So, ffxiapp and NASA met the hammer of justice from SE. This news would have been a glorious revelation in times past, but it seems like a hollow victory now.
There are many other bots. People will simply move on to them... and it's sad because most people who play FFXI bot. Most people don't care at all; simply an accepted reality.
Why do we play this game? Endgame is a bloated joke of its former self; an RMT/botting joke. A lot of people buy/sell accounts... botting is the name of the game, and people will quit only to come back on new characters to re-acquire the same gear they did... then lose interest and sell again.
What is the point? The whole experience feels hollow these days. The adventure is gone, and all that is left are the stark realities of botting, RMT, huge timesinks, forced grouping and pathetically low drop rates.
HNM is a huge botting/RMT hellhole without skill, with only the certainties of wasted hours to come. My LS splinters and crumbles with lack of attendance and so my time ingame is spent doing nothing but waiting on the whims of other players, hoping to be allowed to play. And if I do get to play? What is the point in the end.
Final Fantasy XI is Botting RMT Fantasy XI.
Saturday 26 September 2009
Saturday 5 September 2009
Burning out
Burning out on FFXI at the moment, if you wondering about the somewhat melancholy posts.
I don't know what it is... part of me has finally snapped I guess. I don't hate the game. I am very disillusioned though...
Issue #1: Exclusion
I already went over this in my last post so no need, but the playerbase is extremely annoying. Forced grouping is a horrible, horrible idea... it's not that I'm antisocial. I enjoy playing with people, I honestly do... but it's at the stage where you have to ask permission from people to play and it's simply ridiculous.
Issue #2: Frustration
Here's a big one. HNMs are frankly absolutely terribly designed. Any HNM camper will tell you that the HNM lifestyle comes with great "high"s and great "low"s. The "high"s feel so cheap because of the horribly designed system, and the "low"s make me question why I even bother logging on honestly.
HNMs consume a ridiculous amount of time for no reason. Some people find them relaxing, I find them horribly tedious. I play this game to play it, not sit around for three hours a day. It's not always that bad but regardless. And what happens when you claim said HNM? Your chances of claim are fractional and on top of that, your chances of getting desired drops even more fractional (looking at you, Aspidchelone and/or King Behemoth). Nobody wants to waste all of those hours trying to claim a monster which only drops something valuable 25% of the time or far less. It's stupid!
Three hour king windows are stupidity themselves, but what about REALLY long ones, like Tiamat/Khimaira etc. Does anyone really enjoy them being this long? Would anyone care if they were shorter? The time requirements for HNM are truly sickening... not to mention realistically, most of the time, you are getting one or two drops a week. If that. When you abandon traditional events like dynamis/limbus/sky/sea etc which typically have 5x or above that output, it's just all incredibly demoralising.
No, this isn't about greed.
I genuinelly enjoy getting other people drops... but the time/reward ratio (something which is horribly done in most of FFXI) is absolutely dire here. Aspidchelone I keep bringing up because it is a joke of an HNM. Dfeet/Mfeet - does anyone really want to camp for these? W Body - enjoy your 40MP over Errant. Dalmy - the treasure of the pool and even so outshadowed by other pieces nowadays. You have a 25% chance of not hideously wasting your time.
Which brings me to my next point;
Issue #3: Randomness
The game is far too random! The difference between rich and poor can simply be luck and often is - drop rates across the board are incredibly low and SE seem determined to make you bleed to get most of the stuff you want in this game. Claiming an HNM is (supposed to be) random. Getting the drop you desire is then random. Salvage... epitome of random. Limbus, drops are random. Dynamis; random. One shell can go years without seeing a Duelist's Chapeau whereas another can get four in a run. It's dumb! Einherjar, random in terms of what mobs you get (not a bad thing in my opinion) but random in the annoying sense with regards to what drops you get.
SE seem determined that the drops you get are determined solely by how lucky you are at rolling the dice. Would it really hurt if drop rates were higher? I personally wouldn't care if more people had Adaman Hauberks, or Hecatomb Subligar, or other drops. If you invest time, you deserve reward - the reward should not come from luck itself.
