[Druke]

Greetings,
I have recently left everquest, however, unlike most ex-eq'ers, i dont hate everquest, i dislike the community and teh way it developed. Thus i have looked to this game being a LONG time final fantasy fan, and was wondering how this game compared on a communal level.

forgive me if sometihng like this has been discused prior, i used the search function and pull 30 pages of nothing that i could tell had anything to do with my topic.

please keep in mind, this is not a bash eq thread...

[pavona]

I don't know how well I can answer your question, but here goes....

I played EQ for about 3 years. Luckily, I made a few friends early on in my EQ career and kept them the whole time, and after a while, I had a whole big group of friends, which made the game so much fun to play.

I've played FFXI for about 3 weeks now and have yet to make a single friend. The server I play on (Diabolos) appears to be one of the newer ones, and many players on it are Japanese. In general, it seems like no one ever really talks to anyone else unless they are already friends outside of the game. Similarly, EVERY party I've been in has had nothing but communication failures. I don't know if I'm just having bad luck or what...but the inability to make friends thing is so bad that I actually re-created a monk just so I could level up to 18 solo for the support job quests.

But...on the whole, I like FFXI much better than I did EQ. Sure, it takes much longer to level a character on FFXI, and I can play for 8 hours without a single person talking to me...but the game as a whole just feels right; it has a very well thought out, polished feel to it that I just dig (unlike the early years of EQ).

And I expect that in a few months when the server becomes more populous, and I gain a few more levels (and start barding), I will also gain a huge circle of friends to talk to, and all my troubles will be over.

[pavona]

Oh, sorry...I forgot...

Also, as a community FFXI seems much more mature than what EQ became. There are no crazy annoying shouts (CONSTANTLY), the personal bazaar feature seems to eliminate the need to shout for sale items, and over-all, there are fewer 14-year-olds-looking-to-piss-people-off. FFXI is a much, much more peaceful place to live, as people tend to keep to themselves. The guild system (linkshells) is fairly different than that of EQ, and seems a little harder to become involved in.

Errrr....I forgot what else I was going to say....hrmm....bah.....back to Vana'diel for me.

Hope any of that helped.... I didn't really know how specific you wanted me to get, so if you have more specific questions, please ask em!

[Druke]

well, thuis it seems the community is much more mature as a whole, thats good, so i guess server comunal activity is pretty random, just depends on luck of the draw i guess

[pavona]

Update: week and a half later....

Ok...gotta make this quick...forgive sentence fragments lol....


In the past week and a half, I've made TONS of friends, joined 2 linkshells, etc....having a blast...forget everything I said above about people not talking...apparently you just have to give it a little time......Weeee! if you haven't had a chance to get started yet, just go for it...you'll love it.

[Feenicks]

Also, as a community FFXI seems much more mature than what EQ became. There are no crazy annoying shouts (CONSTANTLY), the personal bazaar feature seems to eliminate the need to shout for sale items, and over-all, there are fewer 14-year-olds-looking-to-piss-people-off.

If I may add on this, when you reach Jeuno the crazy annoying shouts become more apparant, but they're hardly prevalent so much as to say that they're constantly happening. Shouts in Jeuno are from my experience mostly people JP players advertising that they're going on a largish mission and want interested people to come along, players asking for a Teleport in exchange for gil, English players begging for help with a quest/mission, and occasionally people advertising their bazaars. Even still, shouts are confined to two areas of Jeuno, Lower Jeuno and Ru'Lude Gardens.

As far as the existance of people just looking out to piss other people off, past Lv20 or so it becomes much less prevalent due to the general seggregation of players below and above Lv20 (players who have to stay in the three countries rather than set up permanent residence in Jeuno) and also because of the effort required to get any higher. If you join this game purely with the intent of pissing people off then you can expect to get nowhere, since reputation and making friends plays such a huge role. If everyone hates you then you won't be able to join parties, and subsequently you would be extremely lucky to gain levels (this is with the exception of some jobs, namely WHM and BRD where people are prepared to accept anyone regardless of whether they're a butt or not).

