Final Fantasy XIV - Kiwi Free Company

[BlazikenLover]

Don't be afraid to tap out and start hitting skip. I never ever once used it from ARR through EW, always thought the MSQ was worth taking the time to watch properly, and that mindset made DT actual pain to get through. I promise you you will not miss anything of value.

By the end of DT husband and I had basically resorted to using MSQ as a drinking game just to come up with any kind of enthusiasm to finish. It took a lot of vodka.

It took me a month to get through DT due to how fucking boring the starting sections were, huge infodump and shit that went nowhere (looking at you antagonistic yok hur tribe) and once it picked up with the fight against valigarmanda... It slowed down again. The section in fantasy texas left me confused, we didn't even have a good reason to be there other than "tourism" then we got caught in the lamest cowboy confrontation ever (and Estinien is there for some reason).
I think was only fully into it after Alexandria attacked and at the same time I was pissed since that meant we were essentially done with Fantasy latin america.
Imho the dungeons and trials took too fucking long to get to and solo trials/duties would have done wonders to keep you entertained, why not include a fight against bakool ja ja or zoral ja early on? Why not a fight against a tural vidraal alongside estinien and the cowboys?

It is a shame they fumbled this expansion so bad since (in my opinion) a fantasy version of the americas has a lot of potential and is underexploited. It also leads plenty of retards to think fantasy settings should be strictly "european" or asian with anything else simply not "working"

 

[Brandy [◉'']]

It is my understanding the devs were getting burnt out on the Empire and they wanted to shift gears a bit as a result. Which...understandable but don't pull a bait and switch like that.

I watched this very cool interview with an US expat living in Japan working as woodblock print maker. He remembered Ito Susumu a late master of this craft and how he impacted Bull's life and career. Since Woodcarvings tend to deteriorate over time popular motives need to be redone from time to time and Bull wondered if this was demotivating to the master. Paraphrasing, but the answer was "I am a craftsman. If people are happy with a certain motive, I will do my best to replicated it even better than before."

That comment about the devs being sick of something reminded me of that and kind of feeds into my suspicion that at Square, the developers think of themself rather as artists than as crafters. Which works well for Ishikawa who manages to deliver what people want, but if Dawntrail is anything to go by the artistic vision is flawed at best.

I know it sounds harsh but "Do what the fans like" might actually be something SE needs to do again.

It is a shame they fumbled this expansion so bad since (in my opinion) a fantasy version of the americas has a lot of potential and is underexploited. It also leads plenty of retards to think fantasy settings should be strictly "european" or asian with anything else simply not "working"

It absolutely is a shame. There is so much cool stuff to explore in the Americas. Hell, even European history is barely touched, it always is this weird medieval-but-not-really kind of deal. 15th-16th century Europe would be very refreshing from a Japanese studio.

 

[Fcret]

I'm increasingly convinced that they have no idea what they're doing with the game and executive meddling has starved the team of the resources necessary to do the big changes the game desperately needs.

Instead we get more half-baked fate grinds, raid content an increasingly-small percentage of the playerbase is interested in doing, and a mobile spinoff made for markets that don't actually spend money on games.

It's a shame there's basically no other big MMOs on the market and WoW is continuing its decade-long pants-shitting so there's absolutely zero incentive for SE to take fixing this game seriously.

 

[Baguette Child]

I've finally achieved the last big "goal" I had in the game, and made it into PVP's crystal rank top 100. I'll probably keep playing it until the end of the PVP season to maintain my position but, in a really big way, I just don't know if there's anything left I'm interested in striving for in FFXIV.


I might scrub my house and cancel sub after this season ends. Who knows. There's just not a lot holding me here now that I've seen what the post-expac patches for Dawntrail are going to be like from here. It's a very bitter feeling going from how I felt about the game before EW to how I feel about it after DT. Like watching a friend you really liked slowly become a crack addict who sucks dick for cock.

It's a shame there's basically no other big MMOs on the market and WoW is continuing its decade-long pants-shitting so there's absolutely zero incentive for SE to take fixing this game seriously.

This is really the big hurdle for husband and I. We like MMOs. We are MMO players. But current year has basically no definitively GOOD MMO for us to really really get into. We'd thought FFXIV might fit that bill at one point, but look how that turned out.

 

[Agarathium1066]

I've finally achieved the last big "goal" I had in the game, and made it into PVP's crystal rank top 100. I'll probably keep playing it until the end of the PVP season to maintain my position but, in a really big way, I just don't know if there's anything left I'm interested in striving for in FFXIV.

Damn grats on that! Getting into the top 100 on a popular DC is pretty impressive. Is the big reward still getting access to those glowy edgy weapons & the Adventurer Plate background? Can't remember.

