f13.net

It's a completely different game now from what I've heard. UI, controls, etc.

Maybe you missed the old FFXIV thread...it didn't end well.  This one probably won't end well either, based on Squeenix's past.  But I'm always prepared to be amazed  :why_so_serious:

Didn't see a thread for this. Art looks pretty amazing (http://www.youtube.com/user/FINALFANTASYXIV).  If this can manage to be half has polished as WoW while looking like this I may give it a go.  Release date 8/27.

I would say it now plays like a combination of FFXI and WoW.

The impressions I'm getting is the combat is mostly about managing cooldowns, resources, and combo attacks. Meh.

What isn't in the MMO world?

Still pretty much reserving judgment until I can try out the combat.  Previous fighting videos looked like combat was EQ-style facetanking, just trading blows until the monster died, which I can't really go back to after playing Tera.

Funny. After doing the latest GW2 dynamic event, where it was basically me solo running, rolling and dodging any time something looked at me funny or the boss spasmed, I miss the more calm pace of EQ where you could synchronize, communicate and socialize. Though I imagine there's a fair bit of rose colored glasses in that.

PS3.

So I made it through about 2 minutes of that trailer and it looked like the game was about a dude running along a jogging trail to a spa so he could oogle the ladies soaking in the hot spring.

What isn't in the MMO world?

Hmm, I guess you had to sign up for the beta of the reboot?  Played the original beta.

Well, not like I'd have much time come tomorrow.

I heard it's a good time to check your inboxes, or your spam folders.

Looks like the forums are back up now.

Unfortunately for seasoned MMO players, the beginning of the game may seem dull and boring. However, the GCD is in place to give players time to think about what their next move is going to be. I know that the beta test is still somewhat laggy, and you guys haven't had a lot of time to really dig into the game yet, but as you progress in level, your characters will acquire a variety of skills to use in battle. This includes combos, weapon skill and action rotations, debuff skills, and crowd control skills. As you acquire more skills to use in battle, the 2.5 second GCD won't seem as long as you think it is.

the 2.5 second GCD won't seem as long as you think it is.

No, closed beta phase 3. And heavy NDA as far as I know.

On a different note, this seems to be a quote from the director, not sure where it's coming from.


 :awesome_for_real: :ye_gods:

Producer/Director Yoshi-P here.

Thank you all so much for your feedback.
I'd first like to start off by apologizing for the heavy lag caused by the increased frequency of FATEs during our previous test. A majority of the problems with auto-attack not activating and position lag stemmed from this, so everything should be working relatively smoothly during the next test session.

Now then, I have a lot of ground to cover here, but I think it's about time I address the battle system. It's been quite some time since I've written a long post like this, so get comfortable, grab a cool drink, and prepare for a good read. In the future, I hope you guys keep what I cover in this post in mind as you continue to provide feedback.

■The Idea Behind FFXIV:ARR Battles and Content■
I've talked about concepts for the game's battle system and content in interviews before, but as a response to feedback here, I feel the information in my interviews doesn't quite get the point across. The last thing I want is for you guys to start debating back and forth over points that have yet to be made clear, so first I'd like to set some groundwork and clear up a few things.

■Monsters and Their Role in the Game■
Rather than focusing on encounters with common enemies out in the field, we want to place greater emphasis on FATE, dungeons, bosses, and other content we're preparing for A Realm Reborn. At the end of the day, normal enemies seen running around outside the cities aren't meant to require a great deal of effort. In contrast, when facing a boss while trying to clear a dungeon, for example, we want players to give it their all and have a fun time doing so.

■FFXI and FFXIV■
When FFXI released on PlayStation 2 a little more than 10 years ago, console gamers were able to experience an MMORPG for the first time. Although FFXI is no longer the only MMORPG on a console, there are but a few, and FFXIV will again be the first MMORPG experience for many console gamers. With this in mind, we designed the battle system based on three key principles.


- Playing in a party should not be necessary until level 15. This includes story-related events.
- Regardless of the learning curve, new players should not feel overwhelmed.
- The game's core design should allow for leisurely play over a long period of time.

Because there are so many things to remember and keep in mind when playing, MMORPGs can be fairly difficult compared to games from other genres. And because you're playing with other people in a world that's constantly changing, this is a problem that cannot be easily resolved. This is also, perhaps, why some consider MMORPGs to be so interesting.

■Perplexity, Simplicity, and Replay Value■
Many games on the market attempt to rationalize needlessly complicated game features with phrases like "Dynamic Action!" or "Revolutionary Gameplay!" but with FFXIV: ARR, we have no intention of misleading our player base. There are only two things we wish to emphasize.

- If players have a goal, they should not be impeded by overly cumbersome obstacles.
- Players should not feel the need to avoid or sneak past enemies to enjoy any given content.

Considering players should be able to enjoy an MMORPG for months, or even years at a time, obstacles simply for the sake of having obstacles hinder the gaming experience.

Unlike games from other genres, the use of a subscription model makes this much more important. Looking at MMORPG demographics, for example, your average player is younger now than when the first generation of MMORPGs were released. Nevertheless, players tend to be older due to the use of a subscription model. So when they come home from work or school and decide to play, even if it's only for an hour or two, they should be able to enjoy themselves. In other words, the use of mundane grinding for hours on end is no longer an effective means to stay competitive in the current MMORPG market.

Also, because these concepts will dictate the game's core design, any updates or new content released will inevitably be dictated by said core. This leads to three aspects of an MMORPG that must be carefully balanced to promote productive gameplay.

1. MMORPGs are based on the premise of party play.
2. If the game has a wide variety of exciting game elements, players will be compelled to try them.
3. The over use of non-targeted / area of effect skills can result in bland gameplay.*
* Encounters meant to be challenging such as dungeons tend to become unbalanced.

Even now, party play is a key element often focused on in the online gaming industry, and I believe it's what makes MMORPGs so appealing. To effectively incorporate party play into FFXIV, we first eliminated the stress of needing to form a party in the beginning of the game, and by mid-game players will start to find more content that requires teamwork. By end-game, players should be fairly comfortable with the duty finder and accustomed to group play as they take on the more challenging content we have prepared.

Although some may come to the conclusion that constant interaction with others can become tiresome in an MMORPG, the alternative to a game that emphasizes party play must also be considered. If everything were designed to be completed alone, player retention would become increasingly problematic, and the lack of interaction with other players would detract from what it means to be an MMORPG. Mind you this is a comparison of one extreme to another (completely party focused versus solo play). In the end, an MMORPG is selective in its audience, which is both its strength and its weakness.

Regardless of how particular FFXIV: ARR may be in choosing its audience, as producer and director, the ability to attract new players is absolutely imperative.

This is where the remaining two aspects necessary for productive gameplay come into effect. But with so many games out on the market, in order for FFXIV: ARR to be accessible and interest new players enough to delve deeper, a certain sense of simplicity is necessary in the beginning of the game. Interesting game content and proper balancing are also important in motivating players to continue playing, but this is a given. As mentioned previously, however, no matter how hard one tries to attract new players, no MMORPG is capable of appealing to all audiences effectively. I personally believe an attempt to appeal to and retain every type of gamer effectively is too idealistic.

To speak specifically about game balance, I believe it's important that content is enjoyable, accessible, and does not hinder party communication when playing through it. Moreover, there should be a variety of things to do to keep players interested. Gameplay should also have a steady pace, but not simply devolve into spamming weapon skills.

As many of you know, I'm also an avid gamer, so you can expect end-game content as challenging as Version 1.0, along with an assortment of quests and stories befitting a Final Fantasy title. For those of you concerned about a lack of challenging end-game content, if Version 1.0 is any indication, you can rest easy knowing there are fierce battles on the horizon.

In short, we've placed emphasis on quality gameplay that's easily accessible, and can be enjoyed in the long term.

■Research and Analysis■
The title of this section speaks for itself, but I've spent a fair bit of time studying other large MMORPGs currently on the market. More importantly, I've been monitoring their retention rates. Of course, people tend to concern themselves with sell-in and sell-through, but the longevity of an MMORPG depends on retention. This is why it's important to understand that game developers for online games always make their decisions based on retention rate. Because I'm a gamer myself, I also take time to play the game, as well as take feedback from players, which I believe is also very important.

