I think I'm finished; a new player's final thoughts

[Camiie]

Why do you have to rush to end game?

To not be alone.

You can enjoy the storylines for the various expansion packs,

Yes, alone.

there is a lot of content to do (which you've said how much of it you did) outside of current endgame.

Yes, alone.

For a new player wanting to experience everything the product has to offer, you didn't touch upon most of it. Have you done any assaults or salvage or anything like that?

A new player doing these things alone is in for a world of frustration and really isn't going to benefit from doing any of it. It's just a lonely waste of time.

You have to join a linkshell, every server has at least one or two social shells that toss pearls to anyone asking.

A linkshell in which he'd be lucky to find one person willing to occasionally help him with anything that's not current content.

You also chose the wrong job if you wanted to jump right into the current end game content. That would be better done on BRD or COR instead of SMN.

He probably made the same mistake many new players make. He likely chose a job he thought he'd actually enjoy.

Main reason I don't help random new people anymore is because they quit so easily just like you did after one month lol.

I'm not in your head, but I doubt it's the MAIN reason. Just the one you use to justify things.

A month where it would have taken a player in 2007ish like a whole year to do the content you did. So now those people that helped you just pretty much wasted their time because you didn't even appreciate the time you spent playing this game in that month. See you again in two months when you decide to come back and waste more peoples time by them helping you and you end up quitting again.

Most people refuse to help because they have nothing to gain from helping and never look at the big picture that the game as a whole benefits from people like us paying the help WE got forward.

[Feary]

sad part is most the issues you are experiencing are because of S.E trying to fix what was not broken. pre abyssea you wouldnt have had 90% of the issues you had. Playing this game 10 years now since ps2 release you tend to see tends and consequences that others dont because they are blind by their own misfortune. either way even with or without my nostalgic glasses on you are right about he community. we have basically imploded on ourselves.

i also hate to be that guy but you did choose smn. Its history has never been anything close to what you want to get out of this game.

first off. as a geo or smn you are going to need to cap those skills for consideration on those jobs. period. with skill up tomes it wont be that bad.

as for endgame, at best what you have to look forward to is going to be ADL on smn

with 2 decent mnks and perfect defense he can be killed. get 4 ppl, kill 2 per day. marrows are 5m+ each.

as a geo you can do delve content which maybe more your fantasy. however you need to get to adoulin first. do skimish in yorcia and get the pdt armors and smn augments.

as for coalition assignments, dont look forward to them. they are like wow dailys? i played wow for less than 3 weeks after BC release capped my shadow priest and never look back. so forgive it my term is wrong.

i personally have capped 3/6 coalitions at legend over a 10 month period. accumulated 1 tag every 6 hours during that time and level 1 to cap is like 180 ish tags? there is no real reward other than the exp for recapping after a death or leveling pre abyssea (pre level of 30).

also a wildkeeper reive or two might help your spirits.

right now you have to get to adoulin.

the game is half the game it was 4 years ago let along 6. your not going to get much if you cant enjoy the grind or as you call it work.

you have done well so far dont give up. i am grateful that you exists even thought what i may think would contradict what you feel.

too bad you are not on my server but then again my server has the worse population lol

[Lithera]

To me it seems like you burned out. Also might be on the wrong server. Should go back in the past it can be nice there. Yes there are things even right outside of the cities that will agro to a level 50. Always use yell if you need a few people to do something. Coalition is tag based only have so many points every six hours. Anything from go collect x number to items to doing reives in zones. Outside of the weapons from RoE you won't be able kill things in SoA areas unless you do skirmish. A huge reason why smn isn't wanted is because their damage heavily relies on their avatars and many of the new nms loose their crap if hit while they're doing certain things. I'm not sure if they would be slower than a pup at soloing a reive with just using their pet or not. Specially if you were not to use any blood pacts. Can't get some of the higher geo spells if you don't spend time in SoA or the AF. Though yes if you do choose to stay try not to rush so much next time I know it sucks that everyone is so focused SoA content and only that. Until SE makes it so doing older content means owning things for current older areas are going to be ghost towns except maybe during special events.

[Demonjustin]

I agree with the idea of you getting burnt out, but, I still agree with you on the matter it should not be so difficult, time taking, or simply boring just to get to do things with others. You said yourself that you haven't experienced any party content and at that are having a hard time of even figuring out where to begin, you do not seem stupid, to lack some form of knowledge that should be apparent to everyone, rather you simply lack a guide telling you what to do at every turn which is basically what most people coming into this game had at some point. I myself had my friend Konin who has since quit, he guided me through the beginning of this game and helped me pick my goals which made it a lot easier to get into the game, he also helped me get a shell so that even after he left the game, I had others who I was familiar with who would help me all the same. You seem to lack this sort of friend who can help you through these things and all of your friends you did or do have seem to be just as new as you. I know everyone here keeps giving you crap about your asking for help, but, if nothing else know at least one person agreed with you on here that this game is far too time taking, boring, and confusing to get into, and wants to see much of it change similarly to how you seem to want it to. We may not agree on every single thing I'm sure, and some of what you have mentioned at times I disagree with, but I feel like there is much we do agree on.

If you ever find your way to Phoenix, I have a linkshell I would happily invite you to and you are welcome to join any time. Also, as a SMN, I have another you may be able to join to make a bit of extra gil on the side, though that is up to the leader not me, we do need SMNs with Alex and since you have that fulfilled already, it could be another great way of trying to get you integrated into some groups. I know the cost of changing servers may deter you from it, but, I just wanted to make you the offer incase you wish to stick around and try it out.

