Why do you still play FFXI?

[Mifaco]

Genuinely curious about this one. I played FFXI from 2004-2013. I moved on to FFXIV a while ago, and I returned with this campaign to check out what all has changed, and it looks like it changed for the worse. 1200 players at prime time, when it used to be 4000? Same clunky UI? Trust NPCs added to make up for the lack of players? It also looks like they've been copying all the best ideas from FFXIV to make the game less grindy.

Why still play?

Hardmode: You cannot use "friends" as a reason

[Stompa]

After ten years I'm still trying to get my Mog House to look "just right."

[bungiefanNA]

My goal is the same as it has always been. Completion of the storylines, which Abyssea started to make easier, and the new gear and systems have made easier. I'm near the end of Zilart, and just made it to Promathia tonight. Also, I have fun with the people in my linkshells, and there's so much content to do. FFXIV hasn't clicked with me during the trial period, and I'm a bit annoyed at having to quest so far in a starting job before being allowed to unlock crafting/gathering jobs or switch to a different combat job for a while.

FFXIV is also hard to switch to when I have a bunch of friends all wanting me to play on their server, and they split themselves between 5 servers. I started FFXI first in my group, and when the NA release happened later, they still decided to split between 2 servers.

[Eyeballed]

Soloing and taking it easy.

[Mnejing]

I too came back during the campaign, feeling bored with pre-2.1 FFXIV found monstrosity addicting once more. When I left a few months back, I was primarily playing for Monstrosity.

If they ever decide to reinstate the both sub discount I may decide to resub, although they already said no on the FFXIV side.

[Karah]

I ask myself everyday, I quit for a couple weeks, every payment period. Then I pay, cause they add some new thing that I've always wanted, realize it's too late to care, and let the sub lapse again...

Only reason I can really say I still play, is because I will in no way ever start another MMO, well, not one I have to pay for. Tried some free ones, bleh, and I'm too old to start new, so that's why.

No real reason other than lack of other options, to be perfectly honest.

[Renaissance2K]

Ask me again when I get Summoner to 99, when all the pre-Adoulin storylines are completed, and when I have a Level 99 Funguar to cause my own personal shroomageddon.

[Edyth]

I can't wait for the F2P thing to end so all these boo-hooing, purple lipstick, eye shadow-wearing children stop making threads.

4000? When was the last time you played? 2009, the day after the server merges?

XIV has almost nothing going for it after you hit 50, beat the story, and get your relic weapon. After 4 months, they finally release the first update, and it's offered me little incentive to play.

XI, on the other hand, has been getting monthly updates that have been getting better and better. I'm finally able to do salvage solo and finish my mythic. Walk of Echoes is a blast and there are tons of new weapon skills to unlock. Tons of monsters to unlock and level, new areas, new missions, new content, and a TON of things to do.

FFXIV doesn't even have merit points. You have to throw away tens of thousands of EXP if you don't have a job sitting in the 40s and you want to do the new quests, and you're punished for doing content on your main job. And without Blue Mage, Ninja, and a real Summoner, I don't have any passion for any of the jobs FFXIV offers.

[Karbuncle]

Monstrosity.

Thats about it. I do venture out in Mithra form every so often for the fading social interaction, but generally I stomp faces in monstrosity.

[Mefuki]

Monstrosity, the wealth of customization via instincts and monster types and the battle system therein. I really appreciate the number of different builds, gearsets and battle style choices that I can make in this game.

Things are bound to get even more interesting as they introduce Mon Vs. Mon fights, Monipulator party mechanics and Monipulator access to certain content/quests.

Like I've said here in the past, if SE gives Monstrosity the proper attention and strategic depth, they've got a real hit here.


Now as far as the game having been changed for the worse, during the summer I would have agreed but now? After the update we just had? Hardly. In fact, I think it's a good sign of the direction the game is going. See, me and my friends, back in the spring when Delve was released, quit. We were a small group of 3, MAYBE 4 including me and when we saw that all the gear we had or were working on was suddenly useless, it was pretty demoralizing. We stuck around for a little while afterwards but when we started to see that the only thing left to really do was Alliance content (e.i. Delve), we just couldn't do that. We didn't have the time, the connections, the ability to be at LS organized events, the ability to sit around waiting for hours join shouts/making shout groups and there was little to do if one of us was missing.

