http://www.theorderls.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11988
from theorderls forums:
Summary of the Interview

Date : 23. August. 2006
Place : Games Convention 2006 in Leipzig/Germany

Interview #1 :

Markus(Bercus)
Sage Sundi, the Global Online Producer

Interview #2 :

Markus(Bercus)
Saori Vivien Hill, Community & Service Assistant Manager
Toshi Murouchi, European Online Producer,
Hiromichi Tanaka, the Senior Vice President, Software Devolopment, CE, OBM,
He is best known as lead developer of the Final Fantasy XI team.
Sage Sundi, Global Online Producer

We came 2 hour to late to the Convention due to traffic and once we got there my focus was ……
Looking for Sage Sundi. After a few hours of not finding him, I tried my luck at the room we will have our Interview later. So I knocked at the door and Alex Huhtala the PR Manager from Square Enix Europe came out.
I asked him if I can ask Sage Sundi some less important questions right now. He left to go in the room and 30 seconds later, Sage Sundi came out. We had a small talk and went to the Restaurant area of the Convention and had a Interview for about 20-25 minutes without breaks. I was asking him questions I didn’t pick for the main Interview. So no bashing, it was really hard to pick the questions for me >.<.

Anyway, here is the first part of the Interview.

Interview #1 :

Question 1:

Bercus : Is there any way to fix the fact that you lose messages or miss parts of conversation while zoning?

Sundi : Oh you mean like changing the zone and not getting it…

Bercus: Right, because right now you sometimes get no Error if your Message was delivered or not, but the other person didn’t get it cause of zoning.

Sundi: That could be only happen when…the person, you know, sent a message just right before the zoning, right?

Bercus : Right!

Sundi: So by the system, there is no way to know the other person is sending a message to you, so I don’t think it is possible. I’ll make sure I talk to the programmer, if there is any way to do it.


Question 2:

Bercus : This question is about the entertainment side of the game. In the past SE has adapted a cross world feature evident in many games, like Kingdom Hearts, where you work together with Disney. Could SE consider something like this for FFXI so that players can fight against square legends? Like a BCNM, or mini-quest oriented to FF XI culture so that it doesn't interfere with storyline etc…

Sundi : You mean like a Mini Game?

Bercus : Sure, or like an additional Quest or Event, where you fight vs lets say Mickey Mouse (couldn’t think os something better LOL) , something outside of Final Fantasy.

Sundi : Well.. wow.. well maybe..I like it. Maybe you can ask that later in the main Interview, but I would like to see it. This is depends on many things…


Question 3:

Bercus : The community wants more teleportation spells or items. FFXI is not very friendly towards casual gamers with limited hours. Improving the travel time spent towards old locations would be a tremendous help. Staging point style costs could be one way to balance this, like you did in Aht Urgan, where you can spend 200 IS Points to Teleport to the Assault points. Teleports to BCNM locations for instance from Jueno from the guy who gives you the orb, and it could cost CP, because when you go to a BCNM you always have to walk like an hour to get there.

Sundi : Yeah, but, remember we all need to work on this. We did improve this in the last 4 years. I told them when you talk to the NPC you got to go back to the Assault areas. So there is a way and when time passes, maybe,…..
I don’t know, wait a couple months, we will improve something.. sooooo(WTF MONTHS I THOUGHT???)
We are not intended to easier the game, but gamewise, designwise, maybe we will.


Question 4:

Bercus : Is the development team aware that placing a telepoint or an outpost in the near east would greatly decrease the playerbase homepointing in the near east?

Sundi : I don’t know (laughed)

Bercus : Because right now you only have Teleport-Wajaom ring. That’s why the areas are so crowded there, because it’s so easy to get to Jueno and everywhere else.

Sundi : Well that’s a hard question, cause its hard to say no, cause we always need to talk to the community, to find out those problems. Every time you think about something, you know, post to the Forum, or send via a Email, we will improve it.


Question 5:
Bercus : Will the green Teleporters in Sky ever be put to use?

Sundi : I don’t know.


Question 6 :

Bercus : Playing in full-screen mode does not prevent a person from running third-party programs, and in fact a program is available to allow 'windowed' play. Requiring full-screen mode to play the game on PC is also extremely inconvenient to those who wish to play music in the background or look up game information and announcements, or use popular voice communication programs with other players. Allowing windowed play would eliminate more third-party programs than it would enable, and would be another popular set amongst players.

One question I would like ask is why there isn’t a windower? Do you think about a feature like that?
Many people work from home quite often and need to have AIM and Outlook open at all times ( Sundi laughed at this point hehe ; ) ) while they are on 12 hour on call status. There was a poll in a Forum, and there was the question if you do use a Windower or not and over 50% people answered yes, so already over the half of the Community are using a Windower.

Sundi : … already using a Windower…

Bercus : Yes, why isn’t there a Windower?

Sundi : Well its hard to tell, but ok… I know we cannot 100% prevent the use of a 3rd party program with our Full-Screen mode, but it will decrease the Number, its not easy to detect such tools you know.
First of all why we have that Full Screen mode is cause of the Cross platforms, PS2 you know, has to be Full Screen Mode.

Bercus : Right.

Sundi : So that’s why …we tried to replicate(?? Didn’t understand that word) the environment.. for PS2 and also XBOX 360… that’s the whole concept. But for the PC players, that would give them a advantage, so that’s one of the reasons, I understand though that most of the players use and want a Windower, but maybe we need to convenience (don’t know how to write it >.<) few more people, but I don’t know, I still believe, there is a possibility to reallow (WAS IT EVER POSSIBLE GUYS?) Window Mode in future, we hope so, but we have to tell the Designers of the Game.

Bercus : What about Xbox 360? They can communicate with Xbox live.

Sundi : We enabled the Voice chat. Same thing. But we understand you.



Question 7:

Bercus : Since the new Areas are so packed, what about an assault area or Mission we pay for that gives us a 1:30 hour limit thats covered in mobs, we merit there for an hour and a half then time is up?

Sundi : What you mean with paying?

Bercus : Like uh…

Sundi : Money … or…

Bercus : no…

Sundi : .. gil?

Bercus : Like we do right now, Gil or lets say IS Points, because right now when I want to EXP on the weekend, there are like 10 Parties there in new Areas…

Sundi : Still?

Bercus : .. Yes its horrible, we have to go like Tuesday or Wednesday to be able to get Higher then Chain 10 or Chain 12 and before, like when the Add-On was release we were able to get Chains in the Hundreds.

Sundi : I think you already know that Aht Urgan is not fully revealed(didn’t understand it >.<, but he meant something like “perfect” from the Small talks we had b4 ) you know, Assault is same thing..

Bercus : .. You get EXP there, Assault is great…

Sundi : when we reveal everything, it will solve that…. So, this is like the early stage of Aht Urgan right now, so…. of course it’s packed… we may not change something soon, but we will do reveal…., like new Items or new features for Assault.

Question 8:

Bercus : Why are Stats like Accuray, Ranged Accuray, Magic Accuray and Ranged Attack not visible in the status window? Would it be bad for players knowing their current accuray? Is there a reason why these skills are hidden? What is the reason? Would it be possible to display these statistics again? If not, why not?

Sundi : ummm…. Maybe there is no solid reason, why we hide it… ummm… maybe a limitation or some other reason…. The question answer is, maybe I don’t know, maybe you need to ask …. Maybe I can ask the Development Team.










Question 9:
Bercus : The current increase of storage with the mog locker is a real nice addition, but it would also be for an increase in inventory considering the amount of gear that has to be taken arround. When iam playing on Ninjas I always have to leave some important gears in my Mog House, Food,Medicine,Ninja Tools and multiple gears for slots take up all my space. Any plans to incrase inventory space? Gobbie Bag 7 and 8 Quests soon?

Sundi : We don’t have any exact plans yet..but that’s a good idea yeah.

Bercus : Mog Locker is 60 cap, and you once said the Cap is like at 80 for Mog Safe cause of the limitation of the PS2. Will the inventory be able to be upgraded to 80?

Sundi : (very long ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm) yes and no, for PS2 we still have a lot of memory limitation, you know its only a technical issue, if there is a way to solve that, yeah maybe we can solve that.


Question 10:
Bercus : Player Immigration - The last world shift was done in purpose to balance server populations. With the servers upgraded to meet technology demands, has it been considered to set up
a world immigration system with conditions and terms? Many other MMO games have adapted a system like this. Basically my concern is I have friends who immigrated to another server and later regretted, like I have friends from XBOX 360 Beta, and they did move to Leviathan and I play on Bahamut, and now all their friends left and they were unhappy there. So, are there plans for a ONE time Server Shift exception?

Sundi : What do you mean a one time exception?

Bercus : Because, when people can do it often, they could take advantage of that. Like Gilsellers, they could switch the Servers and buy Items on Servers where it doesn’t cost much and sell it on others where it costs a lot more. Maybe a one time exception to the Server you want to…..

Sundi … many MMOs, like Major ones offer those services for a little charge, and like EQ has a huge charge…. You want that? You really want that? (We laughed ^^)

Bercus : Yeah, because my friends had to leave their Level 53 characters on Leviathan and it took them a half year,
Now they had to start over and are Level 19 now and if they could use the one Time Shift they would have been able to come to me with those characters and not have to start over and leave all their Items and characters there.

Sundi : I will send a few Emails about that, when we did start FF XI a few years ago…

Bercus : you could charge money…

Sundi : .. My friends are all gone (Wow did he play FF XI himself a lot at the start????) if that’s the wish of players, yes that’s possible and I am actually planning that, and hopefully soon I will provide that service.. And it could be a small fee though, small charge maybe.

Bercus : ok….


Question 11:

Bercus : Currently Puppetmaster is seen as a job that can’t compete with other Jobs. Are there plans to improve the job?
Will Corsair get some new Rolls soon?

Sundi : We always consider all the jobs right? We will keep changing that…

Bercus : … like you changed the Merit System right?

Sundi : … so.. it takes a long time of testing, yes and no, we will change it.

Bercus : maybe some new Merits for Group 2 for PUP/BLU/COR…

Sundi : you have to take that question into the main Interview later and you can also compile those questions and mail them to my Community Manager, for the Europeans, she will compile the questions and send em to me.

Bercus : so she can translate em also into Japanese?

Sundi : .. English is fine, we will answer in English, so if you want to you can compile the questions, maybe up to ten or something and send em to us, once like every month or I don’t know..



At this point Sage Sundi had to go back to the Interview Room because the press was waiting. I know some questions might not have been in everyone’s interest, and I was just about to ask about Parade Gorget, anyway I will make sure we will get a answer regarding that Item sooner or later: P. Check out the unasked questions at the bottom later.

So we had 2 hours left. At 3:45 PM we were infront of the Room again.



Alex Huhtala the PR Manager came out and talked to us for 15 minutes. We talked about the Convention itself. How stupid Nintendos strategy in germany was with not showing normal Costumers the new Wii-console as well as how stupid it is to not show 3 months b4 the release even a single Playstation 3 console, not even a Dummy. Anyway we also talked about further contacts to the PR, the Community Managers and the Developers.

continued...
At 4:00 PM the Interview #2 started :
When I asked a question they all talked in Japanese and then Saori Hill answered to me in English.





