I think I'm finished; a new player's final thoughts

[Afania]

Supposedly people enjoy doing Seal/Crest/Empty/IS/ANNM's in spite of those having no lore beyond a "clever" name for the battlefield. What's the lore behind Fe'e?

Seal/crest/empty/IS/ANNM isn't as interesting as AA battles, IMO. But it's not because of the game mechanics, but the emotional attachment behind it. I don't even remember the name of the NMs in seal/crest/empty/IS/ANNM at all.

Obviously, if you play the game only for mechanics, you may disagree with me. I don't, there are certain battles in this game gave me stronger impression than others because of the story behind it.

Again, I don't MIND if new players skip storyline completely, but I think half of the content won't be as enjoyable without actually going through it. I also disagree with skip story for the sake of getting access to endgame faster, there's just no point to skip it, as endgame is more "work" than story. The only reason to skip it is probably same as what Camiie said, to pt with others instead of solo play. If someone want to skip story because it's too much "work", fat chances are he probably won't enjoy the entire game because this game IS slow, and it's intended to.

[Afania]

I understand you believe your precious FFXI isn't going to change, but it already has, and it will keep changing to keep the subs, it will get easier and easier, cater to those 1 hour a week casual gamers. It's happened to them all, and with TRUST and Level sync you really still think it hasn't happened yet.

Since you're so eager to label other people as a stubborn elitist, I'll set this straight. I'm not against every change in FFXI. I'm not against level sync/trust. The only minor issue I have with trust is ppl are less likely to pt with others, but that has nothing to do with being elitist. I'm against delve adjustment to 6 person too, but again, that's mainly because ppl are more likely to play with mules and less likely to play with LS/friends/random. I'm also against every gear turn into short term goal, I'd like maybe 10%~20% of gear are long term goal and never get outdated, so when I got a gear I can go "FINALLY got!" instead of "Ok, got it, now let's toss it next update". I'm fine with 80% of gear being short term goal(easy to get, toss it next update) as long as long term goal gear exists.

I don't like current WKR, most friends are not interested in doing an organized run, and PUG needs 3+ hr to kill it. I also don't like the fact that I have to spam enter key for 30 min before doing AA and complained about it on forum, and back at pre-SoA era I've complained about legion DD job balance too. I don't just mindlessly like everything in FFXI.

Everyone more or less have their opinion, and what kind of direction they like. The point is, game being hardcore or casual really isn't black or white, that you must kill 1 group of player to please another. I liked the idea of Mythic and years of work to obtain a weapon, that doesn't mean I don't agree with 2nd best alternatives being only 0.5% behind. I'm not ok with RME obtainable by majority or RME behind easier to obtain alternatives though. I really don't see what's wrong with having the best weapon only obtainable by minority, IF the majority isn't too far behind. It'd please both hardcore and casual. IMO, that's better change than mindlessly hand every player same level of gear, or have hardcore work harder for inferior gears.

I'm not sure why you insist that whoever are against OP's opinion are subborn elitist that doesn't like change, tbh.

[Anjou]

I got my Amir Korazin, outdated but damn does it feel nice to have it done

[detlef]

The quests and missions have to be able to be realistically completed by someone at the level which they were intended to be completed. That has to take into account player populations. If the reality is that someone will be highly unlikely to find assistance with a goal that currently requires assistance then the path to that goal needs to be adjusted. That doesn't mean that there should be no risk of failure, but there must always be a realistic path to success.

Now before someone jumps on me, I'm stating a general philosophy. I'm not here to debate whether or not any particular content meets that standard.

All I'm going to say is that it's really tough to adjust for that. Too easy and people will complain that they are tedious and unfun. Set them too hard and people will complain that they can't find help for them. I think the first option is preferable, since in that scenario the missions will actually get done.

Again, I don't think it's even remotely realistic to expect SE to remove gated content, so the next best thing is for SE to make the prerequisite content easy.

[Damane]

maybe you should collect an opinion for yourself instead of going off what you "heard", you haven't played Lineage though you make assumptions, play those games, come back, and have a valid point, I understand you believe your precious FFXI isn't going to change, but it already has, and it will keep changing to keep the subs, it will get easier and easier, cater to those 1 hour a week casual gamers. It's happened to them all, and with TRUST and Level sync you really still think it hasn't happened yet.

I'm sure that Square values your opinion, but I don't think "not competing" is in their business model...

In Defense of Afania, He/She never claimed that He/she played Lineage 2, infact Afania WROTE that He/She never played Lineage 2. And on another note Afania is just stating his opinion/impression of the current FFXI.

Now you on the other hand seem to assume that every person that does not agree with you is some kind of an elitist *insert insult here*.

I/We, the community, are not against changes in FFXI, infact most people embrassed alot of changes (ecxept the dumb ones), we dont however want another WoW/FFXIV game. If we WANTED that we would go play those games... Why destroy the variety of the genre. If FFXI isnt your type of game, then dont play it, its simple as that. FFXIV and WoW werent my type of game, i tried both, didnt like them, stoped playing them. Its that simple. I even tried Aion and Lineage II each for 2 months, albeit both as grindy as FFXI, they just werent my type of game because of the lore/race/playstyle. Each to his own, stop trying to enforce somethign onto a game which is doing fine as it is.

The people that play FFXI now, play it for a reason, they like how FFXI is.