When I or others were called away all of a sudden because of work stuff (which for me, happens often) or some other reason, everyone felt like there was now no reason to be logged in. There was nothing to do. Nothing to put work toward. So we just sort of stopped playing.

Fast forward to August and Monstrosity, I was looking forward to that system since it was announced and I started really enjoying taking on IT monsters on my own, customizing them, using monsters with quirky skills and traits (I still remember how excited I was when I used my first BLM monster and just feeling like, "Finally, I'm using nukes and I'm not just immediately dying to this IT!") and putting effort in and getting reward out via instinct and monster unlockables.

And now, with Records of Eminence and Trust Magic, I have the ability to log in and immediately start making progress. I don't have to wait around for 2+ hours before I can actually play the game I pay for or I can just play for a little bit here and there, starting and stopping all day if I want to.

I've always enjoyed the battle and customization system in this game and now I can readily play a game I like when I want, not when the LS says I have to.

So, TL;DR would be something like: I play it because I enjoy it and because recent updates and dev posts have given me hope that it's going to get even better.

[Draylo]

I can't wait for the F2P thing to end so all these boo-hooing, purple lipstick, eye shadow-wearing children stop making threads.

4000? When was the last time you played? 2009, the day after the server merges?

XIV has almost nothing going for it after you hit 50, beat the story, and get your relic weapon. After 4 months, they finally release the first update, and it's offered me little incentive to play.

XI, on the other hand, has been getting monthly updates that have been getting better and better. I'm finally able to do salvage solo and finish my mythic. Walk of Echoes is a blast and there are tons of new weapon skills to unlock. Tons of monsters to unlock and level, new areas, new missions, new content, and a TON of things to do.

FFXIV doesn't even have merit points. You have to throw away tens of thousands of EXP if you don't have a job sitting in the 40s and you want to do the new quests, and you're punished for doing content on your main job. And without Blue Mage, Ninja, and a real Summoner, I don't have any passion for any of the jobs FFXIV offers.

This so much. No BLU and the XIV SMN is such crap, I don't understand how people like those chibi avatars lol. I hope they plan to add real ones when their lvl cap raises or something.

To answer the question personally, I have a big LS on my server so I never run out of things to do or people to do them with. That helps me out a lot as far as having fun. Otherwise, I really enjoy everything this game has to offer. Despite what people say, there is tons of content to do. Being that I have played this game for many many years, I actually enjoy going back and just smashing things that used to be a lot of trouble/needed an alliance. It feels like one of the past FF games where you are at max level with all the ultimate weapons and spells. The lore and storyline in this game are the best of anything I've seen. I enjoy random things like making specific builds for my job (working on a regen+ max set.) and powering up old jobs I never really played.

FFXIV was fun at the start but once I got to end game it felt like all I was doing was logging in to spam WP/AK for gear so I can just spam them even more for another job. It was incredibly boring and I also had no group to keep me going and didn't have the desire to find one. I really dislike their WoW esque copy as well, I'm just not a fan of it having played XI so long. I don't like how the community is either.

[Damane]

Genuinely curious about this one. I played FFXI from 2004-2013. I moved on to FFXIV a while ago, and I returned with this campaign to check out what all has changed, and it looks like it changed for the worse. 1200 players at prime time, when it used to be 4000? Same clunky UI? Trust NPCs added to make up for the lack of players? It also looks like they've been copying all the best ideas from FFXIV to make the game less grindy.

Why still play?

Hardmode: You cannot use "friends" as a reason

Because there is still stuff to do for me. Upgraded my relic to 119, working on my mythic, upgradeing artefacts, engaging in hard mode AA fights. The game is still fun for me, and yes I also play FFXI because of the ingame "friends".

