How to improve Final Fantasy XIV

I was just browsing around a few sites when I came across something really amusing. The old AlphaPrime members have gotten together and created a new FFXIV forum. They are discussing plans on getting back together, getting into the FFXIV beta and looking forward to the game.

Unfortunately, many of us still playing are getting more and more frustrated with a game that is supposed to be fun. Given that FFXIV is coming from the same company, and humans are generally lazy, there is a high chance that FFXIV will make the same mistakes unless SE gets enough feed back and bad publicity regarding their current behavior in FFXI.

Just an example... It wasn't until the news of the 18-hour Pandamonium Warden fight hit mainstream media that SE took action to "adjust" this fight. However, in recent interviews, it's clear that the developers proud that their creation is causing such frustration in their players.

Unless some action is taken to somehow get SE the negative feedback about FFXI, you can most likely look forward to the following in FFXIV:

- Super-low drop rates on various items needed to progress (think the "genkai" quests, as well as drop rates of endgame gear, and even the expansion farming drop rates)

- Spending 6-12 hours for the possibility of a fight (HNMs)

- Unnecessary time-wasters when you make one mistake (all the prerequisites for the mini-expansion fights)

- New content put into the game with virtually no testing/QA (i.e.: Yonin... it's clear that they did not even USE this ability once as the problem was seen immediately)

However, what I find more disturbing than gameplay tweaks was SE's even more recent behavior regarding their customers

- Banning of longtime customers with no warning (Salvage)

- Banning of longtime customers with no warning, explanation or appeals process (CC issues, Gardening, and god knows what other reason Wuwu was banned)

- Banning of TRIAL accounts for no reason (Multiple reports of new players trying out the game and being banned without reason or warning)

- Implementing of unilateral changes to the ToS which prevent people from continuing to play on accounts that are in good standing (Today's change which REQUIRES your credit card take part in "Verified by Visa" or similar programs. Most CCs such as CapitalOne and Chase MasterCard do NOT participate in such programs)

- Only form of communication through the company is via blind form submission with no feedback

- RMT - And I don't mean the gilsellers. I mean the selling of equipment disguised as content. I don't think a single person has honestly purchased the new expansions expecting a good storyline. Everyone purchased it for the equipment

- RMT #2 - Tacking on in-game items to useless trinkets. I didn't mind the Harpsicord item as it came with a nice piano CD, but the Tidal Talisman was an insult for a piece of junk metal. The in-game item is awesome and of course, everyone paid for that.

So, I'm worried that FFXIV is going to have exactly the same problems as FFXI. I have no reason not to believe otherwise, and given SE's behavior to it's customers -- the lack of communication and respect for the people giving them money -- I think the only way to get these problems fixed is for their paying customers to actually make enough noise to make it clear to SE that they will not put up with these problems in their next MMO. Go make noise on forums. Bring the bad behavior SE has to the attention of gaming media, or if possible, mainstream media. Make SE make a public announcement promising that these problems will not exist in FFXIV (I've given up on them fixing XI already) instead of hiding behind their quiet facade.

Maybe then FFXIV will be a game worth playing.

Tanking DNC vs. curing DNC

Blame Vanh for this post.

...

So... Anwig Salade... DNC specific headpiece

Augments:

1. CHR+4 "Waltz" ability delay -2

2. CHR+2 Enhances "Fast Cast" effect (+2%)

The first augment is of course, the reason I bought this expansion in the first place. The second augment was chosen simply cos I figured that if I'm using it for healing, more Chr might be nice, even though it's only a small +2.

Then, last night, Vanh pointed to this augment:

- Magic damage taken -2% Enmity+4

The main feature being the Enmity +4... Simply put, Dancers do not get much in terms of enmity gear. We have a few small +enmity pieces, and the Etoile Bangles have +2 enmity, which is a big change from the normal -enmity in the Dancer AF.

This would obviously help in the tanking DNC role that I've often done... It would also go well the the ACP +enmity body piece that I kept around specifically for DNC. Now the question is, should I do it?

Bad part is that it would also affect where I'm merely there to heal and am not intentionally trying to get hate. Then again, even if I did get hate, would it be that bad? Between Utsusemi, Third Eye, Fan Dance and of course, my high evasion, having a mob's attention on me as opposed to a DD might be a better thing.

