Final Fantasy XIV

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

That is pretty deep of you. The first thing I did when I went ingame was run and grind my physical levels.

Considering that it's now 2010 and not 2004 — when I had a lot of free time at my disposal, no thanks to a dead-end programming job — I am levelling very slowly compared to you. That said, I have to say that FFXIV is definitely way more solo-friendly than FFXI ever was, appealing much more to casual gamers thanks to its guildleves system.

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Most MMOs are driven by the players, and like the real world economy and politics, it runs mostly on greed and fear.

I take it you never played FFXI? It had what was possibly the most developed virtual economy of any MMORPG I've played (short of, perhaps, Eve Online, which I never took up). Demand and supply have very observable effects on auction house prices in FFXI, as does money supply. At the height of the RMT invasion, around 2005 or 2006, hyper-inflation drove up prices to astronomical levels. Plenty of players suffered because of it, while the enterprising few made a fortune (I, for example, started specialising in the manufacture of firesand, the game's version of gunpowder, used by high-level gun-wielding rangers; the hyper-inflation drove up prices, at one point, by over 200 per cent).

Given such scenarios, I'd be surprised if I'm the first to suggest that MMORPGs like FFXI could actually serve as superb laboratories for real-world economics experiments.

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Since you have brought up the world theme and timeline, I would say that the storyboarding theme did a good job of belaying the introduction of Gunnery. As cool as it sounds, leaving it to the later stages of the game is a pretty good idea, though I do not know what will become of Archery after that is introduced.

I have a strong hunch that a musketeer discipline is already in the pipeline, possibly being saved for a planned expansion. It's not a far-fetched idea, given how the Barracuda Knights of Limsa Lominsa, along with all the city's pirates, already make very open use of firearms.

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Which server are you on? I seriously need more people to play with me - as brilliant as a plan to play this game and stay at home will reduce my monthly expenses by 50% (it already did, and a further 5% thanks to the free 30 days more), if I get bored, this plan goes to nothing.

Selbina (as a FFXI old-timer, where else would I go? I loved that Vana'diel town). My character's name is Lyland Battersea, if anyone feels like tracking me down.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Considering that it's now 2010 and not 2004 — when I had a lot of free time at my disposal, no thanks to a dead-end programming job — I am levelling very slowly compared to you. That said, I have to say that FFXIV is definitely way more solo-friendly than FFXI ever was, appealing much more to casual gamers thanks to its guildleves system.

I don't have alot of free time either, so I was splitting my time out with target aims, like :

1. Battlecrafts + Weaving quests everyday. Weaving quests are more important, battlecrafts aren't - so once I am done with Weaving quests I just go to school / sleep.

2. Gather supplies and store them. Planning to train Leathercraft > Blacksmithing > Armory > the rest. Right now I am happily burning through my 3 stacks of Sheepskin Leather into Vamps, 170 exp ea, 160 for curing a sheepskin, so that comes to about 210 exp per sheep leather.

3. Time management - I swear that that is the most crucial part to success. Some of my RL friends who played the game asked me how can I juggle work, school, projects and FFXIV at a level 28 character. When I don't have the time to play, I don't, I leave it until Saturday night or Sunday morning.

I take it you never played FFXI? It had what was possibly the most developed virtual economy of any MMORPG I've played (short of, perhaps, Eve Online, which I never took up). Demand and supply have very observable effects on auction house prices in FFXI, as does money supply. At the height of the RMT invasion, around 2005 or 2006, hyper-inflation drove up prices to astronomical levels. Plenty of players suffered because of it, while the enterprising few made a fortune (I, for example, started specialising in the manufacture of firesand, the game's version of gunpowder, used by high-level gun-wielding rangers; the hyper-inflation drove up prices, at one point, by over 200 per cent).

I never played FFXI (was 16 at that time and was in and out of police stations, counselling centres and the principal office ), but I have played Fiesta Online (since the beta), Maplestory (before it came to SEA in 2003-4), Runescape and Eve Online.

Maplestory is the first game which I actively manipulated the economy to earn money, but the currency is heavily devaluated (a wand with no scrolling can cost a million!). Due to the NPC price of potions, farming was prevalent, and before GameGuard, I gave up and botted. Never got banned - it is an awfully boring game.

