It's the best video game ever made but you sound like you have no patience and you're going to get your ass filtered.

Did you hate FFXIV? if you did then you wont like FFXI.

>>730601805
FFXI is an actual RPG unlike XIV. They're nothing alike.

>>730602258
Modern Day FFXI is ran by the save live ops devs as FFXIV for a long time now. Your info is stupid and outdated unless you mean private servers.

>>730601246
I left it downloading overnight. I like it, but I think it takes a specific type of gamer to truly have fun. I'm about to fight Shadow Lord for the first time.

>>730601246
fav ff of all time. met my wife on it, spent 20 years on it. doesnt hand hold you (i mean it does moreso lately) like ff14 and shit world of faggotcraft where they treat you like brain dead faggots with giant arrows to go anywhere

>>730601246
The modern game is dead and the classic game (private server) UI sucks ass and filled with sociopaths whose fun is ruining yours. It was fun once upon a time but the community isn't the same and you will be a social pariah if you don't sub /nin on every job or don't have a every item available if you play bard.

Oh and ff14 players have a hate boner for this game for some reason. I think they want the miqote designs but the gameplay and UI filter them.

>>730601246
the very definition of uncslop

>>730602362
>Modern Day FFXI is ran by the save live ops devs as FFXIV for a long time now
No, it's not. The one person working on FFXI is part of CS3 but that's it. That also has nothing to do with how the game actually plays.
>Your info is stupid and outdated
It's not, you're a fucking idiot and you don't know what you're talking about.

>>730602598
Can't you do everything solo?

>>730602674
Almost everything.

>>730602674
Modern/live, yes.

>>730602598
>>730602674
yeah I've noticed people just ignore newfags, stay AFK or multibox like crazy, it's quite jarring and alienating but I understand why it turned out like this; Trusts can carry you to 99

>>730601805
actually I fucking hate ff14 with all my guts and 11 is one of my favorite mmos ever. blue mage is the biggest reason for both of these facts. if you're a bluechad you might also love 11.

>>730602836
>yeah I've noticed people just ignore newfags
I replay the story every few years and every time I make a new character I always have someone come up to me within the first few hours to welcome me and ask if I need help.

Isn't FFXI about to get a second renaissance of content because they were able to finally virtualize their ps2 dev tools and no longer need to rely on old ps2 dev kits?

>>730602998
Yeah, they also got a new budget.

>>730602998
No because SE hates that 11 still exists as they absolutely refuse to do classic servers. Surprised they haven't pulled the plug already.

Man, I was thinking of resubbing this month with all my alts for the upcoming abyssea login rewards, but I really don't think I wanna drop $30-$40 for a month of XI when it'd be a solo experience on a small server with 400ish people at max. It just reminds me more that my time in XI is basically done outside of the occasional stroll down memory lane.

>>730602998
Not really? They have plans to put some newer models in, but nothing really major like new zones and all that from what I've read. They are looking at making the transition from 99 > Job Levels > Master Level easier since new and returning players are devoured by how intensive it is from what I understand.

>>730602954
huh, hasn't happened to me yet and I have like a whole day of playtime already

>>730603161
I dunno I heard they were gonna fix playonline and all that too which is the biggest legitimate hurdle before the actual game starts.

I can't buy it on Steam

>>730602674
You can absolutely solo everything that someone would consider "completion" in terms of playing XI for the experience / story. All of the main storylines (including all of the expansions) would take about 3 months - distilled into 1 ~ 3 hours a day.

>>730602872
it's funny how comparing BLU in both games is like comparing the games themselves

>>730601246
You missed the boat. The game isn't what it used to be. Even if you find an old school server, it won't be the same experience.

>>730601246
Various communities have download links for all the game files that you can fetch much faster than using the official client. Start installing the game, stop, drop them in place, and restart. It'll just check all the files and be done pretty fast. If you're worried about malware and shit, you can delete the exe and dll files from the packs and let the launcher fetch those from SE's server like normal(there aren't many and they're not that big).

>>730603434
This
All private servers suck right now

>>730601246
>the four and a half days it takes to download it
This hasn't been the case for years

>>730603481
SE literally provides an updated launcher for the install now and it has been that way for several years.

>>730603278
You quite literally can buy it on Steam.
(But don't run the client from Steam, just run its own native pol.exe once it is downloaded.)

>>730601246
I played HorizonXI on launch and had a really good time, but it's a massive time sink and if you don't play a lot then you'll feel like you're getting nowhere.

If you do play, then use both hands on your keyboard and occasionally use your mouse, it's much easier. Controller might also be a good option but I never tried it.

