Reasons Why FFXI is Declining

[Daemon]

yes these shout groups do those bosses on asura... successful runs at that

Yeah what I meant was Zumi was looking for a Linkshell that's reliable and can be part of a family than wait all day in town for a shout group to happen. Hang out with people who are on the same level and can relate with each other.

We are on the same server

[Creole]

Yeah what I meant was Zumi was looking for a Linkshell that's reliable and can be part of a family than wait all day in town for a shout group to happen. Hang out with people who are on the same level and can relate with each other.

We are on the same server

"By doing Pioneers Coalition in Western Adoulin
You can do the quest "Clear the way" using 3 tags each Colonization Reive. This will net you 1,800 Bayld" not finding this quest on search aswell as the "blood thread"

[Karbuncle]

Blood Thread one is the Inventor's Coalition. First Assignment, Rala Waterways.

BOOM CITY BRO

That should help ya out.

You two get a room ^^

Only if ya join me sweet pea turnabout is fair play

[Creole]

Blood Thread one is the Inventor's Coalition. First Assignment, Rala Waterways.

BOOM CITY BRO

[/COLOR]

thank you, i'm trying to enjoy this game but logging in to do nothing is starting to get to me.

[Creole]

nvm answered my own question there is no space inbetween blooodthread

[Daemon]

"By doing Pioneers Coalition in Western Adoulin
You can do the quest "Clear the way" using 3 tags each Colonization Reive. This will net you 1,800 Bayld" not finding this quest on search aswell as the "blood thread"

Yeah I'll add more details to better explain what I added.

Look for the quest Clearing the way
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Pioneers'_Coalition

As for bloodthread, I kept it vague as to let everyone know that the item is in demand at the moment. Sells pretty well. It was listed in FFXIAH. It was meant for people to look in the AH and see the price of the item. Check the date to see how well it sells.

http://ffxi.gamerescape.com/wiki/Gather:_Rala_Waterways

Edit: I also did not want to ruin current in game players camp spot by posting direct areas.

As for dynamis... What's the point anymore? Currency now 3kish on our server.

[Daemon]

my question is how do you sell them?

Auction house under Clothcraft

[Prrsha]

Aby expansion and the skill-up / level-up easymode options made people lazy imo. Turning up in Aby buttnaked and going afk for ages, too lazy to even open boxes, your only actual gaming achievement is turning the pages in a Dom ops book repeatedly for days on end. This kills the 'user input' aspect of being a gamer.
Turning pages in your pyjamas, is not the same as pre Aby xp parties where we were fighting imps and colibris etc. and you had to wear correct armor, not go afk, play your job right etc. Or in WOTG, campaign mobs would destroy you if you were afk and naked. This meant you had to be a gamer and not a naked leech. Attaining levels and skillups was a slow process, which trained you in playing your job, and was also important in learning party dynamics. It gave you a sense of accomplishment and self-worth, which is now entirely absent because you got lvl 99 in your underwear by clicking on a GOV npc a lot of times.
Many people including myself played FFxi originally because we wanted a more challenging game, with slow lvling and slow skill up, and structured tiered system of accomplishment. After 2010 this was nulled in various updates, to the point now you can get a lvl 99 War without ever using a weapon even once. That is where SE went wrong, they should have stayed with the original game mechanics. I think the only good thing they added since 2008 was level synch, because that allowed people to party when there wasnt a lvl appropriate tank seeking. After that, and especially in Soa, it has been downhill. I will continue to play this game as long as it is online, because I still enjoy the core content & love Vanadiel, but I miss the 04-09 era a lot.

You hit the nail on the head. 90% of the existing content is now considered a joke and quite imbalanced. Also, there is no incentive to do such old content as well as rendering all of the existing equipment irrelevant. How does this effect an end gamer? Not much BUT it has a huge effect on NEW players. The reason why FFXI is failing is the lack of fresh blood to this game. Until you give new players a rewarding experience when they first enter Vanadiel (other then the "get to level 99 1st mantra" you won't have the retention that you need to keep the game going.

Want proof? Look at the lack of low level gear on the AH. Look at the current state of the economy. Last of all listen to the comments from new players who have played over a month (if you can find a handful of them). They are chased off by a steep learning curve that "Abby butt naked/page burning" syndrome has caused. They are handed slices of easy mode and get to 99 with ease... and they... SMACK, right into a huge learning curve of a wall called SoA endgame. Most get frustrated and quit due to the lack of a smooth transition from easy to hard. This is 101 of MMORPGs and I have no clue to why SE does not see this.

FFXI used to have this. You used to learn over time how a party worked instead of leeching. You learned how to do large scale events in CoP (due to the level caps it had). The level caps were a good thing (I know you are frothing at the mouth to tell me otherwise, but hear me out 1st and judge after). It allowed low level players to do things hand in hand with vets. It was not a perfect scenario however. I would have liked to see some form of a new LFP system to match players for missions and a larger inventory system so people could store gear sets easily for a level capped event. But those matters aside, it was a good idea.

