The deep dark secrets about FFXI's biggest problems! (FFXI.. Secretttts...)

[Carbon]

One thing I would just like to point out though, about it taking along time to do anything in the game. Yes, I agree totally, but I think that is to promote more LONG TERM PLAY, over time. Not having tons of lv 70+ NA characters run around after 6 months of the NA release.

The problem IMHO, is not that it takes a long time to level. I have no problem with that.

The problem is that it takes forever to find a group to actually play the game.

8 hours waiting. 3 hours playing. The downtime : playtime ratio is incredibly off balanced.

No, I don't want to quest or farm or do missions. I've done plenty of that already, and there comes a point when you want to level.

anyways, theres always a newb group out there. thats when you get out of it and then get a new pt. and i dont wanna hear "i cant find a pt" cause i can find a pt in under 5 mins in qufim and im a theif.

I invite you to sit down in LowJeuno and read War & Peace with me. Most days nowadays I cannot even find a group. I'm so desperate I'd be ecstatic to find a n00b group that makes 500 exp/hour. I've waited 10+ hours on many occasions since hitting 40.

[Kai]

As mentioned above why play something you are so unhappy with? If you don't like it and it makes you that angry QUIT!

[Carbon]

Because once you actually get a group, the game is amazingly fun.

[Shakara]

STOP WHINING.

You're gonna compare FFXI, which has been around for less than 4 months in NA, where EVERYONE that's not Japanese is basically still a newbie, to Everquest, which has been around for over 4 years now?

If you began playing Everquest in 1999-2000 you would have had the SAME exact complaints and rants you have now, if not more. I seem to remember the idiot factor being MUCH MUCH worse in my early days of Everquest, and you gained newbie levels once per WEEK OR TWO, not every day or every other day.

It sounds to me you are too used to the twinking, powerleveling, port stones, travel buffs, etc. etc. that Everquest can provide players now that's it is FOUR YEARS OLD. You think all that stuff was available during the first year of it's release?

As far as sitting around looking for a group for hours on end, and then playing in crappy groups, don't be so friggin helpless. When you DO find good people to play with, put them on your friends list, write their names down, etc. etc. MAKE FRIENDS, and people will remember you and invite you. START YOUR OWN GROUPS WITH PEOPLE YOU KNOW ARE GOOD PLAYERS. Don't sit and cry if you can't find a group, it's ridiculously easy. Even with my monk, which come a dime a dozen on Carbuncle, I rarely sat for more than 15 mins before getting a group.

About the only rant I agree with you on is the mob graphic recycling, but it's an acceptable trade-off for seeing the incredible graphics and details of the player characters, spell effects, and especially the summoner avatars.

So anyways, STOP WHINING. Or do us all a favor and stop playing. But don't go bash the game to anyone that might be interested in picking it up just because you were spoiled with the "easy road" a 4-year old game can provide to newbies.

[Cymmina]

There are so many flaws in this game, I hardly know where to start, but the NA playerbase is one of the biggest ones. I don't want to have to send random tells to people across the entire server in hopes of finding 4 competent players to play with my partner and I, to meet in xx hours in xx town, only to have everyone show up an hour late because they claim a time wasn't clearly established ("one hour from now" is not a clearly established time???), they felt like getting 2 levels ahead of everyone else (screwing up the exp for the rest of the group), and they realized they were autorunning across one of the zones in completely the wrong direction.

Finding a group is so difficult in many cases you're left with 2 choices: either stay with a horrible party where all of your melee guys have whm subs (one of the melees being a lvl 20 ninja) and your whm either has no sub or a war sub... or wait an hour or so for a white or red mage (good luck!) and enough other people to form a competent party. Trust me, I've been on the whm side of the coin where finding free tanks takes almost as long out in qufim/kazham. And if you choose to stick it out with the bad party because it is at least some exp, you only help the incompetent nitwits that don't care to stop being retarded get higher leveled.

It broke my heart to have to leave 3 parties in one day out in qufim, each one with a whm, after I rode all that way to Jeuno from my home town. I'm just not going to help them anymore. I've decided to just level some other jobs I want (THF to 15 for treasure hunter as a sub) or work on crafting until most of the Christmas newbies that don't belong in the game anyway decide to leave.

[Krakster]

Its already been said a few times in this thread, but what the heck i'll repeat it.

