Chveya

Happy Birthday, Brin.

I think somewhere it's against the rules to make me laugh that hard, this late at night.

It isn't shiny. It's far from shiny. It's small, unfinished, non-intuitive. It's difficult, if not obnoxiously hard, to communicate effectively and well. Being excited that new content is being added is like being thankful when the waiter finally brings your appetizer, after the meal arrives. You should've had it to begin with. FFXIV doesn't need to be WoW. But it cannot and will not survive in it's current incarnation. The current MMO population will not have the patience that FFXI's fanbase had, or that EQ's fanbase had, or even that SWG's fanbase had. They didn't expect things to be finished, clean, and full of content right out of the box. Times change. People won't accept that now. If a game doesn't hold a significant portion of it's population after the trial month, that reputation is going to take ages to live down. That's all it takes to kill 'em these days. Too many people are overlooking major problems by saying, "Well, at least it's not WoW". Don't hate a program so much that you defend something broken just out of spite. It's just a program. It's not out to get you.

Creepy!

I almost feel like ease of play is a totally different issue, in a way. I don't believe that choosing to solo should be -easy-. I think it should always be smoother and easier to play with others. That just makes sense. I don't think that making a game easier to solo in should make it easy. SE seems to have an inkling of the right idea on this track, with the ability to make leves harder based on the number of people involved. And the fact that some leves, even on solo mode, kick my butt. >_> I just wanted to clarify that. While I'm 100% for the ability to solo, it shouldn't be the easiest or smoothest route.

It would be a jerkish thing for me to quote all of your post; and you've addressed quite a bit of it clearly and maturely, and I both thank and respect you for that. So I'm just going to snag this bit here, since it was a more direct question: Of the MMOs that I've played where I actually -reached- anything resembling end-game -- which, to me, suggests that I've hit the point where I am able to see as much of the game as possible, whether it be going back to re-live lowbie questlines, or high-end raids/PvP -- I'd have to say one. I'd like that number to be higher, but do you know why it's not? Because the stuff I stuck with for years in the -hopes- of seeing the end required so much -forced- group play, that it wasn't at all possible with my lifestyle, time available, and general overall patience. Let me go on the record at this point as saying -- I feel all end-game content should be group oriented. That's why it's a multiplayer game, for crying out loud. I also firmly believe that the ability to solo my way to that point, with the knowledge that I will be missing out on content along the way, should be an available option. But I should not be forced to group just to gain some exp. If I want to take one that totally awesome quest mob? I should probably bring friends. But if I only have an hour or two to play, I really don't want to have to spend 30 minutes finding a group, another 10-20 minutes getting to the grind place, and then annoying my entire group by having to leave after a ridiculously short time. In short, I don't believe you should get to do all the awesome crap, see the awesome quests, kill the awesome mobs, all by yourself. If you want to do that, they make singleplayer games. But I have no patience for a game that forces me to group just to make piddling progress. In almost every MMO out there, the game starts when you reach the end. Some make the process of getting there more fun than others, but you're not out there grinding for the love of grinding, most of the time. You're grinding because you want the next cool thing, the next awesome ability, the next neat piece of armor. You're grinding to get to the end, so you can do the really kick-ass stuff. Let me get to the end however the heck I want. If that means I want to solo to the end and miss out on some stuff, that's my choice; not yours. And the smartest thing the game designers ever did was make their games more accessible to a broader variety of player: from after-school players to hardcore grinders to mothers who have to sneak an hour here, two there. Just like anything involving lots of people -- if they want it to succeed, it needs to be available to lots of people. Cutting them off from even reaching the end is just as narrow-minded, from a developers standpoint, as telling overseas players "Sorry, it's always going to be nighttime when you play!".

+1

When you pay their subscription, you can tell them they can't have the ability to access ALL of the game they played for. And that's all I'll say about that. For a bit there, you sounded like a stubborn, but still sensible person. At the quoted point above you became someone who didn't give a rats backside about other people who didn't play the same way you do, and that puts you into the intolerant jerk category. I always thought roleplayers were of a more accepting breed, considering their playstyle often doesn't grant them the time to obsess over content the way hardcore, end-game players do. There's always someone gotta prove me wrong.

^^^^^^ What he said.

Every game's time moves too fast. Thus, every game in which RP takes place generally means ignoring the in-world time. I don't mean to blow off your worries, but this isn't anything new. People have been dealing with this for years. This one is faster than most, yes, but certainly not anything that can't be dealt with the same way it's always been dealt with.

The Good (positives)[*]Crafting is so much more interesting. [*]There's no such thing as 'junk loot'. [*]It's perfectly possible to solo. [*]It's perfectly possible to function as a crafter/gatherer. [*]It's beautiful.[/list:u] The Bad (negatives)[*]Targeting. Oh god, targeting. [*]Low-rank synth failures. Really, SE? [*]Low volume of quests. [*]No search for retainer sales. [*]Group finding (and sometimes leaving) can be... awkward. [/list:u] The Not-So-Ugly (thoughts, hopes, neutrality, etc.) [*]I like that things show up on my minimap without needing a skill/class for it. >_> [*]I'm looking forward to other transport, but I like that teleporting is an option right out of the gate, rather than requiring a skill or class for it. [*]Exploring is interesting, but I'd like to see more -things- in the wilderness. [*]The sky is beautiful. [*]Multi-classing for all? No training new abilities? Re-assignment of points? THANK YOU GODS.[/list:u]

Those are both awesome, Vareal. A great way to make me laugh before going to work!

Yesssss! I have an RSS widget on my google home page called Happy News. It's all upbeat and positive stuff. This was in it.