Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Min Maxing and FFXIV

Stats were a very big part of FFXI and even if you didnt completely buy into the idea of spending millions of gil for the slightest edge over the rest of the community, many people did their best to manage their stats in a way that would significantly improve their performance. I wasn't a hardcore player by any means, but I must admit that I took a significant amount of satisfaction from finally being able to afford that next big ticket item. Sure, as a casual player there was a lot that was out of bounds -- based on my commitment level and the time I was willing to dedicate to the project -- yet there were still more than enough reasons to be perfectly happy without having the very best the game had to offer those with the highest level of dedication and patience.

Even so, we're talking about an environment where at one point elitests would completely refuse to group with someone who didn't have a race that complimented their chosen job based on a few points of base stats. So, yes, there were some down sides to the system as well, but those came directly from the community and were not intended by the developers.

So I suppose that takes us to our next question, what role will item optimization take in S-E's next online addition to the Final Fantasy franchise? Will FFXIV have the same emphasis on stat stacking for specific abilities, enough to warrant complex macros to swap gear for specific spells or abilities? I, for one, greatly enjoyed having that much control over my own performance in FFXI.

So far, in Open Beta, I haven't really encountered these traits. Still, the game is pre-release and people haven't really figured much of this stuff out yet. A lot of these testers haven't played FFXI, or didn't make it past the trial if they did: based on some of the comments I've been seeing on the various forums I've been reading.

But I have hope. S-E is going to have to implement something to keep hard core to slightly-above-casual players not only occupied, but satisfied. There is the culinary profession, which will need to have some kind of demand to have a viable purpose in the game -- let alone the self-supporting economic component to make it more than just a time/gil sink. Let's face it, there has to be some kind of built on reward for spending all that time leveling up the job.

And of course, there are the Notorious Monsters, or NM's, that have made a reappearance. What would be the point of killing them without some type of reward that would justify the time spent camping/killing them?

In the end, I do believe there will be some form of min/max benefit to the game. Will it take the same shape as it did in FFXI? Maybe not, but only time and the player base will tell.
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Monday, September 13, 2010

FFXIV Playstation 3 Alternative?

Well, it's time for me to go back to school again to pursue my Masters, so it wasn't too difficult to persuade myself into buying a new laptop. Sure enough, one thing led to another and I ended up with a nice ASUS gaming machine that is pure over-kill for anything a degree in Information Security and Assurance could possibly throw my way. The G73JH-A1 is a powerhouse of a laptop with a 1.6GHz Intel i7-720QM Quad-Core Processor, 8GB of DDR3 Ram, and a full terabyte of storage.

But as gamers, isn't that pretty much our nature? Besides, who wants a machine that operates at the pace of a fast snail by the time the degree program is finished? Am I right?

Anyway, the laptop arrived on Friday so after removing bloatware and creating a restore image, I loaded up the FFXIV Open Beta and used the HDMI out to send it over to my 42 inch LCD TV. That, combined with my Logitech gaming controller, turned the otherwise PC experience into something of a consoler's dream.

After a few hours in Gridania and the surrounding areas, I'm more than confident that my setup would satisfy the most ardent of console gamers desires. The laptop ran cool as a breeze and the gameplay was smooth and clean. Plus, with the bluray player and the built in storage, this beast is a competent media center monster. Of course, the price is a bit up there for someone who is just looking for that console experience at the same time as PC release as promised earlier in the year. That said, if you're in the market, this is definitely the way to go.

As for school, I suppose I'll be playing as a reward for good behavior, so here's to hard work and good grades, lounging out in my free time with the kids watching the screen while I play some MMO goodness and de-stress. Cheers!
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Thursday, September 9, 2010

FFXIV - Community Anyone? Anyone? Hello?

One thing that has stricken me as odd is the shear unwillingness of a lot of the beta players to converse and share information. This isn't anything like my FFXI experience. For this reason, I can't wait until the 22nd for the Collector's Edition access to kick in. I really do think that a big part of the problem is that the beta tester population is significantly not made of people who enjoyed FFXI.

The game mechanics don't necessarily necessitate solo play, but it seems that people are very much of the mind that they just want to be left alone. Going back to the problem of locating the correct type of shards or crystals, asking in say at the camp or in shout in the city often resulted in not a single response. The same goes for asking random people if they'd like to group up to break the monotomy of grinding between levels 6-8, where it only makes sense to fight the mobs that are tough enough to make each fight a bit risky.

Maybe I haven't met the right beta testers, but the game right now seems to be even more solo than WoW is touted to be. That said, I've had a great leve group out at Camp Drybone, so I know it can be done. I guess that people just need time to figure out what works and what doesn't. That doesn't explain the radio silence, but what can you do?

All said, I'm looking forward to launch on the 22nd! Since the beta doesn't consist of /bug reports, I'm trying to learn as much as I can before the game goes live.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

FFXIV Dude Where's My Fire Crystal!?

One of the biggest problems I've had in the Open Beta so far is the vast limits that the game imposes on growth. Starting out in Ul'dah, I have been unable to locate a mob or activity that drops or provides Fire Crystals -- which are required for even the most basic crafting recipes for Blacksmithing and Goldsmithing. How in the world am I supposed to make nuggets to turn into ingots if the only fire I can get my hands on are shards?