Runescape, similarly, wasn't botproof, but it taught me one thing : how to program in Javascript. I was making bots all along for the 2-3 years I was playing the game, and rather intriguing to set the interesting bot functions based on player psychology. That is before the stock exchange was implemented; which I blew 10 million on buying and selling all the wrong stuff hoping that they would rise, could consider it my first experience in playing the stock market that generated my interest in it.

Fiesta Online is the closest game I can see closest to FFXIV. I say it is a really fun game with cute graphics, but the concept wears out at level 50 turning it into a massive grindfest. I had a level 60 warrior, pure defense type, and that was when I stopped being an antisocial solofreak and started party-questing, practically parties are relying on me to tank the boss all the time. Burning through mana potions was the only unfun part about PQ.

I only played EO for a short time before switching out to Maple. I seriously enjoyed the game concept, though never played it for a long enough time to fully appreciate the economy.

Given such scenarios, I'd be surprised if I'm the first to suggest that MMORPGs like FFXI could actually serve as superb laboratories for real-world economics experiments.

Like WoW's Corrupted Blood incident?

One thing about online games have taught me is that the nicest people are always the dumbest and most easily manipulated, and they make up the majority. They are willing to pay prices for the rarest items with little or no haggling, and seemingly embrace consumerism with grace.

As such I never sell stuff to them, I always barter for goods so I can make more stuff to sell. It is rather asinine to cheat them out of their money, and the closest way to profit from it is to trade for raw materials.

An online game, first and foremost, should be fun and entertaining. As much as it can imitate real life scenarios*, it should be fun. I think the best way to do it is to allow the players to have a hand in manipulating macro-world events (other than the economy) based on their own strengths.

* - The fishing mechanic was a total fail at that.

I have a strong hunch that a musketeer discipline is already in the pipeline, possibly being saved for a planned expansion. It's not a far-fetched idea, given how the Barracuda Knights of Limsa Lominsa, along with all the city's pirates, already make very open use of firearms.

Hence :

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Money earning tip : After the 2nd Retainer is made available, start hoarding flint stones. They are around 800-1000 each, probably dropping to 500-800 ea, with the introduction of guns, it would shoot up to 1000-2000 each.

Flintstones will probably be used to make bullets or firearms. Either way it would still be a profitable expense. Either that or choose Blacksmith-Carpenter as your main craftset.

Selbina (as a FFXI old-timer, where else would I go? I loved that Vana'diel town). My character's name is Lyland Battersea, if anyone feels like tracking me down.

I am on Gyshal - where most Singaporeans (and for some odd reason, Strike Witches fans) are. Probably won't be seeing you around, but you will probably see me in December on fansites coming up with all sorts of maths and stuff during my vacation.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Flintstones will probably be used to make bullets or firearms. Either way it would still be a profitable expense. Either that or choose Blacksmith-Carpenter as your main craftset.

Err... this was the recipe for FFXI's Hexagun, the specialised firearm of the Corsair job (a mix between a gambler and a buccaneer):

Hexagun

Main Skill: Smithing (77 - Artisan)
Sub-Skills: Woodworking, Goldsmithing
Crystal: Fire
Ingredients: Steel Ingot, Darksteel Ingot, Walnut Lumber, Bloodwood Lumber, Gold Ingot, Mercury

As you can see, no flint stones required. 'Tis the magic of FF-tech.

Of course, things could change in FFXIV, but I hardly think that's reason enough to start trying to corner the pebbles market.

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

I only played EO for a short time before switching out to Maple. I seriously enjoyed the game concept, though never played it for a long enough time to fully appreciate the economy.

There's the in-game economy, and there's also the huge support from the player community, culminating in an actual price index for each server's economy, courtesy of the now venerable FFXI Auction House website.

When elemental staves were first released, I had a linkshell-mate who actually speculated on the then must-have mage weapons, and made good returns on the ever growing demand. Supply eventually reached saturation, and prices plummeted hence to bargain-basement prices. That caused a fair bit of rage among the early adopters, heh heh.

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

I am on Gyshal - where most Singaporeans (and for some odd reason, Strike Witches fans) are. Probably won't be seeing you around, but you will probably see me in December on fansites coming up with all sorts of maths and stuff during my vacation.

