JechtShotMK9
The Sublimely Magnificent One
- AKA
- Kamiccolo9
The Final Fantasy XIV Thread [Dawntrail - 7.00]
- Thread starter Kuraudo
- Start date
Obsidian Fire
Ahk Morn!
- AKA
- The Engineer
^^Yup. The reason I'm getting all my Allagan Catalysts/Oils for Hyperconductive weapons by doing Crystal Tower once a week? The caster gear from all three of those raids looks great (and all the Demon gear for nearly every class looks awesome). I might as well get some useful crafting drops out of them as well.
There's a reason why you'll always see parties for the Extreme Trials in the party finder.
There's a reason why you'll always see parties for the Extreme Trials in the party finder.
Cthulhu
Administrator
- AKA
- Yop
Yeah, the main bummer for Heavenstard was that I had to give up my Demon armor :/. Could still glamour that shit if I cba, but I'll wait for endgame stuff.
On that note, after some PS4 and other games, FFXIV looks like shit tbf. Big but very bland environments, mostly, and it's mostly just models + textures, no bothering with any lighting or whatever. And it still struggles to stay above 50 fps.
On that note, after some PS4 and other games, FFXIV looks like shit tbf. Big but very bland environments, mostly, and it's mostly just models + textures, no bothering with any lighting or whatever. And it still struggles to stay above 50 fps.
Geostigma
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- gabe
It's most likely due to the low quality textures that FF14 uses. IIRC everything is scaled down due to the console , especially PS3 , versions. I recall being rather unimpressed with FF14's graphics when I ran it at highest settings ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I've read that the original Vanilla version of the game actually had much much higher quality texture and over all assets.
@Yop. I kind of feel the same way but towards the over all world. Especially after playing other Theme Park MMO's namely (namedrop) WoW.
Like it's really hard to actually make the switch between these 2 games. At least for me. The difference in world and hand holding is absurd and jarring.
Blizzard gives no fucks about if that hill you are standing on will kill you if you jump off it. They don't care if dismounting mid air will kill you or toss you into a void fall> death. They let you do it and find out the hard way the result
FF14, atleast up till Heavensward launch patch was rife with invisible walls and other hand holding mechanics that just impeded you from doing what you wanted regardless of result.
If I wanna jump off this branch and hope I land on the next one you should let me. If I die oh well. Other wise what's the point of having a jump? I liked that they had short cuts that let you jump down towers or off them etc. to skip walking back down but over all the over all philosophy for FF14 was "invisible wall".
Additionally it really is difficult to get used to being in a large World to > Instanced small-medium sized maps with TONS of negative space in them.
Heavensward did a good job of opening up the maps making them a little larger but it still kind of sucks having to zone everywhere. But over all and especially in Vanilla FF14 all of the maps over use invisible walls+ Masked Hallways. The majority of the maps are just a handful of smallish open areas interconnected with masked Hallways.
I think that you can fit all of the Heavensward maps between Stormwind and say Duskwood. And that's just 1 small province in WoW.
It's just so weird being used to being able to start at one end of a continent and being able to spend the next hour or two walking to the opposite end of it. And theres like 6 of those continents that are that large.
I've been wanting to come back to the game but the over all world is just so restrictive and actually doesn't really feel like a world after awhile.
JechtShotMK9
The Sublimely Magnificent One
- AKA
- Kamiccolo9
Labyrinth of the Ancients is royally pissing me off. I just want the "Of Light" gear for my tank, but because some idiot decided that 6 tanks were necessary (6 tanks are never necessary) , I always have to fight with someone else for gear that hardly ever drops. It's a pain in the ass. I got the Demon stuff, no problem, because no competition from allied tanks there, lol.
Obsidian Fire
Ahk Morn!
- AKA
- The Engineer
I think it really depends on what you want to use the world for. When you've got stuff like the Hunt, or LeveQuests or level based harvesting nodes then having more smaller instances is better. For those types of things, the faster you can get around a map, the better. There's having open maps and then there's having maps so big that the travel time isn't worth it.
The Heavansward maps can get away with being larger becasue they've got flying which is faster then riding mounts on the ground (and it also means you don't have to worry about getting into unwanted enemy encounters). Even then you've got maps like Azys Lla with the teleport location in one corner and it feels like it takes forever to get to the opposite corner...
Geostigma
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- gabe
IT's not just size though. I mean more like from memory a lot of the maps had tons of negative space and were just small open areas connected by hallways and invisible walls.
Like Can I walk over this hill to jump to that open area right there? Nope. Gotta go through this tree trunk (aka hallway) to the left of said hill.
