Final Fantasy XIV Journal

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

I haven't played in several weeks, not since my old LS pulled the "elitist" attitude in a dying game routine. I enjoyed the game but the combat has gotten super slow and boring since they implemented auto attack. Having finished the main storyline in the game and beaten Ifrit (cool battle), I just couldn't find any reason to stick around. The quests are boring, crafting is a snooze fest and guildleves still suck. I was excited to hear about them implementing combos, but it's just added effects from subsequent attacks/ different body locations.

With SWTOR on the horizon and Tera coming Spring of next year, plus GW2, etc., there is zero reason to play this game when FFXI still blows it out of the water. Hopefully when they start adding jobs they'll give more incentive to play. Right now there's so many better ways to spend your time.

[Fei]

Subscriptions are coming January 6th http://www.1up.com/news/final-fantasy-xiv-subscription-free-period-ending

I'm enjoying the game for it's story right now.  Once the cutscenes become fewer and farther between (and I actually need to party) I will form a more legitimate opinion.  For now, it's a decent single player game... good writing and stuff.

...and I screwed myself out of the onion helm by creating my character BEFORE redeeming the code:

"* Please be advised that if you have already created a character prior to entering the code for the in-game bonus item, the item will not be available. The item can only be used by characters created after you have entered the code for the corresponding item. "

BS...

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

The main story itself is pretty decent, even though it sometimes thinks too highly of itself. I will say after Old Republic's cinematic storytelling, I'm losing patience with the silent protagonist observer mode FFXIV is stuck in.

They have alot of potential with FFXIV, I just hope the gameplay will eventually match up with the expectation they set with the 2.0 announcement.

[Fei]

I disagree on the cinematic aspect, if only because the content I've uncovered in TOR is so boring so far.  Jedi Consular may have been a poor choice, because I don't give a crap about the first blade that was the design for the first lightsaber and all this side-lore about ancient robots.  Meanwhile, I'm asking pointless questions just to continue dialogue.

I sometimes wonder if I only post my opinions if they seem as unbelievable as someone thinking FF14 is better than TOR.

I'm really enjoying FF14, but the population took a dive again.  Ul'Dah was hopping for a few days after 1.20 release, but they were probably just checking out the new patch.  TOR released shortly after... nuff said.

[Hathen]

With their announcement of 2.0, I'm guessing most people interested in the game would rather wait for that version to come out before trying again- that's certainly what I'm doing, anyway.

[Fei]

That thought has gnawed at me lately as well.  Maybe I'll just wait for the PS3 version, while TOR is still hot (TOR got waaay better for me soon after level 6)

I just wonder what benefits players will get for sticking it out until what I assume is the start of the 7th Umbral Era (end of the world I think).

I'm kinda hoping for an FF6 world of ruin situation... WoW's Cataclysm was a joke; most of the world seemed just fine to me.

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

New Judge screenshot - whee.



Anyway, I reactivated since they've made alot of solid changes, and the jobs patch hits on Friday. Doesn't hurt that the sub is suuuuper discounted. I'm pretty impressed with some of the decisions they've made so far. For one they cut down on alot of the needless overcrowding of abilities. Setting up your classes is much more streamlined and logical too. The combat is still a bit too slow for my liking, but the new combo system seems to speed things up nicely - now if only they added Haste to fix that infernal auto-attack. The paring down of the crafting recipes have also been well received. It also looks like they've added some new Grand Company quests (that's what the screenshot is from) which is pretty cool. Looks like Garlemand is hunting Meteor - so that explains the cataclysm that will predate 2.0.

Here's a quick video of some of the weaponskills we'll be getting with Friday's Jobs.

FFXIV 1.21 Job Weaponskills

Here's the article explaining exactly how jobs are going to work: Job System Explained

I think its a really cool idea in that you don't have to start over from scratch to progress the job, and seems like an intuitive extention of the armory system. It bears noting that this also opens up the probability of more jobs being added in the future. I'll probably do a review update once I've had a chance to really dig into the next patch.

[Raze]

 I know they want to go back to ff roots with the jobs, but they're mostly already just repaints anyway. Why not just make the marauder a warrior, lancer a dragoon etc? Did they just want to loophole their way out of saying play progress wouldn't be reset or something?

 Also, they forgot to make a ranger.

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

I know they want to go back to ff roots with the jobs, but they're mostly already just repaints anyway. Why not just make the marauder a warrior, lancer a dragoon etc? Did they just want to loophole their way out of saying play progress wouldn't be reset or something?

 Also, they forgot to make a ranger.

Basically, yes. It seems they want players to progress via the armory classes with jobs as a specialty overlay. I'm a big fan of not repeating the grind, so I support this decision. While it would be simpler to have a linear class to job progression like we're used to seeing in XI, having jobs as an adjunct based on certain class milestones, it leaves the door open for more jobs using different class combos. I guess we'll have to see how to works firsthand before we can say anything concrete.

They already made a ranger - its called Bard ;p

[Hathen]

The question here is if they'll be able to balance the job with the classes, side-by-side. If the jobs are going to basically just be stronger versions of the classes with less options, I foresee it just feeling like there's 7 jobs to play when you're in a group, and maybe you swap out to the class when you need to solo (Mostly so you get alternate class healing...though as far as I can tell the jobs are all pretty diverse with their selection of abilities among their 3 classes so I'm not even sure if that will matter).

Still, since they're planning on class-specific armor, and they even call it horizontal, what they're essentially getting here is 14 classes to play as- weren't they having a whole lot of trouble just balancing the 7 they had?

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

I think they did the bulk of class re-balancing over the last few months. Each class is much leaner in terms of abilities and more focused in their role. Spell casting got beaten with the ugly stick, but mainly because it was so ridiculously overpowered before. I had to scratch my head when they said they were developing class specific gear for the base classes - because by rights the job system is an extension of that system. Even though the jobs system is much more limiting in terms of cross class ability utilization, the boosted stats should basically make playing a base class an afterthought. Honestly, the cross class abilities have been so streamlined, I usually have to fill the slots with bullshit techniques just to feel like i've done something with the space. Either way, here's hoping the job gear has some fucking haste on it lol.

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

Patch Notes 1.21 are up. Patch starts today at 1pm PST. Cannot wait to get my Dragoon on.

[Parn]

I'd be lying if I said they didn't suddenly have my attention.  Going to continue watching on the sidelines, but the temptation certainly is there.  I'll probably give things a go when 2.0 hits and everyone gets a chance to try it for free.

[Agent D.]

I'd be lying if I said they didn't suddenly have my attention.  Going to continue watching on the sidelines, but the temptation certainly is there.  I'll probably give things a go when 2.0 hits and everyone gets a chance to try it for free.

2.0 is also the ps3 release, correct? I kinda stopped following info on this the day you said it's a piece of shit

[Parn]

That's because what I said was 100% true.  However, Square seems to be genuinely trying to clean up the turd.  But yeah, 2.0 is when the PS3 release hits.