Do people start learning their job at LV99?

[Feary]

100% wrong. Did you play the same game as us back then? Back before ToAU came out?

It took an average of 4 hours to get a party, get to the camp, and gain a little Exp. That's if you were lucky enough to get an invite that fast. It's irrational to expect people to devote such a large chunk of time to one game in a day, especially those who work or study for half the day. For most people, spending 4-8 hours on this game just to gain a level or two just isn't reasonable. That's what this game used to be like.

I started playing the year CoP came out, didn't get my first 75 till WotG came out. I played as DRK with a static PLD partner, and we usually had to make our own parties since the same job-exclusionary bullshit that exists in endgame today was in every Exp party back then, and it was much harder getting a party to invite two people rather than just one (on non-bandwagon jobs to boot).

Forming parties usually went something like this:
*Invite BRD.*
BRD: "WTF just 2 people? Invite me when you have 5." *BRD drops.*
*Invite WHM.*
WHM: "WTF no BRD? Invite me when you have a BRD." *WHM drops.*
*Invite WAR.*
WAR: "WTF no BRD and WHM? Invite me when you get your shit together."

Exp parties in the old days were total bullshit. And solo/lowman was even worse, since EP-EM mobs gave shitty Exp and still took forever to kill. Oh, and there we no Exp rings back in the day, either.

It was an awful experience. I know SO many people that tried to play this game and quit due to how painful it was leveling up to 75. If it weren't as bad as it was we wouldn't have lost so many potential players back then.

Abyssea was probably the best thing to every happen to this game, and not just Exp, but everything else the add-ons offered. The problem was, Abyssea came too late in the game's lifespan. The same can be said of other things like FoV/GoV, Campaign, increased Exp from regular mobs, Trust, etc.. It took SE way too long to realize how the dismal rate of Exp gain was ruining the gameplay experience by making leveling feel like going to WORK all day.

Good riddance, oldschool Exp parties.

yes i have been playing since before ps2 release. i started over after i got tired of being a manthra thf (for the dex trait), sept 2004, made a hume because it was most balanced.
by January 2005 i was 75 whm, with all subs lolsmn, blm hahardm, had all my AF1, farmed all my scrolls and then started a dynamis linkshell with some friends to get my next logic goal af2.

our first run dynamis sandy was Saturday Feb 12.

yes i was 15 and in high school on ps2, running grown man through this game. a linkshell that only broke when they announced neo dynamis. however by then i had already retired.

i can give you more details if you like.

and the example you gave were post toau after the discovery of bird camps. solo to 10, VD to 20, qufim to 25, yhoator to 33. 33+ blm rdm whm tank 2 dds (namely a thf for SA VB) to make a Skillchain for MB, or a bone party in KRT. when cop came out, we got bibiki bay, and was happy to cap at 3k per hour exp on a good day.

4 months before s.e announced abyssea, i completed maats cap with out lolabyssea. i know how to exp. i know what im talking about.

i know everything you are talking about and could say ahout the troubles of every era in this game. so please dont insult me, yes i was there, and was not exaggerating when i said it took 3-5 month to get to 75.

[Babekeke]

yes i was 15 and in high school on ps2, running grown man through this game.

I'm sorry that you failed high school.

[Puck]

Babekeke, you slay me. XD

Feary, what you described was a life devoted to this game, putting WAY more hours into it on a daily basis than the average human can manage. Just because you could dump so much of yourself into this game all day every day doesn't mean everyone else should've been expected to do so in a similar fashion. It was far too much to ask of most people, and that's why hardly any stuck around through all of that mess.

[Calintzpso]

What Happens in Abyssea La Theine, Stays In Abyssea La Theine.

Except Chronic AFKing, That will get you Black balled.