This, in a rather big nutshell, outlines the basic concept we have in mind for FFXIV: ARR. This applies not only to the battle system, but all aspects of the game. Whether it's a simple FATE against a wave of enemies, or a gritty battle against a powerful NM, offering players a variety of options to have fun is our goal.
(Speaking of FATE, you can expect a separate post on this in the near future )

Now that I've gotten the groundwork out of the way, let's get down to some of the finer points of the battle system.

■GCD and Planning Time■
The current implementation of the GCD (Global Cooldown) is a result of our aim to keep things simple while ensuring players can enjoy the game for a long time. Unfortunately for seasoned MMO players, the beginning of the game may seem dull and boring. However, the GCD is in place to give players time to think about what their next move is going to be. I know that the beta test is still somewhat laggy, and you guys haven't had a lot of time to really dig into the game yet, but as you progress in level, your characters will acquire a variety of skills to use in battle. This includes combos, weapon skill and action rotations, debuff skills, and crowd control skills. As you acquire more skills to use in battle, the 2.5 second GCD won't seem as long as you think it is. I hope you all will continue testing and explore the potential of the current system.

■Skill Rotations and Adjustments■
While our goal is for players to have access to more skill rotations as they level, it shouldn't take too long to reach that level of gameplay. As we read over your feeedback and look over our own data, we'll be making adjustments so that combos and skill rotations are available at an earlier level.

Archer in particular has no actions that combo, and we feel its skill rotation is lacking. When fighting one on one against a powerful enemy, such as a boss, this lack of combos and skill rotations is much more noticeable. Over the course of the beta test, we will continue to make adjustments to actions while taking in your feedback.

■Auto-attack■
There's been a fair bit of debate as to what purpose auto-attack serves in ARR, but the answer is simple. Auto-attack is the source of your character's base damage. Based on all the feedback received relating to auto-attack and its utility as a source of damage, we've been working significant changes since the end of alpha testing which should be ready by the latter half of the beta test. Although I can't go into detail about the changes yet, one thing I can tell you is there are be no changes such as the use of auto-attack to restore TP.

It may be hard to tell when you experience the first dungeon at level 15, but by the time you can explore the level 25 to 35 dungeons, the finite nature of TP and MP should become more apparent. That is, you will have to make smart choices with your skills to not only use TP and MP effectively, but to survive more dangerous encounters. In the event you do run out of MP and TP, however, you will still have auto-attack as a constant source of base damage. There are still more adjustments to be made, but in the meantime, your feedback is always welcome and appreciated.

■FFXIV is Like Poker?■
This may be a stretch, but I'd like to take a moment to break down the combat system by comparing it to Texas hold ‘em poker

- There is little time where you will be sitting there doing nothing. (However, there's always enough time to strategize)
- You won’t start with a full hand, overwhelmed by too many options
- As more cards are revealed (as you level up and acquire more actions/traits), the number of options (skill combinations) available to you increases
- Each weapon skill serves as a "card," with combos and triggered effects serving as "hands."
- You change your "hand" according to how a fight plays out (but you’ll always have time to think on your strageies).
- Limit breaks, which are planned for implementation in phase 3, will serve as "hands" shared by the party.
- Auto-attack serves as one of your "cards" when all other options have been exhausted, as it's still a means of sustaining that base damage.

This is the premise of the battle system. I know poker wasn't the best analogy to describe how the battle system will work, but I hope you guys get the general idea.

■PvP Actions■
When discussing the design of actions and weaponskills, we originally planned for actions geared toward PvP to automatically be learned by leveling, just as is the case with PvE actions. However, realized this would create problems. For those who only play PvE, they would have no use for skills catered to PvP. In contrast, those who do play PvP would inevitably have too many to sort through. What we've decided to do is create two separate sets of skills for that players will have the freedom to interchange depending on whether they’re playing PvE or PvP. These PvP actions will be obtained through participation in PvP.

■Constantly Contradicting Elements■
Phew, I think that about does it. Thanks for sticking around to read all of that. By now I'm sure everyone who's read through both posts is a little more aware of certain MMORPG elements that are constantly contradicting themselves:
- It's great when solo play is easy, but if there's no community, the game can't thrive.
- If you make a game simple, it's easy to understand, but it can also be stale and unoriginal.
- If you make the game complex and action oriented, it can be exciting, but also convoluted.

Unfortunately, these three contradicting points are intertwined, so it's impossible to try and fix one issue without tampering with another. Nevertheless, a happy equilibrium between these three points must be met in order to make an enjoyable game. As we continue making adjustments and planning for the future, we are always mindful of our preferences for one idea over another, and we ask that you do the same, but don't worry about it too much. Leave the sleepless nights discussing designs and game mechanics to us (as well as the lag problems... We’ll working on those, I swear!)

Your feedback is vital to balancing the game, and I've read through the battle feedback threads thoroughly. Between the manual, the schedules, the developer's comments, and all the tester feedback in here, I realize there is a lot to read through, and I thank you all for taking the time to do it.

I can say with confidence that only FFXIV could receive so much feedback and support from around the world for a beta test that's only getting started.

See you next time, here in the forums or in the Beta Test!

In beta phase 3, battle system will go through some changes, what direction did it take for the changes?

Y: Up until now everything was taken control by GCD but abilities will now move on it’s own (timer) Weapon skill will have GCD but you can use abilities now in between so you’re going to be busy.

So now it’s possible to fight while constantly using some type of action?

Y: In the beginning it’s not that much, but as you learn more skills, it will be very important to decide the positioning and what type of combos to use. For example if you feel you’re in danger, you can use abilities such as “Fight or fly” (probably different naming in English) to increase DPS defeat the mob at once before the weapon skill.

What do you mean by using in between weapon skill?

Y: While the timer (GCD) is still running, you use the ability in between, it’s basically to use up the available time wisely. For example, this character is Gladiator and is Tank, so it doesn't have much DPS. The classes role is to hold the enemy. Now if this was a Monk, you will run around to the side or behind the enemy and buff yourself while increasing evasion to increase haste effect, so you’ll need fight while continuing to keep the attacks going. If you miss, you’ll have to start over again so you’ll need to think over. The DPS will change when looking over duration.

――そうなると一気に忙しくなる感じですね。

If that’s so, seems like it’s going to be much busier

Y: At the beginning new adventurers are limited with amount of available skills, this will increase as you level. We checked into how much battles you need to go through in order to level up to the next level, from there you’ll learn new skill but it’s not something you learn and use in that order. You’ll learn skills that may in go between the skills you have already learned. You’ll also learn in time that the damage will increase from specific position. So say first move needs to be used from behind the enemy and 2nd being from the side, you’ll first go around the mob, run to the side and use 2nd then watch the mob to stop to use weapon skill to dodge and put in the 3rd combo, or instead of 3rd combo you may want to use the first skill again to increase the buff... or if you take in too much hate, use feather step in between to increase evasion and right after dodging to put in a counter ability, so you’ll have many different options. (reworded)

So not only does it get busier, it will require lots of strategy. If you can perform that much looks like the battle can be enjoyed not only with a party but with solo also.

I just read an interview somewhere that said they were taking out the GCD from some attacks?

http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/interview/20130613_602879.html

It's pretty, the areas are more interesting than the first iteration, and I still like the Mi'quote.

Unfortunately it feels like a game from a decade ago and I'm not interested in grouping a majority of the time.  Plus sub.  Meh.

Not happy that I didn't get a beta invite even though I was in the first iteration beta. They really should have sent invites automatically to those people since they would be the ones to really compare the two best. Re-signing up for beta didn't even dawn on me. But oh well.

Did you try logging in?  I never got a new invite, but it patched and launched just fine when I logged in.

01101010, when you say the first beta, do you mean for ARR or the original FFXIV? I believe anyone who was in the earlier ARR beta is in all of the later phases, but being in the old XIV beta did not automatically grant access to the ARR beta.

What Lantyssa said. It feels a lot like a streamlined, updated EverQuest 2. Or Final Fantasy XI if you want. But much more streamlined, definitely elegant in its conservatism (word?)-

Is that a bad thing or a good thing? To me it's a good thing. (I liked FFXI!) But even if it's a bad thing it's a market that is not being catered to nearly as much as the WoW clone market.

