I want a Tizona D:

I want a banana sword, but I doubt I can throw myself in Mythic hell.

I wasted 3 years of my life playing this game to get a Mythic, missed countless real life interactions because Einherjar/assault starting D: Farmed a FUCK tons of gil from dyna solo(which is boring as fuck), got home early everyday for 1 month to attend LS delve runs when 1 stack airlixir +1 worth 2M.

In the end I got an item that I see little reason to 119. I barely use it, only situation I think I may use it is when I spam req. And even then it doesn't worth the effort. It's no where close to game changing item as majority of other RME.

2nd Mythic Y/N?

Fuck no.

But damn, I really want to attack 2~3 times on a melee job and WS that fast just for once.

JUST FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE D:

Maybe, maybe I picked the wrong mythic to begin with. A thought I'd never have 3 years ago. I changed, after all.

JP only invasion

Haven't play FFXIV for over 1 month, back then JP only mentality didn't exist in FFXIV, no issue joining JP /shout.

Rumor says it's a lot more JP only mentality in FFXIV now, a lot of them are quite rude/mean toward none JP players, just like FFXI. I guess that's another reason not to touch FFXIV again. I have enough JP only in FFXI, ended up having to play in the morning if I want to do group event. In FFXIV even playing in the morning won't solve the issue since English community barely exist on JP servers.

Continue to stay inactive in XIV w.

Goal

Got bored and play with spreadsheet a bit more, made a couple of "Goal set" again.

Last stand: This is the highest LS set I can find in full buff situation, no acc/attk issue. If acc is an issue, swap head to 119 AF head, stormsoul to Hajduk rings, back to Libeccio. Can swap nahtirah to Thurandaut +1 legs too if it's really that bad, although it's more dmg lose on that slot if attack far from capped.

Khepri doesn't seems to beat 119 AF even when LS doing 7.5k.

Req when fully buffed. If acc is an issue change body to mani R15 path A, hands to 119 AF hands.

Also, ideally gun slot should be 119 DP in req spam situations unless QD dmg is extremely bad or not using dmg shots.

TP:  When /DNC Uk'uxkaj+windbuffet is still the best. Can change to Whirlpool if acc is an issue. If subbing NIN then Thurandaut+1/twilight. Aphotic R15x2 seems to > eminent sword+ dagger due to 1 sec faster to TP 100 it seems.

Exen: Weak WS, can't get high number from it compare with LS/req, ditching it D:

After tons of qutrub kill for RoE, finally 119ed AF body. 4 more to go ><

AA battles and DD mode

Recent new content AA battle, COR is a viable alternative(but not a must have) in the BC. Most people including myself, just /WHM due to laziness. But I've been playing with the idea of using it as a DD in normal~difficult fights.

In order to do AA as a melee, it is required to have a very good DT- gears and /NIN to survive. The hard part is, if you turtle with DT- gears, it'd ended up suffering from acc issue even with sushi, especially if you don't have 4 song BRD. And COR doesn't have very good melee weapon already.

One advantage of going /ra mode is that COR can have full prelude+ min buff and full acc TP set without worrying about PDT- and march. Resulting higher accuracy and less cures. But another advantage melee COR has is, COR can get 10% PDT- in gun slot, basically a bit easier to cap PDT- compare with MNKs.

Super turtle melee mode:
Gun: 10%
Dring: 10%
Skirmish x5 perfect aug: 20%
Back: shadow
Neck: 5%
Waist: 4%
Ring2: Tojil HP ring

Total: Around 49%, but can't WS with gun and have to use req. Can probably reach cap with wiglen or something.

Another advantage of using gun slot for PDT- is, it is possible to use high HP Tojil ring to add more survive-ability. It's just that I'd have to stuck with req WS instead of last stand.


According to spreadsheet, on Tojil lv of target, I have around 152 DPS /NIN without chaos and SV, using sushi and turtle in my gimp PDT-.

Same target/debuff but full DD buff chaos+hunter+ prelude x2 and min, 142 DPS if I /ra /WAR in highest racc set if zerk up, zerk down has 118. /RNG is 115 DPS although I may* need to /RNG if doing VD anyways.

If using Exen build instead of req build and full of melee turtle rolls/gears, it's only 146 DPS.

Conclusion: Melee build is still a bit stronger than /ra with a BRD even in turtle like hell situation. Although I don't think it's possible to melee at all in VD. But ranged build requires less healing and less death.

Melee 4life for me, personally ._. What kind of pirate can't use a sword? :X

Carry, or not to carry, that is the question

Every once a while I see new/returning player complain on the forum about "server's dead, no /shout pt going on, can't find a party to do any content, especially delve. No LS accept me due to lack of good gear and I can't get gear without delve clears, every delve pt I joined sucked and failed, this game sucks blah blah."

As a XI mega fan, I wanted to prove to those ppl that delve really isn't hard with PUG and game don't suck, or at least not suck for the reasons listed by them. Also because I enjoy playing COR/DNC as a DD, and there really aren't many situation that I can do 13k WS on COR/DNC

over and over and over again using incomplete/gimped LS set(I don't think I can hit 15k goal for a while until I get better gear and get better at light shotting+ positioning though). I make pt usually to test and practice my performance in this zone as a DD.

So I've been making Ceizak 1~5+boss runs fairly often, with 1 DRG, 2 COR/DNC and 1 RNG setup, Muyingwa usually die in 2~3 min, even if alliance carry 2~3 leeches needing win. If pt is buff/debuffed properly, I'm usually ahead of MNK BLU on bee. Sometimes I'm ahead of Upukirex DRG sometimes behind, and pretty much always behind a RNG on bee.

I figured that alliance can carry 2~3 leeches needing win, so usually* there would be 1~3 leeches don't have win. The issue is, those leeches usually have extremely low performance that other ppl in the ally are doing more work to make up their subpar performance.

Quite a lot of "need win" DDs parse 6%~8%, some did 6% even with an Oat. Once I had a DRG parsed 0.4% and another WAR parsed 4%+ kept dying due to not turning away from shark spikes or doom aura. Eventually it turned out that those who did 15%~25% or even bring multiple character are doing 3x more works for leeches for pretty much no benefit. 

Further more, there are ppl that can't get in nor get into my alliance due to lack of proper job/gear/performance offering to pay for it. So me and friend decided it's probably better to charge gil from those ppl. Since we can totally beat delve boss with only 2 party or even less with such output.

I listed the price at slightly lower rate than RMT /shout, again, because I see it's a completely waste of gil to pay 20M for an NM that dies in 2~3 min. 

Then I got hate tells from ppl who used to join the run, for "using them to make gil", even though I've never make 1 gil from selling wins and pretty much hand out every wins for free to leeches in the past.

So there, now you see why returning players/newer players/can't get win.

1. They usually have subpar performance to begin with, due to lack of experience and gears. Any alliance worth a salt will ended up carrying them by doing 3x more work and get nothing in return. Since most ppl with enough gear/experience will cap on gears and gil gain from doing delve is bad.

If I invite them for free those who did 3x more work isn't happy for doing more work for them.

2. If I put merc ad on AH and sell wins, those who used to join run would start spreading false rumor for using them to make gil, and start assuming past leeches are buyers and I ate all the gil.(So I'm being accused for being greedy WHILE doing good deed to help ppl getting free clear)

All that made me feel I've been helping ppl get free win and still being accused for greedy for pretty much no reason. On the same time have to face one million casuals on the forum complaining about they don't get invite to the pt and can't get win. Some ppl who complained never even join the run, just making assumption and spread false rumor by reading AH comment.

Anyways Afania rant + rage mode on D:<

Fuck you if you make false assumption about other ppl and spread false rumor. I spent most of my time putting together a delve pt and helped tons of ppl for free clear, and have yet to make 1 gil from selling win in my life. D:<

And fuck you if you complain about ppl being a dick and not taking casual/new/returning player to delve runs. If you want invite and win don't come and parse 1%~4% thank you. D:< Wins don't come to 1%~4% worth of DDs, they belong to ppl that can do 15% or 25% thank you. D:< Nobody want to do 3x more work for other ppl's free win if they don't need delve already.

And fuck you if you never join my run but still spread false rumor and point fingers, basically you have 0 right to even question whether I use ppl to make gil or not to begin with. /blist added for such dick. D:<

Rage rage rage rage D: Rage at the reality that being nice and hand out free/cheap clear still being labelled as greedy and using ppl D:

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Btw, after many runs, I think a Ceizak ally can take 3 CORs with 1 /WAR and 2 /DNC in each pt. Something like MNK MNK COR/WAR COR/DNC. If debuffed properly, COR usually parse top 2~3 in all 6 NMs and usually ahead of MNK BLU Upukirex DRG on bee, that makes COR a DD on it's own. A COR/WAR with another COR/DNC doing haste samba should do even more dmg than COR/DNC according to spreadsheet, and every DD in that pt gets 4 rolls. 

But I don't think I can try that for a while, I've decided not going to do this zone for a while unless someone paying the ally a bunch and ppl stop making false assumptions and spread false rumors about others.

Well, maybe after I 119 every AF and have confidence to do 15k last stand next time.

First 119!

Been in gimpland since SoA released, finally got my first 119 after boulder got super cheap.

After DP nerf it's currently the strongest COR DD weapon, so sorry DP, Zebra gun revived again :)

DP: :< /rage

Afania: D:

DP 119 next I suppose :X

2.1

Read a bit of 2.1 patch note, actually liked nearly everything except BRD change. Although I'm not exactly interested in housing.

Still worried about PVP though because of inherent server/battle system issue, will see how it play I guess.

Can't afford too many sub atm, need to cancel XI sub if I want to try 2.1 :X Maybe after Jan. Still have a bit to do in XI and wanted to go back to SWTOR if I feel like it.

Shark lead

First time trying to make a PUG for shark T1~5NM+B, got win in 2nd try with 15+ min left. First win timed out at 10% because I tried to carry leech for free win again, and this zone kinda has less room for leeches, especially for first time leader.

I felt this zone is always the hardest with PUG, because all that mayhem and dmg+ debuff can be too much for PUG.

I mostly follow MPLS's strat to deal with shark, go turtle, make mayhem macro. Even then the support was slightly worse than LS, with much slower cure and status removal speed....I guess this can't be helped with PUG!

