Quote Originally Posted by Dzian View Post
Perhaps not new ones but I've said manytimes my circle of frineds is a group of people some of which were in my old ffxi linkshell,some i met during 1.0. so some of these friends and connections go back almost 20 years. we've been to weddings, funerals, holidays together. 36 of us one new years party. and as I've said hundred of times. its those connections that often keep us playing. not the game itself. the game itself honestly isnt that good but good friends make it much enjoyable. often referred to xivas a cheap restaurant. crap food crap service, but with goodpeople can still have a great night..

In all those years though i cannot tell you how many people ive seen come and go and the social experience is often a big factor for why many new players don't stick around very long, because the social interactionis so shallow and makes it difficult for new players to make connections which is why so many drop the game.
I guess that's the effect of having built a theme park MMO.

Back in 1.0 it feels like we were forced to socialize and work together because it was really hard to progress by playing solo. You almost had to have a static just to get through the main story.
I still play with my old 1.0 group. We went through so much together like the frustration of trying to take down Batraal in Dzemael Darkhold back when it was actually hard to clear dungeons, or the joy of actually coming out of the Bowl of Embers alive together instead of a heap on the floor that other players standing around had to charity raise. I suspect Tanaka-san designed some of those systems intentionally, but that's not what much of the players wanted.

Since ARR I wonder if it's more limited to the optional raiding content for bonding through fire. Everything else is easy to just do on your own.