Alleged FFXIV open beta (AKA Squeenix fails at the internet)

[Yumil]

Registration and downloading the client was supposed to be earlier, but they postponed it:

FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test Postponed

FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test, which is scheduled to begin at 19:00 (PDT) on Aug. 31, 2010, will be postponed due to a confirmation of critical bugs. New schedule will be release? at a later date.

Along with the postponement of FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test, the issuing of registration code for FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test will be postponed as well. With the download of client software's installer, it will be suspended at 19:00 (PDT) on Aug. 31, 2010.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Anywho, when they bring it up, Im sure plenty of NPFers will be involved, so I'm wondering if we should meet up? If open beta is good I'll probably preorder and take my vacation for the early start as I've been wanting a good MMO since I quit WoW.

Just need some players:)

[Kim]

I'll join if my compy can run it.

[Krylo]

Got a thing in the e-mails last night. I've been trying to decide whether to bother with it.

Maybe if a few good men say they're rolling in I'll bother with it myself.


I'll join
Or maybe it'll be my excuse for staying away.

[Azisien]

I'm patching the client right now, though it's floating around 10kb/s download and the update is a few gigs.

Probably be updated by the time they actually release the keys. Figure I'll give this a shot because I have a few interested friends.

Edit: And because somebody told me you can roll a new character as a Cook. I've always wanted to start an epic fantasy adventure by smacking mobs with a spatula.

[Julford Hajime]

I'm thinking about it. I've got a couple friends who played a lot during closed beta, but beyond that they spent as much time playing the game as possible I know nothing of whther or not it's good. Also, my current compy can't run Team Fortress 2 or Portal, I'm not sure how well it could handle XIV. Though it did handle XI just fine, so maybe this'll work out >.>

Still, assuming I hear good things about the playing experience AND my comp can run it, I'll give the game a shot. I tend to be a smashy-smashy class with an emphasis on SMASHING (Though tanking capability is important too, so no rogues >.>), so I can fill that role I guess >.>

[Azisien]

Just to update y'all.

FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test Will Start on Sep. 1!

We would like to take this opportunity to provide an update regarding FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test, which was announced to be postponed on Aug. 31, 2010.

Along with the completion on investigation and correction of the critical issue, we have decided to begin FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test on Sep. 1, 2010 at 19:00 (PDT).

Starting on Sep. 1, 2010 at 19:00 (PDT), acquisition of registration code required for FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test will be available.

[Julford Hajime]

So where would I go to obtain this legendary Open Beta code? Cause I see no links in this thread and I am one lazy motherfucker*.

*Like no seriously I typed in the italic code around the word lazy because using the mouse to click the button that does that is too much work.

[Donomni]

I still can't believe the PS3 version is delayed because of actual PS3 limitations(The RAM, for those wondering). It's meta as hell for someone who was so involved in FFXI.

No way in hell this comp can run XIV either. :ohdear:

[Krylo]

So is there any way to actually get the key and download it without making a new account?

I have an account.

If I didn't have an account they couldn't have e-mailed me a link to the Beta site, because they wouldn't have my e-mail.

There doesn't seem to be any way to actually use the account I already have to get the beta key though.

[Azisien]

There is a way, but I don't believe the beta keys are available yet?

Edit: Not that it matters though, because the client has been updating for me for...oh....16 hours or so. And it's updated 32.1% thus far.

[Krylo]

FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test Will Start on Sep. 1!

We would like to take this opportunity to provide an update regarding FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test, which was announced to be postponed on Aug. 31, 2010.

Along with the completion on investigation and correction of the critical issue, we have decided to begin FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test on Sep. 1, 2010 at 19:00 (PDT).

Starting on Sep. 1, 2010 at 19:00 (PDT), acquisition of registration code required for FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test will be available.

We are looking forward to your participation in FINAL FANTASY XIV Open Beta Test!

They fixed the issue.

[POS Industries]

Where the hell do you get the client, anyway?

[The Argent Lord]

Where the hell do you get the client, anyway?
Download link at the bottom of the page.

[POS Industries]

Download link at the bottom of the page.
Which page? The only page I can find on the matter only has a button marked "Close" at the bottom, and all the links on the page are to FAQ and info pages.

[The Argent Lord]

Huh. It appears to have vanished from where I downloaded it yesterday.

[POS Industries]

Apparently they removed the link when they postponed the beta.

The good news: The beta's reopened and the link is back.

The bad news: The server can't handle all the traffic and the link is redirected to an error page at the moment.

[Yumil]

Beta registration went back up and I'm currently patching. If anyone gets in before I'm done, say what server so that I know where to join up at.

I'm going to bed as it's a big patch:X

[Krylo]

I got all registered/got my key, after wading through server errors, added it to my account, after wading through more errors, but now the beta site isn't letting me log in.