I tried out FFXIV and stoped like 3 months ago. The game is okeish, but the amount of "asshole"-people inside that game was just beyond normal, besides Fate-grinding wasnt a thing for me (boring as hell) so almost noone did dungeons for exp (useing duty finder didnt help either in that case). Besides FFXI isnt stealing the best ideas of 14, because they werent the ideas of 14 to begin with (14 borrowed alot of WoW). Dunno about you but the implementation on hard modes and record of eminence on FFXI felt alot better in FFXI. FFXI hard modes are actually hard modes of battles that are way olde and got totally refreshing due to this, 14 hard modes are hard modes from battles that are what barely 2 months old and now you have extreme modes of them? come on lol

as said 14 is an ok game, the community just wasnt my taste (thats actually m biggest complain)

[Elphy]

I played for 7 years, unsubbed do to the game becoming way to easy and the attitude of the community going to pot post aby. After a few months away I resubbed to see what SoA had to offer but now I cannot find a single soul who wants to group to do anything at all. I have nearly no SoA stuff completed that requires group play and finding ppl for the most basic of things has become a hassle.

I am still subbed because I got bored running AK and WP in xiv and eso is ways off yet. However with the 2.1 patch in arr they introduced tons of content that is worth playing and frankly really enjoyable. From daily beast quests to extreme mode primals, good king moggle mog xii, ultima weapon hard mode, etc etc etc.

So my days in ffxi may be numbered again cause tbh this game is horrid when all you have is trust npcs and no one living and breathing willing to help or even be friendly. Why pay a monthly sub for a dying game on dead servers with nothing but soloists and dual boxers.

[Stompa]

Why pay a monthly sub for a dying game on dead servers with nothing but soloists and dual boxers.

FFxi is not a dying game, it is just being quiet and stealthy so it can <sneak attack> you with more critical surprises in the future!

Seriously though, people said FFxi was dying in 2005, then TOAU arrived and everyone stopped saying that, repeated comments of this "this game is dying" in 2007, then WOTG arrived with Campaign, Dnc, etc. and people were happy for another year or two, repeat this process with pre-Aby and pre-Soa. I can actually remember the times in 2005 2007 2009 2012 when the words "FFxi is dying" was used in /partychat and now I hear it again in 2013. Its a normal cycle process pre-expansion, this time was different because the expansion (imho) wasn't as enjoyable as the preceding ones, and the FF14 option was given instead.

But I always wish FF14 people well and say "I hope you have a great time in 14!" and they always seem to say "FFxi is dead" etc. so I feel the bonhomie is one-way.

I have a comparison of FFxi being your normal girlfriend, she's very intelligent really, good at practical things, loves you a lot, but she's a bit ugly and has a boring normal life. FF14 is your imaginary movie girlfriend Sharon Stone or whoever, she's beautiful, rich, has a really glitzy glamorous lifestyle, but ultimately she's as stupid as a box of rocks and she doesn't even know you exist.
:p

[detlef]

FFXI isn't on its deathbed. The game certainly is not at its peak, but it's living a healthy, active post-retirement life and can continue to do so as long as it watches its sodium intake.

[Ravenmore]

I played for 7 years, unsubbed do to the game becoming way to easy and the attitude of the community going to pot post aby. After a few months away I resubbed to see what SoA had to offer but now I cannot find a single soul who wants to group to do anything at all. I have nearly no SoA stuff completed that requires group play and finding ppl for the most basic of things has become a hassle.

I am still subbed because I got bored running AK and WP in xiv and eso is ways off yet. However with the 2.1 patch in arr they introduced tons of content that is worth playing and frankly really enjoyable. From daily beast quests to extreme mode primals, good king moggle mog xii, ultima weapon hard mode, etc etc etc.

So my days in ffxi may be numbered again cause tbh this game is horrid when all you have is trust npcs and no one living and breathing willing to help or even be friendly. Why pay a monthly sub for a dying game on dead servers with nothing but soloists and dual boxers.

Thing is game went right back to what it was pre aby where you didn't do anything endgame outside your LS. Still bunch of groups and LSs running content but the content went back to it was enough of a pain to where you only did it with people you know. Now there are some shout groups for content but those are so hit or miss that the good players avoid them.

[Elphy]

Well the reason I said it is dying is because even back before aby I never saw world population numbers as low as they currently are. And you are right there are still ls that are active and do stuff.

