Congratulations on your level??

[Caketime]

And Caketime I really do agree with you for the most part, I'm not even sure what kinda side you're fighting for, like for or against nostalgia? But yea there have been good and bad sides to both times and expansions have had hit/miss aspects, like Einherjar was virtually impossible for years after it was released and hardly anybody actually did it a year after it was made easier because it just wasn't all that great. Abyssea to me was just a way to get my char to 99 and get the gear needed to move onto the harder content. Haven't actually been inside Abyssea for anything other than a few merits in the past 6 months.

I'm for fun, not nostalgia. Einherjar was distinctly not fun, requiring half of my old LS to show up drunk just to make it entertaining. Sometimes all of us showed up drunk, then things got real interesting. For the most part a lot of content has felt like a chore to me, I did what I felt like doing for my reward pieces, and what kept me going was my friends. Every time someone wears a subligar and takes a seat on a fresh corpse, or when the resident Galka strips and chases after the Tarus for "lap time", it makes me want to keep doing things with these weird awesome people even if the activity itself is kinda boring.

Thus far Adoulin is very entertaining, it filled my entire afternoon with exploration, meeting up with old friends and making new ones. The exploration almost feels nostalgic, but only because it's been so long since I've had the chance to run around in fresh new zones and there's no need for wiki (for the most part) which is just awesome.

[Luvbunny]

If you don't like standing around waiting for a reive and you don't like bashing roots or they "die too quick" go make an alliance and head out to the basalt fields to hit rocks there. There are at least 5x more reives in that zone because of how huge it is and it's not all corridors. Your arguments were valid before everyone started properly playing it but while you've been sat here not exploring and arguing that it's s**t people have actually been playing it and realising it's a lot more than just waiting around for a reive to start, making you ignorant for not accepting that and still arguing your case.

Trust me, I always shout with location where the reive is, because everyone seems to love sitting and waiting hoping it will magically appear in 15 mnts. I marked all the location so I know where to go next, it baffles me that a lot of people just stand outside the reive and waiting for others to go kamikaze and get whacked first by a group of mobs before they come and join, going straight for the roots while the first timer getting pecked by purple butterfly - which then come after the other roots whackers soon after and you start seeing dead bodies everywhere. It's good when you have a PLD + Whm duo - which control the mobs, the rest of the melee are playing on zombie zerg mode, they can't tank by themselves, they can't raise, and they can't heal the others. So they just whack the roots till they get pecked to death. And now that they have adjusted the amount of bayld you can receive using magic, expect tons of RDMs to join the fray. You are getting reduced bayld if you just melee DD - LMAO!! Pld and Rdm to the front line with all those melee Whms

[Jaall]

If you're happy with it stop complaining in every post you make with exactly the same points. If you don't like people standing around then make an ALLIANCE, didn't say shout pos because people wont always listen and are prob afk waiting not actually standing there the whole time. People being dumb in their own right is not a cause to call the whole expansion a fail and if you don't like it you do have other zones to go to which are empty, which gives you no real argument for the whole expansion being a fail. I'm not sure anymore what you expect or what you want, you're always complaining some way or another but never actually have a valid point except for what you deem fun/boring, and then slightly hint that you actually enjoy SoA... Attention seeking maybe? I literally have no idea.

[Candi]

I'm not even sure what kinda side you're fighting for, like for or against nostalgia

Unfortunately, this thread was not about arguing for or against nostalgia. Since I started it, I can safely say that it was about the current state of the game where seemingly enjoying game play is no longer the point- but maxing lvl and gear is. To avoid accusations and assumptions, perhaps I should have said the following: I, myself, find the current status of this game disheartening and discouraging being that seemingly players no longer play for amusement but for status. I, myself, personally do not find pleasure or accomplishment in leveling by joining and just standing in a party. Doing so just to rapidly level then point and laugh at those who aren't as accomplished as I appear. We all know this type of player, maybe it is you. but this person makes the game fun for no one and I'd venture to say its not even fun to them. Maybe they get pleasure out of it because they are treated bad in real life. This is my thought. Any person is free to have their own but when we start arguing and fighting over something as simple as personal opinions sadly you prove to be the person I made this thread about. A person who puts others down over a stupid video game...