Question 1:

Bercus : The first question is about the new Sanction effect in new areas +15% Exp and possible Refresh/Regen/Food duration is much better then Signet with Conquest Points.
This makes exping in old areas unwanted and makes the new ToAU areas packed. The exp rate differs quite alot as well. Repops from most Treasures of Aht Urgan mobs in 5 minutes compared to 15 minutes repop of mobs in older areas is just insane.
Is there going to be any adjustment for Signet bonuses and repop time in older Areas?
And do you plan in putting new Rewards for Conquest Points?

Saori : I think that works for our intention to get those Areas crowded, but we wanted the people to go to the new Areas,

Bercus : But everyone goes to the new areas, cause its so cool and easy to get high chains and a get lot of exp there.

Saori : That’s what we did expect in the beginning, so now we will change that ….

Bercus : Is it possible to get a 15% EXP Addition with Signet effect on as well?

Saori : If we do that, it might be difficult that people wont come back again and only stay in the old areas then, so we need to be careful but we are looking into this.




Question 2 :

Bercus : This is a very important question, FFXI has been out for awhile now; many players are level 75 on one or multiple jobs, and the number of players with a 75 job is growing every day.

More 75 players means more demand for gear to outfit those jobs, but many of the pieces of gear, especially from King Behemoth, Aspid, Fafnir and Nidhogg drop at the same bad rate as they did 3 years ago. Like Ridill 1 to 100 (ok ok the droprate is better then 1 to 100 but come on : P)

More 75 players means more competition, and a 21-24 hour spawn window guarantees that you see daily 150 to 200 people in Dragon's Aery on more populated servers, yet only 18 players will be able to engage if they get the claim, 18 out of 150+ people for a LOW chance at fighting said monsters.

A simple reduction in the spawn timers as well as the increase of the drop rate for some items for many of these monsters would decrease the amount of people coming to these areas, as well as greatly increase the morale and general happiness of the end game community.


Saori : If we do make those changes, we have to be really careful how we will make those changes.
If for example the old areas are overcrowded we plan to put new Notorious Monsters in the new areas. ….

Bercus : … but here comes the problem, these Items on these Mobs, are still almost the best Items, and they become easier now, because people can kill them in 10 minutes, and that’s why everyone is still there because of the low droprate, right now, after 2.5 years people still have to camp those mobs for themselves or other linkshell members. This is the problem why more and more people go there because more and more people are 75, do you maybe plan to remove such Big timers for those monsters?

(They talked to the President and also the EU global Producer)

Saori : We will maybe change the timer when the monster pops.

Bercus : I have something for you here, there is a player who designed a system, because right now only 18 people can fight those monsters. And he was thinking of making this something like Assault or Instanced Fights. This way everyone would have the chance to fight those monsters.

(I showed them the paper, with the rocks and the Entrance and the exit and explained them the way how to fight those mobs then, with getting Orbs ect, they all came really close together and they all wanted to keep the graphic already at this point: P )



Bercus : This is the area where Behemot pops and you could make a entrance and a exit, and you get orbs like for Oryou Fight in Riverne Site B, this way everyone could have the chance to Fight those monsters (they started to laugh >.<).Letz say you could fight these monsters every 7 days and get in those Fights of NQ Versions Orbs for HQ Versions Fights, everyone would just have the Chance to finally fight those monsters and you could solve the problem.…

Sundi : This is a real good Idea…..

Bercus : Right now those monsters are botted by the use of 3rd party tools, Its almost always the same Linkshells who get the Claims, ok maybe most of the time 2 different linkshells get the claims,

Saori: It will be difficult to make the game easier, and we don’t plan to make the game easier….

Bercus : .. You can make them harder.. this will just give legal players the chance to be able to fight them .. Because we cant get with a fair way the claim, just give us the chance to fight those monsters. I don’t think this has anything to do with making the game easier, but give us the chance to fight said monsters.

Saori : It could be the possible design, that not everyone should be able to get those Items, and we don’t want to change that so that everyone would be able to get those Items. It would be difficult to give chance to everyone.

Bercus: But how do you want to address the increasing demand for endgame gear then, because in the past there were 30 people and now there are 200 people. So either make better Items or… did you think about that? Make better Items then 2003 Items, right now Black Belt for example is still the best waist for Monks, Ridill is the best Sword for those Melees, and the bodies from 3 Kings are still the best bodies for those 3 jobs. If you would make new gear this would give the old people the chance to get the old gear and will make the other people move on to the new Mobs. Look at Jorm or Vrtra or Tiamat… they drop no Gear to make them worth fighting.. like a Pole wit 4 DMG that attacks 2-4 times… or Tiamat with Herald Gaiters with 18% Speed, you fight those mobs 2 hours and Fafnir 10 minutes, so it has to be changed that challenging Fights give the best gear and easy fights drop decent gear and not the other way. A party of 6 players can kill Fafnir…

Saori : We will for sure try to work on balancing the game and we will definatly change something therefore soon, can we keep this paper?





Question 3:

Bercus : Do you have any Endgame planned yet for the new Expansion ToAU? Zilart has the so called “sky”, Promatia has the so called “sea”. Will we get a so called “hell” or anything like that?

(laugh)

Saori : We are really looking to see more of your ideas, it is also very interesting for us and we are also considering something new but we cant tell you anything at the moment. It might be something you are expecting or it might be something completely diffrent,

Bercus : So do you have something planned?

Saori : Yes.


Question 4:

Bercus : ULLIKUMMI !!!!!! In one of the last Version Updates you changed the pop condition for the NM Ullikummi. But we still have the same problem. The area is overcrowded at Ullikummi, several Linkshells want this NM to Fight Byakko and get the Seals for Kirin. Instead of changing the pop area, why didn’t you change the repop rate for Ullikummi to 2-2.5 hours or make it like how to pop Olla (Grande). Kill any Statue to get a Rare Item and pop Ullikummi with this Item. This will solve at least the problem our community has with Gilsellers regarding Ullikummi and also will put the Ullikummi EXP camp back to be worth it. Right now over 50% of the time Gilseller get the claim and put those Stones for 8-10M in their Bazaars because they can still monopolise it..

Can we see further improvements on Ullikummis Pop condition? Also do you think about the pop Conditions for other NMs in sky so they can’t start monopolising them?


Saori : Well monopolisation… we think it’s a separate issue with the Gilsellers, we don’t think it would be easier if we change the pop rate, the Gilsellers would still be there….

Bercus : .. yeah but we would have more chances to get the claim, right now 50% of the time Gilsellers get the Claim…..

Saori : .. So we cant really tell you the details, but we work on this issue and are really working hard to get rid of this…

Bercus : ok


Question 5:

Bercus : The Jailor NMs and the miniquests completed to spawn them are totally unique and challenging to even experienced linkshells. However, when defeated these monsters often do not drop the item required to progress to the next tier of fights. Considering the incredible challenges of the Chains of Promethia missions and the work needed to pop these monsters,

Why do they not drop expensive synthesis items and useful armor at a guaranteed rate like their cousins in Tu'Lia? And why, again unlike the tiered monsters of Tu'lia, do they not drop the items required for the next fights at a fixed 100% rate?

Nothing is worse than spending hours upon hours farming pop items and killing Jailers, to see them not drop anything other than a weapon maybe.

I remember in the interview with BG you said something will be done, yet nothing has been done
(Sage Sundi laughed; ) )

They talked like 1 minute in Japanese; I think it was too much information at that time

Bercus : do you want me to ask again?

Sundi: yeah

Bercus : Why do they not drop Items required for the next fight at a 100% rate?

(They talked about something in Japanese and English and were mentioning the storyline of cop)

Bercus : this has nothing to do with the story…. >.<

(I think they didn’t know what I was talking about >.<)

Saori : There could have been a reason why the Development team didn’t want at this time for the mobs to drop the items 100% and we can’t really answer the question at this point.

Bercus : Can I send these questions to you via Email and you give me a answer then?

Saori : We would like to see the details about this question and answer you, yes.




Question 6 :

Bercus : Another thing is Dynamis, Assault is great, multiple people can do this at the same time, this is a change that many players have asked for and if Assault wouldn’t have been able to enter by multiple groups at the same time, many people would not be able to do those Missions. These instanced zones cause no conflicts or problems between people. If older Events such as Dynamis which are frequently the cause of conflicts because multiple linkshells want to enter the same area…

Sundi : conflicts between who….

Bercus : .. Conflicts betweenLinkshells , because they want to enter the area at the same time.
Is it be possible to make Dynamis/Limbus Instanced, like Assault?

Saori : The concept about Assault was a completely different idea we had for, it is something we wanted you to enjoy very casually (is this word right?). And for Dynamis you really have to plan the day and you have to make a plan and preparation and it is a different type of battle and a diffrent direction we did with Assault. If we do Dynamis instantly it would also cause problems with the servers, so it would be difficult to do that.

Bercus : .. so it’s a server problem?(<.<)

Saori : If we would have bigger servers it would be probably possible, but we don’t really plan to do that.
(it was very hard to understand the sentence here on tape>.<)



Question 7:

Bercus : Do you have any more plans for any areas along the lines of Dynamis, Assault and Limbus?
They are amazing and we could use more battle dungeons, probably not sharing the same timers, like Assault.

Saori : there are some areas, that we haven’t released yet like I told you, so there are new areas.

Bercus : so you have something planned?

Saori : Wait for the new areas (she smiled)



Question 8:

Bercus : Real Money Trade: Many characters in the game are very obviously owned and operated by Real Money Traders. The pattern of their behaviour, their login/logout times, their communication, and their actions make it completely certain that they are the property of owners who operate in violation of the terms of service. Many of these characters have been monopolizing the same sources of game income for years, many use third-party programs to out claim legitimate players, and all are participating in RMT.

When players notify GMs of these characters' actions and the absolute certainty of their ownership, they are told that the matter is being investigated. However, many dozens of these characters remain in place, dominating different areas of the game just as they have for years. This cycle of summoning GMs, being told that investigations are under way, and then seeing RMT characters remain is very disheartening, and creates a distrust of GMs on the part of legitimate players who feel they are being purposefully ignored. The removal of these RMT characters from the game would not only eliminate violations of the terms of service, but also restore faith in the company and the game’s GMs.

What can you tell us about this problem?
(I think this question was too long >.< anyway I got answers)

Saori + Sundi : (smiled), when we say we are investigating, we are investigating, maybe we don’t give responds case by case, because we just cant really do that, but the problem is, even when they are obtaining so many money, that’s not violating the rules, it doesn’t say in the rules that you cannot obtain a lot of money, that’s why we cant say, “you have done that wrong” cause its not in the rules, that’s why we have to work from a different direction, we cant really say you the details, I am sorry, but we are in work for this. And also you say camping area haven’t changed (I actually didn’t say that >.<), you know some areas have changed….

Bercus: … when do you think we see something done with RMT ? Like those players, they are still there after years. Its very obvious to us that they are gilsellers, they show us they are gilsellers, like they tell us you wont get anything blabla, or they talk in say Chinese, whatever they show us that they are Chinese gilsellers, when we can figure it out, why cant GMs figure it out or you guys? Something we wonder…

Saori : we can imagine, well we might think that these persons are gilsellers but we cant get the evidence (hope that’s the word) from that person. That is something we can guess they are gilsellers, maybe yes, but maybe not..

