[Suggestion] Final Fantasy XI - EXP System

[Meyi]

I see. So what you are suggesting, Mein Furor, is to segregate people you don't like based solely on how they choose to live, or in this case, play; strip them of equality and force them to exist outside of your perfect world. Brilliant strategy, Hitler.

I'm glad you get it. It'd make finding people with a similar mindset a lot easier to play with, and would result in less topics such as this one sprouting up. If people want to play in oldschool six man parties, then go for it! But every single time I hear people bring up the topic they start complaining about how hard it is to find like minded players to make parties with. So, if everyone was on the same server, they could just /sea all and find everyone else who was down for the same party style.

Oh, and they'd have to remove Level Sync too. That results in bad skills (which is another common complaint).

Only in this case, those dummies would be leaving voluntarily, not being forced by angry military personnel.

I really don't even know why people keep making these complaints. The ability to make a traditional 6 man xp party has never been removed.

It functions in the exact same way as before:
Stand around in town with your flag up for six hours, and get zero invites. -->
Then fall asleep, and wake up to see that someone sent you an invite right after you fell asleep. -->
Get frustrated, and decide to start your own party. -->
Spend six hours trying to find a healer and or a tank. -->
Fall asleep.

Nothing has changed. People have simply forgotten that it sucked before abyssea just like it does now. Before you couldn't find people to level with because leveling was slow, tedious, and boring. Now there are people leveling, but they don't want to do it in 6 man parties. Same outcome either way.

This is 100% true. Thanks Frank.

[Damane]

I see. So what you are suggesting, Mein Furor, is to segregate people you don't like based solely on how they choose to live, or in this case, play; strip them of equality and force them to exist outside of your perfect world. Brilliant strategy, Hitler.

Pardon me. Noone is Forcing people into Abyssea to exp, its their own choice if they want to exp in Abyssea or the Traditional way. Now tell me: If People are really so unhappy about Abyssea exp, why is it then that you "traditional" people cant get a "Traditional" PT together?

For me its clear that People make their choices. And they choose what they like the most, so stop whining about it. The Mistake lies not within Abyssea, the mistake lies on the "Traditional" People that felt that something was taken away from them, when infact just different other options were added for people to pic up. Do you blame the other people for makeing their own choices on how they want to spend THEIR time in the game how THEY want?

[Rewyen]

If People are really so unhappy about Abyssea exp, why is it then that you "traditional" people cant get a "Traditional" PT together?

I never said I was "traditional." I hated putting my flag up, but I know that the first time I hit 75, I knew how to perform my job and wasn't 40 levels under capped. I also wasn't prone to acting like a jackass. I don't care how people get their exp, but the old way did have one thing Abyssea doesn't: camaraderie. I honestly don't think it's the old party grinding people miss, I think it's making new friends and not feeling like they are a poor kid that wandering into a country club by accident. Face facts- Abyssea has made this game full of assholes. Not saying everyone is, but anyone who has played more than two years can certainly take a moment and look back and realize that while EXP might fall off of trees now, the world has become unbalanced and is full of cliques.

Think back to the days before ToAU. If you were leveling a new job outside one of the cities and were getting beat up, a passing mage would swoop in and rescue you, cheer you on, toss a protect and shell, make chit chat and probably send you a friend request and tell you to call on them if you ever needed help. But now? I could drop dead in front of the official Vana'Diel Society of White Mages and not one of them would so much as turn around, and if one of them did, it would be to run over my corpse and stare for a minute before teleporting.

But hey, if that's how people want to play, fine. It's really sad because I would probably be the first person to jump in and help one of them, even if they were a complete ass here on the forum and I know that feeling is probably not even mutual, and that's the problem.

[FrankReynolds]

I never said I was "traditional." I hated putting my flag up, but I know that the first time I hit 75, I knew how to perform my job and wasn't 40 levels under capped. I also wasn't prone to acting like a jackass. I don't care how people get their exp, but the old way did have one thing Abyssea doesn't: camaraderie. I honestly don't think it's the old party grinding people miss, I think it's making new friends and not feeling like they are a poor kid that wandering into a country club by accident. Face facts- Abyssea has made this game full of assholes. Not saying everyone is, but anyone who has played more than two years can certainly take a moment and look back and realize that while EXP might fall off of trees now, the world has become unbalanced and is full of cliques.

Think back to the days before ToAU. If you were leveling a new job outside one of the cities and were getting beat up, a passing mage would swoop in and rescue you, cheer you on, toss a protect and shell, make chit chat and probably send you a friend request and tell you to call on them if you ever needed help. But now? I could drop dead in front of the official Vana'Diel Society of White Mages and not one of them would so much as turn around, and if one of them did, it would be to run over my corpse and stare for a minute before teleporting.

But hey, if that's how people want to play, fine. It's really sad because I would probably be the first person to jump in and help one of them, even if they were a complete ass here on the forum and I know that feeling is probably not even mutual, and that's the problem.

It's funny, because back when I started playing, the first thing I did was level whm, and go charge people for raises in the dunes, so that I could buy my spells for blm.

A few things:

If it takes 3 months to level the old way, or 1 day in abyssea... at the end of 3 months, the abyssea guy has 3 months of level 99 play experience and lots of shiny gear for the job. The other guy now has to go get gear and learn how his job works in events. If he's smart, he has read up and studied, and has a firm grasp already, but he still has 3 months less experience in endgame than the other guy. Not to mention that it will probably take him a year to fully merit without using abyssea.

