The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

This is a thread that is somewhat intended to get away from the common things people complain about, meaning RDM Melee/SMN/solo gripes/the state of meritpo and moving on to other miscellanious issues witin the game that you feel are important things that need addressing.

To be more specific, I'm not merely talking about job adjustments, either. Those are coming, we've gotten a lot of good ones, let's just wait and see what they do. Feel free to tack yours on in the thread and discuss it. If it pertains to an element of a job, ok, that's fair game, but let's not drag it into topics we've already been over a dozen times.

One problem I have is actually a long-standing, but now quieter criticism of the game.

Lack of real guild structure.

SE decided that it would be best to let the players regulate thier linkshells as they saw fit. Which is to say, SE trusted players too much. I think each time a developer makes thier first online game, they imagine us to be perfect little angels. Well, we're not, and the complete absense of an established guild structure makes things a lot more political than they have to be. That's not to say an established system couldn't be abused - it totally can - but if things like point systems were done in-game instead of externally, there's a lot less room for abuse. Bad/corrupt leaders would be spotted easier.

Another issue is that SE doesn't really update the older content that much. OK, so we can farm diorites from Aura Statues near the Nexus, there's a rage timer and NMs can build resistances over time. Still, this doesn't prevent us from using the same tactics over and over again.

SE said it themselves several times - they'd like to encourage different party setups and strategies. This works for the "small party" concept they have, but not terribly much for meritpo or endgame. Things need to be shaken up a little here.

Since the kings are now such familiar territory and have become such simple fights, I think its time they get a bit tougher with a bit more variety in thier tactics or even tactics that might vary by thier appearance.

As someone who favors the newer jobs in the game, another that stands out to me is the failure to really include the ToA/WotG jobs in the reward scheme in RoZ/CoP endgame content. Really, CoP busts your balls, I want a little more to choose from than some earrings and neck pieces. BLU got BOTH sea sets and PUP and COR got jackshit. Its clear BLU was way ahead on the drawing board than the other two.

All the same, all ToA and WotG jobs should get a shot at AF+1 sets, too. Same goes for relics, which I'm a little more understanding about SE holding back on. Given how contemporary ToA/WotG AF is in contrast to RoZ AF, it probably is somewhat difficult to reinvent these sets, and I'll also concede that Relic for WotG jobs is probably premature since other endgame sets aren't really there outside of the standard crafted and Assault gear choices

But lets look at the facts:

PUP, DNC and SCH get no abjuration gear - COR and BLU had it from day one on ToA
WotG/ToA jobs get no AF+1, just Limbus accessories and other sea accesories.
WotG/ToA jobs don't have Relic armor.
PUP, COR and BLU do have Relic weapons, but we have no idea what to do with them yet.
SCH and DNC get nothing from Salvage.
Only BLU, PUP and COR have incentive to camp HNM, and not very compelling ones.

I gripe about this only because you can't expect everyone to have a dozen jobs at 75. Two or three jobs at 75 is pretty common now, anything beyond that is going into extreme cases. I'm sitting at three with #s 4, 5 and 6 soon to follow. I think I'm going to stop there, I don't know if I can stomach a seventh.

Anyway, there will be newer players wanting to do this old content and they may end up favoring ToA/WotG jobs. There should be something there for them in this content.

People can spout off about how people should be compelled to camp these things out of being "part of the team," but lets just call bullshit on that - those people are addicts and I'm blowing three hours of valuble time camping something we might not claim on or even get a drop from (hi2u Defending Ring). There should be more incentives for more jobs from these ventures to keep it interesting for everyone.

Finally - and this is just because it really annoys me for some reason - those fucking /BRD and Barspell bots in campaign. Seriously, nerf the recast on BRD and WHM self buffs when Allied tags are applied or make it so you can only get so much EXP from Campaign. No one should be able to level up thier character by singing and not doing shit on the battlefield nor sould anyone get credit for these buffs unless they're hitting other active players. I've already made it a point to introduce Muu Buxu the Elusive to these guys a few times.

