FFXIV Beta in March

[amtalx]

I couldn't find the old thread so I'll start a new one... The FFXIV PC beta starts on March 11th. I'd really like to get selected so I can give it a try. It will be interesting to see if SE really amended the grindyness of FFXI like they said they would.

These next few months are going to be rough for gaming. FFXIII in a couple weeks, God of War III/Dawn of War II expansion after that, Splinter Cell in April, and FFXIV/Reach Beta/Alan Wake in May. C'mon guys, I need a break.

[Volcompat321]

I'm still waiting for the PS3 beta announcement.
I want to at least try this game before it comes out, that way I don't have to pay for it if I don't like it.

I haven't played any FF online game before, so I wouldn't know.

[Tetsaru]

I heard about this yesterday... I can't wait! I haven't gotten any emails or anything yet saying whether or not I got picked, though...

And I agree, the influx of good games lately has been wtf crazy lately... not that I'm complaining. ^^;

[Zalana]

Hopefully I get picked to be a beta-tester. Then again I'm rather excited FFXI is getting a rather crazy version update! I really need to start getting my new PC together!

[Legendwolf]

Yep i cant wait to try it.

[Zeek123]

Meh. If it's anything like XI's battle system, I'll pass. That style is seriously out-dated.

[joefro]

If you got FFXIII on PS3, go to http://member.square-enix.com/na/features/ff13/serialcode/ and enter the code that came with your game. Then go register (or re-register) for the XIV beta. When prompted enter the new twenty digit code that they give you once you enter the XIII code. Its pretty confusing. They should just let anyone who buys XIII get into the beta.

[ShinMaruku]

I'm still waiting for the PS3 beta announcement.
I want to at least try this game before it comes out, that way I don't have to pay for it if I don't like it.

I haven't played any FF online game before, so I wouldn't know.
I signed up for the FFXIV beta

[AC9breaker]

I so i just finished my 2nd Beta application form this one using the promotional code I got from my tr3y version of 13. I gotta say, that square enix website, while snazzy as it is, is fucking cumbersome as shit to navigate. Anyway, here's hoping I get in.

Actually what's up with all these fucking game companies going all big brother on us with their websites requiring us to have an account on their online services to access shit. EA, Square-Enix, Konami with their Metal Gear Online shit. Pretty annoying. At least EA shit isn't as intrusive as the Japanese guys.

[joefro]

I so i just finished my 2nd Beta application form this one using the promotional code I got from my tr3y version of 13. I gotta say, that square enix website, while snazzy as it is, is fucking cumbersome as shit to navigate. Anyway, here's hoping I get in.

Actually what's up with all these fucking game companies going all big brother on us with their websites requiring us to have an account on their online services to access shit. EA, Square-Enix, Konami with their Metal Gear Online shit. Pretty annoying. At least EA shit isn't as intrusive as the Japanese guys.
Yeah, Square Enix has a really weird sign up process for the beta. I mean do they really expect everyone that applies for the test to run their own fansite?

[Volcompat321]

I signed up for the FFXIV beta

Yay, me too!


Yeah, Square Enix has a really weird sign up process for the beta. I mean do they really expect everyone that applies for the test to run their own fansite?

Well, say 1 million people sign up for the BETA or site whatever, 15,000 of them people make a fan site, only 100 are decent, only 5 are extraordinary.

They just got a lot more business.

[Zeek123]

Plus it's Square Enix... It's not like they couldn't get enough business in the first place...

Anything they piss gets a 9.5 from IGN >_>

[McLaughlin]

Yeah, Square Enix has a really weird sign up process for the beta. I mean do they really expect everyone that applies for the test to run their own fansite?

That question was mistranslated. One of the answers was supposed to be "No."

[amtalx]

Necrobump...

I think a wave of beta invites went out today. Did anyone else get one?

[joefro]

/disappointed

Nah, I didn't get one, but I assume that you got one for the PC. I'm still holding out for the PS3 beta. I know that my PC has no chance of making it into the beta, but my PS3 is screaming for a beta invite. If I don't get into the PS3 beta, I'll feel extremely pissed for getting FFXIII for PS3. I can already hear my Xbox laughing at me in the background.

[McLaughlin]

I got one a few weeks ago. Next test period begins tomorrow and the patches take a good while to download so you might want to get a head start on that tonight.

[Tetsaru]

Huh, I was hoping I'd get an invite... course I applied a looooooong time ago (haven't used my FF13 code yet, mind you), so I dunno. A friend of mine got picked for the Alpha on PC, so maybe he'd know something about it...

[joefro]

The PC edition is coming out on September 29.

The PS3 edition is MIA as far as release date goes, which sucks.

