FF XIV ONLINE - Anyone playing?

[redrider4life4]

I started playing a Conjurer, got to level 19, how do I switch to Thaum/blm? Just go to the guild and buy BLM gear?

 

[PowerYoga]

speak to the guild recruiter guy and say "I want to be a thaumauehyebugajhwekjb" and he'll give you a wand. Change your weapon and you're that new class.

At the end of phase 3, they wipe your characters and everything. Correct?

So I can pick names again?

 

[gothamhunter]

Better to pick up new ARR Collector's Edition or grab a v1.0 from eBay?

 

[Aikouka]

For those of you wanting to try before you buy, there will be an open beta (which is the next phase). Probably the end of July or in August.

I'm just worried that will be too late to pre-order the collector's edition. I was just going to do it anyway last night, and their website was malfunctioning.

 

[pandemonium]

At the end of phase 3, they wipe your characters and everything. Correct?

So I can pick names again?

Correct. They stated they were going to wipe at each phase, and from phase 4 onward that character data will be kept and you'll go into release with any progress saved.

I expect to see the servers packed in the next phase. >.>

 

[Aikouka]

Man, now I'm just pissed. It turns out that the physical collector's edition most likely just isn't in stock anymore. :| Why, oh why Square do you have to limit the proper collector's edition (who the hell plays MMOs on a console?) to your shoddy store? Did you not see what happened with Ni no Kuni!?

 

[KaOTiK]

Last test of Phase 3 has been announced.

Next test schedule:

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.

Character Data From Beta Test Phase 3
All character data will be deleted at the end of beta test phase 3. Although character data from Version 1.0 will also be deleted, data from the final save on October 31, 2012 will be transferred again at the beginning of beta test phase 4.

The Beta Test Phase 3 Client
The client for beta test phase 3 cannot be used for beta test phase 4 or official service. Please delete the client at the end of this beta test phase.

Character Appearance Data
Character appearance data saved during beta test phase 3 can be used when creating a character during beta test phase 4 and official service. Those who wish to use their appearance data should not delete the following folder:
Windows
My Documents -> My Games -> FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn (Beta Version)
PlayStation®3
(From "XMB") Game → Saved Data Utility (PS3TM)

* Save data cannot be used after phase 4, and can safely be deleted.
Those who do not intend to use character appearance data from beta test phase 3 may delete this folder. However, windows users should please note this folder also contains screenshots. Please move any screenshots you wish to save to a separate location before deleting this folder.

Linking Square Enix Accounts to Sony Entertainment Network Accounts
Square Enix accounts linked to Sony Entertainment Network accounts during beta test phase 3 will be unlinked at the end of testing.

Beta Test Phase 4
Details on the beta test phase 4 schedule, testing scope, and client will be announced at a later time.

 

[tedrodai]

Maybe the new client for phase 4 will actually function on my PC again. Haven't been able to participate since phase 1 due to some bug causing an empty black idle launcher window. Admittedly I never tried to log in during phase 2, so it may just be a phase 3 thing.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

I finally got myself a beta key from alienware (LOL) so Im gonna try that last part of beta 3

Im really puzzled... So many people are speaking highly of the game, saying its really immersive and has an "oldschool" feel to it, but the combat seems terrible... and after reading the beta feedback forums, there are tons of threads complaining about it as well

After playing games like Vindictus, Tera and especially Dragon Nest, this kind of combat is so boring and pointless, there is no skill involved, you just mash 111111 then the occasional 2 and 3

Where is the real time dodging/blocking? Thats what makes combat fun, having to time your dodges perfectly and stuff
And because its target based, there isnt even any aiming required, which means a class like Archer will be even more pointless (archer has become one of my favorites thanks to the new action mmos, since it feels kinda like playing an fps, while having the MMO elements at the same time)
I cant help but feel Im gonna fall asleep before I even get to lvl 10, but oh well

I just dont see this game having a future with such outdated combat

 

[gothamhunter]

Played Archer and Conjurer a bit this beta and had a blast. I really want to get my hands on the Arcanist though...summoner is what I really want to be

 

[gothamhunter]

