Sword Oath Versus Shield Oath Post Deemed Pointless

Hey all,

Some of you have actually went so far to send me emails concerning when the next post would be able Shield and Sword Oath mechanics (which I love, please keep sending emails).  Due to this I wanted to give information as to why such a report is pointless.

This game is built in such a way that Enmity should not be a factor in determining your stance choice.  Through more refined play and decision making you can reach a point where you really do not lose threat any longer on AoE pulls (barring a BLM or BRD getting good crit RNG at which point "hello Cover").  As a side note, if you actually lose threat to DPS on a Coil boss then shame on you, you are playing like shit or lagging or your DPS aren't smart enough to let you be a GCD ahead of them.

So, you might be asking, "Why choose a stance at all?"

Basically, through your experience or others you need to decide which stance fits the situation.  It comes down to a few questions:

-Is Shield Oath needed because of the boss doing absurd amounts of damage?
-Is Shield Oath needed because you are pulling multiple packs of mobs and are going to have to rotate CDs?
-Does not using Shield Oath require an unrealistic amount of additional stress on the healer(s)?

Guess what, if you answered "No" on every question then you should be in SWORD OATH.

If you answered "Yes" to any of the questions then SHIELD OATH is what you need to have on.

Hope that was helpful for the folks that couldn't seem to piece it together themselves.

Best,
Ventus Invictus

Base Enmity Seems To Be Normalized

At some point over last weekend it appears a ninja patch or something on the backend has been changed by SE normalizing Enmity.

Sword/Shield Oath Testing to be conducted this week.

Endgame Paladin Guide and Enmity/Shield Oath Research

Hey all,

I know it has been a while since my last actual content post, but I have simply been busy enjoying the game and with real life.  Hopefully, this doesn't deter anyone from coming to this blog to checkout ideas and express opinions.

Disclaimer:  This post shall serve as my take on endgame Paladin in FFXIV: ARR.  The content will stretch between things every Paladin must do and what I personally do to maximize -my- play. Anytime you are playing an MMO it comes down to the method you are comfortable with doing things while still fulfilling your role (an example being a LOT of healers I know love mouseover macros, some healers don't, it comes down to personal preference and their ability to use mouseover skills without error).

The Setup

Keyboard and Mouse

Starting with the bars I use for every class;

Bar 3, the only things raid relevant here are the potions, ethers, and antidotes, obviously useful for sparse situations but worth having.

Bar 7, Job changes followed by my town PLD gear and my DPS PLD gear (lulz).

Bar 1:

1-5 easily accessible, abilities you should be using the most.

6 a bit of a stretch for my hands so it is nice for my mount as I use ~ for another feature.

ZXCVFR looking at the keyboard this is a nice wrap around the movement keys WASDQE, a lot of people will also replace QE strafing for other things, while I use these keys very seldom as I tend to mix between mouse and keyboard movement, or a hybrid there of, I just leave them be mostly out of my own muscle memory.

Bar 2: 

I use a shift modifier for this row, other than that the explanations are the same, in WoW I also used an alt modifier for a third row of abilities; however, that isn't good for healing in that game because using ALT+ a heal will cast it on yourself, thus I have weened off that configuration.

Cross hotbar (Controller)

I've actually been playing quite a bit on PS3, it's relaxing and great for doing easy content.  For the time being, I am using 3 cross hotbar pages for Paladin, and one of those is just my general bar.

Please note I used the "Mixed" mode for the triggers, meaning I can just tap R2/L2 to lock the bar or hold them for any time greater than 1 seconds so that they disappear when I release.  It just means I get to lock the bar I am using without having to double tap it to close it so long as I hold for 1 second or more (great for mounting or getting to menus).

 Set 1:

Pretty simple, I tap R2 and then have access to most of Paladin's direct damage skills, Halone combo easy to get to, Shield Swipe on same side since it is one of your most valuable abilities (will go over this later), on the other side we have the abilities we use for hate or interrupting.

Set 2:

This is what I was using for speed run situations, if you notice the right side, it has Sprint, defensive CDs, and hate grabbing tools.  The left Side is for overflow abilities to use during training mobs and the stances to swap between.

Set 8:

Just what I use to access menus, travel, and pull out my battleboco.

While I don't claim to maximize the Cross Hotbar system, these set ups let me do any content I could want while leisurely sitting on my couch in the evening.  And yes, these are PC pictures; however, I always opt for KB/M on PC.

Abilities

Fast Blade > Savage Blade > Rage of Halone

The enmity combo, pretty self explanatory, very nice that we have a STR down debuff on rage of Halone but I wish we had a combo to put slashing debuff on mobs like Warrior.  Really nothing else to say, this is your bread and butter.

Fast Blade > Riot Blade

Honestly, I don't even use it enough anymore to keep Riot Blade on my Bars (it actually isn't on my Cross Hotbar setup).  Restores a bit of MP, but we shouldn't ever MP floor unless we are picking up an ungodly amount of adds with Flash.

Shield Swipe

This is an ability that many Paladins don't seem to be aware of and this makes me incredibly sad since it is the KEY to having TP over the long course of a fight.  Shield Swipe is on the GCD, decent potency, a pacification effect (stops skills from being used), and USES 40 TP.  Oh, and not to mention that it doesn't disrupt your Rage of Halone combo and you can easily fit in 2 Shield Swipes before the combo will timeout.  This ability is the only thing that keeps Paladin off the TP Floor during long fights or when they have to stun repeatedly.  I can NOT stress its importance enough.

Flash

Minimal AOE threat per cast.  A lot of Paladins are using this after Circle of Scorn to watch the timer and make sure they always get the full duration.  A lot of Paladins seem to forget this is a blind that hits pretty much any mob or boss.  Use it as such, it is part of your mitigation.  For trash pulls, 3 of these or so at the start will give solid hate as long as you are using your off the GCD abilities on the primary target so the DPS don't take hate.  Use at regular intervals to make sure healers don't taste dirt if you cant cycle the Rage of Halone skill on the secondary mobs while killing the primary (will discuss more later).

Provoke and Shield Lob

Threat at a distance.  Provoke puts you at highest enmity+1, literally, +1, not 10%, not even 1%, just 1.  Luckily Provoke is off the GCD so a quick Shield Lob for ranged threat and you are good!

Spirits Within

If you aren't saving this for silence then use it on CD, it is off the GCD, free damage and threat.  If you know you aren't going to be topped off soon just blow it anyways, delaying the ability to wait for health for max potency isnt worth losing a use or two of this ability through the course of a long fight.

Circle of Scorn

AOE hit and a DOT.  Also off the GCD, I usually weave it in as soon as I can.

Defensive Cooldowns

Not going to bother going into these (except 1) in detail as they are pretty self explanatory and I am sure you have read about them a hundred times already.

Bulwark

As I discussed Shield Swipe earlier we now have a secodary use for Bulwark.  Use this ability when you are low on TP and wish to refill a bit.

