[Taskmage]

Google

I was browsing through these earlier and they're rather nostalgic. Thought I'd share. I know there are transcriptions on the wiki, but it's not the same.

[Shadowneko]

just looking at the links reminds me of how many times people have yelled "nerf"!

[Taermus]

Mithra "sit" nerf still needs to be undone. This injustice has gone on too long.

[Omecle]

Aw! The memories!

Originally Posted by Taermus

Mithra "sit" nerf still needs to be undone. This injustice has gone on too long.

Agreed.

[Feba]

wake me up when they patch cardian cards to do something.

[Murphie]

Originally Posted by Feba

wake me up when they patch cardian cards to do something.

Inventory -1. But you knew that.

[Feba]

I mean seriously, come on guys. You've got an entire deck worth of cards. They're supposed to control cardians. Why is Windurst not paying us for them as proof of claiming a bounty, or why aren't we assembling complete decks for some obscure Corsair thing, or trading them in to get special booster packs for an in-game TCG, or able to trade them to their respective cardian and have them follow you around like a pet, or just make it so Cardians don't aggro people with the cards like every noob seems to think, or something. That's five ideas off the top of my head; SE, you've had over five years.

[Armando]

I mean seriously, come on guys. You've got an entire deck worth of cards. They're supposed to control cardians. Why is Windurst not paying us for them as proof of claiming a bounty, or why aren't we assembling complete decks for some obscure Corsair thing, or trading them in to get special booster packs for an in-game TCG, or able to trade them to their respective cardian and have them follow you around like a pet, or just make it so Cardians don't aggro people with the cards like every noob seems to think, or something. That's five ideas off the top of my head; SE, you've had over five years.

Cardians don't work that way (this is explained late into the Windurst storyline.) I don't know why the description of the item says they're used to control the Cardians - if Mana Orbs are their hearts, perhaps the cards are their brains? Either way, having them wouldn't do much good besides having proof that you killed a Cardian.

[Elwynn]

...and you've missed the point. The point is that there is a set of fifty-freaking-two items in this game, of which only two or three are used for anything besides -1 Inventory.

[Armando]

I didn't miss the point. I'm just ruling out half of his suggestions (i.e. those tied to controlling/not aggroing Cardians.) If they want to go and come up with some random use for them, they can be my guest.

At the very least they're NPC'able. The amount you get scales up with the numbers, the higher ones can go for ~1k. Not worth farming, but if for some reason you had to fight them, it's nice to get some gil out of it.

[Feba]

I don't remember anything saying that the cards are a vital component, just that they're used to control them. In the same way that your heart is the thing that pumps blood around, but your paycheck is used to control you.

No reason the cards can't act like a metaphorical leash or shock collar. And SE added nomad moogles to Selbina and Mhaura, they've pretty much thrown canon out the window at this point.

[Armando]

Was there ever any reason why Nomad Moogles can't exist in Mhaura/Selbina? Their sole purpose is apparently to make our lives easier by letting us access our Mog House contents in remote locations. If they can reach Rabao or Kazham, they could surely reach Mhaura/Selbina.

If the cards could be used to literally exert control over Cardians, the Cardians going crazy wouldn't be a problem (or a major plot point.) The Manustery could simply make cards, lure out the Aces (an easy task; Windurst Mission 1-1 or 1-2 reveals they're after the Horutoto Ruins' Mana Orbs), and enslave them with the cards.

According to the Windurst storyline...

Cardians will only obey whomever they acknowledge as their master. 20-something years ago, somebody asked Zonpa-Zippa (their creator) to borrow the Aces, so Zonpa-Zippa had them acknowledge that person as their new master; but that person died, leaving the Aces masterless and confused. The Aces locked Zonpa-Zippa up shortly afterwards. This wouldn't make any sense if the cards could be used for mind control, since Zonpa-Zippa could've made cards to control them if something went wrong, or simply give cards to whomever he was lending the Aces to rather than having the Aces acknowledge a new master. Even if you could argue that perhaps the present-day Manustery can't make older cards for X or Y reason (the new Cardians are Diamonds/Hearts/Spades/Clubs, as opposed to Swords/Cups/Wands/Batons), Zonpa-Zippa should've been able to.

Despite the Cardians being a major threat during the Windurst storyline, the possibility of using the cards to control them is never brought up. Ajido-Marujido goes so far as to nuke one of the Aces, and in a separate mission Semih Lafina is sent to fight other rogue Cardians in one of the towers.

Really, throwing that in would just create far bigger plot holes than the mystery of what the cards are supposed to be for in the first place.

[Feba]

Nomad Moogles are supposed to be for Outlands. Selbina and Mhaura are not Outlands.

Simple solution, the cards are imperfect. They work for awhile, and then they turn on you like a BST pet.

asfasfasf

Their master would presumably have their loyalty, like a Wyvern. Alternatively, Zonpa-Zippa wanted to give his creations some degree of freedom, most crazy robot makers do anyway. Yet another alternative, the cards are tricky to use, making them impractical for most things.

[Armando]

Nomad Moogles are supposed to be for Outlands. Selbina and Mhaura are not Outlands.

Neither is Nashmau, yet there's been a Nomad Moogle there since 2 years before the Mhaura/Selbina update. You could say their original text of "We help adventurers access their stuff in the Outlands etc" is outdated. Even if they were supposed to be specifically for the Outlands, there's nothing stopping the Mog House Moogle Union from changing their minds.

Actually...

I doubt Zonpa-Zippa wanted to give them so degree of freedom; he goes so far as to say it's dangerous to give Cardians too much knowledge because what they can and can't do stops being so black and white for them.

The Aces simply decided that if they could revive their master, they'd solve their dilemma. As for the other Cardians, Zonpa-Zippa had to make them follow orders from the higher number Cardians in order to organize them to fight in the Crystal War. They're just doing as the Aces tell them.

[Taskmage]

I think the Ace cardians and Joker were special in having autonomy. Also iirc, and it's been years since I did these quests, the cards are created at the same time as the cardian as part of the process. They're imprinted with the cardian's designation but also with a magic signature that's unique to their suit and rank. There's some quest, possibly The Kind Cardian, where Apururu needs a card of the opposing suit to the cardian she's working on, iirc to essentially cancel and reboot its existing programming.

And it was my impression that a cardian had to acknowledge the holder of their card as their master, though I don't remember where that information comes from. So it's not mind control exactly. This makes sense to me since the cardians that "went feral" are holding their own cards, although the have a crappy drop rate on them.