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A Question for current FFXI players from a Vet...
Pratt2112
Member UncommonPosts: 1,636
So, as the subject indicates, I'm a veteran FFXI player who started back on day 1 of the U.S. PC launch. I played more or less non-stop (some breaks along the way, etc) up through WoTG and the 3 mini-adventure packs (Shantotto, Moogle, Prophecy) but more or less stopped with Abyssea.
Along with many others, I left XI in disgust at how Abyssea changed the game (or at least the way it was played) so drastically. I hated it, to be blunt.
I came back a few times and tried to give it a go. However, most everyone I knew had left the game, or had become rather uninterested in helping out at all. I'd heard many horror stories of people who weren't already familiar with Abyssea being kicked from groups - even if they were new to it and couldn't realistically be expected to know all what was going on yet (as usual, many people tend to forget they were once in that position themselves, and become elitist pricks about it). So, feeling completely lost at sea, just sorta gave up and left.
After a while now, I feel like maybe it'd be a good time to come back, as a new proper expansion seems to be on the horizon and it looks like things have at least become more interesting to me again.
So! Here's what I'm left with...
I have two jobs at 75: MNK and DRG. I have various other jobs at 37 and other levels of progress. I was never one to "play everything", so I focused only on the jobs I enjoyed and/or that would be beneficial to my playstyle (as subs, etc). I'm not an "end-game loot chaser". I find raiding fun as something to do once in a while, but I have no interest in making it a full-time endeavor.
I've read that you can get thorugh the levels now without doing Abyssea, however, that Abyssea also provides gear that is pretty good at level and - so far as I've seen - there's very little that quite matches it outside Abyssea. So it seems at some point, I'll *have* to go back and get it, at least if I understand it.
If I can realistically avoid doing Abyssea without missing out on anything that's too important or irreplaceable, that'd be great. I tried it a few times and hated it every single one. It just felt to me like an uncoordinated zerg-fest with xp coming way faster than it should. No coordination, no strategy, no communication. Just people everywhere killing stuff and opening treasure chests. Not my thing at all. It's weird because I loved Campaign Battles and I enjoy Besieged. Each of those, though, feel different to me. It's like organized chaos. Abyssea, to me, feels like random disorganized chaos.
So anyway... I'm kinda wondering what my options would be in coming back now? What would be a good path to follow in order to progress my character and get it ready for the new expansion coming out, as well as just playing and (ideally) enjoying the game again?
Comments
So anyway... I'm kinda wondering what my options would be in coming back now? What would be a good path to follow in order to progress my character and get it ready for the new expansion coming out, as well as just playing and (ideally) enjoying the game again?
This may sound a little odd, but I recommend signing up for the Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn Alpha Test. FFXI has lost a lot of it's meaning now that you can level to 99 in a just a week. Since the first FFXIV was a failure, they've been trying to making FFXIV more like FFXI.
I am actually signed up for the XIV Alpha, and played XIV quite a bit, right up to the end.
I really don't like the direction Yoshi's taking XIV with some of the decisions he's made, and some of what I've read and seen.
But anyway, that's an entirely different discussion.
I'm specifically interested in what I asked about XI. So, if folks have feedback/advice on that, that would be great. Thanks!
I mentioned those two things only because they would appear to be similar to Abyssea on some level. So if I enjoyed them, it might be assumed I would enjoy Abyssea as well. I mentioned them only for the sake of explaining that Abyssea didn't appeal to me. Nothing more.
This is your second reply so far, and you've yet to actually address/answer my actual questions/concerns.
Do you have anything to offer that's relevant to what I requested? Anything that doesn't involve you trying to talk me out of playing XI? If so, please share it. If not, please move on and stop being rude.
I did not ask for reasons why I shouldn't go back. I didn't ask for opinions on "why people feel XI has lost its way and isn't fun anymore". I didn't ask to be "talked out of it". My request was very specific. You have completely ignored it in 3 posts now.
I asked for very specific advice/information to help me out getting back into the game, as I've been away from the game for a time.
So, yes, you are being rude. Further, you've pushed it to the point of trolling as you clearly have no interest in responding to what I've requested, have not provided one iota of info I've asked about, and are now going farther by pimping one of your own threads.
Nothing you have offered or are trying to offer is at all relevant to what I'm asking for.
I'll ask nicely one more time. Please stop derailing my thread and go elsewhere.
The Deep Web is sca-ry.
Why should I have to repeat myself just for you? I spent HOURS writing that, which answers ALL of your questions. I recommend you read both of the threads linked to you.
I don't want you to repeat yourself. In fact, I'd love for you not to. I was requesting for people to provide some helpful feedback to my specific request. Now, I just want you to go away and stop derailing/spamming/trolling my thread with irrelevant, self-promoting nonsense.
I have read your post in the past. It's a good post on its own merits, as an opinion piece. It does not, however, address what I'm asking for in my post. The closest you come to providing an answer in your post is: "you can either do Abyssea, or play it "vanilla" (your term). I'm aware of that, but it doesn't answer my question of specifically what gameplay options are there now. Are people doing old-school style xp parties still? Is it all solo-grinding through FoV/GoV? Is it still being PL'd with things like Astral-Burn parties? Etc. I'm trying to see what methods are effective and "feasible", so I can determine how I'll go about it.
