Old FFXI Vs New FFXI

This is a fun thread.

I think abyssea showed us a lot of important things about what we do in FFXI that probably should have been that way years ago. For example, leveling up, itemization and combat in general.

Do I enjoy gaining substantial exp in a day? yes
Do I enjoy killing bosses and seeing substantial rewards for LS mates and myself? yes
Do I enjoy plowing through trash mobs? hell yes.

I realize a lot of this is the result of refined strategies, patches and gameplay improvements over the years but imagine how the game would be today if the developer philosophy was "let them go wild" instead of "make them bleed". If ToAU, WoG and abyssea came before CoP (or CoP never happened). If there were more and faster outlets for EXP.

I think the game would have been more popular. The game may have monetized way differently by this point and it might have even received a tech overhaul (FFXIV might not have happened and how *** cool would that have been?!)

sigh.

Blaaaaaaah.

The whole "but but but everything I did and accomplished before Abyssea is now worthless" sentiment makes me nauseated.

Everything you did and accomplished before the Abyssea release would still hold value and give you a sense of past accomplishment IF you were seriously trying to achieve just personal accomplishment.

What I think is FAR more likely among those "crying foul" @ Abyssea is that you were trying to achieve "status" or "bragging rights" among your peers ... which frankly, is petty.

Now, yes, FFXI is a game, so there's no real harm in being petty.

But, the point remains: if you're hurt or upset that S-E "wiped away" all your past glory from pre-Abyssea FFXI, I'd say you're playing FFXI for all the wrong reasons to begin with.

Times change. Adapt or get lost. That's a bit terse, yes, but it's true regardless.

Precisely. Excellent post.

I think what some people fail to realize is that FFXI players don't ONLY consist of "hardcore" and "casuals".
There is a vast array of levels of player "dedication" in-between.

The FFXI world does not ONLY consist of Alpha wolves and lambs. Among the wolves, packs have Beta wolves, Omega wolves, hunters, and nannies, too. And then there's all the other animals in the forest, too: foxes, snakes, owls, etc.

If you view FFXI from the vantage-point that there's ONLY hardcores and casuals, then obviously "old FFXI" would be preferred by the hardcores and "new FFXI" would be preferred by the casuals. But the truth lies in that the vast majority of FFXI players are neither hardcore nor casual ...

so unless im mistaken here, FFXI is getting easier/casual aaaannnndd WoW is becoming more "challenging" lol wtf

i think FFXI should be looked at as though it were a zombie invasion, if ya got ur family n such to worry about, they're just gonna slow you down D:!
BUT!! not alot of responsibilities+(dedication+willingness to commit)+(and ability to run fast lol), you can make it to the saferoom!!!!

might be a terrible analogy lol

wisely said!

I think the discussions about casuals or not is useless anyways, I had friends in game who had family and such as well and they could clear their matters with Old FFXI as well.

It is just the player on the screen who says "Can I play 8 hrs or just 3 hrs?" Abyssea can help people to set a time limit (but the joke on it is, that you get time extensions) and after all you could stay more time on FFXI like you wanted. And so other stuff like Dynamis (always 3-4 hrs) is easier to calculate then.

nevertheless, it is depending on the player and his/her time management. Abyssea was a nice idea, no matter but that the game is so depending on it now, is just the fact that Abyssea destroyed the game in a way and no one does the old stuff anymore.

EDIT: The onliest way which isn't touched of Abyssea, is the crafting section, however if you can Synergy or not, there is always be a way to do something in game (that's my plan actually except of Campaign) and good news for the "Casuals": You can set there a time limit as well ;) :P

You're working under the assumption that everyone who quit did so because their old gear isn't as good anymore, which is a pretty big(and inaccurate) assumption. I was never big into endgame stuff and never had the best gear, nor did I try to get it. Heck, I was a PUP main, if I really wanted to get into serious endgame I would've picked a different job(or spent more time on my RDM or NIN), lol. My biggest reason for leaving is simply that I don't think it's fun to spend all my time in a couple of re-skinned zones.

That's it. There's no deeper, hidden meaning. I just thought it got boring.

