Oh boy, did a huge controversial story just land on top of me while I was working on Part 2 of the my Beta Impressions for Final Fantasy XIV. If you do a search on any major gaming site (links will be posted at the bottom) you would know Square Enix possibly just shot themselves in the foot. Strong hint to possibly, no one can say for sure until we see the actual finished product.
Now let me try to summarize what happened. Final Fantasy XIV will feature a fatigue system that will penalize you for playing more than the developers think you should play. Now all this I have learned is value based but they explained it using increments of time so I will do the same. Basically the first eight hours of the week you spend killing monsters and farming experience points you will get 100% of your experience points. However, after the value based eight hours are up you have seven hours where you will slowly get less and less experience till you hit flat zero. Now keep in mind this is not timed based its value based, so this could start happening to you in say four hours if you got a really good group and were farming mad experience. Or it could take twelve hours because you were looking at the various wild life and fauna that fill Eoreza.
I should also note here that it is based on class rank but also effects your physical level. So while you can circumvent this fatigue by changing classes when you begin to notice it your stats will not improve as they are tied to you physical level. Now it takes a solid week for this to reset but it will gradually reset with the time you spend in town, talking, or not playing the game. Solid week to get back the mythical eight hours but you might be able to squeeze an extra hour or three in if you don't play for a few days.
I think that's the gist of it from what I understand and reading the equivalent of 1000 different comments across the Internet. As for my personal thoughts...this is a game breaker for me. I HATE more than anything being told how, and when I should play. If I want to level a Pugilist exclusively I should be allowed to. If I want to spend a day off just farming I want to farm. This entire system punishes the hardcore, while doing nothing to help the casual player.
A lot of people have brought up the famous World of Warcraft rested system as an example of doing this right. I have to agree the comparison works. For those of you that don't know World of Warcraft rewards you for not playing the game by giving you double experience off monsters for a while. The longer you don't play the longer the double experience is in effect. This is referred to by the game as a rested state. It rewards casual players while not effecting the hardcore person who logs in everyday. Kinda the exact opposite of what Final Fantasy XIV is doing and the much better option.
While I was already on the fence regarding if I would get this game or not I can safely say I won't. I don't think Square Enix gets it anymore. That or they want to make Final Fantasy XIV the super casual adventure and Final Fantasy XI the hardcore paradise. My personal advice is you were looking forward to this and this new announcement has thrown you off, get Final Fantasy XI. MMOs grow in quality with time and Final Fantasy XI is one of the best on the market and has everything this "sequel" has, plus an auction house.
As promised links to this story across the net...
FFXIVCore.com
Massively
Eorzeapedia
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