How am I meant to level with a friend now?

[SuzakuCMX]

I don't care whether or not abyssea brought back players. In my experience it has (brought me back and most of my LS back) but maybe it didn't. Who cares? It is fun. That is what I care about.

Then don't respond to my posts, because I was responding to the guy who said FFXI lost a ton of its population when WoW was released (which it didn't) until Abyssea brought a bunch of them back (which it didn't).

[LuxLex]

Then don't respond to my posts, because I was responding to the guy who said FFXI lost a ton of its population when WoW was released (which it didn't) until Abyssea brought a bunch of them back (which it didn't).

Ok, sorry for the confusion.

[Drez]

I can only speak from personal experience, but I know I quit FFXI because of Abyssea. It had NOTHING to do with my "uber gear" being obsolete. I welcomed the shake up, because frankly their was very little for me to reach for other than minor side-grades with most of my jobs.

I quit because they bottle-necked a bloated end game community into the relatively small content that is Abyssea. Frankly I didn't find Abyssea to be any more fun in terms of leveling. It was still the same old grind fest, It was just faster than before.

But what about when you hit the new cap? There was very little to do other than the NM's that were...surprise, inside Abyssea. The other option? Magian trials, which were nothing but enormous mob grinds drawn out over what would take most players several weeks minimum to accomplish.

At the very least XIV offers different things to do in order to gain ranks. The differences may be minor, but the reality of FFXI when I quit was if you don't grind, you don't level, period.

[Dubont]

Are you serious? I think you are trying to make a point but you certainly aren't articulating it.

yes, I'm serious

[Dubont]

Because I want the game to be more fun? Cause I don't want SE to go bankrupt cause I like Final Fantasy games?

lol they won't go brankrupt over 1 game. You do realize that they are still making games...movies...and anime, right? 1 game won't ruin the company. Also, stop trying to change the game to YOUR (the minority) idea of fun.

[AarosLunos]

Because I want the game to be more fun? Cause I don't want SE to go bankrupt cause I like Final Fantasy games?

Your cynicism is appalling.

[Tame]

So after reading all of this, the tl;dr style answer for my friend and I seems to be just to mindlessly grind? I take no joy in slaughtering monsters for no cause.

I wish linking all leves was an option. But sometimes my friend simply doesn't get the same ones I do, so we're stuck not helping each other...

Invoked, at 36, killing 44 mobs I was getting 111 sp a kill and 435 at the end of the quest. This is bad.

[SuzakuCMX]

So after reading all of this, the tl;dr style answer for my friend and I seems to be just to mindlessly grind? I take no joy in slaughtering monsters for no cause.

Leves, Behests, Guild Tasks, Mob Grinding, Dungeons, and Sidequests.

All of those give XP/SP.

Also leves/behests have always been grinding with a different name. Not sure what the difference between that and mindless grinding was.

[Dubont]

So after reading all of this, the tl;dr style answer for my friend and I seems to be just to mindlessly grind? I take no joy in slaughtering monsters for no cause.

I wish linking all leves was an option. But sometimes my friend simply doesn't get the same ones I do, so we're stuck not helping each other...

Invoked, at 36, killing 44 mobs I was getting 111 sp a kill and 435 at the end of the quest. This is bad.

every MMO is agrind. Even levequests were mindless grinds. All RPGs are like this. Sorry.

[Tame]

Leves, Behests, Guild Tasks, Mob Grinding, Dungeons, and Sidequests.

All of those give XP/SP.

Also leves/behests have always been grinding with a different name. Not sure what the difference between that and mindless grinding was.

Leves are ruined, behests give less than 2,000 sp total and don't stack up to grinding for me atleast. Guild tasks are only for crafters aren't they? Grinding is okay, but it feels mindless. There's no dungeons for me to do at 37 -- the loot is already outdated and I don't really get SP from the low one, and the high one is a bit too high for me still. Sidequests are alright, but I've exhausted most of them before the update came out.

Basically, I guess my point rests more in the idea that FFXIV has no game for the 33-43 crowd. There's no mid-game currently. I know leves were mindless grinding, but atleast I got cool little rewards and things to do as an aside. It felt better than just smacking mobs.

To me, and alot of other gamers (discredit us if you will) -- it feels nice to have our grinding covered up by quests, or other reasons to kill the mobs other than just for the sake of it. Most succesful MMOs have followed this business model at this point, and there's a reason why: it's fun! Hell, even Aion, which was VERY grind heavy moved over to a quest based system and the player happiness over there is at an all time high.