Starting Over: Just a few dings, but she runs great.

Welcome to another episode of “Cecil the Noob Tarutaru”, I’m your host, Ceciltaru….

Okay seriously, just another update on what I’ve been doing lately.

I finally completed the RSE equipment quest on Thursday night.  I still think this red version of the starter gear is cooler than the puke green starter stuff.

Friday night, I got lucky and got to party with Zendak, Xellana, and Trebaut in a level-sync party in Qufim Island, which led to my Samurai dinging from 23 to 26!  3 levels, not too shabby 

Saturday night, I got my Monk up to level 20.  Now I just need to get Ninja to 20, and I can get rid of all the lower level shared gear for SAM/MNK/NIN.

Sunday night, I was on briefly and was going to work on Samurai or Warrior, when my stomach decided it had other plans…

In gil news…  I went 0/3 on harvesting light ores.  I’ve got to find my sheet that has all the ore “recipes” on it.  I think I might be sticking with dark though, since that one is relatively easy.  In an attempt to show where some of my money will be going soon, I started making shihei Saturday night, and used up all the materials I had on my wood mule, 14 stacks total.

I have been thinking of starting fishing again, which will help in getting my cooking leveled up a little, but I’m still not sure.  I really loved the old way of fishing, but thanks to the damn botters, that had to get nerfed.  I really hate the “fight the fish” interactivity, because thanks to the stamina meter being above my name box in the lower right hand corner, I have lost fish in the past, because my focus was split.  WoW’s way of fishing is cool, click on the bobber when it drops, and I don’t think I have heard of any fish-bots from that.  Oh well…

My Wishlist for Final Fantasy XIV Online (Rapture)

After seeing the FFXIV trailer from Sony’s E3 press conference, all I can say is:  Wow!  (no pun intended) 

This game looks like it is going to be real cool, and I am looking forward to the updates and info that gets put out, until its release next year (crosses fingers for a 2010 release.)  I have been reading and trying to keep up with what other FFXI fans are saying about the game, and the possibilities it holds.  The rumors, speculations, and rants from these fans, have gotten me to think about what I really want to see from this new game.  Now I have already made a post on some of the features I want to see, but after the Q & A yesterday, it has gotten me wondering what changes they will make.

1.  Job/Class System — From the conference yesterday, it sounded like they were going to redo the class system as we know it in FFXI.  So what does this mean?  Well I can’t say for sure, but I can make my own speculations.  I really want to see an open-ended job system, that allows for some radical and normal job combination’s, which means they really do need to keep the sub-job system.  The sub-job system is a great way to build up your character, but the FFXI system, suffers from the lack of true interchangeability.  Once a combination is found that works for a lot of situations, its the only one used, and those individuals who try out different ways, will be laughed at or scorned.  In FFXI, we laugh at the ghetto Paladin (WAR/WHM), but what if in FFXIV that combination works fine as a main or backup tank?  What about a combination like RDM/SAM or SAM/RDM, which I kinda see as the old Magic Knight from Final Fantasy III.  I hope there will be additional jobs in FFXIV, such as Chemist, Time Mage, Geomancer, and more, which will help create some great job combination’s.  Now will every combination work?  Probably not.  The advantages and disadvantages will still have to be weighed, but at least encourage those free-thinkers and individuals willing to try something new.

2.  Races — Square made it clear at yesterday’s press conference that although the races look similar to what we are accustomed too in FFXI, they’re not the same.  I believe this means, that even though we can see a Tarutaru, Galka, and Mithra in the trailer and artwork, doesn’t mean they are Tarutaru, Galka, or Mithra.  Confused?  I think Square may be changing up some of the names, and obviously the back story, so that they can fit into the new world.  In addition, they may be changing up what each race represents.  What if the new Tarutaru were like Dwarves, primarily fighters with tough skin, and low charisma (OMG! They’re not cuddly anymore!  )  Or what if the Elvaan went back to being the mystical, magical creatures that we read about in Tolkien and Dungeons and Dragons?  Once again, the possibilities are endless here, and I do hope they add at least two new races for us to play with.

