I think I'm finished; a new player's final thoughts

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

Oh boy, here we go with the dead game comments.

Ever think there might actually be legitimate reasons why there are only really two topics of conversation in these forums?

[L0IRE]

This is RPG, RPG= life simulator.
"playing MMORPG"= your 2nd home, if you can't accept this, then quit, this isn't the game for you.
I find it mind boggling that there are actually people, players, on this forum, that are telling newbies they should quit because they're finding it difficult. You guys are not doing much for your community, or your game, and yet you complain all the time that the servers are lacking people. This does not help. It also doesn't help that everyone in game is extremely quiet and does not want to talk to anyone unless you're already friends with them, and finding a group for anything is really difficult. Rarely do I see shouts for PUGs, and when I tried to join, yeah, you know what happened. I ended up making my own linkshell and shouted recruitment to try to get other new players to join so I could help them out and we could all talk. It worked for a while, I got about 6 other members; only 1 still plays (the others quit I assume, they haven't logged in for weeks).

this is the sad state of most MMO's on their way out, all that's left is the grumpy, impatient, basement dweller elitist who look down on everyone else with their 1200 day play time, so being new you have to deal with these _____. They are just mad that now all their time and effort is worth a little less now that a kid playing one month can get as far as they did in that 10 years, I'd be mad, but hey its a game, get over it. I mean if you can't be patient and respectful of new comers, your a contributing factor to your games low population, just my cents.

sorry you got treated the way you did in-game and on this forum, people forget where they come from when they can't see it from their pedestal.

[Demonjustin]

Why do people like you exist? Quit and go to WoW already.

Yes because everything said there was very anti-FFXI Draylo.

[Xantavia]

Just how long is an "initiation" supposed to take? How many months worth of subscriptions is he supposed to pay before he can actually play the game, when there are so many other MMO options (including those published by S-E themselves) that let new players hit the ground running?

You can play the game since day one. Since it sounds like he started with several friends, he was in a much better position to enjoy it than somebody else who didn't know anybody. The problem is in thinking the game doesn't start until level 99. With a group a friends, somebody can do older content as they level. Seeing as nation mission 5-1 used to be capped at 50, that gives you a guide at what level it is possible. Spreading out progress would likely stop it from feeling like a grind. I think players rush to 99, then feel overwhelmed by what they think they need to do to enjoy it. Take your time and older content is no longer irrelevant. Rewards you get can be applied to accomplish the next set of goals.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

The problem is in thinking the game doesn't start until level 99.

The problem is that way of thinking may not be wrong. For example:

Seeing as nation mission 5-1 used to be capped at 50, that gives you a guide at what level it is possible

S-E claimed that they were finally fixing the years-old mission cutscene bug with the prior update, but I've certainly not seen confirmation (let alone mention) of that in the update notes themselves or since. These low-level content issues are allowed to languish because the devs are throwing all their man-hours at level 99+ content. They're throwing their man-hours at that content because it's the only content getting played.

Spreading out progress would likely stop it from feeling like a grind.

Ah yes, he could instead spend some time doing Eco-Warrior, or Garrison, or Expeditionary Force, or Ballista, or BS/E/IS/ANNMs, or Campaign Battle, or...

[L0IRE]

This game probably isn't for you then. Have you tried World of Warcraft or its twin FFXIV? This isn't meant to be a WoW clone, hence why it has its smaller playerbase who enjoy this type of game.

here you go, good example, "go play wow", you know how old that comments getting, its about as old as a "mom" jokes and about as creative, I forgot you got to where you are solely on your own? never asked for help? as I thought.

[Rubicant82]

I've been around sense the game was release in North America, and I am absolutely floored by the negativity of some members of the community. This goes for both the veteran and the new players.

First off this game was meant to be a social game, it was designed originally around the party and alliance systems and almost all content up until the last few years has not really solo friendly. Now it is a much different game. I want to say that what you have accomplished in a month is more than a lot of people do, and for that you should be proud, but it definitely sounds like you burned yourself out, maybe a small break to relax yourself in to a more recreational casual schedule.

