Now that leves will be gone from our main exp function...

[Zoltan]

Why remove the cap? It did away with a huge part of the problem that hit FFXI: people started overcamping everything they could for max exp/hour. This affected gearing trends and created asinine "expectations" of what people should have when grouping. It also created a stupid and pointless status quo while leveling. That's stress and pressure not needed during the leveling process.

I know that you posted after this and you made some good points, but I must disagree with you on this point.

In FF11 there were expectations of people in parties that were valid. Once you hit level 72 and were ready for partying in Caedarva Mire you were expected to know that wearing fang earrings, fang necklace and NQ Amemet mantle was gimp. If that was "stressful" then there's no way you'd make it at endgame.

It was training. The skills you learned in Valkurm Dunes and Qufim Island built up to ready you for Garliage Citadel etc. There was a progression. It may have seemed like a grind but you did get to go to new places and fight different monsters. There was a social element to it because if you were doing something wrong or were new to an area people would help you.

Yes, you could solo some jobs in FF11 like beastmaster, black mage or summoner, but coming from a Maat's Cap holder I'll tell you it wasn't easy.

That being said I have read people's suggestions and the whole FF11 vs. FFXIV debate, but since both are SE's I think that some comparison is valid. They really should take the good parts of FF11, otherwise, why name it Final Fantasy at all?

Here's what they need to fix FFXIV:

1. Experience (SP) bands or rings.
2. Signet/Sigil/Alliance boosts. The competitive nature of Bastok vs San D'oria was fun. They should do the same with the Grand Companies.
3. Remove SP 10 level cap. If you solo a red mob you should get more SP than killing a green mob. (likewise as a party)
4. Emphasize and fix party size bonuses. You shold get more SP in a 6 person party than a 2 person party.
5. Add monster kill chain bonuses. If you kill the mobs in a row as in FF11 you get SP bonuses. This encourages parties to work together to be more efficient.
6. Allow monsters to be pulled out of their wandering range. This would allow for more parties in other areas.
7. Add Fields of Valor type quests. Those were fun solo and in groups.
8. Add level sync parties.
9. Get rid of fatigue

It's really sad to see them "adjust" SP without providing concrete examples or balancing Party SP as indicated above. I'd really like Yoshida-san to tell us that when doing leve link with 3 leves you'll get 70% less SP. But that's too much to expect from SE.

[Duelle]

In FF11 there were expectations of people in parties that were valid. Once you hit level 72 and were ready for partying in Caedarva Mire you were expected to know that wearing fang earrings, fang necklace and NQ Amemet mantle was gimp.

Bad reasoning to begin with. The fang earrings thing I can understand, well, once stuff like spike earrings became easier to get rather than be subject to the sad rule HQs followed in XI. The NQ Amemet mantle, no. Not when the HQ was much, much more expensive. On Asura when I was leveling the HQ mantle was seven or eight times what the mantle was worth NQ before the introduction of stuff like forager's mantle. I hated the "farm beehive chips between level ranges so that people don't wrongfully consider you a gimp" aspect of that mess.

If that was "stressful" then there's no way you'd make it at endgame.

Gear elitism is fine in the context of endgame. I've been there as well and put in my time to research my options and went with what worked for me.

The skills you learned in Valkurm Dunes and Qufim Island built up to ready you for Garliage Citadel etc. There was a progression. It may have seemed like a grind but you did get to go to new places and fight different monsters. There was a social element to it because if you were doing something wrong or were new to an area people would help you.

Bad reasoning, and has been debunked. You could hit the level cap and still not know how to play your class. Forced partying had nothing to do with the "training" one needed to actually be useful at the level cap.

[Zoltan]

Maybe forced partying wasn't required, but if you were a good player at the game it was a useful tool to learn more about your role. Sure you could be an idiot and just get carried, but you'd get kicked out of my party if you were'nt doing your best at your job.

You learned valuable lessons in the game at different camps. There was a progression. It wasn't requred to learn skills but it helped. No one ever said: "You should try this......"? There was a social aspect to partying in groups in FF11.
My friends didn't play in NQ Amemet at Caedarva Mire. At 72 if you couldn't afford HQ Amemet you were an amateur.

I'm not going to beat the FF11 was better than FFXIV because the horse is dead.

All I'm saying is that there are some good things that SE should take from the old version. That's all.