Leveling Higher = Meh!

[Janay]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

I've had an uncanny knack for ending up with alliance lead after a very short amount of time; these people tend to get kicked.

Yep lol... Same here ... Hahahah!

[Squiggs]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

I'm still learning it myself. It works in Abyssea too though. When someone asks who wants party lead and is followed by crickets, just pipe up. GoV alliances are different because no one talks (another casualty of the partying change). I usually just end up with two dots next to my name.

[Janay]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

I'll take alliance lead depending on how active in the group I was. Like if I was talking alot, then I'll take lead if leader is leaving. But if it was randomly given to me, I'll keep it and take charge.

[DakAttack]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

Leveling up has lost a lot of its appeal lately as I've been trying to raise Corsair. I think a lot of it has to do with the new group dynamics that infest the leveling process now.

While I wouldn't to go back to stupidly slow exp rates, I do miss the six man party. When I found myself in a really well balanced party everything just flowed so smoothly and it became almost zen. It was the same feeling I used to get from playing certain songs in Guitar Hero or mauling the computer when playing SF3:Third Strike, going into a trance of sorts. It's difficult to accurately describe the sensation but it is very relaxing and very rewarding. Exp parties changed and they don't offer me that anymore.

I felt the same way about well-manged six-man parties. One tank, one healer, one support, two DD with a determined skillchain, and a black mage that would magic burst. Felt good. The leveling elite always pushed for new ways to suss more experience out of a group and camp, which lead to a lot job discrimination, but the final nail in the coffin was ToAU. Enemies so weak that even the tank could wear DD equipment... it ruined everything!

!!!

[Mhurron]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

I think Murphie said a few months ago (went back and looked and couldn't find where it was, maybe it wasn't even him that said it) that XP parties are a means to unlock content, not content itself.

Except that this is a game. It is a form of entertainment and is supposed to be fun. Something has gone wrong when you have a mechanic that the whole game is based around, that you basically have to do if you want to play the game, that is not fun. (See also: Trial of the Magians)

Oh, and every activity in a game is content. EXP is just content that has the reward of being able to participate in more advanced and varied content.

Also, IIRC, Murphie was talking more about the trend of racing to cap on a job, and not doing anything else, to then just turn around and simply level another popular job. It was a 'stop and smell the roses' reminder as opposed to 'you can't have any pudding if you haven't eaten your meat.'

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

I too have the talent of becoming the leader of whatever party or alliance I join into. It started because back in the day it was a pain for me to sit there and wait for a party to invite me. I hated it... so I started making my own. I got really comfortable making my own parties until Abyssea happened. Before Abyssea... the only alliances I was ever a part of were in Dynamis and the occasional HNM. Besides those, I had no real participation in alliances for any reason.

Given my history of taking charge of a group that is otherwise herping and deping their way around a camp... leading alliances has become second nature. Sure the parties consist of 12-18 people... but only 4-6 of them ever matter, amirite?

I mean really... you have your Tank... your WHM (or 2)... your WAR... your BLM... and a hodgepodge of people you tell to sit down adn shut up and dont speak unless they're spoken to. It's a walk in the park. The only real challenge of leading a group that big is when you have a bunch of people who are of the "I just got the expansion... but it's cool... I still remember how to feed the NMs lots of the TPs, I got this".

[Takelli]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

Psssshhhh....

I was ALWAYS leader for parties since no one ever wanted to make them on my server. My parties where always epic as well. Fast exp, and a great time chatting!

Now that ToAU has come along, and all this new stuff, it became boring.... quickly....

I have lost my love for this game and Squeenix lately.

FFXI is now just PURE grind, rather than the fun it was back in the day... Oh how I miss thee....

[Murphie]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

You seem to be under the impression that what we had before wasn't a grind.

You're wrong.

[Takelli]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

You seem to be under the impression that what we had before wasn't a grind.

You're wrong.

Ok, I'm not saying it wasn't a grind, but what I was saying was....

It WAS fun before all this stuff they put in. People actually communicated and talked to one another. Hell, we even did full party skill chains at times. Sure, Xp might have been a bit slow, but I had a BLAST!

[Raydeus]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

Those were other times, I was younger and at least in my case I had a lot of friends to play with and do stuff together.

Heck, back in the day we didn't even have high levels in our shell so we actually got like 6 lvl30ish people in a party to go unlock NIN.

Good times.

But then time passed and people started doing grown up stuff (like getting married and have kids) and didn't have time or patience to play anymore. So they started quitting the game. And thus I became the bitter old lvl 75 RDM that spent most of his time in Eldieme [S] having drinks with Rainemard and remembering about the good old times. orz

[Truece]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

'you can't have any pudding if you haven't eaten your meat.'

That's totally what HE said!

[DakAttack]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

That's totally what HE said!

That's gross. You're gross.

[Firewind]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

The only thing stopping me from rushing to update the game and get to the new cap is that everyone else will be doing the same and quite frankly, 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.

[Squiggs]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

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

I went after mine the morning after the update and had no competition. I had Orcish Axe though, it is a fairly easy drop. I would imagine if you had gotten Magicked Skull that there would be a logjam, but otherwise you are probably okay.

[Mhurron]

Re: Leveling Higher = Meh!

The only thing stopping me from rushing to update the game and get to the new cap is that everyone else will be doing the same and quite frankly, 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.

The competition probably lasted less than a day. Or you'll get lucky and be asked to get something like the Sirens Tear and not have to compete at all.