Faster leveling N0o0o0o0o0o!

[SuzakuCMX]

Well I got the game at launch, played for a week maybe two, got to level 18 or so and quit because it was just grind and the slew of other problems the game had. I don't remember seeing even one 50 during that time. The best gear I saw was maybe chain mail on the best japanese players and most people were tripping themselves up over the crafting system.

Came back about march this year, went through from the beginning playing "casually" doing story quests and grand companies and all that. Took me about 3 weeks to get to 50. My gf started about a month ago playing casually took about a month. This is with me power leveling her half the way.

Most people don't have time to just play videogames all day. And when they want to play something, they don't want to just grind. That is one of the big reasons why this game flunked so hard at launch. If you are were able to stomach this game at launch, let alone get to 50 in a week or two, then I think we can both agree that you are an outlier. Most people still playing this game ARE outliers.

Ultimately IDGAF how long it takes to get to max level, there just needs to be stuff to do and it can't ONLY be grinding. As it is, after the first job, grinding is all there is to do. In the grand scheme of things I would say its too fast, but since there is nothing to do, I don't care.

SE just needs to deliberately design the leveling experience instead of plopping you down and expecting you to grind 50 levels. Maybe some XI players will do it but if they want anyone else to play it they are going to have to do better than that. GW1 had you at max level within a few hours and it was deliberately designed and it was fine.

At least it's only 22-25 levels now. Which is still too much.

[Haibel]

left XI cause they made lvling too fast with abbysea, lets hope they wont repeat that mistake...

Nobody left XI because they made leveling too fast. You're kidding yourself if you think that.
You can say that people felt they Cheapen their time spent on XI by speeding up the game.
But with the amount of content in the game if you started the game today you wouldn't think the
leveling speed is too fast.

If anything the top 3 reasons people left XI is:
1) Battle mechanics changed so much from when the game started that people loss interest.

2) People that were "uber" where no longer "uber" once the cap rose 24 levels and new gear was
added. those people didn't want to put the effort to get back on top of that time sink. (with the crappy drop rates in Dyna, I wasn't finished with AF2, adding AF3 killed it for me.)

3) FFXIV ( my main reason for leaving.) faults aside there are people that like this game.
since the start. I was on XI since the start and it wasn't much better then this game at start either.

[Andrien]

if it wasn't for abyssea I would have left FFXI sooner.. its mostly FFXIV fault for pulling me away.

[Dargoth_Draconia]

Well, you're right. It's pointless to complain/argue about 2.0. And I do get where you're coming from in terms of faster leveling, but in my opinion that isn't necessarily the answer.

However, I wasn't talking about 2.0. I'm talking about the game the way it is now. Since they're having us pay for the game as it is now, I'm allowed to point out the faults that I find with it.

If they're going to add more content for 2.0 - and well, they will- then I say that's awesome! I can't wait!

Still... I wish I could display the same trust into SE that you do. I remember when I was in beta and how people thought it was going to get better when the game went live. Well, it didn't and here we are today. Sadly, SE has a bad habit of not delivering on their promises and when they do deliver it ends up as a bittersweet disappointment.

I realize that SE has been making good on at least some of the promises they made in regards to FFXIV. However, you can't fault me for a lack of faith. SE has done this to themselves through years of shoddy customer service and lack of player to company interaction and feedback. Essentially, they made their bed and now they get to lay in it.

It is easy to have faith or trust in SE, they are a tried and true company that makes their fans happy. Though I will admit they have went a little down hill over the years everyone is allowed to be in a slump from time to time. Actually I like you played in beta and thought we was getting more and we didn't though I seen the hidden potential and like you I was disappointed but I still thoroughly enjoyed the game for the first year or so I played it. It was until I got to 50 and content was coming super slow that and no content at release did I start to feel like there was nothing to do. Though even before they added NMs we did a lot of exploring and fighting really high level mobs in Mor Dhona and getting items that not many people had like the Ogre Horns. That was ridiculously fun though the game didn't even remotely hold a candle to my FFXI experience. Though thanks to Yoshi-P and seeing what he has done with the current craptastic version of the game and knowing the trouble they have to go through just to keep the current players semi happy I respect them more for that. They are rebuilding a game from nearly the ground up and that is unheard of and reading about the changes I really have that hopeful feel I had for FFXIV at launch though this time around we know we are going to get a certain amount of content.