[L0IRE]

When you often pull out assumptions out of your asses and label anyone who disagree with your opinion, it won't convince anyone. Out of entire thread that defended for OP's opinion, only what Camiie said made sense. I see flaw in logic and blind "if you're against game heading toward instant gratification direction, you're an elitist" assumption in pretty much every other reply that defended for OP's POV.

Keep trying you'll get there, "assumptions", you need to take some of your own advice, and for Lineage 2 and its F2P model, if you "read", yes "read", I said it just recently went
F2P, and no it didn't do a complete remodel, like I said go read for yourself in the last message before you respond, you just keep making your "assumpmtions as you say, and cant take two seconds to go look it up, you said show me "data", stop being so damn lazy and look it up yourself, I'm not your mommy.

[L0IRE]

In Defense of Afania, He/She never claimed that He/she played Lineage 2, infact Afania WROTE that He/She never played Lineage 2. And on another note Afania is just stating his opinion/impression of the current FFXI.

Now you on the other hand seem to assume that every person that does not agree with you is some kind of an elitist *insert insult here*.

I/We, the community, are not against changes in FFXI, infact most people embrassed alot of changes (ecxept the dumb ones), we dont however want another WoW/FFXIV game. If we WANTED that we would go play those games... Why destroy the variety of the genre. If FFXI isnt your type of game, then dont play it, its simple as that. FFXIV and WoW werent my type of game, i tried both, didnt like them, stoped playing them. Its that simple. I even tried Aion and Lineage II each for 2 months, albeit both as grindy as FFXI, they just werent my type of game because of the lore/race/playstyle. Each to his own, stop trying to enforce somethign onto a game which is doing fine as it is.

The people that play FFXI now, play it for a reason, they like how FFXI is.

Now your doing the same thing, don't speak for the entire FFXI community, I don't care if people don't agree with me, its the state of the game, and people just don't want to admit it, and they think their precious FFXI is different from WoW and other P2P models, and as for "forcing" something onto this game, its already happening, open your eyes, your as bad as Afania, like I said, been playing the game for years, love the game, but how can one player force something on a game, the game is catering towards the casual, get over it, its happened, its not my opinion, its how it is.

[Damane]

Now your doing the same thing, don't speak for the entire FFXI community, I don't care if people don't agree with me, its the state of the game, and people just don't want to admit it, and they think their precious FFXI is different from WoW and other P2P models, and as for "forcing" something onto this game, its already happening, open your eyes, your as bad as Afania, like I said, been playing the game for years, love the game, but how can one player force something on a game, the game is catering towards the casual, get over it, its happened, its not my opinion, its how it is.

I am not doing anything to you, I am just stating the opinion of myself and some friends. And as I said I welcome most changes to FFXI, the changes we had were good in most cases, not bad. Stop trying to read something into my lines. And as I said again, if you dont like how FFXI currently is, stop playing it and play somethign different, just like I will stop playing FFXI if it doesnt suit me anymore. But stop trying to force something onto a game/people.

[Xantavia]

I'm not saying this because I think you're being arrogant or something, but I think it would be a great idea if you did that in the name of science. Level a new character, don't tell your friends what his or her name is, try to get to 99 and to clear all the stuff needed to participate in the SoA endgame. It'll be interesting to see how it goes. I'd do it myself, but I think I have more catching up to do than you.

I think this is where there is a huge disconnect between player viewpoints. For some it is all about getting to endgame content ASAP. Others see that there is a lot to do on the way there and don't mind if it takes 6+ months to complete it. I prefer the long view myself and that is what keeps me playing.

[Afania]

Keep trying you'll get there, "assumptions", you need to take some of your own advice, and for Lineage 2 and its F2P model, if you "read", yes "read", I said it just recently went
F2P, and no it didn't do a complete remodel, like I said go read for yourself in the last message before you respond, you just keep making your "assumpmtions as you say, and cant take two seconds to go look it up, you said show me "data", stop being so damn lazy and look it up yourself, I'm not your mommy.

Wow, first you jump to conclusions with zero support data, then when someone else skeptical about your assumptions you still refuse to provide support data, whoever want to jump into conclusion first should provide data no? Or else why should I believe what you said, lol.

But fine, if you can't provide data, I'll google for you.




Source:MMO data.net.

You claimed the game was dead and suddenly revived after 1 update before F2P, but I see no sub spike before F2P, except 2005, which seems more like a natural sub increase after global launch, less like a drastic sub increase because of game direction change. Since China/JP launch date is 2004. There are no data after 2009, because it went F2P in China in 2009(seems to be 2011 in the US). But I fail to see how there's a drastic sub number increase after 2009 either, by logic the game wouldn't go F2P if there's a sub increase.

Anyways, you want data because you can't support your own argument, I find you data. I see zero indication that Lineage2 ever get a sub increase because of game direction change, only time it ever get sub increase was when it launched in other regions such as China/JP around 2004~2005. Unless you can support your argument with with any other data, I think you just pull your assumption out of nowhere.

And no, I don't accept argument such as "you haven't play the game, you haven't seen server full of people after certain update, ZOMG GO GOOGLE MORE", sorry. MMORPG change game direction without a relaunch=not going to get more subs, fact. FFXI never get a sub increase after direction change in Abyssea/SoA either.