Do people really favor an FFXI grindfest format?

It's very odd, just an observation not really decrying/commenting personally, but I've noticed a lot of people saying something along the lines of "Plz remove leves and get the party xp system back to ff11" and it hasn't just been just 1 or 2 people saying this but a vast majority and I don't understand how this is favorable. I don't know, I see the flaws in the leve system such as monotonous, repetitive cycles of doing dunesfolk/levinshower/cracked up etc, but was spending months and grinding for days and days of your life in ff11 really superior to any other alternative? Anyways, I just wanted to pose the topic and see what you guys thought :).

because if u grind at least grind in party because is more fun , than soloing .....i love to party ....soloing is boring as hell...

but i prefer dungeons that FFXI leveling method....dungeons at least have bosses , and gear ....

@ vesperia : "their opinion doesnt really matter much", however dont bother asking them if u want "my opinion" ........ :rolleyes:

I dont want to get the leves removed, but i want to be able to grind in a party too, because i liked it in XI. This way i dont have to wait 36h until i can go on level my char and can do this whenever i want (after completing my leves already).

I prefer XI's boring ass grind which I enjoyed for 3 years over FFXIV's leve grind. I don't care to have FFXI's system back but there's gotta be something better than leves.

As a "weirdo" that has stuck with FFXIV, I personally get extremely bored of just doing leves over and over and over....
I would like people to party together more and travel around to kill different mobs for SP, just to break the monotony. I've done raptor parties, but no-one seems to party at lower ranks nowadays; for example I remember doing crabs at Cassi ~rank 15-20 (I think), but that was a long time ago. Basically it would be nice to have a balance between the two (with improvements of course- Rank 50 leves would be good).

Partying for SP and repeating leves both fall into the category of "grindfest"- how would you suggest that players gain SP instead?

Right now FFXIV really does not have a good way to both improve your character AND your playing skills. At least not in a way which is fundamentally social over time and that builds on your skill to interact with other players at the same time. That is what I miss from FFXI. One of the primary reasons that quiting FFXI was never possible (until lolAbyssea) was that the social interactions and possibilities that came thereof were SO STRONG.

Aaaand sure... before someone rants up a response along the lines of "...all games must keep on evolving..." or "...right now some 16yr-old will discover FFXIV and come to love it just as you came to love FFXI...", these are all valid points and to some extent I have to agree (even though I do not want to).

My point is. I loved the XP-party style. I still think it was brilliantly put into play by the original developers of FFXI. It allowed for LOTS of 'food for thought' and during the years that FFXI was at it's peak, players were able to discuss amongst themselves about how to improve XP/hr (etc). The product of all this socialization in the game and in the actual party made it a great and loveable system. There was some actual value in one's accomplishments and this rubbed of on everthing else done in the game.

I am in favor of the XP-party play style and very excited to see if the creative minds at SE can come up with an even better system than what they did in FFXI.

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I am in favor of the XP-party play style and very excited to see if the creative minds at SE can come up with an even better system than what they did in FFXI.

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I doubt its ever coming. Leves are and will always be central to the game, they aren't going anywhere. We're stuck with repeatable quests for FFXIV and most likely dungeons and stuff. This game really sh*t the bed big time.

I enjoy the option of grinding and believe it or not people do it in xiv. The difference is that its much more difficult to find an area for your range with enough monsters, and almost always these areas cant support more than 1 party because of the fast pace of the battle system.

You spend twice as much time running from monster to monster than you do in the 10 or 15 second fights to kill them. Lets hope the battle system adjustments bring about fixes to this.

fter that, a system for forming parties that is easier and more used would create the enviroment where grinds could work alongside leves.

Actually, I'd rather see this setup:

* Main method of leveling: Story-rich quest-based leveling
* Alternative methods: Instanced dungeon parties, leves

And then I guess if you really like, you can resort to good old-fashioned grinding. But grinding random monsters as a method of leveling is archaic and personally holds no appeal for me. I only do it in MMOs when it's necessary for rep grinding or farming.

My opinion on leves is that they shouldn't have been the backbone of leveling. They should have been 'dailies' to fill in the SP gaps and to keep gil flowing. The reason they are boring is the same reason that grinding is boring. The same reason that people get sick of doing their dailies in WoW. Nobody wants to do the same thing over and over forever. And to make them the primary method of leveling was a mistake, IMO.

But to answer the original question posed here, no, I don't prefer FFXI-style grinding. But the real problem is that we don't have many options. I'm hoping that will change with the implementation of instanced dungeons. Partying, exp, loot. Good times.

Well for the most part, I need to grind to supply all my crafting ambitions. Second, aren't we all limited to the number of Battle leves that we can pull? Even if you're luck enough to fine a team with a bunch of leves, it still is very limited. Once the leve gravy train is up, your SoL until the next reset which I consider to be poor game design.