FFXI dying or in a dry spell?

[Zagen]

Needless to say, all that crap is easy for him to say im sure as he has probally been around for ages and did everything when it was shiney and new and easy to accomplish and has built a steady group of linkmates, something thats not the easiest thing to do if your new or recently returned. Plus he probally has enough gil to fund what he wants and needs or has the crour oor means to make alot fast.

So basically he is a troll and its best to ignore him.

This game HAS been slowing down, moreso than usual it seems. Heck my xiv server is busier than my xi server, and thats sayin something. It's not at all new player or returner friendly and thats being reflected in the ppl who start out and quit. We had tons of ppl who joined our ls that were new, we were helping out and still just up and quit out of frustration. The new producer needs to address these issues first and foremost because the numbers do seem to be dwindling. Ive noticed a loss of nearly 1k players online during peak times lately, and thats huge.

Its easy for ppl like Zagen to talk but I can understand your dilemma

It's easy for me to say because I have done it on extra characters... Guess what I do have gil but at the time all of that gil was for me not my mule so that doesn't apply.

Here's the secret since you can't figure it out.

1. Start the game, pick your race, and pick your job (the first one you pick doesn't matter as the items they give you are trival at best)

2. Switch to MNK, why? Because it's easy to pound on monsters and you don't actually ever need a weapon for 1-30, don't get me wrong weapons and armor help but not much at this point.

3. Level up to 10-14. Make sure to use Fields of Valor or Grounds of Valor pages as you'll get bonus EXP from completing them and once a game day you'll get gil and tabs. I recommend Grounds of Valor personally as it scales up the EXP/Gil/Tabs.

4. Make your way to Gusgen Mines (Page 1 from the book btw). If there aren't people actually there leveling (odd but happens) then head back outside to highlands and grind away until 16-18 range then go back inside as you can solo the skeletons now, and beat up skeletons until 26. You could move further down to hit 30 but it becomes sketchy on safety at that point. Once you're 26 you can shift over to several different locations, check the FoV/GoV links to see what works out.

5. Now that you're level 30 you'll notice a few things: You're gimp but that's ok at this point pimp doesn't matter. You have no sub job (find the quests (hint: search "sub job quest") on the site I linked for FoV/GoV and you'll be on your way. Here's the cool thing now that you're level 30 MNK you can go do all of the advanced job quests that you want, with the exception of SCH (sort of) read up on the jobs from that site (gamerescape) and you're good to go.

6. Let's say your goal is making gil fast then your 2 jobs to unlock and focus on are Dancer and Beastmaster. Repeat steps 1-4 on both of those jobs.

7. Now that you have Dancer and Beastmaster at 30 you can leech them in Abyssea. It'll take you a few hours to hit 50 level cap. If you got Dancer to 50 and don't plan to level it to 99 at some point you can forget about that job as it is ready for a sub job and can focus on Beastmaster.

8. Again refer to gamerescape or any good resource you prefer for your information. With info in hand so to speak complete the limit break quests and return to leeching in Abyssea. Note: thanks to a lot of changes SE has made excluding the final limit break quest you can now solo all of them.

9. Congratulations you now have a level BST95/DNC47 which is more than enough to start farming Dynamis. Here's the catch you need to do missions to gain access to Dynamis as all you've done up to this point is level up jobs. Again refer to whatever source for info you want. Also you'll have to skill up axe which is fairly easy to do especially on BST since you can make your pets do all the tanking allowing you not to worry about keeping your HP up.

10. Congratulations you've gotten access to Dynamis and can begin making 1mil+ gil 2hours out of every day.

So ya it's easy for me to talk not because I have an established character or friends but because the game is seriously that easy to play if you aren't lazy and spend time researching instead of crying.

[Nawesemo]

It's easy for me to say because I have done it on extra characters... Guess what I do have gil but at the time all of that gil was for me not my mule so that doesn't apply.

Here's the secret since you can't figure it out.

1. Start the game, pick your race, and pick your job (the first one you pick doesn't matter as the items they give you are trival at best)

2. Switch to MNK, why? Because it's easy to pound on monsters and you don't actually ever need a weapon for 1-30, don't get me wrong weapons and armor help but not much at this point.

