The Decline of FFXI: Forums, Gameplay and Nostalgia

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Originally Posted by Karbuncle

That is simply just not true. At least not about anyone who has posted here.

We don't want all the gear hardcores have with no effort, We want content that we can access when we want. We want challenges from FFXI that we can experience. We don't want Systems like Kings where the challenge is the claim, not the fight. Or content where if you lose claim, You don't get to participate or enjoy what that content had to offer until the next window, so long as it doesn't interfere with work, School, or your sleep schedule.

We want content that while challenging, difficult, and enjoyable, is accessible by everyone. Events like Einherjar, While challenging, was still available to all players to participate in when their schedule allowed, not when its window was up.

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That's why I wrote the second half of my post. I don't think it's a good idea to put in events that are so exclusive as to stop certain players from doing it or events that give consolation prizes that won't quite be good as the hardcore player gear. Casuals will still complain that that gear isn't good enough. Make events that are accessible to everyone.

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Originally Posted by HFX7686

That's why I wrote the second half of my post. I don't think it's a good idea to put in events that are so exclusive as to stop certain players from doing it or events that give consolation prizes that won't quite be good as the hardcore player gear. Casuals will still complain that that gear isn't good enough. Make events that are accessible to everyone.

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Yah. Its a half motto of mine, but i believe people will always complain.

Which is why i also advocate a balance implied. However when it comes to rewards, there also needs to be balance in those.

its a very difficult job.

Don't know about decline...I came back after a 3 year break and I love the new direction. Just wish I had more time now a days to do more. Oh well. And yeah, i'd like more casual content, but its not really an issue for me. I just plan a Saturday or Sunday to be hardcore lol. Trying to get caladbolg is proving to be a little painful, but I think I'm just gonna drop the crests for a penitenance +2 (for my drk that is)

Edit: in the last month I've had 4 friends come back to the game...and they love the new game direction as well.

I remember always being someone who would dispute that the game was heading down a rocky path. I went around digging up numbers of subscriptions and searching up investor memos to prove it.

But to be honest I give the game a couple more years and it'll be a memory. In television the moves that SE are making to FFXI are considered "Jumping the Shark" .. it's a last ditch effort to avoid cancellation.

The things that made Final Fantasy ... Final Fantasy ... are slowly disappearing. It takes no effort to do anything now. I realized this when I returned and soloed BST from 75-90 outside of Abyssea and then King B was up and I soloed him with 4 pets. It wasn't fun or exciting I was sending tells to people basically saying "are you kidding me"

The biggest broken part of this game is that it takes no effort to do anything so building social links in the game are no longer there. The ties that keep people playing years are gone.

The path of a rare "new player" is one who joins the game and is level 11 in around 15 mins ( confused and getting bored ) finds a player to encourage them to dunes where they join a party ( 95% chance it has a Power Level ).. where they are level 20+ in an hour or two.. ( no concept of their job ) .. they ask around to get help with sub job and repeat the cycle.. ( still little understanding of the game and already in their 20s ) ... they head to Jeuno where they catch a Qufim party .. ( they stay there til 30+ usually ).. they see all these people talking about Abyssea so now they are getting annoyed because they want to be 90 so they shout and shout to be a key person because people told them that's what you do now a days..

They get a spot and reach 90 in about a week of starting the game... they have little to no understanding of the game.. good chance they built no social ties in the game.. they are now 90 in a job they aren't sure how to play in a game they are extremely new to... they get frustrated because no one will help them on the servers where they are 300-1500 players average during a day to do every aspect of the game so they unsubscribe and say screw it.

there's no walls to slow down these players and SE obviously wants them to level faster. I think their target now is to get atleast 1 month subscription out of people before they get bored and quit or try to get them to forget they are sub'ed and get the roll over subscriptions :)

sadly there's no game anymore. It's a broken social network with no real substance anymore. I was so excited about the upcoming world mergers but a lot of the players are quitting when it happens because they are bored with the ease of the game. There's no challenge anymore. And to those that think there is.. that's great that this is a challenge but it's literally one gold medal and a red helmet away from being the special olympics of mmorpg

The difficulty is certainly there. It's just buried under 200k brews. Just imagine though that you had to fight Rani or Shinryu without a brew. Yeah, that would be a plenty difficult fight. It was just the brew that made it easy mode.

Now we are in a position where they are making NEW NMs outside of abyssea where you can't just pop a brew and easy button something. As long as they make some of the new monsters equivalent to Rani or Shinryu then if anything we'll have players screaming the opposite that things are too hard. I expect some of these 6 man new BCNM fights to be plenty difficult (or course this is all meaningless if there aren't ample rewards behind them).

Seen more people quit over the grind back in the day then today. If the exp outside of abyssea was around 6 years ago this game would be better off. SE won't up and turn off the servers they already made back thier investment if anything SE will keep merging servers. Then if it gets to the point were profit from the last 2 or 3 servers no longer supports the cost to keep them up then they will pull the plug.

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Originally Posted by Yopop

The path of a rare "new player" is one who joins the game and is level 11 in around 15 mins ( confused and getting bored ) finds a player to encourage them to dunes where they join a party ( 95% chance it has a Power Level ).. where they are level 20+ in an hour or two.. ( no concept of their job ) .. they ask around to get help with sub job and repeat the cycle.. ( still little understanding of the game and already in their 20s ) ... they head to Jeuno where they catch a Qufim party .. ( they stay there til 30+ usually ).. they see all these people talking about Abyssea so now they are getting annoyed because they want to be 90 so they shout and shout to be a key person because people told them that's what you do now a days..

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You're trolling. I'm a reroller (so I actually have a lot of knowledge a total noob wouldn't) and it took me more than a month to get to 66. Getting to 90 in a week is not going to be possible for a utter noob who logs in not knowing anyone. I mean maybe it is statistically possible that 1 in 10,000 noobs will meet a bunch of level 90s when they first start who want nothing more than to steamroll them to 90, but yeah, unlikely.

I have a linkshell that is people I've known for quite awhile who have helped me out a lot. I even found a mog tablet on my first day back and got a lot of free exp from it. But, don't be ridiculous. No utter noobs are getting to 90 in a week.

Hell, I can't even figure out my way into Abyssea even WITH friends and at level 66 - let alone keywhoring on my first job to 30.

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Originally Posted by Olor

Hell, I can't even figure out my way into Abyssea even WITH friends and at level 66 - let alone keywhoring on my first job to 30.

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I hope you're at least stockpiling stones for when you do decide to venture into Abyssea.

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Originally Posted by Aliekber

I hope you're at least stockpiling stones for when you do decide to venture into Abyssea.

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Oh yeah, I picked up the first x-pac as soon as I hit 30. I have something like 70 stones already saved up.

Karbuncle's and Raenryong's posts pretty much sum everything up, and those arguing against them are quite delusional if you ask me.

We want accessible content, which King HNMs are not. I also don't believe that needing 18+ people for an event makes it accessible, (75 cap Dynamis, Einherjar, ZNM at a certain stage, Sea at a certain stage, etc).

Yeah, cheap brews are pretty lol and make gear that would otherwise be rare rather common (Zelus Tiara, Twilight gear, Epona's ring). Other than that I don't see where the "QQ ABYSSEA SO EASY" is coming from in heroes zones, sure some mobs are easy, but most are challenging enough to have you second guessing every other pop. As for Visions and Scars, low level content is always easier.