Final Fantasy XIV online!

[Fanatical Meat]

If you browse to the directory your game is installed to, you'll find this program you can run to set a bunch of things like that:

ffxivconfig.exe

anyone know a better way?

 

[ZetaEpyon]

It's in the start menu, as well; FINAL FANTASY XIV Beta Version Config

Don't know why you'd want to browse around just to find it.

 

[ixelion]

I know lol. The battle system seems clumsy to me. There aren't enough mobs in the starter area to support open beta let alone release. There are mobs that one hit me for 2500+ damage right outside the town. The natural progression doesn't seem to be fluid. The menus and mouse cursor are so laggy. You can't remap the camera buttons to arrows. While auto running you can't pan the camera using the mouse. Using abilities and switching mobs seems clumsy to me. Spelling errors in the NPC dialog. I can't believe this game will be released in 25+ days.

Other than those gripes, it's a good looking game. I just don't really see what to do or look forward to other than leveling. Granted I am only level 10 but I feel like I don't know what to do next aside from go to the next camp and do Guildleves.

All of this is true, but most of these things will probably be fixed with patches. You are right about the progression, the problem is simply that there isn't anything to do other than guildleves (other than crafting). This concerns me a great deal as I don't want to just grind guildleves over and over.

I'm keeping my pre-order and will play for about 4-6 months depending on how much support this game gets I may stick with it.

Considering that the beta went fairly well, few bugs or stability problems and there will be a bit of content on release - I think they are off to a good start.

 

[Entity23]

You are right about the progression, the problem is simply that there isn't anything to do other than guildleves (other than crafting). This concerns me a great deal as I don't want to just grind guildleves over and over.

After I typed that I thought, why would they release story line in a BETA so maybe that isn't entirely the case.

 

[LumbergTech]

beautiful looking game but i became very frustrated with the interface and quit almost immediately

also the mouse has this horrible floaty feeling and is incredibly inaccurate...it sent me into a rage almost trying to click things are a higher resolution

 

[NoQuarter]

beautiful looking game but i became very frustrated with the interface and quit almost immediately

also the mouse has this horrible floaty feeling and is incredibly inaccurate...it sent me into a rage almost trying to click things are a higher resolution

Yep the interface is very frustrating, but I tried it with my gamepad (Xbox 360 controller) and it felt much better. The game is definitely designed for console control and I was able to navigate the menu and interact with NPC's/world much faster and easier using the controller than using the mouse. Mostly because of the slow floaty mouse and because interacting involves bottom-right icons and menu sidebar so you have to click a lot of crap all over the place to get anything done.

 

[kehlsi]

well i'm level 7, rank 7 archer and rank 3 carpenter. i think i'm falling in love with the game even though i feel my gts250 and 6000+ are choking. i'm sure there will be optimizations through a few patches but i can definitely see a few upgrades in my near future. it probably doesn't help that one of my 2gb modules of ddr went bad a few weeks ago and i'm trying to play with 2gb of memory right now (lol). i know my performance will basically double once i get my newegg order in this week.

i found myself frustrated after about level 4 b/c i ran out of arrows and had no idea where to purchase more. finally after a little research and finding ffxivcore.com, i was able to find the merchant for arrows. now that i have a clue on how to communicate with people and change classes as well as discovering how the guildleve system works, i'm having a blast. the game seems to offer a unique experience that i've never felt in the 6+ years that i have played wow. wow was fun, i am not saying that. maybe this is just a new and fresh perspective for an mmo for me. honestly, anything different than wow at this point is refreshing to me, lol.

The interface is somewhat frustrating but learning the hotkeys to open menus and making use of the keyboard moreso than the mouse really helps add to a better experience. i find that the menus are easy to navigate if i pretend i'm playing a console ff title. it's something i'm more accustomed to anyway with ff. i can see myself really enjoying this title and look forward to watching it grow.

 

[nageov3t]

so, I think I'm going to take the plunge and preorder FFXIV.

should I buy an xbox 360 controller adapter at the same time? is it really that bad with a keyboard/mouse?

playing WoW, I always wasd moved, tab targetted, and used my mouse to ability click.

 

[kehlsi]

if you'll recall, wow had issues with tab targetting for the longest time until they fixed it. i can see the flaws in the tab system in ff but i'm sure it can and will be addressed down the road (hopefully sooner rather than later).

 

[tedrodai]

so, I think I'm going to take the plunge and preorder FFXIV.

should I buy an xbox 360 controller adapter at the same time? is it really that bad with a keyboard/mouse?

playing WoW, I always wasd moved, tab targetted, and used my mouse to ability click.

Yes, the *mouse* control is unbearably horrendous. If not using a gamepad, you'll want to learn the keyboard shortcuts for all the menus/etc and use the arrow keys for navigating the menus ("Home" key is main menu by default). I hope they'll fix the mouse controls later, because I'm leaning towards buying the game if I can figure out a way to improve the graphical slowdown on my machine.

