[Eorzea]

So after taking a four-month break, I have been back for nearly a month now and have gotten my Archer to level 44 (nearly 45). Because of some great {Leve Link} parties with various people at this site, the leveling process has been a lot less torturous than I imagine it could be.

That being said, I know a lot of people in active Linkshells are able to do the various Broken Water leves multiple times each reset (compared to my one time), which yields huge SP in return.

For those of us not in such an ideal situation, I'm curious... what are our leveling options besides Broken Water Behest, Raptors and {Leve Link}s? Is finding a second or third LS for additional {Leve Link} opportunities the only other efficient way to gain good SP?

I haven't had an opportunity to try Raptors yet, but I would like to.

People who were once at my level are passing me quite quickly regardless of my relatively steady pace. Perhaps it's simply a matter of playtime, but even with my few hours each day (more on days off (sometimes)) I manage to get a good amount of killing done (and am never not fatigued).

I will still hit 50 eventually (on this class and others), but perhaps this thread can serve as a good brainstorm session for other players who find themselves in a similar situation.

[pwrman5000]

i too myself just hopped on tonight for the first time since the launch of the game, and I personally still see basic issues that should have been addressed a long time ago. I was really excited to see changed within the game, UI and game play, but the only real improvements i've seen so far is UI changes, sorting options, and the doors to the main building where they assign the levequests never close.

First it bugged me that they still haven't fixed this whole idea of going through the main menu to access EVERYTHING in the game. When i died, i STILL had to hit "return" through the main menu rather than just have the game ask me if i wanted to return, or not. When i still go to those crystals to get quests, i still have to bring up the main menu. I should just be able to click on it and have it initiate the window of options.

They really need to just get rid of the whole crystal quest thing, (what ever they're called) because this doesn't promoted game play, or story line what so ever.

The fact that there still isn't a real game play structure in place besides access the levequests through the NPC's, teleporting back to the camp, and completing them in 30 minutes is still annoying. I found myself not wanting to group with other people just to see what the game really had to offer now, and I still don't see much improvement since launch. Maybe i don't want to run the same levequests 6 times with other people through a linkshell. I just want to run around, kick some butt and get quests and just play the stinkin game. i still have yet to see really any improvements with what really bugged me since launch and I'm even more dissatisfied with the game in general.

I was really hoping that all of these updates would have been enough for me to hop back on and continue playing, but i still don't see myself investing the time and energy into this. I'm seriously just disappointed and in shock and awe that I didn't see much change since launch. =(

maybe this new 1.8 patch will change a lot of that? i sure hope so!

This post has been edited by pwrman5000: Jul 20, 2011 - 7:39 PM

[Inaaca]

1.18 is the beginning of all the gameplay and content changes that they've been working on for the past several months. It's already been confirmed that levequests are no longer central to FFXIV's gameplay as of 1.18, and they're regularly adding quests, dungeons, and raids to offer a greater variety of activities. They're also improving combat and party bonuses to reduce the reliance on levequests.

I do agree that it's kind of annoying to have to go through the main menu for interactions, though. Not sure exactly what their plans are on that front, though we do know that completely revised interfaces are still on the way, so it's bound to change.

[pwrman5000]

this game is GREAT now with the new patch. I actually FEEL like i can play the game rather than playing for a little bit, and forced to do something else when I really don't want to. It still bugs me that the levequests works the way it does, and questing in general is still pretty scares at this point. I was able to quest a bit last night, but i noticed there isn't enough quests where it forces me to kick butt for some stupid reason. usually it's someone needs help with yada yada yada, but they seem to just drive the story and then you get rewarded for doing nothing but reading.

Over all I'm really enjoying this patch, but there still is a lot to do with this game. i still find a LOT of things confusing or don't make sense that really shouldn't be. Some things still seems like it'll be common sense to have it work a specific way (just like any other mmo) but FFXIV still tends to make a few things difficult in terms of just achieving it.

For example, If im adding new spells to my action bar, I just want to be able to click and drag. If i don't like the placement of it, I want to be able to just click and drag to move them into the proper order that i want.

Equipping items in general too still bugs me. they still make it seems like you have to click on several different things before it's achieved and it shouldn't have to be that way.

at least it seems like there's Stuff to do now. it'll have me playing it for the mean time, but for how long is the new question. I just hope i don't go on another long break and have to wait to receive another major patch before simple things like that are changed.

[Inaaca]

Yeah, the lack of click and draggable abilities irritates me, too. It's a bit clumsy when trying to rearrange things.