Sooo... I guess I'll be redoing that AMK fight for myself :)

"A Moogle Kupo d'Etat" mini-review

The news that the "Waltz -2" augment was a -2 seconds off the waltz recast timer pretty much meant that I would be picking up this mini-expansion just to get the hat for Dancer. This is the only piece of gear in-game that gives the Dancer job a much needed boost to one of the biggest limitations of the job.

By Thursday, the expansion had been completed many times by many people, and all of it's secrets and tricks were out. The farming rush was already over, so I activated the expansion and started on it late Thursday night.

By Saturday night, I was done with the expansion and now have my hat :o

Fast expansion by any standards... here's a mini-review on the expansion and how it compares to ACP

Storyline

Story wise, ACP really... really... sucked. It tried to be some grand big story similar to Zilart and failed miserably, especially with the ending which almost turned out to mean that it was all just one big dream. AMK's story is a lot more whimsical and silly. The cutscenes are definitely a cut above the ACP ones just for how silly they are... so I'd say that's a win.

"Farming" quests

The biggest annoyance I had with ACP was the stupid fetch quests where you had to go kill mobs for rare/ex items, then later again for the weird "key items" that had a random chance of appearing. In both expansions, I did this part of the quest after the initial rush had died down, so competition for mobs was not a problem.

ACP had a huge problem here with the stupid low drop rates. I clearly remember spending hours on just one single item, driven to the point of cursing before it would drop, only to run into the exact same problem the next zone I had to farm in. Apparently they've adjusted drop rates now as both Zurar and Vanh reported that it was easy to get it... AMK also has the high drop rate as I managed to get all the drops in under 5 minutes from entering the various zones.

The HELM quest that they put in to AMK was an interesting change. I've never done HELM before, so it was something different... Of course, by the time I did it, the trick about having a full inventory so that you can keep using the same mining/harvesting/logging point was up on the wiki, so it only took a few minutes to get through this part

The chocobo digging part was pretty fun. I'd never done the chocobo hot & cold game, so it was an interesting introduction to it. I might start playing with this aspect of FFXI since I do have a chocobo with burrowing & treasure finder :o

Overall, AMK > ACP for the farming aspect

"Lowbie fight"

The lowbie fight in AMK is against cardians... and the bad news about this is that you have to farm up some weird orbs from cardians to be able to pop them. The other bad part is that these cardians are in a dungeon, so they have a long respawn time. When I zoned into the ruins, there was basically not a single cardian in sight -.-

The good news is that all it took was a simple /tell to a group that was already there farming the orbs and I was able to join their fight and finish this in a few minutes. However, if they weren't inclined to help, I'd have probably had to spend a few hours here with competition waiting for super-slow respawns in order to even pop the fight -.-

In contrast, the ACP fight was a simple multi-wave fight that just required touching a spot... I'd say ACP > AMK for this.

"Fetch" quests

Like ACP, AMK has some fetching that you have to do before every attempt for the middle fight. ACP has a fetch quest all around Fei Yin, while AMK's fetch quest is in Quicksand Caves.

What I did like about this fetch quest is that it used the "marker" feature on your maps to show you where to go for every single ???. I haven't seen this feature used since... well... the very beginning of the game where they mark where you should hand your adventurer coupon in to get your starting gil. Of course, this meant that everyone doing this quest needed the map for Quicksand Caves... good thing they adjusted those coffers to repop instantly.

The bad thing about this fetch quest is that QSC is... annoyingly spread out across two zones. Add to that all the secret unmarked zone lines and the various maps, it makes this fetch quest take a really long time to do, even with the Swift Shoes buff. Compared to Fei Yin, doing this takes a lot longer, a minimum of 30 minutes if you know exactly where everything is and what the fastest route to get around ~.~

Sadly, I'd say that I prefer the ACP Fei Yin fetch quest over this, even though I liked the way that the maps were used.

Middle fight

The middle fight in AMK didn't strike me as anything special. Anything that a balanced party + sleeper should be able to handle... similar to the ACP Fei Yin fight. Nanaa Mihgo has an evil TP move that can nearly one-shot anyone, but that's no big deal since you can virtually zerg her down once you start fighting her.