Toshi : And we cant say we arrest you cause you speak german..

Bercus : Haha I know, but they just don’t show us with speaking Chinese that they are gilsellers, they are rude in some way and yeah well we can be rude to (grinned), they show us in many ways they are gilsellers.

Saori : The thing is they also have plans and don’t give us evidence to ban them. We are really doing something, if you feel that we do nothing that’s not true, we are doing something and we are investigating.

Bercus : So will something be done soon?

Saori : It’s always happening

Bercus : Now you ban only the characters that store the gil…. Ah forget it letz go to the next question.

Question 9 :

Bercus : Many players who created their characters when the game was first released have poured countless hours of work into them, and to rebuild from scratch would be impossible. However, certain actions in the game are irreversible, and mistakes once made cannot be undone without the total recreation of a character.
Like when you are a Galka and want to be a Tarutaru later.

For these players, who are among the most loyal and longest customers, it would be incredibly beneficial to allow the rewards for completion of Chains of Promathia and Rise of the Zilart (The rings and earrings respectively) to be re-chosen in some way. In addition, some rewards from the battles with the prime elemental avatars cannot be reacquired, as many have regretfully found after somehow losing theirs (through accidental use of throwing weapons or mistakes when throwing away less valuable items).

On this same topic, many players would like to ask for a one-time race change, so that their ugly Galka can become a hot Mithra. Letz say a mission or a NPC you trade your ring to and after some days you can rechose. But you can’t do that daily, more then maybe once or every half year or so.

Do we have any chances to re-chose race,gender,the Cop Ring, the Divine Might ring or other decisions?

Saori : there were some reasons, where we decided you cant change it, but like when you have black hair you cant just change it. Once chosen in game, you can’t change it. There must have been a reason for the development team to not be able to rechose.

Bercus : In real life you just go to a hair dresser and he/she colours your hair. In game you don’t think its possible

Sundi : I don’t know yet.


Question 10:
Bercus : Right now EXP Scrolls are vastly underwhelming and mostly useless.

Can we possibly see some improvements in the future? For example 2-4k from Escort or 1-2k in Dynamis?
Also would it be possible to get EXP from Dynamis/Limbus Mobs? You can get EXP in Assault, why is it not possible to get EXP in Dynamis.

(At this point I already was 10 minutes over the Interview so we had to stop because the press was waiting outside)

Anyway, they were nice all the time. And I know what mistakes I made, like to long questions, but it’s to late for that already, it’s done. At least we know we can ALWAYS contact they now. When the Convention is over I will hopefully get details how we want to do that. They were interested in many things, but I feel I sometimes had the wrong people there to talk to. That’s why they will get every question again sent, basically everything from the Convention. I hope the questions and answers were not too bad in some people eyes. It took me a lot of effort to first of all get all the shit together, get the Interview, write everything down ectect…. Not to forget I drove to this Convention 80% because of this Interview.


I will post the unasked questions, when people are interested to, since I want to post the Interview now.
See you guys,

Bercus from Bahamut.

(Whoah, looks like I may be the first to reply to this.)

Sundi : Well its hard to tell, but ok… I know we cannot 100% prevent the use of a 3rd party program with our Full-Screen mode, but it will decrease the Number, its not easy to detect such tools you know.
First of all why we have that Full Screen mode is cause of the Cross platforms, PS2 you know, has to be Full Screen Mode.

Blah blah blah... PS2 this, PS2 that, PS2-blah hah... third-party...blah...not used...blah...in...windowed...mode.

Bercus : Why are Stats like Accuray, Ranged Accuray, Magic Accuray and Ranged Attack not visible in the status window? Would it be bad for players knowing their current accuray? Is there a reason why these skills are hidden? What is the reason? Would it be possible to display these statistics again? If not, why not?

Sundi : ummm…. Maybe there is no solid reason, why we hide it… ummm… maybe a limitation or some other reason…. The question answer is, maybe I don’t know, maybe you need to ask …. Maybe I can ask the Development Team.

This has to be the quote of the year...

Bercus : This question is about the entertainment side of the game. In the past SE has adapted a cross world feature evident in many games, like Kingdom Hearts, where you work together with Disney. Could SE consider something like this for FFXI so that players can fight against square legends? Like a BCNM, or mini-quest oriented to FF XI culture so that it doesn't interfere with storyline etc…

Probably ahd to be one of the most pointless questions asked.

Some questions are ridiculous, and got the answer they were calling for, change race? seriously. But overall i guess we are... wait we arent, what is this, allways the same kind of questions, never anything new, NMs and Gilsellers, o brother..

The reason nobody asks anything new is because the same old shit is still broken. RMT, Ulli, Kings, windowed mode, sea drops. These are some of the most broken things in the game and the endgame community is tired of this. Maybe if we keep driving the point home they will get it. I think Bercus did a good job of not pussyfooting around things like msot interviewers have in the past.

You say that calling for race change is stupid (which I agree with) and such.... but what NEW and DIFFERENT questions would you ask?

Q: lol why is beaucedine so hard to run through? (Actual question from a IUP interview)

There really aren't any more pressing issues for people who are participating in endgame.

Is it just me or does it sound like this interview is confusing?

It sounds like Sundi and the others are taken a little off guard at times, and try to remain on the ball so to speak. It also sounds like they're cranking out answers for some of the more lame questions.

I always hate it when somebody has the chance to ask them questions, but ends up giving them more suggestions than questions. It's an interview! Not a developer's meeting!

Well their stances on windower and RMT are pretty understandable. What they do in regards to those subjects they do with the best interests of the game in mind. Windower is never 'needed' and they wanted to give all players as close to the same experiance as possible. Their full screen only concept was to try and make it so the PC and PS2 were as similar as could be. Yes I know people will say 'well a ps2 user can still check his com!' but what if the ps2 user doesn't have one. And why couldn't a full screen player own a second com? Sure I prefer a windower on my com, use mine all the time (Don't bother with plug ins though, not even tparty) but it's certainly not needed.

And as for RMT, prove they are what you say they are. Sure they're there every day, but that just proves they're there every day. Sure the camp the same mob 24/7, but that just shows they camp the same mob 24/7. Prove that they actually take that gil and sell it for real money. And no, asking them and having them say 'yes' is not proof enough for GMs. Jokes get made all the time about people being gil sellers and a GM wouldn't know if it was or wasn't if they saw one. The only way to get a gil seller banned for selling gil was if they *offered* it to you.

A lot of those questions seemed redundant/pointless to me. It seemed he would rather make a statement and hear their response then actually ask a question. Anyone with half a brain could see SE is *trying* to deal with gil sellers the best they can. But most people don't consider the long term affects of many of their radical 'ideas', and often come across sounding extremely biased. His reasoning that someone speaking chinese as proof of being a gil seller was a good example of that. Other questions, such as the loss of messages during changing of zones, the 'rent-a-camp' concept and his question on race changing/re-choosing rare items questions were just a waste imo. It was almost as if he was talking at them as opposed to talking with them.

The questions about RoZ vs CoP/ToAU drops was certainly valid, as was the new warp to ToAU question, the status of Ulli and the Pup job and the hidden stat questions. But understandably so they weren't able to be fully answered. But SE has been trying real hard as of late to listen to it's fanbase so it's very possible many of these 'problems' may change in the near future.

I dont know if it was just the english to japanese translation... but to me this interview kicked down my impression of SE by 6 or 7 notches. They seemed like they were complete idiots and just threw a game together without thinking about it.

Still reading it but the first question and following response made me smile.

Sundi: That could be only happen when…the person, you know, sent a message just right before the zoning, right?

Bercus : Right!

Sundi: So by the system, there is no way to know the other person is sending a message to you, so I don’t think it is possible. I’ll make sure I talk to the programmer, if there is any way to do it.

This problem was resolved over four years ago on Everquest for tells only. I'm guessing non direct chat ie chat not labelled <character name xyz> is unable to be recognised when you zone due to lag, zone times varying due to differing machine capabilities and internet connections, etc.

And as for RMT, prove they are what you say they are. Sure they're there every day, but that just proves they're there every day. Sure the camp the same mob 24/7, but that just shows they camp the same mob 24/7. Prove that they actually take that gil and sell it for real money. And no, asking them and having them say 'yes' is not proof enough for GMs. Jokes get made all the time about people being gil sellers and a GM wouldn't know if it was or wasn't if they saw one. The only way to get a gil seller banned for selling gil was if they *offered* it to you.



Feel free to connect the dots any time now. What if something is huge, grey, has huge ears shaped like India, a trunk, tusks, and camps the local villager's Banana crops all day? Isn't that proof in itself that I'm talking about an elephant? Or am I still just proving that whatever it is it's huge, grey, has huge ears, a trunk, tusks, and likes to camp Bananas, but it's not an elephant?

Or maybe this is a philisophical debate, and that whatever it is, it's just mimicing the perceptual qualities of the elephant?

What pissed me off most was the fact that SE doesn't seem to know anything about their own game.

Q: New areas are overcrowded... Thoughts?
A: They are?

Q: There are 200 people at King camps... Thoughts?
A: There are?

Q: You can't recieve tells when you are zoning... thoughts?
A: Zoning?

A: Sanction > Signet and this helps cause crowding in new areas... thoughts?
Q: It is? It does?




Aside from that every answer was basically:

We can't tell you now.
Wait and see.
We'll investigate.
I don't know.

To catch a gilseller, go to Ebay or whatever website they sell gil, buy gil, go inside the game and see the seller hand or send you the money. Thats basically how I would catch one. Wonder why they're not doing that.

I dont know if it was just the english to japanese translation... but to me this interview kicked down my impression of SE by 6 or 7 notches. They seemed like they were complete idiots and just threw a game together without thinking about it.

I think a great deal of the syntax problems were eng-jp translation problems, but the overall concept given is one of a man who knows about as much about the game as if he was pulled off the street about sony HQ. A lot of the questions I read seemed to go:

"Here is an issue that may need resolving, why is it this way and what are you going to do about it?"

"Umm...I don't know."


So the interview brings up some valid points for player base to consider, but I really don't feel any more confident that SE will 'fix' anything after this interview. It seems to be floathing way out in left field with no concrete comments like "Yes, the development team is trying to figure out a way to..." It's all "Well maybe we'll look into thinking about something...or not..."


Just my two cents. A good interview, but a very very bad subject.

Double Post Edited:
To catch a gilseller, go to Ebay or whatever website they sell gil, buy gil, go inside the game and see the seller hand or send you the money. Thats basically how I would catch one. Wonder why they're not doing that.

Because theoretically then SE would have to ban itself for buying gil?


I dont' know. Florida police seem to have mastered the "Sting" operation, as well as NYPD, and any number of REAL LIFE law enforcement agencies.

But I've never yet found a single MMO that could manage to organize a single sting operation.

So you want SE to give real money to the gil sellers?

Brilliant

You see in a 'sting' operations, unless something goes wrong, the police don't lose anything. The money they used as bait in the sting as well as anything they were attempting buy are all confescated and brought with them. But if SE had GMs buy gil then ban who traded them the money, SE loses RL money and gains absolutely nothing.

