Vana'fest! It keeps going... and going... and going...

I don't know how I missed this, but a couple of days ago, SE stealth added even more content to the Vana'fest website. It isn't any amazingly earth-shattering information, but it is at least a better English translation of what we have heard so far. The first thing to check out are the video reviews of Vana'fest. The first two videos are of the NA Community Team doing a review of the event, and the rest of the videos are very high quality versions of the event itself. They are all definitely worth the view time.

The second thing that has been added is a listing of the potential changes that are coming to all 20 jobs in the next year. These are insanely vague, as SE hates making promises before they can deliver, like they did with the whole new Summons debacle. You can't point to anything in the discussion that makes you say, "Oh, we are getting that new ability". In fact, I don't know if any of this is going to equate into specific job abilities themselves. It is more of an explanation of the design philosophy for all of the jobs moving forward.

Honestly, I am at a loss as to how SE is going to handle the level cap increase for everyone. Are we going to get more JA's and spells as the levels rise? I don't think there are any jobs that truly get new JA's at level cap. For the most part JA's are pretty much finished by level 60. So while, I, and probably everyone else, is hoping that we end up getting a huge number of new JA's, I just don't see it happening. That said, if they are going to give us some new JA's, then level 80 would be a nice round number to give us those new abilities. Spells on the other hand are going to need to come more often just because that is how they are designed. Most spell casters get at least one new spell every level, and raising the level cap without more spells just doesn't seem to do very much. At the very least, healers are going to need a new tier of spells because as levels rise so will HP pools, and so will damage from higher level mobs. To deal with this with the current tier of spells would quickly drain almost all healers. But then again, maybe that is why all healers are going to have access to Refresh and Convert.

I don't know if this is how SE is going to feed us information regarding the announcements made at Vana'fest but I will keep an eye out and see if anything new pops up!

<a href="http://www.playonline.com/ff11/event/vanafes2010/reportimg/7a_6984.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.playonline.com/ff11/event/vanafes2010/reportimg/7a_6984.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 252px; height: 182px;" /></a>I don't know how I missed this, but a couple of days ago, SE stealth added even more content to the Vana'fest website. It isn't any amazingly earth-shattering information, but it is at least a better English translation of what we have heard so far. The first thing to check out are the <a href="http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/event/vanafes2010/index.html">video reviews of Vana'fest</a>. The first two videos are of the NA Community Team doing a review of the event, and the rest of the videos are very high quality versions of the event itself. They are all definitely worth the view time. <br /><br />The second thing that has been added is a listing of the potential changes that are coming to <a href="http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/event/vanafes2010/index.html?page=5">all 20 jobs</a> in the next year. These are insanely vague, as SE hates making promises before they can deliver, like they did with the whole new Summons debacle. You can't point to anything in the discussion that makes you say, "Oh, we are getting <span style="font-style:italic;">that</span> new ability". In fact, I don't know if any of this is going to equate into specific job abilities themselves. It is more of an explanation of the design philosophy for all of the jobs moving forward.<br /><br />Honestly, I am at a loss as to how SE is going to handle the level cap increase for everyone. Are we going to get more JA's and spells as the levels rise? I don't think there are any jobs that truly get new JA's at level cap. For the most part JA's are pretty much finished by level 60. So while, I, and probably everyone else, is hoping that we end up getting a huge number of new JA's, I just don't see it happening. That said, if they are going to give us some new JA's, then level 80 would be a nice round number to give us those new abilities. Spells on the other hand are going to need to come more often just because that is how they are designed. Most spell casters get at least one new spell every level, and raising the level cap without more spells just doesn't seem to do very much. At the very least, healers are going to need a new tier of spells because as levels rise so will HP pools, and so will damage from higher level mobs. To deal with this with the current tier of spells would quickly drain almost all healers. But then again, maybe that is why all healers are going to have access to Refresh and Convert.<br /><br />I don't know if this is how SE is going to feed us information regarding the announcements made at Vana'fest but I will keep an eye out and see if anything new pops up!

