Can we get an idea on what to expect from the open world in version 2? (A bit long)

[DarthTaru]

Actually Ruetlor. While I would normally agree with you that some of the things that I have listed should be obvious and easily completed, my experience within video games has taught me never to assume such for the sake of the content itself will be at risk if you do not mention it.

I'd also like to assert, as a manner of opinion, that a lot of what we have in the game meets some of those issues, but does not contain it's balancing factors, and therefore, the virtue is not seen as a benefit, or is simply overlooked due to not being substantial enough.



Funny how eight years ago a linkshell used that exact same excuse while using a third party program they ultimately sold to RMT companies for grand after years of 'being better at claiming'.

Given the history of Ground Kings, there's absolutely no way I'll respect such a claim like the one you just made, and saying as much makes you suspect, in my eyes.

'The claim for fame' system is toxic and heavily encourages bots, grief tactics, etc. The Rare EX or our U/U system only works now when the item had plentiful alternatives, and never worked for HNMs that had a monopoly on certain bests in slot. If the system really worked, Ground Kings wouldn't be force pop today.

I am already predicting a backlash for the manner Avatars will be claimed for Free Company use, we don't need to add more fuel to that fire. However, if they're inteligent and make HNM drops side-grades to other items obtained through different means (So that there is a selection of items to obtain rather than a single best in slot.) Then it's possible to keep a system like Sandworm or other, roaming HNM systems in place. However at the very least stationary ones should have a measure of abuse control applied.

I just don't have the same hysteria over bots that other people do. My HNM linkshell didn't use bots in XI and we did fine. We lost a lot of Dragon's Aery claims but got the majority of Tiamat and Cerb for at least a year stretch. Honestly, I just think a lot (not all) of the people with an over the top bot phobia just really sucked at claiming. Actually, I suspect they just sucked at killing.

I think back to my days spent in XI and remember most of the most vocal players on this issue were people from linkshells who never even went to HNM camps and wouldn't have been able to kill them if they had. It wasn't that all of them were horrible. They were just unmotivated and since an HNM claim wouldn't fall into their laps wrapped in a bow they only wanted to blame bots. This is my personal experience so when I see all of these people here with what I think are irrational claims about bots I am forced to draw the same conclusions.

The honest truth of the matter is I would rather have to suffer and work against bots than play in an instanced WoW clone. My linkshell is very capable. We have very capable players. We're also small, some of us have conflicting play times, sometimes we find ourselves stuck at 7/8 until very late at night, sometimes we've had to fight Ifrit Extreme with mules in party until an 8th arrives, and a signification portion of our LS list will be inactive until 2.0. We're also on Aegis.

There are Japanese linkshells on Aegis with great skill and they also have seemingly ten times our numbers without, it seems, any great sacrifice in the over all quality of their LS. Were 2.0 to launch tomorrow with all the open world content I want to see, my linkshell and the 2 or 3 other capable NA endgame linkshells (with similar size and structure as our own) would get absolutely steamrolled on claim. That doesn't matter to me. That's a challenge and a struggle i'm willing to brave and ultimately overcome because that is the game I want to play. If we're overwhelmed at first by these emerging JP juggernauts I won't be coming to the forums to whine and cry about the open world system. We'll simply scrap for what we can get, grow our LS, and make sure we get our slice of the pie.

We'll rise to whatever occasion we have to. We overcome the game. We don't let the game overcome us. That's why we want open world. Myself and everyone else in this thread. That and a thousand other reasons.

I would rather have to fight for every crumb in an open world MMO than rule with world first and server first instances any day every day.
It's boring. It gets stale. It's a game on tracks.
That's a single player game. It doesn't matter how fun Mass Effect is. I can't play Mass Effect and experience the SAME EXACT THING fifty billion times and enjoy it. That's what an instance is.

Not for me.

