The FFXIV Beta: You Need No Life To Survive.

[NKato]

A brief summation of what I think of the current combat system in the FFXIV Beta, from all the leaked footage that has gotten out so far...

 

The combat system as it is now requires constant input by the player to continue doling out damage as well as to avoid dying easily. This is not very conductive for those who have lives that may involve emergency or brief AFKs.

[Asyria]

Hehe nice.

I'm all for active input and active combat, though.

AFKing and combat never mixed well. ^^;

[NKato]

Hehe nice.

I'm all for active input and active combat, though.

AFKing and combat never mixed well. ^^;

 

True, still, going AFK for a very brief period of time like, say...fifteen to thirty seconds to deal with an important matter...would be pretty much instant death in a game like XIV. I don't think that'd jive well with people who have busy home lives.

[Eva]

Here's one solution to your dilemma:

 

[Asyria]

Awesome solution!

 

Mind you, I don't know of any MMO where 20-30 seconds isn't usually fatal unless you're fighting a mob significantly lower level than you.

[Aveline]

LOL I really like the combat so far, but I can see why some wouldn't. Still, it's better than the hypnotic combat systems of both FFXI and WoW (FFXI: hit /attack, go make a sandwich. WoW: JUST KEEP MASHING BUTTONZ)

[Renaise]

Might be worth creating the AFK for 30 seconds macro

[Axl]

AFK for 40 hours, it just plays for you. ITS NOT CHEATING! YOU'RE AFK!

[Satrina]

Nothing wrong with a video game that actually makes you...play the video game. :?

[Axl]

yeah, funny thing about that, I was talking to one of my friends from XI, and I was explaining the combat system to her, and she said "There isn't auto attack? D: I don't think I will get it then." and when I asked why, she replied "because I usually just initiate the battle and then do something else till its done." and I said "So you're not gonna buy it because you actually have to play the game?" it didn't make sense to me.

[Ellion Goto]

AFK for 40 hours' date=' it just plays for you. ITS NOT CHEATING! YOU'RE AFK![/quote']

 

Funny story on this, PerfectWorld actually creates games such as Jade Dynasty that are free to play that allow you to do that very exact thing. They have a built in bot system that lets your character level while you sleep. There's another game we tried here at the household, a game called Sword of the New World, where you actually created a "family" of characters and they all hung out with you as you played the game. This was another game where you could set-up camp for the night, tell your brother John-Jim to watch your back, and Martha-Sue to heal people, and you could set everything to automated, and go to sleep, wake up 30 levels higher.

[Shamadconde]

Where's the fun in that?

[BelovedHatred]

I played Sword of the New World for ages. There is no fun in it. Lol. The lower lvls aren't so bad because you have active quests you can do, but once you reach veteran (lvl 100) you pretty much just sit in a zone afk all day every day for days on end to get from vet to expert, expert to master...its mostly endless afk grind, that rewards you with more lvls to grind..and the occasional update that impliments some new armors weapons, chrs or costumes.

[Rikitiki]

While I agree with the "why don't you, y'know, *play the game*?" crowd, I suspect that S-E will add /attack at some point.

 

Personally I like auto-attack because you can focus on the other buttons you're supposed to be hitting and your default punch-punch takes care of itself.

[Eva]

I don't know about auto-attack, but I can see them either releasing some sort of 'gambit' system, or if they don't I'm sure someone will whip up a 3rd party app that'll do it. >.>

[Siben]

I hate being engaged in what I'm doing.

 

It really cuts into my multitasking and forces me to actually do things I like instead of half-assing a bunch of crappy things at once.

[Diyne]

I'm looking at this game from a different angle, I guess. Auto-attack is alright, but lots of people always abused it in ffxi. However, I'm sure (and I believe SE has said so) they will have a more robust macro system than ffxi did. If that's the case, why not just set up one nice, long macro to do a few attacks while you step away a second?

 

I can't really say much, but auto attack would not currently work with their combat system very well.

 

Now, if only there was a pause button on an mmo...

[NKato]

The beta testers in RPC haven't encountered a macro system yet, but we're keeping an eye out for it.

[Eva]

Now' date=' if only there was a pause button on an mmo...[/quote']

"Alright guys, I have to go answer the door and get my pizza delivery, so I'm going to step away from the computer for a bit. I expect it will still be 23:52 on Firesday when I get back so I can synthesize when this fight is over. Everyone needs to stop fighting until I get back, because I'm not going to be here to throw cures at you guys! lawl! That means you too, Mr. Sea Puk!!"

 

Seriously... if only there was a pause button on RL..... :approve:

[Asyria]

I know, why not put the pizza guy on pause and finish the fight?

[Zhavi]

I actually thought the combat system isn't active enough. The fewer buttons I have to press in a five second period, the less happy I am.

 

Now if only I could get a freaking toon over 10 so I could give SE more valuable (hahahahahahaha) opinion on that, I would be most happy.

[DAISHI]

I'll be honest I had plenty of times in the Crawler's Nest where I just let my guy wail while I watched TV.

[Aveline]

I actually thought the combat system isn't active enough. The fewer buttons I have to press in a five second period, the less happy I am.

 

Now if only I could get a freaking toon over 10 so I could give SE more valuable (hahahahahahaha) opinion on that, I would be most happy.

 

I have 4 weapon skills on gladiator now and I LOVE the combat system <3 Once you are more comfortable and aware of how often things like guard stay up for you can get in a really nice rhythm where you're just pushing one button after the next wailing on things. It's great. ^^

[Axl]

You're getting me even more excited! STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT :

[Gleason]

I kinda liked FFXI's battle system, although I agree with Diyne in people abusing the hell out of it. I AM looking forward to IV's, seeing as you take a more active role and actually PLAY it. I just hope it doesn't end up a button-mash fest like Aio'ns high levels seem to be (I watched my friend and his fiance play before, her, as a Chanter at least, was pretty much constantly spamming buttons. I...like a moment to decide and think on my course of actions, usually )