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Don't let this game consume you...
Mylon
Member Posts: 975
I spent the whole of my past weekend on FFXI... Getting from 20-24 and getting the keys (with the help of 3 much higher level people) so I could access the 25-30 area.
I've spent roughly 100 hours, probably more, in the game simply grinding up to 30, where my friend keeps telling me the game really starts. So I ask him why does everyone go to an area that takes 4 hours of travelling/farming to access and he says that this area wasn't in the game originally. Like... What do I care?
I feel like I've wasted my whole weekend. I mean, I've seen some really pretty areas and such on my friend's screen and some tough missions that look like they might actually be fun, but it takes far too long to actually get out of anything more interesting than the "bash monster/wait for pull/bash other monster" part of the game. And from what I can tell there's no choice in where to level from 10-30. Few people do much adventuring and it's all about finding a "camp" and pulling the random mobs scattered all across the world to those camps to farm EXP.
Hell, I tried to do some laundry but my friend is like... "I'm not doing this again so you better be here while I farm this key for you or you're fucked." I dare to wonder how this game is meant to be played without a higher level friend helping.
This game suffers from a lot of flaws... There are very few choices to be made for the first 30 levels. Pick a job. Grind to level 18 in all of 2 areas, do quest, restart at level 1 and pick another job, repeat, stay as current job or switch, grind to level 30 in a railroad style path. I've seen a lot of areas for levels 15-20, but no one ever uses them and good luck finding a party to go there. And these are the areas that have to be farmed to get the key to get to the 25-30 area, so at least it'd be killing two stones to grind in those places.
In short, I don't enjoy games that take hours and hours before they become fun.
I've spent roughly 100 hours, probably more, in the game simply grinding up to 30, where my friend keeps telling me the game really starts. So I ask him why does everyone go to an area that takes 4 hours of travelling/farming to access and he says that this area wasn't in the game originally. Like... What do I care?
I feel like I've wasted my whole weekend. I mean, I've seen some really pretty areas and such on my friend's screen and some tough missions that look like they might actually be fun, but it takes far too long to actually get out of anything more interesting than the "bash monster/wait for pull/bash other monster" part of the game. And from what I can tell there's no choice in where to level from 10-30. Few people do much adventuring and it's all about finding a "camp" and pulling the random mobs scattered all across the world to those camps to farm EXP.
Hell, I tried to do some laundry but my friend is like... "I'm not doing this again so you better be here while I farm this key for you or you're fucked." I dare to wonder how this game is meant to be played without a higher level friend helping.
This game suffers from a lot of flaws... There are very few choices to be made for the first 30 levels. Pick a job. Grind to level 18 in all of 2 areas, do quest, restart at level 1 and pick another job, repeat, stay as current job or switch, grind to level 30 in a railroad style path. I've seen a lot of areas for levels 15-20, but no one ever uses them and good luck finding a party to go there. And these are the areas that have to be farmed to get the key to get to the 25-30 area, so at least it'd be killing two stones to grind in those places.
In short, I don't enjoy games that take hours and hours before they become fun.
Comments
I agree completey Mylon. The FFXI noob/low level experience is so unfriendly. Others on these boards will say They like FFXI because its HARD and someone will inevitably say we like it because its not WoW like. While I agree that games like WoW and Eq2 have their problems the devs of those games have realized that its during the noob/low level experience where you capture the players attenttion and loyalty. IN FFXI 1-30 is crap you have to live through to actually get to the game. Sure I could not worry about getting to 30 and spend my time FISHING! or i could learn to speak japanese or play the translator game! I could take up a craft..wait no i cant the economy is to screwed up for the true noob to get into crafting in any serious way unless of course you buy gil.
I still love the setting of the game. I love the races and classes. I love the Final Fantasy feel. One day I hope to reach lvl 30 and start enjoying the real game too.
-Voo
As for your rant, You sound like you still want things handed to you, even if you deny it. Alternative lvling spots are still going to take time to get to, And most people find it easier to stay in the same area 24-32 instead of running around the world every 2 lvls to find somthing new to kill.
