The next FFXI update (May20th I think?)

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: The next FFXI update (May20th I think?)

Discounting the fact that the rate in some of those parties will be significantly less than 25k/hour, that still only means roughly 42 people can exp simultaneously when they want to.

Er, earlier you were arguing that you couldn't have faith in SE because it couldn't figure out how to make 6 camps for Lv.75 merit parties, and cited 15k/hr as the threshold. (Not that I've seen 25k/hr party in a while, lol.) Anyway, since I found 9+ camps which should be able to sustain 15k/hr or better (or slightly worse), and if I'm doing the math right, that's 54+ people.

Not that it really matters; in the past few months, every time I get into a merit party, either the Jade Sepulcher (my favorite) camp was open, or one of the Greater Colibri (other NAs' favorite) camps was about 9 out of 10 times. For the rest, upper camp of Tandjana Islet (Mamool Ja) worked just fine for me.

Would be nice to have some more crowding so I'd have an excuse to play with trolls, at this point. Ha!

Come June there will be hundreds of people wanting to grind new levels. In a game where the majority of the population is at max level I really do not see how this demand is going to be catered for if it is indeed going to be tied to the addons. As I said earlier, lets not forget just how much additional content the last three provided us.

Well, Caedarva Mire (Azouph Isle Staging Point) used to be really over crowded shortly after Aht Urgant was introduced, then things calmed down and the merit parties moved out, leaving the place mostly to exp parties. So, there may be some initial crowding, I guess, then things will even out.

Or, it can be more instanced zones, like MMM/Nyzul Isle/Salvage/etc., only with even more instance servers. Who knows?

[Ziero]

Re: The next FFXI update (May20th I think?)

Well, you only have to wait one month to discover whether you'll be eating those words. Personally I don't have the faith in S-E that you obviously do. You just need to look at the clusterfuck that is 75 merit parties now. If 5-6 level 75 parties decide they want to exp simultaneously you can be certain that all of them will end up earning a substandard rate per hour. The game currently can not support more than the aforementioned number of level 75 parties all wanting to grind exp at a reasonable rate. And by that I mean anywhere from 15k/hour upwards although realistically most people are used to anywhere from 25-40k/hour now.

MMM says hi. Easy 20k an hour for people who know what they're doing. At any level.

There's either a fundamental disconnect between what S-E believes the players require or they're artificially restricting experience gain by creating these bottlenecks. While cynical I'd tend to lean towards the latter as they've shown more than once they're fond of using the, "Attempt once per <day/week/month/decade>" mechanic.

Or people are too lazy/stupid to find out things for themselves and hit up different places to Exp. The "fundamental disconnect" isn't so much between SE and the playerbase, it's between those who innovate and those who imitate. Those who can do nothing but copy what others have done before will do nothing more then flood the areas other people have found to be good exp grounds. And because there's so many more people who imitate compared to those who can find their own way, there's far more overcrowding at old, known camps then there is exploring to find new and unique camps. SE can try and add new places all they want (and they have been) but most of the followers will still always stick to the safest, simplest, easiest path.

As for the CoP discussion, personally I find the supposition they'll be used as levelling zones beyond ludicrous. There's a very valid reason there are dozens of zones now that go unused in favour of colibri areas. People don't want to fuck around exp'ing on wyverns, hippogryphs, and emptiness mobs. The playerbase don't want to return to enemies that take forever to kill and have a significant chance of decimating the party. There's not one single capped CoP zone I can seriously see anyone wanting to exp in when the caps are removed.

You do realize people exp on Wyverns and Wivres all the time right? Any VT mob can be easily ripped through, especially horsebirds, who aren't all that dangerous unless they're IT++.

[ShepardG]

Re: The next FFXI update (May20th I think?)

People who crowd the Greater Colibri camps are stupid; there are plenty of other places to go to.

I completely agree, but I'm still going to crowd the bird camps, because that's the best way to get exp/merits. if there were other camps that yielded over 20k/hr exp/merits, then I'd be all about it. But I have yet to hear or see of any.