I thought the ACP fight was slightly move innovative with the goblin that would Sneak Attack people at random. It meant that you couldn't just assume that you were safe because mobs were not on you at that time, and it also made tanking the fight a little more interesting since you had to pay attention to all the mobs and be able to grab the goblin when it wanders off.

"Final fight" quest

I thought the minigames that lead up to the AMK final fight were quite interesting. The basic puzzle quest in the glacier required some thinking to figure out even if you knew the rules behind it. It also used the map in an innovative manner. The Xarcabard minigame was fun, required quick thinking, and had little consequence of losing since you can just redo it right there. If you noticed the pattern in the answers, it becomes almost too easy xD

The "climb" quest was simple too... unlike the frustrating tower climb of ACP, this one isn't too bad since you can easily make the initial level 1 sneak to the castle with the initial sneak/invis that they give you if you don't make any wrong turns. The last minigame isn't even a game at all, just a matter of poking a spot on the way up.

AMK definitely wins on the minigames! Having a 5 minute flee also made for some fun :)

Final fight

No question about it... the AMK final fight is a lot more fun compared to ACP. First off you're fighting a... giant moogle! He throws bombs at you and doesn't do too much damage at first... and he summons friends for you to poke.

Ranged attack and magic nukes are definitely the way to go with the giant moogle, though you do want some heavy DDs as well to take out the summoned mobs as well as the final push to the end. The big moogle has an evil stunga move that lasts for a very long time, meaning that most parties that lose this fight either lose to not being able to recover from a stunga, or not sleeping the helpers in time. 5 moogles casting a -aga spell on your party can pretty much wipe it in one shot.

I think Scholar is the ultimate job for this fight... First off, party-wide Stoneskin & Phalanx mean that the stunga move gives you a little more leeway and time to cure people back up to full health. Secondly, since all the helpers that are summoned are BLMs, all it takes is a single Manifestation+Aspir to get back to near full MP. Scholar nuking damage on this fight can easily match a BLM's due to our MP efficiency as well since this isn't a "timed nuke" situation, but rather one where you let hate ping-pong around all the nukers.

This is definitely a fun, if hectic fight. And the best part is that you don't really have to use tricks to avoid the mob's moves... You're fighting the mob straight on and letting skill determine if you win or not. Compare this to the ACP final fight where the two strategies are to either zerg it down in a few seconds, or have a tank do a "yo-yo" trick so you can avoid the charm move.

I'd willingly do the AMK fight again! That's a fun one :)

Conclusion

Overall... I think "a Moogle Kupo d'Etat" beats out ACP for content. It's funny, does some interesting things for a change, and has a fun final fight that virtually any job can participate in. The consequences for losing are not as annoying as it is relatively easy to set up again for the final fight (takes about 30 minutes to redo the minigames without any stress of being killed)

Is it worth $10? Mmmm.... most definitely not... and I'm saying this after I spent $10 to watch Transformers 2 in the theater -.-;

Is it RMT? Yes, most definitely so... I'm still wondering if SE is using this as an experiment to see how much RMT they can get away with in FFXIV... Maybe the future of SE MMOs is that if you want the best gear, you not only have to spend lots of time camping NMs/farming things, but you also have to pay SE for the privilege of being able to attempt to get it. Maybe they'll do something like have a "Dynamis" expansion where you have to pay an extra $2/month to be able to enter the zone...

Extra

So... at the end of the day, I picked up the Anwig salade with the "Waltz -2", Chr+6 and "Enhances Fast Cast +2" augments. Strictly a macro piece for Waltzes. There's a debate going on in the Dancer forums as to which is a better piece, this or the Etoile Tiara. Basically the Tiara has a higher HP cured/TP ratio, while the Anwig has a higher HP cured/time ratio. For Healing Waltz, there's no debate that the Anwig is a good piece.

Of course, buying the expansion on Thursday specifically for a DNC hat means that Dynamis on Saturday I would get my Etoile Tiara (+1) xD So... instead of having one Waltz hat, I have two hats that I need to decide how to use!

