you know what grinds my gears?

[Squiggles]

linkshells. link shells REALLY grind my gears.

and you wanna know why? because they behave like the antithesis of how the game is designed. they behave like exclusive cliques, and elitist borgeoisie. from mind numbing applications, to tedious interviews, to waiting for an answer like it's the outside of a nightclub, it is incredibly detrimental for a game COMPLETELY designed around the social experience.

dont get me started on applications, these things are the bane of my existance. why should i have to fill out the equivilant of a resume, and be treated like this linkshell is the combination of my wife and a part time job? my LS history, my dungeon experience, all my classes? why don't you try getting to know me as a person instead and see if my attitude and personality are more in line with ideals of the LS, instead of behaving like i need to have proper qualifications/references to join.

then there are ones only accepting X class, because they need it for their runs. this absolutely reeks of elitist behavior. adaptibility, and enjoyment should be what makes dungeons happen, not whatever makes it "EZ MODE" for the experienced dungeon runner. if there is a dearth in a particular role, improvise and/or train/let someone play a role they can enjoy, while maintaining a quality run, it's far more efficient than excluding the proletariat because they do not have X job or X skill readily at their disposal.

lastly, the inner circles of "friends" with the leader are the worst. you know, the leader's sycophantic right hand guy(s) who get first pick on roles in party, or loot? don't tell me it doesn't happen, because it always does. fellow HNMLS or dynamis LS should know what i'm talking about, there is always a favorites played eventually.

in fact, it happened to me just not about a week or so ago. we ran a PUG AV with half LS members, part shouted individuals, and part acquantances of the leader and his posse. we eventually get to AV, and find a darklight helm, standard rules were for PUGs were to mention before hand which jobs youd like stuff for, and i made it clear i would like things for warrior (50)/dragoon (which i was in the process of leveling, 41 at that time).

what happens? i get excluded from the lot on the basis "i've wanted it since it came out," "you can't even use it yet," and "it's mostly a drg only helm" by the leader and his ...well might as well be boyfriend. i was literally indignant at such disgusting elitism, (these guys have triple melds, already cap stats to the point they dont need +stat rings, i dont know how it would've helped them in any way) that per usual, the leader and his little boytoy friend got first pick at classes to play, and loot.

quite frankly, i want to be part of a social experience that doesn't pidgeonhole me to some role i dislike because "it's what we need," or to jump through hoops to get in, just because you think it'll weed out bad players.

and that's what really grinds my gears.

[Colino]

You're making some very dangerous and stupid generalisations. Not every linkshell is like that, in fact I don't know of any myself.

Maybe if they're making you go through all these loops just to play with them you should consider if it's worth the hassle or not, and if it isn't leave it be. There's plenty of fish in the sea.

[Ruisu]

You're making some very dangerous and stupid generalisations.

These forums in a nutshell.

[Rau]

the only thing that really bothers me is social link shells that refuse to invite new players because in the event they quit, no one can kick them. Its an understandable policy, but it is literally killing the game for new players.

also, OP; u mad?

[Aldora]

the only thing that really bothers me is social link shells that refuse to invite new players because in the event they quit, no one can kick them. Its an understandable policy, but it is literally killing the game for new players.

Look at it from a different perspective... I'm the owner of the linkshell called "The Dragons Aery" on Sargatanas. I initially created the Linkshell so that friends from Final Fantasy XI could join and see familiar faces when they log into the game. The Linkshell was meant to be a social Linkshell where people could do anything they want to do, without any strict rules or scheduled events. I only had one wish, which was for people to have fun. In any way possible.

Since I like helping people out, explaining how the game works, helping them out with quests, farming for specific items and participate in events/grinding parties, i decided to "announce" that "The Dragons Aery" would welcome anybody who wanted to join (no matter their timezone or their experience).

In a matter of weeks i managed to invite 120 people to my Linkshell and in no time, the Linkshell was full and could not invite more players to it. How ever, during that same time period, more then 70% of the people in the linkshell didn't log in anymore. So, from all the members of my linkshell, only 30 people (tops) were logging in regularly. Since we don't have the ability to kick people who are offline at the time and haven't logged in for over severeal months, we would have to drop the linkshell and re-create it again. By doing so, you have to give everyone a new pearl once the linkshell has been re-created (which is rather tough if you create an "international" Linkshell), but also all the info you've entered into the Linkshell forum (on Lodestone) would be lost.

That's basically the other side of the story.

I still feel that i was doing "the right thing" with my Linkshell. But it will only work if its members would actively participate within the Linkshell. Surely, i imagine that most of the people who are currently not active within the Linkshell might return once 2.0 gets closer. That is why i haven't broken the Linkshell yet.

For now i've transfered all the active members to a temporary linkshell. Once 2.0 is released, and we can kick people from the linkshell while being offline, then i can take my broom and swipe the Linkshell until its clean and tidy. Once that's done and all my linkshell members have been transfered back to the Dragons Aery Linkshell, then i can open up the linkshell for new players again.

But still, i would like to run the Linkshell the same way i've done over the course of these past 6 to 7 months. Only this time, i hope that i will find more people who would like to take on a more active role in the Linkshell for the long run. Only then can a linkshell like mine "blossom".

[CookieBandit]

Join a social shell, not an endgame shell. The end.

[Elexia]

Join a social shell, not an endgame shell. The end.

Social Shells also do events and are 100x more prone to do what she wrote in the OP, least on some servers. I know my brother said some he been in they act more elitist than end-game shells lol.

[CookieBandit]

Social Shells also do events and are 100x more prone to do what she wrote in the OP, least on some servers. I know my brother said some he been in they act more elitist than end-game shells lol.

Start your own shell, be proactive.

[Mirage]

Social Shells also do events and are 100x more prone to do what she wrote in the OP, least on some servers. I know my brother said some he been in they act more elitist than end-game shells lol.

If they're 100 times more likely to take applications than an endgame shell, then maybe they're not really a social shell, or what?