FFXI community/FFXIV transition my minor testiment (long post)

[Grant_Wilshire]

I'm new to MMO's. I remember seeing FF XI at E3 before it released and being so excited. Then I got married, graduated college, and started having to earn some real money so that my wife could finish school. I didn't have time for FF XI much less FF IX and FF X.

So when I started in with FF XIV I was so excited to finally play and get "online". I've found that my expectations have not been met. I have been playing a solo game that has brief periods of interactive play. I rarely get a hello (even from my Free Company), mentors totally ignore my mistakes and don't offer assistance as to how I can get better, I feel like I'm all alone even in the midst of a handful of people standing around the Palace of the Dead entrance. Maybe I'm to blame - I'm willing to work on my side too. I always say make yourself the perfect companion instead of looking for the perfect companion, and I'm trying to do that.

Maybe it isn't the game causing the issue, maybe it is just the new type of people who play these games because from what I have heard FF XI had this close community I was hoping to find. I guess I am 10+ years too late.

[Keramory]

whacking the same monsters over and over and moving from camp to camp for a week before getting to the next smattering of story in the game.

See this is one thing that I enjoyed about FFXI. The story I had to struggle to obtain. I realize this is not for everyone but it felt good, at least for me, to have to spend time in hell to be rewarded with the next chapter or cutscene. I love FFXIV's cutscenes but honestly I watched so many I don't recall them as I do FFXIs...despite it being years later. My gf just started a new account on FFXIV and hell if I can remember half of it. When it comes to FFXI and FFXIV in terms of lore, I would say FFXI had this game beat by a wide margin

[Xandos]

FFXI was my first MMO as well. Before that I had only played FPS games online. I also played a Elvaan male and started in Sandy. Eventually I made Samurai my main and also spent a lot of time on Red Mage.

I do have to agree that I have never felt the same awe in WoW or FFXIV that I felt in FFXI, although Eve Online has come close many times. There are a lot of things to remember fondly from 11, like getting your Relic weapons. There are also lots of things I am glad we don't have to do anymore like waiting for 6 hours in Jeuno with your party flag up. You HAD to have a party for nearly everything so that built a really strong community. You also HAD to have a party for nearly everything so that meant waiting for people to devote a large chunk of time to something.

There were many good things about the game and there were a few bad things as well. I do miss the community we were able to build in 11 and part of that came from being confined to a single server and requiring people to accomplish goals. It is the type of people we have become that has necessitated things like the duty finder and instant teleporting.

I think this game could benefit from a blending of both ideas though. We could have our iconic armor or weapons that take a large investment of both time and people to earn and also last multiple expansions. We could also keep our duty finder and instant travel options. I do have to agree with some people in other threads that there seems to be a lack of accomplishment with the current gear grind patch after patch. I just got my PoTD weapon and I already know it will be stuffed in a backpack as soon as 4.0 comes out.

BTW, there is a free login campaign for 11 this weekend.

[FunkYeahDragons]

I'm new to MMO's. I remember seeing FF XI at E3 before it released and being so excited. Then I got married, graduated college, and started having to earn some real money so that my wife could finish school. I didn't have time for FF XI much less FF IX and FF X.

So when I started in with FF XIV I was so excited to finally play and get "online". I've found that my expectations have not been met. I have been playing a solo game that has brief periods of interactive play. I rarely get a hello (even from my Free Company), mentors totally ignore my mistakes and don't offer assistance as to how I can get better, I feel like I'm all alone even in the midst of a handful of people standing around the Palace of the Dead entrance. Maybe I'm to blame - I'm willing to work on my side too. I always say make yourself the perfect companion instead of looking for the perfect companion, and I'm trying to do that.

Maybe it isn't the game causing the issue, maybe it is just the new type of people who play these games because from what I have heard FF XI had this close community I was hoping to find. I guess I am 10+ years too late.

As someone who's been in a lot of FCs, don't be shy of leaving if you find people aren't talkative enough. You're not obligated to stay with them and plenty out there will appreciate new faces and a fresh perspective for something as simple as daily roulettes.

It is partly the players. There's this weird fascination when it comes to guilds that numbers are important and you need to be a big guild to matter, so even groups of old friends who don't really want to be meeting new people recruit. There's no changing people who don't want to change.

[Keramory]

Just a heads up if you do the free login, as someone who hasn't played in a while...ALOT has changed. People no longer use parties to level. Teleporting is everywhere. Gil is mostly no longer a thing for gear progression (except end game) and most towns are COMPLETELY empty. Most maps are COMPLETELY empty. Its a very strange world now....

[Cakekizyy]

The sheer number of XI posts lately makes me think everyone read that Kotaku article.

What article?

[C56]

What article?

http://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-xi-w...ple-1785114506 This one, it's a pretty interesting read tbh.

[Korbash]

I've never played FF XI, WoW, Everquest, but there are other MMOs I've played who had awesome communities, like City of Heroes/Villains and Lord of The Rings Online. To me FF XIV is the least social MMOs I've played. The maps are rather small, but I have to admit the new areas in Heavensward are much larger. In CoX and LOTRO players can setup a RPG bio for their characters, have indicators showing if they're RP players or not, so RP players can RP with them. Adding elements to the game that players can do like in the MMO LOTRO where you smoke pipes and play music, and I don't know what else they've added since I left. I was on Landroval and there were often RP events like telling stories or concerts. And housing in LOTRO is zillions of time better than here.

[Magic-Mal]

I think the reason why the game doesn't seem social for some is because the game doesn't force players to be social for every little thing. It was made to be convenient so you can play at your own place.

Individual players need to actually take initiative and be social themselves to get into the linkshells, FCs, etc or else you will stay alone forever. I started this game solo all the way until Keeper of the Lake and declined all FC invited. Stumbled into people's homes once and there was a person in one. Boom, my life started.

Basically.. if you're not very social, you'll have a harder time. Because you're not forced to be social.

And I think... that's okay!

[Korbash]

We're forced to solo the story quests (except for dungeons and trials), the classes/jobs quests, the leves quests. The few times we meet people it's in the duty finder, and they're too busy to rush everything to chat, and the few times we do talk you realize you're not on the same server anyway. I think the game was designed that way. After all the devs are the ones who decided to force everyone to solo most everything and that you cannot do anything as a group on the map, beside fates.

In other MMOs you can do things as a group with friends or family or guildies for quests, or solo them. LOTRO also has a MSQ with cinematic that you can either solo or do as a team the MSQ; in LOTRO you have options, here in FF XIV we have none.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...in-a-FC-or-not

Also, here is a nice suggestion:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ing-subclasses