The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

[Brielle]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

I do realize that the nations were at war, but they are not currently fighting amongst one another. The way the current storyline is setup, you would really need to alienate the three nations from one another to make any form of "player-versus-player" system integrate well. When watching the opening video for FFXI, I do not picture them all turning around and beating each other until the last man/woman is standing.

Of course I am bias when it comes to dueling, I was always a holy priest in WoW...everyone liked to chew me up and spit me out.

[Kittyneko]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

Also, something about us being "adventurers" strikes me as us not having any clear allegiance to a nation, as opposed to say, the Star Sybil or any of the other major players in the story. Being adventurers, I see us more as a "I'll help you guys out because I want to, not because I need to" attitude, and the story we go through is an extension of that. Even Ballista and Brenner are a little bit of an offshoot of that: tensions between nations were rising, and so to keep a competitive attitude between them without launching an all out war, each nation tries to recruit the best adventurers possible to compete with one another.

Although, I could certainly see a duel system put into place, it would be interesting to see how it could be played out in the storyline. Perhaps that, while as I said before we have no true allegiance to any nation, we don't necessarily have an allegiance to each other either, which certainly wouldn't be too far off from the way it would be played out by the community.

Well, you might have noticed that Campaign did sort of strengthen the feeling of Allegiance to your nation again.

I do would like to see some sort of Dueling system though. But only in special area's so it doesn't annoy people too much. We all like to show off our skills to eachother sometimes don't we? We'd have to keep in mind though that FFXI isn't exactly PVP-friendly when it comes to ability's and such. That's why, if I want to play PVP, i'd rather do it on WoW than on FFXI (if it were available.)

[KingOfZeal]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

Also, something about us being "adventurers" strikes me as us not having any clear allegiance to a nation, as opposed to say, the Star Sybil or any of the other major players in the story. Being adventurers, I see us more as a "I'll help you guys out because I want to, not because I need to" attitude, and the story we go through is an extension of that. Even Ballista and Brenner are a little bit of an offshoot of that: tensions between nations were rising, and so to keep a competitive attitude between them without launching an all out war, each nation tries to recruit the best adventurers possible to compete with one another.

Although, I could certainly see a duel system put into place, it would be interesting to see how it could be played out in the storyline. Perhaps that, while as I said before we have no true allegiance to any nation, we don't necessarily have an allegiance to each other either, which certainly wouldn't be too far off from the way it would be played out by the community.

[Feba]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

Let's not forget that prior to the crystal war there 3 nations were all at war with each other for centuries (well, Bastok is the youngest of the 3 so maybe not that long for them) and there's still tensions

Let's not, then!

What, exactly, do you think would happen if someone from one nation attacked someone from another nation? It would likely ruin the peace betwen them, and possibly bring war again.

That would be a bad thing.

[Malacite]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

Final Fantasy is based on heroes and their great deeds. Killing a fellow comrade does not seem like something Cloud or Squall would have done, unless that comrade had turned on them. Duels and PvP are not part of the game's lore, and would be very out of place if implemented.

Eh not really. Let's not forget that prior to the crystal war there 3 nations were all at war with each other for centuries (well, Bastok is the youngest of the 3 so maybe not that long for them) and there's still tensions between them in the present.

PvP isn't entirely out of place, which is why I like the concept of sparring in sporting events such as Ballista as opposed to straight up "I'm going to kill you because I hate you" theme in WoW (which as stated above, suits that game perfectly.)

It would be nice if we got some more PvP events that were fun and stick to game's theme. i.e., fighting each other to improve our skills, not to kill one another as in WoW. PvP and working together are not mutually exclusive.

[Brielle]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

That is actually one of the reasons I enjoy Final Fantasy XI so much, there is not this nagging worry in the back of my mind that the person standing next to me might come over and try to stab me.

The 'player-versus-player' aspect of World of Warcraft suits the game, like Feba stated. You have two opposing factions that have a common goal, but also are at war.

Final Fantasy is based on heroes and their great deeds. Killing a fellow comrade does not seem like something Cloud or Squall would have done, unless that comrade had turned on them. Duels and PvP are not part of the game's lore, and would be very out of place if implemented.

I am not an extremely competitive person, so that whole idea turns me off to many other video games. There, that is my bias.