I want to watch people wipe and be ready to claim. I want to have to claim under less than ideal conditions. I want my LS to fight its ass off to make sure we don't wipe in front of someone else. I want to overcome through the skill and strength of my LS the most trying MPK attempts while we're on the brink of failure and win despite it.

That's an MMO.

Addressing the bot issue is IMO addressed through addressing the pop system.
Give future Tiamats enough spawn locations way off the beaten path that an entire linkshell can not sit waiting for them with a kill alliance in one place and a bot at the ready. Or make every mob in the game, from a boar in some remote corner of the world to a marmot squirrel 2 feet outside Uldah's gate, a potential place holder for an HNM.

Make the claim reliant on who can find them and who can muster an alliance the fastest.

There are plenty of solutions short of throwing the baby out with the bath water.

[Limonconcon]

I just don't have the same hysteria over bots that other people do. My HNM linkshell didn't use bots in XI and we did fine. We lost a lot of Dragon's Aery claims but got the majority of Tiamat and Cerb for at least a year stretch. Honestly, I just think a lot (not all) of the people with an over the top bot phobia just really sucked at claiming. Actually, I suspect they just sucked at killing.

I think back to my days spent in XI and remember most of the most vocal players on this issue were people from linkshells who never even went to HNM camps and wouldn't have been able to kill them if they had. It wasn't that all of them were horrible. They were just unmotivated and since an HNM claim wouldn't fall into their laps wrapped in a bow they only wanted to blame bots. This is my personal experience so when I see all of these people here with what I think are irrational claims about bots I am forced to draw the same conclusions.

The honest truth of the matter is I would rather have to suffer and work against bots than play in an instanced WoW clone. My linkshell is very capable. We have very capable players. We're also small, some of us have conflicting play times, sometimes we find ourselves stuck at 7/8 until very late at night, sometimes we've had to fight Ifrit Extreme with mules in party until an 8th arrives, and a signification portion of our LS list will be inactive until 2.0. We're also on Aegis.

There are Japanese linkshells on Aegis with great skill and they also have seemingly ten times our numbers without, it seems, any great sacrifice in the over all quality of their LS. Were 2.0 to launch tomorrow with all the open world content I want to see, my linkshell and the 2 or 3 other capable NA endgame linkshells (with similar size and structure as our own) would get absolutely steamrolled on claim. That doesn't matter to me. That's a challenge and a struggle i'm willing to brave and ultimately overcome because that is the game I want to play. If we're overwhelmed at first by these emerging JP juggernauts I won't be coming to the forums to whine and cry about the open world system. We'll simply scrap for what we can get, grow our LS, and make sure we get our slice of the pie.

We'll rise to whatever occasion we have to. We overcome the game. We don't let the game overcome us. That's why we want open world. Myself and everyone else in this thread. That and a thousand other reasons.

I would rather have to fight for every crumb in an open world MMO than rule with world first and server first instances any day every day.
It's boring. It gets stale. It's a game on tracks.
That's a single player game. It doesn't matter how fun Mass Effect is. I can't play Mass Effect and experience the SAME EXACT THING fifty billion times and enjoy it. That's what an instance is.

Not for me.

I want to watch people wipe and be ready to claim. I want to have to claim under less than ideal conditions. I want my LS to fight its ass off to make sure we don't wipe in front of someone else. I want to overcome through the skill and strength of my LS the most trying MPK attempts while we're on the brink of failure and win despite it.

That's an MMO.

Addressing the bot issue is IMO addressed through addressing the pop system.
Give future Tiamats enough spawn locations way off the beaten path that an entire linkshell can not sit waiting for them with a kill alliance in one place and a bot at the ready. Or make every mob in the game, from a boar in some remote corner of the world to a marmot squirrel 2 feet outside Uldah's gate, a potential place holder for an HNM.

Make the claim reliant on who can find them and who can muster an alliance the fastest.

There are plenty of solutions short of throwing the baby out with the bath water.

