Echoes of Vana'diel FFXI Alliance Raid

[Zaniel]

Not a fan of the shoe-horning ultra fan service content. It's one thing to have easter eggs and cool references to the FF franchise but just using a crowbar to push content that makes no sense lore-wise is annoying. Golbez then Alexandria et al were complete nonsense and I suspect this will be more of the same (even if from a fight and spectacle perspective the raids might be completely enjoyable).

[OgruMogru]

Is the armour definitely role locked? Am I stewing in complete delusional fiction hoping these will all work like the 2b coffer? The answer is probably yes [to the delusional part] >:C

[Elkanah]

Is the armour definitely role locked? Am I stewing in complete delusional fiction hoping these will all work like the 2b coffer? The answer is probably yes [to the delusional part] >:C

They're probably role locked based on the jobs and types they were in XI as the Ark Angels of Apathy, Arrogance, Cowardice, Envy, and Rage
Hume - WAR/NIN
Mithra - BST/THF
Galka - SAM/DRG
Tarutaru - BLM/DRK
Elvaan - PLD/WHM

With the Image by Fawkes (assuming they're sticking somewhat to the order of the gear in the picture), and being that they can't have two sets per classes:
(left to right)
Male Vierra: Aiming set most likely
Miqote: Scouting set (based on bst/THF)
Lalafell: Casters set (based on BLM/drk)
Elezen: Healing set (based on pld/WHM)
Hyur: Fending set (based on WAR/nin)
Au Ra: Maiming set (cause striking set is taken by Roe)
Roegadyn: Striking set (based on SAM/drg)

[Daralii]

I remember trying to play FF11 back in the day, and pretty much got trapped in Jeuno because that was when you had to party up just to kill basic mobs, you were at the level range where dying could cause de-leveling, and if you weren't the "correct" race and job combinations, you'd be left LFG literally all day long. I made the mistake of starting as a Mithra Red Mage, and the whole game just fell apart around me after reaching Jeuno.

So yeah... unfortunately I don't have fond memories of that game, and I haven't touched it in over 20 years, so this raid series not only falls flat for me but I'm kinda soured on it in general.

The majority of the game's been soloable for a very long time(probably about a decade at least) because you can form a full party of trusts almost everywhere to complement whatever job you're playing.

[Elkanah]

I remember trying to play FF11 back in the day, and pretty much got trapped in Jeuno because that was when you had to party up just to kill basic mobs, you were at the level range where dying could cause de-leveling, and if you weren't the "correct" race and job combinations, you'd be left LFG literally all day long. I made the mistake of starting as a Mithra Red Mage, and the whole game just fell apart around me after reaching Jeuno.

So yeah... unfortunately I don't have fond memories of that game, and I haven't touched it in over 20 years, so this raid series not only falls flat for me but I'm kinda soured on it in general.

The mistake wasnt mithra-- cause honestly, anyone would tell you that race didnt matter (it didnt matter then, and doesnt matter now). It was starting as a mage job that required 95% gearing and having specific items and spells all the way up to 70 (not too mention the worst Maat fight in the game by far).

[Swad]

RDMs were gods, completely replacing WHM in party leveling content. Could solo from 18-25 skipping qufim with silence and burn on worms. You could DUO with a BLM killing beastmen pets and mobs weak to gravity all the way to 75 never touching a 6 person party. Not to mention being a Mithra you had the world at your fingertips and tons of guys willing to give you free stuff.

[Elkanah]

.

As someone who started on the PS2 with the Japanese version (when the cap was 50 before it hit NA), it was hit or miss. Also depended on server and whether you were socializing on the forums or other places. I'd say the gameplay of XI is still about the same. The only difference is that you can do everything solo. So the game is pretty much soloable for most expansions, but at endgame you have the ability to play with more people ofc. You can still play with friends though earlier in the leveling or mission progress. Making gil is night and day difference. However, there's only a few servers that you want to be on these days. Otherwise most are at dead ends or dead servers as a whole

[AnimaAnimus]

I've heard the game plays radically different nowadays, but I was never sure if it was worth trying again while still being busy with FF14.

Oh man you should really take a look, its a completely different game in both good and bad ways.

They added a lot of QoL features, like there being multiple options to fast travel. But they also stripped the game of a lot of its charm by also adding mounts that prevent aggro so you can run around without a care in the world, trusts so you never have to speak to another person letting you play the game completely solo, and so on. Rhapsodies also added KI that you get while advancing through the quests that give you more exp, faster skill ups, and unlocks an npc that will sell you all the food, coffer keys, etc that you need for basic gameplay, maps are all purchasable, and nearly every spell is available from npcs, there is absolutely no need to farm that stuff. You can even buy gear with a currency called sparks, so no farming/crafting leveling gear. Sparks will also buy you skill tomes to skip skilling up your jobs and they have items that sell for a fair amount to npc vendors so gil rains down upon you, removing the need to craft or farm items to sell.

It's not quite as bad as XIV but its still a very accessable mmo these days with the only real hurdle still being learning how to use the UI and menu systems. Even the once great and fun NM and other overworld systems are mostly abandoned for instanced content or they just pushed the items to npcs. But the game is still very leveling dependant. You have actual job levels, skills, merit points and now job points and master levels to earn, which most ppl do by mercing it so getting a party for that stuff just doesn't happen and you are almost forced to merc it, making it pointless outside of a new way to feed gold sellers. You still need to farm items for your relics, mythics, empys and such too, but that is all 100% soloable now too and many of the great weapons are now obsolete even with adding ways to leveling them up.

Basically they stripped away all the busy work and farming outside of leveling so you can just jump right on into endgame, which is also down to just a few things these days since all lvl 75 and most lvl 99 content is dead and/or soloable. The game is a mere shadow of its former self and with it officially being said that there is no future content being released, it makes doing anything feel absolutely pointless unless you simply like the new grinds. But once you get what you need for a job, the only reason to use that job is to do the same for the next job since you won't be using anything you earned for actual story or new content.