This is annoying as piss.

I'm assuming it's just some error with the server congestion and it's taking some time or whatever, but still annoying as piss.

[Nique]

'Server Congestion' error before I could even get to the sign up page. Annoying. I would really like to try this out :/

[Mannix]

How the crap do you register the beta key. I've been wading through their intractable quagmire of a website for a while now and the only registration thing I've seen has 4 slots the the key has 5 chunks.

[Doc ock rokc]

the Fan site (http://www.ffxivcore.com/) found away around data errors. I might try this out see if my comp can take it.

[Mannix]

Finally have everything downloading. I'm not sure if their website could be more obtuse.

[Azisien]

I finally got past the server congestion but they have temporarily suspended the issuing of beta keys.

Not that it matters, because the client download is ass-tarded.

[Krylo]

Finally got everything downloading as well. Website is ridiculously obtuse, much like it was when signing up for closed beta.

Beyond that, last night the update servers were apparently down. Just starting all that shit now.

[Kim]

I keep trying to apply for the open beta, and keep getting an error message. Haha, oh well. Let me know if it's actually any fun once it's playable.

[Krylo]

I'm sure it won't be!

But I can't resist trying new stuff for free.

[Mannix]

Set the updater going before I went to bed last night. It got to 99% of file 2 of 6 before I then timed out. At least it looks like they're using a bit torrent protocol so I didn't lose anything. I hope this shit is ready before I come home from work. Or perhaps before the beta closes.

Edit: I'm sure it will be fun at least for a little bit. Final Fantasy XI was my first mmo and I liked it up until I hated it. Maybe it was because WOW hadn't come out yet and I just didn't know any better. They've supposedly made this one a little less 'asian' for lack of a better term. I guess we'll see.

[Doc ock rokc]

Mannix your gaining all kinds of respect from me. I almost punched a baby there as I for the first time got to the app and got to see it...before it said it was busy....

[Funka Genocide]

wait, aren't FF MMO's like the grindathon that you can't even attend without an entourage?

The complete lack of anything even remotely resembling solo endgame content, or a pathway to endgame content through solo play for that matter, kind of makes me reticent to give it a go.

Its impossible to find decent human beings that will play an MMO with you regularly.

[Yumil]

wait, aren't FF MMO's like the grindathon that you can't even attend without an entourage?

The complete lack of anything even remotely resembling solo endgame content, or a pathway to endgame content through solo play for that matter, kind of makes me reticent to give it a go.

Its impossible to find decent human beings that will play an MMO with you regularly.

They claim that with FFXIV you can solo or group up. They built the class system around equipment and if you want to solo, just change equip and go.

[Mannix]

They claim that with FFXIV you can solo or group up. They built the class system around equipment and if you want to solo, just change equip and go.

That's about half of what I meant by less 'asian.' The other half being the time it takes to gain a level being measured in weeks.


Also, I've noticed that the updater / installer have crashed several times, and it has to do with an error in how it handles switching between files. You won't lose anything real progress, you just have to restart the loader every time it completes a file for it to move on to the next one.

[POS Industries]

they have temporarily suspended the issuing of beta keys.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/posindustries/facepalm/bashir-obrien1.jpg

[Doc ock rokc]

I finally got past the server congestion but they have temporarily suspended the issuing of beta keys.

Not that it matters, because the client download is ass-tarded.

http://chzgifs.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/youknow_sg.gif

[Marc v4.0]

Maybe...maybe trying to get a beta key is the game?

[Kim]

No, the website is the tutorial dungeon. The final dungeon is where the people who actually give a damn about the game form a raid group, fly to Japan, and beat Imperial Hot with a keyblade until he gives them beta codes.

Only by the time they get to use them the open beta is already over.

[Yumil]

I gave up on their torrent, I found some ddls for the download>.<

http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/12719-open-beta-megauploadutorrent-links-install-instructions/

[POS Industries]

No, the website is the tutorial dungeon. The final dungeon is where the people who actually give a damn about the game form a raid group, fly to Japan, and beat Imperial Hot with a keyblade until he gives them beta codes.

Only by the time they get to use them the open beta is already over.
Keyblades are for scrubs.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/posindustries/Edgar.jpg

[Mannix]

After a bit less than 24 hours using their downloader I'm at 99.9% complete. done.


Also, I always preferred the drill.

[Julford Hajime]

I'm just gonna wait until Sunday night. I figure by then, thumbs will be out of asses and things will work right.

[Mannix]

Everything is installed and good to go, but I keep getting shut down at the loading screen after logging in and hitting start. Any ideas?

[Yumil]

I'm in the middle of the install right now, so I'll see when I get there>.<

Launcher says maintenance now.

EDIT: I got in.