/clap

I was glad to read your post...
I was in zEUs Linkshell in Midgardsormr for about 3 yrs and we never used bots, but we still manage to get the HNMs we wanted to.
Dammm I miss those fun in game years...
And the HNM solution that you gave is one of many that I have. HNMS can also pop randomly anywhere in a whole zone...
People dont understand that claiming an HNM is not as hard as fighting the HNM...
And Im so sure that if they put a Nidhogg or an aspid in an instanced most of the ppl that complain about not been able to have a chance at claiming wouldnt be able to kill them anyways and complain about that also.
And I dnt even wanna say Vrtra with all the adds, Tiamat or the almost impossible Absolute virtue (we have pop him about 20-30 times) we never even got him to 70%... even after the strategy video released by the devs...

[Hyrist]

Not for me.

I want to watch people wipe and be ready to claim. I want to have to claim under less than ideal conditions. I want my LS to fight its ass off to make sure we don't wipe in front of someone else. I want to overcome through the skill and strength of my LS the most trying MPK attempts while we're on the brink of failure and win despite it.

That's an MMO.

Addressing the bot issue is IMO addressed through addressing the pop system.
Give future Tiamats enough spawn locations way off the beaten path that an entire linkshell can not sit waiting for them with a kill alliance in one place and a bot at the ready. Or make every mob in the game, from a boar in some remote corner of the world to a marmot squirrel 2 feet outside Uldah's gate, a potential place holder for an HNM.

Make the claim reliant on who can find them and who can muster an alliance the fastest.

There are plenty of solutions short of throwing the baby out with the bath water.

I agree with all but the bolded.

The playerbase, what we have of it, is already devided enough between this so called 'casual vs hardcore' where I just see it as an issue of having Varied content.

But within hardcore content lies a very wrong player-created conception that, honestly, I would love to get stamped out. And that's the feeling of unfriendly rivalry. It's fine to sit and wait for a group to fail so that you may get your shot. But MPKing to try to make them do so? Not cool at all in my book. You might find it exciting, for me, I want to go on a murdering rampage when attempts like that are made.

Competitiveness is ok when it's done with good sportsmanship. The idea of having varied spawn locations varying claim conditions, things that keep the game interesting. But never should the players feel as if they have to stab one another in the back just to get a fair share at the challenge, and the loot. And on the other side of the coin, it should not be possible for those that are greedy to be able to monopolize content so others cannot get at it. If some Noob Company tries at a HNM, even if they are destined to fail, they should get the fair shot to try. Even if that means a true endgame shell-er Company in this case, can be sitting and waiting in the sidelines for it. But at that point the feeling should be. "Ok, we can root these guys on, but be prepared to claim if they wipe."

That's the sort of environment I want encouraged. And while a lot of that can rely on the playerbase's conduct, the gameplay itself can enforce prevention of the worst case scenario.

Call me carebear, but comradeship and good will is a huge theme of a Final Fantasy game. I would like that theme to be supported as best as possible.

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Just to clarify, and because you start your post with my name (albeit mispelled): The person you quote, and to whom I imagine you direct the attack contained in the second paragraph of my quotation, is someone other than me. Please be careful not to (accidentally, I suppose, but equally carelessly) taint my good name, Hyrist.

R

My apologies, Rutelor. It was not my intention to sully your name, rather to save on posting space by condensing repeated posts together so as not to spam the thread. The difficulty of course is that I'm trying to fit posts within tight timeline constraints.

I shall try to better separate different discussions/subject matters when I cover more than one in a post. (Is this any better?)

Additionally, let me commend you in so far retaining a constructive and respectful tone in your responses and posts - something that even I am guilty at failing to do. It is most appreciated and helps keep the tone of the discussion positive. I like it a lot, please keep it up!

[Rokien]

I agree with all but the bolded.

The playerbase, what we have of it, is already devided enough between this so called 'casual vs hardcore' where I just see it as an issue of having Varied content.

