Thread: Considering FFXI till FFXIV 2.0

I've been having the itch to jump back into FFXI but my time is so limited. It seems I did quit the same time as the OP. Since we don't know exactly when 2.0 is coming, I've been replaying some other FF titles to refresh my old memory. Started with 7 and plan to keep going until it does come out.

As far as I'm concerned, FFXI is too expensive for what it is in the MMO market of today. Even if I have fond memories of FFXI, there is no way I'm going back on it unless it goes Free-to-Play. FFXI is more costly than what FFXIV will cost me (Legacy)... I'll try SWTOR, GW2, Tera, Rift, PSO2, and many more before paying too much per month for an old MMO.

Originally Posted by IronSoup

As far as I'm concerned, FFXI is too expensive for what it is in the MMO market of today.

Yet it has the most content for the price especially when you hit cap you don't even need to rely on people to do the older content, more content than Tera for a few dollars less as well, but that's going F2P too. "Old MMO" means nothing when new MMOs are constantly failing in comparison.

Originally Posted by IronSoup

As far as I'm concerned, FFXI is too expensive for what it is in the MMO market of today. Even if I have fond memories of FFXI, there is no way I'm going back on it unless it goes Free-to-Play. FFXI is more costly than what FFXIV will cost me (Legacy)... I'll try SWTOR, GW2, Tera, Rift, PSO2, and many more before paying too much per month for an old MMO.

To each thier own, but if 9.99 a month for a crap ton of content is too expensive, esp after those 5 games you just listed... I hate to see you fret over the menu @ Mcdonalds.

I myself went back to FFXI with my gf and a few friends for something to do, but its nothing special really, nothing like it used to be. My friends and I enjoyed low manning content at 75(there was quite a bit of good content)

FFXI IS still enjoyable but its not the same experience as it was at level 75. Level 75 took teamwork, effort and finishing a lot of hard content, be it storyline or just something endgame related with your friends was very rewarding.

Upsides

- Very easy to level solo.
- Easier to level in an Abyssea party.
- Easiest MMO to level in.
- Very easy to gear at level 90+
- A lot of content (in a game that's been out 10 years this is expected.. however some of it is just revamped old content)
- Its not a hard game to pick up and play, they got rid of most of what made the game complicated(which can be counted as a downside too?)
- One of the easiest MMOs on the market(... sorry fanboys you're no longer playing a game with a high skill requirement...)
- Emperyan armor sets and weapons are a joke to obtain despite what another person has said it takes almost no time at all to get a decent set of equipment if you put some effort into it, but it doesn't take much.(I have seen someone go from new trial to level 85 emperyan in 6 days without issue)
-FFXI has catered to casual players so there is still a decently large player base depending on server(hey it's proof that casual players help keep MMOs alive now isn't it?)

Now that that is out of the way, since I always see both sides of the coin...

Downsides
-Even if you leech xp in parties, you still will need to skillup and get gear or you'll be useless.
-Very few people in FFXI help out anyone else anymore(more people helped eachother when 75 was the cap)
-There is almost no learning curve to FFXI anymore. A lot of people don't even know the basis for jobs or what they can do.
(I met a RDM the other day that actually said MND is useless for RDM. When i told them MND governs white magic(specifically paralyze and slow) and most of their sword weaponskills(they were using a sword), they said INT did... I've met DDs that didn't know what secondary damage modifiers were and THFs that didn't know what DEX does for Sneak attack and AGI does for trick attack... some didn't even know at 60+ TA will always crit if used behind someone else... Just a few examples and this is VERY common now...)
- You still have the "hardcore" players with attitude problems that think they are better than everyone else, you'll never lose them regardless of MMO though.

In the end its still enjoyable but also still far from perfect. I personally am only playing until 2.0 comes out. What made FFXI great for me... the incredible storylines, the difficult fights doing some missions the sense of achievement is all gone. Teamwork in parties or alliances are not as needed as they once were. Maybe to hit weaknesses in their weakness targeting system(TERRIBLE CONCEPT BY THE WAY!) but that's about it.

There is still a lot to it but there have been no good story lines since before Wings of the goddess, the addons were terrible for storyline, especially Abyssea.

If you're just looking to kill some time, FFXI is still good for that though, just don't expect the same experience.

Originally Posted by Xikeroth

A lot of people don't even know the basis for jobs or what they can do.
(I met a RDM the other day that actually said MND is useless for RDM. When i told them MND governs white magic(specifically paralyze and slow) and most of their sword weaponskills(they were using a sword), they said INT did... I've met DDs that didn't know what secondary damage modifiers were and THFs that didn't know what DEX does for Sneak attack and AGI does for trick attack... some didn't even know at 60+ TA will always crit if used behind someone else... Just a few examples and this is VERY common now...).

The most amusing things I have seen are

lvl 99 thieves asking "I keep getting a msg in my log about treasure hunter, wtf is that?"
lvl 99 pups who dont even have their animator on them because they dont use manuvers
lvl 99 mages who dont know what <stpt> and <stal> are and just using f and tab keys to target for heals and buffs
lvl 99 sch who never even bothered to get thier weather scrolls and have no idea what weathers do

the list goes on. There are alot of basics for each class that are important to that class which people just simply don't learn anymore and there are no ls or vet players willing to teach them.

Originally Posted by Xikeroth

- Emperyan armor sets and weapons are a joke to obtain despite what another person has said it takes almost no time at all to get a decent set of equipment if you put some effort into it, but it doesn't take much.(I have seen someone go from new trial to level 85 emperyan in 6 days without issue).

Ok unless this was an elemental path and not a nm path I am going to call fowl on this. The only way to accomplish a nm path empy in 6 days is with a good and efficiant low man group who is already properly geared or someone who plays 6 days around the clock.

Considering that any nm empy path (and these are the empy everyone wants you to have for endgame) you have to get 21 nm kills that have a minimum of 1 hr respawn (and let's face it to get all 21 of these to spawn right at an hr is not possible) plus another 20 kills of a t2 vwnm plus anywhere from 50-100 aby nm kills depending on whether they drop 1-2 of the trial items AND the 1-4 nm you have to kill to get the ki to even spawn it.

So getting an 85 empy in 6 days without issue is not possible for the average gamer. Like I said I can totally see this is you have a group that is willing to farm and give you all empy drops or maybe if you play around the clock and have alot of crour to kill on brews, already are geared well and duo box. But either of these two options are not really common occurances in ffxi anymore (at least on asura). And outside a few exclusive sets, alot of the empyrean armor pieces and some full sets have been rendered useless. I have been in pugs where someone on war, sam or drg will come in full +2 and taunted and eventually kicked for having "bad gear" even though they had a 90-95 empy weapon

re-installed it because SE didn't send the F*KIN EMAIL!

didn't regret it and i think its my choice either until ARR (if beta is good) or until the next FFXI add on :P

just try it out. i mean you can quit again if you want.
i was quite surprised there was still >3k people online on weekend Oo