Leveling Higher = Meh!

[Raydeus]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

So they went full circle with the Genkai? Guess the next one will require you to beat lvl99 Maat again.

[Janay]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

I can't be bothered to compete with everyone else in the game for Level Cap quest items.

Might give it a week or two before coming back proper.

I was thinking this, but was like, "At least let me flag the quest!". Some people who were already 95 when I got on said they got their items off the AH. When I flagged the cap quest, I had to get Dhalmel Salva (which is r/e). At that point, I was like, "God dammit! Now the competition begin. I'll wait!"

But, when I was going to make my way to Attohwa Chasm to work on Katana Trial, I checked the area in Buburimu, and there was only a total of 4 of us there (the other three were 91+, so they did the quest already). Guess I got lucky.

---------- Post added at 12:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:14 PM ----------

So they went full circle with the Genkai? Guess the next one will require you to beat lvl99 Maat again.

lol... This Genkai requires to to take a "poop" lol... But on a serious note, I wouldn't mind fighting Maat as level 95 NIN. With capped Katana, evasion, and ninjutsu, it should be fun. Especially with Myoshu, Yurin, and Subtle Blow merits, should be able to almost negate him getting much TP.

[Ziero]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

I can't be bothered to compete with everyone else in the game for Level Cap quest items.

Compete with what? All the items they ask for have stupid high drop rates. It usually takes longer to find the mobs that drop the items then to actually farm the items.

So they went full circle with the Genkai? Guess the next one will require you to beat lvl99 Maat again.

I sure as hell hope so. Or have us fight SOMETHING that's actually some sort of challenge. I actually liked the original limit break quests, the last few were nothing more then speed bumps with poop joke filled CS. I'm hoping the last one is an actual, serious quest, because those are what made this game so great.

As for the whole leveling thing, I have always LOATHED exping in this game. Even when I did have those perfect group, 6 man, well oiled linkshell party mob grinding machines. Leveling has always been on my "not fun" list. Despite that, I still managed to get two jobs to 75 under the old system with tons of 37 subs.

When Aby came out and the cap raised, well I was kinda miffed. But, being it was the only way to get the good gear and see the new content, it was something that needed to be done. I grinded my subs all up to 49 with some LS friends, learned the basics of how Aby worked with LS mates...then joined my first real, full fledged Aby party. By the end of the night I capped both jobs at 90 with a good 40+ merits earned. It was freakin awesome. Both jobs, capped and done in a single, painless...kinda fun night (Megamaw Mikey kept everyone on their toes).

Then with the recent cap increase, I had to recap again. And again, a single night with a single party killing Buffalo...a mob that before Aby I rarely ever saw let alone Exp'd on, I capped both jobs again. For the most part I was puller for this party...which literally consisted of running out, pissing off a herd of buffalo, pulling them back to camp and turning in my Op to get another because everything I just pulled died within seconds. While Aby exp is still not something I would call "fun" it's certainly more enjoyable...for me...then even the best "old school" exp party.

Leveling in this game is nothing more then a means to an end, so the faster I can get it done the better. So Aby exp is fine for me, because I can get it all done in a single day and get back to actually enjoying the game.

[Neverslip]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

I haven't had much time to play FFxi since the update. Maybe 2 days. So far I've only been attending a few 'events' with my LS and doing some campaign to get some medals back and I've already gotten my BLU to 94 and almost 95. You get such a ridiculous amount when you spam the upper tier Aby-NMs that I don't really think I'm going to join any Aby-parties for xp... maybe cruor... maybe skillups... but xp just kinda happens now.

I do kinda wish the new Limit Breaks were a little more fight orientated... yet I could see a HUGE bottleneck for people wanting to lvl up, if that was the case. I think I had the easiest item to get this time... no competition... all I needed to do was trade a crystal to a tele-point and count to 10.

[Ketaru]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

As for the whole leveling thing, I have always LOATHED exping in this game. Even when I did have those perfect group, 6 man, well oiled linkshell party mob grinding machines. Leveling has always been on my "not fun" list. Despite that, I still managed to get two jobs to 75 under the old system with tons of 37 subs.

...

Leveling in this game is nothing more then a means to an end, so the faster I can get it done the better. So Aby exp is fine for me, because I can get it all done in a single day and get back to actually enjoying the game.

Really, all the more reason that fun is not, and will not ever be a valid point of discussion in this game because everybody simply has their own ideas of what it is.

I agree with cidbahamut when he says that there is no reason the means to the end cannot be enjoyable too. Maybe I'm going too far back, but back then, EXP parties were the content of the game. For most of us, it is probably the only thing we had in mind when we logged on every day. That and farming. Maybe every so often you'll do missions to further yourself along the ranks. Then, once you got to 75, you either leveled another job. Or you joined a Sky/HNM/Dynamis LS. Back then, high end content wasn't as compulsory as it is now and there was such thing as a quality AH-built character. To many people, EXP parties were the content of the game.

