Stompa
08-16-2024, 05:36 PM
A little while ago, a conservative friend of mine pointed out that conservatism, the political ideology, was never about Big Business and Warmongering, etc. Conservatism meant "to protect the smallest and weakest, and to guard the small and particular things in the world." He went on to say that the most beautiful and joyful things in life, are often the smallest things, the overlooked tiny things, things that get steamrollered and obliterated by the relentless wheels of progress. He said that conservatives sought to protect those little precious things in life.
I immediately thought of FFXI, as I always do, and how, instead of just wheels of progress grinding the small and particular things into the dirt, in FFXI it is also the Gear-Wheel, which spins constantly and crushes all the nice gear from the old days.
Obviously, I think of my 25 twenty-five Magian Weapons that are level 99, and how I built all of them pre-ILVL and pre-Trust, in fact I built them during the level 80~95 level cap days, then finished them when the level cap went to 99. I built a whole array of weapons, magic-defense, PDT, damage, multi-hit, and I built all of them so that I could be useful for my Linkshell.
Now all of those Magian99s are the world's most stylish Door-Stops, they stop my Mog-House door blowing open. I do some carpentry in real-life, and I could make a door-stop in an hour or so. These Magian99 door-stops took me years, soloing /dnc for heals, waiting for weather to change, lol. A simple wooden door-stop would have been much easier!
But Magians were old, and were left at 99, without ILVL. They were superceded by Bayld weapons and Lolbuscade weapons, at level 119, Sparks weapons level 117, none of which took the time to build that Magian99s took. Also the new weapons don't have the nuance and sophistication and variety that Magians had.
To be honest, I would prefer to have level 75 cap Magians, and level 75 cap Player Characters. So this isn't a thread about wanting ILVL paths for my Magians. I just use them as an example of how the WoW-like Gear Wheel grinds everything that is old, into the dirt.
I feel that ILVL, and indeed Player Characters going above level 75, takes all the danger and excitement out of Old Areas Vana'diel. The maps feel dead, because the mobs are Too-Weak or Easy-Prey. Notorious Monsters that were so exciting to battle, are now a sad joke at level 99 / ILVL. And why would you fight those NMs anyway, when their treasure has been crushed by the relentless trundling Gear Wheel.
Those old areas are so magical, they have seen so many bold adventures and acts of heroism.
In the level 75 game, I had the most amazing adventures, and I got so many memories. As Lil said in the Atomos eating Lil cutscene, paraphrased from old memory, "Every moment we've shared, even the most mundane, I shall treasure for all my days."
The "most mundane" part is important. The best memories are not the posing in town with an Afterglow, the really precious memories are the adventurers you met, often in the most mundane and unlikely places, and how those encounters lit up a new friendship.
I remember fishing on the Selbina Ferry in 2004 two-thousand-four, on my White Mage, and we docked in Selbina, there were a dozen dead players on the dockside. they had been killed by SeaHorror and then the Ferry dumped them on the dock. I cast Raise on all of them, it took me absolutely ages, equipping my Dark Staff and resting MP between each corpse. I made friends with one of those people I Raised, and we're still friends today, 20 twenty years later.
In 2005, two-thousand-five, I was soloing merits on my Bst75, in Den Of Rancor, and a Japanese Bst75 asked if I would duo a Tonbery NM with him, using charmed Mousses. We both wore NQ BST AF, and we were armed with only a Light Staff each. I used that Light Staff every day, for like eight 8 years, I loved that Light Staff, but the relentless trundling Gear Wheel crushed that too, in the Lvl 99 ILVL119 era.
Anyway that NM was a maniac, Chainspell Flood, and we duo'd it for hours, kiting it all over the place, looking for more Mousses to throw at it. Anyway, finally we won, both on Red HP, both traumatised, and the NM dropped the Wand that this Japanese guy wanted. I passed it, he got it, we became Best Friends in real-life, complete with visiting each other in Japan.
I remember the small and particular, the precious memories. Escorting new players to Jeuno through Jugner Forest, watch out for the Walking Trees! Very exciting. I remember how the Tele-Taxi people had cute macros with funny comments during <Casting Spell>. I remember farming Blazer Beetles for weeks because a new player wanted to craft with beetle jaws but couldn't afford it. He was so happy when I sent him stacks of beetle jaws, another friend for life.
The level 75 game was in technicolour, it was vibrant and alive. Even the most mundane XP Party could have really funny moments, and interesting conversations with players from all corners of Earth. By contrast, the level 99 and ILVL game is monochrome, black/white, its just number-crunching without the excitement and adventures of the old game.
A memory of me casting Teleport-Mea to get the party out of danger, in an XP Party in the Jungle, when the puller said in /partychat "Start casting Teleport, I've got five goblins chasing me!" These are golden memories, more precious than the most fancy Afterglow Weapon or the biggest Damage Numbers.
