Leaving FFXI…again.

[Kazemusha]

(I'm not sure I posted this in the right forum, if not feel free to move it to the correct location)

I am sad to say that I will be leaving Final Fantasy XI again. My family played FFXI back in 04-07 before moving to World of Warcrap. Then we all decided to play FFXIV together…we all know what happened there. Now we have returned to FFXI with great expectations. But now with the adjustment to the monster levels I am afraid that I will be leaving once again…for where I do not know. I may end up giving up MMORPGs all together.

Putting such high level monsters in low level areas is a terrible mistake. I do understand the game has been around for awhile and there are tons of Lv90s running around desperately looking for places to EXP, but there has to be a better option than this. Either they remove the high Lv monsters and replace them with the appropriate Lv ones, or move the quests into an area where "normal" people can actually complete them.

As an example, today I tried to complete my THF AF2 quest and was dismayed to find IT++ mobs roaming around in Dangruf Wadi. I could not even get to the room where I do the quest without Spectral Jig and the moment it came off, I got 2-shotted. This is an absolute mistake on SquareEnix's part and shows a total lack of concern for lower level players, anyone returning to FFXI or anyone that is just starting out in the game.

I'm sure there are those of you that will scoff at this post, but don't forget you were lower level too once. Hopefully you can remember how difficult it was trying to find help with your AFs. Imagine how tough it will be to get help now that the person's assisting you are actually in danger of being killed themselves…

Hopefully SquareEnix will repair the damage they have caused before it is too late, by moving the monsters, moving the quests or by giving the Lv90s some other area to exp in. Maybe they could "instance" the zone for high level players so they can run around and grind exp without lower Lv players getting pwned.

I have already canceled my content ID, but stand ready to reactivate it should SquareEnix hear my plea. If not…oh well. Sayonara!

…and no, you can't have my gil.

[ShadowHeart]

actually level 90's dont look for places to xp anymore they have their xp and you are totally correct this was an epic fail IMO
fields of valor and the crap u get from chests only boost your mp hp or ws damage etc... wow who cares really ....
who wants notes anyhow lol thanks but that is a fail... putting lvl 90+ mobs in low level af quest ares was stupid

anyone exp'ing is going to use abyssea 3-090 in a day if ur done ur limit breaks people dont want to run pages for notes etc anymore and get crap in chests... maybe i will be proven wrong and u will get some chocbo hat in these chests one day but until then i see epic fail this update.... dynamis was a bit fun currency drops are horrid had th8-9 on mobs and nothing dropped lol only 2 pieces currency in the hour we were in there cleaning house.

npc fellows was a nice addiciton but hell no land gods left now anymore without pops to fight so soon npc's be useless too again :( only thing i havent tried yet is the voidwatch waiting until 3 stones but sounds like abyssea meets dynamis by what i hear.... over all fail update so far by all the chatter

[Anewie]

i agree actually. WTF with adding lv90-100 mobs in low lvl areas.

SE needs to seriously stop actin retarded. This update was so retarded idk wtf. Dynamis up mechcanics were nice but the currency drop rate is absolutley redic. It's really laughable. They mde them HARDER to get, lmao. And they still still suck for the most part. Aegis got a nice buff tho! Very good job on that but why just aegis? Most empyrenas > relics in terms of damage output and usefulness. Ochain still trumps Aegis cause its easy to hit the mdt cap w.o aegis,. Aegis does go farther than that cap but still. Ochain still offers more to PLD than Aegis, which is still.. a shame. Relics deserve to be the absolute best, not even equal. They were always so much harder to get and now they will be even more so.

/laugh @ SE.

Theyre pissing a lot of people off, its kinda sad they are so oblivious to their player base.

It's kinda funny actually. They pissed off monks, relic holders, dynamis shells, low levels and when they didnt piss someone off, they just dissapointed. Looking at Voidwatch so far, the rewards seem retarded. Altho like dynamis, it seems kinda fun so ittle add for some amusement. 95% of the gear released this update was sidegrades for people without af2 and trial weapons.. And the king gear augments.. That is a shame before altana. Like relics, king gear is harder to get than lolabyssea gears, so why add augments to gear that's already much harder to get and not worth the effort, and give them some really stupid augments? Was there a point? Nobody is gonna use that trash...

Why not save memory and give us some real content? Memmory is apparently an issue right? So why waste it on pointless stuff that either makes no sense or offers no worthwhile reward? I will sat the dyna and voidwatch events look fun! Looks differents and thats awesome but thatttle last a week or two unless it starts shelling out some nicer rewards. Like all the old events of ffxi, its pointless to do an event long term or short term consistantly if the gear or rewards aren't worthy.

They need to get it through their heads the gear/mobs/events need to TRUMP abyssea to keep the XI base interested and satisfied. Wasting update space to Add gimp augments to gimp gear thats takes more effort and time to obtain than the "easy"(easier) gear is pointless.

This wasn't an update. It was a fix.

[thefinalrune]

Seeing as how high level players don't party in normal party setups any more I can't help but agree. This decision was horrible. I was under the implication that the new GoV was simply going to be more FoV in dungeon areas. Shame they didn't do it that way.

[Greatguardian]

Singles are harder to get, 100s are a ton easier to get. Overall, currency is way easier to get if you know what you're doing. Not sure where any serious Monk is pissed either. I'm not counting the kiddies who both don't have a black belt 10 years into to game and somehow still think the new system is worse for them. I don't think anyone's actually done more than a Tier 1 Voidwatch either, so it's impossible to tell what the real rewards are right now.

As for augments to old gear, some of them are pretty boss last I saw. A STR+5 AGI+5 Crit Hit Damage+5 Byakko's Haidate is pretty much the bees knees for Blade: Hi. I believe Ebody gets STP and maybe critical hit rate too.

I'll be the first to faceplant at the absurd mob stats in new Dynamis-Xarc, but some of the complaints I see are straight up unfounded. As for "I'm quitting now" posts, obligatory "This isn't Livejournal.com".