It seems like the only progression you'll get right off the bat is to use the guildleves to help you level your skill, but once those are done you have to grind -- just like all of the combat or caster jobs out there. Maybe I'm just having a hard time wrapping my brain about it, but I can only see this problem compounding with retail. Allowing players to start their careers as crafters is great, but you have to give them a path to progression. Should leveling when you start out be solely contingent upon leves which can't be repeated for an additional 48 hours?

Case in point, while others told me that they were able to get wind shards by mining outside of Ul'dah, I was unable to find a single one in eight skill levels. It wasn't until I road the ferry to Limsa and mined in their areas that I began getting them in my loot. Any why did I need to get my hands on wind shards? Cooking! I found a simple recipe that would finally allow me to gain skill off my crayfish -- allowing me to do something other than vendor my fish. 1 crayfish + 1 wind shard = River Sand. As long as you can get your hands on the wind shards, this makes leveling up cooking much easier to grind.

It just seems like too many things are interdependant on one another. To cook, I can't just kill things that drop meat or fish. I have to find creatures or gathering activities that provide the right kinds of shards or worse.. crystals, which are much more rare. This may depend on the area you start out in, it's quite possible. It's just a little annoying that I can get fire and earth shards by fishing, yet not air. Is this based on weather? Time of day? Did I just not fish or mine at the correct time or the right day of the game week? My only option for prey was moles, marmots, and coblyns. None of these dropped the shards I needed.

The obvious answer then seems to be that I should head to the market ward. With no search feature, you've got to check each player and retainer manually across around 10 different areas. A smart shopper would try to compare prices. Yuck! Good luck! This is something that needs to change. I don't mind being able to trade my goods for others that may be harder for me to obtain. Maybe Botany is the way to go? If I don't want to do that, I should be able to barter the items that I can gather. Help me do that with a viable search or auction system.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

FFXIV Open Beta

Over the past few days, I've been deep in the throngs of open beta play with FFXIV. I actually got quite lucky, to be honest. I don't believe I would have managed it on my own, that's for sure. Chalk this one up to having a wife who's beyond awesome. She was actually the one who got me in. My luck, it would seem, was not as good as hers, and yet I suppose I lucked out for even having a wife who would do that for me in the first place.

The site was straight up hammered. With all the negative press from closed beta, you'd think that most players who were only casually interested in the game would have left it alone. Maybe it was more like passersby being drawn to stare at car wrecks on the freeway instead of just going on their merry way? Either way, imagine a large-scale distributed denial of service attack and that's pretty much what was happening behind the scenes with the servers. They just couldn't handle all the web traffic and login attempts. Hundreds of thousands of people were all trying to squeeze through a tiny pipe all at the same time and refreshing the page every thirty seconds - thus compounding the problem. But what can you do? It's not like they'd save you a spot in the beta for being nice and waiting until the initial rush has settled.

The surprising thing is that this shouldn't have taken SE by surprise. How many of you remember the fiasco that was the Wings of the Goddess expansion registration server crisis? Nothing like selling your customers a partially finished expansion and then making them wait to register it because your infrastructure isn't up to snuff to handle the requests. Metrics, what are those?

Does this seem like a bitch fest? It really isn't. More just light humor exposing certain trends with the Final Fantasy trademark as of late. You see, there is a lot to wade through when trying to garner info about FFXIV. You've got the haters, the fanboys, the dreamers, and the cynics.

The Haters - these guys hate the game pretty much because it exists and isn't what they are used to. Either that or because it's cool to rage about things on the internet and call people, products, and those who like them stupid. They may regurgitate valid points that others have made, but it's all just fodder for the war machine.

The Fanboys - These guys are equal opposites to The Haters. These guys love the game because there is no other option. All your base are belong to Square-Enix so shut up and play or go away. Logic fails on these people and if you disagree then you were obviously looking for just another WoW clone and don't have the intellect it takes to play a sophisticated MMO.

The Dreamers - easily mistaken for Fanboys, these guys are nearly blind in their sentiment that things will get better. No hardware mouse, auction house? Don't worry, all in due time! Anti-RMT measures that seem more like anti-player? It's all for a better playing experience...

The Cynics - these guys are the realists of the bunch. They want the game to be good, but they just can't help but see the glaring flaws. With the game so close to release, they are in a panic and try to spread the word -- hoping that their complaints get some recognition so a fix can be implemented. But is it too late?


I suppose there could yet be another category of player out there, The Realist. Part dreamer, part cynic, these players remember the Wings of the Goddess release and the unfinished expansion. They realize that it isn't beyond SE to release an unfinished product. They saw the affects of certain anti-RMT measures and the way they killed the economy and playstyles of legitimate players. They realize that SE is a company who prefers to dictate rather than listen. Yet, somehow they hope there is more. They hope that SE will listen, that the game will grow and evolve into something much more than it is now.

Of these, I hope the majority of us could be realists. There are some issues with the game in its current state, that's for sure. We can't make a company like Square-Enix listen to us, that's on them, but hopefully we can enjoy the game for what it is.

I look forward to posting more about my in-game experience, so stay tuned!
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