servers way more empty now? Still doing the linear gear climb?

[leorez]

Me and a couple friends are coming back after a breaking (one since ToAU, the other since seekers started). Ive only been gone since May, but on a Sunday night around 11pm i noticed that the /sea all turned out around 600~ players on Asura. I know its not the best time frame to check how its doing, but thats the lowest ive seen it in a long time.

Are the servers really that empty all of a sudden? Did 14 put a dent in it? I played 14 for a couple weeks and blew right through it because its another post WoW casual fest and i was bored as hell and was basically done with all the endgame content/was basically done with my relic weapon (yes they are jokes to get in that game). I dont see that people will stick with it, especially FFXI players who are used to games with a lot of depth.

My reason other than FF14 for leaving was how the content was in seekers which was turned into a very linear gear climb (which is what 14 has and its awful and dull). Have they stuck to that still or are they spreading out the good gear between events?

[Anjou]

Me and a couple friends are coming back after a breaking (one since ToAU, the other since seekers started). Ive only been gone since May, but on a Sunday night around 11pm i noticed that the /sea all turned out around 600~ players on Asura. I know its not the best time frame to check how its doing, but thats the lowest ive seen it in a long time.

Are the servers really that empty all of a sudden? Did 14 put a dent in it? I played 14 for a couple weeks and blew right through it because its another post WoW casual fest and i was bored as hell and was basically done with all the endgame content/was basically done with my relic weapon (yes they are jokes to get in that game). I dont see that people will stick with it, especially FFXI players who are used to games with a lot of depth.

My reason other than FF14 for leaving was how the content was in seekers which was turned into a very linear gear climb (which is what 14 has and its awful and dull). Have they stuck to that still or are they spreading out the good gear between events?

Well we got some stuff incoming soon, AF upgrades across the board will hopefully bring some people back into old content to upgrade their gear, might bring some people back for the nostalgia feel, but other than that no nothing has changed aside from the gear climbing.

[Rustic]

Me and a couple friends are coming back after a breaking (one since ToAU, the other since seekers started). Ive only been gone since May, but on a Sunday night around 11pm i noticed that the /sea all turned out around 600~ players on Asura. I know its not the best time frame to check how its doing, but thats the lowest ive seen it in a long time.

Are the servers really that empty all of a sudden? Did 14 put a dent in it? I played 14 for a couple weeks and blew right through it because its another post WoW casual fest and i was bored as hell and was basically done with all the endgame content/was basically done with my relic weapon (yes they are jokes to get in that game). I dont see that people will stick with it, especially FFXI players who are used to games with a lot of depth.

My reason other than FF14 for leaving was how the content was in seekers which was turned into a very linear gear climb (which is what 14 has and its awful and dull). Have they stuck to that still or are they spreading out the good gear between events?

It's a linear gear climb. Bayld -> Skirmish -> Delve, because sidegearing doesn't occur with item levels. And you can blame FFXIV for it, seeing as it's eating so much development and it split the playerbase.

That being said, people ARE doing Skirmish for bayld and augment stones and such, and for dual wielders, you're going to want both a Delve and Skirmish weapon for main/offhand.

[leorez]

It's a linear gear climb. Bayld -> Skirmish -> Delve, because sidegearing doesn't occur with item levels. And you can blame FFXIV for it, seeing as it's eating so much development and it split the playerbase.

That being said, people ARE doing Skirmish for bayld and augment stones and such, and for dual wielders, you're going to want both a Delve and Skirmish weapon for main/offhand.

Kind of sad to see them go down that linear route, was great how older FFXI was when you got 75 gear from all kinds of events and most stuff stayed relevant for a long time, not forcing you to do one event to get into the next. I think they are using XI as a testing ground for XIV with stuff like that....which is so sad, casual crap like that is not what players who are still around want (from what i see).

The worst part is that there is nothing like this game or some of the older MMOs like EQ anymore, all we get is speed to cap and hop on the treadmill style since WoW took over the market. OF course every game since then has barely lasted a year or so before hitting the F2P desperation bin, but that doesnt stop Devs from constantly trying (the next casualty will be 14...i can pretty much see it already).