I use to spend hours on games to get high level, now i just spend three times that doing it a few hours a day.
And grinding over 100 hours? Hm. Funny, my mule (well, guess not a mule since I level her) has 3 days logged in time. (72 hours) And is a level 40 thf/20nin.
Maybe you're just a bad player?
You fail at insults on the internet.
You fail at insults on the internet.
QFE
and you fail at COMEBACKS
As for the complaints about the game and lvling time....you guys are actually disputing the insane grind of FF??
and you fail at COMEBACKS
As for the complaints about the game and lvling time....you guys are actually disputing the insane grind of FF??
You fail at Quoting too. I said 7 words, and you're poor post made it look like I wrote that paragraph.
As for wanting things to be handed to me... Something I found really interesting about Kazam is that it had to be unlocked. I'm like... "Okay, this is part of an expansion. Are you telling me that people purchased an expansion just so they could farm before they can actually play it?"
I mean, I had to earn the money to buy the game. I have to earn the money to pay for the monthly charge. I "grind" for about an hour and a half (post-taxes) each month doing real work to pay for the game and you're telling me I haven't earned it? I might as well get a safe lock on my fridge so every time I want a beer, even though I've already paid for it, I have to "earn" it by cracking the safe, because opening the fridge and getting a beer would be too easy.
If I could I'd take this game, with all of the pretty scenery and such, and skip through to just the missions and quests. None of this pull-monster-to-camp nonsense or bashing tons of monsters to get a drop so I can continue on with a nearly required portion of the game nonsense. I want to adventure, face challenges, and explore the world and all of its interesting points. Not stare at the same plot of land for 4 hours while my exp bar goes up.
As for wanting things to be handed to me... Something I found really interesting about Kazam is that it had to be unlocked. I'm like... "Okay, this is part of an expansion. Are you telling me that people purchased an expansion just so they could farm before they can actually play it?"
I mean, I had to earn the money to buy the game. I have to earn the money to pay for the monthly charge. I "grind" for about an hour and a half (post-taxes) each month doing real work to pay for the game and you're telling me I haven't earned it? I might as well get a safe lock on my fridge so every time I want a beer, even though I've already paid for it, I have to "earn" it by cracking the safe, because opening the fridge and getting a beer would be too easy.
If I could I'd take this game, with all of the pretty scenery and such, and skip through to just the missions and quests. None of this pull-monster-to-camp nonsense or bashing tons of monsters to get a drop so I can continue on with a nearly required portion of the game nonsense. I want to adventure, face challenges, and explore the world and all of its interesting points. Not stare at the same plot of land for 4 hours while my exp bar goes up.
All of the expansions require you to do somthing prior to gain access to some of the Area's, Kazham is from the Rise of the Zilart expansion (The first expansion), By just installing and registering RoZ you gain access to everything between Gustav tunnel & Korroloka Tunnel without having to unlock anything. They did however require you to do a quest (Or buy the pass 148k) to gain access to Kazham and everything on that continent. So to break it down, you got 7 Zones And a town(Rabao) free from just installing it, And you're required to do a quest to gain access to 2 towns (Kazham & Norg) and 5 zones.
CoP is the same way, You get Access to 3 Zones from just installing it, And you have to beat the 3 first Promies to get access to the others.
ToAU, At the least, you're required to do a quest that many of you do at lvl 18, to gain access to the entire expansion.
I see that Mylon has logged 700+ hours into Guild Wars, so I would think it would be an interesting transition to go from a very "lite" RPG like that to a game with the hardcore depth of FFXI. I play GW a bit myself when I want to play a game I don't need to think about very much, and that's exactly what I need sometimes. I played FFXI for a good couple of years before I started GW, however. I have a friend who just got into FFXI after a year of playing GW and I think he's going through some frustration as well. FFXI is insanely more challenging, the interface is not intuative for a beginner, and the overall depth of the game is overwhelming at first. Underneath is a great story and intricate character system. I always encourage people to explore the world every once in a while. There's a lot more to FFXI than leveling.
Then perhaps FFXI just isn't for you.