[RAIST]

I too don't understand why they added the higher level mobs...period. Don't care WHERE they put them, it's more a question of WHY they added them in the first place. Everyone I've talked to is like... we just gonna use abby to hit 95 anyway--swap out our WAR's and do a cleave. Even as the xp/kill drops with the higher levels....1250 a chest adds up fast.

Even if there is justification for adding them now, there were much better places to put them. There are areas in the past that are already level 60+ as soon as you step foot in them. These would have been far better places to put 85+ mobs in.

Fail.... EPIC fail on this aspect of the update.

[Greatguardian]

I too don't understand why they added the higher level mobs...period. Don't care WHERE they put them, it's more a question of WHY they added them in the first place. Everyone I've talked to is like... we just gonna use abby to hit 95 anyway--swap out our WAR's and do a cleave. Even as the xp/kill drops with the higher levels....1250 a chest adds up fast.

Even if there is justification for adding them now, there were much better places to put them. There are areas in the past that are already level 60+ as soon as you step foot in them. These would have been far better places to put 85+ mobs in.

Fail.... EPIC fail on this aspect of the update.

As far as I can tell, their justification is simply the fact that they do not wish to require the purchase of optional content in order to level up. They have always included some sort of EXP mobs for people who do not own Abyssea. These new mobs simply allow 75+ players to use "FoV 2.0" in non-Abyssea areas.

Even if 99% of the population uses Abyssea, it would be irresponsible from their standpoint to strand the other 1%.

[Starcade]

It's probably best that way, bluntly. Square-Enix lost all it's regard for low-level players about 15 months ago when they realized they weren't going to get any more non-RMT low-level players.

[Starcade]

As far as I can tell, their justification is simply the fact that they do not wish to require the purchase of optional content in order to level up. They have always included some sort of EXP mobs for people who do not own Abyssea. These new mobs simply allow 75+ players to use "FoV 2.0" in non-Abyssea areas.

Even if 99% of the population uses Abyssea, it would be irresponsible from their standpoint to strand the other 1%.

And yet they still do strand them, GG.

I mean, you can level up, but where's the gear going to be if they don't have Abyssea?

I have to seriously restrain myself from telling people who don't have Abyssea that they really aren't playing FFXI anymore.

[ShadowHeart]

Singles are harder to get, 100s are a ton easier to get. Overall, currency is way easier to get if you know what you're doing.

tips and tricks always welcome (pm with any if u feel kind enough) but wiki is still limited as for myself i have only had chance to trio with friends for an hour today but did down 2 nms and get orbs presumed to be used to spawn NMs somewhere inside but we didnt venture too far we just stuck head in to see what it was like

[Greatguardian]

There's no PM function but I can post it. Can only speak for Xarcabard, but the Demon NMs were lottery spawns from the normal Demons in the Tower area and seemed to drop 100 pieces at an incredibly high rate (100% or near 100%). Reports on BG seem to indicate that a similar system is in place in the other zones as well. Pre-existing NMs simply lotto spawn and drop a 100. If you camp one or two of them while someone snipes the TE NMs (these are fixed location timed spawn NMs, and very easy to solo) you can make a fair amount of bank on Armor and 100s.

[Octaviane]

I just helped a friend with THF AF head piece in Dangruf Wadi. I checked the Grounds Tome and was surprised to see Page 5 listed as level 86-90 mobs and tons of them of all different kinds crawling all over the place. I got 3 shotted by a Natty Gibbon when spectral jig wore ( I should know better and /nin for snk invis or use oils powders). :) No biggie. We got the quest done np, but, I can see a few unsuspecting souls running through some of the dungeon areas and winding up faceplant on the floor and going wtf!. CN immediately came to mind and Garlaige Citadel. Some people still do actually go to some of them. I think most all Maat job AF is via Dungeons and yes, there are still people around who get them.

Right now, I am thinking this was not a good move at all. Cape Teriggan and VoS are a cakewalk by comparison, as are Ro'Maeve and Ru'Aun Gardens, although lower level mobs. You still get decent xp/merits per FoV Page if that's what you want to do as a break from Abyssea or for skill-ups/fun/or, you don't have Abyssea. So why the GoV areas I have no clue really, especially, as Raist said there are level 60 + areas in the past that they could have used.

As far as Dynamis is concerned, I am taking a wait and see stance. Gonna try it with some friends and see what happens.

[Kiroh]

I have to seriously restrain myself from telling people who don't have Abyssea that they really aren't playing FFXI anymore.

I think that those players who DO have abyssea aren't playing FFXI anymore.

Face it, you guys are playing Abyssea Fantasy Online.

[Starcade]

I think that those players who DO have abyssea aren't playing FFXI anymore.

Face it, you guys are playing Abyssea Fantasy Online.

Essentially, they are -- and "updates" like this seem to confirm that.

[Yarly]

i agree actually. WTF with adding lv90-100 mobs in low lvl areas.

...

Theyre pissing a lot of people off, its kinda sad they are so oblivious to their player base.



Actually this was SE's answer TO the playerbase. Look at how many people complained about people leveling in abyssea bla bla bla. Their solution was to add high level mobs everywhere so people would exp outside of abyssea.

Everyone bitched about it for months. SE gives us the solution and the same people are complaining that it's still stupid.

[Panthera]

Dangruf Wadi does have some Goblins that agro. However, Zeruhn Mines are still safe, because the mobs just don't agro at all to any level. Wise thinking on SE's part.

I think SE had a good idea making use of old areas that don't get much use. Zeruhn is particularly useful because you don't have to go far at all from a city to get there!

However, I think SE should institute a new "check," that tells a player when a mob is much much higher level. like "Dangerously Tough" or some such. One should always check the levels of surrounding mobs, but just saying "IT" could mean anything.

[Akujima]

Why not save memory and give us some real content? Memmory is apparently an issue right? So why waste it on pointless stuff that either makes no sense or offers no worthwhile reward?

Yea like another expansion. Abyssea was a step in the totally wrong direction... Overpowered Gear that takes peanuts to obtain = All other Gear goes to the landfill.

PS. Love your posts Anewie

[Akujima]

Everyone bitched about it for months. SE gives us the solution and the same people are complaining that it's still stupid.