This is playing like TERA for me.

That's not a good thing, for me anyways.

Some of Luckton's posts just have to be ignored sometimes.

FF XIV combat is literally 2003 and earlier.

This is my main problem with the game.  I need combat to be interesting.  On top of the sub, it's not for me.

I think it's a good thing that this game is group based. There is definitely space in the genre for a group-heavy game since nearly every single major release is solo-oriented. It gives the neckbeards something to do I suppose. This game is really well done for those that want to relive 1999 with some modern touches.

I agree with you, but FFXI and I assume this iteration of FF is geared towards grouping. Having slower combat cycles allows for more synergy among the group in skillchains which I also assume is going to be a focus. This game sounds like a throwback to those days of primarily group content and less solo work. I have a love hate relationship with that: when you get in a group and it is working, it is some of the best gaming I have played. But if you don't have a group, then it becomes some sinkhole abyss that I want nothing to do with.

I'm ready for another grouping game.  Chances are, I'll remember why everything moved away from that.  But it was always the best when you had a well oiled machine of a group, and the worst when you didn't.  But at some point, personally, I just wonder, why not go play Skyrim, maybe these other people are just a distraction when I never interact with them meaningfully.

I'm aware it's a grouping game.  That's what makes me sad.

Why not play one of the existing 50 or so solo-oriented WoW-clones?

"I like pizza - why isn't this hamburger a second-rate pizza???"

I get people who don't like grouping but the vast majority of MMOs cater to those people already. It's far better to be one of the best games serving an under-served market than to be a middling game serving a market already beyond saturation.

Why not play one of the existing 50 or so solo-oriented WoW-clones?

"I like pizza - why isn't this hamburger a second-rate pizza???"

I get people who don't like grouping but the vast majority of MMOs cater to those people already. It's far better to be one of the best games serving an under-served market than to be a middling game serving a market already beyond saturation.

Why not play one of the existing 50 or so solo-oriented WoW-clones?

"I like pizza - why isn't this hamburger a second-rate pizza???"

I got the invite today as well, and thus far I'm at least impressed with the presentation, if not so much with the play mechanics.  But the horrible generic repetitive landscapes are gone, the clunky controls are gone, the visuals are lovely and the music is great.  The interface is straightforward and playing is smooth, though the whole 'autoattack and occasionally press a skill' system is something that I might not be able to get past.

Even worse. Beta 3 ends tomorrow and for beta 4 you will need a new client, if not a new invite altogether, and it's not clear when it is gonna start anyway. At least this is what I've understood so far.

July 10, 2013 (Wednesday), 2:00 a.m. to July 15 (Monday), 2:00 a.m. (PDT)
July 10, 2013 (Wednesday), 9:00 a.m. to July 15 (Monday), 9:00 a.m. (GMT)
* Beta test phase 3 will conclude on Monday, July 15th. The beta test phase 4 schedule will be announced at a later time.

Beta 4 is gonna be open from everything I've heard, and they've said that barring anything catastrophic they won't wipe character data, so it's more a head start on release than anything else.  So judging from that, it's going to be Beta 4, then pre-order head start, then full release, probably back to back given that they've called August 27th as release day.

It's their chance to win back customers, and give them some actual reason to stick around past the freebie open beta.  They really, really need open beta to be a success after how completely the original version of the game cratered.  The amount of money they sunk into the redo here is pretty phenomenal, and it actually shows, more than I thought it would given that they've only had two years to do this.

Sadly, they kept Limsa pretty much the same...

Deadlines for Beta Test Applications and Beta Code Registration (07/19/2013)
For those who have registered a beta code by Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 9:59p.m. (PDT), you will automatically be accepted to participate in Beta Test phase 4 (final Beta Test). If you have not yet registered a beta code, please make sure to complete the registration process before the above date.

For those of you who have not yet applied for the Beta Test, please submit your application by Monday, July 22, 2013 (PDT).

Application Period:
Until Monday, July 22, 2013 (PDT)
* On the above date and time, the Beta Tester Application Site will be temporarily closed and will reopen when Beta Test phase 4(final Beta Test) begins.

Registration Period:
Until Tuesday, July 30, 2013, 9:59 p.m. (PDT)
* If your beta code has not been registered by the above date and time, you will need to resubmit your application at the Beta Tester Application Site once Beta Test phase 4 begins.

Those who have yet to apply, be sure to visit the Beta Tester Application Site.

To register your beta code, please click here.

So wait, it's "open beta" but you have to apply for it a week in advance, and if you didn't then you have to apply after it starts (and there's no word whether that will be 'automatically accepted' or not, which makes either the "open" part of that beta or the whole idea of 'apply a week in advance' questionable, to put it mildly)

The more things change, the more they stay the same :grin:

There's no forced grouping at all. You just queue up for stuff like any other game.

You're encouraged  to group up to do things, but you're by no means forced.

Just wanted to add a heads up to those who thought they had the game downloaded, installed and ready to go for tomorrow, there was an update today and a pretty big download you will want to get sooner rather than later.

Use http://preorder.na.finalfantasyxiv.com/ and use the login button on the page itself, not in the top nav bar.

Try it a few times and when you log on, click your name in the top right and mouseover the links to profile and settings. They should change from eu.sqaure-enix.com to na.

Once it's saying na, then put in your preorder code.

While we were able to address the previous issue wherein players were unable to access instances, we conducted another investigation and confirmed that the issue was ongoing for a number of players.

We have been able to identify the cause of the issue and have started the recovery operations. Once we have tested the fix, we plan on conducting another emergency maintenance. We will follow up once we have a better idea on the time frame of the maintenance.

We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

They have a pretty nice window here of opportunity with Jack Squat to play and the only thing even on the horizon due out in probably 2014. 

It works ok on my server until the main story quest sends you into an instance and you discover instances don't work.

(http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/5750/zn8l.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/266/zn8l.jpg/)

We are currently experiencing technical difficulties wherein players are unable to log into the North American/European data center Worlds on FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn. The issue is being addressed, and new updates will follow as additional information becomes available.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

[Date & Time]
From Aug. 25, 2013 6:39 a.m. (PDT)

[Details]
Unable to log into several Worlds.

[Affected Worlds]
North American/European Data Center Worlds
- Moogle
- Odin
- Shiva
- Cerberus
- Faerie
- Coeurl
- Exodus
- Diabolos
- Adamantoise
- Ultros
- Midgardsormr
- Malboro
- Goblin
- Cactuar
- Gilgamesh
- Leviathan
- Behemoth
- Balmung
- Ragnarok
- Sargatanas
- Excalibur
- Hyperion

Unless you're a FF fan, I really don't see the appeal of this.  Its like WoW but with much, much worse combat and an even goofier art style.  I've tried 3 classes (Archer, Marauder, and Thaumaturge) and they've all been underwhelming so far and I don't even want to talk about the awful starting experience, with non-skippable cut scenes and doing fetch and deliver quests.  I didn't get into combat for almost an hour.  Horrible.  I really hope things pick up at higher levels because I can't see many people who aren't FF fans sticking around very long.  I had much more fun playing Neverwinter than this, for what its worth.

Unless you're a FF fan, I really don't see the appeal of this.  Its like WoW but with much, much worse combat and an even goofier art style.  I've tried 3 classes (Archer, Marauder, and Thaumaturge) and they've all been underwhelming so far and I don't even want to talk about the awful starting experience, with non-skippable cut scenes and doing fetch and deliver quests.  I didn't get into combat for almost an hour.  Horrible.  I really hope things pick up at higher levels because I can't see many people who aren't FF fans sticking around very long.  I had much more fun playing Neverwinter than this, for what its worth.

An Apology to Our Players Using NA/EU Data Centers

    On behalf of the FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Development Team, I would like to extend my deepest apologies to those Early Access participants who have had difficulty using the NA/EU data centers.

    In response to a variety of issues, we have conducted emergency maintenance several times over the past few days. The first instance, which was conducted six hours following the beginning of early access, was for the purpose of addressing the errors 90000 and 3000, which were first discovered during phase 4 of the beta test.