[Feba]

Kinda agree on LS; but I'd say the biggest problem is that all the LS system really does is give people a way to talk to each other.

There's no real way for players to contribute to the LS, or benefit from being in one (other than the obvious social reasons). SE also should realize that people really want some way to hang out with their LS; like an LS house (which can provide other functions, like storage)



Really, though, I think most of the problems in FFXI can be summed up by either SE being afraid to take big steps, SE's failure to listen to the playerbase, or some combination of the two. I mean, how long have people been asking for a Golden Saucer type place? Or private airships/ferries?

[Effedup]

There's no real way for players to contribute to the LS, or benefit from being in one (other than the obvious social reasons). SE also should realize that people really want some way to hang out with their LS; like an LS house (which can provide other functions, like storage)

I really like that idea, particularly the storage. The ability to visit a friends Mog House was fun for about 3 minutes, but I think if my LS had a clan hall or something along those lines (with access to your mogsafe/storage as in a standard mog house) we'd probably all spend our time in there chilling and make it even more of a "community" thing. All we'd need past that is some cool posters and lava lamps and we'd be set. ^^

Even cooler, an ability to bank gear would be cool. While I have yet to make it to 75 with my first job, I've played them all to the point where I have gear on mules all over the place that is just sitting there 99% of the time. If I could, say "rent" it out somehow for a set period of time to other LS peeps I'd be all over it (I use "rent" loosely, I'm not trying to make money off of it, but I can see how that would be an option some would want). My main concern with that is there would have to be some system to track that other than the honor system (maybe claim slips that get delivered to me when it's checked out, and such gear is treated as rare/ex when it's being borrowed so someone can't sell it or give it to a third party)...I've lent out lots of gear over time and lost some just because I can't remember who the hell I'd lent it to, people quit the game, etc. My fault entirely (if I'm willing to lend it out it's my problem getting it back), but if my LS could borrow gear from me and I had a gaurantee it wasn't going to vanish, I'd do it in a second.

An old gripe of mine, one of pure laziness, is the lack of the ability to send as well as receive from the moghouse. I really dont see why I still have to run across town to the A.H. so I can send myself my gear. If S-E is worried about it being exploited by RMT or something, then they could restrict it to characters on the same account (via a handy list like when selecting where to exit your Mog House).

[Aksannyi]

An old gripe of mine, one of pure laziness, is the lack of the ability to send as well as receive from the moghouse. I really dont see why I still have to run across town to the A.H. so I can send myself my gear. If S-E is worried about it being exploited by RMT or something, then they could restrict it to characters on the same account (via a handy list like when selecting where to exit your Mog House).

Agree completely, I have so many crafting materials on my mules that this is such a pain to go back and forth sending and receiving.

[Akashimo]

Make things more like, in game for the social structure.

To the LS house, yeah I see that as a nice add on, even with like a roof and officers room.

LS bank. Honestly, how much drama has there been with stolen funds? Really?
A bank npc that everyone can see who did what, where, when, how much.
TBH, really something along the lines of WoW's guild system.

More mog house space. Storage caps at 80, yeah... and I can still pack more cause of all the furnishings I got on Aka. More Gobbie bags... again. Already getting tight with the ones we gotten since Wings came out. Another mog house expansion please. The moogle hasn't done that I need gifts in soo long ; ;

More Mannequins, you know, to dress up with gear we don't want to be rid off, but still know we have it. And don't have to have a set to store it.

Be a bit random, but expand on some more of the background of some usually overlooked areas. Reading material please!

Add like in-game bulletin boards for like events and stuff. A design similar to RSS/pop3 mail clients, or what you might expect from .HACK

Even a new set of GMs, that like patrol areas of high drama in units of 4 and everyone can see them o_O;

[Mhurron]

SE's failure to listen to the playerbase

This is a good thing.

Even a new set of GMs, that like patrol areas of high drama in units of 4 and everyone can see them o_O;

Weren't they supposed to make themselves visible more often?

[IfritnoItazura]

Utterly against the idea of "LS storage".

