What would make you return to ffxi? (if you left and came back for the free access)

[Alhanelem]

Makes me shake my head every time. People overglorify the 75 days too much, theres still plenty of grinding if thats what you want. The only thing missing is the community (which admittedly I do miss having a lot of people) and waiting a month in a line for gear like homam and HNM drops...

Well there's something I can agree with you on. The community is what made the grind fun. Of course when you can still get that now, it's still fun, but problem is it's not that advantageous to team up outside of endgame content anymore (least, it doesn't seem that way, nobody ever seems to want to party).

[Stompa]

Makes me shake my head every time. People overglorify the 75 days too much, theres still plenty of grinding if thats what you want. The only thing missing is the community (which admittedly I do miss having a lot of people) and waiting a month in a line for gear like homam and HNM drops...

I agree with this and your earlier posts in this thread.

FFXI today is more fun than ever, the QOL additions over the last few years have been awesome. FFXI has always been my favourite game, but if I felt it was less fun to play today I would just say so. We've got things like trans-job gear /lockstyles, all the transport books/HPs, RoV storyline, new battlefields, Trusts, job-tweaks, Jobpoints and Gifts, cool new novelty costumes, Vana'Clock, JSE capes, fun special-dial on gobbybox, etc.etc. These and countless other QOL / fun new tweaks that the Devs have added, have made the Best Computergame Ever into an even more fun experience to play.

I agree with the general points about missing the old days of packed servers, meeting new people from around the real world every day, those days were fun too. But they were tempered with the whole nine-hours-in-Selbina-with-your-flag-up factor. And the begging / kissing LS leaders to actually enable you to obtain gear / clears. So even though there was more people in the old game, there was less game fluidity, less personal mobility.

People who are not playing FFXI are missing out, this is not the funeral, this is the Golden Era when you can log in and just play the game without waiting and begging all the time lol. And the game is still awesome, the actual player-world engine is a masterpiece of skilled craftsmanship, the graphics are not new and shiny, but they are functional and beautiful in their own way. It is still an amazing gaming experience, and I do truly feel sorry for those people who are missing out on it.

[Zumi]

Except it isn't fun for everyone, its pretty much a WoW clone with FF skin. It has 0 similarities to how FFXI plays or how the item progression was (and is for most things.) I don't know how you run out of things to do when there's 22 jobs and no not all equipment is more or less the same. There are very nice pieces of gear that can make a difference between winning something and not. XIV there's a lot to do? Spam the same 4 dungeons each week to cap tokens using the same combo over and over(at least in XI you can vary it with SC's and spells), then do alex if you can find a competent group and then... what? Do PvP? ha!

All of that grinding and then in the new few major patches its all reset and you can restart on that treadmill. You can't even play multiple jobs to end game things like Alex savage or you gimp your team because you must be forced into one job you spend your tokens on. In FFXI you can play any of the 22 jobs and its much easier to gear them and just play them. You can do things unconventionally (low man delve, soloing certain BCNMs, crazy builds to mess around with like NIN MAB or WHM holy sets, different setups for content) whereas in FFXIV you are stuck to the holy trinity of tank DPS healer.

You pretty much sound like a XIV purist so I won't bother getting into a huge debate with you but your post is so wrong. Most XI players went to XIV because its popular and has pretty graphics with FF related nostalgia, and also because SE gave up on XI. Also just because something is popular doesn't make it "good." Look at how many people bashed WoW when FFXI was in its glory days, those same players are playing a clone of it lol. A lot of people quit all the time in XIV, and regardless if theres people to play with (can't do much with them unless they are in your savage group, no FC content etc.) the community is horrid in there.

I took several weeks finally leveled up all my crafts and gathering jobs to 60. Just started doing battle jobs only have 2 out of 13 battle jobs capped at level 60 in 14 giving me so much to do because leveling battle jobs takes a lot of time. On FFXI however I do the story missions which take 2-3 hours then I am pretty much done till next patch. I already have all the gear I need, with 14 though you can get a lot of better gear with each patch giving you something to work for.