>>730603592
No, it's restricted in my country

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>>730603636

>>730603636
I bought it on the Squeenix store for $10 during christmas sale, it's the same shit, they send you the codes vial e-mail. the real pain is actually setting up an account when dealing with PlayOnline

>>730602998
Donno bout that, latest plans involve leveling trusts, adding vanilla blu spell/attachment sets that addons have been doing for years, and trying to streamline the ML process a bit as i guess they got the memo that several millions worth of XP to get through the final levels is retarded

>>730602598
I forgot to mention that the private servers are also filled with 3rd worlders farming for RMT (real money trading) reasons. It's not unique to ff11 private servers but it's much more common, swinging back to many 11 players being sociopaths.

>>730602954
maybe I picked a shit server (Ragnarok)

>>730604117
>>730604117
this is not true. RMT are so few and far in-between because it's incredibly easy to catch them on private servers.

If I were making an MMO I'd model it after FFXI, and a bit of Wizardry Online
>obscure mechanics
>dangerous world that requires teamwork to overcome
>not overly concerned with "balance", as all MMOs now are
>let classes fulfil roles better/worse than others
I wish we could have just one more MMO like that, but I guess there just isn't the general interest now to sustain a world like that.

>>730602598
>Oh and ff14 players have a hate boner for this game for some reason
Not really? I've been playing 14 for over 10 years and I adore 11 and what it stood for despite only playing it for like 10 hours.

I still think one of the best QoL iterations FFXI implemented when taking design inspiration from EQ was not making you drop your whole inventory on death and just making it an EXP loss penalty and potential de-level.

>>730604752
It's simply too much hassle to keep designing encounters around a varying range of class types and people are too quick to throw a fit that x class is better/worse than y class in every scenerio. Easier to just fit them into 3-4 designated types that can be shifted around by other classes in that same bucket, or just make all classes interchangeable to some degree

>>730604875
I think losing your corpse had its place as a mechanic. It made death very, very scary and on top of that it meant you had to make sure you had friends you could trust so they could drag your body to safety for you and not just loot your stuff.

If i made an mmo it would be a vrmmo that once you're in, you can't get out and if you die in game you die in real life. then I'd shut off the servers.

>>730604752
>>730604917
>every scenerio
Meant some scenario, every would be a valid complaint usually, which is also why we cant have joke classes anymore

>>730604917
>It's simply too much hassle to keep designing encounters around a varying range of class types
Just design a wide range of encounters and let the players sort it out.
>and people are too quick to throw a fit that x class is better/worse than y class in every scenerio
Those people don't want to play an RPG so they can be told to fuck off.

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>>730601246
It takes like 2-3 hours if you download the 13 gigs from Steam or however big that is.

Is it worth it? It's the most archaic and outdated game that I've ever played. I am being completely unironic when I say that the context menu from the original Dragon Quest game has more QoL in it than the entirety of XI. It's the fucking worst to actually play. Eventually you get used to its framework, but it never feels good. It's always bad. The MSQ is more consistently good than XIV, and it's shorter too, and once you get used to the game it's not so bad, but holy fuck it's a barely playable archaic slop with zero QoL in it. I do not recommend it to anyone. Even if you desire to play it, you will have a nearly insurmountable mountain ahead of you in terms of getting used to how bullshit literally anything is in XI.

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>>730605163
>gets filtered by the most standard console RPG menu to ever exist
>pretends he played DQ1

>>730605074
>Just design a wide range of encounters and let the players sort it out.

Longer an MMO goes on the harder this becomes if you wanna keep things fresh, not saying it cant be done but its just easier to make it either braindead so that any combo can do it well enough. Or you limit the abilities of classes

>Those people don't want to play an RPG so they can be told to fuck off.
Agreed but they're also paying a large chunk of the bill in these ballooning budgets, so they're gonna keep trying to keep them

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>>730605252
>>gets filtered by the most standard console RPG menu to ever exist
Are you talking about XI? I did not get "filtered". I played through it despite how unplayable it is. I even did non-MSQ stuff like Ambuscade.

>>pretends he played DQ1
I'm old as fuck, anon. I played Dragon Warrior on the NES and I still have the Nintendo Power that I used while playing it, so that I could imagine what my gear looked like.

>>730605450
Somehow
>hover cursor over NPC
>click to talk
Is more complex and mind blowing to you than
>face NPC
>open menu
>click to talk
The UI between DQ and FFXI is almost identical, FFXI just has more options.

>>730604965
I just don't think it's a good friction point and is too antagonistic from a dev standpoint. Obviously the perfect scenario would being able to get corpse dragged and rezzed by your party but it was not an uncommon occurrence for a TPK to occur or for the rezzers to get murked if shit goes sideways. So now you're back at your bind point, naked, and now you need to make the long trek back to where you were while being on a timetable with corpse decay.

>>730605609
I don't understand what you're getting butthurt about. XI is quite possibly the single most cumbersome and clunky game that I've ever played in my entire life. And I've been playing games since the NES. You do eventually get used to how bullshit doing literally anything is, but that doesn't make it any less bullshit. I'm glad that I finally played it, as I have now played all mainline FF titles, and I even had fun and grinding can be kinda kino once you get into a groove, but that doesn't make interacting with the game any less cumbersome.

