Would you play on a pre-abyssea/adoulin stand alone server?

[Silex]

I often hear people (not everyone, but a big chunk) talk about how great the old FFXI was. Usually CoP era, but certainly pre-Abyssea/Adoulin. I was just wondering how many people would be interested in playing on a server (if SE came round to the idea) that had just the older expansions on?

Maybe it's 'Nostalgia Vision', I don't know. All I can say is I didn't start the game until Abyssea was already out and I regret not having started sooner if the game really was as good as people claim back then.

If SE decided to put out a single server in addition to what's already available that didn't have Abyssea/Adoulin added features would you be interested or not? Is the idea itself worthy of consideration or just being said by a vocal minority?

This came to mind as I was reading the FFXIV forums, it seems there are a lot of people there who are trying to mold that game into becoming a FFXI v2.0

Here's an example of one of the posts there:

I've said for a long, long time now; I'd subscribe and play for years to ffxi IF a server was made with the old rules, old loot system, old hnm pop system, old leveling system, and everyone on said server was level 1.

You know, a basic roll back to the release of the game, stagger out expansions on the same schedule over the next decade. Yeah, it's hard core and not for everyone, but I'd sign up in a heartbeat for that!

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/145003-Return-to-FFXI?p=1862359&viewfull=1#post1862359

[Valhoola]

nope i rather have it like it is because i can XP and not waste a whole day doing nothing. the game is still pretty much the same but the Gov & FoV is what messed up the party dynamics, lv30 entry for abyssea now they added trust NPC's like GW1 so you never have to group even though grouping is way faster still.

too bad FFXIV went far away from FFXI and turned into a wow clone. my charcater i had for 3 years is sitting on the back burner since i hate that style of game may never be used again.

[AppropriateName5786]

You didn't miss anything, OP.

[Vivivivi]

Not interested, personally.

[lllen]

I started and grinded my way to 75 on Rdm, Blm and Blue under the old game. It was hard, grinding and sometimes I was ready to give it up I was so frustrated. I hung in there and Campaign came out...a way to get exp without grinding in parties (esp if you were in Die-namis omg the exp loss.)

When Abyssea came out it was like freedom a breath of fresh air, maybe it was a little overboard but to tell the truth we were loosing people left and right up until Abyssea. Abyssea pulled a lot of people back to the game and changed the dynamics. It had to be done, the old game was extremely time consuming, and took for ever to get where you wanted to go, endgame to get the good gear. To get good gear ole way: Then it was 2 nights a week in Dynamis Shell, 2 nights a week in sky shell, not counting Sea, Limbus, Salvage and Nysul Isle. There was COP which took forever, and all the missions to get to sea and sky.

Adoulin came out and it changed the game again, I was mixed up for a while but I have a handle on it and can see the forest for the trees (or the other way around). Today's world is different from the world 11 years ago rl and in game. To start with we are 11 years older, if you were 18 you are now 29, which means rl has changed for 99% of us. Today's game has something for all groups, I can hop on and do content for an hour or I can be on all day. There is gear you need to do hard fights to get, but there is also good gear that you can get without having to be "geared for god" to get into the Party.

The content has expanded and the game is now what you make of it. It is time the old people quit complaining about the new and building up how the ole days were better. We worked our butts off to get there in the ole days but the world changes in rl and gaming but was it a better way in the ole days...no it was hard, grinding, actually boring once the newness wore off...

[Blah]

I'm sorry but you should call those people out for being bald-faced liars, while it was true pre-aby and that was good times it wasn't THAT good, I can't even bring myself to play where there isn't a fov or gov manual and the parties? Pfft most were still always with the "be (job/ support job) or you can't join" crap with EVERYTHING, leveling, NM fights, missions freaking everything. I think people are "forgetting" they were all about that back then. At least for the most part that elitist garbage is gone because now if they try it just leave them high and dry in the city yelling for hours lol.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

I was just wondering how many people would be interested in playing on a server (if SE came round to the idea) that had just the older expansions on?

Let's see if I can avoid being my usual petty and condescending self...

With only certain exceptions (EXP per kill comes to mind), most of the "new content" that self-described old-timers decry is optional. You don't have to enter Abyssea or Adoulin if you choose not to. In fact, the devs went to great lengths to ensure you could still reach level 99 without any expansion packs or add-ons.

Perhaps the loudest complaint is about the changes to Chains of Promathia, specifically the removal of area level caps. But people are (willfully?) forgetting a few things there...

1. Nobody actually hung out in those areas. Nobody went to those areas unless they absolutely had to. In fact, i suspect a great many CoP quests were never completed by many players simply because completion involved deviating too far from where you were required to go for a mission (e.g. why visit the belfry in Cape Riverne?)
2. The areas were specifically designed to discourage people hanging out. EXP rates out there were halved for those whose true level was higher than the area's cap, to discourage people from grinding to 75.
3. As the caps were removed, tougher monsters were added for those players who still sought a challenge from those areas. So you're still free to find "a challenge" on the way to such-and-such battlefield.

Level caps were removed from battlefields themselves, but substantially similar battles still have level caps. Chains of Promathia mission battles are uncapped, but ENMs are still capped if you still want to worry about animas and such.

And of course none of this precludes having a low-level job set aside specifically for trying to go through these on "hard mode."

All in all, I'd say the hardest thing about doing things "the way it used to be" is finding other, like-minded individuals. People did things the old way at the time because it was the only way, putting up with it because they had to. Now that the compulsion is gone you'll find nobody can be bothered.

Having an "old skool" server won't fix that problem, either. Joining that server would still be a voluntary act on the part of the players, and the end result is that you simply will not find anywhere near enough players to justify an entire server for.

This came to mind as I was reading the FFXIV forums

Fantastic example. I was in Ul'dah when they took down Balmung 1.0. 1.0 was kept live and basically free-to-play after the final ARR event, for those people who still enjoyed doing things "the old way." The servers would be kept up for as long as demand persisted, with the understanding that, now that the ARR event was over, any new progress wouldn't be carried over to 2.0.

I don't believe it lasted six weeks.

[Bukota]

No, I would not.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

I hung in there and Campaign came out...a way to get exp without grinding in parties (esp if you were in Die-namis omg the exp loss.)

OMG that was beautiful! I still remember the joy of discovering a way to get EXP for my lolPLD at a time when merit points parties were DD- and support-only. After all, once you no longer had to worry about leveling up out of the sweet spot for a particular EXP camp, you were better off chaining T's and VT's rather than the slow grind of IT's, which generally meant dedicated tanks and dedicated healers had a lonely time past 70.

But lo, suddenly I could tank all the things, without the stress of having a linkshell leader screaming at me about having to hold hate off the MNK spamming Final Heaven!

And then I got enough Allied Notes for a full set of Iron Ram armor and started wondering why the heck I was still grinding my face off for "lotting rights" on Valor Armor to begin with...

[detlef]

If you were on a server like that, you'd never be able to get a group for anything and you'd be stuck soloing... Except there would be less low-man content for you to do.

Besides, you'd have to carefully consider at what point in the game's history you want to freeze time. FFXI's glory days probably occurred during ToAU, but think about it... Double alliance Dynamis with horrid drop rates and "sponsors," not to mention the BLMs would die so much they'd have to go back to Puddings to build up their XP buffer. Twice-a-week Limbus to fight Omega and get double head drops. 7-man Salvage with abyssmal drop rates. Einherjar where everybody needs to have all 9 feathers to fight Odin. Not to mention Sky and Sea with 15 minute ??? repops... Man, what a nightmare.

It was fun times, but it was fun because of the people and the fact that you probably had more time to devote to the game than you do now.