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Official I Hate [Final Fantasy] Thread: Dead like FF XIV's userbase. New thread.
Thanks for all the responses re what I should do post-game XIII. I ended up doing some Oretoise 'death' farming last night. What statuses are they susceptible to that I can try to inflict to increase my odds of death working?
Pretty much everything, once they're knocked down, Imperil is the most important one though. That said, Oretoise farming isn't necessary until you're down to the last 15 or so hunts.
I'm not actually knocking them down, I'm just spamming Death on them. I killed about 6 last night and collected 4 Platinum Ingots which was nice. Also the 80,000 CP per each kill is pretty awesome. Once I max Hope's Medic role I will try killing them normally. I've probably only completed about 60% of the missions, so I guess I could continue to do those, but I'm stuck on Mission 53 (can't kill the mark) and I don't want to terminate it because I got it from a corner of Mal'habara that I don't want to be forced to go back to. Once I'm able to kill that boss I'll go do Missions 35-50 that I haven't even looked at yet.
I'm not actually knocking them down, I'm just spamming Death on them. I killed about 6 last night and collected 4 Platinum Ingots which was nice. Also the 80,000 CP per each kill is pretty awesome. Once I max Hope's Medic role I will try killing them normally. I've probably only completed about 60% of the missions, so I guess I could continue to do those, but I'm stuck on Mission 53 (can't kill the mark) and I don't want to terminate it because I got it from a corner of Mal'habara that I don't want to be forced to go back to. Once I'm able to kill that boss I'll go do Missions 35-50 that I haven't even looked at yet.
You can't stick anything to them until they're knocked down.
One of these days I will get a Blue Mage in the fiesta.
I dunno, Blue Mage without also rolling Beastmaster would drive me insane.
...and not just for I'll the time I spend sitting around in battle hoping that the monster hits the Blue Mage(s) in the party. No White Wind or Mighty Guard ever? Blasphemy!
Yeah. It just takes a while. No question about it: Blue Mage is the best class to draw on the Wind Crystal.
Speaking of the Fiesta, I am finally in the final part of the game. I don't know what sidequests I'm going to bother doing. I realize that the summons are still useful without a summoner, but I don't know that I need them. (White Mage, Red Mage, Ranger, Dancer.)
Switching to a White Mage with Dance was nice. Red Mage still kind of sucks but can be a secondary White Mage. My Ranger also has White Magic, and my Dancer is tearing shit up with Rapidfire.
I'm not actually knocking them down, I'm just spamming Death on them. I killed about 6 last night and collected 4 Platinum Ingots which was nice. Also the 80,000 CP per each kill is pretty awesome. Once I max Hope's Medic role I will try killing them normally. I've probably only completed about 60% of the missions, so I guess I could continue to do those, but I'm stuck on Mission 53 (can't kill the mark) and I don't want to terminate it because I got it from a corner of Mal'habara that I don't want to be forced to go back to. Once I'm able to kill that boss I'll go do Missions 35-50 that I haven't even looked at yet.
You can't stick anything to them until they're knocked down.
Christ, Theatrhythm has got me contemplating trying Final Fantasy XI. The only one I haven't played, it's like an awkward gaping hole in my soul. 40% off in the Steam sale!
It isn't very friendly to a new player, and even though so much of the game is much easier to get around in, and do things in, particularly solo; it still requires a hefty investment of time and effort to get to a point where you can be mostly self sufficent (for doing the main storylines, there are many at this point).
Also there is no real active PA community. There's a few people playing (myself included) but scattered about servers (though Carbuncle was always the 'offical' PA server).
Also also it has the most asinine account setup/login system on earth.
But IMO it's one of the most rewarding MMO's out there if it is your "thing". Every accomplishment feels earned; even with it being easier these days to do things like hit the level cap and such. Nothing, still, is handed to you.
I love it, and I come back to it regularly and am playing a ton now in fact. Also the story(stories) is actually quite good; some of the best from Final Fantasies, again IMO. They're just locked behind the gate of a very deep MMO that requires MMO investment.
On a completely unrelated note, the Japanese version of FFIII PSP is going to include English text. Surely, surely, it'll get released in the West, even if it's just as a digital download.
Oh there's a FF3 PSP? Definitely hoping for a Western release. That's the only one of the 2D games I haven't beaten because I found the DS version to be horrible to look at and slow to play.
I really want a FFXI offline. Dissidia 012 made me want to explore the world and the stories, like Prishe.
Just to make it clear, Prishe is pretty much as awesome as Dissidia makes her out to be.
