FFXI: Worth Returning To?

Hi all,

It's been about a year and a half, maybe more, since I've played FFXI. I did play FFXIV when it came out, but it just made me miss XI even more. I've been watching version updates from the sideline, and they all look pretty snazzy, so I've always wondered: is returning a good idea? What do you all think of the game these days? :) Is it still the same old, or have these new implements renewed the game into something wonderful again?

I'd really love some serious answers. :P

Thank ya <3

I think it's easier than ever to come back, but from what I understand, it's not the same game.

Give it a try, what's the worst that can happen?

Millionth thread about this D:

Nah not worth it, we are all just addicted and cannot stop playing this game although it is no fun at all.

Million people wanting to know but don't know how to use the search function. :3

Ah, sorry about that. I just quickly skimmed through the first 5 pages general forums, I must have missed it.

In answer, it is very easy to return to the game if you already had a 75 before leaving.

Don’t forget to add the millions of religious thread.

Edit: @ op not worth it.

I think its well worth returning to. Personally I am ridiculously addicted to the game and probably always would come back to it but from a general standpoint Id still say yes.

Ups: Its quicker than ever to get some things done, from missions and quests to NMs; So long as you dedicate your original effort to getting 90 (lvl caps take longer than the xping nearly). Then you can solo most of the things you probably wanted to do or get up to at 75. Obviously depending on the job.

Downs: There is a lot less pride in the game it seems than there was years ago. Fast leveling and *** pricing have changed how things are for me at least. Pride in a maats cap or things of the same are belittled to hell now. It used to be, from what I recall and experienced that when you found someone on a maxed lvl job, esp more than once, that they were decent at their job most of the time. id say to a 75% good 25% bad ratio. . . now you'll see 90s out the *** that cant play ANY job well, or even know anything about any of the jobs.


Personally I came back (again) a little less than a year ago/pre abyssea and am having more fun then ever. I love getting to kick the piss out of my old fears and frustration mobs, be them NM or normal. Im able to duo with my fiance so well that we end up cocky as hell and fight anything. Surprising even ourselves. Death is never a fear of xp anymore. I can die 10x in a row and get back up and laugh.


Overall my experience now: 10x better playing now with my fiance for the past (call it) year than the 4 or so years I played before with my x-wife.. Tho some of that is the people mentioned. ( <3 my Mithra thf!)


Conclusion. .. .. . Come back, its fun, its addicting, and its cheap enough to not care if you quit 5 days in.

If you have friends around still, come back. If not, I wouldn't bother. Abyssea, in many ways, lessened the social aspects of the game. Everything can be done with so few that people just make tiny groups to do everything. Most big linkshells are not worth joining because of how easy the game is right now. If you join a big one you're likely to spend most of your time farming others' Empyrean weapons, the AF3 seals are just a bonus and easily farmed with 1~2 friends.

To me it felt like it was harder to meet new people when Abyssea came around. If I felt I had friends to come back to, I'd play again but don't really have that. Never was too social before Abyssea and Abyssea makes things even worse for me D:

Wait, I must have missed this too; did they remove the loss of EXP upon death? o.O

Hm.


Thanks to everyone who gave some insightful feed back, perhaps I will look into coming back. :)

EXP is crazy easy to get now. Meriting too. Meriting used to be boring and tedious. Now you can max G1 and G2 merits on a newly 75+ job in a day with enough playtime and a good party/alliance.

Geeze, so easy mode has really been turned on, huh. Well, that is kind of good news for me, at least. My biggest issue was how much of a timesink the game was.

Now the timesinks are ToTM. Farming pops for NMs and claiming timed NMs when everything in Abyssea can be killed with 1~3 people. You don't have to wait for a linkshell to show up to oppose you in claiming a timed NM since everything is too easy.

Well, I will try and fish out my PoL stuff, and give it a shot at least.


Thanks everyone. :)

Good luck and have fun.