Morning in Vana'diel: Internet has problems; SE to blame.

So the "Walk of Shame" saved us a Salvage run last night. Both Clubber and I were the fuck ups of the century and didn't get our soap for Limbus (we both checked the NPC before we could get the soap and weren't paying attention when it denied it) and we didn't get our Salvage tags, and while running back to pick them up the server message came up and said that POL was going down. So, while we both did completely ruin our Limbus run, we did manage to save some points by delaying the Salvage run enough to prevent us from going in.

So being a fuck-up can be helpful sometimes... but we won't talk about Limbus though. >.<

I don't know if it was even entirely SE's fault the POL servers were having connection issues. I have been having intermittent internet issues all day and I know other people have been too. This is what you call connecting two completely unrelated things. :)

In another one of my "I just don't get it" moments, I was looking at the thread about the POL connection issue on BG and noticed that some people would declared their hatred of SE and their crappy game for having connection issues to the game that SE makes that they are being denied. Maybe it is a higher form of irony that I don't just get, but I thinking that is the kind of cynicism that goes so far that it comes back around again. If you hate everything about SE, and SE has problems letting you connect, and you hate them for that, then... like... shouldn't you like them? Confusing to me, that's for sure.

So basically yesterday was a complete waste for me. I fucked up and couldn't do Limbus, then I fucked up and saved us from doing a Salvage that we would have missed anyway. I hope that I can actually play FFXI tonight instead of just running around to places and not doing anything of importance.

Also wanted to mention something about my Q & A post. You guys suck. I didn't get one good question. Not one. I suppose that if you read this blog you pretty much know a lot about me anyway, but I thought someone would at least be interested in something different.

I wanted to mention that Izman got a Pachipachio recently and has been letting me borrow it to do some eyeball testing on it. My conclusion is pretty much the same as it is with any other GKT: it's awesome for lower level, low defense mobs, but can't compete with Hagun on anything that matters. I used it in Salvage once and it was an absolute wrecking ball on lower level mobs, but it just couldn't compete with Hagun on boss damage. Once I get my parser working again, I am going to do some comparisons in Salvage and Einherjar to get more of an idea of what I am looking at.

How about that... a real post... first in a long while. :)

So the "Walk of Shame" saved us a Salvage run last night. Both Clubber and I were the fuck ups of the century and didn't get our soap for Limbus (we both checked the NPC before we could get the soap and weren't paying attention when it denied it) and we didn't get our Salvage tags, and while running back to pick them up the server message came up and said that POL was going down. So, while we both did completely ruin our Limbus run, we did manage to save some points by delaying the Salvage run enough to prevent us from going in.<br /><br />So being a fuck-up can be helpful sometimes... but we won't talk about Limbus though. >.< <br /><br />I don't know if it was even entirely SE's fault the POL servers were having connection issues. I have been having intermittent internet issues all day and I know other people have been too. This is what you call connecting two completely unrelated things. :)<br /><br />In another one of my "I just don't get it" moments, I was looking at the thread about the POL connection issue on BG and noticed that some people would declared their hatred of SE and their crappy game for having connection issues to the game that SE makes that they are being denied. Maybe it is a higher form of irony that I don't just get, but I thinking that is the kind of cynicism that goes so far that it comes back around again. If you hate everything about SE, and SE has problems letting you connect, and you hate them for that, then... like... shouldn't you like them? Confusing to me, that's for sure.<br /><br />So basically yesterday was a complete waste for me. I fucked up and couldn't do Limbus, then I fucked up and saved us from doing a Salvage that we would have missed anyway. I hope that I can actually play FFXI tonight instead of just running around to places and not doing anything of importance.<br /><br />Also wanted to mention something about my Q & A post. You guys suck. I didn't get one good question. Not one. I suppose that if you read this blog you pretty much know a lot about me anyway, but I thought someone would at least be interested in something different.<br /><br />I wanted to mention that Izman got a Pachipachio recently and has been letting me borrow it to do some eyeball testing on it. My conclusion is pretty much the same as it is with any other GKT: it's awesome for lower level, low defense mobs, but can't compete with Hagun on anything that matters. I used it in Salvage once and it was an absolute wrecking ball on lower level mobs, but it just couldn't compete with Hagun on boss damage. Once I get my parser working again, I am going to do some comparisons in Salvage and Einherjar to get more of an idea of what I am looking at.<br /><br />How about that... a real post... first in a long while. :)

POL News: Cute stuff abounds.