Server: Besaid
City: Limsa Lominsa
Name: Precocious Yumility

[Nique]

Square's website is insane. But I'm almost there. I'll join you on Besaid if you like Yumil.

[Yumil]

The game killed my brain, so bed time for now.

[Azisien]

Okay suspension is finally over. Just got a key and registered it.

Oh yeah you know how your client updating is slow?

80 hours in: 64.3% on file 1.

[Kim]

Actually in the beta now. If only the site could work long enough for me to download the shitty client.

[Fifthfiend]

Keyblades are for scrubs.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/posindustries/Edgar.jpg

I'd ask why you think those are exclusive categories but I'm too busy being disappointed that you haven't read any of my fanfictions.

[Fifthfiend]

...After I dedicated chapter 37 of History's Strongest Spacemarine Sora specially to you!

[Doc ock rokc]

AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I got all signed up...but the Beta testers page wont load
http://mehreenkasana.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/fuuuu.jpg

[Fifthfiend]

AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I got all signed up...but the Beta testers page wont load
http://mehreenkasana.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/fuuuu.jpg

It's like MMORPGs: The MMORPG.

[Azisien]

EDIT: I got in.

Server: Besaid
City: Limsa Lominsa
Name: Precocious Yumility

Okay, I will join this also, as will my buddies. Maybe we can all pile on one server and make a sixteen member party!

I'll update later when I actually make a character.

[POS Industries]

I'd ask why you think those are exclusive categories but I'm too busy being disappointed that you haven't read any of my fanfictions.
...After I dedicated chapter 37 of Sora: History's Greatest Space Marine specially to you!
Baby you knows I be functionally illiterate!

Anyway, I'm in. Kimzi Jaador, Besaid.

[Azisien]

These initial impressions are uncomfortably bad. I need to go play a good game to feel better now.

My character name is Aholf Ditler.

[POS Industries]

Yeah, the graphics are god tier but then they forgot to actually make a fun game out of it.

[Nique]

These initial impressions are uncomfortably bad.

What kind of issues? I need to know what I'm getting myself into here :/

Yeah, the graphics are god tier but then they forgot to actually make a fun game out of it.


ERRRGYHHH... FFXIII was frusterating enough. What is the deal? Square, you are literally and metaphorically stabbing me in the face. Why?! I was even on board for FFVIII! The one everyone hates! Come on!

[Fifthfiend]

Baby you knows I be functionally illiterate!

That's why I included all those stick figure drawings!:(

[Doc ock rokc]

AHHHHH! I AM AT THE UBB MESSAGE BOARD AND IT WONT LET ME SIGN UP! SO MUCH RAGE!

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

Call me when S-E puts story back in their FF games. I'll be over here, trying to get Persona PSP games.

[POS Industries]

What kind of issues? I need to know what I'm getting myself into here :/
Literally everything is awkwardly and ineffectually set up. Movement, combat, communication with NPCs, communication with other players, video options... anything that one would consider the bedrock of a video game is just absolute shit.

It's something that I've noticed with a lot of new MMOs where they don't want to be accused of being a "WoW clone" so they try to avoid it in the most wrongheaded manner by just trying to reinvent the UI in a way that's as far removed from what Blizzard did as possible (and invariably coming up with something unplayably worse) and leaving all the generic MMO gameplay elements that people associate first and foremost with WoW in place.

It's like they're throwing out the baby with the bathwater, except they're keeping the bathwater.

[Yumil]

Ok, I'm going to give it another try. Here's what I felt was wrong enough to make me stop playing and sleep:

1. There really isn't any direction in the start. The tutorial was fine, if it told me how to do anything. It says target monster, go into active mode, and hit attack. Easy enough, but it didn't tell me how to go into active mode and the attack shit doesn't pop up till you have the monster locked on...was quite unpleasant trying to figure that out myself. Active/Passive should not be a manual toggle...

2. It's hard to look at the whole map. You pretty much have to run a direction and get a look at like 5 feet in front of you. You can't really just say, hmm, where is this place the npc was talking about and find it. No, you have to run around and hope you are going in the right direction. I may find a way to actually pan around the map later so this may change, but I spent like an hour trying to find that stupid camp the bartender npc tells you to go to.

3. You can't really tell what npcs are the quest givers, what are flavor npcs, and what are shop npcs. I know, one player ffs are like this, but man, when you have so many npcs and a flood of pcs, it's nice to see that ! that is so common in MMOs.

4. Mouse and Keyboard controls feel bad. Space to talk...you know how many times I hit space because I expect there to be some sort of jump command>.< I'm going to try witha controller. Supposedly the controller controls are worlds above the m+k.

