FFXIV: ARR Public Beta Info Thread, A realm neegnye Options

[Vitamin D]

Well, at least I got into Phase 2. It apparently starts this weekend. Um... ballin?

[Crushinator]

Nice, we can all be man-cats together! Are they rolling out the PS3 version this weekend too?

[Vitamin D]

Naw, next the next phase is for the Tr3y. If I get the opportunity to test both platforms, I definitely will haha.

[Ellianna]

Got my email for beta test this morning, yay!

[Crushinator]

Holy shit! I love it, and the homage to FF6's opening is fantastic.

[Ellianna]

So what server are you guys using? >.>

[Crushinator]

I'm on chocobo, to be honest I haven't even seen anyone else from AT online this phase of the beta lol...

[Vitamin D]

When I made my character, Chocobo was full, so I have a character on Atomos. Chose that because my brother has a character there too. If I can sneak a character onto Chocobo later, I'll do so.

On the game itself, I like what I'm playing. It's easy to get into, especially since there are shades of FF XI in its style. This phase also came with the option to play on a gamepad. Considering I spent 3 years playing FF XI on PS2/360, I went with the option, and it controls really nicely. I'll be messing with the game more through the weekend, but so far so good haha.

[Ellianna]

yea chocobo is full :/ I started on Behemoth, but if people decide to get together on one I'll switch over.

[Crushinator]

If Atmos is still open I have no problem just starting a new guy there. I'm only level 12 on chocobo anyways.

[Ellianna]

It was when I looked earlier, going to log in now and make a char. there if it's still open.


yup still open conj. made - Ellianna Cuthrell

[Crushinator]

New areas look amazing.

[AC9breaker]

So what the hell is up my ninjas? You ninjas playing this shit or what? Gimmie some feeback!

[Crushinator]

I played the beta quite a bit, its really improved on what I saw in the alpha.

They've essentially dumped most of what was originally in FFXIV 1.0 at this point, save for the Leves (which are still limited BUT there is so much content in the game otherwise that it balances out and isn't a problem now.)

The combat is very fast paced, with an awesome UI with lots of visual cues. If you've played FF12, its similar to that, how it draws an arcing line to highlight which player is attacking which mobs. You also get lines indicating which mobs will link to the ones you pull. It also has an on-screen display of the time remaining to EXP chain, nothing is really hidden from view to the player. Because of how quickly your TP and MP regenerate, you flow quickly from one fight to the next and can easily XP chain over the course of a quest which is nice. Camping and grinding XP isn't necessary compared to FFXI, thank god.

There are mini job-specific quests in your notebook like "kill 9 squirrels" that you can do as you proceed through the normal quests. The regular questing is the main source of XP and money, and is basically in line with any other Post-WOW MMO. It feels very much like Guild Wars 2, which is a good thing. You also have public-quest type things where everyone in the vicinity can jump in and help fight a giant monster or swarm of unique monsters, and gets rewarded for their contribution.

They've implemented the controller options, I played it using a dual shock 3 for a bit but to be honest KB/M is much better for this game. The improvements to the UI have gotten it up to speed to being on par with any modern PC game, and it just feels easier to me to play this type of game with the KB/M. Controller is completely serviceable though, it maps your shortcut keys to holding down the triggers and pushing the face buttons/d-pad.

Graphics are great, and its nice that they added the "missing" races/genders. Remember that they didn't have female highlander humans for no good reason too? Now you have lady galkas, man cats, and all.

The current beta cycle has ended, I'm not sure when the next phase will begin. Hopefully they add the additional starting areas, and all the starting jobs as the limitations of the beta content are starting to show. I'm very excited for the full release though, it's really unprecedented for ANY game to have this much of an improvement from such a terrible retail release.

P.S. Here are the details for the collectors edition below. Good news is, if you already bought the FFXIV 1.0 collectors edition back in the day, you'll get all the bonuses in this one too. All of us who already bought the game (regular or SE) will not need to buy it again to play ARR.

[Vitamin D]

I honestly was impressed with the game, despite the amount of time I spent with it. The lack of playtime was because of very few jobs and well, Monster Hunter. The game itself is oozing with quality and content. There was always something to do, and even wandering around the various maps was fun. I think I'll be more involved once the class I want is available. Dat Pugilist/Monk, Son. Either way, the beta impressed me enough that I'll buy it.

Also, Jobs.