You think people are going to EXP outside of Abyssea? Why would they EXP the old merit-style again when in Abyss you can make 85-90 in a few hours?

Adding crap options when there is already better choices, is pointless.

[Runespider]

I find it really hilarious that many complained about this in FFXIV...and now they do it in FFXI lol

[slakyak]

PLs are going to become need-to-have instead of nice-to-have then?

Im not sure how this works as I've not been on since the update (work, arg). Is this in every zone? All of a sudden I'm not sure I want to be soloing my lvl 4 SMN in South Gustaberg if I'm going to trip over a lvl 90 mob!!

[Ravenmore]

Slakyak its just dungeons so your safe out in the non-dungeon starter areas.

[Mirage]

Huh, so these new mobs aren't just roaming around low level areas, but they are aggressive too?

[Zyeriis]

Why stop there? Let them loose in West Ronfaure! Add some directly in town while they're at it.

"Hmm, I think I'll try this 'ffxi' game out."
*Does all the character creation crap*
*Logs in*
*Dies*
*Quits instantly*

Cut out the middleman, make em quit before wasting their time (you know, or tell them about abyssea from the start). /stupidity and /ridiculous and /nonsense and /randomramblings. Anyway, why anyone would do "Fie..*eraser marks*..Grounds of Valor: Dungeon Edition" is beyond me when we still have abyssea.

[Kraggy]

Look at how many people complained about people leveling in abyssea bla bla bla. Their solution was to add high level mobs everywhere so people would exp outside of abyssea.

Everyone bitched about it for months. SE gives us the solution and the same people are complaining that it's still stupid.
A non sequiter!

It isn't the fact that SE DID make changes as a result of some players asking for non-Aby ways to get XP, it's HOW SE did it. The Wadi case for THF AF, repeated elsewhere like the Citadel etc. is purely crass.

Look at how SE added mobs when the cap was raised from 75: they put them in places like the upper floors of the Prommies, the NON-AGGROING birds outside the Safehold, etc.

IOW, they put them where they were easily reached but didn't totally destroy 'on levels' going through those areas for their own stuff. Putting AGGROING EP-to-90 mobs anywhere near where 50s needs to go for AF, as just one example, is simply crass.

[Kazemusha]

I am still of the opinion that this was all a huge mistake. It would have been better if they had "instanced" these mobs. Maybe let the high levels get some sort of buff at the book that allows them to see and engage these new monsters. Without the buff all the lower level players would see and have to deal with would be the normal lower level monsters. That way all the lower level people could still make use of the zone as it was originally intended. That would satisfy both parties wouldn't it?

I hope to god that someone at SquareEnix reads this and takes it into consideration. I would love nothing more than to reactivate my content ID and keep playing as usual. But the way things are that's not going to happen. They have to actually start to care about low level players again. They've forgotten what it's like to have to start over from scratch.

In my opinion all the programmers should delete their characters and start from the beginning to relive the experience they've created. …and I don't mean get Lv30 then blast to Lv90 in a week's time… I mean actually play the game. Level up normally in a party, do the quests, the rank missions, the Zilart Missions, CoPs, Aht Urghan missions. Far too many people are just plowing straight through to endgame. It's why no one seems to care about lower Lv players anymore. They probably just view all that content as obsolete.

Well, I don't. Sure, I want to get to endgame…but not if it means skipping over the entire game itself. What the hell is the point of playing something if you're just gonna skip right over 99% of it's content? You miss out on all the wonderful cutscenes, storyline and exploring the world.

To anyone who takes the time to read my wall o'text I really appreciate it…

*Edit
I am not leveling a caster class, just so I can cast Sneak/Invis on myself and I can't rightly afford Oils or Powders. You forget lower Lv players don't always have loads of gil on hand to afford consumables. I do have plans to Lv NIN but was gonna do that once my THF hit the suicide run at LB3 and could afford to do some gobbierbag quests and farm all those Yag necklaces.

I plan on having…

THF90 BST90 SAM90 (MNK90 maybe) NIN50 DNC50 WAR50 DRG50 RNG50, but that's a long ways off still. All I have so far is THF51 BST50 DNC50 WAR25 MNK25.

I really wanna get my AFs and missions done…

[Airget]

I remember back when I did my AF quest in Castle Zvahl Baileys for WAR. At the time war was my only job and I believe I was at lv 50, I don't entirely remember how I even got the key but I do recall I had to travel solo through each coffer spawn area in order to find the chest. Traversing through EP-IT mobs, dropping down each point and running through the eyes/demons using sneak pots and prism powders to check each location. When I finally found it I had to time it just right when the demons weren't looking so I could drop invis and warp out with an instant warp scroll. I managed to get out safely though I did suffer a good deal of damage. Overall though it was a fun challenge to be a part of and it's kind of silly to quit over a slight difficulty change to mobs in an area.
First of all you are relying on spectral jig to get around where if you have just leveled a mage sub you could use sneak/invis with it's increased duration. As far as I know the only sight mobs in that zone are the goblins and everything else is sneak so as long as you keep sneak up you're golden. Also if you were on THF you should be able to last longer if you had gotten aggro then just pop 2hr and flee away to safety the only magic casting jobs are the goblins and the worms. But you shouldn't be aggroing the worms since they don't seem to be aggressive however they do link.

It's kind of amusing though people are getting in such a huff over old zones that maybe had 5 people in it weekly. They are trying to revitalize all the zones give it some life since they have realized that adding low level content won't really work when a person's main goal is to reach 90. So if that's the case then the next best option would be to try and utilize every single zone for high levels to play in and allow players with options of where to fight.

Seriously though for anyone complaining about the difficulty of getting past mobs you really need to read how things were before, Sneak/invis spell was unreliable and at times could wear off after it was casted, spectral jig didn't exist and people mainly relied on silent oils and prism powders to get around. Also if you had looked at the GoV book you would see that they do give an option for 5 tabs to have S/I casted on you which I would imagine is a potent one so as long as you have a way of using invisible on yourself you should have no fear of getting aggro.