The problem lies in the fact that these ls do not want new members, esp ones who are behind or beginning. Also the ppl who have returned don't seem to want to stay or join a ls to get caught up, they would rather join an established ls who is running endgame they are outclassed for so they can skip all the in-between and if they cant find it, they merc it. If I could find a good group of ppl that would at least chat it would make things better but these ppl are elusive. I met 1 person after 2 months that was friendly and volunteered to help me on a couple things (but still refused to give me a ls because his ls only wanted "vet players who were already well geared" and when we were out and about I dc'd and couldn't get back on for a bit and when I did I sent a /t and apologized and all I got in return was "np" and that was it, no more replies or even a /wave.

The reason I prefer xiv is because even tho its an "imaginary movie girlfriend" her fans are a whole lot more willing to do that one thing that ffxi players seem to have forgotten to do...be friendly. So say what you will, but no matter what you say after months of being back I have found this community extremely small and clicky with no tolerance for ppl who are not in pure ilvl119 gear, or need some advice here and there. So that "normal girlfriend" has become snotty and self-important and the only reason you do not see it is because you are in rose tinted lenses provided to you by this normal gal who sees you as a Heather, no matter how nice and friendly you are yourself. Here on the forums there are always ppl saying they help everyone and are willing to take on new or returning players in their ls but the truth of the matter is this rarely manifests in game.

It's not the game that's lacking its the ability to enjoy what the game has to offer and the inability for new or returning players to get far enough up to par to do so. So I am currently down to a few hrs a week in xi and don't really see a need to keep my sub going. This game stinks when your completely alone and becomes even worse when it makes you feel like the poor kid living in the dumpy trailer park and in their sister's hand-me-downs that went out of style 20 years ago.

[Ravenmore]

Unfriendly compared to 14s pop. lol. Seen just as much a%%haterly in 14 as WoW, EQ,11, not as much as EVE but that is kinda the selling point Really any MMO has the same amount and depending on how you see the game will dictate how much of it you of the negative people you see. I have played all those games and the reason I'm still with FF11 is it's low bandwidth consumption, It plays well over 4G and even on 3G it is more then playable, low system requirements and still fun to play. When I do finally move on it will only because I personally nolonger enjoy the game.

[Rekin]

I used to for years on end w/o breaks because I had lots of time and made lots of cool friends. I've stopped because all those friends are gone and as someone pointed out earlier the community has generally gotten more venomous but that doesn't matter what matters to me is what brought me to the game in the first place.
Gameplay and job balance.
I've said this in another thread but what crushes this game and any hope I have of returning to it is the grand disparity between the jobs and what content they can do its borderline insane how horribly unbalanced the jobs are to each other and how the devs treat them. When abilities like SAM's new 2hr is Okayed and then even powered up upon release but other jobs get gimped versions of existing abilities or worst then I see no point in returning if effort I put into a job I like means nothing if I can't even use it.
Only recently has pld been even considered remotely useful in recent years for something that isn't fodder but that is far from enough to lure me back because I know the moment players figure out the mechanics it'll be thrown away again to be chewed on by fodder.
Simply put the core mechanics of the game is at its limit, the game requires an overhaul on core mechanics like enmity and jobs in general need a massive nerf in what amount of dt gear they can wear to give reason why a tank job is even worth a glance.

[Afania]

Genuinely curious about this one. I played FFXI from 2004-2013. I moved on to FFXIV a while ago, and I returned with this campaign to check out what all has changed, and it looks like it changed for the worse. 1200 players at prime time, when it used to be 4000? Same clunky UI? Trust NPCs added to make up for the lack of players? It also looks like they've been copying all the best ideas from FFXIV to make the game less grindy.

Why still play?

Hardmode: You cannot use "friends" as a reason

For your information, none of the ideas from FFXIV are "best ideas being copied and used in XI". Those are kinda current gen MMO direction, trying to please the casual and make the game more solo friendly, and moving away from community/forced grouping in EQ era. FFXIV took the idea from other current gen MMO, then SE decided to make XI more accessable to the majority so XI used it too.

And lol@hardmode, it's not hard to answer this question without using friends as a reason.

To answer your question. I value role playing element in an MMORPG a lot, more so than game mechanics/UI and such. This game is also sustainable with 1k players just fine, so 1k players on NA time doesn't affect me.

