Possibly Returning??....

[Takelli]

As the title suggest I am possibly going to be returning to the game. But, before I do, I'd like to know if the game has improved.

I have been having a ton of nostalgia about the game, and wish to reconnect with old friends.

But, has the games population increased, as well as people's activity. Has it become less "grindy". I remember some weapons taking forever, and NMs taking forever to spawn, and very, very low drop rates of weapons and items. As well as the economy going to crap.

Just an inquire about how the game has changed, for better or worse.

Thank you in advace!

[Nandito]

Re: Possibly Returning??....

Don't bother.

FFXIV is where it's at.

[Takelli]

Re: Possibly Returning??....

Kind of figured you would have said that. Unfortunately, I don't have my computer that I can run ffxiv on it.

[Taskmage]

Re: Possibly Returning??....

What Nandito said. Do you not have your computer at all? Just a PS2?

If you have a computer but don't think it has the specs, you might be surprised. I'm getting quite decent performance out of a 6 year old processor and a 3 year old video card.

[Takelli]

Re: Possibly Returning??....

I tried to play ffxiv on my computer (laptop that I have at my gfs house) and it couldn't run it. My pc that is powerful enough I can't get access to it as it's at my parents house.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Possibly Returning??....

The only person I know (from my FFXI days) who still plays hates SE's direction with FFXI right now. Actually, he'd probably argue against the idea that SE has a direction at all. But, the appeal of FFXI always lie with the people; if you can find a good group to play with, I'd imagine you will have fun.

* * *

Stray thoughts on 'grind'

Can a MMORPG be "not grindy"?

If it's instantly-get for everything people want, the game will run out of contents really fast. If it's easy to get items/character upgrades, then the devs are forced to constantly generate new stuff at a breakneck pace--which leads to lots of generic and ill thought out material. It's a cheap trick which kills the game faster, IMO.

To keep people playing, many desirable things must necessarily be difficult to obtain. That means some combinations of:
- Low drop rate.
- Low encounter rate.
- High number of points (exp, currency, etc.) to buy/achieve.
- Difficult to beat enemies, which can A) forces multiple fights, and/or B) forces people to gear/power up (a lot) first.

It's possible to make parts the game "not grindy", but ultimately it'll be one form of grind or another after a certain amount of progress.

A game with absolutely no grind would be either:
1. Entirely skill based--but with no character progression (think chess or older first-person shooters), or
2. Completely shallow, where progression is meaningless (e.g. buy a maxed out character from in-game store, or make it very easy to hit level cap).

It's not an absolute binary divide; it's possible to make early progress easier without making hitting level cap a non-event, and it's possibly (even desirable) to make some skill a factor in the game. But, skipping grind entirely probably isn't something the devs or the players want, even if they do say otherwise.

[Taskmage]

Re: Possibly Returning??....

ARR does a great job of alleviating the grindy feeling by giving you lots of small goals to work on as steps toward a larger one. For example, if you're trying to level, a great way of doing that is completing hunting log pages, each of which is broken down into groups, each of which may contain several targets. Each time you complete one of those tiers, you get a little buzz of gratification and there's a pull to go onward as the reward on the next tier gets a little closer. Technically the barrier between one level and the next is still something like "kill 100 mobs" but because it's broken down into manageable chunks it doesn't feel overwhelming and the breadcrumb trail of rewards keeps it feeling satisfying, without any content creator needing to create additional filler.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Possibly Returning??....

The only person I know (from my FFXI days) who still plays hates SE's direction with FFXI right now. Actually, he'd probably argue against the idea that SE has a direction at all. But, the appeal of FFXI always lie with the people; if you can find a good group to play with, I'd imagine you will have fun.

This is pretty much my position exactly--and precisely the reason why I will not be participating in FFXIV.

[Takelli]

Re: Possibly Returning??....

I do enjoy the leveling process very much. For some reason more than end game of any game.

As for the finding good groups, I doubt I could due to the server merges from Alexander. I miss that linkshell on Alexander. Rise of Bastet broke when we merged... Rest in peace.

The appeal to ffxi is because of the old fun times I had in the game.

Edit: I just did find out that FFXIV will be going live 8/27/13 for the PS3. I may get it for the PS3, not sure yet. But if I do, I will have to pick up a keyboard for the PS3 though.

Anyone have any suggestions if I do for keyboards?

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Possibly Returning??....

Edit: I just did find out that FFXIV will be going live 8/27/13 for the PS3. I may get it for the PS3, not sure yet. But if I do, I will have to pick up a keyboard for the PS3 though.

Anyone have any suggestions if I do for keyboards?

Any $25 or cheaper USB keyboard with full sized keys, and don't have stuff on the bottom to poke at your thigh too much if you like to put keyboard on your lap. Make sure the cord is long enough for where you want to sit.

Suggest you try out the keyboard at retail stores and see which cheap ones you don't mind using.

If you're like me, you'll step on the keyboard eventually, after kicking it about 10 times. Try to get as cheap of a keyboard as possible.

ARR does a great job of alleviating the grindy feeling by giving you lots of small goals to work on as steps toward a larger one. For example, if you're trying to level, a great way of doing that is completing hunting log pages, each of which is broken down into groups, each of which may contain several targets. Each time you complete one of those tiers, you get a little buzz of gratification and there's a pull to go onward as the reward on the next tier gets a little closer.

Doesn't FFXI have something similar? I vaguely recall "Field Manuals" or something. FFXIV's implementation is a lot more user friendly, but it's automated to the point of feeling so computer-ish instead of adventure like.