[amtalx]

To be honest, I don't think you'll be missing much. My impressions so far are pretty negative. If you didn't like FFXI, you probably aren't going to like FFXIV. If you did like FFXI, you'll feel at home with FFXIV.

[McLaughlin]

Alpha's over. Beta start date is TBA. They completely overhauled the combat system for the Beta so if you didn't like how it was in the Alpha I'd reserve judgment until then.

[amtalx]

I'll keep my mind open. I want to like it, but SE has a vision for this game, and I'm pretty sure my vision is not their vision. My gripes are with the underlying mechanics so they can speed things up and balance all they want, but short of going into their code base and pulling a Shift+Delete on everything from combat to the quest structure, my opinion is unlikely to change. It seems little late in the game for them to go "Y'know what? Let's make this a real-time battle system."

In unrelated news, TERA has sprung up on my radar. It's another MMO that is more likely to fit my needs.

[Boxblaster]

I always got the feeling TERA seems more of the sequel to FFXI then FFXIV, but that's just me.

[Kent]

That's good, because that's not what FFXIV is intended to be.

[AC9breaker]

Yeah lord knows we need another MMO thats requires a superfluous time investment to make any kind of progress like FFXI.

Anyone else planning on getting collectors edition? It's highly likely that I will. Also whats up with the benchmark? I'm running a GeForce GTX 275 and a Q9400 quad @ 2.66GHz and my benchmark score was like 1900ish or sum shit. With the high score being like 8000 what the hell is up? Even more confuzzling is the benchmark ran fine with only a minor stutter in frame rate when a new scene was abruptly presented.

[amtalx]

I always got the feeling TERA seems more of the sequel to FFXI then FFXIV, but that's just me.

I don't really see any connection between TERA and FFXI. Stylistically, TERA is more like Aion, but without the awful color palette. The combat system is real-time and actually quite frantic, quite the antithesis of FFXI.

[Kent]

Yeah lord knows we need another MMO thats requires a superfluous time investment to make any kind of progress like FFXI.

Anyone else planning on getting collectors edition? It's highly likely that I will. Also whats up with the benchmark? I'm running a GeForce GTX 275 and a Q9400 quad @ 2.66GHz and my benchmark score was like 1900ish or sum shit. With the high score being like 8000 what the hell is up? Even more confuzzling is the benchmark ran fine with only a minor stutter in frame rate when a new scene was abruptly presented.
The benchmark is for the intro sequence for characters starting in Limsa-Lominsa. It's much less intensive on the system than areas within the world are, and will end up running quite a bit better than those areas (which begs the question, why did they use an area that's so easy on the GPU for a benchmark?).

With my laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.53GHz, GeForce GTX 260m 1GB) I've gotten only upwards of 2200 on the benchmark, though the score I get seems to fluctuate, moreso than any other benchmark I've seen. The game itself is designed to be able to take advantage of future hardware, so that it can still see graphical improvement because of new hardware (though that doesn't explain why they're going with DirectX 9...).

[ShinMaruku]

I don't really see any connection between TERA and FFXI. Stylistically, TERA is more like Aion, but without the awful color palette. The combat system is real-time and actually quite frantic, quite the antithesis of FFXI.

That's why I'm getting Tera and FF14 can die in a fire

[AC9breaker]

(though that doesn't explain why they're going with DirectX 9...).

Yeah whats up with that? I mean I don't blame them for not using DX11 but come the fuck on, they could have at least used DX10. Anyway I'm wondering if maybe I overclock my CPU it'll run smoother.

[SuKKrl]

I got 3617 on the low res one (my monitor can't display the high res one). Even though it was far from 8000 it was really fluid.


The benchmark is for the intro sequence for characters starting in Limsa-Lominsa. It's much less intensive on the system than areas within the world are, and will end up running quite a bit better than those areas (which begs the question, why did they use an area that's so easy on the GPU for a benchmark?).

This worries me. :(

[Kent]

Anyway I'm wondering if maybe I overclock my CPU it'll run smoother.
Odds are, your CPU isn't the bottleneck. I believe Tanaka himself said that modern CPUs are more than enough for the game, it's generally graphics cards that are falling behind on the benchmarks.

[HAYABUSA-FMW-]

That's why I'm getting Tera and FF14 can die in a fire
And WoW can continue its Raidy/Ninja/Looty/Sit on your Booty, pretend their female characters look like that (only in the artwork assets dept.) take all the people's money ways?!

[Ezodagrom]

Got invited for the beta yesterday, and now gotta download an update at an awfully slow speed, which I can only do at night because of download limits from my ISP (the limits don't count between 1am and 9am)... >_>;

[McLaughlin]

The patches are P2P based so if your ISP throttles that kind of traffic (mine does) it'll take a while.

It's too late for me to do it now but during the next testing window I'll see if I can download Fraps and upload a short video of the new battle system to Megaupload or something.