Ex everquest player here, 2 1/2 years of it. (65 raid shaman w/ 200aa )

Only been playing this game about 3 1/2 weeks but I agree, its basically everquest, times 10 (which is cool with me )

I have met quite a few folks who havent ever played a MMORG, and just bought this because its FF. Don't know anything about agro, pulling, buffing etc etc. It takes a while for that to sink in. The first 2 months I played EQ I was an enormous noob. Folks had to "teach" me or I had to die 10x to realize somethings This game hasnt been around anywhere near as long as EQ, eventually prices will lower in game and things will even out. I imagine it will take another year. In the meantime, all you can do is hope you get lucky and meet another person who knows wtf is going on, or recruit friends to play. I moved over from EQ with 4 other RL friends, and yeah, the game is one hell of alot more fun with folks who listen or already know what they are doing.



Met some folks in this game who have NO clue what they are doing, but they are polite and can communicate quickly and effectively...those are the people you put on the friends list and keep touch with help them learn as time goes on. I can see the playerbase atm as being crappy....we'll just have to live with it a year until it smooths out.

[boynix]

please stop crying and /uninstall

[Enavas]

Please foamingpanda, just quit the game. If you don't like it or the people playing it, quit. It's not like everyone is asking you to play. I'd just quit to if I don't like. Hecks, there are many other things out there to play. It's not like FFXI is the only game you know.

[Devryn]

Look. I was on the ORIGINAL Beta! Beta 0 for EQ. That game took at least 2 yrs to get where it's at today. It's not like day one in EQ everyone knew how to play. It was a COMPLETELY different breed of game. Sure we had "The Realm" by Sierra and Ultima Online by Origin...But they didn't reach NEAR the popularity that EQ did, nor the complexity in grouping. And for all of you others DIABLO IS NOT AN MMORPG!

This game is awesome. It's hard to compare EQ and FFXI because EQ was made here in America and FFXI was made in Japan. We have different beliefs on what good gameplay is. For me leveling, and the satisfaction of playing is MUCH higher in FFXI. When I played EQ after it's retail release...The DAY OF it's retail release it took me FOREVER to reach level 7. And much more time after that to reach any other level. I have now gained the equivilant of 34 lvls in FFXI and I LOVE MY CHARACTER. I never really felt that connection in EQ with my character.

Bottom line opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one.

Speaking of assholes...It sounds like you have a complex because you're not the best in the game and you may have been a pretty decent character in EQ. The latter of excellance is like a tree full of monkeys. The person or people at the top of the tree see faces when they look down. The people at the bottom only see assholes when they look up. Get a grip dude. Stop playing the game, or don't. I personally don't give a shit but what you DO need to do is STOP POSTING YOUR NONSENSE ON THIS BOARD. Go bitch to your friends.

[Taki]

Seeya, hope you find a game you enjoy.

[Vairu]

just stopping in cause i just noticed this.
Btw, great name foaming panda

Anyhow, i agree with him that this game has many dissapointments and such and it does take ages to get through it. But sometimes i get in kick ass groups, i usually only PT with people rank 3 or way higher that are lvling subs or advanced jobs, i rarely PT w/ newer ppl cause it takes to much time to 'train' them, i figure they should learn it the hard way like some of us did haha. Well...aren't you on the server that is prodominently NA players? Maybe that's why your getting so pissed lol. Most JP players are awesome and actually think before they do something lol
good luck

[Mitch]

I dont agree with everything you said dude, but here is the pearl of wisdom

"...or just go AFK to play some fan boy garbage like FFX-2"

Just glad to see someone else gets sick everytime that commercial comes on. I agree with taking forever to level, I'm getting impatient and I'm only lvl 18, I'll probably take a vacation once I get my advance job and just do quests from time to time till i get the itch again.

[Carbon]

MAKE FRIENDS, and people will remember you and invite you. START YOUR OWN GROUPS WITH PEOPLE YOU KNOW ARE GOOD PLAYERS. Don't sit and cry if you can't find a group, it's ridiculously easy. Even with my monk, which come a dime a dozen on Carbuncle, I rarely sat for more than 15 mins before getting a group.

I have lots of friends. Unfortunately, most of them are out of partyable range, which apparently is something to be expected.

Out of those friends and other regulars I can PT with, about half are attacker classes, and we are all competing for 1-2 spots in 1 PT. There's too many of us for 1 PT, but too few of us for 2 PTs.

I've stopped playing my DRG for a few days now in hopes that more people at lower levels would have caught up. It hasn't happened.

[Kerghan]

the worst thing about FFXI is qufim and nothing else. why qufim you say? well, its because it FORCES me to deal with all of the problems. since everyone and their mother, aunt, and grandmother is there, i have to deal with idiots. ( people training 4 undead towards groups, anyone? )

[Enavas]

Kerghan. There are other places to level besides Quifim. If you put up Seek in Jeuno, chances are you will get a PT that heads out to Batallia Downs, Kazham, jugner jungle, or other places. But if you put up our Seek in Qufim, pretty much you are going to be stuck in Qufim.