Given FFXIV's soloability, I don't think I'd miss the lack of Singaporeans all that much, unlike how it was in FFXI. Come to think of it, the game was one of the initial impetus for me to learn Japanese, because I ended up grouping with Japanese players so often. It was quite an eye-opener, playing with a group of people with such strong community etiquette.

As for fansites, many are already up and running, such as FFXIV Zam. No need to wait till December.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Err... this was the recipe for FFXI's Hexagun, the specialised firearm of the Corsair job (a mix between a gambler and a buccaneer):

Hexagun

Main Skill: Smithing (77 - Artisan)
Sub-Skills: Woodworking, Goldsmithing
Crystal: Fire
Ingredients: Steel Ingot, Darksteel Ingot, Walnut Lumber, Bloodwood Lumber, Gold Ingot, Mercury

As you can see, no flint stones required. 'Tis the magic of FF-tech.

Of course, things could change in FFXIV, but I hardly think that's reason enough to start trying to corner the pebbles market.

If you take a look at the description of Flinstones, it would be part of the firearm industry. Come to think of it, it wouldn't be exactly worthless in the end considering that Flint Arrows are pretty high damage and worth the money against tougher monsters.

When elemental staves were first released, I had a linkshell-mate who actually speculated on the then must-have mage weapons, and made good returns on the ever growing demand. Supply eventually reached saturation, and prices plummeted hence to bargain-basement prices. That caused a fair bit of rage among the early adopters, heh heh.

I don't plan to stay in the market for long. I would probably push the stuff out at 30-50% profit while others are aiming for at least 70-100% (profiteer psychology again).

When the demand dies down, I would be sitting on gil rather than stones - I did the same to brass spears when someone was able to make it.

Given FFXIV's soloability, I don't think I'd miss the lack of Singaporeans all that much, unlike how it was in FFXI. Come to think of it, the game was one of the initial impetus for me to learn Japanese, because I ended up grouping with Japanese players so often. It was quite an eye-opener, playing with a group of people with such strong community etiquette.

Wait until you start with the r20 Levequests. It becomes teamplay all over again, I would have certainly fared better if the combat system allows a fast selection of targets for hit-and-run.

Honestly speaking, I don't really mind the lack of Singaporeans or whatever - most of the Gyshal players are pretty self-serving and treating the game as a wholly solo grindfest; good for the economy (constant appearance of items), but bad for the game.

Hopefully SE comes up with a pay-to-transfer-character system, or I am going to Wutai or another server.

EDIT :

For those of you who are interesting in playing Lancer, don't buy Iron Spears now. Use Brass Spears and wait for a week or so before switching over - the 300k price tag is ridiculous.

DOUBLE EDIT :

A word of advice TRL, don't spread your skills out like that. Have some focus - either go magic or war as main, and buy better weapons to make up for your lowered damage on the other end, otherwise you would have hell on the later levels.

Hand-to-Hand should be Dex-Str type, go pure Dex and Strength (split points evenly) until you are level 10. Then start pumping skill points, like 2 Vit and the rest STR-DEX evenly. Mage arms are pretty easy to find on this server, but you only need Cure or Sacrifice on the first 30 Physical levels.

[SaintessHeart]

Update :

It seems that this game is turning into a massively complicated grindfest for me that I have to make an alternate character to play with. I hit level 29 and had to spend 5 hours in the damn market wards to get my level 29 armour and kecks - and there is still nobody who can make a goddamn Ash Longbow or Cavalry Bow.

I have been hitting into the 500+ damage range with my Willow SB, but my health is still too little and nobody wants to party, PLUS all my friends seemed to have abandoned the game altogether.

Currently, I created alternates on Wutai, Selbina and Lindblum to test the servers and economies. None of the economies are able to match the vibrancy of Gyshal's so I am still looking around before making a server switch/stay.

[Kyero Fox]

damn you, I thought you ment a patch update

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

DOUBLE EDIT :

A word of advice TRL, don't spread your skills out like that. Have some focus - either go magic or war as main, and buy better weapons to make up for your lowered damage on the other end, otherwise you would have hell on the later levels.

Hmm... Are you trying to tell me how to play my game?