It's not the accounts that are out in the field camping mobs and getting claims that hold and trade the cash, it's lvl 1 mules in the major cities. Those also happen to be the accounts that get deleted by SE when they do massive bannings. SE hits gil sellers where it hurts the most, their banks. Deleting the farming account will do nothing, deleting the account that holds all the gil will remove all the gil the farming accounts made completely nullifying all the 'work' done by the farmers.

As for the elephant alliteration, assumption =/= proof. You have no idea what that person is doing with that gil they made. For all you know that 'gil seller' is someone's private bot that runs on a different com. It's not selling the gil. People had private fish bots for their own gain and not to sell their gil, why wouldn't people use farm bots? And yes, I know botting is against the ToS too and is bannable. But then that person will get banned for botting and not gil selling.

A while back someone started a topic saying that if you wanted to get a botter who you 'assume' sells gil banned, you report him as a botter and *never* mention RMT. This is because more often then not, numerous people will send GM calls saying that so and so is a RMT with no proof what so ever. Once GMs see you start calling people a RMT, they more then likely stop taking your call serious. And it's very easy for a LS or group of friends to all send a GM call about a random person so no, teh number of complaints does not prove someone is a GSer either. Unless that person specifically *offers*, of their own free will, to sell you gil, they can not be banned for being a RMT.

SE already stated that there is no rule against a person camping one mob for as long as they want. Whether it be 10 minutes or 10 years anyone is free to do that under the ToS. There is nothing you can do to change that rule. And under that rule, someone who camps things 24/7 will not get banned.

There is *no* easy solution to RMT, if there was other MMORPGs would have figured them out years ago. SE *is* doing what they can to combat it and they don't need to be talked down too by people who refuse to understand that.

Double Post Edited:
What pissed me off most was the fact that SE doesn't seem to know anything about their own game.

Q: New areas are overcrowded... Thoughts?
A: They are?

Q: There are 200 people at King camps... Thoughts?
A: There are?

Q: You can't recieve tells when you are zoning... thoughts?
A: Zoning?

A: Sanction > Signet and this helps cause crowding in new areas... thoughts?
Q: It is? It does?


Actually the answers to those questions were:

1) They want a lot of new people in the new areas. They're also not done releasing new areas. If they completely change the old areas so they're better then the new ones, then the old areas would become over crowded and the new ones would be empty, they don't want that so they have to be careful.

2) Similar to the first answer, they want the competition on these mobs for these incredible items. They also want to keep these incredible items rare. They also said they were going to change the timers on some of these mobs while considering the concept of 'orb battles' a player suggested and diagramed.

3) Technical issue, but he will discuss it with the devs.

4) See number 1

They did give a lot of info in this interview, but the interviewer asked a lot of bad questions and there were obvious translation problems.

Finished reading it all now and can't say I'm surprised. Same old same old.

Could say so much but it'd only be repeating what has been said over the last three years by myself and many other players who have either quit in disappointment or still soldier on under the vain hope S-E might actually understand what is really going on in their own game.

Knowing Bercus I would just like to say a couple of things.

He is German, so some of the translation he admitted he was a bit ropy on getting right.

He has also found a way to keep in contact with them, with the potential to keep digging at the issues once a month or so (it hasn't been set up). Bercus won't let this die - he will keep plugging away, hopefully finding the right people to put the questions to.

I had a friend who was accused time and time again that he's RMT/Boting/Gillbuying.

He's RL so I know his computer setup, lifestyle, etc.

And case in point, he's just a freak gamer.

He camped Feiyin to the point of brutal effiency. Farming ores, Life belts, north,east,south. he afked there, ate there, and even slept there at times.

We used to rotate joining him there. And you should see his chat line numbers on the yearly moogle Stat event.

And it was about his 18th GM call, before GM started ignoring any xxx RMT/bot to him.

Same thing when he left one LS for another. All sorts of crazy accusations gets flung around.

You really have to walk another man's shoes, and if you try to see the RMT/BOTing GM list, you would be pull a [GM]Dave too.

I dont' know. Florida police seem to have mastered the "Sting" operation, as well as NYPD, and any number of REAL LIFE law enforcement agencies.
But I've never yet found a single MMO that could manage to organize a single sting operation.
SE wouldn't face all the difficultly that that law enforcement does. This is a private service, and SE doesn't have to worry about entrapment as it goes about enforcing it's own rules. The mechanics SE setting up sting operation are mind bogglingly simple.

Long and the short of it is, however, that it would cost them money to do that.

To catch a gilseller, go to Ebay or whatever website they sell gil, buy gil, go inside the game and see the seller hand or send you the money. Thats basically how I would catch one. Wonder why they're not doing that.

According to IGE, currently a million gil is running $24.58US. (that seems the be the minimum unit you can buy)

To suss out a mere 25 accounts would immediately cost them ~$615(1). After the next fees are collected (for content ID's), that cost increased at least by ~$325(2). Not to mention the costs for actually hiring someone to do this. Just to pull out a low-ball number from thin air, lets says that's another $300(3) for a part-time temporay employee.

So, the total cost to rid a single server of a mere 25 RMT accounts would be roughly $1,240(4), or $49.60(5) per account. To rid the 32 servers of 25 RMT accounts each (800 accounts total), this endevor runs about $40K(6).

And what's the ROI on that $40K?
Will banning 800 accounts attract scads of new players to offset the cost? Personally, I don't think so.
Will banning 800 accounts make most of the poeple who grouse about RMT be quiet? Doubtful, and it's not like they're going quit paying anyway.
Since you're not going to attract new players, will some of the existing players start paying extra cash every month to offset this cost? (hey now, stop giggling)







(1) 25 X $24.58 (the cost of 1 million gil from IGE) = $614.50 -- rounded up to $615
(2) Assuming one contend id per RMT account, 25 X $12.99 (the cost for one content ID) = $324.75 -- rounded up to $325.
(3) Like I said, pulled out of thin air -- go ahead and grouse about it. Minimum wage in CA is $6.75. $6.74 X 40hours = $270. -- rounded up to an even $300
(4) $615 + $325 + $300 = $1,240
(5) $1,240/25 accounts = $49.60/account
(6) $49.60 X 800 total accounts = $39,680 -- rounded up to $40K

That's all very nicely calculated but as has been stated before, S-E can pull up logs of in-game discussions and actions. They can see Mr Ni Hao give 1 mil to player A, 35 mil to player B, 15 mil to player C, etc all in the same strange secluded little area and receive nothing in return. How many legitimate players would exist solely to give out hundreds of millions of gil daily, weekly, monthly to completely unrelated accounts?

You know what, you're right.

It's why they ban the banks...

(I showed them the paper, with the rocks and the Entrance and the exit and explained them the way how to fight those mobs then, with getting Orbs ect, they all came really close together and they all wanted to keep the graphic already at this point: P )

Can you guess who was the mastermind behind that piece of paper?

You don't have to guess if you read things at BG on a regular basis. :p

That's all very nicely calculated but as has been stated before, S-E can pull up logs of in-game discussions and actions. They can see Mr Ni Hao give 1 mil to player A, 35 mil to player B, 15 mil to player C, etc all in the same strange secluded little area and receive nothing in return. How many legitimate players would exist solely to give out hundreds of millions of gil daily, weekly, monthly to completely unrelated accounts?

Thank you. I was responding to raidenn, who was wondering why they don't just go and buy gil.

If I were a betting person, I'd bet they don't keep the logs for those kinds of transactions around for very long. That's a of disk space and processor time that SE probably doesn't believe is necesary. But let's say they do...

Using your log investigation method, I'm betting the process becomes even more expensive. At this point SE would be paying an IT developer to create and maintain an application that monitors transactions, looking for data that makes the exchange look suspicious, and generates reports on the data.
The process would probably continue with another employee who would then have to investigate that the accounts reported weren't coming from the same household.
Once that employee finds accounts that look suspicious, they'd need to track their behavior to verify they are indeed not something like an LS Bank, or other odd object that has a legitimate reason to be.
Finally, once you ban the account, the costs increase in customer service when SE blows it and bans some freekish, but legitimate player (and you know they will).

SE wouldn't face all the difficultly that that law enforcement does. This is a private service, and SE doesn't have to worry about entrapment as it goes about enforcing it's own rules. The mechanics SE setting up sting operation are mind bogglingly simple.

Long and the short of it is, however, that it would cost them money to do that.



According to IGE, currently a million gil is running $24.58US. (that seems the be the minimum unit you can buy)

To suss out a mere 25 accounts would immediately cost them ~$615(1). After the next fees are collected (for content ID's), that cost increased at least by ~$325(2). Not to mention the costs for actually hiring someone to do this. Just to pull out a low-ball number from thin air, lets says that's another $300(3) for a part-time temporay employee.

So, the total cost to rid a single server of a mere 25 RMT accounts would be roughly $1,240(4), or $49.60(5) per account. To rid the 32 servers of 25 RMT accounts each (800 accounts total), this endevor runs about $40K(6).

And what's the ROI on that $40K?
Will banning 800 accounts attract scads of new players to offset the cost? Personally, I don't think so.
Will banning 800 accounts make most of the poeple who grouse about RMT be quiet? Doubtful, and it's not like they're going quit paying anyway.
Since you're not going to attract new players, will some of the existing players start paying extra cash every month to offset this cost? (hey now, stop giggling)







(1) 25 X $24.58 (the cost of 1 million gil from IGE) = $614.50 -- rounded up to $615
(2) Assuming one contend id per RMT account, 25 X $12.99 (the cost for one content ID) = $324.75 -- rounded up to $325.
(3) Like I said, pulled out of thin air -- go ahead and grouse about it. Minimum wage in CA is $6.75. $6.74 X 40hours = $270. -- rounded up to an even $300
(4) $615 + $325 + $300 = $1,240
(5) $1,240/25 accounts = $49.60/account
(6) $49.60 X 800 total accounts = $39,680 -- rounded up to $40K

That only works until you factor in that you can reuse discarded accounts, and or traded acounts, and or rotating acounts.

Who says you're buying all freashly retail FFxi copies? Get an old one, dispute it, and relog in.

That's all very nicely calculated but as has been stated before, S-E can pull up logs of in-game discussions and actions. They can see Mr Ni Hao give 1 mil to player A, 35 mil to player B, 15 mil to player C, etc all in the same strange secluded little area and receive nothing in return. How many legitimate players would exist solely to give out hundreds of millions of gil daily, weekly, monthly to completely unrelated accounts?

This only works if RMT play fair and doesn't launder PoL accounts and character accounts.

RMT could and do simply keep making lvl 1 characters and deleting them.

And before you say, then just track down massive character making accounts. That's not a safe bet, and would require multiple departments working together.

Two department collaborating in a investigative operation is hard enough, but many many departments on a international scale is...self defeating.

Try asking your boss to snoop around the accountant departments records. He'll laugh. Try asking the accountant department to do it, and they'll laugh. Try finding to find the right staff member alone maybe a daunting task for a lowly GM.

So, aside from the poor translation of Sundi's replys and the editorializing of said replys, where was the actual interview here?

All this "interview" is proof of is how some people think posting on the internet makes them a journalist.

A lot of these questions were rather superfluous and short-sighted to boot. Its a online game, people are going to overcamp zones because they're just lazy jerks all crazed for the zomgEXPbonus. People are greedy, no surprise there and no update or patch can fix that.

