Quote Originally Posted by Garland
When you play FFXI, you'll have to come to the realization that you aren't playing just for yourself. You control your character, but your choices are largely dictated by the community. If you wish to be the burly warrior with a six foot long sword, it's the community that will tell you what equipment you have to buy, rather than your own free will. When you join a party, the community will tell you what actions you have to take, or not take. FFXI is a three year old game with as many unwritten community rules as there are written rules in the TOS. If how you want to play your character and how the community wants you to play your character are similar, you'll enjoy FFXI. I for example, wanted to play a blm/whm or whm/blm before the game was even released. I was lucky that the community deamed this combination the acceptable one. On the other hand, many other players found warrior/whitemage to be a fun combination while the community had shunned this combination, and were forced to play their character in a way they didn't enjoy to make progress.

There's a phrase that seems fitting here:
Noob: It's my 12.95
Party: It's our 64.75

That pretty much sums up the community>you aspect that you'll have to come to terms with if FFXI will be enjoyable for you.


I say play what you think is FUN. If you are playing for other people or because a certain class is the "it" class...you'll never have fun.