LS items are always potential sources of endless drama; no gear of any sort should ever belong to the LS. You have the points to lot Kirin's Osode? And wins? Yours to keep or sell, or do whatever you like. Novio isn't "too valuable"; have a minimum threshold so only the most dedicated and available BLMs have a chance at lotting--and the winner get a full point wipe.

I'd grudgingly say "Yes" to LS bank, since it lets members monitor the amount of money coming in and going out, and it's too much of a pain to make leaders distribute Gil after items sold every week.

* * *

What kind of "guild support" other than "guild storage" and "meeting place" do people want from S-E? I've never played another MMO, so is rather fuzzy on the concept. All I can think of is it'd be nice to have a usable "Linkshell Community" site instead of the slow, feature poor, badly designed one we have now. Even then, a phpBB forum would likely still give a LS better control over data retention, access policy, customizations, etc.

* * *

Dynamis loot disappears upon exit. Why?! Loosing a relic armor because AFK people who fell asleep or whatever is just stupid. -_-#

Just because it'd be a pain to program a correct solution, doesn't mean it can be ignored for years and years and years...

[Yellow Mage]

This thread makes sense. You got Thanked for basically this bulk part of the OP:

Another issue is that SE doesn't really update the older content that much. OK, so we can farm diorites from Aura Statues near the Nexus, there's a rage timer and NMs can build resistances over time. Still, this doesn't prevent us from using the same tactics over and over again.

SE said it themselves several times - they'd like to encourage different party setups and strategies. This works for the "small party" concept they have, but not terribly much for meritpo or endgame. Things need to be shaken up a little here.

Since the kings are now such familiar territory and have become such simple fights, I think its time they get a bit tougher with a bit more variety in thier tactics or even tactics that might vary by thier appearance.

As someone who favors the newer jobs in the game, another that stands out to me is the failure to really include the ToA/WotG jobs in the reward scheme in RoZ/CoP endgame content. Really, CoP busts your balls, I want a little more to choose from than some earrings and neck pieces. BLU got BOTH sea sets and PUP and COR got jackshit. Its clear BLU was way ahead on the drawing board than the other two.

All the same, all ToA and WotG jobs should get a shot at AF+1 sets, too. Same goes for relics, which I'm a little more understanding about SE holding back on. Given how contemporary ToA/WotG AF is in contrast to RoZ AF, it probably is somewhat difficult to reinvent these sets, and I'll also concede that Relic for WotG jobs is probably premature since other endgame sets aren't really there outside of the standard crafted and Assault gear choices

But lets look at the facts:

PUP, DNC and SCH get no abjuration gear - COR and BLU had it from day one on ToA
WotG/ToA jobs get no AF+1, just Limbus accessories and other sea accesories.
WotG/ToA jobs don't have Relic armor.
PUP, COR and BLU do have Relic weapons, but we have no idea what to do with them yet.
SCH and DNC get nothing from Salvage.
Only BLU, PUP and COR have incentive to camp HNM, and not very compelling ones.

I gripe about this only because you can't expect everyone to have a dozen jobs at 75. Two or three jobs at 75 is pretty common now, anything beyond that is going into extreme cases. I'm sitting at three with #s 4, 5 and 6 soon to follow. I think I'm going to stop there, I don't know if I can stomach a seventh.

Anyway, there will be newer players wanting to do this old content and they may end up favoring ToA/WotG jobs. There should be something there for them in this content.

People can spout off about how people should be compelled to camp these things out of being "part of the team," but lets just call bullshit on that - those people are addicts and I'm blowing three hours of valuble time camping something we might not claim on or even get a drop from (hi2u Defending Ring). There should be more incentives for more jobs from these ventures to keep it interesting for everyone.

My sentiments exactly. Although . . .

meaning RDM Melee/SMN/

I really love how you specify "RDM Melee," and then just plainly "SMN" in your list of issues talked about "far too often." Really says something, doesn't it?

But, I digress. Back on topic . . .

Um, what do I feel is important that I haven't complained about recently? Oh, yeah, magic jobs.

