Your impression

[Loonymonkey]

Ok, my impressions.

 

First off this is my first time playing the ff mmo series. Luckily i came to play it with freinds from aion that had played ffxi, b/c the learning curve is just to much at first*. I say at first beacuse once I slammed my keyboard down and went to get a cup of coffee i figured it out mostly on my own by just playing with it.

 

I have never felt so lost or so gratified when i figured out how to walk talk and how to fight. Learning crafting was and still is a nightmare but every success bolsters my resolve. The fundemental difference that I see in ff that is different than most is that they drop you into the game and leve you. No tutorial, no help, which is easily nerdrage induceing.

 

My graphic arnt all hat great and its still 100X prettier than aion or anything else out.

 

The combat system is in no way boreing, let me use my rank 5 pugalist as an example. Fighting a marrot i have to heav strike to do dmg, then i have to fast strike to and an ev bonus, do that to get my tp to use cucusion blow which lowers the mobs acc, this triggers me to evade which for 250 tp i can use haymaker. My point is that its not just 11121111213111 i have to moniter my health,mana, and tp while chaining together attacks and watching my placement.

 

 

Gathering, while slow and random at first, picks up when you learn to use your locater abilitys and u learn the minigames.

 

 

Im not sure where people are comeing with the mouse being slow, i use my mouse just fine its not slow theres no drag or anyhting for me like im hearing others complain about.

 

My biggest annoyence is that the interface seems slow to transition, and that just be me lagging. that and all the kill stealing im half tempted to mpk but id rather not sullie my name b4 the official release..

 

 

 

 

that and i cant seem to find rp >_>

 

anyways thats my take on it atleast, make of it what you will horrible spelling and all.

[Zason]

that and i cant seem to find rp >_>

Hang in there. >:+)

 

"Z"

[Loonymonkey]

oh i am, i always walk in grid hopeing someone will come up, just kinda end up getting ran into alot *shrug*

[Skye]

Im not sure where people are comeing with the mouse being slow, i use my mouse just fine its not slow theres no drag or anyhting for me like im hearing others complain about.

It's not much of an issue anymore now that Hardware Mouse has been activated.

Back in beta, it really -was- slow, and the best way to play then was completely with the keyboard.

 

oh i am' date=' i always walk in grid hopeing someone will come up, just kinda end up getting ran into alot *shrug*[/quote']

That's not really a good way to get into RP though.

Don't expect others to initiate contact, take the initiative yourself.

[DAISHI]

Well sadly the game is out looks pretty and itâs not different from the beta' date=' what a bummer I was hoping this game would be good. But no you have to live off guild leveâs for your quests or wander killings. And have fun hunting down armor or weapons.[/quote']

 

Once your leves are done there's plenty of material gathering and crafting to be done.

[Akashi]

Well sadly the game is out looks pretty and itâs not different from the beta' date=' what a bummer I was hoping this game would be good. But no you have to live off guild leveâs for your quests or wander killings. And have fun hunting down armor or weapons.[/quote']

 

This. Trying really, really hard to enjoy it, but they don't make it easy that's for sure.. it would be A LOT more enjoyable if guild leves were infinite and without cooldown; I'd love leveling that way. As it is right now it is just.. too tedious. If you can find a monster to kill without a guild leve that won't one shot you, it'll take you 30 minutes to do so. Consistency is out of the question. If you don't like to craft, you can't really do.. anything during that time when you can't.. well, play. It's as if they were forcing everyone to play the game as a crafter and level a fighting class on the side.

 

That said it is FF, and a very beautiful MMO. I shall hold on to the hopes that they:

 

1) Introduce more interesting classes with character, not generic puzzle pieces we try and put together to somewhat resemble our old favorites.

 

2) Make guild leves infinite and without cooldown. The Fatigue system is already in place to check our progress, I don't know why they thought limiting guild leves was a good idea.

 

3) I truely feel this is just due to the game just being launched, but if it does not happen at maximum level(or eventually, on the sooner side) it could be a deterrent. More interesting looking armor and weapons that you don't need a remote psychic to find. This could be a bit premature, but the items found so far for high levels on yellow gremlin look bland to say the least.

 

4) Auction House, or some type of system to locate items you want on retainers. Right now it's a shot in the dark. They're forcing people to play a metagame of going to websites to find player crafters. Anything this important should be able to be done WITHIN the game, not outside of it.

[DAISHI]

I think FFXIV is designed so that you pretty much have to craft, if not to make your own armor then to generate income by which to gain armor.

[Siben]

if that's the case, then it's a horrible design flaw (one of the MANY, MANY flaws). Not ever player wants to do everything they put in the game.

[DAISHI]

And not every game wants to be like every other game. If it boils down to just combat, there are plenty of MMOs that are just combat.

[Siben]

It's not "boils down to" it's an issue of leveling viability and overall player experience.

 

There should be more than 1 acceptable way of leveling since everyone is different. If people don't want to craft or gather then game mechanics shouldn't hinder their play experience while "rewarding" others.

