Final Fantasy XIV: How the “Fatigue” system really works

In the last few days some "information" about the so called "fatigue" system in the upcoming MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV by Square Enix (you can also read my in-depth hands on article), stirred a real uproar across the internet.
Unfortunately most of that "information" was mistranslated and/or misleading as some websites decided to follow a sensationalistic route.

Giuseppe Nelva of This is My Joystick combines his extensive experience as a beta tester on FFXIV with the latest message by the game's director Nobuaki Komoto to explain how the system really works.

[Chadness]

Good to see someone clearing this up, because Squeenix isn't helping clarify anything, even though they claim they have.

[Biggest]

Excellent article. Now all the "OMG SE SUCKS FOR THIS" people can go back to their regular crazy.

[deadreckoning666]

"Excellent article. Now all the "OMG SE SUCKS FOR THIS" people can go back to their regular crazy.

And u kno what the funny thing is...I guarantee the the majority of those "OMG SE SUCKS FOR THIS" people weren't even planning on getting the game in the first place. Same goes for most of the people praising the ME2 on PS3 announcement on N4G. Like any good fanboy they need to overhype something or viciously attack it...even though they have no interest in the game or topic at hand.

[Abriael]

Well, they did on the beta tester site, it's still a lil smoky as an explanation, but combined with what I see in the beta it's pretty clear.
of course all the numbers and percentages are still a lot in the air (it's beta after all), but from what they say they will be adjusted towards the nice and not towards the bad :D

[Chris399]

I'm still not clear on at what rate skills recover from fatigue when not in use. You just mention that they do, eventually, climb back up. So are we talking a period of hours, days or what?

And yes, the whole thing is rather draconian. There are better ways to encourage multi-class use without shutting down a players ability to level in a class completely. As you said in the article, even a 50% penalty would be enough. The way that they have it set up currently, it just seems like its a way to prolong the grind (for fear or a lack of end-game content? who knows?).

This biggest issue with Square Enix is that their communication with the community is terrible, espcially after they make comments to the likeness of: "we are building a game based on community feedback". Really? Because the trend of every MMO seems to be catering to the whims and needs of players, offering them as much choice as possible, not in complex systems and mechanics.

Open beta can't come soon enough! I'm skipping WOW (Cata) and if this turns out below my expectations, it's probably just the long wait for Guild Wars 2, I guess.

[Reibooi]

@Chris399

It's pointless to discuss the time in which you recover from fatigue because the game is in beta. As was mentioned in the article the % and time is being tweaked between the closed beta, Open beta and final release.

Knowing the times in the closed beta is pointless as those numbers will change for the Open beta and more then likely again for the final release.

[Abriael]

@Chris399 It's very difficult at the moment, to give exact numbers on the timings, since everyone gains experience at different rates. From my personal experience and info from other people, the rate at which fatigue recharges is pretty much equivalent to the rate at which it charges.

[Myze]

First off, it should be noted by people that you can't look at FFXIV as you would other MMO's, since the path of leveling is extremely unique to the game.

There are two paths:

Physical Level:

You get physical level xp from everything you do that gives xp, no matter what class you are. Physical level determines the level of gear you can use (it syncs down to your class level, if it's not as high as physical level) and the amount of ability points you can allocate on whatever class you are currently.

The fatigue system for physical level is capped per week, and it is a defined amount of xp you can earn. For the first 8 "fatigue cycles" you get 100% physical level xp, for the 7 cycles after that it is reduced till it reaches 0. This fatigue does not diminish if you are doing something else that does not gain xp, like class level fatigue does. If you max it out for the week, you have to wait for the next week.

It should be noted, to people that don't like this, that with the way the system works, it is impossible to get a class higher than your physical level, anyway, so there is no reason for physical level fatigue to replenish like class level fatigue (in fact, that would screw up the game if you had a phys level 15 and a gladiator level 19, for example).

(continued next post...didn't even know there was a character limit)

[Myze]

Class Level:

Each class, whether it be a Disciple of War or a Disciple of Hand (crafter), has it's own unique level. Class level determines the skills you learn, stats (dependent on the class), and what equipment you can wear, and of course what type of weapon you use (which is what changes your class in the first place).

Class fatigue is also a defined amount of xp, that diminishes while you are doing things that earn you xp. However, when doing stuff that does not award xp (shopping, sitting around...not really a lot that doesn't award xp) the fatigue will slowly go away. The fatigue cycles are class specific, so if you max out, say, a Marauder, you can then switch to a Pugilist and start with a fresh, no fatigue class. While you are playing the Pugilist, the fatigue will slowly diminish on the Marauder. It's not clear how fast the the fatigue goes away at this time. The fatigue will reset the next week (if you have any), just like the physical level fatigue.