Wallpaper/HD Version : http://waffles-production.com/public...eaLosVegas.png

[Feary]

I'm sorry that you failed high school.

i didnt fail at high school academically or socially. i dont know how you have come to that conclusion based on what you've quoted or anything that i said. i was apart of all the staples of high school. Voted most popular and best smile(lol), went to prom with a bad ass chick. did afterschool activities like studying robotics at Columbia university (i live in nyc), and volunteered during the summers at camp for kids with real social/medical disorders in the midwest. i still communicate with friends from HS and these extracurricular activities and camp, even 5 years after graduating college.

anyways going back to the op subject, ive done very well for myself, inside and out this game. the point was, the game was never hard/challenging/miserable as yall seem to make it out to be and today is a cake walk.

[Feary]

Babekeke, you slay me. XD

Feary, what you described was a life devoted to this game, putting WAY more hours into it on a daily basis than the average human can manage. Just because you could dump so much of yourself into this game all day every day doesn't mean everyone else should've been expected to do so in a similar fashion. It was far too much to ask of most people, and that's why hardly any stuck around through all of that mess.

although i dont agree that ive devoted my life to this game, i can understand that not everyone has the same ability. where we differ is, i believe you get what you put in. when i only have 10 hours a week to play, i make it work, enjoy it and im content with that. i dont need more. i find something improve on and can do in the time i have. there is so much in what all the game has to offer. its why i have 5 100+ crafts. or complete all missions, etc. i dont whine or give up. i dont pick and choose to hate content because its not for me. its there and was made for me. gaming is all a purpose of a time sink, just have to learn how to push through.

if you cant put it this level you shouldn't complain about not having the same success. you cant complain about being a bum(noob) if you dont get off your ass and get a job(gear up a job), you cant expect the government(s.e) to just hand/adjust everything for you so you can live easier. life is about the journey not the destination, if you cant fight through then what is the point? go outside and have a life.

s.e has already accommodated this mentally to the point we have a whole new game and lost the epic journey we had. yet its not enough.

The game shouldnt be scaled to the Average player expectation it should exceed them so you will always have content that is emerging. like getting from 1-75 was vs today. etc. when the content was bigger, we focused could more on the people, not the drops as we all had the same uphill battle.

now content is so easily reward that we fly thru it and dont need to rely on anything but our alts and maybe a handful of picks.

[Maikeru_Sylph]

100% wrong. Did you play the same game as us back then? Back before ToAU came out?

It took an average of 4 hours to get a party, get to the camp, and gain a little Exp. That's if you were lucky enough to get an invite that fast. It's irrational to expect people to devote such a large chunk of time to one game in a day, especially those who work or study for half the day. For most people, spending 4-8 hours on this game just to gain a level or two just isn't reasonable. That's what this game used to be like.

I started playing the year CoP came out, didn't get my first 75 till WotG came out. I played as DRK with a static PLD partner, and we usually had to make our own parties since the same job-exclusionary bullshit that exists in endgame today was in every Exp party back then, and it was much harder getting a party to invite two people rather than just one (on non-bandwagon jobs to boot).

Forming parties usually went something like this:
*Invite BRD.*
BRD: "WTF just 2 people? Invite me when you have 5." *BRD drops.*
*Invite WHM.*
WHM: "WTF no BRD? Invite me when you have a BRD." *WHM drops.*
*Invite WAR.*
WAR: "WTF no BRD and WHM? Invite me when you get your shit together."

Exp parties in the old days were total bullshit. And solo/lowman was even worse, since EP-EM mobs gave shitty Exp and still took forever to kill. Oh, and there we no Exp rings back in the day, either.

It was an awful experience. I know SO many people that tried to play this game and quit due to how painful it was leveling up to 75. If it weren't as bad as it was we wouldn't have lost so many potential players back then.

Abyssea was probably the best thing to every happen to this game, and not just Exp, but everything else the add-ons offered. The problem was, Abyssea came too late in the game's lifespan. The same can be said of other things like FoV/GoV, Campaign, increased Exp from regular mobs, Trust, etc.. It took SE way too long to realize how the dismal rate of Exp gain was ruining the gameplay experience by making leveling feel like going to WORK all day.

Good riddance, oldschool Exp parties.

Ok fine, good riddance to oldschool exp parties, but 300-450k hr at level 30? That's ridiculous. Hell I can't even get that much exp an hr in WoW or FFXIV. What's the point of even having levels to begin with? Why should I work for anything at all, right? Just give it all to me when I start and let's see how long I sub for.