Cross Class Skills

Ok, first off, CURE. IS. BAD.  Thre I've said it.  Your measly 200-250 cures are a waste of MP and not going to save you.  Now, STONESKIN. IS. GOOD.  Unlike Cure, Stoneskin scales with your gear and level.  Get that Conjurer up to 34 and learn this ability, creating a 500-580 shield on yourself can really alleviate the healer's worry on some big fights.  Use Stoneskin whenever you can't be attack the boss or the extra boost could save your ass.

Foresight is not what you think it is (this applies to probably 80% or more of people), read it again, it is not Rampart for Warriors.  Foresight increases DEFENSE by 20%, it is not a 20% reduction in damage taken.  This greatly deflates the abilities value but really, we don't have a lot to choose from.  I will pair Foresight with Bulwark a lot of the time in order to pretend they are both actually a cooldown.

Fracture is a DPS gain for Paladin, I don't currently have it on my bars but admittedly should. 

Bloodbath not a cooldown I would use to save myself from death, but a little bit of damage helps, especially paired with Flight or Flight.

Raise and Protect are things I use when doing DF dungeons, Raise was nice in case healer got aggro but insta casted a rez on you before death.  Both have minimal uses in parties.

Skull Sunder no.

Mercy Stroke an off the GCD move that heals you if you get the killshot.  Not great, not awful, useful for maximizing DPS if that is a concern. (When I have it equipped it replaces Riot Blade on my bar.)

Stat Priority

Basic Stats

VIT, maximize it.  If you are thinking, "but Ventus, I never die, I could go STR and help do more damage!" Yes, you are right, but if you are thinking this you are obviously not in The Binding Coil of Bahamut.  I will concede it might be worth sacrificing a VERY small amount of VIT if it will hit a new parry/block mitigation tier by getting some STR.

STR, second primary stat.  More damage (threat) and the Parry/Block Mitigation amounts.  Feel free to gear for it in accessories if you are overgearing the content, do NOT switch out your primary armor pieces though as you will lose DEF/MDEF and probably be a significant strain on the healers.

DEX, Shield Block Rate seems to work a lot like Evasion in FFXI.  Think of the Block Rate listed on your shield as the size of your drinking glass and DEX as the amount of water you put in that glass.  Once that glass is full then adding more water does nothing.  Additionally, I am at a loss to find the link, but it appears that you get enough natural DEX to max or almost max your shield block rate.  lolcritrate people.

MND, Cure potency! This isn't WoW. No.

INT, Who needs to be smart when you are valorous?  No.

PIE, Riot Blade (lolcontradictions).

Secondary Stats

Parry Comes on a lot of tank gear, not sure if it reduces your Block Rate by having more or if they do not interact with one another.

Accuracy I have never seen a miss on a Primal or anything I have noticed in Coil.  I don't know if we just get too much of this or we have enough naturally.  I see no use for it myself.

Determination I don't know how the rumor started that it effect the damage you take.  It doesn't. This boosts our damage/threat at a minimal outcome but we don't have a lot of choice in tank stats.

Skill Speed I don't mind that, proper play and Shield Swipe should keep us off TP Floor.  Don't materia for it or anything, but it isn't shit other than the low low point to percentage ratio.

Crit My favorite stat after Parry.  Our best DPS/threat increase.

Spell Speed More Flashes and Cures DAWG!  No.

Opening Combat Against a Single Target

This is how I open combat against something like a Primal or other boss or even a single trash mob like the Dullahans in AK.

1. Pre-pop Fight or Flight

2. Shield Lob

3. Spirits Within if in Range

4. Fast Blade

5. Circle of Scorn if Spirits Within was used

6. Savage Blade

7. Blow Defensive CD if deemed necessary

8. Rage of Halone

Now, please not that 1, 3, 5, and 7 are all OFF the GCD.  So I have just gotten in 8 abilities in 4 GCDs or roughly 10 seconds.  Yay optimization!  This set will get you solid initial threat on top of having your DPS CD started, your off the GCD skills recharging, and the option to pop a Sentinel/Rampart/whatever if your healers are sluggish.

Opening Combat Against Multiple Targets

Now this can vary depends on a couple factors:  speed of the mobs, layout of the room/space you are in, special mechanics (like the gargoyle spawns in AK delaying/being triggered), etc.

Generally I will open and go through the fight as such:

1. Pre-pop Fight or Flight

2. Shield Lob 1 mob if I am pulling them back or running in and Flashing

3. Spirits Within if only 1 mob is near, Circle of Skorn if mobs are stacked

4. Flash

5. SW main target if I used CoS prior, CoS if I used SW prior

6. Flash

7. Possibly Off GCD Defensive CD

8. Fast Blade main target

9. Savage Blade main target

10. Rage of Halone non-main target

The key here is in step 10, you want to Rage of Halone the non main targets in order to lock thread down on them hard.  Fast Blade > Savage blade on top of your already SW, CoS, and Flashes should not allow DPS to pull threat off you unless they were doing something silly like a BLM prenuking on pull.

Regarding Warrior

This is not intended as a rant on the Paladin master race or mudslinging on Warriors.  I am going to explain the patterns I have seen and then my reasonings for them.

The Difference Been the Two Tanks

Let me show you some math that shows, as far as Effective Health is concerned (disregarding Parry and Block!), Warrior and Paladin are on equal footing to start with.

Warrior: 

Defiance, +25% HP. -0% Damage Received.

HP*1.25/1.00= 125HP

Paladin:

Shield Oath, +0% HP, -20% Damage Received.

HP*1.00/0.8= 125HP

Conclusion: Assuming that no blocks, parries, dodges, or misses occur, no cooldowns used, and that both have the same Defense Value, then a Paladin or a Warrior can take the exact same amount of damage before dying because they have the same effective heatlh.

Avoidance:  Paladin and Warrior both get Parry from Gear, Dodge and Miss naturally depending on blinds etc.  We can Disregard these.

Mitigation:  Paladins have a Shield, Warriors have Self-Healing.  In an Ideal world Warriors would heal a little more than we block, I will explain why we want them to do it more in a bit.  A Paladin with Relic Shield seems to have a respectable block rate and 26-28% reduction depending on his STR, Warriors do not mitigate this much through constant healing.  Notably, Warriors should be setting at maximum Wrath for the 10% crit and 15% healing helping balance them a bit.

The Big Problem, Cooldowns:  As we went over previously Foresight is pretty shit, Bloodbath is better on Warrior than Paladin but still not a good "oh shit" button.  Warriors have The Thrill of Battle (+20% HP, 10s) and Infuriate (Max Wrath Stacks).  Infuriate essentially lets you use a Wrath-Spender (usually Inner Beast for a nice heal) and instantly have your +15% healing buff again.  Match these up against Paladin (Rampart, Convalescence, Sentinel, Bulwark, Foresight, Tempured Will, lolAwareness, and of course Hallowed Ground) and Warrior is just going to be taking pretty much full damage all the time where a Paladin can Rotate Cooldowns for a good couple minutes of solid mitigation boosting.

