FF XIV ONLINE - Anyone playing?

[darkewaffle]

Beta sign ups as well as extended prologue/trailer

I registered way back when but I'm not sure if I subscribed long enough to get "Legacy" status. That does remind me though, I hope they clean up the 'payment' process for FFXIV, having to purchase Crysta (which didn't give you a lot of options) and then paying with that was pretty dumb.

 

[darkewaffle]

http://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/na/newsletter/1302_2en_na/index.html

Beta start date should be the 25th barring any delays and beta acceptance emails should are "already being sent out".

Latest letter from the producer mentioned they're including an open world event implementation, I'm guessing kind of like GW2s. I hope they're much fewer and far between though, event spam in GW was awful in so many ways.

 

[darkewaffle]

http://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/media/benchmark/na/

Benchmark now available, beta should officially begin today. No invite for met [yet]

 

[Josh123]

I signed up for it last night. I'm not familiar with the game but it looks amazing. I'm hoping it might be something me and my wife can play together.

There isn't a release date for this correct?

 

[PowerYoga]

The game has always "looked amazing". The game play is what sucked terribly. Nevertheless I signed up for the beta out of my old love for FF11, hopefully it won't stab me in the heart once again.

 

[pathos]

The game has always "looked amazing". The game play is what sucked terribly. Nevertheless I signed up for the beta out of my old love for FF11, hopefully it won't stab me in the heart once again.

I played in one of the alpha's, and I can say they'd fixed alot that I personally had problems with when the game was originally released.

I mean, you could actually play competently with a mouse and keyboard, instead of a controller being almost mandatory. The interface was quite snappy - no more waiting 5 seconds every time you tried open your menu. And, at least at lower levels, there was actually enough content to keep you busy. You didn't finish your levee's (sp?), and then grind mobs until your daily alotment reset itself.

The rest is still up in the air, I suppose.

 

[tedrodai]

Thanks for the reminder that the beta started. I've been busy lately and it feels like the date has snuck up on me.

 

[PowerYoga]

I played in one of the alpha's, and I can say they'd fixed alot that I personally had problems with when the game was originally released.

I mean, you could actually play competently with a mouse and keyboard, instead of a controller being almost mandatory. The interface was quite snappy - no more waiting 5 seconds every time you tried open your menu. And, at least at lower levels, there was actually enough content to keep you busy. You didn't finish your levee's (sp?), and then grind mobs until your daily alotment reset itself.

The rest is still up in the air, I suppose.

The mouse and keyboard controls were "ok" at best. The interface still had second long lags the last time I played and all of the menus were terribly designed with a ton of crap thrown all over the place.

The "content" (levees) were like daily CHORES. There was no good reasoning behind half of them, no stories other than "we need 5 copper amulets" or "those darn rabbits are up to no good again".

The story and the world SUCKED. There was no conflict, and I didn't feel ANY sort of history in the world. It was "here we are! Do some daily chores!" and that's about it.

Given the depth and amount of little things behind ALL of FF11's cities plus tiny little touches in the world that makes you wonder "what the hell happened here? Why is there a wreckage of an entire fort here?", FF14 had nothing. In comparison you have copy-pastaed environments that make everything look like south gustaberg.

Yeah the only thing FF14 had going for it was the graphics. Didn't even have an auction house and couldn't SEARCH for shit you wanted to buy until a few months in.

 

[tedrodai]

He was talking about the alpha of version 2.0 A Realm Reborn, not the last time he played the original release.

 

[PowerYoga]

That would explain a whole lot, I misread the levee part. I signed up for the beta too but Haven't checked my spam box lately...

 

[pathos]

He was talking about the alpha of version 2.0 A Realm Reborn, not the last time he played the original release.

This ^^

That would explain a whole lot, I misread the levee part. I signed up for the beta too but Haven't checked my spam box lately...

Yeah, was I was trying to say, is that there was actually enough content OUTSIDE the levee's now, to keep you busy. The levee's were still there though.

 

[PowerYoga]

Yeah, was I was trying to say, is that there was actually enough content OUTSIDE the levee's now, to keep you busy. The levee's were still there though.

Did they ever "fix" the story? Or the ridiculous blooming in certain areas? (mainly indoors in the market ward)

 

[Josh123]

So Slickdeals.net has a deal on their front page for a $10 off coupon for FF XIV through Newegg.

Newegg has the game to release 3/26/13. This has to be wrong right?

 

[tedrodai]

That's definitely wrong--doubt they'll be done with beta by then. I'm sure they have a few internal target "hopeful" dates, but they are royally screwed if they don't release a product that's ready, so they're taking a Blizzard-like approach with no announced date until they're confident.

 

[PowerYoga]

So Slickdeals.net has a deal on their front page for a $10 off coupon for FF XIV through Newegg.

Newegg has the game to release 3/26/13. This has to be wrong right?

no flipping way its released on 3/26. And if it is, you don't want to play it since it'll be a rehash of 1.0.

 

[darkewaffle]

3/26 is the tentative release for Seekers of Adoulin, the next FFXI expansion. I'm guessing they've just got it screwed up.

 

[darkewaffle]

Q) Will I have to buy the new game again to play FFXIV:ARR?
A) No. If you purchased the game before you will be able to download the new client and use your old login information for free.

Q) Will I be able to use my old account on the new game?
A) Yes. All content was transferred over as of the final save on November 1st, 2012. If you want to use your old account, you will have to start on an “old” server as opposed to a “new” server.

