What is so bad about FFXI?

[Altanas]

1. As a poster above said, it was a lot more efficient to take the initiative to make your own parties in 11 (and 14...), but even still it was a hassle searching for people. Still holds true for 14, if you cant find a tank or a healer than you will still sit around shouting for hours on end. Dungeon Finder will resolve this to an extent searching across servers.

2. I think one thing that FF11 improved upon itself was where the older events became elitist or you just had to go with your LS or you wont get any drops, the newer events since TAU you could do with pick up parties and earn points to spend at an npc. Thats what i'd like in 14, its difficult to attend LS events at certain times unless you dont work lol. I'd like to jump into PUG groups when I have little time so I at least acheieve something.

3. Another aspect where FF11 was good but for some reason it is not in 14 is BCNMs or Walk of Echoes type battles. We already have the dungeons where we trapse through mobs to get to a boss, its about time we had some Battlefields. The claiming system since patch 1.19 caters for such already. Its clear from the number of TotoRak and Darkhold runs, people at rank50 only really cared for boss fights, so a Walk of Echoes type zone would surely be most welcome in 14. We need some decent Bosses and Battlefields where we can take advantage/develop the strategy side of the battlesystem rather than burning through mobs in 10 seconds

[Dargoth_Draconia]

@OP. FFXI is not a bad thing but FFXI is already running and the point was to make another MMORPG that is different for the most part(some similarities) and have them both up and running at the same time. Why would you want a FFXI-2 when you have FFXI out? They don't want to take away from the FFXI fanbase/subscription base they want you to play either games or play both.

I played FFXI for years and I occasionally go back and play it but for the most part I would rather play a current gen FF online title.Not just another rehash of the old same game, I loved FFXI but I want something new and different. I really enjoy FFXIV through all of its hiccups because the game is constantly getting better and more enjoyable.

[MyKotoShi]

The graphics.

[Phen]

There are certainly things XI did right, the search function, party dynamics, and the emphasis on story were all really good. The world was very defined and felt like a place. The small challenges you encountered earlier like the walk to Jueno the first time were memorable. Alot of these better parts are in the pipe so im glad to see what worked well coming back.

But.

Making impractical throw men at it events, 24 hour spawns, terrible class balance, and more luck based systems than you can count is not hardcore its just poor design.

[Razor]

Very well written OP, nice to see someone with a firm grasp on the English language once and awhile :P

I personally agree that the whole "XI is the devil" attitude that has perpetuated recently is very silly. Being that XI was the previous successful title I was very perplexed that the original XIV abandoned everything from XI. Even things so basic as ctrl+r for responding were absent from XI.

Things that should be melded from XI to XIV:
Majority of the core functionality features (/sea all, the ctrl commands (we have most of them now), etc) and the emotes. I can't stress the last one enough. I can't express how frustrating it is to not have the basic set of emotes XI had. I'd be very happy if they maintained all their current ones and just added the /grin, /huh, etc. It would even be cute to have subtle references to XI, such as an NPC making a joke about something only an XI player would understand.

Things XIV should not take from XI:
A lot of the examples you posted, honestly. All that Dynamis included followed in line with XI's story and would not fit in XIV. We could use the same concept but with different players. I love mandragoras as much as the next XI-vet, but here I also have to vote for keeping them out. They could make a "new" mandragora specifically for XIV but for the most part all of those creatures belong in Vana'diel, not Eorzea. The beast men especially, we have new beast men (I am aware Amaljaa are from XI, calm down) and they fit into the lore and such. We do have cross-world mobs though: Ahriman, Ochu, Bombs, etc but all of these are designed differently than their XI counterpart. Goblins are the only thing that never change but that is an obvious exception.

What I find very facinating about XIV is that we have been given the opportunity to really see a game in its adolescent stage. Most games are already in solid concrete by the time they hit the consumer market but we have been given the chance to see a game didn't quite know what it wanted to be and help it along.

It had very strict parents X and I who were so controlling and restrictive that XIV became a rebel and defied against everything its parents tried to teach it. After entering the real world and meeting those "cool" kids who make bad choices named W, O, and W, XIV started trying to be a little more like them. As it started actually maturing it realized that maybe some of the things X and I were beating into its skull were actually good morals, but at the same time saw the good spots of W, O, and W. Having had struggle to determine who XIV truly was, it is finally coming into its own wielding diversity from multiple scenes. I think that this kind of development although incredibly costly to the developer (SE) will in the end result in a very well rounded game. People with a wide variety of MMO backgrounds have been able to contribute feature A B or C and in the end we will be delivered a game that stays true to its roots while breaking the mold at the same time.

[RemnantWolf]

I also think part of the problem is that people fail to realize that there is a difference between "concept" and "execution". Chocobo racing is a concept, In XI you watched and hoped for your bird to win with the stats you raised him with, that was their execution, but if you made it so that players rode their chocobos in races the execution is completely different.

I mean just look at pet systems in MMOs, they have become a staple for many MMOs and yet no one cries "CLONE!" if they see it because pet systems have a million different executions.

[Kopuno]

I don't, I loved XI pre-Abyssea/Astral Burns. Great post btw~

[Monty]

I get that people want XIV to be different, on the other hand, FFXI was very successful by MMO standards (excluding WoW). So why not take quite a few elements from something that was good and incorporate it into XIV and possibly make it better? Even little things like job names, race names, keep some familiarity there but make the job different with new abilities, etc. I know they kept the same race look, but, just keep the names the same, it's what most players use anyways.

I guess my opinion is, you had something successful, so why completely stray from it, it makes no sense.

[XxOstiaxX]

Tank&Spank for 95% of it's content :/

[AdvancedWind]

Just a little question to leave out in the air:

After reading most of the posts since my last posts earlier on the thread, that's really the only thing I wanna know from the XI vets.

Was Final Fantasy XI so perfect that the only hope Square Enix has is to take as many "concepts" from XI as possible, maybe add a minor spin / improvement on them and call it a day?

Because I still stand to what I've said earlier; Yes, Final Fantasy XIV should take plenty of stuff that worked on XI and put it in the game ASAP, specially when it comes to more general systems such as mail or auction houses. Yes, Final Fantasy XIV needs to invest more into fleshing out it's lore and make the storyline more involved, like XI. More nods to XI (and the series in general) are always good a thing; For example, I have no idea why the hell XI Mandragoras aren't here yet, it should've been the third monster they designed, right after Cactuars and Tonberries.

But no, Final Fantasy XIV should not fall back into merely picking up something from XI whenever a new idea fails. I want to believe Yoshi-P is able to deliver us content that is innovative, lasts for a long time, offers meaningful rewards and lore, indeed like XI; But, with they being nothing like XI. The FFXIV team as a whole should be able to make us new systems and concepts that work as well as XI's systems without being the same thing.

Not because XI was "bad", not because putting anything from XI is a bad idea, but because this game CAN turn into something better than it's predecessor without being incredibly similar to it.