Not Done Yet:  The problem isn't over yet folks.  We have to consider the healers.  Now, mana can be made a non-issue depending on group setup of course, and it should be obvious that Paladins take less damage so they require less healing to be topped off, so what are we really looking at here?  The Global Cooldown.  The GCD is a limiting factor on the throughput for healers.  Warriors, despite their +15% heals taken are going to need a little less than 25% more healing that Paladins.  This means it is a lot easier for the Warrior to get whittled down or float at a lower HP point and get killed by an ability+autoattack combo than a Paladin would.

Practical Application:

Paladins are the superior tank for Coil content and probably raid content once it is released (although 1 Warrior will be necessary for slash debuff).  Paladins take less damage, require less healer resources (mana and GCD), and have cooldowns that Warriors seriously need in order to be effective.

Shield Oath, Sword Oath, and the Enmity Problem

Me and a few Company Mates/Friends have been trying to figure out how much enmity Shield Oath actually provides.  This has led to a lot of confusion and headaches, so I am just going to present the data we have; however, before that, I want to dispel a serious problem with a table on http://valk.dancing-mad.com/?page_id=231. 

Let me show you the Table I have an issue with:

First off, the above table has some problem because it isn't explaining the whole picture.

So you're a Paladin in Shield Oath, cool, -20% damage given/taken and according to this table x2 enmity.  Let's first realize something as a community about the potency of your skills.

Looking at this table you would think:

Rage of Halone (in combo) is awesome, it is 260 potency x5 enmity from the skill (this has been verified) and woot x2 enmity from Shield Oath.  That should be 2600 potencies worth of enmity for that single skill, 4100 for the full combo.  

There is a fundamental flaw here that the above table does not account for and that I think people have just missed.  You have a -20% damage dealth penalty on, this effectlive limits your potency buff considerably.

For the same of ease let us consider a 100 potency attack, and we will play with the idea that Shield Oath actually gives x2 enmity.

100 potency *0.8 *2 = 160 potency

So, going from no buff to Shield Oath does NOT give you 200 potency worth of threat, it only gives you 160 potency worth of threat because of the damage nerf.  

This is why DPS can actually keep up with tanks on threat from a potency standpoint.  Now on to the Main Show, Shield Oath testing...

Setup

Above you will find myself and Taggerung Jaskarath, on of our tanks in <RELIC>, he is wearing a 4 str ring to match my STR.  These tests have also been performed with Jahaudant Rivea who is the same race/side as me.

Testing

As you can see by the buffs I have no stance and Tagg is in Shield Oath (decreasing the potency of his Flash by 20%) and look at that, I have more threat than him.  Quite interesting.

Tested again, and again, and again.  This was really quite interesting for us.  We both have Curtana+1 and HS+1, we even upped his VIT with accessories to see if that had any bearing (it didn't).

So we thought, maybe the enmity bonus works on actual damaging attacks, let's do Shield Lob so the monster does not get auto attacked.

Oh look, different ability, same story.  And we tested again, and again, and again...  Next, we thought let's try Spirits Within since it does more damage, but we had to try several times so no one auto attacked to give accurate readings.  Our first few have Autoattack hits because we had to figure out how to get the attack off without it triggering (a weird movement plus timing on SW). 

This attempt shows the auto attack and the SW damage, notice the threat:

So why not just test auto attack?

So, we wanted to get a baseline (no buffs on) to check and see what was up.  Note that almost all our stats are identical or the are a 1% difference (same determination, same STR, etc), so it is useless that things that small are making this large a difference, a 1% difference in STR (we always both had equivalent STR to this point).  Here is what our baseline showed us:

Look at these 2 closely.

No buffs.

I even have more hate when I do less damage.

At this point all we could say is What The Fuck.

Again, we have the same STR, determination, attack potency, magic potency, same weapon, same shield.  We can NOT figure this out.  Our only real difference is that Azemya is my god and Halone is his, oh and his race.  Maybe Male Miqo'te are just hated more by everyone...

So, to continue testing we pumped up Tagg's STR with accessories...

In the above photo Tagg is at 55 STR to my 234 and we take pretty much the exact same threat. So now we have the same baseline, let's try Shield Oath!

In the above picture we had Tagg wait a moment in order to see the change in enmity.  I take the hit because of this delay, but as you can see in the party window, Tagg has hate, just just a little bit.  So we went back to flash, the no damage potency trial.

Oh, pretty much the same difference in threat as the Shield Lob test.

Please note we did switch it up between either of us Shield Lobbing first, Flashing first, who had Shield Oath on.  I realize most of these pictures show Tagg with Shield Oath on, they were just the ones that came out best, and additionally, if he had Shield Oath, should I have EVER beaten him on any threat test?  My answer is no.

Conclusions on Enmity, Shield Oath, and Sword Oath

Unless I am missing something obvious it seems Square Enix has seen fit to give people hidden enmity values.  I don't know if this is based on race, god choice, RNG, whatever, but with near identical stats accross the whole board I pull a considerable amount of threat more than Tagg does.  We had to pump him to 21 STR higher than my base just so he got a little more enmity from Flash and Shield Lob than myself.

Eyeballing is never a good method of measure, but it unfortunately all we have with that threat meter SE has given us.  When our baseline matched (me at 234 STR, tagg at 255 STR) we were able to see that Shield Oath DID in fact provide additional threat over no buff; however, it is not even close to being double.  The flash test is good for this since it does no damage; however, I suspect it might have a damage range similar to any skill that actually does damage.

Take time, look at the numbers and the threat levels on the above screenshots.  Shield Oath or Enmity in general is BROKEN and needs to be addressed very soon.

We did test Sword Oath; however, it seems to have no effect on enmity other than the bonus autoattack damage.

Summary or TL;DNR

Setting up your Hotkeys/Keybinds or Cross Hotbar is paramount in order to maximize your individual effectiveness as a tank.

We went over different skills sans Defensive Cooldowns.

We went over how to get great threat against single and multiple target pulls and maintain it.

Warriors need work, badly!

Enmity is broken as hell.

The threat table posted on http://valk.dancing-mad.com/?page_id=231 is misleading as fuck.

Shield Oath is no where near double enmity, maybe +50% at the absolutely seeable maximum from my testing.

Still use Shield Oath for -20% damage taken in hard content, Sword Oath if you overgear or need DPS.

I hope this post revitalizes interest in this blog and helps the level of knowledge in our community grow, as well as helps out anyone who can find something to learn from in here.

IF I have made a giant mistake in my theorycrafting on Enmity and Shield Oath CALL ME OUT.  If you can find an error here it would make me feel better, because that would mean that SE are not complete fuckups.

Best,

Ventus Invictus 

<RELIC> of Sargatanas

P.S.  If you are a hardcore experienced player looking for a FC with a more casual raid schedule check out my FC <RELIC> relicfc.guildwork.com/recruitment

Content update 9/23

Stay tuned for this afternoon folks!

