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Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,396
26,521
The Misty Mountains
They said server transfers are high on their list but keeping things stable is their priority. I would tend to agree with them, I'd rather have stability over being able to move around worlds.

Fingers crossed! I think the initial madness has died. I'm starting to believe I can log into a N.A. server on a regular basis! ;)
 

ljonesj

macrumors 6502a
Oct 20, 2009
945
63
Kingsport TN
Ive been playing on lamia and have not had any problems except 3102 after the server maintenance but they go that sorted out for me
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,396
26,521
The Misty Mountains
I went into this game ignorant and because I liked Gridania and magic, chose a Conjurer which I have since discovered is the primary healing class. I'm at level 11 and it's attack rotations are boring, basically two attacks, the annoying "rocks" ba-boom, ba-boom over and over, and the wind attack from what I can tell hardly does nothing. I played a dedicated healer in WoW and frankly, although it is solo survivable up to L11, I need to research this and see if the attacks gets any better or I may switch to Thaumaturge.
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,396
26,521
The Misty Mountains
Just read this article: Brief Thoughts on FFXIV Crafting

My least favorite part about crafting would undoubtedly be the gathering side. It’s not like other MMOs where a random node pops up or whatever, which is good. There are certain locations that will always have the nodes, trees, bushes, or whatever you need. Usually they seem to be in a clump of four and you just rotate between them while they respawn. You’ll most likely see other people around you gathering from the same nodes, or nodes you can’t even see, but everybody seems to actually get their own nodes. Sounds good, right? Sure, except it takes. FOR. EV. ER. FOR.EVER. FOREVER!

In WoW I did the Armorsmith craft, collected my thousand thoriums and other metals, spending buku amounts of time devoted to it. Yes it did give me some extra income and even decent gear I could hand down to my alts, however looking at FFXIV crafting, it's hit and miss nature striving for better quality is more involved, and more time consuming. You just can't whip out 10 leggings, you have to devote time to each pair. Consequently, I'm having second thoughts. It really is a weighing the benefits as compared to the amount of time required.

How about just collecting? Is that worth it? The feature I miss from WoW is the ability to always see nodes and be collecting no matter what you are doing. In FFXIV, it is a dedicated, "switch to the class" endeavor.

Looking for opinions from anyone with FFXIV crafting experience.
Thanks! :)
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,396
26,521
The Misty Mountains
After leveling 3 characters from 1 to approx Level 20, I'm starting to get the "been-there-done-this" feeling, the same one that eventually made me quit WoW. :(

I acknowledge that the environment is beautiful, the Conjurer story is outstanding and it really makes you feel like a valued addition to Eorzea (although you know every Conjurer in the game is getting this treatment- "you are so wonderful, I'm making you my emissary!" ;)), and some game mechanics like having multiple classes on a single character, and the duty finder are superior. I'll just have to see how it goes.

After being exposed to the free to play (FTP) models, I'm less inclined to pay a monthly fee, however also acknowledging in 6 months, I've voluntarily payed the equivalent of 2 years of WoW subscription in World of Tanks, a FTP game.
 

Plutonius

macrumors G3
Feb 22, 2003
9,019
8,383
New Hampshire, USA
After leveling 3 characters from 1 to approx Level 20, I'm starting to get the "been-there-done-this" feeling, the same one that eventually made me quit WoW. :(

I acknowledge that the environment is beautiful, the Conjurer story is outstanding and it really makes you feel like a valued addition to Eorzea (although you know every Conjurer in the game is getting this treatment- "you are so wonderful, I'm making you my emissary!" ;)), and some game mechanics like having multiple classes on a single character, and the duty finder are superior. I'll just have to see how it goes.

After being exposed to the free to play (FTP) models, I'm less inclined to pay a monthly fee, however also acknowledging in 6 months, I've voluntarily payed the equivalent of 2 years of WoW subscription in World of Tanks, a FTP game.

Are you going to stick with it or return to the World of Tanks ?
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,396
26,521
The Misty Mountains
Are you going to stick with it or return to the World of Tanks ?

