Is it worth my time to return?

[Jento13]

Good Afternoon All,

I haven't played this game in three years and to be honest I miss it terribly - I will be waiting for ARR to release but we're not sure when that is going to be... So I have a few questions, if thats ok?

I reached 75 DRG on Carbuncle never really played end game however. I missed a lot and I blame this on me being too young at the time to really devote time to it etc.

Anyway, I am wondering if I could get all that is to experience crammed in within the time that ARR is in testing until release? I hear it is really easy to level now, which is great! However I would be starting again - clean slate experience it all again with a better understanding etc.

So I am just looking for a bit of guidance on this, any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for your time :)

[Arcon]

The thing you need to realize is that the game changed in some respects. Many things that used to be LS efforts are now lowmanned regularly and much of the game has become more accessible to casual players. Leveling is still kind of an effort, unless you decide to pay for it, but it's also a lot faster, which means people aren't restrained by jobs as much. Gearing, up to a certain point, has also been facilitated. Overall I think the changes are still worth it, but you shouldn't expect huge LS endeavors the likes of Dynamis anymore.

And what's ARR?

[Kaisha]

ARR - FFXIV2.0. Probably subscribed to it still since the person is able to post to here.


As for lvling up, it's a mess nowadays. Solo to 13-15, go to Gusgen Mines, hope there's a group there, do Grounds of Valor XP to 30, then from there you're basically forced to pay RMT for Fell Cleave or be a key person in Abyssea (not possible on a clean character due to no cruor capital to buy keys), since hardly anyone does GoV for other level ranges these days like they used to.

I'm kinda hoping XI:SoA tweaks the XP curve a bit more and makes outside levelling not a total waste of time vs. leeching in Abyssea.

[Nawesemo]

If you just love ff, then of course its worth it, if you have friends still lingering, then it wont be no where near as bad as some would have it seam, ....first things first, get the abyssea add on, talk to jocheim, visit an abyssea maw with first traversers stone (using the first one forces you to wait til following day to unlock other maws, you have to have a traversers stone on you when you enter to secure the warp-ability), but I think back to jochiem, and that should start your traverser stone accumulation,... travel to each starter city and sign up for voidwatch. (This will make getting around much easier), and starts your voidstones...... Now if you have buddies willing, they can take you into abyssea and cap out your time so you can explore, maybe they already have one or two key atma pops.... And if not, stay outta abyssea for a week to let stones accumulate, ..... But yeah, friends make it much quicker, we just did all abbysea zone bosses in a little under 3hours..., for a recently returned friend.(the running from abby start points is what took the longest.), its not the ffxi you left though, but still fun.

[Camiie]

Good Afternoon All,

I haven't played this game in three years and to be honest I miss it terribly - I will be waiting for ARR to release but we're not sure when that is going to be... So I have a few questions, if thats ok?

I reached 75 DRG on Carbuncle never really played end game however. I missed a lot and I blame this on me being too young at the time to really devote time to it etc.

Anyway, I am wondering if I could get all that is to experience crammed in within the time that ARR is in testing until release? I hear it is really easy to level now, which is great! However I would be starting again - clean slate experience it all again with a better understanding etc.

So I am just looking for a bit of guidance on this, any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for your time :)

Honestly, if a friend asked me if he or she should start FFXI or start over with it, I would say no. It's pretty easy to get caught up as far as levels and even gear, but it's hard to get help with anything that isn't close to the cutting edge. The game allows you to catch up pretty quickly. The community will be your stumbling block unless you're lucky.

[Arbalest]

Good Afternoon All,

I haven't played this game in three years and to be honest I miss it terribly - I will be waiting for ARR to release but we're not sure when that is going to be... So I have a few questions, if thats ok?

I reached 75 DRG on Carbuncle never really played end game however. I missed a lot and I blame this on me being too young at the time to really devote time to it etc.

Anyway, I am wondering if I could get all that is to experience crammed in within the time that ARR is in testing until release? I hear it is really easy to level now, which is great! However I would be starting again - clean slate experience it all again with a better understanding etc.

So I am just looking for a bit of guidance on this, any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for your time :)

The game is okay now, but it's nothing like it used to be in the past.

CoP is easy, ToAU is almost soloable at 99, same with WotG - but you'll have some trouble in that respect, depending on your job - but everything, as a whole, is more accessible now.
Leveling? I haven't done a class to 99 from below 75 since I came back in the past few months, so I don't really know what the situation is on that. There are book burns from 11-30ish and on, and when you hit 30 you can enter Abyssea to try and leech in a worm party, Dom Ops party, or even try and scrounge the gil to pay your way to experiencing.

As said, anything that was once an Alliance or LS effort (aside from VW, Legion and ADL) are all low-manned these days. Abyssea is accessible and in most cases Empyrean +2 (the standard gear for most jobs) is piss-easy to get your hands on if you spend a few days devoting your time to seals and +2 items. Aside from that, a lot of other gear is easy to get your hands on too - provided you have the gil, which cruor definitely allows.

Getting a Relic or Empyrean is also quite easy now - Empyreans are very, very easy to low-man so if you still have that DRG you could get a Rhongomiant (which isn't worth it, imo - Drakes and the merited Polearm WS are both better). Relics, if you dedicate 2 hours a day to farming, you can probably make one inside the realm of a month. Getting it to 95 is also fairly easy, but 99ing and on is a pain.