Technically the barrier between one level and the next is still something like "kill 100 mobs" but because it's broken down into manageable chunks it doesn't feel overwhelming and the breadcrumb trail of rewards keeps it feeling satisfying, without any content creator needing to create additional filler.

True, but a smooth exp party was always more satisfying than going through a checklist of "kill 3 of this" and "defeat 5 of that." At least it was so in FFXI to me.

Both are grind, but I guess I don't mind grind as much as long as it's kept within reason. (Not like, spend 1000 hr to reach next level which you need to play endgame, or pay $15 to buy that 15 million exp. That'd be the kind of grind (and blackmail) I'd skip.)

[Takelli]

Re: Possibly Returning??....

Doesn't FFXI have something similar? I vaguely recall "Field Manuals" or something. FFXIV's implementation is a lot more user friendly, but it's automated to the point of feeling so computer-ish instead of adventure like.



True, but a smooth exp party was always more satisfying than going through a checklist of "kill 3 of this" and "defeat 5 of that." At least it was so in FFXI to me.

Both are grind, but I guess I don't mind grind as much as long as it's kept within reason. (Not like, spend 1000 hr to reach next level which you need to play endgame, or pay $15 to buy that 15 million exp. That'd be the kind of grind (and blackmail) I'd skip.)

Field Manuals do lower grind quite a bit, but I miss the whole "Party up in Dunes, and kill stuff." mentality, and the actually doing the skill chains in Yhouter Jungle. Was fun, but everything was more automated. I did play the game up until august 2012.

But the grind isn't all that bad though. For some reason, I love the grind, and it's just... I don't know. Leveling through the levels, and enjoying a party that is talking, and engaging is always good, along with a good linkshell. I like how they changed leveling a bit, making people go in older zones, more than just go into Abby and just ask their way to level 99.

Even though Dunes weren't what I'd call "Smooth", but they were fun learning how to play your job.

And the "Kill X of Y, then Z of A" isn't exactly smooth, but it's better than sitting in Abby, and just afking. Atleast you get skill ups if you still need them.

[rvk5150]

Re: Possibly Returning??....

I am still playing and love it; granted I am a noob from January so it is all new to me. I have met many great people though and joined a fairly active ls; it is fun and I plan to keep it up along with ffxiv which I pre-ordered as well.

[Shadowneko]

Re: Possibly Returning??....

Personally I kinda got fed up when Abyssea was added but my sister has kept the account so I play randomly. For me Abyssea ruined what I loved most about the game and allowed many players to rapidly leach to lvl 99(as newbies with no party experience or skillups) then shortly after that the whiners got FOV added and patched to be just about like it further ruining it for me. I loved XP parties, talking to random people and laughing when we all fell down dead once or twice(darn it we messed up..lol). Nowadays parties before endgame are extinct and I've never liked the drama or the mess that is endgame to begin with...

Abyssea should have had a higher entry cap from the start but to use an old adage: "once the genie is outta the bottle there's no putting it back" so basically we can't change it now and we're stuck with it. Was the old way perfect? No I don't think so but it was impossible to get 75(99 just feels like 75 anyway) without learning alittle bit at least and maybe there were still idiots but less of them. The main reason we had to wait so long for parties near the launch of abby is because the supply of newbies was drying up which could have been solved with some promos to attract them(never stop advertising an MMO. I learned this from watching how blizzard promotes WoW).

I may go to 14 myself but I'm real broke and time strapped nowadays so I can't really play MMOs much...

- - - Updated - - -

Personally I kinda got fed up when Abyssea was added but my sister has kept the account so I play randomly. For me Abyssea ruined what I loved most about the game and allowed many players to rapidly leach to lvl 99(as newbies with no party experience or skillups) then shortly after that the whiners got FOV added and patched to be just about like it further ruining it for me. I loved XP parties, talking to random people and laughing when we all fell down dead once or twice(darn it we messed up..lol). Nowadays parties before endgame are extinct and I've never liked the drama or the mess that is endgame to begin with...

Abyssea should have had a higher entry cap from the start but to use an old adage: "once the genie is outta the bottle there's no putting it back" so basically we can't change it now and we're stuck with it. Was the old way perfect? No I don't think so but it was impossible to get 75(99 just feels like 75 anyway) without learning alittle bit at least and maybe there were still idiots but less of them. The main reason we had to wait so long for parties near the launch of abby is because the supply of newbies was drying up which could have been solved with some promos to attract them(never stop advertising an MMO. I learned this from watching how blizzard promotes WoW).

I may go to 14 myself but I'm real broke and time strapped nowadays so I can't really play MMOs much...

- - - Updated - - -

Personally I kinda got fed up when Abyssea was added but my sister has kept the account so I play randomly. For me Abyssea ruined what I loved most about the game and allowed many players to rapidly leach to lvl 99(as newbies with no party experience or skillups) then shortly after that the whiners got FOV added and patched to be just about like it further ruining it for me. I loved XP parties, talking to random people and laughing when we all fell down dead once or twice(darn it we messed up..lol). Nowadays parties before endgame are extinct and I've never liked the drama or the mess that is endgame to begin with...

Abyssea should have had a higher entry cap from the start but to use an old adage: "once the genie is outta the bottle there's no putting it back" so basically we can't change it now and we're stuck with it. Was the old way perfect? No I don't think so but it was impossible to get 75(99 just feels like 75 anyway) without learning alittle bit at least and maybe there were still idiots but less of them. The main reason we had to wait so long for parties near the launch of abby is because the supply of newbies was drying up which could have been solved with some promos to attract them(never stop advertising an MMO. I learned this from watching how blizzard promotes WoW).

I may go to 14 myself but I'm real broke and time strapped nowadays so I can't really play MMOs much...