>>730605609
NTA but the mouse targeting has always been shit in XI, tab targeting usually being more reliable/often quicker if theres 2 targetss next to each other. If there's one thing XI doesnt really do well(which im not sure how it would without drowning you in tutorials) its explaining the many dozen of KB or command shortcuts available such as how to target NPCs instead of players/mobs, tabbing backwards, etc.

But this is also a game that expects you to ask others/look stuff up yourself so i guess that's also in line with how it operates.

You're supposed to use a controller for XI you fucking dipshits

>>730605917
>I don't understand what you're getting butthurt about
I'm not butthurt about anything, I just think it's ridiculous to claim that FFXI is somehow any more cumbersome or clunky than literally any other JRPG from 1986-2007. It's the same UI across the entire genre for two decades.

>>730605946
You're not supposed to use a mouse in XI. It's a PS2 game and once you pick up a controller instead the game just flows perfectly.

>>730606010
Unless you want to go about rebinding a bunch of additional shortcuts to the controller KB offers a lot more range of actions. Though if you're playing casually it probably doesnt matter too much

>>730606010
I'm >>730605917
I did play using a controller. I tried playing with Keyboard (mouse is literally fucking useless in XI) and if I had to play that way I could, but controller was the most comfy, even though "comfy" is not really an accurate word.

>>730606080
>I just think it's ridiculous to claim that FFXI is somehow any more cumbersome or clunky than literally any other JRPG from 1986-2007
It is though. Probably due to it being an MMO with a pretty grand scope when compared to what SE was capable of back then. XII is basically the same shit, you can even program your "Trusts" in that game, but it's infinitely more playable than XI is, likely because it's just a single player game. I never played Ever Quest so I can't compare it to that, but WoW and shit like MapleStory also blow the shit out of XI in terms of interacting with the game itself.

>>730605917
>XI is quite possibly the single most cumbersome and clunky game that I've ever played in my entire life.
cmon now
anyone that's played games since the nes can't say that truthfully
i'd say the only real obtuse thing you have to do in ffxi is trading items to npcs

>ffxi thread
>less than 10 minutes for ff14 seethe

never change, warrior of the crystal

>>730606276
>anyone that's played games since the nes can't say that truthfully
I am very much saying that truthfully. Maybe Superman 64 is a more cumbersome and clunky game than XI. Maybe. Barely.

>i'd say the only real obtuse thing you have to do in ffxi is trading items to npcs
It's both obtuse and cumbersome. Sheathing and unsheathing weapons, having to aim the camera at your next enemy as you are killing your current enemy just so that you don't spend 10 useless seconds doing nothing while the music starts and stops. Chasing a mob around for 15 seconds because it's still pathing to somewhere and you can't interact with it until it is stationary. Needing to macro literally everything in the entire game if you want to actually be able to press it. Not even being able to target the Domain Invasion mob for like 30 seconds because there are too many people on screen and the game wants to shuffle through every single one of them. I remember one time when I first got to Escha - Zi'Tah I was killing those hopping blobs and those worms right at the front, and one of the blobs was like behind the log that's right there are the front. I had killed all the mobs in the area and that was the only guy left. But for some reason, I literally could not target it, maybe because of log fuckery, I have no idea. The targeting is always bad, but this one was something else. I literally got to like 10% hp, from full, because I couldn't target the fucking blob. I tried moving around I tried tabbing both ways. The game would not target the fucking blob, it just kept targeting my own Trusts and myself. There were no other mobs around, just this blob attacking me, and the game would not target it, and because the game wouldn't target it, my Trusts wouldn't heal me, and I almost died to this fucking little blob that I could easily kill, just because the game refused to fucking target it. That was the worst, but the targeting is so fucking bad in XI.

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i got it, what do i do now, just picking up the home crystals atm

>>730606754
I think if you talk to the gate guard near the exit he'll give you your initial main story quest.

>>730601246
I remember reading somewhere that certain mobs have scent tracking, and that crossing a stream breaks that and they'll stop following you. Does anyone know if that's actually true? I remember the crafting compass turned out to be bollocks

>>730606912
Yeah it's true, same reason the Deodorize spell exists. Apparently if it's raining too they can't track you via smell either.

>>730606912
Yes it's true

Hows the story in XI? I've heard XIV has a good story.

>>730601246
For the love of fucking JESUS why won’t Square just make an offline version
They reference this shit constantly and I’m sure the 4 people who played this enjoy it, but I have zero idea what’s going on in stuff like Theatrhythm, Dissidia, Stranger, etc
Looks like high level kino and it’s just fucked that they would rather gatekeep this as an archaic online relic instead of just putting out an offline version
Where the fuck is the 13 trilogy on modern consoles too?
Why isn’t Tactics Advance on GBA NSO?
Why was Crystal Chronicles HD so fucked?
Fuck Square
Super Mario Sunshine

>>730606743
I agree the targeting in this game is ass and having to rely on macros for this most basic shit is retarded

>>730607438
>Hows the story in XI?
10/10

>>730607453
An offline version with co-op would be goated, basically allow you to have multiple characters with different jobs who can drop in/out whenever they want.

