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EQOA Refugee
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Final Fantasy XIV (Guide in first post)
- Thread starter Guzrog
- Start date
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EQOA Refugee
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People will always be leveling with their job system the way it is. I don't foresee this as an issue.
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You don't redo the main story quests though. I guess you can grind dungeons but I don't know if it'll be that easy to find groups. However, it should be noted that the way they are currently balanced, you can complete the content without a CNJ, as long as multiple people have Cure slotted(and since you get cure at lvl 2 CNJ, it's really fucking easy to do so). I assume higher level content won't be that easy but it might be easier to get people to group then.
Honestly I level'd a few without the city quest line(s) and it wasn't all that bad. I focused on my Hunts and just enjoyed killing shit, fucking around with combat, attempting to kill stuff I shouldn't etc... basically not having to worry about killing/collecting X mob + traveling to NPCs was refreshing. Not to mention hitting Fates / helping friends cruise through kills etc.
bytes
Molten Core Raider
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I almost feel bad for Square; they produce a total piece of shit, realise that it won't do and scrap most of the existing game. And even though the re-release is leagues ahead of the original one, it is still an absolute snoozefest.
I'd be really surprised if this does well, maybe the FF franchise still has enough pull behind it to make it work.
I'd be really surprised if this does well, maybe the FF franchise still has enough pull behind it to make it work.
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You don't redo the main quests regardless, like you can't. You can only do one main quest, the one you start in. When you go to another starting zone, you can only do the class quests there for your new class, as well as the normal quests, but you only ever do the main quest once, in fact it merges into the exact same quest once you get to the dungeons part. If you make a new character sure, but if you're just lvling other classes, you won't redo the dungeon unless you want to grind them for xp(which is a valid choice mind you, group xp seemed excelent from what I've seen).
Speaking of group xp, I didn't get far enough to establish if there are areas (non dungeon) where group mobs roam. Would be nice to have open world group content in an MMO again.
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They said in one of the dev thing that they made some of the dungeons in the original game into group based open areas with larger scale FATE(public quests), so there should be. I didn't see any though but I didn't lvl that much, only got to 22.
Isn't Level Sync live? or will be? That shit is awesome for leveling up your other classes or PLing friends.
Also I'm pretty sure outside of Hunting Log parties, there won't be traditional groups grinding mobs like in EQ or FFXI - group exp is just inferior to dungeons and questing unless you are knocking out Hunting Log entries.
They also folded Notorious Monsters into FATEs, they said there won't be any super rare mob camping like in FFXI. Hopefully some of the higher NM+FATEs still drop items like NMs in FFXI did.
Also I'm pretty sure outside of Hunting Log parties, there won't be traditional groups grinding mobs like in EQ or FFXI - group exp is just inferior to dungeons and questing unless you are knocking out Hunting Log entries.
They also folded Notorious Monsters into FATEs, they said there won't be any super rare mob camping like in FFXI. Hopefully some of the higher NM+FATEs still drop items like NMs in FFXI did.
Level Sync was alive and well. Additionally, the Guildhests let you take a group and just grind/regrind leve-type quests. It's not the best xp, but if you've done all the story in an area, it's faster than grinding.
Between FATEs, Hunts, and Levequests, I was able to get my Gladiator to 8 without much problem at all. Granted, that's really early, so who knows what that's like in, say, the 40s.
Also, you can Sync down for dungeons, so provided you have some friends/guildies around, grinding dungeons is a possibility.
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You can only sync down for duty(instanced quest shit), guildleves/hests and dungeons, and well FATE if you run into one. But really that's basically all group content, you just can't sync down to do normal quests with a friend.
And leveling additional classes is fine up to lvl 15 or so, but only for 3 classes(one per starting zone). After that it gets very grindy to get to 15, especially if you don't have a bunch of leves on hand. Running around doing events and your hunting log works ok but it's not great. Starting 15, because everyone merges in the same zones, unless they add quests in other zones you'll want to group grind shit like dungeons. One thing I didn't like though is you can't like plvl someone very well because you need 4 people to do dungeons or guildhests, so you need to find pubs to fill your group up, which isn't an issue early in the game but later on you probably don't want to have to find people, you just want to go and rape the shit out of the mobs(as even synced it seems you perform quite a bit better).
