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Basically as the title states. Obviously as this is a site where most people love FFXI and practically creamed their pants over XIV, I would guess that the results will probably tip in one direction, but hear me out for a few. (Long post incoming, sorry. Lots of thoughts running through my brain at the moment.)
When FFXIV was first announced, I was really quite thrilled. We saw some of the races, the site started to emerge with glimpses of information, and as time went by even Alpha videos were emerging. I couldn't wait to start exploring a new world. At that point, I was still playing FFXI and WoW pretty much constantly and sometimes simultaneously. Something I'm not quite sure how this shitty laptop managed, but well, it worked out. (And really, I was just camping Khim and checking XI every 58 minutes for the interval, so it wasn't like I was trying to actively play two games.)
Fast forward a few months, and SE makes all these sweeping changes in policy about how they accept credit card payments, and from whom. I got temp banned on Aks, then a month later, perma banned on Yamila for the same offense - changing cards often. And I'm still not exactly sure when Aks' perma ban happened, but that didn't really affect anything because I had quit months before I even realized I was banned. Still, that irritated me, as I've got multiple cards, and sometimes one gets paid and the other doesn't, so I'm gonna put FFXI on the card that has available funds. I didn't know that = fraud. But whatever, I digress.
I was pretty annoyed about that, and the fact that I got the complete runaround through several phone calls with both accounts. On top of that, I was getting pretty disenchanted with FFXI in general, and my overall anger at SE for treating me, a long-time customer, like a goddamn criminal, it really sucked the life out of the game. You guys um, may have noticed that. >.>
All this time, I was still convinced I would play XIV. But as I quit FFXI and withdrew myself from the community (or at least, the community with which I was connected, my old linkshell), I began to lose interest in the prospect of starting yet again with another MMO. I had considered a foray into Aion when it released, but chose not to out of sheer lack of funds. At that point, I'd only ever played two MMOs: FFXI, and WoW. Unless you count the three hours I played the Aion open beta at a friend's house. I just couldn't get immersed in it. I started to wonder if starting FFXIV would end up the same for me as WoW did, where I lost interest after only a few months, or even as Aion did, where I played for three hours and was done with it.
Granted, SE always makes great games, and comparing a game by them with a game like WoW is probably not really fair, as WoW was marginally fun but just didn't hold me nearly as long as XI did. There are many reasons for that, but there's no need to go into all of that now. Part of me losing interest in both FFXI and WoW was that friends with whom I'd played for a while decided to quit, and I grew lonely. Make new friends? It's possible, but when you had a long history with other friends, making new ones as replacements just doesn't work so well.
Could I go back to XI? I was even asked by a friend if I would, when I finally "came out" that I was banned. I was surprised, to be honest, that anyone even asked me. You know how it is, you quit, you're done, people forget about you eventually. Everyone is actually pretty forgettable unless you meet them in real life. There are a few friends from 2004 that I remember, sure, but for the most part, people leave, and they're forgotten. So then I thought, could I go back and join the same people in XIV that I played with in XI? Would it be weird to re-join that group? With some of the history (I had a few fallings out, nothing I wish to go into) and whatnot, would I feel out of place? Would the fact that I missed out on the things that have taken place between July (when I quit) and when XIV releases make me feel like an outcast?
But on the other hand, do I want to start over and make new friends?
And really, can I? Think about it. In terms of FFXI, I'm pretty well known. I post regularly on BG and I was in Excellence, which, like it or not, brings notoriety regardless. I wouldn't change my name, I love it too much. But stepping into FFXI for the first time was so much different than stepping into XIV will be. You're already known. There's already history. There's already a community for it.
It wasn't like that when I started XI. It wasn't like that when I started WoW. I'm not sure it's necessarily a bad thing, but really, is the community really going to change just because the game does? I don't know. And the community has gotten quite snobbish as of late, and I won't lie and say I never was a part of that (because I totally was) but do I want to go through that again? FFXI was like high school sometimes with BG as the gossip column or something.
And this isn't even the root of it. I don't know. The more I look at XIV posts and articles the more I feel like I don't even know if I'd be interested in playing it. I didn't know anything about XI when I bought it except that it was a FF game and I loved X so maybe I'd love this online thing. And I just kind of stepped in and immersed myself, figuring it out as I went, with or without help. Can I really do that with XIV when I already know so much about it? And not necessarily mechanics of the game and mathematics (though I'm sure that will become important as it inevitably does) but just ... in general? Maybe I'm just being cynical of my ability to enjoy a game with so much pre-information. But when I think back to opening up Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, all I knew of it was what I saw in the commercials. I already feel like I know too much about XIV before I even get the chance to enjoy exploring it on my own, you know?
I don't know. Maybe I'm crazy and I'm worrying way too much about the game before I even know how it will play. But it just seems like the more I learn about it and the more excited everyone else gets, the less I really care about it at all.
Point of post (or the tl;dr):
So I was wondering. Has all of the information you've gotten about XIV leave you wanting more? Or are you thinking that it's too much, or just losing interest before you've even gotten the chance to experience it? Just wondering if anyone else is feeling the way I have been, like the more they hear the less excited they get.
