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What's changed?

XhieronXhieron Member UncommonPosts: 132

So, apparently like many people, I'm taking the dive and getting back into what has been in my experience the pinnacle of my online gaming career.

 

Trouble is, it's been a few years.  Last time I played Chains had only been out for a few months, so ... yeah.  I'd like to get some idea of what's changed since then, if anyone can point me to something resembling a faq or just give me an overview.

 

I've also seen people in other threads asking about the old-fashioned camping parties, and while I share that nostalgia, I'm willing to be flexible (and powerleveled).  That said, one of the things I regret most about my time in the game before was that I didn't take the time to level up BST.  At the time, that was essentially the only way to solo past level 10 or so, and I've long-applauded that design choice.  Is that still true/possible?  Or does it matter?  Can other (presumably new or significantly altered) jobs solo now?  Can everyone?

 

And finally, where is the population?  I know this game isn't as crowded as it used to be, but I'd prefer to be playing in the company of other like-minded English-speaking players who I can expect to still be around in a month.  Is there a server of choice these days?  I managed a couple of linkshells during my previous tenure, but I can't see trying to do that again, so I'd be interested in joining one if anybody has any recommendations on that front too.

 

In the meantime, I'm downloading, patching, and remembering the good old days.  If anybody can shed any light on my questions or anything else that strikes you as a "returning players need to know this" piece of information, I'd be grateful.  Thanks.

 

 

Peace and safety.

Comments

  • DraronDraron Member Posts: 993

    I myself played from launch until I finished up CoP, took a year break and played a few months around WotG launched and left until just recently.

    A lot has changed if the last time you've played was around CoP. I'll try to give a general list that would be the biggest changes from then and now, but it's far from an all inclusive one:

    - With signet active, you can pretty much solo on every class now as it gives you a bonus to XP and stats against mobs that are anything lower than VT (very tough). Still, some fair better than others but there's some really good subjobs that effectively allows any class to solo. Throw on a Dancer subjob to melee's and you can use your TP to heal yourself. Mages seem to be getting a nice tanking subjob next expansion, but they're nowhere near as bad as they once were at playing solo.

    - They have these floating books in most every zone now called Field of Valor. They have several pages in each that give you a task to complete (kill x monsters) and rewards you with XP, Gil and a currency called tabs that's used to buy solo food and such from the books. It effectively allows any class to solo.

    - All auction houses are linked together now, and the market moves as fast as ever. The population on my server (Leviathan) hovers around 1000-1500 and it's by far from the most populated (Odin and Bahamut comes to mind if you want population).

    - They added level sync which lets anyone scale down to a party members level to help them with content. Your gear scales too so you don't have to have a lower level set ready. They removed a lot of the level caps for storyline content so you can pretty much solo the storylines up until the end if your high level. 

    - The high end storylines and the variety of endgame activities still takes parties, though. They got tons of options for endgame. They differ on the amount of people needed and difficulty, but all reward gear that is useful for max level - they're mostly situational. 

    - They added a new system called Abyssea that's mostly used for leveling 30+. It's time limited and you can only do it once a day, but it's fast party content that made many jobs viable once again that gives insane exp. It's mostly there for players to catch up to jump into the real endgame, but I like the casual pace of Fields of Valor.

    - Level cap has been raised to 99. 

    Tons of other stuff, I'd read around the FFXI wiki if your wanting to check up on some things in particular. But the game's still alive, still fun and has some big things on the horizon (first boxed expansion in years adding two new jobs, a new storyline and some new systems that deal with building structures and such). If your starting fresh and looking for some people to play with join Leviathan, I'm leveling tons of jobs still and I can help you with your subjob and other milestones/storylines.

  • ezpz77ezpz77 Member Posts: 227

    I just recently returned after a six year "break." I had a capped BLM, BRD, and SAM before and participated in endgame. Now, I'm not sure if it's just the fact that I've adapted to more modern games in the last six years, or my tastes have completely change, but I couldn't stomach playing the damned game which is a real shame because I have very fond memories of my time there lol.

     

    The biggest change for me was the way you now level, which is an insanely mind-numbing task; yes, even more so than before. See, leveling in FFXI was an extremely social experience back in the olden days. You made long-time friends in statics and pick-ups alike. You knew the people on your server because you played with them all the time. Even getting one level in that game was an achievment so it really helped groups come together and cooperate. Now you have a few options and all of them amount to you standing around in an alliance full of people zerging down mobs. No cooperation whatsoever, and the really crappy part is there's virtually zero communication.