-shrugs- I dunno I just find his complaint for leaving as nonsense, oh no THF quest is a tad harder now I actually have to pay attention to my surroundings what ever will I do, you know what this is toooo hard I quit.

-Before I post this I"m gonna mimic the path for the quest and see how much "tougher" it's become-
Step 1: Obtain S/I for 5 tabs
Step 2: Reach E-12 with no aggro but notice a DC worm I drop sneak and invis but they don't seem to aggro.
Step 3: I reach E-7 and notice and EM rarab by the ??? however the T gobs don't seem to come near here. I drop S/I yet the rabbit doesn't aggro.
Step4: I arrive at the last ??? in F-4 with no aggro. I run around the DC lizards yet they don't aggro.

Alright wow that was tough. So what exactly killed you, I"m guessing it's the opo-opo or possibly the goblins, Though based on the route you can take you should not even run into the opo opo, as for the goblins they are only at the middle ??? and don't even go near the ???.

So the moral of this story is you were to cheap to use /nin and invest in sneak invisible tools, you would rather sub dnc then complain about it being to hard from using an unreliable version of sneak and invis. So honestly if you want to quit over such a trivial matter then cya. If you were really a person who played from the past you would have had no problem dealing with getting past tough mobs with sneak invis.

[Ravenmore]

Thing is most put off missions till they were 75 any way except rank 5 and that was always with the help of least one 75. Only 2 level cap missions and a 75 rdm, blu or mnk could solo the shadow lord. Even with the CoP missions people put off till 75. They still didn't wess with mob level outside of dungeons. The whole af thing, really you get snk and inv from nin at 50 that last longer then jig or white magic snk/inv. Not like its any differnt then getting the rest of your af gear in other high level areas.

You could get sky access in a day. ToAU had a really low mission progression to get to its endgame. Sea by far took the longest and was the best story line so didn't seem like it took that long but with a decent static could be done in month.
So only thing I have left to say is can I have you stuff.

[Tiberius]

I'm sorry that you died. But it sounds like you're more upset at the concept of Abyssea leveling removing the necessity of traditional parties than your unfortunate demise at the hands of a revamped enemy. The game has changed too much for your tastes, and it seems there's no more reason to stick around.

[Dijana]

SE was answering to the playerbase with these changes. We complained about abyssea taking over, they added alternatives. We complained about old gear being worthless, they added upgrades, and so on. Problem is, they cut corners. Any other mmo I can think of, even some crappy wow clone F2P ones...I cant think of a single one that didnt add actual new areas to xp in when they raised a lvl cap (most just add new ares period that I can think of whether they raise the cap or not).

They didnt just take old mobs out and replace them with higher lvl ones. Im sure we've all heard of the ps2 limitations and that is supposedly why they cant create new expansions and instead keep throwing reskinned zones at us. Was that the case since WotG as well? Ive been playing this game for quite a few years, and I dont see myself leaving any time soon, but I certainly enjoy it -much less- than I used to. In fact I originally left WoW because I was sick of the 'kill x amount of mobs for this quest' being the entire game and came to 11..but in the last couple months I went back to WoW because they actually did more than just replace a couple mobs and dumb everything down to the extreme and make it devoid of any real plot. No I dont want ffxi to become WoW, but the last few updates have been increasingly disappointing imo. Maybe SE should take a look at some other games for pointers.

Just saying.

[Dazusu]

I am sad to say that I will be leaving Final Fantasy XI again.

Why do people feel the need to announce to the world that they've quit. Are we meant to care? Leave some Feedback for SE, but leave the rest of us out of it.

[Wenceslao]

I agree, SE had made a mistake, but in the other hand, we were complaining too much for not being able to have stuffs to do outside abyss, maybe SE could help the players making the mobs not to aggro...

[Greatguardian]

Or maybe players can get a clue, bring Sneak/Invis, and remember to /Check monsters they don't recognize.

[Glamdring]

I like the higher level mobs, I want to get he hell out of Aby exceptfor getting AF3 +2. But the placement of the 90+ mobs is a pure sign of cranial-rectal inversion on the part of someone. The OP is absolutely right, you need a way to get to end-game levels that doesn't involve a 60 level leech or playing the entire game with a babysitter.

[Mirage]

Good thing it seems like they are going to change it now.

[Kwate]

Old FFXI is dead, period times have changed. I understand holding on to the old school, but FFXI isn't the big dog on the block anymore (regarding MMO's). If you don't like the new style (to each his own) then this isn't the game for you.

[Heady]

Leaving FFXI…again.

Goodbye, make sure you let the door hit you on the way out. This way you'll remember to stay gone.

[Chronofantasy]

New zones? Where? I think if SE wanted to add higher lvl mobs so that people can skill up and what not outside of abyssea, or lvl their NPC, they should just release a few new zones with these high lvl mobs. Maybe open up a few new dungeon zones, and place GoV in that.

[Apocalypse]

expect more of this in near future when lvl 95 - 99 content releasse :p

[Tsukino_Kaji]

…and no, you can't have my gil.[/FONT]Can I have you gear then?

[Lukikii]

I like the idea of being able to exp outside of Abyssea. I tried a few GoV pages yesterday and it was nice getting exp while I was farming other items. Not every level 90 wants to solely exp in Abyssea, so it's nice to have other options.

Also, as a low level character, the use of sneak/invis was one of the first things I learned when I was venturing out after level 10. It's not a new concept.

[Auriga]

If only SE would take the players requests seriously.


Step 1 - surf the forums, start making a list of whats going on/whats being said

Step 2 - take the above to a meeting with the dev team & discuss a logical/reasonable order
of things that can be done with a "how fast" factor time line.

Step 3 - post the results of the meeting on THIS forum an get to work on it.

Step 4 = Progress!

HOWEVER!!
The reality of whats been going on.. from my pov.

Step 1 - Data from a team responsible for putting together a list for the
dev team arrives in the meeting around 9am or w/e.

Step 2 - Everyone talks about their day/week thus far for 15-45min cuz it's "cool".

Step 3 - Finally the meeting gets to the point of discussing "work" which involves discussion
about things that'd get people promoted or a raise potentially.. thus new content gets talked
about an maybe a few minor player requested changes.. (because someone at this meeting
actually took the time to personally surf this forum! or so let us pray..) some talk about things
that're broken to be fixed that're already on schedule.