Feel free to ramble as I have, I'm encouraging discussion here of what people are thinking on this.
When FFXIV was first announced, I was really quite thrilled. We saw some of the races, the site started to emerge with glimpses of information, and as time went by even Alpha videos were emerging. I couldn't wait to start exploring a new world. At that point, I was still playing FFXI and WoW pretty much constantly and sometimes simultaneously. Something I'm not quite sure how this shitty laptop managed, but well, it worked out. (And really, I was just camping Khim and checking XI every 58 minutes for the interval, so it wasn't like I was trying to actively play two games.)
Fast forward a few months, and SE makes all these sweeping changes in policy about how they accept credit card payments, and from whom. I got temp banned on Aks, then a month later, perma banned on Yamila for the same offense - changing cards often. And I'm still not exactly sure when Aks' perma ban happened, but that didn't really affect anything because I had quit months before I even realized I was banned. Still, that irritated me, as I've got multiple cards, and sometimes one gets paid and the other doesn't, so I'm gonna put FFXI on the card that has available funds. I didn't know that = fraud. But whatever, I digress.
I was pretty annoyed about that, and the fact that I got the complete runaround through several phone calls with both accounts. On top of that, I was getting pretty disenchanted with FFXI in general, and my overall anger at SE for treating me, a long-time customer, like a goddamn criminal, it really sucked the life out of the game. You guys um, may have noticed that. >.>
All this time, I was still convinced I would play XIV. But as I quit FFXI and withdrew myself from the community (or at least, the community with which I was connected, my old linkshell), I began to lose interest in the prospect of starting yet again with another MMO. I had considered a foray into Aion when it released, but chose not to out of sheer lack of funds. At that point, I'd only ever played two MMOs: FFXI, and WoW. Unless you count the three hours I played the Aion open beta at a friend's house. I just couldn't get immersed in it. I started to wonder if starting FFXIV would end up the same for me as WoW did, where I lost interest after only a few months, or even as Aion did, where I played for three hours and was done with it.
Granted, SE always makes great games, and comparing a game by them with a game like WoW is probably not really fair, as WoW was marginally fun but just didn't hold me nearly as long as XI did. There are many reasons for that, but there's no need to go into all of that now. Part of me losing interest in both FFXI and WoW was that friends with whom I'd played for a while decided to quit, and I grew lonely. Make new friends? It's possible, but when you had a long history with other friends, making new ones as replacements just doesn't work so well.
Could I go back to XI? I was even asked by a friend if I would, when I finally "came out" that I was banned. I was surprised, to be honest, that anyone even asked me. You know how it is, you quit, you're done, people forget about you eventually. Everyone is actually pretty forgettable unless you meet them in real life. There are a few friends from 2004 that I remember, sure, but for the most part, people leave, and they're forgotten. So then I thought, could I go back and join the same people in XIV that I played with in XI? Would it be weird to re-join that group? With some of the history (I had a few fallings out, nothing I wish to go into) and whatnot, would I feel out of place? Would the fact that I missed out on the things that have taken place between July (when I quit) and when XIV releases make me feel like an outcast?
But on the other hand, do I want to start over and make new friends?
And really, can I? Think about it. In terms of FFXI, I'm pretty well known. I post regularly on BG and I was in Excellence, which, like it or not, brings notoriety regardless. I wouldn't change my name, I love it too much. But stepping into FFXI for the first time was so much different than stepping into XIV will be. You're already known. There's already history. There's already a community for it.
It wasn't like that when I started XI. It wasn't like that when I started WoW. I'm not sure it's necessarily a bad thing, but really, is the community really going to change just because the game does? I don't know. And the community has gotten quite snobbish as of late, and I won't lie and say I never was a part of that (because I totally was) but do I want to go through that again? FFXI was like high school sometimes with BG as the gossip column or something.
And this isn't even the root of it. I don't know. The more I look at XIV posts and articles the more I feel like I don't even know if I'd be interested in playing it. I didn't know anything about XI when I bought it except that it was a FF game and I loved X so maybe I'd love this online thing. And I just kind of stepped in and immersed myself, figuring it out as I went, with or without help. Can I really do that with XIV when I already know so much about it? And not necessarily mechanics of the game and mathematics (though I'm sure that will become important as it inevitably does) but just ... in general? Maybe I'm just being cynical of my ability to enjoy a game with so much pre-information. But when I think back to opening up Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, all I knew of it was what I saw in the commercials. I already feel like I know too much about XIV before I even get the chance to enjoy exploring it on my own, you know?
I don't know. Maybe I'm crazy and I'm worrying way too much about the game before I even know how it will play. But it just seems like the more I learn about it and the more excited everyone else gets, the less I really care about it at all.
Point of post (or the tl;dr):
So I was wondering. Has all of the information you've gotten about XIV leave you wanting more? Or are you thinking that it's too much, or just losing interest before you've even gotten the chance to experience it? Just wondering if anyone else is feeling the way I have been, like the more they hear the less excited they get.
Feel free to ramble as I have, I'm encouraging discussion here of what people are thinking on this.
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