Another person thinking about returning

[Ledenko]

Hello everyone!

Years ago (I think it might have been in 2002 or 2003, not even sure any more) I played FFXI for some time and ultimately left it, friends left, the grind got to me, it became difficult to get a party and so on. Every now and then I get the urge to play it again, but what stops me is the fact that I'd have to buy the whole thing again to play. Not a huge expense, but it's an inconvenience, because I'd have to order it from another country. This time, I might actually return, but I do have a few questions before I make the decision :)

My old character was a 50-something Galka on the Kujata server, I suppose I'll ask the support team if it's possible to resurrect it, but I'm not even sure if it's a wise idea, I gave all my stuff and money away to friends, so he has nothing at all. In the end, I wouldn't mind starting from scratch that much.

Ok, on to the questions. One of my biggest peevees with FFXI at the time (I stopped playing shortly after CoP was released) was the economy - everything was so expensive and farming took so long... With a good group, I could make a few levels in a day, but then it would take me a week or two to farm enough gil to be able to afford new equipment and simply stock myself with consumables. I'm a bit of a casual player and I didn't like the feeling that I had to treat the game almost as a regular job to be able to advance. I even ignored some of the jobs I wanted to try out because they require reagents/consumables/spells that simply seemed too expensive to try just for fun.

Sort of related to my economy question is the about tradeskills - do they still take a lot of time and/or gil to skill up? All those crystals, components and gil lost made me a sad panda, at least fishing was nice, I read a bunch of books while skilling that up. I know fishing has been changed since, but what about the other tradeskills, do they still make some people cry?

There's also the issue of traveling, some times I actually gave up going somewhere because I didn't feel like riding a chocobo for 15 or 20 minutes, or waiting for an airship for 10 minutes, if the client at least allowed alt-tabbing... And sometimes it was darned expensive, too!

I'm complaining a lot, yeah, but I did enjoy playing the game, when I could find a group and had the equipment and food to actually contribute and I'd like to experience that again. If anyone can tell me if the above is still the same or has changed, I'd really appreciate it.

p.s. Is SAM (still) a good job to play nowadays?

[Tokagawa]

farming took so long...
It still does


a week or two to farm enough gil to be able to afford new equipment and simply stock myself with consumables
thats still true too but remember, you can always make your own consumables :]

I even ignored some of the jobs I wanted to try out because they require reagents/consumables/spells that simply seemed too expensive to try just for fun.
Thats true too, NIN is still expensive. So is ranger

do they still take a lot of time and/or gil to skill up?
Lol, yes

I didn't feel like riding a chocobo for 15 or 20 minutes
Thats still true too. Unless your BLM you can warp or your WHM you can tele

p.s. Is SAM (still) a good job to play nowadays?
Yes sir!

I hate to sound mean but the fact is all that stuff is still true. This game gives no slack when it comes to hard work. Like nike, just do it. And if those were the reasons you quit before I don't think you'll stay any longer this time because those aspects haven't changed. You still have to travel and that can take time, you still have to farm and that takes time, you still have to work and that takes time.

[Ameroth]

One of my biggest peevees with FFXI at the time (I stopped playing shortly after CoP was released) was the economy - everything was so expensive and farming took so long...

The economy is way more stable than it was back then. Farming can take time, but you're doing something wrong if it's taking you weeks to farm enough for a few equips at level 50.

tradeskills - do they still take a lot of time and/or gil to skill up?

Yes. However, if you are smart about it and don't just pull up some outdated guide and power-level a craft using no brains at all, you can usually find synths that will be profitable, or at least near break-even. However, crafting up while making money isn't easy and is usually quite time-consuming as you're going to be required to farm your own ingredients.

here's also the issue of traveling, some times I actually gave up going somewhere because I didn't feel like riding a chocobo for 15 or 20 minutes, or waiting for an airship for 10 minutes, if the client at least allowed alt-tabbing... And sometimes it was darned expensive, too!

This is a non-issue. You can access Jeuno or your home nation within seconds from Whitegate, outpost warps will get you around the world in seconds, cavernous maws can be used in junction with the allied teleportation service to get around even quicker, and yes there is still airships. On top of that, anyone is eligible to move +12% faster with Sprinter's Shoes.

p.s. Is SAM (still) a good job to play nowadays?