But within hardcore content lies a very wrong player-created conception that, honestly, I would love to get stamped out. And that's the feeling of unfriendly rivalry. It's fine to sit and wait for a group to fail so that you may get your shot. But MPKing to try to make them do so? Not cool at all in my book. You might find it exciting, for me, I want to go on a murdering rampage when attempts like that are made.

Competitiveness is ok when it's done with good sportsmanship. The idea of having varied spawn locations varying claim conditions, things that keep the game interesting. But never should the players feel as if they have to stab one another in the back just to get a fair share at the challenge, and the loot. And on the other side of the coin, it should not be possible for those that are greedy to be able to monopolize content so others cannot get at it. If some Noob Company tries at a HNM, even if they are destined to fail, they should get the fair shot to try. Even if that means a true endgame shell-er Company in this case, can be sitting and waiting in the sidelines for it. But at that point the feeling should be. "Ok, we can root these guys on, but be prepared to claim if they wipe."

That's the sort of environment I want encouraged. And while a lot of that can rely on the playerbase's conduct, the gameplay itself can enforce prevention of the worst case scenario.

Call me carebear, but comradeship and good will is a huge theme of a Final Fantasy game. I would like that theme to be supported as best as possible.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




My apologies, Rutelor. It was not my intention to sully your name, rather to save on posting space by condensing repeated posts together so as not to spam the thread. The difficulty of course is that I'm trying to fit posts within tight timeline constraints.

I shall try to better separate different discussions/subject matters when I cover more than one in a post. (Is this any better?)

Additionally, let me commend you in so far retaining a constructive and respectful tone in your responses and posts - something that even I am guilty at failing to do. It is most appreciated and helps keep the tone of the discussion positive. I like it a lot, please keep it up!

Wow we agree on something o.O?

[Hyrist]

Wow we agree on something o.O?

Why so surprised? It's not the first time, Rokien, if you look in the Lancer Forums you might remember that.

I'm not opposed to all your ideas, as much as I am opposed to your methodology, which is "Fling as much crap to the wall as I can and see what sticks." It's exasperating at best, trolling at worst.

Other than that, it's just a matter of finding the correct balance, compromise, and variety to make this game the most successful. So the idea usually means add more content is ok by me, as opposed to take away content you don't like simply on the grounds that you don't like it.

My dream for the game is a widely dynamic game with differing players each finding their niche that they are both good at, and passionate about. The difficulty with that is doing it in a manner in which these various methods don't overtly clash. It just so happens that the hardcore mentality OFTEN clashes with these ideals. They want to be the best, at everything, they want it obvious they are the best, and they want to hold it over everyone's heads, often in ways that can be considered cruel and rude. I have seen countless examples of how this gouged a huge divide in the FFXI base, and I don't want to see it here. That means the Hardcores are going to have to give up a little in the pride department. Or at the very least be more good-nature-ed about it then they have in the past.

In this situation, it's the monopoly and foul play that needs to be snuffed out. I've already mentioned loot alternatives, but it seems that the crafting system with double and triple melds has that covered, so long as Yoshi makes crafted/melded gear comparable.

People seem to still want things like Abjuration gear, though personally I'd rather see interesting Meteria drop and be trade-able.

Imagine if say, killing a dragon dropped a meteria that occasionally absorbed a specific element of damage on a percentage determined by the tier of meteria? That boss would now have continuous value on top of the U/U gear he drops, and as it's a consumable, there will always be a market for it. A balanced market if the Dragon cannot be monopolized.

[DarthTaru]

I see the word "monopolization" coming up a lot so I think we need to identify why certain linkshells were able to monopolize certain HNMs (or most, if not all of them) and let's just keep the word "bot" out of the discussion because everyone who was either in a super-shell or at one point got overwhelmed by one knows that wasn't always the main factor and sometimes not a factor at all.

