So... has OB made you change your mind on what you want to play?

Elemmire said:
I'll let you know once I finally get it download -_- my ISP is shitty so twice a day my internet tends to die and for some reason the download doesn't start where it left off sooo.. bah.. and my internet is usually faster than this 46-56k download rate so maybe their servers are being pushed hard and I can't get a good rate going, I dunno. But they need to seriously implement something where it picks up where it left off. This install process has been more of a pain in the ass than it really should be. SE really doesn't do "online" well.
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I had to cancel my download several times because of it getting stuck at 0KB/s. It always picked up from where it left off for me?

Also, 50KB/s is good. I was downloading at 5KB/s for pretty much 85% of my download. It took me almost 6 days to complete it.
 
Well, yes and no. FFXIV have made me want to break my habbit of playing a healer in every game I play, and as such I've decided to be a tank - although that was something I decided before open beta. However, playing Open Beta only strenghtened my will to play tank. Gladiator is just incredibly fun to play.
 
I've been playing as pugilist / fisher from the start and still really like it. So I think that's what it'll be. I really love what they did with fishing, and also I like the impact feel of this game when you hit the enemy. So it's fun to beat the shit outta things with my fists. =)
 
For those of you saying beta has changed your midns for the worse - what exactly is it you dislike so much?

I mean, sure, the UI is horrible and the lag is bad - but those are all things I'm sure they will fix eventually. The lag is there because they have a screening server, which results in lag more than tripling, as makes it go client > screen > server > client, rather than client > server > client, so most of that will be gone by retail. As for the UI, I'm sure its somethign that will get fixed when more critical things are handled. The gameplay etc. itself is great imo.
 
Okay.

Rolling my Elezen. THR/CNJ/ACH ftw :)
 
Dancingweapon said:
I had to cancel my download several times because of it getting stuck at 0KB/s. It always picked up from where it left off for me?

Also, 50KB/s is good. I was downloading at 5KB/s for pretty much 85% of my download. It took me almost 6 days to complete it.
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Really? Cause I used to have a much better download speed. It claimed it was 50kb/s or so but it really wasn't.. 26 hours was the download time >.> my internet died while I was out. Now I'm back and ya.. blargh.
 
To be fair, there's only like 2-3 weeks until release (depending on whether you got the limited edition or not) and there's a LOT that seems crappy with it. Though, I can't say for sure until I FINALLY GET THIS SHIT DOWNLOADED! -_- swear, SE sucks hard with online.
 
SE fails at making torrents lol. On a sidenote, I just played my first real 2h tonight. I got mixed feeling about it so far. The UI needs a lot of work and SE needs to stop handling everything server side ffs lol. I was like a retard trying to figure where the fuck were my weapon skills and stuff until i realized i was not patient enough to wait for the skills to load ~.~' I'm gonna cry if I have to go through "the dunes" again in 14 lolol.
 
Elemmire said:
To be fair, there's only like 2-3 weeks until release (depending on whether you got the limited edition or not) and there's a LOT that seems crappy with it. Though, I can't say for sure until I FINALLY GET THIS SHIT DOWNLOADED! -_- swear, SE sucks hard with online.
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OK let's take Warhammer as an example. I wasn't in beta, but I know quite a few people that were. They all said the beta was damn near perfect. Come to release time there's quite a bit missing, and they all said this isn't what beta was. Beta was awesome and fun; this just isn't good. What went wrong, I don't know. Something did though if it was removing content or what.

They'll have to fix beta bugs. We know this. They're adding in more content at retail. We know this. The beta isn't the entirety of the game. We should all know this. Then again you're basing your opinions on what you read by people who probably have little to no experience with betas. Why aren't I surprised that you're being negative nancy about things related to an mmo again? Oh right because we know that's what you do. If you don't think you'll enjoy the game don't play it.
 
Romper said:
OK let's take Warhammer as an example. I wasn't in beta, but I know quite a few people that were. They all said the beta was damn near perfect. Come to release time there's quite a bit missing, and they all said this isn't what beta was. Beta was awesome and fun; this just isn't good. What went wrong, I don't know. Something did though if it was removing content or what.

They'll have to fix beta bugs. We know this. They're adding in more content at retail. We know this. The beta isn't the entirety of the game. We should all know this. Then again you're basing your opinions on what you read by people who probably have little to no experience with betas. Why aren't I surprised that you're being negative nancy about things related to an mmo again? Oh right because we know that's what you do. If you don't think you'll enjoy the game don't play it.
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I have quite a LOT of experience with betas, and so far this one has left me with a meh feeling. The UI is slow and cumbersome, even compared to FFXI. The menu/sub-menu system is very rigid which is expected from SE, but a step backwards in what should be a very progressive game. The world is beautiful, the interactions are great, but if they don't work on the targeting system and control scheme a little it won't hold many people's interests. That being said, I have heard that things like using a controller as opposed to the keyboard makes a world of difference, so I'll give that a go when I have more energy.
 
So far I am absolutely loving it. I am playing an elezen gladiator just to be faithful to my paladin roots :). It reminds me of FFXI but with improved graphics and a more balanced job system (maybe early to say that but I have hopes). Yesterday for the first time I took a walk from Limsa to Gridania, passing from Ulda and the detail in the scenery was amazing. Only bad thing is the lag I am experiencing but as it was said above, that will certainly be improved once retail launches.

I am very curious to see how this will play out at the end of the month but I will certainly buy the game and give it a go.

P.S. Yes when I switched to controller rather than keyboard, game experience improved 100%.
 
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Romper said:
OK let's take Warhammer as an example. I wasn't in beta, but I know quite a few people that were. They all said the beta was damn near perfect. Come to release time there's quite a bit missing, and they all said this isn't what beta was. Beta was awesome and fun; this just isn't good. What went wrong, I don't know. Something did though if it was removing content or what.
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Actually, being as I was a Warhammer beta tester and all, there wasn't any content missing from the Beta at launch.

