FF XIV ONLINE - Anyone playing?

[tedrodai]

Guys, let me reiterate the fact that the open beta will likely be vastly different than the closed.

We're all complaining about the combat, but it was very limited compared to what it will be. TP was instantly set at 1000. In open beta it'll be 3000 and you won't have it in endless supply. Tactics come into play here, which changes the combat dramatically.

Wait a couple weeks for the open beta to hit, then give it another try to get a good idea of what the "real" game will be like.

Yeah I also don't agree with this. It'll be a tad different, sure, but I have no doubt it will be mostly the same. Some tweaks here and there, and some bug fixes and additions that didn't make it into previous versions of the game client, but still mostly the same. I don't predict what the combat will be like upon release, but you're grasping at straws with that argument. But they still are listening to input and making adjustments, so I won't say it's a hopeless cause.

On to another topic though...I've not had any trouble before using UltimatePay before for my 2 SE accounts, but they've seriously pissed me off recently. Hell, it was even a pleasure to use compared to ClickandBuy until this incident. I'm currently unable to pay for 1 of my accounts, and I haven't been doing anything differently. I don't bot/etc, and it has nothing to do with SE. After paying my 1st account a couple of months ago, they declined my attempt to pay for my 2nd account because "the system determined the risk of your payment being fraudulent was too high to accept". And it hasn't been resolved for a month and a 1/2 now. I doubt this issue would happen very often or to many people, but once is enough if customer support refuses to do anything about it (which has been the case so far). And they're soon to be the only vendor that processes payments for SE accounts.

 

[pandemonium]

It was a small example citing the fact that things will be different. I'm not going to note everything that will change, because I don't know it all.

How about you guys just play the game when it's in open beta and make your decisions then. /brokenrecordoff

 

[ImpulsE69]

I do not believe the things people are commenting on will be changed in a large enough fashion that it would sway the opinion one way or the other. The game is far enough along now that the overall "feel" of the game wont change too much between now and release. That's not to say they won't change it over time, but I think from what we've played so far, you get a pretty good feel for how the game will be.

 

[Aikouka]

They posted a dungeon preview video of some of the earlier dungeons:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbr_h_d5g2Q

EDIT:

The blog post:

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/blog/post/496

I was poking around some of the other blog posts that I never read, and I saw that there will be this character creation benchmark released on August 1. The part that interests me is that you can create the character now, export it, and then import it into the final game. It's kind of like that Saint's Row 3 character editor that Volition released prior to the game, which also had quite a few character options!

 

[Acanthus]

I did have a moderate amount of fun in the most recent beta run.

I'm looking forward to trying the release product with grouping and dungeons.

 

[KaOTiK]

New benchmark/character creator is up. You can create your character and save it so when the game is live you can load the file with the character and just have to choose your name/server/class and can start playing right away.

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/benchmark/

 

[Aikouka]

I skimmed over the beta website on my phone, but I didn't see any mention that SLI was or wasn't supported in this new benchmark. I ask because I know the older benchmark didn't support it. Also, I like the character creation support. Saint's Row 3 did it as well, and it can certainly save you some time when you just want to jump in! :awe:

 

[clok1966]

Diamond Member
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 4,368

Quote:
Originally Posted by pandemonium


Here, let me define WoW clone for you:
Smooth gameplay
Easy to navigate UI
Quick-click, fetch quest system that no one reads
Button mashing combat
Gear grind through instanced dungeons
An uncanny urge to jump around a lot for no real reason
Limited PvP engagement

This pretty much sums up my impression of FFXIV so far. You can try to make it deeper than it is, but this is what I've been doing and watching everyone else doing for about 12 hours now (minus PVP).

I do not see that this is really that different from the 50 other adventure MMO's out. That being said if you enjoy the old school FF universe, the story elements that are there are enjoyable. I'm sure that the core storylines are interesting once you get into them, and like most of these MMO's your party interactions will make or break the game.

As I've gained more levels/abilities combat is a bit more enjoyable, but it's still just 1 button mashing, with a few odd and end buttons here or there.

Considering this is revamped (never played the original version) and it is supposed to be so much better, I am curious what actually changed for the better, because so far, it's just...standard stuff.
__________________
I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion and if anyone thinks differently they will promptly be crushed.

The World Needs a Reset Button.
Last edited by ImpulsE69; 07-13-2013 at 02:59 PM.

you missed the massive grinding.. or has the Reboot changed it?

 

[ImpulsE69]

Every MMO is going to have grinding...it's the only way to lengthen the gameplay (especially if it's RPG based). So...can't fault it for that.

 

[KaOTiK]

I skimmed over the beta website on my phone, but I didn't see any mention that SLI was or wasn't supported in this new benchmark. I ask because I know the older benchmark didn't support it. Also, I like the character creation support. Saint's Row 3 did it as well, and it can certainly save you some time when you just want to jump in! :awe:

This new benchmark supports SLI. From what I've read on other forums SE and Nvidia have apparently optimized the game a lot from the original benchmark, a lot of people are getting nearly double the fps now.

