One of the hardest fought battles in "Final Fantasy XIV" may occur off-screen as Square Enix balances the interests of players with more than 15 hours per week to spend playing their new MMO and those with less time and normal work schedules to adhere to. The company revealed that "FFXIV" will award full XP during eight hours worth of playtime and allow limited XP for another seven hours before capping a player's XP altogether for the remainder of every seven-day period. Needless to say, the hardcore players out there who derive self esteem and status from multi-day level-up marathons are not pleased. One of the game's developers responded to these challenges.
"First off, the main concept behind FFXIV is allowing those players with little time on their hands to play effectively, and game balance is based off of that," "FFXIV" director Nobuaki Komoto wrote on the game's beta site, according to a translation to English posted on FFXIV Core (via VG247). "Furthermore, it is being designed to not give those with more time on their hands to play an unfair advantage. Because of that, systems such as Guardian's Favor (a bonus to Guildleves) have been implemented to make leveling in the short-term easier than leveling in the long-term."
Unfair advantages are relative, though. Any MMO is going to have godlike super-players with vast amounts of time to spend whooping up on inexperiences noobs. Square Enix wants to bring those two sides together in a world of harmony, which is noble, but catering to both interest groups may be an impossible proposition.
Do you think "FFXIV" should cap XP after a certain number of hours? Is Square Enix making the right decision? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.