WARNING: This post may bore you, or you may be completely uninterested in the topic. I suggest that you read it to better understand the way games are made and developed, and why developers can never please all players. If you still don't want to read it then piss off, hoser.
There are three kinds of FFXI players, ones that don't follow anything about FFXI and just play the game, ones that follow all information about FFXI but nothing about other MMO's, and ones that follow all information about FFXI and also keep abreast of other MMO's. The first group are pretty insular, so they probably don't even read this blog. The second group might read this blog, and I think this post might still be interesting to them. The third group will love this post. This post is about a recent series of announcements made by Blizzard about WoW. Just let me explain.
Over the past weekend Blizzard made some major announcements regard it's newest expansion (which I might have mentioned before has some striking similarities with Wings of the Goddess), and for the most part these announcements weren't very good. Now, I don't play WoW very much, but I play it enough to be abreast of changes to the game. To a WoW player many of the announcements for this new expansion were orgasmic. To a non-WoW player, the reactions seemed really familiar. There were to be limited expansion areas, but mostly redone but still recycled older areas. The level cap was to be raised again, but no new talents were to be added. There was to be an "alternative advancement" system akin to merits. There was going to be a new crafting system which wasn't a new crafting type just a sub-crafting system (synergy anyone?). There was also to be "Guild leveling" where in your guild gets points for doing guild type events that can then be spent to get bonuses for the entire guild.
As I said, most WoW players were in love with this new expansion, but someone looking from the outside might wonder what they were so excited about compared to what they have gotten in the past. I could go over everything that was to be added but it doesn't really matter. What matters is that over the weekend, they announced that they were scrapping or substantially cutting down a whole lot of what they were planning on doing. They are keeping all of the game world changes, but a majority of the character customization is being cut out or replaced with a much less expansive system. Many of the frills that were supposed to come with the expansion are now gone. This needs to be considered with the fact that outside of the pretty radical reorganization of the game world.
Why does this matter to FFXI? Well, it has a lot to do with the comparison for how Blizzard deals with their players versus how SE deal with FFXI players. SE has definitely made promises to players about content in the past and failed to deliver. The Colosseum is famous as being one of those things that SE wanted to give to players but eventually gave up. The latest round of Summons that took over two years to deliver is a case where they might have promised something far before they were ready to deliver it. The saving grace for SE is that these were marginal goals. The Colosseum was supposed to be a kind of PvP system, which is not all that interesting to most FFXI players. Summons are something that SMNs care about patiently but it doesn't effect over all game content. Blizzard made promises to add several large game systems and has now had to back down on those promises.
Blizzard is famously known for their commitment to quality, often quoted as saying that they will not released content until it is ready to be released. Usually that has meant that it would take longer than expected to get content out the door, but it appears in this case that it means that they are ditching new content. I don't think this speaks well to the planning that is going on at Blizzard. When SE announced the level cap increase for FFXI they also mentioned that a new merit system was going to be coming with it at the end. While this may take some time, I do not believe that it is even an option for SE to cancel this content at anytime. Blizzard currently has very little and limited alternative advancement. Yes, they do have a system that is baked into the game, but that system is very cookie-cutter. There is a "best" allocation, and it has limited flexibility. In SE, for one job the same could be said, but as players can level multiple jobs there can be much more variation in how players choose to allocate merits.
From someone looking from the outside in, I would not appreciate SE dumping their new merit system. I would not like it if SE bagged other major promises. A lot of WoW players don't even know that other MMO's exist, so I have to wonder what they think about these things. Is there a problem with setting your target too high then not delivering? Blizzard used their standard response when talking about dropping their new "merit" system. They didn't want to rush out something that wasn't "fun", they didn't want to have to fix something later just to have it out now, and no they were not cutting it so they had to rush out their new expansion. But I have to ask if the lady doth protest too much... It sounded like everything that was announced this weekend was a scrap or a toning down of previous plans. At least SE didn't lie to us about moving their FFXI people over to FFXIV, but Blizzard assures us that they are not moving people over to their new MMO. How could that even be possible? They have to be moving some people over out of realistic necessity. Even Blizzard doesn't have infinite resources.
With all of Blizzard's chopping and scrapping it seems that they are begging off an awful lot. I have to wonder if this is the first big blunder that Blizzard has made? SE has made a lot of blunders, but right now there isn't as much space for Blizzard to make mistakes. Around the launch of Cataclysm (the new WoW expansion) there will be several other MMO's cropping up. With all these new changes to remove the things that were supposed to be added, I have to wonder what the WoW players think they are getting besides some new versions of things they already have?
Maybe it is just the right time to be playing FFXI. We are getting a real level cap increase, we are getting a whole new end-game, new relic-style weapons, Magians, new HNM, end-game content, and a refocused development team. WoW seems like it is going in the opposite direction.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Promises Unfulfilled.