 

[Aikouka]

I didn't pay too much attention to the original FF14, but I remember people complaining about the terribly laggy UI. I believe the game pretty much sent everything back to the server for validation... including menu access, which is what made it all so slow. I can tell you that menu access was not slow from what I played.

Although, I'm not sure what character class to play. I've usually started as a melee class (typically rogue-ish), so I was thinking Pugilist ("Pug LF PUG!" :awe, but I don't know how desirable they might be.

This new benchmark supports SLI. From what I've read on other forums SE and Nvidia have apparently optimized the game a lot from the original benchmark, a lot of people are getting nearly double the fps now.

That's good to hear! I'm tempted to download the original benchmark, which I never got around to running, just to see the difference. I have SLI now, so it ought to be significantly different.

 

[KaOTiK]

I didn't pay too much attention to the original FF14, but I remember people complaining about the terribly laggy UI. I believe the game pretty much sent everything back to the server for validation... including menu access, which is what made it all so slow. I can tell you that menu access was not slow from what I played.

Although, I'm not sure what character class to play. I've usually started as a melee class (typically rogue-ish), so I was thinking Pugilist ("Pug LF PUG!" :awe, but I don't know how desirable they might be.



That's good to hear! I'm tempted to download the original benchmark, which I never got around to running, just to see the difference. I have SLI now, so it ought to be significantly different.

Play whatever class you like. In the end you will have to play more than one to unlock your job, in this case Monk (if you choose to go for the job). And it still benefits you to play other classes anyways because of the cross skill system so some classes we have cross skills that work well for another class/job anyways.

 

[PowerYoga]

In any mmorpg, they will lack tanks and mostly healers. DPS are always dime a dozen.

Unless there's some specific types of grind parties like in FF11 (sam/mnk/blm/smn burn groups) you will always need tank/healers.

You will also likely lvl up 5-6 different classes just to complement your primary class as well. I like to pick up heal as most melee classes can solo a lot longer with a few heals tossed in here and there at the low levels. Plus if you're doing FATEs it can save your ass. Nobody will ever toss heals your way, or if they do they won't keep doing it. .

 

[Aikouka]

You will also likely lvl up 5-6 different classes just to complement your primary class as well. I like to pick up heal as most melee classes can solo a lot longer with a few heals tossed in here and there at the low levels. Plus if you're doing FATEs it can save your ass. Nobody will ever toss heals your way, or if they do they won't keep doing it. .

I think I just need to get used to the fact that you really only have one character that can effectively change classes versus switching between characters that are different classes that can maybe serve different roles (e.g. Shaman healer or Shaman DPS). There's also the idea of "mixing" jobs, which is a bit different.

I've played all the different roles in WoW, and I don't mind any of them. However, I don't really enjoy leveling as a tank or healer. In WoW, you can get around that by simply using a different talent setup.

You know... I was wondering about the level of interaction between players during FATEs. It didn't seem like something terribly organized, so I didn't know how you would get any assistance while taking part in one. Sounds messy and disorganized... I probably won't enjoy them much. :\

 

[KaOTiK]

I wouldn't take how people acted in beta as how they will act when stuff is live. A lot of people just go about testing out there own stuff and messing around with stuff and don't care what else is going on because everything is going to be deleted anyways. I healed like a mad man during FATE's though to get into the swing of it in this game since my main will be a White Mage.

One big thing you need to realize too with FATE's is, a healer is rewarded for healing and it is in their best interest to heal instead of DPS because they will be rewarded better since they are doing more, while if they do DPS they will not contribute as much and their rewards will be lower.

 

[darkewaffle]

FATEs (and most open world events in any given game) are basically zergfests. You can't really expect much organization from any large group of 'strangers' essentially.

I did notice that some of them in 'uncommon' areas (rather, not particularly close to quest hubs) would go unnoticed/untouched however. So there's probably some opportunity to go wandering a bit more and lowman them if you find some people to actually work together with.

For the most part though, they're just quests with a different presentation.

Though during phase 3 they did introduce a somewhat interesting new quest 'style'. It's basically a middleground between FATE and dungeons; I can't for the life of me remember their name however. It was something weird though. But point is it was an open world (I think) party-event with large XP rewards and very specific objectives; like survive a large wave of enemies, crowd control a certain number of enemies, defeat a central enemy without defeating some additional smaller targets. Basically I think they're intended to be dungeon 'training' in a way. I didn't get to try them, two of my friends had favorable impressions of them however after doing some.

 

[PowerYoga]

FATEs (and most open world events in any given game) are basically zergfests. You can't really expect much organization from any large group of 'strangers' essentially.

I did notice that some of them in 'uncommon' areas (rather, not particularly close to quest hubs) would go unnoticed/untouched however. So there's probably some opportunity to go wandering a bit more and lowman them if you find some people to actually work together with.

For the most part though, they're just quests with a different presentation.