I finally got myself a beta key from alienware (LOL) so Im gonna try that last part of beta 3

Im really puzzled... So many people are speaking highly of the game, saying its really immersive and has an "oldschool" feel to it, but the combat seems terrible... and after reading the beta feedback forums, there are tons of threads complaining about it as well

After playing games like Vindictus, Tera and especially Dragon Nest, this kind of combat is so boring and pointless, there is no skill involved, you just mash 111111 then the occasional 2 and 3

Where is the real time dodging/blocking? Thats what makes combat fun, having to time your dodges perfectly and stuff
And because its target based, there isnt even any aiming required, which means a class like Archer will be even more pointless (archer has become one of my favorites thanks to the new action mmos, since it feels kinda like playing an fps, while having the MMO elements at the same time)
I cant help but feel Im gonna fall asleep before I even get to lvl 10, but oh well

I just dont see this game having a future with such outdated combat

I kind of feel the opposite; I'm tired of playing Call of Warcraft. FF XIV feels like a Final Fantasy with other people; almost turn based mixed with FF XII style combat. I'm loving it.

 

[darkewaffle]

Where is the real time dodging/blocking? Thats what makes combat fun, having to time your dodges perfectly and stuff

Yeah, because GW2's combat was so fun. Wait, no it wasn't "Dodging" is nothing more than another cooldown button essentially.

I don't think the lure of MMOs is to play a God of War type game. Some amount of it can make certain encounters or events fun such as datacron hunting or, say, Thaddius in WoW. But I think the most fun comes more from teamwork and coordination rather than twitch gaming.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Yea the only reason I'm even looking into this is because it's not hack and slash. Gives you the opportunity for much more strategy (if the game was made right), than just button mashing (which is what most hack and slash devolves to).

 

[PowerYoga]

Where is the real time dodging/blocking? Thats what makes combat fun, having to time your dodges perfectly and stuff
And because its target based, there isnt even any aiming required, which means a class like Archer will be even more pointless (archer has become one of my favorites thanks to the new action mmos, since it feels kinda like playing an fps, while having the MMO elements at the same time)

The only MMORPG out there that has real time dodging and blocking down in spades is TERA, and that's a wow clone at heart. Even most BAM fights have you running in, spamming a few attacks, and running back out for AOEs which is no different than what any other MMORPG has. At least WOW is pretty creative in encounters and game mechanics... Ask anybody about TERA's end game and they'll just shake their head.

Also I don't remember any of those games you mentioned having a thrilling battle experience prior to lvl 10....

 

[TheUnk]

Yeah, because GW2's combat was so fun. Wait, no it wasn't "Dodging" is nothing more than another cooldown button essentially.

I don't think the lure of MMOs is to play a God of War type game. Some amount of it can make certain encounters or events fun such as datacron hunting or, say, Thaddius in WoW. But I think the most fun comes more from teamwork and coordination rather than twitch gaming.

hmm I just recently started GW2 as a thief and can say the combat so far has been pretty entertaining, and a lot more involved than other MMOs I've played. However in big fights it just seems like chaos.

I don't know how the combat is in FF XIV but in FFXI it was decent as a ninja, having to time your utsemi or w/e it was called along with the combo moves with other players. Still not totally engaging all the time but not bad. It had a very clunky feel to it that I always figured was the result of it being on consoles.

 

[redrider4life4]

The final fantasy series has always been more about a laid back feeling in my opinion, you can relax and take advantage of their turn based strategy combat system. In FF it has always been the story that is immersive, not the combat.

I agree the combat does feel dull at times, but from 1-30 what can you honestly know about it so far? Most people gave up on FF11 before level 30 when you could get your subjobs and the game really opened up combat wise. But in FFXi your party really got rewarded for good party play, you could chain endless mobs in a good group yet in a bad group one bad person could destroy the group. You get a thf that just SA+TA on the DDs, your healers runs out of mana and then you sit and wait.

I experienced end game raiding in FF11 and when these same people switched to WoW they had an easier time in MC/BWL because you didn't have to time anything with your party, you just had to worry about switching targets and dodging AOE spells.