My question was "Hey, I'm coming back to FFXI but haven't played since Abyssea started. I'm not sure what would be my options to get through the game, preferably without Abyssea. Any suggestions?"
Your response has been, "Don't play XI. Try FFXIV Alpha instead. Oh, and read my thread on why FFXI has lost its way and isn't fun anymore".
It would be like you starting a thread looking for feedback on the best type of apple for an apple pie. I come in and respond with, "I suggest you don't make an apple pie, and make a cherry pie instead. Oh, and read my post on why apple pies aren't the ideal dessert anymore". Do you see the problem there? I'm giving you "advice" that you didn't ask for.
Anyway... I've asked politely, but you keep persisting. So, now I'll just say it: Go away and stop spamming/derailing my thread. Last time I'm saying it.
Hmm.. I'll try and find that thread. Didn't see anything about that when I scanned the threads, so maybe its subject just isn't really "specific" in that way. If they're playing on my server, then that might be a great option to look into.
I don't suppose you happen to remember who started the thread, or what the subject might be (a guestimate, etc) do you? lol
Thanks!
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/365899/page/1
Think he's referring to that.
Ahh okay yeah. I saw that, but it seemed to be specifically about "starting over" which I'm not so much interested in. I'm looking to pick up where I left off. Also they're on Phoenix and I'm on Asura, so that wouldn't be the most ideal scenario either.
Thanks for linking it though!
Anyhoo... I did manage to chat with a few friends who have been back in XI for some time now and they've given me a good run-down of options I have for leveling up, making money and generally playing the game without getting sucked into the mindless black hole of PL'ing through Abyssea, etc.
Some of it will require me to change up my "traditional" playstyle a bit and solo more stuff than I'd really wanted to... but I do get to play and enjoy the actual game again, which was my goal. So, that's a bonus!
Yea, the linkshell I'm in offered to level me in Abyssea but they were helpful enough to trio with me through some levels instead. I may try it on my second run to max level, but it's nice to take the other route to experience the game.
No they are not specifically about starting over. The LS is large and there a lot of members who chose to start over so they can go through all the missions and level the traditional way rather than abuse the Aby sytem for fast leveling. I was on a different server and switched and it was worth it. I am not currently subbed due to family/school demands, but these guys made it hard to not have fun since there was always exp parties and such going on. To be honest, your options open up when you are a part of an active LS so I would say give them a holler and see if you are interested in what they are doing. Here is their actual site http://returnersffxi.enjin.com/home. The core members all have high level jobs as well, but they are also always leveling lower level jobs with LS people so there was hardly a time when there wasn't something to do.
RIP Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan and Paul Gray.
Fair enough. When I read it, it seemed like the gist was "starting from scratch and doing the game old-school". I did see people wanting to bring in existing characters, though. I have a number of friends acquaintances on Asura, several of whom I've known going back to the NA PC launch, when our server was still called Pandemonium (RIP).
So I'm going to give that a go first, for a while, and see how it goes. If it doesn't pan out, then I'll consider switching to Phoenix. I'd rather stick with my own server and make a go of it, though, rather than just dropping $25 on a server transfer that could well prove to be unnecessary.
Man i miss those xp burn parties. I had a RDM and i was always invited to these parties. Spent hours upon hours playing this game. Those were the good ole days!!!!!!! Then Abessya ruined everything. People were just level leaching.
Edgar F Greenwood
It appears that even after all these posts you didn't really get your questions answered so I'll give it a go.
If you want to avoid abyssea for xp purposes you can do that fairly easily. There have been many posts explaining the FoV burns in gusgen mines, crawlers nests, and finally bostinouxe oubliette. Though if you hate the way abyssea xp is I find this to be extremely similiar but takes 5x as long. Nobody really xps like we used to back in the day, no more crabs, no more birds etc.
That said, even though you can avoid it for xp reasons you can't realistically avoid abyssea altogether when it comes to gearing your character. The new AF from abyssea is very powerful and honestly in order to get anything past that from neo nyzul, Voidwatch, or Legion you will be expected and needed to have the stuff from abyssea already. Not to mention for your monk the empyrean weapon is pretty much a must have and you get that from abyssea farming as well.
Luckily the gear aquiring isn't as mindless as the xping in abyssea is. You need to work together and communicate to get things done quickly. Nothing is really that difficult now that cap is 99 but if you're brand new to it you will need to learn about the different types of procs and what they are for. Also the great thing is you don't need a full alliance for the best gear you can get pretty much anything in abyssea with 4 people or less if you have the correct setup. Hell I know a guy who completely soloed his empyrean great katana it just took him forever.
Sadly, if you're set on sticking with monk and dragoon it is probably going to be extremely difficult for you to join events past abyssea like Voidwatch. Neo Nyzul would be outta the question and Legion even more so unless you are premo dd with great gear already. Most DDs now are geared to the T and if you're not people will want you to either not come or come as something else. Its not like it used to be and if you're not one of those into gearing your character as perfectly as possible doing anyting besides abyssea or going back and doing old content low man style will probably be extremely hard or you just won't do it at all.
That doesn't mean don't try though. I've seen some horribly geared people in Voidwatch before but after a while if people know that's how you role they probably won't invite you to their shouts. (just being brutally honest)