For instance
It's more about openness. Which in my opinion FF14 finds really weird ways to limit. Even in more open maps like some of the sub zones for the La Noscea area they still wall off sections with invisible walls in really weird ways.
It's just jarring coming from a game that let's you walk anywhere and over anything to being restricted everywhere you go.
Heavensward helped out but it also has one of the biggest offenders in the game as well lol
I think this is the one I'm thinking of. The first town zone in Heavensward. Especially the nobles district in the back. This is an invisible wall and instanced zone nightmare. I really don't understand why this tiny town has you zone in and out of it's different districts like 3 or 4 times.
compare that to Stormwind
Where there isn't a single invisible wall nor are there any zone in/out boundaries where sections of it are instanced. You can walk into a ton of the buildings there, including the castle , cathedral and tons of shops etc. Without zoning out of the main district. You don't have to zone out of trade district to enter dwarven etc. It's all one zone.
Furthermore you don't have zone out of Stormwind to go to the neighboring town of Goldshire , nore duskwood , nor a town the opposite end of the continent. It's all one large area with no invisible boundary.
That's why I say it's jarring to make the switch. The design philosophy is completely different and imo claustrophobic. It's not really about size of map but how they use it. In WoW and other Theme park MMO's I feel like I'm actually in a world that lets you interact with it.
In FF14 I'm always second guessing if I can walk over something or jump somewhere because of the invisible walls.
edit:
Also I'm not sure the point regarding size of map+ farming it/interacting with it holds much water as it's an apples to oranges kind of thing.
Like yeah the entire world of warcraft map for Azeroth, Draenor and Outland are huge but they also give you access to portals that warp you to each location , as well as most of the capital cities really fast. In addition the mount/flying mount speed in WoW is much faster then that of FF14's (at least last time I played it). Even though the map is much much larger there are a ton of strategically played portals that make it really quick and easy to get where you need to go.
So if you set your hearthstone to a good spot (coughshrinecough) you can get to any point in the game rather quickly.
Like Can I walk over this hill to jump to that open area right there? Nope. Gotta go through this tree trunk (aka hallway) to the left of said hill.
For instance
It's more about openness. Which in my opinion FF14 finds really weird ways to limit. Even in more open maps like some of the sub zones for the La Noscea area they still wall off sections with invisible walls in really weird ways.
It's just jarring coming from a game that let's you walk anywhere and over anything to being restricted everywhere you go.
Heavensward helped out but it also has one of the biggest offenders in the game as well lol
I think this is the one I'm thinking of. The first town zone in Heavensward. Especially the nobles district in the back. This is an invisible wall and instanced zone nightmare. I really don't understand why this tiny town has you zone in and out of it's different districts like 3 or 4 times.
compare that to Stormwind
Where there isn't a single invisible wall nor are there any zone in/out boundaries where sections of it are instanced. You can walk into a ton of the buildings there, including the castle , cathedral and tons of shops etc. Without zoning out of the main district. You don't have to zone out of trade district to enter dwarven etc. It's all one zone.
Furthermore you don't have zone out of Stormwind to go to the neighboring town of Goldshire , nore duskwood , nor a town the opposite end of the continent. It's all one large area with no invisible boundary.
That's why I say it's jarring to make the switch. The design philosophy is completely different and imo claustrophobic. It's not really about size of map but how they use it. In WoW and other Theme park MMO's I feel like I'm actually in a world that lets you interact with it.
In FF14 I'm always second guessing if I can walk over something or jump somewhere because of the invisible walls.
edit:
Also I'm not sure the point regarding size of map+ farming it/interacting with it holds much water as it's an apples to oranges kind of thing.
Like yeah the entire world of warcraft map for Azeroth, Draenor and Outland are huge but they also give you access to portals that warp you to each location , as well as most of the capital cities really fast. In addition the mount/flying mount speed in WoW is much faster then that of FF14's (at least last time I played it). Even though the map is much much larger there are a ton of strategically played portals that make it really quick and easy to get where you need to go.
So if you set your hearthstone to a good spot (coughshrinecough) you can get to any point in the game rather quickly.
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Joe
I KEEP MY IDEALS
- AKA
- Joe, Arcana
I understand all the frustrations of how restricted XIV's map is compared to WoW and others. Jarring is the word I'd use too, as it's just so very strange and uncomfortable a transition, since I'd been playing WoW a while.
However I massively prefer XIV in regards to maps and the world anyway. What it lacks in quantity and openness, it makes up for in quality and detail. There's nothing boring or bland about any part of explorable Eorza (to me) and that's a far cry from WoW. You can be playing that and flying around for ages and see nothing but boring textures.
I'd love something that combines the two. HW was a big deal for me because it got closer to the openness and size I was hoping for without sacrificing the detail and variety of each zone. If future expansions improve on that then I'll be one happy kupo.
