Honest question: If every player/class/job is equal,who is unique? (Gameplay topic)

[Scootaloo]

"Balance" and FFXI are mutually exclusive.

Post abby, I WHOLE HEARTEDLY agree with you. Pre-abby I call BS, no offense.

That aside, the reason people stick around is because of tribalism (AKA the nonsense that turns everything in an "us vs them" scenario), and the attachment formed when you spend a shitton of time on something. Old school MMOs relied a LOT on that, and people expectedly cling to it to justify the many hours spent on some of the stuff from those games

I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you there along with about 70% of FFXI's playerbase. If you ask just about any FFXI player, they'll tell you the reason they played the game was because they enjoyed the challenge it provided,the storylines, the jobs, and the exploration value. You won't hear much of that now at days because 90% of the FFXI playerbase left once abby raped everything the game stood for and left it on the ground sobbing before taking its proverbial D**K and and doing it again with the next two abby expansions to come out.

This already exists. If you like the aesthetic of Kain Highwind and jumps, you're going to play a dragoon. If you like hitting things with your fists and martial arts, you're gonna play MNK. If you like black mages and nukes, chances are you'll play BLM. If you like pet classes and utility, you'll play SMN. If you like big axes, active mitigation and rage, chances are you'll gravitate towards WAR. If you like swords you'll be lured by PLD.

Once again, you like many other posters in this thread are pointing out everything I already know but NONE OF THAT makes me wanna play another class over another. Please look at earlier posts and you'll understand what I'm saying.

That's just lore. Otherwise it's just all the same.

Well that "Lore" as you called it is what made FFXI so successful.