i'm looking forward to the potential possibility of a classic server or a few varying classic servers. i thought i would share a few ideas that i have. This think this could be done effectively with as few as 2-4 servers. The idea would be that people could jump between servers but anything earned/obtained such as (key) items/quests/fame/currency/gil/exp/merits/skill and other points/tabs earned in a tier 2+ server cannot be applied/used in tier 1 server, same with a tier 3+ in a tier 2, and same with a tier 4 in a tier 3. If balanced properly so that the game is still difficult players may be willing for the first two tiered servers to be merged, i think it would be fun! My other idea is that zones could be instanced for players who may want to play alone, or complete a tough challenge with their party, i see no problem with players earning things without worrying about competition, perhaps the difficulty of instanced h/nms could be increased to make up for this and/or an increased rarity in instanced zones. As for graphics i would maybe improve them a little bit but it doesn't have to be anything drastic. The games still looks great as is and if they are smart they could potentially update the graphics later once things are stable.
Server tier 1
Rise of the Zilart
Chains of Promathia
Treasures of Aht Urhgan
Wings of the Goddess
Seekers of Adoulin (retrofitted for level 75 cap)
(possibly add/modify relics/mythics/unique rewards for newer jobs that aren't able to use some)
(No crystal/tome warping to other crystals/tomes)
(Gear that scales down during level syncing should be worse than basic gear at that level)
Server Tier 2
A Crystalline Prophecy
A Moogle Kupo d'Etat
A Shantotto Ascension
Trial of the Magians (up to level 75)
Moblin Maze Mongers (up to level 75)
Fields of Valor/Grounds Tomes (rebalanced so that tab costs scale with level and/or zone to make tabs more scarce to come by and build up and can't take on pages with a party of 4+ players, also while having 4+ players in a party any active prowesses would be temporarily negated, tomes pages should need to be manually reset)
Caskets need to be much rarer, like 2.5% chance for a casket to spawn and 20.0% chance for it to be brown instead of blue
(No crystal/tome warping to other crystals/tomes)
(Gear that scales down during level syncing should be worse than basic gear at that level)
Server Tier 3
Vision of Abyssea
Scars of Abyssea
Heroes of Abyssea
(No crystal/tome warping to other crystals/tomes)
(Gear that scales down during level syncing should be worse than basic gear at that level)
Server Tier 4
Rhapsodies of Vana'diel
(Don't use new monster spawns with high level monsters in low level areas, the instanced zones could replace this)
(Allow crystal/tome warping to other crystals/tomes)
(Gear that scales down during level syncing should be worse than basic gear at that level)
I would love to hear what others think about these ideas as these would allow people to enjoy all the FFXI content at their own pace eventually without breaking the classic servers if they do play a different tier server. i may have missed some things, so i would love to hear from others and perhaps we may see Classic Servers the way we want to play them!
Another thing i think would be great for the game is to rebalance shadows to have a 1 in the number of shadow(s) +1 chance of getting hit otherwise a shadow is used up, this could allow them to remove double and/or triple attack from regular monsters that aren't war and/or thf. Also i would like to see the ability to fully level all crafts on one premium character along with lots of mog safe space like 8x the normal amount that would cost like 25 dollars a month.