[Demon6324236]

Well part of the issue with it is they went from being nearly 100% horizontal to 100% vertical in no time. We used to have gear last a while, and in a single update, the implementation of a single expansion, a single day, they flipped that completely from what it was into what we see today. If it were not such a complete swap, a slight gradual nudge of some sort which would give us a more vertical climb slowly, but not outdating 90% of the game in a matter of hours, then things might not be as bad. Sadly, they lacked the foresight to do so.

[leorez]

Well part of the issue with it is they went from being nearly 100% horizontal to 100% vertical in no time. We used to have gear last a while, and in a single update, the implementation of a single expansion, a single day, they flipped that completely from what it was into what we see today. If it were not such a complete swap, a slight gradual nudge of some sort which would give us a more vertical climb slowly, but not outdating 90% of the game in a matter of hours, then things might not be as bad. Sadly, they lacked the foresight to do so.

i noticed that VERY quickly when SoA came out, literally made gear irrelevant in a single patch a month or so later. It was insane to see gear become useless SO fast in FFXI. Not a fan of the new devs or the route they are going, and after a short chat when i logged in, it will seemingly be a very tough time for us to do anything since most people are near the top of the "ladder" and have no reason to bring others up with them.

sadly this may be a very short stay back in XI.

[Dragonlord]

I totally agree with where this thread is going. I can't stand the linear climb. There's no variety, nothing that you really strive for, because you know it'll be replaced come the next event. This game use to be an experience, and now it feels more like a treadmill. I really hope SE quits this WoW-cloning type deal and brings back the reason the game did so well for a decade prior. IMO, it was the struggle with friends, the challenge, the slow progression that set this game apart from others.

On a more positive note, they have been making some great playability adjustments lately. The start screen sound, more inventory, send/receive option from mog house, etc. So well done on that regard. And back on topic, on leviathan there was a major plunge in people online after ffxiv release. There would typically be 1k+ on at NA peak and it dropped to 5-600 for a couple weeks. Now its back up to more 700+ range, but still a marked decrease.

[Rustic]

i noticed that VERY quickly when SoA came out, literally made gear irrelevant in a single patch a month or so later. It was insane to see gear become useless SO fast in FFXI. Not a fan of the new devs or the route they are going, and after a short chat when i logged in, it will seemingly be a very tough time for us to do anything since most people are near the top of the "ladder" and have no reason to bring others up with them.

sadly this may be a very short stay back in XI.

At this point, gear = level up, since they can't make us level up past 99. That's literal. I equip a L100 dagger, mobs con as if I'm level 100. Forefront? I'm effectively gaining 6 levels- instead of experience points and level up, I "level up" based on my gear instead.

The good news is they're planning on updated RME/Artifact gear to bring it up in item levels (and stats), meaning that folks should be able to resume wearing their usual garb soon enough. Of course, that also means they become required again, meaning inventory gets clogged to heck and back again. Good thing we just got +80 inventory, eh?

[Demon6324236]

That's not true though, look at GEO & RUN AF, its macro gear, sure some of it is decent for practical use, but with how things are going its quickly outdated with higher level gear. Updated AF will be level 106 or so like I think RUN & GEO AF is, not sure, never leveled either past 40 where my RUN is, in either case, neither set stands up to Skirmish or Delve gear in terms of stats besides job specific things like Refresh, MDEF/EVA, or that sort of thing, which means, macro gear. So saying that updated AF is good news, to me, is false. Update AF is good news only if it brings me a ton of insane gear that outdates what I have now for the sake of inventory, or it fuses stats from multiple pieces I currently use into 1, so I do not need extra macro piece room.

The issue becomes worse as time goes on however, because their unique stats will not be beaten most likely, things like RDM's Empyrean Composure or Enhancing Magic Duration buffs, wont come from other gear. What it means is, more space taken on macro pieces because no matter what they upgrade my Estoqueur's gear to have, they will make gear with better stats next week.

Leveling up was never requested, nor required, their want to do it was damaging, and the fact that we now level via gear is not an excuse for it all, it all comes back to the same idea for that reason, which is that the highest level gear is primarily the only gear that matters. That itself, is the idea of the linearity of this progression style, and why it sucks for this game.

[geekgirl101]

Ours tips around 500ish during the week and 700ish at the weekend, but today it's gone even lower at 320. The game has aged and as Demon says this adding levels to gear in order to compensate for the inability to increase the level cap is terrible. Thanks for the extra 80 slots but I don't think this gear in place of levels is going to work, and with the population decline today it just proves that it's not working out.