I would gladly pay 70 bucks for that and I put in like 13 years playing this shit.

>>730607438
It was THE story MMO before XIV, only difference is IIRC you don't necessarily need to finish the original MSQ to access the expansion stories.

>>730607438
>Hows the story in XI?
Pretty good. More consistently good than XIV. It's short and sweet. Well, it's long, but compared to XIV, it's short and sweet. There aren't a lot of frills in the MSQ.

>I've heard XIV has a good story.
Shadowbringers is very good. The rest are kinda meh to average, with Dawntrail being trash.

>>730607438
FFXIV is one long story with many minor branches that can get referenced in that long story

FFXI is many different branches that all sorta intertwine at the end

>>730607438
I've noticed it's more of a show don't tell deal, I love it, and the world of Vana'Diel is amazing

>>730606912
>crafting compass
Holy shit I still remember having to worry about which direction I was facing if I was crafting for skillups or for success rate, along with the day of the week and the weather. No one was sure if it was bullshit or not but we all did it just in case.

>>730607438
Starts pretty basic(initial nation misions, zilart), gets really good(Chains of Promathia) then starts getting rushed(Aht Urghan, Wings, Adoulin).

Despite that they're still pretty high quality stuff and there's also a lot of side lore out there beyond the mission lines that can be just as good.

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I wanna get back on FFXI, I was having so much fun with my PUP.
I think the last thing I did on it was getting my Divinator and I was working on maxing it out for more the automaton elemental capacity bonuses...
I think I will just resub in a month, I miss my automaton so much.

>>730608119
Pet classes never interest me, but PUP was the only other class in XI I wanted to play besides DNC. It was apparently really expensive though and I was kinda just going through the MSQ. Whenever I eventually resub I'll have to go try it out.

>>730608119
It's damn criminal where pets are atm, player creep has ballooned while pets have basically been stuck in adoulin era. Miss that brief window where pup/drg/bst had some synergy with the pets dmg output instead of just kind of being support batteries these days.

>>730608236
Biggest thing to go into with XI pet jobs is to prepare for clunky systems, the attachment system and how it can effect how the puppet operates can pose a bit of frustration, but its also maybe the most dynamic of the pet jobs as well(and can still tank reasonably well/makes a good zerg pet via overdrive)

>>730607932
I keep thinking I should go back to FFXI now that it's soloable. I never got to enjoy the story back in the day after all the people I started it with ended up quitting, and I was pretty much a loner after that. It was a nightmare trying to pug story progression and I just kept grinding levels instead before eventually quitting.

I remember actually managing to get a pug to get through a big chunk of the zilart story then during a boss I accidentally hit my chainspell+escape macro and couldn't finish it, I don't think I ever went back to main story again after that

>>730607438
No joke, it has the best story of any FF game and it is absolutely worth it to play it at least for that if you enjoy the series. You can easily play through the story during free campaigns (might take more than one campaign, but you also get your first 30 days free anyway).

>>730601246
I've never played it either but I heard there was going to be new private server(s) soon so I was gonna wait for those to release

>>730608475
You can solo all but maybe the final missions of adoulin/Rhapsodies/Voracious resurgance, though the former 2 can be done on more self sustaining jobs like rdm or blu, dnc etc

>>730608487
>You can easily play through the story during free campaigns
How do you find out when they have free campaigns?

>>730608631
I've soloed the final missions of Adoulin and Rhapsodies but I had to wait for a trust campaign that boosted their defensive stats.

>>730608119
Kinda sucks that PUP is pretty much useless for anything party-related.

>>730601246
It's the best MMO in existence.

>>730608763
Sadly so, still makes a solid fill in tank but also requires there to only be one mob to tank, and isnt a debuff fest. Like a few other jobs it only needs a couple tweaks to potentially get itself back into a niche but im not banking on job updates anytime soon

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Thinking about gearing up a DD job
DRG or WAR?

>>730609665
WAR is a swiss army knife of weapons, so if you wanted to fool around with smacking mobs with different weapons that's the job to do it. Also happens to be one of the highest DPS jobs in the game by virtue of warcry and mighty strikes.

DRG is a TP machine, about on par with SAM just from all the jumps it has available now, and so long as the wyvern is leveled and alive it's a strong DD on its own, so the risk;reward of that can be kind of fun though they've made the lizard increasingly harder to kill as times gone on.

its a product of its time for sure

>>730602598
>Oh and ff14 players have a hate boner for this game for some reason.
I've never heard anyone ever say that they hate XI, in fact I've heard quite the opposite. This seems to be a delusion you have and I have no idea where you could have gotten it from.

