRO both have tons of variety, interesting and challenging quests of all different types, FFXIV has virtually nothing in terms of content right now, NOTHING. That is just... mindboggling.
Without insulting or presuming too much, the majority of the people sticking with it are SE fans who want a new MMO home, and there is nothing wrong with that. But because they are so desperate for a new MMO home where they can have a head start, they blind themselves to just how bad the game is. It doesn't do anything better then any other game on the market except graphics, and AoC pushes better graphics then FF14 (yes i had them both on max settings with no trouble, but FF was using directx9 which makes the game look like a shell of what it could be using directx11 like the rest of the world) FF14 will go down as the biggest AAA mmo failure in history so far
I am still enjoying the game immensely but recognize the flaws:
1. Awkward control scheme (used to it from FFXI)
2. Laggy, non-performant UI
3. Short on "structured content" - Story Quests spaced too far apart
4. Buggy UI - especially buggy combat
5. Horrible buying/selling experience design. - Expecting players to resort to a flea/bazaar market experience seems like it could be more immersive, but you are relying on players to make it work.
For me, when the flaws aren't working against you, the game has a huge draw to it. When combat isn't bugging out, its really fun. When the ui isn't lagging, the awkward design is more than manageable. Even the "market system" works when I'm in a city's "flea market" (where players have naturally started to gather to buy/trade) and quickly find and sell what I need - though usually its a chore. I have jewelry in need of repair and I haven't been able to find anyone able/willing to repair it (when I have found someone they would prefer I have the mats instead of gil).I've been playing FFXIV like I did Fallen Earth, SWG, and UO.
I'm not focused on just Leve quests. Most of my goals tend to be: "I want to stock my retainer with these items, so I need to gather these mats." My last two gameplay sessions were primarily motived by gathering specific mats (fishing, hunting, and botany) to make alchemical wares to sell to other players. In doing so, I gained a level in my primary adventuring discipline, gained 6-7 levels total in other adventuring disciplines, gained a level in alchemy, culinary, and botany.
If I play today, I really want to run back to Ul'Dah (logged Gridania) complete the remainder of my regional leves and turn in somecrafting leves I've completed over the past couple days. I may attempt to find some repairs to a couple pieces of equipment, upgrade a few others, and plan for a fishing trip out to La Noscea. I also will do some parley to see if there is more to it then what I have experienced thus far (is it a feature full of hidden goodies or an "unfinished" feature??)
Some "easy wins" for me that would greatly improve the experience:
Some form of AH - I have always prefered FFXI's implementation to other games. I have read various reasons as to why SE is holding out on it (RMT, Bots, Immersion, etc...) but even if it was limited to "Finished" items or specific items, it would be a huge help.
Mail - FFXI was the first online game I played with this feature and now its the first online game I've played since that doesn't have it. Its a huge help when you find something for a friend or a linkshell mate. Having to meet up, especially when you're in different parts of the world makes this harder.
More Quests - I remember previews stating that LeveQuests were intended to be "fillers" or secondary/tertiary pieces of content. It seems like the only quests we have are each city's story quest and class quests. Even if they made it such that I could do each of the city's story quest on one character would add that much more content to the game (You have 5 levels to complete each story quest of each city - coupled with levequests, running around and any other side goals). By the time you got finished with the 3rd city's quest you would probably be high enough rank to start the next series of quests!
Long term, I would like to see a variety of quests of varied scope. There are a ton of outposts/forts with npcs that do nothing other than stand around and say something quirky. Filling these out with a quest arch would be huge.
Anima - Up the regen rate to 1pt/3hrs. That seems like it would provide a nice balance as you could teleport regionally twice and not go into "Anima debt" or even teleport to another region once and still regen back your anima plus some. Allowing us to teleport crystal to crystal at reduced rates would be huge and still not compromise the design reason for limited teleportation resources. For example, teleporting from a city crystal another crystal within the same region could cost 3pts. Teleporting from a city crystal to a crystal within another region could cost 5pts. I would even say you shouldn't be able to port to another city with a reduction unless your porting from city crystal. With these point reductions, increasing the rate of anima regeneration may be unnecessary. Willy-nilly porting would still cost the same, but if I want to be a bit more conservative, I still have to travel to a crystal. If I want to be even more conservative, I need to run the whole way.