Of course a lot of people will disagree on this point because some people enjoy rarity... which brings me on to my next point;
Issue #4 - Emptiness
Does this game really have much content?
Rhetorical question I know, but think about it. We have been and will be grinding Dynamis... forever. Likewise HNM, likewise Limbus and nearly all of the other events.
This is because drop rates are random and low in most cases and the output is incredibly small compared to the number of participants. The grind becomes the focus, items become the focus... these events are generally not fun due to the sheer endless repetition involved... a sheer endless repetition due to lack of content.
Think about this: imagine all drop rates were 100% (in the case of Dynamis, presume each participating member receives one piece of AF2 per run and in the case of Limbus, that each member selects one piece of the Homam/Nashira set per run). How long would these events last? Salvage in particular is a very small, shallow event with intensely low drop rates just to perpetuate the grind.
There really isn't much content, is there?
Now eliminate all content which involves forced grouping.
It's a bit empty in here, isn't it?
The grind is all that remains. Why do so many people quit after receiving items? It is because the grind removes all fun, and just burns you out severely over time. Once you receive the item, you realise it is a relief rather than a joy... I speak from personal experience here. Adaman Hauberk did not make me that excited. I tried to be. I really did... it just felt so hollow compared to my old triumphs like Homam Cosciales. My dominant emotion was relief, not joy. That's not to say I didn't appreciate getting it and love it -- because I do. It just doesn't feel all that amazing and that's probably because I'm burned out... I will appreciate it evermore.
Issue #5 - Hatred
People hate me, I am fairly certain. I cannot blame them for I have become bitter and cynical since the grind has completely burned me out. There is a faction in my very linkshell who hate me and I generally don't enjoy logging in to that animosity.
I am a very opinionated individual. I speak my intents and my meanings clearly... and earn enemies for it. I never wanted this hatred.
The most painful part of it all is with a good friend with whom a rift has been developing and is very wide... I feel used. A placeholder until other friends arrive. I am only talked to when I am the only one or when she needs something, and I wish it wasn't that way. Very occasionally attempts will be made to reconcile but I feel like I should distance myself to prevent feeling like a placeholder once again.
Well, if you survived that wall of text of a post you deserve congratulations. I am aware it is incredibly boring and I apologise. I just need somewhere to pool my thoughts and my blog seems somewhat appropriate.
I currently have no plans to quit, but I may severely cut back my playtime. I do enjoy this game when not burned out, but I really am not particularly at the moment.
I don't know what it is... part of me has finally snapped I guess. I don't hate the game. I am very disillusioned though...
Issue #1: Exclusion
I already went over this in my last post so no need, but the playerbase is extremely annoying. Forced grouping is a horrible, horrible idea... it's not that I'm antisocial. I enjoy playing with people, I honestly do... but it's at the stage where you have to ask permission from people to play and it's simply ridiculous.
Issue #2: Frustration
Here's a big one. HNMs are frankly absolutely terribly designed. Any HNM camper will tell you that the HNM lifestyle comes with great "high"s and great "low"s. The "high"s feel so cheap because of the horribly designed system, and the "low"s make me question why I even bother logging on honestly.
HNMs consume a ridiculous amount of time for no reason. Some people find them relaxing, I find them horribly tedious. I play this game to play it, not sit around for three hours a day. It's not always that bad but regardless. And what happens when you claim said HNM? Your chances of claim are fractional and on top of that, your chances of getting desired drops even more fractional (looking at you, Aspidchelone and/or King Behemoth). Nobody wants to waste all of those hours trying to claim a monster which only drops something valuable 25% of the time or far less. It's stupid!
Three hour king windows are stupidity themselves, but what about REALLY long ones, like Tiamat/Khimaira etc. Does anyone really enjoy them being this long? Would anyone care if they were shorter? The time requirements for HNM are truly sickening... not to mention realistically, most of the time, you are getting one or two drops a week. If that. When you abandon traditional events like dynamis/limbus/sky/sea etc which typically have 5x or above that output, it's just all incredibly demoralising.
