[POLL] What's in it for you?

[Bowen]

Green. 8D
/tenchar

[BrusselSprout]

Short version: I voted green.

TL;DR version: I think that even within this subject there's potential to be a huge disconnect between people. A lot of players are focused on THE GAME itself, and are concerned with all the minutia that make it tick. Then there are people that look at the game as a platform for enjoying themselves with other players. Of course, just as you have varying shades of responses listed in the OP, people don't fall into only one of the categories I listed either. I've played on a few different servers and with a few different linkshells, and my experience is that to really enjoy all this game has to offer you need to approach it as a place to enjoy your friends. Find a group of players that like to play the same way you do, and just get out there and have fun. Who cares if people are teleporting all around you. Who cares if they add jump. Just go have fun.

[Nikita]

I went with green, I really don't mind what I am doing as long as I have fun. I have to add though, what I consider to be fun can be quite subjective. For example, on my way to level cap, I can only do Toto'rak so many times before it just falls flat for me and I think to myself "Yay... Toto'rak.... for the 43rd time...".

When it comes to grinding, I consider that to be something to fall back on, there is nothing else to do that is worth my time (in the leveling process), so I am going to grind. Sure, I could do leves, but I am already so bored of them. I would love to do quests, especially group quests that give me a story and an objective, but there really are none. The theme park that Yoshi-P is trying to build for us isn't finished, so he isn't holding us back at a snails pace with only really one option - grinding.

In the future, if there were more things to do on the path from level 1 to cap, I wouldn't mind if they slowed down the pace of levels, but there isn't much to do so I really appreciate them not holding me back. For those that love grinding, that is great, even I like to grind on occasion with a group of cool people, but realize that we are all going without, we are all lacking a really fleshed out method of leveling, be it grinding, questing, or even PvP (yes, that is a method in the works).

As far as learning your class goes, they are adding in more tutorials all the time, but the leveling process can only teach you so much, there are no monsters currently in game that can teach me to run out of a fire plume, some things you need to learn first hand, in the encounter itself. Personally, I don't need to slowly grind my class to level cap to figure out how to play it, I read my abilities and I try them out, I also research my class and role pretty well. Sometimes before I even pick something up to level it, I am already reading strategies for it. We run across clueless people all the time, even in FFXI I ran across people with quite a few level 75 jobs that were a little... slow. It's part of playing a MMO, any stereotype you can imagine will be represented at larger number, because there is a large pool of people playing.

In the end, I am sure there will be things for everyone. You will be able to level at the pace you want using the methods you desire. We won't, however, be able to dictate how others play. Everyone is paying the monthly fee, so everyone has the right to have fun in their own way, and unless you want to pay the monthly fee for other people, I am sure that is a sentiment held by most.

[syntaxlies]

you like to type a lot huh

[Renshi]

If you're not voting for the Green option, then I wonder why are you playing the game =)

[MeowyWowie]

Brussel, I absolutely agree with you. For me, having friends to play with is the #1 thing that keeps me here. The reason I quit FFXI after 5 years is because all of my closest friends quit. I still had a good ls, was doing very well, still had goals and all that. But after they all started leaving one by one, I started to wonder why I was still playing.

While I don't really care where the content is, I just want there to be content that promotes grouping with others. Looking back now, I really don't have a single good memory of my early levels in this game. That's mostly because there was nothing to do with others, even grinding exp was better if you were soloing, and that's all there was to do. The grind was boring as hell, and I'll admit, I just wanted it to be over already, even though there was nothing to do when I reached cap anyways.

And here I am today, I have a good ls with some good people, almost all of them I met through endgame. But outside of that, I really don't talk to anyone on my server. It's not because I don't like them or anything, it's because I never really got the chance to know them. There was never any reason to party up with them, no incentive to play together. I don't think I've ever added anyone to my friend's list that wasn't in my LS in this game.

In FFXI on the other hand, by the time I got to my first limit break quest I had almost a full alliance of friends that needed it as well, or were just willing to help. Some were LS buddies, other were friends from other LS's that would turn out to be my best friends in the game throughout all my years playing. There was always something to do with other people. And even though the grind was a long one, I had a ton of fun. I still remember large portions of my journey in that game, and will likely never forget them. And it was all because there was always reasons to team up with other players and make new friends. Without them, I doubt I would have had that much fun.

[syntaxlies]

If you're not voting for the Green option, then I wonder why are you playing the game =)

i have add, i didnt get that far.

[Xoo]

Can we get a color for "I'd rather be playing XI circa 2005"?

[Fiosha_Maureiba]

In this regard, definitely more red with a fair amount of green.

To bring Rift into the picture. Around level 10, the world really opens. Contributing to stopping rifts, doing quests and learning about the world, halting invasions that sometimes take out your quest npcs or vendors, unlocking more class specializations just as options, having certain benchmarks in your advancement to realize your character, crafting, gathering, artifacts, balanced instanced PvP, gear acquisition, exploration.

Things like the Sphere Grid, License Board, or Crystallum (sp) were interesting (and to me, motivating) forms of advancement that made me wasn't to level up to take on some orcs, Evil Wall, esper, or ci'eth I wasn't supposed to fight yet.

Edit: Perhaps the MMO equivalent is Alternate Advancement.

[HiirNoivl]

RED for me

I don't care what it is... gimme something to do. After I ranked up all my DoW/DoM/DoL classes I was strainin' for some content. Fortunately, Achiev O's were just the breakfast cereal I needed to get me up and running again. I get plenty of those now. Currently I'm maxing out my GC seals (something to do as I'm getting my Achievements) and then I'll probably help supply the rest of my LS with enough Supply/Provisioning goods to max out theirs too.

Edit: Just a clarification, yes I could be ranking up a crafting class. But I don't count that as something to do in game. I count that as something you do while you're doing something else more interesting offline.