3. Level up to 10-14. Make sure to use Fields of Valor or Grounds of Valor pages as you'll get bonus EXP from completing them and once a game day you'll get gil and tabs. I recommend Grounds of Valor personally as it scales up the EXP/Gil/Tabs.

4. Make your way to Gusgen Mines (Page 1 from the book btw). If there aren't people actually there leveling (odd but happens) then head back outside to highlands and grind away until 16-18 range then go back inside as you can solo the skeletons now, and beat up skeletons until 26. You could move further down to hit 30 but it becomes sketchy on safety at that point. Once you're 26 you can shift over to several different locations, check the FoV/GoV links to see what works out.

5. Now that you're level 30 you'll notice a few things: You're gimp but that's ok at this point pimp doesn't matter. You have no sub job (find the quests (hint: search "sub job quest") on the site I linked for FoV/GoV and you'll be on your way. Here's the cool thing now that you're level 30 MNK you can go do all of the advanced job quests that you want, with the exception of SCH (sort of) read up on the jobs from that site (gamerescape) and you're good to go.

6. Let's say your goal is making gil fast then your 2 jobs to unlock and focus on are Dancer and Beastmaster. Repeat steps 1-4 on both of those jobs.

7. Now that you have Dancer and Beastmaster at 30 you can leech them in Abyssea. It'll take you a few hours to hit 50 level cap. If you got Dancer to 50 and don't plan to level it to 99 at some point you can forget about that job as it is ready for a sub job and can focus on Beastmaster.

8. Again refer to gamerescape or any good resource you prefer for your information. With info in hand so to speak complete the limit break quests and return to leeching in Abyssea. Note: thanks to a lot of changes SE has made excluding the final limit break quest you can now solo all of them.

9. Congratulations you now have a level BST95/DNC47 which is more than enough to start farming Dynamis. Here's the catch you need to do missions to gain access to Dynamis as all you've done up to this point is level up jobs. Again refer to whatever source for info you want. Also you'll have to skill up axe which is fairly easy to do especially on BST since you can make your pets do all the tanking allowing you not to worry about keeping your HP up.

10. Congratulations you've gotten access to Dynamis and can begin making 1mil+ gil 2hours out of every day.

So ya it's easy for me to talk not because I have an established character or friends but because the game is seriously that easy to play if you aren't lazy and spend time researching instead of crying.

/clap (also, don't expect people to be interested in your stuff, if your not interested in theirs..... AND. When we were unsure we were afraid and timid it took a lil inititive, bravery even to take that first step and start shouting, gathering , orginizing..... Its not something everyone does well, but just like sex the more you do it the better at it you get...... Be bold, and not being a pecker head allways helps.)

[Collavoce]

Note: thanks to a lot of changes SE has made excluding the final limit break quest you can now solo all of them.

Without wanting to derail the thread. I have started levelling an alt since I had switched to FFXIV and was bored of my hume when I came back. I'm making my way through low levels on all jobs (to have some money put aside and boost skills) but I have been worried about finding people for the Genkai quests, since they weren't soloable last time I did them and I've been completely unable to find a social shell on Siren.

Does anyone have information on the changes that were made to G1-3?

[Zagen]

Without wanting to derail the thread. I have started levelling an alt since I had switched to FFXIV and was bored of my hume when I came back. I'm making my way through low levels on all jobs (to have some money put aside and boost skills) but I have been worried about finding people for the Genkai quests, since they weren't soloable last time I did them and I've been completely unable to find a social shell on Siren.

Does anyone have information on the changes that were made to G1-3?

Link to changes for Limit 1 and 3
Changes to Limit 2 and 5

[hiko]

It's easy for me to say because I have done it on extra characters... Guess what I do have gil but at the time all of that gil was for me not my mule so that doesn't apply.


7. Now that you have Dancer and Beastmaster at 30 you can leech them in Abyssea. It'll take you a few hours to hit 50 level cap. If you got Dancer to 50 and don't plan to level it to 99 at some point you can forget about that job as it is ready for a sub job and can focus on Beastmaster.

how do you leech aby if you are a new player?
note since you seem to have forgotten it:
-new player doesnt have cruor so they can't key coffer
-new player might not have the 2-300k needed to get in a cleave /sh (wasn't the case for your mule unless you are stupid enough to farm with a lvl30 char instead of just sending it from your main wh can farm hundreds time faster)

nobody asked how to create a fast money maker.