Al Zahbi overcrowed and laggy. People are lazy, Al'Zahbi is the new cool place to go AFK for 20 hours. How is SE supposed to patch lazy, dumb players?

Outpost warps, teleport spells, rented chocobos, chocobo breeding, teleport rings, warp tarus, warp cudgels, airships, boats, warp scrolls, warp spells and Staging point warps... and people are still having a hard time getting where they need to go? Really, WTF? Are these people complaining in endgame, level 20 or just plain retarded? Getting around has only gotten easier, what else is needed here?

Gilsellers are eternal. As long as there are unskilled, lazy wannbe players who can use a credit credit card, there will be RMT in any MMORPG. SE can find ways to hinder them, players can try to hinder them, they'll come back, undaunted and their customers won't expose themselves, either.

And then WAAAAAAHHH, HNM camps are too crowded. *gasp* Competition. He actually suggested for the kings to pop more often? Hell, let's just ask them to increase the AFv2 drops in Dynamis and all NM drops to be 100 percent. Let's just install a LEVEL UP macro while we're at it.

So, aside from the poor translation of Sundi's replys and the editorializing of said replys, where was the actual interview here?

All this "interview" is proof of is how some people think posting on the internet makes them a journalist.

A lot of these questions were rather superfluous and short-sighted to boot. Its a online game, people are going to overcamp zones because they're just lazy jerks all crazed for the zomgEXPbonus. People are greedy, no surprise there and no update or patch can fix that.

Al Zahbi overcrowed and laggy. People are lazy, Al'Zahbi is the new cool place to go AFK for 20 hours. How is SE supposed to patch lazy, dumb players?

Outpost warps, teleport spells, rented chocobos, chocobo breeding, teleport rings, warp tarus, warp cudgels, airships, boats, warp scrolls, warp spells and Staging point warps... and people are still having a hard time getting where they need to go? Really, WTF? Are these people complaining in endgame, level 20 or just plain retarded? Getting around has only gotten easier, what else is needed here?

Gilsellers are eternal. As long as there are unskilled, lazy wannbe players who can use a credit credit card, there will be RMT in any MMORPG. SE can find ways to hinder them, players can try to hinder them, they'll come back, undaunted and their customers won't expose themselves, either.

And then WAAAAAAHHH, HNM camps are too crowded. *gasp* Competition. He actually suggested for the kings to pop more often? Hell, let's just ask them to increase the AFv2 drops in Dynamis and all NM drops to be 100. Let's just install an LEVEL UP macro while we're at it.

This post has open my eyes to the fact there are people so dumb that they can bitch about something without having a point. Good job.

Have you ever camped a HNM?

This post has open my eyes to the fact there are people so dumb that they can bitch about something without having a point. Good job.

Have you ever camped a HNM?

Yup, many times. Competition is part of life. I can cry all I want about other people after the same job position I'm after at Company X, but guess what, they're entitled to apply just as much as I am and if they're more qualified, too bad for me.

I can cry about all the other HNMLSes camping Y HNM at Camp X, but guess what, they have just as much right to camp that HNM as I do and if they get the claim and the kill, too bad for me.

Deal with it, k?

Wow, thanks, you are so dumb I think I've become educated. I now know how an extremely stupid person looks like. Have a great time having no point or direction in your arguements.

Hello - Omgwtfbbqkitten

You are a fucking nub, please, kill yourself.

You have only proved yourself a nub beyond anything I have ever seen. You have absolutly no idea of what your talking about. I highly doubt you have ever camped an NM beyond Simurgh or Roc. You are stupid as a box of rocks.

Quit talking out your ass like you know what Fafnir camping is even like, you don't. Great interview, hit many valid points.

So, aside from the poor translation of Sundi's replys and the editorializing of said replys, where was the actual interview here?

All this "interview" is proof of is how some people think posting on the internet makes them a journalist.

A lot of these questions were rather superfluous and short-sighted to boot. Its a online game, people are going to overcamp zones because they're just lazy jerks all crazed for the zomgEXPbonus. People are greedy, no surprise there and no update or patch can fix that.

Al Zahbi overcrowed and laggy. People are lazy, Al'Zahbi is the new cool place to go AFK for 20 hours. How is SE supposed to patch lazy, dumb players?

Outpost warps, teleport spells, rented chocobos, chocobo breeding, teleport rings, warp tarus, warp cudgels, airships, boats, warp scrolls, warp spells and Staging point warps... and people are still having a hard time getting where they need to go? Really, WTF? Are these people complaining in endgame, level 20 or just plain retarded? Getting around has only gotten easier, what else is needed here?

Gilsellers are eternal. As long as there are unskilled, lazy wannbe players who can use a credit credit card, there will be RMT in any MMORPG. SE can find ways to hinder them, players can try to hinder them, they'll come back, undaunted and their customers won't expose themselves, either.

And then WAAAAAAHHH, HNM camps are too crowded. *gasp* Competition. He actually suggested for the kings to pop more often? Hell, let's just ask them to increase the AFv2 drops in Dynamis and all NM drops to be 100 percent. Let's just install a LEVEL UP macro while we're at it.

a) How much time have you spent camping ground HNM?

b) You do realize people stay in Al Zhabi because it's easy to travel to Jeuno. People want it to be the same traveling from Jeuno to Al Zhabi to relieve some of the congestion.

c) Your post is proof of how posting on the internet makes everyone think they're some sort of educated critic.

d) Why do you even bother posting with that kind of name/sig?

lol, the truth finally comes out. :rolleyes:

Btw, don't lame on these forums, please.

Omgwtfbbqkitten

Seriously what the fuck is wrong with you... you DON'T know shit about endgame oh wait you fought RNG AF3 NM.... that's pretty endgame right??!?!oneoen!?1 there's your experience!!

If by competition you mean retarded fucking linkshells botting/chinky fuckers monopolizing and CAMPING tiamat and jormy... who the hell camps CoP dragons? I don't mean have a mule there waiting I mean having 50 people there waiting 2days for it to pop to kill it

OH WAIT IT'S COMPETITION I FERGUT ROFLROFLROFL you're fucking thick seriously kill yourself

Omgwtfbbqkitten

Seriously what the fuck is wrong with you... you DON'T know shit about endgame oh wait you fought RNG AF3 NM.... that's pretty endgame right??!?!oneoen!?1 there's your experience!!

If by competition you mean retarded fucking linkshells botting/chinky fuckers monopolizing and CAMPING tiamat and jormy... who the hell camps CoP dragons? I don't mean have a mule there waiting I mean having 50 people there waiting 2days for it to pop to kill it

OH WAIT IT'S COMPETITION I FERGUT ROFLROFLROFL you're fucking thick seriously kill yourself


You do realize they're a lvl 75 Brd right?

You do realize they're a lvl 75 Brd right?

Whenever I know he's not a dumbass about endgame I'll believe it...

otherwise he's a lvl 61 RNG shouting in jeuno for help getting his Fransisca [SKILL] [UP] OKAY! 1/??

Rofl, Legal Fish brought friends with him. Did we really think there'd only be one idiot? No, they come in pairs, like zergling.

Anybody who's camped any sort of NM can tell you what camping a random spawn HNM is like, because it's almost the same. It's a lot of waiting, then it pops, and whoever has the fastest bot/macro wins the claim. All the people who didn't get claim wait intently for them to wipe, and some linkshells make an effort to cause their wipe or steal their claim. It's a lot of drama because it's a lot of time wasted, but who here can really claim they had something else to do with that time?

And it's too late to get rid of gil sellers, they're part of the system now. Most people buy gil, and most of those people can hide it well enough. Some people don't hide it so well, and though I understand their logic, I still despise them. Players happily buy gil while at the same time cursing the sellers and their illegitimate tactics, but they still rely on them all the same.

I get this feeling like SE is just starting to slowly wind down FFXI in preperation for their next project. It seems like they don't care at times, but maybe it's just because all their effort lies elsewhere?

sounds like this guy didn't know shit, why even interview him?

Guys, chill, seriously. Its possible to disagree with someone without flaming, I promise.

bbqkitten: These are legitimate questions that were asked. He was presented with the opportunity to speak with Sundi and other developers and ask things there are on the minds of a large percentage of the endgame community.
As far as the reduced timers on HNM's and such. I don't there would be as much of a cry for this if competition was legitimate. Problem is you have the same RMT ls's willing to use 3rd party programs to continually get claim on these mobs, so you still have the same people who've been trying to get claim and get their item to drop for an incredibly long time. This is a game, its supposed to be fun, not aggravate the hell out of you b/c you see people who are blatantly breaking the rules, getting away with it, and ruining your experience with it. Noone is asking for this game to become super easy (if you'll notice one thing that was discussed was to shorten pop timers, but increase the difficulty in the HNM's). Most of this is all just to try and take away the monopoly that RMT have on a lot of these items.

As for AlZahbi being overcrowded, well, you expect people to decide to set HP in jeuno, and everytime they get an invite for a party in AU, to take time getting to Mhuara (a potential 20 minute process), wait on the right ferry (another 10 mins) then ride the ferry (15 mins) before they can even get to AU and get ready to fight? Setting HP in AU right now isn't lazy, its being smart and efficient with your time. An NPC in RuLude that would do the same basic thing as the warp taru would relieve a lot of the overcrowding in AU. Also, even aside from the xp bonus (which is VERY nice, and why wouldn't people want it if it were available) a lot of the mobs in AU areas are cake. Colibri are easily tankable, especially by NIN's and are great for jobs with piercing weapons. I've already done a few TP burn parties in the late 50's for nearly 8k/hr exp. Not bad at all.
Yes, gilsellers are pretty much eternal, but you don't quit trying because your efforts don't send them reeling. Small changes to pop timers and drop rates would screw over a lot of the monopolies that they do have. Making them harder could really screw them, most gilsellers surprisingly suck at this game.
As for asking how this is an interview. I see questions, followed by answers, I believe that takes care of both required parts of an interview. Not liking the questions asked does not make it not an interview.

Some of these people show just how much they know about end-game. How stupid do you have to be to be completely oblivious to the games problems?

Let me guess, Omgwtfbbqkitten is part of the CoP team?

Ad hominem last I checked was a fallacy, not a valid way to critique someone's argument. Saracsm and all aside, you'd have to be blind to not recognize the problems existant at endgame with well over a hundred people crammed into a small room in Aerie every time the window is open, same with Behemoth's Dominion. Half the time the model won't even load before it's claimed because there are so many people there.

The issue at hand was not wanting a handout, but for a fair chance. Ullikummi continues to be a bottleneck for Sky LS's despite the increased spawn range helping somewhat. The long length of the window being what it is is less than appealing especially given how many people are always there.

These problems stem from a lot more of the player base being at endgame then there were a few years ago. The challenge should be in the fights (good example: Ouryuu, Bahamut) rather than the claim (Fafhogg, Behemoth).

Moving on to another area, Sanction is so much better than Signet that many players flat out refuse to exp anywhere outside of the eastern continent these days. After all, why bother fighting boring mobs with no experience or food or refresh bonus when you can exp against new enemies with all of those said bonuses? New is good and all, but I doubt they intended for the entire world pre-ToAU to become empty.