I'm still with WoT, just renewed my 6 month subscription (for premium credit). :)

You know, bottom line the FFXIV questing mechanics are exactly the same as WoW- kill, kill and collect, escort. They do have other activities like Guildleaves (solo), Guildhest (group), and Hunting logs to gather XP quickly. But that too is the same mechanics. I did some of the Guildhests, (group scenario action offered by the game) as a healer (Conjurer), running around healing and avoiding aggro if possible, just like before. :rolleyes:

I will say of the 3 recent MMORPGs I've played (SWTOR, GW2, FFXIV), Final Fantasy despite a lousy launch from a server standpoint*, is the best of the 3. SWTOR was the worst IMO. I think SWTOR was the worst mostly because I had HUGE expectations for it, stepping into the magic SW universe and eh, it was just another MMO. FF has it beat hands down for story, cinematics, and drawing you into its world.

*Server issues have subsided.
 
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Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,396
26,521
The Misty Mountains
Any idea on how it would run on a mid 2012 13" cMBP on bootcamp?

If you have Windows all ready installed on your Mac you can download and run SE's FF Benchmark software. I'll have to stick this in the MR Guide.


FXIV: ARR Minimum System Requirements:

Operating System: Windows® Vista 32/64bit, Windows® 7 32/64 bit
Processor: Intel® Core™2 Duo
Graphics: NVIDIA® Geforce® 8800 Series, ATI Radeon™ HD 4770
Memory: 2GB (4GB recommended for 64bit OS)
Disk Space: 20GB.
(link)
 

Liquorpuki

macrumors 68020
Jun 18, 2009
2,286
8
City of Angels
You know, bottom line the FFXIV questing mechanics are exactly the same as WoW- kill, kill and collect, escort. They do have other activities like Guildleaves (solo), Guildhest (group), and Hunting logs to gather XP quickly. But that too is the same mechanics. I did some of the Guildhests, (group scenario action offered by the game) as a healer (Conjurer), running around healing and avoiding aggro if possible, just like before. :rolleyes:

I will say of the 3 recent MMORPGs I've played (SWTOR, GW2, FFXIV), Final Fantasy despite a lousy launch from a server standpoint*, is the best of the 3. SWTOR was the worst IMO. I think SWTOR was the worst mostly because I had HUGE expectations for it, stepping into the magic SW universe and eh, it was just another MMO. FF has it beat hands down for story, cinematics, and drawing you into its world.

I'm only level 14, haven't played a lot, but I like the game so far. Though to be fair my expectations for any new MMORPG have been lowered over the past decade. I like how crafting is handled. One thing I thought was funny about SWTOR is how it had NPC's do the crafting for you. AKA WoW made crafting so boring SWTOR considered it an improvement to include a gaming mechanic where you didn't have to do it. In this game they brought some of the fun back to crafting, which is how it was before WoW.

Waiting for the first patch with player housing to come out
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,396
26,521
The Misty Mountains
I'm only level 14, haven't played a lot, but I like the game so far. Though to be fair my expectations for any new MMORPG have been lowered over the past decade. I like how crafting is handled. One thing I thought was funny about SWTOR is how it had NPC's do the crafting for you. AKA WoW made crafting so boring SWTOR considered it an improvement to include a gaming mechanic where you didn't have to do it. In this game they brought some of the fun back to crafting, which is how it was before WoW.

Waiting for the first patch with player housing to come out

I'm with you on this. I think since our first MMOS, you, me, and millions of other gamer's expectations have changed. We not only expect, but need more, to remain engaged. I view FFXIV as a WoW based game with some different mechanics, like all-in-one classes.

Last night after sending Dexter off, I finished the first two FFXIV dungeons, Sastasha Seagrot and Tam-Tara Deepcroft, and missed the Emmys in the process. :( And while the dungeons were pretty, there was nothing really challenging about them. You could plunk them down in Wow and feel right at home.

400px-Sastasha2.jpg

Sastasha Seagrot

Final-Fantasy-XIV-Alpha-Tam-Tara-7.jpg

Tam-Tara Deepcroft (some guy in a cave)

Regarding difficulty, granted this could be because they were L15-18 dungeons, I was with a guild group who knew what they were doing, and my Arcanist was L18. I will mention one nice feature is when high level toons enter a dungeon, their abilities are scaled down. (But I have no idea if their gear scales down with them?)

It was fun, but combat had a very WoW routine feel about it. Would I have been more happy if I was fighting for my life the entire time or there was a specific chain of attacks that had to be accomplished in just the right timing to be successful? Actually no, because I'm casual. So there has to be something else to engage me and this is the dilemma, been-there-done-that with an environment like so much that came before it. For myself this is a bad harbinger for my continued participation in this game. If I am ambivalent, I might keep dabbling in it, if it was no-subscription. As it is, I'll just have to see how it goes.
 