[Ezodagrom]

The patches are P2P based so if your ISP throttles that kind of traffic (mine does) it'll take a while.

It's too late for me to do it now but during the next testing window I'll see if I can download Fraps and upload a short video of the new battle system to Megaupload or something.
I think the problems is the squeenix client. On the client I was downloading at around 30~50KB/s, but then I stopped the client and tried opening the patch torrent file with Vuze, it downloaded at 200~400KB/s instead. With Vuze I got the whole patch during the night.

[Blue-Hawk]

http://news.filefront.com/360-Gamers-Officially-Shut-Out-of-FFXIV/

If you haven't read it already. Poor 360 users... Sarcasm intended. :P

[amtalx]

If the recent beta is any indication, it's not a huge loss. I'm still unimpressed. :( The interface is 10x better though.

[Palle]

Blue-Hawk's Link

While I thought that the gist of Tanaka's comments were that all development of the 360 version had stopped, but negotiations with MS continued, I wouldn't be surprised if this hiatus becomes permanent. Shame for me, really, since 360 is the only way I would've been able to try out FFXIV. Hopefully, it will still have a purchase-worthy OST.

I'd be happy to see any ORPGs make it to 360 [ahem, Monster Hunter Frontier for the West, prease]. Sadly, the Live subscription model seems to have made that too unattractive a prospect for developers.

[Ezodagrom]

Well, I guess this also means, if the next online Phantasy Star game will be for the PS3, PC and XBox360, the 360 servers will be separated again...(stupid microsoft and their stupid complicated services)...

[amtalx]

Well, I guess this also means, if the next online Phantasy Star game will be for the PS3, PC and XBox360, the 360 servers will be separated again...(stupid microsoft and their stupid complicated services)...

That separation also quarantined the 360 servers from virtually all the hacking and the garbage economy. Sometimes closed systems work in your favor. In FFXIV's case, the loader is probably a big sticking point, along with cross-platform servers. It's a shame they can't find a way to implement cross-platform servers without risking integrity. However, if MS cert keeps out programmatic abortions like Play Online, I'll kiss those regulations.

@Palle: The OST certainly isn't complete, but what they have is great already. Even the music that plays while downloading patches or during the character creation is very well done.

[Outrider]

Well, I guess this also means, if the next online Phantasy Star game will be for the PS3, PC and XBox360, the 360 servers will be separated again...(stupid microsoft and their stupid complicated services)...

If the next Phantasy Star Online-esque game charges for online play, I will throw a controller at somebody. Every other game in the world that has client-side characters and instanced online gameplay comes with that feature for free - the fact that Phantasy Star has RPG-lite gameplay doesn't mean they can claim it's an MMO and charge for it.

As far as I can tell, it's not that fundamentally different from the Halos and Call of Duties of the world.

[HAYABUSA-FMW-]

As far as I can tell, it's not that fundamentally different from the Halos and Call of Duties of the world.
In how they provide service and work. But those are more P2P? Sometimes at worst with a Gears of War, advantages persist that way through 2 versions of a game host.

Also they aren't pulling in everyone and their mom and those attention wanting "Im a gamer gurl-pay attention to meeeeh" for 2-3-4 million sales. (So I can maybe understand higher entry cost or taking monthly from established player base - just have to do more in the not too big upfront to start and reasons for newer players to really want to try)

& no Eminem raps on the commercials (Ghost Recon stole that exactly right out of last MW2 advertis-mal stuff)

They could employ Del the Funky Homosapien though, he rapped about "Dreamcast -- Photon Blast Cracked armor" As well out here in Bay Area like Capcom did, bring them down to make own original music and play the games!

[HAYABUSA-FMW-]

it's me and i am saying hello.
Blast a uni-beam through your spleen.

So hard you'll start cackling - with devious plans like dick dastardly

Rap hard cuz I'm Marvel

Rival Schools: Batsu, Purchase you ought to - it came with one free CD - its like I bought 2!
Video games, I got many to play, before your life's expired - fulfill your desires.

-

I see what rap can be.

Glorious. In the Smithsonian - for Holy Hymns - but you see who's controlling them.

[ShinMaruku]

If the next Phantasy Star Online-esque game charges for online play, I will throw a controller at somebody. Every other game in the world that has client-side characters and instanced online gameplay comes with that feature for free - the fact that Phantasy Star has RPG-lite gameplay doesn't mean they can claim it's an MMO and charge for it.

As far as I can tell, it's not that fundamentally different from the Halos and Call of Duties of the world.

Sega and Sonic team are incompetent and so is the majority of their base.

[Outrider]

In how they provide service and work. But those are more P2P? Sometimes at worst with a Gears of War, advantages persist that way through 2 versions of a game host.