Long term things to keep in mind:
Zone Design: I like the size of each zone. However, it does get bland after a while. In the future, I would rather see 3 - 4 small/medium zones vs the 1 - 2 huge zones. Note, I did notice in Thanalan running to camp blue frog some really cool cliffs. But once I was into the "next area", it was the same old Thanalan terrain design I saw during my early ranks.
Mob Design: No more fluffy/forest/feathery forest creatures. This is the one thing that does tick me off. Where are the goblins/moblins/Quadavs/Orcs?? If it isn't rabid, or doesn't weigh more than 50lbs, it shouldn't be the primary mob in a zone.
Well considering I had no fun at all playing the game I would guess that is reason enough to not "tough it out"
I didn't buy a copy of the game though luckily for me my friend pre-ordered the game, played it 5 days, absolutely hated it and gave me his copy with his account.
I then played on the game about 3-4 days and also didn't enjoy it.
I'm not new to the mmo genre though and I know most games are unpolished and quite unfinished at release. This game is no exception but it does take it to an unacceptable extreme even for this old mmo veteran.
I see a lot of potential with this game but as it stands its nothing more than a broken mess with good music and graphics. Knowing how every single mmo I have played works, the chances are this game will not have any real meaningful end game content for at least another six months or so. So what that means is there is no real point to rush to the end or try to level up in the current state of the game.
I will probably wait for the ps3 version, (If it doesn't become cancelled after all the bad rep this game is getting ala (AoC). Once and if the Ps3 release does come about I am almost sure the game's major flaws will be mostly taken care of and the developers will start to focus on actually introducing high end content in the game. It is at this point where actually playing and leveling up will have a goal instead of just the boring crafting we have now.
So I am kinda sticking around but not quite.
Personally I have never had real "Fun" the first Six months of an mmo's launch. Its after that influx, anger, corrections, exodus, and redemption period that the game actually begins its life imo. This is nothing more than the clusterfuck stage.
I won't be sticking around myself as well, I'm not going to moan and whine about the games flaws, but I simply can't play this game. As Gamespot put it, this game is work not fun.
However if say by the PS3 release or hell even by Christmas that significant changes have happened, then I will reconsider re-subbing.
I tihnk it goes without saying I'm toughing it out. Signed up for a 3 month package. Judging by how many modern games tend to rely heavily on instancing, this may be the last MMORPG I ever bother paying a monthly subscription to.
I'm probably not lasting past the 30 days, but for those who do... Enjoy working for the Ezorean Machine
Is that the cover from the Chinese version?
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.- -And on the 8th day, man created God.-
I'm probably not lasting past the 30 days, but for those who do... Enjoy working for the Ezorean Machine
u sir, just won the internet.
So, I guess some of us will suffer through it a little longer with the:
Extension Period
An additional thirty (30) days, for a combined free trial period of sixty (60) days.
Free Trial Extension Details
Eligibility
All users who registered a FINAL FANTASY XIV service account and purchased a character by October 25, 2010 will be eligible.
Character purchases must have been carried out no later than October 25, 2010 at 23:59(PDT).
Accounts terminated due to User Agreement infractions are ineligible for extension.
Holders of multiple service accounts may receive extensions on all accounts.
Extension Period
An additional thirty (30) days, for a combined free trial period of sixty (60) days.
Free trial period end dates and initial billing dates will be automatically extended. Users are not required to take any action.
Extensions will be for a period of thirty days regardless of billing cycle length. Regular billing will begin upon conclusion of the extended free trial.
Should automatic renewal of options be disabled, the free trial will still be extended.
Users notified by automated mail of either the end of their free trial period or the beginning of their billing period will still receive the extension.
Extensions will be processed by the Square Enix Account Management System on or around October 19, 2010. An official announcement will be made at that time.
Information regarding new billing period dates will be available via the Square Enix Account Management System.
I guess it is better than being poked with a sharp stick.