I decided to use the Anwig for the waltzes I use the most, which could benefit the most from having 2 second removed from the recast timer. These are Curing Waltz III and Divine Waltz. Of course I also added it to Healing Waltz. I'm not concerned about the higher TP usage due to spamming the Waltzes simply cos I've never actually had a TP concern on DNC before. I'm using the Etoile Tiara +1 on Curing Waltz II & IV. Curing Waltz II does not benefit as much from the -2 seconds recast since it has a short recast in the first place, and I figure that if I'm using IV, I really want to cure as much as possible for some reason or else I'd simply be using III. Also, 5% on a large number does go a longer way!

5/6 on DNC AF now! I just need the tights to complete the set... Given how BMO has grown, I really doubt we'll be doing Tavnasia anytime soon, so my only hope for these will be from glacier... Hope we go there soon!

BLU spells +

So, biiiiiiiiiiiig thanks to Vanh last night for helping me get the two new BLU spells. Surprisingly, I went 1/1 for both spells once we saw the mobs do them. The first Walrus we killed did Sub-Zero Smash and I got it on the first kill. We had a little accident with the gargoyle-like mobs where we had 3 beating down on us and we wiped. Seems like they have a long aggro range >.<>

Unusual... but... I guess having the upgraded AF+1 body, relic hat and using the AF hands all helped. I'm now only missing Asuran Claws on BLU.

Quick review on the two spells:

Sub-Zero Smash

* The additional effect: Paralysis actually turned out to be fairly effective, probably on the order of a regular RDM Paralyze spell

* Damage done was fairly decent too, about 200-300+ damage on VTs. This puts it on the order of Seedspray for a damage + enfeebling spell

* Unfortunately, the high Blue Magic Point cost (4 points) does mean that I'd have to sacrifice quite a few spells to put this in. Under most circumstances, I'd have a WHM or RDM around to cast Paralyze, so the high MP cost (44MP) for this compared to a regular Paralyze makes it more situational than anything

* However, having Para around in a solo situation would help, so... probably a solo-only spell?

* The Fast Cast trait is nice, but BLU spells cast so quickly anyway that I doubt this will make a big difference. Having to set Bad Breath in order to get the trait just makes it that much harder to justify using

* The +3 Vit attribute helps towards Cannonball damage

Triumphant Roar

* Simple self-targetted buff that increases attack by 15% for 60 seconds

* MP cost is fairly high at 36MP. Recast time is 90 seconds, so... while it is possible to keep the attack buff up 2/3 of the time, the high MP cost probably means that it's not worth it

* However, +3 Str for 3 Blue Magic Points isn't too bad...

* Only use I can think of for this spell is to combine it with Diffusion for a zerg fight. +15% attack from yet another source besides BRDs would help in taking down a mob quickly

So... decent spells, nothing game changing, opens up some new options and possibilities for BLU

[Looking for party]

So last night I was trying to figure out what of the new content to tackle first... then I realized that getting people together for any of the new content is going to be a huge PITA simply cos of the way stupid SE split up the nation quests! You can't even help someone with some of the nation quests -.-

So... in an attempt to try to get through the WotG missions, and soon the Moogle missions, I'm looking for 5 good people who want to get together on a regular basis to work through the missions & quests! Chances are this will mean going back to help people with a few fights, and some small groups of farming and stuff... with the group getting together at a scheduled time for specific fights.

Anyone want to join me?

Scary Northlands[s]

So, I missed a few details on the update… good thing that the new items were not added in the whole Union thing! Finally my nearly 500k of AN is useful! I went AN shopping and I’m now down to just under 250k AN xD

Picked up the Iron Ram PLD body, the +2 Magic Accuracy book (that goes in the ammo slot… does this mean that I can throw books at people now?) and the +Waltz earring for use on PLD (not DNC… mainly for PLD/DNC in campaign). Didn’t pick up the Cobra Unit Harness yet, just waiting for that to be storable.

Besides shopping, the only thing I did after the update was to explore the northlands… sccaaaaaaary! I forgot to take photos of the two mobs which BLUs have to fight for their new spells (actually, I totally missed the Walruses and need to go back for them), but I got some other scary pics!