And leveling additional classes is fine up to lvl 15 or so, but only for 3 classes(one per starting zone). After that it gets very grindy to get to 15, especially if you don't have a bunch of leves on hand. Running around doing events and your hunting log works ok but it's not great. Starting 15, because everyone merges in the same zones, unless they add quests in other zones you'll want to group grind shit like dungeons. One thing I didn't like though is you can't like plvl someone very well because you need 4 people to do dungeons or guildhests, so you need to find pubs to fill your group up, which isn't an issue early in the game but later on you probably don't want to have to find people, you just want to go and rape the shit out of the mobs(as even synced it seems you perform quite a bit better).
Lost Virtue
Trakanon Raider
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Xexx
Vyemm Raider
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The game is beautifully bland.
Questing is pretty boring
The first 3 dungeons are extremely uh...boring, dull in appearance.
Cut scenes are as bad as a console game full of QTEs'. There is just no escaping them and some you cannot skip.
Combat so far has been pretty uninspiring. Archer was easy to use but boring, Pugilist was kind of ok but weak at lower levels.
The game is ok, it looks and runs very smooth using nvidia surround triple portrait setup. I like the UI alot more now, but even with all the changes im still on the fence. I have never been so bored playing such a pretty game as i am in FF14.
Questing is pretty boring
The first 3 dungeons are extremely uh...boring, dull in appearance.
Cut scenes are as bad as a console game full of QTEs'. There is just no escaping them and some you cannot skip.
Combat so far has been pretty uninspiring. Archer was easy to use but boring, Pugilist was kind of ok but weak at lower levels.
The game is ok, it looks and runs very smooth using nvidia surround triple portrait setup. I like the UI alot more now, but even with all the changes im still on the fence. I have never been so bored playing such a pretty game as i am in FF14.
lindz
#DDs
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Is there anything in the game that will help with community building? Old school forced grouping and very little solo leveling was a huge part of what made EQ and FFXI great. I didn't get the time to play past 10 this round to get a better sense of the game, but I can't help but feel this is going to be yet another no community, solo to max level then get bored and quit game. 
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Well as far as I've seen grouping seems faster xp than soloing if you have a decent group. Mobs in dungeons die about as fast as solo mobs, but give about 5times more xp, which easily makes up for quests(which are not very abundant anyway), and if you're aoe spamming they die even faster. There's also guildhests which favor finding pub groups to grab like 3 guildhests each and do all 12 of them in a row which seems like fairly decent xp. There's also a bunch of forced grouping by gating the main story quest(which give a ton of xp and unlocks various features like materia usage and such) through dungeons which have to be done in groups. It seems like a better balance than FFXI imo, as in you can just solo if you want, also leveling seems a lot faster.Is there anything in the game that will help with community building? Old school forced grouping and very little solo leveling was a huge part of what made EQ and FFXI great. I didn't get the time to play past 10 this round to get a better sense of the game, but I can't help but feel this is going to be yet another no community, solo to max level then get bored and quit game.
tower
Golden Knight of the Realm
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I thought the game picked up when you get to the dungeons. The low level questing is brutal but once you start grouping/interacting directly with people it gets better. Still mostly standard MMO fare but it clicked better with me in the "polished but bland" genre than Rift or Aion. Even GW2 I couldn't make it out of the beta. Not guaranteed to get out of this one either but I'll be playing a couple more phases to see how the mid to high levels are for sure.
On the lack healers - I did a main quest 1 off boss with a Glad and 3 Marauders and also ran some friends through the first dungeon with the only healer being a melee class that had CNJ leveled to 4 (you get Cure at 2). At the low levels at least you can kind of get around it. Then you get a way to cure yourself kinda in the low 20s (can't use in dungeons though).
edit:
On the lack healers - I did a main quest 1 off boss with a Glad and 3 Marauders and also ran some friends through the first dungeon with the only healer being a melee class that had CNJ leveled to 4 (you get Cure at 2). At the low levels at least you can kind of get around it. Then you get a way to cure yourself kinda in the low 20s (can't use in dungeons though).