You know the ratio of jobs that use MP to those that don't? Keep in mind this also includes Paladin and Dark Knight in the MP group: 8:12. Look, I'm a Tarutaru, and I consider MP a very important thing to have. So why, then, do I have less than half of the jobs in the game to work with? White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, Paladin, Dark Knight, Summoner, Blue Mage, and Scholar. Counting Summoner as part of RoZ, that's only one token MP job per expansion containing new jobs. Looking at expansions alone, that's Samurai, Ninja, Dragoon, Corsair, Puppetmaster (which, by looking at their gearsets, I suspect was actually intended to be an MP using job . . . why couldn't they have just made the puppets magically controlled instead of "wirelessly?" Afraid of another Summoner?), and Dancer. That number alone equals the total number of Mages there are, excluding PLD and DRK.

The one also sort of ties in with jobs: what's the big deal on the lack of hybrid gear S-E? Oh, and the TOTAL ABSENCE of hybrid foods (Ambrosia obviously doesn't count: it's an uber-food). Hybrid jobs can't work if you don't give them hybrid gear. To get any more specific than that, though, might anger the OP. Let's just end at I share his anger in BLU getting both Homam AND Nashira (or, rather, BLU in general, but no more specifics, as I said).

Elemental Staves being listed as "All jobs," as opposed to "MNK/WHM/BLM/SMN/SCH." And, for that matter, their very presence in end-game indicates that resistance rates are either far too high, or far too low, depending on the situation.

And, that's all for now. Probably crossed a line I shouldn't have, but that's for the OP to bite my head off and Straw Man me over.
______________________________

This is a good thing.

Really, it all depends. If S-E had a way of differentiating signal to noise, this is a potentially bad thing.

[Dranzia]

Although it's not necessarily new or even possible:

Rare/Ex only storage.

(After "new" storage update quest)
Moogle >> Master! I've just returned from the moogle's hometown, and I brought you a present! Here's your new "Super Safe!"
Moogle >> This Safe can only be used to store items that are yours alone, Kupo! I hope you enjoy it!

You now have access to 200 empty storage slots for r/x items.



<Yes, please.>

[DakAttack]

They could track "DKP" within the game, like merit points. There would have to be a lot of reworking and restructuring of the claim system, but you could potentially bid on everything that has dropped from the HNMs that you or your linkshell has killed in some central office. I think it would require allegiance to some other faction whose existence isn't threatened by drama.

[Tokagawa]

Rare/Ex only storage.

PLEASE

Another thing:

Who had the BRIGHT idea to make it so when you equipt items they are STILL TAKING UP INVENTORY SPACE are you serious? God its SOOOOOO annoying

[Feba]

This is a good thing.

Sometimes, but not all the time.

LS items are always potential sources of endless drama; no gear of any sort should ever belong to the LS.

Not really. Look at EVE online, as an example-- they have corporation storage systems, but the access can be restricted and controlled very much so. For example, I joined a corporation at one point that had a fairly large stockpile of weapons and ship modules-- I was able to see what was contained inside storage, and I was able to put my own items in (so that others could use them; such as for crafting), but I wasn't able to take anything out. If I wanted to do that, I had to ask someone who did have permissions.

It sounds like a good opportunity for drama, but really it's not. Of course, EVE online approves of things like scamming (as long as you're not taking advantage of the game to do it) and stealing, but there's no reason such a system would lead to huge problems in FFXI as long as it's implemented correctly, and people aren't idiots about it.

What kind of "guild support" other than "guild storage" and "meeting place" do people want from S-E?

Well, I haven't seen anyone actually asking for it, but there are ways to get people more involved in guilds and such. One thing which is a common theme is having to have many players contribute money/EXP to a group 'fund' of some kind, and the guild benefitting when they reach a goal. For example, in some MMOs I've played, your guild 'levels up' with your characters, and you have to have your guild at a certain level to have more than x amount of players, and so on. This probably wouldn't be the greatest for FFXI, since you can belong to multiple groups, and can switch between them at the drop of a hat, but similar systems could be done.

