Old FFXI Vs New FFXI

Not quite. I'm sorta behind the whole RDM AF3 stuff. I need 8 RDM seals. SAM wouldn't be bad either, though. O.o

I've only been able to +1 my legs and head so far on Blm, head on Whm, and 0 pieces on thf, lol. Idc though. People with the twilight and full +2 gearz standin around already are doing just that; standing around. They had other people get their seals/coins/etc, for them and now they're doing what they did before Abby again. Standing around with nothin to do. I'm pacing myself, no rush at all. Saw a full +2 Tantra Mnk. I was so impressed til I saw the brown belt and the AF accessories. lol. Or the full +2 Blm that get's out nuked still by an elvaan in a Genie cause he never did CoP to get his ultimate atma... Fail= Fail always.

YO I TELL YA WUT BRODER HANBOK Y'ALL REMBERIN WHEN Y'ALL SHOUTS OUT FOR A TELLERS FUR 500GILS????????????????

To all the people comparing new FFXI to WoW; At least WoW is making money~

The "Old FFXI" was getting to a point where it was HARD and I mean HARD to keep ppl, withing linkshells, motivated about doing anything anymore.

LS's broke because of the lack of interest. Some ppl even had to start new LS's and MOST ppl started to quit cuz the game had nothing to offer anymore. The "Old FFXI" had nothing to offer anymore and that's the truth. It was such a problem that SE had to even merge servers lol.

Then comes Abyssea and all I see is most ppl motivated again. Like it or not, Abyssea brought back ppl and stopped a lot of ppl from quitting. That's the bottom line. Yes it is easier but you still need to know what you're doing.

I'm sure that at lvl99 FFXI will become the "Old FFXI" (I hope not) where we'll have lvl99 versions of Einherjar, Dynamis, Salvage, CoP, HNM's, etc. I just hope that SE keeps everything more or less as they are right now, where you can low man most everything.

Perfect scenario would be that a whole pt COULD, as in, have a chance to, beat everything... Just make it challenging... Meaning that they could still wipe if they have the wrong jobs or if they're lacking and stuff.

Still the "New FFXI" era is a lot more fun than the "Old FFXI" era... AT LEAST for the better part of a year b4 Abyssea come out.

That's sad. If I can complete mission 8 on CoP in a Teal outfit, EVERY BLM should be able to.. ESPECIALLY a BLM that's got Full af3+2

That is just so WRONG... He's ghetto fabulous though...

Ummmm, sea torque are pretty obsolete as well. They were always pretty overrated to begin with as sea gorgets were always better for WS.

Only Sea torque that has actually gotten better is faith due to h2h base damage.

Also, brown belt with full af3+2 isnt really that bad since 24% haste. Also if they have just recently taken up mnk, can be a pain to get BB items.

Also I can understand why people would rather buy dynamis items than join a sell for them.

For people that have done dynamis for a long time, it can be old and tired and also having to do zones you really dont care about to build points to be able to lot said item. And even then, after you get that one piece that you want, why keep going? And if they leave after getting that item, people will prob just cry that they used the LS to get what they wanted.

Not true, actually.

Which were better for WS? Only one I thought it could be a case for was Love Torque due to DEX being a WS mod as well?

Hope Torque for Sidewinder. Gorget was still situationally superior though (capped pDIF, WSC flooring).

Yes.
Anything besides Byakko's Haidate and Black Belt was hardly noticeable.
inb4 people coming up with ebody and heca cap.

I played back in 2004 and then again on a new server for a short while in 2007 but never played any end game stuff back then. I loved the game back then and I do miss certain aspects but all in all I think there were a lot more pains. I personally liked both the old XI and really enjoy XI today.

I'm happy I missed a lot of the 2007-2010 stuff everything I hear about does not sound like it was really a good time. Camping NMs with ridiculous respawn windows and repop times does not sound like a good time to me. All I remember was JPs and over crowded camping for emp hairpins or monster signas etc. I missed out on salvage and relic ***, thank you lord. People are sad they missed being called in the middle of the night to log on to kill an hNM? wtf? That doesn't sound fun to me.

I also think people often confuse time with skill in MMOs.. yes I believe there is a skill gap but I think time dedicated has always outweighed "skill" for XI.

I remember when I came back and someone told me about ffxi wiki I was blown away that Allakhazam and KillingIfrit were dead :P It's also funny how much more people know about the game now from places like BG where as back in the day people didn't know how every little stat effected pieces of the game. It's cool to know, but the only people who are the real elite are the ones who actually figured that ***out and were the pioneers in logging and formulating new data. I do not miss grinding for exp for countless hours either.

