How much do FRIENDS make a difference with you?

Not much? Most of my friends have dwindled to just a few now (over the years), and even then most of them do not log on regularly like I do. So in essence I play alone often.

Whilst I'm guilty of being rather quiet in game, I still suspect I'd go bonkers rather quickly without various friends and circles to lurk amongst =(

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Originally Posted by Fawkes

I imagine it might be nice to have friends.

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I don't imagine you are THE Fawkes from Purple Reign on Kujata , ffxi, are you? :P

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Originally Posted by Dibella_Heartilly

I think making friends online is nice I think it's a good way for people who have social anxiety can become social in new ways, I personally love making friends in this game

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Amen. I was semi anti social years ago. Seemed like I only worked, slept, ate and played solo video games. But on game, I LOVE making new friends. I'm more social in RL because of FFXIV. On game, I'm a social butterfly and try to be outgoing and helpful to all players, especially new ones.

Probably the most important thing in this game is the social part of it for me. When content gets old and stale you need good people around to keep it fun or just keep you interested in logging back in to see them. We run stuff together, help each other with crafting/gathering, throw a full party together to let a DPS main scared of tanking give it a proper try without pressure. I've made a lot of close friends actually that I keep in contact with outside of game too.

Also I'm not surprised to see so many people don't work at maintaining a large social network here. Takes effort to find the kind of people that stick the long haul out with you, and I feel a lot of people hyper focus onto the PvE content and only what they want to accomplish on that side of things.

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Originally Posted by SeriousxSarcasm

Probably the most important thing in this game is the social part of it for me. When content gets old and stale you need good people around to keep it fun or just keep you interested in logging back in to see them. We run stuff together, help each other with crafting/gathering, throw a full party together to let a DPS main scared of tanking give it a proper try without pressure. I've made a lot of close friends actually that I keep in contact with outside of game too.

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That's pretty much my experience as well for this game.

Really, the social aspect is the make or break point for me when it comes to any MMORPG, where a good game can be ruined by a bad community (*insert any PvP-oriented game here*) or a relatively lackluster game devoid of long-lasting content (*cough*) more tolerable.

If I can find friends that have as little life as I do right now, that sounds like a stretch. And XIV is one of the only things I play recently, too.

I'm long used to playing solo, and even the FC I'm in is pretty much self-owned since my friends left. But hey, an estate and the entire company chest all to myself, I'm not complaining. My friends either play in super speedrun style, take their sweetest times, and rarely anything in between so I just learn to play by myself through PUGs and DF. Hell, new friends who just joined XIV recently are already camping with their other friends on other servers, and I'm not planning on doing server transfers anytime soon.

But they're always nice to have, as long as I don't take too much commitment with anything group-related, because people I find so far aren't on the same boat as I am or already have their own friends.

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Originally Posted by Kittypryde

I don't imagine you are THE Fawkes from Purple Reign on Kujata , ffxi, are you? :P

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Yes that's me, hello.

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Originally Posted by Mchappy

I'm a little surprised by the majority of people saying their experience with FFXIV is mostly solo.

I understand it, but I definitely think there is a community for everyone in the game. You just have to look for it. I probably wouldn't be playing as much as I do today if it weren't for the friends I've made along the way. I'm in a tight knit group and through them I've made more connections, so being able to play with friends makes a huge difference for me when it comes to my enjoyment in the game. Can I play solo? Yeah, because just as everyone else mentioned, a lot of my friends are playing other stuff during the content lull we've been having. When I find myself playing solo more than usual I just put my hand out more and interact with people I may not usually interact with on my friends list, Linkshell, or what have you.

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The problem many people have is the game is antisocial by design pretty much. There is no actual content for free companies to do as a free company to build bonds between players for example.

What content the game does have is strictly tailored around 4 or 8 people which makes including everyone a pain. Youre nearly always having to either exclude some one or completely change your plans by grabbing outside help from total strangers. If you've got 3 5 6 7 9 10 11 people that all want to do something your royally screwed.

It's like with heaven on high. 4 of us are doing that someone else wanted to come. Sorry mate parties full next day sorry mate parties full. Next day sorry mate parties full. It's impossible to include him without excluding someone else.

Then you have systems like savage where if you've cleared it you cannot go back and help your friends out because you'll mess with there chances at getting loot that week.

And even on a story level. How often do you see that stupid thing. "You cannot progress because you're in a party" it's a god dam mmos people want to play with there friends...

Especially with things like cold steel in 4.0. When your all there spamming the same npc trying to get into the same instance.. letting people go in with friends would have lightened the server load so much. Then you get a point where 2 of you have got in and the rest are still trying the next day so now your not even atvthe samevpartbofvthe story anymore..

All of these are big reasons why my friends list has shrunk as people quit over time because the game is so anti social it's unbelievable. Even in duty finder where you're with other people you can wave say hello be polite and not hear a peep from anyone else. They don't care they'll never see you again once the run is over. You could just as easily be ai.

It's really no surprise then that people say ffxiv is a solo experience because your actively discouraged from making friends and connections in so many ways right down to the most fundamental aspect which is the main story.

One of the best things about xi was you could virtually always do something And always include everyone regardless of how many people you had. 6 people 16 people 26 people any number in between it really didn't matter. Everyone felt includedcand involved and that lead to much deeper bonds between players.

Without my friends i wouldn't even play this game ever again.