>>730608709
This. Rhapsody's final boss has a mechanic where you have to look away from it when its gem glows red - most people don't understand this and die horribly. As long as you can turn around it is easy as hell.

The Voracious Resurgence definitely is heavier on the gear requirements as a few fights are DPS races (the RDM behind the Altepa Gate, etc). The final boss of TVR requires a Silence if you are going to solo it (no Trust will cast or provide Silence).

>>730611994
>As long as you can turn around it is easy as hell.
Iroha will also just rez you over and over so your only restriction is the instance timer.

FFXI is my favorite but good God the world is so big and empty. Tying outpost warps to conquest is a cool idea in theory but falls apart if nations are heavily imbalanced or there aren't enough players to give a shit about Conquest. Chocobos and airships are too slow and limiting. Great game for its time, but the first 1-50 run is too slow because of all the sidework you have to do along the way and 50-75 drags on forever. IDK the solution because the gameplay highs are amazing but the path to get there is such an absolute bitch and mega timesink

>>730612309
t. lastoker

>>730601805
Most retarded post on the website right now

>>730612309
Different times, and why they added more teleport options as time went on like the FoV books and home points acting as warps much later. With various other warp options in between.

>>730601805
lolwut

>>730612309
the grind is the game, just like any other MMO. if it were easy it would be boring to play.

ffxi feels magical because it's a passion project just like ARR, I, VI, IX. Even if you don't like the it you can immediatly tell how SOVLFULL it is

>>730602998
they claimed they can make new stuff, but the last time they promised anything it took them 3 years to implement, so don't get your hopes up for anything. A new zone will take them easily 5 years to make

>>730606080
>once you pick up a controller
but the game works better with keyboard

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>>730601805
what a retarded take. XIV is a visual novel with tiny gameplay segments, while XI is a real MMORPG with some good cutscenes here and there.

Fuck Yewish-P and fuck XIV. Only 1.23 and ARR were somewhat good.

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>ffxi controls are obtuse and clunky

>>730606754
hold the Page Down key to zoom out

>>730612309
I've never seen a comment be so unbelievably wrong in my life. FFXI is about the journey, the "path to get there", you were not meant to speed level to cap, instead you were meant to enjoy the process and stop to do all the other content in the game along the way. The world is big, beautiful, and dangerous, travelling was meant to take time and unlike modern MMOs you weren't meant to hop on a mount and skip 99% of the space between destinations. Those big zones mattered, those little corners were important, those empty stretches were not as empty as they may seem.

>>730614402
Nah

>>730608119
Mah nigga
I love my little automaton so much you wouldn't believe

>>730606754
Get to level 5 and unlock trusts, someone would have to tell you what npc that is in windurst.

>>730612309
I'm pretty it was intentional for the game to bust your balls. Getting rid of all the grit means you don't have a game anymore

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>>730614570
FFXIV is a fun little co-op rhythm game before they made the actual FF rhythm game

>>730615135
>nearly 200 ms input lag on switch

ruined it for me

>>730601246
No.

>>730612964
>>730613087
>>730613187
True
>>730614697
That's all well and good when you have infinite time as a youngster; I have many more fond memories than bad of FFXI. I really want you to imagine the experience for a new player going to a CoP/ToAU-era server without Trusts, runspeed buffs, FoV, etc. How long is the initial investment to get past what I would consider the prologue (level 30 w/ SJ, rank 3, chocobo, etc.)? 30 hours with guides? 2-3 hours a night that's minimum 1.5 weeks. It's nearly a part-time job.
>those little corners were important
Lol. Yes they are for worldbuilding and exploration (which means jack shit except for newbies goin in blind).

>>730614798
i just unlocked, its amazing how good this game is for being 25 years old

>>730614593
Menu scrolling working as intended ^:)

>>730604875
>AIDS is better than cancer because you can take PrEP
Faggot.

>>730615721
XIV is dying and being put into maintenance mode as we speak, you need to let that sink in and accept it.

>>730616013
Make sure you check out the RoE section of the quest menu, you can do a quick quest chain that will unlock a few more trusts for you right off the bat.

>>730616121
Good. XIV is a shit game.

>>730615808
Good, not every game needs to be for you, not every game needs to be quick and easy and fit into your 30 minutes of daily game time. FFXI was unapologetic and that's what made it so soulful and so memorable.

>>730614697
>those little corners were important
that's great and all, but can we kill the dude who thought invisible interactable points in the middle of fucking nowhere was a good idea?

>>730616109
Calm the fuck down little sperglet.

>>730616248
There is a difference between a game being not designed for me and a maliciously designed game to pad sub numbers and addict the mentally ill.

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>>730616121
what's that sink doing outside?

