FFXIV: thread I Let the games begin!

[littlebottom]

FFXIV is soon to be out. yes, not but 12 days ago they officially announced the release dates for the game.

strangely there are 2 dates, one for the collectors edition (the 22nd of sept) and the normal edition (the 30th of sept) so those who are willing to pay an extra £10 ($???) get the game a little early. though the collectors edition doesnt seem to be the best collectors edition out there, and arguably the ingame item you recieve is worse than the one for simply pre-ordering the normal game, i have decided to pay the extra money for the collectors edition myself. there are multiple reasons for this, largely its down to me liking the behind the scenes stuff really:smallredface:.

on a side note, i quit WoW properly today. since ive not touched the game in 5 months other than possibly 3 times to pop on to say hello to the old guildies and do 1 instance or something daft, i thought it was about time. i would list the reasons why i left but this is not a WoW thread.

FFXIV, i decided to buy into it since i played FFXI before i started WoW and the only real reason i stopped and swapped for WoW was because i knew a couple people who started playing WoW and thought it would be fun to team up togeather (it was back in vanilla wow atleast) but ever since i quit FFXI my mind always went back comparing WoW to it. and i realised many things that FFXI was superior to wow in, but it also had its flaws. in which WoW excelled. but now! FFXIV is on the scenes. hopefully with all the good i loved from XI and all the flaws fixed by mechanics changes (most likely based off of wow, like having an actual skill bar instead of a skill menu, which meant macro-ing was highly important, putting off many new people to the game)

so, who else has pre-ordered it? whom among you pre-ordered the collectors and why?(or why not)? who else is interested by it, but just wants to wait and see? who thought "screw FFXIV cataclysm is coming out soon!"?

oh, and does anyone in the playground have access to the Beta? id love to hear from you.

[Daze]

I'm very interested in it...

Frankly, I've been a FF mega-fan since I first popped in FF2 in my old SNES oh-so-many years ago. I tend to get a lot of crap for it (both online and IRL), but I don't care. I love the artstyle, gameplay, characters, et al. and probably always will!

I haven't played the beta for FF XIV unfortunately, but if you peruse the forums for it at gamefaqs.com, a lot of people have posted some pretty good spoilers on what to expect. That might help ya some.

The release date at the end of this month is for PC only. A PS3 version is supposed to be released in March, 2011. As I own a PS3, I may just wait a bit in order allow some more updates, patches, downloads, etc... to crop up.


(oh... and I agree with you. The level of Macro-ing required in WoW is pretty re-dack-ulous)

[littlebottom]

i own a PS3 aswell, and considered getting it for PS3, but now with the delay, and that im not sure as to how well an analogue stick will fare against a mouse in such a type of game, i decided to play it safe and get the PC version.

oh, and i didnt want to have to get a keyboard and mouse or something for the ps3 just so i can talk to people with some decent speed.

ive been a major fan of the series since FF7, i was a lot younger when i first played it, thus is why i didnt find out about Square sooner. i occasionally get some stick for being a big fan of the series, (infact, my personal list of favorite games, FF7 tops it for multiple reasons) so ultimately i just dont care if i get stick for it.

[littlebottom]

unfortunate news for PS3 owners, the PS3 release has been pushed back to "march 2011" wow, thats some wait considering they were going to release it at the same time as the PC:smallyuk: fortunately i am getting the PC version:smallcool:

there has also been some talk about the pre-order ingame item you get with the normal game being better than the ingame special edition item.

the ingame special edition item "helps you to recover quicker after death" and the pre-order normal game edition item "helps you to skill up professions" i can see why people would think the normal edition is better than the special edition, and all i can think of saying is that you can only skill up so much, but you can always die.:smallconfused: still, im not too sure which is better myself.

[Cubey]

I didn't play this, but I did watch over my brother's shoulder as he was in the open beta.

He hated it. So did I.

The interface is terrible. It's unintuitive, and after switching professions all your command bars reset. The game doesn't save them. You have to use a self-made macro to restore them. That's just pathetic.

Likewise with crafting: a recipe list is nowhere in the game. You pick crafting ingredients and only then receive the list of items you can make from them, rather than the other way around. Unintuitive and annoying.

The stamina system is a horrible idea. No experience after playing the game for 15 hours in a WEEK? Seriously.

The gameplay is very generic. Typical MMO stuff - kill animals, fetch items. It wouldn't be too bad, but combat is slow and boring.

The only two things I liked are music and pretty graphics. My brother also enjoyed crafting minigames, if not crafting itself.

[littlebottom]

well, from what ive heard, alot of it is open to change before release, square have said that they are happy to change it if people ask for it. whether they will or do change any of it remains to be seen.

also, i thought the 15 hours a week refered to each class seperately, not every class in one. if its everyclass then its *facepalm* and :smallsigh: time.

from what you just said, i do hope they change it so that it remembers your bars between class changes, and a list of things you can make while crafting wouldnt kill them would it?

[Anteros]

I didn't play this, but I did watch over my brother's shoulder as he was in the open beta.

He hated it. So did I.

The interface is terrible. It's unintuitive, and after switching professions all your command bars reset. The game doesn't save them. You have to use a self-made macro to restore them. That's just pathetic.

Likewise with crafting: a recipe list is nowhere in the game. You pick crafting ingredients and only then receive the list of items you can make from them, rather than the other way around. Unintuitive and annoying.

The stamina system is a horrible idea. No experience after playing the game for 15 hours in a WEEK? Seriously.

The gameplay is very generic. Typical MMO stuff - kill animals, fetch items. It wouldn't be too bad, but combat is slow and boring.

The only two things I liked are music and pretty graphics. My brother also enjoyed crafting minigames, if not crafting itself.

I have no intention of getting this game, because the last FF mmo was an abomination....however, you do realize that all MMO betas ever are pretty much terrible? Honestly, most MMOs are fairly terrible for like 6 months following release as well.

[littlebottom]

i just did some sleuthing, the 15 hour fatigue thing might stay, but i can see why if its per class, since you can maintain class abilities from say, gladiator, and use them on a marauder, so if you level too much in one job, chances are, your not as good as someone else of the same level who has done a bit of leveling in another job.

i think the effectiveness of an ability is reduced if its not the job your currently using though. but still, cross class buffs are always good.

[Mirrinus]

I'd love to play this, but I probably won't get it until a fair bit of time after it has come out, due to other priorities in life at the moment. More time to study it, at least. I never begin a game without planning things out first.

[littlebottom]

when i get it i might do a kind of lets play thing, or just give some screenshots and talk about it a bit for those unsure what to think of it yet.

also, if theres anyone else getting it ill tell you what server im on if they have no one else to join, you can always join me, ill be happy to help my fellow playgrounders. :smallbiggrin:

is anyone else in the playground getting it on release?

[Sleverin]

Yeah, I got the pre order myself also. I mainly got it since I have a huge group of friends from FFXI invited me into a group that's going to be in 14. I was part of the beta test since July, although I'm not particularly happy with what I saw :/. But then again, it was the game at it's simplest, the servers crashed every ten seconds, and the client hasn't been perfected so the gfx were lagging like molasses uphill in January. Being a monk player though, the pugilist job is a nice change. The new stance system for the pugilist is nice, with focuses on def/eva or acc/att. I wanted toparticipate in the beta more, but I've been too busy to mess with it...plus I like being surprised like everyone else :D

[littlebottom]

do you already have a server in mind then?:smallconfused: since it seems youve got a group going you must have sorted out a server already.

currently theres only a couple people i know in real life who will pick it up, but one of them has no money at the moment so wont be getting it on release, and the other is unsure if they will like it, so i was just wondering if there was enough interest on giant to have a giantitp linkshell or something and get us all on the same server, but it seems like not that many are interested :smallfrown:

[Ignition]

To be honest I haven't followed this very closely, but I figure I'll follow the nine month rule and re-evaluate the game after launch. However, there was one thing I was curious about: I heard the classes are breaking away from Black Mage, White Mage, etc. in favor of having individual classes exclusively built around crafting skills. Confirm/Deny? Any details on the way classes work would be appreciated.

[The J Pizzel]

Warning: Long post.

I'm currently playing the Beta right now (infact I logged off to take a break and read some forums, hehe.)

