Worth returning to?

[Storm]

Hi, I played FFXI back in 2008 and haven't read anything about it since or even thought about it but with the release of FFXIV and finding that it's in a terrible state I thought I want to return to FFXI and complete the game like I always failed to do. I got to around level 45, can't remember much about the game apart from where to level from 1-30

Is this game still popular and worth playing again? Does it still have a healthy number of players? If I do play again I plan on buying the steam FFXI pack that's available so I have everything. Any advice on which servers to go for if I decide to return, also are there any trials around? Or did they stop them because of the RMT spam? Also are there any ruined classes since I left? Thanks in advance.

[Bumbeen]

most of the jobs are worthless now. Still worth coming back though, you'll have lv 90 in a week.

[Storm]

most of the jobs are worthless now. Still worth coming back though, you'll have lv 90 in a week.

Worthless in what way and how come it's so easy to level now? When I last played they made it easy but level 90 in a week O_O

[Greatguardian]

EXP is significantly easier to get now. But you can safely ignore people who want to tell you most of the jobs are worthless. Most jobs are right about where they've always been, some getting nerfed (SAM, DRK, RDM, SCH), others getting buffed (NIN, THF, BLM, WHM).

If you're a casual player and you're coming back to a linkshell, or still know people who play, you will be fairly well off and can probably get to level 90 and start working on your armor and missions and such in a couple of days. If you don't have any contacts.... well, I highly recommend attempting to make some via community websites! It is much more efficient than trying to meet people in-game, or join shout groups/shout linkshells, and you are more likely to end up with a quality group.

If you played in 2008, I'm not sure exactly what trials you're referring to. If you mean Fields of Valor (the little books in EXP zones where you get exp/gil/tabs for killing a set number of monsters?), they have continued it and expanded on it to include Dungeon mobs for level 90 players.

Some of the best armor and weapons in the game are no longer bought on the auction house or dropped by world spawn HNM, this is the biggest difference I think you'll see. There is a new system called "Trials of the Magians" which allows you to steadily progress towards a custom weapon. It can be tedious, but it is free and the rewards can be powerful. There is a new class of Ultimate weapon called "Empyreans" which are also created via Trials of the Magians, each of which having their own "Empyrean WS" which are, generally, extremely powerful. Because the WS are so strong, there is a subset of Trial weapons which are significantly easier than full Empyreans to finish and simply give the player access to the WS, without any of the Aftermath or added effects.

If you want to know job tiers, you have both inside and outside Abyssea to look at.

Inside Abyssea:

God Tier: NIN, WAR, MNK, BLM, WHM
High Tier: THF, BLU, BRD
Mid Tier: DRG, PUP, COR, RNG, DNC, BST, RDM,
Crap Tier: SAM, DRK, SMN, PLD, SCH

Outside Abyssea:

God Tier: WAR, MNK, SAM, NIN, WHM, RDM, BLM, BRD, DRG
High Tier: COR, THF, DNC, SCH, DRK
Mid/Crap Tiers: PUP, RNG, BLU, SMN, PLD, BST

Want a solid DD that will pretty much always be useful? WAR or MNK have been safe bets since forever, and are very sturdy jobs. Want a solid mage? WHM and BRD will never be plentiful enough. Given that EXP is so easy to come by, it's really not difficult these days to take up a job to 90 for the heck of it, or to use in specific content.

Is the game still popular? I think so. There are enough people still playing to do most all content with. I highly recommend trying to find a group of competent, intelligent people to make friends with and do things with though. Most smart players completely ignore the shout channel these days, so utilizing pickup groups generally means getting people who don't know what the Cure spell does.

Does it have a healthy number of players? Depends on the server. A few of them were recently merged and actually have too many players on them right now. Some are famous for being total drama/retard-fests. Others are more quiet. I could give you a basic recommendation if you have a preference. Some people prefer highly populated servers, others prefer really loud servers, etc. Personally, I prefer my quiet, relatively mature server that leaves me alone.

[Storm]

I was referring to the 14-day game trials. I used to be on the ragnarok server IIRC and was a member of the british geezers LS. I'd love to see if anyone I knew back then is still playing the game. Can you really get to 90 in a couple of days? That seems a tad too easy. Have they expanded with a lot of content to keep you going once you reach level 90? Also how come summoners and paladins are so crap in your tiers? I thought they used to be good back in the day

EDIT: Just checked my last login date, 20/08/2009. Checked my friend list and god the memories came flooding back. Must play this game!

[Ravenmore]

No they got rid of the free 14 day trails. RMT tells were getting way out of hand.

[Storm]

No they got rid of the free 14 day trails. RMT tells were getting way out of hand.

Yeah when I played I remember having RMT tells maybe once a day, was quite bad.

[Greatguardian]

I was referring to the 14-day game trials. I used to be on the ragnarok server IIRC and was a member of the british geezers LS. I'd love to see if anyone I knew back then is still playing the game. Can you really get to 90 in a couple of days? That seems a tad too easy. Have they expanded with a lot of content to keep you going once you reach level 90? Also how come summoners and paladins are so crap in your tiers? I thought they used to be good back in the day

EDIT: Just checked my last login date, 20/08/2009. Checked my friend list and god the memories came flooding back. Must play this game!