My suggestion to the problem at hand doesn't take a quick fix but one that exists in several stages (all of which need to be functioning for it to work)

#1 Revamp the inventory/storage system (you can't do capped events easily if it takes you 3 hours to mule for gear)

#2 Slow down the rate of experience gain for books. The current (non book exp) rate is fine now, but the GoV books are not balanced at all. Tone down the rate of exp from a book and allow the bonus to act once per game day. Remove any buffs the books give because this harms the economy by making items like reraise earrings, protect rings etc worthless. Remove the HP and MP tick for the same reason above. I remember the days when yag drinks sold like hotcakes.

#3 To avoid leeching, limit Abby to level 75+ only. The large amount of exp gathered there is meant for higher level players who have more of an exp gap to fill then lower level players. Also limiting abby access will flood the market with vital synthing crystals that crafters depend on. It will also broaden the range of items that the AH lacks (like drops from lower level mobs all over vanadiel) because people will roam to level instead of sitting in mines using fell cleave all day.

#4 This is a big one. In order to make new players feel less rushed to get to 99, add events that cater to lower level players. And higher ones alike. Lets use an example to describe this (a poor one but it can get the point across). Campaign battles in WotG. If WotG was the starting area with low level mobs all around the zone but high level events happening during a campaign battle you could include new players in so many ways. Due to the statistics of FFXI we all know a low level player has no chance to help anyone in a battle situation in the main fight, however, the devs could say... make a small number of support enemies appear of low level that are in the large expanse of the zone. Maybe they can be triggered by clicking on a ??? that pops a level 20 set of mobs with a level cap on. The lower level players can defeat them and as a reward maybe say... the high player group could get extra buffs or even more treasure chests and a much increased loot pool due to the actions of the newbies. The newbies in turn could get gil or items appropriate to their level or even synthing loot that can be sold at the AH that can help high level players. In this way you sort of have a harmony of new and old players working together as common goal.

In order for this to work, the rewards need to stay up to date with the new content and not be left in the dust with now worthless items like that are in garrison and the like (in terms for higher level players). That way there is no need do design a mentality around needing to be a certain level to help your friends. A low level player feels like they are leeching from your higher level buddies at best. There should be someway for them to interact and return the favor. Without this, it gives a bad vibe to the game and doesn't make new players feel welcome among the rest of the population.

This is only one example... if you wish to have more... I could go on but this was the simplest one I could think of off the top of my head that could demonstrate such a thing.

I'm not new to MMOs or MMORPGs, I have seen them die over and over again due to many similar problems. I used to play Ultima Online back in the day and even Zork on the school's mainframe when I was young. I can still play these games and find them fun. The Nostigla goggles argument while valid sometimes... is often times a poor excuse to describe something that "worked" long ago and people enjoyed. Just because technology has changed do I enjoy a text based game any less? Not I. I still enjoy them. I still take out my CDs of Planescape Torment and play them with the very much the same joy now then I did 10+ years ago.

If nostliga was a common problem why would there be so many emulators around and roms? Did the people who enjoy those kinds of games suddenly drop off the earth. Nope. I think the opposite. You'll find plenty more gamers annoyed with games trying to cater to everyone's whim and becoming a clone, then just being creative and breaking away from the pack. FFXI did that for me and it still does... until of late.

I'm not new to MMOs or MMORPGs, I have seen them die over and over again due to many similar problems. I used to play Ultima Online back in the day and even Zork on the school's mainframe when I was young. I can still play these games and find them fun. The "Nostalgia goggles" argument while valid sometimes... is often times a poor excuse to describe something that "worked" long ago and people enjoyed. Just because technology has changed do I still enjoy a text based game any less? Not I. I still enjoy them. I still take out my CDs of Planescape Torment and play them with the very much the same joy now then I did 10+ years ago. The very same thing could apply to books vs. tablets.

If nostalgia was a common problem why would there be so many emulators around and roms? Did the people who enjoy those kinds of games suddenly drop off the earth. Nope. I think the opposite. You'll find plenty more gamers annoyed with games trying to cater to everyone's whim and becoming a clone, then just being creative and breaking away from the pack. FFXI did that for me and it still does... until of late. Instead of staying true to it's concept, it's trying to become a game it is not. A glance at the current leveling system is an example of this.

I know people will argue that MMOs should vastly change over time but I ask why? Why should they change their basic fundamentals? Shouldn't they design a new game or sequel if the wished to do so? Why not save those ground breaking items (of a non level based system for FF14) SoA was an expansion, abby too, it shouldn't have changed the core values of the game.

[Creole]

snip.

Sorry everything you mentioned would punish new players and reward high level end game players. Who cares how fast you level the game isnt hard to learn, switch gear, weaponskill, switch back. Not hard at all, only a few classes take more then a few button presses. Point is games are ruined by the community and as long as people continue to act the way they do new players will just leave before/after hitting 99.

[AJ666]

I disagree , I agree with Stompa and Prrsha.