I'm a huge FF 11 fan. It was my first MMO and will always hold a special place in my heart. However, after all these years I can honestly say that looking back, it was actually a bad MMO for reasons most people already are aware of.

So I was following the release of FF 14 very intently and managed to get a spot in the open beta, I'm already in a Linkshell and we have a full website and everything. I've reserved my copy of the Collectors Edition and...

...at this point, I won't be buying it.

First off let me say, it has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE FATIGUE SYSTEM. The fatigue system is very interesting and while it is somewhat unconventional, it will only affect the ohmygoduberleethardcoregaming people out there. It will not affect casual or even semi-hard core gamers.

It's a very simple system. As you gain experience or skill points in each class or weapon or whatever, you will reach a threshold (after about 8 hours) at which point your exp, or skill points or whatever you recieve will drop by about %50. After you've reached the second threshold (after about another 7 hours) it will drop to about %20, making it practically useless to continue leveling with that item, or weapon, or class, or whatever. So you simply switch to another and keep gaming. The thresholds will reset after 7 days real time. One important thing to remember however, is that as your leveling the other classes or weapons, you threshold goes down quicker. So you might not have to wait a whole week if you continue leveling something else.

What I didn't like about the cross-classing is exaclty what's been said: it doesn't remember anything. And the impressions I've recieved indicate it's not changing.

The gameplay mechanics are horrible. The attack (stamina?) bar is another interesting idea, but I felt it was poorly implemented. I was happy to not have an auto-attack, but found myself still bored by the combat system. There's a bar that goes down every time you swing (or cast a spell or whatever), and regenerates between swings. If you want to swing faster, you just swing away, but you won't be giving the bar time to regenerate and it gets lower each time you swing. The lower the bar when you swing, the less damage and higher chance of missing you have. Even after learning new weapons skills and powers, I still found it very, very boring. It still amounted to simple button mashing.

The idea of Guildleve's (prett much the equivalent to NPC quests) are awesome and were implemented very nicely. You recieve a guildleve from an NPC, you can actually start it whenever you wish, choose how many people are in your party, and the map tells you where to go to complete it. The nice thing is that once you've started it, you kind of enter a semi-instance where it spawns all the mobs you need, but no one else can attack them. So no having to wait for respawns if other players are ganking your mobs. It makes partying to do little quests more fun and relative. If there's anything they did right, it's the guildleve's.

Travel is much better as well. There are little nodes of magical energy all ove the game world where you can teleport wherever you want. It's also nicely done.

The graphics are amazing. No problem there. I mean, literally, they're simply gorgeous.

The races are somwhat disapointing. Don't get me wrong, I love the Taru Taru's as mush as the next, but they're literally the exact same thing. And no, making two skin colors of the same and slightly changing racial modifiers don't consititute two different races. Again, not a deal breaker, but somewhat dissapointing.

The two biggest problems I have with the game are the interface, and the classes.

Let me begin with the classes. There are 5 melee and 2 spellcaster. The five melee are:
Gladiator - sword and board tank
Maurader(sp?) - great axe dps. And only great axe.
Pugilist - hand to hand dps. And only hand to hand.
Archer - ranged dps. And only ranged.
Lancer - spear/lance dps. And only spear/lance.

IMO, the melee classes are awful. You're either a tank, or dps. You're pidgeon-holed into one group of weapons. There's no support melee (Redmage, Paladin, etc.) at all.

The spellcasters are:
Thaumaterge (sp?) - dark magic, debuffing, damage.
Conjurer - elemental damage and healing.

Your weapon decides what class you are. I don't like this at all. Some may. But not me.

The interface...where do I begin.
Everything you remember about the interface from FF 11 is there, only worse. The mouse is a joke, it's so laggy you won't bother. However, you have to rotate the map and select targets, so you can't use just the keybaord like you could in FF 11. So you end up having to get a game controller (luckily I had a 360 controller). Anytime you select ANYTHING in the the game there's a second or two delay. It was exactly like this in FF 11, so I don't think this is a beta thing. I'm tired of typing right now, but I'll be happy to answer any questions y'all have. I promise to give an honest review.

I'm going to keep playing until they close the beta and hope it grows on me, but at this point, I'm not buying it.


To be honest I haven't followed this very closely, but I figure I'll follow the nine month rule and re-evaluate the game after launch. However, there was one thing I was curious about: I heard the classes are breaking away from Black Mage, White Mage, etc. in favor of having individual classes exclusively built around crafting skills. Confirm/Deny? Any details on the way classes work would be appreciated.

There are 4 class groups: Disciples of: War, Magic, Land, Hand.

And yes, the Disciples of the Land and Hand are full classes that are actally crafting classes. You can swap between classes pretty easily in this game, so that's why they're actually classes and not just character add-ons as in other games like WoW or EQ. And yes, the Redmage, Whitemage, etc. are all gone.

[Ignition]

[The Combat System] still amounted to simple button mashing.

Your weapon decides what class you are. I don't like this at all. Some may. But not me.

Actually that combat system sounds a little like the one from Sword of Mana. If it's really that badly implemented, I can understand the resistence; but is there an MMO that does not amount to button mashing to one degree or another? :smallwink:

The weapon-choice-as-class thing does sound stupid, especially since every other game seems to be going the way of More Choices, not less.

Oh well, I guess I can crawl back into my cave and ignore this game even exists. Good luck! :smallbiggrin:

[The J Pizzel]

Actually that combat system sounds a little like the one from Sword of Mana. If it's really that badly implemented, I can understand the resistence; but is there an MMO that does not amount to button mashing to one degree or another? :smallwink:

The weapon-choice-as-class thing does sound stupid, especially since every other game seems to be going the way of More Choices, not less.

Oh well, I guess I can crawl back into my cave and ignore this game even exists. Good luck! :smallbiggrin:

The problem isn't so much that it's button mashing, it's that I felt like it was usless button mashing. If you're going to make me pay attention and make me physically strike a key for every hit, make it more important and less boring. For instance, in Age of Conan, you had to strike left, right, or center depending on where their sheilds were. And you alternated those hits accordingly. I don't mind button mashing, just make it worth my while to do it.

Again, the game has some good things going for it, I'm just not liking the actuall gameplay mechanics as much as I need to to invest $70 bucks (Collectors Edition) and $15 a month.

But I'm still playing beta anyway. We'll see where it goes.

[littlebottom]

well, i have a couple questions then, do you know if they will implement more classes? like in FFXI where there were classes you couldnt access from character creation? if so that might vary up the classes a little? i mean, they could be just giving us what they think are the basic classes and we have to work for the more interesting ones.

i also heard you keep abilities from across other classes? would that not mean you could have a caster tank? or the tank dps? maybe not as effectively, but wouldnt that also free up the stereo types of the classes at higher levels?

my views on the stamina bar though, are that (without having played yet, so just from what ive seen and heard) it makes it more tactical as to what abilities you use and when, although if you need to spam that heal spell, youve still got the option.

oh and on the money front. £40 for collectors edition and £8 a month fee, but considering ive been playing wow for the past 5 years, the fee means nothing since ive stopped wow, so all im paying for in effect is the game itself, so i thought id get the collectors edition because atleast that way, if i dont like the game, ive still got something to show for the purchase.

[The J Pizzel]

well, i have a couple questions then, do you know if they will implement more classes? like in FFXI where there were classes you couldnt access from character creation? if so that might vary up the classes a little? i mean, they could be just giving us what they think are the basic classes and we have to work for the more interesting ones.

i also heard you keep abilities from across other classes? would that not mean you could have a caster tank? or the tank dps? maybe not as effectively, but wouldnt that also free up the stereo types of the classes at higher levels?

my views on the stamina bar though, are that (without having played yet, so just from what ive seen and heard) it makes it more tactical as to what abilities you use and when, although if you need to spam that heal spell, youve still got the option.

oh and on the money front. £40 for collectors edition and £8 a month fee, but considering ive been playing wow for the past 5 years, the fee means nothing since ive stopped wow, so all im paying for in effect is the game itself, so i thought id get the collectors edition because atleast that way, if i dont like the game, ive still got something to show for the purchase.

There's been no indication of advanced classes like in FF11. At least none that I've seen.

