Originally posted by apocoluster
Personally, I hope they take as much time as they need.  If they have to hold off another year then do so...

I 100% agree, they may have fixed all the issues XIV had but there is still combat and questing problems, and tons of the extra stuff such as the choco combat/raising, housing, pvp, dynamic events, extra classes, and much more that they should really try to get in at launch, for the best first impression. 

It's ironic, for two years XIV would crash so often on me I could never complete a leve, just before the final event it stabilised and I am now able to lvl when it won’t save any of it.

Originally posted by Uldah

I found my security token today and found all this great news today, but the problem is i stopped playing it before server merge so now all my chars seems to not be active,

 

My question is if someone knows and is kind enough to share it, 

-will i be able to move the old character data into V2 ?¿.Keep in mind i dont have V1 i stoped playing before server merge around feb 2012.

-If i pay now the 30days fee will i be able to enter with my char the old version before it dies forever ?.

 

Im kinda undecided what i want to do atm.

Thanks in advance.

They are transfering all 1.0 characters into ARR.

There is no point in subbing for anything right now, 1.0 is dead (servers are up just for players that subbed till the end, to socialize for a few weeks, though there's no saving data)  and ARR isnt out yet. If you have your old account that will get you 30 free days of ARR, and you should get into beta no prob. Its a new client anyway, so the old is irrelevent.

Originally posted by The_Dhampir

I speak japanese and even run a japanese version windows. Auto-translate works fine when FFXIV is running in English. type stuff was used more than actual communication. Same 'JP ONLY' issues still pop up from FFXI though. 

I'll still need a solid Red Mage hat if they plan to keep me around long.

 

I envy u, languages are not my thing, 25 yrs of subtitled anime and I havnt learnt a word. ARR does have red mage hats, not sure if you are after a specific type. Red mages themselves arent in yet, they paused the insertion of XI classes till after ARR is out.

Originally posted by Silok

te details, known issues, and bug report methods, can be found on the Alpha Tester Forums. FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Alpha Tester Forums http://sqex.to/mdt Welcome to the FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Alpha Tester Forum! http://sqex.to/Li3 Alpha Test: Steps to Begin Testing http://sqex.to/BgC e Enix Support Center. FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Square Enix Support Center http://sqex.to/WXr ??????????????????????????????????? SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Alpha Test Operations Department ??????????????????????????????????? * This mail address is for sending purposes only. Please do not reply to this e-mail.

 

Yeah i receive the same and im not sure about these link. can you confirm if its legit?

Yes. Got the same links and have been in alpha for 2 weeks.

Originally posted by The_Dhampir

Yeah, I've read everything about their plans. I have more JP friends than I do NA on FFXIV, which puts me in a jam if i stay or move. I don't have the lag issues on PSO2  or FFXI that I did on FFXIV. 

The lag for XIV was caused by more than the server location, fingers crossed ARR may play well enough on the Jap servers for western players. What was it like playing with Japanese? How was the auto translate?

Originally posted by Dzone

Hi there, i used to play ffxi every day for several years when it came out, really enjoyed that game. Really exited about the release of ffXIV ARR. Im hoping alot of the gamers are gona be coming from ffxi. If they do, should have alot of ppl wanting to group together in this game. If we stand together we can turn ARR community back into ffxi's community ^^.

 

I hope they make this game have solo content and group content from level 1, to endgame. That way we can choose if we want to pt or not. Have fingers crossed for that. I used to love being a whm in ffxi, played it for years, loved supporting and keeping ppl alive during tough times. Hopefully ARR will have a whm role like ffxi's i can be again :) Oh there near the end of my ffxi career i was playing a bard, really loved that to, actually could run around constently and playing music, really had fun with that.

There is a lot of introduction quests from lvl 1 to 10, as XIV 1.0 was notorious for lacking explanations, but you can exp chain grind in groups when you want. Classes like conjurer are terrible solo and much more fun to always play supporting others. There is a bard class in ARR.

Originally posted by skorner64

Dang the gathering looks like most games now , the only thing I thought FFXIV did good was their graphics and crafting/gathering systems.

In FFXIV the crafting was very complex and you needed many other classes working together or at least combining their items together to make something, here it seems you might be able to break down and craft things by yourself, at least they kept player input when it comes to success/quality.

With gathering you had little minigames for each that also involed player input in order to gather the item/fish. Here it seems like they made it easier, just click what you want to try for.

It gets more complex when you get more skills, they show things at too low a lvl. Also there is still inter-dependence between crafting and the gathering classes, just not between crafting as it got too convoluted. People where pretty split on the mini games, especially now that you don't get ingredients for leve quests, so you will have to gather a lot more, it would get very repetitive. The game part comes with the later skills now.