Weird floating head mob… reminds me of some scary old FPS game

Here there be dragons… like… lots… of dragons… I really doubt Hades will ever take Xarc[S]

New flying mobs… these are in the sky, flapping around above us…

 

They look quite peaceful up there until you go underneath one, then… just like in [sea]…

They swoop down and eat you up! That’s right by the C.A. where you warp in. I also saw many dead bodies by the C.A… I don’t think you can afk at all in Xarc[s].

I later joined Vanh and we trio’ed a few of the mobs, including the new demon-type mob, and a floating head briefly. It seems that the BLU spell mobs can be handled by a small party, so hopefully I can find some people to go do that with!

Tomorrow: Most likely spell hunting… at some point I want to figure out who wants to do some missions and start doing them! I’m still avoiding the “Kupo” mission until the initial rush is over, but spell hunting, campaign and WotG missions are still a possibility (since I know people are behind on WotG)

July'09 Update preview & disappointment predictions

Been a while since my last blog post, so... figure I'd do a preview of the version update. That takes place today, so you know what that means!

Yes... everyone downloads the files, and some people go ahead and dat-mine everything so that we know exactly what is coming out before we can even log in to the game so we can start complaining about it earlier!

Not to go against tradition... here are some interesting tidbits I picked out from the dat mining threads at http://www.bluegartrls.com/forum/78601-july-20th-version-update-dat-mining-results.html and http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10;mid=124810988151855310;num=137;page=1 These are just my opinions with what has been dug up so far

Equipment

Ominaeshi Yukata (hq)
DEF:2 Improves goldfish-scooping ability

* Waaaaaaaaaait... goldfish-scooping? :O What's next? Takoyaki food item? :D~~

* Knowing we have clamming that... I've done once in total... I'm guessing this is another yearly festival activity

Iron Ram Hauberk
DEF:50 HP+32 Enmity+6
"Magic Def. Bonus"+5
Set: Increases all elemental resistances
Lv.68. PLD, DRK, WAR

* Ok, this is pretty much the PLD body for everyone without Valor, or used their ACP body for something else. Pretty much expected and I guess this is my new PLD piece once I get my new campaign medal

Cobra Unit Harness
DEF:42 Accuracy+11
"Store TP"+6
Enmity-8
Set: Enhances "Counter"effect
Lv.68. MNK, THF, RNG, BLU, COR, PUP, DNC

* This was a surprise... I wasn't expecting that high of a +accuracy, or +Store TP. If I had not gotten my Etoile Casque and Enkidu's Harness a couple of weeks ago, I think this would have been my main accuracy piece on Dancer. I'll still pick it up anyway just to complete my Cobra Unit Cap set

Cobra Unit Robe

Yadda yadda some stats

* No matter what, it can't compare with the "Enhances Dark Arts" effect of the Scholar's Gown... or the "Enhances Sublimation" effect of the Argute Gown

"Fairy weapons"

* These are weird weapons that have different damage ratings based on whether you are holding it on your main hand or off-hand. Apparently they are crafted, and can be augmented by completing a quest

* Augmentations have generally been a failure due to the randomness of the augments. Except for the final quest reward items(which you can choose), I don't know of anyone who actually goes out there to actively try to get augmented items

* Finally, a quick look at the stats of each weapon shows that even though the weapons are level 75, none of the ones I would use compare to any of my current weapons... it would require a really good augmentation before one would consider bothering with these

Sturm's Report
Magic Accuracy+2
Campaign: Magic Accuracy+15
Level 60 Ammo, All jobs

* My best guess is that this is a "Union" item since it has campaign properties. I think all the level 60 "Campaign" items are obtained through this new "Union" system

* Definitely an interesting piece for SCH... Magic Accuracy is always good, though I'm not sure if it would really replace the +int from my current ammo piece

Sonia's Plectrum
Waltz potency +1%
Campaign: "Waltz" potency +10%
Level 60 Ammo, All jobs

* Another union item. This would be one of the few pieces with "Waltz" potency on it, though at 1% potency increase, this means that at most, a Curing Waltz IV would gain about... 7HP -.-;

* I'm not certain that giving up the War Hoop for this is worth it. I do a lot of pulling on DNC in various situations, and I'd rather have the option of being able to pull a mob from a distance compared to getting an extra 7 HP cured.