EXP works differently inside Abyssea than the rest of the game. There is no party size EXP penalty, so you get the same amount of EXP solo as you do in an Alliance of 18 people. The amount of EXP you get per kill also increases as you build a "Chain", which, as opposed to normal EXP chains outside Abyssea, simply builds as you kill the same type of monster repeatedly rather than killing in rapid succession. You generally peak at about 600 EXP/kill, with some mob types capping higher or lower. Mobs also drop chests that can be worth up to 1,250 EXP on their own, and there are "Dominion Ops" in Heroes of Abyssea zones which net you about 3-5k bonus EXP for every 5 mobs killed. Overall, parties can hit up to 200,000 EXP/hour if they're good.

The EXP level correction still exists. A level 30 in Abyssea still receives 33% EXP if they are in a party with a level 90, but because Abyssea EXP/kill rises so high, even a level 30 player can hit 600 EXP/kill after enough of a chain has been built.

EXP outside Abyssea, in the normal game areas, has also received a global Doubling. Also, Easy Prey and Decent Challenge monsters had their base EXP/kill increased. Overall, EXP has become a means to an end rather than content itself.

As for Endgame content, everything that was present at 75 still exists now for those who wish to pursue it. I am told by some posters on this forum that it is "impossible" to find random people who are willing to do old content, because the gear dropped in Abyssea so easily outclasses old armor that they feel there is little point to it. However, again, this is just another reason why I would recommend trying to find a core group of friends you can play with. I still do sea, Einherjar, Dynamis, and pretty much anything else that's actually moderately enjoyable with friends.

Abyssea itself is 9 zones worth of content, ranging from EXP, to timed NMs, to force pop HNMs. All Empyrean Weapons are constructed using drops from NMs in Abyssea, and the new "AF3" armor is upgraded there.

AF3 armor starts as an "NQ" piece with practically no stats, either bought with Cruor (the "Conquest Points" of Abyssea), or in some other fashion from an NPC. It is then upgraded into AF3+1, the "Casual" player's AF3, by obtaining a certain number of AF3 Seals. Seals are dropped by low-tier NMs, and are each designated with both a Job and a Slot (Eg: A monster might drop Bard Seal: Legs). Scars of Abyssea zones (Attohwa, Misareaux, and Vunkerl) drop Head seals, Leg seals, and Feet seals respectively. Heroes of Abyssea zones (Uleguerand, Altepa, and Grauberg) drop Body and Hand seals.

AF3 armor is then upgraded into AF3+2 by procuring "Jewels" (rather, Jewels, Stones, Cards, and/or Coins depending on the job). Like with seals, each "Jewel" (I'll use this term to mean all 4 objects) represents a single slot. However, unlike seals, each Jewel is used for multiple jobs AF3. Eg: Stone of Balance is used to upgrade WAR, BLM, BLU, PUP, and NIN AF3+1 feet into AF3+2 feet. AF3+2 also has a Set Bonus, which activates when wearing 2 or more pieces of the set, increasing in chance to trigger as you add more pieces.

Non-Body AF3 take 8 seals to upgrade from NQ to +1, and 6 "Jewels" to upgrade from +1 to +2. Body AF3 takes 10 seals to upgrade from NQ to +1 and 9 "Jewels" to upgrade from +1 to +2.

The current focus of the game is on building AF3+2 sets and Empyrean Weapons in order to prepare for level 95-99 content. It may get a tad repetitive, but it's extremely fun (in my opinion, since you can basically become a Demigod in Abyssea), and the content can be handled by just about anyone.

As for SMN and PLD, they're just really not that useful. The playerbase as a whole has realized that DD jobs just aren't as "frail" as people thought they were. More DDs carry PDT and MDT (Physical Damage Taken -% and Magical Damage Taken -%) sets with them, allowing them to mitigate damage if they need to. Combined with the fact that WHMs have practically infinite MP in Abyssea, and a good MNK is sitting on 3.6k-4k HP, there really isn't any need at all for a PLD. They're just lackluster DDs with overkill Defensive abilities that don't really serve much purpose (I say this as a long-time lover of the PLD job, too).

SMN has just always been iffy. The 45 second cap on BP Delay and the inability to transfer high Haste buffs to pets really knocks them down a few notches. A good SMN can still lop out a 5k Blood Pact every 45 seconds, but that doesn't mean too much when my Monk lops out a 5k WS every 10-15 plus TP phase damage (numbers are for inside Abyssea, aka Demigod mode)

[Ravenmore]

To add to what GG said, we still have 91 to 95 and 96 to 99 increase's to go. Lot of stuff could change. With way mnk is now I really don't see why pld couldn't get a dmg update, or the BP cool down reduced.

[Karbuncle]

Also, I was under the impression PLD was actually quite useful for Voidwatch?

So i wouldn't put it in Crap tier.

Also THF should be god Teir for Everything. TH > All!