I play the game for role playing element, that means there must be something that attach me with my avatar. The game can have terrible UI, 2002 graphic, 10 year old game mechanic, as long as I feel I'm part of the game world living as another character, I'd keep playing and ignore rest of the flaws. And vice versa. I believe that's the main reason why many older MMO such as EVE online, SWG(which is dead now, but still has plenty of fans missed it), EQ, Second life are still being loved and played or missed to death.

Most of the newer MMO don't give me such "attached to my avatar living in another world" feel. In GW2 and SWTOR's case it felt like a single player, in FFXIV's case it felt like a LAN game and I can't develope my own playstyle due to lack of merit/talent tree/complexity in gear choices. Tera is same as everyone else with worse story.

FFXI happened to have every aspect that makes role playing game a role playing game. It has a crafting system/economy with depth complexity, unlike most MMO including FFXIV. I can develope my character the way I want, and the game reward me for doing so. For example, in real life if you spend your entire life trying to get better at playing piano, you're piano ability will be better than majority, and you will be remembered as someone really good at playing piano, but every other skill you have will suck if you only practice playing piano. In FFXI if you spend your entire playtime collecting perfect gear set for 1 job, and spend all your free time doing research on how to use all the gear set properly, your job WILL outperform majority. Because it's quite a lot of work to play 1 job really, really well in every situation.

On the other hand, you can choose not to focus on 1 job, but to have above avg 2~3 job, or avg 10 jobs. I find this similar to rl. You can be someone with 1 skill better than everyone else, or to have 10 skills but all on avg level. Further more, several jobs has several different playstyle such as ranged attack SAM or THF, full support COR, melee BRD to explore. This is unlike most MMOs on the market, you get 1 job and 3 talent tree path to develop your character, in the end your character is not very different from everyone else. In FFXI however, your character can be really unique(or really mediocre) after many years of playing. Before FFXIV 2.1 update which changed IL level of some gears, one of my FC member had IL90 on every slot back in Nov. And he isn't very hardcore or anything, just got lucky with coil drops, he had highest IL gears(at that time) on every slot 2 months of playing. In FFXI I can name maybe less than 3 players per server that has perfect gear on every slot for every gear set, and plays a job perfect. And I've played FFXI for 4 years still rarely see a player with perfect gear in every slot, and master every playstyle in every situation for 1 job.

Although you can also have multiple jobs in XIV, it doesn't work quite well IMO. Jobs in XIV is 1 straight path to the top, you're either on the top or working toward the top, and most ppl would rather focus on 1 job and getting it to the top. This is due to the lack of gear complexity and different playstyle. You can't be a full support BRD in XIV, nor WHM with tanking build. Your play style is fixed with that job because every job only has limited gear set/skill set. In the end I feel it's more like WoW minus the talent tree, with 1 job= 1 character and every character on same account.

There are other elements in FFXI that made me attached to the game world, such as having to make friends to progress, instead of click on a button and DING get in with randoms. It may sound funny, but I learned a lot about connection making and the value of it after playing FFXI, which changed my real life too, but it is something pretty personal.

Even today I find FFXI has more sense of immersion than majority of other titles. None of the current gen MMORPG such as XIV/GW2/SWTOR/Tera ever come close to it. Sometimes older doesn't mean worse and newer doesn't mean better, and UI certainly doesn't affect role playing experience a bit, it's something I can get used to quite easily. Old TRPG still has way more depth and complexity than any current-gen RPG. Quite a lot of newer MMO ditched the role playing element and turn the game into easy mode brainless pew pew pew kill boss get loot game, and killed the sense of immersion while doing so.

[Afania]

I played for 7 years, unsubbed do to the game becoming way to easy and the attitude of the community going to pot post aby. After a few months away I resubbed to see what SoA had to offer but now I cannot find a single soul who wants to group to do anything at all. I have nearly no SoA stuff completed that requires group play and finding ppl for the most basic of things has become a hassle.