[Narru]

When I think of Everquest, the first big word that comes to mind is "content." I don't think there's another MMORPG out there at the moment that can compete with EQ's sheer amount of content. I'm talking about the number of items in the game, the number of locations, number of races/classes, quests, things to do etc. If you're coming over here because you have "beaten EQ", i.e. done everything there needs to be done, you might feel a little dissappointed in the "scope" of this game. BUT that's a primary reason why I'm here rather than in EQ. This game is a lot better for the casual gamer.

What this game "lacks in content" ( only compared with EQ - I personally find loads of things to do, battle system is nice, missions are amazing especially the later ones, and crafting is fun ), it makes up for totally in style. I mean look at the graphics, I need not say a word. If you're playing on the PC version and want to tweak the graphics, it comes out truly amazing to see. Check out some of the screenshots in the Screenshot Forums. But graphics aren't the only factor. Like a previous post stated, everything just "fits." That part is hard to describe unless you're actually in the game. There is a lot of attention paid to the little details in this game, and I'm sure the developers have an entire team devoted to just making this game look/feel COOL.

Also, a friend of mine likes to point out that the job system is a really nice change of pace for those coming from EQ. Instead of being stuck with one class for your entire career (except if you make a new character), you can devote all your time in one character and have it change based on what you feel like playing at the time. Tired of meleeing, I'll switch to a mage. Tired of magic, I'll switch to a tank. Your subjob choice also plays a huge role in what you're ultimately going to be doing (which is very nice for added customality).

Interface is nice. Not talking about where you mapped your buttons/etc, or how you move about the game. Talking about the systems put in place to make your online experience less tedious. One of the first systems you'll encounter is the looking for group system. I know EQ has such a system now, but the old days when you're sitting at zone /ooc ing for a group are gone. You put up your flag, and the entire server has the tools needed find you and locate you for a group. Play a mage and put up you're flag (even if you don't like mages, try it just to see the effects) - truly amazing that you can get a group with 5 complete strangers within 3 minutes of logging on. Of course if you play a less desireable class, it takes longer ;. Another example of a system is the auction house. Put items to sell, log off, come back the next day and claim your money. Don't have to leave your computer on overnight, allows you an advantage if you're of the stock market mentality (buy low, sell high).

There's a lot more, but I want to end by saying - in what other game can you be mesmerized just sitting there watching a little taru taru panic all day long

[Tukka]

In my experience, the community in Final Fantasy XI is much, much worse.

The FF11 community, at least when I was playing a lot 3-12 months ago, was absolutely horrible (I just started playing again after a 3 month absence, partly to ensure my characters aren't deleted). I think in terms of play hours I must have logged at least 5 times as many hours in EQ than I have in FF11... but in FF11, I've encountered at least as many instances of people using racial slurs, of people intentionally getting their groups killed, and instances of outright incompetent players who don't know how to play their class, or fill their role in a party, and absolutely refuse to learn.

That's not to say it's all bad. I've encountered a lot of great people in FF11, but then again, I also encountered a lot of great people in EQ. The playerbase here is a lot less mature, and I suspect, a lot younger than EQ's population.

I think there a lot of reasons for this... 1) the "Final Fantasy" name attracting a younger audience, and once less familiar with cooperative online play, 2) the language barrier, and occasional culture clash between Japanese and English players, 3) several factors which conspire to make consistently partying with the same people difficult unless you put some effort into making sure you do get to party with them often... some of these factors include A) narrow level range for exp parties... if one person is just a couple levels above the average level of the rest of the party, experience generally goes right down the crapper, B) you have to spend a lot of time leveling subjobs and farming gil, D) depending on your luck, with almost equal levels of effort, you may gain a ton of experience at a rapid rate, or find your exp bar is completely stalled, if not going backwards... it's feast or famine with regard to leveling, 4) You can't easily get in contact with the officers/leaders of a linkshell to bring your grievances about a specific member's misbehavior... an element of accountability that exists in EQ and other MMOs doesn't exist here.