I think there're alot of positives as well as alot of negatives with the new ffxi. One thing is certain, the new ffxi hasn't made anyone 'pro' just makes em look it, standing around in Jueno with their +2 AF and twilight, XD. They couldn't find their way to the Banishing gate in garlaige, or even a conflux in Abby, but thbey look good. I think it's given the game new life though. I am thrilled seeing new people partying in the dunes though.. :)

Elana's posts only ever consist of assumptions. Nobody said they see the game as "casuals and hardcore" but the fact of the matter is a lot of people like to play to be in the top 1%. Ambition is exactly what drives casuals and hardcores alike, hardcores just set higher and more time-consuming goals. Pretending that catering certain aspects of the game to each is silly is itself silly.

Other MMORPGs make a killing off of making some content that everyone can enjoy and some that most will never see. I'm a pretty casual WoW player. I like PvP (not Arena though) and non-heroic dungeon queues. I enjoy many aspects of the game without wanting to join a guild that does the difficult content. I can understand the excitement in trying to be the first to obtain (outdated reference, maybe even inaccurate before Cata but idc) a Shadowmourne for example, even if I had no desire to try to chase it myself.

You're not going to make a successful game trying to treat every player as if they play for the same reasons. Some people do play to be in the top 1%, that doesn't necessarily mean that casuals suffer. When casuals feel entitled to everything with little effort or time input, hardcore gamers do suffer.

I preferred the game pre-Abyssea

Me too. I enjoy challenges. They're still there, even outside of Abby. Just have to look for em, I'm sure

Well from someone who stopped playing soon after Abyssea came out, the game just doesn't seem the same any more. Sure everyone bitched about the difficulty of things every once in a while and about not being able to find a party, and a lot of grinding was necessary to get items. But now they've dumbed down the game..well made it easier and it's just my personal opinion that I don't really like it. If I wanted to play an easy game I would've played WoW. I liked the difficulty of FFXI, that's what separated me from my friends who played WoW. When I started back like 6 years ago I loved the grind in this game and most of my real life friends refused to play it because of how " ridiculous " the leveling was and how it could take months or even more than a year to acquire a certain piece of gear. I'm not saying anyone is inferior because they love this easier version of FFXI, but It's most definitely not the same game I used to love. Not really looking for an argument just contributing my thoughts.

I almost misread your name as Republican xD

I have seriously lost count of the people over the years that have called me a republican because of my name. :(

I imagine that really sucks xD

It really does..once someone denied my party invite because they thought I was a republican. People are HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE. >.<

especially if your a member of an opposing party

That would have made for a hell of a screenshot :D Any chance you took one?

Unfortunately no haha =( I've had all sorts of funny things happen over the years, people are ridiculous.

I really like that. I played sky/dyna shells for a long time like a lot of people did. My fkin k.osode was a trophy when I got it, forget practicality. And today, even though I'm replacing it on every job, I still love it. I remember how incredible it was to earn.

While some accuse others of bitching and QQing, this is honestly just a valid topic. Change.

When people mix polotics with gaming like that and want to rob you of your fun on a game they are stupid. It is quite a shame when people can't set aside political differences and act mature about it. I remember I was in party one time a few years back with some people leveling in Yutunga Jungle at the time and all we were talking about was world polotics for hours on end with no infighting whatsoever despite everybody's views. It sure helped us pass the time and we gained 5-10 levels at the time, hehe.

I've been playing the game since I was 12. I remember getting it for my birthday and not having a good enough graphics card to play it, so I talked my parents into going out and buying a new one.

That was 7 years ago now and as a completely casual player (I was in middle school FFS) I got nowhere for nearly 3 years. My first 75 was MNK because of skeleton burns, I heard OMGOMGOMG12kHOUREXP DUDE YOU'D GO FROM 72 TO 73 IN LIKE 3.8 HOURS OMGOMGOMGOMG, so I went and did that. They didn't mention the ***you had to do to get to 72. To top that off, skeletons were only good up until 74, taking a significant downturn in exp at that point.

Then ToAU came out, that was brilliant. 20k/hour~30k/hour exp for merits, cool. Oh? A party can only consist of WAR WAR WAR BRD BRD RDM? Well shoot. You don't want MNK? How am I going to merit? FML. *Goes to lvl WAR*

EXP was as excruciating as could be for most of the game's existence. No, I don't think that abyssea is the perfect way to fix it for the lack of effort you have to put into a job, but I also believe that if a player is going to be a noob at 90, the player would do the same thing even if he went through the entire grind pre-abyssea. The difference between abyssea and pre-abyssea, regarding bad players, is that those bad players won't be stuck between 1~75 for two years. There's still the same amount in the game- they're all just 90 now.