[OKOA]

He probably made the same mistake many new players make. He likely chose a job he thought he'd actually enjoy.

QFT.

So much honesty.

[bungiefanNA]

The problem with an MMO this old is that the remaining player base has congealed into certain types.

http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/comment...estion/cer5hlq

and the rest of the thread that came from:

http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/comment...tent_question/

That covers a lot of it.

SMN is not a desired job unless specifically geared, an 11 years of content to get through to gear it, means you either beg help from an LS or do it solo. Even well geared, pet jobs have problems with the current enmity system and with their damage output compared to players without pets. That you did that much in a month is impressive with how long it used to take to do that much. I've been playing since JP launch, with maybe 2 years total forced absence with the billing change they did with SE accounts making me unable to pay for 8 months, and another 14 I was away because of a bad financial situation. I still don't have any expansions completely completed in the mission list except Abyssea and A Crystalline Prophecy, though I made major progress in Promathia and Zilart since coming back in October.

I party with a social LS I joined when I came back to dead shells from my old LS leader getting cancer before Adoulin, taking a year break, and not wanting to catch up on an expansion when FFXIV was ready to relaunch. It's usually only 2-3 other people at a time unless doing Adoulin content in my party, unless we are doing a large EXP party. I don't have time to focus on endgame, usually only getting 4-6 hours a week to play, and not at static times either, so my objective with the game is to complete the storyline, which I have wanted to do for a long time.

[detlef]

Well since that's my statement you quoted, I'll just add my thoughts again. I am perfectly fine with content being locked behind missions. Missions have been become easier over time due to nerfs and being level 99. You can solo it. I think we've covered this before; it's a lot of running around and, since we're so strong now, the hard part is this busywork rather than the fights (which have become trivial). Also, as mentioned earlier in this thread, JP midnight waits are stupid and should be abolished (I do believe that is going to be addressed in a future update). Now with that said, I still think it's fair to lock content behind these missions. It's not even because I went through it, therefore everybody should have to. To me, it's just an initiation to the game. Agree, disagree, that's fine but I know there are a lot of players who would agree.

When I read your posts, the thing that rubs me the wrong way is that you come in, 11 years into the life of the game, and say "Nope, nope this is all wrong. The way it is, that's no good. Change it all for me. I shouldn't have to do CoP to get AF 109. I shouldn't have to get rank 6 to do Dynamis." When you say that, I think a lot of veterans would be annoyed. To me, it's like complaining about needing a permit to improve your house. I can see it from your perspective, but I have my own perspective too that's just how I feel.

Regarding your friends, I just think this game wasn't for them. The work comparison is apt. Certain parts of the game are much closer to work than play. It boils down to the feeling of accomplishment, whether it comes from the execution of a plan and winning a tough fight or months of daily grinding to finish a goal. When you progress to a certain point in the game, this is what it is.

Related to the work comment, unless you love BRD, WHM, or something like that, you can't just get by on one job. Especially if that job is SMN. The job is very useful in certain content as well as solo/low-man, but it's not universally useful. Almost no job is. The beauty of this game is being able to level multiple jobs on the same character. Most people level at least one utility job for content that requires more specialization. If you want to play SMN exclusively then I'm afraid you will be shut out of a lot of content.

Anyway, I am sorry if my comment contributed to your departure from the game. I think the game is fun, but a lot of what makes it worthwhile is the friends I've made over the years. If your friends are gone then the game becomes very lonely. We may disagree on what the game should be but I don't think that there's much disagreement over what the game is.

[Draylo]

To not be alone.



Yes, alone.



Yes, alone.



A new player doing these things alone is in for a world of frustration and really isn't going to benefit from doing any of it. It's just a lonely waste of time.



A linkshell in which he'd be lucky to find one person willing to occasionally help him with anything that's not current content.



He probably made the same mistake many new players make. He likely chose a job he thought he'd actually enjoy.



I'm not in your head, but I doubt it's the MAIN reason. Just the one you use to justify things.



Most people refuse to help because they have nothing to gain from helping and never look at the big picture that the game as a whole benefits from people like us paying the help WE got forward.

Why do people like you exist? Quit and go to WoW already.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

the hard part is this busywork rather than the fights (which have become trivial).

To me, it's just an initiation to the game.

Just how long is an "initiation" supposed to take? How many months worth of subscriptions is he supposed to pay before he can actually play the game, when there are so many other MMO options (including those published by S-E themselves) that let new players hit the ground running?

Should we update the NPC tutorial dialogs to state "Don't even think of doing any content released since 2010 until you've logged 500 hours?"

Agree, disagree, that's fine but I know there are a lot of players who would agree.

And we're quickly approaching the point where only those who agree with you will be the ones paying for the monthly subscription. I hope for your sake that's enough subscribers to keep FFXI in the black, or else nobody will be playing, whether they agree with you or not.

When you say that, I think a lot of veterans would be annoyed. To me, it's like complaining about needing a permit to improve your house.

At this point the house is in Detroit, blighted, the prior owner walked away from the mortgage, and nobody else is interested in picking up the property because the HOA still insists on abiding by truly Byzantine covenants.

"But the veterans might complain!" Veterans are leaving too. Unless FFXI can attract and keep new subscribers, there won't be a game left to complain about.

Related to the work comment, unless you love BRD, WHM, or something like that, you can't just get by on one job.

Even if that's the way the game "should" be, where does it state that in the manual? "There are 22 jobs in FFXI! 17 of them you shouldn't bother with."

[Draylo]

Oh boy, here we go with the dead game comments.