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The Soapbox: Six reasons MMOs should abandon raiding, part 2
In yesterday's Soapbox, I had some things to say about why it's time to dump raiding. I'm writing this before I've seen the comment responses, but I'm willing to bet that a fair amount of angry shouting was involved in the comments because that's what I usually expect. But I wasn't done, as suggested by the whole "part 1" thing in the title header. For those don't feel like reading the whole thing, the short version is that raiding is too expensive to develop for too small a portion of the players. This is a solid argument, but it's standard: You hear it every time this debate comes up. In some ways, it's the foundation of the argument against raiding beyond the reality that most people say they just don't like raiding. There's more to be said, though, and there are more serious issues up for discussion. Raiding isn't just expensive in terms of development. It's expensive in lots of ways.
The Mog Log: The end of Final Fantasy XIV's 2.0 cycle
It's going to be a little while until we see the next major patch for Final Fantasy XIV. I'm not expecting to see patch 2.5 in the wild until February, to be honest. That's a little longer than the standard three months, but we've also got a holiday season through there and a not exactly clockwork schedule to begin with. It's enough time to get plenty of Poetics kit, make headway into Second Coil, and get thoroughly sick of the expert roulette dungeons. Perhaps the game shouldn't always just keep the three most recent dungeons on there... But we still have interquel patches to consider, starting with the promised inclusion of Eternal Bonds in 2.45. While we've still got a little bit of time until the next Live Letter (which will no doubt reveal more about what's coming for the next few months), we've got enough information to speculate, prognosticate, and forecast, which is exactly what I want to do for this week. It's a thing I do.
One Shots: Nowhere to hide
Generally, I don't like to be pessimistic, but I have to say that things don't look good for reader Brad here. Sooner or later his childish game will fall apart, and when that happens, it will be all teeth and claws and slavering fangs. But at least it's for a good cause, right Brad? Oh, it's just to level up his skills. "To get your skills up in Ultima Online, you had to use them over and over," Brad explains. "As they got higher, you had to do more difficult things with some skills. This was me trying to up my hiding skill. Lets just say, trying to hide in front of this many Ophidians, was not easy... but I was gaining skill! They could not get to me up here." Who here feels bad for the Ophidians? Raise your hands please. I thought as much.
Three new Final Fantasy games coming to iOS, and FFVII isn't one of them
Square Enix will be making RPG fans very happy in 2015 with three new Final Fantasy apps for iOS, Famitsu reports. Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, Final Fantasy Legends: Crystal of Time, and a Final Fantasy Portal App are all headed to Apple's mobile platform next year. Brave Exvius and Crystal of Time are both actual games, with the former appearing more like a traditional Final Fantasy game, played on a horizontal screen, and the latter offering a hand-drawn comic style, with all the screenshots showing gameplay on a vertically oriented screen. The Final Fantasy Portal App will act as a news hub with details on games and other information, along with a built-in card game originally found in Final Fantasy VIII. All apps will be free-to-play, so expect some "optional" paid content.
Choose My Adventure: Final Fantasy XIV's thaumaturgery
One of the more frustrating elements of helming Choose My Adventure is that I start every game with hopeless incompetence and spend four weeks trying desperately to reach some level of understanding with that game's core mechanics. MMO players take for granted the basic masteries they have over the systems they command and forget that the first 20 or so levels of any new game are usually spent in a fog of half-understandings and misconceptions. Because it's so difficult to continually learn a game's idiosyncrasies, I was a bit wary of last week's Choose My Adventure polls. Having just grown comfortable with our Miqo'te Pugilist and the basic rotations that power her damage, I found the thought of taking on an entirely new class fairly intimidating. Aren't Thaumaturges hard to play? Don't they have confusing ability combos and weird buffs? Luckily, Final Fantasy XIV understands the challenge in switching classes and isn't afraid to babysit you while you re-learn the ropes.
Final Fantasy XIV has been besieged by DDoS attacks
If you've been playing Final Fantasy XIV over the past few evenings, you've probably noticed some issues: odd disconnections, login difficulties, things like that. Turns out it wasn't just some general server weirdness; apparently the game is being hit by DDoS attacks that are leading to heavy server load and all of the fun that comes along with it. The official post states that the attacks are being carried out by a currently unknown third party, with Square-Enix working to try to stop the attacks from all possible angles. It also apologizes for the issues that players are having. So the good news is that it's not just your connection, and the bad news is that someone decided that it's fun to be a jerk. Again.