Personally I find the game as easy and socially isolating as most of WoW's content now. I can't bring myself to play that game either unless I know some of my old friends will pick it back up too.

to the OP:

short answer: yes.

longer answer: the game has been irrevocably altered since you last played, but the majority of players, excluding Pimpchan, have found the new additions and changes to be refreshing and positive. You just have to be willing to accept that the dynamics of the game have changed now.

I'm pretty sure I promised to eat my own hands if I ever saw one of these threads again, so until I am fitted with my new bionic hands, I will be unable to post.

'Til then.

Being able to grind has never been a litmus test for quality, if anything it just gave people a longer period of time to spend being terrible at their job, making it harder to reteach them at endgame. That's the kind of environment that gave us zero haste dds, full af1 drgs/drks, mp set only Cors, full time gear sets and turtle Plds.

It also fostered an environment where upcoming players rarely interacted with experienced players, so you had crops of players feeding off each others dumb ideas without any mitigating influence.

That's not to say that the players leveling now will actually listen to feedback or constructive advice, but at least there's the Visions cruor sets to maintain a minimum standard of gear that any gimp can reach, so you don't have to deal with people who are both terrible in both playstyle and gear.

IMO if you dont have a 75+ job dont do it,you will regret it.

partys out side abby are none existent.

yeah people will tell you to chest *** once you hit 30 but its not every day you get chest *** offers because every man and his dog is doing it with sub jobs and ***.

if you still have a 75 try it out if not id have to say give it a wide birth

SE needs to do something about Low Level (10-50) XP before they can expect anyone who doesn't buy an account, or already had one in limbo to take up FFXI. The Game itself (Endgame, since that's 80% of any MMO Experience) Is stronger than ever, but the road to endgame is many times worse as a direct result of that.


Maybe Battle-Cap Campaign Battle at 60, adjust the difficulty and really raise the rewards for Campaign, and that would not only help make the (S) Zones a little more relevant, but also ease the strain on new players trying to get to that key Lv60 or so, where they can contribute, a bit more, or at least (In the case of Melee) Not be so far off as to be utterly worthless for the entirety of the party.

Which is why I won't return D:

Thought about taking up a job like WHM first and offering to be someone's heal *** for a while or something if they helped me get 1-90 including help with LBs and ***but don't think anyone would go for it.

imo the game has a very "retirement years" feel to it. I know a lot of ppl have dogged on 14, I just started it and like it alot actually, had forgotten what it was like to be in a new RPG and see things for the first time. I remember when I first started 11 it was like that. I still like 11, and probably always will even though I don't play all that much anymore, just for me, game has run its course.

That's why I want to get into FFXIV. I just wish the PS3 release wasn't pushed back. I remember the first time I saw an NM, it was Bloodtear Baldurf. He pwn'd me :D I went back and shouted that he was up because I wanted to see him die.

Unless you want to hang out with your old friends Cele.
Then theres no point.

I came back end of August after being gone for 2 years, I love it :) There are major differences but if you're able to accept the changes it's very enjoyable and new different fun.

It is well worth coming back. I personally love the new changes. I never found it terribly fun seeking party for 5-6 hours only to finally get one and it disband if someone dies on first kill. Now you can get 2-3 friends and do so much more than before. Even solo is much better than it was. Don't listen to all the bitter people that can't play for various reasons.

The game is actually pretty reasonable now. But I'm gonna have to echo the "only come back if you have friends" statement.

My sense of camaraderie is long gone, and no amount of amazing updates can change that. It's been feeling like this for a while, but this is just a result of the game getting older.

Hell, I've been in Abyssea alliances where not even a single word was spoken (aside from light counting and moaning when someone WS killed).

Not much different from an old style 6-man party where melee only <tp> and BLM attempt to MB off it. Or a colibri party where you only see the BRD's pull macro over and over.

Personally I'm happy those parties are there to get stuff done only. I don't want to hear how someones day went nor do I want to see a randoms rant about their whatever ls. I have friends that do that for me lol.