Step 4 - The meeting by this point realizes it's spent too much time doing "stuff" an disbands
to return to their desks to resume returning personal calls (mostly) an job required calls. Then
filing their assortment of required paperwork in order to keep their jobs before they go home.

Step 5 - Above steps = repeated on a daily basis while no one gives a crap about what we've
been talking about for YEARS.

The reality of things is scarier than the things we dream of.. such is life.. such are the
elitest trolls who'll flame me to death for even suggesting this.

This is where I like to dream of the monty python scene where they talk about burning more
witches an instead of burning "witches" I'd like to insert "elitests & certain types of trolls"
you know who you are -.-

[Ravenmore]

Really some people. They added the high level mobs to dungeons, you know those places you level snyced past when that came out. Before abyssea no one with half a brain used them anymore to exp. Long repops better spots in other zones. Not just 37 birds but you could stay out of the dungeons. Dungeons were nightmeres if you had more then one party show up. Hey no one remembers any way, old ffxi was perfect the way it was huh.

[Auriga]

Attitude of the world = who knows who cares.. w/e..

Such a sad state of things.. give me a hour a day to fix this game.. I would.

[Greatguardian]

And people call me arrogant.

[Akujima]

Hey noe(sp?) remembers any way old ffxi was perfect the way it was huh.

I had no complaints about "old school" FFXI, and I didn't touch Salvage, Einherjar or most TAoU stuff. I was basically a casual player that did CoP, Sky, ZM, Dynamis and Nyzul Isle every once in awhile. I had no complaints about how the game was Pre-Abyssea.

Of course it wasn't "Perfect" (whatever that word means anyways), but it was damn near close to being one of the most innovative MMO's ever created. Every MMO has it's issues, and if SE's answer to those issues was to add Abyssea, it's kind of like shoving everything in the closet, saying that you cleaned up the mess.

Eventually the doors of that closet are going to burst open, and they won't be able to hide it anymore. We can see this already happening with their answer to endgame 75 equipment. Crappy augments that aren't worthwhile for anyone with maxed out Abyssea Gear, is pretty much taking that mess and creating a new closet for that mess to go into.

[Greatguardian]

"Old School" and "ToAU content" shouldn't be allowed in the same post. Christ. You have absolutely no idea what people are talking about if that's what you think about when people talk about "Old FFXI".

Don't even bring Sky up either. It's been adjusted a half dozen times since "Old FFXI", and it's a ton easier now.

Hint for the post-2007 players: True Old School FFXI was a lot like what you guys keep asking for. And it was ass. The grass only looks greener for those who didn't have to live through it.

[Ravenmore]

The amount of testing that goes into every time they change something is huge. Cause one little thing that they might not have even touch could go wrong. Like when SA worked from the front of the mob, nothing in that update had anything to do SA so they didn't test it. Now you could why didn't they. To test every part of the game you did not change adds cost and delay and no way you could test everything and still get it out the door in time for a update. While this is not always the case, 2 hander update comes to mind were players and mobs got the same buff then a couple of weeks later they tuned it down.

They can't add every idea that pops up on here.Some are won't work cause the game code wouldn't let it.Others make no sense at all or are really low on cost to reward like the wyvern color change. If that were put in over giving new content most of the player base would have a cow. The devs are working in the limits of what they have. I wouldn't want to be in thier spot, working around PS2 limits, higher ups demanding cost savings, moving team members FF14. Now if you want to be mad at some one for not getting new zones, more content be mad at the CEO and higher up of SE not the devs least the dev team is trying.

One more thing to keep in mind not every player even reads these threads let alone reply to them. Most that do come here is to check out the dev tracker or update notes.

[Ravenmore]

Aku you never merited on weapons in sky or stats have you. That was old school FF11. That what people used to merit on before ToAU came out or fighting goblins in Bibiki bay. Back then 10k hour was getting great exp. Back then if you didn't have sky you missed out on most of the exp parties.

[Panthera]

"May 2011 - Additional Version Updates (05/11/2011)..."

Kazemusha QQ more please! No, i really mean that! they listen to you.

[Mirage]

That additional version update will fix most of the problems with the current one, I think. Looking forwards to it.

[Tsukino_Kaji]

If only SE would take the players requests seriously.Except they take all of the wrong ones seriously and turn it into a game for complainers.

[PizzaTheHut]

Goodbye, make sure you let the door hit you on the way out. This way you'll remember to stay gone.

Yes because encouraging a player to stay gone is gonna breathe new life into the game and extend its service...

[Greatguardian]

Yes because encouraging a player to stay gone is gonna breathe new life into the game and extend its service...

Yup, because so many other games on the market die after 10 years when they are older and have fewer players than FFXI.

[Kazemusha]

If no one ever complains then nothing ever gets fixed. It's one of the biggest problems with our society. If you got a hand full of people complaining about a situation and 90% of the rest of the people just sit around going "Meh…whatever…I'll just "deal with it" the way it is…" then the people at the top making all the decisions for us can do whatever they want. I guess they figure…if the problem was serious enough more people would have complained. This applies equally to real life as it does ingame.

If something is wrong, then you should /shout about it as loud as you can. Don't just sit there and be complacent like a bunch of sheep. I'm not a game programmer or designer, so logistically there is nothing much I can do to "repair the game" myself. Complaining and/or canceling my subscription is the only thing that can get anything done. Trust me…if less people were so complacent and SquareEnix started to hemorrhage subscriptions due to some poorly implemented or ill thought out patch they would fix it right away.

Unfortunately being complacent is something people have learned to accept. It makes them more docile and easier to manage and control. If you cannot see that then you are already a sheep.

[Greatguardian]

I thought you quit.

Protip: The best "feedback" you can give is with the power of the purse. If you dislike the game, quit paying for it.

[Anewie]

Actually this was SE's answer TO the playerbase. Look at how many people complained about people leveling in abyssea bla bla bla. Their solution was to add high level mobs everywhere so people would exp outside of abyssea.

