Quote Originally Posted by Enkidoh View Post
Things like the awful EXP loss penalty on death that would even level you backwards if you were unlucky to die while being too close to the previous level still EXP wise (you lost 10% of the total exp needed for the next level when you died, raising gave some of that lost exp back), enemies being ridiculously dangerous even for minor trash mob wildlife like rabbits and yet giving minuscule EXP for it, having to party for everything and even then certain content pretty much restricting party make up to certain Jobs, airships running on tight schedules that all too often would result in players missing one by the skin of their teeth and then having to waste 10+ minutes of real time sitting doing nothing on the dock waiting for the next one, people abusing NIN as a subjob for Utsusemi thinking it made them invincible and then not accepting that it didn't (and thus leaving WHMs like me to have to raise them for their stupidity), no minimap, quest journal that was virtually useless and told you nothing about what you needed to do for a quest (thus forcing you to look online for the (often misleading, incomplete or inaccurate) information, important quests (even main scenario ones) that were locked behind invisible 'fame' counters for each city that forced you to do thousands of pointless fetch quests just to 'build up fame', need I go on?
All that sounds like old school MMORPG. There's a reason why I, back in the day, decided to quit MMORPGs for the time being after Ragnarok Online and Lineage II, and why I never bothered trying FFXI (and the very first FFXIV). I just couldn't (and can't) stand old school MMORPGs.

I guess people are seeing FFXI with rose-tinted glasses, as you well say, based on the nice memories they keep from those times. Maybe some people also appreciate being constantly punished with endless grind and penalties (???). I'm personally glad that kind of MMORPG is no longer the norm.

As a side note, I've been curious about FFXI, but only hoping that it had evolved into something more... modern. Or let's say playable.