Stuff isn't as hard as it used to be and content, as a whole, is extremely accessible to players who don't want to dedicate their time to it, but even moreso to those who DO dedicate.

If you have your old account information I'm willing to bet your old character is still there. But if you didn't progress much outside a 75 job, it's pretty easy to get up to speed.

[Krashport]

Good Afternoon All,

I haven't played this game in three years and to be honest I miss it terribly - I will be waiting for ARR to release but we're not sure when that is going to be... So I have a few questions, if thats ok?

I reached 75 DRG on Carbuncle never really played end game however. I missed a lot and I blame this on me being too young at the time to really devote time to it etc.

Anyway, I am wondering if I could get all that is to experience crammed in within the time that ARR is in testing until release? I hear it is really easy to level now, which is great! However I would be starting again - clean slate experience it all again with a better understanding etc.

So I am just looking for a bit of guidance on this, any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for your time :)

http://www.reckoningthegame.com/
You're welcome. ^^b

[Arcon]

http://www.reckoningthegame.com/
You're welcome. ^^b

He didn't ask for brain damage.

[Arbalest]

He didn't ask for brain damage.

Don't knock it. That game was pretty damn good, despite being so easy.

[svengalis]

TC the question you asked can only be answered by yourself. Is there stuff that you want to do but never got a chance to accomplish? If the answer is yes then resubscribe.

[Khajit]

The people claiming you HAVE to pay to exp from 30-99 are idiots too stupid to simply shout and make thier own exp pt. The real problem with 30-99 exp is that most of the people left aren't very good at their jobs so one competent person can solo exp for you faster than an entire alliance nowadays from what i see.

[Mirage]

It's really not that hard to level up from scratch to 75 without using abyssea. I did it recently, in fact.

[Khajit]

You can also skillup your weapon to cap while afk/asleep on fortilaces in Castle Z in the past. Just bring a dmg1 weapon and engage.. preferably while not wearing any +str or +dex gear. that gets you to around where the lv 75 capped skill was.

[Saefinn]

It's still a good game, it's a lot differet now, but still a lot of fun. Much of the content can be solo'd now, but there's still plenty of reasons to group up and you'll be doing it a lot no doubt. There's good linkshells out there and groups of some pretty decent people to play with. I would say having a linkshell is pretty important, because this game isn't as half as fun if you're not enjoying it with other people and making some kind of social connection.

Now, as for levelling to 99, it's actually a lot quicker than it used to be. I think there's certains pros and cons, the pro is that it's quick then con is that I think it's boring. The only way got boring when it got too repetitive, but my ideal situation would have been a massive EXP boost, but that's me. You DON'T need a level 30 to 99 leech party, I don't know if it depends on your server, but generally there are 'book burn' parties going on, where generally you turn up, if there's a group with a space, you get an invite. Book burns are pretty much "the more ther merrier", so no more setting up 6-man parties with 3 DD, 1 DD/Support, 1 healer and 1 tank or some variation of that set up, you can have a full 18-man alliance. The reason this is, your bonuses are based on repeating pages and not on your exp per kill, so the quicker the enemies die, the quicker the exp.

Since returning myself, I've only been at 2 of the book burn/GoV areas and found I've been getting invites: Gusgen Mines (15+) and Bostineu Obilette (60+...I think). With Bostineux Obilette the enemies give exp to even level 99s and I see people party there instead of Abyssea. But once you do hit 75 and 220+ skill in your weapon/magic and you'll get invites to Abyssea and you will burn through your levels fairly quickly.

If you want to leech in between levels 30 and 75 (or 99) in Abyssea then you've got 3 choices. Start your own Abyssea party and lead. Pay somebody to let you leech, usually these are Fell Cleave/FC parties, which are pretty much designed for charging leeches. Or become a Keywhore, you'll need Cruor (Abyssea currency, easy to come by) and spend in on keys to open chests, which help with gaining experience points for Abyssea parties. Most parties will have at least one key whore so the fighters are focusing on fighting instead of opening boxes themselves.

As for endgame content, which the game is pretty much about now you've got plenty of different endgame zones, the only ones are still relevent and some have even had changes to make them up-to-date. There's of course newer endgame content to check out, like Abyssea, which is pretty interesting and a bit different - or at least by the fact you get to use atmas to boost your own stats and become pretty powerful. Cruor farming in Abyssea isn't a bad way to make money either (get lots of cruor, exchange for stacks of Chocobo Blinkers from NPC and then trade to another NPC for gil).

Sounds like a lot, I'd say it might feel very alien once you reach a certain point in the game, which could make or break it for you. I guess it depends how much you were set in the game in pre-Abyssea times. :) I think SE's made some good decisions in the updates, but also some bad ones, some folk will have you believe that it's mostly the latter, but it's all very subjective anyway.

[Ritsuka]

You should prob wait if you don't want to buy exp now from RMT party. Not alot of exp party going on and when the new disc base expansion comes out there be alot of people leveling again.

[Mirage]

There's plenty of ways to obtain experience points without having to resort to RMT parties. Come on.