However I massively prefer XIV in regards to maps and the world anyway. What it lacks in quantity and openness, it makes up for in quality and detail. There's nothing boring or bland about any part of explorable Eorza (to me) and that's a far cry from WoW. You can be playing that and flying around for ages and see nothing but boring textures.
I'd love something that combines the two. HW was a big deal for me because it got closer to the openness and size I was hoping for without sacrificing the detail and variety of each zone. If future expansions improve on that then I'll be one happy kupo.
Geostigma
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- gabe
I understand all the frustrations of how restricted XIV's map is compared to WoW and others. Jarring is the word I'd use too, as it's just so very strange and uncomfortable a transition, since I'd been playing WoW a while.
However I massively prefer XIV in regards to maps and the world anyway. What it lacks in quantity and openness, it makes up for in quality and detail. There's nothing boring or bland about any part of explorable Eorza (to me) and that's a far cry from WoW. You can be playing that and flying around for ages and see nothing but boring textures.
I'd love something that combines the two. HW was a big deal for me because it got closer to the openness and size I was hoping for without sacrificing the detail and variety of each zone. If future expansions improve on that then I'll be one happy kupo.
Yeah I guess we just have the opposite view point lol. Walking around or riding on my chocobo in Eorza I felt like most of the areas were kind of repetitive. Especially the Shrouds and the other forest template zones.
I did love the Dravanian Hinterlands/Forelands though.
Where as with WoW I found some of the zones to be some of the prettiest ones in gaming. Especially zones like Uldum/Lost city of Tolvir and the old city of ahn'kahet/Azjol Nerub.
Obsidian Fire
Ahk Morn!
- AKA
- The Engineer
I guess it's just not jarring to me then because I've never played WoW... all I know is that I never walk around cities when there's the Athernet as it's faster to sit though the zone loading screen then to walk/run there.
The Shroud is easily the most boring set of maps though. La Nosca is second and Thanalan is last. Heavensward is the most interesting with Churning Mists, Azys Lla and Sea of Clouds being the best. Corthean Weastern Highlands is the most boring map though, it's just white, white, white everywhere.
The Shroud is easily the most boring set of maps though. La Nosca is second and Thanalan is last. Heavensward is the most interesting with Churning Mists, Azys Lla and Sea of Clouds being the best. Corthean Weastern Highlands is the most boring map though, it's just white, white, white everywhere.
Geostigma
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- gabe
Yeah it just comes from playing other Theme Park MMO's like WoW or Wildstar where they also don't have anything like Aethernet for inner city travel, but also let you walk around or over the city in any way you want.
Like in Stormwind for example if I want I can get on the roof of any building and traverse the city in anyway my characters abilities allow me (blink on mage, displacer beast on Druid,Warriors heroic leap, etc.). I'm never going to "bonk" into a invisible wall. I may bonk into a physical wall lol, but then I can get on my flying mount,pass it , and get back to parkouring around the town on foot again etc.
That's kind of the design philosophy for the entire world map. There's little actual negative space in the game. Instead they just put a hill or building there etc. And you can generally traverse. Your never actually forced into set pathways to go to x location. If there is actual negative space it's generally lore friendly (think Outland the flight between hellfire peninsula and the black temple) and they still let you actually traverse it, and heck even let you fall into it and die if that's what you want to do.
Think like in Skyrim, I'm sure I'm not the only person who jumps up 500 times trying to cross a mountain over the top instead of taking the proper path around it right?
If Skyrim was done with the FF14 world philosophy in mind that entire mountain would have invisible walls all around it stopping you from jumping up it, and the proper pathway to the town on the other side would probably be a series of narrow bridges with small clearings after them
It really is just weird and jarring. You get really accustomed to just being able to dork off and jump from place to place and take any route you choose to x location, then to all of sudden just bonk into everything wall physical or invisible.
idk. Some of the funnest times I've had in an MMORPG was just trying to see how to parkour around different Towns or the Garrison with friends in WoW. It just kind of sucks that FF14 doesn't allow you to experience it's town or world in that way. It's very restrictive.
Cthulhu
Administrator
- AKA
- Yop
A main difference between the two is that a lot more of XIV's budget was spent on shit like questlines and dressing them up with (albeit basic) animations, camera work, etc; idk what the latter WoW expansions do in that regard, but from what I recall, the main effort they put into the quests is a blurb of text nobody reads. Most of XIV's quests are literally the same as WoW's (kill 10 rats or go to that dude) (and IDK why, probably because they're simple and work with the generic MMO mechanics), but at least they try to dress them up a bit with more compelling storylines and world-building. Not as good as er, that Star Wars one from Bioware is though.
