Is FFxi not the game I thought it was going to be? Should I find something else?

[drmengele]

I have had an account for a month and I am really discouraged about ever logging back in. I'll start out by saying I am a huge Final Fantasy fan pre FF-13 (puke*).
I think my issue is that this game is no longer for someone who wants to explore and experience the game as initially intended. I feel the goal of the game in its current state is to achieve max lvl as soon as possible taking no time to enjoy or actually adventure so you can do abysea partys that everyone is obsessed with doing. I am not saying aby isn't fun, it must be if every loves it so much but it has made the world for a new player such as myself feel empty.
I have reached lvl 50 PLD and then unlocked SAM and have lvld that to 51. 85% of my lvling was done in gusgen mines blindly smashing away at skeletons and ghouls and crawlers nest post lvl 40. I have done up to rank 5 missions and would have really enjoyed them if it weren't for two things. First and foremost, they are so lonely. I have a LS and they are willing to usually help but it sucks because it is just some max lvl person running me through the mission basically doing everything for me, there is no sense of team work or adventure. So I try to do them myself but like I said it gets super lonely therefor boring. The most fun I have had in the game is when you encounter a battleground I really like these but again LONELY, final fantasy is about being in a party and this game was designed for that. Even if the game has been changed to solo easier through it doesn't make it more fun. Having to do the core game alone just sucks big time. People offer to help me all the time and are certainly friendly but their idea of helping is cruising me through everything taking all the short cuts to get to max lvl. Also whenever I say in my LS how I'm excited to see certain areas and how to get there I basically get told "no one goes there anymore, don't bother" and I am just like "Wtf?" why doesn't anyone want to explore anymore? Why does everyone want to just do retardly easy XP camping partys in like 4 places in the game world fighting the same mobs for hours on end?
So is this just what the game is about nowadays? I really want to enjoy this game and go on awesome adventures with cool people but it just doesn't feel like that kind of game in its current state. Just to be clear I am not knocking the game design or anything I think it is a fantastic game that only gets partially utilized by players.
Also, are some servers better for the roleplaying aspect than others? Or do all the servers work like how I described my experience with the game thus far?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Is FFxi not the game I thought it was going to be? Should I find something else?

FFXI is ten years old now. Many who still play have the exploration and the completion of expansions years behind them now. If you want to do missions with a group rather than be coddled through them by high levels, it's on you to find those of like mind and play with them.

Folks at high level are generally online pissing away time toward getting thier next shiny. They might be selfish an unhelpful or the fifteenth run on rank 5 Shadow Lord was enough. There's a lot of repetition in FFXi so burnout is normal.

MMOs change over time, for the experience you want a younger MMO may be easier to acclimate to.

[drmengele]

Re: Is FFxi not the game I thought it was going to be? Should I find something else?

FFXI is ten years old now. Many who still play have the exploration and the completion of expansions years behind them now. If you want to do missions with a group rather than be coddled through them by high levels, it's on you to find those of like mind and play with them.

Folks at high level are generally online pissing away time toward getting thier next shiny. They might be selfish an unhelpful or the fifteenth run on rank 5 Shadow Lord was enough. There's a lot of repetition in FFXi so burnout is normal.

MMOs change over time, for the experience you want a younger MMO may be easier to acclimate to.

Basically everything you said is what I have come to realize but hoped it wasn't so. I just wish that maybe long time players didn't encourage new players to rush to end game there seems to be enough new players that the old school style of the game could still be achieved. And trust me I have searched for liek minded players but they don't seem to exist the attitude is usually "why would I do that when I can take the short cut?" I guess I'll have to save for GW2 since WoW is awful and non of the new mmos seem like anything but a WoW rip off from what I have experienced.

[Squiggs]

Re: Is FFxi not the game I thought it was going to be? Should I find something else?

edit: BBQ said basically the same thing I had typed out.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Is FFxi not the game I thought it was going to be? Should I find something else?

The game is old and has changed significantly since its heyday. If you aren't having fun with what it is now, I would indeed suggest that you move on from it.

[drmengele]

Re: Is FFxi not the game I thought it was going to be? Should I find something else?

I guess I should have known before getting into it, but I still kind of blame some of the max lvl players for encouraging new players to xp camp to max lvl. They don't even need to learn their job that way, you literally just blindly attack or spam heals. It is like there is a whole world to explore but people just want to get max lvl to get their supah kewl gear sets. Obviously the ppl who have been around I don't expect to want to re do the whole game again, but I have come across plenty new players who don't seem to want to play the game the way it was intended.

[Nandito]

Re: Is FFxi not the game I thought it was going to be? Should I find something else?

Nostalgia's a bitch.

[ShepardG]

Re: Is FFxi not the game I thought it was going to be? Should I find something else?

Should check out XIV, still lots of new players just learning about the game and it's surroundings and if you started this week you'd have enough time to get a feel for what you wanted to do come 2.0, and the story is pretty b.a. to be honest.

[Moriquendis]

Re: Is FFxi not the game I thought it was going to be? Should I find something else?