[Maikeru_Sylph]

This experience isn't gone, it's still there but in a different form. Before you learned as you leveled but it was mostly a slow and tedious grind against the same types of mobs to achieve a higher level but in the end it wasn't the grind that made it fun but rather the relationships that were formed along the way. Today this same experience can be had but it's not the exact same way. Now days you begin these types of bonds in random encounters such as worms or shout groups, but over time it's easy to form long lasting and fun friendships with people just as in the past. I've many friends I've made over the years via both of these methods, and those relationships are why I'm still playing this game.

As for having to level with Trust NPCs, this is part of why I say Abyssea wasn't so bad. The fact there are so few people who level alone or with Trust rather than via Abyssea is more of an example to me that people simply didn't enjoy leveling as much as they thought they did, but rather they enjoyed the people around them while they did it. If people really wanted to level then they could do that just the same today as years ago, but the connections to other players, that's not there anymore. The only real change made is the content you do now by compare to before, before you leveled and met people, now you do casual/endgame events to meet people, and in the end it's just as well off in my opinion.

You say that you form lasting relationships with people that you do worm parties with, right? Well how do you when everyone is AFK? You don't. You can't compare the relationships you formed doing missions, quests, subjobs, unlocking areas, etc. Now, you have to do all that solo. And, if you're on a dead server, no one is there to help you. There's also nothing on the AH, so good luck getting armor. You basically have to level straight to 99 so you can solo all the old content that everyone used to do in a party.

Also, you saying everyone doing Abyssea must mean they never liked the original way of leveling, is like saying everyone eats at Mcdonald's because the food tastes good. Everyone eats at Mcdonald's because it's cheap. Everyone is doing Abyssea now because it's convenient and they have no choice. Nothing compares to the EXP/hr you get from Abyssea.

[Demonjustin]

You say that you form lasting relationships with people that you do worm parties with, right? Well how do you when everyone is AFK? You don't. You can't compare the relationships you formed doing missions, quests, subjobs, unlocking areas, etc. Now, you have to do all that solo. And, if you're on a dead server, no one is there to help you. There's also nothing on the AH, so good luck getting armor. You basically have to level straight to 99 so you can solo all the old content that everyone used to do in a party.

Everyone's not afk. Lazy people who don't care to do anything or people who are busy doing other things are afk, those aren't the people I talk to obviously. I've made many friends through various events including Abyssea in worm parties by talking to the people in the party itself who are actually moving around and helping. Many of these people were people who were newer and needed a LS as well so I more than happily added them to the bunch. Today I don't goto worm parties often but when I do I often times see people I already know there, and on occasion I still meet a new friend while I slaughter the worms for my merit points so I can be on my way. I made this character that I'm posting on now as a way to look through the eyes of a new player of today, someone who just started, albeit with an advantage of knowledge and such no new player would have. I've been making it work as I've gone along and I've soloed almost everything I have on this character with the exception of XP where I occasionally partied with my best friend or GF so I could do something with them at the same time. That said I'm not about to lie about it, no, I've made no new friends on this character thus far that I can think of, I've partied with no players I didn't already know, and I can't say there is an abundance of players or armor that a new player will come across like in the past. All of this is very much true. But to say that in today's game you can't form these same relationships is false because while they're not formed the same way, through the leveling process, they are still able to be formed through things such as endgame events or even more casual events. I honestly could take the time to sit here and list off a number of people I met through various events or parties but it's fairly pointless because in the end if these words aren't getting the point across I don't know why anecdotal evidence would.

Also, you saying everyone doing Abyssea must mean they never liked the original way of leveling, is like saying everyone eats at Mcdonald's because the food tastes good. Everyone eats at Mcdonald's because it's cheap. Everyone is doing Abyssea now because it's convenient and they have no choice. Nothing compares to the EXP/hr you get from Abyssea.