[Malacite]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

I thought there was a cap on self buffs in campaign? BG listed it as 150 a while back.

My personal gripe these days? Crafting and H.E.L.M.

Waaay before inflation and RMT became a huge problem, I absolutely loved mining and logging to fuel my smithing, gold smithing and woodworking. I would go on crafting binges, doing nothing but mine/log and craft. It was fun back then, because it wasn't a complete bitch to get any decent materials like it is now and things like Arrowwood Lumber were actually a good profit.

These days you are screwed if you don't have a lv 100 craft (other than cooking) and ever since SE implemented that damned H.E.L.M nerf years ago gathering materials has become a total chore rather than a fun, profitable side activity. My best run in Zeruhn Mines ever was 4 darksteel ores in one hour. I haven't seen a single ore in that zone since. And then there was the string of fishing nerfs...


So I propose SE undo some of these nerfs. RMT have become much less of a threat now and SE pretty well has them underwraps for the most part (save for a few groups on each server we all know and wonder why SE does nothing against them) so how about some changes?

I've proposed some ideas before, like making fixed mining points that everyone can use rather than the current (retarded) system of random points. Inclusion of mining, logging, harvesting and excavating skills in the craft menu would be great too. They'd of course be the same as fishing in that they don't count towards your cap post 60 (either that, or they compete with fishing)

This would help balance out returning the rates of materials to how they were before; the higher your skill, the more likely you are to find the good stuff and the less fatigued you become after repetitive mining. Maybe they could but in a cap too the same way they did with fishing? i.e. you can only gather so many ores/logs/bones/etc in a day depending on your skill level.


Oh yeah and isn't it about time they revisited the guilds and various shops in the game? Why are the NPC prices of some items still so obscenely high? How about more guild quests too, and not just the stupid contract system they put in to earn guild points. Actual freaking quests that the guild will ask of you from time to time. Maybe a way to earn discount prices in the guild depending on your rank/fame or something?

At this point I just feel that there's a real need to address the ways we make money in this game and how lame a number of the game's extra activities are.

[Feba]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

The problem with PVP in FFXI is that it doesn't make sense outside of things like Ballista.

For example, in WoW, you have two competing sides; the ugly ones and the really ugly ones. In EVE online, players are free to do whatever they like; including be evil, space pirate, scum. You have police in some areas, but generally it's like real life (INNNNNNNNNN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE) in that if someone wants to hurt you, they can do it in a very public way-- the police will show up to take care of them, but probably not before you're already significantly damaged or destroyed.

In FFXI, however, we're all heroes, out to save the world from whatever the Bad Guy Of This Expansion is, and quests are centered on doing good deeds. We don't have an enemy with playable characters, and we aren't allowed to go around doing evil. Heck, even minor evil things (theft) aren't allowed in FFXI. Why should killing someone be allowed? Consensual PVP (like 'duels') also doesn't really make sense, as A- the characters would be better off fighting against an enemy instead if it's for 'training', and B- slicing your buddy in the face outside of a controlled environment doesn't really make sense for entertainment. There are also plenty of other ways to compete with people; plain old combat (while possibly pleasing to some players) doesn't really make much sense in terms of Vana'diel entertainment.

[Brielle]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

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

This was a particular problem in World of Warcraft when it was first released. Classes that were listed as hybrids were usually only given gear for one specific function, which was generally healing. Blizzard changed this when they released armor sets for the different functions of a class. I am not sure how hard that would be for Square-Enix to implement into this game, it has been awhile since I have played.

Would that be too outlandish of a suggestion? Take a Red Mage for example. You could have a set that focuses on destructive/enfeebling spells, one on healing/defensive spells or one that works with the melee aspect of the class.

I may be taking this idea in the wrong direction, so forgive me if I missed the boat.

[DakAttack]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

A dueling system would be so annoying.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

the cake.

It's a lie!

[dirtyclown]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

Why not?

There's a hammer in the cake.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

Italic text?

Why not?

[dirtyclown]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

Themselves?

Italic text?

[Yellow Mage]

Re: The issues with FFXI that we don't often discuss

I don't see how this is such a horrible thing, those bots might be saving people from getting a really bad party member.

Themselves?