Hey TSW Players http://www.unfair.co/ for Mission guides, Lore Locations and stuff....
Anyone who pays real money to "tough it out" is a mark. You would be much better served sending your money to me instead. I promise you will get something awesome in return. I can't tell you what though, because it is too awesome for words. You will just have to send me some money to see.
Comments
I'm not going to tough it out.
Of course I'm still going to keep playing it though, but its not tough in any way. I'm enjoying my time in this game right now, and as long as I'm having fun, thats all that matters. Its what I pay my sub fees for, entertainment. My monthly entertainment budget is $150, and as long as its under that and keeping me entertained its a go for me.
I honestly dont see why anyone would force themselves to play anything or for that matter do anything they aren't enjoying. And seriously, MMORPGs are entertainment, not jobs. Even the cost of one should be figured in as part of your entertainment budget. And you should never pay anything for entertainment your not willing to see go away. Its not an investment, its something to keep you occupied and happy. If playing football i the park is fun, go play football in the park for Christ's sake. Play FFXIV if your having fun playing it, if your not, please, go find something that entertains you.
It should never come down to wether your willing to 'tough it out', thats like saying 'HEY, I really hated that movie the last five times I spent $35 on it, but ya know what, I think I'll try it just one more time!". Seriously...why?!?!
(DISCLAIMER - The use of the word YOU in the above post is not directed at any one person in particular, but towards those who fall into the category itself - there is no personal attack here, neither intentional nor implied.)
No, no they don't. By and large, the quests are the same, just with a different background. The vast majority boil down to go to this location, kill these enemies. Just like guild leves. Go to this location search for this objective. Just like guild leves. Retrieve/make these items, take them to this person. Just like guild leves.
What seems more entertaing to you? Doing the same EXACT guildleves every 36 hours, or doing the same TYPE of quests but with different stories behind them and having NO LIMIT to how many you can do any time you want?
So yes, yes they do.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
I love reading the stories, actually. The actual storyline quests in FFXIV are fantastic, even better than most of LotRO's stuff. However, a vast majority of players simply seem to read the objectives and go do it, paying little attention to the 'wall of text' they're presented with. I feel they're simply making the assumption that their resources would be better spent on other things rather than something most players are going to ignore so that they can get to leveling.
It sort of follows the trend that SE has been following recently. For the past few Final Fantasy games, they've seemed to put less effort into the story and world (making them progressively more linear) and more on new types of gameplay. FFXIV seems to be continuing that.
Leves in FFXIV remind me of the quest counter from PSO in the year 2000.
There, thats is all.
I agree an understand what you mean. I love their games
. i still right now find it best game to play right now because the rest are just not challenging enough for me at all to play anymore an don't look good either. Played every mmorpg on the market an this one like the last one they did is challenging. with the issues more challenging ^^. We laugh an talk about it sometimes when we play but we all still progress an have fun still as a linkshell. Sometimes the funny stuff is due to bugs, we have a group of strong players. We play together all the time daily a nice dozen on ventrilo even. We move as a unit an each outpost in the game is still currently stacked with 70+ players at almost all times. Even have tons of japanese there with us also the game never sleeps it makes a constant community of people there. There is lots of people still playing it despite of the reviews its gotten. There is a different crowd for sure if your actually playing the game rather than watching it. We had some nice wipes before putting the difficulty on insane since we have teh option to before we start group questing at low levels. This game surely does have a slower pace than any of the final fantasy I have ever played. but its why i think we seem to love it hahaha, its very deep ^^ we all walk miles right now to do stuff like soldiers an teleporting when our anima is there. I believe there is a patch tmr im very anxious to see whats gonna be included. thats why theres downtime which was announced week back or so. suppose to be telling us updates on the marketplace wards an such. Not sure what else though. 