Friday, April 23, 2010
The Rare Double-headed Internet Troll.
Everyone loves a good trolling from time to time. Trolling seems to be more of an art than a skill, something that is less trained than passed down through the generations. That perfect combination of poor English, abusive slurs and a complete lack of regard other people. The best part about a troll though is that a large part of the time they behave in a most ironic fashion, and yet can't see it for themselves.
Today, to illustrate I have discovered one of my very own trolls. Quite like a troll he was hanging out in a older post, and very much like any MMO troll, that post was about PvP. This is a very special troll though, one that is so confused and baffled that they can not even figure out which direction they are going. A two-headed troll if you will. One head spitting the abuses and slurs, exclaiming their intent to crush all those around them, and the other head issues a huge list of reasons that they would never even waste their time. The confusion is only apparent to those observing the troll, and never to the troll itself. Apparently, trolls are born with an innate immunity to logic and consistency.
I encourage you to read the comments reposted below, as they are quite enlightening to behaviors of the internet troll, and I think you will enjoy them.
Anonymous said...
Another pvp hating internet troll. why would you even make a topic like this. people like you will ruin ffxiv. Sadly instead of tryin to work with every to work out pvp/pve conflicts, you would rather it be banned from the game completly. your a biased failbot, with no class or sportmanship. Leme guess you dont wana get ganked or you dont want distastfull players around. well the assholes will be there, "you will be there" And people like you deserve to get ganked even tho that can be fixed easily with pvp/pve server seperation. but thats outa the question cuzz havin pvp in a fighting rpg is unheard of by trolls like yourself who who exxcuses like" i hope SE spend more time on pve content". most retarded shit i ever heard. why the fuck do we pay to play a game? so we can get what we pay for not hear excuses to why they not able to do their job.
7:34 PM
Ringthree said...
LOL, this has got to be a joke. :)
9:04 AM
Anonymous said...
this fucking asshole is reason ffxiv will die and proly part of reason ffxi died. not like any1 forcing you to pvp and if you got your ass kicked in pvp its your fault for sucking so bad.Dont get mad get even. all i see on this post is another troll that goes to every1 ffxiv sights and trolls any idea of improving ffxiv with a good pvp system. Just cause you dont want it doesnt meen ALOT of other people do. your and fucktard loser got pwned in pvp to much... I kid i kid ... not truth hurts go fuck yourself, and get ready for all the cassual asshole that will tell you the exact same fucking thing when you try to tell them how they should play the game they pay to play. the developers stated multiple time in different topics that they are taking fans input on how they gona go about makin ffxiv. and if you same fags that have no life would stop sayin the same shit like some1 is soposed to walk you threw every lil detail of how pvp can coexist in a pve game. i dont have time to fix your ignorance nor do i care. just know if you didnt like how ffxi turned out you only got yourselfs to blame. and whn ffxiv flops cuzz lack of interest to the whole mmo comunitees blame asshole like this.
12:38 PM
Ringthree said...
You are the reason that I am glad there will be no PvP in FFXIV. :)
2:28 PM
Anonymous said...
You are the reason im glad i left ffxI. Balista was in it and it will be in ffxiv so you can fuck off to asswipe. dont realy care what the fuck any you forum trolls have to fucking say if SE caters to you. the game will be small and boring. with a population no more than fxi has had for last 4 year, less that 500k. I know most of you used to wasting time and not doin shit when you play the game you pay for but when the other millions of gamers jump on bandwagon they wont be on these forums telling you what they want they will be buying Diablo 3 or catalism for wow. or tryin the next big thing.... I give it 6-12 months with no PVP in it.
5:15 PM
Ringthree said...
First of all, this isn't a forum. This is my blog. Second, you are the kind of mouth breather that makes me glad that WoW exists so you don't ruin my favorite game with your lack of intelligence and your e-thuggery.
As I said, you are the exact reason that I am glad there will be no PvP in FFXIV.
11:05 AM
Anonymous said...
Yea your whole blog is nothing but you bashing PVP like the fag that you are and i will play FFXIV so fuck you guess what maybe its not the pvp mouth breather maybe its just you running your cocksucker.
People like you are good for that then try to pass the buck like you are here. you started the shit with this whole fucking blog.
Like i sayed b4 people like you are reason im glad i quit ffxi and ill be in ffxiv just to make sure i piss all fags like you who think they can put twist on peoples opinions. Your the Ethug wana be unsavory behavor that shouldnt be in ffxiv.
8:25 AM
Anonymous said...