Also they aren't pulling in everyone and their mom and those attention wanting "Im a gamer gurl-pay attention to meeeeh" for 2-3-4 million sales. (So I can maybe understand higher entry cost or taking monthly from established player base - just have to do more in the not too big upfront to start and reasons for newer players to really want to try)

& no Eminem raps on the commercials (Ghost Recon stole that exactly right out of last MW2 advertis-mal stuff)

They could employ Del the Funky Homosapien though, he rapped about "Dreamcast -- Photon Blast Cracked armor" As well out here in Bay Area like Capcom did, bring them down to make own original music and play the games!

My point is that I can buy hundreds of games on my Xbox that offer online capabilities technically similar to PSO without a monthly-fee.

Aside from the obvious comparisons of Borderlands and Too Human (both of which are loot-based RPGs with online co-op and no monthly fee), is there really such a huge difference between PSO's online co-op (with character growth and client-side character saving) and the upcoming Halo Reach's online co-op (with character growth and client-side/server-side character saving)?

It made sense ten years ago, but not now.

[amtalx]

The largest difference is that sessions in Borderlands and Too Human are peer-to-peer. PSO sessions are client-server. Borderlands and Too Human do have some basic server based features to allow you to find other parties, but once you join, the heavy lifting is up to the peers. PSO's server structure probably isn't as complicated as a persistent world MMO's, but still needs a beefier back end than Borderlands or Too Human.

[Kent]

The largest difference is that sessions in Borderlands and Too Human are peer-to-peer. PSO sessions are client-server. Borderlands and Too Human do have some basic server based features to allow you to find other parties, but once you join, the heavy lifting is up to the peers. PSO's server structure probably isn't as complicated as a persistent world MMO's, but still needs a beefier back end than Borderlands or Too Human.
Borderlands is not peer-to-peer, and Too Human probably isn't either - that model is actually rarely used in online games because the client-server model just works.

This is evidenced by the fact that if the game creator quits out in Borderlands, everyone gets booted, as the player who created that game instance was also acting as a server for it.

You'd probably find a better comparison with another non-MMO, Guild Wars, which has probably more advanced server backend than Phantasy Star Universe, but with no monthly fee at all. Likewise, look at Diablo II's servers - they've been up for more than a decade now, and what supports them?

Game sales and a single banner ad when browsing the chat channels/games list. Its games aren't terminated when their creator leaves, either.

[amtalx]

You're right. What I meant to say is that in Borderlands/Too Human, players serve as the host. The game servers are responsible for negotiating sessions, but their role is pretty hands-off afterward. However, with PSO the game servers were responsible for shuffling around a large chunk of the data.

[Outrider]

Yeah, sorry - what I was getting at is that a PSO-style game can be done without dedicated servers, as Borderlands and Too Human have been able to do it.

[HAYABUSA-FMW-]

Its just their old ways of plan ahead for 30 universes/ships/servers - "we'll get that many players, one day!"

And slowly but surely pull the plug on several that are remaining unused. Ever more to remain unused even after cutting down the numbers.

So yeah, someone needs to reform the whole practice. Which hopefully they've learned a bit from their latest P2P PSZ on DS stuff, but faster matchmaking would be nice or more options - choose from a list of current parties with space for you as one more. And however the PSPortable 2 on PSP one works with ad-hoc infrastructure, PS3 PSN online hubs possible?

And making an enticing game for others to want to check out, consistent updates, making sure people know what they are getting - going into the purchase, can keep what they say about the current ongoing console one - Stars up to 3 on the popular Universe ##.

-unrelated, but reminded since it got namedropped got the Borderlands add-on double pack for $10 @ Target, guess I'll get a newer computer and graphics cards to be able to run this and those others I picked up - some day. Don't even have Borderlands on PC required. But seemed like a good deal. Eyed that APB cautiously next to it, then came back to 1up.com review - el terrible, bancho.

-Related, PStar games version of DLC "packs" "Guardians Cash" is really the wrongest way to do it. Worse than Capcom's forays into game add-ons. But it seems to give them tons of profit off minimal effort, so they're destined to continue it. If so for the next possible console PStar online game, better be free or low subscription fee if they want to do their current "pay-to-play" (with nicer things/missions even?) model.

[AC9breaker]

So yesterday some information was released.

http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/11964-surpl...-komoto-speaks/

Since people aren't fans of walls of text here's a breakdown.


You've only got a couple of hours to play before you get 0 exp. How is people having more time to play considered an "unfair advantage"? Especially in a fucking game that for all intents and purposes has 0 pvp content. Oh and it's on a fucking weekly timer? Fuck Final Fantasy 14 and shitty JP Dev decisions. If there's one thing we've learned from PSU it's to not support retarded JP Dev decision.

