So when it comes to demiatma and all the complaints ppl have about it, it really isn't about the rng or how big or small the drop rates are, its about how the system as a whole was implemented.
Let's take FFXI as an example. When it came to making a mythic weapon, there are multiple steps, but one of them is collecting 30,000 alexandrite, that don't have large drop rates by any means, so the amount seems daunting. However, not only can you run the content that these items drop from, you can also suppliment your farming by doing other tasks and buying them from players. You can craft, farm currency from dynamis to sell, etc. so there is always a steady growth towards your goal that can be accomplished multiple ways, and none of these ways were particularly easier than another. They all required effort.
But the big thing they got right, even if the number of alex you need is way too high, is that you always felt like you were working your way toward a goal. You saw the insanely high number, get smaller and smaller with each piece of content you tackled. So, while the number was insanely high and grind was a total pain, it didn't really feel so bad because you always felt like you were making advances toward your goal.
But here we have 1 piece of content to farm from, and it is yet another set of fates which is about the most boring and phone-it-in sort of content that has been a crutch for this game since its rebranding. And then to add insult to injury you can only farm certain demimateria from certain parts of the zone, some of which like the SW corner, are far more limited on chances for demimateria than the others.
You cannot buy demimateria, you cannot trade demimateria and you cannot trade them in to an npc that will exchange them for the ones you need.
So when you are farming these items it is completely possible to get 20 of 1 type and 0 of another. There is no feeling of working toward your goal, which in turn makes the entire grind feel waaay worse and punishing than it should.
It feels bad to farm the most tedious and boring content type for hours and hours, day after day and get drops that you can do nothing with outside of dropping them. They really should have made either 1 demimateria type and had us turn them in or they should have added a vendor that would have traded the materia you need on a 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 basis. Or givin us a repeatable daily quest like they did in ARR to get 1 drop per day in other pieces of content. If they were really smart they would add multiple that required different content and only allow 1 per day out of the bunch. Win 3 pvp matches, run all 3 Nier raids, complete 3 different exteremes, etc etc.
If they wanted to add this sort of content they should also have taken notes from Abyssea, again from FFXI. Have fates, but also have spawnable NMs, roaming NMs, Voidwalker NMs which require some hunting, etc. Locking the gear behind killing these NMs also would have been way better and more exciting than locking them behind a zone-specific currency. Also require the killing of trash mobs to get items to spawn these NMs, let you gain a lil experience and get random drops, like catch-up gear, crafting items and even vendor junk. It would have added a lot of fun and thrill to an old, tired and just plain boring system.
Grinding is not a bad thing. But when a company adds a grind this tedious that does not in any way feel rewarding you are going to have push back. It's not always "PeOpLe JuSt WaNt EvErYtHiNg HaNdEd To ThEm." and that is not the way to hand wave off ppl's responce to this horrible design choice and just makes you sound like our grandparents complaning about kids these days.
SE needs a better system and new types of content. The hallway/room/fate crutch is uninspired and tedious, esp when you are locked into it by a gods awful, unrewarding grind.
Continue reading...
Let's take FFXI as an example. When it came to making a mythic weapon, there are multiple steps, but one of them is collecting 30,000 alexandrite, that don't have large drop rates by any means, so the amount seems daunting. However, not only can you run the content that these items drop from, you can also suppliment your farming by doing other tasks and buying them from players. You can craft, farm currency from dynamis to sell, etc. so there is always a steady growth towards your goal that can be accomplished multiple ways, and none of these ways were particularly easier than another. They all required effort.
But the big thing they got right, even if the number of alex you need is way too high, is that you always felt like you were working your way toward a goal. You saw the insanely high number, get smaller and smaller with each piece of content you tackled. So, while the number was insanely high and grind was a total pain, it didn't really feel so bad because you always felt like you were making advances toward your goal.
But here we have 1 piece of content to farm from, and it is yet another set of fates which is about the most boring and phone-it-in sort of content that has been a crutch for this game since its rebranding. And then to add insult to injury you can only farm certain demimateria from certain parts of the zone, some of which like the SW corner, are far more limited on chances for demimateria than the others.
You cannot buy demimateria, you cannot trade demimateria and you cannot trade them in to an npc that will exchange them for the ones you need.
So when you are farming these items it is completely possible to get 20 of 1 type and 0 of another. There is no feeling of working toward your goal, which in turn makes the entire grind feel waaay worse and punishing than it should.
It feels bad to farm the most tedious and boring content type for hours and hours, day after day and get drops that you can do nothing with outside of dropping them. They really should have made either 1 demimateria type and had us turn them in or they should have added a vendor that would have traded the materia you need on a 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 basis. Or givin us a repeatable daily quest like they did in ARR to get 1 drop per day in other pieces of content. If they were really smart they would add multiple that required different content and only allow 1 per day out of the bunch. Win 3 pvp matches, run all 3 Nier raids, complete 3 different exteremes, etc etc.
If they wanted to add this sort of content they should also have taken notes from Abyssea, again from FFXI. Have fates, but also have spawnable NMs, roaming NMs, Voidwalker NMs which require some hunting, etc. Locking the gear behind killing these NMs also would have been way better and more exciting than locking them behind a zone-specific currency. Also require the killing of trash mobs to get items to spawn these NMs, let you gain a lil experience and get random drops, like catch-up gear, crafting items and even vendor junk. It would have added a lot of fun and thrill to an old, tired and just plain boring system.
Grinding is not a bad thing. But when a company adds a grind this tedious that does not in any way feel rewarding you are going to have push back. It's not always "PeOpLe JuSt WaNt EvErYtHiNg HaNdEd To ThEm." and that is not the way to hand wave off ppl's responce to this horrible design choice and just makes you sound like our grandparents complaning about kids these days.
SE needs a better system and new types of content. The hallway/room/fate crutch is uninspired and tedious, esp when you are locked into it by a gods awful, unrewarding grind.
Continue reading...