[Zyuu]

Taken from the North American Final Fantasy XIV Beta Site.

Balancing Character Growth in Beta 3

Quote

Once again, we would like to thank you all for your participation and support during the Closed Beta. We will continue to take your valuable feedback into consideration as we develop the game during Open Beta and even beyond the official release.

Now I would like to take a moment to respond to the many questions and opinions regarding the manner in and rates at which experience and skill points are obtained in Beta 3.

Firstly, the concept for FINAL FANTASY XIV was to design a system of character progression that offers meaningful advancement for those with limited time to dedicate to playing. We did not want to create a game that forced people to play for hours on end to see their efforts rewarded. To that end, in addition to the Guardian's Aspect and guildleve systems, we introduced a means of apportioning swifter advancement to shorter periods of play.

In order to achieve this balance, we calculated a value for the amount of skill or experience points that could be earned in a one-hour period. This theoretical value represents an hour spent engaged solely in combat, levequests, or any other activities that earn skill or experience points, and sets a threshold delimiting how many of these points can be earned in a period of play.

Based on this, we have implemented a “threshold value” concept. These thresholds are regulated by a one-week timer that begins counting down the instant you earn skill/experience points. After a week has passed, the thresholds will reset, and the moment skill/experience points are earned again, the timer begins counting down anew.

For the first eight thresholds during this week-long period, players will receive skill/experience points at the maximum rate possible. The actual amount of time spent reaching these thresholds is not significant. That is to say, a player who exceeds eight hours of gameplay will still be rewarded the maximum amount of skill/experience points, so long as the total amount earned is below the eighth threshold value. For the subsequent seven thresholds, players will earn skill/experience points at a gradually decreasing rate, eventually reaching a rate of zero.

It is worth noting, however, that the reduced rate will also gradually recover while players are engaged in activities that do not yield skill/experience points. In this manner, it is possible for the threshold value to reset completely, even before the completion of the one-week timer.

Any skill points earned in excess of the threshold maximum—that is, at a rate of zero—will be stored as "bonus skill points." These are specific to each class, so players limited to earning bonus skill points still have the freedom to change classes and begin earning skill points again at the maximum rate, allowing their reduced skill rates to recover in the meantime.

The experience point threshold, however, is unrelated to class, and switching classes will have no effect on the decreasing rate of earnable experience.

This is how the progression system currently works.

This system was not introduced in Beta 3, but has been in place since the beginning of beta testing. There are several reasons why many people believe that these features were only recently implemented:

- Leading into Beta 3, operation hours were extended, making it possible to play more often during the span of a week.
- To encourage players to form guidleve parties in Beta 3, skill and experience point rewards for guildleves were significantly increased.
- The process that reduced the amount of skill/experience points awarded for weak enemies attacking in groups was unintentionally removed at the start of Beta 3. (This issue has been addressed.)

That last reason in particular was the biggest cause for players running up against the threshold penalty, with characters earning far more skill/experience points than we anticipated. We also faced an issue where we were simultaneously unable to adjust the amount earned for guildleves as well as the effects of crossing each threshold.

We sincerely apologize for the lack of explanation and our failure to make the necessary adjustments in the game.

The threshold values are being reexamined, and we plan to further adjust the different rates of earnable points based on feedback from our testers. One of the top issues we are looking at right now is fixing the excessively rapid drop after crossing the eighth threshold. We also plan to improve experience point reduction rates, even more so than for skill points, considering the threshold is unaffected when changing class.

At the very least, we can promise that players won't be running into the threshold penalty in the same short time span as they did in the beginning of Beta 3.

We would like to take this opportunity to also explain the following issues.

The diminishing results experienced during gathering are a function related to that class alone, and have no connection to this progression system. We are in the process of adjusting this system, and plan to make changes based on tester feedback.

We are currently in the process of considering the means in which bonus skill points can be used. There have been suggestions for various types of incentives, but as encouraging people to play with that in mind defeats the purpose of this threshold system, we will be examining this issue very carefully.

These are not the only adjustments we have planned for Open Beta. As mentioned previously, we are looking into increasing the amount of skill points earned when fighting in a party, and we look forward to seeing your input on these changes.