Originally posted by Draron
Logged into Masamune a few times since they came up. Most people I saw online was 12. Wouldn't be surprised they close them back down soon, considering they said if the total logins fell below a target they would.

ANd THen IT shaLL bE DeAd!!! 4eVer!!!!! And the world shall know peace and happiness once more.

P.S. my condolences on Glitch, I had a good cry during my last visit of every floor of my tower.

Originally posted by Lexin
Yeah they put them back up on I think Nov 21st I played a bit but not much as it is pointless. But they wont lose me if I do play another MMO it will be XI.

Good to hear, I guess those who need their mmo to be a FF one are not going to be tempted by the RIfts and Gw2s of this world, still, I wonder how SE are going to handle XI if ARR works out. I assume they would rather get as many from XI to ARR as possible for when they shut XI down one day. Having said that Tanaka didn't seem interested in getting any XI players into his turkey, as he avoided as many elements of it as he could. I wonder how many and what features from XI Yoshida would have to include to tempt them to his mmo.

Originally posted by The_Dhampir
If the lag is the same in 2.0 I'm out. Nothing in the game aggravated me more than to be out of the plumes on Ifrit and still get hit by them due to lag. I'm not even sure what I'll have to do in the game since i already have everything maxed out.

New server tech and locations, so it shouldnt be a problem. They will have new stuff to do for vets, though possibly more in the post launch updates. Also as there is a new story, you may want to start a new character.

Aren’t they called Free Companies now? (never liked the term Link Shell anyway)

I like the idea of a new guild with some old 1.0 vets, but new players too. Can't remember if the PS3 servers are seperate from the PC ones, so better check that you sign up people that can play together.

(Not sure if i should join a guild with hardcore fans of 1.0 myself though, I get into a lot of arguments with them).

The combat will be controversial though, in 1.0 it was slow and counter intuitive, it felt jarring as it was more turn based but within a real time game, without a switch to a different screen, which I think would have helped. It had some strategic advantages, but was always going to be niche, and most mmo players wouldn’t like it at first, so would never get to the more interesting combos and party mechanics. On paper I can appreciate it had reasons for being the way it was, but it lacked immersion and visceral satisfaction, as I think good combat should have if you are going to combat-grind. At early lvls and as a solo character turn based is not for those that want to enjoy themselves from the start. Even early 8 - 16 bit Square RPGs didn’t try your patience like that, so it’s not about new players not having the right attitude. 

The combat now it more like WoW, (shock horror!) however that is just another way of saying it is fluid, more real time and uses a global cool down (rather a slow one though) many parts of the old system are still there, but the animation pauses, camera and character lock and other things that prevented you from just going up to a mob and hitting it have been removed or toned down. I wish combat could be either all action or all strategy myself, but either extreme looses too many, we will have to see how the combat develops at higher lvls, fingers crossed.

You will hear some defences of various 1.0 features, but you had so many awkward components, from UI, to controls, to quest and world layout, to NPC interactions/indicators, to the map, the subtitled cut scenes, the bad server code and engine, the fact that the servers where all in Japan, the language issues and lack of link shell features, (to name just a few issues) an unreasonable amount of perseverance was needed, and it is elitist and inconsiderate for those that where unreasonably patient to expect to get their way. Yes there where some good ideas deep in there, but it is better that as many as can be salvaged be put into a new framework that allows more than a minority to experience them. Some things will be lost, but Yoshida’s decisions have a logic too them, and you can’t expect a major developer to run a expensive AAA mmo for a small group who are the extreme end of the bell curve of mmo tastes.

I would recomend watching every episode of this series, it sums up what people had to go through at launch, and most of the problems here where never fixed, (they couldnt be with the old system).

Originally posted by SoulEaterQUEEN

I'm assuming that you were selected as a beta tester for the Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, for that is why you can't tell me too much on your impression ot this game?

Worse, alpha, I had to sign the NDA in the blood of infant goats, and if I break it (too much) Yoshida will make me eat a Moogle. However I have read every letter from the producer, and offical info on ARR, and there isnt much in the Alpha that isnt already released. So I can answer most questions you may have.

Yes I definitely very curious for how much different it is from 1.0.

In a nut shell, it fixes every single problem 1.0 had, but has to compromise in order to reach a broader audience by using elements from WoW style mmos, however they are there just for new players to get into the game more easily, as 1.0 was very bad at explaining its overly complicated UI and gameplay mechanics. This wasn't an EVE style sandbox, there was no reason for it to be that way.  Most of the 1.0 leves, armory and other systems from FFXI such as the exp chaining mean you can skip all but the most essential story quests if WoW style hubs really bug you. They are not over done anyway as they arn't as needed given that you dont get all the exp from quests.

