An Exit Opinion FFXI

Rajai

Hi guys I've been playing this game for over a decade now, started in November of 2003 on the Shiva server. I played most of my time on Asura and today is my last day in the game. I played a Hume Ranger for a majority of time and for the most part it was an enjoyable experience. 

Let me just start out by saying this game is a huge time sink. It's not an understatement, it should be pasted on the cover. This game is the literal definition of time sink. From the second you create your character you go through a short cutscene before they let you move around. You can play this game entirely with a keyboard, no mouse required. It will take you something like 2 minutes to walk outside through a gate. 

Leveling used to be so much more arduous, you may have spent 4-5 hours getting to level 10 a decade ago and that can now be done in an hour with the help of an experience points ring. Mostly everything now is done solo, with the addition of Abyssea and Grounds of Valor books came the demise of the iconic experience points party which for some was a good thing. So they added a few imaginary friends that are obtainable through various means and you can collect them all. They have various roles in a party and the best part is they don't affect your experience points. They can fill the role of every party member you once had to an extent and you can have a maximum of three out at a time. Through these means it would not be difficult to obtain level 30 in one sitting. Once you git level 30 you can head on over to..

Abyssea. The zone that killed the game for some and became a great benefit for everyone else. If you are very lucky you can get into a group that will allow you to obtain experience points very quickly. You will only really have to stop for limit breaks which are Square-Enix's subtle reminder that they still hate you. These happen every 5 levels until you hit 99. Why they still exist I have no idea. But you can obtain level 99 in a few short days if you feel like dedicating the time to do so. The second time around can be done in as little as 15 hours from 30-99 if you have the right group. 

Once you hit 99 the real fun begins. If you were like me and chose a class that everyone wants for everything(yeah right) you may be able to convince others to help you start gearing it. This is especially true if you are friendly and people like you. If not then hopefully you chose a good soloing class because it's going to be a long bumpy road. This game used to require groups for everything. Now if you have Eminent gear or level 117 armor from the Peacekeepers Coalition you can likely solo most things. Reading up on websites like bgwiki for guides on how to perfect your class is the key to getting into good groups so that you can get better stuff. It's really an endless cycle. 

If you like meeting new people and doing cooperative stuff with them you're probably going to have a good time. If you actively enjoy doing other things with your life this is probably not the game for you. And this is why I'm not playing anymore.

Knotwood

Loved your post, also as a long time player of FFXI,  I see alot of additions now to the game that have made it alot more convenient like FFXIV features.   Transportation now consists of being able to teleport from home point to home point for a small fee of 500 gil.   Works alot like the crystal ports in FFXIV.   Another thing I liked that saved alot of time was when you put up an item for auction it automaticly lets you see what it sold for the last ten times without having to go back and forth between history and selling.    Mog wardrobe which allows you to switch out gear in sets which is rather time saving now.   Also couldnt help but to notice alot of stuff thats outdated is now very soloable and sometimes soloable with three npc helpers called "trusts", so catching up to end game is alot easier now for many players, but still very time consuming.

 

One thing that hasnt changed is the amount of time it takes to do missions and quests, and the battlefields.   Getting ready for a battlefield or going places to gather together with your party still takes 20 mins to an hour.   Every battlefield is fun and feels epic still like it used to back in the day.   Boss Fights in missions and Quests for FFXI always had a real raid feeling to them and took about the same time as a raid, and still do.   That feeling you get when your about to do a big boss fight, still gives that "something great is about to happen" feeling.    Hope someday they bring back the six many parties for xp though,  that used to be extremley fun.  

 

Still worth trying if your a new player,  many linkshells are still filled with helpful players and good old school community in them.   I think that was lost quite a bit in FFXIV.   Old game but after playing it you'll see why its still around till this day.   Yoshi-P seems to have really added alot of Qaulity of Life from modern games to it, and hope he keeps it up 8).

Pratt2112

Up to WoTG, and before Abyssea, FFXI was the absolute most amazing MMO experience... heck, one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. I know it's said by many, but I share the feeling that the changes implemented with Abyssea, and since, ripped so much of what made XI the game it was, and what earned it that loyal following for the almost 8 years before they decided to start shoe-horning more "mainstream" elements into it.

I'm going to add this, because I know someone's gonna say it...

Before someone regurgitates the whole, "Oh, the game was terrible pre-Abyssea... It wasn't that good. You're just seeing through rose-colored glasses... There weren't as many options... blah blah". Spare me the empty, dismissive rebuttals. "Nostalgia goggles" didn't keep me playing XI from October 28, 2003 (its NA PC release) until almost 8 years later. "You only played because there weren't many other options" is another vacuous argument. Playing MMOs is not compulsory. There's no such thing as "well, there's only a few options, and you have to play one of them, so may as well play the one that sucks the least!". Not playing any MMOs was always an option as well. If XI wasn't fun, I wouldn't have kept playing. If no other MMOs kept my interest, then I wouldn't have played any MMOs at all.

I kept playing FFXI - regardless of how much competition there was - because I enjoyed playing it.  The World, the Story and Lore, the Characters, the depth, the people I met.. it all came together to create an experience that kept me hooked... up until SE decided to undermine so much of what they'd done up to that point, by creating Abyssea. That's the point at which they decided "convenience" was more important than "experience", and that "being there" was more important than "getting there". In a game where the journey was always important, and pursuing long-term goals was one of the game's major draws, that change - the ability to hop into Abyssea at level 30 and be PL'd to 99 within a day or two - made absolutely no sense. It's especially a shame considering the game had once catered to a communtity whose attitude about it was (to quote an original cast member of Limit Break Radio): "We don't want a game on a plate. We want to work for it".  Now it was catering to the "me me me, now now now" generation... and the game has been far, far worse off for it.

This is driven home by how the advice people seem to give new players, almost unanimously, is "just power-level to 99". Hell, I'm a veteran player, and I was given that "advice" about leveling new jobs.

They would later come out and admit that they screwed up with Abyssea, that they turned the nozzle too far in the other direction.. and that it would be a struggle to try and correct it. They attempted this, somewhat, with their last expansion but... it was too late. People already had too much time with fast, easy progress. The cat was already out of the bag, and there was no putting it back in. SE took an amazing world and MMO... and blew it.

Sadder still, they did it, arguably, for no reason and to no gain. The change pushed away a significant portion of their existing, long-time players. And the changes weren't enough to pull in a large enough crowd of new blood. So, despite their efforts to increase the game's accessibility to bring more people in... they failed, and the game continued to lose players anyway. They destroyed an amazing game that earned them half a million loyal players, just to see their playerbase continue to shrink anyway. Way to go SE.

Now, fans of the game post-Abyssea, or who feel that's when "SE finally got it right" will disagree, will dismiss my words, tell me I'm still seeing through nostalgia goggles (despite my explanation otherwise), or whatever... That's fine. You're enjoying the game as it is now, and that's wonderful. You prefer "Convenience" over "Experience", and "Being there" over "Getting there". Wonderful. SE's catering to you now. Congrats.

I can at least say I got to play the real FFXI, the game SE originally envisioned, before they decided to cave in to the whims and whines of the "Now Now Now" generation and throw all that out the window. The game they're now delivering to will never get to experience that... and that's sad.

 

 

Velifax

I got to experience EQ before it was gutted, and even really early WoW had some elements of that pre-popular era. Never did experience this back then. 

I like your two counterpoints to the tired nostalgia claim, they will help as I combat the canard in other venues.