[Zagen]

how do you leech aby if you are a new player?
note since you seem to have forgotten it:
-new player doesnt have cruor so they can't key coffer
-new player might not have the 2-300k needed to get in a cleave /sh (wasn't the case for your mule unless you are stupid enough to farm with a lvl30 char instead of just sending it from your main wh can farm hundreds time faster)

nobody asked how to create a fast money maker.

I said it before, but I'll say it again:

"Lead your own". Start shouting for a worms party, even if you don't have keys get 2 keyers and fill the rest with DD/mages. It's not hard to get EXP unless you're lazy.

Seriously if you're gonna try and call people out at least bother to read the whole thread it's only 3 pages long.

Edit: As it wasn't clear. The same steps can be taken to level any job to endgame level at which point it gives a player options when trying to lead events.

And having a money maker allows you to buy displacers among other things, as well as offer it for people helping out with things like final limit break. In my story about a person who shouted for weeks the one thing s/he never did was offer gil. A shout like "Limit Break 10 Help me out 200k you can have this" would probably have gotten the job done sooner.

[Mostfowl]

It's easy for me to say because I have done it on extra characters... Guess what I do have gil but at the time all of that gil was for me not my mule so that doesn't apply.

Here's the secret since you can't figure it out.

1. Start the game, pick your race, and pick your job (the first one you pick doesn't matter as the items they give you are trival at best)

2. Switch to MNK, why? Because it's easy to pound on monsters and you don't actually ever need a weapon for 1-30, don't get me wrong weapons and armor help but not much at this point.

3. Level up to 10-14. Make sure to use Fields of Valor or Grounds of Valor pages as you'll get bonus EXP from completing them and once a game day you'll get gil and tabs. I recommend Grounds of Valor personally as it scales up the EXP/Gil/Tabs.

4. Make your way to Gusgen Mines (Page 1 from the book btw). If there aren't people actually there leveling (odd but happens) then head back outside to highlands and grind away until 16-18 range then go back inside as you can solo the skeletons now, and beat up skeletons until 26. You could move further down to hit 30 but it becomes sketchy on safety at that point. Once you're 26 you can shift over to several different locations, check the FoV/GoV links to see what works out.

5. Now that you're level 30 you'll notice a few things: You're gimp but that's ok at this point pimp doesn't matter. You have no sub job (find the quests (hint: search "sub job quest") on the site I linked for FoV/GoV and you'll be on your way. Here's the cool thing now that you're level 30 MNK you can go do all of the advanced job quests that you want, with the exception of SCH (sort of) read up on the jobs from that site (gamerescape) and you're good to go.

6. Let's say your goal is making gil fast then your 2 jobs to unlock and focus on are Dancer and Beastmaster. Repeat steps 1-4 on both of those jobs.

7. Now that you have Dancer and Beastmaster at 30 you can leech them in Abyssea. It'll take you a few hours to hit 50 level cap. If you got Dancer to 50 and don't plan to level it to 99 at some point you can forget about that job as it is ready for a sub job and can focus on Beastmaster.

8. Again refer to gamerescape or any good resource you prefer for your information. With info in hand so to speak complete the limit break quests and return to leeching in Abyssea. Note: thanks to a lot of changes SE has made excluding the final limit break quest you can now solo all of them.

9. Congratulations you now have a level BST95/DNC47 which is more than enough to start farming Dynamis. Here's the catch you need to do missions to gain access to Dynamis as all you've done up to this point is level up jobs. Again refer to whatever source for info you want. Also you'll have to skill up axe which is fairly easy to do especially on BST since you can make your pets do all the tanking allowing you not to worry about keeping your HP up.

10. Congratulations you've gotten access to Dynamis and can begin making 1mil+ gil 2hours out of every day.

So ya it's easy for me to talk not because I have an established character or friends but because the game is seriously that easy to play if you aren't lazy and spend time researching instead of crying.

