FFXI: A New Hope (editorial discussion thread)Follow

New editorial, new discussion thread. You can read the editorial here.

I would have posted this sooner, but I was busy on the weekend of Vana'Fest getting married in Las Vegas! I know that was two weeks ago, but it took a bit to recover from the post-wedding/Vegas fallout. Now, all is well.

Anyway... the editorial. Do you agree that these add-ons are offering more to look forward to? Are you praising or cursing SE over the level cap changes?

Discuss!

To elaborate on being excited about June from the other thread...

One thing I can say for sure is whether or not SE manages to implement this properly, it's going to be a blast running around in game at 99. Even if that excitement only lasts a month, it will be a fitting end to my time spent in the game, although I have a feeling the incarnation of Paskil in FFXI will b alive a while yet. I think that SE will pull this off though. Things may be horribly broken for a while (say hello to your new PUP overlords), but I think they'll get the game balanced out in at least a semi-satisfactory manner.

I am kind of happy that Unicorn is one of the servers not being affected by the mergers.

Edit: Interesting read by the way. I'm sure that many players feel the same way as you about the future of FFXI; cautiously optimistic.

Edit2.0: Holy crap, read the entire editorial but skimmed the OP. Grats on getting married man.

Edited, Mar 16th 2010 12:51am by Paskil

Thank you! Working on Mrs. Thayos to play FFXIV with me.

I see what you did there!

I'll admit that I too am optimistic about Abyssea--new areas, new challenges, new systems of play, less reliance on the group, all these appeal to me. I don't see why they felt the need to divide what is essentially a unified story into three expansionettes, but whatever.

However, I still won't be pleased until I see my Far North/West/East/South areas. Don't think I've forgotten about that, S-E.


The level cap raise, makes me extremely suspicious.

First, what prompted a bump in cap that could not be done with a reorganization of traits, abilities, and spells? The expansion of subjob usage could have as easily been achieved by lowering the level requirement for current spells/abilities/traits, in addition to adding in new ones. Adding new HNMs and armor adjusted the current cap should have been no less difficult.

Am I missing something? Is programming around a raised cap easier than programming around the current one?

Second, for the better part of a decade, the number one inviolable rule of FFXI was a max level cap of 75... which they've up and decided to violate, almost out of nowhere.

The only reason I can see them abandoning their number one rule is the same reason all hands would abandon a ship--they may not give a damn about the product anymore.

This is a **** poor point. These places are mentioned in barely the vaguest terms in game (if at all). None of those were ever promised to us, and I honestly have no real wish to visit either the south or far-east.



This is also ridiculous. They're obviously not abandoning the project as you can see from the announcements, add-ons, and coming changes in the game. I see this argument frequently but have yet to see a competent response as to why SE would throw away what is largely a free several million a month. Their shareholders would rip their throats out.

Don't forget that this is a publicly traded company, it is the furthest thing in the world from their best interests to dump this game by the wayside.

The full expansion should be about the Far East that we've heard for many years. A war with Aht Urhgan versus Far East country story. They should also expand the past quest to involve the present by time travel. The WoTG expansion was pretty bleh with no time travel stories.

Like most i've talked to ingame, i'm waiting cautiously until the changes start rolling out. I'm looking forward though because immediately awesome or immediately bad, these chages are gonna give the game a shakeup it imo sorely needs. There is one community issue that i keep hearing that i just am not feeling personally; all the disparaging remarks about Abyssea.

I know its way early still and no one other than SE knows the specifics of it, but from their initial description it seems like Abyssea essentially IS an expansion.

*New areas - check. Shoot, WotG can't even really boast this as most of the "new" areas it added were just reskins of areas i been playing in since '04.

*New mobs - check

*New gear - check

*New storyline - check

*Pricetag of ~$30 US - pretty much what i've paid for every separately sold expansion since/including CoP.

Yeah sounds like an expansion to me, or more accurately, sounds like the stuff we've come to expect from expansions in the past. Minus one thing, the hassle of having to go out and find a copy. We can simply pay to have Abyssea content activated on our accounts as it becomes available and sorry, but i don't mind that at all.

I think most ppl i've talked to ingame are just too hung up on Abyssea's designation. They hear the term "add-on" and think ACP, MKD, or ASA; which is a bit unfair imo. Those three were clearly a test. Not so much in terms of quality, as i think that we can all agree that they were not the best quality work SE has ever released, but a test in terms of distribution.

Now that SE knows how to implement this kind of content, i'm pretty sure that with Abyssea they will be able to worry more about the quality of the content.

closing: Maybe my view is a bit skewed. I have three systems i rotate between playing FFXI on; my PC, my PS2, and my PS3. Abyssea content being offered as an "add-on" as opposed to a traditional expansion disk makes it very easy for me to purchase. I won't be frantically calling around town looking for 2 versions of the same game and shelling out 60 bucks in one go if i find some mom and pop game shop that has them. I will be able to simply buy activation codes one time and have the content unlocked on all my systems.

Seems like a perfectly reasonable new way to release content to me.

Sorry, but you're not going to get this with Abbysea either.

POL wrote:
Doesn't sound like "new" areas, sounds like a reskin to me.

I think raising the level cap to 99 is a horrible decision for SE to make. All it works out too is another grind to squeeze another 30$+some monthly fees out of players. The trivialization of old content via level cap raises is also one of the worst mistakes Blizzard makes too. The big problem for SE mimicking this strategy is that Blizzard can put out a lot more content much faster then SE, so what's going to end up happening is everyone will hit 99, clear what little is there to do, then quit because everything else is a joke.

Because of this announcement I can't imagine myself playing FFXI after FFXIV comes out, and if that isn't good I may quit MMOs completely.

*two thumbs down*

I've got hope for this (as long as the grind to 99 isn't too bad), but if it falls on its face, I most likely won't play XIV. In fact, I will likely quit MMOs altogether.

I have a whole shelf of offline games to play, anyway.

Thanks for pointing out that clarification from Elmer Zaredx and IfritsFreylin, i'd missed that.

However even if any shared storyline between all 3 parts of Abyssea are only of a depth akin to Dynamis(which for the record even though i participate in that activity, i have hated since its addition), it will tie all 3 installments together. And imo that still elevates Abyssea content above that of last years stand alone test add-ons.




A reskin of what? I mean i doubt even SE would be dumb enough to try and herald reskinned zones as "new" ones yet again. They did it with dynamis and then again with WotG. At this point we've got the same structural zones reiterated as many as 3 times in some cases(EX-Southern San d' Oria. Original, Dynamis, and Shadow Reign Era versions). I pray that SE has at least this much sense and doesn't try to pull this again.

Since when was an editorial the same as being a "spokesman"?

Editorial = opinion

Reading Thayos' editorial again, I see hopeful optimism, not any kind of congratulations to SE. Are we reading the same editorial?