    Our server team then began taking measures to improve the performance of the lobby and duty finder servers. The subsequent emergency maintenance was necessary to implement their changes.

    This maintenance proceeded as planned, and afterwards we verified that the stability of instanced battles and the duty finder was much improved. However, we then discovered that certain lobby servers had been improperly configured, and we were forced to conduct another brief maintenance to resolve this issue.

    Although we have successfully addressed a number of serious issues in the past several days, we have nevertheless decided to implement login restrictions for the time being due to the extremely heavy load being placed upon the servers. In this way, we can ensure that the maximum number of players can play the game without risking a sever crash. I know no one wants to wait to log in, but I hope you all understand why we believe this precaution is necessary.

    Once again, I would like to sincerely apologize to all our players who have been unable to enjoy Early Access due to the tremendous congestion, the ensuing issues, and the frequent maintenance.

    Everyone on the development and operations teams is dedicated to providing the best possible experience for our customers, and we will continue to do our utmost to resolve the remaining and any future issues.

    FINAL FANTASY XIV Producer/Director, Naoki Yoshida

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/68427-An-Apology-to-Our-Players-Using-NA-EU-Data-Centers

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Why even bother trying to log on for the first week or so of an MMO launch?

Which ones would those be? The guys using someone else's assets to make money? No love lost.

Apparently, however, the queues can only handle a limited number of people. So if too many people are queuing, the game just tells you to go away.

Isn't the point of instancing so that if too many people queue, you just pop another instance?  :facepalm:

You can't just pop another server. These aren't zone queues, they're login queues.

Which ones would those be? The guys using someone else's assets to make money? No love lost.

Since you decided to cherry pick, you left out that they still allow you to do machinimas.  You just can't charge for them or present the models, music or voice work as your own doing or distribute it as "packages" to be sold.

I will resurrect my refrain from the WoW beta/launch days. HIRE MOR AZNS.

I will resurrect my refrain from the WoW beta/launch days. HIRE MOR AZNS.

It does have queues. They work. If you get a message saying you are in a queue, leave the game alone and it will get you in before long.

Apparently, however, the queues can only handle a limited number of people. So if too many people are queuing, the game just tells you to go away.

In a note on the game's Facebook page, Square Enix described the response to this week's release of the rebooted MMO as "overwhelmingly positive", and said this was causing the "extremely long wait times".

"As a temporary measure, we will halt sales of Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn's digital download products so we can accommodate all of those wishing to play," Square Enix said.

"We are working to expand our server capacity in the coming days.

"We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this causes."

If they don't fix their problems soon its going to be more like Final Fantasy14: A Realm Stillborn. :awesome_for_real:

It does have queues. They work. If you get a message saying you are in a queue, leave the game alone and it will get you in before long.

Apparently, however, the queues can only handle a limited number of people. So if too many people are queuing, the game just tells you to go away.

Was on TS last night with a kid who was ranting and raving about the login issues, the no afk kick, etc. I had to laugh and ask him if it was his first MMO. Still, it is deeply depressing that we see the exact same easily remedied issues arrive with every major launch. It is like they all design the games and infrastructure in complete isolation and have no idea what to expect.

I remember laughing at WoW crashing and burning in a very similar manner, so it doesn't always cost subscribers in the long term.

Is it easily resolvable?  I mean how much money would the additional server space cost?  Once the initial rush of people ebbed, could those servers be repurposed to something else?

Was on TS last night with a kid who was ranting and raving about the login issues, the no afk kick, etc. I had to laugh and ask him if it was his first MMO. Still, it is deeply depressing that we see the exact same easily remedied issues arrive with every major launch. It is like they all design the games and infrastructure in complete isolation and have no idea what to expect.

The thing is we don't.  I can't remember the last game that had major launch issues (wow maybe?).  Don't play until the second week used to be a thing five-six years ago maybe, but games just don't have launch issues anymore.

While having to spam the login is a PITA, it only took about five minutes of doing so to get online tonight and once in, everything runs swimmingly despite very high numbers in the area.

I've been trying to play with a friend but so far he hasn't been able to make a character on the server our guild is on.

Today I said, let's just make characters on a low population server and transfer to the guild server when they allow transfers.

It turns out every single NA and EU server is full and not accepting new characters. It might only be a prime time thing (or maybe not, I don't know) but right now it is impossible for anyone to make a new character, unless you want to play on a Japanese server.

I wanted to try some of the other classes but I couldn't even make another character on the same server (Exodus) that my 3 other characters are on.  So now I'm stuck waiting for the server to open up before I can play other classes...or jobs...or whatever the fuck they're called in this game.

I wanted to try some of the other classes but I couldn't even make another character on the same server (Exodus) that my 3 other characters are on.  So now I'm stuck waiting for the server to open up before I can play other classes...or jobs...or whatever the fuck they're called in this game.

Dunno if you know but once you get a character up to level 10, you can go and pick up other classes with it, so you might not need a new character. Still annoying though.

On the night following the announcement of our plans to temporarily limit sales of the download version, A Realm Reborn recorded upwards of 218,000 concurrent connections.

I wanted to try some of the other classes but I couldn't even make another character on the same server (Exodus) that my 3 other characters are on.  So now I'm stuck waiting for the server to open up before I can play other classes...or jobs...or whatever the fuck they're called in this game.

A little heads up that I just learned.  Each Grand Company has its own gear rewards based on class, so make sure and do research before you join the one that looks the coolest!  Oh, also I learned that tab targeting doesn't target the mob closest to you, it targets the mob most directly in front of you, even if its farther away lol. 

A little heads up that I just learned.  Each Grand Company has its own gear rewards based on class, so make sure and do research before you join the one that looks the coolest!  Oh, also I learned that tab targeting doesn't target the mob closest to you, it targets the mob most directly in front of you, even if its farther away lol. 

Both XI and XIV have great armor pieces. They are designed with taste and style rather than the pile on more shoulder pads approach, they appear made of actual material and they are very 3 dimensional. By that I mean they do a really good job of making the armor feel like bulky stuff with weight and solid construction, rather than just textures spray painted on to a shape.

Also the legless / assless look is a tradition! Google "subligar."

 :drillf:

Edit: I do seriously like this about FFXI and XIV, though. Armor that is skimpy and embarrassing on women is equally so on men.

I don't think you can make a character on a NA/EU server at this point anyway, so you would have been stuck on a JPN server.

Legacy Servers allowed people to carry over their characters from FFXIV 1.0.

I thought I looked like a really pretty girl but then I met a boy who looked just like me.

I made one on a NA server last night, although there was only one open for new characters (and a few EU servers open as well). Game seems ok so far. I doubt I'll stay past the free month, but considering I picked the game up when the old version was like $5 and saved it to use for the relaunch I'll get my money's worth at least.

I realize you're probably trolling, but the servers are full they stopped selling the game. Why would there be an f2p option?

You're going do a lot of rerolling in this or any other Asian game!

Tomorrow's when they're upping the server caps and such?

Magitek armor is totally fanservice. But cool.

So, I've gotten to 23 on my archer, how do begin the quests to get my mount?  I know you're supposed to join a Grand Company but I have no clue how to do it.  Also, I'm finding the hardest thing so far about this game (aside from the log in issue) is finding enough quests to keep leveling.  I hope we're not supposed to grind FATEs to fill in the gaps.

Many of you out there likely chose a server during Phase 4 or Early Access and have friends, family, or guild mates who can’t join you due to the character creation lockouts. I have friends in this situation as well and I wanted to find out what, if anything, next week’s datacenter upgrades would have in store for people in this particular situation. New worlds are great and all for the overall health of the game and population distribution, but what about getting on servers where your friends are already playing? There are world transfers planned for mid-September, but there is also a chance that, at least on some servers, players may not necessarily have to wait that long.

One of the main culprits of server congestion and instability has to do with the game’s Duty Finder tool. This tool allows players to find players for group content game-wide, at the moment. But it’s this very aspect of the tool that has been causing many of the issues players are experiencing, loading the world servers such that they can’t accept additional logins or new character creations without risking detrimental effect to the server as a whole. As part of the server work going on this week, Square Enix will be breaking up servers into groups for the purposes of the Duty Finder, think World of Warcraft’s Battlegroups, for example. Once this is implemented, Mr. Yoshida tells us that world servers should be much less taxed and this will both allow for upgrades in the server concurrent user cap (so more players can login at once) and also ease restrictions on character creation.

