Why should I be excited for Grind Parties?

[Murugan]

I am still fascinated why it seems the FF community somehow finds this type of play so engaging -- when the FF series as a whole is about progression and story. You don't literally progress while undergoing monotonous grinding.

If you never grinded in a FF game you must be among about 2% of the total people who have played FF games.

[Tibian]

If you never grinded in a FF game you must be among about 2% of the total people who have played FF games.

Or I just don't suck at them.

I just recently finished a replay of FF9 -- I only had to spend maybe a total of an hour preparing myself for the final boss because I ran through most of Ipsen's Castle.

Very rarely do I ever spend an exorbant amount of time grinding to finish a single player FF. My grind time per FF play through is probably less than three hours total for the entire game. I explore, I find secret equipment, don't use walkthroughs -- that all adds to my overall character level and ability. I don't just sit there in one area until I can brute force my way past the next.

[Greed]

Or I just don't suck at them.

I just recently finished a replay of FF9 -- I only had to spend maybe a total of an hour preparing myself for the final boss because I ran through most of Ipsen's Castle.

Very rarely do I ever spend an exorbant amount of time grinding to finish a single player FF. My grind time per FF play through is probably less than three hours total for the entire game. I explore, I find secret equipment, don't use walkthroughs -- that all adds to my overall character level and ability. I don't just sit there in one area until I can brute force my way past the next.

you mean you just finish the game
( I didn't play 9 but in 8 you can't kill omega or bahamut without grinding
in 10 Internationale... 999999 normal attack from boss if you only have level 99
without grinding everything )

same thing with all FF secret final boss

[Medura]

Or I just don't suck at them.

I just recently finished a replay of FF9 -- I only had to spend maybe a total of an hour preparing myself for the final boss because I ran through most of Ipsen's Castle.

Very rarely do I ever spend an exorbant amount of time grinding to finish a single player FF. My grind time per FF play through is probably less than three hours total for the entire game. I explore, I find secret equipment, don't use walkthroughs -- that all adds to my overall character level and ability. I don't just sit there in one area until I can brute force my way past the next.

Ever played ff 1 2 3 4 5 tactics, tactics advance, tactics advance 2, 7 x x-2 etc? In for example x, you NEED 300 hours to take on dark aeon, but then you must be very fast. You whom use 1h on 9, il give you 500 to take magus sisters (zanmato "cheat" doesnt work)

[captainpicard]

OP, I hope they delete all quests. I can go run quests in 100 other MMOs. The heart of this game's fun can, and should be, playing with other people, in group parties, not soloing quests, helping pick old grandma poopy heads garden for her for 100K exp.

[Wolfie]

Grind parties don't promote good team play, because people always analyze leveling until they turn it into a science. Nobody, ever, takes the "challenging" route in leveling; it's always the fastest and easiest route.

Group grinding in FFXI taught me nothing about what it means to be a good BLM or WHM at end game, because we just plowed through mobs that weren't dangerous and died fast. It taught me nothing about Gravity/Bind/Sleep kiting, about carrying medications and poison potions with me, about MP conservation vs spam nuking/healing, etc. Everything that made me a good end-game BLM and WHM, I learned either from soloing (as a BLM, once people finally figured out that TP burn is the way to go) or from actually doing end-game (as a WHM).

Granted, soloing doesn't teach you much either, but at least you don't have to put up with not being the current flavor-of-the-month class, putting together groups, finding replacements, not finding a good grind camp, etc.

[Exni]

Grind parties don't promote good team play, because people always analyze leveling until they turn it into a science. Nobody, ever, takes the "challenging" route in leveling; it's always the fastest and easiest route.

Group grinding in FFXI taught me nothing about what it means to be a good BLM or WHM at end game, because we just plowed through mobs that weren't dangerous and died fast. It taught me nothing about Gravity/Bind/Sleep kiting, about carrying medications and poison potions with me, about MP conservation vs spam nuking/healing, etc.

Wow. You must have had the MOST FAIL grind pts. Actually.. grinding in XI did the exact opposite of everything you said. But i guess you never needed CC in any of your pts.. no skillchains or MBs ever... no food.. no meds.. (echo drops much?).. sorry, that's just complete fail. And to top it off.. you think questing would be more "challenging".. Try joining a real grind pt first.

(Might not completely be you fault depending on when you started though.. Last couple years of XI BLM rarely does anything outside of manaburn for exp, and once other jobs got Raise, WHM usually took a backseat to getting invites for exp grinding)

[Wolfie]

Wow. You must have had the MOST FAIL grind pts. Actually.. grinding in XI did the exact opposite of everything you said. But i guess you never needed CC in any of your pts.. no skillchains or MBs ever... no food.. no meds.. (echo drops much?).. sorry, that's just complete fail. And to top it off.. you think questing would be more "challenging".. Try joining a real grind pt first.

(Might not completely be you fault depending on when you started though.. Last couple years of XI BLM rarely does anything outside of manaburn for exp, and once other jobs got Raise, WHM usually took a backseat to getting invites for exp grinding)

Yeah man. Totally my fault parties stuck to crabs/crawlers/beetles/bats/colibri. I'm sorry I wasn't there in FFXI's early years, when people hadn't already figured out the easiest way to level.

For the record, as a BLM in end game, I almost never used magic burst. I was relegated to sleep and stun duty about half the time, and the other half was just random nuking of whatever my strongest element was. I learned more as a BLM in FFXI by soloing wamouras and sea organs than I did by partying.

By the time I got my WHM leveled, people no longer took BLMs in regular parties. It was all TP-burn-wannabe parties with no skill chains, on VT or weak IT mobs and colibri. About half the time I spent in battle was just staring at the screen, or refreshing Regen, or reapplying enfeebles.

No, I don't think quest grinding or solo grinding is necessarily harder or gives you more knowledge about your class. It was a phenomenon that was unique to FFXI, because group grinding was easier and safer than soloing.

EDIT:

What I mean to say by all of this is that even if the devs promote group grinding, I can guarantee that it will not teach people anything important about their class' or job's end-game duties. They will always fight the easiest mobs with the most fool-proof party setups in the most lazy play style. It's something that happens in every MMO, regardless of what the method to getting to max level is. People don't want to put in effort while leveling, bottom line.

[Seikninkuru]

Can we just settle the debate here simply. The fact is the people who played FFXI excusively are really throwbacks to the mmorpg genre. They're outdated, their views on gameplay are antiquated... and while I would hope they get some representation, the reality is they're a dying breed and will eventually be phased out. Bad gameplay can only be covered up by a good name(arguable) for so long.

In short.

FFXI is bad, do not replicate it.

[Jericho]

Can we just settle the debate here simply. The fact is the people who played FFXI excusively are really throwbacks to the mmorpg genre. They're outdated, their views on gameplay are antiquated... and while I would hope they get some representation, the reality is they're a dying breed and will eventually be phased out. Bad gameplay can only be covered up by a good name(arguable) for so long.

In short.

FFXI is bad, do not replicate it.

I just threw up in my mouth a little.