I think this complete my desire to lead a winning /shout ally for all 3 zones. Proved that delve wins is really NOT that hard with PUG. I really don't understand why there's still PUG beading 3 NM everyday and still can't clear.

Maybe time to write a "How to make PUG" guide next time, lol.

FFXI....and not really FFXI....and Ceizak note

If anything I don't like last update is the fact that you can solo mythic/119 AF without making friends. I've noticed that plenty of ppl avoid party in FFXI like a plague.

I've been making ceizak NMT1~5+B party often, just for fun. I hand out plenty of free wins to ppl needing clear, but even then sometimes I don't get tons of reply when I asked around. Some even rather pay 20M for win, instead of making a PUG or joining a PUG and get win for free, and the win is very easy, with bee usually last 2~3 min even with avg geared group. It's almost like:

Player A: Fuck I need Ceizak win.
Afania: Hey anyone need Ceizak win? Ill make an ally :D
Player A: I'll farm 20M and buy Ceizak win.
Afania: Comeeee :(
Player A: Nah, I have gil I'll just pay.


Nobody want to play the game anymore D:


Made me wonder if this game somehow discourage group content way too much. Group content is supposed to be whats fun about MMORPG, if doing group content with friends/LS = pain in the ass, it's either MMORPG not for them or group content haven't reward player enough.


Anyways on to Ceizak! After a few runs, I've got some parse data about DD hierarchy in Ceizak 6 NM runs. I never get to pt with high end DD like Ryuno DRG, relic RNG nor Koga+yoichi SAM, so I don't know their potential. I usually only get to pt with Donderbuss RNG, upukirex DRG, Buramenk'ah BLU and Oat MNK.

Hierarchy is usually Donderbuss RNG> Upukirex DRG> COR/DNC> Buramenk'ah BLU> Oat MNKs. I believe ryuno DRG, relic RNG and koga yoichi SAM has potential to do much higher due to higher WS frequency and epeen barrage. The fight usually last 2~3 min depending on who you have, may hit below 2 min IF the setup is absolutely the best, so it benefits Mythic AM3 or barrage. This zone also has plenty of room for error. I had mages sit in wrong pt, or BRD went afk and wasted 1hr, or have wipga at start AND 3 leeches in the ally, but usually ended up getting clear anyways.

Ranged WS totally rape in this zone, even with surefire rank 0 I can spike 12k WS on COR/DNC. My WS frequency is about the same as MNK and BLU but no where close to 2h DDs. I think it's very possible to break 13k with khepri + better gun and better buff.

RNG is usually a bit weak on T1~5 NMs, better to have a melee set if bringing a RNG.

I'm still not convinced BLU is optimal DD in Ceizak unless terror is really, really needed. Saevel is just BLU verson of pchan :) It has about the same WS frequency as COR, minus 12k epeen WS. Not convinced that BLU can be top since there's Ryuno DRG and Koga SAM with ranged WS build joining the DD hierarchy competition recently

IMO an avg geared pt with COR/DNC DDing in avg gear shouldn't have issue on gnat at all. Even with no BRD pt swap and only 2 songs, LS still spike 8k easy on gnat. I think the trick to make a fast kill pt with avg none RME gear pt is to stop having COR sub WHM and start DDing. Plenty of PUG bead 3 NM and still complain about lack of dmg, it's usually because the setup is wrong to begin with.


I wish FFXI go back to group focused content next update. It's just not very FFXI anymore to have content such as RoE. It's really, really not THAT hard to do group content. Plenty of ppl just exaggerating the difficulty.

Going to challenge shark PUG next. I have a feeling that this is the hardest zone to deal with PUG.

Will FFXI shut down in 2014?

I keep hearing FFXI doomsday talk recently, some say it has 1 more year left, some say 2. As if FFXI will shut down soon.

I can't say much about 3~5 years later, but from what I've seen now, it's quite unlikely that it will shut down in 2014. I'd say a good 95% of chance it won't shut down in 2014, 5% of chance for "never say never".

There's a couple of reason that lead to such conclusion.

1. It's Final Fantasy, and it's SE.

It's a FF title that means the IP is owned by SE. Quite a lot of titles shut down in the past, such as WAR and SWG, had license expiration issue. AFAIK WAR shutting down is due to license agreement, on top of low population. Dark Age of Camelot by same company still exist now.

If the IP is owned by SE, they can run it as long as they want. Hell if they want they can keep the game going even with 5k sub left.

The next question is, WILL SE keep running even if there's 1 server left(Not that I think FFXI will have 1 server left in 2014 unless SE do something silly anyways, need a few more years for FFXI to reach 1 server left status IMO).

We're dealing with SE, and the way they deal with FF franchise is something you can't predict using Asian/western MMO company logic. When FFXIV 1.0 turned into fail launch, every media predicted it's going to shut down or enter F2P mode, using Asian/Western MMO company logic. Asian/Western MMO logic= server shut down when it's no longer profitable, F2P or bust. But SE didn't do that, instead they remade entire game, for 1 single reason: It's FF, they can't lot FF rot.

Another smaller Asian MMO company that I have connection with, one of their policy is they will always update and keep running their titles no matter how small their player base becomes. And they launch 1~2 titles every year. There's a reason behind that though, shutting down a MMO is bad record in the industry, if a company shut down 1 title every 3 years, players would be less willing to spend money in cash shop in future titles.

Keeping a title alive is not as expensive as everyone thinks, if small Asian companies can do it, SE certainly can, especially for games like FFXI, few new re-skinned NMs every year. It's not like they need to pay the license fee for IP.

It's ass easy to keep the game running, and SE may release more MMO titles in the future. I see it more harm than good if they choose to shut down in 2014. I mean, EQ is older and has same core mechanic as FFXI, and it's still alive with 20th expansion released 1 month ago. At one point of time FFXI had more sub than EQ. If FFXI shut down before EQ, what a shame to SE!

2. Force grouping/Community based MMO still has it's market

Majority of none hardcore MMO player may think WoW/WoW clones like FFXIV are better MMO than pre-WoW era titles because it's "easier and you don't log on and do nothing".

But the fact is, titles like EQ and FFXI still has it's market....and a less competitive market. Games like WoW and FFXIV, is mostly about killing stuff, and none stop killing stuff with little to no downtime. Games like EQ and FFXI has plenty of downtime you can't do shit and are force to interact with community. You know, can't progress without friends.

However, if you often lurk on older MMO community, EQ is often praised to death and any new title that looks or plays like WoW will be bashed to death.

https://www.soe.com/status/

This site shows that EQ still has 17 servers, and some of them able to reach medium, nearly 15 years after release. Other titles by SoE has less....idk each game's server capacity though, so it may not be irrelevant to current active players.

It's not because EQ is actually that much better than other WoW clones, but because there are too many wow clones on the market. Casual MMO titles has bigger market and more competition, games that requires stronger community connection like FFXI has smaller market, but less competitor. And there ARE ppl who still doesn't like to log on, click pt queue, DING and enter instance.

I'm one of the player that find "getting ppl to do stuff" is part of challenge, and sometimes frustrating and yet rewarding experience. I often want to cry on my bed, kick myself, bash my head against the wall when I can't find ppl to do stuff and sit in town doing nothing, then I go "Fuck, I need more friends and bigger connection". I go out and be nice to everyone(that I usually don't), find ppl with similar goals, remember their names, and in the end managed to get shit done.

Besides getting shit done, I ended up making connections that still exists after I log off. That is the real reward that stays forever even after I exit to desktop. With an auto pt finder like WoW clone games, I kill shit with random strangers after a few min of wait, then disband pt and log off. After I log off there's nothing left, like every other single player titles, beat the boss, turn off the power and every accomplishment gone. And FFXI is just different from those single player MMOs.

If I just want to log in and kill shit to have fun, there are other titles I can play. But if I want to log on and make meaningful connections, or have a reason to force myself making friends, FFXI is probably my only choice.

And I believe I'm not the only one. Because if I am, it will be EQ that's being bashed to death by MMO community, not WoW clones.

Again, EQ is just as outdated, hardcore and terrible as FFXI with similar game mechanics. But even to this day it's still loved, praised, being played, even though it's older than FFXI.

If EQ still lives, why can't FFXI?

3. F2P, last resort.

If SE really, really, really want, they have their final limit break they can use to save FFXI, that is F2P.

F2P is known to be most effective method to save a title. No question asked.

http://www.gamesradar.com/dc-universe-online-revenue-700-after-f2p-switch/

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/06/26/dcuo-has-11-million-registered-users-soe-explains-f2p-strategy/

One example is DC universe online instantly gained huge player base increase after going F2P, and revenue up by 700%

What will happen if FFXI go F2P? Noobie zone will full of ppl lving jobs again, you will see mission /shouts again, towns will full of /shouts, and much easier to find ppl to do stuff no matter what you do.

I started EQ and Mortal Online recently just because I have enough of wow clone MMOs, and one main reason I can start new MMO is because both titles are free to try. If I have to pay for an account I won't even bother.

That being said, I'm against pay 2 win. If FFXI ever going F2P it requires serious consideration about HOW to do F2P. Maybe restrictions on free accounts, such as less content access per week.

Or at very least, better free trial. Such as free trial for unlimited time but no access to endgame content and so on. But they can do stories to see how FFXI works.

Either way, I see smartly done F2P can save this game without pissing off old players. As long as SE done right and no pay 2 win, it's really not that bad.


---------------------------------------------------
Personally, I think it's pointless to predict when will XI shut down, cuz ultimately it's SE's decision. They can shut down tomorrow, or they can keep it running for 10 more years IF they really want to. Just reason No.1 and 2 alone is enough to keep FFXI survive past 2014 if SE doesn't enter retard mode IMO.

FFXI in fast pace mode

I played FFXI for a few days after I decided to quit XIV finally, and realized how fast it is to obtain most of the gear now. Like, probably faster than Abyssea and NNI era. I was fairly gimp before coming back to FFXI, now I'm almost done with armor sets(armor sets I was aiming for, at least) after a few days of casual playing, only weapons has long way to go.....fuck Beitetsu :(

TP set:
Quiahuiz Leggings dropped 1/1, that should complete my TP set.

LS set:
Uk'uxkaj Cap also dropped 1/1, and finished new AF body in 1 day. So LS set done.