I have friends who have tried to play it only because there was a lack of subscription fee during that period but they couldn't bear the game at all.

Yes, I struggled and gave it ever chance, but when all the parts fail to work right and on top of that your PC crashes with it, (and never anything else) you just have to quit, oddly enough it worked fine during the last few days of the shut down event.

I just hope ARR will be a more enjoyable experience than the F2P MMOs I have been playing lately.

What ones have you been playing?

It will be the first time I play an MMORPG on the console so I too am curious how it will be different than the PC version;

So far mmos such as DCUO that are made for console have been a pain for PC gamers as the UI and combat controls are often built for the console first, and only slightly altered for those of us that refuse to give up the keyboard and mouse. (1.0 had more issues with mouse use than you could imagine) ARR uses completely different UI systems for both, but we haven’t seen anything of the console version yet. I suspect one the of reasons Tanaka was kicked of the project was due to the engine he made not being able to scale down to the RAM limitations of the PS3. The new engine has PS3 in mind, it should be fine, still, I’d see about getting a nice new rig, there are far more really nice mmos coming for PC in the next few years.

I have only laptop uses and I reserve that for my studies only now, and no longer own a computer. I will be sure to write my first impression on here when it releases.

Whats your degree in?

I wish they would show more than low lvl skills and tactics in these vids, but they seem to only use the Alpha version for them. You can't get a good picture of gathering and crafting till you see the skills you get later that allow for more strategy. They need a much better bunch doing PR vids, they where terrible doiing 1.0 previews too, and somehow made it look even lamer.

Hi, welcome to the forums. I never got into FFXI, but I wish I did so I could judge how much of it is influences ARR. FFXIV 1.0 was the worst mmo I've ever played but also the most interesting, as you could glimpse some unique ideas there. Thankfully I you can appreciate them a whole lot more now; (I have to be vague about ARR for reasons you can guess).

The hard part is convincing people to give it a chance, you can't blame them, but close minded attitudes irritate me anyway.

It will be interesting to see how the PS3 version runs and what the UI is like, I played the PC version of XIV, and one of the reasons it was so painful was that the UI was for the console, and felt so counter intuitive even with a controller.

If you want to know anything about what you missed with XIV 1.0 (lucky you), I've been known to rant during my trauma induced flash-backs, but recently what disturbs me more is the people who try to defend it. ARR has a difficult task, to make up for 1.0, to convince a general audience to try it, and not alienate those who don’t want it to be to WoW (mainstream) and who want either XIV 1.0 or FFXI features included. So far I think Yoshida has done the best he can, but some 1.0 fans will not be satisfied as their tastes cannot be catered to without losing absolutely everyone else.

I hope you like ARR as I do, but it will be up to your tastes, and whether you appreciate the odd fix of modern western mmo and FF elements.

Rift's expansion makes it worthwhile now I guess, it depends on how well you tolerate WoW clone-y elements. You may find going back to such an old mmo as FF11 a tad hard, if you are used to more modern features and conveniences now, personally I would try out FFXIV:ARR’s beta, it has more elements from FF11 now. I take it you have no problem with subs?

(housing isn't with RIft's base line)

Originally posted by Seillan

Well, you pretty much described precisely why I'm disappointed about Uematsu being replaced. I like that retro style, and personally, I think the music he did through the FF4-8 era was the best of his career. I also love his Black Mages stuff, so I'd hardly call the combat music "laughable".

To each their own though.

I get your point, and I liked his work on FF8, but you need more than nostalgia to justify a composition choice, I am sure he could have made good themes without alienating players who don't happen to have the memories of previous FF games. This is supposed to be a multi-generational franchise, not just a trip through FF history for those of us in our late 20s, early 30s, that's for side games, not a main numbered one, which typically look forward, not back. The fact is that even I didn't get at first why the music sounded so dated, and it certainly didn't help the games reputation when so many who tried XIV at launch also felt the controls and gameplay where out of touch by a decade as well.

One compromise I would like is to keep some elements, music, story quests, enviroments of 1.0, along with the original cut scenes using the echo thing, so even new players can see and play through parts of the past era.

Also some themes remain in ARR, (I really hope they find a use for the Goobbue mount theme) but others such as the battle music had to go, I stand by my original statement, synth orchestral and prog rock do not age well.

Originally posted by Reizla
I had an eMail from Se for an alpha application and I actually did apply for it. I hope FFXIV:ARR will be a lot better than the original FFXIV - I might even gonna play (subscribe) it if it is ;-)

If you get in, remember, most of the content isnt in this version, (some people have been very quick to judge and break NDA).