Final Fantasy XIV: ARR, a Thread Reborn

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

So out of curiosity, what's the new subscription rate gonna be?

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/product/

Click on Pricing and Platforms.

[Taelus]

my only gripe with phase 3 was the difficulty on a few quests. very maat'esque with little room for error. except that we are talking about low level content here. the one with the chocobo egg was obviously trying to teach you something. but the one with the gargoyle and the masked mage was infuriating. made more so by the fact its a 2 part battle.

If your using the armory system and setting the right abilities (like Protect and Cure) these fights aren't hard at all. As long as your letting the main NPC beat on the boss and you focus on the adds, its pretty simple. For the gargoyle/mage fight, you have to focus and kill the Gargoyle first because he has way less HP, but does much more damage. Also, you have to pay attention to his TP moves, and the mage's spells. The difficulty is appreciated, because as you've said, each fight is trying to teach you something. I think it's refreshing to actually have to learn strategy for fights instead of the 99% faceroll content in MMOs these days. Yes, if you just run in guns blazing, you will get your ass handed to you, but if you follow some pretty basic rules (don't stand in the big glowy circle thingy) they're not that challenging.

ACtually, I agree. This is a big reason why I dont' enjoy most MMOs these days. It's all designed to be so damn easy that no one gets frustrated and quits. It was one of GW2's biggest faults (that and the whole "your bread and butter skills for the rest of the game are unlocked after two hours"), if you ask me. You could play that game PvE half asleep because of how streamlined everything was. Generally I'm a challenge-lover anyway, though, but I haven't found anything too difficult yet, but I do like that I have to actually pay attention, like with managing the thaumaturge's aether charges.

[Agent D.]

So out of curiosity, what's the new subscription rate gonna be?

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/product/

Click on Pricing and Platforms.

So....why's the pricing only show monthly rates when 2 of them are obviously based on playing for more than a month? Are you paying for the 180 day and 90 day subscriptions up front, or agreeing to play that long similar to a cell phone contract?

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

So out of curiosity, what's the new subscription rate gonna be?

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/product/

Click on Pricing and Platforms.

So....why's the pricing only show monthly rates when 2 of them are obviously based on playing for more than a month? Are you paying for the 180 day and 90 day subscriptions up front, or agreeing to play that long similar to a cell phone contract?

Pretty much.  You pay for the 90/180 day plans up front to take advantage of the discount and you get charged the same fee every 3rd/6th month depending on what your subscription plan was. Most MMOs had something similar. Some MMOs like Secret World had lifetime subs where you'd pay a few hundred up front and never had to pay sub again, ever. Of course when it went F2P, those people got boned (they still got some perks though IIRC).

Though the Entry level plan doesn't seem to have a 3 or 6 month plan since it's a "limited" account.

[Akanbe-]

So, I turned off my overclock temporarily a few weeks ago to make sure it wasn't the issue that was causing problems (it wasn't) and I never turned it back on.  Curious, I remembered the FF14 benchmark and since it's the next PC game I'm anxiously awaiting, I figured I should try the benchmark again.  Same settings as before (Default "Maximum" setting, 1080p resolution), and somehow I lost 950 points.  Is the game really that CPU intensive?  I haven't changed anything else since but new drivers (the ones linked earlier in the thread, but not the one said to be causing issues).   For the record I had a SB i7 3.4 CPU.  Was OCed to 4.3.

The difficulty is appreciated, because as you've said, each fight is trying to teach you something. I think it's refreshing to actually have to learn strategy for fights instead of the 99% faceroll content in MMOs these days. Yes, if you just run in guns blazing, you will get your ass handed to you, but if you follow some pretty basic rules (don't stand in the big glowy circle thingy) they're not that challenging.

Agreed.  I appreciate the fact that they're willing to put some more challenging single player content in the game.  Making things faceroll doesn't teach players how to play correctly and it teaches people tunnel vision, poor character placement (aka standing in fire), and more often than not, poor DPS.  It's really a disservice to their players as they will eventually hit max level and they weren't shown/taught how to deal with the things the game then throws at them and they get lambasted by other players.