Though during phase 3 they did introduce a somewhat interesting new quest 'style'. It's basically a middleground between FATE and dungeons; I can't for the life of me remember their name however. It was something weird though. But point is it was an open world (I think) party-event with large XP rewards and very specific objectives; like survive a large wave of enemies, crowd control a certain number of enemies, defeat a central enemy without defeating some additional smaller targets. Basically I think they're intended to be dungeon 'training' in a way. I didn't get to try them, two of my friends had favorable impressions of them however after doing some.

guildleves? guildhests or something?

 

[KaOTiK]

Though during phase 3 they did introduce a somewhat interesting new quest 'style'. It's basically a middleground between FATE and dungeons; I can't for the life of me remember their name however. It was something weird though. But point is it was an open world (I think) party-event with large XP rewards and very specific objectives; like survive a large wave of enemies, crowd control a certain number of enemies, defeat a central enemy without defeating some additional smaller targets. Basically I think they're intended to be dungeon 'training' in a way. I didn't get to try them, two of my friends had favorable impressions of them however after doing some.

That is one of the types of leves or heist iirc.

The producer Yoshi P has basically said the first 30 levels of the game is essentially a giant tutorial introducing new mechanics around every 5 levels so that people will understand everything when they are high level. So once you are comfortable with the new stuff you learned and gotten the hang of it playing with it for a little bit they show you another new thing instead of just dropping you in and making you go WTF with all these systems in place lol. He doesn't want people to get to high levels on their character and not know how to deal with stuff which is all too common in other games where people solo the entire time and then in a group dynamic don't know how to do shit or never experienced some mechanic. That is why the main storyline quest has you go into a couple of dungeons as part of it as well.

 

[PowerYoga]

I don't necessarily like that approach since it takes a lot of the exploration and experimentation out. But it does make everything pretty convenient and straightforward... I hope they have enough endgame prepared as this giant tutorial means people will blast to the endgame contents in less than a month.

 

[KaOTiK]

iirc reading, they have like 3 50 dungeons and 2 raids available at launch. Yoshi said they will have major content patches every 3 months or so and was one of the main reasons they decided to stay with a subscription model because he didn't feel he would be able to produce that amount of content under a B2P or F2P system. Level cap is suppose to get raised iirc in like 6 months after release by 5 levels I think (not 100% sure on this). One of the raids is the Labyrinth of Behemoth I think the name was that will continue to add levels to as they raise the level cap and add more content, it is suppose to be pretty long.

 

[Aikouka]

Ended up with an 18025 on the benchmark and an average framerate of 174.319. I think I'll be okay.

EDIT:

Since that doesn't mean much without settings...

FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Official Benchmark (Character Creation)
Tested on:8/1/2013 5:46:22 PM
Score:18025
Average Framerate:174.319
Performance:Extremely High
 -Easily capable of running the game on the highest settings.

Screen Size: 1920x1080
Screen Mode: Full Screen
Graphics Presets: Custom
General
-Enable HDR rendering and improve overall graphic quality. : Enabled
-Disable rendering of objects when not visible. (Occlusion Culling) : Enabled
-Use low-detail models on distant objects. (LOD) : Disabled
-Cache LOD data only when necessary. (LOD Streaming) : Disabled
-Real-time Reflections : High
-Edge Smoothing (Anti-aliasing) : FXAA
-Transparent Lighting Quality : High
-Grass Quality : High
Shadows
-Self : Display
-Other NPCs : Display
Shadow Quality
-Use low-detail models on shadows. (LOD) : Disabled
-Shadow Resolution : High - 2048p
-Shadow Cascading : Best
-Shadow Softening : Strong
Texture Detail
-Texture Filtering : Anisotropic
-Anisotropic Filtering : x16
Movement Physics
-Self : Full
-Other NPCs : Full
Effects
-Naturally darken the edges of the screen. (Limb Darkening) : Enabled
-Blur the graphics around an object in motion. (Radial Blur) : Enabled
-Screen Space Ambient Occlusion : Strong
-Glare : Normal
Cinematic Cutscenes
-Enable depth of field. : Enabled

System:
Windows 8 64-bit (6.2, Build 9200) (9200.win8_gdr.130531-1504)
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770K CPU @ 3.50GHz
16320.379MB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680(VRAM 4010 MB) 9.18.0013.2049

 

[KaOTiK]

Nice score. My rig is showing her age but still runs the game nicely. Had a score of around 6200 with 58fps avg at max settings.

 

[Phobic9]

Nice score indeed. I only scored 10.5K with everything maxed out @ 1080p using a GTX670/i5-3570K but since I will be playing at 1440p, my score was a lot lower at 6.1K.

Works for me!

 

[PowerYoga]

My rig is still waiting for a video card upgrade... been about 3, almost 4 years now. Hoping to get the radeon 9000 series over thanksgiving, or a cheap GTX 760. Pulling just over 5k~ on high but the game barely slows down FPS wise. With a bit of tweaking I can pull 6k.

 

[Phobic9]

To be fair though, I ran the last few beta 3 tests on my laptop which has a GT650M. I was amazed at how well the game ran and looked even at that stage.