Now to those people who are telling each other to quit I am disappointed. We are a community, and it is shameful to tell someone that they should quit. You should be ashamed of yourselves! But I’m sure you won’t be, not that it really matters. Everyone has the right to be happy in the game. Sure we had it a lot harder than the new players, it took us forever to get what we have, but if this game is to survive in the long term we need to have new players.

I recently started a new character on a different server than I normally play on to hang out with some friends from the FFXI facebook group and it has been interesting. In a week I feel like I have accomplished almost nothing, but I have gone further than I did in a year back in 2003 (that might be because being active duty navy I couldn’t play that much, not the point!) and I have had help for several parts of my new little adventure. This game is not meant to be a solo game, and it is up to us as a community to welcome the new players and teach them the ropes. I try to help new people when I have time, because I know what it is like not having help when you need it, and I won’t lie it is fun to go back and pay a visit to some of the NMs that were so hard now that I am 99 and have iLvL gear and utterly destroy them, giving me a sense of satisfaction that can only come from the massacre of something that gave you much turmoil.

As for the job thing, I am a strong supporter of diversity. Have the job you love to play, have the job you play for events, and have a job you play just because. I know that End-Game content has very specific “requirement” but honestly those are set by the players who beat the content first, and there for everyone must mimic them right? Yes everyone wants to win, I hate losing too, but with the all the new stuff why the hell is no one for science’ing anymore? Experimentation, adventure, and challenging fights are part of the game, yet we resign ourselves to a single set up with very few deviations for EGC.

I’m sure there will be plenty of negative feedback about this post, and the topic as a whole, but we as a community should be supporting each other and not at each other’s throats. It makes me very sad to see players acting like this.

[Camiie]

Why do people like you exist?

Well, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much they make a baby and in this case that baby was me.

Quit and go to WoW already.

Way to refute my assessment that people rush to endgame so they don't have to slog through tons of outdated content alone. I realize that asking this of you is like asking the sun not to rise, but you really need to pull your head out of the sand and realize that FFXI isn't perfect. Vana'diel is underpopulated, and the only way to find people doing things is to race to the top and join current content. Even the devs realize this, and they're usually the last ones to pick up on the game's trends. And no, the game isn't dead, but it is incredibly top-heavy and new players are stuck on their own for anything pre-Adoulin even with a linkshell. Yes, that is a legitimate turn-off to many players and denying it doesn't make the issue go away. Telling me and anyone else to go away doesn't fix anything either.

[Draylo]

You don't have to do things alone, there are still players out there. I bet I could restart the game on a new character and when I'm forced to play with people I could find them. This guy is just helpless and complaining because he is a WoW era MMO kiddie and wants everything handed to him. He wants this entire game changed to suit his needs because he wants to blast through all the content he deems as crap. Sorry missions are nothing because he just wants to do the latest endgame so he can complain when he finishes it all and says the game has no content.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

because he wants to blast through all the content he deems as crap.

Seekers of Adoulin as a stand-alone add-on is sold for $29.99. Ultimate Collection Seekers Edition, bundling Seekers of Adoulin with everything else, is priced at $39.99.

That means that "everything else," all your Zilart and Promathia and everything you need to get a relic, a mythic, an empyrean... everything is worth a whopping $10. It's worth $10 to the market, it's worth $10 to the publishers, it's worth 1/3 of what the new Seekers content is worth, it's worth 1/2 of what S-E charges for an Android/iOS rehash of an SNES game.

Saying that pre-Adoulin content is inferior (or at least "less desirable") to the latest content is beyond mere "personal preference" by this point. The customer base, the publisher, the entire market is in agreement. And insisting that a new customer plunk down money on this game and then spend the next month or two unable to enjoy 3/4 of what they paid for is entirely unreasonable on its face.