Been busy between enjoying this marvelous game SE has produced for us, testing most things that cross my mind, having fun with my FC <RELIC>, studying for an upcoming professional school entry exam and rocking out at my new promotion. 

Today I am going to try to compose a guide on endgame Paladin with my own take and get it up sometime around 3 EST. Hope to discuss it with fellows in the comment section tonight, see you there!

Found the Crystal Tower Randomly lol

Seems a bit lackluster...

Inventory Sort is Coming!

Taken from the beta forums:

" Originally Posted by Hiroshi_Minagawa 

Until now, we had planned for a sort/arrange process to take place on the server-side database which collects player information. 

However, in phase 3 with the addition of the Armoury Chest, player inventories immediately increased to 400 slots, and we have had to revamp these processes that we had originally planned for. 

While it will take a bit of work, we are now proceeding to switch the sort/arrange process to take place client-side. With this system in place, it should address the requests we have been receiving. 

Below are the features that will be ready for phase 4:

• Inventory: It will be possible to use a feature that automatically separates items into categories when obtaining items.
• We will be making it easier to identify items that can be equipped and those that cannot by adding an "X" over the equipment icons.

The specs for the inventory item search feature have been completed; however, due to the fact that the person in charge of implementing this is the same for the above, it will be addressed after the sort-related features have been implemented. We appreciate your patience."

I don't know about you but this is a huge sigh of relief for me. Square Enix isn't ignoring our beta concerns like in 1.0 and are actively making the game better.

Eorzea Collection 2013

Looks like SE has put together a lovely little compilation of outfits for FFXIV: ARR.  Can't wait for the vanity gear set to be in the game but I will likely always use AF for PLD anyways lol.

Pre-Raid Tanking Gear Comparisons

I admittedly have been trying out other classes over this last part of Phase 3 in order to just better my understanding of them; however, I have still had time to check out some info about the pre-raid gearsets we will have available (that we know of) and have made everyone a handy-dandy chart!

The Chart

Disclaimer:  Let me say that my armor testing was in no way conclusive or elaborate.  I did some testing against 3 types of mobs, recorded their damage on a spreadsheet, replaced a piece of armor and did it again.  I then averaged the data, checked for standard distribution, then made my assumption that 500-600 def increase was roughly a 10% difference in the damage (for example:  going from 40 to 44 damage taken per hit on average).  I said "damage mitigation" on the spreadsheet, but damage difference is more accurate.

Now onto my thoughts!

The Stats

Accuracy:  Paladin gets tremendous amounts of accuracy on their AF, I am not really sure why but that is the fact of it.  In a raid environment will we actually need that amount of accuracy?  I highly doubt it, yes, we will need to hit the boss to maintain hate, but with Shield Oath doubling the amount of enmity gained it just doesn't seems like Paladins need to be gods of accuracy in order to keep hate.  For the purposes of this discussion I am assuming accuracy plays a minor role in threat generation and is otherwise useless to tanking.

Skill Speed:  Warrior AF, similar to Paladin's, is just overflowing with skill speed; however, unlike Paladins, this is actually VERY good for their style of tanking.  Warriors actively heal respectable amounts of damage through a fight, skill speed increases this, thus making it a psuedo-damage mitigating stat due to the reliable healing over time.  But, this blog focuses on Paladin so we will not travel deeper into the merits of skill speed on warrior for the time being (expect something once Phase 4 hits though).

Defense:  Still not 100% of the damage formula monsters->players so a lot of what I say regarding defense is speculative.  Regardless, taking less damage per hit is better on your healers mana and heart rates.  I won't start up the Paladin versus Warrior debate here, but that will also be in a future update.

Vitality:  1VIT = 15HP.  Enough said, the more you have the more hits you can take.

Parry:  I do not currently know the relation ship between parry rating and % of attacks parried.  I am basically waiting for a working parser to come out in order to test this factor.  For now, we include it as a position defensive stat, but judge its merit skeptically.

Materia Slots:  These open up quite a bit of gear customization.  For tanks, you can choose between Vitality, Parry, an elemental resistance, or upping a combat stat for threat/warrior active healing.  At the moment, I am only considering Vitality, since there is no armor materia I am aware of and I believe it will provide the best general boost for tanking.  (This does not mean that aquiring resist gear sets in the future may not be mandatory for on-the-edge progression encounters.)

Comparing the Gear

Artifact Armor (AF) is definitely better than in 1.0, it is a pretty decent set of (what I believe will be) easily obtainable gear.  I would gather it just to be a completionist in the job even if they weren't required to get for some of the job quests.  It is clearly the lowest set of gear in the "tier list" I have debated on for both Warrior and Paladin, but, it is still good armor to start you off in level 50 content.

Darklight Armor (DL) was epitomized as the "Best in Slot" gear of 1.0 by a lot of people.  Frankly, Triple- and Quad-Melded gear actually surpassed it in quite a few areas, but I understand that it was really the best gear you could actively get outside of crafting relentlessly so I won't argue about it.  Now, DA provides the most armor in the game for pre-raid gear currently, it is statted just like Paladin gear making it a direct upgrade for Paladins.  I still consider it a hefty upgrade for warriors because of the armor bonus and additional vitality in lieu of skill speed.  Having this gear will mean that you are absolutely ready for Crystal Tower in most cases.

Crafted Darksteel (DS) is something I originally had brushed off for a few reasons.  It has the worst armor value, no parry, and considerably less BASE vitality than DL.  BUT, then I took a look at 2 things; the iLVL (80) and those beautiful 10 materia slots.  Level 4 VIT materia gives 7 per slot giving us a unparalleled amount of vitality by a decent margin.  134 VIT if fully melded compared to DL's 81.  53 VIT is going to equate to 795 HP for a Paladin and 993.75 HP for a Warrior with Defiance up.  As a 50 PLD (depending on other slots) I have around 4600 HP and 702 def, switching from DL to this CRAFTED armor set with full melds would put me at roughly 5400 HP and 576 def.  Yes, I am going to take a noticeable amount more per hit, but when you are adding almost 18% more HP by switching to a set of gear you can just buy off the market boards I feel this will negate a damage difference of 10% in the best case and 15% in my estimated worse case scenario.  This is also where we may see some differences in the tanking classes gear choices, as a Warrior with Defiance up is going to take that 5400 HP and then sit at around 6750 HP.  Again though, this set has the lowest armor and no native parry rating.  If anything, I see this set being better for Warriors since it plays to their strength (HP).

Sentinel Armor (SA) is a set of armor that originally was obtained from beastmen strongholds, now it looks like it may be a dungeon drop/chest set.  The individual pieces are  pretty much AF with acc/skspd being replaced by materia slots (11 in total).  Additionally, the armor value on SA is only 19 def less than of the DL set.  Pretty amazing if you ask me!  It is a set purely designed for tanking (parry and materia slots for the bonus stats) and I honestly love it.  If this set were iLVL 75 or greater and able to use the tier 4 materia it would be the unquestioned best pre-raid tanking gear obtainable.  As it stands, we are looking at 614 def (19 def under DL, 107 def over DS), 99 VIT (35 VIT under DS or 525(656) HP, 18 VIT over DL or 270(338) HP over DS) and it has 76 parry (26 parry less than DL, 76 more than DS).