 

[KaOTiK]

hmm I just recently started GW2 as a thief and can say the combat so far has been pretty entertaining, and a lot more involved than other MMOs I've played. However in big fights it just seems like chaos.

I don't know how the combat is in FF XIV but in FFXI it was decent as a ninja, having to time your utsemi or w/e it was called along with the combo moves with other players. Still not totally engaging all the time but not bad. It had a very clunky feel to it that I always figured was the result of it being on consoles.

GW2 combat is fun at first but it is pretty much the same from the start of a character to the end of one.

From what I have seen/read/experienced with FF14 combat, it is more "standard" MMO combat with tab targeting. But positioning means a lot for a few classes skills that they have to juggle from switching from the side to the rear of enemies to chain their combos together and stuff.

I've played through the vast majority of larger MMO's out there and I've found I prefer the more laid back combat approach personally. The active targeting stuff didn't do it much for me in Tera, it was cool at first but it grew a bit old pretty quickly imo.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

I should have explained it better: action games have physics

THAT is the most important part... You dont just hit an enemy with no effect and see a number pop up in their head... Enemies can be flinched, knocked down or up, thrown around, etc
It makes the combat feel really authentic and powerful
Why do you think more and more games are starting to adopt this? MMOs only had that static combat due to technical limitations of online games, but now that they are starting to overcome them, the choice is obvious

The only thing I can see saving this combat system is bosses having lots of aoe attacks that require you to constantly move around, as shown in one of the latest Wildstar videos with the telegraphs

Oh well...
Btw it seems people are holding up Tera as the best example of action combat, when in fact I would rate it at 3rd place at best
Vindictus is superior and Dragon Nest even more so, but I guess no one here played it since its "anime" style with kinda chibi characters

Another thing I didnt mention is the PvP... Im a fan of skill based 1v1, which a target based game completely fails at for obvious reasons
Im guessing this will lead to them focusing on group pvp which for me is nothing but a clusterfuck, so I have no interest in it

Its so damn frustrating... Why cant there be a game with Dragon Nest gameplay, Tera graphics and FFXIV content? That would absolutely destroy every mmo on the market

 

[KaOTiK]

I should have explained it better: action games have physics

THAT is the most important part... You dont just hit an enemy with no effect and see a number pop up in their head... Enemies can be flinched, knocked down or up, thrown around, etc
It makes the combat feel really authentic and powerful

Why do you think more and more games are starting to adopt this? MMOs only had that static combat due to technical limitations of online games, but now that they are starting to overcome them, the choice is obvious

The only thing I can see saving this combat system is bosses having lots of aoe attacks that require you to constantly move around, as shown in one of the latest Wildstar videos with the telegraphs

Oh well...

It is pretty unfair to be judging the games combat system when you have barely played it, it is still in beta, and no one knows how it all happens endgame since there was no endgame content in the beta (or even content past the 30's iirc).

The couple of dungeons that people have gotten to play, there is aoe you have to avoid, there are skills that are aoe based around the player using them and are only good for xx range.

You even have a group base limit breaker that an individual in the group can use to perform a powerful ability, the ability depends on which discipline your class is.

From what it sounds like you want a more action oriented game while this is a bit more strategic.

I personally don't find running around 99% of a boss fighting dodging AOE's anymore fun then sitting in one spot. A mix of both is fine.

 

[Aikouka]

So, I was watching Angry Joe's interview with a Final Fantasy XIV community manager, and there's one thing that I picked up on. They stated that all groups (or is it really all raids?) are limited to eight people at the moment. Now, that's not the worst thing, but what really struck me is that they don't have any qualms with just raising the amount of required people for other raids. I'm not sure what I think about that. Usually messing with the number of people per raid tends to have a negative effect on guilds -- especially small ones designed as a cohesive group.

 

[KaOTiK]

So, I was watching Angry Joe's interview with a Final Fantasy XIV community manager, and there's one thing that I picked up on. They stated that all groups (or is it really all raids?) are limited to eight people at the moment. Now, that's not the worst thing, but what really struck me is that they don't have any qualms with just raising the amount of required people for other raids. I'm not sure what I think about that. Usually messing with the number of people per raid tends to have a negative effect on guilds -- especially small ones designed as a cohesive group.