Regarding a classic server not working MY opinion is that it would. If by saying nothing would get done you mean players won't have ambition to do anything besides chatting, I'd say you are wrong. Instead players would not be in a rush to out-do each other but players would help each other.
On the other hand, I don't see how a server with people solely after status could thrive. As soon as people get what they want they disband.. If you depend on loyal friends or LS members to avoid this, then you must admit you have that nostalgia that is so inexplicably dreaded. Nostalgia of teamwork.

[Jaall]

Candi you come across as a very ignorant person in the fact that not everyone burns their way to the top and even if they do they aren't all ruining the game for everyone else. If you do link burning a job to 99 with wrecking fun then you are in fact judging 80% of the people who play today, of which only about 10% are that bad. If you do not wish to come across this bad player you don't have to but the fact that you come on here and offend most of the FFXI population because the game's taken a massive turn in it's life and now has features designed for the very reason of levelling quickly, it's actually kinda hypocritical.

You say these people ruin the fun in everything and just point and laugh but nobody has actually done that in this thread. All they have done is clearly state exactly the same as I am now, which is that the game has changed to this way of being played and whether you like that or not the vast majority do, and it works. You can say it's not fun anymore but that is your opinion and you expect people on a forum to not argue that, even when most people disagree? These ways have already existed in the game in the forms of smn burn etc except now it's easier to do. You do not HAVE to burn a job to 99 in the same way you never HAD to smnburn. You can easily join book burns till lvl 75 and then abyss to 99, or even make old exp parties. We've said it a million times already, please just open your eyes and realise that this is the way the game is, and comparing it to the "old days" is just silly due to the changes in recent updates and expansions. If you don't find it fun, why play it at all?

[Candi]

If 80% of the players are getting top gear and lvl just for status and lvl so fast that they don't know how to actually play their job-then I guess you have proven your point because that was my angle.

I am talking about A and others are bringing in B, C, and D. You can't pick a piece of my sentence and try to hang me, you have to evaluate the whole thought or else why respond?

My point, however is not about the current way people level but what they do after they get there. Again, to me, Candi, I don't understand level burn a job and then read wiki? People have become afraid to play because the next person can't wait to criticize them. They need to read wiki to know what to do? How about you go find out what to do on your own? Personally I don't want to read wiki all day to figure out how to play. I, CANDI, don't want to spend hours farming this or that because <insert job> is "supposed" to have it- then a few months later a newer-better item comes out and start all over again. I'd rather had spent that time doing quest/missions helping others find enjoyment in the game. I never agreed that grinding the same mob for hours or days just to get a level was cool. I forget who said it, but there should be a happy medium. On release you should have been able to get 1 or 2 other people and level. Leveling is not what the game is about. Getting gear is not what the game was designed for. Don't believe me? Go read the release statement of FFXI 2002/3 from SE. That should be enough said... But as repeatedly stated I am not the majority. I never claimed to be. I just asked for thoughts and opinions. Some people turned it into a battle of then vs now, right vs wrong, fact vs, opinion, me vs you...

And to answer your question, Jaall- The reason I play this game still are for the same reasons you've been reading and responding to this thread. For satisfaction that at least some people see it my way, because it should have died long ago and I am flabbergasted that it has not, and lastly because for the parts I choose to see in it are still simply entertaining.

[Jaall]

I can't even be bothered to read all of your post anymore, it's actually insulting to a lot of people saying that everyone has become afraid of being judged. I suggest you actually open your eyes and take into account other peoples views before speaking for them, especially when they've already said their bit and the views you speak of are yours alone. If you had read what I said correctly, I said 80% of players are people who burn their jobs up not playing to get top status and if you actually played the game rather than complaining about it all the time you'd realise where we are coming from when we say the fun has now shifted to social aspects in end game events rather than EXP. EXP parties could still be considered "getting the best" so what you're saying is incredibly hypocritical and just down right rude to most players today. The only people you're not offending are those who think exactly like you which just to point out again are the extreme minority in this case. And just to add, you can forget about your 2002/3 release date statements, time changes in 10 years and this game has severely changed, and it doesn't look to be changing back. I do hope you find this satisfaction you're looking for in FFXI but I highly doubt you'll find it and be happy. People who can't seem to move with the times always end up unhappy one way or another because everything has to change.

[Candi]

I complained about a specific type of player.You accused me of judging 80% of game players. Maybe you shouldn't read my post anymore and get back to the game. After all, I'm an obvious idiot so why start an arguement with me? Can YOU understand that not everyone thinks like you? So call me hypocritical and ignorant but don't forget to say it to yourself. And the reason you think you are in the majority is because the majority of people who negatively respond to threads like this scare off people who are like minded like me-except if the name calling doesn't scare me. Don't read this, when you do, don't respond, when you do know that at this point I care about your opinion as much as you do mine. Farewell.

[Luvbunny]

I'm not sure anymore what you expect or what you want, you're always complaining some way or another but never actually have a valid point except for what you deem fun/boring, and then slightly hint that you actually enjoy SoA... Attention seeking maybe? I literally have no idea.

So.... are you happy with the recent changes? Does not seem like everyone is thrilled with it - including you. Now you know what it feels like when you no longer able to enjoy the game with the jobs that you love. At least I can still go and play as Rdm or BLu, since the recent changes would favor those combo jobs. Just saying, stop being all so positive - start being critical if you want some changes to be made - maybe not going nerd rage and canceled your subscription hah hah hah.

[Prrsha]

Gaming is definitely defined by the perspective of the player. Caketime seemed to see my perspective. its no so much that I'm not wishing for old days but my point was leveling sooo fast just to say "Ha, I made it there first!" and not having actual learned the job is beyond ridiculous to me. It was the same back then- but you actually had to work for it. These days its like so what you are a level 99 in 3 days... You just stood in a party watching the scenery. Do you even know what to do? Oh, I forgot, that is what FFXI Wiki is for...

I think in order to fully enjoy (anything) in life, you have to experience multiple emotions- joy, sadness, anger, fear... Where is the sense of accomplishment if you didn't have to work for it? I can't say that I loved "old school" leveling- it definitely sucked. But this new way is pointless. Why not just have SE make everyone level 99 immediately and sell the best gear from an NPC for cheap? Seems like that's what some people would like. But once you are 99 with the best gear, what is there to do? Then go admire the beautiful atmospheres of the areas you skipped over or have never even been to? I know every inch and centimeter of all zones just before the last two expansions because I ran them, I leveled there, I died there, I did quest/missions there, I had fun there. Oh well.. Like Alhanelem says- get over it or enjoy it

*Liked* all your replies, thanks for your kind and respectful answers

I've been saying this for a year+. This is a large issue for the Japanese population as well. Leveling in FFXI currently is so fast that it currently means nothing. Like you said, you might as well have players start at level 99. Heck, I'd be for that over a system that gives you the illusion of some form of progress by sitting and exploiting game mechanics all day.

But, yeah, that its what it has come down too. Your best bet is to start or to find a like minded LS. They are out there and they are growing in popularity as old players from that era are returning to the game.

"I think in order to fully enjoy (anything) in life, you have to experience multiple emotions- joy, sadness, anger, fear... Where is the sense of accomplishment if you didn't have to work for it?" - This... Matsui-san has said these near exact words. He also said this is the direction FFXI will be headed. More skill based and emersion and less mindless zerging. However he did not say yet (if he even plans to address) the current exp problem. His response on most balancing issues were that the "dev team are hard at work on the expansion". I assume now that the expansion is done, he will be getting back up to speed with the balance issues and exploits in the game.

As I have said before, in order to survive, FFXI needs to retain new players. Given the current system, the game critically fails at any newbee content. This leads to new players rushing to level 99 in a month trial of the game... not understanding anything whatsoever of party dynamics (because they just sit in a group and exploit GoV), and when they get to the top, they give up in frustration.

It is easy to see the game from a vet's eyes, but SE needs to see them from a new player's eyes as well. Speed leveling is just an EXCUSE to overlook a lack of meaningful, fun, mid-level content. Until they fix that, everyone and their grandma will say you need to get to level 99 first to have fun, and SE will gladly go along with it until they run out of disenchanted vets.