I'm pretty sure the only reason there is less pointless shouting in this game as compared to EQ is because shouting is range-limited here, not zone-wide, as it is in EQ.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about FF11. The graphics are nice, the story is great, the gameplay is fun, more fun than EQ's IMO when you can find a competent, mature party, the quests and missions are almost all worthwhile and the game has a lot of style... but... you have to spend a lot of time (proportionately) doing boring stuff... like gil farming, item camping, or trying to find/form a party ect., the community (by and large) isn't very good, and I feel pretty safe in saying that FF11 has the worst user interface of any major MMO on the market (at least for the PC).

I would disagree that this game is any better for the casual gamer. I think it's worse for a casual gamer. You have to spend at least as much time to "make it anywhere" in this game as you do in EQ... if not more. You can't solo effectively in this game past level 15 or so with most classes (and the one class that is good at soloing can't be unlocked until you have another job at level 30+), and finding a good party (or any party) can take hours. You also spend proportionately more time in FF11 farming money than you will in EQ. You'll advance more in a good day in FF11 more than you would on a good day in EQ, true, but the advancement is also a lot less steady in FF11, in my experience.

Shortly before I started playing again, I wrote a gamefaqs review of FF11, you can read it here.

[renox]

Tukka may i ak what server you play or played on. i have never seen any of this ever. i play on midgard and it seems so peacful lol. but the only thing i would like to change about ffxi is the customization i came from ultima online to play ffxi. and ultima online has allot of custom shit.

[Tukka]

Quezatcoatl (as indicated by my profile). I also spent a short amount of time on Garuda and wasn't very impressed with that server's community, from what I saw of it, either.

The general consensus I've gathered from these boards from ex-EQers is that the EQ community is a lot more mature.

I'll qualify my statements though. It's been a while since I've played anything but the "high levels" in EverQuest, and perhaps as level increases, the general level of competence and maturity does as well. I did spend a lot of time playing through the lower levels in EQ though, and though there were a lot of irritating shouts and the like in certain zones if you didn't filter them out, I can't now recall a single encounter I had with a person I recall as being particularly rude from those days. I'm sure I did have a couple such encounters, though.

Also, on EverQuest, I played on a special ruleset server, the so-called "role-playing server", Firiona Vie. Very little "role-playing" actually occured on the server (there was some in the beginning, but within 6 months of the server's inception, most people had abandoned RP), and even though FV wasn't a PvP server, the special ruleset did probably scare away a lot of the "bluebies", and the server did have a rule where (unlike other servers), you could only have one character per account on the server. This may have prevented some people from misbehaving quite to the extent that they might have on another server. I did spend at least as much time playing on other servers before moving to FV, though.

I'm not sure what is special about you or your server that's sheltering you from all the idiots in FF11, but they're certainly out there. I could tell just by the volume of complaints about other people I overheard in guildchat in EQ compared to linkshell chat in FF11. Seems like everyday in LS chat brings a new tale of a white mage who won't heal, a red mage who won't debuff, a warrior who never taunts, a black mage who consistently overaggros and never magic bursts, a player who goes AFK for extended periods of time without telling the party, a party who invites someone, then disbands and doesn't tell the person they invited until 10-15 minutes after it's been decided and they waste all that time traveling to the party, ect. I would occasionally hear those types of complaints in EQ, but not with nearly as much regularity.

[Tauguy]

Thank god i didnt go to Quezactol haha that was mah first choice.

Diabolos is awesome everyone is so nice. I always help and people always help me. Not to many people on the server either which is awesome. Of course there are assholes (few) and idiots (more but you can dodge them) though.
I love Diabolos and im sure many Diabolos player here would agree.
I dont know whats up at your server. Maybe you should change to diabolos ^^ haha.
Druke as everyone else said the community is more mature and "stable" and tthe shouting is very limited besides the usual warp shouts and ore sales.
Its an awesome game and the Jp/En mix of people are all really cool. I cant wait for the Euro people!!

[Tauguy]

Thank god i didnt go to Quezactol haha that was mah first choice.