I'm not too sure on it all. I don't think you will really see small guilds that are specialized in raiding in this game because of the fact that 1 character can learn all the classes/jobs and switch between those jobs by just changing your main weapon. It is beneficial to level up these other jobs as you can take some skills from one to use on another.

Still to early to tell and too little info to know for sure.

 

[pandemonium]

Agreed that the combat is somewhat dull. It has actually been developed for the worse from V1. In V1 there was no auto attack and it was a little more engaging with your TP bar becoming your bible for what you could and couldn't do. I liked it more then, but the combat now isn't so detracting from the game as to say that the game is terrible.

I didn't get to play too much this session, but I did get to thoroughly experience the crafting system and wow: it is really streamlined. No more mystery. After crafting for 5 minutes you can clearly understand how it will work; with little confusion. Making HQ is extremely easy now, no more theorycrafting pseudoscience required.

A friend of mine did the first 2 dungeons and said they were incredible. He also did an Ifrit fight and mentioned how engaging the fight was. Apparently you really have to pay attention to what's going on around you. Reminds me of the BCNM fights from FFXI. Great stuff!

 

[Rinaun]

Honestly I played this game for 2 weekends now and I'm glad I didn't buy it. The MMO is done fairly well, but the new combat system just isn't for me. It feels like I'm playing a really polished version of Final Fantasy GW2/Rift. The amount of uninteresting quests this game makes you do is a bit silly.Aside from those complaints it was really polished and I have a feeling within a year or two people from FFXI will migrate over slowly. I just wish they would have kept the original combat system from FFXI and simply tweaked it.

 

[KaOTiK]

Honestly I played this game for 2 weekends now and I'm glad I didn't buy it. The MMO is done fairly well, but the new combat system just isn't for me. It feels like I'm playing a really polished version of Final Fantasy GW2/Rift. The amount of uninteresting quests this game makes you do is a bit silly.Aside from those complaints it was really polished and I have a feeling within a year or two people from FFXI will migrate over slowly. I just wish they would have kept the original combat system from FFXI and simply tweaked it.

Just curious, what do you expect from MMO quests? They are all pretty much the same. The only MMO that actually has unique quests that are very different from the standard flair are The Secret World's quests, and mainly just the investigation ones.

The ones in 14 are at least well written and there were some that made references and gave a little homage to previous FF titles.

If they would have kept the same combat system as 11 they would have caught a ton of shit and people would be like its just a prettier version of 11, why bother ditching my old character etc.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

From what it sounds like you want a more action oriented game while this is a bit more strategic.

I personally don't find running around 99% of a boss fighting dodging AOE's anymore fun then sitting in one spot. A mix of both is fine.

See, this is the common misconception people seem to have for some reason, that action games are all about reflexes and take no strategy... Where did that come from? What makes them so good is that they utilize BOTH to their best ability, making the skill ceiling much higher than usual

I hate the usual MMO crap of people being judged by their item level to enter dungeons... It leads into terrible communities like Tera... No ilvl 160? Bye, dont give a damn if you are actually good or not
In action games, gear helps, of course, but skill is a much much bigger factor, which leads into more satisfying gameplay as well

Thats my problem with this combat system, and a lot of people in the official beta forums seem to echo my thoughts - it looks like it could be played by a 5 year old with no issues
There was a post talking about Conjurer party gameplay which basically consists of cure cure cure cure medica cure cure cure
How the hell is that fun? There should be a lot more things for you to do than just pressing the same key over and over

And then, the skills themselves are so streamlined... It doesnt really matter if you pull off a good combo or not, the difference is almost non existent
Skill A is just like Skill B except it has 200 potency instead of 150... Great
I want to have to think about which skill to use taking into account its range, damage, casting/animation time, super armor value/break, iframe and so on, THAT is what makes good tactical gameplay

And the worst is Yoshida says right on the mechanics thread that they deliberately tried their best to completely eliminate action elements... I dont even
Does he not realize this is 2013 and the old model doesnt work anymore?
Inb4 ARR flops just as hard as 1.0, I wouldnt be surprised