3.  Dungeons — I hope Square takes a page out of the WoW handbook, and creates more instanced dungeons, but give them the SEE treatment.  I kind of imagine it like, walking into Giddeus, Castle Oztroja, Beadeaux, Davoi, Eldieme Necropolis, or wherever, and it be an instanced dungeon.  A playground for an individual, party, or alliance.  Maybe the start of the zone, can be split up, so that depending on which area you enter, its geared more for a a particular setup.  Missions and stuff are still setup the same, but now you are fighting your way to the boss.  Everyone who has the mission/quest active, will get the clear, and no need to redo a thing multiple times so everyone can get an item.  This could lead to multiple missions/quests being activate at the same time, and the need for multiple bosses to be taken down.  The only problem as I see it, and where WoW gets it wrong, is that these dungeons need to be capped in a way.  For example, the Giddeus solo, party and alliance dungeons, may be capped at lvl20, lvl30 and lvl40 respectively.  For those that have played WoW, this would get rid of of the uber-runs through the starter dungeons, where one or more high levels run a noob through a dungeon to get the best gear possible for their level.  Or, in relation to FFXI, the 2 minute or less Rank 3 dragon fights.  Now I will admit, maybe some or all dungeons would also have uncapped areas, but these would more than likely be for end-game purposes only, ie.  fighting the Tiamat spawn in an uncapped Attowha Chasm.  This is just a thought, and can probably be expanded on, in regards to Salvage, Einharjar, Dynamis, Limbus, regular missions, and more.

4.  Missions — In my opinion, FFXI has the best storyline’s for its expansions, over other MMORPG’s.  For me, exploring a world, and completing quests and missions, are the activities that keep bringing me back to one of these imaginary worlds.  So as an adventurer, I need a storyline.  I need something that I can follow, that has a beginning, a middle, and an end.  If there are branches along the way, that will help build on the main plot, or a sub-plot, then bring it on.  So for me, I would want to keep the same general formula, SEE has implemented with its storyline missions.  You have cutscene, quest-like, and battlefield missions.  The only complaint I have, is that currently, multiple consecutive cutscene missions, are usually treated individually, instead of as a whole.  Just because I get a CS one place, and then have to travel to another place to get another CS, and then have to travel back to the original starting point, doesn’t mean that these are separate missions.  If you have to make it like mission 1a, 1b, 1c, etc.. then do it.  But I hate to see mission 1, 2, 3, and 4 as cutscene only.  I would like to go back, and expand on the sub-plot/mission idea.  In the beginning missions of WotG, you have to complete 3 quests, before you can move on to the next mission.  Well instead of that, what if based on certain variables, you can activate a sub-plot mission line, that runs parallel to the main one.  Maybe, you have to do certain things while completing the main or sub, to advance the other.  And then in the end, based on what you have done, maybe different sets of rewards are available.

5.  Quests — I briefly went over the one feature I really want involving quests in my other post, but I will reiterate it here.  I like WoW’s way of identifying quest givers to a degree, but maybe SEE can do something better, that is less intrusive to the visual appeal, maybe something configurable.  I do like the single and multi-quest types, as well as the reputation system for knowing when certain quests can be activated.  There could be some better quest rewards for certain things, or maybe variable rewards.  For example, a particular quest needs you to get something from Xarcabard.  At level 20 for example, the reward is 5k gil, where as, at lvl 70+, the reward is 500 gil.  A risk/reward type of setup for some, not all quests would be cool.

6.  Equipment — I know.  What I am about to say heresy, and could get me killed if I belonged to wrong circles.  I think there should be equipment available for all players, that lets them feel uber, no matter how much time they can spend in game.  While the current HNMLS setup, including camping Kings and more is cool for some people, I for one, do not have the time to devote to standing around for 3hrs in the vain hope that a mob will spawn, my LS will claim, and an item will drop.  But if I was given the opportunity, either in a solo or party type of atmosphere to get an item, that is just as good, maybe even better, then great.  One of the greatest accomplishments I have in FFXI, is beating the lvl20 capped Avatar battles.  So what if I there was a lvl60 capped for instance, Kirin solo I could undertake, in order to get a Kirin’s Pole or Kirin’s Osode?  Now obviously that is where the heresy comes in, but the rewards do not always have to be like this.  So lets take the same example, but now I have the option of a Kirin’s Staff (Dmg 50, Hp+20, MP+20, INT+8, MND+8, all elements +14, same equip lvl and jobs) or a Kirin’s Breastplate (Def 50, MP+25, attributes + 8, Light +40, same equip lvl and jobs) when I beat the solo version.  The stats are not as good as the original, but I can at least now have some equipment on par, but also have the sense of accomplishment for defeating it in a solo context.