Saying people eat Mcdonalds because it's cheap isn't the same, now if you said it's because it's convenient then sure, convenience for convenience is a fair comparison. While people eat at Mcdonalds because it's cheap people do Abyssea because it's quick, people can't afford the money for better places like they can't necessarily afford the time for leveling. If people were rich and still ate at Mcdonalds, I'd say they like the food or are simply cheap, I'd say the same of people who leech in Abyssea if they have the time to go level slowly but still complain they want to level slowly. Either you're a massive hypocrite or you don't have the time, that or enough people don't want to level in old style parties to make one. Take a pick of what you are. I know plenty of people who say they miss old style parties, they make them still with friends and LS members, if people ask to join them it's not like they turn people down. I have leveled with both my best friend and GF as I mentioned before by doing old style parties in areas like Beaucedine Glacier and in Qufim Island and while we make use of Trusts to fill the gaps it's not as though we'd turn other players down if they asked to join, but the thing is no one does, not that many people like them. I don't see the numbers to support the idea that there are a ton of people who want to level like before and just can't, rather I see a bunch of people all over the place who have said they'd never have leveled X-job with oldschool XP even though today it's one of their favorites.

[Maikeru_Sylph]

Everyone's not afk. Lazy people who don't care to do anything or people who are busy doing other things are afk, those aren't the people I talk to obviously. I've made many friends through various events including Abyssea in worm parties by talking to the people in the party itself who are actually moving around and helping. Many of these people were people who were newer and needed a LS as well so I more than happily added them to the bunch. Today I don't goto worm parties often but when I do I often times see people I already know there, and on occasion I still meet a new friend while I slaughter the worms for my merit points so I can be on my way. I made this character that I'm posting on now as a way to look through the eyes of a new player of today, someone who just started, albeit with an advantage of knowledge and such no new player would have. I've been making it work as I've gone along and I've soloed almost everything I have on this character with the exception of XP where I occasionally partied with my best friend or GF so I could do something with them at the same time. That said I'm not about to lie about it, no, I've made no new friends on this character thus far that I can think of, I've partied with no players I didn't already know, and I can't say there is an abundance of players or armor that a new player will come across like in the past. All of this is very much true. But to say that in today's game you can't form these same relationships is false because while they're not formed the same way, through the leveling process, they are still able to be formed through things such as endgame events or even more casual events. I honestly could take the time to sit here and list off a number of people I met through various events or parties but it's fairly pointless because in the end if these words aren't getting the point across I don't know why anecdotal evidence would.

Yes, you can form relationships. However, the quality, as well as the process by which you formed those relationships, are significantly different.

Saying people eat Mcdonalds because it's cheap isn't the same, now if you said it's because it's convenient then sure, convenience for convenience is a fair comparison. While people eat at Mcdonalds because it's cheap people do Abyssea because it's quick, people can't afford the money for better places like they can't necessarily afford the time for leveling. If people were rich and still ate at Mcdonalds, I'd say they like the food or are simply cheap, I'd say the same of people who leech in Abyssea if they have the time to go level slowly but still complain they want to level slowly. Either you're a massive hypocrite or you don't have the time, that or enough people don't want to level in old style parties to make one. Take a pick of what you are. I know plenty of people who say they miss old style parties, they make them still with friends and LS members, if people ask to join them it's not like they turn people down. I have leveled with both my best friend and GF as I mentioned before by doing old style parties in areas like Beaucedine Glacier and in Qufim Island and while we make use of Trusts to fill the gaps it's not as though we'd turn other players down if they asked to join, but the thing is no one does, not that many people like them. I don't see the numbers to support the idea that there are a ton of people who want to level like before and just can't, rather I see a bunch of people all over the place who have said they'd never have leveled X-job with oldschool XP even though today it's one of their favorites.

I see you decided to be technical. I can be technical as well. Do you how much money it costs to level from 30-99 in an Abyssea party? $0. And while we are on the topic of cheap, this whole method of exping is cheap. There is no adventure to be had, no struggle, no growth/learning, no variety, etc. You could argue that you'll do all that at 99, but you're wrong, the feeling is different.
It really says something when people only remember how the game used to be. It was a magical experience unlike any other.