FFXI VS. other MMOs

FFXI is my favorite because it was my first (well aside from Neverwinter Nights way back in the day), and was the one I cut my teeth on. I measure every other MMO by it, and probably always will. I wouldn't say everything else is bad, just that nothing else appeals to me as FFXI still does, at the moment.

I hate to say it, but FFXI is probably the worst MMO in existence. Many, and I do mean many, other MMO have bountyful amounts of armors, while FFXI has always been "one option only". I've played UO, where you just kill monsters and find new weapons and armor. I've played Aion, where you just kill monsters and find armor and weapons. I've played WoW, where you kill monsters and find armor and weapons. FFXI seem to be the only one where you can't find decent armors, but have to go buy the single armor worth using from AH, or quest it. No options given.

Of course that is if you think a game is about getting items. If you are playing this game and daily killing Hydra for the fight, then I can accept FFXI possibly being a good game.

And if anyone wonders why I'm still playing, it is probably 25% me liking avatars (not available in other games), 25% my friends I've gotten, 25% the time I've invested already and 25% waiting on seeing when SE will make this MMO into something playable. (Abyssea did a fine job. I'd call FFXI in beta stage now, almost ready for a release)

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Originally Posted by Malamasala

FFXI seem to be the only one where you can't find decent armors, but have to go buy the single armor worth using from AH, or quest it.

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AH gear sucks, and has sucked for quiet some time. Quests generally give crap rewards, much of which you could buy from the AH or vendors. The very best gear comes from drops from NMs, HNMs, etc.

I really don't think making powerful gear drop from mobs is a good idea. I agree that Abyssea was nice and one of my favorite expansions (CoP was my favorite.) Making this game easier has had negative impacts on the game some which SE is correcting at the moment.

FFXI is in its own class. It's always been for people who work hard to achieve what they have I've spoken about this on various pages but the FFXI players experience now is way easier then it ever was and this is slowly making similar in difficultly to other MMORPG's.

For instance even Al'Taieu and Limbus was a privilege to earn that took weeks~months to obtain now it can be obtained in 2 days.

Salvage sets and Relics required months~years to complete and now there is some alternatives that are even better then them that can be obtained within weeks.

Leveling is also easier now then it was years ago its possible to max a job within 2-3 days as to where it originally took 1~3+ months to people who dedicated at least 4+ hours a day and where capable of finding *good* parties.

On other notes there was frustration of losing tons of exp to people who zoned monsters and accidentally MPK'd other exp parties, or dying many times in difficult CoP missions many times over with huge exp and even gil loss in some cases. The fact Raise only restored 25% of the exp lost from dying back then (if my memory serves correctly) also made it much harder.

NM's and HNM's also take less amounts of time now there's few if any fights that ever last over a hour anymore.

While these buffs and nerfs have made FFXI enjoyable for many people but it has also taken away from what made FFXI what it was.

Edit: While I'm not against all of the changes I'm just stating facts.

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Originally Posted by Malamasala

I hate to say it, but FFXI is probably the worst MMO in existence. Many, and I do mean many, other MMO have bountyful amounts of armors, while FFXI has always been "one option only". I've played UO, where you just kill monsters and find new weapons and armor. I've played Aion, where you just kill monsters and find armor and weapons. I've played WoW, where you kill monsters and find armor and weapons. FFXI seem to be the only one where you can't find decent armors, but have to go buy the single armor worth using from AH, or quest it. No options given.

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Where do you think that armor from the AH comes from? You have to earn it, not just kill some random monster. An MMORPG does not need butt loads of armor to be good, it needs a good selection of quality armor, and that is what FFXI has.

I like the inventory lists in FFXI. I have played other MMOs and those bags always irritate me. I like the lists better.

I would say the greatest weakness of ffXi v. others has nothing to do with the game itself but with the registration process/customer service aspect of the game. Let's face it SE and PlayOnline have the same customer service philosophy of a soviet bureaucrat. It was more difficult to get a account going for may wife than it was to buy a house. Now they figured registration maintenance needs to be done same time as billing cycle on the weekend. Checking forums there are lots of peeps who can't play due to some tech problem but no one at SE to talk to. Other games make registration process much easier. I am atonished frankly how game gets any new players given how hard SE and PlalyOnline make it to give them your money.

The registration process definitely stinks. Far and away the worst registration process. Even to post on these forums we have to register twice, our FFXI account, or SE account, then go to account management and link the two together.... pretty unnecessary. And there's no intuitive link to the forums from playonline website, or from POL viewer.

Still, I think its undeniable that FFXI has some weird sort of staying power that many other MMOs lack. The story is the best of any MMO, and probably the best of many single player games too. And no other race is as endearing as tarutaru. ^^

I just like to see Final Fantasy XI a little more streamlined. In other games you can quest and get experience, gear, money. In 11 for the most part you do these separately.

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Originally Posted by HFX7686

I like the inventory lists in FFXI. I have played other MMOs and those bags always irritate me. I like the lists better.

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huh?

If FFXI was WoW inventory I could easy bank each job bag and take it out ( FFXI would need a lot more bags/slots since wow is only 3 roles at max per chr)

it would take like 3 seconds to job change if FFXI was bag not list, list is annoying it takes too long to look and find gear for job change.