I'm making sure they hear my feedback, canceled my preorder for this game. Besides guild wars 2 totally looks like it's gonna be the shit. In fact I'm calling it now, Guild Wars 2 will be to MMO's what Call of Duty 4 was to FPS's

[HAYABUSA-FMW-]

http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/11964-surpl...-komoto-speaks/

You've only got a couple of hours to play before you get 0 exp. How is people having more time to play considered an "unfair advantage"? Especially in a fucking game that for all intents and purposes has 0 pvp content. Oh and it's on a fucking weekly timer? Fuck Final Fantasy 14 and shitty JP Dev decisions. If there's one thing we've learned from PSU it's to not support retarded JP Dev decision.

I'm making sure they hear my feedback, canceled my preorder for this game. Besides guild wars 2 totally looks like it's gonna be the shit. In fact I'm calling it now, Guild Wars 2 will be to MMO's what Call of Duty 4 was to FPS's


Since people aren't fans of walls of text here's a breakdown.

Bitches ain't from the school of ABDUR101?!
I'm ten times a fan of that than SQUEENIX, especially after this megadrop. It's one thing to level cap and widen the walking around fields of play. Putting time limits to really extend the life of the game and profit off subscriptions-- is just, asinine.

WTF R they doin' Guilty Gear turtle up penalty in grindzilla gamez?

Final Fantasy Team: Clearchannel owned Radio Station Pop-music, we tell you what you want, Starbucks style (no feedback considered) and you will buy it. You'll even buy that blue poison in the bottles.

While we stack that :cheese:
Dollar dollar bill ya'll.

[Kent]

So yesterday some information was released.

http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/11964-surpl...-komoto-speaks/

Since people aren't fans of walls of text here's a breakdown.


You've only got a couple of hours to play before you get 0 exp. How is people having more time to play considered an "unfair advantage"? Especially in a fucking game that for all intents and purposes has 0 pvp content. Oh and it's on a fucking weekly timer? Fuck Final Fantasy 14 and shitty JP Dev decisions. If there's one thing we've learned from PSU it's to not support retarded JP Dev decision.

I'm making sure they hear my feedback, canceled my preorder for this game. Besides guild wars 2 totally looks like it's gonna be the shit. In fact I'm calling it now, Guild Wars 2 will be to MMO's what Call of Duty 4 was to FPS's
What's really interesting is that so many people complain about getting a maximum of eight hours of unmitigated skill gain per class and they think they can only play these eight hours before they're wasting time.

Wasn't it stated that it's not actually eight hours, but how much they estimate a player could get if they were to play for those eight hours? That is, an amount of skill level ups, rather than an amount of time. It seems like it'd be easier to manage that way. That is, of course, just the unmitigated time; it's presumably on a linear curve for the next seven hours' worth after that, until you hit zero.

I'm not saying I agree with it, because I'm going to reserve judgment on the system itself until I get a shot at the open beta, but I will say that it certainly doesn't sound like a good idea - especially since the skill limit resets every week, rather than just, say, two or three days. I think at this point they're still going to be rather receptive to community input (or backlash, really) and I can see the system going through some extensive changes throughout the open beta.

Still, I'm reserving judgment until I get real experience with it, simply because every other person complaining about it seems to have no idea what they're angry about except that there's an imposed time limit on playing a single class (completely ignoring the whole thing about playing multiple classes benefitting your character as a whole, and probably being completely ignorant of all kinds of other information as well).

I must say that punishing players for "playing it wrong" is generally a bad idea compared to rewarding players for "playing it right." That, and lack of punishment != a reward.

[Tetsaru]

Wow... this whole diminishing returns on exp thing comes as a surprise to me, especially seeing how in FF11, it took forever to efficiently level anyway. If it's still in Beta though (and the PS3 one still hasn't started yet), I'm not too concerned about it right now, but I'll have to have a word with my friend who's been able to play with all this going on...

[AC9breaker]

Still, I'm reserving judgment until I get real experience with it, simply because every other person complaining about it seems to have no idea what they're angry about except that there's an imposed time limit on playing a single class (completely ignoring the whole thing about playing multiple classes benefitting your character as a whole, and probably being completely ignorant of all kinds of other information as well).


They're angry because developers are forcing players to play how they want to play instead of letting players play how they want to play. It's a perfect example of the ass backwards JP online gaming. This just seems like they're stalling progress to add content to the game or they can't figure out how to balance end game shit. At least in my opinion.

Also yeah, it's not exactly 8 hours but the assumed time of how long it would take you to hit a level or something like that. Even so, if your a casual and your just very efficient in your playtime this is still fucking you over.

Also, from someone in the beta.