This is really the big hurdle for husband and I. We like MMOs. We are MMO players. But current year has basically no definitively GOOD MMO for us to really really get into. We'd thought FFXIV might fit that bill at one point, but look how that turned out.

I feel this something fierce. I keep hoping to see something, anything worth a damn. Even a glimmer of effort from one of the major surviving games. I really do begin to think SHB and EW were the last serious energy SE had left in it for some time. We shall see.

 

[Baguette Child]

Is the big reward still getting access to those glowy edgy weapons & the Adventurer Plate background?

Yeah, there's some nifty looking framer's kits as reward.

Spoiler: PVP Season Rewards

So if I maintain my top 100 ranking, I get this frame. It's pretty dope.


If I fall down into the top 300 instead, I get this silver version. It's still a pretty cool flex, but I'd be lying if I said I'd feel satisfied with not getting the gold version.



And absolute worst case- If I start playing really badly and fuck it all up, I still should be able to get the crystal tier pack which is alright. It still comes with enough crystals to get the augmented hellhound weapon I want so that's not so bad.

TLDR; No matter what I should at least be able to get the cool weapon glam which was my main objective. But now that I've managed to claw my way into the rankings above 100 the competitive sweaty neckbeard in me *really* wants to get that higher placement set.

 

[Agarathium1066]

Yeah, there's some nifty looking framer's kits as reward.

TLDR; No matter what I should at least be able to get the cool weapon glam which was my main objective. But now that I've managed to claw my way into the rankings above 100 the competitive sweaty neckbeard in me *really* wants to get that higher placement set.

Cant' stand the super glowy weapons personally but all three of those adventure plate options are cool. Shows serious effort so hey, more power to you. I'm hoping the next PVP track will have better rewards. Or at least won't be another shitty "casual" outfit that looks like whatever caught the modeller's eye that month.

 

[Baguette Child]

another shitty "casual" outfit that looks like whatever caught the modeller's eye that month.

Yeah, I absolutely detest that the only noteworthy PVP rewards they've given out recently have been modern ghetto clothing. I'd rather see them reissue older PVP rewards than give us stuff that looks 100% out of place in the setting, but I've long had to accept that the faggots who use this game as a dress up simulator have more pull on the bottom line than people like me.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

I've finally achieved the last big "goal" I had in the game, and made it into PVP's crystal rank top 100. I'll probably keep playing it until the end of the PVP season to maintain my position but, in a really big way, I just don't know if there's anything left I'm interested in striving for in FFXIV.

I feel the same way about the game, frankly; I still have a number of goals I would really like to reach on my end - get the Platinum trophy, finish up all of the quest series that I missed previously, level up a job from each Role that I like, get some Beast Tribe stuff done - but I don't really have any incentive to play after Endwalker. DT just sounds like an utter slog to get all the way through, and unless the next updates/expansion end up being great... well, it's no skin off my back to leave this game for good once I get all my goals done.

 

[Froggy Fresh Sextape]

I'm increasingly convinced that they have no idea what they're doing with the game and executive meddling has starved the team of the resources necessary to do the big changes the game desperately needs.

I'm waiting to see what they do in the next expansion. Yoshida was talking about maybe not raising the level cap and instead implementing some sort of mastery system. They really need to just gut every job and rework them but I don't know if they have the time or inclination for that.

When I played WoW all the healers felt different. You had strengths and weaknesses. In FF14 they all feel the same. WHM can run out of MP if you're not using Thin Air and SGE can struggle with mechanics that require healing to full (TGC bleed for instance) but that's about it. Then you have classes like DRG where it's just doing a 10-button rotation over and over again while hitting oGCDs as they come off cooldown and there's no interaction between the two. It all feels very bland.

GNB and SGE are the only two jobs that I think are designed well. RDM and DNC are okay too.

 

[Racial Slurs the Movie]

When I played WoW all the healers felt different. You had strengths and weaknesses. In FF14 they all feel the same. WHM can run out of MP if you're not using Thin Air and SGE can struggle with mechanics that require healing to full (TGC bleed for instance) but that's about it.

I've been thinking about this myself, and while I know none of these would ever be added I'd want each healer to have a certain niche.

WHM: Is the stick which by all healers are measured by, Mana should be MORE of a worry and I would limit their damage a little more (This has to do with my SGE idea) but in terms of raw Action to effect heals they should be top.

AST: Astro's should lean into their theme more, I do like the buffs but instead of their regens just being reskinned White Mages instead have them act more like Samurai's Tengentsu: The regen instead casts a small negligible buff on who it hits (7 seconds for single target 5 for multi) that if you're hit during you get a much more powerful and long lasting regen.