Let's use Tiamat as an example because I think it's a good one. It dropped a game breaking piece of gear for one of the most important jobs in FFXI and -maybe more importantly- was sellable, and sold for 25~50 million gil for a very, very long time. It was on a 3~5 day repop timer so it couldn't really be camped by an entire linkshell like Nidhogg, and required linkshells to produce claim parties that could stop what they were doing, port out, cover 3 zones, and claim before their rivals. I think Tiamat makes for a good mob for discussion when it comes to why linkshells monopolized and how they were able to.

Ultimately, it just came down to motivation. Overly simplified? No. Anyone who was in a super-shell knows they dominated Tiamat and mobs like Tiamat because when the pop was announced in LS chat they were gone, on their way to the zone regardless of what they were doing, organized, ready to go. No exploit, not third party program, just pure, unrivaled motivation. If two linkshells had this same motivation and LS philosophy there would no one LS monopolizing and both linkshells would get their slice of the pie. If 3, the same, and etc etc.

Why did linkshells not get claim on mobs like these? Let's just clear the air in the interest of honesty. A lot of linkshells couldn't kill these mobs because they didn't have the practice or skill. If the reason was a lack of skill why they didn't get claim doesn't matter. If the reason was practice it was their own fault for a lacking motivation. Jormy was up 24/7 and if a linkshell can kill Jormy they can kill Tiamat.

So unmotivated linkshells, even moderately capable ones (doing sky, doing sea, etc) were simply not as motivated as super-shells and this, and this alone, lead to monopolization. If you walk away from content you cannot blame others for "monopolizing" it. That's absurd. Nor should you NOT design content because some fall into a state of defeatism easily and ignore it while complaining about those who don't.

[Hyrist]

Ultimately, it just came down to motivation. Overly simplified?

For god sakes, yes. You're overgeneralizing.

What cause mob monopolization was in part the horrific spawn rates yes, but also what effectively lead to window camping.

By no means, what soever should any reasonable person be on call at ungodly hours of the morning just so they can go and farm a mob who has unique Best In Slots - period.

That's artifical difficulty, not ACTUAL difficulty. There was a reason why people 'unmotivated'. The spawn conditions on these monsters were completely unreasonable by any important standard, and defending said system by saying "Oh it's the Casual's fault" is infuriating. - a system that says you have to be at the ready 24-7 for a video game and be willing to spend 12+ hours at on sitting and/or rotate shifts. That is wrong on a humanitarian level - not a question of 'if you're dedicated enough.' You flatly should not have to be dedicated to that point because it is detrimental to real life.

Anything shorter than 3 spawns a day even if it's a minboss placeholder, is horrific standards to have in an MMO, and is what creates these horrible behaviors such as monopolization attempts, harassment and cheating. The HNM scene was nothing less than a hostile, overdrawn, and just generally unfriendly player enviroment. That's why players were unmotivated about it - not because they were simply lazy or 'not good enough', as you're trying to imply.

I can't stress this more, while there can be difficult challenges, the FFXI HNM concept was flawed and toxic to its very roots game wise. And it's my personal opinion that the concept needs to be re-thought from the ground up.

And I am full of the ideas on that topic. Ideas aimed at increasing both fair play, accessibility, and reward yield, while retaining a lot of the tension and difficulty of epic HNM fights. But some of the mechanics I have in mind might not go over well with people, most notedly of them would be a Free-Company Wide Cooldown on claiming a HNM imposed by having to have a specific item used to claim the monster to begin with, that you can only buy so often. This would be offset by the fact that these HNMs would spawn at least three times a day (an 8 hour repop timer would be about the max I feel would be reasonable) with the exception of course of Primals, who would be off the claim list if they're under the control of a Free Company - who would feel the cooldown once their primal is used or their allotted time to use it expires.

That would flat out guarentee that other Companies got their shot, and the cooldown timer (I was thinking 48 hours.) Would still be shorter than those who were waiting 3-5 days for Tiamat to spawn in FFXI. But this way, instead of 'being on call' they can actually focus their time on other aspects of the game (or other aspects of their real life). Or, if they're really into it, go find another HNM to claim.