This is a little disappointing. It does seem they cut some unique old school things just because they fucked up so badly on 1.0 and didn't feel like they had any room for error (fire not healing bombs, etc because they dont want people class stacking end game).
edit:
along with the above they do force you to do 3 dungeons level 15-17 as part of the main quest chain and it seems you'll have to group more for that. i never tried the guildhests but those are group-required as well. still seems to lean more towards soloing than grouping overall (i think the warhammer public quest system ("fates") is fine, but it's a big contributor to this)Is there anything in the game that will help with community building? Old school forced grouping and very little solo leveling was a huge part of what made EQ and FFXI great. I didn't get the time to play past 10 this round to get a better sense of the game, but I can't help but feel this is going to be yet another no community, solo to max level then get bored and quit game.
Malakriss
Golden Baronet of the Realm
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I played a wizard in EQ (when root and snare didn't stack), a mage in WoW and a sorcerer in TOR. So naturally I went with a Thaumaturge for the FF14 beta. The cross-class ability system and ability spread up to level 50 gives me hope because I do not expect to be spamming only my highest level nuke/lure, fireball/frostbolt, or force lightning. Most people forget how basic and 'bland' practically every game is at the start, especially at low levels. Fortunately, FF14 does not appear to need multiple content patches or expansions to achieve diversity as we simply need to hit level 15+ and develop our multi-classing. No low level alt syndrome required for multiple characters is a plus in my book.
They're still 2.5 months from release and the 1.0 folks are declaring the revamp as overwhelmingly positive. If they can maintain the same development going forward then I eagerly anticipate a more rewarding experience over WoW where we ran 40man UBRS key runs until our eyes bled and I prayed a 1% Pristine Hide of the Beast would drop while warlocks bitched about every caster looting dreadmist because of crappy itemization. If I never see a Boots of Prophecy drop with Agility, two resist types, and no spell healing/damage boosts because the stat wasn't even in the game yet I'll be happy.
They're still 2.5 months from release and the 1.0 folks are declaring the revamp as overwhelmingly positive. If they can maintain the same development going forward then I eagerly anticipate a more rewarding experience over WoW where we ran 40man UBRS key runs until our eyes bled and I prayed a 1% Pristine Hide of the Beast would drop while warlocks bitched about every caster looting dreadmist because of crappy itemization. If I never see a Boots of Prophecy drop with Agility, two resist types, and no spell healing/damage boosts because the stat wasn't even in the game yet I'll be happy.
Vorph
Silver Baronet of the Realm
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My CNJ (I was Svieri for those who might have grouped with me) impressions:
1. DPS was horrifically bad compared to real damage classes. It does get better with Stone 2, but it's still awful and as Pyros mentioned above it's even worse because you literally only have one spell to cast. I tried leveling up THM a bit to see if it had anything to offer CNJ main, but it really does not. You get Lightning, but it costs too much mana to be useful most of the time. I guess THM spells are all designed around the MP regen from ice, which makes them suck ass for other classes. Aero needs to be reworked again, because it's worthless outside of a couple irritating solo-instance quests which end up with you Aero-kiting for 10-15 minutes to kill something.
2. I know next to nothing about the 'advanced' classes (my understanding is that you don't level up WHM as a separate job, you just become a WHM at a certain point as a CNJ?), but I was really disappointed with the synergy between the basic jobs. Other jobs can get some nice stuff from CNJ if they level it to 12, but CNJ gains practically nothing from the others, just a bunch of WoW-trinket-style short duration/long cd buffs. Thaum was very disappointing, as is the lack of a red mage's existence. Pugilist was the only job I felt had any real potential as a secondary.
3. Healing is EQ1-in-1999 bland. I literally just spammed Cure 1 on the tank almost non-stop in dungeons. There was practically no risk of running out of MP ever unless I nuked too much. Strangely enough, healing with a gamepad was also vastly better than healing with kb/m. For one thing, when it's at its dullest, I can just recline in my chair and press triangle over and over (first thing anyone playing with a pad should do is switch the triggers to toggle mode). When I felt like throwing around dps though, it was really nice to be able to temporarily target a mob for one spell and then have it revert back to the tank; same thing for switching to heal a dps who decided to stand in the fire. The only interesting mechanic in the first 3 quest-dungeons was the blob fight where I got to kite all the shit around with heal aggro while everyone else set us up the bomb. I just got to the Ifrit quest a couple hours before the phase ended and didn't get to actually do it.
