EXP Parties as an option please!

[Maikal]

I hate that exp parties seem so unpopular with the vocal minority, because personally, I really enjoyed the xp partying days of XI and 1.0 XIV. It was a simple way to relax and chat with new people(or old friends) while you leveled. Speaking solely for myself, FATEs are a poor substitute for the xp days of the past. Now, huge groups of players just mob up and roll over everything in the zone... There's little to no opportunity to actually socialize. I never really enjoy the atmosphere of the zone I'm in while running FATEs, it always feels like I'm in too much of a hurry to get from FATE to FATE, just so I can land enough hits in time for the completion splash.

It sounds to me like many of the commenters on this thread either forgot about or never experienced xp partying in 1.0 XIV. It was different in some ways from the old classic XI 'camp and pull' parties. In 1.0, the party would pick a general area where nice chainable mobs would hang out and would just roam it, farming xp to their heart's content. It wasn't the most exciting way to level, admittedly, but you got to know other players on the server and it really formed a community within the player base of each server. You got to know who was fun to group with and who was best avoided. Linkshells were always buzzing with conversation and creative, sometimes entertaining and humorous shouts took the place of party finder(though, shouting was certainly tedious at times) The point is that conversation and interaction were the true focal points of the game.

All said, none of this is intended to take away from the success and giant leaps of progress that 2.0 has brought with it, but I can't help but feel that the old 'community' feeling has been discarded for convenience and the absolute laser-focus on efficiency. Maybe it's the instant gratification that other games have instilled into the playerbase. Maybe it's just general laziness. But I can't accept the excuse that someone 'doesn't have time' to do things like level, when those same players spend 8-10 hours a day playing the game daily. It's unfortunate, but these players are now the rule, rather than the exception. It's all good old days-itis, I realize. But I'll always miss the community part of the old XIV.

One more added bonus: Having those xp party farmable mobs in XI/XIV 1.0 solved the problem of not having any kind of threat while solo traveling across the world.