Everyone bitched about it for months. SE gives us the solution and the same people are complaining that it's still stupid.

Lol. Oh there is so much wrong with this post. I'm sorry but you're so off the mark its not even funny.

NO ONE was complaining about exp. Maybe starcade, but that speaks for itself. Nobody was complaining about experience points once DOM OP abys zones came out, ok? Now, were people asking for alternate exp ways outside of abyssea, sure! but only a very small fraction and they didn't have abyssea...

Okay so we got that so many updates ago. If you honestly think this update was a result of people demanding SO MANY MORE WAYS TO EXP, idk what to say to you other than. Get out.

And I wanna those reciepts btw. Show me the posts on any forum where people are complaining and asking for new ways to exp. I gotta see this cause Im calling BS ALERT!

EDIT: re-read it and Maybe you're not saying people were asking for new ways to exp and that they were jst asking for.. SE to make alternate ways of exping so people wont exp in abyssea? Again, pointless is pointless. The only people who wanna exp outside abyssea are people who like to solo/duo/trio or don't have abyssea and they dont make up a large enough fraction of the game to inconvienance an entire group of people: lower levels..

[Greatguardian]

Lol. Oh there is so much wrong with this post. I'm sorry but you're so off the mark its not even funny.

One, NO ONE was complaining about exp. Maybe starcade, but that speaks for itself. Nobody was complaining about experience points once DOM OP abys zones came out, ok? Now, were people asking for alternate exp ways outside of abyssea, sure but only a very small fraction and they didn't have abyssea...

Okay so we got that so many updates ago. If you honestly think this update was a result of people demanding SO MANY MORE WAYS TO EXP, idk what to say to you other than. Get out.

And I wanna those reciepts btw. Show me the posts on any forum where people are complaining and asking for new ways to exp. I gotta see this cause Im calling BS ALERT!

It was a long time before you started posting here but they definitely exist. There were a few 2,000+ post threads in General Discussion about how much Abyssea EXP was ruining the game, how it needed to be restricted to 75+, and how players needed more EXP mobs outside Abyssea so that they can "stop leeching and start learning their jobs the right way."

Give me a few and I'll look for them and edit the links into here. Keep in mind at least 1,500 posts worth of threads eventually got nuked by the GMs so there was way more than I can even link here now.

Edit: Found a couple of them. Enjoy~

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/764-Raise-the-minimum-allowable-job-level-in-Abyssea-from-30-to-70

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/3903-No-more-easy-leveling-91-99

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/2171-Lower-The-Minimum-Level-Required-To-Enter-Abyssea-from-30-1

I think the rest either got nuked or locked early. I know Krystal made like 3-4 threads which were all nuked, one or two of which had a decent number of replies. It was pretty big at the time.

[Anewie]

It was a long time before you started posting here but they definitely exist. There were a few 2,000+ post threads in General Discussion about how much Abyssea EXP was ruining the game, how it needed to be restricted to 75+, and how players needed more EXP mobs outside Abyssea so that they can "stop leeching and start learning their jobs the right way."

Again, I know I prolly seem mega bitchy and I apologize, but.. What did this update solve? Adding lvl90-100 mobs in low lvl areas isnt stopping ppl from leeching, Leeching is x100 easier and more relaxing than making a party the normal way. If they leech, do you really think they gonna see this update and think "OMG! WE CAN EXP THE NORMAL WAY NOW! Totally awesome!", no.

I'm not saying you're wrong, i'm saying its completley pointless. A better fix would simply be, restrict abyssea leeching lvl to 75. Making more alternate ways of exp that resemble the old and much more incovienant way of gaining levels is not going to attract people who enjoy leeching their jobs to 90.

Honestly, who knows what SE is thinking. Their logic is just o.o! Its funny and silly as it is redic.

idkmybffjill.

[Greatguardian]

Oh I never said the new mobs were an awesome idea =P. But if enough players rant and rave and demand retarded things, we're going to get fairly retarded updates. I was just confirming that the players here did, in fact, rant and rave and demand retarded things which would line up with this update.

I'm also of the opinion, personally, that their "Exp outside Abyssea more" feedback had a tiny bit to do with Kings being updated to require Kindred Seals (which you can only get from level 50-80 mobs outside Abyssea).

[Anewie]

Take myself for example. I'm not a bad player and I enjoy abyssea leeching. That's what abyssea is for. Relax and play casually, and still get exp/gear. I have zero interest in exping outside abyssea because i can relax more, get better exp, and potentially get seals/gear at the same time. Takes very little effort come compared to before. I can actually relax too. Does that mean I dont wanna do elite/hardcore stuff or learn my jobs, No but when I wanna relax, abyssea is the place and event to do that.

Making more ways to exp outside of abyssea that are harder AND at the same time offer much less reward: I ask myself how this would benefit me. Simple answer is, it doesnt...

Doing something just because its harder and thought and focus provoking is not the same as striving for and being the best. A person who just does things because its hard is a retard. A person who strives to be the best and build themselves up to that goal in time, in hopes of a better reward is a good player. Idk about the next guy, but I can manage exping in abyssea and then capping/raising my skills outside of abyssea, and thats more convienant for me.


Maybe its just me though.

[Anewie]

whats really odd though, SE keeps adding these new things that take more time/effort and the rewards pale in comparison to abyssea gear. It's kinda broken system atm. Abyssea so easy and rewarding, its really hard to top.

voidwatch,new exp ways, augments on king/sky gear/adjustments to dynamis to make relics easier, are all content that is just not worth the effort compared to stuff u can get via abyssea. SE needs to accepts this and move along rather than trying to fix stuff that was broken by abyssea, because abyssea is too hard to top atm.

[Greatguardian]

It's not just you.

Unfortunately, I'd have to wish you luck convincing the masses here of that.

[Octaviane]

Or maybe players can get a clue, bring Sneak/Invis, and remember to /Check monsters they don't recognize.