I plan to start playing again hopefully soon. I've been reading what everyone says about how the game has changed and I have a theory. Maybe things in the game will go back to normal, stabalize, when a lot of the older players that are just working on lvl 99 and extra things get tired and quit. Then maybe a lot of new players will come along and it can be more like what it was back when I first joined. At least that's a theory. Not sure if it would ever happen.

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And as far as finding a game similar to ffxi, how it used to be, there aren't any. I've researched it very well, and as far as I can tell, nothing really compares to ffxi. Maybe we should log on just play like we used to. Maybe we can start bringing the game back to how it used to be

[ShepardG]

Re: Is FFxi not the game I thought it was going to be? Should I find something else?

I plan to start playing again hopefully soon. I've been reading what everyone says about how the game has changed and I have a theory. Maybe things in the game will go back to normal, stabalize, when a lot of the older players that are just working on lvl 99 and extra things get tired and quit. Then maybe a lot of new players will come along and it can be more like what it was back when I first joined. At least that's a theory. Not sure if it would ever happen.

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And as far as finding a game similar to ffxi, how it used to be, there aren't any. I've researched it very well, and as far as I can tell, nothing really compares to ffxi. Maybe we should log on just play like we used to. Maybe we can start bringing the game back to how it used to be

-Yeah, grinding out 150xp kills every 30-45 seconds resting for 30 seconds while the next "pull" comes in, doing this for hours on end cause you need 48,000 exp to get to your next level...
-Constantly standing around for hours at a time, of paying for two accounts so you could leave one logged in at tiamat, hoping you get claim on the mob that pops once a day, and praying that when you do get claim someone doesn't accidentally cast on darters, or that your pld isn't AFK at the teleporter so ixion doesn't rape you.
-playing a less than optimal class because you like it, and being forced to solo to level cap because nobody invites you.
/sarcasm off
No I understand what your saying. You want back that feeling of wonder and amazement like you felt when you first logged into Vana'diel and the implications of what this video game could mean were still so fresh and new. When actually just seeing new zones and getting your chocobo license felt like you had beaten the game. That feel when you and your friends finally defeated that NM that you'd been trying to defeat.

You don't get those feelings back unfortunately. It's just a video game, like the first time you try a new drug. It completely blows your mind, and you either spend all your time chasing that feeling or you just figure out that that feeling was it, and you don't get to feel it again.

Sorry not to be debbie downer, but I could never go back to XI. Not in a million years. It was the best game i've ever played, and will probably always be the best, but I'll never play it again, and I'm totally content with that. ^^

[Hayde]

Re: Is FFxi not the game I thought it was going to be? Should I find something else?

Current XI is a lot better suited to newcomers and the current populace no matter how you adjust those rose-tinted glasses. Even if every "99 quits" as you hope for, things will not change back to circa 2004~2008 era because--why?

I've honestly tried to think of something better to say in the last 3 days, but I've had nothing positive to tell Moriq or the OP; it sounds like neither of you two made it to 75 in the old days (correct me if I am incorrect). It sounds like both of you quit before the 50 range, or during--do you recall why? Let me refresh your memory then:

If you somehow managed to make it past 60 during FFXI's height, you spent hours looking for a party if you weren't a tank, healer, or support. Hell, I remember nights where I had my flag up for the entire duration after class on my bard no less and I couldn't get an invite. Half the time, when you finally did get an EXP group--there were two cases: either the group was such a poor-make up that it disbanded after 3 pulls or you were simply the replacement and the group fell apart well before you even got to the zone.

My best memories were static groups with my friends and LS members, but certainly not a pick-up group. I've had nothing but positive experiences with GoV/FoV since coming back 2~ years ago. Being able to get a level or two by doing pages solo before going to bed is a fantastic experience, and duoing with Jarre/Brickhouseuk or someone else on the forums while chatting on Skype is great as well; if either of had to AFK a few minutes, no problem--we weren't going to lose our chain 30 and get yelled at by the party leader.

I level synced to 70 in Qufim Island when I first came back with Meridan (former member on the Forums). This was before GoV was implemented and FoV was still in a poor state (lack of locations, non-repeating pages) and of course we did not have the Abyssea stones nor cruor to effectively do a leech group (neither of us wanted to, for some strange reason at the time anyway). Let me tell you both something: You do not want the old days back in the current state of FFXI. Level syncing in Qufim Island until you're 70 from 20 is not fun. I nearly quit several times during that point.

Consider that most servers cap around 1200-1600 (maybe 2000 on a good night, but probably not unless it's JP time) at peak time, you are never going to find people well dispersed in level ranges. Sorry, but those days are gone.

[Firewind]

Re: Is FFxi not the game I thought it was going to be? Should I find something else?

If you somehow managed to make it past 60 during FFXI's height, you spent hours looking for a party if you weren't a tank, healer, or support. Hell, I remember nights where I had my flag up for the entire duration after class on my bard no less and I couldn't get an invite. Half the time, when you finally did get an EXP group--there were two cases: either the group was such a poor-make up that it disbanded after 3 pulls or you were simply the replacement and the group fell apart well before you even got to the zone.

