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Being a bit older, 33, I grew up on EQ and FFXI mostly. What really kept me hooked on those two games for years and years was the amount of time it took to "complete" the game.
IMO one of the best things about FFXI was that every single level felt like a struggle, in a good way. So many games let you breeze through xontent to get to "end game", but once you get there it just peters out.
I played FFXIv at launch for about two months, but coming from 5 years of FFXI I just couldn't stay with it. I'm very excited for ARR and I'm hoping that solid group content and a lengthy campaign can give me the same sense of accomplishment that EQ and FFXI did.
Thoughts?
Comments
http://absoluteretribution.enjin.com/ Guild Website and Recruitment link
The amount of time needed to hit level cap and get through things like COP was artificially inflated because it could take anywhere from an hour to several days to get a group, and then the group could be awful which wasted even more time. I capped Bard in about a month, got through Zilart up to Sky access in a single, very long day/night, and finished CoP in a month. If you played a job like BRD or RDM, you would get a PT as soon as you put your flag up. If you played a job like lolDRG you could have your flag up for an entire day and not see an invite.
I do not think you're going to get what you want with FFXIV. Times are much different now and SE is smart enough to realize that. Yoshi is looking at games like GW2, Rift, and WoW. He's not looking at games like EQ and FFXI as much. They may still have insane grinds like Relics and Mythics, but I do not think we're going to see long leveling times. I'd be shocked if it took more than a few weeks to hit cap on a job.
Artificial roadblocks are artificial.
It took me 8 months to hit 75 back in '04. I'd say 80% of that was spent unable to find a group. There were days i went to work and left myself logged in and seaking for group, only to come home and see nothing. I only did this a few times as an experiment but i had similar experiences during the weekend when i was home and lfg for 8 hour stretches.
I enjoy when things take longer than a week to achieve, i really do, but XI is a perfect example of artificial roadblocks to keep us playing longer while allowing SE to slack on content.
Eliminate the nonsense while extending the leveling and we have a winner.
I hear what you all are saying. I just don't want to solo until 50 and max out my leveling in one month is all.
Hopefulyl there will be enough group content to keep the FFXI players happy.
Given the 'level all jobs on one character' thing I kinda see the cap as maxing everything. Even if the 1-50 curve is much faster than FFXI the real 'cap' is essentially many times that and so the overall time to max out a character will still be considerably longer than most modern MMOs. I know not everyone will see it that way but personally I'll have plenty to keep me busy for quite a while even if it's not as lengthy as XI...
As for the main story campaign we only know a few details. ARR has three separate storylines though, not just the usual one, and they each focus on a different thing (the Garlean Empire, the beast tribes, and something else I've forgotten) so I'd say there's a sizable amount of story content. I imagine we'll see the usual storyline continuations with each patch as well that tend to keep everyone going for a while.
To be honest FFXI and XIV 1.0 are some of the very few MMOs to do story well. It's entirely optional, heavily group-focussed content and the story itself is very high quality. I still maintain the CoP story from XI is one of the best in the entire FF series... You'll still have your online game with or without it so I don't see the problem.
I believe Yoshi-P specifically stated that he didn't like it when games (FFXIV 1.0 in particular) had such large level gaps between story. He spoke of it having a lot more story in FFXIV -- enough to max out an entire class at launch without doing anything else.
He also mentioned three main storylines that will make up the whole, so that one won't feel forced just to give you something at each level.
This is just the starting main story, and there is more planned for patches and expansions and not inclusive of the stories in other activities and side quests.
I really hope its lengthy to. Im the type of player when he findes a game that he really likes, he puts around 40 hrs a week in. That's how much free times i've always had, and lately since mmo's been so casuall i've been bored outa my mind Oo. With guild wars 2 i reached cap in like a month and a half a quit playing that, cause of lack of proggresion. I dont want to re experiance that again.