Ppl who wanted to group still there, you just have to spend the time and the effort to find them. I still make delve boss /shout party often, and often got ppl wanted to come just for fun(even though they all had clears). However, they won't start /shout themselves and just waiting for someone to pop and organize the pt. They also don't trust random PUG because random PUG fails. So if you have 0 friends and just pop and /shout for a delve boss run, nobody would come. That doesn't mean server's dead at all.
Once one person they can trust pop and start making the ally, they'd all come just for fun. This pretty much applies to every content. If you camp in town 24/7 you will get the impression that this game is dead cuz there are no /shout. But in fact, ppl who do the content often do with ls mate/close friend and avoid fail /shout, so you must find your own ls mate/close friend. You also kinda have to pick the right time so ppl don't scatter in every content. 14 is the same as well, before I quit nobody do lower lv dungeons anymore and it takes forever to queue, since everyone and their mother all pretty much WP/coil 24/7. As MMORPG gets bigger and players progress, it's just gonna happen in every title. But this is just how MMORPG goes and what it's about, make friends. If you only want to log on and play for fun right away, may as well play LAN game such as Starcraft 2 lol.

[Renaissance2K]

I feel like characters in other MMOs are disposable. You roll some configuration, take it to cap, get some shiny gear for it, and then say, "Okay, now I'm going to try this as a [second race name here] [second class name here] of [random adjective]," repeating this process ad nauseum until a new expansion gets released.

I'd much rather put all my focus into one character and apply all that leveling and building to one familiar face. I'd much rather be partying with a character named Billy than a character named Billysmule. It makes the community seem like less of a hodgepodge, and it actually adds some weight to each customization and specialization decision one has to make.

I know that last point is probably opening up the floodgates because these forums are filled with posts by people that want to cap every single available merit, equip every "Choose One" piece of equipment, and otherwise make it possible for every character to reach that post-celestial level. Ignoring the fact that some of the most celebrated games of the last generation revolved around the player making a battery of irreversible choices, this community has a tendency to turn "capabilities" into "requirements" whenever possible. I can live with the occasional person calling me a "noob" or an idiot because I'm playing around with some against-the-grain job-specific merit configuration, but I'll very quickly get irritated by the party leader who doesn't invite me because I don't have INT merits. On MNK.

Some day, Square-Enix may change their mind, remove the group caps, and give those posters what they've been asking for. (I pity the Abyssea worms.) In the meantime, I'm enjoying making choices that are still choices and not just expectations.

[Cabalabob]

I came back for the free trial. It's definitely more fun and stable than when I left. But I won't be resubscribing when the free trial is up. It's just not worth the money anymore, especially when it has ffxiv to compete with now. If they did a play both get them both half price deal I would certainly pick up XI again, having it pseudo-free would be a great way to bring some customers back to it. Would be a fun game to play as a chilled out game (never thought I'd say that about XI lol) and perfect for xiv maint times.

[Secondplanet]

You can do build colonisation armor by doing search quests, skirmish armor weaps by joining shout runs who take anyone because skirmish is easy.
You can do Wildskeeper Rieve (using your new skirmish gear), just turn up and get lvl 115 weaps and armors from that.
You can farm Sparks on solo and get lvl 117 armor and weaps from the NPC.
You can do all of the above without a LS or a single friend. And get lvl 117 gear, and meet new people along the way.
:cool:

I have to disagree with this, i was getting my backside chewed out for not having i119 gear for my monk for the event you get it from. I have i117 gear and weapons and was only grabbed as a last moment choice to fill the spot. I have been denied countless parties cause as a monk i don't have Oats. At times this game is unbalanced from the point of if your not there to get it in the first 2-3 weeks your left behind. Even though i was out damaging every other DD in the party and holding hate from Tojil with taking minimum damage compared to others i was blamed by the oats monks for the loss. I've tried Tojil 4 times with groups and all ended in failure and 3 times they tried to shift the blame on my "gimped" gear.

Its a hard game to catch up on and with the unbalance of jobs right now and no incentive to bring out of the loop jobs its not appealing for me to stick around. I think SE should have stuck with the VW formula of every job was needed for procs and there was a fun battle ahead. Its all cutthroat demoralizing peoples armor if it isn't up to LS/Groups high standards and yet they won't do anything to aid you in getting it to help them.

[Ravenmore]

Failed Tojil runs, 9 out of 10 times comes down to bad whms and schs not stunning. They know it but they can't make those people mad since those gimps that keep replying to the shouts are the only ones they can get.(not you with out oats but the gimp schs and whms that ruin runs).