I've haven't seen anything indicating that as you change classes you keep abilities from other classes, but I'll look into that. Maybe I just didn't see that in the UI to know about it (another reason the UI is significantly lacking). But it would make having mulitple classes much more interesting. I'll get back to you.

The stamina bar (if that's what it's called, I call the attack bar) has no bearing on what you can or can't cast/swing. It simply drops everytime you do something, and repleneshes inbetween attacks. So you can spam light swing or magic missile all day and keep it low, or you can wait between swings and let it replenish. There's no numerical effect that dictates how much you have for it to regulate what can or cannot swing or cast.

There is a TP (Tactical Points) bar which goes up as you engage in melee. After it goes high enough you can unleash a TP power (also called weapon powers), but this is the same as in FF 11. Of course, there is also the mana bar, which is the same as every other game.

So again, I stamina bar feels like a useless implement to me. I'd rather just have auto attack and supplement it with other attacks (ie FF 11 or WoW) or button mashing that has a direct effect on the fighting (ie Age of Conan, Oblivian).

As for the money, I'll happily pay a sub fee for anything I'm enjoying. I've payed them almost non-stop for 10 years on one game or the other. And I'll happily pay $80 bucks for a CE of any game I like (Dragon Age), but at this point, this game is not up to what I willing to pay for.

[Gruffard]

Hmm.. Thanks for the info The J Pizzel, I recently deactivated my WoW account and played the old FFXI, I was hoping this might be a fun game til Cata or maybe just a new game and make be forget the evil WoW...

I played the old FFXI, I think it was great, and when I had peeps I knew on it, it was fun. Loved the endless leveling of different classes and matching them up, and the forcing you to group to actually level... but this could just be nostalgia.

Any updates on some sort of benefit for having leveled "off classes"? That alone might make or break this game for me.

[The J Pizzel]

Hmm.. Thanks for the info The J Pizzel, I recently deactivated my WoW account and played the old FFXI, I was hoping this might be a fun game til Cata or maybe just a new game and make be forget the evil WoW...

I played the old FFXI, I think it was great, and when I had peeps I knew on it, it was fun. Loved the endless leveling of different classes and matching them up, and the forcing you to group to actually level... but this could just be nostalgia.

Any updates on some sort of benefit for having leveled "off classes"? That alone might make or break this game for me.

The forcing to group to level thing is gone. But what they've done instead is very nice. You can grind of course, but who wants to? Now you recieve Guildleves, which are NPC Quests. And don't worry, you won't run out. There's a freaking ton of them. When you begin the guildleve, it immediately asks you how many people are in the party, so it know how to set the difficulty. This makes partying completely optional and amazingly fun, even for doing little "kill 6 of these" quests. Becuase if there's 4 of you in the party, it ups the skill of the monsters. For the many things I dislike about he game, the quest system is, at this point, my favorite. I can talk all day abou the guildleves if you want. For instance, each guildleve is sponsored by a faction, there's 3 i think. Completeing the guildleve gains you points with that faction. The more points you have with a faction, the more gold, exp, items, etc. you recieve from the guildleve. Furthermore, if that faction is the leading faction in that region (or zone), the more you get out of the guildleve. After completing a guildleve, a teleport node appears that will teleport you to the nearest camp. You can choose to use it or let it dissipate. So again, guildleve's are pretty cool.

I haven't played today and won't get to play tonight. So I can't update on the cross-class thing until I get a chance to play tomorrow night. But I'll certainly update y'all when I can. It will probably be a deal breaker for me as well. I still despise the UI, and I'm not thrilled with the combat system, but if I can cross-class and maintain abilities from both classes, that would redeem the awful standard classes.

I'll let y'all know.

[littlebottom]

Well, looking into this myself I saw a YouTube clip of someone playing a pugilist (sp?) and he was casting cure, I don't think that that is a pugilist ability. I can only assume he got it from another class? Still, more reliable info would be greatly appreciated.

[The J Pizzel]

Well, looking into this myself I saw a YouTube clip of someone playing a pugilist (sp?) and he was casting cure, I don't think that that is a pugilist ability. I can only assume he got it from another class? Still, more reliable info would be greatly appreciated.

HOLY CRAP!!! Now that you mentioned it, I remember seeing a person with a lance on their back casting Cure last night. I assumed it was a pointy staff (making him a Conjurer) but it was probably a lance or a spear. I'll most certainly check back with you guys.

[littlebottom]

it certainly sounds promising, also, if this is true, then customization of stats is a very good thing as later on, you can potentially build "new" classes out of the basic ones anyway.

[littlebottom]

it appears you can! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PaTvsLQoaQ&feature=related)

from about 1:30 he starts taking a couple abilities from other classes to fill his action bar and explains what he takes as he does it. so it seems you actually can.

also, he uses abilities which use different amounts of the stamina bar. :smallamused: second wind uses almost double it seems.

if you watch the whole video, he talks about it mattering what direction you attack from aswell, which is nice for groups it adds something else :smallsmile:

looks like youve been missing out J:smalltongue:

EDIT: a better video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLDkkL6dKXM&feature=channel) i just found this video, it explains how it works, so theres a limit to the abilities you can have, you cant just have them all, so you have to pick and choose the right ones to optemize your build.

[The J Pizzel]

it appears you can! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PaTvsLQoaQ&feature=related)

from about 1:30 he starts taking a couple abilities from other classes to fill his action bar and explains what he takes as he does it. so it seems you actually can.

also, he uses abilities which use different amounts of the stamina bar. :smallamused: second wind uses almost double it seems.

if you watch the whole video, he talks about it mattering what direction you attack from aswell, which is nice for groups it adds something else :smallsmile:

looks like youve been missing out J:smalltongue:

EDIT: a better video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLDkkL6dKXM&feature=channel) i just found this video, it explains how it works, so theres a limit to the abilities you can have, you cant just have them all, so you have to pick and choose the right ones to optemize your build.

Nice. The mixing of class abilites is much better. I think I missed the drop down which shows the other classes abilities. That definitely changes my opinion of the classes. That's nearly endless customization. The directional hits are nifty, never saw that either.

The stamina bar still doesn't do anything for me. If you noticed in the video, he still just aimlessly hits it when he wants to strike. Even when it gets down the bottom he still just swings away. I think I'd have rathered an auto-attack and then you can randomly use you're abilities when you want.

Opinion of the game is changing. Thanks for posting that. Like I said previously, I didn't get to play last night, but hopefully I'll play a lot tonight and can pass on some good stuff.

[Gruffard]

Woot! Thanks for the update. I was confused on why they would drop the most well known (and I thought most liked) part of FFXI and other FF Tatics like game mechanic. I will have to watch that video when I get off work tonight. Thanks for the information.

[littlebottom]

:smallwink:tis my pleasure.

im counting down the days to the 22nd:smallbiggrin: not too long now.

ill keep looking for more videos that display some part of the mechanics i suppose, since thats what ive heard the least about from square themselves, they have kept a lot of information to themselves.:smallconfused:

[Khosan]

So, I finally got the beta downloaded and installed. No thanks to Square's useless downloader that managed, on a good day, 30 kb/s (and 800 bytes/second the day after).

There's a lot of things where I'm sitting there staring at my screen going "Okay, so what does that mean?" Like some of the stats; I get what Strength, Vitality and Dexterity probably do, but I really have no idea what Intelligence, Mind and Piety do. I'm certain they're caster stats, but it'd be like being given a D&D character without understanding the system; If I knew nothing about D&D, I'd have no idea what Int, Wis or Cha were for as far as a caster was concerned.

I feel like there's supposed to be an instruction manual that I was supposed to have read, but I don't know where it is.

[Sleverin]

I was selected to be in the beta back in July, and there WAS a site for the beta testers that had manuals, etc. I dunno if the open beta allows it. Oooh, I just got info that my GTX 460 is coming soon, which should be tomorrow! Yay :D

I hope they make the game a bit more accessible however, once it's supposed to come out. I tried to equip my skills but the game wouldn't let me, I tried to remove my abilities, and it wouldn't let me....plus the game was so laggy I just couldn't handle trying to figure it out. This was back when the beta was still in phase 1/3 when they were only doing selected hours testing, and it wasn't just up 24/7.

