Do people really favor an FFXI grindfest format?

[Neptune]

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 .

All the rational people left long ago. Kind of like, when you wash out a pan how afterward there is still some grime in the bottom.

[Rentahamster]

I would favor a long grind, on the condition that the grind is interesting, varied, and entertaining.

[AlexiaKidd]

I would prefer an FFXI style grind over these Leves at the minute. To me it just seems like most of the open world mobs are pointless at this point as they don't serve much purpose other than to gather mats really.

[Mack]

I would prefer an FFXI style grind over these Leves at the minute. To me it just seems like most of the open world mobs are pointless at this point as they don't serve much purpose other than to gather mats really.

Yea, speaking of which, why did they go and create new mobs for the quests they added to the game instead of using the mobs already there? so odd :S.

[Vesperia]

Yea, speaking of which, why did they go and create new mobs for the quests they added to the game instead of using the mobs already there? so odd :S.

You make it sound like such an endeavour to copy-and-paste a mob and change it's names and stats.

They probably just implemented new mobs because the ones in game already were either in the wrong place or were in the right place but of an inappropriate rank.

[MeowyWowie]

I'd prefer FFXI party style grinds over leves any day. A day or 2 of leves leaves me feeling extremely discouraged to even bother playing because they are so boring. Some people like them, and that's great. But for me, I like to meet new people every day in exp/sp parties.

Within exp/sp parties there are, or rather should be perks that you can't get in leve grinds. If you had a great party you made mini games out of it. Seeing who can get the most spike damage, seeing how high you can get the chain, seeing if you can rip the hate of the tank just for kicks. These were things a good party had fun with, just screwing around.

But when you wanted to get down to business and really grind some serious exp, the party system worked like a well oiled machine. It was far more fun to work with others that all shared a common goal than to do it all alone. Good teamwork always lead to better rewards (exp/hour.)

For the people who enjoy soloing or don't like to spend time seeking for a group, the leves are a great alternative. Leves will be the closest thing to quest grinding we will ever see in the game simply because there are so many classes to grind on one character. The quests need to be repeatable, and that's what the leves are for.

Personally, I'd like to see both options. Expand upon the leves for those that enjoy them. Give us better rewards for party grinds to make them worthwhile. And also, give us XI's party seek system on top of the system we have now.

[feint2021]

I miss xp chains. It was always fun hitting chains over 100.

[Doho]

to answer the OP directly. YES.

[Meridian]

I've just started playing FFXI again after 5 years away from it.

Guess why?

Because grouping with people is fun. Having to talk and interact with people is fun.

Running around in a blind group face first into mobs is not fun. At all. Not even a little bit. My fingers hurts from spamming the same ability over and over.

I play MMOs to socialise and talk to people I would otherwise not be able to, FFXIV does not fulfil that. Me and my friends are still logging into XIV every few days to do the guildleves we have the same for Wells and roll them over to the next reset, because it's the only way we can play together for an extended period.

Other than that, we all decided we'd prefer to spend our time actually gaining experience and being able to play together in XI.

[Rowyne]

I don't think it's the mindless FFXI-style grind most people are missing as much as the party play. The upcoming dungeons should start giving us that feeling back.