Thinking of returning

[Carl the Llama]

I have been desiring to play an online FF for a while now (originally thought of FFXIV but that's pretty much been shot down in flames) and was looking at reactivating my old account, but it appears my account has been hacked (I seem to remember this happening before and discussing it here) but I figured what the hell, I can just start a trial account to see if the game is any good any more, I was wondering if anyone still plays this game? and if so which server are they on? also if I do happen to get my account back, what will have happened to my old characters now some of the old servers (including my old server Unicorn) have been deleted? did they transfer or something? or perhaps they will give me the option of transferring from my old server to a new one (in which case which one should I go for)?

[chionos]

I think the old account will have been loaded onto the new server along with all the active accounts. I don't feel like I can recommend FFXI. My love of the game is entirely based on nostalgia and the friends I have on the game. Outside of that, I have to be honest and say it's just a time sink and not much more.

[Del Murder]

FFXI is dead at EoFF. There are probably only 1-2 people here who still play. Mirage may be one of them.

[Carl the Llama]

I had alot of fun playing FFXI, can't tell if I'm remembering the game with rose coloured glasses or not, that's why I'm going with the 2 week trial, I feel a little excited tbh, its been so many years since I played XI, and I am finally returning.

[Del Murder]

I certainly believe there is still fun to be had in FFXI for those who want to have it.

[Rostum]

The game is much better than it used to be, but it's still only fun if you have a good linkshell and friendly people to play with regularly.

Getting to cap level can be done through Abyssea or through Grounds of Valor, the latter being a better option if you want to learn the job and the former being a better option if you want to quickly level. I wouldn't say gear is extremely easy to get, but it's more obtainable than it's ever been in the past.

For end-game, Voidwatch is a hit or miss. It's far too easy, once the enemy is proc'd it'll go down within less than a minute. However, you get your own chest at the end of it which means you won't be fighting others to win gear. The downside to it is that the drop rates are really bad, and by the sounds of what Tanaka is smoking they'll continue to be bad until the game dies.

I could not imagine starting this game from the beginning, however if you do you should really make a plan of what jobs you want to level to cap. Keep in mind at the moment the most sought after jobs are NIN, WAR, BLM, WHM, and THF due to how Abyssea's mechanics work (proc'ing, treasure hunter, etc.), but don't let that dictate what you want to level. I do not recommend leveling PUP for a first job, it's very expensive and no one will want you. In fact, if you really want to make the most of the game you should level BST as your first job as you'll be able to do so much with it. Solo'ing, duo'ing, trio'ing Abyssea and Dynamis to get seals for your empyreon armor and making gil.

Another note on Abyssea is that the storyline is completely bad. Nothing happens, except towards the very end just before the final fight. And even then it's just some NPC's talking a lot of uninteresting crap. However, every other expansion has been pretty good with story, even one or two of the add-ons.

Anyways, good luck to you if you do decide to play. It's still a good option within the MMO market, though I don't know how long that will last with games like SWTOR and Guild Wars 2 coming out this year.

[Del Murder]

If I were to start over, I would definitely level BST. It is a very different job and there's so much it can do solo or duo that would usually take a full party.

[Rostum]

I've been back for a month, doing quite well with my four 99 jobs and getting gear for them. But I'm already starting to lose interest. If it weren't for the people I've been playing with I'd probably not have even made it to the end of the first month.

Honestly it depends how set you are on it, but I'd give it a miss. Try out SWTOR or WoW until something like Guild Wars 2 comes out. This game currently feels completely dated, and with Tanaka back leading the development team there are many changes coming that are very dinosaur in nature.

I'm not exagerating, he's going to drive this game in to the ground. He won't adapt to how the genre is now, and where it's heading in the future. He's still too stubborn, and stuck in the way FFXI was back when it was released. It really shows. Abyssea was a saving grace, but that was when he had left for FFXIV, now that he's back he's introduced a lot of things that the majority of the playerbase hates. Except he won't listen, and will continue to release what he thinks works when it obviously does not.

/endrant

[Del Murder]

What did he introduce? I thought FFXI was making a lot of progressive moves when I quit the game, but that was over a year ago.

[Rostum]

It was, with Abyssea. But Tanaka was not responsible for that. Basically, he wants the game to go back to the 18-32 player events where drop rates are incredibly bad. This is seen with Voidwatch at the moment, and soon-to-be Legion. Most people have gone 0/100+ for things they want out of Voidwatch.

The problem really is that there's not the population there for large-scale events anymore. Let alone events that don't even give rewards. MMO's these days generally reward the player for achieveing/completing something in the game, whereas in FFXI there is no reward at all.

Another really good example is the new Lv.99+ upgrades for relic / mythic / emp weapons. Already it requires 1500 metal plates to upgrade them to Lv.95, which is insane as metal plates cost 150,000g each. The upgrade to Lv.99 is just as insane, however there's a stage 2 for Lv.99, and the player base has been able to calculate how long it'll take to upgrade if you spent every day working on it - 3 to 4 years.

Want to know what the benefit of a stage 2 Lv.99 weapon is compared to a stage 1 Lv.99 weapon, other than 4 years of hard work? You character glows. That's it. No increase in damage or stats, it's exactly the same.

This is absolutely insanely retarded game design on Tanaka's part.

Let's contrast this with Abyssea (and I'll repeat again, Tanaka was not responsible for this), where you can spend 1-2 hours or so fighting NM's with a small group of people (2-4 people) and actually achieve something like being able to upgrade your emp armor, getting accessories, atmas, weapons, the list goes on.

In short, Tanaka got fired from FFXIV and came back to FFXI. Tanaka is now running FFXI in to the ground with incredibly outdated game design methadologies. The major theory being that they want people to shift to FFXIV, but really it's just a case of SE not giving a damn. Which is fair enough, it is a 10-year-old game.

[Del Murder]

Why doesn't Tanaka himself get fired? Everything you described sounds awful.

[Rostum]

I have no idea, it really does sound horrible. I think I could let it slide if they released casual content alongside it, though. My only guess is they don't really care about FFXI anymore, and they needed to shove Tanaka somewhere. I remember hearing once that in Japanese business culture very rarely do people get fired. That could be totally wrong though, and if it is then I'm as stumped as you!