Choose My Adventure: So much punching in Final Fantasy XIV
Last week's Choose My Adventure polls on Final Fantasy XIV were very close. With a few more votes in one direction instead of another, we'd be playing a Roegadyn arcanist or a Lalafell thaumaturge. Unfortunately for people who hate human-animal hybrids, voters selected a Miqo'te pugilist by the hair on a cat's tail (Is this a saying? It should be a saying). Consider our character's cat ears the Massively version of growing a Movember moustache. With our hero forged and her job chosen, it's time to start adventuring.
Final Fantasy XIV's Yoshida on housing, test servers, and post-Fanfest
Final Fantasy XIV has had a busy year, and it looks to be having a busy next year to boot. The game's first expansion is in the works and planned for a release in spring of 2015, along with another major patch to cap off the game's current patch cycle. And director/producer Naoki Yoshida continues steering the ship, working what I can only assume is a 200-hour week. I had a chance to ask a few questions of Yoshida around the time of the first two fanfests of the year (the final one is scheduled for December in Tokyo), ranging from housing questions to the promise of public test servers to how hard it will be to establish an Eternal Bond. Jump on past the break to read the full interview!
Final Fantasy XIV introduces character rename service
You've been enjoying your time playing Final Fantasy XIV, which is good. You hadn't expected to, but you have, and that's even better. But it does make your hastily considered name of "Ffxiv Blows" a bit less than appropriate. Or perhaps you've just grown tired of your in-game avatar's appellation, whether it's a setting-appropriate name like M'lana Nyokha or a less-setting-appropriate name like Mycat Isanimrod. You don't have to suffer a poor name any longer, though, as the rename feature has arrived. Character renames can now be purchased through the game's account management page per character, allowing you to type in a new character name when you're logging in much like the appearance-changing aspects of Fantasia. The cost for a single rename is $10, and they are purchased per character rather than account-wide. So if you've long been looking to alter your character's less-than-dignified sobriquet, you can do that now.
The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV and approaching the end of the story
All right, Final Fantasy XIV isn't really approaching the end of its story. If you think that Heavensward won't include its own set of story missions, well, suffice it to say you are almost certainly wrong. But the ending of the 2.0 storyline will be like closing a chapter in a book, and this patch is the first step along that path. The next patch will close the chapter and begin anew, bringing us down unfamiliar roads. As a result, parts of this patch flirted with important story parts. Others flung themselves right ahead in ways that I hadn't expected. As always, this post will contain spoilers for 2.4's story, so if you haven't already seen all of it yet, be warned. It will not, however, contain spoilers for the Final Coil in any meaningful way. So if you've held off from the spoilers already swirling about that, fear not. Some of you are quite possibly working on that now.
One Shots: Snowblind
Water comes in many forms: gas, liquid, squirt gun, and cheaper beverage option to Olive Garden's wine menu. It can also be frozen in a variety of ways, which makes it perfect for an aquatic-themed expansion as seen in our first screenshot for the week. "Here's a picture from RIFT's expansion, Nightmare Tide," reader Bill sent in. "This is from the glacier area above the main city. The main city is deep underwater and is protected by a blue 'bubble' that extends just above the water line. To reach the upper areas, you use a bouncer (near portals) that shoots you up and into the water." Caution: Do not look at this screenshot for too long, lest you be robbed of your sight by the blinding glare.
The end is coming to Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin
All good things must come to an end. So it goes for Final Fantasy XI's most recent expansion, Seekers of Adoulin, which will be wrapping up its story in the version update going live next week. Players will be pitched into a final battle to determine the fate of the land, lest darkness overtake it... and it probably won't. These stories don't usually end with the heroes totally failing, after all. It'd be a downer back in Jeuno. The rewards available for clearing the main scenario include a special coat and matching gloves as well as a dozen different rings that should prove quite useful for filling out any player's equipment sets. Tanking, dealing damage, using pets, and even crafting can be improved through use of these rings, giving players more than enough incentive to see the story through to the end. Along with finishing out the story as a whole, too, that's incentive.
Final Fantasy XIV opens up a free login weekend, Steam demo
Have you been taking a break from Final Fantasy XIV recently? Do you want to see what the game's most recent patch brings to the table before deciding to resubscribe or not? Then go ahead and log in over the weekend because everyone with a registered copy of the game will be eligible to log in and check out the game for free. It might not be enough time to check out everything in the patch, but it's enough time to see some of it, at least. If you don't already have the game, you can play the free 14-day trial demo on Steam, where the game is on sale for $12 for the next week. The free reactivation starts 3 a.m. EST on November 7th and runs until 3 a.m. EST on November 10th. This latest patch adds the new Rogue class, three new dungeons, a new battle against the primal Shiva, and several other quests and quality of life improvements. But you don't have to take our word for it; you can dive back in and give it a shot for yourself.