Sadly, FATE farming is becoming the norm and it is not uncommon to watch roving packs of mounted players skirting around from FATE to FATE to central place waiting for the next. It is becoming plague like in how big these get and how fast they consume the FATEs. On my server, Cancer lasts about 2 minutes from pop to done. If you aren't in visual of him when he pops, forget ever getting there in time. Same for a lot of the FATEs in the 25-40 range.

Would not mind seeing some screenshots of the revised world.

Would not mind seeing some screenshots of the revised world.

I want to see your character, Palmer.   :grin:

You want to see my character doing the /joy emote? Sure.

I realize you're probably trolling, but the servers are full they stopped selling the game. Why would there be an f2p option?

Yeah, the server issues are obviously indefensible, but it is a pretty good game.  Kind of weirdly so, really.  I'm enjoying it way more than I expected to.

I'm a bit confused by all the good will. I understand that WoW's leveling/instancing/lfr systems are all present so everyone can get max level without too much trouble fast and easy and solo. I get that being a huge thing, after all FF11 was no-go for most people because it was using EQ1 leveling logics with death penalties and strict group requirements and spawn camping and the like.

For my sake though I'm wondering. Does anyone think any part of 14 is better than 11 outside of the ease of leveling? Honest question.

You want to see my character doing the /joy emote? Sure.

You want to see my character doing the /joy emote? Sure.

(http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/5934/9mh7.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/833/9mh7.jpg/)

So here's a question - if someone finds an old disc of FF14 v1.0 - would they still be able to apply the code and get some perks/bonuses? I do want to try this but the sub fee sucks while school started up again last week, but I'm thinking about picking up an original FF14 disc instead of a digital download if it gets some perks (when I do try it).

So here's a question - if someone finds an old disc of FF14 v1.0 - would they still be able to apply the code and get some perks/bonuses? I do want to try this but the sub fee sucks while school started up again last week, but I'm thinking about picking up an original FF14 disc instead of a digital download if it gets some perks (when I do try it).

This might be the first miracle patch that worked.

This might be the first miracle patch that worked.

Can you buy this yet?

It doesn't look as if you can get the digital download still, but you can always buy it in the shops.

Has anyone woke up and found anything in their bed?  I NEVER find anything.  And if you do find stuff in your bed, what's it for?

I thought only boys had to worry about waking up to find strange stuff in their beds.

Has anyone woke up and found anything in their bed?  I NEVER find anything.  And if you do find stuff in your bed, what's it for?

Has anyone woke up and found anything in their bed?  I NEVER find anything.  And if you do find stuff in your bed, what's it for?

Finally managed to get my mount and even unlocked the bard job tonight.  I still don't like that you get cock blocked from continuing your story by forcing you to do dungeons but the rest of the game is fun enough to overlook it. 

Finally managed to get my mount and even unlocked the bard job tonight.  I still don't like that you get cock blocked from continuing your story by forcing you to do dungeons but the rest of the game is fun enough to overlook it. 

Managed to unlock Dragoon tonight myself. Dungeons don't bother me too much. I usually just queue up in the Duty Finder thing and then just run off and do something else while I wait (typically fates or leveling one of my gathering or crafting classes). Just sucks that between the hour or so I have to wait in the queue as a DPS and the time it takes to do the dungeon means I have to have a solid chunk of time to devote to it.

It attempts to teach the bads what is going on. They really need this. Tell us about your experiences pugging Quarn when you get to it.

Thank you.  That just about killed any urge I have to buy/play. 

Just curious, but how long are the dungeons?

The early dungeons so far are small by WoW standards -- 30 minutes or so is typical as long as you don't wipe. The dungeon finder ("Duty Finder" in FF XIV) works well but like in most games of these types the DPS classes typically have to wait a long time to get in. So far it looks like the healer classes have a slightly easier time getting in than tanks (some games tanks are more in demand) but both typical have short waits or "instant" queues. Also only some of the dungeons are required to advance the story.

Thank you.  That just about killed any urge I have to buy/play. 

Just curious, but how long are the dungeons?

I'm the opposite. I find this game to be tedious in the extreme. Maybe I've moved on from what I want in a game but it just seems so 'old school' as to be fossilised. Grinding, a crappy UI, the worse back end systems in any MMO ever - and more grinding. Individual class design is *awful* - so few abilities and non of them actually interesting in any way.

Just feels like a real blast from the past - admittedly there hasn't been a game like this for some time so maybe its scratching the itch for folks.

That's exactly how I know I ought to feel but somehow I don't...

From what I have seen the event is basically a level 27 fate in Eastern La Noscea, on the beach just south of the Costa del Sol.

I ran my level 20 archer there (I'm a slow leveler too, and have got to 10 in three tradeskills so far) and died trying to piggy the event.  You get a currency (ash) drop that lets you buy swimwear.

And nothing in my bed.  Again.  :(

Do all of your jobs level up simultaneously or are they like FFXI and force you to start fresh from level 1?  Because I can't see how hitting max in just one job is reason to quit. Or perhaps I'm making unwarranted assumptions about how much the game is like FFXI.

Nice Signe. Add me to your friend's list in case you need help with something, Egg Shen.

You have to both be online in order to add someone as a friend.

The no-mail thing is a good thing, or else your mail would be flooded with RMT spam. I'd like an option to only see tells from friends as well.

A tip for the tell gold spammers since they cant seem to add a right click option:   If they send you a tell, just type -

/blist add <r> 

It will blacklist the last person that sent you a tell.   If it's shout spam, right click their name, hit send tell.  It will put /t SpammerName into the chat box, just change the /t to /blist add.  It beats typing out their names at least.

I love you.  No, srsly.  I'm getting /tells and constant /shouts from this criminal who can't be blacklisted the regular way.  He doesn't show up on a name search, either.  I don't know how he did that.  I wonder if there's a way to blist someone who /shouts but did something to their name so it doesn't show up on search?  Well, I turn off /shout when they start up but if this /tell thing you posted works, I'll love you forever or as long as I play this game and/or remember your name.

A tip for the tell gold spammers since they cant seem to add a right click option:   If they send you a tell, just type -

/blist add <r> 

It will blacklist the last person that sent you a tell.   If it's shout spam, right click their name, hit send tell.  It will put /t SpammerName into the chat box, just change the /t to /blist add.  It beats typing out their names at least.

Despite the ridiculous gold spamming, this game remains fun.  I have to say, I've been very lucky with the main storyline groupings.  They've almost all gone extraordinarily well so far.  I think most people must be playing on PS3, however, because it's very silent.  The only party that went poorly was when I tanked a group and they ran around wildly, only hitting big stuff and ignoring adds... and I died... many times.  Since I'm working towards Dragoon because they jump madly and impale stuff, my tanking days are done.  It's much easier, though not as fun for me, to run around and hit whatever the tank targets and take care of adds.  I would probably have gone gladiator other than the fact that all my grouping is pretty anonymous, I don't want to keep dying like that first time, and I only have one friend who is also dps.  My other friend, Egg Shen, is obviously of the imaginary persuasion.  Or maybe just a mystical creature. 

That was my fear - I bought it on the console and figured there must be a way of having cross platform voice chat in game because otherwise it would be insanely stupid given console players can't type to communicate.

This is the first time in a long time Ive really regretted buying a game. Got interested because of the hype but its still a dreadfully designed, antiquated pile of garbage. Just has a nice sheen to it and pretty world design.

You can use a keyboard and mouse with the PS3 version apparently if you want.

If people are going to do that, then why not just play it on a pc?

I really want to like this game, but I keep falling asleep within 20 minutes of starting to play.  I'm not cut out for this crap anymore.

I always used to wonder, during my MMO peak in my school days, what's up with these guys in their 40s with kids and (presumably?) jobs.  I simply couldn't be that hardcore anymore.  I don't have the time or the energy and I don't have any kids.