Well the main thing people on the beta forums are upset is with the Gamescom interview. It let us know they don't care too much about American feedback. Saying that 90 percent of the feedback was about the mouse, and then go to say they are not going to give us the mouse control we want. There was a lot more feedback than that, and suggestions on how to improve the game. And all we get is "LOL Japanese play games like this, we aint changing it." Same type of attitude when it comes to the specs.

[amtalx]

I stopped playing the beta a while ago because to be quite frank, it's terrible. I didn't see this coming though...

[McLaughlin]

The Fatigue thing is pretty lame, for sure, but I agree with Scan_Man. It's pretty ballsy to just flat out admit you aren't listening to anyone outside of Japan. In that same interview (I think) he also says he blames foreign websites for speculating on how the Fatigue system works and unfairly judging the game, adding that mistranslations are only making it worse, while at the same time not clarifying what the Fatigue system is.

There's a reason games like WoW reward people for taking time off and not penalize them for not doing so. If you pay 60 bucks for a game and a monthly fee, the developer has no business dictating how you spend your time playing.

The Beta is underwhelming as well. I usually create a character every time they wipe them, go through the short story missions, get bored and log off. It looks pretty but beyond that there's not much substance or variety in gameplay.

They still can't sort out all the graphics card issues either. The broke nVidia cards, then fixed them and broke ATI cards, and now they're back to broken nVidia cards again.

[joefro]

I'm definitely not getting this game after reading about the fatigue system. I mean, what the fuck is this? Mafia Wars? Farmville? You should not have a limit on playtime if you are paying a monthly fee. The producer of the game is a giant asshole also. I read somewhere that the Japanese beta testers were just as confused as the NA and EU testers. I can't see this game doing very well at launch. Maybe by the time the PS3 edition is out they will have made significant changes to this game.

[DEM_CIG]

You know you can turn the fatigue system off. Its in the options, I have a friend at work who played the beta of alpha or whatever. Think of it as more of a parental control.

[Tetsaru]

After speaking with my FF14 Alpha/Beta friend a minute ago, he's telling me that most people are misunderstanding this system entirely, for whatever reasons.

According to him, there was a test a while back in which one person leveled a single class for 8 straight hours. Square-Enix basically took this amount of experience earned, and converted it into a weekly bonus that you can "turn on" once per week, and earn within approximately ONE hour, although the bonus is not time-based in terms of how it wears off. After a player earns so much experience while the boost is active, it will wear off, (becoming available again the next week) and they will then become "fatigued" later if they keep playing as that class. They will still gain experience for that class, but they will receive around a 10% deduction (which he says is barely noticeable) that is set aside, and will probably be used for another purpose that has yet to be determined, such as unlocking abilities, etc. However, if the player CHANGES classes, the bonus becomes available again towards the class that you switched to.

Basically, the whole point behind this is so that people who aren't able to play the game very often will still be able to efficiently level up, and people who spend too much time leveling a single class will be encouraged to do something different and explore other aspects of the game (similar to how if in real life, if you were fighting and running around for hours on end, you'd eventually get tired and want to do something else). It's probably also to help keep people from staying on the game for too long, seeing how in FF11 it took FOREVER to do just about anything. Keep in mind though that this is just what my friend told me, and is not official news, so it's still very possible that things could change; I haven't been able to play the Alpha or Beta, so I can't say anything from first-hand experience.

Also, he showed me this new trailer:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW-dfDTruMQ&feature=player_embedded

[DEM_CIG]

That trailer is awesome. I am so excited fo this game, though I don't think I'll get it because I wont have enough time to play it.

[Tetsaru]

That trailer is awesome. I am so excited fo this game, though I don't think I'll get it because I wont have enough time to play it.

Well, supposedly with the way the exp system is set up (according to my friend), it's supposed to HELP people who can't play often by having that weekly bonus I mentioned. But like I said, this is just what a friend of mine who played the Alpha and Beta told me. :confused:

By the way, here's his Livestream. (http://www.livestream.com/asai) Occasionally, he'll stream video of him playing the Beta, although recently he's also been doing League of Legends and other games we and our friends play on PC.

[joefro]

Square Enix doesn't understand the casual audience, at all. People who play games casually don't care about being the same level as people who play all the time. Square wants to make it an even playing field for everyone, which is a horrible idea. If you put in more work than someone else, then you should get more out of it than them. In FFXI, I never got past level 35 or so, I had no desire to. It was the way I played and I never felt cheated or felt envious of other players. I don't know of any casual players that want to be "elite." I also hate the argument of "trying to make it realistic" this is a video game. Nothing about FFXIV is realistic, which is fine, but they shouldn't say that the fatigue is like real life. It's just a stupid, bad excuse.