Sorry I kinda went physco but people really annoy my senses

I don't know how people could complain there was no good info in this interveiw. Despite the obvious translation problems, on both the interviewer's and the Dev's part, there was some interesting points made.

They confirmed the development of a Sea/Sky like endgame zone
They confirmed the development of a new type of battle grounds, possibly similar to dynamis or limbus.
They pretty much assured everyone FFXI will not get an official windower anytime soon, if at all.
They admitted new gobby bags are a 'good idea' and thus will possibly add them.
They said that individual server jumping and switching is something they thought about and are possibly working on
They said they will most likely change the pop timers on the three kings, if not completely change the way are fought.
Admited that Ulli had problems and that they are still trying to think of a way to fix them.
Gave the reasons why limbus/dynamis aren't true instanced zones

Considering the fact a few questions were utterly pointless (fighting mickey mouse and re-choosing one of a kind items) and some questions have been answered repeatedly in the past (changes to old areas, about job updates, and the ever popular Gil seller problem), it's no surprise some questions weren't answered. Very rarely will any dev give clear confirmation on content they are *thinking* of adding or changing so all the 'we're not sure's, 'maybe's and 'we don't know's shouldn't be a surprise.

CoP was all story, and is still considered by many to be one of the best FF storylines through out the series. But ToAU has been all about content, stuff that all players can be involved with in some way. How anyone could say they stopped trying with this game or that they don't listen to the playerbase after adding things players *specifically* asked for is missing out on something. And they've already said, many times, that they won't go back to change 'old' content until they fully release the new stuff.

Legal, can you post and or link the drawing? I recall you posting the idea in general somewhere here previously, but wasn't sure on the specifics. I'm at work and now the filter here isn't allowing BG's forums.
This way people can see a little better what the interviewer was showing the devs and Sundi.

Outpost warps, teleport spells, rented chocobos, chocobo breeding, teleport rings, warp tarus, warp cudgels, airships, boats, warp scrolls, warp spells and Staging point warps... and people are still having a hard time getting where they need to go? Really, WTF? Are these people complaining in endgame, level 20 or just plain retarded? Getting around has only gotten easier, what else is needed here?


Yes, getting around the main continent has gotton much much easier, I dont think anyone complains about it. But, getting from one continent to the other is still very hard and time consuming. As far as I know there are only 3 ways to get from the main continent to the near east. One way can only be used once every 24 hours, one takes at the very least 35min, and then there's setting your homepoint in Al Zahbi. How does any of the things you mentioned help to keep people from setting their home point in AZ? The fact of the matter is, it's the SMART thing to do to set your HP in AZ. Seek in AZ, got a group on the main continent? Great, warp taru to Jueno. Seek in Jueno, get an invite to the Far East? Shit, it's gonna be at least 30min if you've been to AZ once that day already.


And then WAAAAAAHHH, HNM camps are too crowded. *gasp* Competition. He actually suggested for the kings to pop more often? Hell, let's just ask them to increase the AFv2 drops in Dynamis and all NM drops to be 100 percent. Let's just install a LEVEL UP macro while we're at it.

Yes, why don't we do this? I'd love to have all my AFv2 already. Wouldn't mind having 17 lvl 75s either.

/sarcasm off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un2kC-AVLCs

Sorry kitty what was that you were saying about HNM's not being bad? Have fun trying to get your gear, dumbass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un2kC-AVLCs

Sorry kitty what was that you were saying about HNM's not being bad? Have fun trying to get your gear, dumbass.

Just upgrade your claimbot and maybe you'll get more claims, yeesh. Let's not pretend playing by the rules is going to get you anywhere anymore.

No need for pretending its a well known fact, tho I am in a totaly bot free LS, you are cought using bots your kicked, at least we play by the rules.. Got fafnir a few days ago :) gogo stone I Lol.

Ok, relaxxx with the flaming guys. Kitty sounds really full of (her/him)self, but keep the flaming to yourselves. x.x

Actually more people isn't really more people.

It's usually only certain times like weekends or just when the NA/JP sleep shift happens.

Faf,
It's like 3 big HNMLS + 2 small + 1 unknown.

So it's a 1 of 6 chance your LS gets it.

Big HNM shells already have more then enough to do and don't really care as much as loosing to the competition. It's only smaller ones who bitch a lot because they don't have manpower/organization power to broaden their end-game events.

I like it currently, better then 1 to 2 giant shells going at it. Everytime a shell becomes to big, it gets into serveral drama situations both externally and internally(especially internally).

le sigh.

stop with the flaming already.

Dear mods: stop Pming me I'm really tired of my firefox crashing because you want to warn me for saying "damn" Frankly [if you cant tell by my post count by now] I dont post on these forums. But I will replay to someone bashing someone else because they asked end game questions, it needs to be flammed, he is a moron [oh no mods please dont warn me ;; I said moron :(] He flammed someone else and started the flames, its easy. He was totaly out of line and "wahhh i'm low level I dont have an optical hat :( my LS whipes to bubbling burnie ;; please dont ask about questions that really matter and ask about why I'm so bad at this game"

Oh no, will I get another PM now about a craptasical warn for a forum I visit maybe once every year?

t2small11, flaming is against forum rules. if you can't abide by that then kindly leave or not post (cause we will continue to issue warnings).

and fyi, nothing "needs" to be flamed. I assure you, people can disgree without resorting to insults quite well in the real world.

I woud like to see this chart he show the SE guys.

Dear mods: stop Pming me I'm really tired of my firefox crashing because you want to warn me for saying "damn" Frankly [if you cant tell by my post count by now] I dont post on these forums. But I will replay to someone bashing someone else because they asked end game questions, it needs to be flammed, he is a moron [oh no mods please dont warn me ;; I said moron :(] He flammed someone else and started the flames, its easy. He was totaly out of line and "wahhh i'm low level I dont have an optical hat :( my LS whipes to bubbling burnie ;; please dont ask about questions that really matter and ask about why I'm so bad at this game"

Oh no, will I get another PM now about a craptasical warn for a forum I visit maybe once every year?

Actually, you'll visit this site never. You've been asked twice to not flame other users, which you've ignored.

3 strikes, you're out. Banned.


Icemage
FFXI Forum Super Moderator

The chart, picture, etc... itself was not posted... there are were few wide shots with the page in the frame, but that's about it.

Back on topic,

According to IGE, currently a million gil is running $24.58US. (that seems the be the minimum unit you can buy)

To suss out a mere 25 accounts would immediately cost them ~$615(1). After the next fees are collected (for content ID's), that cost increased at least by ~$325(2). Not to mention the costs for actually hiring someone to do this. Just to pull out a low-ball number from thin air, lets says that's another $300(3) for a part-time temporay employee.

So, the total cost to rid a single server of a mere 25 RMT accounts would be roughly $1,240(4), or $49.60(5) per account. To rid the 32 servers of 25 RMT accounts each (800 accounts total), this endevor runs about $40K(6).

And what's the ROI on that $40K?
Will banning 800 accounts attract scads of new players to offset the cost? Personally, I don't think so.
Will banning 800 accounts make most of the poeple who grouse about RMT be quiet? Doubtful, and it's not like they're going quit paying anyway.
Since you're not going to attract new players, will some of the existing players start paying extra cash every month to offset this cost? (hey now, stop giggling)







(1) 25 X $24.58 (the cost of 1 million gil from IGE) = $614.50 -- rounded up to $615
(2) Assuming one contend id per RMT account, 25 X $12.99 (the cost for one content ID) = $324.75 -- rounded up to $325.
(3) Like I said, pulled out of thin air -- go ahead and grouse about it. Minimum wage in CA is $6.75. $6.74 X 40hours = $270. -- rounded up to an even $300
(4) $615 + $325 + $300 = $1,240
(5) $1,240/25 accounts = $49.60/account
(6) $49.60 X 800 total accounts = $39,680 -- rounded up to $40K

Now this is the kind of breakdown of the gilselling issue that I like to see.

Playing Devil's Advocate, is $40,000 really that much to a huge gaming company that rakes in millions a year (probably millions a month for all I know)? And even better, it would 'flag' the 'bank accounts'. Yes, hitting the gilsellers in the wallet hurts them.

But think about it this way...you can put a seamstress out of business by emptying her purse, or by breaking her fingers.

A graphic representation, but if the 'bank' accounts get flagged and LEFT UNBANNED for a few weeks, with JUST THOSE accounts monitored, the real workhorses of the RMT would show up...the 75thfs that camp monster signa and ochiudo's kote for their livings. Oh, I'm sure you'd also get a few slightly more expendable fishbots and the like. But even the fishbots usually have some work put into them, like being 65+ so they can fish in Onzozo without aggro.

Then SE could hit not only the banks, but the gil-collection methods at the same time. Not only removing XXX million dollars worth of gil from circulation and crashing the financial situation of IGE, but keeping it held underwater for the entire time it takes the RMT to level up new collectors. A 'bank account' can be made in a single day, but a good farming account that produces seven million gil a day, now that takes some time to level, be it making the gil through NM camping, mining, crafting....


Of course, to give credit where credit is due, this seems to be exactly what SE did the LAST time they did a megabanning. So many of the familiar faces in Gusgen mines, so gleefully gone forever! Granted, the RMT is back, in numbers at least but not in strength. Infact, of the new horde of RMT on midgard, I dont' see ANYTHING that's going to be ready to pump out a massive load of gil for the christmas sales.

Maybe we will get lucky this year and RMT will "know the joy of a welfare christmas".

lol I like people assume I summoned these guys here, I posted the horrible post by that "very experienced" BRD on BG forums and people wanted the link, which I did not provide. I'm very surprised that someone got banned and I didn't (yet). I remember when I got suspsended for talking "Spam" which was a non-aggresive conversation Feba invited me into and took part in, now a moderator I believe. You guys are getting soft no?

Anyway, since a low level or two(or three or four) seemed to not understand what the problem is let me explain(I can't really blame you for not having the experience, because you simply don't have a clue on the matter).

Now pretend for a moment you are not a level 72 DRG or a 60 BLM(or with Ice Mage/Jei as an exception, a moderator of this forum lol), pretend you are a level 75 of whatever and have been for two-three years. Now imagine the best items in the game coming from one source since before you were level 75. Now this is the recipe of 150+ people in the same spot day after day causing a huge rift between the community(NA/NA, NA/JP, JP/JP), MPKing, and 3 hours of day of bots going off. Its come to the point players are can not commit to this and a lot of the ones that can simply don't want to or are in a Linkshell that can't. I myself don't have the schedule nor does my linkshell want to do these NMs, which means I won't be able to even fight them unless something changes in the future(doesn't seem likely, not even during Summer).

You say such things as... what?

Yes, why don't we do this? I'd love to have all my AFv2 already. Wouldn't mind having 17 lvl 75s either.

How incredibly ignorant of you. First off AFv2 is an obsolete term given the existance of AF+1, just say Relic or AF2, not that this has anything to do with my point.

17 Level 75s is something you can always try to obtain. There would be not cockblocks like another LS botting. A sensible comparison would be if you had to get an item from a HNM that popped once every 7 days and was camped by 150+ people, most of which were using bots, for each level 75. Comparing Relic to Kings is just funny. Once again, there are no direct preventions, with the exception of too many other Dynamis Linkshells existing.