Don't get me wrong, if It's me and some friends just capping a thf's buffer, or pld or any job that isn't the standard SAM/RDM/BRD/COR blahblah, I don't care if we get 5k/hr or 40k/hr. However, If i'm specifically out to be as effiecent as possible, i'm going to go to the camp that has the potential to yield the most exp/HR.

---------- Post added at 07:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:10 AM ----------

Discounting the fact that the rate in some of those parties will be significantly less than 25k/hour, that still only means roughly 42 people can exp simultaneously when they want to. Come June there will be hundreds of people wanting to grind new levels. In a game where the majority of the population is at max level I really do not see how this demand is going to be catered for if it is indeed going to be tied to the addons. As I said earlier, lets not forget just how much additional content the last three provided us.

LEVEL SYNC!!!! East Ronfarue [S] colibri parties GO GO!

[Grizzlebeard]

Re: The next FFXI update (May20th I think?)

that's 7 camps just for the popular WS spam style parties in the Aht Urhgan/Aradjiah Continent zones.

Discounting the fact that the rate in some of those parties will be significantly less than 25k/hour, that still only means roughly 42 people can exp simultaneously when they want to. Come June there will be hundreds of people wanting to grind new levels. In a game where the majority of the population is at max level I really do not see how this demand is going to be catered for if it is indeed going to be tied to the addons. As I said earlier, lets not forget just how much additional content the last three provided us.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: The next FFXI update (May20th I think?)

They are actually lazy to try and go to other places.

I remember, shortly after NA release, a group of my friends were playing. They were at the level 20 stage and Qufim was packed. Our party was complaining and complaining so I suggested going out to Battilia Downs. Well good lord you'd have thought that I had asked them to jump into a vat of acid. I was told how stupid I was, how I didn't know how to play the game, and so much more. It was funny to me because I played before the NA release and had partied there a few times just fine. They just came off as so superior to me that it irritated me. I offered to show them but they would rather get slow ass exp so I left the party and got into one that decided to try it. I ended up with 2+ levels and my friends barely got one.

[Takelli]

Re: The next FFXI update (May20th I think?)

People who crowd the Greater Colibri camps are stupid; there are plenty of other places to go to.

They are actually lazy to try and go to other places.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: The next FFXI update (May20th I think?)

If 5-6 level 75 parties decide they want to exp simultaneously you can be certain that all of them will end up earning a substandard rate per hour. The game currently can not support more than the aforementioned number of level 75 parties all wanting to grind exp at a reasonable rate. And by that I mean anywhere from 15k/hour upwards

* Denotes the camps I've been to with pickup groups.
+ Denotes the camps I've been to with LS/friend's parties, but not with pickup groups.

Tandjana Islet (Greater Colibri): 2 parties (middle, lower). *
Tandjana Islet (Mamool Ja): 1 party (upper) *
Jade Sepulcher: 1 party. *
Mamool Ja Staging Point: 1 party. *
Mamook: 1 party. *
Mount Zhayolm (Hilltrolls): 1 party. *
Mount Zhayolm (Ebony Pudding): 1 party (manaburn) +
Caedarva Mire (Azouph Isle Staging Point): 1 party

Excluding Ebony Pudding (manaburn) and Caedarva (since often filled with Lv.69~72 parties), that's 7 camps just for the popular WS spam style parties in the Aht Urhgan/Aradjiah Continent zones.


Passhow Marshlands (S) (Virulent Pieste): ? parties (manaburn)
The Shrine of Ru'Avitau (Decorative Weapon): 1~2 parties. +
Lufaise Meadows (Abraxas): 1~2 parties. *
Castle Oztroja (S) (Yagudo): 1 party. + (Think this one isn't so good anymore with an NM added in the path.)

I've sure I've left out a few. No idea if the manaburn camps can hit 15k/hr, but others can, except maybe for Castle Oztroja (S) now.