Speculations

So, now we have a lot of options for tanking, but which one is the best you may ask...

Honestly, until we see the raid encounters, know how much the bosses hit for, how consistent and fast they hit for, how quickly the healers can heal, how the healers mana holds up, etc.  We cannot yet fully determine which set of gear is going to be the best.

Tanks may need to stack tremendous amounts of HP to survive or they may need to stack as much armor/parry to mitigate damage because healers are having trouble with the keeping MP up for the duration of an encounter.  We just don't know yet...

BUT, based off what we have seen in the mid level fates and dungeons, I highly doubt Healer mana nor HP will be a problem.  Bosses seem to hit pretty hard, but they hit slow (likely hampered by the same lengthy GCD a lot of players are complaining about).  With these bosses not hitting us so hard/fast that we simply need HP and cooldowns to survive, it looks like we should focus on gearing in 2 ways.

First, we want to have enough HP to give the healers a comfortable amount of time to heal us or for us to pop cooldowns and simply survive on our own.

Second, we want to mitigate damage so that MP does not become a problem and we eliminate some RNG screwing us over.

Because of this, I will personally be obtaining a full Sentinel's Set for my Paladin and a full Crafted Darksteel set for Warrior.  Again, I like to play to the individual jobs' strengths.  Shield Oath for Paladin gives them a flat 25% damage reduction (amazing!) and Defiance gives Warrior 25% bonus HP as previously mentioned.  Because of Warrior's natural self healing, similar to a Blood Death Knight from World of Warcraft, I am currently predicting them to scale better with HP than Paladins concerning survivability.  And why put Paladin in Sentinels then you might ask, because Paladin's self healing comes through cures and a couple JAs from Warriors I honestly won't use in all likelihood.  Paladins can spam cures all day with Riot Blade once threat has been established (which is cake with Shield Oath doubling the emnity generated by skills).  They will be a mitigation focused tank because that is the way all their cooldowns line up, Warrior lacks the amount of CDs given to Paladin and therefore cannot be played in the same style.

So, for the TL;DNR types out there:

PLD - Sentinel's Set > Darklight Set > Heavy Darksteel Set > Artifact Armor
WAR - Heavy Darksteel Set > Sentinel's Set > Darklight Set > Artifact Armor

If you have different opinions, questions, contradictions, or anything to say about this blog entry please leave me a comment!  I absolutely love theorycrafting and interacting with readers!

Bought PS3, Need FFXIV Beta Key for it :/

I thought I would put it out there on the internet that I am trying to get a beta key to do some testing between the PS3 and PC versions side-by-side.  Basically, we know the graphical quality is inferior; however, (using FFXI as an example) there could be a lot of other factors making one version have advantages over another like in FFXI where HNMs would spawn a few packets before they would on the PC version.

If there is someone out there with an extra I would be really greatful! Please email it to ventusinvictus@gmail.com and thank you!

Phase 3, Weekend 5, the Last!

Seems like we are getting 1 more week of Phase 3 (and it's a bit longer than normal).  I will probably spend the time creating a leveling route for arcanist, but I would love to hear what you guys plan on doing in the comments!

Dates and Times

July 10, 2013 (Wednesday), 2:00 a.m. to July 15 (Monday), 2:00 a.m. (PDT)
July 10, 2013 (Wednesday), 9:00 a.m. to July 15 (Monday), 9:00 a.m. (GMT)

* Beta test phase 3 will conclude on Monday, July 15th. The beta test phase 4 schedule will be announced at a later time.
* Testing of the new Lodestone will conclude on Wednesday, July 17th at 2:00 a.m. (PDT) / 9:00 a.m.(GMT). Please note that the new Lodestone will be inaccessible when testing has ended.

FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn - A Tour of Eorzea, Part 3

Little delayed on sharing this video so I apologize guys, if you notice, you can see summoner with titan egi around 4:30 :)!

5th Week of BETA 3 According To A Post on JP Forums / Gladiator and Paladin Videos Delayed to be Youtube Content

Hey guys,

According to this link: ARR Forums we will be having an extended week 5 test to finish out BETA Phase 3.

I don't know about others,  but I cannot wait to finally have the things I do in game start saving.



In other news, I will be making video tutorials for Gladiator and Paladin Tanking opposed to the guide I would post here.  I feel there are already quite a few resources for this and I wouldn't want to beat a dead horse.  So, what I AM going to do is prepare a video tutorial once Phase 4 launches and we can post footage!

Be on the lookout!

Next Beta Begins 7/5, End Not Given, and Delay in the 2 Guides Being Made

The next phase of beta phase 3 will be beginning on Friday at 5am again, with no end time given.

This test will feature stress testing and the Duty Finder system; although duty finder may not be implemented right away but in a patch.

I also wanted to note that because of my personal standards I still have not completed the 2 guides I mentioned almost a week ago.  I have the images and information I am using thanks to last beta weekend but have not had the time yet to create the guides because of my work, my birthday, and the coming holiday.  Sorry everyone, but stick around, they will be out sometime this weekend!

2 Guides Incoming! Gladiator Group Leveling Guide and Paladin Endgame Guide

As the title says,

I realize there is a pretty big demand out there for some of this info, so I am going to create 2 guides.

The first introducing skills as they become available and your rotation/priority/etc.

The second will be focused on optimally rotating you cooldowns while stunning a boss and maintaining aggro in a raid environment.

Yoshi-P, Possibly the Most In-Touch MMO Developer in History!

The below posting was translated by Camate on the Beta forums.  It is a shining example of how Yoshi-P actually does understand the needs and desires of our diverse MMO community and gives astounding insights from both sides of the coin.

Design Concepts for FFXIV ARR

 Originally Posted by Naoki_Yoshida 

Producer and director Naoki Yoshida here.

You've been providing us great feedback on all aspects of FFXIV: ARR, and I can't thank you all enough. With phase 3 well underway, we have testers coming from a wide range of backgrounds, whether they're unfamiliar with Version 1.0, coming in from another game, dropping in to test the FFXIV out, or simply new to MMOs as a whole.

With such a diverse group of testers here, I thought it would be best to speak with you all about the design of FFXIV and the direction the game will be heading. MMOs are fairly large games, and as you'd expect of a large game, this post will be fairly long, and perhaps a little complicated. Some of you may be thinking "Well as long as the game is fun, your plans are fine with me." If you not overly concerned with the way game is progressing, you're free to skim through this post if you'd like. If you have questions or concerns about core game designs, and are considering leaving feedback, pull up a comfy chair and perhaps grab a snack. Hopefully by the end of this post, your questions will be answered.

I know I said this just a moment ago, but this post is fairly long, and I could probably give a lecture based on its contents. For those of you planning to read this, prepare yourselves for the flood of text that's coming.