Do you ever actually fill in those questionnaires that SE sends around occasionally? Remember the one where they asked "What would you most like to be turned into a purchasable?"

Well, looks like the Tarutaru won. BAH! Totally should have made a plush of the gnat or leech from Zi'Tah! Oh well. The new FFXI trading arts collection features a little pantheon of luminaries from Windurst who play significant roles in the plots and storylines that revolve around Windurst and the Tarutaru race. While Shantotto is probably the one figure out of the lot to transcend beyond her original designated border, its nice to see a few of the others, like Robel-Akbel who I rather like and who is as ruthless as the Little Miss herself.

If you wish to equip yourself with this fine little treat, then swan over to the SE Shop Online to part with your valued money! Sorry $ only, no gil.

<a href="http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/147102-SEP10144.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/147102-SEP10144.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 400px; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" /></span></a><br /><br />Do you ever actually fill in those questionnaires that SE sends around occasionally? Remember the one where they asked "What would you most like to be turned into a purchasable?"<br /><br />Well, looks like the Tarutaru won. BAH! Totally should have made a plush of the gnat or leech from Zi'Tah! Oh well. The new FFXI trading arts collection features a little pantheon of luminaries from Windurst who play significant roles in the plots and storylines that revolve around Windurst and the Tarutaru race. While Shantotto is probably the one figure out of the lot to transcend beyond her original designated border, its nice to see a few of the others, like Robel-Akbel who I rather like and who is as ruthless as the Little Miss herself.<br /><br />If you wish to equip yourself with this fine little treat, then swan over to the <a href="http://ssl.square-enix-shop.com/usa/">SE Shop Online </a>to part with your valued money! Sorry $ only, no gil.

FFXIV News: ZOMG SE IS RMT!

Sarcasm guys, sarcasm.

Anyway, SE's president made this announcement (translated by Elmer the Amazingly Pointy on BG):

“The basic model hasn't changed,” he said. “It's a monthly flat rate service with additional charges for items that users want to buy.
“For FFXI we didn't initially set up the item transaction model that well – although the demand for it was high. We thought that it would be a benefit for users, but that we wouldn't be able to charge.

“We soon learnt that there are a lot of people who want that kind of model, so we would like to introduce more pay-as-you-use items into the game. But there were too few items in FFXI – however we don't want to take it to the other extreme entirely for FFXIV.

Now, of course people like Jaxzer immidiately took this to mean that there will be wholesale RMT for every item in the game, but the more level headed, and even the not-so-level-headed-and-for-the-most-part-generally-apocalyptic Iceblazek stepped in and said this is almost definitely not going to be about game-balance changing gear.

There are lots of way to sell in game items that are no game breaking. WoW does it pretty well, but there are even more ways to do it. WoW does it well with vanity pets now, and their server changing options. SE already has done it with the Tidal Talisman and some would say the Moogle Satchel and the Nexus Cape but I would argue those are slightly different. The former was to provide an incentive to people to improve their security that they couldn't resist and the later was more of a reward for finishing an expansion even if you did get it on the purchase of the last expansion. There are a bunch of other ways to increase profits without wreaking the game, and I have always been a big advocate that as long as it doesn't mess with real game balance (and no, carrying around more stuff doesn't effect real game balance, nor does warping to Tiamat). I can think of a few examples off the top of my head: vanity pets and vanity mounts both from WoW, furnishings, server transfers and other related data transfers, character beautification (changing hair/skin coloring), gear beautification (different colors or even particle effects on gear) and the list goes on and on.