Im really hoping that FF ARR will keep me hooked for years like ffxi used to. I literally played ffxi 40+ hr's a week every week for 4+ yrs, exept the 4 week a year that me and my family goes on vacation. Hope i get to do the same with ARR.
le sigh....would be so nice.
but, when looking at all we have seen coming to this point, we'll likely be let down.
The Deep Web is sca-ry.
There was story in FF11?
I never encountered any story when I played for the 10 or so hours I did. All I found myself doing was grinding on mobs and getting bored very fast at how bad the service was, the controls were, the UI was and how bland and empty all the zones were.
The story I encountered in FF14 was so bad, I mean soooooooooooooooo bad I couldn't even laugh at how goofy and cheesy it is, I just cringed and was so glad no one else was around to see it.
I think most mainstream MMOs that want a successful return on players will have a game with the option to devour content at high speed. We can hope (IMO) that ARR will have content enough and enjoyability enough for those of us who play at our own pace to enjoy for a long time to come but more and more frequently I think, we'll find longer term investments in games being the replayability of new classes rather than 1 long run for max level.
People these days want immediate gratification. Games that want larger crowds of players have to offer that to some degree.
Just means you didn't really give it much of a chance. 10 hours in an MMO is nothing; the first 10 hours in WoW would also be incredibly boring... In FFXI you were also expected to actually be social in order to get by which is why a lot of people never gave it a chance.
There were story missions right from the very start though... it began with nation-specific missions that were seemingly mundane but it quickly became apparent there was something much more sinister working behind the scenes. Go on youtube and google the FFXI cutscenes; some of them are pretty damn good if you have the patience to read the text (and if you don't why are you playing an RPG?)
If it ain't gonna be fun straight away then why would I stick around? I think after 10 hours you can pretty much see how the game will play out.
FFXI had a steep learning curve compared to modern mmo's, your hand wasn't held to guide you. there was a ton of story material in FFXI most of the cut scenes didnt kick in until you done certain quests or moved from a certain area to another, going outside of town to kill mobs is not going to trigger stories.
Unlike most MMO's FFXI didn't frontload the game with content to keep this new generation of ADD cases hooked. Other MMO's in 10 hours will not only fully gear you but you also have 10 abilities along with a key to the city. In FFXI you earn those things, they are not given away. It's too bad you missed out on this masterpiece but it isn't for everyone. Lucky for you there are 700 MMO's out there that would probably suit your needs, and will give you the world in the 10th hour. If you want instant gratification you are in the wrong place.
http://absoluteretribution.enjin.com/ Guild Website and Recruitment link
Do we know if ARR will have this? I heard talk of differing spawns based on time of day but nothing concrete about them being undead... IMO this was one of the things that really kept you on your toes in XI as those undead were MUCH more powerful than the normal mobs in the area. It kept things interesting and added a good bit of tension. I miss it.
very well said!
plenty of soloable/easy games out already. ffxi great because it was hard to achieve objectives without a good group. felt more rewarding when earning items. acievements meant more because not everyone could have all the best items.
i hope one day someone has the balls to make a tough game where adventure and levelling is the main focus and end game isnt the be all end all.
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If i felt like grinding id just work longer hours.
If you just mean harder content then i agree.
FFXIV ARR is nothing like (old school) FFXI. Just off the top of my head....
FFXI FFXIV
long ladder to the top short ladder to the top
expensive items you can afford anything
open world you have to explore go from one exclamation point to the next
meaningful death penalty spend 5 minutes worth of money to repair armor after dying
> 75% content mandates groups solo all you want
specialized jobs each job performs numerous roles
no instances prior to ToAU virtually every dungeon and all end game content is instanced
on and on....
When you play it you will reach max level within a month if you play casually. Then you will do raids and dungeons with linkshells in instances so that you can get tons of gold and items. There will be a ridiculous number of quests. Each quest will require you to follow one point after the next on your mini map so that you can be ridiculously rewarded. So each quest is basically the same. Not one will require you to spend days doing. Each quest will be done within an hour. Short and sweet sums up FFXIV.