Hopefully they fix this system before the game launches or at least by PS3 launch

[Kent]

After speaking with my FF14 Alpha/Beta friend a minute ago, he's telling me that most people are misunderstanding this system entirely, for whatever reasons.

According to him, there was a test a while back in which one person leveled a single class for 8 straight hours. Square-Enix basically took this amount of experience earned, and converted it into a weekly bonus that you can "turn on" once per week, and earn within approximately ONE hour, although the bonus is not time-based in terms of how it wears off. After a player earns so much experience while the boost is active, it will wear off, (becoming available again the next week) and they will then become "fatigued" later if they keep playing as that class. They will still gain experience for that class, but they will receive around a 10% deduction (which he says is barely noticeable) that is set aside, and will probably be used for another purpose that has yet to be determined, such as unlocking abilities, etc. However, if the player CHANGES classes, the bonus becomes available again towards the class that you switched to.

Basically, the whole point behind this is so that people who aren't able to play the game very often will still be able to efficiently level up, and people who spend too much time leveling a single class will be encouraged to do something different and explore other aspects of the game (similar to how if in real life, if you were fighting and running around for hours on end, you'd eventually get tired and want to do something else). It's probably also to help keep people from staying on the game for too long, seeing how in FF11 it took FOREVER to do just about anything. Keep in mind though that this is just what my friend told me, and is not official news, so it's still very possible that things could change; I haven't been able to play the Alpha or Beta, so I can't say anything from first-hand experience.

This sounds like a much better system than what it's been officially unveiled as.

[McLaughlin]

Komoto explains (http://kotaku.com/5621786/final-fantasy-xivs-play+limiting-fatigue-system-explained).

Doesn't look quite as bad as before but it still seems unecessarily complex.

[Tetsaru]

Hmm, sounds like my friend was close on his explanation of it, except it seems that if you do grind the hell out of a single class, you CAN stop gaining experience towards your job at a certain point... and then get that set-aside "bonus" that is used for who knows what. Also, according to that article, doing other things helps reverse that limitation for the week, possibly even removing it to where you could do it again within the same week. All in all, it doesn't sound that bad, but I'd have to play for myself to see how quickly these diminishing returns accumulate.

Even then, if the game has some sort of system to where multi-classing is actually beneficial in ways other than exp rates, then this system could also be even more beneficial. I've heard talk of that supposedly you can carry over certain abilities between different classes; for example, if you normally play as a warrior-type job and then switch over to a more magic-oriented job, the spells you learn as the mage job can also be used when you go back to being a warrior (and perhaps vice-versa), so you could have a warrior that knows Cure for those long battles, or Thunder if he runs into a Water Elemental that resists physical attacks. Of course, this could be a curse or a blessing; a lot of RPG's screw you over for trying to multi-class by limiting the total number of level-ups or specs across all classes, resulting in people who go for "pure" classes. However, if this limit were not in place with FF14, it could lead to some interesting gameplay and unique character growth. Instead of "sorry, but we need a warrior that's fully specced towards attack power, and your character's gimped in that area because you spent your points wrong," you get "cool, you're a Lv20 warrior... what side-job abilities do you have?" The only bad thing that I could see about this though, is that eventually you could have a broken character that could do ANYTHING at endgame levels, essentially removing all unique role-playing... but I figure that would take a while, and could be avoided with a proper leveling system.

[McLaughlin]

Can't really comment on transferable skills as I said above because I haven't done much levelling at all, but the open Beta begins on the 31st so you can try it out yourself.

It's worth noting that even the introduction instance on the boat underwent a couple changes from the previous Beta to this one, albeit minor ones. They added a couple NPCs to the battle that previously didn't help, which I assume is for people who start as crafting classes, and they put a few more enemies on the boat for you to get the hang of attacking, so changes are not out of the realm of possibility.

I wonder if the intro will be different if you don't start in Limsa Lomimsa. I think the coolest city so far looks to be Ul'Dah or whatever it's called.

[amtalx]

I just got an email from the Beta site saying that the open beta is starting today. Assuming it's truly open, anyone that has yet to be convinced FFXIV will be horrible, now is your chance. Bring some cyanide or a noose. You'll need it.

[AC9breaker]

Yeah I'm definitely gonna sign up. I mean it's not like everything the game is doing has me turned off. I'm still intruiged but I think that ultimately it's best to take a wait and see approach with MMO's since it seems like developers are always trying to push these games out the door as soon as possible. Besides I'm sure the dev's will eventually address my issues with the game, namely fatigue. Until then though, there are plenty of consoles games all fighting for my attention.

[Randomness]

I just got an email from the Beta site saying that the open beta is starting today. Assuming it's truly open, anyone that has yet to be convinced FFXIV will be horrible, now is your chance. Bring some cyanide or a noose. You'll need it.