/wave tweeek :D!

I like FFXI the way it is now. I never joined HNMLSes because I didn't like the attitudes people had. I'm not someone who's fond of pushing others down so I can triumph. And I most certainly don't want to be used by leaders so they can get all their toys while I wait my turn.

Almost everyone I knew in a HNMLS was some form of ***. I ran with one of the best on my servers to their Dynamis twice a week for about three years, but I never desired to join them full time. Eight hours a week was plenty enough. (This said, they were truly amazing at their jobs and the game and I was thankful to be with them on Dynamis runs. It was enjoyable seeing Dynamis Lord fall every time and relics being upgraded every few weeks.)

Here's something to think about, though.

If you don't like new FFXI, why not find a group of people who agree with you, have one of you level a job to 75, and Level Sync to all of the old school events? It can be just as much of a challenge, because you'll still be level 75, and the gear can still be considered great among you guys! No reason to be so upset; that option is still there for you if you want it.

And hell, you could even Level Sync lower for more excitement! Go go Kirin at level 70!

I think we should be happy with our new environment. Count our blessings rather than chew on the undesirables. Am I sad that all of the gear I worked hard on, all of my relic+1, af+1, Salvage, and Sea gear is now obsolete? You betcha! But when I got the armor, it meant so much to me, and that satisfaction and proud feeling I had then can never be taken away from me. I owned Summoner Bracers+1 back when they were powerful. I spent months getting my YinYang Robe and I got it early morning with a dear friend. These wonderful experiences can never be taken away from me.

My Linkshell went 0/200 on Macha's Coat. I had 9 million gil saved up for it when it shot up from 12mil to 18mil to make. I was the fourth on the list for Macha's Coat so I gave up. Now Morrigan's Robe is super cheap and easier to get. Perhaps I will consider getting one to honor the work I put in it years ago.

I think really the only thing I miss about old FFXI is my love for it. My passion was so much stronger. But maybe it was because I was a child and naive. Perhaps I had put too much of myself in the game rather than realizing it's just that; a game. To play it is to waste time. If you're not having fun, you shouldn't play, and up until Abyssea, the game has not been the most fun. If anyone finds waiting six hours to months for a party/event/mission fight/item, then they're a masochist. The game had its fun points, don't get me wrong, it's just that the fun took a lot longer to feel.

tl;dr
Stop being lazy and read it!
Haha, really though, the game is a game, and if you let virtual goods get to you, perhaps you need to re-evaluate yourself and your standards. Cherish past experiences because they happened, but open your arms and embrace life as it comes. Look for the good.

KINK!!!!!!!!!!11111111

Dude! \o3o/

Remember when BSTs use to charm monsters?

yes!!!!
edit: as much as i still love bst i just havent had the urge to log on because of the direction my fav job has taken...i still enjoy it but i dont enjoy it as much as i use to..i like that the game is easier but it just doesnt catch my eye like it use to

I lol'd so hard. I liked this.

Correct statement before some big meanie doodieface comes in is:
"At least WoW is making MORE money~"

FFXI still makes money. etc.

Off topic:
Shame Square Enix lost 92% of the profit they thought they were going to make on XIV amirite? Or did I misread my information? If I did, pretty sure someone will correct me.

In other news:
No matter what, this game has proved to be more of a challenge than ANY other FF game I've played. (Fairly certain everyone can agree with me on that?) Old games (Non-RPG and the like etc), for the most part these things just dont bring the challenge they once did (Yes, older smarter faster stronger beat them a million times but seriously, some games just never lose that spark and most of mine did after FFXI). Perhaps some will argue the release of Abyssea has made the game the equivalent of these older games, but I'm speaking of the games career from the early 2000's upwards until today (10 years from Japan's pre-release?)

I didn't mention inside just to not hurt your feelings.
All the jobs are useful only the players are useless when they don't know how to play the job.

Prove it.

picks or gtfo?

Because that defeats the whole purpose. Striving towards the top is only relevant insofar as that top is universally recognized. At 75 no one gave a ***about someone being optimum for level 60, likewise the existence of a 99 cap makes optimum for 75 irrelevant.

An isolated experience at 75 is only fulfilling so long as you can tolerate that isolation. But that ruins the entire purpose of the "massively multi-player online" part of an MMORPG. Even if you are the type of person that rarely interacts with strangers, the playerbase at large plays an incredibly important part in the experience of the game.