The other thing that I think is important is that this is SE's President talking, not Tanaka. This is Tanaka's game, and he has already mentioned this in passing but seemingly assured players it wouldn't effect balance. I don't think Tanaka would be down with full scale RMT, and the President of SE has said some other things about FFXI and FFXIV that haven't panned out. Tanaka is a game developer, SE's President is a business guy. Business guys tend to say things they think the media wants to hear, game developers say things they think the players want to hear. Remember some of the gaming media still defends RMT on some level to satisfy those with attention spans smaller than a gnat.

I think this will probably be one of those much ballyhoo'd issues that doesn't amount to as much as it first appears. Like the "PS3 exclusive" comments, this will probably get explained again, and again until we get a real picture of the situation.

Sarcasm guys, sarcasm. <br /><br />Anyway, SE's president made this announcement (translated by Elmer the Amazingly Pointy on BG): <blockquote>“The basic model hasn't changed,” he said. “It's a monthly flat rate service with additional charges for items that users want to buy.<br />“For FFXI we didn't initially set up the item transaction model that well – although the demand for it was high. We thought that it would be a benefit for users, but that we wouldn't be able to charge.<br /><br />“We soon learnt that there are a lot of people who want that kind of model, so we would like to introduce more pay-as-you-use items into the game. But there were too few items in FFXI – however we don't want to take it to the other extreme entirely for FFXIV.</blockquote><br /><br />Now, of course people like Jaxzer immidiately took this to mean that there will be wholesale RMT for every item in the game, but the more level headed, and even the not-so-level-headed-and-for-the-most-part-generally-apocalyptic Iceblazek stepped in and said this is almost definitely not going to be about game-balance changing gear.<br /><br />There are lots of way to sell in game items that are no game breaking. WoW does it pretty well, but there are even more ways to do it. WoW does it well with vanity pets now, and their server changing options. SE already has done it with the Tidal Talisman and some would say the Moogle Satchel and the Nexus Cape but I would argue those are slightly different. The former was to provide an incentive to people to improve their security that they couldn't resist and the later was more of a reward for finishing an expansion even if you did get it on the purchase of the last expansion. There are a bunch of other ways to increase profits without wreaking the game, and I have always been a big advocate that as long as it doesn't mess with real game balance (and no, carrying around more stuff doesn't effect real game balance, nor does warping to Tiamat). I can think of a few examples off the top of my head: vanity pets and vanity mounts both from WoW, furnishings, server transfers and other related data transfers, character beautification (changing hair/skin coloring), gear beautification (different colors or even particle effects on gear) and the list goes on and on.<br /><br />The other thing that I think is important is that this is SE's President talking, not Tanaka. This is Tanaka's game, and he has already mentioned this in passing but seemingly assured players it wouldn't effect balance. I don't think Tanaka would be down with full scale RMT, and the President of SE has said some other things about FFXI and FFXIV that haven't panned out. Tanaka is a game developer, SE's President is a business guy. Business guys tend to say things they think the media wants to hear, game developers say things they think the players want to hear. Remember some of the gaming media <span style="font-style:italic;">still</span> defends RMT on some level to satisfy those with attention spans smaller than a gnat.<br /><br />I think this will probably be one of those much ballyhoo'd issues that doesn't amount to as much as it first appears. Like the "PS3 exclusive" comments, this will probably get explained again, and again until we get a real picture of the situation.

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.

<a href="http://goateeandglasses.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/defending.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://goateeandglasses.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/defending.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 287px; height: 344px;" /></a><span style="font-weight:bold;">Morning in Vana'diel</span><span style="font-style:italic;"> 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.</span><br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />And of course, if you just want to dismiss everything I just said, go ahead and call me an SE fan boy.

On Paranoia, Anger and Empty Retribution.

The recent trend on all of the big FFXI forums has been to whine about anything that SE does. Emergency maintenance? Whine! Mistaken gardening RMT bans? Whine! Credit card verification? Whine! Some of it is almost legitimate, but for the most part this whining is some of the most paranoid and delusional crap I have ever heard.

