[Weezingpipes]

However, the lack of high end game is no secret. You're right, all it amounts to is farming HNMs to twink alts

This game easily has a bigger end game than EQ had at a similar stage. Once you finish the level grind, the missions, all the stuff with content you only need to experience 1 time, it all comes down to farming items. This is true to all games of this genre. Eventually you will be farming items just to improve your character, nothing more. The problem is there is a finite amount of content that can be consumed in these games that is worth doing more than once. Seriously, how many times do you need to see a storyline? 1 time. How many times can you kill something you want an item from? Quite a lot. HNM is no different than EQ raiding, at by EQ's first expansion they only had really less than 10 "end game" high level monsters to farm. Here you practically cannot go through a zone without *some* HNM being there (well not quite true, but for comparison sake a "more developed" game like EQ as people refer to it didn't have near the amount of stuff to kill).

I've inspect people like Lei who is chock full of HNM loot, almost every slot but 2-3 had some HNM drop loot...compare that to EQ in its first expansion, with "end game loot", might take up 4-5 slots at most. Simply put, within 1 expansion there is more to attain.

I'll just say it again : the fact that HNM farming is really it at the end in this game is no surprise. All MMO's are the same. WoW will be the same - once you do all the quests/leveling etc etc, you'll be farming stuff that takes multiple groups for loot. I'm happy FF has enough content to keep people semi busy until that point, it bodes well for the future of the game I think.

I agree Dynamis is basically 1 big HNM farm. I saw it more so as a way for S-E to test instanced content, see how it works, see how players operate in > 18 person settings (which so far, is utter shit). I'd expect S-E to take that knowledge and make better instanced content that is more interesting and involved. That has been the trend in all S-E games I've played over the years : they try out something new in 1 game, apply it to other games they released later. A lot of games like Parasite Eve I mostly looked at as testing new shit in order to improve the genre of games. Fun for a short while, but did serve a purpose in producing better quality, more interesting games in the future.

The best MMO would be one with constantly implemented new content (whether it be more quests, missions, monsters to kill, whatever), so much so players would need to be awake 24/7 playing the game simply to experience most of the content before they simply release more. HNM type things are simply what you do between expansions that actually have content. Just consider the resources involved in making a game that constantly produced new content to keep people busy. It is so unrealistic, I cannot see any game doing exactly that ever. However I do think this game has done a reasonably good job at releasing some new content every few patches to keep people interested. Hell since I've started playing in November, they raised the level cap without needing to buy another expansion, added a new summon, added Dynamis, added new quests, added new NM's, etc. I guess no one else noticed most patches the game actually adds something more than "we fixed a few spelling mistakes in text, and made sure doors swung the right way" (people who played EQ would be familiar with those countless patch messages which were simply fixing broken things more often than not, and not adding anything).

Considering at what stage this game is presently in (that of having released only 1 expansion), it is in pretty good shape for having good longevity. Think on that before you consider quitting. I told myself before I started playing this I wouldn't play as much as I played EQ (which I haven't), and it has been 150% more enjoyable than EQ ever was. Almost wish I had the desire to play more, but for my own reasons I would rather not.

The grass is always greener on the other side.

[Xeleron]

I don't know man >.> Can't say I've seen nin/war tanking HNMS or war/nin( the exception of steelfleece I did see a war/nin tanking this one, but the monster wasn't really on him till he provoked mostly on the drk and steelfleece is so weak dont' really need a pld here) only reason people use war/nin is to prevent getting hit when they do that strong ws I heard(maybe i'm wrong) (`-`) Most HNM battles consist of 2-3 pld. the wars and nins are just there to do damage along with everyone else.(watched fafnir battle) I always get pts at my lv , people prefer a group pld,mnk,ranger,whm,rdm,brd for great exp in such places as ranp tomb. Most times I see nin searching same lv as me and I get pt invite before him I check later and he is logged out :/ guess he feels like you . PLD is very important where as nin/war with a thf is very hard in HNM battles later on cause you have to position diff. Nobody risks nin/war to tank a high lv HNM stick with pld you will see for yourself.

[Kagi]

Lei and Nohl, the 2 plds, on both sides of the big purple devil. The fight was essentially ~their show. Kinda far but I didn't get closer because of the AOE.