Does FFXIV have raid lockout timers or anything?  Ive seen a number of guilds advertising for members to raid 5-7 nights a week

If you have kids in your 20s and don't go out partying because *parenting* you have energy to play games while the kid's asleep.  You're starting your career and so you might be working hard, but not necessarily ultra long hours unless you're a trying to advance quickly. 

Non-coincidentally, this means in your 40s the kids are out of the house or teens and want nothing to do with you.  Maybe they'll game along side you, most likely not.  Also, on the career-side you tend to be out of the 'killing myself working' positions or an executive who doesn't have the time for games at all.

The rough patch is then in your 30s. Kids in activities, career in the 'must advance' phases.  It's been my experience the high levels of the mmoverse are filled-out with mostly singles and non-parents in this age range.

All anecdotal, of course.

Q: While the DutyFinder is going through the grouping, the DutyFinder itself seems like it’s taking longer to match, specially for DPS. First off, is it harder to match because of the grouping that was done this time for DutyFinder, or is that completely different story?

A: Yes, that’s completely different story.

Q: Okay, then why is this occurring?

A: Simply because there isn’t enough Tanks.

Q: I see Tanks huh, not Healers?

A: For Healers, there is the fact that you can obtain the Unicorn from Conjurer quest, and also since it’s Final Fantasy the image of White Mage is pretty strong. Since there are lots out there wanting to play White Mage in FFXIV, we have more Healers compared to other MMORPGs.
When looking from previous FFXIV’s viewpoint, we added a pet class called Arcanis, and one of the jobs from Arcanist is Scholar. Scholars are bit technical and it’s a job that wasn’t introduced until now, for that reason there are lots out there wanting to try out Scholar, so as a result we were able to dodge the lack of Healers.

Q: For Tanks, talking Final Fantasy, knights are pretty popular so you would think there would be enough, maybe the responsibility for knights in FFXIV ARR is heavy.

A: It was just as I predicted, in any MMO’s there is shortage on tanks. We’re looking into add a bonus for those roles we are short on in patch 2.1.

That is probably because tanking is a god damn nightmare in this game.

Well, if you like the game enough and when it becomes available, I'd be willing to transfer to a different server.  Let me know what you think.

The graphics engine performance on the PC is poor. There are MMORPGs with more advanced engines (e.g. UE3) that run better on the same GPU compared to FF XIV. You can run the FF XIV benchmark program to see where you are at performance-wise.

You get a class-specific quest every 5 levels. Those you get from the class guildmaster (or somebody else in that same room). The main storyline quests aren't gated by your completing your class quests, however.

I've read a page or two here and I think the obvious answer to several of these questions is JAPAN.

The graphics engine performance on the PC is poor. There are MMORPGs with more advanced engines (e.g. UE3) that run better on the same GPU compared to FF XIV. You can run the FF XIV benchmark program to see where you are at performance-wise.

The graphics engine performance on the PC is poor. There are MMORPGs with more advanced engines (e.g. UE3) that run better on the same GPU compared to FF XIV. You can run the FF XIV benchmark program to see where you are at performance-wise.

You get a class-specific quest every 5 levels. Those you get from the class guildmaster (or somebody else in that same room). The main storyline quests aren't gated by your completing your class quests, however.

Anyone find a class that requires lots of micro?

If you want a lot of responsibility: tank or healer. If you don't want the responsibility: monk.

Back to FF14 - I picked Thaumaturge to play because it sounded like the most fun of the magic classes. I didn't even look at the jobs. Do you have to pick a job? Or can you just be a max_level Thaumaturge? I guess I'll have to read more about that stuff.

What is to stop a person from leveling up an archer or a pugilist but putting all their points into int and then swapping over to thaum? Is there a cap on stats? That would be perverse if there isn't.

The early dungeons so far are small by WoW standards -- 30 minutes or so is typical as long as you don't wipe. The dungeon finder ("Duty Finder" in FF XIV) works well but like in most games of these types the DPS classes typically have to wait a long time to get in. So far it looks like the healer classes have a slightly easier time getting in than tanks (some games tanks are more in demand) but both typical have short waits or "instant" queues. Also only some of the dungeons are required to advance the story.

I agree.  At least you don't have to wait around the dungeon.  You sign up and go about your business.  I usually take time out to do crafting or fishing or sommat when I'm waiting.  Err...  I try and remember to put my armour back on when I join.  TRY!  :(  I read that they're going to eventually work on making dungeons solo and stuff, but who knows when?  I'm sure by the time they get around it that I'll have wandered off.  They have a LOT to do all over this game.  They only put the AFK kick in like the other day or whatever.  Still, I hope it'll keep me going until something shinier catches my attention.  That's all I ever really expect.

I agree.  At least you don't have to wait around the dungeon.  You sign up and go about your business.  I usually take time out to do crafting or fishing or sommat when I'm waiting.  Err...  I try and remember to put my armour back on when I join.  TRY!  :(

So, I finally hit max level and I'm not sure how to begin gearing up. I ran Castrum Meridianum and The Praetorium, which drop Tomes (badges) but no loot. I had to do them for the story but they were pretty tediois. I tried running Ampador Keep and actually got an upgrade, an ilvl 60 ring from a random chest in behind some trash mobs. The zone was pretty brutal though, particularly as an undergeared tank, and we never made it past the second boss. I haven't tried any of the HM trials yet.

Are we supposed to run CM and Praetoriun over and over for badges to start? I can't craft the high level gear without buying Coke from the badge vendor, which seems pretty pointless.

If there's one thing that's really bugging me, it's lack of buttons. My combat 'rotation' is the same as it was at level 4

I can be moving out of a circle way early (like... a full second early), and still get hit by the attack. Is this just latency due to me playing on a US server from Europe?

If there's one thing that's really bugging me, it's lack of buttons. My combat 'rotation' is the same as it was at level 4

In any other MMO (even few-button ones like GW1) I'd have a lot more abilities I'd be using during a typical fight by the time I got 1/3 the way to the level cap.

Also, AOE circles are all the rage nowadays in MMOs, and that's OK. What's not OK is that I can be moving out of a circle way early (like... a full second early), and still get hit by the attack. Is this just latency due to me playing on a US server from Europe? What happens at max level when (I assume) boss mechanics tied to AOE circles are pretty much going to one-shot you?

I really dig the entire armory thing (both the storage and the easy class switching aspects). I assume that if you are planning on (e.g.) levelling up all three scholar classes, you'd keep all the old scholar gear in the armory, and equip it as you go, essentially twinking your own character? Hope this doesn't mean everyone is rolling need on everything in dungeons because "I'll need that spear when I'm levelling lancer later this month", though!

So all servers are in Canada, eh? That explains some of the 'lag-related' problems... however, in WOW I played on a west coast server from Eastern Europe, which is far worse for latency (I had 400+ ping guaranteed), and it felt far, far, far more responsive than FF14 in almost every way. In fact, to me, FF14 feels less responsive for skill use than SWTOR was at launch, which is... pretty bad!

Problem is you're playing a conjurer. They have the least interesting combat rotation

Put me down as thinking Gladiator is ten times as bad. There's just something about melee that you expect it to be a lot faster and more responsive.

Put me down as thinking Gladiator is ten times as bad. There's just something about melee that you expect it to be a lot faster and more responsive.

(snip)

Thxinfo, some good stuff -- and yea, by the three scholar classes I actually meant the three casters (arcanist / thaum / conj), it was just a bit of GW2 lingo slipping in. :awesome_for_real: I figured I'd level conjurer until I got far enough in the story to get a mount and join a GC, then gain levels in the other two caster classes in the other two newbie zones doing sidequests and whatnot (it better be more interesting than stonestonestone!).

I also ran a few dungeons, and indeed I was only able to roll on 'matching' stuff. A minor peeve is that most duty finder things only seem to be good xp the first time you do them (guildhests especially so), I figured they'd be a decent xp source while levelling my other classes. Ah well, that +50% xp bonus is nice enough.

If you're in a dungeon and there's something that you can Need on, Need on it, unless you already have a Unique version it and can't get a second. Once you get the second Sergeant rank for your Grand Company, you can take all those old green/purple items you find that you either have outleveled or don't have any use for and turn them in for seals.