It really became viewed as a necessary evil as more and more high level content was added. I really blame this on the FFXI team's failure to create compelling low level content. They tried to do it with CoP. But to me, that was still just high level content because people with high level jobs had more means to make money to get high quality gear and meds for those missions. Even if you were low leveled, it was just more shouting and getting missions done and moving on. Not something that could entertain you day after day. And in the end, it too eventually lead to endgame content.

Then there's also Garrison. But we all know what became of that.

To be honest, as fun as new stuff is, I do think it's kind of a shame. While I wouldn't say that old EXP parties were really a measure of skill by today's standards, I do miss the interaction between players within those 6-man groups. There really was a sense you had to work together to succeed. I do consider it a failure in game design that superior EXP was achieved through disengagement with the rest of your party. You don't have to coordinate weaponskills with anybody else. Just go as soon as you have 100%. Mages don't have to pay attention to what each other is doing, just Haste everybody and you're good. Hell, we even went and took having more than 1 mage out of the equation. Oh, and on that note, don't forget that not every job could be a good fit to those super 25-30K EXP/hour parties, which itself is the design flaw I always had the biggest problem with.

And now today, we've got our Abyssea parties which, to me, corrected the problem of lack of job inclusiveness. But now we've pretty much reached the pinnacle of disengagement from what the rest of the group is actually doing. It is possible for an 18 man alliance to ride on the quality of 3 or 4 of the players in the group. It is possible to have a successful group with a full party of leech players doing nothing but standing there. Oh, and then there's the people with dinner jackets and Onion weapons, as we pointed out around here.

Don't get me wrong. High level is where the real fun begins so, the faster we can get there, the better, since that's just what the game is. That's just the way it is if there is no such thing as compelling low or mid level content. But it still rubs me the wrong way that there really is very little accountability in parties these days.

[Janay]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

So Aby exp is fine for me, because I can get it all done in a single day and get back to actually enjoying the game.

Good point here. I'll just stick with my two jobs (NIN, COR), keep them capped and updated. My subs for both jobs (SAM, WHM, RDM, BLM, DNC, RNG, WAR) are complete at 50. So, that's enough for me there.

Take BLU from 36~95? No, thanks. Have fun on my NIN and COR? Yes, please.

[FrancoisX]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

Hello all,

I personally have a divided view on the Abyssea phenomenum:

On one side, it is fun to be done quickly and have access to to a fully leveled thief or monk for exemple. I used to sit on the sidelines for 8-16h stretch to find a PT that may or may not be productive enough to gain a level, let alone two. Extremly boring times as I recall.

On the other, as was mentionned here a couple times, I sourely miss the 6-ppl parties. Call me crazy, but I loved that. I used to farm myself out like crazy, until I had above average gear (I was a perfectionnist when it came to my own gear, heck I farmed enough (600k) for 2 astrals and that +30 mp amulet back when I had a WHM30/THF15 on my 1rst character), then would jump back into the action and discover a brand new area I had never experienced before. I never had a chance to have a PT in King Rampere's toumb, or Cape Terrigan, and barely had time to have a party in the Boyadha Tree before things changed.

I really enjoyed learning to do my job as best as I could, and even if I started piss-poor player in some PT, I usually finished them receiving praise from "older players" that taught me the how-to's. I miss that real sense of accomplishment.

- - - - - -

Do I think we should kill Abyssea altogetter ? Nope. But I do think traditional XP parties should return. My suggestion was to open Abyssea but at level 75, and maybe increase the XP yield from 45+, so that the time needed to gain a level dosent scale up to much (I know, it was worse before, when it jumped @ 50 I think).

Either that or open a "Classic Server" that does just that, and allow a one time free transfer on that said server. I'd be jumping on it as soon as my 3 months delay is up. Heck, i'd remove those EXP books near the Outposts as well, but keep the new XP curve they introduced back then.

- - - - - -

One thing's for sure, it's impossible to make "Classic 6-Man Parties" anymore. I tried all week-end, at one point I had 3 people (myself RDM, a WAR/NIN, and a WHM/BLM) for Khazam at level 24. But we did not manage to get us the last three. Too bad as we would've had the zone all to ourselves.

My two gil worth,
-- FrancoisX

[Janay]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

Well noted, Fran.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

[Janay]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

What's wrong, Cid? lol...

[Squiggs]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

He's probably referring to this same argument being rehashed for the umpteenth time.

[FrancoisX]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

I don't intend to debate it, don't worry.
It's just how I feel about it, that's all.

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

Got my COR to 95... and meh... Not too thrilled about the new rolls to be honest. So yeah... my view of leveling higher is still kinda "meh"