Also, littlebottom, I've got the preorder as well and I have a group of good friends who already have a LS forum and everything. I dunno what server we're going to be on, but when I find out, I'll tell you. You might not be able to join the group (at least not at first, this is a friends ls, not mine) but I'm sure they'll be friendly to you as long as you're friendly first, they're a great group of people.

[The J Pizzel]

Regrettably, the lag is still there (but we're only still in beta mind you). But I do remember FF 11 having a weird gameplay lag as well. It wasn't like a laggy internet connection. It was like the game seemed to visualize your actions about a full second or 2 after you hit the key. Wether it be a spell or simply opending up a window. This isn't really a big deal though. For instance, in the beta right now, when you add an ability to your action, it literally takes about 3 seconds to appear. But this really isn't a big deal if you ask me.

I didn't get to play last night cause the servers were down or something. But I'll try to play off an on all weekend and give some updates.

Again, my opinion of the classes have changed drastically for the better. I'm still not thrilled over the combat mechanic, but we'll see if it grows on me. As I've said in the past, I really want to like this game.

edit - for those of you concerned about graphics. My system failed the benchmark, as did the computers of several other poeple I know. My system also doesn't even meet the system requirements. Apparently they set the standard kind of high, because my computer runs this game at almost full blast. The only thing I lowered where shadows. So again, ignore the benchmark and system requirements (to a degree, obviously).

My system:
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66
Windows Vista
3 Gig DDR3 (I can't remember the number, but it's the really fast RAM)
nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX 512

[Sleverin]

OH man....you got an 8800? I got a 9800 and the gfx lagged like molasses running uphill. I'm upgrading to the 460 gtx, but I'm doing that for two reasons: 1. Team Fortress 2 has been lagging so horribly since they update the graphics every five freakin seconds. 2. This is (frighteningly enough) the recommended minimum card for 14, at least I'm pretty sure it is...they're trying to future proof the game by requiring a computer that's from space >_>

[littlebottom]

I was selected to be in the beta back in July, and there WAS a site for the beta testers that had manuals, etc. I dunno if the open beta allows it. Oooh, I just got info that my GTX 460 is coming soon, which should be tomorrow! Yay :D

I hope they make the game a bit more accessible however, once it's supposed to come out. I tried to equip my skills but the game wouldn't let me, I tried to remove my abilities, and it wouldn't let me....plus the game was so laggy I just couldn't handle trying to figure it out. This was back when the beta was still in phase 1/3 when they were only doing selected hours testing, and it wasn't just up 24/7.

Also, littlebottom, I've got the preorder as well and I have a group of good friends who already have a LS forum and everything. I dunno what server we're going to be on, but when I find out, I'll tell you. You might not be able to join the group (at least not at first, this is a friends ls, not mine) but I'm sure they'll be friendly to you as long as you're friendly first, they're a great group of people.

ooh, i might have to take you up on that :smallsmile: im always friendly anyway :smalltongue: used to run a guild back in wow, so its not like im useless either, i can co-ordinate a group and knew some peoples classes better than they did :smallsigh:


Regrettably, the lag is still there (but we're only still in beta mind you). But I do remember FF 11 having a weird gameplay lag as well. It wasn't like a laggy internet connection. It was like the game seemed to visualize your actions about a full second or 2 after you hit the key. Wether it be a spell or simply opending up a window. This isn't really a big deal though. For instance, in the beta right now, when you add an ability to your action, it literally takes about 3 seconds to appear. But this really isn't a big deal if you ask me.

I didn't get to play last night cause the servers were down or something. But I'll try to play off an on all weekend and give some updates.

Again, my opinion of the classes have changed drastically for the better. I'm still not thrilled over the combat mechanic, but we'll see if it grows on me. As I've said in the past, I really want to like this game.

edit - for those of you concerned about graphics. My system failed the benchmark, as did the computers of several other poeple I know. My system also doesn't even meet the system requirements. Apparently they set the standard kind of high, because my computer runs this game at almost full blast. The only thing I lowered where shadows. So again, ignore the benchmark and system requirements (to a degree, obviously).

My system:
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66
Windows Vista
3 Gig DDR3 (I can't remember the number, but it's the really fast RAM)
nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX 512

yeah, my computer failed the benchmark too..:smallredface: so i decided to download the open beta, and test it out before the game comes out. im not going to play it much, as to spoil my experience of the game, i just want to see how well it runs, although the downloader is stupidly slow, i left it running over night and after 12 hours of downloading i got 12% done... i thought, 1% per hour means over 4 days solid downloading, i was about to give up hope, but now i found that you can download it in smaller chunks and just put the right files in the right folders, for which people have explained on various sites, the first download is running now (4.7GB) 40% done in under the hour... muuuuuch better.:smallbiggrin: ill tell you how i get on if i get it working

[The J Pizzel]

OH man....you got an 8800? I got a 9800 and the gfx lagged like molasses running uphill. I'm upgrading to the 460 gtx, but I'm doing that for two reasons: 1. Team Fortress 2 has been lagging so horribly since they update the graphics every five freakin seconds. 2. This is (frighteningly enough) the recommended minimum card for 14, at least I'm pretty sure it is...they're trying to future proof the game by requiring a computer that's from space >_>

Tell me about it. It recommends a 9800, I'm running a 8800 and it seems to run just fine. I know I've got a really good processor (E8600 with a 6mb cache), so that might be picking up some of the video cards slack, but still, I'm not having any problems with graphics so far.


yeah, my computer failed the benchmark too..:smallredface: so i decided to download the open beta, and test it out before the game comes out. im not going to play it much, as to spoil my experience of the game, i just want to see how well it runs, although the downloader is stupidly slow, i left it running over night and after 12 hours of downloading i got 12% done... i thought, 1% per hour means over 4 days solid downloading, i was about to give up hope, but now i found that you can download it in smaller chunks and just put the right files in the right folders, for which people have explained on various sites, the first download is running now (4.7GB) 40% done in under the hour... muuuuuch better.:smallbiggrin: ill tell you how i get on if i get it working

Yeah, I was going to explain the process as well, but I saw that you were waiting for release so I didn't bother. Sorry, could've saved you some hassle. But yeah, I d/l the individual updates using uTorrent and then simply put them into the designated patch folder. Works like a charm every time. Enjoy. I'm on Palamecia if you wanna join up and play this weekend. Characters are Jerico, Dregis, and Tibben.

[littlebottom]

i just finished downloading and installing all the patches and then i went off for about half an hour and came back, so all in all it took around 3 hours to download all the files and install them not too shabby.

i tried logging in, but "maintenence" is going on :smallfrown:

i might just join you, but im not likely to do much, the main reason ive downloaded it is because well... basically im paranoid that its going to be unplayable, and if it is, then atleast i get a heads up to go out and try and upgrade my computer/get a new one. where as if i leave it till release, i would likely miss atleast the first week, id be joining with the non pre-release orders.

so its just my paranoia really:smallredface: but ill play around on it a bit, to get used to the controls and see if theres any real difference in the race you choose etc, to help me decide for release.:smallcool:

ill make another post when i actually get to make a character.

[littlebottom]

maybe i was right to be paranoid, i made a character, but the screen went blank as it was loading, eventually it put me in and let me run around with about 3 frames per second and a huge delay between what i press and my actions, before i managed to get off that starting ship i had crashed 4 times and had to skip the cinematics because they hurt my computer too much:smallfrown:

looks like ill be making a costly investment before release...

sorry, i would join you this weekend, but as it currently is, its really unplayable.

[Sleverin]

That's why I stopped doing the beta test myself, it was so lag infested I couldn't handle it >:/

[littlebottom]

well, im off to look at some computers from PC world tomorrow. hopefully i can find one that meets my requirements and is still cheap enough. if that doesnt work, its to the internet to make one myself and have it sent through, that way, i only pay for what i want, not what "tha man" wants me to pay for.

im hoping i find one tomorrow though, although the likely hood of that is low since PC world are not likely to change the odd thing inside a computer for me "look, ill pay the difference between the graphics card in it and the graphics card i want and i want you to put it in for me now!" is not likely to work, whereas online you can do that since its not actually been built yet.


sooooooooo good luck to me anyway.