I'll begin by talking about the early stages of MMOs, followed by a look at them from a business standpoint, and finish with a few words on content design in FFXV: ARR.
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·        Yoshida: The Hardcore Gamer vs. Producer and Director

As an avid gamer myself, I'd like to start with a comparison of two viewpoints with respect to the start of MMOs—Yoshida the hardcore gamer, and Yoshida the producer and director.

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·        Yoshida the Hardcore Gamer

I've played online games for nearly 20 years now, and whenever there's a new release, you can be sure I'm going to try it. When I do, however, there's always that longing for a magic button that will instantly take me to the level cap.

No matter the MMO, there's a certain standard expected of every game. This includes the chat system, party system, and features such as guilds to foster the community. There are also standard UI elements making it easy to move from one game to another. Since there's little you need to remember changing over from one game to the next, one may think these games are designed to quickly get to the level cap and start playing through endgame content.

It goes without saying that the leveling system, skill system, and many other aspects of the game are important, but all of these things can be figured out at the level cap. As a result, players can feel frustrated with only one or two skills at the beginning of the game, wanting to quickly rush through everything and get to the cap.

For example, let's say until yesterday, there's a particular game I've devoted all of my time to. I'm max level, I have all the best gear—I'm a top ranked player on my server. When I log into the game people take notice, and there are few who haven't heard of me. If it's time for a large-scale raid, I take the lead gathering my guild mates, and we press on to victory. Nothing beats the thrill of life and death battles with raid bosses, lasting well through the night until my eyes are bloodshot the next day. With every relevant gaming site bookmarked, I'm always up to speed on and any and everything so that no one could ever doubt my skill.

But today I started a new game, and I have no experience or assets to speak of. The epic encounters I'm accustomed to are gone, and my only choices in combat are A > B or B > A. I don't see any demanding gameplay, and all there is to do is explore the large maps. Thankfully I have a lot of general gaming experience, so I can make use of my time fairly efficiently. As I begin pouring my time into the game, I can only help but think "Why couldn't there be some faster way to reach level 50. If they won't let me speed to level 50, the least they could do is make the beginning of the game a little harder. Maybe then I could have a little more fun until cap. This game needs to pick up soon, or I'm out of here."

The important thing to remember here is that the people getting bored at the beginning are gamers who play and think like I do. These gamers have realized that combat is the the primary focus of the MMO experience.

Although this is a fairly extreme example, to all of you skilled players with long gaming histories, let me ask one question. When playing a new game for the first time, have you ever thought it was a bit dull or underwhelming in the beginning? With MMOs in particular, as players continue to move from game to game, they tend to get burned out easily. My hardcore MMO gamer friends are like this as well, saying they'll never waste so much time trying to get into a game ever again. The beginning of the game seems dull and uninteresting, but there's still that longing for something to ignite a passion for the game.

Another common phenomenon among MMO players is something I like to call "first love syndrome." A new game comes out and you play from beta through to the free trial, and although there are a lot of things you like, you always go back to your first MMO. You feel the updates were always so much better in your first MMO, focusing on the things you can no longer do in the other games you try. This is just how people are after playing a particular game for a long time, getting stuck in their old ways.

I'm sure anyone who's had to change schools because of their parents or change jobs because of company troubles can relate. Suddenly finding yourself in a new environment can be stressful, and there's always that desire to go back to the way things used to be. Even small details reminiscent of "the good old days" can be reassuring.

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·        Yoshida the Producer and Director

Looking at the game objectively as a developer for an MMO, the game looks completely different compared to my hardcore gaming alter ego. The first thing I often think of is the stress felt by first time MMO players and the high barrier of entry.

Looking at an MMO from the viewpoint of those who tend to avoid them, the following qualities define your typical MMO:

·        A game for hardcore players. (A game they can't relate to)

·        A game that requires a constant internet connection. (Stressful)

·        A game where you have to chat with people. (Stressful)

·        A game that requires partying to progress, forcing interaction with others. (Stressful)

·        A game that lacks a good story. (Low expectations)

·        A game with too many windows and interfaces. (Confusing)

·        A game with too many things to remember, making it unplayable. (Intimidating)

·        A game with too much terminology. (Difficult)

·        A game where you may be abruptly killed by another player. (Misconception)

·        A game that looks like too much trouble. (A vague sense of uneasiness)

The truth of the matter is, all of these points are often applicable to MMOs.

When speaking from a hardcore gamer's point of view, I mentioned there are many things that are simply to be expected in an MMO. For a person who's never played an MMO, however, these can sometimes be seen as insurmountable obstacles. 

·        An online playing environment (more affordable in recent years)

·        Chat system

·        Battle system

·        Party gameplay

·        Real-time battle system

·        A basic interface allowing prolonged gameplay

·        A guild system such as linkshells and free companies

·        Crafting and gathering

·        Trading

·        Markets

·        Character development that doesn't require resetting

Although they may be seen as drawbacks, these are all necessary in an MMO. These are also what make MMOs so interesting.

Just as FFXI was there for gamers 11 years ago, we want FFXIV to introduce a new generation of gamers to MMOs. Considering the shortcomings of Version 1.0, we want the beginning of the game to be stress-free, giving players an incentive to give it a try. Although gaming veterans tend to focus on the battle system, one should also consider the following:

·        Exploring the expansive areas in the game

·        Potential new friends always running about as you explore

·        An environment that's constantly changing in real time

·        Conversation with NPCs revealing the world's lore

·        The thrill of a good fight

·        Trying on a newly obtained piece of gear

·        Leveling up and learning a new skill

·        Acquiring return and teleport to travel between areas

·        Progressing to an area you've never seen before

I believe playing an MMO should be about enjoying the world as a whole. My first MMO was Ultima Online, and I have to admit I wasn't the fastest learner starting out. The world was huge, everyone I met was from another country, and I didn't understand English. After carefully checking all the menus, I managed to get out into the field to fight a chicken...but I was barehanded. To make matters worse, I was PK’ed shortly after (lol). Despite all these frustrations, however, it was an incredible gaming experience. I never realized games like that existed before. The beginning of FFXIV: ARR has been designed to offer newcomers that same sense of wonderment. 

·        Create a quality character to represent you, be it manly, cute, rugged, or sexy.

·        Enjoy a beautiful, expansive world that's constantly changing.

·        Connect with other players from around the world.

·        Speak with NPCs and reveal the game's story.

·        Take your time as you use the map and explore.

·        Take on fearsome looking monsters and revel in your victories.

·        Enjoy the freedom of progressing through the story alone or with friends.

·        Discover something new each time you visit your favorite places.

·        Follow the story of a crystal, befitting a FINAL FANTASY title.

·        Start off as a fledgling adventurer and grow to be something greater.

·        Board an airship and set out on a great adventure.

As a FINAL FANTASY game, I feel these elements make for a solid beginning in an MMO. What's important is whether or not players feel comfortable in the world of Eorzea. Players should find the game easy to get into, but also fun and exciting.