Of course, the e-mail helpfully neglects to mention a time zone. So it could be anywhere from 7-10 PM Eastern.

[amtalx]

o wait-

The beta has been pushed back due to a "critical bug". This game is supposed to be out in three weeks...

[Randomness]

o wait-

The beta has been pushed back due to a "critical bug". This game is supposed to be out in three weeks...

Yeah... I'm going to have to expect it to start later this week, or else they've got problems coming.

[McLaughlin]

One can only hope they were talking about the updater. That thing is God-awful.

[Kent]

It's funny how one can complain about the updater, which does have its fair share of problems, but comparing it to the updater for Final Fantasy XI... This thing is basically like Santa Claus armed with a jetpack, sunglasses, and a sack filled entirely with bacon.

[McLaughlin]

I've never really had a problem with the FFXI updater.

The problem I seem to have is that if I open the recommended ports I start getting randomly disconnected from the internet (and FFXI). Basically have to open them for the download, then close them again, which is irritating.

People recommend using uTorrent to download the patches and manually place them afterwards but that seemed to go about the same speed for me.

P2P patching sorta sucks.

[Kent]

At least it saves your progress, unlike the FFXIV patcher, where if you get disconnected at any point during the process, you have to start the entire thing over again.

It was especially terrible for people who had unstable connections or had freshly-reformatted their computer and were reinstalling from launch discs.

[Neith]

For anyone who doesn't know, the Beta starts later today (early AM for Europe).

Looks like it only needed delaying for a day.


We would like to take this opportunity to provide an update regarding FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test, which was announced to be postponed on Aug. 31, 2010.

Along with the completion on investigation and correction of the critical issue, we have decided to begin FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test on Sep. 2, 2010 at 02:00 (GMT).

Starting on Sep. 2, 2010 at 02:00 (GMT), acquisition of registration code required for FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test will become available.

We are looking forward to your participation in FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test!

[Randomness]

Hmm... three and a half hours. Managed to get the client installer before it went down yesterday though, so I got it patched.

*goes and plays Other M*

[SuKKrl]

Did anybody else get this message?:

Applications for the FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test have been temporarily suspended. Please wait until we are ready to accept new applications and then try again.

I've been trying to get to the beta key page for hours (always got a server is too busy page), just to be greeted by this page. Really angry as I have a pre-order and can't get on the beta.

[Randomness]

Yeah. I'm fairly sure they stopped handing out keys for now to deal with server overload. If they hadn't, nobody would be able to get onto the game at all, instead of the lucky people who got keys.

(I have the page up, I keep hitting back to "refresh")

[AC9breaker]

yeah I said fuck it wand started playing some Metroid Other M and Monster Hunter Jhen event.

[McLaughlin]

The key site exploded last night when it first opened up and I'm pretty sure as Randomness said they've limited keys for now to prevent everything from melting a hole through their floor.

That said, it didn't work, because they're still having trouble getting the version update to actually upload corretly. It's all been fairly entertaining.

[amtalx]

Yikes... I hope the retail release isn't this rocky. I'm perfectly content to watch the pyre if it does though. :wacko:

[Randomness]

Yikes... I hope the retail release isn't this rocky. I'm perfectly content to watch the pyre if it does though. :wacko:

Are you kidding? There's no way it'll be any better. If you think about it, their registration servers will get hammered the first week, and then it'll die down. Not sure they'd spend money to upgrade server capacity for what amounts to two weeks of heavy load. (One week for each version)

Plus, there's no "out of keys" sign they can hang to get people to back off.

Still hoping, and then I hear about people getting multiple keys and want to kick their ass through the internet for being silly.

[Randomness]

Bump. Got a key when I woke up (6 AM). So far, the game looks nice, nothing particularly surprising or unusual... menu is a minor nuisance. Crafting looks to be infeasible for a single person start-to-finish. (From harvesting materials to finished goods) The NPCs do sell a lot of what would be needed. Also, the shops only have basic weapons... so it looks like crafters will be essential.

[McLaughlin]

Ul'Dah is awesome.

[Tetsaru]

My friend from the Alpha/Beta showed me these videos today. The first is a new trailer for the Tokyo Game Show, and the second is supposed to explain the fatigue system everyone was bent out of shape over:

[spoiler-box]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYT1BVVWqos


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abE09-tqhoM
[/spoiler-box]

Also, he's got a few videos on his Livestream (http://www.livestream.com/asai) if you want to check them out as well.

[Kent]

It's interesting that people really need that explanation of how the fatigue system works, mostly because it's incredibly unlikely that anyone will actually hit the point where skill gain is starting to get tapered, in the first place - just because it's cooling down whenever you're doing something other than fighting enemies, making it so that unless you're farming enemies non-stop, you won't even be able to reach that point.