Its so funny someone says something along the lines "we all camped NMs, we all know how it is", like disagreeing or your level/job wouldn't discredit you enough, you go and make a completely stupid remark like that. I was going to explain how incredibly different a random NM vs a high-demand HNM is, but I decided if you don't get it by instict/common sense, then words won't help. Let's just say, "no, that's pretty wrong".

The opposite of elitism could be considered ignorance. Ignorance attracts elitism. If you don't like the sight of elitism, don't openly express your ignorance, thanks.

Now to the chart. The Chart was named "BRP's Flawless Kings" system, was later changed to "The Flawless Kings" system. It was designed by me, based on an idea I had which itself was made up of the general end-game communities' ideas of wanting kings to be forced spawn and kings to be harder. The basic idea is to obtain Orbs, like BCNM orbs, named after the HNMs. These orbs are obtain from other HNMs, Metal Chip Limbus, and Cloud Envoker like drop from several BCNMs/ENMs(with a very high drop rate from KS99s). With this orb you enter into a battlefield which is made of the old spawning place of the HNM. You fight an encounter which would be harder than Kirin to say the least. The drop of the "NQ fights" would be a mix of new drops(especially for Behemoth and Adamantoise) and the abjurations Fafnir drops. It would have a 80%ish chance to drop the next tier orb(King Behemoth Orb for an example). The HQ NM would be the hardest fights in the game, in the range of the Wyrmking Decends(if the fight wasn't so manaburnable). They would drop the same abjurations as they do now, however many new rare/ex drops(especially Aspid). Another part of the system, though not focused on, was making Wyrms, Hydra, and Cerberus(not so much) harder to be the next stage of challenge after the kings, and improving their current drops a good amount(the system is very connected to another idea I've had about improving previous armor sets) and increasing their pools.

The post of the later version is as follows. (the older one had less information of the source of orbs)

[quote="BRP"]http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/1868/theperfectsystemcopygp5.jpg
Thar yah go. (a bit ugly, I know)
Anyway to include what couldn't fit on chart.
Behemoth Orb
Orc King - 100%
*new* Tonberry King - 100% (3-7 day timer)
New HNM - 50% (3-7 day timer)
New HNM - 50% (3-7 day timer)
KSNM99 - 30%
Certain BCNMs and ENMs - 10%
Other Quests(Garrison? Unwelcomed Guest?) - 5%
Metal Chip Limbus - 100%
Fafnir Orb
Yagudo King - 100%
*new* Sahagin King - 100% (ect, ect, just assume for all below)
New HNM - 50%
King Vinegarroon - 50% (now has more health and doesn't depop, 3-7 day timer, 1 new drop, higher drop rates)
KSNM99 - 30%
Certain BCNMs and ENMs - 10%
Other Quests(Garrison? Unwelcomed Guest?) - 5%
Metal Chip Limbus - 100%
Adamantoise Orb
Quadav King - 100%
*new* Antica King - 100%
New HNM - 50%
Xolotl - 50% (now has more health, summons more and no limit of number of summons, 3-7 day timer, 1 new drop, higher drop rates)
KSNM99 - 30%
Certain BCNMs and ENMs - 10%
Other Quests(Garrison? Unwelcomed Guest?) - 5%
Metal Chip Limbus - 100%

Both Metal Chip Limbus reward 1 Orb 100%, randomly chosen.

On the scale of toughness. NQ should be in the Ouryu range(though, probably a little easier) and HQ should be in the Bahamutv2 range, maybe even harder due to new strategies that would be required.

Thank you for the pic and info. Really not a bad idea. I like the idea of RMT not being able to kill these nm's again. Though I don't know of any rmt ls's on fairy that could take KB. Not sure about Nidhogg or Aspid.

Though I don't know of any rmt ls's on fairy that could take KB. Not sure about Nidhogg or Aspid.

KB is patheticly easy, pretty much all three are. I imagine in 1 year, kings will be completely dominated by gil sellers, and then who will be laughing about wanting to be able to fights monsters = wanting 17 level 75s. So if SE doesn't do anything, FFXI will be about dead in a year.

lHow incredibly ignorant of you. First off AFv2 is an obsolete term given the existance of AF+1, just say Relic or AF2, not that this has anything to do with my point.

17 Level 75s is something you can always try to obtain. There would be not cockblocks like another LS botting. A sensible comparison would be if you had to get an item from a HNM that popped once every 7 days and was camped by 150+ people, most of which were using bots, for each level 75. Comparing Relic to Kings is just funny. Once again, there are no direct preventions, with the exception of too many other Dynamis Linkshells existing.


How incredibly ignorant of you, did you completly miss the little &quot;/sarcasm off&quot; at the bottom of my post? Seems you're the only one that did. It was completly sarcastic and in no way ment to be taken seriously :wtf:.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, doesn't AF2 stand for Artifact Armor, version 2 a.k.a. AFv2? If you say AF2 you're gonna have people thinking your talking about Artifact Armor quest 2, which has happened to me before.

Double Post Edited:

Maybe we will get lucky this year and RMT will "know the joy of a welfare christmas".

I could be wrong, but I'm farily sure it wasnt the RMT that caused the price hike last christmas, then again no one knows for sure. But the same thing happens every summer, just it lasts longer so you don't notice it as much. The flood of all the kids and people whoe get christmas off rushing back into the game and selling off everything they have at once jacks prices through the roof. Expecially during christmas where people are willing to pay a little more to make the gift special and make the person happy.

With AF+1 in place, the Artifact version 2 designation is obsolete; It could be referring to two things, as AF2 has come to mean Relic (the game's term for the 71-75 gear set) or the level 74 Artifact +1 set. Taken literally, the 74 set would be more likely... Not everyone uses the AF2/AFv2 designation, as it tends to be, again, confusing.

-

Don't kid yourself, that amount of gil doesn't just pop out of nowhere. A glut of supply on the market doesn't drive prices up, it drives it down. If you intend to continue to use sarcasm, keep in mind that it's a bit harder to read someone's intent when it's only text on a screen.

Well on teamspeak and vent you tend to say AF2 not AF version 2, typing I tend to say and seen many other type relic as AFII(using roman numerials) just what i've noticed at Dynamis at least.

So...it's just another enm...

It's fine, but nothing will change.

The basics of the camped HNM has always been one thing, drama.

You call me a bot, I call you a bot, you JPs get better ping times, you NAs are rude, Hey the new guys there are RMT, etc, etc etc.

I am all for new better equipments, and stuff, but all this talk is more often then not a placebo for community squabbles.

What happened to: too many people here, /random, winner takes it? Most of the LSs do it this way now a days.

S-E's plan seems to have more forethought in simple expanding the field with more NMs, more areas, more options. Not: "Stop fighting, I'll buy you both iceream ok?"

Now pretend for a moment you are not a level 72 DRG or a 60 BLM(or with Ice Mage/Jei as an exception, a moderator of this forum lol), pretend you are a level 75 of whatever and have been for two-three years. Now imagine the best items in the game coming from one source since before you were level 75. Now this is the recipe of 150+ people in the same spot day after day causing a huge rift between the community(NA/NA, NA/JP, JP/JP), MPKing, and 3 hours of day of bots going off. Its come to the point players are can not commit to this and a lot of the ones that can simply don't want to or are in a Linkshell that can't. I myself don't have the schedule nor does my linkshell want to do these NMs, which means I won't be able to even fight them unless something changes in the future.

Let's not pretend being level 75 for two or three years grants you exclusive access to knowing anything about end game. Everybody knows what's going on up there in Dragon's Aery, Behemoth's Dominion, and Sky. It's not like people havn't been complaining about it on the forums for the past year. It's drama because players make it that way, SE has nothing to do with that.

And if the whole "Flawless Claim" system was your idea why was it originally named after BRP? Also, you might want to change 'dim aroma' to 'slight aroma' since dim is a word used to describe a magnituted of light, or in other cases intellegence. And second also, smelly balls?

Please leave the straw man alone, he's done nothing to you.

Dak, in case you haven't figured out by now, LegalFish = BRP ;)

Dak, in case you haven't figured out by now, LegalFish = BRP ;)

I may be crazzzzzy in saying this, but why is it that the same asshole who was banned before can freely post here again? Have you mods gone mad?

neighbortaru>> he has yet to do something ban worthy

The concept is good, as stated before it would turn Kings into just another ENM fight. The chart makes it seem a bit more complex then it needs to be though, but it's a solid concept that has been proven to work. I wouldn't exactly call it an original idea because people have been suggesting that these, if not all, NMs should be forced spawn/BCNM/ENM ect only for a long time. But SE doesn't seem to want that, my guess is because they like having these things just appear and would prefer to keep them limited in number. Think about it, if everyone could do these fights every X amount of days, everyone*would* do these fights every X amount of days until things like Adaburk and ridill stop being 'leet' gear and start becoming the 'norm'.

I think the most interesting way to do it would be to create a comprimise of sorts. Keep the NQ version of the mobs as a random pop. BUT instead of having them spawn in the same small room day after day, they should spawn in a different, slightly random zone each day. If you don't know what zone they'll be in, you can't exactly bot them. Anyone dumb enough to use a packet sniffer > warp hack would get banned within days. And it would still allow that feeling of excitement when you see a massive monster just appear out of no where, even more so as you'll have very little chance to be ready for them. The people who would be able to beat them would be the ones that would be able to orginize and move out the fastest. Even if each of them only spawned in 3 different zones each it would still be able to completely remove bot claiming from the equation. Throw in a shorter pop time, say 12-18 hours or such, and far more people will get their fair chance to claim them.

Now the HQs however would be different. If you could claim and kill the NQs you would get a chance, about 60% or so, of getting a special item used to pop the HQ versions in their respective home zones. Making it a BCNM type zone could still be a useful idea as long as it contained similar smaller mobs as they do now.

Using this method the three kings will still have their random, 'own your face' attributes they used to have while at the same time preventing bots. It will also allow more people to get a fair shot at these HNMs.

The way I see it:

Faf should get Tahrongi Canyon, Yhoat and the Aery
Adam should get Kon highlands, Altep and VoS
Behe should get La theine, Xarca and the Dominion

All those places can hold the mobs size wise, most of those places(aside from the lairs) are easy to get too and they're all places that aren't exactly crowded as is. Doing it this way would make running through these zones far more interesting and would keep a balance as to who is able to claim and who isn't. And on top of all that, it would make these monsters even more unique then they already are.

I may be crazzzzzy in saying this, but why is it that the same asshole who was banned before can freely post here again? Have you mods gone mad?

neighbortaru>> he has yet to do something ban worthy

Meh, if that's the case, he'll be able to come back as many times as he wants, regardless of the fact he'll get banned for saying certain things, but w/e. You're the mod, not me.

Let's not pretend being level 75 for two or three years grants you exclusive access to knowing anything about end game. Everybody knows what's going on up there in Dragon's Aery, Behemoth's Dominion, and Sky. It's not like people havn't been complaining about it on the forums for the past year. It's drama because players make it that way, SE has nothing to do with that.

don't be so quick to blame the players, it's drama because the problem is allowed to exist in the first place

if I ran a town like a cesspool is it the people's fault for living there or is it my fault for not running it better?

It's both, primarily the first to be honest.

Providing good schooling, good law enforcement, good jobs and so on. It's part of running a town, it's not enough for me to setup a school and then forget about it all.

