Reward your older players

[kingfury]

No, no, that's not what I'm supporting. Not just "time only" rewards. /scrollup to see what I support:
My previous comment,: "It could be both awesome gear you show off + have great stats that improve each year you play based on more than just having an account for 6-8 years(and yrs to come), such as time played/quest completed/missions completed/ EXP gained, etc. The possibilities for unique rewards would be as endless as the content in FFXI is. A great example of this type of system is already functioning nicely via Synthesized Atma which is based on past achievements. The more you achieved in the past, the more rewards you can unlock. It's perfect. New players to the game would be in awe of such rare and non purchasable types of equipment and it would do nothing but inspire them to achieve the same lvl of game loyalty over time."
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My question to Icestein was in reference to him making superiority sound like a bad thing.
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I think something worthwhile(meaning powerful stats) that can't be obtained via "Powerleveling" and "Gil Buying" makes sense. The only way you should be able to obtain this ultra cool gear is becoming a devoted "Active" player, not just having an account for a long time only. I say it should be a combination of both time+achievement in terms of what unlocks the great stats. New players that want powerful Synth'ed Atma can do nothing but complete the necessary conditions should they want access to them. In regards to fairness, it would just take time+achievements to build up the powerful gear.

[Hyperon]

The problem with this game in the beginning was that you had to dedicate almost all your free time to this game if you wanted to get any where. It was almost like a job but without a paycheck.

Now the only excuse to counter this I see is that if you play games in general you may have just played a different game instead for the same amount of time.

To this I say, in the old ways if you didn't sacrifice your personal time for the good of whatever end game you were apart of you were punished in some sort of way. Either lost your position getting RDM hat relic, or your kitty pants in sky. I mean its was ridiculous to hear there have been players who did dynamis for years and that wanted/need rdm hat relic and didnt get it until 2 years later or at all. Waiting 2 years on one item... and it wasn't just a few ppl, it was quite a few. Of course things have changed now, its not painfull to get gear anymore from where ever you want it from. It almost felt like it was forced on to us by the unwritten social rules of those who have no life outside of going to work and then coming to work in ffxi or those who work and then hate the real world and come hide in the world of ffxi.

The only reward an older player should get is the following

1) Something cosmetic to either put on your existing armor or just anything cosmetic
2) Your still playing a game for the last 8 years and you can still find enjoyment out of it. Your still happy to play the game and you enjoy the ppl you play with. Because first and foremost this is a game. If your not having fun, sorry to say but your doing it wrong.
3) This goes back to cosmetic but I think its unique enough to say separately. I have been the same looking hume for years now. I look like a 18 year old hume who has had too much botox or is a deaf mute with no emotion on my face. How about the option of aging my face model up a bit to show how old my character is, if I want to. Also on a side note...just how about SE does that for all face models.... is it too horrible that I would like to see my character throw up a smile from time to time...

[Swords]

I'm just being sarcastic here, but if this is such an issue to some why don't they try to get SE to just phase out older gear. Sky has been out for like 8 or 9 years, phasing out god gear and older abjs make them luxuries that only older players who have actually experienced and obtained it will have the ability to sport stuff that no longer exsists.

As a previous poster said though, some of us have left and returned. Starting from scratch would just serve to exclude those players who not only traversed the missions once but twice or more. Which in the end, just throws the older players in the same catch as the new ones.