Reasons Why FFXI is Declining

[Arcon]

I really could not care less for easy games. While difficulty is not an essential quality I'm looking for in a game, I do favor games that possess a significant degree of it. That is not this game. FFXI has a lot of problems (and a general lack of difficulty is one of my problems with the game), but that is entirely unrelated to grind. Grind is not difficult. I've leveled three jobs to 75 back in the day (over a total of 5 years). None of it was difficult. Slashing away at a crab for hundreds of hours is not difficult in the slightest. It's true that when I got to 75 I was very happy, but it had nothing to do with how hard the journey was, because it was piss easy. It had everything to do with finally getting to access the main content of a game I've been paying for for years at that point. I've been in a linkshell where everyone was doing events like Dynamis, Ouryu and B2, Limbus, sea/sky, etc., all of which I couldn't join because I hadn't met my crab quota yet. That was why I was happy. Not because I felt I achieved something, but because I could finally enjoy the game with my friends.

I had the exact same feelings of happiness when I leveled jobs to 99 in Abyssea. I could finally bring BLM and SCH to events (disregarding the fact that BLM and SCH lost most of its usefulness at just about that point, which wasn't really related).

People like you continually assume one thing, and everything you say is tainted by that assumption. You assume that leveling is an important part of the game. Some people of your persuasion even assume that it's the only part. "Why even play if you can get to 99 without lifting a finger?" I can't count how often I've heard that question, and its only effect is to illustrate that you have no idea what our position on the issue is. The game is completely unaffected by the leveling part of it, because the real game starts afterwards. Simply by the number of events (even disregarding the time you can invest in any of them) the endgame part vastly outweighs the leveling part.

And yes, you might actually like it. There might be others, too. But regardless of how much some people like it, the fact is that if most people did like it, they would still do it. The fact that they choose to skip it shows how unimportant it is to the majority of people.

That has no effect on people's perception of difficulty. Leveling is not difficult in the slightest. I like difficulty. FFXI used to have a few somewhat difficult events in the past. Compared to leveling, all of them were, and by a huge margin. You can't tell me a linked crawler is as tough to deal with as the Dynamis Jeuno AH pull (or really any pull, for that matter). Well, you can, but that won't make me take you any more seriously.

Edit:

"grind spirit" was working pre aby. because they had to . they had to LFP (without keying or leeching) or start up your own exp pt. the whole pt system was working fine like that. but now it a big mess. so i guess this "new experience" you looking for is how things are now?

Very much so. I've leeched several jobs to 99 and I like them and play them as much as the ones I've done before. This leveling system is pretty much perfect for me. The rest of the game is still horrible, and even the massive improvement in leveling doesn't help it at this point.

[vienne]

Arcon just wants to start a game and be 99, without leeching his job, he neither wants to grind. He just wants to start playing and do endgame/challenging content (with shinies) without the years/months of work.
Although the grind was there for all the time he was an active player it never kept him away from logging in almost every day(which to alot of people didnt feel like a grind neither did it to me).
The grind isnt the problem with this game, its far more diverse then blaming it just on that.

[FrankReynolds]

Old school leveling is still there. The people who want to do it are not. Case closed. Abyssea burns would have never taken off if people had preferred the grind. Never. Only RMT would have ever done them.

[nyheen]

As has been said before, most people will take the path of least resistance and the quickest option. But that doesn't mean the quickest easiest option is good for the player or the survival of the game itself. I still lvl up in Aydeewa sometimes, but its hard to find other ppl who even know where it is.
Also you neglect to mention new players, players who never did any of the oldworld partying, join FFXI and you say to them choose between "get lvl 30-99 in one single day, while asleep, in dom ops, or work really hard for a year in lots of challenging fast-paced & effort-based battles allover Vanadiel, to get those same levels" and those new players are going to go with the first option.
Its the fact that in the old game we only had the option of legit partying, which made us do it, and while doing it we got good at the game mechanics and made friends etc. And perhaps more importantly, we stayed subscribed to FFXI billing for years because that is how long it took us to achieve things. Now you can get all jobs 99 while AFK, in a month, and uber SoA gear in a few weeks that is 100x > anything else in Vanadiel, you have a lot of new players who have only been in game for a few months and feel they 'beat' the game and don't know why they should bother with any content. That problem did not exist when you had to build levels, skills, and weaps/gear VERY SLOWLY, those were the 2k/server days and people were logging in to complete their longterm goals. Today is 400 people on my server, and the reason for that is they have no goals left, they outgrew the possibilities offered by Vanadiel in just a month. In the old game we played for over five years and still didn't finish all the jobs and gear we had set our sights on.
Analogy : if you give some kids the keys to the Sweet Shop and tell them to have everything right now, don't expect to see them coming back next week to buy sweets from you, because they've already got all the sweets they need. Deferred and gradual gratification = longtime returning customers.