* The unfortunate side effect of this being "all jobs" is that... it won't just be Dancers that want this, but every melee job since almost everyone goes /DNC to Campaign

Patronus Ring
Physical damage taken -2%
Campaign: Physical damage taken -10%
LV60 All Jobs

* I *think* this is a good PLD piece? -2% damage is good... though with the campaign -10% and the "all jobs" means that everyone will be wanting this again -.-

Instant Retrace

* This is amusing... I always carry a scroll of Instant Warp and Instant Reraise on me (thanks satchel), so I guess this will join those two. Still... I'm always amused by the people shouting for Retrace in Whitegate since for me, it's a simple Warp and 3 minute run to get to the past. I guess this will cut down on BLMs making money

Spells

SE promised two new BLU spells with this update to go along with new mobs. Now since we know that the new mobs are in the northlands[s] zones, I'm guessing that these spells are going to be fairly high level. Of course, the utility of the spells need to be tested, as does the job trait effects that they might have

Sub Zero Roar - Enhances attack

* Looks good on paper... another self-buff, which is most likely spreadable to a party with Diffusion. Depending on how powerful and how long this lasts, it might make Diffusion more useful. Right now, I only use Diffusion for the event that we need Haste applied to a party quickly (usually Nyzul), or for Cocoon when I think it would help (rare situations)
Triumphant Smash - Additional Effect: Paralysis

* This is interesting... this is the first time BLU has gotten Paralyze as an enfeeble. So far, we have Slow, Gravity, Blind already, as well as Defense Down to match a RDM's enfeeble sets. This make a BLU capable of, if so desired, performing all of a RDM's enfeebling effects

Content Updates (Predicting disappointment)

So, this is where I'm predicting disappointment in all the content that SE put out with this update. This is what I'm predicting:

"Union" items will be really hard to get

* First, remember that SE loves randomness... so, I'm guessing that the drop rate on the items that people want will be on the order of 1-3%

* Second, if you read up on the way "Unions" are done from http://www.playonline.com/pcd/verup/ff11us/detail/4742/detail.html, it sounds like to be eligible for a "Union" reward, all you need to do is campaign after accepting Union status. My prediction is that everyone in the area who signs up for Union will lot for items when they drop whether they can benefit fully from it or not

* Of course, the "all jobs" aspect means that everyone will lot on the hot items... everyone can use some -Physical% and some +Waltz Potency. 30+ people lotting for virtually every item.

* I'm also predicting that since Unions mean that you have a chance of getting some other item that SE will make it so that you will no longer get exp from doing campaign under Union status.

* On the other hand, depending on how they spread the items out... this might end up promoting campaign in areas which people rarely bother to go, such as the beastmen strongholds, or the dungeons

* However, knowing SE, there is a high chance they'll be stupid and make it so that only certain items can show up in certain zones. It'll be Jugner Forest all over again with everyone camping specific campaign zones

"Kupo" add-on will have another 1-5% drop rate farming quest

* Looks like my poll is coming true... someone uncovered this text in the dats:

"Mog House unable to withstand the
elements, your moogle cohort entreats
you to find three materials required
for some much-needed renovations:
an Orcish armor plate, a Quadav
backscale, and a block of Yagudo"

* These are new Rare/Ex items... probably low drop rate, which means that everyone who pre-ordered the expansion will be out there farming for them again. Remember ACP? Same thing -.-

* Sooooooooo.... I'm not going to bother unlocking the expansion until at least August. No sense giving SE money now, so I'll wait for the next billing period. I'm hoping that the rest of you also follow this example so that SE can't claim that their new expansion is a "resounding success". There won't be any point anyway unless you want to compete with hundreds of other people hunting the same beastmen

* Also from previous experience: Waiting just 2-3 weeks after the initial rush, there will be a lot of mobs to choose from... so all you have to do is compete against the low drop rate -.-

MMM enhancement - Voucher 05 - Assist in the training of a young Goblin

* So... erm... who still does MMM? I think I was one of the few people who actually tried to get people to do this event, but with the stupidly low random drop rates, the nerfing of even the basic marble rewards discouraged me to the point that I shudder whenever I think of this...

* Given the NPC Fellow raising, how many people will actually bother to raise a goblin that can only show up in MMM?