For example, give people who are in the same LS some kind of benefit while in a party; for example, if I'm a PLD, my LS mates would have a small enmity- bonus. If I were a WHM, I might have a small % healing bonus on LS mates. This could be made to start out at nothing or extremely little, and grow to a slight but noticeable benefit; to keep people from just buying an LS and equipping it before any random event. Your linkpearl/sack/shell could earn EXP *coughmateriacough* to enhance this effect, so that your efficiency with your LS mates grows as your bonds (in principle, at least) do.

Of course, that's just one of many roads SE could take with it. They could also have a gil fund that buys a bigger LS house when it fills up (that way your mog house could just become a bedroom inside your LS house, which is shared for other things), or something I couldn't imagine. There's a lot of possibilities for it.
______________________________

Just because it'd be a pain to program a correct solution,

Actually, would it? Would it be that hard to just despawn all the dynamis mobs 5-10 minutes (however long things sit in the loot window) and deactivate the ???s before kicking people out?

As I recall, dynamis mobs despawn or stop fighting about 30-60 seconds before time is up anyway, it wouldn't be TOO big of a change.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

No matter how much SE could expand storage, there are always going to be players who can't handle the space they have. I'm a RNG and a COR - just how much excess do you think I have laying around in that MH?

A lot.

But then, I've also become accustomed to managing the space I have wisely. I don't level excess jobs with gear that doesn't meet the needs of my current one - with very few exceptions.

I'll use Foobar as an example - the jobs are RDM, SCH and BST.

All accessories from RDM and SCH pretty much overlap, leaving me with only body armor to change out. BST isn't compatible so much, its completely different armor, but since SCH and RDM aren't too different in terms of needs - similar to my gear needs on RNG and COR - I end up not using so much space.

For Kitten, what worked for RNG and COR, about half of that works for DNC and BLU, so with just a few subtle differences in needs, I may choose to level those as well. DNC really just gives me an excuse to round out my direct melee gear for COR, anyway, whereas my focus has almost exclusively been on ranged accuracy and attack.

Anyway, that's just how I approach the game. The downside to my approach is while having two characters that I focus so specifically, I have to repeat a lot of content, but then, I take this negative and turn it in a positive direction for the benefit of my friends having somone on missions that has been there before and also isn't wasting a space in PT.

I really love how you specify "RDM Melee," and then just plainly "SMN" in your list of issues talked about "far too often." Really says something, doesn't it?

If I didn't state it from the start, we all know where this topic would have ended up - beating a dead horse. Those discussions are things I'm tired of hearing about and if we're going to complain about something, lets at least do it while getting some new perspective instead of griping about the same old shit.

We know the game design inevitably influences social behavior in this game. SE is limited in controlling how we react to things, but with the right design choices you can lessen the problem.

Personally, I liked what SE started with Assault and Campaign because it lets the system manage you being rewarded rather letting players manage it entirely.

Just as an example, I think we more or less know that when that ToA/WotG relic comes out that players that don't even play those jobs seriously will go after them just to have a shiny instead of letting it go to players that will benefit from it. Even with the point systems we have, there will be drama inevitably in some linkshell because greed got ahead of need.

"Need before greed" is a hard-sell to players in FFXI and, really, its the only MMORPG I've played where the concept wasn't welcome from level 10 on up. I think the multi-job structure we're allowed to persue and this game being more Japanese-centric has a fair bit to do with that.

Like in Everquest, it was always need before greed. Didn't matter if it could be sold or not, it went to the people that could equip it - only they were allowed to lot. It was a pretty amazing and mature honor system, but then this was a game played almost entirely by US and EU players.

Another difference - players always sought out and go thier own replacements. No fuss, we just did it, we recognized the wide timezone gap and respected the time of others. I guess you could partly attribute this to the "refresher" jobs being a bit more combat friendly and mobs weren't so rigidly designed that it got in the way of players' melee interests. I was an enchanter, which was considered rare there, but not so much that I couldn't find someone to replace me or that we didn't have enough jobs that could root or be a manabattery.

