Development Team Q&A - May 2008

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Development Team Q&A - May 2008

Are most relic weapon owners gil buyers? Seems a strange assumption to me, especially since the price hike on Gil prices.

Not to sound like I'm supporting Taj here, but he didn't go after those eight BG users without a reason. He's a twisted guy, but he tends to have a reason behind his actions, even though his methods cannot be condoned and he's now getting the shit taken to him as well. All eight people he went after bought gil for thier relics. That's a sizeable number considering how few hold them and quite shameful. Again, he was still wrong for what he did, but that doesn't exactly make those people innocents, either.

Yes, there are people incredibly successful with crafting who can obtain relic by those means, however, its virtually impossible to raise a profitable craft these days if you didn't hit max level very early in the game's life or weren't incredibly lucky with BCNMs.

There are a lot of unwieldly and unfriendly elements to the game. I personally don't have a problem with grinding EXP or merits, but there are aspects of endgame that feel more like menial tasks than they do epic. Sky is a good example, THAT is a grind if there ever was one. While Sea is a bit random about trigger drops, at least you don't have to worry about RMT on spawn triggers there. Limbus and Assault are progressive for the most part, though Assault can be its own pain in the ass on some levels - mostly in just finding a compatible group to do them with.

Dynamis and Einherjar I take direct issue with. The way they progress and are entered is decrepit. I'm OK with how the battlefields themselves are, I just don't like that they're not instanced and force awkward scheduling/rules.

[BurningPanther]

Re: Development Team Q&A - May 2008

I heard that 100k HP and Benediction access were a pain in the nuts too.

'kitten isn't completely off the mark. It doesn't strike you as remotely--unbalanced---that, instead of grinding for currency to buy a relic, you can just... BUY the currency? Someone tell me if I crazy, but that seems broken in itself.

A series of awesome and awesomely hard quests could easily replace coin grinding for relic accrual. In my head, it plays out like Genkai on crack.

Earn your relic instead of buy it... so crazy, it just might work!

[Sevv]

Re: Development Team Q&A - May 2008

Doesn't take massive coins for Absolute Virtue to pop, but I've yet to hear of any LS that has beaten him fair and square since they fixed the walls Map liked so much. Only one RNG on my server I've seen with Bellona's Ring.

See? There is nigh impossible shit to get right there that doesn't entail eternal grinding. Just a really difficult and chance encounter with the ultimate mob in the game.

People just gotta find a way to beat him fairly now. Apparently, no one has.

AV is the one mob that the community can't kill, its also your last ditch effort to attempt to talk.

Guess what you dont have to grind coins, you can buy them. This is FFXI the majority of this game is grinding, if you want a game without it then leave the game and stop bitching.

AV the mob itself isn't bad its just the instant meteor that makes it hard.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Development Team Q&A - May 2008

If you remove the massive coin usage for the dynamis relics, there won't be a endgamer with out atleast relics for half of his jobs.

Doesn't take massive coins for Absolute Virtue to pop, but I've yet to hear of any LS that has beaten him fair and square since they fixed the walls Map liked so much. Only one RNG on my server I've seen with Bellona's Ring.

See? There is nigh impossible shit to get right there that doesn't entail eternal grinding. Just a really difficult and chance encounter with the ultimate mob in the game.

People just gotta find a way to beat him fairly now. Apparently, no one has.

Because once they're out you won't have to wait for SE to release more? I mean, waiting on SE to release the entirety of content is only a delay once.

Yet more proof you just go right for that Quote button and don't read shit.

Did you even stop to think I meant they could stagger the missions over time intentionally, not to mention put a ENM-like waiting period on re-attemts and even implment chance factors that would affect these quests? There is so much more they could do than just make these simple mission. Get an imagination.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Development Team Q&A - May 2008

But really, what "work" is there now aside from buying gil or senselessly grinding away at Dynamis? There is no skill involved in grinding, there is nothing epic about buying gil to buy currency - these are the only two ways relics are really completed. RMT it or a senseless grind where leaders get served and LS members may not.

Not to say the current system of getting currencies is terribly smart, but all the completed relic holders I know personally are major crafters. They definitely have the economic skills, business smarts, and the dedication to their chosen jobs.

Are most relic weapon owners gil buyers? Seems a strange assumption to me, especially since the price hike on Gil prices.

[Jonastb]

Re: Development Team Q&A - May 2008

Really? I thought you got it back when you hit captain's rank

Nope, you get it back after beating Alexander. Well, after talking to everyone and their brother after beating Alexander.

[Ziero]

Re: Development Team Q&A - May 2008

Um, I have the crown and I am only a Superior Private in Rank.

Really? I thought you got it back when you hit captain's rank

[Jonastb]

Re: Development Team Q&A - May 2008

And to get the crown you not only had to do all of ToAU but you also have to do *every* single assault.

But even if you replaced the ToAU missions with CoP missions, it would still make no difference.

But again, thanks for avoiding the question.

Um, I have the crown and I am only a Superior Private in Rank.

Not sure why some people are so adverse to changing the way relic Weapons are obtained. SE has be known to make things easier in the game when enough people complain about it.

