[Valor]

I know you are going to say "to have fun", well, I don't want those answers.

I had been bored and frustrated of this game for quite sometime now, but I wanted to hit 70 and beat Maat, hopefully finding something else as my goal. It's been 3 weeks since I have done so, I still haven't found my next goal. I haven't gained any exp, infact, I lost since then, due to BCNM/helping people.

My original intention was, after beating Maat, I would be taking a break leveling subs, weapon skill, then playing other jobs, while waiting for my friends to catch up. Well, I did the first two, but I don't even feel like logging on anymore.

Over the course of 3 weeks, I have been thinking, yes, thinking. And, I have not found any motivation to keep playing. I keep asking myself, what's the point? There isn't really anything "new" that's going to happen.

I guess the better question to the above topic is... What is the "end-game" for ffxi? Certainly not PvE and there isn't any PvP. This games PvE is laughable. Perhaps I had been spoiled of EQ's "grander" PvE content. But really, there is very little strategy/organization in this game. There is very little room for flexibility. The PvE content leaves me the feeling of "been there, done that".

I'm starting to think that leveling your jobs is the "end-game", which is quite sad...

So, I find myself pre-ordering City of Heroes to kill time until WoW comes out. Maybe I'm just burned out of this game and needing a long break. But, I just dont see myself being interested in playing again... Unless I figure out what's the point of playing this game.

I won't even mention about my community/LS feeling, or lack there of as we already went through that on an earlier thread...

I am curious though, as to what drives all of you to play. Again, I don't want any "to have fun" answers...

[Weezingpipes]

The exping thing is getting old. Maybe if there was a risk of dying exping might be fun, but its not like there is better rewards for fighting harder monsters either. The loot still sucks, exp gain actually goes downward the higher you level (go figure, needed exp goes up, exp attained goes down..) so I've kind of not really wanted to exp, and its hard to get motivated to get a WS that I know is worse than other jobs' quest WS and barely an upgrade to my 65 piece of shit. My last few days have been farting along some easy HNM's which was sorta fun, skill up parties, crafting, and thats about it.

I don't have an immense desire to see the high end of this game like I did in EQ. I like my character and my job despite the flaws and want to improve my character is about it. Guess thats why I still play. I think HNM do have strategies from what I've read and very limited experience on a couple...just most of them involve melee adding next to no damage or the HNM fires off too many specials and makes it harder than just having a couple BLM's nuke it down while the melees pick off adds for TP and go do a WS on occasion (which again, certain WS are a no no, namely anything thats high multi hit which again hurts melee damage). On that note, I am of the opinion any HNM can be killed with a tank (NIN, PLD, whatever), some WHM, a BRD, a couple RDM and the rest of the alliance being black mages. Sorta dumb the only real value melee have to HNMs is someone to take loot that drops. That really needs to be corrected.

Nope, not gonna give you a reason to keep playing because I really don't have a good one to give. I figure I'll just stop logging in when I have no desire to improve the character I play in any way.

[kujo412]

to have fun! :D

i'unno, really.

i think i'm kept around by the friends i've made in game, just like i keep them around. when i ponder quitting, and returning back to the life i once had (baseball, how i miss thee..), they are quick to knock the thoughts out of my head, and i do the same for them.

if your community/linkshell experiences have been bad, i can see how burnout could happen very fast, but if you've made lots of friends, the game is really enjoyable.



edit: --
double edit: i was going to post my thoughts about certain.. things.. that seem to arise solely from people on midgardsormr.. namely, all the complaining.. but since i don't feel like defending myself, i retract my edit.

[Haplo]

I think the only reason I play is because I have nothing else to do.

[Kagi]

I'm still playing because of my linkshell, and the people in it. I think it's the single biggest draw for me at the moment. It's just the opportunity to be with all of them knowing that we can all get together and have some ls fun. Even if we don't, my ls mates are some of the closest friends I've made.

For me, linkshell and linkshell people = source of fun.

When you have 999,999,999 gil, lvl 100 in a craft skill and 60 for all the others, relic armour and other leet armour, jobs at 75 and all missions/quests done, then you don't have another goal. But by then something new should have been added.

Your problem might lie in the way you think about ffxi. If you think of it as a game, then it is boring and unenjoyable. But if you think of it as a community, it might turn into something pleasant and fun to be in.

But a warm and caring linkshell really helps a lot.

[Bad Luck]

Yes, it's all about the linkshell atmosphere and all the friends you've made along the way. I absolutely adore the Goons. They're made this game very very enjoyable. Our relaxed attitude, the laughs we have, and our size make it never boring in the least.

My friends make this game TOO fun. I can't keep myself away!

P.S. Kujo's not on that much anymore. I miss him.

Kujo! ~Entwain wants to do a skillup/Paper party, you should come! :D

[Somajan]

I can't tell you how many times I've actually considered leaving the game, only to think twice about the people I'd be leaving behind. Most of those come from my linkshell.

[Kagi]

The people in my linkshell were the only reason I could last all the genkai, all the AF quests, all the not-getting-parties days, all the arrrgh-I-need-only-1kexp-more-to-level feelings.

Me during genkai 1 papyrus: "Insane! I've been at this for a week, I feel like quitting!!!!"
good friend from LS: "NO YOU ARE NOT. Shut up and let's go get it."