There's other ideas I've got in mind that are less restrictive and more insentivizing for various play, and a feeling of unity for a Company as a whole. But the above one is defiantly going to rub some players the wrong way.

In the end, the game shouldn't be just 'casual friendly' but even for hardcore, it should still be humanitarian. As I stated before, there should be no desire for foul play in the HNM scene, and that should be reinforced by the mechanics.

[Jynx]

By no means, what soever should any reasonable person be on call at ungodly hours of the morning just so they can go and farm a mob who has unique Best In Slots - period.

Funny I only ever camped HNM's that were in my window of play time. Guess I had enough patience to wait for the spawn windows to clear up for my playtime.

It wasn't a perfect system but it kept some rare items rare, and gave them value in the economy. You can't have items "Worth" something if everyone can just go grab it and get a gold star for breathing.

[DarthTaru]

For god sakes, yes. You're overgeneralizing.

What cause mob monopolization was in part the horrific spawn rates yes, but also what effectively lead to window camping.

... And so how on earth am I generalizing when I say that HNM drops and HNM `monopolization` were a result of linkshell motivation and organization?

By no means, what soever should any reasonable person be on call at ungodly hours of the morning just so they can go and farm a mob who has unique Best In Slots - period.

And so what does this have to do with anything?
I want to just begin before you take offense in stating that I have no doubts you're a great person with good intentions here. That said, when you say things like this I sort of get the feeling that you've never been in an organized and effective endgame linkshell. At least not one that was fitting for you. Based on how jaded you seem to be regarding HNM `monopolization` I'll assume not one at all.

A linkshell is not an individual. A linkshell, obviously, is the sum of all of its individuals, individuals who will be online and play at differing times, with differing availability. If an HNM has a a window that is two days long, that does not mean an individual had to stay awake for 48 hours straight staring at a bush where a Dragon might pop. An `individual` does not kill an HNM; a linkshell does. If Tiamat pops and you are not online that is fine. Your linkshell kills it and one of your friends gets the drop. You log on and are happy to hear the news.

If you're not online and neither are any of your friends, another linkshell will obviously kill it and you go about your business and in 3 days when the window opens again the possibility of a pop emerges as something your linkshell might be able to do that's outside whatever schedule it has set.

You, the individual, didn't have to be online for every Tiamat, every Cerb, every KB, every KV, every this or every that to attain a drop, because your linkshell exists when you're offline just as much as it does when you are online.
Eventually you're online for a pop, a claim, and a kill, and eventually, by virtue of being a member of your linkshell, you acquire a shiny new drop.

So this acting like you had to stay awake for 72 hours straight at a time to kill an HNM, or compete with people who were doing so, isn't based in reality.

That's artifical difficulty, not ACTUAL difficulty. There was a reason why people 'unmotivated'. The spawn conditions on these monsters were completely unreasonable by any important standard, and defending said system by saying "Oh it's the Casual's fault" is infuriating. - a system that says you have to be at the ready 24-7 for a video game and be willing to spend 12+ hours at on sitting and/or rotate shifts. That is wrong on a humanitarian level - not a question of 'if you're dedicated enough.' You flatly should not have to be dedicated to that point because it is detrimental to real life.

Again, you're looking at this from, with all due respect, an entirely selfish and self centered point of view. You do not need to be online 24/7. Your linkshell, however, needs to be active enough and large enough to be able to cover a fair amount of the day to participate in certain window opportunities. Now you might say "well that isn't fair that you need a big or organized or active linkshell" but that is the point of these monsters. That is their audience, so to speak.

Ultimately, where I suspect our main disagreement arises from is in you seem to believe that all content needs to be at the ready and easily attainable and accessibly at all times. What an MMO needs is to have a good mix of content that is readily available and accessibly and plenty of things to keep people enjoying themselves every day with added content that isn't to break the routine.

HNM's are supposed to be rare. They're supposed to have long windows. They're supposed to be relevant and sought after long after their released, rather than farmed to death on instant or 1 hour pop timers until they're no longer interesting like (not that they're HNMs) Dodore, Great Buffalo, etc.