Well thats fan-freakin-tastic if you wanna lvl bst. But say she likes and wants to play brd or whm one of the many no-so-great solo jobs out there.

Your views come from someone who is also familiar with the game and its new mechanics. If you are returning or new you have no idea how things work so this is not just that easy. Plus she stated she does try to start things herself and gives up cause she cannot find ppl. You gotta admit that after spending 60+ minutes doing /sh for vw or something of that sort is not appealing for most and new players who dont know the content are not going to be so eager to set up a city or akvan or even a seal run if they are completely in the dark about what they are doing.

You also forgot about all the misc stuff you need to do in-between lvling and dyna. If all your doing is soloing dyna on bst everyday you cant expect player retention. Soloing dyna is extemely boring and frustrating, esp with competing with the 100 other bsts out there fighting the same mobs.

Your views are skewed by familiarity and this need you seem to feel that everyone should have bst. So yes its easy for you to talk. Go start an established game blind, get to lvl cap as fast as possible and start beating out content and then come back and try again.

[Zagen]

Well thats fan-freakin-tastic if you wanna lvl bst. But say she likes and wants to play brd or whm one of the many no-so-great solo jobs out there.

Please keep in mind when I say this I'm not trying to be an ass or mean but actually sincere as it seems you're having trouble with this. Look into working on your reading comprehension, when I said this:

6. Let's say your goal is making gil fast then your 2 jobs to unlock and focus on are Dancer and Beastmaster. Repeat steps 1-4 on both of those jobs.

It doesn't mean that it only works for only those 2 jobs, it actually means it works for any job and those 2 are just an example based on the goal of making gil.

Your views come from someone who is also familiar with the game and its new mechanics. If you are returning or new you have no idea how things work so this is not just that easy. Plus she stated she does try to start things herself and gives up cause she cannot find ppl. You gotta admit that after spending 60+ minutes doing /sh for vw or something of that sort is not appealing for most and new players who dont know the content are not going to be so eager to set up a city or akvan or even a seal run if they are completely in the dark about what they are doing.

VW shouts I join on average take 1-2 hours to setup another 1-2 hours depending on how many runs we end up doing so I don't see you point. Maybe it's because I'm from a time in the game's life where you spent days shouting or looking for parties at your level range because level sync and abyssea leeching didn't exist.

I actually took a break from the game shortly after VW was introduced and came back 6 months ago. In that time I researched how Dynamis worked, mostly to see if there were changes but also to see if it was still my best way to make gil without eating too much of my game. And eventually so that I could help my friend who also returned build a Mandau while I built an Apocalypse.

I also researched how Voidwatch worked and learned that when you go to easier ones you don't need temp items to function so I joined a few here and there. I got my Ace's Mail before I even cleared city paths meaning I didn't have fanatic's drinks which is spammed for Uptala fights, I did fine if I died I stood back and tried to help with magical staggers (I was on DRK so options were limited but I didn't stand there waiting for weakness doing nothing).

I can also tell you for a fact that if I could pop Akvan (been lazy about clears lately to be honest) I know exactly how to lead it because of all the research I've done, I know exactly where the bottle necks are for staggers and I know that going with a full 18 is overkill and usually would lead to killing it before all relevant lights are capped due to the fact that magic barrier when it's up delays any magical staggers.

I wasn't lazy, I wasn't a sheep, I did my research and prepared myself within my means before I attempted something, because the last thing I want to do is go into a situation that has already been researched without bothering to read any of it. I love exploring new crap but why waste my and other's time going in blind when others have written down how things generally play out and what the best methods for success are?

You also forgot about all the misc stuff you need to do in-between lvling and dyna. If all your doing is soloing dyna on bst everyday you cant expect player retention. Soloing dyna is extemely boring and frustrating, esp with competing with the 100 other bsts out there fighting the same mobs.

Misc. stuff? You mean like getting rank 6 so that you can even start Dynamis cities? How about getting past Darkness Named so I can get access to Dreamland Dynamis? Oh how about getting access to ToAU zones so I can do VW in those zones?