QD:
Picked Hurkan bullet after WKR done. So QD set mostly done(only thing missing is from Abyssea augment) Still waiting for grip on AH to drop price. New AH back piece saves life for those with shitty JSE cap luck.


WF set:
Used spare point on Path B mani body, AF legs done in 1 day. Bought new mattk back and earring from AH for fairly low price. WF set also done.

Besides weapons, got pretty much every armor set I want from SoA done in like 4 days, while spending most of my time doing trial. Only gears missing are from pre-SoA or mission augment redo.

I still remember I started dyna at 2009/8, and got AF2 hat in 2010/10. More than 1 year of work just for 1 piece of item. Now it's possible to get everything in SoA in weeks or even days probably.

If anything, I don't think it's a good direction, killing sense of satisfaction is 1 thing and pretty personal reason, hard for SE to produce content fast enough to keep up with players is bigger issue that will affect everyone. I prefer harder/slower gear progression over handing every item to delivery box, I know plenty of ppl prefer easy to obtain gears. But in the end both sides will suffer if everyone just cap gears in weeks and quit, or cap gears, got bored and all there left is Mythic.

Now SE needs to produce content at much faster rate than it ever was, which is something I doubt they(or majority of MMORPG dev for that matter) can accomplish.

Unemployed pirate :(

Seems that ppl who lowman tojil+5NM or morimar delve RME item farm no longer take a COR in ally
, because it's not needed to win :( I sit in outside pt entire time on COR in a 9 character Tojil setup, acting like a 0.4 DD :(

I think COR makes less difference on lower tier NM, more difference on megaboss, but recent new BRD 1hr may make the difference smaller. Now a BRD can do march x2 and 3 attack songs. So lol chaos roll, and lol COR for 150~200 DPS increase per MNK.

Time to bitch on SE forum and give COR haste roll. The job will forever be niche situation only job with everyone and their mother eager to replace it unless it gets haste roll, or gains ability to do 80% of MNK's DPS like BRD in XIV.

Why are you so angry?

I've been slowly playing FFXI a lot more recently, to catch up with the content. Since I just left FFXIV, I'm having a hard time adjust to FFXI's community.

Don't get me wrong, there are always good people in FFXI, but most of the time quite a lot of them are pretty elitist, and it's not even real elitism, it's more like holding a specific POV toward certain subject AND having shitty attitude toward anyone else not having same opinion.  Such attitude isn't that bad in FFXIV.(JPs in XI are also a lot more JP orly in XI, but that's another story)

One of the sensitive subject that always evoke ppl's angry attitude is optimal setup for an event.

FFXIV community rarely ever get this angry when it comes to optimal setup. But maybe that's because only speed run needs specific job, and only job that's not usable in endgame atm is warrior. There aren't many ppl /raged when their WAR not getting invite to coil/titan either.

Basically, whenever there's an optimal setup argument in FFXI, it's mostly 1 of the following result:

1. Ppl argued that this content is X job only, Y job is bad and no place for the event. If they see Y job in an ally they /rage.

2. Ppl argued that Y job is good, if someone telling people Y job isn't optimal they enter super saiyan mode.

Personally I'm not sure what's so zomg rage about situation 1 and 2. There's always most optimal setup in any content, what's so hard to accept the fact that your job isn't optimal? And the event may still be clear-able if the setup isn't optimal, why is such the end of the world to use sub optimal setup?

Sometimes sub-optimal job is only a few % behind, sometimes it's way behind but still clearable. Sometimes it's wayyy behind to a point that's going to be very hard. But every optimal setup rager often assume it's either very good or very bad, with no middle ground.

Earlier I made a Tojil PUG, and mist+tremor went off entire time. Then Lahar went off 5 sec after pull on tojil and pt wiped. After the run a stunner blamed me for "inviting 2 BLUs in ally and no RDM". Because BLU should never be in a Tojil ally, despite new BLU magic came from delve bosses.

Let's take a close look at whether BLU can Tojil or not, but based by parse and numbers, not by optimal setup only mentality.

Based on the post few months back:

http://an-empty-vessel.blogspot.tw/2013/09/dd-stuff.html

I got the conclusion of BLU close to 70% of MNK's output and COR around 50%~60% of MNK. That was before Nov update and wasn't using skirmish sword +1. Now BLU can now DW 1 119 and 1 115 sword while MNK weapon remain unchanged. And COR's ultimate weapon(DP) being much bigger increase v.s other job's 119 RME weapon, the gap is probably a bit smaller now.

But just spreadsheet isn't enough, since Tojil attack down aura kinda put req/last stand users at major disadvantage, so let's look at parse.

This was done back in Sept with MPLS, it was 2nd Tojil run of the night, 1st run we done it with SAM MNK x2 DRG BLU setup, then WAR joined 2nd run and parsed.

Tsurumaru SAM: 18.56%
Oat MNK1: 18.36%
Oat MNK2: 18.26%
Razorfury WAR: 18.06%
Upukirex DRG: 15.30%
My BLU with Tojil sword and offhand R15 hala: 11.12%

I did around 64% of MNK, which is about same result as Spreadsheet result....technically 4% lower than what I supposed to do but there's attack down aura(which puts req in major disadvantage due to lack of CDC at that time) and I have no DEX merit, and ended up having 94% acc(My acc is often lowest in ally due to lack of dex merit, I should change merit D:), so 4% difference is acceptable.
I believe a BLU with CDC and better offhand can do way better than I did in Sept.

Since this is 2nd run of the night with 1 extra WAR in ally, that means Tojil is well clearable with Tsurumaru SAM, Oat MNKx2, Upukirex DRG and 1 BLU, with BLU doing 64% of MNK.

The PUG ally that failed had Tsurumaru SAM, Oat MNK x3(with one of them slightly stronger than MPLS MNK), 2 BLU(both better geared than mine), 1 COR/DNC. Not counting Angon bonus, I see entire ally has stronger output potential than MPLS ally.

If 1 BLU is 64% of another MNK, COR/DNC only need to do 36% of MNK to have BLU + COR equal to 1 MNK. 36% out of 52% DPS ceiling.

A MNK x6 pt with 2 COR/WHM is probably around same output as MNK x5+ 1 BLU+ 1 COR/DNC. Those who cleared with DD x6 and 2x COR/WHM saying no BLU allowed because BLU is too weak, never really counting how using COR/DNC instead of COR/WHM can make up the DPS lose?

The issue is that most ppl just automatically assume "there won't be enough DPS if you use X job", without actually knowing exactly how much DPS ally's losing, and whether it's possible to recover the DPS lose.

You know, there's a word to describe such mentality, that is stubborn. Automatically assume X job can't get a spot, without actually go out and analyze how much pt losing DPS when using X job.

Now on to RDM v.s SCH. Unless you're using 1 SCH lowman setup, personally I do believe RDM+SCH> SCH+SCH> RDM+SCH+SCH in terms of efficiency. Since RDM can cover stun and debuff, and still gain access to refresh 2+haste. But debuff is the only major lose, and not really make or break, in the end RDM isn't very game changing. Quit a lot of JP PUG wasn't using RDM even before skill update. It takes a very skilled RDM to actually make a difference in delve boss runs, you know, RDM that can land stun and debuff, and know how to support ally.

RDM at this lv sometimes takes longer than 45 min to find. It's the difference between /shouting for 45min and get nada, or go in for 45 min for 10k~70k plasm. Personally I think leader aiming for perfect setup and spend 45 min making perfect ally while wasting 17 ppl's time is just as bad, if the content is perfectly doable with sub optimal setup. It's same reason why I never /shout for relic +1 BLM WHM PLD for WP speed run in XIV. Relic +1 BLM WHM PLD pt takes 10~15 min to finish WP, NQ PLD random healer+ melee DPS setup takes 25 min. Sometimes it takes over 10 min to make perfect setup WP party and may not even hit 10 min a clear due to various reasons. May as well make a normal pt and spend 25 min on it if only doing 1 run.

That being said, no amount of perfect DPS setup or RDM can recover from repeatedly missed stun. If an ally wipe, it's often not because of pt job setup, but for other reasons.

IMO, using X job or Y job argument isn't the issue. Knowing how much DPS alliance can do regardless the job is the issue. You can beat Tojil with 4 MNK 2 BLU if all 6 DD hitting 90% of DPS ceiling and no major issue on stun/heal/pull, and vice versa, you can use 4 MNK 1 DRG 1 SAM but still gonna time out if everyone only hitting 50% of DPS ceiling with plenty of mistakes. Or you can use subpar DD job and have 2x COR/DNC make up the dmg lose. The point is to do enough DPS in limited amount of time, your setup is just to accomplish that.

Personally I think it's time to put down "best or gtfo" mentality. Instead of arguing what job is best all day long, it's more important to know how much % alternative setup can do v.s optimal setup. And the extra utility sub optimal job can bring.

It's not the end of the world to accept X job is sub-optimal.

It's also not the end of the world to use sub-optimal job unless the content is really, really hard and you can't recover the dmg lose by having 0.5 DD like COR/DNC. Like delve boss before skill update kind of hard.

In FFXIV ppl still wipe in Coil T1~4 all day long, with various setup, despite it's very easy. I rarely see ppl enter super saiyan mode for failing Coil or using WAR or in coil. So really, why are you so angry in FFXI?


P.S: Speaking of which, I need to get CDC myself if I want to learn Tojil spell on BLU :<

After 3 months

After 3 months of playing, I've decided to cancel FFXIV sub for now. Although I feel like I should have quit after 1.5 months of playing already, since I rarely log in after 1.5 month of playing after Coil 4 clear. Paying for 3 months is really just for minion and mount.

I may come back after 2.1 for warrior changes, but I highly doubt I'm going to stay for long due to the overall direction of this game.

If anything I'm pretty disappointed with this game overall. But maybe that's because my expectation is pretty high to begin with. Below are 3 major reasons why I don't like this game.

1. Lack of immersion.

If I'm going to list my top 10 most memorable moment in FFXI, crawler's nest map quest and rank 5 quest in Fei'Yin is probably on the list. Quite frankly finishing a Mythic isn't on top for some reason.

I remember my first time doing Fei'Yin rank 5 quest, I was at lv 50ish, went to town and /shout. Then I made a party walk through Beaucedine Glacier for clear.

It was a lonnnnnng journey. On the way all I can see are towers, elementals, tigers and gobs :) Everything are just....white, endless snow and white everywhere.