"Me, me, me" is what i'm taking away from your posts. What you seemingly do not understand is that HNMs are not about you, they're about the world, they would be about Eorzea, they're about the environment, they're about rarity, prestige, etc.

If you have plenty of instanced dungeons, plenty of Limbus, plenty of this, plenty of that, to log on to every day, for whatever time you can and want to dedicate to the game, why on earth would it offend you so much that there are other things that will not be there waiting for you? That there are things beyond that to aspire towards?

There was PLENTY of great gear in FFXI. It isn't like you were the laughing stock of Whitegate and completely incapable of venturing out into the wildnerness if you didn't have HNM drops from head to toe.

I just don't understand why if people have plenty of things to do, and there's plenty of fun content in the game, that they would be so offended that there were other things, greater things, higher level things, that they could not yet do and wasn't laid at their feet wrapped with a bow.

My HNM linkshell in XI did plenty. We also couldn't beat Absolute Virtue...We couldn't beat Pandemonium Warden... yet the existence of these mobs didn't at all offend me - It motivated me and inspired my curiosity.

[DarthTaru]

Hyrist:

I think you should read my posts again if you think I was insulting you. There was evidently a miscommunication somewhere. I said I doubted you ever played in a linkshell that was capable of monopolization and so you wouldn't truly understand what the difference was between that linkshell and a linkshell that was nearly as capable but seldom got claim. I'll stand by that. I've been in both varieties of linkshells, #1's and #2's and I have first hand experience with precisely what the difference was and that difference was precisely what I said it was - motivation.

And I do believe that some of your stated reasons for not wanting open world HNMs are overly self centered.
You don't want open world HNMs because you don't want to camp them and because you don't want to compete for them and because all of this they shouldn't be in the game despite the fact that, in an endgame linkshell large enough and organized enough to routinely kill HNMs, you don't always have to be.

My HNM linkshell had plenty of "casual" players. That's why, as I've said before, I detest the buzz words "hardcore" and "casual" to define what people are. On these forums they seem to be code for "good player" and "bad player" and in XI that's exactly what we called them. There were plenty of people in my HNM linkshell that had full time jobs, families, and social lives. They also had Gaiters and e bodies.

So with that in mind I don't understand the above gripes one bit. They're completely alien to me. Normally when I hear these arguments coming from someone I chalk it up as nothing but bitter envy. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, though.

The strongest, most well geared BLM on my server was in the National guard and had to leave the game completely for weeks at a time for duty. Full time National Guard, wife, family, varied play times, and the envy of every BLM on the server.

"Hardcore" and "casual".
I honestly don't think these ridiculous terms have any real definition.

In the golden age of the HNM linkshell of which I was a part we were successful in open world because we were motivated, because we were organized, and because we were capable. A lot of things that you've said leads me to believe that you think somehow this is `unfair`.
When we lost #1 to the merger of two other linkshells who also happened to kick out all their dead weight we lost it because they were extremely motivated to dominate and many people in my linkshell weren't for various reasons.

I spent enough time in XI endgame linkshells to know what made them tick and what lead to success ("monopolization" as you call it) and the God's honest truth was that nothing was holding any player or any linkshell back in XI beyond the limitations they placed on themselves. That applies to this game as well. I'm sure it applies to every MMO, despite many of the have-nots believing otherwise, eager to blame "bots" and "unfairness" and whatever else people come up with for why the have nothing, couldn't claim, couldn't compete, couldn't kill, and couldn't attain best-in-slot gear pieces.

And just to correct you. When I used the word "prestige" I wasn't referring to my own. I was referring to that of the mobs. The biggest, baddest of them had it in a way the Dodore's and 8 hour repop mobs you envision never, ever will.
The Great Buffalo's of the world have to be farmed. The biggest, baddest, rarest of the HNMs in XI had to be conquered.