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librarian

macrumors regular
Sep 24, 2011
107
3
At about level 30 difficulty curve gets steep, specially for dungeons. Aggro/threat management and crowd control of enemies is needed unless you want a dead tank or healer every single pull :)
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,396
26,521
The Misty Mountains
Since this post talks mostly about FFXIV, but is in the Insanely Reconsidering WoW thread, I opted to reply to it in this thread.

To be fair, the first dungeons of WoW are also mundane. I'm up to turn 5 of Coil now (end game raid) and think that Square Enix has done a fantastic job on the raiding... The only problem is that, like all new games, there isn't enough content.

Having only 2 4-man dungeons at the end makes for a boring grind until you get the gear for Coil. Then once you get into coil, progression is exciting, and the boss fights are extremely difficult (reminds me of old-style WoW). Again, however, this gets old quickly as there are only 5 bosses throughout the raid, each of which takes about 1-2 weeks to master (maybe with the exception of turn 5). Once you master them, though, you can get the entire raid done within an hour.

2.1 comes out in December which should bring some more content and hopefully some bug fixes as well. Currently its my favorite MMO, but this new WoW expansion has certainly piqued my interest. If SE can't keep up with content updates, I may consider going back.

P.S. - I played WoW from Vanilla through the end of Wrath, bought Cataclysm and pretty much called it quits after my Guild downed the 4.0 raids in less than a month after hitting 85.

Just did Toto Rak (L24-27) and it's mundane too. I'd have to disagree with your characterization of WoW dungeons. As I recall all of the WoW dungeons had engaging designs and environments. Even the first one, Dead Mines despite it's "mine" qualities, had interesting features. FFXIV dungeons so far are dark, dreary, and boring. I'm not speaking of fight mechanics, but of the layout and visual environment.

When you tell me a FFXIV raid is extremely difficult, and refer to limited content, that's a bad sign. Because number one, I am a casual player. Even in WoW I only did a couple of raids before deciding it was not for me and spent most of my dungeon time in the 5 player dungeons. I remember my WoW addicted friend telling me of her WoW raid exploits and the commitment was too much like having a job. In FFXIV:ARR I'm all ready noticing lack of quests for secondary and tertiary class leveling, and honestly I don't see my self leveling these other classes with grind or FATE partying.
 

Pyromonkey83

macrumors 6502
May 24, 2009
325
0
Since this post talks mostly about FFXIV, but is in the Insanely Reconsidering WoW thread, I opted to reply to it in this thread.



Just did Toto Rak (L24-27) and it's mundane too. I'd have to disagree with your characterization of WoW dungeons. As I recall all of the WoW dungeons had engaging designs and environments. Even the first one, Dead Mines despite it's "mine" qualities, had interesting features. FFXIV dungeons so far are dark, dreary, and boring. I'm not speaking of fight mechanics, but of the layout and visual environment.

When you tell me a FFXIV raid is extremely difficult, and refer to limited content, that's a bad sign. Because number one, I am a casual player. Even in WoW I only did a couple of raids before deciding it was not for me and spent most of my dungeon time in the 5 player dungeons. I remember my WoW addicted friend telling me of her WoW raid exploits and the commitment was too much like having a job. In FFXIV:ARR I'm all ready noticing lack of quests for secondary and tertiary class leveling, and honestly I don't see my self leveling these other classes with grind or FATE partying.

The dungeons become far more engaging an interesting around level 30. The Sunken Temple of Qarn is my first time recalling a dungeon that looked exciting and was very fun with challenging and interesting mechanics (reminds me a lot of AQ40 visually).

The limited content is definitely a bad thing, but I still remain engaged enough to continue for now, however if they do not add more content is not added quickly, this game will die an extremely quick death. In terms of your "commitment to a job" line for WoW raids, this is what I liked the least about WoW in general. My favorite part about FFXIV end game is that there is nearly zero trash in raids. Raids start, you kill the boss, then move on to the next. Each turn has a different feel, different difficulty, and different mechanics. If they can add more content quickly on the same level of fun as this, this game has an exceptionally bright future.