People who crowd the Greater Colibri camps are stupid; there are plenty of other places to go to.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: The next FFXI update (May20th I think?)

Hope and Faith can be wonderful things...

[Grizzlebeard]

Re: The next FFXI update (May20th I think?)

I guarantee that there will be tons of areas where mobs get boosts in levels and that Abyssea will *not* be needed to reach the eventual 99 cap in any way.

Well, you only have to wait one month to discover whether you'll be eating those words. Personally I don't have the faith in S-E that you obviously do. You just need to look at the clusterfuck that is 75 merit parties now. If 5-6 level 75 parties decide they want to exp simultaneously you can be certain that all of them will end up earning a substandard rate per hour. The game currently can not support more than the aforementioned number of level 75 parties all wanting to grind exp at a reasonable rate. And by that I mean anywhere from 15k/hour upwards although realistically most people are used to anywhere from 25-40k/hour now.

There's either a fundamental disconnect between what S-E believes the players require or they're artificially restricting experience gain by creating these bottlenecks. While cynical I'd tend to lean towards the latter as they've shown more than once they're fond of using the, "Attempt once per <day/week/month/decade>" mechanic.

As for the CoP discussion, personally I find the supposition they'll be used as levelling zones beyond ludicrous. There's a very valid reason there are dozens of zones now that go unused in favour of colibri areas. People don't want to fuck around exp'ing on wyverns, hippogryphs, and emptiness mobs. The playerbase don't want to return to enemies that take forever to kill and have a significant chance of decimating the party. There's not one single capped CoP zone I can seriously see anyone wanting to exp in when the caps are removed.

[Ziero]

Re: The next FFXI update (May20th I think?)

Unless the level cap is also removed from the fights, people still won't be willing to help out on CoP missions. With the caps they have now, every zone you have to run through has mobs that are IT+++++ towards the end that a single party can not deal with. Hell, the level 30 Promy's have NMs in each of them that takes at least an alliance to beat. All of these zones also have plenty of areas where people doing the missions never even go near, despite being as small as they are (and the capped CoP zones are pretty tiny). There's no reason to make the easiest parts of CoP missions easier, and just removing the caps won't suddenly make people flock to these zones unless there's a reason to go there. Throwing in some new Exp camps however would most certainly be a great reason to uncap the zone AND make it useful again.

Also, SE has never said they would never increase the cap, they've only said it wouldn't be likely any time soon as they would have to rebalance the entire game around that increase. Now that they feel they've done all they could with the current cap, they're upping things and changing the entire game around to fix it. I guarantee that there will be tons of areas where mobs get boosts in levels and that Abyssea will *not* be needed to reach the eventual 99 cap in any way. Abyssea will most likely be needed to get the new 76+ awesome gear that comes out in the future, but there's no way SE would do something as major as raise the cap to 99 and then leave all the new exp camps to reach that cap in an expansion.

They want people to spread out all over their in game world, not cluster up into a single area. Expect WotG and CoP zones to be the best places to get exp 76+

[Mhurron]

Re: The next FFXI update (May20th I think?)

Except most people don't fight any of the mobs in capped CoP zones when doing the missions, and those where you do need to farm mobs are already easy enough. Chances are they're going to remove the cap and make some of those areas super high endgame leveling spots. People doing the missions would still have to avoid these super high level mobs regardless (as if it were ever hard to begin with) and unused zones would find a lot more use as they'd be a place to exp pt. Now I doubt they'd do this to all areas, but I can easily see places in Pso'jxa and Riverene B getting super high level mobs.

Except the presence of the level cap is one of the big reasons you can't get any help from anyone who has already done it.

Making zones like the Emptyness highlevel exp zones (any of the zones leading to CoP mission battles really) would make it even harder for new players or players without a lvl75 job already to get these early CoP missions done. At least now, if you can find some people to help, if something goes wrong a party that can handle the mission battle can handle the hardest mobs in the zones. Upping the level to beyond lvl 80 mobs in these areas will make it even more difficult to get to and get help doing CoP missions.