I researched it all again because it's been so long I forgot about the details on getting those done. I did all of that solo on my extra character. Because you don't need any of that to level up I waited until I hit 95 and with all the level caps removed you don't need other people to help.

The only thing having an established character helped with was having a group of friends to help me unlock 99 on that character. Though to be honest we did that run with 2 other players who had returned so it wasn't 1 95 and 5 99s going in to wipe the floor with that tarutaru, we actually did a weird setup of PLD, WHM, BSTx3. Granted the PLD had an ochain so that likely played a bigger factor in him staying alive. Had I not had those friends or found randomly kind people who were bored and willing to help I would have offered gil to save me time.

As to soloing Dynamis, search a zone if it's got more then 20 people it's going to suck. To be honest with the exception of 1 player who uses BST in Dynamis I've had the most respect from players on BST over players on any other job. Please note I'm not saying BST are awesome, kind, sweet, or whatever nicety you wish to imply I'm implying, I'm simply stating in my experience players who happen to be on BST had respect for me because I respected them.

Oh btw I don't always go BST in Dynamis, I've tried PUP, SAM, THF, DNC, BLU, all because you're right it is boring but the gil is too damn good to pass up.

Your views are skewed by familiarity and this need you seem to feel that everyone should have bst. So yes its easy for you to talk. Go start an established game blind, get to lvl cap as fast as possible and start beating out content and then come back and try again.

My views are skewed by the desire to research before running blind into something that isn't new and unexplored. This is the same approach I take to any game which is why I often find the game to be more enjoyable to me, sure I'm not one of the first to ge through it but I sure as hell got the bang for my buck and that's all I care about at the end of the day when it comes to video games.

[Afania]

Not 1 of those games listed is less newb friendly than FFXI. Even FFXIV, being brand spanking new, completely devoid of content, glitchy as hell, un-fun as crap, and more zone/scenery rehashed than anything in FFXI.. even all of that notwithstanding, FFXIV was way way more newb friendly than FFXI.. a game that's been around for a decade, received multiple patches an expansions, and had forums (these very same in fact) created to receive and process (lul) player feedback..

I think the faults of this game have been beaten to death so many times that we can recap them in a few sentences. So let's do that:

A) No explanations, tutorial quests or much instruction at all given to players when creating a new character.

B) Quest progression is a blind process. Not that we need to be led by the hand like so other MMO's, but in order to solve quests on your own without an FAQ would require you to have a photographic memory of the dialogue of every NPC in the game.. most quests don't even spell out a zone, particular monster, or eventual destination. It's a lot of "I heard a rumor of a rabbit. Find me a rabbit that rabbits more than other rabbits!"

C) Lack of reasoning or strong storyline in dialogue. Take genkai quests. "Hey whippersnapper.. I know I'm just a random old pedophile lounging around this wishing fountain day in and day out.. but if you visit the inner depths of every beastmen stronghold, collect items from high level monsters, brave the wintry evils of the north, and then trade seals to random people around the globe for no reason.. something might happen!"

D) Grindcore (not to be confused with hardcore). Grindcore was all content pre-ToAU. Exp became a bit less grindcore with ToAU except that it was just grindcore at an accelerated pace. The process for NMs, camping, claiming (if possible vs bots), or force spawning NMs with low drop rates and dealing with lotting rights/DKP that casual players couldn't achieve.. Abyssea came out and it was a breath of fresh air for a bit. Yeah, the gear was too strong and we got it too fast, but FINALLY we got some joy! Goals that we could actually accomplish! And then Voidwatch.. lol.. Un-fun content, decent to amazing rewards, that we repeated again and again not because of great content but because of great rewards with appalling distribution. There's a difference between spamming content because it's fun and spamming content because you have no other content.

E) Lack of updates. As in, not just lack of patches for fixes, adding content, etc, but just a complete lack of communication from the devs to the players before these forums were established, which should have been in 2002/2003.. No other game laughed off its customers for as long as FFXI did.. until they left en masse (get it, En Masse?)

F) Xenophobia. The idea of mixed nationality servers and the autotrans function seemed awesome.. until the rest of the free world realized that Japan hates them/considers them stupid, and that even the devs and the company hate them, think of them as stupid or of having opinions that should be dismissed.. oh and that being non-national means they should have to pay more monthly for the game or otherwise have easy payment options taken away from them.

