Solo capable misisons/quests

[James15101]

I'm having an extremely difficult time finding people to do certain missions/quests, that involve a fight and most of the time they aren't solo capable. Wouldn't it make things easier to implement a system that would have the mobs' difficulty be determined by the number of people entering the fight? I still want the fights to be a challenge, but I just wish their were more options available to solo these fights when you can't find other people to go with.

[thefinalrune]

I agree completely. A friend of mine and I recently attempted his COR AF3 battle with a level 90 WAR and a level 80 THF and it wiped the floor with us. The same could be said of WHM's AF3 battle which is equally brutal. Until the recent change I've known dozens of people that were perpetually stuck at the 5-1 and/or 2-3 nation missions. Not because of personal capability, but because of the difficulty in obtaining help from others with the right job set combinations to make victory possible.

Far to often quest and mission related battles are difficult to a point where only limited party setup strategies even have a chance of winning. Given the age of the game and the difficulty of procuring the right job/party setup for battle victory when there's little to no personal motivation for others to assist, I believe is high time something was done to allow players with limited friends lists or small linkshells the chance at actually completing game content outside of pure gear obtainment.

I understand the necessity of making high stat gear require group efforts, but story based content and gear from the 50s and 60s shouldn't require this level of personal punishment and discouragement. I can't honestly understand any logic in making any job artifact armor, quest or mission prior to end game content require ever more than two individuals of almost any job combination.

Like many other things, with the new level caps there's still mountains of old content that's improperly adjusted to the new standards of play.

[James15101]

I find myself trying a mission fight only to be killed, and so I wait for the next version update, to increase the level cap in hopes that I can finally complete the mission. I just end up dead yet again and the cycle repeats. It's just kills my mood and has me taking long breaks from the game.

[thefinalrune]

It's just kills my mood and has me taking long breaks from the game.

This has always been one of the most annoying parts of playing for me. Personally, I love the story content of the game. But, far to often I find myself spending months or years between missions because of my personal inability to find a group to get these events complete.

I think it really all feeds back to the unfortunate lack of casual player concern on SE's part. Being a forced grouping game, nearly all content was designed around full party and/or alliance setups. Sadly, not all of us are so apt at fitting in or finding friends or just simply lucky enough to get help to finish the true core content of the game. I'd love a chance to finally get through my missions and story related quests that I've been trying off and on to get done for over four years now.

[James15101]

I guess I have become more of a casual player when it comes to this game. I used to spend all of my free time playing this but I just don't have the interest like I used to. I just want to be able to long on and get something done in the time I do play instead of just standing around shouting for hours.

[Registeel]

While I do really admire FFXI's setup of making many things orientated towards being done with a full group of players, it can indeed get really frustrating when all you want to do is play occasionally and make slow advances. I recently started leveling an alt character (originally just a mule) after the exp boost update in February, and I purposefully avoided doing missions until I was like around 44 MNK. I was able to then solo up to 3-3, where I had to have linkshell mates assist with the NM Gigas. 4-1 was impossible to do alone, due to the Quadav NM's that needed to be killed, and because Davoi + Oztroja have mobs that are a bit tough to solo below 50 near the magicite areas.

I guess all you can really do is try to make friends and/or become part of a non-endgame linkshell. Either that or wait until you are 50+ and come back to the early missions...

[Nepharite]

One part of the game is to try out different strategies and combos.
Instead of waiting on the next update to hope the mission you need is made easier. Try to improve your character through gear/skill and then try the mission again.

The mission/quest examples given aren't hard at all. I really have no idea how you've known dozens of people stuck on mission 2-3, it can be duo'd at lv25. Also I can't think of a single quest/mission that requires a specific setup. (unless your stating a basic setup of healer/dd/tank is specific)

[Effilil]

this is actually a decent suggestion...I hate spending more than an hour shouting to get something done when my LS is empty or the mission I'm going to be doing is one no one wants to repeat ever again...I also feel there are some quests/missions that should have been soloable from the get-go, like AF....I always thought AF should be a personal quest to prove you know how to play the job..like Maat fight is, but lower level and with a better story attached

[Damage]

I'm surprised that there isn't an in-game mission search feature yet like the one on the FFXI-AH site.

It could obviously be much more advanced than that of the website by knowing exactly which part of the mission you are on and finding compatible players to team up with and get missions done much quicker.

[thefinalrune]

The mission/quest examples given aren't hard at all. I really have no idea how you've known dozens of people stuck on mission 2-3, it can be duo'd at lv25. Also I can't think of a single quest/mission that requires a specific setup. (unless your stating a basic setup of healer/dd/tank is specific)

Honestly, no one cares what you think is easy. This topic exists because some of us have trouble. It doesn't matter that for the majority people clear these quests and missions, if there is anyone being left behind they're getting the shaft because they aren't as lucky as others. I spent three months asking my LS and occasionally shouting for help with my 2-3 mission before I finally just went out and leveled MNK to 25, bought lots of potions and solo'd the mission.

As a low level player getting around to 2-3 their first time this mission was super annoying. Not everyone wants to level every job or try over and over and over again and fail because they don't have the right friends with the right jobs with the time available to help.

As a career THF I spent 4 years trying to get into a CoP group to get through those missions, and in 4 years I was lucky enough to clear one promy, one. The problem with forced grouping is that it punishes the people that aren't lucky enough to find people willing to assist them. Everyone pays the same monthly fees, everyone deserves the chance to experience the game content without having to cater to the limited views of the community's you must be "x" job to proceed, must have "y" level, must have "z" gear mentality.

Just because its easy for some or even most, doesn't mean there's not a problem that's preventing some players from enjoying the full content of the game. No one pays their monthly fees to be forced into playing a specific role or blindly join groups that don't appeal to them.