7.  Merits/Builds — While this technically should be under jobs, I wanted to give it it’s own paragraph.  I like the system that is currently in place in FFXI, but I do think it needs a slight overhaul.  I kind of like the way WoW seperates out its ability trees, but I do think that system is also dated.  A combination of the FFXI and the ability tree system, would be cool.  Plus I think meriting should begin at a level, and not when the cap is reached.  Can you still get merits after reaching your cap?  Of course.  So how do you implement this?  Well, similar to FFXI, once you complete a quest, you can start meriting, but its not like now.  For pre-lvl50 for example, you need 10000 limit points to get a merit, and post is 5000.  But you are earning these limit points along with experience.  For example, you get 100 Exp, and 50 limit points.  Now you might be thinking this will take forever at low levels, and its meant too.  But once you activate the quest, you have it activate for all jobs that can participate.  For example, you can start getting merits at lvl20, so that’s when you complete the quest on your main job.  Now every other job you level past 20, can participate in getting merits.  Once you can participate, merits are also visible below the experience.  In addition, each 10 lvls marks a new cap, and a new quest that has to be completed.  This will go along with whatever level cap quests that exist.  And finally, the merits themselves will help in building whatever type of character you want to play.  If you want to be a purely healer WHM, then pump merits into Healing Magic and Cure Potency.  If you want to be a divine WHM, similar to maybe a Cleric, then pump your merits into Divine Magic and Holy Damage for example.  And this will go with whatever jobs are available, and make some great character possibilities!

8.  Skills — I like how FFXI has weapon skills, as well as the actual weapon and magic skills, and like how the skill up system works.  My only gripe about this, comes from what are considered hidden skills.  Yes I can ride a chocobo at lvl17 from a starter city, but I supposedly can ride for only so long.  Well what is that time?  I cannot tell this from anything I see.  When riding a chocobo, I can dig, but once again, I do not have any clue what lvl it is, so I don’t know where I can dig successfully.  I will touch on this here, but I think the support skills, such as H.E.L.M. and gardening, need visible skill levels.  While I like being able to grow elemental ores on my lvl1 gardening mule, it doesn’t make sense, unless I have a high gardening skill.  Or, when I mine, how about a low skill level, means I won’t be digging up that Khroma or Darksteel Ore.

9.  Crafts — I like the FFXI system of crafting over WoW’s, but both have their good and bad points.  I like crafting with crystals, because it makes a standard FFXI element more than just window dressing.  I like how when crafting, there are chances for breaks, as well as not skill ups.  WoW gets this wrong, because the only times you will not get skill ups, in my experience anyway, is when the recipe goes green.  I do like WoW’s recipe system though, because it adds a bit of flavor to what you can learn.  However, a mix of both systems in this regard would be great.  For example, I shouldn’t need a recipe for the threads, cloths, lumber, leather, and other basic materials (you just know them when you can make them), as well as some basic equipment, such as a silk shirt, leather vest, or iron arrow.  However, I will need to find the recipes to make elemental staves, Noble’s Tunic’s, or Amemet Mantle.  These recipes can be rewards from quests and missions, drops off mobs, or even sold by vendors/AH.  That way, my cloth mule, who’s highest lvl is 10, but is Cloth85, cannot necessarily make that Vermillion Cloak, unless I farm the recipe for him.  It adds some differences to crafters, because not all crafters will necessarily know all recipes.  I do like the craft/sub-crafts system as well, because it makes some recipes more complicated because the crafter has to know one or more sub-crafts, and be of a particular level.  This also leads to different style crafters.  For example, I can be considered a furniture crafter, which is why I initially started woodworking, because I have the sub-crafts that allow me to build the bookshelves, beds, and desks.  Finally, I would like an in-game recipe list.  While this would get rid of my biggest need to visit Allakhazam, it can also be frustrating having to look online to find out what I need to make a certain item.

10.  PVP — while I do not want to see a world-wide PVP system, the idea behind Ballista and Brenner is cool.  However, you have to tweak it, and make it more fun for all involved.  Keep the capture the flag idea if you must, but do not make it to where the melees are only going after the magic users.  Bring some real strategy into the mix.  Whatever is done here, there needs to be a good reward system in place, and the system will need to be updated, as other changes are made to the world.

Well, I think that is about it for now.  I know I just touched on some ideas and features, but this is what I am hoping for when I start playing FFXIV.  I hope some of ya’ll will at least try this out, because I’m not sure I can play this new game without my buds.  I am looking forward to kicking ass and taking names with Tam, Xell, Mel, Zen, Cid, Shemi, Arc, Eewok, Slusher, Meka, Cala, Orophen, and the rest of the gang in the new world of Eorzea!

Starting Over: Just a little update.