[littlebottom]

right, well i had a look today, and good news, well, sorta. im getting a new PC, but which one is not a definate yet, but there is one i had my eye on.

i7 processor, 8GB ram, 1TB hard drive, ATI 5570 (not sure i like this graphics card though.) and a plethora of other things. not too expensive either.

there is hope yet! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! *ahem* but seriously, im hoping to have that sorted by the end of this coming week. whether i get that computer or a different one remains to yet be seen though.

FFXIV here i come!

oh oh oh, and Nobuo Uematsu is doing the ENTIRE music score, this, this made me veeeeerry happy:smallbiggrin:

[Sleverin]

I've seen two concerts now of the Final Fantsy music live and it had been quite impressive and lovely. This year they did a track from FF13, which I don't know or really care about (it's not done by Nobuo) and they did a track from 14 which was cool. Oh, and I met Nobuo Uematsu.....my god that was nerve racking >.>

[littlebottom]

I've seen two concerts now of the Final Fantsy music live and it had been quite impressive and lovely. This year they did a track from FF13, which I don't know or really care about (it's not done by Nobuo) and they did a track from 14 which was cool. Oh, and I met Nobuo Uematsu.....my god that was nerve racking >.>

wow... im a big fanboy tbh, i would of killed to meet him. :smallfrown: though i speak little japanese :smalleek:

[Sleverin]

Yeah it cost me nearly 200$ for the whole thing, the seat was like 120...or 30 idr, and the ticket to meet Nobuo, the conductor, and the very talented female singer was about 70 bucks...maybe a bit more. It was expensive, but man those shows are cool. Nobuo is hella laid back, really cool seeming kinda guy, he's definitely happy to have fans, and he's thankfully not some egotistical jerk. Oh, plus, at both shows he sat in the audience which is pretty badass. Oh right, and he seems to know a bit of English, although he's got a pretty thick accent.

[littlebottom]

wow. i always thought of him as being laid back, since his personal recording studio has a table tennis table in the middle of it:smallbiggrin:

ooooh only 1 week left ladies and gents!

[Sleverin]

Yeah I just installed my GTX 460, and boy is it nice :D But yeah it comes out soon, you'll probably get on the game before me (since your location says Britain, which means you're 8 hours ahead of me) so we might not get on the same server (at first) but I'll send you a PM on what server my group is on.

[The J Pizzel]

Sorry it took so long to get back, but I wanted to actually play a lot before coming back and updating.

Let me start off by saying the mixing of classes are now my second favorite thing of this game (first being the guildleves). I still don't like that the weapon I'm carrying decides my class, but I can overlook that. In a nutshell, you will eventually create your own class in this game. It's amazing. I've leveled a Maurader as my main class, but I mixed it with a heavy dose of Pugilist for increased damage, a small dose of Gladiator for HP and defense, and a small pinch of Lancer for some light melee support. Now I essentially have my own class. It's a great axe weilding high damage mofo with some minor buffs when it's needed. And some off-tank abilities when needed.

My personal favorite that I've seen was a fellow who ran around leveling nothing but Maurader and Thaumaterge. He called himself a fallen paladin becuase he was in medium armor with a huge axe putting curses on bad guys and stuff. It was pretty cool.

UI is still lacking. An instruction manual will help, but I'm still not liking it.

As with all MMO's, the action gets better the more abilities you have, but I'm still not digging the physical swing. Although after you have done it for about 12 levels, you don't really care anymore.

The open beta closes sunday. I haven't decided if I'm gonna buy it or not. It's definitely grown on me. I might wait a month or two after release and see if they clean up the UI or something.

Let me know if there's anything else you wanna know about.

[littlebottom]

Yeah I just installed my GTX 460, and boy is it nice :D But yeah it comes out soon, you'll probably get on the game before me (since your location says Britain, which means you're 8 hours ahead of me) so we might not get on the same server (at first) but I'll send you a PM on what server my group is on.

ok, i will have to see, since im not getting a midnight release or anything, its just being sent in the post, so it should arrive early morning, now whether the time it takes to install it and such slows me down (and my liking of lie ins) i might only get on the game around 2PM, since im assuming you can only make one character unless you pay for more, then if im to go on the same server as you theres no point making a character just to delete it before the end of the day... if i get on it really early i might just to give me a look at which starting area to pick or something though.


Sorry it took so long to get back, but I wanted to actually play a lot before coming back and updating.

Let me start off by saying the mixing of classes are now my second favorite thing of this game (first being the guildleves). I still don't like that the weapon I'm carrying decides my class, but I can overlook that. In a nutshell, you will eventually create your own class in this game. It's amazing. I've leveled a Maurader as my main class, but I mixed it with a heavy dose of Pugilist for increased damage, a small dose of Gladiator for HP and defense, and a small pinch of Lancer for some light melee support. Now I essentially have my own class. It's a great axe weilding high damage mofo with some minor buffs when it's needed. And some off-tank abilities when needed.

My personal favorite that I've seen was a fellow who ran around leveling nothing but Maurader and Thaumaterge. He called himself a fallen paladin becuase he was in medium armor with a huge axe putting curses on bad guys and stuff. It was pretty cool.

UI is still lacking. An instruction manual will help, but I'm still not liking it.

As with all MMO's, the action gets better the more abilities you have, but I'm still not digging the physical swing. Although after you have done it for about 12 levels, you don't really care anymore.

The open beta closes sunday. I haven't decided if I'm gonna buy it or not. It's definitely grown on me. I might wait a month or two after release and see if they clean up the UI or something.

Let me know if there's anything else you wanna know about.

i was so hoping to hear this from the classes thing, its really put my hopes up about the game, and is going to be important to keeping my interest in the game, trying to get the abilities i want to use cross class too.:smallbiggrin:

erm, what else i would like to know is about the bazzar and such, do you have people who spend alot of their time farming to craft just to sell like a market (Since theres no AH yet i think?) i think it would make a nice kind of community feel if you keep buying all your fish of the same PC vendor when cooking or something :smalltongue: but thats just me being silly really

[The J Pizzel]

erm, what else i would like to know is about the bazzar and such, do you have people who spend alot of their time farming to craft just to sell like a market (Since theres no AH yet i think?) i think it would make a nice kind of community feel if you keep buying all your fish of the same PC vendor when cooking or something :smalltongue: but thats just me being silly really

They still have the bazaar's in this game. There's a metric crap-ton of people crafting all over the game, but not a whole lot of people with bazaar's up. I think most people are just crafting and selling to vendors. I tend to check almost every one of them and most are just other crafting items.

That's all I got on bazaar stuff. I honestly send all my time leveling the different combat classes.

[littlebottom]

yeah, i think a lot of people will, but it would be nice at the high end to have designated crafters and such.

now i think about it, ive got another question to ask, although i doubt you know much about it yet. the end game stuff? what is there? whats it going to be like?

[Sleverin]

Heh, 2 PM huh? I'm going to get up then (6 AM) and be home by about 6 PM my time (so 12 AM for you). LOL 8 hour time difference.

[littlebottom]

heh, ill most likely be on the server with the name most related to FF7, to begin with. unless its like crazy full... shame about the time zone difference, it does make it difficult since ill likely not be playing it at the same times as you anyway:smallsigh:.

[Sleverin]

Just got back from my other forum. Apparently the decision is to go to Wutai and if not that, Fabul. I'll keep you posted on the goings on. Hopefully we can get some game time together or something, and it's not like it's limited to just one day, it's an MMO!

[littlebottom]

oh, ok, in that case ill make my character on wutai, which was likely the case anyway. if the plan changes, just PM me with your character name too.

i wont bother PMing you my character name straight away since i might have to delete it anyway.

[Sleverin]

Sleverin Adamantfist.

My original character Sleverin was from a DnD game and his last name was Guldis. I remade him as a monk for a different game and in the course of that game ended up punching an adamantine pillar so hard that I cracked the base and it fell over. In the middle of an arena. And thus I earned the nickname "Adamantfist" and that is now my official last name.

[littlebottom]

ah, i love names with stories attached.:smalltongue:

also. IM AM POSTING FOR THE FIRST TIME ON MY NEW COMPUTER! wooooo!

its not the one i was originally going to go with, its the next model down :smallfrown: they didnt have the model i wanted anywhere within miles and miles, except the one in store which was being used as a display, so i decided to just go with the model below, not quite as good, but i save some money, so i cant complain:smalltongue:

rough specs.

