The Decline of FFXI: Forums, Gameplay and Nostalgia

[Akujima]

Abyssea is not perfect. It's just an event were previous issues have been somewhat corrected.

I read your whole post (saying this because I've been accused before of just skimming over others posts), the whole waking up for work analogy just means this: We do simple repetitive tasks at work all day, and Magian trials as well as Abyssea farming just seems like work for some people, but I guess you're not one of them.

Anyways, I'm not trying to ridicule anyone for liking Abyssea. All I'm asking for is a difficulty increase and dynamic depth to battle tactics and strategies. But IMO they are making the game a little TOO easy, and a little TOO simple. "Farming" seals was not my idea of endgame content.

If the battles were actually difficult and made me use my brain in order to defeat the enemy, then yea I'd still be playing. Pre-Endgame 75, even doing an EXP PT you had to think of tactics and strategies depending on where your PT camped at, and what jobs you had.

You know what pissed me off? The counter for Utsusemi. And it all happened because whiney players who subbed /NIN (It wasn't even their MAIN job for crying out loud) complained that "Boohoo, counting shadows is so annoying!"

NIN pre-endgame 75 was a very, very FUN job. You had to focus and time your nukes and enfeeble ninjutsu correctly. You had to WATCH your enemy carefully to determine when you would cast your next Utsusemi. Timing was key. It was FREAKEN fun to count those shadows, and "Pro Ninja's" were the ones who could do that, and at the same time keep hate, WS, SC and MB.

But overnight, as soon as the shadow counter was added, NIN went from being a cool IN DEPTH DYNAMIC JOB, to being a cakewalk @$$ wipe job, and stole all the fun out it.

The example given of a NIN pre-endgame 75, is EXACTLY what I'm talking about in regards to "IN DEPTH, DYNAMIC, STRATEGIC, GAMEPLAY"

God Dang!!! my posts are so good.

(yea yea, lots of caps because I really feel strongly about this topic)

[Bhujerba]

. It was FREAKEN fun to count those shadows

... :O
fun is subjective... :|
plus nothing much really changed, going from watching chat log now you watch buff icon instead, the whole timing thing and strategy still remained almost exactly :O , this what I love about the job (timing shadows and/or abilities around it, keep me busy constantly) and what I fell playing nin now,before and ever!

you just are over thinking it! snap out of it now! *poke*

[Akujima]

fun is subjective...

Fun is objective　too! So... I object!

Actually my chat log scrolled up and　I had to remember how many shadows I had, due to other things going on in the battle. But I'm still trying to make a point about dynamic game play. Back in the day, Trick Attack actually had a use. But now people don't really care if they're trick attacked, because most all melee can tank in Abyss without shadows or evasion gear or whatnot.

Anyhow... This is also a test of my sig, wanting to see if it works heh...

Edit: Guess it doesn't work. How do you get a pic to show up in your sig?...

Edit#2: Figured out the sig thing. Cool.

[Karbuncle]

Fun is objective　too! So... I object!

Actually my chat log scrolled up and　I had to remember how many shadows I had, due to other things going on in the battle. But I'm still trying to make a point about dynamic game play. Back in the day, Trick Attack actually had a use. But now people don't really care if they're trick attacked, because most all melee can tank in Abyss without shadows or evasion gear or whatnot.

Anyhow... This is also a test of my sig, wanting to see if it works heh...

Edit: Guess it doesn't work. How do you get a pic to show up in your sig?...

Edit#2: Figured out the sig thing. Cool.

This is all Nostalgia vision and false.

Ninja has barely changed at all. The only thing thats different about the job is you have more shadows. You're still an Evasion tank, you still need to keep track of shadows (Either by log or by Icon), and Timing is still key on a lot of fights. Ninjas have great Evasion, But they're about 60 Evasion behind THF, so they still have to eye their shadows on a lot of Enemies, that hasn't changed.

Beyond that, You can still Debuff a mob with Ninjutsu in Abyssea...? That hasn't changed either. Trick Attack was frankly just as "useful" then as it is now. Only now NIN's are able to get hate easier through DD. If your complaint is that TA is "Useless" because you don't need the Enmity, your Complaint is NIN is too powerful through damage. "Trick Attack" isn't 'not wanted' because of melee damage blah blah blah, Trick Attack just isn't NEEDED. its not a WANT, its a need. Right now, especially for jobs like NIN, the Added Enmity is simply not required. it can help early in a fight or after a Hate reset.

Thats funny though, Trick Attack is still useful in the exact way you want, strategically, Its useful after an Enemy uses Hate reset. It just became an ever more strategic hate tool, adding depth to a fight, but you failed to mention that... You're overlooking exactly what you want, Strategy and in-depth fights.

I Won't go into how much i hate a lot of THF Abilities for being "Party onry", So I'll try to focus away from the Trick Attack Subject more, Sorry :X

Going form here on, I don't know what quite else to say. If you guys are so disappointed with how this game is turning out, take Anewies initiative and just quit already. If the game is truly so unfun to you that you can't even see how it still has almost everything you want because you're blinded by nostalgia and animosity, you simply need to deactivate your account.