You really should just download the open beta and try it out to get a feel for it. Obviously it's still beta, but it'll give you enough info to base whether you think you'd like the game down the road. Might want to use a seperate torrent download program than their crap updater though. The updater will simply download a normal torrent file from Square for the current patch it is trying to download, and place it in

Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV Beta Version\downloads\ffxiv-beta\(one of 2 folders, might have to check both)\metainfo

After you download the patch with your favorite program, place it in the "patch" folder at the same level as the "metainfo". After you restart the updater, it will pick up the completed patch and grab the next update torrent if needed. It's a little annoying, but still the only sane way unless you're one of the lucky few who does not have any trouble with Square's updater.

 

[Aikouka]

Are you not allowed to remap keys?

 

[NoQuarter]

Are you not allowed to remap keys?

I couldn't find a way to remap keys which makes it harder to use the keyboard. Interacting with objects requires opening the side menu and selecting interact from the list, which is just much faster for me using the gamepad instead of clicking crap or figuring if there are keyboard commands for that. I'm actually a very heavy keyboard user in MMO's, I never click anything except to target, but I can't find a way to remap in FFXIV to set them how I like.

Since the game is 90% running around anyway it sucks when the 10% of the time you are doing stuff it's a pain in the ass, I don't know what to think of the game yet.

 

[manimal]

I couldn't find a way to remap keys which makes it harder to use the keyboard. Interacting with objects requires opening the side menu and selecting interact from the list, which is just much faster for me using the gamepad instead of clicking crap or figuring if there are keyboard commands for that. I'm actually a very heavy keyboard user in MMO's, I never click anything except to target, but I can't find a way to remap in FFXIV to set them how I like.

Since the game is 90% running around anyway it sucks when the 10% of the time you are doing stuff it's a pain in the ass, I don't know what to think of the game yet.

Learn the keyboard shortcuts.. your gameplay will improve drastically. This game has a large learning curve.


Try not using the mouse at all or hold down the right click on the mouse for camera control. I have started using the wads for movement and the jkl keys for camera control. Very intuitive and seems to be the way they want you to play it since all your fingers are very close to the other shortcut commands. If that fails use the 360 controller.

To those that say there isnt much to do your not exploring.... go to another city if you find your towns tapped out... Try another weapon, try fishing, try something new. There is more than enough content now to keep you entertained for months.
This game is possible to be played without ever fighting a monster. The crafting is that deep...

 

[nageov3t]

anyone got a source for patch downloads? not finding anything on my usual suspects.

 

[MrPickins]

Learn the keyboard shortcuts.. your gameplay will improve drastically. This game has a large learning curve.


Try not using the mouse at all or hold down the right click on the mouse for camera control. I have started using the wads for movement and the jkl keys for camera control. Very intuitive and seems to be the way they want you to play it since all your fingers are very close to the other shortcut commands. If that fails use the 360 controller.

I know you played FFXI for a good while (on Siren, same as me), how do you feel the keyboard controls for XIV compare with XI?

I used the keyboard exclusively in XI...

 

[tedrodai]

edit: nvm

 

[Onita]

http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/12719-open-beta-download-links-install-instructions/

good luck though. I've never been through so much trouble to play a damn game, and I still can't play.

 

[nageov3t]

ugh. 3+ hours downloading and installing and MSE detected a virus at 99% and crashed the install.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Yeah to patched stinks it stalls I left mine alone and it fixed it's self after a few hours. I didn't have a virus message though.

 

[tnt118]

ugh. 3+ hours downloading and installing and MSE detected a virus at 99% and crashed the install.

I know a number of people who saw this problem. Apparently if you make sure you've got the most recent definitions, that takes care of the problem. Alternatively you can shut down MSE for the short time it takes to apply the patch which also works.

 

[tedrodai]

Apparently they simply have the hardware mouse option disabled in the current version of the game (maybe for testing?). Some guy wrote a patch to make it work in the meanwhile, but you have to be careful with it:

http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/14815-enabling-the-hardware-mouse/

I haven't bothered personally, because after I started using the keyboard more it hasn't been a problem. However, I look forward to having a functional mouse in later versions .

 

[RavenSEAL]

Anyone got an extra key they can spare? I've been trying for 5 days to get in but no luck since SE shut down the applications. I got the full client sitting right on my desktop but i can't play!

Please PM me if you got an extra one, thank you

 

[blurredvision]

Anyone got an extra key they can spare? I've been trying for 5 days to get in but no luck since SE shut down the applications. I got the full client sitting right on my desktop but i can't play!

Please PM me if you got an extra one, thank you

You sure they shut it down? I just got my key about 4 hours ago. The download is taking for-fucking-ever though, so maybe I'll get to try it out tomorrow.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

You sure they shut it down? I just got my key about 4 hours ago. The download is taking for-fucking-ever though, so maybe I'll get to try it out tomorrow.

I got my key yesterday, so I think it is some random thing where you get lucky and get a key, after you randomly try 10-12 times. Not a great way to handle it by SE.

 

[nageov3t]

I know a number of people who saw this problem. Apparently if you make sure you've got the most recent definitions, that takes care of the problem. Alternatively you can shut down MSE for the short time it takes to apply the patch which also works.

I shut down MSE while patching/installing and that seems to have done the trick.

now I'm just fighting the urge to load up the game while I'm on the clock at work. lol. maybe I'll tell my boss I'm running out to grab lunch