4. I really, really hate the 2.5 cast time/GCD on everything. The pace of combat might not be as bad as it was in 1.0, but they still need to address it in ARR. Incidentally, I don't know if this is a bug or not, but did anyone else notice that using Sprint in combat gives a massive amount of spell haste? It took my 2.5s casts down to about 1.6s.
In the end, I'll probably play a CNJ anyway despite all of the above, if I buy the game. I always duo with a friend so I'm not worried about the dps sucking ass, except in the solo instances. The downside of NOT having a CNJ/WHM available 100% of the time is too great to not have one of us pick it. I'll definitely need to see a good bit of improvement in the mechanics as phase 3 continues before I would pre-order the game, however.
Edit: For people thinking about the PS3 version, I read that everything kb/m related works just like the PC version *except* that you cannot currently get a PC-style hotkey bar instead of the cross bar. I assume that will be fixed at some point, since the cross bar is a new development. Personally I would be fine with just a USB keyboard plugged in and "direct chat"--which makes everything you press on the keyboard go straight to the chat box--turned on, and no mouse at all. The gamepad controls are very well done once you figure out the intricacies of targeting.
1. DPS was horrifically bad compared to real damage classes. It does get better with Stone 2, but it's still awful and as Pyros mentioned above it's even worse because you literally only have one spell to cast. I tried leveling up THM a bit to see if it had anything to offer CNJ main, but it really does not. You get Lightning, but it costs too much mana to be useful most of the time. I guess THM spells are all designed around the MP regen from ice, which makes them suck ass for other classes. Aero needs to be reworked again, because it's worthless outside of a couple irritating solo-instance quests which end up with you Aero-kiting for 10-15 minutes to kill something.
2. I know next to nothing about the 'advanced' classes (my understanding is that you don't level up WHM as a separate job, you just become a WHM at a certain point as a CNJ?), but I was really disappointed with the synergy between the basic jobs. Other jobs can get some nice stuff from CNJ if they level it to 12, but CNJ gains practically nothing from the others, just a bunch of WoW-trinket-style short duration/long cd buffs. Thaum was very disappointing, as is the lack of a red mage's existence. Pugilist was the only job I felt had any real potential as a secondary.
3. Healing is EQ1-in-1999 bland. I literally just spammed Cure 1 on the tank almost non-stop in dungeons. There was practically no risk of running out of MP ever unless I nuked too much. Strangely enough, healing with a gamepad was also vastly better than healing with kb/m. For one thing, when it's at its dullest, I can just recline in my chair and press triangle over and over (first thing anyone playing with a pad should do is switch the triggers to toggle mode). When I felt like throwing around dps though, it was really nice to be able to temporarily target a mob for one spell and then have it revert back to the tank; same thing for switching to heal a dps who decided to stand in the fire. The only interesting mechanic in the first 3 quest-dungeons was the blob fight where I got to kite all the shit around with heal aggro while everyone else set us up the bomb. I just got to the Ifrit quest a couple hours before the phase ended and didn't get to actually do it.
4. I really, really hate the 2.5 cast time/GCD on everything. The pace of combat might not be as bad as it was in 1.0, but they still need to address it in ARR. Incidentally, I don't know if this is a bug or not, but did anyone else notice that using Sprint in combat gives a massive amount of spell haste? It took my 2.5s casts down to about 1.6s.
In the end, I'll probably play a CNJ anyway despite all of the above, if I buy the game. I always duo with a friend so I'm not worried about the dps sucking ass, except in the solo instances. The downside of NOT having a CNJ/WHM available 100% of the time is too great to not have one of us pick it. I'll definitely need to see a good bit of improvement in the mechanics as phase 3 continues before I would pre-order the game, however.
Edit: For people thinking about the PS3 version, I read that everything kb/m related works just like the PC version *except* that you cannot currently get a PC-style hotkey bar instead of the cross bar. I assume that will be fixed at some point, since the cross bar is a new development. Personally I would be fine with just a USB keyboard plugged in and "direct chat"--which makes everything you press on the keyboard go straight to the chat box--turned on, and no mouse at all. The gamepad controls are very well done once you figure out the intricacies of targeting.