I'd have to say that I don't necessarily like the current battle system. There's a lot I like about it, but it's rather laggy. I find things not being nearly as smooth as they were in FFXI. Speaking of which... I think a lot of what was awesome about the battle mechanics in FFXI were the skillchains. Being able to do those early on was a blast. Towards higher levels they became sort of useless, but early on they really made EXPing addicting. I'd have to say that I feel like I'm playing WoW when I play this game. The whole bound abilities being attached to my 1-0 keys is rather bogus in my opinion. I played with my PS2 controller mostly in FFXI, so idk... maybe I'm still adjusting to this keyboard thing.

But what I do know is that I loved partying. Working together was a blast. I haven't had the same experience in FFXIV. I haven't played nearly enough to form an honest opinion so maybe you guys can help me out. Is there partying in this game similar to FFXI? If so, when does it go down? Are there even party locations. WHERE'S VALKURM DUNES!?! lol sorry for all caps. It felt necessary.