^
this. That Pretty Much Sums It Up. the reason why FFXI is declining

[Camiie]

Opinion: Complete, total, and utter lack of job balance.

Reason: People fall in love with the look or play style of a job and pour their heart and soul into it. Then they realize that job is not needed or welcome in any sort of serious activity no matter how hard they try. They can't even outdo other jobs even when those jobs are not played or geared nearly as well.

Conclusion: People get discouraged that they have to gear other jobs to support the one they love and know that they will never get to use their beloved job on high-end content no matter what they do. They find fewer jobs that are even worth leveling and thus have less content to keep them occupied.

Solution: Don't be afraid to boost the offensive/defensive/support power and useful abilities of jobs that don't currently have anything to offer in high end content.

[vienne]

Totally agree with you, they need to build endgame events around a more flexible alliance-build. They also need to patch the pre-SoA magians/RME's/af3+2s etc. so that people can use their stuff that they worked hard the last 3+ years to build. The fact that your lvl 99 magian weapons can't hit mobs at all in SoA, or your af3+2 that is full of very useful job-specific bonuses, is useless in SoA, has led to everyone using only SoA gear, which is dumb (and very boring when everyone gears the same stuff) and makes a lot of people feel their efforts in building armor & weaps that are lvl 90-99 were completely wasted efforts. If you are a lvl 99 job, why should you not be able to use your lvl 99 magian weapon or your af3+2 set in events, which is either lvl 99 only a few lvls lower than 99.

this^ I came back after 8 months only to hear that my hard worked magian gear is worthless, I think lots of people would say screw this

[Rustic]

this^ I came back after 8 months only to hear that my hard worked magian gear is worthless, I think lots of people would say screw this

It's hardly worthless, but I'd laugh at you if you went to current endgame in it.

The problem lies in when people fail to realize that gear isn't forever. People don't wander around in Kirin's Osode anymore and expect to be uberpowerful in Abyssea, any more than now people in Magian gear are uber in Adoulin.

Despite our level counters not going past 99, in effect we're becoming L100+ in Adoulin, or L110+ with Skirmish/Delve gear. That's what Adoulin is right now. "Levels" 100-119, with more to come. Magian gear isn't worthless, but it's effectively "newbie gear" for Adoulin- good newbie gear, but it's what you wear expecting to graduate to Bayld, Skirmish, then Delve equipment.

I've had plenty of folks coming back in at this point. When they realize that they don't have to carry twenty different bits of armor because sidegrades are essentially kaput, it's generally a JOYFUL response, not a "screw this I quit". Entitlement syndrome just gets you bad players who didn't want to adapt and used "buuuut new gear!" as an excuse. I was frickin' seeing that back in ToAU when folks were whining about getting a Yigit set!

[vienne]

I've had plenty of folks coming back in at this point. When they realize that they don't have to carry twenty different bits of armor because sidegrades are essentially kaput, it's generally a JOYFUL response, not a "screw this I quit". Entitlement syndrome just gets you bad players who didn't want to adapt and used "buuuut new gear!"

Its this situation, I dont play much, glad to squeeze in 5 hours a week of normal playing (thats when i'm not trying to combine grinding a job while i'm ironing thats a different story) but a huge chunk of my already limited playtime
went into making the magian trial staves for my blm and also the cure one for whm. Now yesterday I was asking around about the current needed gear opposed to the gear I have atm. Only to be told that the better staves are those that drop from some SoA content, the ones for blm.
Its very overwhelming to see that most of your gear isnt needed anymore, I worked hard for a long time to get my gear since i do everything slower then most. Having to start from scratch almost all over again isnt exactly motivating... SE could have been more subtle in the change from pre SoA <-> post SoA gear.
I guess atleast now i know what to do the comming months till next update.