Message from actual new player

[Physic]

As there is a way to do everything, not too many new players are fond of a game where you have to party from the very beginning. FFXI allowed you to reach at least lvl 15 before you had to go to the dunes and level there. This game requires much more exp to level, so overall it will take much longer to reach next level.

the base sp ga9ined for attacking monsters is now based on your total next level. You wont spend as long at higher levels as you did pre patch, they simply balanced the game curve

[Richardd]

inb4 game is still in F2P beta and to wait for PS3 release/sub base to complain KEK

[Vivik]

Believe it or not, some people liked the group play aspect in XI. This is their way of bringing that aspect back without changing it all the way.
You can still solo, you just have to be careful about it.

I'm not sure how long it's been since you leveled in XI but it is WAY easier to solo level than XIV at the moment. I can do FoV or GoV for easy solo XP.

Don't get me wrong, I love party play and leveled all of my jobs in XI in a party setting. I just find it hard to believe that Square as a company can drop the ball so much (obviously not learning from XI) and people are O.K. with it. It's almost as if SE can feed some of the people a pile of shit on this board and they will be happy about it. It perplexes me...

[Zetonegi]

I'm not sure how long it's been since you leveled in XI but it is WAY easier to solo level than XIV at the moment. I can do FoV or GoV for easy solo XP.

Don't get me wrong, I love party play and leveled all of my jobs in XI in a party setting. I just find it hard to believe that Square as a company can drop the ball so much (obviously not learning from XI) and people are O.K. with it. It's almost as if SE can feed some of the people a pile of shit on this board and they will be happy about it. It perplexes me...

It was arguably easier in XI, even before FoV, just really inefficient compared to partying.

[Rane]

you aremt really a new player, your opinion is based on the broken sp before the patch for solo. The fact is level 1-23 gave boosted exp before, you would in fact have hit a noticeable drop in sp at about 20 even before the patch.


just to give you an example:
after 23 before the average monsters MAXIMUM sp reward (when you are fighting something 10 levels higher than you) would be 200 sp.
some harder mobs would give you 228 or 228
the hardest mobs you could probably find at that level would give you 450, but they would be noticeably harder/or take longer (efts, having bigger hp pools)

Now im not sure what sp caps at, but but for a monster like 1 level higher i have seen 200sp withouta chain or a link, your base sp actually increases with your level.
Essentially what you think is normal for the old system is not normal for the old system. seeing more than 250 exp for the hardest battle you could get a reward for was only for about 5 mob specieces, and many were not worth the time.

Exactly. While I'm not happy to lose a new player, SP dropped off really fast after level 20, so he was probably heading for a rude awakening anyway. It wasn't that way when the game originally came out, but sometime over the winter the game was changed to award mega-bonus SP at low levels. This effect eventually wound down and disappeared completely at around level 24 or so.

The new system doesn't offer these huge low-level bonuses, so EXPing at early levels has slowed down.

As for the issue of mob difficulty at low levels, I have no opinion because I haven't tried it out yet. I've only played on my 26 CNJ, and the difficulty there is just about right.

[Charismatic]

in what part of the FFXI timeline could you solo "effective" to 15? this may be semantics but i remember the cap for effective solo leveling being like 11-12.

I'm of course talking about the old heydays of XI.

You always could... at least the whole time after NA release worms in Ronfaure or Gustaberg, and when you got close to 10 you could do worms in the highlands and then you could do worms, bats, goblins in shakrami. Did that on several jobs way back when. All you needed was a bit of selbina milk and some good old fashioned 'not suck'.

[Polaritie]

It's rather annoying to be able to fight at +8-10 levels easily before patch, and now the same level difference reduces my damage to single digits.

The biggest pluses so far from this patch for me:
Cactaurs lost 1000 needles. 1000 damage at level 20 is kind of stupid.
Easier recipes. Oh god yes.

[December]

yes the game is really uninviting for new players and now seems to promote an elitist attitude among veterans. So you just want no new players because "QQ You cant buy gear, guess what spend 100+ hours crafting, theres the door get out!"

[MrLion]

yes the game is really uninviting for new players and now seems to promote an elitist attitude among veterans. So you just want no new players because "QQ You cant buy gear, guess what spend 100+ hours crafting, theres the door get out!"

That's exactly what I'm saying mister Gladiator level 10

[nasomi]

Here's the thing. The game doesn't have a flat learning curve. You actually have to use BOTH of your brain cells to play. Yes, some things are tough to figure out. But if you ask around, or spend some TIME, they become apparent. Have you tried joining a shell and asking for help, or random shouts? They work wonders. The whole "i just started and i don't know everything" theme is getting old.