Problems letting go of XI? Japanese too.

[Kasumuni]

Bacon. There. I said it.


Who want's some?

[Sephrick]

Bacon. There. I said it.


Who want's some?

< This guy.

[ThePatriarch]

At some points, posts become TL : DR posts.

I'm just gonna throw that out there.

[indira]

ffxi had its good and bad and nothing is wrong using the good again most games clone previous systems.

the bad FFXI crafting and loot was horrible near impossible to farm mats. skilling up was crazy slow.

the good FFXI they way the world was handled, events like campagin, balista, dynamis, endgame bosses.

the mixed feellings HNM/nm hunting 24 hour spawn was a bit much.

[Exn]

This.. is an excellent question. I want the experience. In Final Fantasy XI I was excited to go to new places, explore new zones. Kill big NM's! I was so excited my first time in Dynamis. Getting to sea and seeing the zone for the first time?

This. I feel pretty much the same way. I also hear this alot from other people who played XI. Someone then explained to me that because XI was my first MMO, alot of that "epic feeling" was proly just due to that fact, and most people feel that way for their first MMO (that they enjoyed). According to him, you never really fully get that shock and awe again that you had from the 1st time..

Now I dunno if I agree with that, but I've tried a couple different mmo's since XI, and while XIV might get there, can't say that I've found anything that really does it for me yet.

[Firon]

but at the same time... you can't alienate the FFXI base either....
Yoshi wants everyone to enjoy the game and both sides could stand to be a little more flexible and open minded

I hate to say it but catering to everyone makes a bad game. You can never make everyone happy.

[Darkhaund]

I think it is a mixture of things.

1. People never really getting "new" stuff that we always hoped to get (The far east, the Mithra homeland, male mitrhas etc etc) FFXI was "dead" after abyssea, nothing really mayor in terms of NEW (not reused and gear fest) content.

2. FFXI had a great sound track, an amazing story and some wonderful moments, and many people would have hoped 14 to be some sort of "improvement" from 11. But 14 in many ways, made HUGE STEPS BACKWARDS.

3. People loyal to the francise are hoping that 14 can truly deliver what a final fantasy should deliver in 2.0

FF14 MUST deliver and surpass 11 in 2.0 for good or else this feeling of loss will never end.

[Levian]

As for XI's leveling being fun, not so much. The things we got to do after hitting certain milestone (i.e. CoP missions, BCNMs, AF, missions and such) were fun. But grinding out levels was tedium defined.



Shooters are popular because they're fast-paced, accessible and on-demand.

Shooters don't revolve around sitting there with your map open waiting for a single target to pop then sprinting to it to be the first to shoot it.

They're popular because you'll never hear phrases like "Gee, I'd love to play Team Deathmatch with you but I have to wait another 32 hours before I can go into that game mode again."



There's a line though. Why do people have to be impeded for your sense of superiority? Leveling isn't fun for most people. It's just killing the same random fodder over and over again. The sense of journey came from doing those things new levels opened up for us.

Even most who say they enjoyed the grind don't recall anything about actually grinding. It's always the social aspect that often was a byproduct. Random discussions and goofing off. But that's all things that could have, and did, happen outside of grinding.

The sense of superiority should come from having a reward that was the result of an actual challenge. Not because you happen to have the most free time. That's all Maat's Cap meant.

XIV has it right. Get grinding out of the way and let the superiority come through in who can beat content first. Eventually, I'm sure they'll add in long-term goals that will separately the dedicated from the casual. But 1.x is meant to be a pacifier in the mouths of we the fanboys, not a representative of the complete 2.0 experience.

TL;DR: Not everyone shares your sentiments about leveling.

================================================================

Maybe I'm sick, but I disagree fully and heavily. For me leveling was never a chore. Save for the jobs I was all but forced to level (NIN, because everything subbed it) that I had a deep seated disdain for. And even at that, the social aspect you mentioned made it bearable.

I was always stoked to go to Valkurm and Qufim to share with newcomers the wealth of knowledge I had gained trekking God only knows how many jobs through across multiple characters. I liked it when a level 25 Qufim pt would split, and I could swap jobs to help some Fresh level 25 grind out his Khazam Keys. I looked forward to bouncing from Lizards, to crabs, to flys, to goblins, to Pugils then finally moving on to a new zone.

Don't remember the grind? Man, I reinvented the grind. Up in the 40s I would literally keep a party rolling for 48 hours straight on the weekends. I killed spiders and beetles like I was paid to do it, and liked it. There was more than 1 occasion I would see a player logoff to go to bed, only to watch him pop back up 8 hours later and go "Holy shit! You're still here!?" Yup, want back in? We need a DD, this one's about ready to drop of exhaustion. I didn't survive off coffee and Nodos to pt like a Chinese gil farmer because I had to, or because I wanted bragging rights. I did it because I enjoyed it.