What was missing was the stability and speed of the beta client. Somehow, between beta and release, they actually managed to make it less stable and run more slowly. Total fucking mystery to me as to why that happened, but that was certainly the impression that me and most of the other beta testers I knew had.

I'll bide my time with XIV and see if they smooth out the wrinkles in the UI, and hopefully buff out the rough edges in the unholy fucking mess that is targeting and controls. They've actually made improvements over the course of the alpha/beta, so who knows, maybe they're actually trying to fix the problems...
 
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My point is still that there's very little time until the release and these problems seem to have been around since closed beta. I haven't seen much progress made O.o but I wasn't in closed beta so this isn't first hand experience. If someone could clarify who was in closed beta, that'd be super.
 
Dancingweapon said:
I had to cancel my download several times because of it getting stuck at 0KB/s. It always picked up from where it left off for me?

Also, 50KB/s is good. I was downloading at 5KB/s for pretty much 85% of my download. It took me almost 6 days to complete it.
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Since the updates are torrent based (and the SE client is shitty of course), and I've had much better success finding the torrent files it uses and using a dedicated torrent app to get the updates, then copying it over to the patch folder once it's done. Doing that also eliminates the "updates getting stuck" problems recently. I'm at work so I can't remember the specific path, I'll edit the post (or someone else will post the answer) once I get home.

EDIT: Here's how to bypass the shitty SE torrent patching process

Alright, so you want to patch FFXIV, and you don't want to wait 3 days.

(I'm on windows 7, so these instructions will reflect this)

Open Documents > My Games > Final Fantasy XIV Beta Version > downloads > ffxvi-beta
You will see two folders called bca2a8ae and d96437e6. The bca2a8ae folder contains the information for the boot loader (or whatever it's called, it's the red updates), and the d96437e6 is for the actual client/game patches.
Stay in the ffxiv-beta folder for now.

Now fire up the beta client. Do you get a red update? (Prolly)

Cancel the update once it gives you the option (cause it's downloading the torrent file when "preparing download". It's the only thing that makes sense)
If you do, go into the bca2a8ae > metadata folder. You will see a bunch (or one) or torrent files! Open the MOST RECENT torrent file in your torrent app of choice.
Navigate up one folder, then go into the patch folder. Minimize that folder.
Your torrent application might complain about the tracker, ignore it, it will work. Wait for download to finish (which will take MUCH MUCH MUCH less time than the SE app).
Once done, go to where the torrent data was saved, navigate all the way to the end of the folder structure (the folder names should look eerily familiar) and copy the patch file into the patch folder ffxiv uses (the one you minimized earlier). Overwrite the old patch file (if needed)
Now fire FFXIV back up again. It'll come to the update screen, and if it worked, go straight to 100% and update the boot loader.

Now it'll move onto the game patch (or go right to it if there was no boot patch). This is the blue one.

Same process as above, just replace the bca2a8ae folder with the d96437e6 folder.

If you did everything right (and it worked) the game will update itself and you'll be in in no time at all.


(I didn't post a link because not everyone has access to the beta site's General Discussion page for some reason. I do, this is why I found the thread there explaining this (in much less detail, but I figured it out))

Reply or PM if you've any questions, I'll do my best to answer/curse your soul.

END EDIT

Oh yea, about the game itself. Yea I think I'll play it. I've enjoyed the open beta quite some, and there's been some progress since the closed betas.

Cheers~
 
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Tristam Green said:
just an FYI to the OP:

Stine and I read this thread title thinking "why would an Obstetrician make you change your mind on what you want to play?"
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I thought the same at first, lol. I guess having kids make you think that :o
 
The major thing I am currently hating about OB is the crashing and the patching, I hardly get to play at this point.
 
There really have been quite a few positive changes I noticed from beta 3 to open. While on the first day of open beta, it was dreadful. Very slow, I assume this was the stress test on the servers. With every patch, the speed has only improved, and it's quite playable atm.

Recast timers aren't messing up anymore. In beta 3, you'd sometimes use an ability and recast would say 0:00, but you'd have to actually wait the correct about of time. Targeting anyone with cure spells is much easier now. In b3, the action of cure wanted to be cast on mobs, and you'd have to pretty much disengage to select the party member.

The frequent crashes of the beta 3 are now almost non-existant. I think I've crashed 3 times in the entirety of open beta. When in Beta 3, it was a common occurrence. I just praise SE for not using anything similar to Play-Online for logging on :p

The UI lag also did seem to improve, although it took a step backwards in the beginning, but I think that had a lot to do with how many people play in Open Beta vs. how many were in closed. SE had 300-400 people on the Emperor server I was on most of the time, now there's normally 1.3k+. I really think they keep making positive changes with each update and it will get better... One can only hope!

The best improvement though was being able to switch from AoE to single-target spells with my controller. I'm able to press a simple key on the controller to switch them now. The same button I use to open up the emote menu / check status effects up top my screen.

I'd say my biggest complaint is how there is zero storage space available. When multiple crafts, jobs, gear is encouraged, having only 80 inventory space doesn't quite cut it. I hope to see some kind of storage feature at release. I don't want to just have to sell stuff I'd want to keep.

I must say, I'm highly enjoying my time in Eorzea though!

** Oh, and btw. Seteyu gave great advice on how to bypass the terrible beta downloader. I've been using it since closed beta, and the updates never take more than 10 minutes. Definatley worth your time to download uTorrent and get it working. It's quite easy.
 
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Woo! Getting sponsored for school! Gov is officially buy my copy for me now. Prolly gonna get it regardless since they're paying now. *Skips away laughing*
 
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