Agreed. SE has since moved or changed the location of these higher level mobs. I was able to assist with 2 af runs in dungeons (Fei'Yin and Garlaige Citadel) tonight with no problems, plus we got a Garlaige Coffer key for another. Coffer mobs confirmed to be downstairs and East through the tunnel to Wraith, bombs and Magic Jugs. Might be an area to the West as well, I didn't check. Put snk and invis up before dropping, TONS of VT mobs downstairs before you get to the little tunnel. :)

Also, IF you need to farm Lizard eggs for the THF af quest in Dangruf Wadi, the Steam Lizards have been relocated close to the Secret tunnel.

[Auriga]

@ Greatguardian - Stop trollbaiting & being elitest.

This topic was about alot of things, mostly the high lvl mobs being in places people
don't appreciate. Stick to the topic, I agree with the concept here they don't belong
in low level areas. Move along now..

[Tsukino_Kaji]

augments on king...What is this? I have no idea what you're talking about.

[Greatguardian]

@ Greatguardian - Stop trollbaiting & being elitest.

This topic was about alot of things, mostly the high lvl mobs being in places people
don't appreciate. Stick to the topic, I agree with the concept here they don't belong
in low level areas. Move along now..

You like that word, huh?

No. I'm so sorry people are used to being able to walk wherever the heck they want without mobs batting an eye, but this is nothing to complain about. Sneak and Invis are not hard. They are not expensive. They are not restrictive. Any job in the game can use them. Checking mobs you don't recognize is also plain not hard. It's a fundamental skill people really ought to have by now. Christ.

Next thing you know, people will complain about lacking fulltime Auto-Reraise.

@Kaji, you can augment Ebody and non-Sky Abjuration gear.

[Secondplanet]

i have to agree with most, these high level mobs in low level places isn't right at all, and for the some that have to drop invis to get the item the quest requires is now a race against time to open/check/etc. before you get 1/2shotted. They should have easily made the higher level mobs in a abyssea like area were you check a spacial rift and get sent to the same place just with different mobs.

[Tsukino_Kaji]

@Kaji, you can augment Ebody and non-Sky Abjuration gear.No, no, no. WTF is this "king" term? I've never heard it.

[Greatguardian]

No, no, no. WTF is this "king" term? I've never heard it.

Serious question? Kings. Ground kings. Land kings. HQ HNMs. Nidhogg, Aspidochelone, and King Behemoth.

[Tsukino_Kaji]

No one calls them that where I come from. Just HQ on rare ocassions and the gear is all stated individualy.

[Greatguardian]

No one calls them that where I come from. Just HQ on rare ocassions and the gear is all stated individualy.

Server quirks I guess. A friend of mine who played on Ifrit used to tell me they'd say "jz" or "jiz" instead of "Zone" because it "stood for Jumping Zone". It sounded like a very unfortunate plan.

[RAIST]

lol....say "jiz" in my shell and everyone's mind drops to the gutter for an hour.

damn near choked on my pizza wen I read that GG.

[Miiyo]

Man! I'm glad i never walked to jeuno @ level 20 and was threatened by high level... oh shit! That did happen! Sucking less might help you out alot. This is not the first time you've had to dodge mobs that can kill you right? The level # is besides the point. Dying to a higher mob is dying to a higher mob period.

[CrAZYVIC]

Hmm restric the minimiun lv for in abbysea not is the solution and i hated the horrible party system we did haved in the past.

The people is free play the game like they want

The fix for lv up in this game was maked with grounds of valor. You can get lv 75 in 5 days, solo/duo/trio. Not is necesary a 6 people anymore. This mean you can get a job lv 90 in 1 week. Not is necesary leech anymore in abbysea for lv up a job fast.

At lv 75 a dedicated player with good atmas and having diferent gear set ups, can help in a party. A newbie without exp using the job even at lv 90 will be uselles.

Yes there some problems with Grounds of valor, they put high lv mobs in wrong places and this can be dificult finish some quest.

But really there Oils and Prism, the duration the jigs not is enough when you have run in places with high lv mobs. You need make gils at low lv ? go and farm ladybugs and black tiger fangs

Another good point i want say. "You dont need any more super good gear at low lvs" with grounds of valor you will be lving very quick. Just get the normal gear when you can. The AF 1 items the 90% are uselles and the other 10% is for complete a determined set, at lv 90.

In my opinion if you dont like lv up in a legit way 5 - 7 days lv 90 and you will quit just because you cant finish a quest. The reason you did not bought oil/prism and "Know how walk in ffxi" There is the door k?.

SE fixed the lv up thing. Take or leave the LV Fix. Everyone is free play the game like they want.

I taked the Fix, because i dont like leech my jobs in abbysea never i will leech a job no matter what. And i respect the people do it. I dont care the way the people play the game just myselft.

[Aequis]

Many of the fundamental gameplay basics a lot of us veteran players (talking six years plus) had to learn simply don't get learned today. We probably take it for granted, but all of those experiences and deaths due to carelessness and lacklustre parties actually taught us a lot. One funny thought is that Dispel to new Red Mages is almost useless. I mean, in what instance do they ever have to use it except as a !! trigger?

Now new players have to "struggle" to lv30, then it's easy street all the way to lv90 without any thought. Having to do limit break at 70 is now quite possibly an "inconvenience", hah. There really is not much impetus or even incentive to think beyond standing around idly, getting exp out of a box or talking to an NPC every five minutes.

However, I agree that the placing of the new mobs seems very haphazard and I wonder if SE actually test their content before releasing it. They need a kind of "player liaison" who will feed back to them, or they actually need to play the game again before designing content for it. It would have been far more prudent of them to add higher GoV targets to the traditional "danger" zones like Uleguerand Range, western side of Attohwa Chasm, Den of Rancor, Gustav Tunnel (no-one does anything here anymore) and maybe even Ifrit's Cauldron.

So I agree with both sides somewhat. But to summarise for new people:

Don't be lazy and don't rely on Spectral Jig unless you're willing to deal with its shortcoming: it doesn't last long.

Always carry a reraise scroll (they cost almost no Conquest Points now), Silent oils and Prism powders.

Read up on your target and have a look at what you're likely to encounter on the way there.

Prepare yourself an escape route for any dangerous thing you do (Warp scroll, cudgel, Teleport ring and so on).