And, the comment that there's a lack of choices before level 30... Well, and I don't mean this as an insult, but that's the opinion of someone new to the game who hasn't taken the time to explore all it offers.
You have:
- Leveling
- Crafting
- Quests
- Missions
- Exploration (hey, some people do enjoy that)
- Harvesting
- Mining
- Fishing
- Gardening
Those are all things you have access to from level 1. The quests and missions alone can take up an entire weekend if you get into them enough. And, you'd be impressed to see how thorough and detailed the quests are - especially the Rank missions.
In short, though, if all you feel FFXI is is a "grind", then that's because it's all you're making it. I have a friend who's brand-new to the game. I'm showing him other aspects of the game, besides the grinding, and he's absolutely loving it. Taking it all in and, possibly, overwhelming himself with all there really is to do and learn in the game.
Something to keep in mind with FFXI... It's *not* WoW, nor any of the other "quick gratification" type MMOs that hand you a reward for the most menial task (such as "discovering" a new area in WoW, by simply walking into some new spot). In FFXI, everything that is beneficial or meaningful to your character must be earned. Period. Nothing is handed to you. Khazam access opens up a whole new area of gameplay, as has been mentioned, including two of the advanced jobs as well as much other content. If people could just wander in and out freely, it would leave nothing to discover. At over 2 years of playing, a good friend of mine, level 75 on nearly two jobs (he has a wife and kids so he can't play as much as some) still hasn't seen everything. To me, that's a game that continues to deliver well past when most other games have already lost their players to boredom and the "same ol' same ol'".
But again.. perhaps it's just not for you.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Kazham keys... well shit what if i said i soloed mykey quest at LEVEL 24... No help... nothing. what if i said i had allot of fun doing it?
I agree that FFXidle can sometimes be tough and i agree one shouldnt have to wait hours for the "fun" but i am sorry, your flat out lazy. your too lazy to go explore... to lazy to goto a website and read about hunting spots... to lazy to solo your key quest... YOUR TO LAZY FOR MMORPGS.
WoW ... its calling for you.
Rites of the Four Horsemen
http://www.rotfh.com
Mmorpgs are always difficult at the start, even WoW is no walk in the park when all the guilds on the server are full and no one will help you. If I know its going to be especially bad I pick a healing class as my first character, then even if theres only one other person on the server in your level range he will benefit from partying with you and seek you out. Then when you have a max lvl healer you get invited to all the uber named farming and can build up a massive fortune to use to twink out a combat char and then its 10x easier to solo at low lvl.
--
Note: PlayNC will refuse to allow you access to your account if you forget your password and can't provide a scanned image of the product key for the first product you purchased..... LOL
Quote Mylon
As for wanting things to be handed to me... Something I found really interesting about Kazam is that it had to be unlocked. I'm like... "Okay, this is part of an expansion. Are you telling me that people purchased an expansion just so they could farm before they can actually play it?"
I mean, I had to earn the money to buy the game. I have to earn the money to pay for the monthly charge. I "grind" for about an hour and a half (post-taxes) each month doing real work to pay for the game and you're telling me I haven't earned it? I might as well get a safe lock on my fridge so every time I want a beer, even though I've already paid for it, I have to "earn" it by cracking the safe, because opening the fridge and getting a beer would be too easy.
If I could I'd take this game, with all of the pretty scenery and such, and skip through to just the missions and quests. None of this pull-monster-to-camp nonsense or bashing tons of monsters to get a drop so I can continue on with a nearly required portion of the game nonsense. I want to adventure, face challenges, and explore the world and all of its interesting points. Not stare at the same plot of land for 4 hours while my exp bar goes up.
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I hear you 100% procent on that. In my mind games are here for the players sake and not vice versa. We work to earn the money, as you said, to be able to play these games. They are suposed to earn our desire to play them. If some players find it attractive to spend hours upon hours grinding, it's fine by me, but I know that I have better things to do. Given, Im aware that gaming can't be fun all the time as a part of the satisfaction is to get over that hurdle....but games are ment to make you feel good, and entertain you. If they don't their reason to exist sort of ceases to be.