Intel i7 860
6GB ram
1TB hard drive
ATI Radion HD 5570 1GB

the one i wanted was 8GB ram, 1.5TB hard drive and 2GB Nvidea GTX 330 i think, but what can you do? :smallconfused:

[Sleverin]

So yeah, Wutai it is, now that the official server listing has come out. One of our LS members posted an interview with the team, and there's a huge wall o text from it. I read some of it and it looks like they're addressing the issues presented in beta. Streamlining the UI, reducing lag on buying items, and other such things with the menu. Oh, and they *said* that they will be putting mouse recognition by time of release... and a bunch of other stuff...maybe I'll post it later.

[littlebottom]

all sounds like good news. only a few days to go yet though:smallbiggrin:

ill have to change the thread title soon.

[Sleverin]

Yup, only a couple more days. This bad boy is coming straight to my work, since I'm at work most of the day, it won't get lost.

If you want I can try and talk to my ls leaders and see if we can get you in. Might have to prove to be a reliable person though. Our Ls has a lot of players who have been with each other since the beginning of 11, and they used to run a Sky LS, running around being all badass. Anyways, their big concern is no drama, everyone have fun, and we all work together to help everyone level up, craft, and such. I'm not saying you're not a good guy or anything, but my peeps seem to be trying to keep it a tight knit kinda group. Oh, also we're a buncha yanks, I don't think there's too many (if any) people outside of the US (except Canadia). So scheduling might be an issue.

[littlebottom]

yeah its alright, its likely that the time difference will mean that i may break off from you all anyway, to find a group more suited to my time zone.

the best i can offer in way of "am i good guy" sort of thing, i used to run a guild back in WOW in which i prioritised fun over anything else, if your not having fun theres no point to it. i used to organise silly games in the guild during the week when people wanted a break from raiding or crafting, used to play hide and seek sometimes, that was a good laugh.:smallbiggrin:

i personally dedicated alot of my spare game time to helping others through instances and quests, since i found more fun in that then grinding on my own anyway.

if you will let me join then i will to begin with atleast, see how things go, its likely that most people wont be on at the same times as me. if this is the case i may start up my own LS, and get some people in my own time zone to join. but by that point we will both be on the same server so if i do that, im happy to give a helping hand to your LS from time to time :smallwink:

EDIT: i updated all my Directx and graphic card drivers then ran the FFXIV benchmark. im slightly disapointed, but as i said the graphics card was the main reason i wanted the model above, it was a big difference between the 2 but i had to have the lower model:smallfrown:. anyway, i scored little under 2k on low res, and 1k on high res. so thats not the best, but certainly is much better, considering it got 10 times more on low res than my previous computer. and 5 times better on high res. so i cant complain (i didnt test my old computer on high res, i thought it might kill it. and i dont want it to die:smalleek:)

[Mirrinus]

This was released a few days ago, and I thought it was pretty helpful. It's an explanation of the fatigue system and why it's implemented:

Understanding the Fatigue Limit (http://www.eorzeapedia.com/2010/09/13/understanding-the-fatigue-limit/#more-5236)

And while we're at it, here's the OP cinema:

FFXIV Opening (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VGCZbB_VpQ)

I'm considering maybe joining FFXIV in a few months. I'll let you guys know beforehand in case I'd like to join one of your servers.

[littlebottom]

i dont know about anyone else, but im intending to give occasional updates on things i like and dont like about the game, and how my characters getting on, just for the fun of it, so you can get some more info on the game from that.

and your more than welcome to join me online, same goes for any playgrounder:smallwink: whats your time zone? im on GMT as my location suggests.

[Sleverin]

I'm pretty sure I've stated this before, but let's compile this data:

Timezone: PST Pacific Standard
In game name: Sleverin Adamantfist
Server: Wutai
LS: Divine Might

I can understand your wanting to wait Mirrinus. The first couple of months are always rocky for MMOs, and after that it usually smooths out okay. But all my friends from 11 are all super excited about it and we're all (hopefully) going to be there on launch!

[Mirrinus]

I'm delaying my potential entrance to the game because I've currently got a lot of other things occupying my time, but I'm hoping it'll clear up in maybe 2 months. From what I've seen of the game, it looks pretty good.

I too am a veteran of FFXI. I started playing that the very month it came out in America, although I left the game about 3 years ago due to lack of time. It was fun while it lasted, though.

I'm Pacific Standard time, and I'll probably use "Mirrinus" as my screenname as well, as it was my character's name in FFXI. I'll let you know when and if I plan to join your server. Nice LS name by the way; Divine Might was one of the most thrilling events I've had the pleasure of doing in FFXI.

[littlebottom]

sitting here with my FFXIV collectors edition infront of me! it turned up early.:smallcool: i assume its slightly different to the american one, but the map is fantastic, the mug is a little bit of a cop-out, but it certainly looks nice, the security token....??? i have no idea yet. and ive not seen the behind the scenes dvd yet.

oh and the book is really nice too. im tempted to write down my in game adventures in it in a sort of roleplay-esk way, to record the happenings in game in the book, but my hand writing is horrible so i feel like ill just be ruining a lovely book. :smallfrown:

the map may well be going on my wall behind my computer screen to look up at it as im playing.

im off to install it early! im dreading the release patches though.

[Sleverin]

Huh, I wonder how it turned up early? I got mine offa Amazon and I only got the option of getting it upon release date (which I had to pay extra for, if I didn't pay extra for it it would show up on the 30th wtf.)

Nothing like the obligatory map though. I haven't had one in my room for quite some time, so it'll be nice to have a new one to put up. Hope to see you there!

[littlebottom]

to be fair, i ordered it from game, who have always strived to make sure games arrive on release dates otherwise people get annoyed, so they send them out early because people wont complain if it arrives early, but they will if its late:smallamused:

i played a few games before their release, the latest red faction i got 3 days early, and had got a fair bit of the game done before the actual release :smallbiggrin: although the online stuff wasnt accessable till release day obviously.

i just installed the game, and watched the behind the scenes DVD, its quite nice but you can see it all online anyway:smallannoyed: so its nothing too special.

im getting really restless now since i have it installed on my computer and ready to go, and yet i cant play it yet :smallfrown:

[littlebottom]

im in! and ive played a couple hours on wutai so far, my character name is "patella Detritus" dont ask:smalleek:

im currently a thaumaturge, and its very fun, although ill admit the controls are slightly off of what im used to. so its just going to take some getting used to. See you on wutai:smallwink:

[Sleverin]

Isn't Detritus a desk or something? And the patella is a section of the brain, correct?

Did you have to download a big ol' patch to play? Well, I'll find out when I get home from work, 12 hours.

[littlebottom]

actually, the patch wasnt that big, about 15 minutes it took.

patella is the kneecap

detritus is a proberbly mispelt name of a troll from terry pratchetts diskworld.

patella was the name of my old wow undead, because his kneecaps were showing :smallamused:

not as good as yours. but still

ive lost connection twice since i started playing about 5 hours ago. so thats not too great. but im quite enjoying it, the people are friendly, even if some of them do just ignore you.

[The J Pizzel]

The controls were weird in beta. I highly suggest getting a game pad. A 360 controller works excellently. I've decided not to get the game just yet. I"ll prolly get it in a couple of months though. We might be buying a new house and that's pretty much put everything on hold right now.

[Sleverin]

The controls were weird in beta. I highly suggest getting a game pad. A 360 controller works excellently. I've decided not to get the game just yet. I"ll prolly get it in a couple of months though. We might be buying a new house and that's pretty much put everything on hold right now.