Never hit Pass for anything, ever.

You need to do some dungeons along the way, but that's like 5%?

Can you solo in this game to max level?  I hate pugs, and none of my other friends have any interest at all.

If you forgo the story which forces you to group up for dungeons and just FATE grind/mob grind? Yes, you most certainly can. Why you would want to in a FF game, ignoring the story completely? no idea.

I'd amend this to mention that if it's convertible, you should break it down for materia instead of seals. If you're doing daily crafting tasks for your GC or regularly FATE grinding to level alts, you'll be absolutely rolling in seals, and the only time I've ever felt that I actually was in need of seals is when I was grinding for my chocobo (and even that is just an afternoon's worth of work if you grind GC leves or FATEs)

Can somebody break down exactly what this means? What is "second Sergeant rank for your Grand Company"? Green/Purple items? Seals? Materia?

I have been bumbling about on my Thaumaturge (level 15ish?), playing with crafting/gathering (level 5-10ish) but I have no idea what binding means even though I've been congratulated a few times that things are fully bound to me. I don't understand what to do with things I've made if I don't use them, how to post things onto the Marketplace or why I'm bothering with this crafting/gathering really other than it's there to be done.

I know a bunch of gil sellers are people who have had compromised accounts. I've seen some of my FC members on at odd hours spamming.

I thought they just got brute forced.

I sat in a queue for about a half hour for Sastasha - then when it popped, I was in another window and didn't notice, so I sat in a queue for another half hour. Got in a group of people who knew what they were doing though so it went smoothly and was done quickly.

Why can't MMOs hire somebody whose job it is is to ban gold sellers? Send out one spam message and BOOM ban. What is so freakin' hard about that? It would cost them next to nothing, and would improve the quality of the gaming experience for everyone a great deal.

It's not rocket science.

One person to monitor every channel of every zone of every server?

Obviously first you create the tools to do things like right click ignore/report. The whole thing should just not be that hard.

Going back to the 'too few buttons' gripe: it persists even at level 34 after having unlocked the white mage job. For soloing it's Stone II * infinity (sometimes using the faster casting self-buff and the knockback), and in dungeons I can choose between 'small heal', 'big heal that kills my mana bar unless I got a 15% RNG proc from my small heal beforehand', and 'pbaoe heal that kills my mana bar', all with long cast times meaning lots of 'rock and hard place' situations if the boss lays a one-shot AE circle on me while I'm 3/4 done casting cure 2 on the tank. Maybe I should've gone scholar instead...

So I got to the point in the story where you have to run the Titan tria; I don't think I wiped so many times in a single levelling dungeon/encounter in any MMO, ever. Worst part is, as a healer I could do precisely NOTHING about any of the wipes (most of them were due to DPS being 1-shot by aoe in phase 1, then not having enough damage to kill the heart in phase 2). Then the group dissolved, I requeued and got another group that one-shot it without problems.

Was this a fluke, or is this to be expected in endgame dungeons? I mean, I'm sorta-OK with tough/punishing dungeons (I actually liked healing heroics at the start of WOW Cata before everyone got their epix), but wiping constantly just because one person stands in fire doesn't sound very fun.

This is the expected behavior for Titan HM. In fact not only are there now groups selling guaranteed runs through Titan HM for hundreds of thousands of Gil but supposedly some of those same sellers are intentionally tanking PUG runs on Titan HM to make their services more valuable. And just to add even more Internet Drama to the situation one of the Reddit FFXIV subreddit mods is in one of the guilds on Ultros that's accused of this behavior and was actively modding the threads on this problem trying to squelch discussion.

Don't people get their accounts compromised by buying from gold spammers?

I emailed them and complained and then I accused them of using gold spammers as a source of revenue and they might end up with more spammers than players.  They didn't respond.  My ignore list is filling up.  Soon I'll be ignoring over already ignored spammers.  Every time it fills up, I'll email the list to them.  I'm sure they'll appreciate my help.

For some reason, when I try to use /blist add <player name>, it fails every time. I cannot block these spammers. What's the trick to actually get a working blacklist?

You need to do some dungeons along the way, but that's like 5%?

If they have sent you a private tell:
/blist add <r>

If they are shouting, then if you click their name, one option is send player a tell or something like that, click that, and it will say
/tell playername blahblah
so you can copy/paste playername blahblah into /blist.

For some reason, when I try to use /blist add <player name>, it fails every time. I cannot block these spammers. What's the trick to actually get a working blacklist?

I know it's been a few years since I was last active in an MMO, but Mor Dohna on Faery make Barrens Chat look like a Nobel conference. I've had nothing but great experiences up to now, even with PUG dungeon groups, so it was rather an abrupt shock.

I know it's been a few years since I was last active in an MMO, but Mor Dohna on Faery make Barrens Chat look like a Nobel conference. I've had nothing but great experiences up to now, even with PUG dungeon groups, so it was rather an abrupt shock.

After wasting basically my entire weekend trying to get a group for Chimera, I'm pretty close to saying 'f it' and just staying away from anything related to the "endgame" in any way.

You guys make it all seem so hard lol.  I don't understand why the mere concept of having to make friends in an MMO is so frightening to a very large group of people.

You guys make it all seem so hard lol.  I don't understand why the mere concept of having to make friends in an MMO is so frightening to a very large group of people.

You guys make it all seem so hard lol.  I don't understand why the mere concept of having to make friends in an MMO is so frightening to a very large group of people.

The Japanese servers don't seem to have any problems with grouping up for any of the runs, but then again the Japanese pretty much do everything as a group straight after leaving the tit.
I mostly chose to play on a Japanese server when I noticed the lack of gold selling spam, compared to the US/EU server I tried.
But also, I find their whole morality a real breathe of fresh air after playing with selfish fuckwits in most other MMOs. It's nice to see genuinely decent people who don't just take what they can and don't give a damn about others.
I know it seems weird at first, trying to understand how the Japanese play/work, but when you get beyond the weirdness you find they are just really civilized and a pleasure to group with.

You can pretty much spend a lot of time soloing most stuff, but I think this game's challenging dungeons are worth the effort of being sociable, even if it's just to "get what I want" ,instead of "Wow! That group fight was fucking awesome!".
I suppose the endgame dungeons will be a block if it's the first time you've had to consider playing seriously as a pawn in a group.
Maybe the developers haven't understood how reluctant some basement dwellers are to mingle with others.
With FCs , Linkshells and the Duty Finder it's not difficult to make a few friends during the game, even if you find yourself in a smallish FC, I'm sure you can Linkshell with other friends for the more serious stuff.

You guys make it all seem so hard lol.  I don't understand why the mere concept of having to make friends in an MMO is so frightening to a very large group of people.

You guys make it all seem so hard lol.  I don't understand why the mere concept of having to make friends in an MMO is so frightening to a very large group of people.

I never had any problem making friends in games until the Dungeon Finder. I honestly can't say I've met a single person actually in game since then. I've managed to shop around for guilds online and joined them cold and found friends that way. But in the game? No.

Well, you can transfer now for free until the end of the month.  I definitely want to get off of Ultros because it's crowded, spammy and slow.  I just don't know where to go yet. 

Letter from the Producer, LI (10/16/2013)

    Hello again, all you FFXIVers out there! Yoshi-P here, bringing you my fifty-first Letter from the Producer.

    It's already been a month and a half since release, and after adding several new Worlds, optimizing the servers, and expanding the data centers, it's full speed ahead for the development team as we prepare for the first big patch.

    Looking over data from each World, it's great to see so many players in every level range. Whether it's exploring the nooks and crannies of Eorzea, chasing after FATE, braving through dungeons for Allagan tomestomes, or taking on the Binding Coil of Bahamut, everyone seems to be settling into their own play style as they find their place in the community.

    As for myself, I’ve finally defeated Titan in the main story, and am now in snowswept Coerthas. I’ve been going it incognito on the public servers, and it’s been a lot of fun playing with you all. I can never resist a shout for help to venture through lower level dungeons, so it'll probably be a while before I reach end game.