[imac2much]

Originally posted by Weezingpipes
The grass is always greener on the other side.

Damn you Weezing, you hit the nail on the head XD

I think I just have a tendency of wanting more of a certain other game or aspect after I've played one game a long time. When I played RO at first, I loved it, then I hated certain things and wanted to go back to MUDs or my other korean MMORPGs. Then my friend got me hooked on AO, and I loved it, then later I felt RO did so much stuff better. Then I got into shadowbane beta and... well, I got out of that hellhole fast. Then I played RO again, then a private server, and I loved it ... but then I wanted AO again. Another friend got me hooked on FFXI... I loved it.. and the rest is history.

I know it's just my selfish personality, so maybe it is best to just take a break and go back to something else. Then probably in a few months, I'll get bored of it, come back to FFXI, and find that all my friends are either lv 75-80 with full relic, or quit :p

You all make some very convincing arguments about the NIN vs PLD debate. I suppose at the very high end game when you are fighting things with several AE's, PLD will do better. Maybe I just suffer from "Blink Envy" D: But also when I was leveling my sub, I loved actually DOING DAMAGE (*gasp*) with my WAR haha...

I fear saying this, but maybe what this game lacks is true PvP. I don't think the incoming PvP patch is even real pvp, isn't it some kind of 'player competition' where you see who can kill some NM faster, or kill the most monsters, or something? I think I read somewhere in an interview that PvP won't be direct PvP. Cuz like in AO, the main endgame content besides camping was lots and lots of PvP, and it always tied in to the main story. The GMs made sure of it, since they were very intune with the community, and sometimes story would change on the fly, depending on the playerbase. I loved PvPing in AO even though it wasn't as good as the DAOC system... AO had the major flaw of every patch making one class godly and nerfing some others... S-E has the right idea of subtle changes. Plus I think PvP humbles people's personality... someone like Ceciliantas would be ganked at every opportune moment :p

Whren, I expect you to be 75 soon so you can raise my poor dead BST/NIN eventually

Originally posted by net.drifter
PS: Tell NASA to get off their butts and build a better space shuttle. The Cadillac of space travel shoulda been replaced 10 years ago. :p

Bah, tell the President to actually support the program. Seriously, he goes into this whole shpiel of how the space program is so important and vital to the future of our country, then says he will allocate an additional $1 billion... and while we're all like omgzwtfz0r here at NASA, he then adds the fine print (*over the next 5 years*). Sorry, although $200mil/year sounds like a lot, it's barely enough to pay for some equipment. I'm not saying I like or dislike Mr. Bush, but in NASA he is generally regarded as a two-faced monkey (no surprise). Says one thing for the press, does another thing entirely.

[LordBiGGs]

sigh, i know exactly how you feel imac. i'm planning on finishing my AF then quitting pld for a while. probably go back to leveling thf for a little while, get it to 25 so i can sub it with flee. then farming until i have a stash of about 2 million gil. and what other class could really need 2 million gil but ninja.

i'm going to keep pld around for their versatility when playing with friends. like helping powerlevel friends or questing with them. i mean when i'm out questing i'm doing it for money a lot of then time, i dont wanna lower my profits having to use utsusemi, cheaper just to quest with pld.

on a side note, i've been wondering this for quite some time. imac...what exactly is that guy doing in your picture? just kinda grabs his face and then theres blood....i dont get it lol.

[Kai]

Man... the game is just starting to get good for us, now is when we start getting our best equips/have the most fun killing the toughest HNM's!

[imac2much]

I really should stop browsing through these forums so much. It's trash like this person (Ceciliantas, not the forum starter) that pisses me off so much about this community. I swear that if he had this kind of idiotic personality in real life or in a better moderated online community, he wouldn't last 1 week.

Mithra + Savage Blade

His 3 closed threads where he tries to sell himself makes "interesting" reading as well. -_- Every time I read some idiotic thing he writes or does, I want to leave so bad haha... if only he could move to another server =\

Originally posted by LordBiGGs
on a side note, i've been wondering this for quite some time. imac...what exactly is that guy doing in your picture? just kinda grabs his face and then theres blood....i dont get it lol.