"So cold" one of my party member said that in /p chat.

This mission was done years ago, but for some reason I still remember it, remember the long journey years ago where I spent hours walking and travelling just to save the world. And so does majority of CoP quests when there was a cap.

In short, doing quests in FFXI has a sense of immersion, and I feel like I'm having an adventure in the world.

In ARR the first time I went to Coerthas, it was a 2 min bird ride north to 1 town, another 2 min bird ride west to another town, or 2 min ride south to another town......while I ride birds travelling to next town, there are FATE in the middle with hundreds of player in between. In ARR Sagolii desert worth half a map with fucking camp in the middle and 2 min bird ride to get out of it. In FFXI altepa worth 2 whole maps and tons of caves.

There are no long half an hour walk in a map, there are no "OMG I'M LOST WHERE SHOULD I GO" moment. If I'm in a desert or snowy field, I want to feel helpless, and not knowing the direction very well, not just happy bird ride for a min and get out. I don't want to see fucking towns after towns because you're just not supposed to see that many tourists attractions in such places in real life.

The way they design ARR maps, tried really hard to put tourists attractions on maps one after another, and really fast travels to please players, only to kill the sense of immersion while doing so. Because the world no longer feels like a real world, you're not supposed to run into town after another after 2 min in a remote area isn't it?

Sure, ARR maps are pretty to look at, on the same time it feels like a sample room, it's only purpose is to look pretty and not actually a place to live.

The NPCs all have their personal issue players have to deal with, and each can be done in less than 10min, when I really need to go out and save the world, it's all in instances.

Click on duty finder.

DING!

TELEPORT IN!


BOMBOMBOM all the way while watching that countdown and boss dead.(Or wipe then spend 30 sec to walk back, or wipe over and over and exit until time's up)

There are no sit in town and recruit a team of heros, there are no LONG walk to the bad guy's lair, there are no "OMG I'M LOST" moment, and I don't feel cold/helpless in a dungeon. All there is is a fucking countdown and mobs to kill.

While I think instances aren't bad in an MMO, it provide thrills that isn't doable in an open world dungeon, but in ARR EVERYTHING is instance. Like, everything >.>

In 1.23 there are instances and there are open world dungeons, in ARR it's instance ONLY, with instant teleport after you get in. That made the entire game feel more like a LAN game and not a RPG.

2. Terrible endgame.

Ok so, lv 1 to cap experience isn't that great, maybe endgame is better? Since SE said endgame will be their main focus. Sadly I'm wrong again. lv 1 to cap experience isn't great but tolerable, so what if this game is instance pew pew pew all the way with little to no exploration! I can still enjoy LAN game right! Sadly endgame experience is even worse than lv 1~cap content.

It's tons of grind with little to no reward. 

I spent hours to grind DL when I hit cap so I can do Titan, only having to toss them when I got my Allagan/AF2. Thus I feel absolutely no sense of satisfaction when I got my DL. It's just something I'd have to toss after next tier of gears.

Then what'd happen after full IL90? Wait until 2.2 for next tier of gears right. In the end that killed my sense of satisfaction for getting IL90 too.

Further more, the game difficulty decreases greatly as the time progress. I helped a FCmate another day for Titan clear, we were using DF with premade DF setup, with most players DF randoms, and Titan still melt with an inferior 2 tank 4 DPS 2 healer DF setup with no LB used.

1 month ago if I try titan HM with DF, it's very hard to win with 4 DPS setup and LB must be used if party want any chance to break heart. Now it's easy as fuck due to general population getting better gears.

This vertical gear progression thing means the game only gets easier if you wait.

My FC coil teams spend 2~3hrs a day and a couple of days a week wiping in T5 practice Twintania win, I often ask myself should I join progression team and raid everyday for a T5 win, when it's probably going to be much easier in 2.2 with AF3 gears. Since at this point of time, joining a static group is the only way to beat T5 as PUG is unlikely to beat it.

Why spend a couple of hours to play a game everyday for a win, when in 2.2 PUG can probably beat it?

You know, the time I can spend on something better, such as playing another game, learn a new skill, write a novel, instead of doing coil 2~3hr a night for a T5 win when everyone and their mother probably can PUG it or carry ppl through in 2.2 or 2.3.

Further more, Yoshi-P directly said he want every casual player not to feel "left behind", thus all that mythology cap and stuff. Basically, he wants every casual player stand on same ground as hardcore. Mythology cap is there to delay player progression, I can kind of see after 2.2 or 2.3 you can obtain mythology much faster to "catch up", and they may even remove cap.

If every casual player can stand on same ground as hardcore, what's the point to play the game hardcore?

The entire endgame in ARR is designed to slow down player progress, so ppl don't get everything after 1 month and quit, so they can make more money from the players. That's why there's coil weekly reset, mythology cap, and unreasonable gap of difficulty and gear requirement between T1~4 and T5(or gap between Garuda and Titan)

But my ideal endgame, should be designed to reward players for their effort, not a tool to slow down player progress and make money from sub. If a player work hard for a goal, he should be rewarded greatly. If a player work kinda hard but not very hard, then he should get less reward. Otherwise there's no point to work hard at all, because there are no incentive. Endgame reward should be an epic accomplishment, something to exciting to talk about, not "ohhh I'll just wait" or something everyone and their mother can do it after a few months.

Then I may as well don't do endgame and quit, if there are no incentive. There are no incentive for me to grind full IL90 when IL90+ coming in 2.2 probably. There are no incentive for me to wipe in T5 when ppl probably won't wipe anymore in 6 months or 1 year, and I can get IL90 without touching T5 anyways. There are simply just no incentive nor motivation for me to waste my time and do any endgame content since my free time can be used somewhere else.

Further more, the entire endgame difficulty is based on your ability to dodge red circle and gear gap. If your team can "Do A when boss do B", you'd win if your gear is on right tier. If you can't or gear not on par you won't win.

That makes the game feel like an action game that needs gear, but not like an RPG where you need to use character skill and strategic thinking to win.

3. General lack of class complexity

When there are no talent tree, all gears have same stat, and the game tries very hard to prevent players from trying new things via skill limitation, you get 100 DRG, MNK, BRD running around in town that all play the same. One main reason why I can play XI for YEARS is because I like to try different build/play style on COR, and it takes quite a while to collect right gear for doing so. The game doesn't exactly tell the player each job potential. I remember long time ago when my LSmate said he soloed an IT mob on RNG, I was shocked(I was new at that time and didn't know XI very well), because I didn't know RNG can solo very well. Then he told me he used sleep bolt and sleep kill sleep kill.

Things like THF RNG using sleep/acid bolt, sword req build, KC melee TP gain, SAM archery build, XI doesn't exactly tell what players can do on each job, players must go out and explore the possibility via various gear sets. I often see ppl come up with very smart ideas about playing a job on forums.

In XIV I pretty much just spam same rotation over and over and over, the game tells you all the possible skills you can use, with little left to explore. Rest is just "put buff up, put DoT up, 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4". I have a curing build in XI on COR, in XIV I can't even cast cure spell on BRD unlike 1.23. And there are no curing build gears for ARC anyways, as cure spells are terrible to cast unless you're a healer.


4. 2.1 doesn't excite me slightest. Majority of the new PVE content will be easier than coil with lower lv IL gears. Crystal tower is either going to be

1. 24 man raid that needs delve NM1~5+B lv of organization before skill update, or Einherjar T3 at l 75 era. If that's the case, nobody gonna do it for IL80 gears. Nobody gonna do content this hard for inferior gears when you can get mythology gears half asleep.

2. 24 man raid that's easier than coil T1~4 to provide IL80 gears for alternative jobs. If that's the case CT gonna be massive zerg fest with a few people every party half afk entire time.....doesn't sound epic nor exciting isn't it?

None of the new content sounds exciting due to being lower lv content than coil and pretty much facing same issue. If new content isn't exciting, then what's the point?

PVP also doesn't excite me slightest. Jobs in this game is clearly designed for PVE content, PVP skill really needs a large job overhaul if PVP going to be anything meaningful.

To say it in FTG style, PVP is only exciting if it's SF4, but from what I've heard, it's probably going to be MvC3, to please the casuals so everyone can have brainless fun, but nothing as epic as SF4. If PVP can have tournaments/leader-board, with incredible depth, complexity and job balance then maybe it's going to appeal serious players and be epic, otherwise it's going to be as lackluster like majority of the MMO PVP in the past, shallow, and it's there just for brainless fun.

Maybe ARR PVP is going to be SF4, maybe. But I highly doubt it as the game isn't focusing on PVP to begin with. And good PVP needs tons of work.

--------------------------------------------------------


Overall, I feel indifferent when I played ARR, which is probably one of the worst result if I'm going to play a game or read a novel. If I'm going to play a game, I want to experience fun, frustration, sadness, happiness, epic, helpless, passion, surprise...you know, emotion.

There are no sense of immersion for lv 1~50 content, no sense of emotion when exploring the world other then "oh this is pretty". I believe exploring the world needs more than "this is pretty". I need surprise, I need frustration, I need to feel helpless, I need thrill, that's when I feel like I'm truly living in another world.

There are no job complexity, thus no passion. There's nothing to try to be different from everyone else and live my own life.

There are no motivation in endgame, due to vertical gear progression and Yoshi-P's "every casual stand on same ground as hardcore" approach. Why work hard if your reward isn't epic? I'd rather work hard irl as real life always reward me better for hard work. If I'm going to play a video game and work as hard, it better to reward me like working hard irl.

In the end, ARR is just another video game title, that it exist to please players, but not a virtual world to live in.

I wish ARR followed 1.0s game direction, a game with thrill to explore, with open world dungeons, and you can change play style with different skill.

I wish ARR plays like a RPG but not like LAN action game. I wish I can wear all armors on WAR, if I wear heavy armor and set dmg- skills, I become a tank. If I wear leather armor and set DPS skills, I can play WAR as a DPS. If I wear cloth type of of armor and set evasion skills, I become an evasion tank. I dodge enemy attacks by having high evasion value and using evasion skills, not by running out of red circle in less than 0.5 sec.

That was supposed to be 1.0's main design, where players can wear whatever they want, play however they want with cross skills.  That is RPG, with depth and complexity. As it is now it's a LAN action game where you do B when boss do A, and you must execute B perfectly when boss do A or else you'll be in trouble. That is NOT RPG, it's an action game with gears and levels.