The small and the particular, the precious memories, I wish that new players in the current era could have those same adventures that we had in the old era. Just like Atomos eating all the memories in WOTG, I think the over-powered modern game has cast aside the excitement and adventure and friendships that made FFXI so rich in memories.
:cool:
I immediately thought of FFXI, as I always do, and how, instead of just wheels of progress grinding the small and particular things into the dirt, in FFXI it is also the Gear-Wheel, which spins constantly and crushes all the nice gear from the old days.
Obviously, I think of my 25 twenty-five Magian Weapons that are level 99, and how I built all of them pre-ILVL and pre-Trust, in fact I built them during the level 80~95 level cap days, then finished them when the level cap went to 99. I built a whole array of weapons, magic-defense, PDT, damage, multi-hit, and I built all of them so that I could be useful for my Linkshell.
Now all of those Magian99s are the world's most stylish Door-Stops, they stop my Mog-House door blowing open. I do some carpentry in real-life, and I could make a door-stop in an hour or so. These Magian99 door-stops took me years, soloing /dnc for heals, waiting for weather to change, lol. A simple wooden door-stop would have been much easier!
But Magians were old, and were left at 99, without ILVL. They were superceded by Bayld weapons and Lolbuscade weapons, at level 119, Sparks weapons level 117, none of which took the time to build that Magian99s took. Also the new weapons don't have the nuance and sophistication and variety that Magians had.
To be honest, I would prefer to have level 75 cap Magians, and level 75 cap Player Characters. So this isn't a thread about wanting ILVL paths for my Magians. I just use them as an example of how the WoW-like Gear Wheel grinds everything that is old, into the dirt.
I feel that ILVL, and indeed Player Characters going above level 75, takes all the danger and excitement out of Old Areas Vana'diel. The maps feel dead, because the mobs are Too-Weak or Easy-Prey. Notorious Monsters that were so exciting to battle, are now a sad joke at level 99 / ILVL. And why would you fight those NMs anyway, when their treasure has been crushed by the relentless trundling Gear Wheel.
Those old areas are so magical, they have seen so many bold adventures and acts of heroism.
In the level 75 game, I had the most amazing adventures, and I got so many memories. As Lil said in the Atomos eating Lil cutscene, paraphrased from old memory, "Every moment we've shared, even the most mundane, I shall treasure for all my days."
The "most mundane" part is important. The best memories are not the posing in town with an Afterglow, the really precious memories are the adventurers you met, often in the most mundane and unlikely places, and how those encounters lit up a new friendship.
I remember fishing on the Selbina Ferry in 2004 two-thousand-four, on my White Mage, and we docked in Selbina, there were a dozen dead players on the dockside. they had been killed by SeaHorror and then the Ferry dumped them on the dock. I cast Raise on all of them, it took me absolutely ages, equipping my Dark Staff and resting MP between each corpse. I made friends with one of those people I Raised, and we're still friends today, 20 twenty years later.
In 2005, two-thousand-five, I was soloing merits on my Bst75, in Den Of Rancor, and a Japanese Bst75 asked if I would duo a Tonbery NM with him, using charmed Mousses. We both wore NQ BST AF, and we were armed with only a Light Staff each. I used that Light Staff every day, for like eight 8 years, I loved that Light Staff, but the relentless trundling Gear Wheel crushed that too, in the Lvl 99 ILVL119 era.
Anyway that NM was a maniac, Chainspell Flood, and we duo'd it for hours, kiting it all over the place, looking for more Mousses to throw at it. Anyway, finally we won, both on Red HP, both traumatised, and the NM dropped the Wand that this Japanese guy wanted. I passed it, he got it, we became Best Friends in real-life, complete with visiting each other in Japan.
I remember the small and particular, the precious memories. Escorting new players to Jeuno through Jugner Forest, watch out for the Walking Trees! Very exciting. I remember how the Tele-Taxi people had cute macros with funny comments during <Casting Spell>. I remember farming Blazer Beetles for weeks because a new player wanted to craft with beetle jaws but couldn't afford it. He was so happy when I sent him stacks of beetle jaws, another friend for life.
The level 75 game was in technicolour, it was vibrant and alive. Even the most mundane XP Party could have really funny moments, and interesting conversations with players from all corners of Earth. By contrast, the level 99 and ILVL game is monochrome, black/white, its just number-crunching without the excitement and adventures of the old game.
A memory of me casting Teleport-Mea to get the party out of danger, in an XP Party in the Jungle, when the puller said in /partychat "Start casting Teleport, I've got five goblins chasing me!" These are golden memories, more precious than the most fancy Afterglow Weapon or the biggest Damage Numbers.
The small and the particular, the precious memories, I wish that new players in the current era could have those same adventures that we had in the old era. Just like Atomos eating all the memories in WOTG, I think the over-powered modern game has cast aside the excitement and adventure and friendships that made FFXI so rich in memories.
:cool: