Why I'm not going to resub

[Inafking]

It's still harder to find people to do things than it is to do the things in the game. It would be easy to implement a signboard system where people could volunteer to help others in exchange for points that would in turn allow them to post for help. Weather it's abyssea seals, Dynamis wins, Abyssea ZB wins, Voidwatch, Missions, etc you spend all your time trying to find people to do it with and for better or worse it's over in 5 minutes. Thiat is assuming you can find people to go with to begin with. I have been in more parties that broke up because they couldn't find people than PTs that tried and failed in the past month.

People keep quiting and coming back. You obviosly have a game people want to play. Give them a reason to stay.

[Deifact]

Being someone who recently returned after a couple years off, I agree that it is hard to find people to help with content other than Adoulin etc.

What I see now is that theres less opportunity to grab and go, people seem to stick in friendship groups or their LS. I guess best opportunity for someone like me is to form an LS with people who want to do the same content as me, which will probably be difficult.

Instead I've sort of resigned myself to enjoying the game solo, which isn't so bad. I chat and socialise with others but while they're enjoying end game content I'm working my way through Rise of the Zilart or Chains of Promathia at my own pace.

It's not great, and it isn't what the game used to be, but it isn't all bad!

[Ryce]

I agree - this game is sorely missing tools to help connect players for specific objectives. They started to address this with the Linkshell Community site, but it fell far short of the mark and never saw any further development.

The great strength of FFXI has always been the community. The balanced-group-required nature of the game forced leaders to emerge; to organize people and events. It seems that, over time, these leaders have become harder and harder to find. Many of them have settled in with a comfortable group of friends and no longer interact with strangers. Others have moved on to other games with most of the population. It's likely that the "dumbing down" of XI has resulted in a different kind of new player - the kind less likely to step up as a leader to get things done.

All this is to say that XI's greatest strength - the community - flourished because there WAS no "signboard" system. With the community eroding, however, perhaps it's time to change direction on the player-event coordination front.

[Demon6324236]

It's still harder to find people to do things than it is to do the things in the game. It would be easy to implement a signboard system where people could volunteer to help others in exchange for points that would in turn allow them to post for help.

The problem with this system type is that people would abuse it with second and third characters to get themselves points infinitely.

[Inafking]

The problem with this system type is that people would abuse it with second and third characters to get themselves points infinitely.

Not a problem if points can't be traded. Dual boxing will only take you so far if you only get points for things you can duo. There is ways to adress it. The mistake would be to not implement it and not address the bigger problem of people not staying in the game.

[Zumi]

People will tend to focus on the content that gets them the best gear, which currently is delve which outdated many pieces of gear so that is where the main focus lies.

[Umichi]

Being someone who recently returned after a couple years off, I agree that it is hard to find people to help with content other than Adoulin etc.

What I see now is that theres less opportunity to grab and go, people seem to stick in friendship groups or their LS. I guess best opportunity for someone like me is to form an LS with people who want to do the same content as me, which will probably be difficult.

Instead I've sort of resigned myself to enjoying the game solo, which isn't so bad. I chat and socialise with others but while they're enjoying end game content I'm working my way through Rise of the Zilart or Chains of Promathia at my own pace.

It's not great, and it isn't what the game used to be, but it isn't all bad!

I myself have the same feelings and views

[RAIST]

my bigger concern would be that SE wouldn't design it worth a crap, making it go the way of the /seacom system.

So much potential, but a shotty design and failed integration into the search system could once again drive players away from it out of frustration/disappointment.

[OmnysValefor]

The sentiment of the OP is why I made this post a few weeks ago.

Better Purposed Party-Seeking

/invite (the green flag) is dead. The search system sucks. The ability to seek for specific events, broader event types, and perhaps multiple, would do a lot of good for this game.

Right now, if you want something, it seems like you need to idle in a city and hope for a shout. You can shout yourself, but after a half hour of forming, many shouts spam for an hour looking for something like bards.

I should be able to seek for
* Voidwatch
* I should be able to seek for a chapter. Sure I'll go to bastok run because I need X.
* More specifically: A chapter and tier so that I can seek for Jeuno T3 (Heavy Metal Plate NMs) or uh.. Zilart T3 (Pouch NMs).
* Further specifically: A specific NM. I never did get those legs from Gaunab. Tried dozens of times. To quote Gone in 60 seconds, they were my Unicorn. I should be able to seek for Gaunab. I never did get that drk neck either, whose name escapes me.

* I should be able to seek for experience points, still, of course.

* I should be able to seek for Delve.
* I should be able to seek for Delve NMs.
* I should be able to seek for specific NMs.

Such a reworking would take considerable effort, but it's a system they designed. They should adapt.

[Vil]

A cross-server content finder would be a godsend to many of these problems, imo. I too, have recently come back, and other than two or three friends I had that were still playing, I've had little luck tackling stuff outside Abyssea pretty much. :/