The game wasn't designed to be a fast paced button masher, and that was fine for me. I enjoyed talking to people in my parties. Because quite frankly if it weren't for parties I wouldn't have been interacting with them. I didn't like solo xp and "MMOs" that allowed for solo play through 85% of the game. I don't get it. Why play something you play by yourself for 50, 60, 85 levels?

I liked exploring new areas with a group, talking strategy and watching our combined efforts pay off. I didn't care for games that held my hand as quests walked me through each zone. I want to explore, not be shown. To an extent I even liked the leisurely pace of the grind. At least until level 50 or so, then it got more than a little rediculous.

I disagree that leveling is or should be a chore to be blasted through so you get to the real content. By that logic, it serves utterly no purpose, and ought be abolished entirely. There's a reason I don't play shooters anymore, that style of gameplay lost it's lustre for me long ago. The same reason I chose FFXI over WoW and all it's clones for 7 years.

Regardless of how much fast paced action they throw at you, it's old hat. CoD has rehashed the same base mechanics since I can remember. I'm not even curious about iterations 9, 10 and 11. WoW hasn't "wowed" me since...ever? And while the thought of grinding more quests for my 3rd lvl 85 toon and shouldering an M4 to drop another insurgent make me nauseous, the thought of setting foot into valkurm with a fresh level 10 toon to begin the grind once more just has a sense of magic to it.

[Wirritosama]

TL;DR: Not everyone shares your sentiments about leveling.

================================================================

Maybe I'm sick, but I disagree fully and heavily. For me leveling was never a chore. Save for the jobs I was all but forced to level (NIN, because everything subbed it) that I had a deep seated disdain for. And even at that, the social aspect you mentioned made it bearable.

I was always stoked to go to Valkurm and Qufim to share with newcomers the wealth of knowledge I had gained trekking God only knows how many jobs through across multiple characters. I liked it when a level 25 Qufim pt would split, and I could swap jobs to help some Fresh level 25 grind out his Khazam Keys. I looked forward to bouncing from Lizards, to crabs, to flys, to goblins, to Pugils then finally moving on to a new zone.

Don't remember the grind? Man, I reinvented the grind. Up in the 40s I would literally keep a party rolling for 48 hours straight on the weekends. I killed spiders and beetles like I was paid to do it, and liked it. There was more than 1 occasion I would see a player logoff to go to bed, only to watch him pop back up 8 hours later and go "Holy shit! You're still here!?" Yup, want back in? We need a DD, this one's about ready to drop of exhaustion. I didn't survive off coffee and Nodos to pt like a Chinese gil farmer because I had to, or because I wanted bragging rights. I did it because I enjoyed it.

The game wasn't designed to be a fast paced button masher, and that was fine for me. I enjoyed talking to people in my parties. Because quite frankly if it weren't for parties I wouldn't have been interacting with them. I didn't like solo xp and "MMOs" that allowed for solo play through 85% of the game. I don't get it. Why play something you play by yourself for 50, 60, 85 levels?

I liked exploring new areas with a group, talking strategy and watching our combined efforts pay off. I didn't care for games that held my hand as quests walked me through each zone. I want to explore, not be shown. To an extent I even liked the leisurely pace of the grind. At least until level 50 or so, then it got more than a little rediculous.

I disagree that leveling is or should be a chore to be blasted through so you get to the real content. By that logic, it serves utterly no purpose, and ought be abolished entirely. There's a reason I don't play shooters anymore, that style of gameplay lost it's lustre for me long ago. The same reason I chose FFXI over WoW and all it's clones for 7 years.

Regardless of how much fast paced action they throw at you, it's old hat. CoD has rehashed the same base mechanics since I can remember. I'm not even curious about iterations 9, 10 and 11. WoW hasn't "wowed" me since...ever? And while the thought of grinding more quests for my 3rd lvl 85 toon and shouldering an M4 to drop another insurgent make me nauseous, the thought of setting foot into valkurm with a fresh level 10 toon to begin the grind once more just has a sense of magic to it.

Lol log and there you was still.... Where you in sylph? Brought back some old memories.

[Levian]

Lol log and there you was still.... Where you in sylph? Brought back some old memories.

Remora actually. The 2 characters I was on most were Shiroichi, and Levian. Fun as that was, I doubt I'll ever be able to pull that off again. A lot's changed since then.

This. I feel pretty much the same way. I also hear this alot from other people who played XI. Someone then explained to me that because XI was my first MMO, alot of that "epic feeling" was proly just due to that fact, and most people feel that way for their first MMO (that they enjoyed). According to him, you never really fully get that shock and awe again that you had from the 1st time..

Now I dunno if I agree with that, but I've tried a couple different mmo's since XI, and while XIV might get there, can't say that I've found anything that really does it for me yet.

I don't agree actually. When I first logged into FFXIV I felt a hint of that old magic as I explored Limsa Lominsa. I have hopes for this game come 2.0, but in the mean time I'm trying not to burn myself out on it (hence lv 15.)