Last of all, I would like to apologize for the delay in releasing a developer's comment due to my recent attendance to Gamescom. The article based on my interview during that trip, coupled with conjecture, outdated information, and some misunderstandings on overseas websites, only added to the confusion. In the future, I hope to avoid similar problems by responding directly through official developer's comments as often as possible. Thank you for your understanding.

See you in the Open Beta Testing!

FINAL FANTASY XIV Director
Nobuaki Komoto

[Wagram123]

Good to know that you do NOT have to wait a full week in order to be able to experience on your favorite class again. The weekly timer is a Benediction of sorts. No matter what.

[VQKatsuko]

Zyuu said:

Reason: Hehe we posted it at the same time: http://www.ffxivcore...owth-in-beta-3/

NUH UH I BEAT YOU BY 10 MINUTES <3 :O but yeah people should really carefully read this its a lot better explained.

[Zyuu]

I actually had it up, but was multi-tasking. But yeah ;)

[Pepperfroth]

Zyuu, on 26 August 2010 - 08:11 AM, said:

It is worth noting, however, that the reduced rate will also gradually recover while players are engaged in activities that do not yield skill/experience points. In this manner, it is possible for the threshold value to reset completely, even before the completion of the one-week timer.

Any skill points earned in excess of the threshold maximum—that is, at a rate of zero—will be stored as "bonus skill points." These are specific to each class, so players limited to earning bonus skill points still have the freedom to change classes and begin earning skill points again at the maximum rate, allowing their reduced skill rates to recover in the meantime.

Ok, I like this, a lot! /Complain off...haha! Finally some explaining that makes sense to my small mind! Basically, if I want to be super crazy and go for a huge amount of those "bonus skill points", I could just keep playing even after I hit the cap just to get that much extra. OR, I could switch classes, IF I feel like it...at least this is more options than I originally thought I would have, by one.

[sketchymofo]

Pepperfroth, on 26 August 2010 - 08:18 AM, said:

Ok, I like this, a lot! /Complain off...haha! Finally some explaining that makes sense to my small mind! Basically, if I want to be super crazy and go for a huge amount of those "bonus skill points", I could just keep playing even after I hit the cap just to get that much extra. OR, I could switch classes, IF I feel like it...at least this is more options than I originally thought I would have, by one.

ye but the point u quoted would suggest that theres gonna be a ton of things to do in the game besides craft and leves? *umm like wat?

the main prob is that anything with exp that rules out alot of things tbh

This post has been edited by sketchymofo: 26 August 2010 - 08:22 AM

[Pepperfroth]

sketchymofo, on 26 August 2010 - 08:20 AM, said:

ye but the point u quoted would suggest that theres gonna be a ton of things to do in the game besides craft and leves? *umm like wat?

That's true, but at least, based on this, it seems like while I am running between areas, or buying and selling, or simply afk, it will be slowly regenerating.

[bladezx7]

Well this realy sounds different from what we read before.
The system still seems to be weird but it is by far not as bad as expected from the first translation.

[Konradffxiv]

Communication +1
Degrading fatigue +1
Fatigue system -9999

... still a ways to go to break even :(

[Pepperfroth]

bladezx7, on 26 August 2010 - 08:23 AM, said:

Well this realy sounds different from what we read before.
The system still seems to be weird but it is by far not as bad as expected from the first translation.

Yeah, agreed.

[Mtt2009]

Anyone mind explaining for the even more simple minded? All i got from this is that it's not 8hrs of xp, but a "fixed amount of xp" expected to be obtained in an 8 hour period.

Please help me I'ed like to understand this system!!

I just want to get an idea of what kind of experience, an example would help me also ^^ please explain to me doesn't sound so bad when it's explained from an english dev translator.

Please help me understand!!!

This post has been edited by Mtt2009: 26 August 2010 - 08:32 AM

[RavenHighwind]

Translations are a b**ch .... I'm glad we finally got an official translation from SE. I like that we actually don't HAVE to wait a week.. and 8 hours is only if you hit the max amount of skill points gained.