>>730616168
im following this
https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/New_Player_Leveling_Guide
which seems pretty thorough

>>730616415
but ffxi doesn't have gacha tits

>>730615808
Just gotta repeat it was different times, older MMOs expected you to sink dozens of hours to make small bits of progress or you made friends and progressed much faster and your dopamine hits are getting that next level milestone whether it be from JA, WS, specific piece of gear etc.

Now the name of the game is get you to the end so you can join everyone else in grinding end-game when before that was a whole 2nd half of the eternal MMO grind

>>730616248
FFXI was unapologetic about wasting your time, I agree. Great game for it's time (or maybe for my time), but there's a reason all the discussion around the game is nostalgia, sunk-cost retail players, and private server drama.

>>730616498
It's alright, I would skip the recommended levelling locations and just go wherever you want and explore the world, but other than that it's pretty good

>>730616415
>No you see you aren't enjoying your time playing the game, in fact you are falling for a schizoid plan to lock you in to make you stay subbed

Again, the game is not for you, it's for people who want to enjoy that kind of experience. Move on, this thread is not for you either whiny baby.

>>730616519
I do not and never have accepted that argument because there were MMOs that never did that as long as MMOs have existed.

>>730616415
>maliciously designed game to pad sub numbers and addict the mentally ill.
You're deranged. Like someone said earlier, the game was always designed to be a slow grind, there wasn't something at the end for you to speed to. They didn't build retention into the game by making leveling longer because there wasn't anything at the end, aside from 3 HNMs that only a few LS competed for. For all they knew you'd probably quit once you got to 75.

>>730615808
The point of MMOs is to live inside a fantasy world. Yes, it's supposed to be long and time consuming. No, it's not a second job. It's a video game. If it's a second job to you, the game isn't for you.

>>730616610
>and private server drama.
I hate what this game has become, just a bunch of shitflinging over literally who and nonsense discord arguments

>>730616638
MMOs and MMORPGs are two entirely different genres.

>>730616626
>This pile of shit isn't for you, move on!
No. I'm going to keep calling it out and you can deal with it.

>>730609665
WAR, lean all in on Retaliation. Your damage will be fat, WS constant, and your healer will hate you

>>730616610
MMOs were a social experiment, the leveling is the adventure. At some point devs forgot about that and pushed all the content to the endgame so the leveling feels like a chore even if you stomp through the content with thrusts

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>>730616728
That's on you bro, enjoy wasting the remaining hours of your weekend seething that people enjoyed something you didn't.

>>730616717
No.

>>730616674
a majority of players never even got to 75 even when ToAU came out. Compare that to XIV which has maybe 50% of all active players at max level right now. They're just completely different experiences. Expansions in XI actually start out at low level, Promyvions from WoTG are level 30 just as an example

>>730616638
I'll take your word for it as my MMO experience isnt super diverse, but the ones i played around XIs time all had a very slow leveling period, then when you finally get towards the end levels you were able to start the end-game events which could be just as grindy just in the case of drop rates/respawn times/competition etc

When you treat a virtual world like a lived experience that you get immersed in while leveling and getting stronger and not just a function of getting more powerful you don't care if it's slow. People want satisfaction too quickly.

>>730616519
>>730616717

This is correct, MMORPGs, as in pre-2004 titles, were designed for a specific consumer base that valued the journey over the reward. They were meant to be worlds you immersed yourself in, the progress was slow and the world dangerous, everything was done to make want and have to play WITH other people. The human connection was the most important part of the entire experience.

XI is one of those games, if you don't like it then you aren't the target consumer.

>>730617121
No it's not.

>>730616708
it's because the last private server of note was over 3 years ago and all the neets have been done with getting all their gear for like 2 years. when mmofags run out of content, drama is the only thing new that's left.

>>730617201
well, it used to be at least

>>730617201
It is. MMOs from that era are supposed to be giant D&D games.

>>730617249
D&D isn't supposed to be grindy you stupid faggot.

>>730616708
Retail is "fine", private servers (for any MMO really) are always a shitfest because of the type of person that inhabits them.

>>730617284
it's not supposed to take you 5 minutes either

>>730617284
I don't think you understand the term Grind and how it does or doesn't apply to the MMORPG genre.

>>730616691
It's the time commitment, the game is fun (when you're not stuck in downtime like a DD LFP.) Of course I will say to its benefit that XI was pretty genius with the job system opening up a lot of different avenues for play, but too much of the game was built around 75 not sven considering endgame HNM hunts. Expansions would maybe throw a bone to the sub-75 players at the beginning like CoP with Promyvions/Lufaise/Aqueducts, but that was the exception, not the norm. IIRC all of ToAU was 60+. It was a fun experience overall and I was happy to play during the game's heyday, but there was fat that could be trimmed.

>>730616905
It took very little time to hit a useful skill level in launch UO and start being able to do shit. It got a lot easier and less grindy later on too, well before XI came out.

I just wish more MMOs actually had Class/Job design able to bounce off each other with skillchains and magic bursts like XI does. Having access to different combos and setups based on your party comp was so fucking sick.

