so yeah that happened.
This go around, I managed to get way more in depth with the main storyquests. I will admit that I began this beta sort of breezing through the initial storyquests because I was antsy to get out there and level. Not to mention that I still had the WoW mentality of "omg no time to read text must get xp and experience the game". But then I realized... the story is experiencing the game. In the deep seeded habit to rush through I had overlooked that this is Final Fantasy, and story is pretty emphasized and integral to the overall gameplay experience. Pay some fuckin' attention, said me to er... myself.
I hit 15 Archer and essentially was forced to clear the starter dungeons one after the other. I will admit that by no means does this keep you from leveling, but it does keep you from leveling optimally.... you really kinda have to do this to continue your character's progress. Thankfully by the time I reached this point, the Duty Finder was active. Before this in the previous P3 beta session I recall seeing large groups of people in front of Satasha, /shout-ing and assembling groups the old fashioned way.
Duty Finder
Touchy issue. Let's get into it.
I personally cannot argue against it's inherent convenience, especially for healers and tanks (sorry DPS classes, we still gotta wait it out longer than those two types). To be able to join in an automatically assembled party and essentially bypass the stress and work of assembling one yourself is pretty neat. It's pretty awesome for me tbh, as I tend to get plagued by bad luck trying to round up people for myself (especially in my early FFXI days), either in not being able to find an available tank/healer and groups just breaking up as a result of too much waiting around for that one guy. Being able to draw from such a massive pool helps its functionality and ease of its intended use. However, like it's originator's counterpart, it's not without its consequences by its very nature.
Doody Finder
One of the first arguments raised against Duty Finder is the consequences of dealing with every type of player through recruiting from such an expansive roster. "Massive pool = massive tools" becomes held in the conciousness of most of the current playerbase, especially when the frequency of dealing with complete assbuckets and douchenozzles increases enormously. Those who are experienced in the game aren't immune to this label either as it's just as easy to label an inexperienced player a complete imbecile turdmuncher for not knowing what the fuck. Suddenly a new player to the game has his or her experience marred because of elitist snobbery from more seasoned players. This sort of immediately divides (as if the beta crowd wasn't divided enough already over other various issues) those against and for DF, but definitely not as much as its perceived overall social consequences.
Ultimately most people reference WoW's Looking for Dungeon/Raid tool as the very thing that eroded and eventually destroyed the last remnants of what player community remained in World of Warcraft. I wouldn't wholly agree with that statement 100% but I do agree it made the raiding and party experience very impersonal, despite its intentions. I also admit it's made WoW a social unsociable game, and it's made LFR/D something to endure rather than enjoy, all in the collective pursuit for gear and loot. I admit I have stirred some shit in LFR simply because I could, being bored carrying a raid full of bads with my veiny epeen of DPS. It makes it too easy to become jaded and slide into this mindset. Why care, no one else does, right?
:Perceived worry and concern (or more like rabid frothyness) that FFXIV's Duty Finder will do the same for this game's community as Looking for Raid/Dungeon did for Warcraft's player community (what's left of it, anyway).
Dungeons
Dang, I went on aboot that for a bit eh?
I flipped on the DF and set about to playing each dungeon one by one. Queues, despite them being longer for DPS classes passed by after nailing down a few mobs and doing a few well timed Levequests. Average time for queues never displayed for me, I wonder if it didn't for anyone else.
I'd have to say that surprisingly, the overall experience was actually pleasant and mostly painless. I like to think I was very lucky in getting groups of people that were seemingly rational and quick to learn even if it was apparent it was some of our first times through each place. The fights weren't insanely hard but roles still had to be fulfilled (Like tanking maybe? Thanks random marauder), otherwise some boss mechanics could quickly overrun a group.
i kill with my heart
Archer plays really well in a group. So long as one maintains Venomous Bite on bosses and high HP targets, Archers can haul in some threat pulling damage. Holding back for hate to get established first benefited me in the long run. If you had a sucky tank though, it could turn into a game of HP attrition between myself and whatever mob(s) had focus on me at the time.
By this time I finally got my first frontal cone AoE damage shot (I really ought to remember these skill names). The particle effect on them I think is pretty cool. However it's gotta be used wisely as spamming it will quickly drain your HP, and at current speed, it's not worth the damage output by doing so.
Continuing the Story
I won't spoil what happens, only that by the time I was through completing all 3 initial dungeons, I was fully hooked by the events. Off I went and quickly completed one quest after the other, despite numerous outside interruptions. Whenever I left I couldn't wait to be able to get back down to my computer and continue. I wanted to see what happens next. I knew a battle was brewing, and I was really anxious and eager to get to it so I could get down to it. I couldn't help but want to hurry, as I had been hearing lots of positive responses to the conclusive battle.
oh nothin, just thinkin 'bout burnin stuffs.
Ultimately I can see why they saved this for last. Like I said, I won't get too into the details of the fight, but the details of it all came together beautifully, despite the hangups I have of the game's graphics (and my Radeon card, and lack of Dx 11support).
i'mma hang dis off a gold chain mhm gorl
Graphics
I am divided. I'm running out of time before the next phase begins so I want to get this out of the way quickly. I had mentioned in an earlier post that FFXIV has a tendency to do shiny and glossy a little too well. I had also mentioned in an even earlier post that perhaps the initial shaders's glossiness and/or specular maps could be tinkered with to matte out some of the overboard reflectivity and shininess of certain materials. Metal has no problem looking like metal, however it's when things that aren't metal begin to look like it is where I usually start to get squirmy about it.
MEHHHHHHH.
I'm not joking when I say rocks are hard. As someone who is practicing 3D modeling whole environments, one of the first things I realized about making scenes outdoors is that my first time pass, my rocks looked like deformed baby poo. Sadder part still is that was my very teacher telling me this. Something seemingly simple can look awful or mediocre with lazy texturing and that's some of what I see on certain parts of the world. Especially outside. On rocks. I also have to remember that this is the beta, and ya know, I'm also just gonna have to accept it. It's doubtful at this point that replacing textures on some random wall is top notch priority Defcon 5 level shit.
if i turned something like this in i'd get raked tbqh.
Here's a few more parting screens before I get ready to begin this session of the beta. The good news is I don't have to be up early either, weeeeeeeeeeeeeee~~~~
-Riza
Until next time.