If players don't find the game intuitive, they're not likely to make use of the UI, chat system, or the party system, let alone play through the main scenario quests. Even now we're conflicted over the best way to explain the game's systems and features. Videos may prove more helpful than text, but would prove to be costly when updating. Too much text and the game will push players around everywhere, so it has to be simple. The problems go on and on.

For a player new to MMOs, the individual systems that make up the game are small pieces of a beautiful all-encompassing world. Eventually, they may realize these small systems make up a much greater part of the game than they first thought. Nevertheless, players aren't thinking that far ahead at the beginning of the game. Above all else, players should feel the game offers a world they can enjoy.

For the first 15 levels, when players are still adjusting to online gameplay, there are no elements in the game that force you into playing in a party. This way, as players are still learning the ropes, there's no worry of strangers in a party yelling at them or trying to order them around while trying to play. However, this may not necessarily be the case for endgame.

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·        The Business Challenge of an MMO

With each passing year, it becomes increasingly difficult to release a large-scale MMO. The rush following Ultima Online and EverQuest reached its peak with Blizzard's World of Warcraft. That's not to say WoW started off without criticism. When it first released, there were many complaints about the simplicity of quests, that there was a lack of adventure. There two factions were poorly balanced in PvP, and general impressions would lead one to believe the game was no fun. Looking at WoW now, it's almost unimaginable.

However, instead of giving up, Blizzard switched their plans to be more user/community-centric from their second year of operation on, and became dominant by increasing the new MMORPG users through supplementation of thick scenarios, quest lines, and end-game content. WoW didn’t become what it is today by acquiring all of the existing MMORPG players at the time, they became what they are today as the result of breaking into new territory and as a result of that secured all of the existing MMORPG players.

Instead of choosing sides, they persisted and made it attractive to both groups, and began expanding with a focus on Blizzard fans. While the scale is slightly different, FFXI was more than likely in the same boat 11 years ago. Blizzard has been quoted saying that "MMORPGs are a service industry." This was a tremendous shock to Blizzard fans at that time when Blizzard who possesses such great confidence in their game design said this.

Moving forward to 2013, their user numbers are continuing to fall; however, World of Warcraft reigning as the absolute king of the MMORPG industry has not changed. We arrived to where we are currently with the MMORPG rush during 2007 as well as the additional large scale rush of last year.

There are 3 main difficulties for launching an MMO.

·        Content volume

·        High-quality user interface

·        New and unique elements

To overcome these three difficulties and launch a game is by no means an easy matter. Amongst the large number of MMORPGs that are trying to launch, there are many cases where their content volume is compared to other MMORPGs who have been running for a long time, and end up suffering immensely. Additionally, the impressions of the beginning of the game between the gamer and the new MMORPG player that I mentioned before are as different as night and day. With this, it’s uniqueness that largely increases the difficulty. 

·        I want to target MMORPG gamers as much as possible

·        I want to acquire as many new players as possible

Recent MMORPGs are beginning to shift to a more action based game; however, I personally feel that this is one element that acts as a reverse effect for MMORPGs that are striving to operate for a long time with a subscription-based model (This is separate from cases where you are shortening the life cycle for a single MMORPG user. In that case it is correct.). As I mentioned previously, the road blocks on the way to getting used to an MMORPG are too high and adding action elements into the mix, while definitely exciting, makes it extremely difficult for the common player to repeat these battles everyday for hundreds of hours.

Furthermore, it becomes difficult to churn out battle content from a balance perspective, and as a result content volume is affected. Due to this, a more fitting business model would be the free-to-play model which allows for retention of the game through low estimations of total play time, a higher churn rate of new players, and the average spending per customer (also known as microtransactions).

As a numbered title in the FINAL FANTASY series, we are striving to make FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn a game that operates steadily for a long time, and one where we provide a steady flow of updates and content to you all. With that said, when we made the decision to build A Realm Reborn from the ground up while working on updates for 1.0, the first thing we decided was to eliminate action elements as best as possible.

With the advent of stronger internet connections, recent MMORPGs have come to be able to have defensive and evasive skills similar to offline stand alone games. Despite this, I feel that this does not fit with our customers who play FINAL FANTASY online, and I would like to have everyone play this game steadily for as long of a time as possible, which is why we've eliminated action elements to the best of our ability.

With these goals in mind we have built the content and the battle system.

·        Visually noticeable AoE attacks that you can avoid by moving

·        A system where you can boost damage by attacking from certain positions

·        Freedom to put things together by executing skills that follow a specific route

·        Being able to fixate on dealing the most damage while giving consideration to TP/MP costs in the end-game

·        Jump not being essential for clearing content

While it might be thought of as simplistic, the end-game after reaching the level cap is where a good deal of player skill differences will start to appear, especially when adding equipment into the mix. We started designing this game by making the first goal of FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn having everyone enjoy this aspect.

This is the reason why there are no action elements in FFXIV content and battle. While I’m repeating myself, just like FFXI was trying to show FINAL FANTASY users the excitement of MMORPGs at that time, we would like to show players of the current time period the excitement of MMORPGs once again through FFXIV. Showing that it's possible to play and enjoy it by spending time, without rushing, at their own pace.

·        A fetch-quest game vs. a game with clear purpose

Now then, FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn has adopted the quest form game design that was established by World of Warcraft. However, even since the old days of RPGs there have been small stories from towns that when cleared lead into larger stories, and this isn't just related to WoW.

On the other hand, the world of an MMORPG is vast and is not like a regular game where you simply pass through and move on. As there are multiple classes and jobs, having players adventure through the entire world would result in a gigantic number of quests. Of course there are people who don’t want to read quest text and want to be able to finish them with a single click, so after WoW there have been many discussions on this topic.

However, without a pile of quests, it’s not possible to have players learn about the world, and there are ton of benefits for having these so users can play the game with a sense of progression.

In order to make it so FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn does not just become a fetch quest game we decided to add some variety and flavor. Of course, we've created a really large story since this is a new FINAL FANTASY title after all. However, for the so-called side-quests that have been spread along the main questing line, we’ve done our best to reduce the text, making it so the text can be skipped by spamming through it. For quests where major characters appear, we’ve made this clear by adding a special icon, and also spruced them up to make them exciting by adding voices and cutscenes. While we did not add voices to class and job quests, we still made them with the same thought process.

When it comes to hardcore MMORPG players like myself, it's all about skipping text by spamming the mouse left-click to get to upper ranks of leveling and content. However, this is something that is sure to be fresh and new for the MMORPG newcomer, and we’d like to see gaps form between peoples’ various images of MMORPGs in a positive way, such as "whoa, there are a huge amount of quests," "Just when I thought I was done there is another one," and "Isn't an MMO something you take on with parties?"

The game design will largely change after the level 15 instanced battle quest. All of you adventurers will then begin taking on dungeons with parties throughout the main storyline so that you can meet new allies.