How does the netcode for the two games compare anyway? If XIV has zones, does that mean every zone can run on a different server (and how does that compare to WoW)?
I don't mind the zones that much anyway, it's not like you actually cross zones that often after you first visit them and unlock the teleport thingy. I didn't like the amount of travelling around that WoW needed.
Eve is arguably worse with regards to travelling though, where instead of a few continents (like WoW), a dozen or so areas (like XIV), you have like 5000 zones. Imagine XIV, where the only way to get from one zone to the other is via an aetheryte shard (and you have to get close to it), and the aetheryte to get from one zone to the other is on the other side of the map. You can get to the other one automagically though, just takes a bit (in the tens of seconds). Oh and there's actually nothing in the zones but a skybox,
How does the netcode for the two games compare anyway? If XIV has zones, does that mean every zone can run on a different server (and how does that compare to WoW)?
I don't mind the zones that much anyway, it's not like you actually cross zones that often after you first visit them and unlock the teleport thingy. I didn't like the amount of travelling around that WoW needed.
Eve is arguably worse with regards to travelling though, where instead of a few continents (like WoW), a dozen or so areas (like XIV), you have like 5000 zones. Imagine XIV, where the only way to get from one zone to the other is via an aetheryte shard (and you have to get close to it), and the aetheryte to get from one zone to the other is on the other side of the map. You can get to the other one automagically though, just takes a bit (in the tens of seconds). Oh and there's actually nothing in the zones but a skybox,
Geostigma
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- gabe
It might be similar netcode wise. So while even though say the entire continent of Eastern Kingdoms is one "zone" they doesn't require you to load screen zone in/out of it's various locations it still utilizes phasing and phased instances.
I.e. Leaving Stormwind and entering Goldshire if there are say 1 - 100 players in Goldshire 1 you will be "phased" into Goldshire 2 and be there with 101-200 players in that list.
Though I think my example numbers are off as I've never had issue getting into the same phased instance for a town or province with friends. Also when WoD launched it seemed like there were thousands of people in each phase so I'm sure the number is more like 1-1000 lol.
WoW also lets you "server hop" as well via the lfg system. Which is pretty useful for monster farming. I.E. Elite monster 1 was just killed on Sargeras? NP I'll server hop to this group on Moon Guard and see if he's alive there.
Using the same system you can also Raid with guilds/people on other servers. Not sure how that applies to netcode but I thought it might be worth bringing up.
As far as FF14 phasing and instancing. It definitely uses a similar system. It just blows my mind as to why they keep some quest givers behind 2 load screens lol. I really just don't understand why they kept them in their own static instance.
Obsidian Fire
Ahk Morn!
- AKA
- The Engineer
I know for instanced dungeons/trials that they're on their own separate server. I've met people from different servers while going on dungeon crawls. What you can't do is "channel hop" in zones in the over-world, thankfully. It would completely imbalance stuff like crafting nodes and hunt spawns which are only supposed to pop up ever couple of hours or even every few real-life days.
Geostigma
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- gabe
Obsidian Fire
Ahk Morn!
- AKA
- The Engineer
Yup! Have the Awakened weapon! And I'm a quarter of the way to the actual Anima (20 Unidentifiable Bones and 4 HQ Titanium Alloy Mirrors) and I've got 2 of 5 Allagan Oils for the Hyperconductive. At the rate I'm bringing in Gil and Tomestones... lets just say what's probably going to take more time is getting enough Gil to afford the HQ items. The Oils can be gotten once a week from the Crystal Tower raids (so three more weeks at a minimum). And I'm averaging one Unidentifiable X in both Poetics and Esoterics per day not counting the ones that can be gotten with A1 - A4 drops. I'll only start getting worried about the grind if I havn't gotten nearly everything by the time I get the 5th Allagan Oil.
Other stuff:
--Beat the HW MQ!
--Unlocked all available Duty Roulettes!
--Unlocked all the 4 player dungeons!
--All the gathering classes are at Lvl. 15!
--Have an iLvl. of 209 on my SUM!
--All the Tank classes are now at Lvl. 30!
Next Up:
--Get the physical DPS classes up to Lvl. 30
--Unlock the rest of the raids/trials
--Work on getting better gear (210+), which means getting good at endgame content
--get crafting/gathering classes up, as making HQ mats and selling them on the market is a decent source of Gil and gives me EXP and lots of crafting mats myself
Lex
Administrator
Obs said:
They can all be gotten with A1-A4 drops, but tomes + beast tribe quests are the fastest way to collect them. I had my oils before I completed that step and I got the five oils by doing Gift of the Archmagus 5 weeks running. You get more Eso from all the dungeons now though so it should be slightly faster.