Diabolos is awesome everyone is so nice. I always help and people always help me. Not to many people on the server either which is awesome. Of course there are assholes (few) and idiots (more but you can dodge them) though.
I love Diabolos and im sure many Diabolos player here would agree.
I dont know whats up at your server. Maybe you should change to diabolos ^^ haha.
Druke as everyone else said the community is more mature and "stable" and tthe shouting is very limited besides the usual warp shouts and ore sales.
Its an awesome game and the Jp/En mix of people are all really cool. I cant wait for the Euro people!!

[lun4tic]

To sum up this thread, 5 out of 6 dentists agree, FFXI rocks EQ in almost every aspect.

PLUS DANCING TARUS

[Tukka]

5 out of 6 people who still check the FF11 forums agree, that is. People like myself who have played FF11 for a while and have become fed up with it will seldom, if ever, check these forums anymore, so you can't really expect an opinion that's balanced in favor of EQ (the only reason I am now is because I got an e-mail saying someone replied to this thread).

I personally decided to stop playing after all, deleting my level 43 Red Mage so I wouldn't be tempted to keep reactivate my account to keep him alive 3 months from now.

The fact that you can't alt-tab (which really is a crucial flaw--not being able to check my e-mail, receive IMs, browse the web or do anything else with my computer for the 3+ hour gaming sessions this game pretty much requires is unacceptable to me), the fact that they only keep your characters on ice for 3 months, the dreadful UI lag, the dreadful UI in general, the immature community (maybe Diablos or Quetzalcoatl are a special case, I don't know, but I've seen/heard many complaints about the community on other servers on this forum), the unavoidable timesinks doing mind-numbingly boring tasks, the difficulties finding decent parties, the difficulty you can have consistently grouping with friends unless you make a concerted effort to do so, ect. all ruin what could otherwise be a terrific game.

Personally I regret ever starting to play FF11. Over time I think it will probably improve to the point where I could enjoy playing it (and maybe even the community has matured some since I stopped playing), but since I can't even preserve my character for longer than 3 months, it feels as if my FF11 experience was just a waste. Not so with EQ--when EQ stopped being fun for me, I could stop playing, and come back at my leisure to see if things had improved. This is a luxury you don't have with FF11... you either get locked in where you have to pay for your character(s) virtually forever, or you have be willing to say "good bye" to your character(s) if you ever want to stop playing for a while, even if you think you may want to start playing again in the future. That really sucks.

My time playing FF11 wasn't a total waste, of course. I wouldn't have played it for so long if I didn't find it at least somewhat enjoyable. But I did invest a lot of time doing really boring stuff (gil farming, looking for parties, leveling up subs, camping items, keys, ect.) that I don't think anybody really enjoys. The timesink-to-fun hour ratio in this game (for me, anyway) leaned too heavily in favor of the timesink portion for me to think the time spent playing FF11 was overall worthwhile.

But some people can shrug off my criticisms of the game as minor annoyances that don't bother them too much, while they really get on my nerves and ruin the whole experience.

Anyway, if the person who started the thread is still reading, good luck in your decision. You could love the game, or you could spend a lot of time and money trying it out only to figure out you hate it. I've done my best to provide you with my honest assessment of the community and the game overall, and though my perceptions may not be 100% accurate, I think I'm pretty close to the mark on most points. I recommend that you browse the forums and read the different points of praise and complaint, and see if overall it adds up to a game you think you could enjoy (keep in mind that people are more prone to complain than praise).

[csBahamut]

FFXI isn't for everybody. It's perfect for me. Sure, some things are monotonous(i.e. gil farming, exp grid, etc.), but that's what I have fun doing. It fits my style of play and mentality. I don't stop and think every day, how can I get gil really fast, or, how can I level up real fast. I stop and think, what fun can I have in an exp party, or, how many different ways can I make gil today. It's all about fun. Find the game that's fun for you. If you don't like, don't bash it and try to make others not like it as well. Let everyone judge it for themselves.

It has the name that will bring in people to try it, but give it the amount of time that EQ has had out, and maybe we'll get a nice community too.

P.S. I can only hope the shouting goes away, but I have a feeling that it won't. Guess I'll have to filter shout in town. X(