Q) What are the “new” and “old” servers? What do they mean?
A) New servers are where everyone starts from the beginning. There is no transferring of v.1.0 accounts to these servers. Everyone starts from scratch. Old servers allow the transfer of your old account. The reason these are split is in order to maintain balance and fairness for new people who have never been in the game before to have a fair shot at the market and so old players can’t manipulate with their millions of gil they have acquired over the two years.

Q) Is this game now F2P (Free to play) or still P2P (Pay to play)?
A) It is P2P with a monthly fee of $12.99 and $9.99 for legacy players. However, everyone who has purchased the game before will have 1 month free time to play to test it out themselves.

Q) When is the release date for FFXIV:ARR?
A) It was supposed to be Q1 2013 but is now slated for Summer 2013 as it the producer has decided a Q1 release date for the game would be too soon.

Q) What is “Legacy Status?”
A) Legacy Status is a status on your account indicating that you played (and paid for subscription) for at least 3 months post Jan. 2011. It was created in an attempt to keep FFXIV v.1.0 players paying and playing while the new game was being made. Legacy players will enjoy paying $9.99 a month instead of $12.99 when subscription fees start. They will also be allowed to create up to 40 characters on their account as opposed to 8 for a regular account.

Source

Just some useful basics for anyone looking to return/start. I love that they're going to have "fresh start" servers available. I just wish I'd stuck around long enough for legacy status but I have a hard time playing MMOs solo when my friends lose interest lol.

 

[pathos]

Did they ever "fix" the story? Or the ridiculous blooming in certain areas? (mainly indoors in the market ward)

Well, the alpha I was in was pretty limited. Basically, there was only like 2 race/gender choices, one of the human male, or catgirl females. Then, there was only 10 levels of actual content, in 1 area. Plus, a level 16 dungeon (you could talk to a couple of npc's to raise your level up to 16, and get a free set of armor to hit the dungeon up).

The story still had the same type of set up from the original. You start with the main story, do a level or 2 of it, and then the next part wouldnt happen for a couple of levels. You'd do the next leg, and then have to wait a couple of levels for the next part.

Since I didn't play for very long at all on the original release (maybe 2 weeks, maybe less), not sure what you mean by "fix".

The only things I remember about the original release was the stuff I just hated, which I mentioned in the first post. I would definately be the wrong person to try and compare them.

As far as the blooming, I personally didn't notice any. But, again, I'm probably not the person to ask. I generally don't notice anything like that, unless it's just so terrible even a someone half blind would notice.

Well, that and the fact I didn't even visit the marketplace in the alpha doesn't help any

 

[PowerYoga]

The biggest problem (personally) was the really dead world in the original 1.0. In FF11 you can walk around and see ruins, you see beastmen encampments and an uneasy truth with the local beastman tribes. You have quests that raise the question about the past, you get slight hints about the answer, and maybe there's some areas that are littered with artifacts that just makes you wonder. Then wings of the goddess came out and boom, suddenly everything makes so much sense.

In FF14 I didn't see any of that. Did they do anything to address the barrenness of the world? Like I mentioned previously, the world was copy-pasted to an extreme and had no life whatsoever despite the beautiful graphics. Even the main storyline was meh and boring. I mean, you had a mandatory mission making emotes at shit...

 

[pathos]

The biggest problem (personally) was the really dead world in the original 1.0. In FF11 you can walk around and see ruins, you see beastmen encampments and an uneasy truth with the local beastman tribes. You have quests that raise the question about the past, you get slight hints about the answer, and maybe there's some areas that are littered with artifacts that just makes you wonder. Then wings of the goddess came out and boom, suddenly everything makes so much sense.

In FF14 I didn't see any of that. Did they do anything to address the barrenness of the world? Like I mentioned previously, the world was copy-pasted to an extreme and had no life whatsoever despite the beautiful graphics. Even the main storyline was meh and boring. I mean, you had a mandatory mission making emotes at shit...

Well, we only saw one small part of one zone, so once again, the alpha stage probably couldnt answer your question. Will need to wait on the beta, and have the world open up a little before anyone could competently respond to that question.

I will say, though, that most of the added content that was already in game was just time wasters, stuff to pass the time, and get you to leveling up to the next story quest, and provide you with gear.

Unless alot of new stuff is going to be revealed in later installments, you might be out of luck on that score.

I will also note, the emote story quest was alive and kicking :/

 

[PowerYoga]

The FF14 world needs conflict. FF11's biggest driving point for lvling was the awesome story stuff that you needed to be lvl 30, 40, 55, 60, etc to do. I know me and a group of friends really tried to level fast not to reach the top, but so we can explore the rest of the world and finish those quests.

but @ emote quest. It made me cringe so hard.

 

[Rhezuss]

So FFXIV is getting an overhaul?

 

[darkewaffle]

Got my Realm Reborn beta invite early this morning, so did one of my friends. Looks like they might have sent a round of them out just recently.

 

[exar333]

I tried playing this in the beta and it was too buggy/lonely for me to buy into the whole mmorpg grind fest. I've always been an fps player that liked all the older console jrpg's.

Anyways I picked it up last month and started grinding. I find the world to be incredibly lonely and sparse. there's only really one sectino Ul'Dah that even has anyone to talk to. I find setting up parties to be time consuming and hard to find anyone near your level to get exp with.

I like the graphics a lot and enjoy some aspects of the game. I find the story to be rather dull if not just insulting and never unwinding. I'm at level 35 and trying to find reason to keep pushing when it's pure grind. Anyone else in Besaid that wants to level around mid thirties?

Nope, not playing.

 

[Josh123]

Got my Realm Reborn beta invite early this morning, so did one of my friends. Looks like they might have sent a round of them out just recently.

Yup, got mine as well this morning. I don't think we can actually play until Friday though