You might have noticed that lately I have voiced some concerns over [i]the game[/i] that we play. I want more of everything, and I want more development time spent on new things. I want a real expansion, and not these mini-expansions. I want new gear models, I want more merits, I want more gil, I want more mobs, zones and rewards. I want a lot of things.

Am I a hypocrite? No, because there is a very large difference in wanting more out of the game that we play and finding evil in every one of SE’s action. I am not paranoid about my demands from the game. I think everyone wants things similar to what I want. No one is ever going to say they don’t want more things in game. But I stop at the waters edge. I do not delve into the paranoid machinations of many of the commentators and posters in FFXI world.

I have gone over my feelings about emergency maintenances. FFXI players are not unique in this regard. Every game will always have their complainers anytime there is any maintenance at all, no matter how short or how important. These people are so self-absorbed that they can not even think for a moment outside of themselves to consider the reason that these maintenances are important for the game and even themselves. If coding a game was as easy as the people on forums think it was then those people would be coding games instead of posting on forums.

The mistaken gardening bans? Yes, there is definitely room for legitimate complaints here, especially for those that got hit and especially because SE never said anything about it at all. But it was a mistake and for the most part (except for Ryskar from what I can see) it has been reversed. Mistakes happen, I am not really as concerned that it happened but more that it wasn’t acknowledged and openly fixed. But even in this case where there is definitely a place for legitimate complaint, some people take things way too far. Some assert that it was an attempt by SE to force people out of the game to get them to play FFXIV, or that SE doesn’t want these people to play, or that it was part of a greater plan by SE to sabotage FFXI overall. Keep in mind these were likely the same people that used to say that SE worked with the RMT.

Finally, we have the credit card verification complaints. This is the one that really sends me on tilt not because it may be a hassle for a handful of people, but because this is one of those “people will complain about anything” issues. SE is trying to change its policy, likely to stop having to ban people that are doing charge backs on their CCs because of their own failures because that is how RMTs have been screwing SE over themselves. This is a good policy, and it is very likely that Blizzard, other MMO companies, and many online stores will adopt this policy. SE even has a way to resolve this issue for most people if they can’t get verification. And this only applies to people that sign up with a new credit card or re-sign up for the game. The funniest thing about these people is there insistence that they refuse to give SE anymore money because SE isn’t letting them give their money.

And there we have a perfect illustration of the irony of the situation.

Some people just need to take a deep breath, slide back from the monitor and get a freaking grip.

<a href="http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/6/6d/Skull_of_Wrath.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/6/6d/Skull_of_Wrath.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 410px;" /></a>The recent trend on all of the big FFXI forums has been to whine about anything that SE does. Emergency maintenance? Whine! Mistaken gardening RMT bans? Whine! Credit card verification? Whine! Some of it is almost legitimate, but for the most part this whining is some of the most paranoid and delusional crap I have ever heard. <br /><br />You might have noticed that lately I have voiced some concerns over [i]the game[/i] that we play. I want more of everything, and I want more development time spent on new things. I want a real expansion, and not these mini-expansions. I want new gear models, I want more merits, I want more gil, I want more mobs, zones and rewards. I want a lot of things. <br /><br />Am I a hypocrite? No, because there is a very large difference in wanting more out of the game that we play and finding evil in every one of SE’s action. I am not paranoid about my demands from the game. I think everyone wants things similar to what I want. No one is ever going to say they don’t want more things in game. But I stop at the waters edge. I do not delve into the paranoid machinations of many of the commentators and posters in FFXI world.<br /><span class="fullpost"><br />I have gone over my feelings about emergency maintenances. FFXI players are not unique in this regard. Every game will always have their complainers anytime there is any maintenance at all, no matter how short or how important. These people are so self-absorbed that they can not even think for a moment outside of themselves to consider the reason that these maintenances are important for the game and even themselves. If coding a game was as easy as the people on forums think it was then those people would be coding games instead of posting on forums.<br /><br />The mistaken gardening bans? Yes, there is definitely room for legitimate complaints here, especially for those that got hit and especially because SE never said anything about it at all. But it was a mistake and for the most part (except for Ryskar from what I can see) it has been reversed. Mistakes happen, I am not really as concerned that it happened but more that it wasn’t acknowledged and openly fixed. But even in this case where there is definitely a place for legitimate complaint, some people take things way too far. Some assert that it was an attempt by SE to force people out of the game to get them to play FFXIV, or that SE doesn’t want these people to play, or that it was part of a greater plan by SE to sabotage FFXI overall. Keep in mind these were likely the same people that used to say that SE worked with the RMT.<br /><br />Finally, we have the credit card verification complaints. This is the one that really sends me on tilt not because it may be a hassle for a handful of people, but because this is one of those “people will complain about anything” issues. SE is trying to change its policy, likely to stop having to ban people that are doing charge backs on their CCs because of their own failures because that is how RMTs have been screwing SE over themselves. This is a good policy, and it is very likely that Blizzard, other MMO companies, and many online stores will adopt this policy. SE even has a way to resolve this issue for most people if they can’t get verification. And this only applies to people that sign up with a new credit card or re-sign up for the game. The funniest thing about these people is there insistence that they refuse to give SE anymore money because SE isn’t letting them give their money. <br /><br />And there we have a perfect illustration of the irony of the situation.<br /><br />Some people just need to take a deep breath, slide back from the monitor and get a freaking grip.</span>