One thing of note is that there is no way to get by in FFXIV with only playing one class. Your abilities will be extremely limited, and the classes are not built to support, for example, a pure Gladiator skills player late into the game. I'm not defending the system (which I think is a punishment to hardcore players, not a reward to casual, like they claim), but one, it's not as bad as many are making it out, and two, it will make grouping with terrible "no-subjob" (FFXI reference) players less prominent.

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Many people are speculating the reasons they have this system. I can think of a few, not knowing which is actually true.

One, they are doing it for the reason they say, to reward casual players (reward casual play just sounds stupid, to be honest) and give them a chance to compete if they don't have the time.

Two, some people think they are doing it so people are unable to level up too fast. The systems puts a defined time on when the first people will be able to max level (at the moment, only SE knows that time). So, people think there is currently no end game content, so this will give them a month or so to get some available without the risk of the more hardcore getting there in a couple weeks with nothing to do.

Three, they are doing it to stop the RMT (Real Money Transactions) players by making it almost pointless to provide leveling services, and make it very difficult for them to level new characters if/when they get banned. Even if this is not the reason for the fatigue system, this will be a side benefit to it.

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Last thing I want to say is that I'm sure the amount of fatigue cycles or the amount of xp needed for each cycle will change before release to allow more than the 15 cycles possible now. While there will still be a limit, I'm guessing it will at least be about 1.5x higher than they currently have it, to make it so that leveling about 3 classes fully each week would even take a lot of doing for the hardcore crowd.

[Reibooi]

And really that's all it ever really was. People looking for a reason to hate on SE they did it with XIII now they are doing it with XIV and despite everyone really looking forward to FFvsXIII I bet some people will complain about that too.

Glad to see someone who knows what they are talking about getting the correct info out there.

[Incognegro]

I'm not so sure about the argument with XIII... Truthfully, there were some people just jumping on the bandwagon making the complaints seem bigger than what they really were, but...I have a hard time truthfully defending that game. It was mediocre in most aspects.

[Da One]

Truth

[Reibooi]

@Incognegro

In my opinion people blew XIII out of proportion. Is a perfect game? No. Is it still a great game? Yes yet no one will admit that. It's pretty much common sense that if the game had not been named Final Fantasy it would have been hailed as a masterpiece.

And still even now people still have the dumbest reasons for not liking the game. They will point out the linearity when Final Fantasy X was just as bad in that regard. They point at story when people complained about the same thing when XII came out and yet now look back at that game fondly. They say the same about combat and yet the same issue was present in VIII when people didn't like the junction and draw system and again people still remember that game fondly.

XIII did have genuine issues. The start of the game did take a bit to long but what was there needed to be there. SE should have come up with a way to make it happen quicker. The game also has a somewhat lackluster leveling system that doesn't really seem all to deep when compared to past FF games. The upgrading weapons is a cool idea but they don't seem to have much effect until you are almost done with the game which makes one wonder why the system is there.

These are the real issues with the game yet everyone who speaks out about it will mention the same old things like being to linear and having combat that plays itself and all kinds of pointless things that are a moot point if you had actually played the game and seen it for yourself.

[StrboyM]

are priceless....I beta'd the ps2 ffXI (got the hdd + game free). boughtt a copy of the pc version for my now "ex" girlfriend.

I then payed for 2 copies of ffXI for 1 yeah (ex stopped playing) and payed for mine for 5 years. do the math o how much SE made from me.

And now some of you have the nerve to call us crazy?...

Don't judge people because they are upset about something they love and wish to spend money on. if the correlation of having a paying for a service, and enjoying that service to the fullest doesnt make sense to you...maybe you guys are the ones that are crazy.

LvL 75 - SAM, COR, BST, and a medely of 40's and 50's

I am fully expecting that game to take up a lot of time when it releases...but If this "fatigue system is not favorable...I'l make due with socom 4 LBP2 GT5 and The Guardian (imagine if GT5 said you could ony drive 2 cars per week, lmao)

[Hitman0769]

This is a very informative piece. Thank you for compiling it.

[Abriael]

Sorry for the momentary blackout on the site. It's back up and working now :D

[Lumbo]

+ Bubble for sanity, funny how the haters made a mountain out of a molehill just to throw dirt at the game that ALWAYS was said to promote a balanced class play.

[Abriael]

Unfortunately this is the fate of every new MMORPG. Certain people will stand in wait for any possible reason to hate it that might come, and jump on it like vultures as soon as the chance appears. No matter if that chance comes from utter misinformation and baseless hearsay.

[Saeveth]

Really, it's a shame so many sites have claimed it keeps you from doing more than 8 hours of leveling a week. It's going to put off people who don't do their research.

[zerocool3397]

People always worry about these thing, they make a big deal out of it. What they fail to realise is that there are always ways around these things. Once one person jumps on the band wagon, its hard to stop the rumours. Square didn't help themselves with the explanation, although they cant be blamed for that. Japanese to english translation generally messes a lot of that up.