If the guy who leveled in abyssea hasn't figured it out by the time the guy who did everything the slow way hits 99, then that is a problem with the player. Not the leveling system.

If I am forming a level 99 group and I get a player that is a total nub, I can just grab another person (or just go without him in a lot of cases). So its sucks that there are a bunch of lames, but it doesn't ruin my day because there are thousands of other level 99 people online at any given time to choose from.

If I am forming a level 52 exp party, there is a strong likelihood that the lame duck is one of only a few people seeking, and if he is on the one or 2 jobs that make a 6 man party work, then I am screwed.

[Glamdring]

the problems with the OP's suggestion are manifold. But 1st, if you don't like the Abby XP system, simply don't go there. My last 2 jobs I took to 99 I solo'd to 75 because parties were not to be found and I refused to be a level 99 with level 32 skills, if that. FoV/GoV make XP outside Aby almost in the same league as what you get just key whoring in an Aby ops burn, but still allow the meaningful accumulation of skill that Aby does not. They also give you a variety of locations/prey to play in/with. Regardless, no need for an "off" switch.

If you really want to grind, just fire up the NPC in the appropriate mode and go spam books. Keep a seek flag up, and put in your comment "No Abyssea, old-school only". Granted, morons can't read so you'll still get inappropriate invites but it is a good way to identify idiots to add to your /blist. You may be surprised how many invites you get, you're not the only one that prefers that option, despite the tone of most of the responders on here.

[Eric]

Some people back then still didn't know how to play their jobs at level 75 with the old system. At least with the current exp system, others don't have to suffer(as badly) as a result of their incompetence.

[Babekeke]

Hey everyone! Before i start off i just want to say, Sorry if this has been suggested before, and if this is the wrong place to post this...

The one thing i loved to death about FFXI was the fact that it was challenging, but with Abby's Expansion (DLC) The game got waaaay to easy.. So i was thinking... Would it be possible for a patch that adds a Option to the config window, Like under gameplay it could say like "Would you like to play FFXI with Pre-Abby or FFXI's Current State"
EX: Pre-Abby is FFXI before Abby's arrival -Short Terms: Decreased EXP-
EX: FFXI's Current State -Short Terms: Increased EXP-
(There could also be a time limit between switch's like an Hour)

Also, they could add a party option depending on the leaders Settings.
There could be a notice when someone invites you saying
"Attention: This Parties leader is using the Pre-Abby settings"
And if their using current FFXI:
"Attention: This Parties leader is using "Abby Settings"

But thats all i thought of.... What do you think?

I'm not sure how you didn't notice, but... this is already available. To get the pre-abyssea exping experience, simply:
turn on your party flag;
wait;
if you get an invite to abyssea or a book burn party, ignore it;
after 3-4 hours, give up and go to find some beastmaster mobs to exp on their pets.

I personally achieve the pre-abyssea experience by levelling BLU and getting all of the spells as soon as I am able to learn them. If a friend offers to come and help, I ask them to choose a similar level job, or to level sync to me.

Sorry if someone else pointed this out in the previous 9 pages, but I don't have time to read all of the posts.

Edit: I came across a bit harsh there perhaps. I enjoyed the old grind more than I enjoy abyssea exp, I have to admit. But, I didn't enjoy the lack of parties, lack of tanks etc. etc.
FF14 actually had a good system. You put in a number of melees and a number of mages to your criteria when you make a party, and if you're on the right job, you auto-join. This got rid of the 'JP only' policy that many parties had during the times that I played.

[Luvbunny]

Btw - I see more and more traditional party taking advantage of the GoV in Boyahda Tree. They probably better off making an alliance and kill faster, safer than sticking with 6 people though if they were able to chain safely, the xp probably end up somewhat similar or a bit less. There are literally gazilion camps now, with tons of benefits, and wide array of options to do. The problems are these people who thinks solo-duo is better and refuse to work together with others who are clearly doing the same thing and killing the same mobs. In this game, working together with others who are doing the same things are FAR FAR better options than trying to SOLO everything. There are TONS of people who are in need for skilling ups these days, just shout in Jeuno and grab those who are in the 100s skills and take off to these sweet open camp spots and pump the xp. This is a great alternative than abyssea, and you get more benefits - not to mention a better way to leech your alts :P

It's like, the developer gave us options, a far better alternative, and it is not abyssea, but hardly anyone bother to do it or care to try it. And if they do, they tend to keep it quiet and not even want to share it. Abyssea is not the only way you get exp these days, a good solid alliance can pump the GoV bonus faster than solo-duo and reap faster skill ups that are FREE!!! and does not cost you tons of gil for those "skill ups foods".

[Eri]

I hate Soloing for exp... but i hate 18 ppl exp groups MORE. Whatever happend to 6 ppl exp pts...... no you cannot find ppl in a reasonable amount of time. They dont l ( cwanna go entirely with 6 ppl they cant afk i guess.) or just suck at their Jobs.

Hell i don't even care about the Exp anymore (Yes 30k/h is OK and i can Solo 50k/h consistantly). Exp Pts with 6 ppl used to be fun. 18 Ppl PTs aint fun in my Book, its just mindless massmurder.