Theonehio wrote:
Or Craft, cuz you know, for quite awhile in the early days of XI, the BEST gear came from End-game system, meanwhile there were crafted pieces and BCNM type content that also dropped pieces that were actually better in some slots and for certain builds, e.g TP/Haste/Crit etc which you seemed to have forgotten I'm sure if you actually did truly play XI you'd remember back in the day how Hagun was the Great Katana to have for a Samurai outside of, obviously, Relic Bow/Katana (which some Sams in those days got the Bow). Also, there were assault type systems (e.g Nyzul) which wasn't considered true end-game as they weren't gated after you've completed a portion of the story (i.e Sky/Sea/Einherjar) and if we're playing semantics here, "end-game" simply means content you do at max level, much like people consider Crystal Tower and Primals in XIV "End-Game."
You have answered your own question, "Situational" pieces. Hecate set, Kirin Osode, Nobles Tunic, RDM pieces all came from End Game. AF2 all came from End Game. I didn't say what so ever that EVERY piece came from End Game but you HAD to do End Game if you wanted anything remotely classed as good gear - okay lets be specific because you are nit picking and not for the first time. Gear SETS. For Relic last I checked you had to do Dyna to earn certain pieces which IS End Game. (Im talking Pre Abyssea). I know some gear was available outside aka the popular O Hat but it was an ACC piece. If you wanted to earn the best pieces you can get some outside but you had to do End Game if you want a full set or set pieces for WS/ACC or as you mentioned HASTE. That was one of the many complaints having to keep multiple sets just for a single job. You couldn't get away with NOT doing End Game - Don't believe me look back at your XI account and find the gear sets you wanted without a single End Game piece. Good Luck. Even worse if you have multi jobs - MAB as a BLM, Refresh as Healer, STR as a SAM, DEX as a THF. To earn the best pieces you couldn't avoid End Game.
XIV you can avoid COIL and gather full sets of GEAR through POETS alone for all the jobs. In XI you couldn't.
As for Hours and hours of learning, once you knew not to go on Auto Run it was essentially a "Follow the leader" you didn't have to learn much in comparison to COIL or even the likes of Primal Ex fights. I was LONIX from Sylph and had my hands in everything minus Relic. Spammed Dyna, Limbus, Sky, Savage, Sea and even the fun of Nyzul with its random floors.
It's not exactly the same as the likes of COIL, for XI it was much more "Know how to Stun as a DRK, Know how to Heal as a Healer, Know how to Tank as a Tank" It was more about knowing to do your job. In Dyna I didn't have to do anything more other then certain parts where parties would split (job based e.g. BLM). It didn't take hours and hours and multiple runs to learn. It did how ever require hours and hours just to maybe earn your drop.
It was rare for mistakes to happen from people who did more than a single run on any end game. By the time people reached this they knew how to do their jobs. So very wrong comparison to say "It takes hours just different to learn". If it took you that long to learn End Game in XI usually it was because you was new to any End Game.
Theonehio wrote:
A famous saying around these forums all through XI and 1.x days of XIV and official forums is: Instant death mechanics doesn't equal difficulty. So even with 9,999,999 HP, the fact most XIV end-game is littered with instant death mechanics doesn't make it harder than XI or any other MMO. Now that I think about it..Amon Ra from Ragnarok Online and any monster in the Laboratory is tougher than anything XIV has to offer and it doesn't rely on instant death.
So whats your point? I said COIL still presents a challenge even with the nerf/echo. Nit picking again.
Theonehio wrote:
Because XI didn't use that kind of battle system. That's like complaining about not having to pop potions or having to manage buffs and debuffs in Street Fighter. XI's version of WHM is exactly how most healers are in most RPGs and Games, their primary focus was keeping people alive. Since you're using XI as an example, the most you had to worry about in that battle system was spacing and player placement, because you didn't dodge things by mobility you simply didn't want to be caught in AoEs or Conals in general.
Again what's your point, I am not complaining about the system XI used. What I was stating as a Healer (because it was the job I never wanted to do at End Game but ended up being it due to me being one of the highly experienced healers at the time). Is it effectively required me to stand there and JUST do my job. My highlight was BLM on Dyna because it requires party splitting up and as a Nuker making sure we timed it right to instant kill a mob. OR kiting as a THF.
Again once you knew how to perform your job the rest was pretty easy. End Games was run more as an event with 1-3 Leaders who explained everything, made sure people didn't run around or AUTO Run. The difficulty was more trying to sneak past mobs e.g. Dyna.
You have shown no examples as to why XI was difficult, in fact you have not even said "Something that has been mentioned on this forum a lot over the years" lack of guidance/assistance and spending time on Websites looking at information. There was never "Learn the mechanics" of fights, instead of was "Know your job".
If you want to say the difficulty was being good at the job, I will give you that one. I saw a lot of bad nukers, healers and tanks over the years.
I look forward to more nit picking.
Edited, May 19th 2015 5:17am by Lonix Edited, May 19th 2015 5:22am by Lonix