But I guess I can't really blame SE as majority of players seems to want action game with gears and levels, nobody want to live in another world anymore.

Good bye, ARR. Another MMO I played for 1.5 month and never leave anything in my heart. Like hollywood movie or 1 night-stand, been there, done that.

Goodbye, Zebra gun

It seems that DP=pimpest gun in this game after update.

Guess that's a good bye to my zebra gun :(

Almost beat ToAU, almost.

Played this game for 4.5 years, cried on OF about RME for half an year, never really know jack shit about relic class weapons......

(Please ignore the terrible aspect ratio and fat-fania in the pic)


I DIDN'T KNOW RELIC AND MYTHIC CAN TALK WTF.

I've always been making fun about guns in XI, and call them "my wife", gave them personality and even create avatar for them. For me they're more than just pixel items in a video game. But when the gun really talked to me in a CS, I was pleasantly surprised that weapons can talk, for real.

/Afania's FFXI gun obsession reaching max value.

Anyways, finally done with fucking 30k alex, after 3.5 years of work I finally got "the wife that I want the most" that I can sleep in my MH with :D

I have to admit, IF I finish this in something like 2011 or 2012, I'd be 10x happier, due to I no longer obsessed with COR job and FFXI as much as I used to be. SoA completely killed my item obsession in FFXI and sense of accomplishment in an MMO that even FFXIV can't recover, finishing a Mythic is probably last "OMGOMGOMG I FINALLY DID IT" accomplishment in my gaming life. I dressed up nicely, bugged my friends to come and take pic with me. After this point(finishing Mythic), my passion in video game is "done", and I don't think I'll ever feel "OMGOMGOMG FINALLY" in another video game ever again. I've spent majority of my time in FFXIV for past 2 months, playing casually, and the game is simply not offering this sense of accomplishment, since coil T5 will be spammable by majority after 6 months due to nerf and everyone wearing better gears, while Mythic, at this point of time is still pretty rare in XI, and felt like an accomplishment until inevitable Mythic requirement nerf coming.

Not exactly the same result and emotion I expected to have after Mythic done due to various reasons(mainly because of lolSoA), but still one long term project in my life that's about to get out of the way, finally.

Thank you, FFXI for past 4.5 years for offering such life changing gaming experience.

And special thanks to everyone who helped me farm the damn alex or provided cheap/free alex in past 3 years :)

Afania can't kill Twintania(Omg it rhymes!)

Tried T5 again with my FC coil progression group, first try after clear video released.


And......still wipega :X

I'm probably the weakest link in entire group atm, no glowly weapon, less than 4k HP, everyone else has 4.2k and glowly.

I AM GOING TO BE KICKED DUE TO BEING TOO GIMP D:
On top of 2 BRD isn't needed for Twintania D:

After BRD nerf I'm gonna lose my job D: D; D: (back to BRD nerf cry again)


Current coil T5 upgrade plan:

1.Gryphonskin ring HQ with VIT/acc meld
2.Bard's pants
3.+1 for glowly.

Thinking about getting HQ craft earring for VIT too, but kinda don't want to ;<

By the time I got what I need crystal tower gonna be out and every group and their mother would beat it D:

Btw, lol@ world first drama/butthurt on BG(forum not FC) :D

And lol@T5 nerf after someone beat it. :D

Oh and btw, first JP T5 video finally pop, cg and hopefully there's less "OUTSIDERS BEAT IT FIRST" butthurt now.....the amount of outsider/foreigner blah blah on JP forum after T5 clear vid out is insane.

World first video=automatically generates butthurts all over the world.

1.0 Nostalgia

Got bored and digged out some youtube FFXIV 1.2x video, finally learned why I don't like ARR battle system as much as 1.2x battle system.

ARR battle system feels like a GCD race.....need....to....click...that...button nowwww....or else I lose DPS, on the same time there's a very long GCD AND animation lock that it's not rewarding to use moves. Every time when I clicked 1st move I'm spamming button for next move, only to see it not fire off. OR I'm not focusing 100% and ended up missing that 0.5 sec WS delay DPS cuz I'm 0.5 sec late. And that 0.5 sec is a lot! Because the GCD is long so every 0.5 sec counts.

So the result is, the game feels like an action game, on the same time not as responsive as a real action game. It's awkward.

1.2x battle system is way better, since it's "gain TP and use right move when timer is up", it feels less like an action game, more like a RPG. No need to worry about being 0.5 sec too slow on clicking next move, on the same time you can execute all moves together if you have enough TP so there's no "WHY CAN'T I USE NEXT MOVE NAO" feel. More strategy, less spammy spammy and muscle memory.

/nostalgia glass on

Man, I miss 1.23. Besides worse game engine and the lack of content, the fundamental system in 1.2x was way better than ARR direction D:

1.23 feels like streamlined FFXI with less content, with most of the good things from FFXI and fixed tons of flaws, it just needs more content and it'll be a very good game.

ARR feels like something completely different, more "dodge this, dodge that, can't dodge it? DIEEEEEE", less about setting up gears/organizations and using ability. I blame players bitching about MMORPG "needs skill", those who thinks RPG game "needs skill" should go play FTG.

I enjoyed MNK a lot in 1.23, but ARR battle mechanic kinda killed the job for me. In 1.23 it was fairly fun and rewarding to pull off MNK combos, in ARR I'm currently using same rotation as this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVDqzSBUhKY, and it became a "let's keep every buff/debuff up" race. Whenever boss jumps it just pissed me off due to GL3 wore....basically quit a slap in the face and not very rewarding to play with.

I think ARR battle direction is just to please the post wow era MMORPG players, maybe cuz nobody can tolerate old school "gain TP and use move" system that everyone and their mother only want to use skill after skill, lol.

Sooo, more gear grind

T5 video finally out, answered quit a bit of questions I had when trying T5 yesterday. As suspected, everyone needs good gear.....I guess no T5 clear for me for a while!(Because my gear sucked D:)

Atm I feel all those "world first kill" race is actually about who started grinding IL90 gear early, due to gears makes much larger difference compare with XI. Getting "world first" in XI was mostly about getting right job/setup, as previous world first groups for endgame content aren't that much better geared than other hardcore LS. The BRD in video has around 700~800 HP more than me D:

Kinda regret lving slow in Sept, now no coil T5 clear for maybe another 2 months if that's how much gear I need D:

Dying and wiping in Coil T5 D:

Tried coil T5 with /shout party, for the first time, couldn't hit 65% D:.

T5 hurts D:


T5 is hard, and it's not even funny. All previous dungeon + primal + Coil T1~T4 isn't anything comparable.

I also feel this turn has pretty heavy gear check, too(majority of the coil difficulty came from gear check to begin with).

T5 map looks epic though!

Coil turn 2 parse

Joined a new static, and found out how static has lower performance than PUG, mostly because I sucked at playing FFXIV :)

T2 parse:

Me(NQ relic, 3 pieces of IL90 armor/acc): 280k total

MNK BLM: around 340k total, same lv of gear as me.

Another BRD in +1 relic and IL70 for every slot, AK ring(which I don't have): 180k.

No matter how I see it, BRD isn't a super strong DPS unless we're playing it way wrong.

AND SE IS NERFING BRD WTF SO RAGE.

I agree that having BRD as DPS = Coil easy mode, but that's mainly because of healer, and BRD is just avg player/PUG friendly.

STILL PISSED AT SE NERFING BRD, I DON'T WANT TO PLAY COR ANYMORE. I WANT TO PLAY A SUPPORT DPS THAT CAN ACTUALLY, HIT STUFF D: D: D:

Reason why everyone crying about not having enough content in XIV

Coil: You can beat T1~T4 in a night, if my /shout pt can do it an experienced static certainly can. You can only do it once until reset.

Nobody want to touch T5 so it's out.

Mythology farm: 1 WP can be done in 10 min or less, you can cap mythology in 10 runs=100 min.

Out of 1 week, can only do event (for IL90 gears)for 2 days, 1 day for coil 1 day for mythology farm, 5 days there's nothing to do that can give IL 90 gears, besides getting gear for lower IL 2nd job, which will probably never get a chance to do Coil over everyone's best geared IL 90 job unless that job is MNK or WAR.

Crystal tower: More like giving gears to everyone's 2nd job lol.

Coil T1~T4 run

First time trying coil /shout pt and climbed all the way from T1 to T4 clear in a night.

Thought:

1.Being on silence rotation duty has more pressure than I expected D: Now I need to be a little bit less mean to stunners in FFXI, they had a lot lower TP move preparation time and has to stun every move instead of just high voltage D:

2.This game is PLD BRD/ranged DD fantasy ._. The way every boss/raid is designed, is just too friendly to BRD as DPS, and too unfriendly to melee DPS especially MNK. I was trying to gear up MNK for 2nd job, then I realized the way this game design boss/raid fight, it's like saying big "fuck you" to MNK. Don't have enough time to get GL3 on fodder before they die=gimp. Lack of strong AoE= gimp. Dodge boss move and lose GL3=gimp. It's only good on training dummy, lol.

Funny thing is, whenever this issue was brought up on official forum, pro-gamers pops and go "BUT I CAN CLEAR EVERYTHING ON MNK NP" Now MNK will never get a fix!

A pt of BRD and BLM makes coil run ass easy even with /shout pt, no really!

I guess after making FFXI MNK fantasy, they decided to balance it in XIV.

3.Coil T1~T4 is about same lv of difficulty as Nyzul in 75 era, but easier than delve pre skill update and harder than limbus IMO. Coil is also easier than Titan HM.

Somehow this post became a MNK rant D:

My first Japanese party

First of all, I have to say this: Agerknux you're bad ass D:

No really, not only he helped me cleared Titan HM on healer, dodged all the avoidable move, under 260ms ping(and helped me solved ping issue for Titan HM), he also afked 1 min mid-run during phrase 2 to answer door, and somehow survived when he was back. I don't even know how can a healer afk in Titan HM mid-run for such a long time and stayed alive D:

I've been trying to gear myself for Titan HM, aiming for lv 70 weapon, full DL, appropriate SJ, but I got extremely bored+ burned out spamming primal+ Prae speedruns(I have 1000000 rant about XIV endgame design, I think it's beyond terrible - -). So I decided to screw fucking SJ and just go without B4B.