Morning in Vana’diel: And I’m Spent.

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! This is Austin Powers Day for good old Ring. Ya baby, ya!

I have been displeased with the people around FFXI for the last couple of days. The developers, the players, the “community” but I think I have spent all that displeasure on a couple of columns you will be seeing in the next couple of days. And now, I am actually quite content and happy with the game. Omoikitte is back, we are doing a new fight tonight with a reward a bunch of people in my LS are interested in, I made some decent gil last night and my RNG is just about finished.

I am finally able to focus on the game when I am playing the game. It’s quite amazing. You might have noticed if you have been reading this blog for more than say 3 days that I can get rather upset about game-related things. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about the game itself as I said above, but it really drives me batty at times. It kind of overwhelms my pleasure in playing the game. But when I can finally drive out those demons, I find that I still have a lot of fun playing the game.

This is a nice little feeling I have. I am looking forward to having fun and not worrying about the stupid people in the world. Everyone should feel this way sometimes. I am looking forward to making my RNG into what it should be. I am looking forward to switching my Katana merits to Archery to support my RNG, but I really shouldn’t have to do that because SE shouldn’t have stupid limitation on the merits you can get for different freaking jobs, and why do they have these stupid limitations anyway, and what the fuck why can’t I just try to make all of my jobs the best they can be, and, and, and, ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Have fun everyone!

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/AustinPowers.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/AustinPowers.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 307px; height: 438px;" /></a><span style="font-weight:bold;">Morning in Vana'diel</span><span style="font-style:italic;"> is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! This is Austin Powers Day for good old Ring. Ya baby, ya!</span><br /><br />I have been displeased with the people around FFXI for the last couple of days. The developers, the players, the “community” but I think I have spent all that displeasure on a couple of columns you will be seeing in the next couple of days. And now, I am actually quite content and happy with the game. Omoikitte is back, we are doing a new fight tonight with a reward a bunch of people in my LS are interested in, I made some decent gil last night and my RNG is just about finished. <br /><br />I am finally able to focus on the game when I am playing the game. It’s quite amazing. You might have noticed if you have been reading this blog for more than say 3 days that I can get rather upset about game-related things. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about the game itself as I said above, but it really drives me batty at times. It kind of overwhelms my pleasure in playing the game. But when I can finally drive out those demons, I find that I still have a lot of fun playing the game.<br /><br />This is a nice little feeling I have. I am looking forward to having fun and not worrying about the stupid people in the world. Everyone should feel this way sometimes. I am looking forward to making my RNG into what it should be. I am looking forward to switching my Katana merits to Archery to support my RNG, but I really shouldn’t have to do that because SE shouldn’t have stupid limitation on the merits you can get for different freaking jobs, and why do they have these stupid limitations anyway, and what the fuck why can’t I just try to make all of my jobs the best they can be, and, and, and, ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!<br /><br />Have fun everyone!

