Hi everyone!
I'm finding most of the threads on ARR here to be pretty clinical, so I thought we could use a place for new players like myself to ask questions, and for people to generally chat about the qualitative value of various game elements.
I'll start. First, a question: how's the crafting? I didn't touch it during my day-long stint in the beta, and I've heard it's more engaging than typical MMO fare. I'd say my favorite crafting system was in Vanguard, but the rest of that game was pretty rotten and it did not age well. Darkfall's crafting was pretty engaging/addictive as well, but just like the rest of that game it was a bit too hardcore for me.
I really enjoyed what I played yesterday. However, I think in polishing their formula for a modern audience they may have sanded smooth some of the rough edges that lended FFXI a lot of its personality. From the bottom looking up, it seems like the kind of game where maxing out a class might take two weeks of diligent play. I think that approach places more of an onus on the developers to keep fresh content flowing (is the team up to it?), whereas in FFXI the journey from 1-75, plus subjobs, artifact armor, etc., took long enough to perpetuate itself for a good long while. I'm under the impression that all this changed since I last played in 2007, but alas.
All that said, I'm glad they kept the ability to level everything on one character. It felt genius in 2003, and it still does because most games don't allow you the freedom. I haven't gotten far enough to know if cross-class abilities are as satisfying as the subjob system, but the idea of having a bunch of different useful buffs (20% extra damage, mitigation, etc.) on separate two minute timers is enticing.
Visually the game is well put together, though a bit ugly on PS3. I need to see about turning off some of the combat effects, as even in small parties there were entirely too many distracting particle effects flying around.
I tried out the duty finder, which worked well. I'd call my tanking inadequate though, as I do not quite have a handle on target-switching with a controller yet. I suspect I need to tweak some settings and bang out some macros to address the issue. I also need to drop this bad habit of just keeping the triggers pressed. It'll be easier to work out in release, when I can theoretically play with some of you all in a more relaxed setting.
I'm getting longwinded in my old age. Anyway, share your impressions and ask questions!
Edit: Typos and repeats, argh!
I'm finding most of the threads on ARR here to be pretty clinical, so I thought we could use a place for new players like myself to ask questions, and for people to generally chat about the qualitative value of various game elements.
I'll start. First, a question: how's the crafting? I didn't touch it during my day-long stint in the beta, and I've heard it's more engaging than typical MMO fare. I'd say my favorite crafting system was in Vanguard, but the rest of that game was pretty rotten and it did not age well. Darkfall's crafting was pretty engaging/addictive as well, but just like the rest of that game it was a bit too hardcore for me.
I really enjoyed what I played yesterday. However, I think in polishing their formula for a modern audience they may have sanded smooth some of the rough edges that lended FFXI a lot of its personality. From the bottom looking up, it seems like the kind of game where maxing out a class might take two weeks of diligent play. I think that approach places more of an onus on the developers to keep fresh content flowing (is the team up to it?), whereas in FFXI the journey from 1-75, plus subjobs, artifact armor, etc., took long enough to perpetuate itself for a good long while. I'm under the impression that all this changed since I last played in 2007, but alas.
All that said, I'm glad they kept the ability to level everything on one character. It felt genius in 2003, and it still does because most games don't allow you the freedom. I haven't gotten far enough to know if cross-class abilities are as satisfying as the subjob system, but the idea of having a bunch of different useful buffs (20% extra damage, mitigation, etc.) on separate two minute timers is enticing.
Visually the game is well put together, though a bit ugly on PS3. I need to see about turning off some of the combat effects, as even in small parties there were entirely too many distracting particle effects flying around.
I tried out the duty finder, which worked well. I'd call my tanking inadequate though, as I do not quite have a handle on target-switching with a controller yet. I suspect I need to tweak some settings and bang out some macros to address the issue. I also need to drop this bad habit of just keeping the triggers pressed. It'll be easier to work out in release, when I can theoretically play with some of you all in a more relaxed setting.
I'm getting longwinded in my old age. Anyway, share your impressions and ask questions!
Edit: Typos and repeats, argh!
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Any more info or comments about the gameplay please? Not sure if I will get into AAR, but I'm very curious about what it's like. Thanks~