I don't even know how you think I'm spreading my skills. I've been focusing on Str/Dex and Int as it were, and sticking to just cloth-based disciplines, that is pugilism (war), mage craft (magic), cookery (hand) and fishing (land). And before you holler, I've always played some variant of fighter/mage in most of my RPGs, except when the option is not available. Even then, I almost always lean towards jack-of-all-trade classes (hence Red Mage in FFXI, with great success).

And in case you haven't noticed by now, I typically play with a character-role template in mind. While I do, of course, try to min-max when playing in parties (hasn't happened yet in FFXIV), my job/class choices will still usually reflect some aspect of my character's development.

And, as far as the story, I've just completed the third quest in the Limsa Lominsa plotline, and wow...

Spoiler for storyline spoiler:

...Y'shtola is definitely one hot kitty. ♥



So, it seems the miqo'te sorceress is from the city-state of Sharlaya. Treachery is afoot in Limsa Lominsa: The Admiral has apparently been murdered and one of Ascians, sinister shadoweaters, has claimed the relic stolen from Swallowtail Roam. And, damn, those were indeed some pretty "fireworks" that the Ascian summoned.

It further appears that the main character can hear the "Echo". MC is saved by a certain someone and is told to seek him out in Ul'Dah.

Oh yeah, the third cutscene featuring a naval engagement between Lominsan and Reaver warships was stunning...

Heh, just as I was about ready to hang up the game, it goes ahead and hooks me deep. In terms of the main plot, FFXIV already seems a lot more promising than FFXI was at this stage. And, just like in FFXI (Rank 3 missions), the game is providing players with a motive to visit each city in turn.

So, it seems I'm off to the desert now. Not a moment too soon, as it's about time to develop Lyland's skill in thaumaturgy a little bit further.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Kyero Fox

damn you, I thought you ment a patch update

The patches aren't fixing anything - the 2h wait before full reassigning points made it hard for it to play as both magic and war, switching alternatively when the time comes.

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Hmm... Are you trying to tell me how to play my game?

Nonono, I think you misunderstand me. I was just suggesting something because I did some calculations while fooling around my noob char in Lindblum.

I don't even know how you think I'm spreading my skills. I've been focusing on Str/Dex and Int as it were, and sticking to just cloth-based disciplines, that is pugilism (war), mage craft (magic), cookery (hand) and fishing (land). And before you holler, I've always played some variant of fighter/mage in most of my RPGs, except when the option is not available. Even then, I almost always lean towards jack-of-all-trade classes (hence Red Mage in FFXI, with great success).

And in case you haven't noticed by now, I typically play with a character-role template in mind. While I do, of course, try to min-max when playing in parties (hasn't happened yet in FFXIV), my job/class choices will still usually reflect some aspect of my character's development.

I usually play the speed-magic types with hit-and-run aspects. I usually avoid getting hit by micromanaging my skills and movement, but the combat system makes it close to IMPOSSIBLE to do hit-and-run due to target selection.

Pugilist is a melee class, so you definitely need +Vit. Cloth-based war disciplines like Archer and Pugi die really, really fast without Vit when doing higher level levequests.

The game is broken in a sense that technically, it is impossible to play both magic and war without sacrificing soloability and damage/support optimisation. I classed into Magic on my main for Cure and Sacrifice to tone down the damage done by ranged attacks and improve survivability.

Unlike NWN where one can choose the Eldritch Knight or Dragon Disciple to class both in magic and physical, this game has made it incredibly hard to cross magic with war - I am thinking of going into Bio/Dia with my archer to maximise damage potential, but I think it would't make much of a difference due to the limited amount of Action Points in my slots. I had serious problems doing damage optimisation and killing fast enough due to the stupid "delay-between-casting" combat mechanic (YES, casting buffs increases aggro, so what is the point of going ranged when you are going to end up hitting the monster at melee anyway?).

Seriously though, they need to fix the archer. I keep getting only around 70-85% hit rate per mob rather than a 80-90% range; not a wonder there aren't many high level archer arms on the market because nobody buys it.

<snip>

I do agree that the storyline actually keeps me going....somehow I really wished they introduced the guns and katana so I can become an exact Expy of what my character is named after. *

* - Yeah, both share the same VA.