A game can be designed to not even make this a issue, but SE likes to stand fast in it's "working as intended" stance in which case I'd think there are more than a few people that would like to tell them exactly what they think of SE for MAKING them spend 3-6 hours spamming a macro in a spot for the off chance that MAYBE they'd get a chance to claim for MAYBE a chance at a drop.

in a world with BC nm's only what use are claim bots?
mpk?
Lagging?
Claimstealing?

So is the player population to fault for making Dragon's Aery what it is?

Or is it SE's fault for leaving that place alone all this time while seeing that everyday as more people reach the levels that can use those things, there are more people that want them?

Just as they are worried about people quitting because they'd get stuff too easily, they are ignoring the people that leave because somethings are completely retarded to try and get.

"Don't forget your family and friends"
LOL! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Ask what some people would tell their own mothers if they came in while they were waiting for or fighting Nidhogg ...

It's one thing to have Zilart Kings work the way they do when 5-10% of the population could even have a chance at them and competition for them wasn't much to speak of (that didn't even last long) ... but now Supply vs. Demand is completely out of hand, the problem compounded further by droprates.

Yea, it'd be nice to have a world of no MPK, no Botting, no competing with RMT for stuff
"imagine all the people ..."
- some newb called John Lennon

The concept is good, as stated before it would turn Kings into just another ENM fight. The chart makes it seem a bit more complex then it needs to be though, but it's a solid concept that has been proven to work. I wouldn't exactly call it an original idea because people have been suggesting that these, if not all, NMs should be forced spawn/BCNM/ENM ect only for a long time. But SE doesn't seem to want that, my guess is because they like having these things just appear and would prefer to keep them limited in number. Think about it, if everyone could do these fights every X amount of days, everyone*would* do these fights every X amount of days until things like Adaburk and ridill stop being 'leet' gear and start becoming the 'norm'.

You low level guys just love speaking of your league. If people hate elitism so much, then don't provoke it.

Have you ever farmed ENMs for a Cloud Envoker, the item that allows you fight Ouryu? It not something that can be horded too quickly. With the exception of KS99(mind you, 99 Kindred Seals), the drop rate on ENMs and KSNMs will allow people to farm it, but not make hundred of copies. The main source comes from 4 HNMs, two 100%, two 50% for each 3 Kings. Then there is also quests like Uninvited Guest and Garrison with an even smaller chance of getting it. Finally there is Metal Chip Limbus, I can't even count how many groups have cleared Apollyon with a full hand, and I've never met anyone who has cleared Temenos, mind you only on forums, not in person. That isn't easy... will lead into more Fafnirs/Behemoths/Adamantoise in a week than normal, but not easy. Of course when Sage Sundi says they 'don't want it to be easy', they don't know what easy is in this game, because they have no fucking clue about their own game. "What? People still camp kings?"

Anyway, your idea only makes botters/pos.haxers even better claimers. They can see when and what mobs are in the zone and can instant warp to them.

neighbortaru>> he has never done something ban worthy

Fixed for truth. I'm not even banned, the site just won't load for me. It is an indirect ban. This "punishment" was given to my account during a period of time where I wasn't even logged on for about a week. Previously, I had been suspended which was attoned for. There was no warnings or reason involved in my fake ban. When I heard that the loading problem was intentional, I figured out a few mods agreed to 'put an end to my rudeness', this would include the obvious suspects that had been using a lot of their power to attempt to harass me(hello, posts of mine being deleted unprovoked prior to the fake ban or getting warned for taking place in an offtopic conversation with and started by Feba, now a mod). Of course moderators not in my fanclub didn't even know I had been banned. So in the end, I've never really been banned, just 'lagged out'. I've been around when this site was a mecca for importers(though only in a viewing role) and when this site was only getting 4-5 posts a day though out the whole forum. I don't expect to leave until I'm completely unable to post, which I'm expected to be at any moment. btw, where is PiNG?

Feba isn't a mod.

Previously, I had been suspended which was attoned for.No you didn't. There was no warnings or reason involved in my fake ban.actually, this had every reason to do with you NOT attoning for your past sins and pulling the same crap all over again.

And cut the "oh woe is me, i'm being victimized crap." No one is buying it.

Feba isn't eh? I could of sworn he posted some frontpage news.

I do believe if you are suspended and you see the end of the suspension, then the punishmen has been attoned for. What did I do? haxor my suspension to be shorter? After the suspension, I pretty left for a week or two, the next time I tried to log on, I couldn't load the page. Like I give a damn I've been banned. Oh mister Neighboorhoodtaru, please don't bully me around. You are going to embarrass me infront of the level 72 DRGs. The only reason I post here is because its something to do. In between the mass of amounts of noobs and ignorant retired lvl75brds, there is something nice about this place. PS, way to not let me complete my newbie guide. That shit took forever to write.

Everyone can have a post on Front Page news. The mods just move it there. I've had some, Feba has, Kolid, etc. Whoever posts the news post first gets to be on the front page. That's all there is to it.

There is no "hood" in Neighbortaru's name.

I do believe if you are suspended and you see the end of the suspension, then the punishmen has been attoned for.ah, the repeat felon mentality. wonderful... you don't attone by serving the time and going back to commit the crime again.

There is no "hood" in Neighbortaru's name.well, it's better than calling me neighbornazi again :wasted:

Or what he was calling you over at BG.

neighbortaru>> {True Strike} :P

Alrighty guys, this needs to end.

Let's not dwell on this. What was decided on in the past is, naturally, in the past. BRP, you're here now and you could do everyone a favour by properly abiding by the forum's rules like everyone else has managed to do in the last few years. You've always managed to make some really great, informative posts, and you claim that you've been here since the import era, which means that you, along with a lot of others here who claim to be "loyal, long-time members" should be trying to set a proper example for those who haven't been here as long as you. FFXIonline.com is for friendly, constructive discussion about the game and its many aspects, not the kind of elitism you see on other forums.

From day one we've been about informing, not flaming, those who may not know as much as others do. Let's not change that any time soon, eh? This goes for everyone: Flaming is not the way to help someone better understand something they may not have as firm a grasp on as you do. If you know something someone else doesn't seem to know, doesn't it feel better to say "Hey, Mr. X, this is how you pop ____," or "Hey, Ms. Y, this is the current problem with Ullikumi, if you haven't had the chance to see it for yourself recently"?

This discussion is turning into something we really don't want to see. If you have a problem with another member of the forums, take it to them personally. Don't antagonize them in front of others who aren't involved in any way. In addition, don't bring the happenings of other forums here. This is FFXIonline.com, not KillingIfrit or Order of the Blue Gartr.

This is the last warning to anyone in this thread. Any more flaming/arguing/unfunny-fart-jokes going on in this thread, it will be closed and the perpetrators will be warned or banned. We can all be friends here like the old days again, can't we?

don't be so quick to blame the players, it's drama because the problem is allowed to exist in the first place

if I ran a town like a cesspool is it the people's fault for living there or is it my fault for not running it better?

It's both, primarily the first to be honest.

Providing good schooling, good law enforcement, good jobs and so on. It's part of running a town, it's not enough for me to setup a school and then forget about it all.

A game can be designed to not even make this a issue, but SE likes to stand fast in it's "working as intended" stance in which case I'd think there are more than a few people that would like to tell them exactly what they think of SE for MAKING them spend 3-6 hours spamming a macro in a spot for the off chance that MAYBE they'd get a chance to claim for MAYBE a chance at a drop.


You can't really fault somebody for living in a terrible town, but you can fault them for complaining and not doing anything about it at the same time. Is your leader incompetant? Forget about him and do what needs to be done. Is your leader making promises to correct your problems, but it isn't happening immediately? Well, you can either trust him and wait or not and do it your own way.

The leader can be faulted too, and I wouldn't want to say otherwise. I think SE has been lax about it all, but I've cited my reasons as to why I believe they are. I can only hope for whatever reason it is, it's worth it. They've been blind for so long, you'd have to be crazy not to realize it's on purpose.

SE isn't making or forcing anybody to do anything. Those HNMs are there for players to defeat and obtain rare drops from, that's all. In no way did they intend for players to feel it necessary to spend their lives at a camp jamming a single macro and complaining; they probably didn't even realize players would be there 24/7 waiting for it! I'm sure they intended it to be more of an "Oh, Behemoth is back! Kill it!" kind of thing, rather than a "Behemoth should be here any second now! Ready the claimbots!" endeavor.

There would be less drama if there were less players who were so materialistically motivated, since drama is caused by the player and the player alone.

Oh, and I had picked up a few clues about BRP, but I wanted somebody else to say it first. >_> He just seems so angry now, definately not the same.

Finally there is Metal Chip Limbus, I can't even count how many groups have cleared Apollyon with a full hand, and I've never met anyone who has cleared Temenos, mind you only on forums, not in person.


I've cleared Temenos. It's not that hard if you know what you're doing and have a reasonably talented group of 75s. Not nearly the difficulty of, say, Ouryu Cometh.


I do believe if you are suspended and you see the end of the suspension, then the punishmen has been attoned for. What did I do? haxor my suspension to be shorter? After the suspension, I pretty left for a week or two, the next time I tried to log on, I couldn't load the page. Like I give a damn I've been banned.

You care so little but you're still eager to complain about it every time it's mentioned. If you didn't care, you wouldn't make an issue of it.


I'm not even banned, the site just won't load for me. It is an indirect ban.


Oh my, please forgive the slight oversight on our part. This is fixed. Since you were so kind to point out our error, I've taken the liberty of enforcing the permanent ban. Happy now?

This "punishment" was given to my account during a period of time where I wasn't even logged on for about a week. Previously, I had been suspended which was [atoned] for. There was no warnings or reason involved in my fake ban.

Well, if you think that the majority of the moderation team and quite a lot of the forum regulars disapproving of your unaccepting attitude towards other players who don't share your exact views and circumstances on the game, I suppose you'd call it no reason. I'd say there was plenty of grounds for giving you the boot, though, regardless of whether you want to split legal hairs about toeing the line in specific cases.


When I heard that the loading problem was intentional, I figured out a few mods agreed to 'put an end to my rudeness', this would include the obvious suspects that had been using a lot of their power to attempt to harass me(hello, posts of mine being deleted unprovoked prior to the fake ban or getting warned for taking place in an offtopic conversation with and started by Feba, now a mod)

Feba's not a moderator (as mentioned above). Your posts were deleted without comment simply because they were continual spam on the same topic (short synopsis: whining about being singled out by the moderation team, when you knew for certain that we were already watching you closely due to past infractions).

Oh mister Neighboorhoodtaru, please don't bully me around. You are going to embarrass me infront of the level 72 DRGs. The only reason I post here is because its something to do. In between the mass of amounts of noobs and ignorant retired lvl75brds, there is something nice about this place. PS, way to not let me complete my newbie guide. That shit took forever to write.

You're right. There IS something nice about this place. It derives specifically because we don't care that people aren't level 75 and in an HNM scene for 2 years. FFXI is more than just end-game. End-game is important, yes, but there are other viewpoints, and other ways to play the game, all of which are valid.

I agree that it is sometimes annoying to see non-end-game players commenting about things they don't have experience with, but there's no reason to be elitist and dismiss their opinions out of hand without review.