No, this isn't about greed.
I genuinelly enjoy getting other people drops... but the time/reward ratio (something which is horribly done in most of FFXI) is absolutely dire here. Aspidchelone I keep bringing up because it is a joke of an HNM. Dfeet/Mfeet - does anyone really want to camp for these? W Body - enjoy your 40MP over Errant. Dalmy - the treasure of the pool and even so outshadowed by other pieces nowadays. You have a 25% chance of not hideously wasting your time.
Which brings me to my next point;
Issue #3: Randomness
The game is far too random! The difference between rich and poor can simply be luck and often is - drop rates across the board are incredibly low and SE seem determined to make you bleed to get most of the stuff you want in this game. Claiming an HNM is (supposed to be) random. Getting the drop you desire is then random. Salvage... epitome of random. Limbus, drops are random. Dynamis; random. One shell can go years without seeing a Duelist's Chapeau whereas another can get four in a run. It's dumb! Einherjar, random in terms of what mobs you get (not a bad thing in my opinion) but random in the annoying sense with regards to what drops you get.
SE seem determined that the drops you get are determined solely by how lucky you are at rolling the dice. Would it really hurt if drop rates were higher? I personally wouldn't care if more people had Adaman Hauberks, or Hecatomb Subligar, or other drops. If you invest time, you deserve reward - the reward should not come from luck itself.
Of course a lot of people will disagree on this point because some people enjoy rarity... which brings me on to my next point;
Issue #4 - Emptiness
Does this game really have much content?
Rhetorical question I know, but think about it. We have been and will be grinding Dynamis... forever. Likewise HNM, likewise Limbus and nearly all of the other events.
This is because drop rates are random and low in most cases and the output is incredibly small compared to the number of participants. The grind becomes the focus, items become the focus... these events are generally not fun due to the sheer endless repetition involved... a sheer endless repetition due to lack of content.
Think about this: imagine all drop rates were 100% (in the case of Dynamis, presume each participating member receives one piece of AF2 per run and in the case of Limbus, that each member selects one piece of the Homam/Nashira set per run). How long would these events last? Salvage in particular is a very small, shallow event with intensely low drop rates just to perpetuate the grind.
There really isn't much content, is there?
Now eliminate all content which involves forced grouping.
It's a bit empty in here, isn't it?
The grind is all that remains. Why do so many people quit after receiving items? It is because the grind removes all fun, and just burns you out severely over time. Once you receive the item, you realise it is a relief rather than a joy... I speak from personal experience here. Adaman Hauberk did not make me that excited. I tried to be. I really did... it just felt so hollow compared to my old triumphs like Homam Cosciales. My dominant emotion was relief, not joy. That's not to say I didn't appreciate getting it and love it -- because I do. It just doesn't feel all that amazing and that's probably because I'm burned out... I will appreciate it evermore.
Issue #5 - Hatred
People hate me, I am fairly certain. I cannot blame them for I have become bitter and cynical since the grind has completely burned me out. There is a faction in my very linkshell who hate me and I generally don't enjoy logging in to that animosity.
I am a very opinionated individual. I speak my intents and my meanings clearly... and earn enemies for it. I never wanted this hatred.
The most painful part of it all is with a good friend with whom a rift has been developing and is very wide... I feel used. A placeholder until other friends arrive. I am only talked to when I am the only one or when she needs something, and I wish it wasn't that way. Very occasionally attempts will be made to reconcile but I feel like I should distance myself to prevent feeling like a placeholder once again.
Well, if you survived that wall of text of a post you deserve congratulations. I am aware it is incredibly boring and I apologise. I just need somewhere to pool my thoughts and my blog seems somewhat appropriate.
I currently have no plans to quit, but I may severely cut back my playtime. I do enjoy this game when not burned out, but I really am not particularly at the moment.
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