Power leveling, book burns, Speed leveling. What is the appeal?

[StingRay104]

I spent my first 2 years of this game not even caring about level 75, I was having fun trying out new jobs and just exping. The old days were fun back then and sometimes I do miss them, but ultimately I got my fill of them back then. I read that you haven't had a good experience with speed leveling, and that can happen, I've had some bad groups. When I do get a good group once we get lights built its like putting on the cruise control in a car, you can just sit back and enjoy it. I've had some fun conversations with speed leveling groups and I only wish I had some more jobs to take into one so I could have some of that old fun. As for the appeal its really obvious why most people are drawn to it, the one who dies with the most toys wins pretty much explains it. They should add some new mid game content but at this point we really need more high level content, which we will eventually get. Anyway thats my thoughts on the subject.

[Panthera]

I can't fathom the appeal either. Go on God Mode in a game long enough, and it just gets boring. There is such a thing as too challenging, which is just frustrating. But if 55-75 exceeds one's fortitude, well...

I don't think PLing was as rampant as you made it out to be, though. They were around, but for me, they were easily less than one half of parties, if not much less. Consider though that there's all degrees of PLing, and a modicum of compromise is not a bad thing.

[scaevola]

How do you know that all that "stuff" sucks? Have you tried and failed? That would be my guess.

oh gee i don't know

maybe because i tried that crap in 2004 when getting past level 55 or so was like pulling teeth (i've seen ancient papyrus lead to more broken friendships than vaginas, i swear) and there was nothing else to do

maybe because i, too, have been playing on and off since 2003, the "off" mainly motivated by SE's habit of confusing things like expeditionary force and garrison for "content"

I mean seriously if you want the garrison experience you can hop on a level 40 job and hit me with a tell; we'll go to monastic cavern and I'll train half the zone on top of you and warp


I get that reasonable minds can disagree on the merits of rushing to the level cap but if your case for stopping and smelling the roses is garrison and expeditionary force i seriously have to ask if you understand the concept of fun

[Rosina]

nope every party I was in from 2006 till this year had a Power leveler. I played about 20 hours a day unless I had work. (i hate tv and my town has nothing in it to socialise at all we got is a library)
I was in over 1000 parties. People started to get PL to not wait for mp resting. That means even if party has a healer. I was forced to heal alot of the time as my rdm, and as dnc. I'm very good at it because I pay attention.

I think speed leveling came up because people forgot what an mmorpg is. This isn't a game you need to rush is. And yes there is mid level content. And yes garrison is mid-high level content. There is also brenner and ballista. Content is something you do, such as event type stuff. Content isn't just end game.

With that said. I guess i had the new laid back ffxi because I got trashed on, bullied etc for wishing to melee as a rdm. Even though I did my job (refresh, heal, duff, debuff) and did what was asked of me. Now all of a sudden you can be a whm in a book burn and not heal players

[Meyi]

I think speed leveling came up because people forgot what an mmorpg is. This isn't a game you need to rush is. And yes there is mid level content. And yes garrison is mid-high level content. There is also brenner and ballista. Content is something you do, such as event type stuff. Content isn't just end game.

No. Leveling does not equate to a MMO. Many single player games also include a leveling up through experience points strategy, and they are most certainly not MMOs. MMOs are multiple people playing together online. Whether this is leveling up, completing missions, quests, or slaying higher leveled monsters for gear, the fact remains that no one facet of FFXI represents what the entire game, and the entire genre, is all about.

Mid-level content isn't appealing. And it's not as much fun at 50 when you can come back at 90 and definitely win. Most of the fun comes from having lots of abilities, traits, spells, and decent looking armor. That's a big problem in this game; low level gear looks god awful. Who wants to run around in nasty looking bone subligars when they can don byakko's haidates and look amazingly cool?

Besides, level 90s can perform in all of the same content a level 50 can, but level 50s cannot perform in all of the same content a level 90 can. If you want to do level 50 content, you can always do it as a level 90.

With that said. I guess i had the new laid back ffxi because I got trashed on, bullied etc for wishing to melee as a rdm. Even though I did my job (refresh, heal, duff, debuff) and did what was asked of me. Now all of a sudden you can be a whm in a book burn and not heal players

Then boot them. There's no reason to allow people who refuse to play their job and refuse to participate to stay in a party and mooch off XP. Just remove them.

[Luvbunny]

It's all about options, today you have plenty of them. If you want your old school party, you can make one, good luck finding people to do it. If you wanna chit chat, there is chat LS for that. You can meet new people when you shout for seal farming. The game has a lot more options now than ever, and level grinding has become a thing of the past. Now you can speed level to 90 and then take some time to learn the job on your own - or not, your choice. Options are what I want, and SE does give me plenty to choose from now - unfortunately, it is still abysea or bust

[Rosina]

Mer Ypu misunderstood me. I never stated leveling, just no need to brush period. And I wasn't the leader in the group. I was invited with out knowing. Thanks for those who actually gave their opinion.

To those who wanted a debate, should look else where. This wasn't a debate thread. Just a question. No need to have a debate on other peoples replies.

I personally do not like speed leveling. I was hoping to see the appeal and personaly. I still do not like it. I do not hate those who do speed leveling. So do not hate on me for my dislike. I play this game for fun, and leveling in 3 days to max is not fun for me. I can play DCUO for that. (have and quit). I enjoy chatting which is part of the mmorpg experience, it is boring to not chat in a party.
Only reason i camr back to ffxi is because ffxiv is quiet and a solo fest. I really didn't expect to only find speed leveling.

Oh and the whms were casting cure to dmg the skele, just none was healing. And we got told to rest if our hp was low.

[Rosina]

To add since I hit the character limit on my ps3.

I do not play the game for gear or rewards only. I play mmo for the hours one can put into it. Doing various content at various levels. Just for fun. I do not need to get the uber gear right away. Or ever that doesn't appeal to me. (yes i'm odd) Also byakkos haidate looks dumb. I perfer bone sub @ 16 then most high level gear basing it on looks. O-hat enough said.

[Tsuneo]

Like other people have said the options to do such things was never taken away, but the fact that majority of people don't prefer the old method of leveling speaks for itself.

[thenewzero]

For me, the only option you mentioned that is appealing is book burns. I enjoy those, more than I enjoyed most exp parties back in the day. I never enjoy being powerlevelled or other burn party types. But I also like to play a more active role in the book burns (being a puller, or a healer, not just sitting around).

There are several reasons book burns appeal to me.

1.) Invites are usually quick.
2.) A person leaving the group does not mean massive downtime or the group immediately falling apart.
3.) More people to talk to, and a more casual environment to talk in.
4.) You aren't expected to have very expensive gear that you will only be keeping for low level content.
5.) You will get invited to a party even if you're not playing a Job that is considered "must-have" (no more lolDRG or lolPUP).
6.) Progress is tangible and, more importantly, guaranteed. (No more strong chance of losing exp because of one or two bad players.)
7.) Leveling is no longer a massively daunting task that comprises the majority of your gameplay time, which leads to real content being more achievable for new players and for more veteran players to try Jobs they may have never previously considered without investing a gargantuan amount of time into the tedium of killing the same crawlers for hours upon hours.
8.) Gives solid incentive to stay with a group (retaining a high page exp chain), while not forcing you to stay if something comes up.
9.) If you have to / want to leave suddenly, you aren't costing the group a lot of downtime or forcing them to stop playing.
10.) Softens the level ranges you can enter a new area.

Overall, it makes the leveling process less stressful, less rigid, and more freeform, while speeding up the blandest part of the game (leveling). The majority of an MMO should not be built around trying to qualify for interesting content.