While I understand that there are some of you who feel that it would be better if you could clear everything by yourself, from an MMORPG business perspective, there is a necessity to make it so a large amount of players continue to play for a long time. Because of this, it’s critical that players interact with each other and build a strong community. This is why we have implemented party content in the main quest line and removed the stress of forming parties with the Duty Finder which automatically matches players.

Of course the real loss is if people get tired of the game on the way to level 15, but as I have written, I feel that it’s critical to make the beginning of an MMORPG one such that anyone can progress, and in the case that there are people that drop out or are not satisfied with the development of the game ahead, I feel this is fine as everyone has their own preferences. To some degree, the ideal for the beginning of the game is to get through it as fast as you can and moving on.

Other MMORPGs have a guild system you can set up after starting the game and playing for two hours. In FFXIV: ARR, we have Free Companies, but this can only be created after joining a Grand Company, which is different from other MMORPGs. Especially for those players who are new to MMORPGs, explaining guilds is difficult. The beginning of the game contains too many things to remember and if we had Free Company invitations added to the mix people would be completely lost. However, for those players who wish to form a Free Company right away, you can speed through the beginning and reach that point before you know it. We would like all kinds of players to succeed in this game, so while it might be somewhat of a nuisance for the advanced players, this was designed like this intentionally.

·        FFXIV: ARR Party Content Design

We've put in a considerable amount of work to add as much of the playable scenario as possible for launch. We'd like both MMORPG players and those new to MMORPGs to play the game comfortably while enjoying the newest story in the FINAL FANTASY series.

As I have already mentioned, the party dungeons that will start from level 15 will not require you to worry about finding parties as we have prepared a feature known as the Duty Finder which will automatically form parties (During the third test of Beta Test phase 3 we will be performing Duty Finder stress tests.). With that said, the only things you really need to worry about are leveling up to level 50 and dungeon difficulty.

The difficulty for the 2 dungeons from level 15 has been set you can get excited about your victory and not worry about wiping with the first party of players you meet. With the third dungeon there will be some special mechanics, and for primal battles within the scenario that take place after that, you’ll come to learn that for large boss battles you’ll need a solid strategy to win.

For the Legacy members who have done the end-game content up until the end of 1.0, as well as for players who are familiar with other MMORPGs, the content that you encounter while leveling up to the cap will be a walk in the park. However, the most important point here is that you can have fun and clear content as players with different levels of knowledge will be matched and grouped by the Duty Finder.

The difficulty will increase as the story progresses. Likewise, you role as a particular class will become clearer as you learn weapon skills, magic, and abilities, and the number of times you wipe will gradually increase in the event that you do not properly formulate a battle plan that involves the skilled use of abilities and attack positioning.

We’ve paid extremely close attention to the design of this content so that the balance and difficulty increases, the clear need for strategies to clear content, and the need for equipment can be easily understood. Similarly, this is also the biggest reason why we’ve also made the battle system foundation as simple as possible. The MMORPG battle system and the battle content design are one and the same.

Additionally, once you start getting into crafting and gathering, the game will become even more in-depth and a ton of content you can do each day will be introduced. We’d like you to enjoy the world of Eorzea relaxed in your own style and at your own pace.

Once the main scenario reaches its first major milestone, I believe the meaning behind the opening will become clear.

Doing the quests and reading the story text without leveling another class, continuing to play straight through for 60-80 hours you can see the world’s longest list of credits, and even after that continue to adventure through Eorzea. There will begin to be a difference in player skills as large enemies appear and players gather equipment to combat these foes. There are a ton of plans in store: primals that are summoned in to Eorzea, the housing system, what happened to Bahamut, the Crystal Tower, large scale PvP, company crafting, and more. The feeling that you are living in Eorzea will really take place after the "ending."

It's at this point in time where you will start to need multiple level 50 classes and jobs, battle strategies, efficient usage of skills, and intense analysis from players passionate about research. This is why the early stages of the game and the core battle system have been simplified. The much discussed length of the global cooldown is because you have time to think at the moment, yet once you reach end-game, that free time will all but disappear as what you'll need to do will increase, so with that said, we do not plan on eliminating this.

·        In Closing

I still have so much I could write, but eventually it would just turn into a book…
I apologize for making this so long, but FFXIV: ARR is a game that we have designed with these core concepts in mind. While it may seem a huge list of reasoning, once you start playing, this reasoning could matter less, so though I am yet again repeating myself, we are placing the utmost importance on making sure everyone enjoys the game.

The development team has been checking Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and other sites in addition to the forums to get a wide view of impressions of Beta Test phase 3. Also, please know that we are not making decisions solely based on the number of "Likes" a post has on the forum. There are a lot of differing opinions on the forums and it’s the important work of the operations team to read this data objectively and collect it so there is no bias, reporting it as a ratio of those who post from the total player population.

As long as there are likes and dislikes for games, there will always be conflicting opinions. There are a lot of cases where if we decide to adopt A, then adopting B becomes impossible, so in order to prevent missteps when making decisions, we think about your feedback extremely carefully.

In the Player Feedback Status List that we released the other day, there were items that we addressed as well as those that we did not along with a clear explanation. Since MMORPGs are a service industry, I feel that all of these discussions are extremely important for MMORPG operation, so instead of only "they did this," "they are not doing that," "I think this," "I think it should be this way," it;s my sincere wish that everyone takes a step back a bit and have fun talking about the game.

Before posting, I'd like to ask you to please check to make sure that your post won’t have a negative effect on those around you. Up until now Square Enix has been a pretty closed off company, so I’m sure there are some players who really want to state their demands. Of course we will listen to them sincerely, but please base them all on having fun first and foremost.

I'm repeating myself, but there is no need for players who are experiencing MMORPGs for the first time to overthink this. We’ve made it so you can have fun and reach your goal by preparing a ton of exciting and fun cutscenes and making balance adjustments as we go. We actually tried testing out early battles where the maximum TP was lowered so you would have to really pay more attention to it. However, it was tiring to repeat that kind of battle over and over on random fodder monsters. With 1 on 1 battles, your efficiency in avoiding enemy skills improves around level 5, and you learn that only attacking enemies from the front in instanced quest battles will result in death.

I definitely understand spicing things up, and that’s why it has to be just right. However, as I stated previously, the beginning of an MMORPG is not only focused on battle. There is a world, people, time passes in real-time, battles, crafting, gathering, chatting, and creating your ideal characters. In order to have you all enjoy the world, we’ve prepared the battles at the beginning of the game to be just the first step before shifting into the more difficult aspects (We plan on reducing the difficulty for the level 15 instanced battle quest a little bit more.). If you don’t think this shift was done very well, then that is my fault.

In Beta Test phase 3 the level cap has been set to level 35, and the difficulty for the Brayflox dungeon has been set slightly harder than the official release version. For those who are dying for a challenging dungeon, please give it a shot!

In order to satisfy all kinds of players, we have our goals set very high, but we will continue to work as hard as possible, and would love for you all to stay with us for many years to come!