     

    I spent level 1-15 in the lower level zones, did it on another job, and then I spent 15-30 in a cave fighting skeletons for about four hours. I did this a few times, then made my way to Jeuno, got my chocobo, and proceeded to spend 30-50 in another cave fighting crawlers and bees. Leveling is fast, but fuck me is it boring.

     

    As to the solo aspect of the game, I'm not sure to be honest because I didn't do much of it as I find it extremely boring. As I understand it, BST is still the undisputed king of solo, but other jobs are now at least servicable when it comes to doing lower level content i.e. dynamis, limbus, expanion storylines etc.

     

    I only made it to 50 on one job and 30ish on two others (plus doing some other stuff i.e. story content, choco quests, job quests etc) before finally admitting to myself that I was not having any fun. My sincere advice is to take a pass on this game unless you are returning with friends or know a few people in game already. Perhaps things are much better at 99, but there was just no way I had the sanity to stick around to find out. In any case, good luck if/when you do decide to return to Vana'diel.

  • Kozmo14Kozmo14 Member UncommonPosts: 53

    I have a few questions to add but instead of making a new thread I'll ask here. Its been awhile so bare with me. Ive read quiet a bit and some of the links Ive found in other threads have helped. Ill start by saying I quit pretty much for good back when Treasures came out, and have come back a few times since but my stay hasnt ever lasted any longer than a week.

    1. Ive read how the lvling has changed and you can solo, but do people even bother with grp lvling anymore? Throw a flag and wait for invite? Also Ive read its possible to get to 99 in a few days? If this is trues thats just insane lmao.

    2. Do people even bother doing the CoP and Zilart missions anymore. Im starting fresh if I return this would be a huge plus for me if they are still popular.

    3. Do people still try and lvl up their nation ranks?

    4. Do people still go after AF1,2 and 3 gear?

    I hate to hear how simple this game seems now. Thats the memories I have most about this game compared to the mmos Ive moved on to since. People working together, having to ask for help and the willingness to help others. Thought I would just ask those Qs here. Ill start a new thread if I have to.

    Games. Music. Metal. ROLL TIDE!!!

  • BlazeyerBlazeyer Member UncommonPosts: 562

    Mega FFXI vet here.

     

    The game is super easy mode now.

    -Relics, while once rare and an achievement, are laughably common.

    -Content in this game is hardly linkshell oriented now. You can do everything in a shout group (and most things are done that way)

    -Neo Salvage armor seems to be a joke compared to Neo Nyzul gear.

     

    Hopefully the new content makes the game better.

  • Sauteed_OnionSauteed_Onion Member Posts: 33
    I recently got back into it, and everyone I met used programs to hack through walls and insta claim nm's, this wasn't like 1 or 2 people, this was virtually every single person I met, granted only like 15-20 people in a few different linkshells. After a getting up to 99 on a few jobs I had and seeing there was nothing challenging or exciting I left. The change I derived from this is that cheats finally stopped being a thing of only top HNMLS used to virtually everyone. Also, farming seals is hella mf'ing boring.
  • c0existc0exist Member UncommonPosts: 196
    So sad, this game is where i had most of my fondest mmo memories.  Now its a laughing stock.  I played from launch to the treasures of aht urghan expansion.  And since there are no great games to play atm I wish i could start up a new character and start over but why bother?  From what I hear its sold out to modern mmo players.  The ones that want everything handed to them.  It took me almost a year and a half to get to max level at launch of this game, I hear now you can get to max in no time and back then it was only 75 now its 99?  Give me some difficulty please SE with ARR.
  • vandal5627vandal5627 Member UncommonPosts: 788
    Originally posted by c0exist
    So sad, this game is where i had most of my fondest mmo memories.  Now its a laughing stock.  I played from launch to the treasures of aht urghan expansion.  And since there are no great games to play atm I wish i could start up a new character and start over but why bother?  From what I hear its sold out to modern mmo players.  The ones that want everything handed to them.  It took me almost a year and a half to get to max level at launch of this game, I hear now you can get to max in no time and back then it was only 75 now its 99?  Give me some difficulty please SE with ARR.

     Just because you can get to 99 easily doesnt mean there's no difficulty in the game.  It was never difficult to level back then, it just took time.

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