Everyone's bitching and complaining that AH MAH GAD MY BYAKKO'S HAIDATE THAT I WAITED IN LINE FOR, MINDLESSLY SHOWING UP TO SKY EVENTS EVERY OTHER DAY FOR TWO YEARS, ARE OUTDONE BY NEARLY EVERY SINGLE AF3+1 LEG TP PIECE. I understand people enjoyed be the best cookie cutter war with perdu voulge, adaberk, w turban, b haidate, dusk gloves and aurum feet. But you gotta think- did you enjoy having all that more than the journey getting there? It's like you play a console RPG to 100% completion, do you continue playing it? It's bad that all that time spent has been undermined- but now you get to take out your favorite job and make it even better. Enjoy the journey.

I've been playing this game since NA release, and the only time I've considered quitting was during the WOTG era, simply because there was nothing interesting added during that time.

I've done pretty much everything (with the single exception of PW) in this game, and had a decent amount of top end gear (started endgame in 05) as time went on. Lowmanned plenty, soloed plenty on Rdm, did the high tier HNM shell thing, was in groups that ranked on Big Kills, etc. At various times I've been a hardcore endgamer, a super casual, and a solo fanatic. Not that anyone cares, just setting a timeline.

I remember when people were having this exact same discussion over "new ff" when they lowered the exp requirements (I had two 75s at the time), the 2hnd changes, and colibri a go-go. Back then people had the same gripes over how the game had become easy mode, or how Salvage/Nyzul gear ruined their God gear, blah blah. Heard all the same crying we hear now about Abyssea leeches during the rise of Campaign and Smn burn, and how people got their "Legit" Maat's caps and smn burned/campaign gimps were the end of the world.

I enjoy Abyssea because it's added a lot of things to fight, and lets me keep busy. New gear to replace old gear means new math on best combos, and new ways to play around with existing stuff, which keeps me amused.

That said, I don't have any interest in continuing it beyond level 90, I'd like to move on to a new full expansion with all new NMs, gear, and zones.

No matter what the content is, there will be people who don't want to give up their "top end" gear (I knew a guy who QQ'd forever and then quit when Morrigan's gear ***on the god/king/hnm stuff he'd spent 3 years on), and people who just plain don't like it. It happened at CoP, it happened at Abyssea, and it's sure to happen again.

I don't play this game for shinies, I play to advance my little cat through each new type of content, and dominate the 'challenges' that it adds. When I get tired of that, I'll leave. It has nothing to do with new vs old, nostalgia players (some who have only been playing for 6 months to two years claiming they miss the "old" days, LOL) will always move on once the "Wonder Years" where they had the most fun passed.

TL;DR: "I miss the old days" threads and "goodbye" posts were old when KI still had drama and BG admins still played FFXI, and the music you liked when you first got laid will always be your favorite. Life goes on, get over it.

Recipe for rate-ups in nostalgic threads:

1: State how you've been playing longer than other posters.
2: Pretend that because you may have, your opinion trumps others'.
3: Completely miss the point of some posters' posts, generalizing them all as butt-hurt their status pieces have no status anymore.
4: Misuse the noun form "Nostalgia" in places that warrant the adjective form "Nostalgic".
5: Tell people to get over their unfavorable views of what the game has become.

For the record I had no status pieces :D Unless a bought n.head abjuration counts.

Ratings don't mean much to me. Half these posts are little more than blatant attempts at sounding like the cool kid. Half of them don't address half the peoples' complaints about what the game has become. I am of the opinion that is one of them. The post is too fresh to have a rating yet but it's pretty apparent it is just a bandwagon "get over it" post.

I've said it before and I'll say it again like I have in other threads; rates are stupid. They mean nothing at all really.

Thank you; I couldn't not have said it better, its the journey not the finish line that matters if you ask me.

I got my b.haidate the other day in like two hours.
I'm glad I never really joined a Sky LS.

grats on being gimp for 6 years, It was the only midly difficult item to get on war for years.

Adaberk? Hecatomb Cap? Ares stuff where applicable? Bravura?