SCH: Should be the longest range healer, have every spell you cast also be replicated in an aura around your fairy, have fairy placement matter a lot more, I like the speed buff they can give but Scholar should have other less direct but still useful abilities like that.

SGE: I would actually make them even weaker at healing if only by 5% or so but would lean far more into the damage and shields side of things, Sages should struggle with pure heal checks but have the ability to nullify a lot of damage with their shields by laying the hurt on whatever their fighting.

CHM: Doesn't exist but should, Chemists should be a combo job like Ninja where you mix two ingredients to make an effect and then a catalyst to change how it targets things. Ontop of this they should be the only class with a multi esuna but low-ish healing.

 

[Brandy [◉'']]

The thing that put me off WoW is that -and I know this is highly subjective- to me it doesn't feel like a very comfy game world to log into and just vibe in. Maybe that has something to do that I don't have any idea what the plot is... Is there a Scion like adventuring party that you join and get attached to?

I've finally achieved the last big "goal" I had in the game, and made it into PVP's crystal rank top 100. I'll probably keep playing it until the end of the PVP season to maintain my position but, in a really big way, I just don't know if there's anything left I'm interested in striving for in FFXIV.

Congrats! How bad was it once you got in the higher ranks? I only did CC in casual mode and grinded out the marks for the monthly pass once, after that I had no desire to play PvP any more. The amount of times my NIN Limit just flubbed because the server and me were in disagreement about the enemies healthbar was quite frustrating.

 

[Froggy Fresh Sextape]

The amount of times my NIN Limit just flubbed because the server and me were in disagreement about the enemies healthbar was quite frustrating.

This is the reason why nobody takes FF14 PVP seriously. The server tick rate doesn't support it. Casual PVP is pretty fun though.

If you want to get into the top 100 play WHM and learn how to aim the LB.

 

[SnowBall]

The thing that put me off WoW is that -and I know this is highly subjective- to me it doesn't feel like a very comfy game world to log into and just vibe in. Maybe that has something to do that I don't have any idea what the plot is... Is there a Scion like adventuring party that you join and get attached to?

Congrats! How bad was it once you got in the higher ranks? I only did CC in casual mode and grinded out the marks for the monthly pass once, after that I had no desire to play PvP any more. The amount of times my NIN Limit just flubbed because the server and me were in disagreement about the enemies healthbar was quite frustrating.

I tried WoW years ago and it was ok but I couldn't really get into it. I’m not a fan of the art style and the writing doesn’t seem to be that interesting. I was also looking for a new mmo back then after taking a break from FFXI but WoW just couldn’t scratch that itch XI did. I tried looking at WoW again and it doesn’t seem to do the same for XIV either. It’s a shame there aren’t really any new interesting mmos coming out. I still remember the 2000’s being packed with new mmo releases and now every thing is either extremely niche, a kick starter grift, in development hell, extremely p2w, or all of the above.

 

[Tanner Glass]

The thing that put me off WoW is that -and I know this is highly subjective- to me it doesn't feel like a very comfy game world to log into and just vibe in.

It's because there's very little non-combat activities in WoW and very few non-combat spaces.

They're trying to slowly change that (through housing, expanding DMF, etc) but it just isn't that game. People used to vibe in it as like a 3D chatroom before most communities migrated over to IRC and then later Discord.

 

[Trash Pandit]

The thing that put me off WoW is that -and I know this is highly subjective- to me it doesn't feel like a very comfy game world to log into and just vibe in. Maybe that has something to do that I don't have any idea what the plot is... Is there a Scion like adventuring party that you join and get attached to?

There are some common recurring characters but none are nearly as consistent as the Scions, and many have taken multiple-expansion breaks from the plot with hardly even a mention(even ones that should reasonably be expected to be present for whatever said expansion is about). And most modern characters or old characters with modern writing are severely lacking in the "get attached to" sense.

WoW's basically only worth playing for the class design/dungeons/raids at this point.

 

[Baguette Child]

Congrats! How bad was it once you got in the higher ranks? I only did CC in casual mode and grinded out the marks for the monthly pass once, after that I had no desire to play PvP any more. The amount of times my NIN Limit just flubbed because the server and me were in disagreement about the enemies healthbar was quite frustrating.

The desync issues in PVP are still a major problem. I'd say maybe 20% of my losses are because the numbers on my screen and the numbers on the server don't match up like they should.

Won't lie, ranked gets a lot more frustrating once you get to crystal tier. A loss hurts more, wins give you less, the grind is pretty insane. But I enjoy CC as a mode so I put up with it... until the huge bump when I hit top 300. The competition gets so much tighter when you hit somewhere around rank 300 and it becomes a slog just to maintain position let alone climb.