Im not a hardcore player in any way, and I walk away if I don't feel satisfied with a game experience. I have played SWG, GW, DAoC, FFXI, and now I play WoW because WoW rewards the casual gamer. And as Mylon said, we have earned everything in a game just because we have spend the money on it. Respect to you, Mylon.
Telaki was harsh, but correct. You've been walked through the challenging parts by high-levels, and then complained the game is boring. I soloed by Kazham keys at 25, and had fun doing it.
Chris Mattern
Ok here's something for ya, if your complain about the game so much DONT PLAY IT! go play some other game that just has the things you want! OMG its part of the game, SO GET OVER IT!
Sorry to be harsh, but come on dude, get over it and play something else if you dont like it.
I'll admit that FFXI does have it's share of menial crap to do, but the underlying point to your post seems to be, "I wanna be able to play for 1 week and make level 75 and have 50 million gil in the bank, be able to instantly teleport anywhere in the game so I don't have to run there on foot, all for free". It's obvious from your post that Final Fantasy is just not the game for you. You'd probably like something a little more fast paced, like WoW. I know one person that has been playing 2 months and is already level 60, with over 1,000 gold in the bank.
As others have stated, Final Fantasy gives you nothing for free. You've got to work at it, and it does get tedious. If you don't feel like investing the time and effort in leveling, or crafting, or questing, then you really have no one to blame but yourself. I've been playing FFXI for a little over 6 months and I'm only a level 28 MNK. Then again, I only play once or twice a week, for 4 hours at most. I work ridiculously long hours, and have a social life (as mundane as it may be at times), so it just isn't feasible for me to sit in front of a game for hours on end. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll probably be playing for another year or more before I get to lvl 75 with my first job, but I'm okay with that. The game doesn't rule my life, and if I can't play for a week or more (when I'm gigging, for instance), then so be it. It'll be waiting for me when I get back to it.
Final Fantasy is a party game...from level 12 or so on, if you're trying to solo XP you're wasting your time. You've got to party. That means going where the parties are...places like the Dunes and Kazham. Put your flag up, and eventually you WILL get a party. Then you can run out and get mad XP and the game isn't nearly so tedious. I averaged 2 levels a night, in 4 hours of play time in the Dunes. That doesn't mean that I didn't get in my share of ridiculously broken parties that ended up wiping over and over because our WHM decided to agro, or our puller decides to voke the mob off of the tank (we had 2 nin's, so I'm especially bitter about that one) over and over and ate up all the WHM mp being kept alive because he was an idiot. But that's part of the game. When I was young I used to throw my controller across the room when I died playing Super Mario Brothers on the NES. I'm a little more mature now (a little), but I still want to reach through my screen and slap people sometimes. But that's life...
Your definition of "fun" is obviously a little different. If these things bore you, then quit now and move on to something else.
What kind of wierd logic is that?
Part of playing games is to be *challenged*. Having to earn things in a game is part of that "challenge". If you seriously feel that by buying the game you should have full access to everything from "Go", then you have absolutely no business playing an MMO.
A console RPG with a gameshark or a page full of cheat-codes giving all power-ups and access from the first level to the last might be more your speed. It's sometimes called "god mode". You only pay for the game and can find the codes on the 'net for free, I'm sure. That'll get you everything in the game for the price of admission.
Stay away from MMOs. They are *clearly* not your cup of tea.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Thats the reason why i quit this peice of crap after 3 weeks. Games are for fun, to get away from real life not to make you work and grind which i anways do enough in real life to pay my bills and stuff. So if you are really enjoying this game then you are either socially banned, has no life, 12 year old leeching your mom and dads credit cards, are allergic to sun light and pizza faced.
Because there is no way in hell any normal person can spend that much time in this grind fest. Oh yeah and before some of the fanboys (i won't mention the names) start flaming me... dont bring your shitty arguments of "i like hard games.. it gives me a feeling of accomplishment and achievment." Want to achieve something? get off your fat butt and go achieve something in real life then banging and bashing pixels with pixels on computer screens where nobody excepts for you give a damn how elite or pawnzor you are.
This game is shallow and not fun.