Well I decided to make a little update post on my progress in the world of melee.  First of all, I have not played on my SAM all week.  Don’t get me wrong, I want to.  I’m just still not sure about competing for mobs in Qufim.  If you are getting crap experience per hour, then you can see what I mean.  Yes, I have an Anniversary Band, and and Emperor’s Band, but why would I want to use it, just to double on crap experience.  Oh well, so I have been trying to play around with NIN, MNK, and some DNC, just to get it back to sub level.

I brought out the WHM/RNG for some ram farming in La Theine and Konshtact Sunday night to get Lumbering Lambert and Rampaging Ram to pop for their horns.  Once I got both, I was able to get the purple belt for my MNK who just turned 18    Between camps, I had to dump a ton of skins and horns onto mules, and hope it will make money when I get to selling it.  On a side note, shortly after to popping into Konshtact, I put up wide scan and saw Bendigeit Vran was up south of the crag.  He dropped the AGI+1 Rogetsurin boomerang thing, which will look good in the hands of my THF and NIN.

I spent some time Sunday afternoon dumping as much of the lowbie equipment that I had onto my new equipment mule.  I know, its sad, but what is a poor man to do. 

I tried getting my 3rd pattern yesterday morning in Shakrami, tried being the operative word.  Apparently there was a server reset between the time I logged off and logged in, that caused the server to be 2 days game (2 hrs real) behind the Pyogenes clock.  Now could the Pyogenes clock be wrong now?  Yes I can admit that too.  Anyway, I used my key in the chest I found and got gil, so was ticked there.  I got lucky though and got another key pretty quick, but wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.  I just have to pay better attention to the time.

I’ve got a brief update on parts 5 and 6 of my story:  they’re being rewritten.  After making some minor changes to part 4 before I published it, I realized part 5 didn’t flow like it had before, so I started rewriting it.  Unfortunately, the 5 drafts after have been subpar at best, and still lack the flow I need.  The side effect being that part 6 will probably need to be rewritten too now, so it can flow with part 5.  What does this mean to you the reader?  You have to wait, and I am truly sorry about that.  Hopefully, I will be satisfied with my attempts this week, and will get the ne stuff up soon.

My Thoughts on Rapture

I have seen a lot of talk lately, about the status of the Square Enix’s next MMO, tentatively titled Rapture.  Now I have known about the project for at least the last 3 years, and until now, have not really considered the implications of this.  Why should I after all, since it was just a rumor.

I decided to post a wish list of sorts, on what I would want to see from it.  Basically, these are changes that I really wanted in FFXI, but for whatever reason, have not been made.

1.  Separate delivery system — Essentially I want to see a mail system, similar to World of Warcrafts.  Each separate mail item, can have up to 15 things attached.  It is also cool, how WoW mimics the real world, in that each item attached, increases the “shipping” cost.    I am not sure why the dev’s thought 8 slots would be great, but if I was to count up, how long I have spent logging in and out while swapping characters, just so I could mule some of those things that I want to save or what not, it would be getting close to a year now.  Thats right.  Out of all the time I have played, it feels like a year of it, has been muling stuff.  Not exactly the way I want to spend my time.

2.  The UI — There are some elements, and its usually those that relate directly to the game play, that really do need to be changed.

2a.  For example, when a spell or ability is getting close to expiring, let me know it visually.  I really hate running through an area that I need stealth up, and having to look down to see if its wearing yet.  I can’t tell you how many times, that even the slightest distraction here, and I’ve gotten lost or died.  WoW’s blinking icon when an ability is wearing, and its showing you how long, are great.  Does this mean they have to get rid of the short timers on some skills, and go to flate timers.  No.  While I may not always agree with a quick Sneak in an area currently experiencing thunder weather, it does add some randomness.  Just show me that 4 seconds after I cast the spell, its going to wear….

2b.  Another example is the quest giver icon.  While I do not like WoW’s constant display of the quest giver icon, I do think that when you get close to someone that can give you a quest, that an icon appears.  Lets say, 5 ft from a person, if there was some visible way to tell that this NPC has something for me.  Do not get me wrong.  I love and require the current Quest Log implementation.  However, I really hate having to look through spreadsheets or Allakhazam, and my Quest Log, to determine if there is something new I can do.

3.  Give the player, the ability to customize their interface.  Now I have seen game screenshots of some WoW players, that are filled with buttons and easy macro things, that frighten me.  No I do not want to see this.  But it would be cool to have a quick link bar for those commands you use a lot, but not necessarily for battle.  Macros should just be for battles in other words.  Give me a quick access to to the maps and related things (Besieged/Campaign/Conquest).  Give me another quick way to get to my different storage areas.  It really would be nice here to click one button, and be able to see a tabbed menu or whatever, of all my storage areas.  Give me another button for quick access to spells and such.  The bar doesn’t have to be obstructive to the players view, and should be easily disabled/enabled.

