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October 11, 2010

A Method to their Madness

So I got bored last night and decided to spam a quest for fame in Misareaux Coast. While doing so, I naturally got some seals for a few AF3 pieces. Luckily for me, I'm one of those people that aren't affected so much by the random distribution of seals because I can use nearly all of them. It's more a question of will I bother with them when it's all said and done.

Not everyone is in the same boat as I am though. I notice a lot of people complain about making these quests easier, or increase the drop rate of the seals based on your job, being able to trade them to others, etc. I can imagine the frustration of someone spamming these quests and getting seals for every job except the one they want. That would piss me off too.

While all of those suggestions would be great, what if we're the ones bringing this misery on ourselves? Admittedly, I'm among the first people to call Square-Enix stupid with the things they do, but maybe this isn't one of those things. Well it is, but not in a blatantly obvious way.

Most of these quests are easy. Ridiculously easy. In some cases, it takes more time to actually get to the NPC and activate the quest than it does to complete it. Because these quests are so simple, how much of a reward are we truly entitled to? We already get cruor and fame for virtually nothing, and you can repeat several of these quests too. I checked my fame and am considered the Jewel of Misareaux Coast, yet all I did was repeatedly give a guy some sausage to eat. So when I get some random seals for a job that I don't particularly care about, I can't really bitch about that when everything else I got is taken into consideration.

That still doesn't answer the question of how to obtain the seals we want though. Many people are getting "useless" seals and it frustrates them. Maybe there is another answer, but has little to do with quests. You guessed it; I'm talking about the NMs in the area. Is fighting an NM more difficult than spamming meat delivery quests? I'd imagine so, but think about the rewards. You get experience points, possible gear, atma, key items, AND the chance at seals. Sure, there's always the possibility that seals will drop for a job you don't have or want but, if you take a group with you, maybe someone else can use them.

That method isn't nearly as fast as quest spamming, but it does have greater rewards. On top of that, haven't people realized that Abyssea is a group effort? There's plenty you can do by yourself if you're really that hung up on it, but you simply cannot get everything you want if you do it alone. Maybe you can, but you won't get it quickly from what I've seen. I'm going out on a limb by saying that perhaps SE wants us to realize that as well and look for the more challenging and group-oriented way to obtain these seals. There's always the incredibly high possibility that I'm wrong, but it is something to consider.

5 comments:

Tidis said...

I think the biggest issue for people doing the quest is the time issue. You don't have unlimited time in Abyssea, if we did then i'm sure no one would complain.

But yes the NMs are generally the better option.

Jacinda said...

Perhaps so. I know I'm definitely hurting for time now. I think I'm going to do fame in Vunkerl Inlet to get that other Abyssite of Celerity. Hopefully I have enough time to get the fame required.

Evilpaul said...

If you do the package running quest in Vunkerl I think you'll probably reverse your opinion on Quest spamming being the quicker of the two... A little bad luck and it can take 20 hours to get the 8 seals you want. The NM route they either repop frequently or are force pops.

Jacinda said...

Oh I'm sure the drop rates are abysmal for the seals, but I mean quests are quicker to complete than killing the NMs.

I've become familiar with SE's thought process on getting items: you are getting any results quickly with them.

Starcade said...

Tidis is right on the mark.

The problem is the abysmal drop rates, when added to the concept of that you are on a time/stone limit.

And someone like me, who's now 0/over 40 on the Abyssite drop on the Cryptonberries. (I officially complained on that.)

Get me to a stone every 12 hours, and I might gripe less.