---------- Post added at 04:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:32 PM ----------

Of all the things there are for S-E to forget about when increasing the level cap, it'd be silly to think that they'd forget to put in an even remotely reasonable method of getting there. On that page, Abyssea isn't mentioned until a few paragraphs later. Take that for what you will, but I confidently stand by my statement of the level cap increase being completely independent of the Abyssea add-ons, which shalll simply provide more content for the level ranges in question.

Of all the things SE has been asked to do, they always swore they would never raise the level cap beyond 75 as it would break to much. "Of all the things for SE to ..." is hardly an argument. I'm sure SE did think of a way to level to 99. I bet that they also thought it would be a good way of increasing sales of Abysea too.

That page says "New camping grounds are scheduled to be added." Abysea is scheduled to be added at the same time. Yes, it doesn't mean that you will have to buy Abysea, but it doesn't in any way preclude that either. It is written so vaguely that there is plenty of room to wonder, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: The next FFXI update (May20th I think?)

Except most people don't fight any of the mobs in capped CoP zones when doing the missions, and those where you do need to farm mobs are already easy enough. Chances are they're going to remove the cap and make some of those areas super high endgame leveling spots. People doing the missions would still have to avoid these super high level mobs regardless (as if it were ever hard to begin with) and unused zones would find a lot more use as they'd be a place to exp pt. Now I doubt they'd do this to all areas, but I can easily see places in Pso'jxa and Riverene B getting super high level mobs.

I agree. It makes sense to open certain areas up to leveling for higher level people and to put some HNMs in.

[Ziero]

Re: The next FFXI update (May20th I think?)

Personally, I believe it is to make it easier, as in make it so that people who don't already have CoP completed can get it done.

Except most people don't fight any of the mobs in capped CoP zones when doing the missions, and those where you do need to farm mobs are already easy enough. Chances are they're going to remove the cap and make some of those areas super high endgame leveling spots. People doing the missions would still have to avoid these super high level mobs regardless (as if it were ever hard to begin with) and unused zones would find a lot more use as they'd be a place to exp pt. Now I doubt they'd do this to all areas, but I can easily see places in Pso'jxa and Riverene B getting super high level mobs.

[Takelli]

Re: The next FFXI update (May20th I think?)

Maybe, but nothing they've said so far really points to that. Honestly, I've wondered if they're just removing the cap from the areas leading up to the major battles or if the whole nine yards will be uncapped.

Personally, I believe it is to make it easier, as in make it so that people who don't already have CoP completed can get it done.

They are uncapping the CoP zones, not the fights. If they uncapped the fights, people would be soling them way to easily.

[Romyro]

Re: The next FFXI update (May20th I think?)

I say ‘welcome’ as well.

As far as dynamis goes, sure you can go with less people but you’ll still need sleepers, you’ll still have Nin, Mnk and Smn mobs make short work of unprepared groups. You’ll still have those accidental linkaga moments that can make or break the run. Even if Super Sleepga III comes out, it’s still going to be tough low manning.

For all these endgame events, at lvl 99 you might be able to kill mobs faster, cure more HPs or enfeeb better…but it will still be just as easy to die and if your attempting with less people it will start leaving less (if not no) room for error.

Imagine a party of 6 (or less) taking out Dynamis Lord, or Vtra.

I can’t imagine SE not taking something such as this into consideration. They may have made some questionable changes in the past but I don’t see them changing the whole game around where a skill party of 6 can now take out almost anything/everything.

I haven’t read too much into it but maybe stat progression will slow down at 76+. Maybe it will be minimal and most stat boosts will come from 76-99 gear. (Again, i haven’t read too much into it...it's just a thought).

I won’t lie; there are a few things I’m not looking forward too. I don’t want my current challenges to be easier (because I’m a higher lvl) but this game has had me hooked since it came out. And since I’m still enjoying it to this day, I’m trying to be optimistic about what’s to come. Imo people who are quitting because of this have lost their enjoyment a while ago and have been looking for any type of reason to get out.