There so much to do from hunting minion pets, trying to craft glamour gear make cute looking outfits for your character. My old FFXI LS all moved to 14 we have about 60 active members. I can understand playing FFXI still but a lot of people who played FFXI did move on cause its 14 is basically the successor to 11 and it does have pretty graphics and a lot of nice features.

[Olor]

All XIV has is pretty graphics. The game is souless. Mages are boring to play. It's plastic.

[Vanfrano]

I took several weeks finally leveled up all my crafts and gathering jobs to 60. Just started doing battle jobs only have 2 out of 13 battle jobs capped at level 60 in 14 giving me so much to do because leveling battle jobs takes a lot of time. On FFXI however I do the story missions which take 2-3 hours then I am pretty much done till next patch. I already have all the gear I need, with 14 though you can get a lot of better gear with each patch giving you something to work for.

There so much to do from hunting minion pets, trying to craft glamour gear make cute looking outfits for your character. My old FFXI LS all moved to 14 we have about 60 active members. I can understand playing FFXI still but a lot of people who played FFXI did move on cause its 14 is basically the successor to 11 and it does have pretty graphics and a lot of nice features.

I guess it depends on the vision and playstyle of each and everyone. It took me one week to get my BLM to 60, along with my three gatherers. After that, the same old spam the same dungeon forever, do the raid once a week because of the lockouts. And now it even comes with lockouts for crafting and gathering.
My old LS was on FFXI for several years, we all moved to XIV (1.0) and played until the end. Then 2.0 came, we were around 40 and we all ran away from that game after some months, and I mean ran away. We have 4 people still playing on XIV, and they even say that they're bored as hell with the game but that "there is nothing else as new and shiny".

Sadly for them, and for a lot of people, they are missing out on the gem that is FFXI, and as Stompa said, it is in its golden age right now. I'm tempted to go even farther as saying that FFXIV's supposed success is a nice little reflection on the state of gaming and people in general, aiming for emptiness and pop corn content.

I'm surprised you are saying that you have all the gear you need in FFXI but enjoy getting "better" gear on FFXIV with each patch. We have been getting a ton of new gear in XI these last few months, so unless you are only interested in having max level gear and not get all the situational stuff -which is, according to me, one of the best point of FFXI-, I don't see how you can say that you are done after doing the missions. And getting all these pieces of equipment takes a lot of time, even more than leveling battle jobs in FFXIV spamming FATEs and some dungeons, the main difference being that here, you actually have a huge choice of content, you're not locked out, you play the way you want to, with the number of players you chose to play with and you rarely find yourself throwing away your stuff every three months. There is pretty much nothing to do on FFXIV, most of the content is junk and a joke, the only thing where they put thought in is how to keep people subscribed until the next update.

We actually had way more interesting content with the last few updates and RoV updates in FFXI, for free, than in Heavensward (hi 120$ collector edition).

If you don't enjoy FFXI anymore, that's too bad I guess but I keep wondering why so many people who are enjoying FFXIV -oh so much- keep coming here or on other FFXI forum.

[Alhanelem]

All XIV has is pretty graphics. The game is souless. Mages are boring to play. It's plastic.

Subjective opinion. I main SMN, and while it is completely utterly different from XI, it's still fun to play. It got moreso with AKH MORN! aka deathflare.

After that, the same old spam the same dungeon forever, do the raid once a week because of the lockouts.

I'd rather do something a couple times a week and get what I want than spam it 5000 times fighting for that <1% drop rate to work in my favor.

Sadly for them, and for a lot of people, they are missing out on the gem that is FFXI, and as Stompa said, it is in its golden age right now.

Not all of us are missing out on it. \o/

If you don't enjoy FFXI anymore, that's too bad I guess but I keep wondering why so many people who are enjoying FFXIV -oh so much- keep coming here or on other FFXI forum.

