Quote Originally Posted by Adventurer View Post
I have not played very much in the past 2-3 years, very small spurts of playtime. It seems extremely hard for me to keep track of what all there is, what is good and what is gimp, which new end game events are going on and how to do them. It seems with every new update every few months there's a new event, or a new stage to some event adding some new armor and or weapons that made the previous sub-par. I've found that for myself, trying to better the jobs I enjoy playing would either take a very long time solo or doing events that my jobs are not geared well enough to get invited for.

Some people have told me to "Use WHM" or "BRD" or some other job, but why must I use a certain job to gear another? Isn't this one of the dynamics people use to hate about the game? Some jobs are not even wanted for many events. I remember during Abyssea, you could at least get Curuor gear from the npc's which was pretty decent until you began upgrading your AF3. Also, upgrading the AF3 was a really fun system to me at least.
To be blunt, if your play time is as you say it is, "being gimp" shouldn't really be a concern, nor should end game content. You bring up Cruor gear as a decent starting point, something they did right. There's multiple different sets of gear that's similar to this now. Sparks gear from Records of Eminence, Bayld gear from the Peacekeeper's Coalition, and reforged AF are easily (although time consuming for AF specifically) soloed and all are decent options. Get involved with WKR shouts when you see them. And if you don't see them, make them. People show up, whether to learn Blu spells, to get drops, to get HPBs, to get Bayld, or to get augmenting KIs from the RoE.

The one's who have said that this time for FFXI is by far the easiest time to gear up are fairly accurate, IMO. There's no difficulty in grinding away Bayld, grinding away Sparks, getting Accolades for Wanted NMs, BCs (getting the drop is the hardest part), Skirmish, etc. It just takes a little time. Even in Aby's days, unless you were a multi-boxer or had a decent group, there were plenty of NMs that weren't easily soloable outside of pet jobs or obtuse job/atma combinations. Now? Set some RoEs, get sparks gear, go grind seals/accolades/more sparks/bayld, and you'll have the makings of a decent set in no time. As far as "what's a waste" really, nothing much. Whether it goes towards earning gil, getting points to get gear, or just putzing around for Job Points/Sparks/Accolades, most things will add up over time, specially to someone who's come back recently. Don't focus on Delve, high tier mission BCs, etc. Focus on the stepping stones laid out, and when you're geared enough to move up, then focus on those, or whatever is current by then. The whole "gear is obsolete in a month" is a gross exaggeration at this point. Well augmented 113 Hagondes pieces are still best in slot (of course 119 is slightly better with the same aug) for nuking/MAcc. Most 119 gear is at least similar in power to most other items. The one's saying "x is useless" is because they already had a better piece. But to a returner? It's all going to be an upgrade.

Also, use to a lot of equipment, weapons and armor could be used across several jobs. Now, everything is so job specific that it feels like if I can get one job even near end-game quality equipped, it will take a long time, a lot of effort and continuous catching up. I don't see how I could do it on more than one, maybe two jobs? I use to really enjoy being able to equip and play many different jobs.
I'm not going to defend gearing multiple jobs to a max level, as that is difficult inventory wise. But for general use, for someone returning? There's multiple pieces and sets available that are not job specific. Literally the only gear that is job specific is the reforged AF and Relic, with a few other randomish updated pieces tossed in, such as the Cure MP% recovering legs from A Puppet in Perial, Wisent Kecks from the Cirdas Caverns SoA NM, etc. By a large majority, all other gear from all other sources is not job specific, and is usable (even optimum)on a number of jobs.

I don't know. I know I love Vana'Diel and miss being able to have fun in it, but anymore when I sign on it just feels like no one is hardly doing anything and anything I might need to get done to catch up no one is ever doing. I sign on trying to figure out what to do and eventually log out after feeling overwhelmed.
The game is in a time where you need to know people. Sure, there's going to be some random shouts for content that in truth, you'll be excluded from; you won't have the gear nor the jobs to get in, unless you're a Brd, Whm, or some other support, as someone has apparently already told you. You cannot depend on shouts for content, as a returning player or even a long time player. There's just too sporadic, the quality of players you get are typically too low to clear with ease (unless it's something like Skirmish), and truthfully, there's just too few who are interested in running it.

Find yourself a LS, get some sort of a social network going through friends, etc. Hell, even use Unity, that's actually kinda taken off (on my server at least) with people attempting to build runs from within it. You'll need some way to secure the people needed to do content in order to do it. As silly as that sounds to say, I see too many who complain about the game like content can just be queued up for or something. The population isn't there for it, you'll need to find others to run content with, rather than watching and waiting for someone else to shout for it.