Now, it's not all bad. The voice acting is ok, the graphics are godly, and all the npc dialog seems well done. The combat is your typical MMO fair and so is your crafting. It's probably a game I will play, but it'll take me a little time in the OB to see if Im going to get it at launch. Some of this stuff needs fixed to make it more bearable.

EDIT: if anyone else gets on, send me a message, maybe I'll be having fun.

HUGE EDIT: OMG, Controller is SOOOOOOOOO much better to use. It's like I'm playing a different game. Hell, the maps are easily panned with the controller(you use the camera move function, which if you do with the mouse it just moves the world camera and the map....!), it's like it fixes a bunch of my issues:O

[Azisien]

What Yumil said, except I didn't really find the graphics to be awe-inspiring. Guess the 295 is making me snobby, and it's good as far as MMOs are concerned?

[Fifthfiend]

Literally everything is awkwardly and ineffectually set up. Movement, combat, communication with NPCs, communication with other players, video options... anything that one would consider the bedrock of a video game is just absolute shit.

It's something that I've noticed with a lot of new MMOs where they don't want to be accused of being a "WoW clone" so they try to avoid it in the most wrongheaded manner by just trying to reinvent the UI in a way that's as far removed from what Blizzard did as possible (and invariably coming up with something unplayably worse) and leaving all the generic MMO gameplay elements that people associate first and foremost with WoW in place.

It's like they're throwing out the baby with the bathwater, except they're keeping the bathwater.

This is so weird in that you think it'd be obvious that the best way to make a WoW-killer is to shamelessly rip off everything about WoW, then fix a couple of things people hated about WoW, then add a couple cool things that aren't in WoW.

And when I say obvious, I mean it's how WoW crushed Everquest beneath its sandaled thrice-elven +3 Boots of Buttzhammer-ed feet.

[Yumil]

OK, crafting isn't standard MMO fair. I just assumed it was as I had no idea what was going on when you crafted. It's actually far more skill based and I'm quite happy with it. I haven't really done any combat yet so I can't speak for that as blacksmiths only get to throw rocks(for 1 damage>.<)

Anywho, there is a lot going on in blacksmithing. You have to watch and listen while doing it know the cues to get the best results. Someone who knows what they are doing will make radically better stuff than someone who randomly clicks how to craft it.

Now if only I could figure out how to use the crafting quests better and whatnot>.< I don't know if they refill over time or what. If they do, this might be a pretty good casual MMO.

[Kim]

I tried to run the beta client and just got a generic error message. I take it that's God's way of saving me some pain.

[Funka Genocide]

I'm going to be honest here, after sacrificing untold months to the WoW gods I have grown accustomed to the interface to such a level that I don't think I could work another MMO with radically different control schemes and interfaces.

Like I tried to play FFXI some time back and was physically incapable of figuring out the interface. It's really rather strange since I have no less than 80 hot keys and custom keyboard layouts for WoW depending on circumstances, a multi button mouse and a bunch of other uber nerdy shit that all adds up to me looking like some freak show button mashing zombie when I play WoW, and yet I can't figure out how to walk down the street in FFXI without running into a wall.

If the controls in the new FF mmo are similar to its predecessor I'd probably rage quit in the first hour.

[Nique]

I'm in

Server: Besaid
City: Limsa Lominsa
Name: Nameless Seed

[POS Industries]

If the controls in the new FF mmo are similar to its predecessor I'd probably rage quit in the first hour.
I never really played FFXI, but from my understanding the controls aren't so much similar to their predecessor than radically different and worse.

Anyway, every time I try to play I get a massive headache so I give up. Bear in mind I got two relatively enjoyable months out of the failfest that was Star Trek Online so clearly Square has royally fucked up here. Hopefully for their sake they overhaul the whole mess before launch.

[Funka Genocide]

Can we get a bullet point list of interface specific gripes?

and by we I mean "I".

[YHWH]

I take it that's God's way of saving me some pain.

Pretty much. I'm seriously trying to spare you guys here... What's wrong with the rest of you jerks?

[Nique]

Buh. Server error booted me. Sorry Yumil!

What's wrong with the rest of you jerks?

:(

[Yumil]

Mouse and Keyboard

Map doesn't really pan
Have to hit space to talk(too common as jump in mmos)
Have to hit CTRL+R to respond, only after opening say
Sometimes CTRL+R doesn't reply to the last messenger
Very small character limit in tells
Very few keyboard hotkeys and no way to bind them
Pretty much have to click everything
Have to press f to go into combat mode
After changing classes have to reset your tool bar. It doesn't save for each class
After dying, you have to go to the main menu and hit return...no auto option pops up
Most of the settings are set outside the program. As in you have to run a config app to do them.


Thats just off the top of my head. There is no jumping as well

Honestly, I think the gamepad fixes a lot of it, but still very sloppy.