In most cases, it's because we still like XI too. Shocking as it may seem, liking FFXI and liking FFXIV are not mutually exclusive.

[Vanfrano]

I'd rather do something a couple times a week and get what I want than spam it 5000 times fighting for that <1% drop rate to work in my favor.

You can complete each floor of Alexander Savage once a week, first you're not sure you'll be getting a drop, then you have to wait several weeks cumulating tokens to exchange for equipment. This is your terrible drop rate in disguise (and Draylo said it, we don't have many <1% drop rates left in FFXI).
I'd rather play the way I want to and spam an event if I want to, rather than have someone tell me how I'm supposed to play and for how long per week. And even blocking me no matter how well I play with DPS checks everywhere (again, subscription streeetching). And... only to throw away everything I worked for after several weeks.

[Zumi]

If you don't enjoy FFXI anymore, that's too bad I guess but I keep wondering why so many people who are enjoying FFXIV -oh so much- keep coming here or on other FFXI forum.

Mainly cause there is free time every update to do story missions in FFXI. Since I played it for like 13 years I want to see how it ends with the new storyline. People like different things but there are plenty of people who do like and enjoy FFXIV. People have different tastes on what they like in a game.

[Dieth]

If FFXI goes truly F2P, I will most likely retire from MMOs for as long as I can hold myself back. I've quit tried to quit three times already.

[Draylo-]

I guess it depends on the vision and playstyle of each and everyone. It took me one week to get my BLM to 60, along with my three gatherers. After that, the same old spam the same dungeon forever, do the raid once a week because of the lockouts. And now it even comes with lockouts for crafting and gathering.
My old LS was on FFXI for several years, we all moved to XIV (1.0) and played until the end. Then 2.0 came, we were around 40 and we all ran away from that game after some months, and I mean ran away. We have 4 people still playing on XIV, and they even say that they're bored as hell with the game but that "there is nothing else as new and shiny".

Sadly for them, and for a lot of people, they are missing out on the gem that is FFXI, and as Stompa said, it is in its golden age right now. I'm tempted to go even farther as saying that FFXIV's supposed success is a nice little reflection on the state of gaming and people in general, aiming for emptiness and pop corn content.

I'm surprised you are saying that you have all the gear you need in FFXI but enjoy getting "better" gear on FFXIV with each patch. We have been getting a ton of new gear in XI these last few months, so unless you are only interested in having max level gear and not get all the situational stuff -which is, according to me, one of the best point of FFXI-, I don't see how you can say that you are done after doing the missions. And getting all these pieces of equipment takes a lot of time, even more than leveling battle jobs in FFXIV spamming FATEs and some dungeons, the main difference being that here, you actually have a huge choice of content, you're not locked out, you play the way you want to, with the number of players you chose to play with and you rarely find yourself throwing away your stuff every three months. There is pretty much nothing to do on FFXIV, most of the content is junk and a joke, the only thing where they put thought in is how to keep people subscribed until the next update.

We actually had way more interesting content with the last few updates and RoV updates in FFXI, for free, than in Heavensward (hi 120$ collector edition).

If you don't enjoy FFXI anymore, that's too bad I guess but I keep wondering why so many people who are enjoying FFXIV -oh so much- keep coming here or on other FFXI forum.

I think you hit the nail on the head. The gaming scene atm is... depressing for the most part. Instant gratification kiddies running amock with their candy crush and such. I have friends who feel the same way, they are bored of XIV but force themselves to play it. The mindset of some of these players is horrid though. Look at the person you quoted, clearly that guy doesn't have a clue. He really considers minion pets and glamor as content LOL, oh man those DEVs must make a killing on their cash shop off those people. He mentions "pretty graphics" several times... I even had a comment against me on youtube saying "let ffxi go already ffxiv is the future" so I said "why let ffxi go? its a game like any other and its still fun, age has nothing to do with it" and he responds "it has outdated graphics" like really...? I can only imagine these kids are like 12 years old or something.