[Pepperfroth]

Zyuu, on 26 August 2010 - 08:11 AM, said:

That is to say, a player who exceeds eight hours of gameplay will still be rewarded the maximum amount of skill/experience points, so long as the total amount earned is below the eighth threshold value. For the subsequent seven thresholds, players will earn skill/experience points at a gradually decreasing rate, eventually reaching a rate of zero.

This is also interesting to me, and I can see it as being not a very good idea game mechanics wise. Let's say, I want to make sure I can stay on for a weekend long of play, on my class of choosing. I would basically exp in a way that is not going to give me excess amounts of exp (whatever way that may be, solo grinding maybe?). This could have the potential to backfire on the game community, if half the players are only interested in grinding solo because they have a lot of time to be online, and the other half are trying to play to get the *most* exp possible per hour to hit their cap before they have to log off. It would still probably divide players somewhat :(

This post has been edited by Pepperfroth: 26 August 2010 - 08:31 AM

[sketchymofo]

ye it also means tons of idling chars just haning arround more so then on beta

[Hercos]

Well first off lets thank SE for clearly defining the system instead of hoping translations that got mistranslanted would do the job. As i thought its an amount of xp that you can earn instead of timer based.

What i find very weird here though if they were to change the 0% of xp gain after 15 hours to 50% xp gain after 15 hours you would have the exact definition of rested xp.

SE could have solved all their problems very early by saying fatigue system is a rested xp system that we are still tweaking. as of now though the damage has already been done and people have left and will probably never see this post.

Lets see what SE does to this system and the retainer system in beta and i might once again be upbeat about this game.

[squarezebra]

Somehow, I've always doubted that SE would actually implement a system that is gonna force people to have less playtime overall in 14. I still reckon there'll be ebough different things to keep people occupied 24/7 if there are such people

[Wagram123]

I don't know about you folks. But when I seen this pop up on the main page. It made my small worries go away and this happened:

This post has been edited by Wagram123: 26 August 2010 - 08:42 AM

[sketchymofo]

the quote also seemed to mention there lack of planing the leves, exp rewards and mob exp rewards?

[Pepperfroth]

Mtt2009, on 26 August 2010 - 08:29 AM, said:

Anyone mind explaining for the even more simple minded? All i got from this is that it's not 8hrs of xp, but a "fixed amount of xp" expected to be obtained in an 8 hour period.

Please help me I'ed like to understand this system!!

I just want to get an idea of what kind of experience, an example would help me also ^^ please explain to me doesn't sound so bad when it's explained from an english dev translator.

Please help me understand!!!

What it seems like to me is, they have a calculated, pre-set amount of exp/skill points they think can be earned in an hour (in other words, "Threshold"). You can only earn 8 times that calculated amount until the "fatigue" starts to hit (which may or may not be a bad thing, depending on what their idea of a pre-set amount is). Then, 7 times that calculated amount later, you are at zero exp/skill points.

While you are doing things that do not give you exp/skill points, this "fatigue" slowly wears off, or, if all you do is exp while you are online, it wears off after a week (of real life time it seems like).

If you switch classes, the fatigue for your skill points goes away because it is stored per class, but the fatigue for your experience points stays. If you switch back to the original class you were on, it may or may not be gone, depending on the time period they set for it to take to go away while you are not using that class in combat.

The catch to this is, your physical level (exp) will be capped after a certain point whether you switch classes or not (but they may make this cap a lot harder to hit than the skill points caps).

As for what kind of experience? Experience points go to your main, base, physical level (affecting HP, and what gear you can wear I think). Skill points go to your class level (affecting what spells and abilities you have). Both will be affected by the fatigue (or threshold as they call it), but in different ways (as outlined above).

And by the way, I am using the term "fatigue" because I think it makes things sound less complicated than "threshold".

Edited this like 10x to try to make it make more sense...LOL!

This post has been edited by Pepperfroth: 26 August 2010 - 08:48 AM

[h2o1]

I told you this yesterday, but You amuse me. It's easy to live believing in everything and without thinking by yourself, isn't it?

Please, cancel your pre-orders, trust me!
Bhahahaha!!

This post has been edited by h2o1: 26 August 2010 - 10:14 AM