It's grown on me as I learned how to do quests and in fact combat quests are fast and fun(as in they show you were to go and after you do what you need to do autocomplete and warp you camp to select a new one). Add in you can turn in old quest cards to increase rewards on new quests and it's pretty awesome.

You just have to get past the clusterfuck at the beginning and the huge learning curve on the interface and you reach a good game. Too bad thats going to kill membership probably>.<

EDIT: So, it also doesnt tell you when the person you are sending tells to is no longer online, so Ive been sending messages to people not knowing they got kicked off.

[Funka Genocide]

sorry bro, I don't click.

[Doc ock rokc]

sigh this is getting ultra annoying now. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TranquilFury) the loader has 1mb/s going out and 0 b/s comeing in.

[Yumil]

sigh this is getting ultra annoying now. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TranquilFury) the loader has 1mb/s going out and 0 b/s comeing in.

Try this (http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/12719-open-beta-megauploadutorrent-links-install-instructions/)

[Azisien]

After thirty full minutes I figured out how to equip a frying pan instead of a knife.

That gives you a good idea of how the learning curve goes!

And now I'm totally in the dark as to how to start cooking!

[Doc ock rokc]

fastest torrent ever. It went from 24 hours (which is the standard beginning time) to 30 seconds!

[Yumil]

After thirty full minutes I figured out how to equip a frying pan instead of a knife.

That gives you a good idea of how the learning curve goes!

And now I'm totally in the dark as to how to start cooking!

Go to the guildleve counter and get a cooking quest, depending on the quest it should give you the ingredients or have you go get it from the person you turn it in to. Open up the menu and select the option at the very top(same place most interactions go). It's pretty obvious that it's the option.

[Azisien]

I was at the cook guild in Limsa and there isn't anyone at the counter giving any cooking quests. NPC either isn't at the counter or you're talking about something else. Maybe I still have to do some newbie quests with Gladiator...

Edit: Wait...maybe...

Edit 2: Yess!

[Yumil]

It's at the adventurer guilds counter. Thats where you find pretty much all your quests save the story ones.

[Azisien]

Well I got a-cooking, and got past some more terrible patching issues.

But I'm getting used to that. Now I need to figure out how the heck Synthesis is supposed to work. It seems completely luck of the draw. Is there a tutorial anywhere on that?

[Krylo]

Server: Besaid
City: Limsa Lominsa (Which is a stupid name)
Name: Kharmasis Altari

Really not liking that you can't tell who's a quest giver etc. but I'm not having nearly as much trouble with the interface as you guys seemed to have been having. Figured out how to equip/unequip before I ever needed to, for instance.

Most of my problems have been finding my way around when all the mobs look the same and I can't move around the map, and the lack of a jump. I LIKE jumping over things and falling long distances and stuff. Though battle is more than a bit cumbersome as well, with the having to attack each round manually and the fact you have to draw your weapon before you can attack anything (as opposed to autodrawing when you begin combat like every other game ever).

Though I'm not far yet.

[Azisien]

The interface complies well to keyboard-only. My prowess with it is improving.

I wish the game wasn't so damn laggy though. I hope that's just a beta thing. And I don't mean true high ping lag, just....the whole experience is sluggish. Scrolling, combat, whatever.



Though this dandelion murdered me yesterday and it was a total lag kill.

[Krylo]

It is sluggish. The interface is also sluggish. Requiring entering menus just to say... interact with an overworld object.

Kind of ridiculous. Not having trouble figuring out the interface isn't the same as thinking it's not dumbtarded, mind.

Edit: And now everytime I go to the next section of my treasures of the main quest it tells me its unable to load.

[Doc ock rokc]

Server: Besaid
City Limsa Lominsa
Name Damion Moriarty

Try to find me ...i'll need the help

[POS Industries]

I've finally gotten the hang of the silly UI and begun halfassedly making some progress with this game. I can safely say it's not something I'd pay actual real life money for or anything but it has its upsides. Granted, said upsides aren't particularly related to gameplay but man the visuals sure are nice.

The Gridania opening scene was the first I'd really felt like I was playing a FF game since I started with this. I'm told Ul'Dah is quite stunning in that department, as well, but I have yet to try it out.

[Krylo]

I'm able to teleport across to all the beginning cities with my miqo'te, Khaela Altari. If anyone wants to get to other cities to take more leves or whatever you can contact me when I'm on.

[Julford Hajime]

Sorry, I think I'm gonna drop out of this Beta thingy. Classes start tomorrow, and my roommate just got me to sign up for WoW again, so I'll probably be playing that for the foreseeable future anyway.

Plus, this computer lags to unplayable levels with TF2. I doubt it could play FFXIV anyway >.>

[McTahr]

Couple hours from a finished download, mostly just to diddle around with the beta. I'd actually give it more than a cursory effort if not for the fact that I'm in Physics Hell with two jobs. An MMO addiction right now would kill me.

