Dev Tracker - Discussion

Thanks Trixi. I never saw this thread, as I don't ever visit reddit or view the live streams. Good info.

What's the speculation about the new NMs/content being added to seekers' zones? Maybe something like Unity-style popping? Maybe enhanced versions/of Delve NMs? New gear?

Could be anything.

Could be force pop. Could be claim nm. Could be world nm. Could have drops. Could be automatic rewards. Could be hour respawns. Could be instant. Could be dailies. Could be 3 years of RPing.

Seem to be using the same models as delve, but that's coincidental. Every adoulin zone is type themed. Yeah, the morimar pop will be a lizard. Yeah, the ceizak pop will be a bug. Yeah, the foret pop will be an aquan. Yeah, the yorcia pop will be a plant. yeah, the kamhir pop will be a beast.

Just gonna hope(foolishly) that there's some utility gear in there and its not just generic catch up gear only for new players fact they took out strange happenings rse+1 would lead me to believe this is likely gonna be that though just probably job aligned slightly instead

According to Trixi and those reddit posts, it's the trust equip. I thought they might just do another version of the Domain Invasion sets that absolutely nobody bothered to use for a 5min fight. But it sounds like more stopgap gear, not for endgame players.

It depends how many zones they put them in. Is it just one per zone, or one per WKR domain? That would leave 6 zones. I would be shocked if it was anything more than upgraded Bayld sets.

They're gap filling because odyssey is *** impossible

Instead of just fixing odyssey. As if 5 more str is why people can't beat T3 and Bumba.
(I don't think any amount of gear creep is going to make a difference, but whatever, let them just keep failing, they'll figure it out after it's too late as always)

It could be both was my thought, similar to ambu gear of old where a piece/pieces had some utility function beyond their once decent base stats so for awhile a piece or two might stick around jsut for that use alone. Wont at all be surprised if the reward is just trust related though, which may or not be worthwhile, we'll see

This would be interesting if it were for trust equips, and now that you mention it, I could see it being a DI-style fight where you go in a rotation and farm points to buy trust armors or something, but knowing SE, it'll probably be something unpopular lol

This first round of the NMs is for gap gear only. Trust Equip is coming later in the year.

Gap gear is intended to bridge between Ambu+2 and Malignance/Empyrean.

I look forward to all the groaning.

2-8 hour lotto repop
5% drop rate

Yes there's a gap there but is it really enough design space to operate in? I'm not sure why my simply add +3 for ambu gear. Add 5%DT a piece, 30-40 magic evasion and some small stat bumps and bomb done lol. Some of the pieces would be incredible.

Gear doesn't solve the issue at hand. Unless they go above Nyame.

They're doing the same thing they had to do with adoulin. Delve was impossible so they added 101 107 109 111 115 117 but everyone was already in 119.

The difference is we could carry delve (relatively) penalty free, and catch scrubs up, no such thing for odyssey. You got more plasm you got more drops you got merits, I guess. But odyssey provides literally zero incentive to help or repeat.

Why would anyone bother with stop gap gear vs v1 unlocks for odyssey.

V0/v1 carries are easy, if you don't suck.

Idk, despite my best efforts I can’t seem to 1-box Ngai kills at V1.

Why V1 Ngai?

edit*

I guess a better question would be, why Ngai and not another easier V1 NM?

That's one of the few negative aspects of a content that's otherwise very very well thought. In terms of challenge probably the best FFXI has ever seen in its entire history.

They should be doing something about segments. Segs are not a problem for (most) of us, but for many other players it surely is.
What can be done about it? I don't know. Making KIs stack like Omen? Make a small % boost to segs you get in all 3 areas?

That would solve one of the biggest problems in Odyssey but wouldn't change the fact V25 can be very challenging.
In the end I don't think anything could produce a noticeable results there other than some straight reduction in the difficulty, like a % cut on the NMs health, or a time extension. Either would give you more "free" time, i.e. more space for mistakes and potential recovers.

I have mixed feelings on this though.
Part of me think it's due, part of me is against it.
Ideally I guess if we received new challenging content, then it would feel much much better to start nerfing old stuff like Odyssey.
But without that it feels, I dunno, mixed feelings about it honestly.

The biggest gate for unlocks is the dumb moglophone system. Players are gated by segments which are necessary for phones. You do not have unlimited attempts to farm a chance at the gear, so unless you're getting carried, it's nearly impossible for a newer player to get unlocks. I still can be killed by Mboze v1 from time to time, because his mechanics are terrible. But the real issue is most players can only enter Gaol once with the free 3 phones, so they need to make use of it or they are SOL.

A better improvement would just be to overhaul the base phone system so the gear can simply be bought by other means. Adding more convoluted ways to obtain gap gear is literally a waste of resources. Just fix the terrible design of the system you already have in place? I swear SE makes three left turns instead of just turning right once.

Segments is the most limiting factor to participate in the content, for sure. Not for most of us, but for a lot of other people... yes. And many other are on the fence, they have just enough segs for themselves they don't really wanna waste it to help other people get unlocks.

Relaxing the segments system a bit might not change a lot in the "people helping others" ultimately, but it would sure do wonders for new people who want to group up and do things together.