A less retarded man than me would have valued his sanity too much to keep going but I just really really wanted to reach top 100 at least one time. If I'm being honest I will probably never roll this hard on PVP mode again.

very few non-combat spaces.

I feel like this is a huge thing I am missing in all modern MMOs.


I can remember as a kid logging into things like Ragnarok Online (which had no localized release back when I played in 2002- We had to trick the KR website into letting us download it and then apply a very janky translation+regionlock hack patch that we probably downloaded off Limewire or via a sketchy forum post) just to hang out. Not really DOING anything, sometimes, but rather just being logged in because I wanted to be there or to socialize with others. These were worlds that we used to just enjoy for their own sake even aside from the actual content; Places we WANTED to spend lots of time. Nowadays there is virtually no significant socialization in games and they're not really designed with social spaces in the same way that certain older games were.


FFXIV actually isn't the worst in this regard. We do have places like the Adventurer's Guild spaces in most major cities, stuff like the bar in the Golden Saucer, all the public seating and the like in Kugane, etc... But no one uses them. Never once have I ever seen anyone just *being* in these places like people used to in the MMOs I grew up on. Maybe kids just don't do that anymore. Maybe I'm just old.

 

[Van Darkholme]

I watched this very cool interview with an US expat living in Japan working as woodblock print maker. He remembered Ito Susumu a late master of this craft and how he impacted Bull's life and career. Since Woodcarvings tend to deteriorate over time popular motives need to be redone from time to time and Bull wondered if this was demotivating to the master. Paraphrasing, but the answer was "I am a craftsman. If people are happy with a certain motive, I will do my best to replicated it even better than before."

Off topic, but I've met David Bull a few times during my visits to Japan. Very passionate, talented and nice man. His Great Wave prints are excellent, as are the rest.
Would definitely recommend a visit to Mokuhankan if you're ever around Asakusa, Tokyo.

 

[Tanner Glass]

I feel like this is a huge thing I am missing in all modern MMOs.


I can remember as a kid logging into things like Ragnarok Online (which had no localized release back when I played in 2002- We had to trick the KR website into letting us download it and then apply a very janky translation+regionlock hack patch that we probably downloaded off Limewire or via a sketchy forum post) just to hang out. Not really DOING anything, sometimes, but rather just being logged in because I wanted to be there or to socialize with others. These were worlds that we used to just enjoy for their own sake even aside from the actual content; Places we WANTED to spend lots of time. Nowadays there is virtually no significant socialization in games and they're not really designed with social spaces in the same way that certain older games were.


FFXIV actually isn't the worst in this regard. We do have places like the Adventurer's Guild spaces in most major cities, stuff like the bar in the Golden Saucer, all the public seating and the like in Kugane, etc... But no one uses them. Never once have I ever seen anyone just *being* in these places like people used to in the MMOs I grew up on. Maybe kids just don't do that anymore. Maybe I'm just old.

You aren't old (well, maybe you are, but..) a lot of modern games have had the social areas kind of absorbed by other social media. FFXIV has several "hangs" but they're usually near Aetherites (like the one in Limsa) but also in housing areas and so on but most of my FFXIV community stuff happens on various Discords.

Another massive aspect is FFXIV and World of Warcraft both have very modernized game design - meaning that you don't need to interact with many people to play the game. I generally thing FFXIV does a better job then WoW of it, but outside of forced dungeons (of which you can insert NPCs) - you don't need to interact with other people to be successful. Compared to older games (you used RO as an example) where you needed other players constantly (and guilds were super important), you can basically play either game as a single player MMO. There's also very little downtime - for travel, dungeons, cooldowns, timers, spawn windows, etc - which is streamlined but you lose out on the "group of people just having a chat" aspect of earlier MMOs.

The tech aspect also plays a big part too - FFXIV and WoW both use shards/battlegroups/whatever - so your "server" is just one part of a pile of them. So people you see in dungeons/battlegrounds (if you interact with those at all) are rarely from your server. With level scaling it's also rare the people I do interact with are rarely in my level range even if they were on my server. They both also use phasing so even if you were the same level, in the same area, on the same server, you still might not randomly encounter someone.

There are a lot of other things too, but, it's unlikely that kind of MMO ever can really come back and be the same (See also WoW Classic) just because there are so many alternatives for attention.

 

[Froggy Fresh Sextape]

FFXIV has several "hangs" but they're usually near Aetherites (like the one in Limsa) but also in housing areas and so on but most of my FFXIV community stuff happens on various Discords.

There are a bunch of people on my server who sit in Limsa and chat all day. Normal stuff, too, not ERP awfulness. Novice Network is pretty social on my server as well.

Also another point is that there are a lot of console players who don't have wireless keyboards so obviously they're not gonna be the chattiest people in-game.