[Krylo]

Hey guys, I figured out how to get rid of the biggest pain in the ass in the game (equipping/changing classes being a forever issue).

Macros.

Now before anyone's a smart ass about it, I kinda figured this was possible ages ago but never bothered actually trying to until tonight when it finally wore on me enough. Regardless, I'll share how to do it with you folks so that you don't have to suffer through until it finally annoys you enough (or until the beta ends).

First, write down the names of your equipment, with caps, and your abilities (or remember them, if you are slick like me).

Then hit home to bring up your main menu, then go to config, and then macros. Open one up, name it whatever.

The necessary commands for class switching are /equip and /eaction. The former equips gear, the latter equips actions to your bar.

Format is /equip [slot] "[item]"

The slot we would care about for switching classes is 'main', though you can do head, body, etc. if you'd rather type a command to equip something than navigate the labyrinthine maze of menus.

For actions the format is /eaction [location] "[command]" [main/sub]

The location is where on your bar you want the action (2-10, the action for slot 1 equips automatically), and main/sub is your main hand or off hand. You don't have to put anything there if you are equipping the ability to your main hand.

Here's a screen shotted example of my marauder's:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/krylo/maraudermacro.png

Once you're done up to that point all you have to do is press ctrl (or alt) to bring up the macro bar and select your macro from it/press the proper button (pressing up/down on the keyboard will cycle you through the, up to, five macro bars for each button).

It would be nice if they could do something like this automatically for us, and maybe they will by/sometime shortly after/three years after launch, but for the time being this makes the most annoying part of the game much more palatable and it only takes a couple seconds to set up.

[Azisien]

In their efforts to make something fresh and new they put us back to early 90's mudding.

And then took a few years back still. I uninstalled for the remainder of the beta and I might revisit this game in a few weeks, or months.

[Krylo]

I'm kind of surprised by that.

I kind of figured this would be your game, given how much you love Mass Effect's inventory.

But for serious: there's a ton of mucky interface problems, but I wouldn't say it's back to early 90s mudding. It's nothing like Diku/CircleMUD or GodWars. And certainly nothing like Gemstone. Which is kind of unfortunate.

But there are a ton of things they did right. Like the crafting system. I've never actually enjoyed crafting before, but adding an element of strategy to crafting instead of just 'click and wait' like every other MMORPG currently hovering about is nice. The exploratory crafting system is kind of neat too, and if there wasn't menu lag I'd probably spend hours on that alone--and I did kind of peg you as someone who'd love that as well.

Not to mention having to strategize whether to do standard, rapid, or bold crafting depending on durability, odds of success, etc. if you want to get the best leve rewards (and a chance at getting better equipment). You even have to take into account the current quality of the piece, as the higher the quality the more difficult the crafting becomes (high quality items present you with a higher failure chance, and failures tend to cost more durability/give less progress) which makes it more complex as you want to start with Rapid or Standard (probably the former), but you don't want to go too far with them and miss your chance to increase the quality with Bold.

Speaking of crafting: White orb = slightly greater than normal chance, yellow orb = better chance than white, Red orb = extremely poor chance, and I'm not sure if clicking at the right time during a multi-colored orb will give you better/worse chances or if it's just the standard. It's pretty hard to test that, what with the slight menu lag and what not. I'm guessing lots of people don't know that, but there it is.

I also find the stamina bar in combat adds a level of interactivity to combat without making it complicated to the point of unintentionally nerfing an entire subset of the classes (see AoC and melee combos) or obnoxious and boring (ala Warhammer's first five levels where you just spammed 1). The fact you get your second ability, literally, right after the first actual fight probably helps with the not being too boring thing, too.

That said, I totally get just uninstalling and giving up. It does have a lot of problems.

For starters, it is total bullshit that even after altering the ports I have had to go to fan sites for the last 2-3 patches. The patcher has apparently gotten even worse since the opening of Open Beta, which is retardiculous.

Then, once you get in, the menu lag is atrocious and really brings down the awesome that crafting COULD be, as you're waiting 5 seconds every time you move to load up a menu. And the sloppy mouse controls certainly don't help with this at all. The same goes for shopping. Menu lag is annoying as piss there.

Of course, thanks to macros and text commands, you only really have to deal with the menu lag for those two things (I type /equip [body part] [eq] for basically everything), but the fact that you have to make macros and learn text commands for a modern MMORPG is pretty ridiculous. I'm guessing this is actually where the 'back to 90s mudding' thing comes in. And even this is kind of annoying because the menu lag affects the chat box sometimes.

