Producer's Letter III and Player's Poll the Second

You can find all the details on the Lodestone as well as from our Links Page. I just wanna talk about it here, and as I'm reading through the planned changes to come, here are my thoughts...

And it begins...le sigh {I'm sure you'll all know what I mean}
–NEW– Addition of icons to make quest NPCs easily recognizable
–NEW– Addition of quest NPC locations to maps

Nices, I've always enjoyed lots of on-screen woohoo when ya earn a level!
–NEW– Examination of dramatic effects when a new rank or level is attained

Excellent...one of the major changes I'm looking forward too are class specific gear like XI has. I just hope the rank required for said items comes along with this.
–NEW– Addition of class-specific gear to enhance class uniqueness and goal-oriented play

I really like the maximum PT size of 8 thats planned!
–NEW– Examination of maximum single party size
 Changes aimed at improving battle balance

Saw this one coming...it'll be very welcomed though!
–NEW– Auto-attack system

Awww, I like collision detection, though I'm sure it'll help when in large PTs and trying to move around and get near a mob.
–NEW– Removal of character collision

This will be a good one, too many enemy types that move too far away or appear in odd placement.
–NEW– Adjustments to positioning algorithms of enemies in relation to PCs

Ah nice, fixes to those tiny blips in the terrain that snag your char. to a dead stop.
–NEW– Risk analysis of collision detection adjustments to improve movement response

Doh, as if its hard to explore or navigate as it is, even with the few areas that have mobs that aggro along the paths. Though if he means that there will now be some rather dangerous areas that require a PT to navigate...that could be great!
–NEW– Examination of free-ranging enemy distribution
 Changes aimed at clearly defined territories and secure travel routes

Yeah, saw this one coming too, but it'll be nice not having to run back to the Aetheryte every 10min when playing with large spells that cost lots of mana!
–NEW– Addition of an auto-MP regeneration feature

Hoo boy, on one hand, wait no I don't like instance anything...it takes away from being a part of the community and well argh it just destroys the whole concept of an MMO funneling players away from each other...ARGH
–NEW– Instanced PvE Content (Dungeons/Raids)

And the Player poll the Second here are my choices:


1. What do you feel are the most significant issues with the battle system? (up to three answers)
Lack of class uniqueness.
Lack of party-based battle tactics.
Insufficient effect from attributes.


2. What type of class role would you like to use in combat? * {I like to play multiple roles, but my last favorite of FFXI was that of a Paladin, but I also enjoy being a White Mage too or Dancer/Blue Mage}
Tank. (protect allies by holding enemy enmity)

3. How frequently would you like to engage in party-based play? *
Weekends and weekdays. (more than 3 hours)

4. What types of game content would you like to undertake while in a party? (up to three answers) *
Ranking up.
Small-scale player versus environment (PvE) content.
Large-scale player versus environment (PvE) content.

5. What types of game content would you like to undertake while playing solo? (up to three answers) *
Ranking up.
Questing.
Small-scale player versus environment (PvE) content.

6. In addition to enhancing class differentiation with essential attributes and distinct appearances, we are also looking into introducing class and rank requirements for equipping gear. How do you feel about the implementation of such a system?
I am for it.

7. The fatigue system currently in place aims to prevent excessive “grinding” of skill and experience points. Have you felt the effects of this system while playing? *
Yes. ~ {I chose yes because I want the fatigue system abolished, its never really effected me yet, but I havn't played longer than 3hrs at a time in a given week thus far...but when these massive changes are made I prolly will play a great deal more!}

8. Would you prefer option 1, option 2, or the current system? *
1. Removal of the bonus point system, and the addition of automatic allotment of attribute points based on class
2. Removal of physical levels, and the addition of class-specific allotment of attribute points for each class based on rank.
Option 2. ~ Damned skippy, a skill based system definitely!

9. If the current target claiming system were done away with, would you be in favor of a system that rewards skill, experience, and loot only to the party that first deals damage to an enemy? Or would you be in favor of skill, experience, and loot being distributed amongst all parties that contributed to an enemy’s defeat? *
Skill, experience, and loot going to all parties taking part in an enemy’s defeat. ~ This is a tricky question to come up with a good answer too, because I actually prefer the claimed enemies system, never liked some yahoo to run by and attack the mob I am fighting...drives me nuts! Or sticking around and beating the crap out of it for ya. Though I do greatly enjoy a player stopping and asking, "do you need help?" and/or tossing a cure{s} or buff{s} on you. At the same time though I wouldn't mind a system that allows for a little gain when say a solo player or even a PT losing control of a mob and are on the brink of death, and should they yell for help, instead of all XP and loot lost a la FFXI, still reward the players, but also give some XP/Loot to the player{s} that helped as well!

10. If the current target claiming system were done away with, would you prefer for content such as dungeons and battle to be converted into instances as much as possible?* (“Instances” refer to those events and areas that can only be occupied by a single party, or certain characters, at once. This serves to prevent players from competing with one another for the same enemies, for example.)
* “Instances” refer to those events and areas that can only be occupied by a single party, or certain characters, at once. This serves to prevent players from competing with one another for the same enemies, for example. *
No ~ Absolutely not...I despise instancing as is! I greatly destroys the entire purpose of the moniker of MMO. The open dungeons currently are plenty large enough to house dozens or large PTs, and when they get broken down to the sizes of 4 or 8 max there will be even more room. The community just needs to be respectful to one another and not try to steal/claim mobs from each other unless its an NM. I rather enjoyed the thrill of the hunt/camp of NMs against other players...I guess you could call it my version of PvEvP content that doesn't entail hitting each other!

11. Please tell us what you feel would benefit the battle system, or any features you would like to see implemented. (up to 400 characters)
Keep the claim system, but allow rewards to players that help others that "yell for help" with some SP and loot. Bring back the Weapon Skill Chains from FFXI. Do make this a skill/class based system, with class specific gear you must quest for! Remove the silly fatigue system. Allow leves to be chosen from the Aetherytes of each camp and abolish the 36hr cooldown, make it like the FoVs in XI!

i can only hope this will make 14 the game it souldev been

On a very basic level, I still don't see any changes to some of the very irritating things about battle combat (altho as I haven't played for ages, it may have been fixed?)

eg the way the mob I'm hitting loses health from my shot, before I've done the animation for it - ruins any immersion.

Also, atm I can't see the point of a ranged class in the traditional sense. Stand back from the melee and move into position to kill from afar, while trying not to attract aggro, and probably at the expense of being healed. Do ALL the mobs still have a ranged attack? That used to annoy the hell out of me. Not much point in rooting something if it can still hit you anyway.