Yes?

[Ellipses]

The economy is not as inflated as it was. But it's mostly across the board, so you only really feel the improvement in some specific items. Everything else still takes as long.

Travel has gotten slightly better. Outpost Warps have lower level caps in some cases now, and once you've done a few quests, you can warp around among Jeuno, the three starting cities, and Whitegate (capital in the ToAU expansion). And there's an official windowed mode now, so you can do other stuff while waiting for the airship and all that. But you're still not going to get around the world in an instant, especially not at first.

The overall experience of playing the game hasn't changed that much, but there are noticeable (not huge) changes.

[Kittyneko]

Well, guess we won't be seeing him again, thanks to all the positive replies :P
I'm just kidding. Welcome back to the FFXI community Ledenko!

[Tokagawa]

Haha =p I don't think we ment to scare him its just that....it seems alot of the things he feared are still things that are around....FFXI isn't for everyone <~~in the words of Murphie

[Kittyneko]

No, but there have been a lot of awesome changes as well. The basics are still the same, but with the new jobs and job abilities, party play sure has changed! Certainly past level 50! It's completely different than what you're used to. ;)

[Ledenko]

Hehe, I guess I made it sound as if I wanted to log in and go from zero to awesome without doing anything for it :D
So don't get me wrong, I'm not against putting effort to achieve something (I could just go back to WoW and do that there), heck, I farmed wildlife until I could buy Ochiudo's Kote, but it became somewhat overwhelming.
I loved my SAM and it was really nice getting him to level 56 or so, I honestly can't remember what level and I never will, I checked with Sqeenix and they confirmed that the account has been deleted. Anyway, at that level, I had to start thinking about getting dual sniper rings and a Haubergeon (I think, don't be angry if I can't remember all this stuff ;) ) and I simply had no idea where I'd get the millions of gil required. That was a time before the introduction of almost equivalent quest reward items and a time when melee classes weren't wanted that much, probably because there were so many of us. Oh, it was also before accuracy improving foodstuffs :D
I still think some server is likely to see a new Galka that will some day become a SAM, I'll just have to find out if I can actually buy the game anywhere in this country.
Oh! Possibly a silly question, but do you still regen health at 10 hp per tick and increasing with every 10 second cycle? The downtime I had as a SAM without any healing abilities was fun!

edit: to clarify, downtime as SAM while farming, depending on the zone I could spend half the time just resting. The LS wasn't help, there was one guy I could sometimes convince to come along, but he'd start complaining about being bored about five minutes in.

Kind regards

[Jei]

The downtime I had as a SAM without any healing abilities was fun! That's why you need to be a SAM with a party.

[Ledenko]

Well, I've been reading around a bit, learning what has changed since I left and got myself so psyched that I went ahead and forced a friend from England to buy the starter pack for me. So this time, I'm not only starting up to see what it's like, but actually to play the game again (hopefully).
Now all I have to do is figure out which server to make a character on and try to find a newbie friendly ls or just a regular friendly ls.
Thanks for your input, guys, it's much appreciated :)

[Kittyneko]

Well, you can post in the server-specific threads when you find a server, or a nice linkshell on a certain server even before installing the game, by saying hi and asking for it on the following board:

ALL Server Conference Hall - Final Fantasy XI :: Dreams in Vana'diel :: Community (http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/all-server-conference-hall-95/)

If you don't though, it's really easy to find your first social ls in game too. ;)

[Ledenko]

So, that went well. The starter pack arrived today (considering there was a weekend in between, that was pretty fast!), my friend gave me the codes, I installed playonline, went to register and... The code is invalid, apparently Amazon sold us a used copy. Even if we can't arrange a replacement with Amazon, it's no great loss, just a few quid, I was just so excited to be able to play again today but instead I get to play the waiting game. Bleh. Anyone got a buddy pass they don't know what to do with? =/
edit: one thing I didn't try - since the codes are EU, I am right now installing an EU version of POL, I read somewhere Square Enix can be "weird" like that, maybe that's it.

edit2: that was it! I got the EU POL client, it accepted the codes and I'm now going to be updating FFXI for the next few hours :D Kujata, my dear old server, here I come!