Hehe the guy is an SD (super deformed) version of my 2nd favorite fighting game character, Setsuna, from Last Blade 2 (first being Iori, of course!). One of his win poses has him slowly holding out his hand saying something like, "Inochi no akashito wa.... nanda?" Literally this means, "The meaning of life... what is it?" And right as he says nanda, he clenches his fist and blood splatters everywhere. I'm assuming this is from his super desperation move, "Mumei - Kyoku no Tsui", where he grabs you, then...

a glass wall materializes between Setsuna and his victim. Setsuna smiles evilly and plunges his arm through the glass and into the victim. He then pulls out the victim's "soul" out of the glass... the victim is frozen in pain. Setsuna then steps back, smiles, and clenches his fist around the soul, making both the soul and the victim to spout blood and die. It's hellishly awesome. I'll try to find an animated sprite of it if I can XD

[Thoronas]

I still haven't heard of many NA players trying the zilart missions or getting to rank 10 and some of the bosses you fight and the story for those missions sounds really awesome. The story I have to look forward to is what has me excited the most about end game, not HNM camping.

PS: Imac I know how you feel, there is always going to be morons who think bragging on forums makes them look cool. I've seen them on every mmorpg forum I've ever frequented. :sweat:
The cure for that is to log in and be amongst friends, that will remind you of why you pay to play this game

[TheBruce]

"Man... the game is just starting to get good for us, now is when we start getting our best equips/have the most fun killing the toughest HNM's!"

Word

[Kagi]

Originally posted by imac2much
Every time I read some idiotic thing he writes or does, I want to leave so bad haha... if only he could move to another server =\

It's really not worth leaving the server/game/community over just one person.. imo ^^

[sylvanas]

Originally posted by Kagi


It's really not worth leaving the server/game/community over just one person.. imo ^^

*nods* but its worth staying for one person..

[TheBruce]

Your talking about me, right Sylvanas? <3

Hehe, on a more serious note, actually theres a lot of high end content that most NA players don't know about.

Once Tulia is opened up, multiple high level enemies are unlocked for you to defeat. And while my first couple experiences with Hnm's have been subpar, I'll not give up yet until I have a knowledgeable understanding of the end game.

Don't give up yet Rugal, you haven't even fought maat yet. And the maat fights are by far the most rewarding/challenging/dreadful experience I've had in this game so far!

It's almost like fighting another awesome player in *insert favorite fighting game here* at your local arcade. Its a rush.

And Tekken pwnz u!

[Kai]

Originally posted by Thoronas
I still haven't heard of many NA players trying the zilart missions or getting to rank 10 and some of the bosses you fight and the story for those missions sounds really awesome. The story I have to look forward to is what has me excited the most about end game, not HNM camping.

PS: Imac I know how you feel, there is always going to be morons who think bragging on forums makes them look cool. I've seen them on every mmorpg forum I've ever frequented. :sweat:
The cure for that is to log in and be amongst friends, that will remind you of why you pay to play this game

I have rank 10 and tu'lia access and I'm NA (not importer) o.O. Yeah the Zilart missions are awesome, especially the major boss fights. Tu'lia is probably my favourite place in the game .

[Kai]

double post ;_;

[imac2much]

Stop flirting in my thread Bruce! D:

Hm, I'm not saying I'm *not* looking forward to the missions and story. FFXI has a much more interesting story than any other MMO I've played so far, especially with all the great cutscenes and stuff. One small gripe I have is that several alliances I used to be in for missions always pushed people to skip through cutscenes without reading because they were in such a rush :\ I missed a bit of the story because of that... but now I'm a little more caught up. I'm thinking I can still do missions even with a lv 66 PLD (this is where I plan to park my PLD, so I can sell my Glut to fund my alt), so hopefully I can still experience all that. Plus, story is really only cool once, it's not exactly something I call longterm motivation.

Oh man Bruce, you reminded me of Maat... yeah I wanna totally kick his buttocks :sweat: Maybe I'll try at lv 66 hehe... do you lose xp if you die in that BCNM?

Originally posted by TheBruce
And Tekken pwnz u!

Other than the fact I share a name with one of the Tekken people (when I tell someone my name, they're like, "omg Jin like in Tekken"), I'm not a big fan of 3d fighters... although I have to admit SC2 is very addicting.

*Uses a Kin Sen Ni Hyaku Juu Itsu Shiki: Ya Otome on your pathetic King and Heihachi*

Iori =
King and Heihachi = :dead:

word.