Morning in Vana'diel: Plain Old Fun Vs. Shiney New Fun.

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! I don't know about you, but I am not having less fun in game but I am having less fun anticipating having less fun in game.

I have no internet at work this morning so I have no idea when this is going to be posted. And in this moment without instantaneous entertainment I am left to think about things a little more slowly, and a little more globally. I made me wonder how the developers really think about monster and event creation.

Now it is obvious that SE really isn’t putting anywhere as much heart into their events as they once did. The last two updates have seen events that mirror one of their oldest event systems: Garrison. Maybe they decided to use it because no one uses this kind of semi-instanced event anymore, but I have a feeling it is more to do to the need to spend less time developing new programming for events so they can work on the mini-expansions and FFXIV.

These events are not bad at all. The ANNM and Fey Weapons events are actually quite challenging and rewarding. They do require a little more thought than some other things that have been introduced lately and some of them like the Xarcabard Fey Weapon battle are actually very difficult. It is not the challenge or the reward I am concerned about, it is how they come up with the events they do implement.

There are weird balances between the different events. Some of the things they come up with are very interesting, intriguing and challenging. Salvage, for example, is probably the best implemented idea SE ever had, or at least after they added the crate of cells at the beginning of the run. Some zones were hard, some thought provoking and some required trickery, but all were interesting. But then you have something like Pandemonium Warden and Absolute Virtue, which are nothing more than insane puzzles that only the developers have the answers to the riddles. Why even create challenges that are not meant to be defeated? If we were reading a story or watching a movie these would be fine, but in a game are challenges that are too challenging even worth the development time?

[Note: Of course, Pandemonium Warden has become increasingly defeatable, but that is only because of the changes that occurred because of the way it was originally designed.]

<a href="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/0/0e/FayCrozier-Augmented.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/0/0e/FayCrozier-Augmented.png" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 366px; height: 120px;" /></a><span style="font-weight:bold;">Morning in Vana'diel</span><span style="font-style:italic;"> is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! I don't know about you, but I am not having less fun in game but I am having less fun anticipating having less fun in game.</span><br /><br />I have no internet at work this morning so I have no idea when this is going to be posted. And in this moment without instantaneous entertainment I am left to think about things a little more slowly, and a little more globally. I made me wonder how the developers really think about monster and event creation.<br /><br />Now it is obvious that SE really isn’t putting anywhere as much heart into their events as they once did. The last two updates have seen events that mirror one of their oldest event systems: Garrison. Maybe they decided to use it because no one uses this kind of semi-instanced event anymore, but I have a feeling it is more to do to the need to spend less time developing new programming for events so they can work on the mini-expansions and FFXIV. <br /><br />These events are not bad at all. The ANNM and Fey Weapons events are actually quite challenging and rewarding. They do require a little more thought than some other things that have been introduced lately and some of them like the Xarcabard Fey Weapon battle are actually very difficult. It is not the challenge or the reward I am concerned about, it is how they come up with the events they do implement. <br /><br />There are weird balances between the different events. Some of the things they come up with are very interesting, intriguing and challenging. Salvage, for example, is probably the best implemented idea SE ever had, or at least after they added the crate of cells at the beginning of the run. Some zones were hard, some thought provoking and some required trickery, but all were interesting. But then you have something like Pandemonium Warden and Absolute Virtue, which are nothing more than insane puzzles that only the developers have the answers to the riddles. Why even create challenges that are not meant to be defeated? If we were reading a story or watching a movie these would be fine, but in a game are challenges that are too challenging even worth the development time? <br /><br />[Note: Of course, Pandemonium Warden has become increasingly defeatable, but that is only because of the changes that occurred because of the way it was originally designed.]