[Afania]

I have to disagree with this, i was getting my backside chewed out for not having i119 gear for my monk for the event you get it from. I have i117 gear and weapons and was only grabbed as a last moment choice to fill the spot. I have been denied countless parties cause as a monk i don't have Oats. At times this game is unbalanced from the point of if your not there to get it in the first 2-3 weeks your left behind. Even though i was out damaging every other DD in the party and holding hate from Tojil with taking minimum damage compared to others i was blamed by the oats monks for the loss. I've tried Tojil 4 times with groups and all ended in failure and 3 times they tried to shift the blame on my "gimped" gear.

Its a hard game to catch up on and with the unbalance of jobs right now and no incentive to bring out of the loop jobs its not appealing for me to stick around. I think SE should have stuck with the VW formula of every job was needed for procs and there was a fun battle ahead. Its all cutthroat demoralizing peoples armor if it isn't up to LS/Groups high standards and yet they won't do anything to aid you in getting it to help them.

To defend for XI's job system, the jobs are "unbalanced" because it's not a WoW clone, in which every job/class must be a tank/DPS/healer and it can only be tank/DPS/healer. Plenty of jobs are still useful in lowman/solo situations, and not just tank/DPS/healer. If you only want to do endgame of course some jobs are left out, that applies to every MMO on the market. As stated in my last post, FFXI is more of a role playing game(where you live another life in game world) and less of a dungeon raid game in which every job must be balanced.

It's not like anything other than BLM BRD PLD WHM gets invite to WP speedrun in XIV.

Ppl "left behind" after 2~3 weeks is common in EVERY MMO. Go play GW2 and see if there's anyone doing dynamic event in lower lv area.

[Demonjustin]

I still play FFXI because partly I have no real choice, I have a GF who wants me to keep playing this so we have something to play together we both like, also, I have a few friends who insist I stay and play, which is why 2 months ago I did not depart as I said I would. Past that, I know this game has potential in some areas they have not flushed out, and I enjoy what they have been doing to change that, things like Trust and Monstrosity as well as Records have shown they still want to make this game great, they are just not sure how to go about it, but are starting to take the proper steps to do it right.

[Afania]

I have to disagree with this, i was getting my backside chewed out for not having i119 gear for my monk for the event you get it from. I have i117 gear and weapons and was only grabbed as a last moment choice to fill the spot. I have been denied countless parties cause as a monk i don't have Oats. At times this game is unbalanced from the point of if your not there to get it in the first 2-3 weeks your left behind. Even though i was out damaging every other DD in the party and holding hate from Tojil with taking minimum damage compared to others i was blamed by the oats monks for the loss. I've tried Tojil 4 times with groups and all ended in failure and 3 times they tried to shift the blame on my "gimped" gear.

Its a hard game to catch up on and with the unbalance of jobs right now and no incentive to bring out of the loop jobs its not appealing for me to stick around. I think SE should have stuck with the VW formula of every job was needed for procs and there was a fun battle ahead. Its all cutthroat demoralizing peoples armor if it isn't up to LS/Groups high standards and yet they won't do anything to aid you in getting it to help them.

Oh and btw, if you're really out damaging every DD in the pt for real and pt still blame you for gimping the output, then your pt suck and you should get a new one(or maybe you're in fact not outdamaging everyone else in the pt). Good party would parse to see who's leeching win with less than 5% of output, and who's doing most of the work.

IL117 weapons are just fine btw, when I made Ceizak 6 NM ally I can usually carry 1~3 leeches with subpar performance and still able to clear bee in 2~3 min. 117 is very close to 119, if your ally can't clear with a group of IL117 DDs, it's either something wrong with stun/buff/heal or DD aren't gearing properly.

Also there's a reason why ppl don't just aid anyone to get win. Most of the ppl with enough experience/gear and performance to get delve win easily already cap out on delve gears. Doing delve boss run is at least 1+hr of pt organization, sometimes even 2hr with all that /shout and afk. Plasm doesn't worth much gil anymore unless you're multi-boxing, so you're just spending hours for almost 0 benefit. Most experienced ppl would rather do newer fight like AA battle, which gives 6M worth of mat a run, a lot more RME items and 119 armor pages which not everyone have atm.