[Miyuki-ism]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

Square-Enix sure screwed the pooch on this one. How could they not learn their lesson from FFXI? How could they screw this up so bad? Just cloning WoW guarantees at least modest success, and they do this instead.

What lesson? FFXI has been doing great for years.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

I usually play the speed-magic types with hit-and-run aspects. I usually avoid getting hit by micromanaging my skills and movement, but the combat system makes it close to IMPOSSIBLE to do hit-and-run due to target selection.

Yeesh. In other words, you want to play like WoW's hunter, which may be possible if you combine spells like Slow and Gravity with the archer's repertoire. I don't particularly like winning by kiting though — it takes way too much effort. The last time I played such a strategy was with the Terran Enforcer class in the now-defunct Earth & Beyond MMORPG.

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Pugilist is a melee class, so you definitely need +Vit. Cloth-based war disciplines like Archer and Pugi die really, really fast without Vit when doing higher level levequests.

A lot depends, I think, on whether you intend your pugilist to be a tank. At the moment, it appears that the gladiator and pugilist are the default tank classes, but both approach the role in different ways, with the gladiator emphasising heavy armour and defence, while the pugilist emphasises hate generation and evasion-based skills.

If you intend to play as a tank then, most definitely, Vit is a must-have stat. If not, it's Str/Dex, for damage dealing for sure.

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

The game is broken in a sense that technically, it is impossible to play both magic and war without sacrificing soloability and damage/support optimisation. I classed into Magic on my main for Cure and Sacrifice to tone down the damage done by ranged attacks and improve survivability.

Actually, it's been working out splendidly for me. Pugilism is my main discipline at the moment, with Seismic Shock and Concussion Blow being my key damage-dealing skills. On top of 1,000TP, Seismic Shock also uses 10MP. So, to keep my MP topped up, I add in Radiance, a Conjuration spell that draws MP from an opponent upon a successful hit. The extra MP also allows me to be fairly trigger-happy with Cure. So, when Second Wind is still on cooldown, I use Cure to heal up and head on immediately to my next target with almost-zero downtime.

So, surprisingly enough, I appear to have stumbled upon a feasible build for now, at least as far as soloing is concerned. I can forsee a need to specialise, though, if I am forced to party more frequently in the future.

Hope that doesn't happen — FFXIV has been working great so far as a casual MMORPG. I wouldn't want it to be like FFXI all over again, forcing me to play in groups in order to advance the storyline.

[Kotohono]

Originally Posted by Miyuki-ism

What lesson? FFXI has been doing great for years.

<_< I haven't played XI since early this year but, there are two very important lessons I hope they learned; A. Not letting the console limit the game, god if I had quarter for every SE used "PS2 limitations" as an excuse for anything I'd be rich, and B. More importantly how to actually balance combat system/classes in a timely manner; seriously class imbalance was still a huge problem when I quit the game and one of the forces that drives me away from trying XIV.

Hint: 2~3 years to make vital combat system changes isn't really acceptable.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Yeesh. In other words, you want to play like WoW's hunter, which may be possible if you combine spells like Slow and Gravity with the archer's repertoire. I don't particularly like winning by kiting though — it takes way too much effort. The last time I played such a strategy was with the Terran Enforcer class in the now-defunct Earth & Beyond MMORPG.

E&B was a great game, but the marketing and sales dept are pretty retarded - heck the packaging doesn't even draw enough attention.

Back on topic, I find that kiting hardly takes any effort, plus it is the brilliant way of killing monsters way beyond your level or gear. Must be that I am the NT type according to MBTI; I draw my energy from thinking.

A lot depends, I think, on whether you intend your pugilist to be a tank. At the moment, it appears that the gladiator and pugilist are the default tank classes, but both approach the role in different ways, with the gladiator emphasising heavy armour and defence, while the pugilist emphasises hate generation and evasion-based skills.

If you intend to play as a tank then, most definitely, Vit is a must-have stat. If not, it's Str/Dex, for damage dealing for sure.

Even if you are a DD, your pugi isn't exactly dealing optimal damage according to calculations. Vit adds to defence, and since evasion is not foolproof (without godly gear), your DD-DT / Monster (Damage Dealt-Damage Taken per monster), you would have problems engaging monsters at the r30 Battlecraft leves when it becomes available at level 17-20, you would need BOTH Physical levels and gear to compensate.