[Zynk]

You know I have been sitting back and thinking bout this same topic to myself. I dont really even know if I have friends on FFXI that like me or not. I play a THF I never get PT invites and form the looks of it noone wants to PT with me when I try to make a PT. I really dont know, to me it just seems like nothing but selfish and greed is taking over. Sure I have 2-3 LS but most of the time when I join them noone really talks to me. When I get them days where I dont get PT invites (hmm thats everyday). I really dont have anyone there to say "hey no your not quitting on us" and I start to think does anyone really even care if I quit?

I'm lvl 61 right now on my THF. Sure I want to lvl it higher then that, but I'm not really sure that I want to do that. Sure I could join an HNM LS so I could run into even more greed and selfish ppl. I really dont know at this point in time what I want to do. Guess I will let the days roll on by and see how things go, but anyways I think I'll shut up and stop talking not like anyone cares.

[caelestis]

Originally posted by Kagi
I'm still playing because of my linkshell, and the people in it. I think it's the single biggest draw for me at the moment. It's just the opportunity to be with all of them knowing that we can all get together and have some ls fun. Even if we don't, my ls mates are some of the closest friends I've made.

For me, linkshell and linkshell people = source of fun.

/nod

In all honesty, if Trenpants didn't hand me that silly balloon+1 coloured linkpearl, I would have probably quit a while ago. Whren, Meo, Elidrin, Tren, Sylvanas, Kiyone, etc are probably my closest friends in this game, and they're the reason I continue on (that, and my newfound obsession with how ugly WHM AF2 is...).

I know a lot of NA PCs leveled extremely fast to hit 75, and of them, a large chunk have quit already from burnout and boredom. I've seen that most people are so EXP/Level hungry that they don't take time to sit back and enjoy the other aspects of the game. They act like it's a chore and become practical zombies.. "I must level. I must have a craft. I must kill HNM. I must have rank10 in all three nations. I must have all Jiraat missions complete..." etc etc. There's a lot more than just *that*..

A lot of times I'll go out and randomly find somewhere to explore and poking around (usually resulting in my death from going a bit *too far* where I shouldnt^^). Even going out with my LS and doing fun things as a group has made things a lot more interesting (case in point: doing Dark Spark again for WHM.. and someone /glare decided to make it an actual challenged and Poisoned one of the Demon Knights below the Dark Spark spawn point... you guys are insane -.-). Having a close group of friends and a good LS have probably made the biggest difference for me.

[sylvanas]

/throwjellybeans

[kujo412]

Originally posted by Bad Luck
Yes, it's all about the linkshell atmosphere and all the friends you've made along the way. I absolutely adore the Goons. They're made this game very very enjoyable. Our relaxed attitude, the laughs we have, and our size make it never boring in the least.

My friends make this game TOO fun. I can't keep myself away!

P.S. Kujo's not on that much anymore. I miss him.

Kujo! ~Entwain wants to do a skillup/Paper party, you should come! :D

i haven't been on a whole bunch because i am swamped in homework x____x! i was on the other night, and we went and killed the sea horror 3 times for fun everyone has a shall shell in their bazaar for 99,999,999.. authentic from the sea horror XD

i'd go on the skillup party too, but i have nothing to skill up until i get my war bow +1 ;; then i will skill archery from 90-175 >D

(Sidewinder) > (Meditate) > (Barrage) > (Sidewinder) > (death)

XD

[snake868]

Valor, I have been thinking about the same thing as you do and I couldn't agree with you more about the purpose of this game when you reach high level. There's no end-game for FF-XI to me this is a major flaw of this game. The pvp event sounds fun but come on it's kind of lame to me. SE really need to add new contents to this game to motivate or reward players who reach high level in this game.

[Sukashi]

I believe that Square-Enix says that "you make your own objective in this game"; I was bored one day and was browsing through the POL Frequently Asked Questions

Having a good linkshell is a very strong contributing factor to this game, I agree wholeheartedly with above posters ^^ Since FFXI is a team-oriented game, it does require you to socialize with other people, and doesn't that go hand-in-hand with the MMORPG aspect of the game?

Instead of mad rush to full AF and level 60 (which I admit... I've been foolish doing that Not enough playtime usually to be on laidback schedule), I really find a lot of pleasure helping people out; people that I help are genuinely grateful, and I feel it's defintely worth it to help out others ^^ Of course, some just say "ty" and /pcmd leave when they get what they need, but being able to make others' times in this game is what I really like to do. And there is no end to helping others, which makes it rather fun ^^

Ballista looks very interesting; I noticed that the livecam was looking very peculiar at around 3~4AM and took a look at it, finding that they were testing it out on probably the Atomos server. ^^ Will it flop? Will it be a huge success with the JP, NA, and the PS2 recent influx? And will it lag the servers for others who are not participating in the event ._.;;

[FattMusiek]

At times, I feel like quitting as well. I'm an avid console RPG player and this was my first MMORPG. My original motivation was to be the best and to leave behind a legacy. However, you can't be the best unless you put effort into it, so I find myself forcing myself to exp. Right now, I'm grinding to 70 with a decent buffer to defeat Maat before multihits weaponskills are "nerfed." I will be using your genkei 5 video as a reference, Damnation . Anyways, I understand where you're coming from.