Returning Vet, Over 2 Years Since I Quit

[WeAreLegion]

Basicly I don't wanna do another, "Which Server is Best??" thread...so a brief history of myself and then the question:

I started over 2 years ago, sucked in all my friends, and played for a year before logging in one day and being hit with the dreaded "Why am I playing this?" feeling...I quit. Within a month I tried to come back, and could not.

Since then I hit several other MMORPGs with Vanguard and WoW being the last two. In WoW I thought I found what I wanted but after soloing my way to 53 with a hunter (In less then one month!) I realized I wanted the chalenge and flexability FFXI had...but could not bring myself to try again.

Oddly enough it has been two weeks of FF Tactics A2 and a little FFXII that has me back. Is it just me or does XII feel like a dry run at a FFXI-2?? Heh, anyhow I am back and excited, but stuck at choosing a server, which is all me and I will figure out one. Gonna be the same as last time: Taru Male...cuz the stumpys rule.

So my question:
- What has changed in the past two years? (What are the biggest changes to make the question able to be answered!)

To better place when I quit it was just before breeding Chocobo's was introduced and I think right before the ToAU expansion. A while ago I know!

Thanks for any help and hopefully I make it longer then two weeks this time! (A brand new character will help I am sure!)

* Sorry about the spelling: it is late, I have had little sleep for three weeks (Wife with c-section/gangrinous appendix removal wounds and a baby in the NICU) and I am used to my MAC which has built in spellcheck unlike my HP with XP :p )

[Ellipses]

Re: Returning Vet, Over 2 Years Since I Quit

Answer: a lot.

Seriously, it's a long list. ToAU itself was one of the biggest changes, because of the types of monsters in those areas. High-level parties have changed dynamics, and everyone generally does a melee-burn type of party in the higher levels now. ToAU also made transportation easier, since it's possible to teleport from the capital city there to Jeuno or your home nation, and from any of the four original three beginner cities to the capital in ToAU.

Nomad moogles in Selbina and Mhaura. Chocobo breeding. Signet giving slight buffs. Dancer and Scholar changing the landscape a little, including as subjobs. Campaign (and Beseiged) to make soloing XP at high levels viable. Several job changes, changes to the way 2-handed weapons work.

Anything specific you're curious about?

[Nuriko]

Re: Returning Vet, Over 2 Years Since I Quit

Correction, you can't go straight from Jeuno to Whitegate. Well, not unless something changed recently...

[Ellipses]

Re: Returning Vet, Over 2 Years Since I Quit

Woops. I shall blame this on lack of caffeine. /nod

[WeAreLegion]

Re: Returning Vet, Over 2 Years Since I Quit

Anything specific you're curious about?

Chocobo breeding, this "Pankration" thingy, and the current state of cheaters/gill sellers.

(I have heard that SoE has been hard asses and banning thousands of accounts, which is great IMO)

Thanks!

[Ellipses]

Re: Returning Vet, Over 2 Years Since I Quit

SE has been cracking down on RMT quite a bit. They keep making adjustments to try and deal with monopolization, cheats, etc. through the game itself (making some NM drops rare/ex, making places unsafe for level 1 fishbots, etc.), and they have a Special Task Force that's gotten a lot more serious about investigating & banning RMT. They release reports to say how many bannings there have been, how much gil was removed because of it, etc. There's also this handy form to report suspicious activity. The economy has deflated quite a bit because of all this. The RMT are still there, obviously, as are other cheaters, but it's nowhere near as rampant as it was a couple years ago.

For Chocobo raising and Pankration I'm going to cop out and leave you with those two links, because I don't have any real experience with either myself. I bred my first chocobo, but didn't put any major effort into it, so I can't tell you anything about colors or speed or whatever. It's quite handy to be able to call one out in the wild though.