But here's the other dimension of that - EQ at that time wasn't a franchise. WoW and FFXI are franchised MMOs and that means one other distinct difference.

Non-franchised MMOs don't really attract many kids. You get adults. Sure, they're not all perfectly functional human beings, but they're also much less self-absorbed. If I could find a linkshell that said "ages 21-35 or turned away" I'd join it in a heartbeat because I'd be more likely to find people I'm looking for.

I knew a guy who led one of WoWs biggest east coast guilds, he had a strict "21 and up" policy, if he found out you lied about your age, he kicked you without question. He told me that prior to WoW, affirming my EQ experience, there was much less drama in western MMOs and that he preferred things that way and preferred the company of adults, so he controlled the rules to prohibit kids. He only let kids in if they diplayed that "wise beyond thier years" quality and played like an adult. But mostly, he just turned them away.

[Telera]

Utterly against the idea of "LS storage".

LS items are always potential sources of endless drama; no gear of any sort should ever belong to the LS. You have the points to lot Kirin's Osode? And wins? Yours to keep or sell, or do whatever you like.

I agree here, if you win it, it's yours.

And I can see drama-potential with someone switching servers whilst wearing a piece of the 'linkshell's' armor.

But having storage for the LS for less drama-inducing things would be good. My kinship on LotRO uses the storage chests in the Kinship House (btw, Linkshell house would be an awesome idea for XI) to put in things we don't personally need, but others in the kin might. They're essentially free-for-all. Legendary trait books/pages. Crit items for crafting. Gear/drops/etc. Even some things that could be pawned off for 20+ Gold get stuck in there. We're a very help-oriented group. And we've not had any problems or backlash yet. But that's because there is no way to 'lend' gear on LotR, either. It's either BoA or BoE.

It'd be nice to be able to have a LS storage for people to put in crafting items or something perhaps. But probably not such a good idea for expensive-ass pieces of gear. Because of the fact that it isn't bound on XI, save for rare/ex things...

[Saren]

I love the idea of being able to send things from your MH, for lazyness reasons. I really begrudge my muling time.


Linkshells:

So glad people mentioned this because it needs such an overhaul. More facilities, more features, more security. Even just the ability to administrate offline members would be a nice start.

I love the idea of having a group area, a bank system and a group armor and item store. Obviously the armour would have to be non rare/ex only and regulated. Make any donated armour non sellable/droppable/auctionable/tradable and make sure that the person who donated the armor can retrieve it at any time and get it back automatically if the ls dissolves or someone tries to server hop etc. I don't think anyone was suggesting a sort of group lotting of a drop.

If you are going to give real facilities though there need to be restrictions on pearl trading. At the moment if one of the sacs goes mad and invites hundreds of random people you can break the shell, spend 7k for a new one and it's no huge deal. If you have real features and shared facilities restarting would be more of a problem.


My next two are both from a practical side of things. Considering what Omg just said I don't think everyone will agree but honestly, the game has been going for a long time now, there are a lot of people with multi level 75 jobs, why not just go with it and make using multiple level 75 jobs less of a pain in the ass. You are not going to change people wanting more than one job at high level particularly given how endgame seems to work and how people go about CoP, merits etc.


Storage:

It would be nice if more armor was storable with NPCs or perhaps packagable in the same way that arrows are quiverable (turn a whole set of armor into a single slot package). Muling for half an hour to change your jobs over is not fun and not everyone wants to level the jobs that require the most compatible gear to whatever they consider their main. Anything that cuts down on muling time can only be a good thing.


Merits:

Someone is going to accuse me of dumbing down but meh. Leave job specific merits exactly as they are but make the non job specific merits internally swappable within each catagory (obviously limiting it so a whm couldn't have sword merits or something daft like that), possibly for a fee or with a mini quest or something. Something like this would let rdms that tank once in a while to swap over enmity merits for a fight and definitely helps people with either multiple mages or multiple DDs at 75 who are very cramped in the skill merits (I'm only on my second job and already getting a bit cramped magic skill wise). It's not like capping out your non job specific merits isn't many hours of work.