Consider it this way. Let's say some people discover an exploit to manipulate augments on gear such that they can obtain completely overpowered pieces that the rest of us cannot get. By your standards they have no effect on the rest of us because there is still the experience/challenge of the game for the rest of us in doing actual content, and the gear that we get is still good amongst us.

See the problem yet? At some point our experience in a game like this is ALWAYS referential to other peoples. There will always be battles about where the bar should be set because that's the reference point we all look at. Ironically the more casual and social players who don't strive to be the very best should be the segment of the community that the devs pay less attention to. Why should the availability of gear be adjusted for people whose enjoyment is (self-proclaimed to) not depend on having "internet pixels"? If the community at large demanded a change to the game, it's because ultimately the have-nots wanted a chance to stand at the top even as they denounced the "greed" and "elitism" of the players on the top.

And your point largely fails because one of the biggest pros of "old FFXI" to people who preferred pre-Abyssea is the zero-sum competitive nature. It's not about killing Fafnir -- that hasn't been hard (for the caliber of player that actually camped actively anyway) for years. It's about getting Fafnir over your rival linkshell, taking Fafnir from them if they messed up, getting the Ebody and Ridill for someone in your shell and not theirs. The fact that Fafnir's drops are worthless now means no one does it. That takes the whole community behind the content away, which is the major driving force behind it.

The whole competitive nature of the game also made things a lot more rare. Abyssea's terminal result is everyone looking the same basically -- full AF3+2 and Empyreans. The content is too ridiculously accessible. A good group of four can do anything, especially in the post-Shinryu gameshark potion era. A group of four would never have a chance at a Relic or a good claiming chance previously. And like it or not, for anything with some innate value rarity makes it more valuable. It's a basic rule of economics.

The only people completely nostalgic for old FFXI are those who dominated the game. For everyone that didn't Abyssea is welcome. I like that you don't need to compete as much to be good at the game anymore, HNM camping could get pretty ugly.

What I don't understand is that if the best gear is easily obtainable and you get exp much faster than you ever have in the past 8 years, what's there to shoot for? Get the best gear, then just help other people get it?

SE needs to make Abby mobs charmable.

It's not necessarily about domination, it's about competition. Sure there was an echelon of players that dominated, but that echelon competed amongst itself constantly and persistently. There's a lot to be said about the inherent value that competition adds to the game.

I had a lot of linkshell members who raved about Abyssea when it first came out and how they weren't tied to camping to our constant cycle of camping Fafhogg/KB/SW/DI/Khim/Cerb. How they could get gear easily now and how it's no longer like playing the game for battered wife syndrome... then they quit out of boredom. There is a lot of inherent enjoyment that comes out of competition. Humans are wired to find enjoyment in the mastery of skills regardless of how important those skills are, that's why games are so attractive to us. Part of that mastery is relative, competition facilitates comparison and we derive enjoyment from competition that validates our mastery.

On the converse side, people don't enjoy it when competition affirms a lack of mastery. Thus why it boils down to, as you said, people who weren't dominant before enjoy Abyssea. Making the game easier makes it so that people who were unable to cut it before get to reap the fruits of success.

So is that a good thing? I'd strongly object that it's a foregone conclusion that accessibility is good.

Generally pro-accessibility comes down to the belief that gear shouldn't matter and that elitism is bad, so accessibility is good because everyone having nice things is good/pissing in the cheerios of elitists is fun. The problem is though that if gear doesn't matter then there is no prerogative to make gear more accessible. If enjoyment of the game comes through experience then people shouldn't feel bound to get the best of the best. Any desire to have all great gear be accessible is an affirmation that great gear is integral to the of enjoyment of the game.

So in reality we are confronted with the fact that gear really is tied to the game at a very important level and is not just e-peen, whether or not people admit it.

If that's the case them I'd argue that super old XI, during the competitive PVE Kings era, was superior because competitive end game...

1. facilitates meritocracy best
2. makes gear more valuable through zero sum rarity
3. makes the player base better (have to be good to get anywhere)
4. ties gear achievement to both skill and dedication on a comparative scale (through triumph in competitive)
5. is inherently more fun because competition increases enjoyability and intensity (look at sports, everything's better with a rivalry)... it only sucks when you are the loser, and quite frankly I don't care to cater the game so that the mediocre can succeed
6. because infinite shelf life gear makes true accomplishment in the game possible rather than SE throwing out some garbage content with a few gear upgrades every update to keep people playing -- you think the game is "playable" now but in reality you've just been trapped in a skinner box that is far far far worse than old XI