It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
As a long time supporter of the FF series, naturally I wanted to try FFXIV when it launched.
However, as everyone knows, launch was rough (to say the least) and the game was in a true state of turmoil in terms of the direction it was headed. I only ended up playing briefly and found myself exceptionally disappointed with the overall state of the game by the time I decided to hang it up.
I've been following the game over the last few months, particularily since the new producer/director, Naoki Yoshida, took over the project. After reading about all the changes he has planned for the game, and his sincere desire to listen to what his customers have to say regarding the game and how it could be improved, I decided to reinstall and checkout how things are these days as opposed to how they were around the time the game launched.
I'm not posting to get into depth on everything that has changed, I just wanted to give you all some background about my experiences previously with the game and why I returned.
The point of the thread is about the community, and how it truly is a notch above anything else out there.
I've played MMORPGs since the release of UO, and was heavily into text based and pen and paper gaming prior to UO, so having a solid community is something that has always appealed to me in online gaming. Anyone who has ever had a good pen and paper gaming session with friends, played a game of 40k with a tight knit gaming group, etc... understands exactly what I mean.
That feeling of comradery is hard to find online these days, and that is very unfortunate. However, I had an experience while I was playing this morning before work that I haven't had in years.
A few of my linkshell members were chatting idly amongst themselves, and one of them mentioned that he had a quest in the area where him and a few other members were hunting. At that point another one of the members mentioned that he also had a quest in that area, but it was not the same quest that the other member had.
Immediately, and with no hesitation at all, the first member says: "Lets go do yours first!" Even though he was the one who wanted help to begin with. It's reassuring to see that type of team spirit among people still, and I haven't had the pleasure of seeing someone act genuinely kind, with no agenda of there own other than wanting to help someone else out, in quite a few years.
It's nice to see that even though we have alot of bad apples among gaming communities these days there are still some selfless individuals who play for no reason other than the sheer enjoyment of it and the ability to relax and adventure with some good friends.
Comments
welcome to ff-mmorpg.
even though ffxi has hardly that many people anymore this still happens a lot in ffxi.
helping without hesitation with no reward for that helping player is kinda weird for a lot of mmo-players out there.
but it's common in this game. i dare say maybe even common in every mmo where pvp is the least important.
getting stuff through together and helping each other out. that's why i still play ffxi.
the community is very selfless and helping of XIV, just like on XI.....it's frankly the one reason i've dealt with the game in the state it's been in for so long.
Played:FFXI, WoW, LOTR,EQ. Playing:FFXIV.
Looking Forward To:DCU, SWTOR.
WWII produced some excellent comraderie but I have to say I don't want to experience that. :-P
Seriously though, this is awesome BUT I'm still waiting for that Dev list to start being crossed off. When I see forward momentum I MAY consider trying it out. Tau used to defend this game and I haven't seen him/her in a while.. maybe they got lost in the giant cow monsters.
It's pretty common in games with small or diminished user bases, I know atitd is a horrorfest and it has hands down, bar none the best community of any game I ever played.
Shadus
have to agree, community is awesome - you actually converse in this game and build a raport with the community.
It seems to be following in the footsteps of its predecessor. FFXI has a great community as well.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Linkshells and guilds are always helpful to each other for the most part. Its the outside world that really defines the helpfulness of the game.
FOr me FFXI was possibly the worst experience I ever had in terms of outside help. Being one of the very few to be around the lvl 50 mark it was next to impossible to find a group reliable in terms of helping me find my 3 key items. Players would win lots and drop, others would lie and cheat to get players to go to another item drop location cause that was all they really needed. Then add in a .000001% drop rate and it got ugly fast. This is not the only area but it was pretty much the start of how players acted towards on another in FFXI.
I guess thats why I tend to flock to games which do not rely so heavly on playerbase to accomlish anything due to my rotten apple experience.
Are you talking about your parchment the bone or whatever and the key from the Yaguado place? That was the questline that made me love the community in Final Fantasy XI. Being a good natured person I let everyone get their drops before me (The parchment down killing skele's) And after 3 hours everyone was still there trying to help me get mine. We all started getting tired and even when these people were not in my linkshell they made plans to help me the next day. Well 2 weeks later I finally got the piece I needed yet here were these people that I came to be friends with (We even left Final Fantasy XI together) still standing in there helping me get what I needed as well and this repeated itself throughout the game until I quit and it wasn't just people from my linkshell it was the community. Japanese and American players alike. Although the Japanese base had its hesitations for the American players because of the level grinding difference and just general playstyle difference.