However, a 6 month long quest from start to finish no matter when it is released is more than sufficient to get a weapon of that calibur. And SE uses that format in other ways ie gardening, choco raising...

Also, I would like to point out, that really, Adventurers are RARE as well. There were not a lot of them running around which is why each one of us is considered so highly in each mission.

[Ziero]

Re: Development Team Q&A - May 2008

you're calling the ToAU story an epic quest? Have you even done any? ToAU was as much of a joke as Zilart was; stupidly easy right up until the last 2 fights. Your comparison is flawed.

And to get the crown you not only had to do all of ToAU but you also have to do *every* single assault.

But even if you replaced the ToAU missions with CoP missions, it would still make no difference.

But again, thanks for avoiding the question.

[Sevv]

Re: Development Team Q&A - May 2008

If you remove the massive coin usage for the dynamis relics, there won't be a endgamer with out atleast relics for half of his jobs.

[Malacite]

Re: Development Team Q&A - May 2008

And to both of those, I once again ask, how rare are the ToAU crowns? Obtaining that item involves ALL of those things you mentioned, every single suggestion you all have thrown out all rolled up into one long, overwhelmingly massive quest. It involves pitance things like simple fetch quests, slow progression in time restricted assaults, massive fights in FL rank and higher ToAU missions, and all of it is done without any real gil costs.

...but despite all that, how rare is the ToAU crown?

you're calling the ToAU story an epic quest? Have you even done any? ToAU was as much of a joke as Zilart was; stupidly easy right up until the last 2 fights. Your comparison is flawed.

[Ziero]

Re: Development Team Q&A - May 2008

Given the way Missions are released, none of them initially can be grinded out in such a fashion until they are all released. What would be so difficult about creating a series of quests that were not only incredibly difficult, but spaced out over long stretches of time?

Because once they're out you won't have to wait for SE to release more? I mean, waiting on SE to release the entirety of content is only a delay once.

Name one chain of quests or missions that SE only wants a very very small portion of the playerbase to complete.

Obtaining Relic weapons.

Heck, even NPC quests would be a good base-- you have something that starts fairly weak, you have time delays on how quickly you can progress, and fairly challenging fights. Trial WS also have a decent system. There's also the "search the world for a ???" mark, like the odin footprint thing, which could be done on a larger scale (and which would be far more interesting than the current "go to X spot, click, reward")

There are a lot of good quests out there that could have systems mixed, matched, combined, extended, expanded, and of course new ones created, to make Relic weapons into an epic quest instead of a long grind. And considering relic weapons are such a personal reward, the quest should at least have a few personal points to prove skill-- personal BC fights, again like the NPC quest, or like G5 (the harder ones, of course)

There are so many ways SE could go to make Relic weapons a quest, and not a grind, while still keeping them rare. If the only thing SE can do to make things "difficult" is to make them take a long time, they have no business making games.

EDIT: It's simple enough Ziero... apart from making each successive part of the quest harder (like, go to X spot in Y zone and fend off hordes of mobs and return with the key item in Z amount of time) they could easily impose time limits that you have to wait out between the time you start one part and the next. Also, if you screw up, you should probably have to wait a while before attempting again, or be forced to do something even harder.

As long as it's more of a quest that doesn't involve massive sums of money.

And to both of those, I once again ask, how rare are the ToAU crowns? Obtaining that item involves ALL of those things you mentioned, every single suggestion you all have thrown out all rolled up into one long, overwhelmingly massive quest. It involves pitance things like simple fetch quests, slow progression in time restricted assaults, massive fights in FL rank and higher ToAU missions, and all of it is done without any real gil costs.

...but despite all that, how rare is the ToAU crown?

[Malacite]

Re: Development Team Q&A - May 2008

There are so many ways SE could go to make Relic weapons a quest, and not a grind, while still keeping them rare. If the only thing SE can do to make things "difficult" is to make them take a long time, they have no business making games.

And here I thought I was the only one on here who thought this.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Development Team Q&A - May 2008

Name one chain of quests or missions that can't be grinded out in a few weeks.

Given the way Missions are released, none of them initially can be grinded out in such a fashion until they are all released. What would be so difficult about creating a series of quests that were not only incredibly difficult, but spaced out over long stretches of time?

[Feba]

Re: Development Team Q&A - May 2008

."Name one chain of quests or missions that can't be grinded out in a few weeks.

Name one chain of quests or missions that SE only wants a very very small portion of the playerbase to complete.

Heck, even NPC quests would be a good base-- you have something that starts fairly weak, you have time delays on how quickly you can progress, and fairly challenging fights. Trial WS also have a decent system. There's also the "search the world for a ???" mark, like the odin footprint thing, which could be done on a larger scale (and which would be far more interesting than the current "go to X spot, click, reward")

There are a lot of good quests out there that could have systems mixed, matched, combined, extended, expanded, and of course new ones created, to make Relic weapons into an epic quest instead of a long grind. And considering relic weapons are such a personal reward, the quest should at least have a few personal points to prove skill-- personal BC fights, again like the NPC quest, or like G5 (the harder ones, of course)

There are so many ways SE could go to make Relic weapons a quest, and not a grind, while still keeping them rare. If the only thing SE can do to make things "difficult" is to make them take a long time, they have no business making games.