I’m sure theres other things that I have thought were good in WoW, but could be better in FFXI.  Now I’m not saying everything is great in WoW, and FFXI sucks.  Hardly.  Comparing WoW’s storyline to FFXI, is like comparing one of those Golden Books you read as a kid (WoW), to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy (FFXI).  Sorry WoW-heads but thats my opinion.

Starting Over: A Monks Honor

I decided to take my MNK out for some good ol’ fashioned exercise.  I was able to do a couple of Fields of Valor, and got it to 17.  I wanted to hit 18, so I could move on to the 18-20 armor I picked up, before I found about the conquest gear…  I still love how the H2H system works, or at least how I perceive it to work.  I am still trying to figure out the proper usage for the Shoulder Tackle weapon skill.  I was able to stun a few of the dhalmel abilities, but some, like Healing Breeze went off no matter what I did.  It did seem though, that when the skill would miss, my next hit would usually crit.  It really was weird.

I have been trying to figure out this freaking issue I have been having with low level gear.  I think I have got sets for mages, melee, and sam/mnk/nin.  But I’m not sure which ones to keep on Cecil, and which to mule.  I’ve been trying to of course work on SAM, but like tonight I had fun with MNK.  Tomorrow I might want to have fun with NIN, although, until I get some money, he can’t party, because I sold my Utsusemi: Ichi scroll a few years ago. 

So I am stuck with a full safe, satchel, and storage, and the locker is almost full of perishables and crystals.  I know, I’m a pack rat.  But I still have several quest/mission items, that I will probably never use, unless I get some massive motivation from somewhere.  Oh well…

I got my Wonder Braccae at lunch today.  I’m not sure if it was sheer luck, or what, but the treasure chest was in that bottom room past the middle door.  I logged there last night, so it would be the first place I could look, since theres multiple spawns.  I’m still not sure if I will be wearing these during possible parties, but it will probably replace running around naked (without armor) anyway.

Story time updates!

So there are 3, and soon 4, chapters up for my story, “To Train a Summoner”.  I haven’t had any questions about certain things yet, but decided I would try to clarify things that may seem a little off or out of place.

So first of all, where is Cecil’s Bar located? According to the overview map provided on ffxiclopedia.org, the bar would be located in the residential area, near the green river thing at what would be F6.  Since there are no player owned/created buildings yet, I have thought that this would be the best place for it.

Why do you only give brief character descriptions? I have decided not to write full character bios, because like the players behind the characters, these are “living” characters.  Besides, I didn’t want to spend large amounts of time, rewriting or copy-and-pasting descriptions in each story.  In fact, each story may provide some more details about a character, that may not make sense in any other context.

Are you afraid of a backlash from your friends, because you do not show them in a favorable light? No.  My friends are not being portrayed in these stories, their characters are.  The character of Arcon was a real Casanova/Lothario/Don Juan in the early days, at least thats how Ceciltaru saw him.  I think he’s changed now, but I would often joke with him about the harem he was keeping   I have done my best to take what personality that I noticed being put into their characters, and let that shine over any real world personality displayed.  Remember, that this is more or less me writing about what Ceciltaru has experienced over the years in FFXI, how he saw people, how he saw events unfold around him, but in a way that its not just about him as the main character.

So I think that’s about it for possible questions right now.  Eventually, there will probably be the need for a FAQ, but I just can’t see the need right now.

I hope ya’ll enjoy, and remember feedback is always good! 

Oh and on that note, as far as comments go, the emails are never used by me or wordpress.com for spam.  I think its just there to make sure you can keep up with something you comment on.  I have not had an increase anyway in the normal spam I get anyway.

Story time!!!

Ok, after talking with some friends, I think I have a good way to format these stories.  Well sort of.

I think I’m gonna start making the stories into their own pages, including links to the next story in a series, and attempting to make sure there is some sort of organization to the chaos.  The story formatting will be the only chaotic part.

I decided to start with the tale of a young summoner in training, and the trials he endured attempting to take on the investigations of the elemental avatars.  In other words, the Level 20 Capped mini fork battles.  If you are interested, the story can be found to the left, but here is a link too:  Link.  As always, I am open to constructive criticism, just as long as you like the stories!  ;P

I think I will be leaving the blog open for my “Starting Over” series of posts, and whatever else Final Fantasy XI related pops up.