    Speaking of end game, I'd like to take a moment to address our players who have completed the main scenario, and are now working to complete relic quests and fight against the hard-mode primals. We realize how difficult it's been to acquire tomestones and have taken measures to alleviate this problem. Although we had a few setbacks necessitating an extension of the planned maintenance on October 15, as well as a subsequent emergency maintenance, we've added additional instance servers for Amdapor Keep as well as the Wanderer's Palace. We've also increased the number of tomestones obtainable in these dungeons, and made adjustments to gil received from within. Patch 2.1 will introduce even more ways to accumulate tomes, so please bear with us.

    End game players have also encountered problems with the fifth turn of the Binding Coil of Bahamut. This issue was to be addressed with the patch on October 15, but unfortunately we've confirmed that the problem still persists. Please rest assured we are working diligently to resolve this issue so that players can resume play in this instance as soon as possible.

    Our first update will be fairly substantial, and can be divided into three key parts. First and foremost, we want players to have more options to enjoy themselves in Eorzea. We'll be introducing daily quests and treasure hunts for those looking to play solo, and various system adjustments will make it easier to obtain Allagan tomestones of philosophy and mythology with your party mates. You can also expect to see new dungeons, the Crystal Tower, extreme primal battles, and the return of Good King Moggle Mog. There's also housing and the Wolves' Den to look forward to, both of which are being fine-tuned and debugged as we speak.

    Second, we'll be implementing feedback from you, the players. Not only will the user interface be updated, but we'll also be adding an item-sort function, item level restrictions on the Duty Finder, the MVP system, and a number of other new features.

    Last but certainly not least, we'll be introducing the salon where players can customize character features such as hair and face paint, and a party search function for individual Worlds. This wouldn't be a FINAL FANTASY if it didn't have a story, so expect to see new developments in the main scenario, and perhaps even the return of a certain someone from Version 1.0.

    More details will be revealed during the upcoming LIVE letters. I'm planning to host one every month up until the release of 2.1, and I hope you tune in to all of them!

    And that’s all from me for today. See you again on October 19, at the ninth Letter from the Producer LIVE!

Good King Moggle Mog?  Is that for xmas or sommat?  Good King Moggle Mog sat down on the feet of Stephen?  I love that song.

To Xanthi:  Are you going to transfer or stay where you are (Zelara, no?)?  I don't think they're limiting the times you can transfer while it's free so there's until the end of the month to find a good server.  Does it ever give the names of brand new servers?  Sometimes it's hard to get a group for the necessary dungeons if the server is old and busy and everyone's done everything.  I wish they'd scale the dungeons down to two people... we'd own the game then and still have time to fish and treasure hunt!

To Xanthi:  Are you going to transfer or stay where you are (Zelara, no?)?  I don't think they're limiting the times you can transfer while it's free so there's until the end of the month to find a good server.  Does it ever give the names of brand new servers?  Sometimes it's hard to get a group for the necessary dungeons if the server is old and busy and everyone's done everything.  I wish they'd scale the dungeons down to two people... we'd own the game then and still have time to fish and treasure hunt!

You didn't click my link, did you?  That's okay.  That site is good but when I compared a couple of the fishing sites with another web page because I wasn't getting the right fish, that's the one that was wrong.  I've referred back to it, however, and MOST of the fish it listed were correct.  The wrong bit just made me fishtrated.

Is there an offishal site?

I ended up cancelling, then realizing I'd done so a few hours after they charged me. Oh and cancellations are immediate, they don't let you time run out.

This is $15 on Amazon and Square-enix's website if you're curious to check it out. So far my impression is that is surprisingly not terrible. Also surprising is how well they managed to meet their aspirations for the "2.0" version of the game that they teased back when they started charging for the game again. Pulling it off didn't seem possible at the time, but here we are.

This is probably the first time an MMO has been successfully unfucked.  If there was no sub fee, I'd still be playing.

The game is 12 euros these days in Europe for the digital download. Soooo tempted...

The upcoming changes to warrior (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/113472-Warrior-buff-in-2.1-not-what-we-are-expecting?p=1578531#post1578531)(post by Yoshida himself) have brought me back to the game. Forum posts like this, coupled with the credentials of 'unfucking' an entire game give me hope. This Yoshida guy may be the chosen one.

Semi-serious question, how would those ears actually work? Isn't there a whole bunch of inner workings to ears that need space that is occupied by brain there?

Semi-serious question, how would those ears actually work? Isn't there a whole bunch of inner workings to ears that need space that is occupied by brain there?

The area on our skulls that are taken up by ear stuff would not be so for catgirls; you'll notice on humans that the brain is more or less L-shaped, coming up from the spinal column and curving over our ears.  Their brains would likely sit lower in their heads than ours do, making room for the ear stuff up top.

Finally caved in and went to buy it a few minutes ago. It is back to full price.

I also heard that you can pick one skill from any other class/job that you level up which basically means that you will have a bunch of skills at 50 (cap) over the ones your class comes equipped with.

You get like a max of 6 cross-over skills or something at 50.  You just have to level the other classes to 50 to unlock them.  NO PROBLEM!   :why_so_serious:

Anywho, dinged 18 and got Shield Slam, along with going back to my trainer for the lvl 15 quest and got Shield Throw.  Gettin' that old Paladin feel back, baby!

Raised Armorer to 10 through Guildleves and class quests.  Another complaint; quick synthesis may be "quicker" than doing it regular for mass quantity stuff, but the delay between each craft is still a drag.  I did upkeep on my Tiny Death Star from top to bottom in the time is took to crank out 30 bronze bars for the lvl 10 class quest.

You get like a max of 6 cross-over skills or something at 50.  You just have to level the other classes to 50 to unlock them.  NO PROBLEM!   :why_so_serious:

As we said multiple times, FF14 is truly a pre-WoW game, a faithful successor of FF11 (2003).

Duty Roulette has been added to the Duty Finder.

You may now register for duties at random from among those you have unlocked. Successful completion will earn you greater rewards than normal. Moreover, a bonus will be awarded once per day for participating in each category. Furthermore, should your role be in short supply, you will be awarded an additional bonus for being an adventurer in need.

Where's the stylist!

I love everything in this except the combat. Oh my gosh, I said it before and I'll say this again: it takes all my love for retrogaming and turn based games not to want to blow my brain out.

I would of been playing this game if somehow they were using at least something like GW2's combat. I can't take tab target/hotbar based combat anymore

I would of been playing this game if somehow they were using at least something like GW2's combat. I can't take tab target/hotbar based combat anymore

Did Guildwars 2 change from tab target/hotbar recently? Could've sworn that's what I was using over there.

The combat in FFXIV is quite dull.

It's weird. I think FFXIV Original Formula was a more interesting game, it was just horribly broken. But I liked the stamina bar in combat (something that was removed very early on), I liked the way you could mix/match skills quite a lot, how each had a point score that counted against the total, etc. It was very ambitious systemically in a way the new version is not.

Well I'm up to level 27 and still having a great time. The dungeons I've done so far have been fine. The group finder works well and nobody whined at me for watching the cutscenes.  I still find myself in leather bondage gear from time to time though. I think it's because I took up leatherworking and the skill is high enough to make my own armour. I'm almost always in leather shorts and an eyepatch.

I think I'm actually going to subscribe for a while and see if it stays fun all the way to the end.

The advantage of training multiple classes on a single character is that there are useful cross-class skills to be had. The disadvantage is that you can only run through the main quest line once. Because of that it's best to leave as many sidequests alone as you can so that your other classes will have quests to level with. Once you run out of quests you're stuck with FATE grinding or repetitive dungeon running.

You need to have at least two classes anyway to get an advanced job. I went for Archer at the beginning but now I'm picking up 15 levels of pugilism so that I can switch over to Bard.

I really, really like Archer class but from what I've read it's by far the simplest and most straightforward class in the game.

Do bards fight like they do in Rift, where you strum your lute and damage enemies?  Because I really like that for some reason.

Word on the street is the WAR is the new FotM. They can tank or DPS and have good survivability overall. They go the way of stacking HP as opposed to PLD that stacks mitigation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1UaQTdQXmY

4 warriors running through a late game dungeon video. They do pretty well surprisingly.


Either way, you are best off leveling everything up, at least to 15, for cross class options. For WAR, you will need PUG and GLD skills.