Pfft, nub. What else is there in life but FF online? OBEY THE MASTER OF YOUR LIFE. Just kidding :P

My download is going slow, it seems people in my area don't play 14, or however this P2P downloading thing works. I know this is a paltry complaint...but the back of my collector's edition has a bunch of black scuff marks on it >:/ I don't like to complain about trivial stuff, but seriously, what the hell, it's got a plastic cover on it for crying out loud! Oh well...according to the manual they installed mouse abilities :O But also according to the manual, it may be an outdated manual and that the game might be bigger than 15 GB >.>

[littlebottom]

all true, i assume by the time of my posting you will be online.

they HAVE put a proper mouse driver in so that it moves with your mouse, not with the frames per second you may have in game, its a good thing.

im posting now since in little over 10 minutes they are pulling the servers down for 3 hours maintenence, i hope this is only a weekly thing, but on the second day after release seems a bit weird time for the first one unless theres a big problem?

so far im a rank 6 thaumaturge, and rank 2 marauder. the marauder and the thaumaturge dont exactly go hand in hand though, but i just decided to try out the marauder.

ive only got around 6 hours play time in it so far, most of it yesterday.

[Sleverin]

Yup, it took me a while to get in, but I finally did it! The game looks gorgeous, beautiful rivers, amazing lighting effects...man this game looks great. And I'm surprised, they actually got me hooked on the storyline with the opening sequence. It was late for me so I didn't get too far into it, but I started in Grandi....Granadia just as a heads up. Ooh, got me linkshell too :D

[littlebottom]

Yeah, the story is quite compelling. I started in ul'dah its quite nice around there so far. I'm trying to find the easiest way to move to other cities, i assume it's by teleportation after you've been there once already.

I'm too scared to run all the way to another city yet though.

[Sleverin]

My friends said that in beta it was really easy to get from town to town as long as you stick to the road. I gotta see if I can use the ol' /search function and add ya...I haven't quite learned all the silly game mechanics yet.

[littlebottom]

yeah, im having some trouble trying to learn them all too.:smalleek:

[Sleverin]

My biggest annoyance is the map. I can't figure out how to move it and there aren't any hints on moving it in the manual. It would be really helpful, since I'm doing the storyline quest, and the city is large enough that I can't find all the quest points on a static map. I haven't really played all that much of the game, but I've been spending most of my time running around doing some storyline stuff.

[littlebottom]

i heard it was done using I J K L i havnt tested it myself yet.

[littlebottom]

moving the map as said above does indeed work!

also ive not put nearly as much time in as some others, but i feel ive put enough in to give a first impressions response.

having traveled to all 3 of the starting areas now, i can say that this game is insanely pretty. from desert dunes to rainforests to lovely medows the game is beautiful.

the crafting is certainly fun. and very cleverly done. its a viable way to level up as well.

as for the combat side of things ive mainly played as a caster so far, and overall i think its very good, but at the moment there are some issues. the main one being that it can take forever to cast a spell if you get a tiny touch of lag. meaning the melee classes have beaten it to death before you get a spell off. not to mention the panic when you cast your heal 5 seconds ago and just have to watch your hp drop and drop closer to death before it finally casts.

my only other real gripe at the moment is the amount of times ive been disconnected. from what i can gather, this is reasonably common. sometimes i will go hours with no problem, and then in 10 minutes disconnect 3 times. i recon its all down to the servers not being able to handle the entire population of the world all in 1 of 3 places at the moment. once people level up some more they wont all be in the same places and SE will hopefully have resolved this issue.

also when i first started the controls felt alien and awkward, but after a couple days, i can say that i am 80% used to them

[Sleverin]

Thank you for telling me about the map keys! In the manual they tell you that they are only for moving the camera. I have to admit, I am quite surprised with this game. I thought this was going to be a horrible bollocks sandwich and every bite I took would be....unpleasant. It sure seems a lot better than they let on....they should have had a bit better beta, i think they lost some players because of it. They sure as hell almost lost me, but I wanted to see if it would be fun with my friends.

[littlebottom]

the second maintainence in a week. i really do hope that this isnt going to be a regular thing later down the line. ive no problem with it at the moment though. i just hope they reduce it to one a week or something later on

largely because its eating into my prime playing time. thats 2 days ive lost time on it when i actually wanted to play and had the time to play:smallmad:

[Sleverin]

I hope they're fixing the battle system and super increasing server loads. The server lag is awful and the fact that when I party only one person at a time can kill the mob is just silly.

I don't know if you get this, but the couple of times I've been in a party when I try to attack it will say "The target is already engaged." and I can't attack it. Kinda defeats the purpose you know.

[littlebottom]

i sometimes get server lag, but its not that bad, its usually in the towns.

i was in a group of 13 people the other day and had no trouble at all... then again i was healing, so that problem with mobs already being engaged is kind of irrelevant if im not hitting them.

[lord_khaine]

I guess this have onlu come out in NA atm, does anyone know when it will be out in Europe?

[littlebottom]

nope, im in england, it had a world release last week.

[lord_khaine]

Strange, the Gameshops around here doesnt have it, guess scandinavia is a couple months behind on the gamemarket as usual.

[littlebottom]

maybe?:smallconfused:

but you should be able to order it online.

[lord_khaine]

Ahh, it seems it has just not been deemed popular enough to get into the big stores, but it can still be gotten online.

Still, what are the arguments for getting this game?

[littlebottom]

the arguments for getting this game? well firsts of all you can be a casual gamer and not miss out on a lot of stuff because your not a hardcore gamer.

you can craft your way to the top and use your own know how of the market to sell the things you craft for good prices, and reach max level without ever killing a thing... although i highly reccomend not doing it without killing a thing:smalltongue:

the game employs some interesting mechanics, although addmitedly at the moment slightly klunky from time to time, the problems are often overlookable for now.

you can pretty much make up your own class, if you level up the different classes you unlock their abilities, once youve unlocked them most can be used on different classes, for example, cure from a conjurer can be used on a gladiator, IE a paladin, a healing tank:smallwink: ok thats extremely basic, but there are loads of abilities in each class to choose from and mix and match.

the quests in the game, are, although limited, repeatable, and doable with a group or alone, as you can adjust the difficulty for larger groups. this is fun to level up in a group rather than a constant soloing of other mmos tend to offer.

FFXIV brings an actual plot to the table aswell. as you level up you can do plot related quests, not like WoW where the plot is "weve opened the dark portal, heres your expansion" but actual plot. although substantially weaker than a normal FF in my opinion so far, it is certainly engaging.

the servers are world wide. meaning you will meet people from all over, at first this seems silly, but you soon realise theres enough people on at the same times as you regularily, so when your online, the same people are, like someone who plays in the mornings in america and someone in the evenings in europe.

there is a strong need for both those who go out fighting all the time, to those who go out gathering all the time and those who craft all the time, as well as those who do a bit of each. they all make each other work. without people who craft alot you would have to get lots of different crafts up yourself just to repair items, or get better gear, without people who go out to gather things, theres nothing for crafters to buy to make things from, and without people who go out fighting, theres no need for crafters to get new items from. its a nice community feel where people will often help each other.

for now, thats all i can think of without going into masses of detail, but it has its problems aswell, most of these problems people are hoping SE will sort out in future patches to clean up the game a little, but who knows yet?

[lord_khaine]

ok thnx, i guess ill give it a chance then.

[littlebottom]

well im on Wutai, so if you want you can join me, and sleverin, dependant on what times you play of course. tell us your character name if you do decide to join wutai!:smallcool:

[chiasaur11]

ok thnx, i guess ill give it a chance then.

I'd...

rethink that decision, if money is involved.

Current buzz is incredibly negative. The whole hardcore balance thing?

Chinese MMO style fatigue system.

Copy pasted terrain that would make the first Halo blush.

And indications (might just be rumor, but the details make it oddly plausible) that the whole thing was farmed out to a low rent outside dev. (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/09/23/final-fantasy-xiv-desperate-to-woo-china/)

Yeah. Steering clear might be the right idea for the present.

[Sleverin]

Maybe since I've been cycling through crafting and combat classes, the fatigue system hasn't bothered me much, if at all. I thought it was stupid at first, but the fixes between beta and finished product are quite astounding to be honest. My biggest problem has been the server lag, which is an annoying issue to me, and I hope it gets resolved soon. The servers crash sometimes, but that's to be expected, it's barely a week old.

There ARE rumors that it's been farmed out, but that's mainly since there were unreadable Chinese characters in the text at random times during beta.

