Chapter II: Surplus

Well, this one is a tricky point…the way it was added it not only didn’t fulfill its role but also left the players the feeling of being constantly penalized. No one actually was able to see it as a good thing…even I didn’t…I often had surplus and it does annoyed the heel out of me.

However, surplus does is an important part of the original FFXIV so let’s talk about it. My idea is pretty simple, would work just like surplus was meant to and also remove that feeling of penalty.

We have our physical level and our rank. The idea is to, instead of a cumulative counter that would turn into surplus, having a timer and using a conversion system to hold players back. So it’s simple…when you start with a class you will be receiving 100% skill points and no experience points (yes, no experience points. You would be raising only your class that time.). After each hour with that class (regardless of what you’re doing…if you stay AFK one hour surplus would catch you) the amount of SP gained would drop by 10% and the amount of experience points would raise by 10%.

So, as example, if you play MRD 4 hours in a row, in the end it would be receiving 70% of the skill points and 30% of the experience points from each kill in the end. So, if the player stays in the same class for over 10 hours, he wouldn’t be able to receive skill points anymore, but would be receiving 100% experience points with that class.

Also, as death penalty, if a player die, he automatically would receive a surplus level up (+10% conversion). So if that MRD from previous example died after 4 hours of playing, upon returning to home point he would be receiving 60% skill points and 40% experience points. “Why this?” you might ask…because sometimes the player might just want to level up their physical level. So this would be an annoyance for those that want to rank up, motivating them to stay alive, and giving players a way to just level up their physical level.

Now another important point…while in 100% mode (completely fresh class) it would receive a 100% skill point bonus. So, in short, the first hour with a class would actually reward you 2 hours of gameplay. The very same would happen with physical level. Once it reached the 100% status it would start rewarding doubled experience points. Again, “Why this?”…think that it will motivate players to constantly swap classes instead of doing long grind sessions with only one class. The Bonus for physical level is also there because, again, sometimes the player might just want to level up his physical level so we would be giving him the very same opportunity those that want to rank up have.

But now the most important point…Will I still have to wait a week to recover from surplus? No. Every hour you spend offline or with a different class the surplus would heal 5%. So, if I play as MRD 6 hours and reached 50% surplus, I can just play another class or log out for the next 10 hours (amount needed to heal the 50% surplus) to have MRD fresh again. So, in short, unless you go extremely crazy in the previous day (100% surplus would take 20 hours to fully recover) you might be free of surplus everyday when you start playing.

So you can just think on this as going to academy. At start you’re all full of energy, train maneuvers and fighting techniques, increasing your skills. But over time your body will start tiring, requiring more physical effort to keep the rhythm, which ends improving your physical conditioning. But after a good night of sleep you will be fresh again in the next day to do everything again!