Then I decided to just buy a melded Sargna +1 and get the weapon done with so I can save some primal farm time. By selling left over stuff from 1.0 I managed to make enough gil to afford it, thank god I beat it before weapon bound hotfix so I can probably resell the weapon :D

I managed to hit 3.7k HP with 3/5 DL, so screw 2 more DL, Afania leech/gimp mode on :D :D :D

One of the major issue I have to face, is lag. I usually play on 4G since my wired connection often d/c at night. my ping is about 280ms to NA server, over 200ms to JP.

Basically, if you have over 200ms in Titan HM, you'd have to memorize every TP move and move before you see the red circle. Dodge by reflex is no longer possible.

After I switched to wired connection I got around 70ms on JP server, which makes it possible to dodge move by reflex, but still over 270ms to NA server.

That means, I'm pretty much stuck on JP server, because I don't want to deal with 200+ms ping in a game rely on dodging red circle for "difficulty" lol.

I tried a bit of Titan DF, and most of the time, I'd see 1 person undergeared, in that case I just leave right away.

And pretty much every DF pt can't beat heart due to lack of dmg. DF setup is always 2 tank 4 DPS, but for inexperienced, item lv 70(sometimes ppl go with lv 60 weapons even) DPS x4 is not very easy to win unless 1 person has relic. If 1 DPS die before heart phrase it's pretty much over.

Ideally, unless there's well geared friend/fc member come and help, it's much easier to do it 1 tank 5 DPS 2 healer or 6 DPS+ 1 healer setup.

That means it's /shout only D:

On JP server, making English /shout is nearly impossible because English community is just that small. Maybe it's possible on Masamune, that's where Oceania players are, but every other JP server is 95% JP population AFAIK.

So, time to make my own /shout in JP because I don't want to join other ppl's /shout pt with 3/5 DL and got /blisted D: D: D:

I have to agree, I was very nervous to speak JP, and often worry about making grammar mistake, because I'm just not good at it. I join JP /shout when I see them because fuck DF pt they always suck. All I ever say in /p chat was something simple like "hello" "sorry"(every JP said sorry when they die, so I figure I'll say sorry when I die in a run too)"Goodbye".

But then again, 4 years ago when I started FFXI it was pretty much the same, I had to speak English to communicate, so I forced myself to speak English, and eventually my English got better.

I started to pay attention to how JPs speak JP in /shout or /p chat when I got a chance, which is mostly different from text book Japanese. I have to make SS for every /shout and /p to learn what they say during X situation, or Y situation. Now I kinda regret not taking JP lesson last time when I had a chance D:

But eventually, one night when I don't suffer from d/c with wired connection, I felt like I'm ready for Titan HM(more like I can't sleep well if I don't beat it), dragged Ager, spent some time figuring out how to spell kanji, and made my first JP /shout in my MMO life :D

Annnnnd won :D

For some reason, the accomplishment felt more like "something" because it's 1 step toward speaking a new language, less about beating a difficult boss(it's really not all that difficult with /shout pt, but 100x harder with DF pt) I feel like I can make JP /shout for everything I want to do in the future.

And maybe one day, one day I can communicate in Japanese fluently, make a couple of friends like how I make friends with NA/EU players.

Maybe.

Titan Cockblock

After 1 month of casual playing, finally cleared story+ lv 50.

After 2 more nights of casual playing, cleared chimera/AK/hydra/Ifrit HM/Garuda HM, everything can be done in less than 5hr of work.

Now only 1 Titan away from completing the relic.

Honestly I feel this step is going to take longerrrr than all previous step combined :(

Need a good weapon to pass the DPS check D;

Don't have damn primal weapon, and shit never drop. :(

AH ilv 70 weapons are completely not worth the price tag with lower than Ifrit weapon base dmg D;

Don't have DL 5/5 to pass HP check for Titan :(

Every single philosophy speed run pt /shout ask for relic DPS D;

If I farm philosophy by using DF, it's a 2hr+ wait time with risk of wiping or getting gimp pt D;

Can't enter AK on prime time, can't get into AK /shout party due to "relic only" D;

D;

D;

DDDDDDD;

BRD macro for dummies

Recently I'm slowly facing an issue while playing BRD in XIV......

Not enough keys if I'm playing with a controller D;

Further more, it's hard to move around AND fire off perfect rotation. As a BRD it's pretty much a requirement to run and fire at once, but due to the design of controller, using default controller setup, it's hard to hit directional pad ability/macro while running with an analog stick.

After a bit of research about macros, I decided to start using macros to improve my DPS ability, a bit! D;

This is standard controller mode interface.

The icons marked A/B/C are my macros, everything else are just JAs.

The left side buttons are the ones on directional pad, the "hard to hit while running and dodging AoE" one. So I just put them on to check recast.

The right side of of the buttons are my key spam buttons, and they're usually more important than anything else, which requires me to key spam for best output.

Note that this does not include AoE move rotation, I think it's better to use a 2nd set for AoE spam situations.

My "A" macros are offensive buffs: Hawk's eye/Internal release/Raging strikes/barrage etc.

So it looks like this:
/ac "Internal release"
/ac "Barrage"
/ac "Hawk's eye"
/ac "Raging strikes"

Certain buff are pretty situational, such as Invigorate and  Blood for Blood, so it's better to leave them out of macro and pop it manually.

My "B" macro are offensive ability that has it's own GCD, starting from highest output one:

/ac "Misery's End"
/ac "Bloodletter"
/ac "Repelling shot"
/ac "Blunt arrow"

Can probably fit in Flame arrow after blunt....maybe.

Ignore my "C" macro, it's just /ac "Mantra" /ac "Second wind" , which I use for solo. You may use it in dungeon too though. I found second wind extremely weak and may not worth a slot for group play :<

The thing about GCD skill and none GCD skill+ buff is, you should always use none GCD skill while waiting for GCD recharge. So you don't waste time and able to click as many offensive skill as possible.

Currently I use this rotation:

Straight shot and put buff up(GCD)
Bloodletter while waiting for GCD
Venom bite/windbite (GCD)
Heavy shot(GCD)

Repeat heavy until I need to straight shot again.
Use none GCD skill such as Bloodletter/Repelling/Misery/Blunt if I'm waiting for GCD recharge.

Between each GCD skill, I spam "A" and "B" macros to use none GCD skill and DD buff, unless I need to save DD buff for w/e reason.

As long as I click macro "B", it'd automatically use strongest none GCD move, and use next move if strongest move on cool down. So all I ever need to do is spam macro "B" if my GCD abilities are on cool down.

Same applies to "A", as long as I click it, it'd just pop w/e buff available so I don't ended up DD unbuffed. Obviously there may be situations you may need to save buff, can always switch to manual if that happened.

I've seen ppl use /wait on forums, which imo, not very good idea. The way /wait is designed, you won't be able to fire off rotation on time, it's much faster to key spam manually.

I also seen ppl use /ac "Misery's End" /ac "Bloodletter" /ac "Heavy shot". However, Heavy shot comes after Venom bite/wind bite. That means if for w/e reason you need to use none GCD move between DoT moves, plus you won't be able to put repelling/blunt because they're weaker than heavy, and you may ended up accidentally popped heavy shot when trying to do DoT moves. Personally I don't find it as convenient as just put every none GCD move in one macro and key spam them between GCDs.

I put all the key spam moves on none directional pad slot, so I can key spam them while running around :)

There may be some situations that you'd need to pop them separately and do it manual way, so just adjust the strat based on situations.

BRD, easiest DPS job in FFXIV, 2 macro key spam saves the day, hurray :D


Edit: At this point of time I'm not sure whether an out of range repelling shot would block next ability or not, if not, and you're in a situation that you can't run close to the target at all to pop repelling, it's probably better to put blunt before repelling.

Archer and Bard

It's pretty obvious what my favorite job in XIV is, based on the title of this blog. I wanted to play COR in XI before I start XI, just like I want to play BRD and main BRD in XIV, before BRD job released. I'm a really support/DD hybrid player at heart, after a few days of playing as tank, I realized tank is not the job for me at all.

However, I'm not too sure whether I'm happy with ARR BRD or not.

BRD in ARR is very different from XI BRD, XI COR and XIV 1.0 BRD even.  It's classified as DPS role, since ARR has no "support" role. And it's A LOT more DD than 1.0 BRD or XI COR ever can.

Basically, Archer/Bard is one of the top DPS in ARR atm, one main reason is because they can run around dodging AoE moves and DD while moving.

Based on info on ARR(since my BRD isn't 50 yet), there are 3 type of songs, only 2 songs are buff songs, which is less than 1.0 if I remember correctly.

Further more, putting up MP refresh or TP refresh song reduce BRD's output by 20%.

Basically, you're asking a top DPS job to lower it's own output by 20% just to buff other DD.

No matter how I see it, it sucked D:

Further more, BRD can no longer use Conjurer abilities, BRD's subjob is now all DD ability: Lancer and Pugilist.

From what I've seen, now it's a very DPS focused job, while having a healing limit break, which I don't understand why.....probably to balance it's OPness.

While BRD being DPS focused, I see Archer being more support hybrid with more defensive ability access from Gladiator and Marauder.

BRD has higher stat, 3 songs, 1 of them is debuff song on enemy, that does not lower DPS, and probably the song worth using.

BRD also has 1 more AoE move.

Archer has more defensive ability such as Bloodbath, foresight, eye for an eye, mantra, and spells.

Applying FFXI sense, BRD is probably better choice for endgame raid and archer good choice for lower lv pt with smaller pt size.

Note that Archer at lower lv dungeon is extremely OP. I had pretty lame experience playing as GLA in lower lv dungeon. Almost every DF pt I went with, they have serious kill speed issue.

Ifrit Normal: Can't kill the nail before Ifrit use special attack, took 100000 try but nail just won't die. I can't help much on GLA cuz GLA so bad at DDing D;

Mines pt: DDs just can't kill adds fast enough on boss, and fail 1000000 times due to way too many adds.

All dungeons fodder takes 1000 years to die, if I'm not on archer. The fact that GLA took slightly more dmg at that lv doesn't help much.

But doing Mines pt on archer:

All fodder dies much faster, all adds die fast enough. 1/1 on boss and adds never pop more than 1~2.

Pretty much every run I did on archer, it went much faster on every fodder and boss.

