Quote Originally Posted by Hirmu View Post
I did find this fun as well. If the competition was fair, it was a thrill to try and claim the NM. If we lost, I cheered those who won. If they got drop, I congratulated them. It wasn't about plans being ruined, it was just about losing a competition. There's a world of difference between the two. But sure as it was, too often the joy was taken by botters and whatnot.

This thread shows well some of the differences between player's attitudes. I personally dislike the way many modern MMO-gamers want their game to always actively entertain them and they always need to succeed in everything. Call me a masochist, but I want my game to have elements that are just too hard for me to do. I like the fact that I don't always win. And I really don't see why I should feel bad if there's some content that's not withing my reach or a piece of gear that's just too hard to get. But of course, everything in moderation and I agree that FFXI was a bit too harsh on some things.
This I agree, but as you said, "If the competition was fair". The HNM competition from FFXI was far from fair, every major HNM LS on the server at one point admitted that they do have bots, it's only a matter of who has the more "advanced" bot. I don't mind losing to another fellow player, but I do mind very much when I lose to a bot, it's an unfair advantage, and I hope that SE do a better job this time to prevent something like this from happening again, if they do implement HNMs.