I once remember going 6 months without an invite on White Mage because I didn't have RDM or SCH at 75 XD

[Aksannyi]

Re: Is FFxi not the game I thought it was going to be? Should I find something else?

Yeah WHM leveling was really rough back in the day. When I finally got WHM to the cap, I ground out my merits on RDM. RDM was my merit-bitch job, I hardly ever used it anywhere else except maybe some lowman stuff, but typically my BLM was more suited to that.

I can't imagine syncing the same place for that many levels ... 50 levels in Qufim? Fuck that. I hated leveling in Qufim. Granted, after sync came out Qufim became a much better leveling spot but it still wasn't great, IMO. Though you got rather sick of wailing on pink birds, too. I had a love-hate relationship with the grind, honestly. It was long and frustrating but man, you felt accomplished when you finished and got to 75 (when I quit that was the cap and it will always be cap to me. lol).

Game is extremely top-heavy now. Any truly new players won't find an experience they want, unfortunately. It's mostly returning players starting over or current players rolling a double box account. Kind of sad. I have contemplated coming back at least a dozen times, but the same thing stands: it isn't the game I remember. I'm content to sit it out with my nostalgia goggles on.

I hope that you (OP) do find something that tickles your fancy. There are a shitload of MMOs out right now, something ought to hit you just the right way.

[Romyro]

Re: Is FFxi not the game I thought it was going to be? Should I find something else?

geez...you are a debbie downer...

I somewhat disagree with this. IMO I think you just need to adapt to the changes. The focus these days isn’t so much leveling to the cap but what you can do once you hit the cap. I mean almost everything has already been discovered. Pretty sure most of us read wiki word for word when doing an event or heading to a new area. And if your interested in exploring new areas, there's a new good sized expansiton on the horizon.

You don't get those feelings back unfortunately. It's just a video game, like the first time you try a new drug. It completely blows your mind, and you either spend all your time chasing that feeling or you just figure out that that feeling was it, and you don't get to feel it again.

As a person who's been playing almost 10 years (geez that’s a long time) I still to this day get excited about things in the game. FFXI is still a drug I cant put down.

Perhaps im that way and your not because we had different LSs. You probably were in one that did everything 100s of times. Where due to my ingame jobs or wacky schedules, I barely got to participate in some things.


Wanna know what I'm itching to try?
Getting pops and fighting Arch Dynamis Lord with my shell!
Getting though Einherjar and showing Odin whose boss!
Doing old KSNMs to get my Mnk a Blackbelt.
Getting a Mythic weapon in 10 years.

I can actually go on an on about all the stuff I STILL have to look forward too...but i wont

[Moriquendis]

Re: Is FFxi not the game I thought it was going to be? Should I find something else?

Current XI is a lot better suited to newcomers and the current populace no matter how you adjust those rose-tinted glasses. Even if every "99 quits" as you hope for, things will not change back to circa 2004~2008 era because--why?

I've honestly tried to think of something better to say in the last 3 days, but I've had nothing positive to tell Moriq or the OP; it sounds like neither of you two made it to 75 in the old days (correct me if I am incorrect). It sounds like both of you quit before the 50 range, or during--do you recall why? Let me refresh your memory then:

True, I did only make it to 50something, but I never chose to quit. I was forced to quit because something happened to my laptop and I didn't have access to the game. But I understand what you're saying. ffxi was always my drug lol. I'm still willing to try and find that feeling again, which I hope is still possible as someone else on here has mentioned. I think I'll just try to adapt to the changes. And you say it's better suited to newcomers? That could be a good thing as I'm starting over. Anyway, heres to hoping lol.

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geez...you are a debbie downer...

I somewhat disagree with this. IMO I think you just need to adapt to the changes. The focus these days isn’t so much leveling to the cap but what you can do once you hit the cap. I mean almost everything has already been discovered. Pretty sure most of us read wiki word for word when doing an event or heading to a new area. And if your interested in exploring new areas, there's a new good sized expansiton on the horizon.


As a person who's been playing almost 10 years (geez that’s a long time) I still to this day get excited about things in the game. FFXI is still a drug I cant put down.

Perhaps im that way and your not because we had different LSs. You probably were in one that did everything 100s of times. Where due to my ingame jobs or wacky schedules, I barely got to participate in some things.


Wanna know what I'm itching to try?
Getting pops and fighting Arch Dynamis Lord with my shell!
Getting though Einherjar and showing Odin whose boss!
Doing old KSNMs to get my Mnk a Blackbelt.
Getting a Mythic weapon in 10 years.

I can actually go on an on about all the stuff I STILL have to look forward too...but i wont

I'm hoping I'll feel the same way you do when I go back to the game

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For the past 2 years I've been dreaming about the day I can come back to ffxi. I still think often of all the people I knew there and all the fun we had, and all the fun I had even soloing. ffxi just felt like my own world. I get happy just thinking about it lol regardless if the world has changed.