Note that I play extremely aggressively in lower lv dungeon, since there's no way I can die on fodder. I usually pop foresight + internal release+ raging strikes + hawk's eye then go quick nock spammy spammy. If I get aggro, just pop bloodbath, which recover quit a bit of HP with quick nock spam. Links and adds usually die fast before mages run into any problem anyways. Never have issue with dying too fast in lower lv dungeon. Instead of attack mobs one by one and kill slow, may as well AoE all the way if dying isn't an issue.

I'm not sure if straight shot effect is up, I should do heavy shot+ heavy shot for 150 potency attack x2, or heavy shot+ straight shot for 150 potency+ 140 potency, with 20% chance to crit on 140 potency one.

However, I do key spam like crazy so I don't waste cool down time on offensive JAs and lose DPS as soon as they're up :)

Afania = DPS fanatic as usual :D Kinda sad that in XIV DPS isn't as important as tank/healer though, as everyone plays DPS.

Or rather, this game just has way too many DPS jobs.

2 tank class, 5 DPS class, 1 healing class, with 1 extra healer job after 30. Lack of healer made Yoshi-P hand special mount to Conjurers.

Can only fate chain all the way up for DD job and keep tank lv up if I want to progress in story it seems. Since lv 1~49 content is already dying due to "your life start at 50" design.

But I guess I no longer have to play the job I like, and ended up not being treated as a DD job. Every time when other FFXI players treat BLU COR as none DD job, my heart dies a little. Parsing last in Tojil run on BLU/WAR with 2 R15s and lots of spread sheeting/gear set optimization doesn't help :<

Early punishment

After days of fighting against 1017 fantasy and fail client, I finally start pting as tank role on my 20ish level Gladiator this weekend.

I admit I'm completely noob when it comes to tanking aspect in MMO. I'm a DD or support/DD hybrid at heart, and pretty much always pick DD job in other MMOs. Recently I started to fall in love with healer role and start to play as a healer in other MMOs.

I never pick tank class in other MMOs, so I never get to play tank. In XI tank job's kinda dead atm, so I also don't get to play as tank in FFXI, barring lving NIN as SJ before Abyssea. Then again, tanking on NIN is more about staying alive and counting shadows, less about real tanking such as enmity generation.

I also didn't play tank in XIV, I couldn't stand gladiator's kill speed in 1.0 so I ditched it early, and I leveled MRD when it was a DD but not a tank(or more like 1.0 at that time has no distinctive job role). So when ARR was out, and I wanted to experience the new story/content on a low lv job, Gladiator happened to be few job choice. The fact that in ARR players can lv up by doing group content or quest, means it's more enjoyable to lv up Gladiator.

So, I did a couple of low lv dungeon, pretty much followed standard tanking procedure that I'd do in XI.

1. Use target marker on my current target, marked it No.1.

2. Pop defensive JAs

2. Pull/run in aggro.

3. Use flash to get adds.

4. If enmity bar not capped, use enmity combo. If I need enmity immediately, use that 120 TP enmity move.

5. If my enmity's capped, use stun when appropriate. Mobs seems to resist stun after 2 stuns, so I try not to spam them ;x

6. If my MP runs low due to flash spam, use MP recovery combo.

I'm not sure if that's doing right or wrong, maybe doing wrong, because I often still see adds on DD and healers. Sometimes DD tend to attack adds before I can grab them, despite I already tried my best to grab them.

Most ridiculous thing is, Archers tend to cap enmity, running in circle kiting NMs, AND still DD while kiting the NM.

Because the NM's chasing after Archer and often run out of range, it's nearly impossible to get hate back with 2.5 sec global cool down(little to no skill speed+ gears on that lv to lower the GCD, mind you). And archer's enmity never drop below cap because they can just keep doing dmg while kiting the NM.

From what I've seen, it's either I'm doing wrong during this situation, or it's completely broken at that lv. Especially when early lv DD/healer won't die if they get hate.

Even if DD/healers get hate, they won't die, cuz healers can just cure spam them and still won't run out of MP.

What's the result? The result is every DD happily get hate, healer happily spam cures, until higher lv everyone cried about duty finder group wiping in higher lv content on forum.

In XI, first pt experience start at lv 12 in dunes, and it was a punishing experience. Link gobs when you pull? Sorry that's a wipe. Mages don't conserve MP? Sorry another wipe. Tanks don't voke every 30 sec and DD/healer got hate? Sorry that's another wipe.....even if you don't wipe it's still much lower pt efficiency due to more cures needed and more time to rest MP.

Every wipe in dunes, noobs had to /shout for raise, or just HP. And sometimes noobs didn't set HP in Selbina, so you'd have to walk all the way back lol. Not to mention painful 10% EXP lose.

So there, after noobs got face slapped in dunes, noobs learned not to make mistakes, remember to set HP, remember to pop enmity moves ASAP, remember to conserve MP and no happy cure spam.

So when noobs finally reach endgame, they'd be more careful and less likely to suck.

In XIV they started easy, made me wonder whether I just suck at tanking, or everyone else in pt been doing wrong. And I can already see inc wipe if the endgame/higher lv dungeon gets harder and start dealing more severe dmg to DD/healers.

In that sense, I think XIV's early lv dungeon should really have dunes lv of challenge. Not just because new MMO player won't just quit cuz early lv dungeon way too easy and bland, but also because it's a good practice for higher lv content.

Also so that I won't fall asleep on early lv....I mean, XI was exciting as early as lv12 :X

DD stuff

So I got bored because 1017 fantasy won't let me log in, and Matsui fantasy's pretty dead cuz everyone in 1017 fantasy. I decided to play with awesome spreadsheet, to clarify several questions regarding current DD hierarchy in delve boss runs. Mostly just to find out how much delve DD can do, when it comes to DPS.

Compare COR, a job ppl still debating whether you DD or not.
v.s BLU, new hot ceizak DD job.
v.s MNK, everyone's favorite delve boss DD job.

Universal setup: 6 +5 songs, march x2 mad x2 min x2, SV.
GEO def down/eva down+ AF2 augment angon+ light shot dia
Boost STR
25% attack boost chaos
16% DA Fighter

All the gears use best I can find on spreadsheet, I may* miss certain setup being higher in that situation, but I just use w/e gear I find higher number. Yes, some Mani R15 gear actually > skirmish 2 gears with no augment, and I still have no idea how it'd end up like that!

I'm gonna floor every final number because I'm lazy :)


Start with COR:

COR/DNC, RCB

TP
R15 dagger x2
Donderbuss, delve bullet
Whirlpool
asperity
DW set earring
Thaumas body
R15 mani hands/legs/feet
atheling
Windbuffet
Epona rajas

Melee DPS: 424.821

Req set:
Whirlpool
gorget
moonshade/brutal
elemental belt
R15 mani body
Nahtirah pants
Iuitl hands/feet
Aquasoul x2
Atheling

WS dmg: 3196

Last Stand set:
Ukuxkaj
Gorget/elemental belt
Moonshade/auster
Khepri aug
Stormsoul x2
Terebellum
Nahtirah
Iuitl feet
Sigyn hands

WS dmg: 2437

Note that Last Stand acc is clearly not capped with this set up, as soon as I add 1 prelude I got 3221 WS dmg.

However, if I swap out dmg gear/food to more acc, my WS dmg dropped. Change stormsoul to Hajduk or Terebellum to Libeccio, or change RCB to sushi, I got lower WS dmg.

So I'm just going with the conclusion, that unless you're getting prelude, or during weak against pierce phrase, req is a superior WS.

Note that LS easily hit 6k dmg on fodder with same setup, so it also has something to do with amount of attack you have!

Assuming using melee TP+ req(that means not during piercing phrase), add 38 DPS from QD, total DPS for COR/DNC is 609. You usually won't get 38 DPS from QD though, due to mobs has pretty high MDB.

What about COR/WAR with ranged only, getting prelude instead of madrigal? Sweet spot on:

RA set:

R15 STR dagger(There's a possibility that AGI path ended up better, but I'm too lazy to add it :<)
Whirlpool
Ocachi
Clearview
volley
R15 RNG mani body
Sigyn
Pyrosoul x2
Terebellum
Elanid
Nahtirah
Iuitl

Ranged DPS: 134.534

Last stand set same as above

WS dmg: 3749

Total DPS, with 38 extra DPS from QD: 228

If using staff, which add 4 more DPS from QD: 232

Note that this is assuming your QD does full dmg, which is 1.7k. If it's not it's probably better with a dagger.

I'm not sure how to make QD TP gain work on SS, I just add other TP gain/loss= QD TP gain, and got less than 20 DPS increase.

This spreadsheet also didn't calculate snapshot correctly, in optimal situations you'd shoot faster with a snapshot set. But in real life it's also very hard to really shoot that much faster with a snapshot set, because fuck XI manual /ra system.

So yeah, /ra COR is completely dead atm, like, TOTALLY dead. I can't reach over 300 DPS on spreadsheet while spamming bullets, but melee is possible to hit double amount of DPS.

However, is 500~600 DPS "good" in a delve boss run?

Let's check out BLU and MNK!

BLU/WAR, triple attack/store TP/DW3 trait, RCB, tojil sword+R15 STR sword offhand(there's a better offhand sword atm though, IF you get cool augment on it)

Berserk/aggressor up, and assuming you keep it up entire time due to WC resetted it:

TP:
Same as COR, except thurandaut head+twilight belt, Iuitl hands/legs, Mani R15 feet.

DPS: 540.091


WS:
Same as COR mostly, except thurandaut for feet, Iuitl body/hands, Neptune pearl x2 for ears(/WAR has higher attack and DA, makes Neptune pull ahead I guess)

WS: 4551

Total: 782

Around 182 more DPS higher than COR. So COR/DNC can do nearly 80% of dmg BLU can do. Not counting piercing dmg + on bee/gnat.

Personally I think COR/DNC is well worth DDing in Ceizak, Considering BLU often parse high on those target, COR should be pretty close to top too. However, it's only good if COR's getting double mad, acc kinda sucked on this job due to lol 30k plasm melee weapons.