However, if the fun factor kicked in for you, I cannot argue, for a game's chief importance is fun*.

* - My friend, who dropped the game, asked me how could I find fun in such a complicated grindfest. I told him that I enjoy doing the estimates, and he told me that I was crazy.

Actually, it's been working out splendidly for me. Pugilism is my main discipline at the moment, with Seismic Shock and Concussion Blow being my key damage-dealing skills. On top of 1,000TP, Seismic Shock also uses 10MP. So, to keep my MP topped up, I add in Radiance, a Conjuration spell that draws MP from an opponent upon a successful hit. The extra MP also allows me to be fairly trigger-happy with Cure. So, when Second Wind is still on cooldown, I use Cure to heal up and head on immediately to my next target with almost-zero downtime.

The MP return spells of the Magic disciples are useful, I must admit, but I got bored with levelling up my mage skills so I dropped the idea. Besides, with the cast delay EVEN before the cast-countdown starts, I would most likely die before I even attack another monster.

I used Bloodbath with Cure instead, but they fixed the damn bug where you can cast an AOE skill and get healed up to the portion total damage dealt - the programming cannot choose which monster being damaged returns the HP, so it heals all that is caught within the range of Wide Volley.

They fixed it to only heal ONLY the targeted monster, so if it is missed, I waste 1000 TP. Bullshit.

So, surprisingly enough, I appear to have stumbled upon a feasible build for now, at least as far as soloing is concerned. I can forsee a need to specialise, though, if I am forced to party more frequently in the future.

I didn't quite like partying - I am slightly sociopathic by nature. However, having friends to play with is much easier to exchange resources and skills, for example, I can repair all of my friends' equipment which are cloth or wood based.

Now they stopped playing, I was cursing and swearing about having my skills gone to waste.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

E&B was a great game, but the marketing and sales dept are pretty retarded - heck the packaging doesn't even draw enough attention.

E&B had a nice concept, but the story got lost. No story = pure grindfest = boring. Anarchy Online had the same problem, but at least grinding was fun for a while in that Dune-inspired game. Incidentally, FFXIV's guildleves remind me instantly of AO's mission vending machines (yup, the concept is that old but, then again, Final Fantasy is not really known for originality).

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

However, if the fun factor kicked in for you, I cannot argue, for a game's chief importance is fun.

Exactly. Grinding easy prey as rapidly as possible is much more efficient than trying to hunt incredibly tough monsters — a lesson that most FFXI veterans ought to have learnt by now, thanks to countless TP-burn parties.

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

The MP return spells of the Magic disciples are useful, I must admit, but I got bored with levelling up my mage skills so I dropped the idea.

Mages, by and large, are still best levelled in a party, I feel. While they can survive on their own, they aren't nearly as efficient as disciples of war when it comes to soloing.

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

I didn't quite like partying - I am slightly sociopathic by nature.

FFXI had an incredible community for the most part, which was what made partying in the game so enjoyable. I don't know about FFXIV's community yet. Frankly, I'm sceptical, as the new linkshells I'm reading about in fan forums tend to attract FFXI veterans past the Chains of Promathia expansion — I don't want to deal with the inevitable elitism, so have avoided them so far.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Exactly. Grinding easy prey as rapidly as possible is much more efficient than trying to hunt incredibly tough monsters — a lesson that most FFXI veterans ought to have learnt by now, thanks to countless TP-burn parties.

With regards to grindfests, it is a total waste of arrows for archers until we get the damn replenish skill, right now, playing archer itself is a massive grind to the halt, I am stuck at level 13 for a week and 16 for 3 days already, after I got my Arrow Helix (which is a ridiculous move ; backflip in the air and fire an arrow into the ground? It does have a good damage though, with Crit I can hit up to 677 per monster ).

Mages, by and large, are still best levelled in a party, I feel. While they can survive on their own, they aren't nearly as efficient as disciples of war when it comes to soloing.

I have seen a level 33 mage in Gridania before helping a friend with a quest. His Aero wiped groups of Antelopes in SECONDS.

Some people cross path into magic just for Cure, Stoneskin and Shock Spikes. They don't really care about the other skills because Mages, like Archers, are simply food for the monsters.