They should have make delve reward much better than it is now. Atm the reward for doing delve is shit after you got clear, for amount of characters you need to get a win. While you can solo AA very easy~normal multi-boxing for much better reward.

[Rekin]

To defend for XI's job system, the jobs are "unbalanced" because it's not a WoW clone, in which every job/class must be a tank/DPS/healer and it can only be tank/DPS/healer. Plenty of jobs are still useful in lowman/solo situations, and not just tank/DPS/healer. If you only want to do endgame of course some jobs are left out, that applies to every MMO on the market. As stated in my last post, FFXI is more of a role playing game(where you live another life in game world) and less of a dungeon raid game in which every job must be balanced.

It's not like anything other than BLM BRD PLD WHM gets invite to WP speedrun in XIV.

Ppl "left behind" after 2~3 weeks is common in EVERY MMO. Go play GW2 and see if there's anyone doing dynamic event in lower lv area.

Having a ridiculous lack of job balance is not an excuse for jobs to be so far behind others and you know it. Whats the point of having extra jobs beyond the core if they don't at least match up to their peers?
If this is suppose to be a roleplaying game then it completely destroys that argument if a player is denied any participation on a job they enjoy. If you're going to use the excuse that they should level another job then its a fallacy in that the person is no longer having fun and thus the point of playing the game is shredded.

[Vivivivi]

FFXI keeps releasing enough new and interesting content to keep me from canceling my sub. I don't play as much as I used to, but I still get really excited for each update and generally spend a few weeks playing every day or every few days.

Monstrosity is a fun, almost relaxing low brain power activity that I enjoy doing while chatting with linkshell friends. Customizing the monster is fun to do also while not having to worry about inventory space.

The removal of the party limit for things like assault and savage has gotten me to dust off my automaton and try running those solo or with a buddy.

Short answer: I still play FFXI because I still have fun playing FFXI.

[Anjou]

I play for the sheer fact that there's more to it than Delve. I finished up collecting my delve boss items, there's no point in going back so now I've decided to do other, more fun things like take full advantage of the double exp and work up to get every set of af armor. It'll be Grindy but hey there's story to watch while I do it!

Either way, shunning someone out of the event that the item they need comes from, just because they do not have said item, I remind people "There is no record to be set, get your friends, then raise your karma and help someone. If you're an elite player, act like it and lend a helping hand"

My views have shifted to more extreme manners, but figuratively I think people who exclude others from the event that yields the required item, because the person does not have the required item, need to simply be dragged out into the street and be beaten with a bat.

[BobbinT]

Since tomorrow, the free trial will end, I'm just gonna post my thought...

For 1 thing, XI does have this unique quality that attracts me still. There's still vast amount of content yet to be done, although I am glad that I have at least finished all storylines including expansions & add-ons in such shorter time, granted that I started this since XIV 1.0 ended.

And I still wish I could continue this, but several factors gonna make me have to postpone subbing this:
1. It is really hard to commit with more than 1 MMO. Right now, I'm dedicating more to XIV since it's my 1st MMO and patch 2.1 has given quite amount of activities to do. Won't gonna have much time on other MMO I'm afraid.
2. XI payment system has left me less desirable to continue. After all this time, they still only give 1 option of payment, and that's monthly payment only. No dual, quarterly, or half year payment options plans. Plus in XIV, I have legacy discount, so XI price feels a bit too steep.
3. Although I do understand the reason behind these limits, space has been always a problem. And the counter-measure to expand via tickets and such were kinda makes it a bit complicating. At least I kinda wished special stuff like R/M/E has their own personal space so it won't gonna cost space and players can keep farming those without the need of managing your spaces. Plus, I still kinda want to avoid using mules just for extra spaces. XIV in a way has given quite right direction for this space issues: Armoire for keeping AFs & Seasonal stuff, retainers with quite big space, the upcoming Vanity system, and not allowing to mule by requiring to send items to friend list only.

All and all, I still won't abandon XI. I love Vana'diel so much. But I don't know when I will come back to this world again. There's so much I want to do both at Vana'diel... and Eorzea. :D

[Zeargi]

Simply put... I'm not finished yet. 2 more jobs to level, and I'm going to finish the rest of the story.