Personally I was horribly wary at first and the only reason I did not cancel my special edition was that I was holding out so that I could play with my friends. I was in the beta, and it convinced me that it was a horrible lag infested piece of polished turd (the game looks AMAZING) and not worth playing. The job system is actually customizable, unlike 11, and personally, I am LOVING this game much more than 11 so far. FF11 felt like one annoyance the infuriated me after another, 14 feels like a game I look forward to playing since it's actually fun and rewarding to play. Crafting gets you XP which is the coolest thing evar.

[maratek]

So i Have this game now installed and ready to go My Guess is everyone tends tp play on Wutai so i will make a Pc there Not really played many Mmo's so I hope to see you guys around will update with a charecter name when i have created one.

Maratek Ranson

:smallamused:

[littlebottom]

ahhhh welcome to the ranks!:smallbiggrin:

its all quite hectic at the moment online, since people are still discovering new recipies for crafting and things like this, so its very difficult to find good advice yet.:smalleek:

im compiling as much knowledge about the game as i can at the moment, but as it stands, all i can help with really is general points, casters, gatherers, and alchemy. since its the only craft ive done in any detail... theres still so much to learn

[Sleverin]

This site seems to be incredibly helpful:

http://ffxiv.yg.com/

I've found it to be pretty awesome so far. If you choose a class, you can choose which gear you'd like to look at for equipping, and it tells you how many pieces there are, and if you click on the "level" link at the top it sorts it! If you float over an item with a recipe, it displays a little floating box of what crystals are necessary, etc. This is surprisingly well done.

[maratek]

Well i am running round as a LAncer at the moment couldn't really see myself starting as a crafting class Checked out that linky you posted And its great gonna dip into carpentry i think so i can make my next spear.

[littlebottom]

i found that site about a week ago, but never realised how good it was, since at the time i was just looking for 1 piece of information and it dropped me on the page i needed, nice find there.

[lord_khaine]

Arrg, what the heck is going on with this dam downloader, it has been running for 4 hours now, and its stil not done?

[hobbitkniver]

Hey everyone. I joined today on Wutai. I am pretty much still a noob. I only have my starting class of Thaumerage and now botanist. Whats with these gaurdian favor that you use when starting a quest? Anyway, my name is ashanner nottian. Anything else I should know?

[littlebottom]

vendors around the starting town will sell weapons which you equip to change class.

the guardian favour should be used on leves to boost your skill gains during them, but its a waste for shorter leves in my opinion.

money? spend the first bit on the weapons you want, then save for your next set of gear

[Sleverin]

Higher level leves start dropping more and more gil, and once you get a big party, oh man the cash starts rolling in. I did a guildleve run with my ls the other day, and I got 40k gil off of the leves. it was a lot of fun. I also now have the tele crystals for all camps around and near major cities. Not in them, I didn't have enough time for that, but I can get close :D. Glad you guys enjoyed the site link.

I'll talk to my ls leader and see if we can get you guys in or something, although the European fellows might have a hard time (since we're a bunch of yanks ya know?) but I'll see what I can do. Our ls is a bit picky, since we're looking to avoid ANY drama and people who can play well. We're not focused on OMG U MUST BE PRO, but we do like people to be competent. Or maybe we could just have a GiTP ls...since you can have a lot of ls pearls on you.

[littlebottom]

well, add me to your friends list in game, when im on (if im on) at the same time as you just send me a tell.

/tell firstname lastname message.

just say that your from the playground and ill chuck a Linkshell at you, my linkshell is started to get its self organized a little now, so people are working on crafting for each other and stuff, im sure they will be willing to help you too.

[lord_khaine]

So, it only took 7 hours to install and set up an account, gotta say its allmost as if they want the setup proccess to be complicatet.

Anyway, im on wutai as well, name is Garn Thorsen.

[maratek]

Okay so i am Rank 8 Botanist Rank 8 Lancer Level nine actual And i am wondering where to put all these skill points i have saved up I tried crafting some stuff with all the lumber i have saved up but couldnt really figure it out so just wandering round hunting animals with my lancer so i am thinking str+dex+vit
But i dont want to rule mage out of the picture all together Any ideas?

[hobbitkniver]

So how do these retainers work then?

[littlebottom]

Okay so i am Rank 8 Botanist Rank 8 Lancer Level nine actual And i am wondering where to put all these skill points i have saved up I tried crafting some stuff with all the lumber i have saved up but couldnt really figure it out so just wandering round hunting animals with my lancer so i am thinking str+dex+vit
But i dont want to rule mage out of the picture all together Any ideas?

if you want to mainly do war classes, then yeah, just pump those 3 stats possibly with an emphasis on if you want to do more damage or have more life etc.
you can reassign points, although its slow. there is another way too, but thats later down the line at around rank 20+

So how do these retainers work then?

ring a bell to talk to them, you can entrust items to them like a bank, and set them up to sell items for you, you can also give him some money and make him ask for items off people for a price you are willing to pay. just play around with it a while, it will start to make sense

[littlebottom]

tips ive learnt so far for begginers (limited to my expirences of the game so far)

if you play in windowed mode you can make it much easier on yourself since you can search the net for recipies (you might do this already, but its worth mentioning)

if you only want 1 land class, fishing is best, since its much simpler to skill up.

get groups to do your leves with you, even at low levels, since this way you will make more money, and they will to, and with any luck you can do their leves with them, meaning you will get alot more leves done and get more skill and exp AND money. win, win, win!

if you are doing any amount of crafting, whether it be 1 or many, help people out. no really, go out your way to repair things for others, make them weapons and armour or potions etc etc, even if your not doing it just to skill and sell in the bazzaar, do your friends favours and help out your Linkshell, they will pay you back in kind.

use the internet to search through bazzaars as much as possible, since the market places will send you insane, waste your time and you still wont find what you were looking for. if youve got time to kill, then it can be good to take a peek and maybe find a bargain, but it is time consuming.

if your busy with real life, try and squeeze in a few leves, if thats not an option, then dont worry about it. but your priority really (especially at lower levels) should be to get your leves done, they offer more skill and money than grinding or using your own materials to craftt

oh and for those crafters out there, if your wearing equipment that doesnt help towards crafting, take it off, you still take minor gear damage while crafting (i know its crazy) your wallet will thank you for this.

EDIT: i know theres more info than this out on the web, but its spread across the website, so ill try and make a few more sets of these tips as we go along. is there anything in particular you guys want to learn more about? i could do a "crafting for begginers" post or something if you like.

[littlebottom]

Update on the above post: next week SE say their patch will be largely based on the markets. so their may be some radical changes ahead, we can only hope!

[lord_khaine]

Atm i have some serious trouble getting new pugilist weapons, any suggestion about what to do?
Im rank 10, and still using the starting ones.

Also, how do i learn new recipies with a crafting skill, and what are linkpearls good for?

[littlebottom]

right well getting new weapons can be tricky, there are 2 major ways to do it. check online and find what you need to make one, or search the markets/ask people if theres one for sale. and be prepared to shell out for it.

this has been a problem for me too, and i still have alot of starting weapons and gear since im not prepared to pay for some/cant find some that i want.

hopefully in the market update coming soon it should be easier to find. im rank 15 thaumaturge for example, and still use the starting weapon.


when it comes to recipies, you dont have to "learn" them. you just stick what you need to make it into the slots and begin. this is why people are compiling recipies online as they find out new ones, so there are still some not known, for new recipies, just go online and find out.

linkpearls are there for quests mainly, when you need to talk to an npc at a distance your linkpearl will flash in the top right corner, you just click on linkpeal and may gain some useful info on where to go next for example.

EDIT: ive been feeling ill lately and havnt been online for the past few days, so im falling behind a bit, and hell ive been quite busy too, im waaay behind most people who got the collectors edition...:smallfrown:

[Sleverin]

Heh, I'm kinda miffed myself. For two weeks I came home from work and crashed right after I ate dinner. Even then I didn't play much on the weekends. lord khaine, if you go to ffxiv.yg.com you will find a boatload of recipes and what weapons you need to get for your class. I know the level 19 ones run for 80k somewhere and there's some leather himantes for level 10 or so. I don't remember how much they cost (or what level Lw they are) but once I get high enough in LW I'll be making/repairing them for myself. if I get it done sooner than later I'll be happy to make people a pair.

[lord_khaine]

Ahh thanks, that site looks usefull indeed, with a bit of luck i can make my own knuckledusters.