Tanks

[Ouch!]

I was merely trying to draw attention to the fact that experiences leveling WHM, one of the most desired jobs in almost any situation in the entire game, are hardly indicative to the reality of the majority of the community. Earlier when I asked if we were playing the same game, I wasn't just being a smart ass. Granted, I was being a bit of a smart ass, but the idea of the majority of FFXI's community not being notoriously elitist is a concept so absolutely foreign, I couldn't even begin to grasp it as a reality.

One of the biggest criticisms I've encountered about FFXI for the past six years is how strict and unwilling to change the majority of the community is. It's been one of the few criticisms of Final Fantasy XI I've never even seen someone attempt to defend before. As you might imagine, after six years of accepting it as a given that FFXI's community is an exceptionally elitist and unforgiving one, I found it hard to swallow the idea that someone was actually arguing otherwise. Believe it or not, this is one of the few debates I've yet to have about Final Fantasy XI, so it's bit of fresh air for me.

If my argument has been perceived as trying to say that FFXI isn't worth playing if you don't do any endgame at all, then there's been a misconception. While I do believe you're short-changing yourself by not even trying it (I'm not accusing anyone here of this), I do recognize that you can still accomplish things outside of endgame. I've got a friend who's happily played Final Fantasy XI for six years without having ever done a scheduled event beyond a static to complete CoP.

All I've been trying to argue is that because so much of the game's content is geared towards community efforts, one has to be willing to compromise at some point if they wish to accomplish certain things. I'd go so far as to say that 90% of what you can accomplish in the game, for most jobs, can only be achieved by working with other people. As a result, the willingness to conform to a certain degree is necessary, unless you're the type of masochist who likes shouting in Whitegate for a few hours trying to find people willing to help you out.

If you want to do something relatively unpopular, like level BST exclusively, more power to you. Just don't expect to have an easy time getting through Chains of Promathia or other similar content.

I'm not trying to say one approach to FFXI is better than another (or even that the discrimination against jobs, sub jobs, and other factors is justifiable), but merely that both have their pitfalls. I believe the best option is to be mindful of both approaches to FFXI and take a healthy dose of each into consideration. Strike a balance between a willingness to conform and also the desire to innovate, and you'll find the happiest possible experience in FFXI.

I suppose our primary point of difference is merely how much of a handicap a lack of willingness to conform is going to impose on a player. I've seen enough examples to believe that it's severely disabling in nearly every circumstance (even outside of endgame). My only advice is that you try leveling one of those jobs which the community perceives as undesirable and compare it to your experiences on WHM as I have to mine on RDM. You'll see that many of those people you might have thought were pretty accepting aren't as willing to compromise as you might have initially thought.