Now v.s MNK:

TP:
Same set as AH set,

Oatixur, Hagneia Stone
Otronif head/hands/legs/feet
Thaumas body
DA set earrings
Rajas Epona
Atheling
Windbuffet
Asperity

DPS: 855.527

WS:
Potestas
Uk'uxkaj
Justiciars
DW set earring
Mani R15 body
Otronif hands/feet
Mani R15 legs
Wanion
Atheling
Epona/thundersoul

WS:5165

Total DPS: 1166

See how DW jobs got fucked completely now? :) I wasn't even using optimal buff for MNK.

BLU can do about 67% of dmg MNK can, COR/DNC can do around 52% of MNK can, COR/WAR spamming bullets with /ra can do less than 25% of dmg MNK can.

Square enix hates Dual wield jobs, also hates ranged attack.

They consider COR a "ranged attack" job, gave it item lv 117 gun, but not melee weapons, all the same time making COR ranged attack completely suck in every single way, while WS 3 times slower than using daggers.

And still refuse to give COR delve boss weapons! Not even skirmish 2 melee weapons!

If it isn't for req, BLU will never get to DD in a delve boss run.

Although I have to admit they kinda do NM mechanic right, so in the end BLU did get a DD spot in Ceizak.

DW TP

Man, DW TP set is getting confusing recently.

But to sum up after spreading sheeting whole night:

Thurandaut+ twilight seems to be way better for BLU than haste head+ windbuffet. I have no idea why, but I'm guessing cuz triple attack job trait devalue windbuffet.

For COR/DNC, whirlpool+ windbuffet pull ahead pretty often.

DW set earring or suppa/brutal? I'd go with DW set earring for COR/DNC DW daggers, again, no idea why sometimes set earring pull ahead sometimes not. And it's irrelevant to march tier/samba on COR.

Ass hard to cap acc on COR/DNC on delve boss. But much, much easier on BLU.

Acc swap order for BLU/WAR TP set:

waist---->twilight to Tojil belt(but keep DW head)
earring ------>DW set earring
neck------>acc neck
Rajas----->mars
head------>whirlpool
body----->mani R15 body

Swap Mani R15 last, cuz it's too much DPS lose over thaumas. Ideally NEVER use mani R15 body over Thaumas.

Capping acc on Tojil seems to be easier than I thought according to spreadsheet, so the miss chain I experienced in Ceizak may be just eva boost or some sort.

Ass hard to cap acc on COR/DNC, fuck 30k gimp delve weapons.

Quit 14 for now

After days and days of trying to log in every night since 1st day of early access, only to get kicked out in 10 miin. Then had to deal with version check fail ffxiv launcher file issue, I finally gave up.

This game, so far, is no better than 1.0, in may aspect a worse experience, that I wonder what's the point to do a relaunch if they're going to fuck it up like this.

And all the fan boys still defending XIV/SE on forums after players PAID for the service is amusing.

Slower pace than 1.0(some ppl may disagree, but that's how I feel), more issues than 1.0 launch. I know newly launched MMO tend to have issues, but an AAA title with this many issues is....rare.

Time to see if my shitty new cheap laptop can run GW2 or SWTOR for now :<

You either like Final Fantasy, or you don't

5hrs before beta phrase 4 started, I already been camping FFXIV for logging in. After Beta phrase 4 ended I continue to play on NA/EU server(those servers shut down slower than JP servers). On Aug.24 I logged onto XIV early access and play on JP server(since NA/EU server down). After hours and hours of time spent in XIV on different characters, I only have 1 opinion:

I'm not impressed.

To be fair with XIV ARR, let's start with the good part about it. IMO the new game engine is great. My shitty $600 laptop with 1G dedicated VRAM can run it smoothly, and 2 years ago when 1.0 launched I spent nearly $1300 for my laptop at that time to play it.

The new world is full of detail, as if it's real, that the exploring experience is only a bit worse than my first WoW experience. I especially liked some nice touch that doesn't exist in XI, such as noises when standing near lots of players. If you've played 1.0, there are some unique touch that I often go "OOh, this area now look at this".

                                                        Afania, naked as usual!


I also run to some higher lv area such as Mor Dohna and Coerthas, they're both very different from 1.0 now. And at least I haven't run into super high lv mob yet. One thing I really, really hate in 1.0 is dev threw a lot of lv 80 mobs all over the place on maps, and lv cap was 50  = =, so travelling is such a pain in the ass because even your lv 50 char get ass kicked everywhere.

     I wanna jump! But it doesn't make sense that you won't die if you jump down from this high >.>

It seems that all the 1.0 story progress start from 0, including GC. So even if you have all jobs lv 50, you still have to start story from scratch. I can't wear my flame gears from 1.0 because in 2.0 I don't belong to any GC anymore:(

I can't remember old MNK AF stats atm, but I think new MNK AF has better DD stat. In 1.0 wearing MNK AF 5/5 to event is an indication of gimp, but since I can't wear flame gear anymore I may as well just AF it! Although I plan to lv low lv jobs and do low lv content for a bit before I do anything mid/high lv.

In 2.0 you also can't change class unless you already unlock them on legacy character. In 1.0 you unlock a job by equipping new weapon. In 2.0 you have do class quests to unlock them. So you can't change to new class Arcanist just by equipping a book.

I strongly suggest legacy characters start with Arcanist unless you have a low lv job, because doing all that lv 1 lv 5 lv 10 quests on lv 50 character is just no fun. I didn't start with Arcanist, and ended up having to do boring low lv main quests for a bit so I can go to Limsa and unlock it.

There's new active public quest system FATE for lving, and you can lv sync to join it even if you're on a high lv job. Public quest isn't new in MMO, even if I do FATE on a high lv job, it seems to give me lower EXP pain for that lv that I'd much better doing higher lv FATE.

Which is pretty sad because, I kinda expect after 2 years FATE in starter zone won't have anyone doing it anymore, since there aren't real reason to lv sync down for it.

I also tried Duty Finder during Beta, and it took longer than expected to find a group on prime time, which is pretty surprising, cuz I thought the server exploded and full of ppl ;p

It's either because not a lot of ppl use Duty Finder during beta or it puts ppl in same language in same group only, I guess.

I played Arcanist for a bit, but not to very high lv. It just feel like....SMN+ SCH and that's it.

Anyways, now to the bad part of XIV.

I still have no idea why every FFXIV white knight on forum all go "ZOMG AWESOME MMO" when it comes to FFXIV. After hours and hours of playing, NO aspect impress me so far.

And inb4 "You haven't make it to endgame, and it's only fun after certain lv/progress blah blah".

Endgame in an MMO is supposed to be contents for players that's already hooked and have "buy-in"

If you can't hook a new player so new player make it to endgame, and have "buy-in", then it's not a very good game.

I made it to endgame in XI, because I had "buy-in" since lv 3(Yes I was hooked in XI that early). And atm I still have no buy-in for 14 that'd last until endgame.

And sadly, in FFXIV, besides "Final fantasy" I see 0 "addicting aspect" of it. It's same old formula that's been used for years.....talk to NPCs with ! on their head because they have some personal problems, solve the problem for them, get money, get EXP. Then you go to instance/dungeon at certain lv via party finder, then you hit endgame and grind gear blah blah.

And you can get same experience in majority of F2P MMOs. So why pay every month to do same shit you can do for free?

For someone that's entirely new to FF, FFXIV is really not very friendly to them. Current-gen MMORPG gamers are very demanding. They want F2P and no sub fee, they want action oriented battle system, they want FAST paced battle system. If the game still use target based system, they go "booooo I want action oriented battle system cuz it's more fun q.q". If the game takes longer than 3 sec to kill a mob they go "BOOOOO SO SLOW I'M OUT".

And FFXIV's pace, although faster than FFXI,  still MUCH slower than majority of current-gen MMOs.

Skills has like 2.5 sec global cool down time, so you can't use another JA immediately after last one, which is something I'm not very used to because the pace is slower than majority of newer MMOs. After seeing some skill speed gears I guess it's kinda like XI. At lower lv XI has super slow combat pace too, but at higher lv with max haste you TP/WS faster than your macro can handle.

Not just that, but it also takes more than just a few sec to kill a mob, although on DD jobs such as lancer it takes lower time. But the entire pace is certainly too slow for a 2013 game.

And slow start would scare 90% of casual player away. The entire lving, questing pace is slower than most of the MMOs too.

I haven't finish the story, but so far it seems to be 1.0 and XI quality.....that means the story is uninteresting. The voice acting is beyond horrible, at least the English one.

If it's 1995, this lv of story is quite acceptable. Since all FF story are....like this. But again, it's 2013 now and I'm almost 30, been reading same quality of story in video games for past 20 years, so it kinda need Bioshock lv of story and presentation for me if I want to play a game just for story.

SWTOR kinda set the voice acting standard high too, so FFXIV's VA is certainly not acceptable.

After hours of playing, I see literally 0 reason to convince my rl friends to play it with me. Why would they spend 12$ a month on a MMO to talk to NPC and solve their personal issue, kill X amount of mobs, do instance raid with tanks/healers/DD when 1 million other F2P MMO do the same?

And why spend 12$ a month for another avg Final Fantasy story when you can just read a New York Times best seller in 5hr for a better story?

In fact, if this game isn't Final Fantasy, I'd much rather go back to SWTOR and enjoy that 5 min load time and their shitty F2P model, than spend $12 a month and look at pretty graphics only to do the same content and read inferior story/VA.

But it's Final Fantasy, and SE knew ppl would bite the bait. So they can make another avg MMO, cuz they knew white knights would defend for it to death.

Long time ago someone said SWTOR fail because "You either like Star Wars, or you don't". If you don't like Star Wars, you may as well play WoW to do the same thing.

And FFXIV is on same boat, you either like Final Fantasy, or you don't. This game really isn't great if you don't love Final Fantasy style of thing.

It's strength is the presentation. The music, the sound effect, the world, the detail. It has a very relaxing atmosphere that's similar to XI, that I can just log on and relax.

If you enjoy the "art aspect" of a game, and liked this kind of style, then it's an enjoyable game to play with.

Otherwise, this game is totally overrated by FFXIV fan boys in every fucking way, it's not impressive at all, just another mediocre MMO, out of many. I expect the hype cool down a bit after launch, since most ppl played Beta are 1.0 fans and FF fans. After many avg none FF MMO players tried it and found it just avg in other aspect, more negative review would come, lol. This game is not casual friendly, and doesn't offer anything new for super hardcore MMORPG lover too, at best it's for FF fans only.