 

If someone doesn't think crafting or gathering is "fun" why should the game essentially force them into doing it just to get by? Why are they essentially penalized for wanting to focus on combat, while people who would rather focus more on gathering and crafting receive far more benefits?

[DAISHI]

It's hard to maintain a player base when the same experience can be gathered in any other game. I just don't see an MMO being successful if it plays second banana to WoW without carving a niche.

[Siben]

I wouldn't call "clunky UI design" and "Play experience destroying lag" a niche market.

 

You can innovate without having to totally reinvent the wheel.

 

But you are correct, you can't just copy WoW and try to steal their customers. My beef with Square is this, 9 out of 10 MMO's you can right click on items to swap them from your inventory to another item slot for a bank or trade or whatever...and it's done near-instantly..I can hit 'I' or 'B' to bring up my inventory, 'C' or 'P' to view my character, 'J' or 'L' to bring up my Quests....

 

WoW certainly didn't create that schema, but they knew that it was fast and responsive enough to be unobtrusive to the players and if it didn't add to the experience of playing the game, it certainly didn't detract from it. Don't get me wrong, the fact that FF14 has the Map bound to the 'M' key is a gigantic step in the right direction for them...I just don't know why they stopped there and insisted on keeping the damned "Main Menu"

 

It took me 20 minutes to move an albeit hefty stack of items (I think it was 40 before I just decided to stop from boredom/frustration) from my inventory to my retainers storage box. Why? Why should it take and more importantly why DOES it take that long to simply make space in my bag? Can anyone explain to me HOW that adds to the overall experience of the game? How does that level of pointless tedium add anything positive to the experience?

[Loonymonkey]

Im not sure where people are comeing with the mouse being slow, i use my mouse just fine its not slow theres no drag or anyhting for me like im hearing others complain about.

It's not much of an issue anymore now that Hardware Mouse has been activated.

Back in beta, it really -was- slow, and the best way to play then was completely with the keyboard.

 

oh i am' date=' i always walk in grid hopeing someone will come up, just kinda end up getting ran into alot *shrug*[/quote']

That's not really a good way to get into RP though.

Don't expect others to initiate contact, take the initiative yourself.

 

How do you initiate rp? when everyone stays out of /s and theres no way to tell the rpers from non rpers, linkshell sheilds can be dupped and seem to be often.

[DAISHI]

I wouldn't call "clunky UI design" and "Play experience destroying lag" a niche market.

 

You can innovate without having to totally reinvent the wheel.

 

But you are correct, you can't just copy WoW and try to steal their customers. My beef with Square is this, 9 out of 10 MMO's you can right click on items to swap them from your inventory to another item slot for a bank or trade or whatever...and it's done near-instantly..I can hit 'I' or 'B' to bring up my inventory, 'C' or 'P' to view my character, 'J' or 'L' to bring up my Quests....

 

WoW certainly didn't create that schema, but they knew that it was fast and responsive enough to be unobtrusive to the players and if it didn't add to the experience of playing the game, it certainly didn't detract from it. Don't get me wrong, the fact that FF14 has the Map bound to the 'M' key is a gigantic step in the right direction for them...I just don't know why they stopped there and insisted on keeping the damned "Main Menu"

 

It took me 20 minutes to move an albeit hefty stack of items (I think it was 40 before I just decided to stop from boredom/frustration) from my inventory to my retainers storage box. Why? Why should it take and more importantly why DOES it take that long to simply make space in my bag? Can anyone explain to me HOW that adds to the overall experience of the game? How does that level of pointless tedium add anything positive to the experience?

 

Now this I agree with you on. There are certain conveniences that should simply be there, and are not.

[Zason]

I hope it does not pull an AOC..

 

I invested a lot into that release...

[Satisiun]

I hope it does not pull an AOC..

 

I invested a lot into that release...

 

If worse comes to worse, what'll likely happen is less an Age of Conan, and more of an Aion. Strong start (largely thanks to a well-known brand in FFXIV's case), followed by frustration, disenchantment, and then too little too late in the ways of a big game update (think Assault on Balarea like NCSoft is releasing), because by that point everyone will have moved on to something else.

[Loonymonkey]

Call me optimistic, but sofar theres nothing really "gamebreaking" all ive noticed are minor annoinces here and there.

[Kashemia]

How do you initiate rp? when everyone stays out of /s and theres no way to tell the rpers from non rpers, linkshell sheilds can be dupped and seem to be often.

 

In the beginning, it's always hard because people are busy levelling and such. But eventually, there should be more and more people starting t hang out in the cities, I'm sure a main rp-hotspot will be appointed. It's usually an inn or tavern, but seeing as how the taverns work as the main guildleve hub, that's probably a bad idea in this case. I'm sure something will come up though

 

I also try to walk whenever I'm in town and have plenty of time. When there's no way of flagging yourself, this is a good way to show other people, that you're a roleplayer. I know not too many people does it, but yeah, it's a place to start.