You did touch on a big problem though, which is lack of quests for secondary classes. The reason for this is that there ARENT ANY. Once you complete a quest with a character, it is completed forever, regardless of class change. When I started my leveling (Maurader/Warrior initially) I went through and completed every quest I could see. Later, I decided to switch to Paladin tanking as it was more my style (and currently Warrior is awful), and the only way to level was by FATE grinding for nearly 24 hours total. It was the worst leveling experience of my life...
 

Liquorpuki

macrumors 68020
Jun 18, 2009
2,286
8
City of Angels
I'll tell you the one thing I hate about this game right now

Recently I rerolled my character. Originally had a lalafell, made him dark skinned, and called him Nate Robinson. If you know basketball, that's kinda funny. Found out Lalafell are the the most annoying race I've ever played. Literally felt like I'm playing a 5 year old kid

So I started a human character from scratch. I'm level 20 right now, cannot get past the 3 starter dungeons to progress the story quest because nobody on my server does the starter dungeons anymore. So I can't get a mount, can't get into a company, etc. I've just been running around doing FATEs and sidequests for the past few days. They need to let me skip these quests
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,396
26,521
The Misty Mountains
The dungeons become far more engaging an interesting around level 30. The Sunken Temple of Qarn is my first time recalling a dungeon that looked exciting and was very fun with challenging and interesting mechanics (reminds me a lot of AQ40 visually).

The limited content is definitely a bad thing, but I still remain engaged enough to continue for now, however if they do not add more content is not added quickly, this game will die an extremely quick death. In terms of your "commitment to a job" line for WoW raids, this is what I liked the least about WoW in general. My favorite part about FFXIV end game is that there is nearly zero trash in raids. Raids start, you kill the boss, then move on to the next. Each turn has a different feel, different difficulty, and different mechanics. If they can add more content quickly on the same level of fun as this, this game has an exceptionally bright future.

You did touch on a big problem though, which is lack of quests for secondary classes. The reason for this is that there ARENT ANY. Once you complete a quest with a character, it is completed forever, regardless of class change. When I started my leveling (Maurader/Warrior initially) I went through and completed every quest I could see. Later, I decided to switch to Paladin tanking as it was more my style (and currently Warrior is awful), and the only way to level was by FATE grinding for nearly 24 hours total. It was the worst leveling experience of my life...[/QUOTE

Recently reupped my subscription for six months. I'll try to hang in that long. FATE grinding is a mindless and completely unrewarding way to level.

I'll tell you the one thing I hate about this game right now

Recently I rerolled my character. Originally had a lalafell, made him dark skinned, and called him Nate Robinson. If you know basketball, that's kinda funny. Found out Lalafell are the the most annoying race I've ever played. Literally felt like I'm playing a 5 year old kid

So I started a human character from scratch. I'm level 20 right now, cannot get past the 3 starter dungeons to progress the story quest because nobody on my server does the starter dungeons anymore. So I can't get a mount, can't get into a company, etc. I've just been running around doing FATEs and sidequests for the past few days. They need to let me skip these quests

That is kinda funny! (the first part) :D Fortunately in my guild there are people very willing to do the low level dungeons, at least for now.
 

Pyromonkey83

macrumors 6502
May 24, 2009
325
0
I'll tell you the one thing I hate about this game right now

Recently I rerolled my character. Originally had a lalafell, made him dark skinned, and called him Nate Robinson. If you know basketball, that's kinda funny. Found out Lalafell are the the most annoying race I've ever played. Literally felt like I'm playing a 5 year old kid

So I started a human character from scratch. I'm level 20 right now, cannot get past the 3 starter dungeons to progress the story quest because nobody on my server does the starter dungeons anymore. So I can't get a mount, can't get into a company, etc. I've just been running around doing FATEs and sidequests for the past few days. They need to let me skip these quests

Have you tried using the Duty Finder? That will search for people not just on your server but in your server region (NA/EU or JP). You can also turn on all language settings to open your chances of being grouped to more people... The only downside is that you have a chance of getting people who don't speak the same language as you, but theres not much communication required in the early levels anyway. =P

Also, if you are a DPS, expect very long queues at the lower levels, but they will get better as time goes on. Healers/Tanks have much better queue times at all levels, like most MMOs.
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,396
26,521
The Misty Mountains
It's beautiful, but I think I'm starting to fade. Not enough quests to support a variety of class development. The first 5 dungeon are unimpressive. FATE parties are mindless wastes of time. :( Still playing though.
 
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