Then you have the complete and utter lack of in game help that makes it hard to figure out how to equip things, what stats do what (I put off statting my mage for like 5 levels because I had no idea what INT/Mind/Piety did. I had an idea of what they did but not which stat did what), etc. And the tooltips are just atrocious. I mouse over the poison icon when it says I've been poisoned. "Losing HP over time". How much HP? How much time between damage taken? How long is it going to last? None of these simple, yet important, questions are answered. And I still don't know what effect, if any, having broken equipment has. The tool tip for it is in japanese.

And even combat, which I like, isn't perfect. Sometimes characters will just refuse to do something you tell them to for no obvious reason, and there's no animation or on screen read out about it. Just a little something in the chat box... and even if you happen to read that, it more than often doesn't help because it doesn't tell you why you're not being allowed to attack. It's relatively rare, but frustrating as piss when i happens.

Combine that with the whole '16 quests every 48 hours' thing and it's easy to see where someone would walk away.

Personally I keep waffling on whether I hate it or I love it. On the one hand the atmospheres and graphics are amazing, and I love the crafting and the combat is amongst the best I've seen on an MMORPG. On the other hand all of that awesome stuff is stuck behind their completely shitty interface.

I think if I were to describe FFXIV in metaphor, I'd call it a gold nugget buried in six feet of shit. There's a real treasure in there, but you have to be willing to dig through a lot of terribleness to get to it.

[Azisien]

You've pretty much summarized my feelings on the matter. Particularly the gold nugget analogy.

I did love the crafting system, too. I thought it was excellent, and it's probably what made me sink 10 hours into it instead of 1 or 2. I liked how they did levequests too, at least the few I did. Letting you choose the quest difficulty and so on was pretty awesome.

Two of my friends are going to buy the full game, and I will probably use their trial guest passes to try it again at full game launch. Assuming SE doesn't force me to make a new account for a free trial. Given the patcher, I'm assuming anything could happen now.

I guess to extend the analogy, I'd rather play with my other silver and gold nuggets without having to wade neck deep through shit. A lot of MMOs launch kind of crappy though, and I'll revisit.

[Krylo]

I'd consider most other MMORPGs bronzes at best, to be honest. So that's probably why I've stuck to it for so long.

Also: I really love being able to stat my own character myself, instead of my stats just moving in strange mystical ways as I level with no input from myself.

[Yumil]

The 8 combat leve quest limit/48 hours is easily circumvented by grouping. While they don't force you to group to level, this is very close to it.

I, for one, am buying the game, though I probably wont get the collectors edition. I plan on focusing on crafting(namely blacksmithing, may do some in the carpentry as it seems that they attach the blacksmith heads to the shafts they make to make weapons/tools...though blacksmith does that too on some). I liked SWG(pre-CU and NE) for the crafting and the community. The crafting as one could make a name for themselves by making much better stuff than their competitors, so this is looking like I might be able to do this in FFXIV. If so, I'll probably be hooked.

[Krylo]

I'm thinking the casual crowd and most people that like alts will have absolutely no problems with leveling solo using leves. It takes awhile to do 8 combat/gathering leves + 8 (or more? Seems like I can turn a few in and get more of these, but not many) crafting leves. Even longer yet if you're trying to figure out how to/get the ingredients to make equipment for yourself.

Hardcore players are going to be the only ones seriously held back by the 48 hour refresh, I think. And as you said, they'll just end up getting groups together and sharing leves to beat the limit.

[Grand Master Kickface]

Would you mind describing the crafting mechanics in more detail, such as variable outcomes from the same starting recipe? I'm curious because I tried to get into crafting in FFXI, but it turned me off because you had no control over the success or failure of your synthesis, and you had to waste several dozens of items just to gain a single skill level. I'm always attracted to the creative pursuits in games, but crafting in FFXI was just too soulless and manipulative for me to put up with. Even if I don't get the game, I'd like to know how it works in FFXIV.

[Krylo]

Firstly: Leveling crafting is quick and doesn't use any of your items if you use Leves. Leves are basically quests, and they give you all the materials needed to make whatever, plus one spare set of materials in case you fuck up (though you can't use them for your own personal use). If you don't use leves, it's still quick but there's more guess work to figuring out a recipe you can reliably complete and you have to use your own items.

Secondly: You can dye cloth, or leather and paint wood. If you use, say, lead-gray dyed hempen cloth when you make your hempen bandanna, instead of an off-white bandanna (the default), you'll have a dark grey one. That's how you customize your equipment's appearance.

Now, when you go to synthesize something you get a box in the upper left into which you can place up to eight items to be used. Once you select that another box will pop up showing the possible things you can make with that recipe (usually just one, but sometimes, two, three, or even more possibilities exist). So you select which one you want, and the game will show you the items stats and tell you how many crystals (crystals are used in all synths) you need to make it. At this point you can either confirm or cancel.

