Your Best Experience on MMORPGs

[NaBluiri]

While I loved beating CoP in FFXI, to be honest my best experience was just hanging out with my friends before endgame.

We would just run around and do stuff for no real reason other than to have fun.
"Wanna get our fame up today?" "Sure!"
"Wanna go kill some empties?" "Sure!"
"Hey! Let's ride a boat and try and see if pirates attack us! Maybe if we're lucky we will even see a whale!" "SURE!"
"Hey, why don't we try getting some ninja scrolls today?" "All right!"
"It's so-and-so's birthday! You get the fireworks, you get the cake, you get the food, and I'll set up the party at Rabao!" "We're on it!"
And then later that day having a crazy awesome party in Rabao with the LS.
etc etc.

/sigh
They weren't quite role-players, but they considered their in game life and friends to be just as important as their out of game life and friends. The game would have never hooked me if it weren't for them.

It was the most fun I had ever had not including real life.

And then endgame came and ruined all that fun.
Nothing like seeing your friends wanting some piece of armor so badly they literally torment themselves with evil LS leaders, annoying endgame events, and never have time to do anything fun because "I have an event today!" It was very distressing to see the toll endgame had taken on them, particularly the torment part.

In the defense of my friend Kyyra, she did go on to become the most badass dragoon in history.