>>730617374
I'm fairly certain they added low level gear and extra NMs and hobbies (I think?) to the base game during ToAU so it technically wasn't all 60+, but still majority high level content

>>730617470
skillchains and magic bursts are so cool, I want more games in general to do things like that, actually have synergy with party members and coordinate all your big moves

>>730616967
Tedium is the greatest immersion killer there is. Leveling is supposed to be something that happens as a byproduct of playing the game.

>>730617470
IMO XI's version of multiclassing is one of the best ever in videogames, tho I do wish melee classes got more skills along the way. Goin 10+ levels between WS while mages were getting new spells every 3-4 levels was bullshit

>>730617306
Retails just relatively dead atm as there's just not been much shake up in almost a decade in comparison to older updates, itd likely bounce back again for a time if it got another even RoV style addition

>>730617516
much of AU itself was round level 60~ish, assaults, mobs of the surrounding zones and so on, but AU was also where SE was going back and adding actual low/mid level gear instead of 15 different flavors of def:# and element resist+5 whether it be crafted gear or from lower level NMs they placed in older zones

>>730617569
the times when you got to do magic bursts with ancient magic was so sick. it'd basically one shot an enemy in the 50s.

>>730617616
what would be the point of levels then?

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>>730617470
Troons and normies with FOMO pushed class homogenization, FFXIV is a lost cause when it comes to uniqueness.

>>730617516
Sorry speaking solely zones/mobs* but you are correct

>>730617616
XI leveling thankfully is not tedious, it's a community experience where you spend time learning how to work the games cooperative systems >>730617470 >>730617569 with other players. The real beauty was the pacing of combat, it was slow enough that you could, and would, spend most of your time leveling conversing with your party members.

It wasn't like today where people play through a MMO solo or chat in discord with their buddies while running dungeons and at most saying o/ to the rest of the party ingame. When you leveled in XI you had to be in a full party at all times, this meant you got to know the other players on your server and made connections and friends through the process.

Again, it's not a game targeted at you. Move on with your life.

>>730617731
even ARR was very unique with the class strengths/weaknesses and multiclassing but people hated having to get drg to 44 or whatever the fuck it was for bloodbath so now everyone gets the same few role actions and have basically the same kits so you're job really just impacts the theme of your abilities most of the time and not much else.

>>730617731
actually it was the japanese obsessed with parsing that got it changed, along with Yoshi P's adherence to appeasing the working class dad gamers (which worked because the game sold a billion copies anyways)

>>730617712
To change the player's experience over time.

>>730615135
Didn't this have up to Shadowbringers song wise? Kind of bullshit they didn't make an Endwalker songpack

>>730617689
>Retails just relatively dead atm
It's more alive than it can handle, 2 servers have been locked due to a massive influx of new players and a third one is likely to be locked. They added a new endgame piece of content recently and are still building it each month. You should also read their new years blog post about the new projects they have in the works for this year.

>>730617864
It sucks, I liked having to level other jobs so I could see how they play and get rewarded with being able to use their skills, but too many other people hated it and got it changed

>>730617815
It was extremely tedious.

>>730617886
well, 14 is the largest entry by far in it. its like 20% of all songs by itself

>>730617947
I get the impression your whole life is tedious.

>>730617947
and that's a good thing!

>>730601246
It's the MMO I played the longest (six years). It's a slog to level (might be better now), but it unironically has some of the best stories in the series. People will usually cite Chains of Promathia as one of the best FF stories there is, but most of the expansion stories after Rise of the Zilart are great.

So if I want to experience the story should I just go for retail? It's still on sale I think

>>730617815
>it was slow enough that you could, and would, spend most of your time leveling conversing with your party members.
I hate how even on pservers people don't talk anymore. Everyone's too shy or paranoid to speak anymore nowadays

>>730617940
it made it so investing more time actively made you better than other people on the same job because you'd have access to raging strikes/the one that reduced enmity, etc. paladins could raise back then too like in ffxi, shadowbringers was a great story expansion but it ruined class flavor. ffxi is still the king of class flavor, especially on private servers.

>>730618024
Yeah, depending on how much time you put into it the whole story could be done in a month, probably two if you are slow. You get a free month of playtime from buying it so that should get you most of the way there at least.

>>730617906
Odin's about to get locked and fuck over all the japs still in there

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if leveling is so tedious then how come horizon and turtle are so popular? Check Mate

>>730618129
Oh is that why they are holding off on locking it? because it's primarily a JP server?

>>730618162
Because soulless subhuman retards get enjoyment out of it.

>>730617906
They're closing them because all of the bots/merchants were overpopulating the 1st server(asura) then they all moved to baha(2nd server) and will likely move to Odin next. If you take out the bots/alts the numbers plummet id imagine.