Actually, I agree. This is a big reason why I dont' enjoy most MMOs these days. It's all designed to be so damn easy that no one gets frustrated and quits. It was one of GW2's biggest faults (that and the whole "your bread and butter skills for the rest of the game are unlocked after two hours"), if you ask me.

How the hell do you always say what I'm already thinking?

[Taelus]

I only speak from the heart. Obviously this means our hearts are one.

And yeah-- while I'm not terribly into high-level MMO play or terminology, I DO appreciate a manageable challenge, especially with friends. It makes your victories sweeter. I really dig, for example, having to dodge Ifrit's attacks by not standing where, you know, death is about to spurt from. It demands a little more awareness than your average WoWMMO.

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

It's actually quite a disappointment that WoW endgame has become so trivial, because prior to the BC nerf series, the stuff was actually quite challenging. But, that's a debate for another time. If you want to see THE most insane fight in FFXIV was...

The Raven, Nevermore.
http://youtu.be/HI8oib1o2_4



Of course, here's Ifrit Extreme:
http://youtu.be/aO5A0QNiuJs

[Alisha]

i have no problem with difficulty. i just feel its too soon. this quest is particularly bad because in big bold letters it tells you DEFEAT THE MASKED MAGE and the mage speaks in a way that made me think the gargoyle couldnt be defeated. the only thing i can think of is maybe the developers expect you to of done something before that quest that would of made it easier. example i didnt bother doing guildhests or leve's. but if thats the case this quest should have a higher level requirement. actually now that i think about it i thought something was funny starting with the chocobo egg quest having a cap of 17 when i was a 14 lancer. as for the armory system i was keen on grinding a class i dont intend to play on a character thats gonna be wiped.

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/2631577/

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

Beta Test Phase 3 Schedule (06/25/2013)

    Thank you for your participation in the beta test for FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn.

    The testing schedule is detailed below.

        Dates and Times

            June 28, 2013 (Friday), 2:00 a.m. to June 30 (Sunday), 2:00 a.m. (PDT)
            June 28, 2013 (Friday), 9:00 a.m. to June 30 (Sunday), 9:00 a.m. (GMT)


        Testing Requests

                Transferring character data from Version 1.0
                * Please see below for further details.
                Basic functions of the PlayStation 3 version
                Check for server stress due to battle system revisions
                Verify changes based on all feedback up to beta test phase 2
            In the event that testers are asked to test additional content, separate notifications will be sent.

            Issues causing the PlayStation 3 to crash as well as error 90000 have been made a top priority. As we continue to investigate the source of these issues, any bugs encountered during this weekend's testing will be addressed on an ongoing basis.

            Although testing of the duty finder was scheduled for Test 3, final QA checks of the system are still in progress. Stress testing of the duty finder will be conducted during Test 4 at the earliest.

            We deeply apologize for the delay of duty finder testing, and ask for your continued cooperation.

Looks like service stress testing (week long server uptime) won't happen till week 5 at the earliest, unless they want to cut that out and move directly into phase 4, which is open beta.

I'm loving the new Lodestone though.

http://na.beta.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/870169/

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

GamesRadar is giving away beta keys RIGHT now!

http://www.gamesradar.com/final-fantasy-xiv-ps3-beta-key-giveaway/

Code is for the beta registration, no PS3 promo codes are available yet it seems. It may be due to the maintenance. Still, nab a code and register it for beta access.

UPDATE: PS3 Promo codes will be mailed to your GamesRadar registered email accounts within 24 hours.

UPDATE: All codes are gone.

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

Ok gang, for those that missed the last beta key roundup, Nova Crystallis is giving away beta codes starting at 10:30 am PT. http://www.novacrystallis.com/

EDIT - Codes have been delayed. Will update accordingly.

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

Codes are now available HERE! PC beta only.

http://gamerescape.com/ffxivarr_beta_key_giveaway/

Get them while they're hot!

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

Nova Crystallis is giving away PS3 codes now!

http://t.co/kTZrKCCz2E

[Starmongoose]

Thanks for the heads up Tenchi. :3 I gots me a PC code.

[Taelus]

I don't know what it is, but I am seriously hankering to play this game more. It's kind of refreshing to be excited about and enjoying an MMO.