To be honest i have been playing for a little under a month and i do not think i will renew my sub simply not because of the chalanges but because of the lag that i keep having, i lose icons and they dont show up unless i relog (and some times that doesnt even help) i do enjoy the fact that you can pretty much do it all and solo in this game (at least low levels my highest toon is like 8 body and 7 lancer) so really dont know if the lag wasnt there i would consider playing a bit more but as it sits right now the bugs and the lag are just way to damned annoying for me to have some true fun with the game
I know someone else who doesn't play the game just because of lag. the disappearing icons no one in my group has or i experienced that. interesting, it is more fun with a group of people thats for sure. I picked someone else up in a stranded state like that an now hes in our LS daily an vent. i don;t even do leves for instance solo hardly anymore because i mine craft all day working for materials an then someone logs in an is like i wanna go kill an do leves. we like ok.. then everyone else hears about leve runs an next thing you know we have 15 man teams doing nonstop leves for hours because you can do the next persons quest also then we port to the next city an do them until we get tired then we go back to our own journeys own leve. this happens about everyday :P. an its very exciting. due to the lag you may not even feel the need to i know because your not having the fun you want etc or cant get past those obstacles yes it hurts us,but hell here we are!
I think they picked the perfect time. A lot of people are waiting on next year, regardless if FFXIV came out or not. Most are bored of current games and wanted a good fresh game to enjoy until some of the games come out next year. So essentially, releasing now got them a lot more box sales, compared to next year when the others come out.
Seriously, if this was launched a month before or after one of the big ones next year, do you really think it would of sold half as many box sales? I sure don't.
I am not going to tough anything out. I am still on my free 30 days. After that i am back to EQ2 till SWTOR and GW2 release.
Who could have thought that WOW could bring super power like USA to its knees?
Originally posted by Arcken
To put it in a nutshell, our society is about to hit the fan, grades are dropping, obesity is going up,childhood the USA is going to lose its super power status before too long, but hey, as long as we have a cheap method to babysit our kids, all will be well no?
Im picking on WoW btw because its the beast that made all of this possible
Just so people that haven't played this game don't take this spin this guy is throwing as the truth, the quests in WoW/ LOTRO and FFXIV are not remotely similar. When you max level in WoW you can do the dailies to get money but they weren't designed as content in the game, the dailies in WoW are very similar to FFXIV quest system, which I find really boring and lazy programming.
As for partying with up to 15 people in a group, that really made me excited that is was breaking the norm. Then I played the game and realized there is a very smart reason for smaller groups and that is programming. It is much easier to program a game around 5 people in a group that you know will be x,y,z classes and do x,y,z things. Therefore you can more easily understand how to design your mobs to be fun and engaging. FFXIV again took the lazy approach, they made really easy and really hard monsters (can't really tell which is which without testing the waters and dying) and so you just throw 15 people at the problem, doesn't really matter what classes or skills, it's all so random and not designed well if you ask me.
But back on track, as for the main quest lines, first off you cannot do these in a group. I was stuck on a part, so was another guy near me and he asked me what to do. I did what any good FFXIV player would do, I got on my laptop (cannot tab out unless in window mode which I think kills all immersion) and learned what to do and told him. He said cool, thanks, can we team up to do it? I of course said SURE! as I was glad to party with others and I get to the cutscene spot and it says "Please leave your party before you initate the quest". Awesome questing system right?
And as for the story being great? Also not true. It doesn't make sense, it's tons and tons of text reading (line by line) without any voice or link to when you leave the story of why you are doing guildleve now or how the story ties to what you are doing. Sorry, WoW/LOTRO both have tons of variety, interesting and challenging quests of all different types, FFXIV has virtually nothing in terms of content right now, NOTHING. That is just... mindboggling.
Without insulting or presuming too much, the majority of the people sticking with it are SE fans who want a new MMO home, and there is nothing wrong with that. But because they are so desperate for a new MMO home where they can have a head start, they blind themselves to just how bad the game is. It doesn't do anything better then any other game on the market except graphics, and AoC pushes better graphics then FF14 (yes i had them both on max settings with no trouble, but FF was using directx9 which makes the game look like a shell of what it could be using directx11 like the rest of the world) FF14 will go down as the biggest AAA mmo failure in history so far
Gonna tough it out.