Soooooooo.... I think the only things to look forward to in this update are: campaign bodies (at long last), some new BLU spells and possibly some actual MISSION updates to move the plot along. After nearly 2 years, SE finally decides to put some plot into this aging expansion. FFXI isn't the Harry Potter series... it shouldn't take 7 years to finish the story. Not to mention that Harry Potter movies were at least self-contained and had a conclusion -.-

About SE randomness

One thing really bugs me about SE and the way they run these online games is how they throw in randomness into FFXI. Things have a stupidly low drop rate. You can do an activity for hundreds of times and never get what you want, while the person next to you will go once and get it the first time.

The sad part is that the randomness in the drop rate is all just a part of SE's psychological warfare against their own customers. Similar to casinos, the randomness reinforces behavior. You think that the next time, the item you want will drop. You think that the next kill might just get what you want. You get a feeling of anxiety if you miss an event with the fear of missing out.

All this is exactly what a scientist called BF Skinner studied in the '50s. Constant rewards teach rats what to do in order to get food, but if you change the reward condition to be random, the rats become obsessed/addicted to always watching for possible food...

Exactly what SE wants to do to it's "consumers".

Anyway... another recent aspect of SE randomness is banning random players... while supposedly this is done in the name of cutting down on RMT, I wonder how much of it is done so that their "customers" will remain addicted and be afraid of quitting or suspending their accounts for fear of being banned...

It's pink!

It's pink!

5/5 Enkidu's Harness set! I think our 3rd full set, having previously completed Wu's Aurum set(I think?) and Dolly's Oracle set. It's been over a year since ZNMs were first released, and I think almost a year since I started doing this event. We also picked up our second ever Hachiryu piece last night, though not a single PW pop item dropped in all of the 4 Tinnins we did.

Rough (and strange) night with Franky/Dolly having power issues, plus my newPLD mistakes during the first couple of fights. The first Tinnin was weird when it went afk in the middle of our fight. That was definitely strange, but he didn't drop anything interesting anyway, soooo... Zurar and I think Wu did a GM call to report the glitch, and they wished us good luck with drops, so it was all fine. Big thanks to Altima, Weaponx and Zurar who zombied the first and last Tinnins while we recovered from two wipes >.<

PLD/NIN tanking

I brought out PLD for this fight where I'd normally go SCH/RDM. Spengler took up the support SCH role nicely with Phalanx-ga & Stoneskin-ga so that I could experience something different.

I'm finding PLD to be very weird for events... so far, I've run circles around a tower, distracted mobs in dynamis to keep them away from sleepers, and now, stood around as bait for a big three-headed hydra while people sneak up behind me and poke him with long katanas.

I guess it's a good way to ease me into PLD/NIN tanking... I mainly had to focus on Utsusemi shadows and recasting them, as well as Flash to get the attention of the mob. Talint also had a good hint on using Reprisal when Utusemi timers were down in order to get a chance of getting Utsu back up. I also now understand why we need two tanks when it comes to PLD/NIN tanking... It's a big bit of trust to know that the other tank, and your support crew will keep you alive when big TP moves occur. Even though I knew I had Fealty that could help me resist one Nerve Gas move, I got into a simple cycle of casting Utsusemi even when cursed & poisoned, then immediately cast Cure IV knowing that my WHM (Rooks) would Cursna me even as I was casting Utsu.

I think the two main mistakes I made were... not focusing on Utsusemi during the first Tinnin, and adjusting too late to the 2nd Tinnin's movements and ending up behind him in time for a Serpentine Tail to kill me in one shot. I actually survived the 3rd Tinnin from start to finish, and the 4th Tinnin got lucky with a double attack with Utsu down and following it up with a strangely high damage Trembling move >.>

Still need to find a place to try out PLD/RDM, and hopefully somewhere where I'm PLD/NIN and also trying to keep hate instead of having SAM/THF TA on me. Hate wasn't an issue with the Tinnin fight... the only thing we had to look out for is keeping shadows up.

PLD/DNC in Campaign

This job combination is too much fun in campaign... tanking 2-3 mobs at the same time, and able to go head to head with NMs with a body boost. Aspir Samba and a Ethereal Earring = constant MP, plus Waltzes to heal when MP is low. I've been using this to regain my lost medals (stupid SE system) and prepare for the next version update where they are supposed to be finally releasing the AN body pieces.