 

And how do you initiate roleplay then. Well, if you see people roleplaying, try joining in. Most of the time, people will be happy for the new addition, and if they're having private roleplay, they'll let you know.

Or try roleplaying with your self. It might seem odd, but sitting around, making emotes of what you're doing is another way of showing that you're a roleplayer interested in some roleplay.

 

I fully agree that you can't just wait around for people to start roleplaying with you. I've heard way too often people complaining that "No one ever wants to roleplay with me!" and yet they do NOTHING to actually start roleplay themself, they just sit around waiting for someone to start something. Finding roleplay is your own responsibility.

 

My best advice at this early state: Find a rp linkshell. That gives you people to roleplay with right away

 

 

 

 

Edit: And to bring this a little on topic. Regarding the crafting and cooldown on guildleves and such. I agree that it's a bit annoying to run out, but I have to agree: That is how they intend the game to be played. As it has already been said, crafting is a big part of the game, and this is coming from someone who usually NEVER crafts in game. But I'm giving it a try in this one, because it's obviously what Square Enix want, and it's a part of levelling.

The idea that we should be able to do what we want in a game is a bit off to me. You never are, in some games, you just think you are. The restrictions in WoW for instance might be different than in FF, but they're still there. In WoW, you can't level by crafting, not at all. You can ONLY level by killing things. What about the people who don't like killing things, but really likes crafting? In that game, they're forced to kill things. They do it, because it's part of the game, it's how the game is played, and to me, the same goes for Final Fantasy XIV. It's part of the game, and if you don't like it, maybe Final Fantasy XIV is just not the game for you. Nothing wrong with that.

I'm not saying that there's nothing wrong with the game, I totally agree that it's very clunky having to go through the main menu every time you want to do something, but this is JUST about the need for, for instance, crafting between guildleve cooldowns.

 

And hey, if you don't like crafting, we ARE roleplayers after all We of all people should be able to entertain usself.

[Loc Talon]

I have to agree with Kashemia on this. Every game has a certain aspect that they favor and flaming FFXIV because they favor crafting doesn't make sense to me, it's just different.

 

WoW favored PvE aspects. Dungeons, Raids, Quests, etc. When it first released, there weren't even battlegrounds or any real PvP content, it just evolved into that field over almost six years of development. You're not going to get very far in WoW, in terms of game progression, if you don't like PvE.

 

Aion favored PvP. Can't reference as much on this game, because I stopped playing it after I realized that it was a heavily PvP influenced game. Not being a huge fan of PvP(outside of Duels for Rp purposes), I left because it simply wasn't the game for me.

 

XIV seems to be favoring crafting and community economy. But, they also have some pretty strong ideas, in my opinion, in terms of PvE content. It seems to me like they are simply wanting to encourage players to experiment with all the various class types. One of the BIG things that I love, in this regard, is that every item in the game has a purpose and that a player can become entirely self-sufficient. Craft your own armor, make your own ammunition, make your own food/potions, etc. etc. This is something that I really enjoy about the game that you could not do in WoW.

[Loonymonkey]

I have to agree with Kashemia on this. Every game has a certain aspect that they favor and flaming FFXIV because they favor crafting doesn't make sense to me, it's just different.

 

WoW favored PvE aspects. Dungeons, Raids, Quests, etc. When it first released, there weren't even battlegrounds or any real PvP content, it just evolved into that field over almost six years of development. You're not going to get very far in WoW, in terms of game progression, if you don't like PvE.

 

Aion favored PvP. Can't reference as much on this game, because I stopped playing it after I realized that it was a heavily PvP influenced game. Not being a huge fan of PvP(outside of Duels for Rp purposes), I left because it simply wasn't the game for me.

 

XIV seems to be favoring crafting and community economy. But, they also have some pretty strong ideas, in my opinion, in terms of PvE content. It seems to me like they are simply wanting to encourage players to experiment with all the various class types. One of the BIG things that I love, in this regard, is that every item in the game has a purpose and that a player can become entirely self-sufficient. Craft your own armor, make your own ammunition, make your own food/potions, etc. etc. This is something that I really enjoy about the game that you could not do in WoW.

 

 

QFT!!!!!

[Loonymonkey]

crafting wise, my only gripe is trying to lvl it up. I seem to be missing something in that reguard.

[Doktor_Ljubavi]

crafting wise' date=' my only gripe is trying to lvl it up. I seem to be missing something in that reguard.[/quote']

Run around and do local leves in each town till your maxed, then farm some mats, and craft away. Stuff like for weaving, get moko grass, turn that into yarn, and yarn into cloth. Easy couple levels there. Otherwise, take your time, and have fun with it. Some other ways is to set a goal on what item you want to craft, and work on it from there.

[Loonymonkey]

Edit: Removed for advertising for goldselling

 

-Kashemia

 

Nice 4am and someones on to kick that trash out , gotta love it.

 

Thnx for the tip tho i didnt know there where crafting leves >_>.