Im gladd assholes like you will get what you deserve in the end. Another broken game with limited options to please your gaming desires. You played ffxi to long with the very little fanbase. if ffxiv turns out like they want it to. im sure you gona realy hate the asshole thats gona tell you what you can do with your mouth breather. When you tell them they should be able to play the game how they wanted to. I bet you was 1 of them fags that wouldnt lets a drk/war group with you just because he didnt have the best subjob. Yay thats reason why millions of people quit cuzz the fanbase ass a whole was bunch losers with to much time on their hand, ruin it for any1 else trying to play the game and have fun. no room in a game for those people only the ones that play the game how you want it to be played.
8:39 AM
Monday, April 05, 2010
You got your Rage in my TP! You got your TP in my Rage!
While I might reference other games like WoW in columns it is not that often that I dedicate a whole column to the issue. But today Blizzard made an announcement that I think is interesting enough to include here.
The best thing about this is that I KNEW it was coming. I almost wrote a column about it before, but decided you might not care.
A bit of background: In WoW, Warriors uses a mechanic called Rage to use abilities. Rage is usually gained through one of two ways, either doing damage or taking damage. This is one of those things that sounds good on paper, but in practice you have to wonder how Blizzard let this mechanic exist through the base game and two expansions. The problem? Well, Warriors can either be melee DD (DPS) or tanks. For melee DD, if you are undergeared, then you are going to be doing less damage, and if you do less damage you get less rage, and if you get less rage you can do less abilities and thus do less damage to get less rage, and on and on. But there is a point at which you get enough gear to do enough damage to always have rage to always do more damage to get more rage, etc. It isn't well balanced at all. Tanks have the opposite problem. They get rage based on the damage they take. When you are fighting something really hard, you take a lot of damage, so you have a lot of rage. But as your gear improves, you take less damage and gain less rage, so you aren't able to hold hate as well because you can't use your abilities. So when you aren't doing high level events, you actually have more trouble holding hate than you would against something that is pounding your face in.
Now, this might seem slightly familiar. FFXI has a mechanic that is similar but applies across all melee DDs. Well it just got a whole lot more similarer.
Check below to see how Blizzard is now changing Rage into TP.
Essentially, Blizzard's new plan for Warrior (and Druid) Rage system is the same as SE's system in FFXI for TP. After their new expansion Warriors will gain rage based on their base swing speed, and that gain will be adjusted for all weapon speeds. Does this remind you of something? That is exactly how TP is determined in FFXI. Blizzard did add a little flair to the system by making Crits gain double the normal Rage and off-hand swings only getting 50% that weapon's normal Rage. Then again FFXI has Store TP to increase your TP per swing. Also, Blizzard is changing the way that tanks will get rage from being hit, so that they will get rage more equally from lower damage mobs. In FFXI, players still get TP from getting hit, but it is not fundamental to their jobs. PLD does get a large benefit from their increased TP gain from being hit, but it is not critical to doing their job.
Blizzard's system is also different in how Rage functions and is used, like Rage caps at 100 and abilities only cost a set amount but those amounts vary depending on the ability. So how a WoW Warrior spends their TP is more like how a Dancer uses their TP, instead of how a normal WS works. WoW Warriors spend little chunks of their Rage at a time, while a melee DD in FFXI spends all of their TP at once.
I have to say right now, that I was thinking this was Blizzard's only real solution to the problems they were having with Rage, and it was my idea and they totally ripped me off! :) The reason that it works in FFXI and the reason that Blizzard needed to use it for WoW is that it is based on something that is external to the gearing of a player. All of the other jobs in WoW just get their "resource", or their "stuff" to use their abilities, for free. Warriors had to take damage or do damage to get their "resource". This wasn't very stable at all to determine if you could use an ability or not. The only stable factor that exists across all jobs (even across both games) is swing speed. The faster weapons get less Rage/TP and the slower weapons get more Rage/TP. It all equals out in the end. SE figured this out pretty early on, and hasn't had to change the system all that much (there was one tweak when they removed the TP floor for low delay weapons).
Blizzard doesn't have a decrease weapon delay function outside of haste, and haste is going to function the same way that it does in FFXI for Rage gain purposes (i.e. it isn't going to effect it at all). They also don't have a "Store TP" function either, but they do have a much larger spread of swing speeds, so I think that even if they don't have a system that allows for an "X-hit build", they might want to consider how much rage they get from a weapon swing. If they can get to a round number faster with a higher delay weapon that might just be beneficial. For example, if one weapon gives 24 Rage per swing, and another weapon give 25 Rage per swing, and one of their abilities takes 25 Rage then it may be better to go with the slower weapon because you will be able to use your 25 Rage ability first. I would not be surprise for Warriors to quickly discover this "trick" in much the same way that melee DD in FFXI try to get to "X-hit builds".