Compared to BLU, PLD keeps hate better and has infinite lasting power. Compared to DNC, well... I get hit more, which is actually good for campaign exp. DNC can last about as long as a PLD, but has more trouble keeping hate when other people are hitting the same mob. DNC can also go up against a NM, but can't survive as long... Still fun for both jobs xD

Ungimping SCH

I haven't really been paying that much attention to SCH equipment... Did a little light shopping once I hit 75, and I've been picking up some pieces here and there, mainly Goliard from Nyzul (since everyone else is focused on Askar) and a few relic pieces. Vanh & Utaru spoilt me by lending me Vanh's HQ elemental staves when he was taking a break from FFXI, and Utaru's Phantom thingie. Both of these items lead to a very nice, consistent 1k+ Blizzard IV against Limbus mobs which I had fun with until I gave the borrowed pieces back.

Well, after about a month, I've gone and picked up an Aquilo's Staff, as well as the Phantom thingie... and, inspired by Wuwu who has been camping a NM in SSG for the past few days, I've gone and picked up a Moldavite Earring on Sunday morning. Lucked out with the drop on my first kill about an hour after arriving in Onzozo. I'm also working on my Ice elemental obi, probably the only one I'll actually get since I do most of my nuking with Bliz IV due to the hailstorm int bonus. I'm one tissue away from finishing my ice obi now, and I'm already nuking for over 1k, so it'll be fun to see how well SCH nuking does in the next few Limbus rounds :D

Just need to get lucky on one more tissue drop :)

SE FFXI developers out of touch with reality

So, I came across an interesting article about Pandemnium Warden, an interview with the devs that created it. They talk about the testing that they did for it, and the expectation of what was required to beat it.

Some choice quotes from the article

- "Suteki explains that with 32 members, he was able to take down PW, although it took his team four tries to accomplish this."

- "Sase reveals that he originally anticipated players would need between 36-54 people."

- "Ito says they use the equipment appropriate for the task... Paladins will wear Aegis, for example."

So... what do we have... if you have a team of 32-54 relic holders, you might be able to defeat Pandy at about 1/4 of the time. Let's ignore the fact that I've almost never seen a shell with 30+ members (Einherjar being the only exception), much less 54 people, and that I only know 2 relic holders (that I'm aware of), let's just look at the time taken to actually POP PW.

Some interesting data from ZeniBailout & ZNMs in general:

- Total number of PW pop items obtained: 1

- Total Zeni spent since we started: Between 475-500k

- Maxmimum Zeni obtainable per soul plate submission: 98

- Maximum number of soul plates submittable/hour: 10/hour, or a max rate of 980 zeni/hour

- Best case minimum time spent farming zeni: 475,000/980 = 485 hours

So... 485 hours of farming just to get 1 pop item. To get a full pop set, that requires 3x485 = 1,445 hours of zeni farming alone, assuming you get the max zeni for each plate submission, and not counting time taken to pop and fight the various tiers.

Divide that by an average linkshell of 18 people and you'll get about 80 hours of zeni farming to obtain a pop. That's just to obtain the pop. Remember, the developers expect 32+ people before you're able to win.

Now let's look at their team... assuming you have 32 relic holders with appropriate equipment, it took their team 4 tries before they were able to beat it.

- 4 tries = 4x 1,445 hours of faming = 5,780 hours of faming

- Split the farming out over 32 members = 180 hours of farming

- Number of working hours per week = 40

- Weeks to perform this testing = 180/40 = 4.5 weeks

So... if the QA team was actually testing PW without using cheats, they would have a team of 32 people working for over a month in order to test this properly. Given SE's stance on cheating and how they like to ban people, they spent appropriate resources to test this ultimate monster of theirs, so let's assume that they actually did this. Just a fun fact... Japan minimim wage is 4,712 yen per day ($47.34/day). They have 32 members working for 4.5 weeks. Assuming a 5-day work week, that's 4.5x5x32x$47.34 = $34,084.80 spent in wages to test PW.

We should fully appreciate the investment that they made in PW!

And that... is why we'll probably never fight PW!

Famitsu interview with SE Developers was found at: http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/story.html?story=18647