Final Fantasy XIV: A Few Weeks In
I was jarred out of the main story because suddenly I needed to go start a secondary Class from level 1 and get them up to level 15. I've been playing an Archer, so in this case the secondary Class I needed was Pugilist. I needed to get my secondary Class to 15 so that I could pick up an advanced "Job" that goes on top of my main Archer class.
The Class and Job system isn't really explained well in the game. I needed to ask some guildmates about it and do some research online to actually figure it out.
In the end, I got Pugilist to 15 which let me pick up the Bard Job for my Archer Class. It took multiple days and it totally broke me out of my groove.
I finally got back to my level 30 main Class/Job which is now Archer/Bard and found that after level 30 the leveling slows down a lot. No longer could I fly through the main storyline quests that I was having so much fun with. I was constantly hitting a level barrier where I would have to go grind for another level before I could progress the main quest.
It's been really disheartening.
I actually liked the pace of the game up to level 30, but now it's wearing on me. I'm constantly grinding through dungeons and repetitive quests just for experience points so that I can level up. I do it because I want to see what's next in the main story, but I'm not having as much fun as I was before level 30.
I just want to get on with the main quest.
This amount of grinding would not be acceptable in a single player Final Fantasy game.
It's not all bad though. Some of the dungeons are fun and I finally have enough of them to add some variety to the duty finder (dungeon finder). Some of these include the Primals. Primals are big element creatures that are summons from other Final Fantasy games. They are very fun to fights against. I hope there are more to come. I think it's really cool how they've taking these summons from previous games in the series and turned them into enemies in Final Fantasy XIV.
It's also great how my character is a crystal bearer. It's such a perfect throwback to the Final Fantasy games of old. The crystal theme is used well in this case and it never feels shoehorned in.
There are a couple other little things bugging me at this point.
I was having a conversation with a friend in-game as I entered a dungeon. Little did I know, you can't send private messages in dungeons. Our conversation got cut off mid-thought. It was extremely annoying.
The last thing to mention is the gold seller problem. I'm constantly getting private messages from gold sellers trying to sell me in-game currency. It's a much bigger problem in this MMO compared to others I've played in the past.
I guess I don't have any big conclusions for you at the moment. I'm over half way through the main story and these are just my general feelings and thoughts at this point in the game.
I'm still attempting to finish the main storyline before I feel like I can call Final Fantasy XIV "finished". Hopefully I make it before my paid time expires.
"This amount of grinding would not be acceptable in a single player Final Fantasy game."
ReplyDeleteYou know, you are probably right, but single player games also don't make such a big deal about levels. The main story is gated by difficulty, not an arbitrary level requirement. The only time I notice my level in a Final Fantasy game is when I've hit a wall where a boss is kicking my ass - then, I simple grind a few more and return the favor.
MMORPGs need to find a way to have levels but not have players focusing on them. I think all of the "progression" and gating just re-focuses our attention that we aren't tall enough for this next ride yet, so we better drink our milk.
I never really hit a grind point when I leveled through a character on the first class (done it on two different characters). It's only after I hit 50 the first time and didn't have the main quest stories to provide additional experience that it really got grindy to me.
ReplyDeleteI'm not much of a dungeon runner, so to speed level my Ninja, I had to grind Fates and leves like crazy for a week straight. In fact, ran so many Fates... I earned the title for it on that character. THAT'S when it gets grindy.
It's better than what it used to be, but still a lot of work for that second... third... fourth... class you try to bring up. It's discouraged me from leveling additional classes, even though I'd like to. I hit about the mid-20s and that's where I hit the wall until late 30s, where I can finally head to Coerthas, which usually has some kind of Fate group running.
Keep pushing through, though. I really enjoyed the main story, and found it worth the time and effort.
I can't even imagine how much harder it would be to level without these main storyline quests. They're my main source of entertainment and experience.
DeleteA lot of crazy dedication.
DeleteThough, I want to note the post-50 storylines have become very good. Perhaps even better than the leveling experience stories. Just have to push past the slightly disjointed 2.1 story release. I've been very entertained with the end game experience, and haven't felt the need to level another class since I'm greatly preoccupied.