And sadly I think I could probably carry on all the way to Z) but A-F is enough that most people would (and probably should) avoid starting this game. Those of us in the know and already leveled and hardened against the harshness of the game and its devs can shrug it off.

The only thing new players need to know is this: Devs drive expensive luxury vehicles that are powered by a sodium-combustion engine that runs off of the tears of the playerbase.

None of the problem listed are OP's problem though and idk why you bring them up. OP's problem is that he/she can't find anyone to pt with to do stuff.

That's more of a problem of at this point of time, majority of content, besides ADL/Odin/legion/VW, are too solo/duo friendly. If you only have none solo/duo friendly job, don't have mule, and don't have close friend to do those stuff, or if you insist to get a full pt to do everything, then you're just going to have a very hard time and it can't be helped.

When most of the stuff can be done solo or with 2 ppl, you're just not going to see ppl try to make bigger party for it. /Shout takes time, getting everyone on together takes time, so why spend all those time when you can just solo/duo on another job?

It's not necessary a bad thing, back then if you don't have 3~4hr of playtime, you can't get shit done. Making EXp pt takes time, making CoP mission pt is painful, so does making limbus/salvage pt and so on. Now that majority of FFXI playerbase have a job and family, most of them aren't going to spend 4~6hrs a day in this game, and would rather be able to get shit done whenever they're on without having to making a full pt of 6 ppl. Unlike now you can just log on and do a mission or seal NM whenever you want.

Well thats fan-freakin-tastic if you wanna lvl bst. But say she likes and wants to play brd or whm one of the many no-so-great solo jobs out there.

If someone insist to play BRD and WHM without a mule or close friend, then it's that person's choice. But by picking this choice, it's just making his/her life harder due to having to find more ppl if he/she insist to play that job. Either you lv a solo/duo friendly job so you can get shit done easier, or deal with harder life and play BRD and WHM, and deal with the consequences. That's life

I already gave suggestion to solve OP's problem, either lv a solo friendly job and don't try to fill up a full pt via /shout, or work ass out of your connection to get full pt(but not by /shout if no reply)if you insist to BRD WHM.

[Chocobits]

None of the problem listed are OP's problem though and idk why you bring them up. OP's problem is that he/she can't find anyone to pt with to do stuff.

I think you missed the crux of my point. The point is, SE allots $0 in advertising to bring in new players to this game. The only way people would even stumble upon this diamond in the rough is by word of mouth from present/former players. If the burden is left to us to advertise for SE, what do we have to tell our potential victims? Everything I just mentioned? Who would play if they read/heard/saw any of that? Nobody, that's who. Nobody in their correct brain.

The game is new player unfriendly and without a constant influx of new players, all you have left is exactly what we are seeing - a dwindling populace.

I'm not saying the game is not fun. Obviously I still play. But I've already seen the best and been given the opportunity to get hooked when the game was in its prime. I'm not fanboyish enough to say that other than the job/subjob system and the immersive storyline, the game isn't woefully behind the curve in all other aspects. Graphics, raids, large scale content, PVP, guild vs guild/world vs world, adequate direction for newbs and general questing, satisfactory reasoning behind grind quests.. and in almost no other game does randomized timer crush your dreams on a regular basis.. Also, most other games REWARD players for their time spent playing (or not playing, in the form of xp multipliers). The time sinks in this game reflect a strategy that by design was meant to keep only a small but dedicated playerbase hooked for years and vehemently cast aside the casualcore player, and a strategy that is now so dated that when that dinosaur MMO comes out, we all might actually get unearthed and cameo in the game. It's ironic that relics have become one of the most popular and most accessible forms of content in the game.. it's a symbol of what the game has become.

I still don't think it's too late to turn all that around, but it would require a complete reshaking of the game from the ground up.

TL;DR - Yes, the game is dying, and will continue to do so. Because no matter how many times you swap captains, you're still left with the same crew. A crew that might be a mighty swashbuckling force to be reckoned with in the offline single player RPG realm, but are woefully in over their heads in the MMO world.