Choose My Adventure: Final Fantasying
Final Fantasy, born in 1987 on the Nintendo Entertainment System, is Square-Enix's most successful franchise with over 100 million units sold in its 27-year history. Final Fantasy is essentially a constant in the games industry; there is always a current Final Fantasy game, and there is always an anticipated Final Fantasy game. No matter the day or time, thousands of people across the globe are playing one Final Fantasy or another. Final Fantasy is a Big Deal. That's not to say everything has been sunshine and roses for the series. Fans are passionate about the brand and have had some less than stellar reactions to certain decisions in various iterations of the franchise. Perhaps the most notorious story in all of Final Fantasyland was the launch, un-launch, and re-launch of Final Fantasy XIV, which has been discussed in great depth here at Massively. It's been over a year since Final Fantasy XIV became Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. And with a new expansion on the way and the massive patch 2.4 freshly live, there's no better time to leap into this title to see what we can see in this month's edition of Choose My Adventure.
Final Fantasy XI looks forward to its November update next Monday
Final Fantasy XI is sounding the Mog alarm to let players know that on Monday, November 10th, it will be rolling out the next major update for the game. The November update contains the new Unity Concord system, challenging wanted battles, weapon skill adjustments, and additional pets for the Beastmaster. That patch will land the day before its 11/11 anniversary event titled Sunshine Seeker that's running in conjunction with the ongoing login campaign. You can get an animated and musical overview of the November update in a video after the break!
The Mog Log: Exploring Final Fantasy XIV's 2.4 dungeons
The first time I ran the new dungeons added to Final Fantasy XIV in patch 2.4, I was kind of surprised. They seemed a lot harder, and I hit more wipes on the way to the end than I had while learning the 2.3 dungeons. After a couple of additional runs, though, I don't think they're really all that bad, just replete with mechanics that are sort of designed to trip groups up and with more than a few nasty surprises. It also helped that I was running with Ninja after the first runs, so that felt more natural. As it's been less than a week since the dungeons were added, it seems like a fine time to give you lovely folks a guide to what's going on in here and what needs to be done. So let's chatter about the new dungeons you'll be running in Expert roulettes for that beautiful poetics armor.
Final Fantasy rides a G-Bike onto Japan's iOS, Android stores
Final Fantasy 7 G-Bike, the mobile adaptation of Final Fantasy 7's motorcycle combat mini-game, has arrived for Japanese iOS and Android devices, according to Famitsu (as translated by Siliconera). Announced back in June, G-Bike buckles players into the role of FF7 hero Cloud Strife as he heroically destroys taxpayer-funded highways monsters and other bad guys with his trademark Buster Sword. Those in the West looking to swing bladed objects while riding questionably-safe vehicles at dangerously high speeds will have to wait a bit longer for G-Bike to become available for their devices. Unfortunately, we're not sure how long, as Square Enix has not revealed a stateside or European launch date. Hmmm, maybe if we collect enough materia ... [Image: Square Enix]
The Mog Log Extra: Hands-on with Final Fantasy XIV's new Ninja
This week's patch 2.4 for Final Fantasy XIV added in a new class and job: the Rogue and Ninja. It's the first addition to the game since 2.0's Arcanist, Summoner, and Scholar, and as was true with those classes those, this week you could not take two steps outside of Limsa Lominsa without seeing a flurry of Rogues everywhere, thus rather obviating the "stealthy" part of the whole stealthy assassin gimmick they have going. Of course, only a few Rogues reach maturity from their Limsan spawning grounds. But maybe you're in it for the long haul. You want this to be your new main, you want to understand how to play this class in the endgame, and you want to be one of the best darn dagger-wielding maniacs the game has ever seen. I cannot tell you how to be one of the best, but I can at least give you the benefits of my insights from having relentlessly pushed at the class and learned what makes it tick.
Final Fantasy XI wants you back really bad
Final Fantasy XI is dangling quite a few incentives for adventurers considering a return to Vana'diel. First up is the Idyllic Vana'diel campaign, which begins on November 10th. You'll get login prizes, double XP, and more. There's also a discount campaign, which features substantial price reductions on everything from the Seekers of Adoulin expansion pack to the FFXI Ultimate Collection Seeker's Edition. Finally, don't forget about the Adventurer Appreciation campaign, which rewards players who had active accounts between September 1st and October 31st.
Final Fantasy XIV patch 2.4 has a slightly bumpy release
Today you may not hear much from your friends playing Final Fantasy XIV, as the long-awaited Patch 2.4 is now live and kicking. It's a sizable content update full of quests, instances, and of course the new Rogue class and Ninja job. We've been reading up on the patch notes since late last week, although there are a few issues keeping this release from being completely smooth. Square-Enix noted that there are problems with chocobos getting stuck in their stables and said that new character creation may be restricted during more busy periods.