Think about what you're doing, and investigate if there's a better way you can do it.

They are all basic things that will help you, no matter what you do.

[Silverleaf]

I see people who got jobs to 75 the "Old Way" and eventually to 90 whether in abyssea or not, and they can do their jobs insanely well, were i see people who leeched to 90 using the same job, in abyssea they are decent, but take them out of abyssea where there's no atmas, or cruor buffs or crap load of temp items, I've seen lvl 90 jobs struggling to kill stuff i was soloing at 65.

So if you think whining about new mobs being in a spot you don't like because it makes you actually think and have to be more cautious it falls on deaf ears, and i know it's not just me, any player pre-abyssea and even before lvl cap was raised can remember this stuff.

[Bumbeen]

some of those staging points were a bitch....
Definitely not even close to being something worth quitting over though hahahaha

[RAIST]

@ Aequis and Silverleaf... well said, good stuff.

Always amuses me when I see the 90 WHM's get all excited when they first learn Hexa Strike. Have to hold my tongue....was a lot more meaningful when you learned it closer to level 70.......

[Greatguardian]

How so? WHMs never melee'd in EXP parties either way. Hexa Strike was always a matter of going out and skilling up in a skillup party. You can do those at level 70 or level 90 and it would make absolutely no difference.

As for learning fundamental skills and the difference in leveling techniques, please just stop. It's been rehashed 5 billion times over already. All evidence is anecdotal, and steeped in player bias. You could say "Hey I know amazing players who leveled the right way and crap players who leveled in Abyssea", whereas I can say that my Abyssea-leeched RDM90 is better than every other "Normal" RDM75+ I've ever met (and I'd almost be telling the truth. Exclude the 5% of my server that has an IQ greater than potato and it becomes 100% true).

With that said, I really do have no pity for people who don't carry basic Invis, Sneak, and Reraise tools on them. That is an absolutely fundamental skill in FFXI. Though honestly, I don't feel that Abyssea impacted the amount of people who knew this skill at all. Before Abyssea, 90% of the random people I'd meet would just say "Oh no I'm too poor, I have no gil for such expensive items ^_^".

Adding new monster patterns was perfect because it prevented people from staying complacent. Anyone who had been playing for more than 6 months pretty much knew already what aggro'd and what didn't at 75. There was never any need to be cautious, or look anything up. The /check feature was practically unused. Now? We have to stay on our toes a bit more. I don't think that's a bad thing at all.

[RAIST]

It's not like you can't skill up club on another job--especailly in this age of abyssea and needing that skilled for proc. Now, if WHM is your ONLY job that can effectively use a club, that's a different story, although, you can learn hexa strike with little effort solo in Cape Teriggan. But if you have jobs with a decent club skill rank...it goes much faster elsewhere.

I think I may have attended one conventional "skill-up" party in my time getting my first handful of jobs to 75. Never even did the conventional merit party thing either. I skilled up alternate weapons on various jobs when going on coffer key/Genkai/sky/sea farming runs, Besieged--or just plain soloing. Got 3 mage/3 melee jobs to 75 with all their primary/secondary weapons capped without having to form/join groups to do it--wasn't all that hard to do. Capped staff, dagger, and scythe for 75 BLM while ON 75 BLM ffs. Later went out and topped off club on 75 WHM solo...wasn't that hard to do. It's more a matter of someone wanting to do it I guess.

[Greatguardian]

It's not like you can't skill up club on another job--especailly in this age of abyssea and needing that skilled for proc. Now, if WHM is your ONLY job that can effectively use a club, that's a different story, although, you can learn hexa strike with little effort solo in Cape Teriggan. But if you have jobs with a decent club skill rank...it goes much faster elsewhere.

I think I may have attended one conventional "skill-up" party in my time getting my first handful of jobs to 75. Never even did the conventional merit party thing either. I skilled up alternate weapons on various jobs when going on coffer key/Genkai/sky/sea farming runs, Besieged--or just plain soloing. Got 3 mage/3 melee jobs to 75 with all their primary/secondary weapons capped without having to form/join groups to do it--wasn't all that hard to do. Capped staff, dagger, and scythe for 75 BLM while ON 75 BLM ffs. Later went out and topped off club on 75 WHM solo...wasn't that hard to do. It's more a matter of someone wanting to do it I guess.

All plausible, but I still fail to see the main point of your original post. What makes someone skilling up (in a party, or solo, or whatnot) and getting Hexa Strike at 90 different from someone doing the exact same thing at 70? It's only a few hours difference in EXP between the two levels.

Unless you literally stopped every single level 1-75 and skilled all your weapons to cap before continuing, there is absolutely no difference between someone hitting 75 then skilling off weapons to cap pre-Abyssea and someone hitting 90 then skilling off weapons to cap post-Abyssea. You hit the level cap, then you skill up to cap. There is absolutely nothing special about level 75 any more. Just like there was nothing special about level 60 after the previous terminal caps were raised.

[RAIST]

because most of those are people who raced through WHM via abyssea simply because they could and have never even seen what a WHM is truly capable of, and always pointed/laughed at them when they did melee. I often got mocked for it on my mages...but when I fired off chunks of damage it usually shut them up. Granted, they can't do what a SAM or DRG can do, but they can do a helluva lot considering they are poking things with a toothpick.

Who knows... maybe it will open things up and we'll see another resurgance of clubbing again... would be nice.

[Alkalinehoe]

because most of those are people who raced through WHM via abyssea simply because they could and have never even seen what a WHM is truly capable of, and always pointed/laughed at them when they did melee. I often got mocked for it on my mages...but when I fired off chunks of damage it usually shut them up. Granted, they can't do what a SAM or DRG can do, but they can do a helluva lot considering they are poking things with a toothpick.

Who knows... maybe it will open things up and we'll see another resurgance of clubbing again... would be nice.
lol you remind me of the SAMs at meripos who refused to use PA. Not you in particular, the type of player you described. Just goes to show there were idiots who didn't know what jobs were, "capable of," before the level cap increase.

[Ravenmore]

They need to add baby seals to the game, that would make a great mob to skill up club on. ^^