I am still enjoying the game immensely but recognize the flaws:
1. Awkward control scheme (used to it from FFXI)
2. Laggy, non-performant UI
3. Short on "structured content" - Story Quests spaced too far apart
4. Buggy UI - especially buggy combat
5. Horrible buying/selling experience design. - Expecting players to resort to a flea/bazaar market experience seems like it could be more immersive, but you are relying on players to make it work.
For me, when the flaws aren't working against you, the game has a huge draw to it. When combat isn't bugging out, its really fun. When the ui isn't lagging, the awkward design is more than manageable. Even the "market system" works when I'm in a city's "flea market" (where players have naturally started to gather to buy/trade) and quickly find and sell what I need - though usually its a chore. I have jewelry in need of repair and I haven't been able to find anyone able/willing to repair it (when I have found someone they would prefer I have the mats instead of gil).I've been playing FFXIV like I did Fallen Earth, SWG, and UO.
I'm not focused on just Leve quests. Most of my goals tend to be: "I want to stock my retainer with these items, so I need to gather these mats." My last two gameplay sessions were primarily motived by gathering specific mats (fishing, hunting, and botany) to make alchemical wares to sell to other players. In doing so, I gained a level in my primary adventuring discipline, gained 6-7 levels total in other adventuring disciplines, gained a level in alchemy, culinary, and botany.
If I play today, I really want to run back to Ul'Dah (logged Gridania) complete the remainder of my regional leves and turn in somecrafting leves I've completed over the past couple days. I may attempt to find some repairs to a couple pieces of equipment, upgrade a few others, and plan for a fishing trip out to La Noscea. I also will do some parley to see if there is more to it then what I have experienced thus far (is it a feature full of hidden goodies or an "unfinished" feature??)
Some "easy wins" for me that would greatly improve the experience:
Some form of AH - I have always prefered FFXI's implementation to other games. I have read various reasons as to why SE is holding out on it (RMT, Bots, Immersion, etc...) but even if it was limited to "Finished" items or specific items, it would be a huge help.
Mail - FFXI was the first online game I played with this feature and now its the first online game I've played since that doesn't have it. Its a huge help when you find something for a friend or a linkshell mate. Having to meet up, especially when you're in different parts of the world makes this harder.
More Quests - I remember previews stating that LeveQuests were intended to be "fillers" or secondary/tertiary pieces of content. It seems like the only quests we have are each city's story quest and class quests. Even if they made it such that I could do each of the city's story quest on one character would add that much more content to the game (You have 5 levels to complete each story quest of each city - coupled with levequests, running around and any other side goals). By the time you got finished with the 3rd city's quest you would probably be high enough rank to start the next series of quests!
Long term, I would like to see a variety of quests of varied scope. There are a ton of outposts/forts with npcs that do nothing other than stand around and say something quirky. Filling these out with a quest arch would be huge.
Anima - Up the regen rate to 1pt/3hrs. That seems like it would provide a nice balance as you could teleport regionally twice and not go into "Anima debt" or even teleport to another region once and still regen back your anima plus some. Allowing us to teleport crystal to crystal at reduced rates would be huge and still not compromise the design reason for limited teleportation resources. For example, teleporting from a city crystal another crystal within the same region could cost 3pts. Teleporting from a city crystal to a crystal within another region could cost 5pts. I would even say you shouldn't be able to port to another city with a reduction unless your porting from city crystal. With these point reductions, increasing the rate of anima regeneration may be unnecessary. Willy-nilly porting would still cost the same, but if I want to be a bit more conservative, I still have to travel to a crystal. If I want to be even more conservative, I need to run the whole way.
Long term things to keep in mind:
Zone Design: I like the size of each zone. However, it does get bland after a while. In the future, I would rather see 3 - 4 small/medium zones vs the 1 - 2 huge zones. Note, I did notice in Thanalan running to camp blue frog some really cool cliffs. But once I was into the "next area", it was the same old Thanalan terrain design I saw during my early ranks.
Mob Design: No more fluffy/forest/feathery forest creatures. This is the one thing that does tick me off. Where are the goblins/moblins/Quadavs/Orcs?? If it isn't rabid, or doesn't weigh more than 50lbs, it shouldn't be the primary mob in a zone.
Well considering I had no fun at all playing the game I would guess that is reason enough to not "tough it out"
I didn't buy a copy of the game though luckily for me my friend pre-ordered the game, played it 5 days, absolutely hated it and gave me his copy with his account.
I then played on the game about 3-4 days and also didn't enjoy it.
I'm not new to the mmo genre though and I know most games are unpolished and quite unfinished at release. This game is no exception but it does take it to an unacceptable extreme even for this old mmo veteran.
I see a lot of potential with this game but as it stands its nothing more than a broken mess with good music and graphics. Knowing how every single mmo I have played works, the chances are this game will not have any real meaningful end game content for at least another six months or so. So what that means is there is no real point to rush to the end or try to level up in the current state of the game.
I will probably wait for the ps3 version, (If it doesn't become cancelled after all the bad rep this game is getting ala (AoC). Once and if the Ps3 release does come about I am almost sure the game's major flaws will be mostly taken care of and the developers will start to focus on actually introducing high end content in the game. It is at this point where actually playing and leveling up will have a goal instead of just the boring crafting we have now.
So I am kinda sticking around but not quite.
Personally I have never had real "Fun" the first Six months of an mmo's launch. Its after that influx, anger, corrections, exodus, and redemption period that the game actually begins its life imo. This is nothing more than the clusterfuck stage.
I won't be sticking around myself as well, I'm not going to moan and whine about the games flaws, but I simply can't play this game. As Gamespot put it, this game is work not fun.
However if say by the PS3 release or hell even by Christmas that significant changes have happened, then I will reconsider re-subbing.
I am...as is my wife!
I've been having a great time. Found a great linkshell and the crafting has been really fun for me. I'm definitely going to tough it out.
I tihnk it goes without saying I'm toughing it out. Signed up for a 3 month package. Judging by how many modern games tend to rely heavily on instancing, this may be the last MMORPG I ever bother paying a monthly subscription to.
I stay.
I love it and have fun, and as long as I have fun I stay.
All I need is already in game, and it has more then I wanted.
The game has issues, but most of them don't really bother me.
I'm probably not lasting past the 30 days, but for those who do... Enjoy working for the Ezorean Machine
Hey TSW Players http://www.unfair.co/ for Mission guides, Lore Locations and stuff....
Is that the cover from the Chinese version?
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
Probably! But after seeing it, I couldn't help but laugh.
Considering the way the game plays out, the limitations, the forced crafting, etc.
It DOES seem like more of a Communist Society emulator than an open world MMO.
I just figured I'd share to give others who 'get it' a chuckle.
Hey TSW Players http://www.unfair.co/ for Mission guides, Lore Locations and stuff....
u sir, just won the internet.
So, I guess some of us will suffer through it a little longer with the:
Extension Period
An additional thirty (30) days, for a combined free trial period of sixty (60) days.
Free Trial Extension Details
Eligibility
All users who registered a FINAL FANTASY XIV service account and purchased a character by October 25, 2010 will be eligible.
Character purchases must have been carried out no later than October 25, 2010 at 23:59(PDT).
Accounts terminated due to User Agreement infractions are ineligible for extension.
Holders of multiple service accounts may receive extensions on all accounts.
Extension Period
An additional thirty (30) days, for a combined free trial period of sixty (60) days.
Free trial period end dates and initial billing dates will be automatically extended. Users are not required to take any action.
Extensions will be for a period of thirty days regardless of billing cycle length. Regular billing will begin upon conclusion of the extended free trial.
Should automatic renewal of options be disabled, the free trial will still be extended.
Users notified by automated mail of either the end of their free trial period or the beginning of their billing period will still receive the extension.
Extensions will be processed by the Square Enix Account Management System on or around October 19, 2010. An official announcement will be made at that time.
Information regarding new billing period dates will be available via the Square Enix Account Management System.
I guess it is better than being poked with a sharp stick.
Hey TSW Players http://www.unfair.co/ for Mission guides, Lore Locations and stuff....
Anyone who pays real money to "tough it out" is a mark. You would be much better served sending your money to me instead. I promise you will get something awesome in return. I can't tell you what though, because it is too awesome for words. You will just have to send me some money to see.