[Jeronlmo]

Those top 3 reasons people left 11 are funny.

1. Jobs that are not tanks, became the tank (mnk). A monk + whm could literally kill every single NM in abyssea excluding 3.
2. People that werent uber got to feel like they were because the game was dumbed down so much that having more than 6 people was actually detrimental.
3.(is actually a personal reason of yours, not "peoples") If the game didnt become a joke, many wouldnt be here.
4. Abyssea had the potential to be the best/hardest endgame SE ever came out with, mainly the first week of its release before people found out you could level in there and shortly after get crazy atma's. If you got no exp (like dynamis), and atma's werent there, best event.

[KiriA500]

Crafting classes are easier to level than ever. I leveled all my crafting classes besides culinarian to 40+ last fall and at the time I was happy to get anywhere from 500-700 per synth. Now that I've returned after a 7 month hiatus, I'm getting between 1200-1900 per synth without any experience bonuses aside from the bonus from quality. And this is only doing synths that are 2-5 levels higher than my current level, whereas before I would always try to do synths 6-8 levels higher. It's ridiculously easy to level crafting now...

I never said it wasn't easy, I was mostly going off of how the OP says leveling is "fun." I personally find nothing fun about it, I just do it because I want to be able to rely on myself for stuff.

Some people might find it fun...they may also consider this a "toy."

[Rutelor]

Some people like the grind, others don't. Simple as that. There's plenty of things to level in the game if that suits your fancy. Half the point of letting you play all the classes on one character is to easily allow those that want to level to keep on leveling after they finish one class. Those that don't like it as much however, can move on to the things they really enjoy.

The problem is this destroys the possibility of building a real meritocracy, which to my eyes appears as the only option to build a solid game community in which mutual respect works as a coalescing agent. "If you like grinding, go grind raptors until you're blue, but don't impose your play style on the rest of us" is NOT a valid response, nor a strong argument. It ignores that bragging-rights and collective competitiveness stand at the center of the magnet that brings us here. We need equalizers in game structures; imagine for a second how fair (or not) it would feel for one team in a soccer match to play within the game's strictures, while the other team were allowed to use their hands to lead the ball, and to score from off-side positions. Games tie our hands to make us overcome hurdles (or they make us jump in sack bags, or force us to run holding eggs on a spoon balanced precariously by our teeth and lip muscles).

How would your summer-BBQ audience appreciate your grabbing the egg with your hand, spitting the spoon and running all the way to the finish line? Or if you removed your blindfold to give the donkey its tail back, while the rest of your co-competitors wandered aimlessly towards the opposite wall? MMOs are not exceptions to any of this. Or they shouldn't be.

R

[Kyreal]

I've played since release, yet I've never found anything to be "hard" or "challenging". That's what was so mystic about 11, you had to team up and work together efficiently. Exp parties weren't mindless circlejerks like they are on here in xiv. At least exp took some damn coordination, skill, or setup to be successful in 11. Moreover, leveling took you to new zones, new mobs, awesome places to see (or offered NMs of all levels to get some neat gear from), setups changed, new abilities became vital or old ones could become less effective. XIV gives you freaking glowing purple lights to hold your damn hand while you combo. wooooo. Where's the thought, the challenge? Everything is handed to us on here.

[Jynx]

Trying to teach someone new what SATA was...so frustrating but so rewarding when you could get it right. I doubt people would stand for such awareness in something as minor as a exp party. People seemingly just want face-roll experiences and anything remotely challenging to be behind a locked gate instanced for their lesiure.

God forbid anything in the game is actually challenging without having a reward to dangle in someones face.

[Isaveron]

Exp parties weren't mindless circlejerks like they are on here in xiv. At least exp took some damn coordination, skill, or setup to be successful in 11.

All it ever took was a lot of time and patience, the exact amount depended on whether or not you had a static party and the desirability of our job.