They would still have the issue of killing V20+ I guess, but they could probably progress in getting V0 and up to V15 relatively easily, with a more relaxed way to handle Segments?
I mean, I doubt a lot of people (except for the usual SE whiteknights lol) would be against making Segments more abundant/easier.
The thing is more: how do you do it?

I think the simplest and easiest way for SE to do it would be to make the KI stack like Omen (so that when you manage to log and get a group starting, you can do multiple runs at a time) and a straight % boost to the amount of segments you get in every area.
So that even doing easier stuff like A can produce a decent amount of Segs per run, and so that if you happen to be strong enough to do a full clear of C, or close to that, you can get more segs than "just" the ~14k an ideal group gets.
14k is considered the norm these days for most of us, given our gear creep, skill, blah blah, but realistically I'm afraid that's not exactly the average amount your average player gets in the average PUG :-P
Hell if I join a PUG these days I consider myself happy if we get 10k lol

What? Man, they have an entire event where you can get free points from clicking a goddamn invisible NPC on the floor. They gave away 10k segments as a reward from Vana'Bout before. They even have a campaign that rewards bonus segments. You telling me they can't implement some freebie/easy way to hand out Segments so people can attempt Gaol more than a single time? Obviously they recognize Segments are the limiting factor. They're just not doing anything about it for newer players (the ones it would stand to benefit the most).

Or here's a grand idea that won't hurt anything: Allow Gaol entry for a single boss at V0 without expending a moglophone one per real life hour. You already have to beat the monster and buy the gear to wear it, why does a new player also have to farm points in a completely separate climb and then pay entry into a zone to fight an incredibly difficult* boss for the gear?

I'm still trying to figure out why people are doing harder NMs than they need to, but...

New players should be doing A/B and farming to upgrade whatever relevant Unity items they need. That will net them a significant amount of segs to make their initial attempts for unlocking base gear, but they don't have much need for anything beyond that. You're not really running the content optimally unless you've got several well-geared jobs and the experience to be able to contribute. There is no stopgap for that.

Because the seg gap from a/b vs c is too wide, such that is all anyone wants to run(also possibly the least annoying since its only 4 floors) and should be narrowed down, a basic group or even some solo jobs can get their base armor and for many that's all they care about

But they have done something about segments. Sheol A and B.

Not enough segs you say? What's more segs, doing nothing every day, or doing sheol A or B?

Most my segs are from capping Moogle mastery, and have done a lot more runs of A and B than I have done runs of C.

Yet every time I suggest anyone to spam a and B they can't be bothered.

I've done more t1 unlocks for people than have attempts at v25, and yes most people have lacked segs for more than one attempt. Idk what to tell you, just spam A until you get a nice buffer and get carried.

It's fine, we've all been there. I got carried to t3 unlocks too at first. Some NMs do be sucking even at t1, and yes they are due for a nerf.

I had the luxury of filling any role, ranged, buff heals tank whatever, so could bring a ready setup for any NM and carry a couple extras. Most people don't have the job variety, which is another you problem not SE problem.

Odyssey forces job variety by design. Fighting against that will get you nowhere.

Have any of you suggesting doing A/B instead of C ever actually done these zones for Segments? A nets an incredibly low amount, though it's very easy. B is a convoluted mess of a maze and the monsters there are actually quite difficult once you get past 1/3. The NMs in B are annoying AF, and the halos are on extremely inconvenient floors, plus they're on every other floor. Unlike A/C where the exit on the final floor, B exit is on floor 5, not 6, so if you're trying to get to the goal, you have you either do it before 6 floor NMs, or warp to 6 then goal, or do 6 NMs then backtrack down to goal. It's a huge pain in the ***.

The problem is A is incredibly easy and beginner friendly but nets nothing for points. B would be ideal but it's a fustercluck. The only zone designed properly with any straightforward intent is C, which conveniently nets the most points. It's no wonder every player would rather prefer C to A/B.

Yes, Buukii. I had some 1.2m segs banked last time I checked, most from A/B. A will net 1.5-2k on average, B 4k. It's not much, but if you do not do a run one day, you get 0.

Something > 0.

You also get some upgrade mats, and MM increases to maybe make trusts last longer. The maps do suck.

i see it as a is for gill and c is for segs :)

Only because everyone does c, so wings are populous and hides/scales price go up. If segments were worth a damn in a/b, it wouldn't be the case.

Knowing what I know now and having forced groups to join me for MM years ago through A/B, I can confidently say those zones are pretty bad for Segments. But SE isn't going to address that part. Their "progression" model has failed on so many levels.

You can farm scales and hides, upgrade your own Unity items for no cost and have more than enough segs to cover any unlocks you need. You wouldn't have to cap your moogle mastery like I did, but since I had the advantage of starting as the content rolled out, it was well worth continuing. Chests cap at 250 so that screenshot wouldn't tell the full story of how much more lucrative A/B was than C.

Respectfully, I'd tell them to farm their own mats in A/B and sell it, then buy the clears for 3m and just buy the set, instead of more gap gear.

...because that NM does not give Gleti's Knife?