There really aren't that many more differences between how the two systems functions. I think it was a good decision for WoW because it means that how a players chooses to use their abilities and when they use them will be more reflective of their potential damage output than just getting the best gear and having infinite rage. If you know about how things were before the "TP nerf" was implemented in FFXI, then you can imagine it in slightly the same way. The problem is that SE fixed the TP issue (getting full TP from multi-hit weapons) really early in the game, but it took Blizzard two expansions to figure it out.
Of course you are going to have some WoW people complain about it because they had the best gear and could do anything they wanted because they never had to worry about getting Rage because they already had it. But those people are dumb, and don't understand why fixing broken things is good for the game overall.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Well, I finally got hacked.
I don't know how they managed to do it. It looks like some kind of remote desktop control or something, but it looks like I have been hacked. I left the game on last night, and went to bed. When I woke up this morning I found that my computer had been restarted. I didn't think much of it, I just figured that it was an automatic update or something. I went to log myself back in, and none of my passwords worked. I was a little more concerned but I needed to head to work. I got to work and called SE as soon as I could, and they demanded the normal impossible to keep track of information like original CC number, original address and the registration keys. After a long discussion with the customer service rep that involved a lot of tension on my part, I was finally handed off to a manager. The manager offered to initiate an investigation after I gave them every single bit of information about my account and my personal life. They said that after the investigation I would get my account back, and then I would have to initiate a rollback. So it looks like I am going to be out of the game for a month or more.
The thing that I don't get is how they did this. How did I get a remote desktop virus on my computer? I use ad block, ad aware, no script, Firefox, everything. It looks like the SE token isn't hack-proof, if a hacker has full access to your computer. I am going to have to do a full hard drive wipe and reinstall everything because I am freaking even more paranoid than normal about security now.
This fucking sucks. :(
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Good news and bad news.
The good news first. The new update is a lot closer than I expected it to be. Coming in mid-March will be the Mid-March Version Update! Original name of course, but I am not too concerned. 
I am not going to do my normal dissection of the sole picture that they provide in the update teaser because I always end up being wrong or creating something random whole cloth. The obvious pictures include Synergy, Missions and Campaign. So we will know we are getting at least that much. You can speculate on exactly what is happening in the picture on the right, but I have done all the eye-squinting I feel compelled to do to figure out what the hell is happening.
The bad news isn't really bad news, it's bad reporting of news. As everyone has probably already heard, there is a rumor floating around that FFXI is shutting down this year. As Omoi would say this is "utter claptrap". The initial report was in reference to a blog that doesn't now and may have never existed from a "high ranking HR SE employee". There are so many problems with this rumor and it's source that it is a joke to start with, never mind the reality of the situation and statements from SE questioning the credibility of the statement. I mean, come on, if you are going to make up a rumor at least have it coming from a more credible source than the HR department.
The point I want to make here is not that the rumor was picked up by the interether, but that it was posted by a semi-credible website and that website didn't even take the 30 seconds to Google the report to see if there was any credibility behind it. Thankfully, our friends at Limit Break Radio posted a list of evidence disputing the claims of that semi-credible website.
I mean it is one thing to post a rumor, but to post it without any research, especially posting AFTER the freaking head of Square Enix had already squashed the rumor just makes you look like a toolbox.
Playing WoW doesn't mean you are qualified to report on the entire MMO industry...
Friday, December 18, 2009
Morning in Vana'diel: Defending Your Avatar
Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! The day of reckoning approaches and in the end have we spent our time well? I think so.
With the coming of the FFXIV beta I have done a little bit of reminiscing about the time I have played FFXI, time I have enjoyed. I have also thought about those that didn't enjoy their time playing FFXI apparently, and I don't really get it.
I never really understood the way some people complain after quitting FFXI, or how they will never play FFXIV because "SE sux". I guess it's just the bitter gamer that is projecting their anger onto the game company instead of themselves.
Whether you like it or not, FFXI is a well run and successful game. A few people complaining about AV does not really effect the experience of 99% of the player base even those that want to fight AV.
Another one of those projections is the complaints about customer service. Outside of the few people that really did have to deal with the problems with SE and getting their account stolen, most of these complaints are from people that don't have the experience to make such claims and are just parroting what other people say.
SE's game development for FFXI is actually very good, especially considering the limitations of the game itself, but remember this game started development about 10 years ago and things are much different now than they were then. I think the problem right now is one of internal resources and nothing more.
SE doesn't "hate" their player base. They have learned from their mistakes and there are many examples of this. There are still some other mistakes they haven't or don't want to rectify (AV) but in the end the game experience in FFXI is excellent and enjoyable. It is far more social and it was built to be this way. Grumpy gamer kids may not really appreciate this aspect of the game, but in the end, we are all probably much better off without them.
And of course, if you just want to dismiss everything I just said, go ahead and call me an SE fan boy.
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