And yeah im aware of limbus and its rather lackluster implementations while also gutting all of old limbus to do so. That remaining 40% might turn out alright but atm its just a long grind for units/matter so you can augment some pieces of gear.

Additional projects afaik were just some new HTBs, finishing beseiged(working on it for like a yr now?) and finishing limbus along with some QoL stuff they pitched 1-2 yrs ago with the blu/pup spell/attachment sets.

Like i said, relatively dead as there is still a somewhat active community, but its nowhere near what it was even 5 or 6 yrs ago

>>730617815
You're glossing over the shitty parts like spending 30 minutes trying to get a party together that lasts for 20 minutes because someone dies, D/Cs, or has to log off for RL. XI at its best was a machine and at its worst was sitting with your thumb up your ass because all your money is sitting in 7 AH slots and you're getting undercut every which way and there's no one available to help you do that high-level content you've been trying to do for weeks.

>>730618024
yeah, story in private servers is either unfinished or just straight up not working properly. Just play retail, go on a free trial and see if you like it first before paying the sub fee (can you believe it's still $12 in the year two thousand twenty freaking five)

>>730618225
>implying you wouldn't play a 75cap xi with extra zones, dungeons, quests and endgame

>>730618194
no, it's because there's still plenty of space. Asura and Bahamut have a bunch of deactivated accounts tied to it due to cheaters being banned but their accounts still being in memory. Odin has far less deactivated accounts taking up space (The japs follow rules) so it'll probably be open for a good while longer
inb4 it gets locked tomorrow and everything I said here was total bullshit

>>730618351
>implying I would
Nigger I didn't like the game in 2002 for the same reasons I think it's bad in 2026.

>>730618257
They should have implemented some kind of in-game chat system so you could talk to other players and make friends. Then you'd be able to team up and help each other regularly instead of sitting in town all the time.

>>730618261
>(can you believe it's still $12 in the year two thousand twenty freaking five)
I'm surprised they didn't just make it free to play with the cost of entry and microtransactions. Ragnarok Online went f2p a long time ago. Or hell, just include a sub with a XIV sub. It's pretty wild that they still charge you the full sub amount after almost 2.5 decades.

>>730618486
>chat = instant results
You didn't have to tell me you didn't play the game when it was new.

>>730618257
>You're glossing over the shitty parts like spending 30 minutes trying to get a party together that lasts for 20 minutes because someone dies, D/Cs, or has to log off for RL.
That's part of the adventure, shit isn't always going to go smoothly. Putting a party together was the litmus test for you having a brain. Any normal well adjusted individual knew how to put a party together, only headcases and morons struggled with it.

>all your money is sitting in 7 AH slots and you're getting undercut every which way
I don't think you know much about FFXI because the AH didn't work that way.

>and there's no one available to help you do that high-level content you've been trying to do for weeks.
Why is no one available? You can always shout in jeuno and ask for help. You also should be in more than one linkshell that has dozens of people online at all hours of the day (the servers are not region based) willing to help.

The XI community was ALWAYS available to help, that was the the entire game, doing content with others.

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>>730618486
I have a feeling you're being cheeky with me

>>730618535
I've played it since NA launch day lil gup. But I made friends so I had people to call up when I needed something.

>>730618535
>I need everything NOW NOW NOW *slams table causing his plate of room temperature chicken tendies to blast crumbs all over his desk*

>>730618608
Oh, so it's autism and sunk cost fallacy.

>>730618486
Please if you didn't have a static before level sync you could be absolutely fucked if you had a job that wasn't in demand even if you were well-geared/skilled outside of some niche camps/mob families and weren't on the same cadence as your LS. I made plenty of friends in the game and it could still be pulling teeth if levels/jobs didn't align.

>>730618773
>can't make friends in a video game
>call other people autists

>>730618773
Once again, FFXI is not a game for you, you will never be able to understand it and you will never have an opinion on it that doesn't make you look retarded.

>>730618819
That's why we made Social Pariah linkshells, shove all the DRGs and PUPs and BSTs into one space so we could all be shunned together

>>730618545
>the AH didn't work that way
I have an FFXI grognard trying to gaslight me about the number of AH slots in 2026, what a fuckin world

>>730618991
let's give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he's talking about undercutting?

>>730601246
I'm playing it right now, and I'm having a good time.

It doesn't take quite as much as you'd think to install it. Your biggest hurtle is going to be getting the damn account signed up/synchronized.

>>730619117
It used to take several days, but now it just takes an afternoon

>>730618919
>making friends = having an infinite number of friends on tap at all times and all of your schedules align always and there are no conflicts between what you need to do
Once again, so it's autism and sunk cost fallacy.

>>730619117
That's one milestone i think they're finally working on is delinking XI from fucking POL, that alone might get more people to play the game

>>730618991
The XI Auction House does not display the price an item is listed for, meaning undercutting is not as simple as it is in other games. You also had access to selling items via bazaar to help alleviate other item moving issues.

>>730618970
Based freak LS