FFXI had an incredible community for the most part, which was what made partying in the game so enjoyable. I don't know about FFXIV's community yet. Frankly, I'm sceptical, as the new linkshells I'm reading about in fan forums tend to attract FFXI veterans past the Chains of Promathia expansion — I don't want to deal with the inevitable elitism, so have avoided them so far.

FFXIV's community seems to be a grind machine on Gyshal as far as I can see, one reason I am hibernating my character there (going in everyday just to do quests). The server gets so laggy that it is hard to even go to the camps anymore.

Wutai's economy is pretty profiteer-ish, bloody Harpoon sold at 70k and Willow SB at 120k. I am looking at Selbina and Lindblum as my next jump zone, Selbina's economy for Archers seem to be non-existent (can't even find Willow Shortbows for sale ANYWHERE) and Lancers seem to be the norm. The server isn't that laggy, though I find more Western players there than Eastern players.

Lindblum is just another otaku zone like Gyshal, we got players named Ribbons Almark, etc. Economy is pretty cold and the Battlecraft Ward (usually the most populous) is filled with crystal sellers rather than armor/weapon sellers.

Might keep watching, but I am hibernating Neptune until guns come out. Meanwhile I will just play Selbina and Lindblum.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Well I'll be damned... Colour me gobsmacked...




Island boy discovers the mainland for the first time, and is busy picking his jaw from the ground.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Well I'll be damned... Colour me gobsmacked...




Island boy discovers the mainland for the first time, and is busy picking his jaw from the ground.

Wait till you see Coerthas and Gridania....running on an ATI or NVIDIA GPU boy?

EDIT :

There is nothing more annoying than this :



Just 1 goddamned exp.

[Sassarai]

Those pics look pretty good Tiny.


Ive only seen Lima but none of the scenery really impressed me. It's bland and repetitive.
Imagine if the regions in FFXI gets a graphics improvement . The sanctuary of Zi-tah, Dragon's Avery, and La Tiene would look so awesome.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesY1XssACM

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Sassarai

I've only seen Lima but none of the scenery really impressed me. It's bland and repetitive.

Err... I reckon that's where the problem lies?

La Noscea does seem a lot less vibrant than Thanalan but, then again, it suits the area's theme, being reminiscent of the damp, wind-swept moors of England. The music helps a lot to build on the tone of the region, giving it a rustic, provincial feel even as it beckons you to explore.

In contrast, Thanalan's theme sounds strangely poignant, seeming to me to allude to endings and farewells. Unless I'm missing something about its history, it doesn't seem at first impression to match the desert and mesa scenery, but it's still nice to listen to all the same. Definitely one of the better tracks in the game.

Originally Posted by Sassarai

Imagine if the regions in FFXI gets a graphics improvement. The sanctuary of Zi-tah, Dragon's Avery, and La Tiene would look so awesome.

It'll take time, I'd wager. The Sanctuary of Zi'tah and the Dragon's Avery were definitely not early-game areas, after all (in fact, I think the sanctuary wasn't introduced until the Rise of the Zilart expansion, along with Elshimo and Kuzotz, the homelands of the mithra and galka, respectively). So, who knows? Maybe FFXIV's equivalent areas haven't appeared yet.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Sassarai

Ive only seen Lima but none of the scenery really impressed me. It's bland and repetitive.
Imagine if the regions in FFXI gets a graphics improvement . The sanctuary of Zi-tah, Dragon's Avery, and La Tiene would look so awesome.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesY1XssACM

You should see the rest of the world. The place isn't just limited to Limsa.

Gridania is a pretty beautiful place, though navigating through it always remind my of my army days - it is probably the best place to train Grade 2 fishing (not the streams, but beside Camp Emerald Moss).

I am not sure if I want to switch server anymore - it is mighty tiring to grind through another 13 more levels which I have already done so in the past 2 weeks. What I actually really wanted is to play with somebody actually, so I must well delete all my subs and grind my main.

Anyone here in Selbina wants 58k gil and a Harpoon, or Lindblum wants 80k gil and a Brass Dagger?

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Anyone here in Selbina wants 58k gil and a Harpoon.

Please donate generously to the Lyland Levelling Fund.