The Representatives on this website, while not responding to every single (Really TERRIBLE) ideas are in fact looking through and commenting on decent ideas. As i said before, They have limited time and resources. This is likely not their fault. In a company, you obey who is above you, or you lose your job. I'm sure if they had their way there would be much more time/staff devoted to FFXI.

I mean, I don't complain my "Personal Beast pet" idea has never got dev attention, even though its gotten mostly positive responses. I simply feel its either "Horrible idea" or "Too unrealistic". I've come to terms with that, and i certainly don't think that we should start a complaint thread every time we see a thread without a Crown icon by it.

Edit: Throwing Sucks. (you know you laughed)

[HFX7686]

I think that you are taking this game, and your "fun", far too seriously. Instead of worrying about the fun of all people, worry about the fun of yourselves and your friends.

If it comes to a point where you're bored and tired of the game you realise you don't have to keep playing right?

[Bulrogg]

I used to jokingly ask if I had a case against SE because I had played Ninja so long, I could no longer count past four.

You know what pissed me off? The counter for Utsusemi. And it all happened because whiney players who subbed /NIN (It wasn't even their MAIN job for crying out loud) complained that "Boohoo, counting shadows is so annoying!"

NIN pre-endgame 75 was a very, very FUN job. You had to focus and time your nukes and enfeeble ninjutsu correctly. You had to WATCH your enemy carefully to determine when you would cast your next Utsusemi. Timing was key. It was FREAKEN fun to count those shadows, and "Pro Ninja's" were the ones who could do that, and at the same time keep hate, WS, SC and MB.

But overnight, as soon as the shadow counter was added, NIN went from being a cool IN DEPTH DYNAMIC JOB, to being a cakewalk @$$ wipe job, and stole all the fun out it.

I couldn't agree more. I very much enjoyed playing Ninja before then. Since then Ninja has become just another 'Bandwagon' job. I'll be happy when SE unintentionally adjusts something and then [Insert Job Here] becomes the next 'bandwagon' job and everyone jumps ship.

[Karbuncle]

How does a job becoming a bandwagon effect how you play the job in any way shape or form?

read my post above you. Ninja is as in depth as it was back then. You still get AoE nukes removing your shadows, You still have to count shadows to some extent (Text or Icon), You still can debuff the mob, you still need to keep hate on the Enemy, You still need to be careful on some mobs (Bennu perhaps? Dread Wind > You're face), etc.

The game as a whole is only simpler due to Atmas, but the job itself as a core remains in tact. All the things you described i still do when i play NIN. I still debuff, watch shadows, etc. I Rarely use the icon cause the font sucks and i can barely read it on half the backgrounds.

We're moving out of Abyssea soon, You'll be going back to wearing Earth Staff and subbing DRK in Arhat's, losing hate, being useless, and getting 1 shotted soon enough. Then You'll be happy?

Cause it really sounds like you want the old days of 2007~ back when NIN was back-seat to PLD/NIN on almost all fights. Why would you purposefully want your job to backseat?

[Kingofgeeks]

there's nothing SE can do about the diminishing numbers of this game... its old, and there's not really much they can do. Hell, with the stupid PS2 limitation thing they can't even add more DAT files. I, personally, think its pathetic that they used Maws to enter abyssea instead of giving us something new to look at.

I think the problem with a lot of things in this forum is that they're expecting too much out of SE. People complained for years about the difficulty of CoP missions, hard to find parties, and the lack of soloability. The game is getting old, and regardless of how poorly its doing, ffxi is competing with ffxiv.

It is my belief that SE lifted the level cap as a final bang on this game. They pulled out all the stops and gave us more to sink our teeth into. The moment FFXIV picks up speed (if it ever does) and becomes more popular, that's when ffxi will start to fade.

I am thankful that they made this game easier for casual players to partake on. Although i hate it, i'm glad they gave us the ability to be a complete n00b at level 90, because in a lot of situations, the game does turn into a game of skill over time put in (i am fully aware of the vastness of scenarios where this statement is not true).

but seriously, you do have a point. Give us a few more DAT files so we can change our Dragon's color, its fun and it doesn't mess up the balance of anything. Do more things like this and it will keep people happy.

[RaenRyong]

But overnight, as soon as the shadow counter was added, NIN went from being a cool IN DEPTH DYNAMIC JOB, to being a cakewalk @$$ wipe job, and stole all the fun out it.

... counting to 4 is hard? SE just rightfully made something that was not challenging but inconvenient far more convenient. Likewise what they did for exp.

[wish12oz]

So......... the OP thinks because SE is adding useful content, like new BCNMs, and a new NM system (voidwalker) instead of stuff like letting you change your wyverns color, and since people can do things in small groups with their friends instead of requiring large stupid LS's that mainly work to acquire gear for the leaders, and because we now have 'official forums', FFXI is in decline and is going to not be fun anymore?

I have to disagree with you, yet again, big surprise. FFXI is getting better. The only thing that could ruin it at this point is if SE started listening to 99% of the dumb ideas proposed on these forums.