Then you pop out your tools. The graphic changes depending on what you're doing, but regardless of what you are doing you will have a progress bar, a durability rating, and a quality rating. Durability starts a little over 100, progress starts at 0, and quality starts at around tenish. The goal is to get your progress to 100% before your durability reaches 0, while still getting the highest quality possible (will explain why later).

Standard Synthesis: This gives you a relatively balanced increase of Progress and Durability for a medium Durability loss. A failure with standard can cost you anywhere from ~10 to over 20 Durability. A 'good' failure, can sometimes net you a 10% progress increase and a 10 durability loss, meaning you haven't really lost ground. This is best to use when you're beating the curve by a little bit.

Rapid Synthesis: This gives you lots of progress for about the same Durability as Standard, maybe a little less. It gives pretty much nothing in the way of Quality. This you use whenever you're behind the curve or equal to it. You use it to gain a lead to make using one of the other two safer. Or, IF you are making things with your own items just for experience you might just spam this as a completed item gives much more xp than a failed synth, while more quality gives an extremely marginal exp increase, if any at all.

Bold: This gives you lots of Quality for a large amount of Durability and gives pretty much nothing in the way of progress. This one you want to reserve for when you're way ahead of the curve, otherwise it's too much of a risk.

And there's a wait option, that just makes you not do anything. It costs 1 durability the first time, 2 durability the next, etc. etc. and gives nothing. It's for avoiding using something potentially more damaging in a bad situation.

Beyond the three options you'll also notice your character has a glowing orb somewhere that they are working on (within a thatch of cloth for needles, in tongs for blacksmithing, on an anvil for armorsmithing, on a wooden table for gold working and leather working, etc.

Anyway, the orb always starts white, but there's four basic colors/patterns it can do.

Firstly it can go white, obviously. White is a slightly better chance than average at succeeding your synth attempt.

Secondly, it can go yellow. Yellow is a much higher chance than average at succeeding.

Thirdly, it will usually flash between colors. I THINK this is just an average chance, but there may be a correlation to what color is up when you hit the synth button. I'm really not sure.

Fourthly, there is red. Red means wait. It's a very low chance at succeeding.

Beyond that, you can also have an element become unstable which surrounds your item in a ring of energy. In this situation all your attempts to craft will result in much greater durability losses. You can TRY waiting it out, but it doesn't always work. This, thankfully, rarely happens--though you can still pull off a success even if it does if you use rapid and either had a lead or get lucky.

And that is how you craft.

As for quality, quality does two things. When doing quests you'll get an appraisal bonus per item equal to the item's quality divided by the number of items the quest requires you to turn in. For instance, if you need three knives, and you make one at 99 quality, you'll get 33 appraisal for it. If you make the next at 66 quality, you'll get an additional 22 appraisal, for a total of 55. Etc.

Having a higher appraisal means you get more money and extra item rewards sometimes.

The other thing is that when you break 100 quality while synthing, you gain the possibility to have a +1 for whatever it is you're making (hempen hat +1, for instance). The chance grows the higher you get, and after 200 or so you can be +2 etc. Having a +1/+2 on a piece of gear gives it better stats than it would have normally. Having it on a craft item (like a piece of cloth you use to make hats), makes anything you create with that item start at a higher quality.

This, however, is a mixed blessing. The higher an items quality, the harder it is to work--which is part of the reason you want to start with rapid and get a lead, instead of starting with bold and trying to catch up later. Something that might be really easy with 10 quality could be nearly impossible for you to work at 150, for instance.

And I think that covers everything.

As you can see crafting has a TON of depth to it. And that's not even touching on the 'create this to create that to create this' thing, which gets deeper when you consider the +1 advantages/disadvantages for crafting.

[Grand Master Kickface]

Wow, thanks for that description. That was really in-depth. I'd rep you if I could.

So, it seems like there's still a lot of randomness involved, but there's also more decisions for the player to make during the process. I just hope through all that lengthy process and decision-making the items are more valuable than their FFXI counterparts.

I also really like the idea of crafting leves. In FFXI I didn't like having to choose between spending money on ingredients to level crafts or getting to wear pants next level.

I still doubt that I'll get the game - my lappy couldn't run it and I don't think I'd buy a PS3 just for it - but I love figuring out new systems and mechanics. My intuition says that there might be some way to use the unstable elements to your advantage, or at least keep them from happening or fix them, but I'd have to get more hands-on with it to know for sure.

[Krylo]

My guess on unstable elements is that either better control or magical crafting on your crafting tool helps, but basically all equipment past starting level stuff is either leve rewards (and not all of them give rewards, and there's the 8 per day for combat ones--which are the only ones that give gear), or crafted. And not many people have figured out how to make better crafting tools yet.