I'd love an offline version of FFXI, if only to see the storylines I missed out on after I quit (which was somewhere in the middle of the ToAU story). I thought the story from the original game, and especially from Chains of Promethia (including Prishe), were great and up there with some of the best to come out of the franchise. The level of dedication to finish those stories though... always a bit much. I remember getting groups together to help out random linkshell/guildmates through some of the Tavnasian Safehold area quests, which went through some difficult level capped areas. In a game where death can actually reduce your level, that was a tough sell.
But yeah, offline version. Or at least make the storyline stuff soloable. That might work too.
"No.. I was wrong. This must be what going mad feels like."
You know what I would play? A Crisis Core-style prequel to FFX where you follow Jecht, Auron and Braska on their pilgrimage.
Also I believe this FF3 port would be the first time every main Final Fantasy game has been available on a Sony Console. That's interesting.
Once it, the Vita PS1 emulator and FFX HD are out, the Vita will be able to play the first ten mainline games. Though it'd be nice if they released proper ports of V and VI on it, considering the poor quality of the PS1 ports.
I really want a FFXI offline. Dissidia 012 made me want to explore the world and the stories, like Prishe.
Just to make it clear, Prishe is pretty much as awesome as Dissidia makes her out to be.
I'd love an offline version of FFXI, if only to see the storylines I missed out on after I quit (which was somewhere in the middle of the ToAU story). I thought the story from the original game, and especially from Chains of Promethia (including Prishe), were great and up there with some of the best to come out of the franchise. The level of dedication to finish those stories though... always a bit much. I remember getting groups together to help out random linkshell/guildmates through some of the Tavnasian Safehold area quests, which went through some difficult level capped areas. In a game where death can actually reduce your level, that was a tough sell.
But yeah, offline version. Or at least make the storyline stuff soloable. That might work too.
They removed the level cap areas for pretty much everything. You can solo all of the original stuff, zilart, chains, probably most of taou and Wotg. (This is, of course, ignoring some obvious multi person gates and such.)
With how fast you can level and such, I bet you could start up a fresh character and see most of the good stuff within two months of casual play, easy.
Of course, the Abyssea storyline is actually pretty awesome and when you learn the big twist stuff near the end its just great.
I really want a FFXI offline. Dissidia 012 made me want to explore the world and the stories, like Prishe.
Just to make it clear, Prishe is pretty much as awesome as Dissidia makes her out to be.
I'd love an offline version of FFXI, if only to see the storylines I missed out on after I quit (which was somewhere in the middle of the ToAU story). I thought the story from the original game, and especially from Chains of Promethia (including Prishe), were great and up there with some of the best to come out of the franchise. The level of dedication to finish those stories though... always a bit much. I remember getting groups together to help out random linkshell/guildmates through some of the Tavnasian Safehold area quests, which went through some difficult level capped areas. In a game where death can actually reduce your level, that was a tough sell.
But yeah, offline version. Or at least make the storyline stuff soloable. That might work too.
They removed the level cap areas for pretty much everything. You can solo all of the original stuff, zilart, chains, probably most of taou and Wotg. (This is, of course, ignoring some obvious multi person gates and such.)
With how fast you can level and such, I bet you could start up a fresh character and see most of the good stuff within two months of casual play, easy.
Of course, the Abyssea storyline is actually pretty awesome and when you learn the big twist stuff near the end its just great.
Really looking forward to the new expansion.
What...? They're still expanding it? What about XIV?
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
I really want a FFXI offline. Dissidia 012 made me want to explore the world and the stories, like Prishe.
Just to make it clear, Prishe is pretty much as awesome as Dissidia makes her out to be.
I'd love an offline version of FFXI, if only to see the storylines I missed out on after I quit (which was somewhere in the middle of the ToAU story). I thought the story from the original game, and especially from Chains of Promethia (including Prishe), were great and up there with some of the best to come out of the franchise. The level of dedication to finish those stories though... always a bit much. I remember getting groups together to help out random linkshell/guildmates through some of the Tavnasian Safehold area quests, which went through some difficult level capped areas. In a game where death can actually reduce your level, that was a tough sell.
But yeah, offline version. Or at least make the storyline stuff soloable. That might work too.
They removed the level cap areas for pretty much everything. You can solo all of the original stuff, zilart, chains, probably most of taou and Wotg. (This is, of course, ignoring some obvious multi person gates and such.)
With how fast you can level and such, I bet you could start up a fresh character and see most of the good stuff within two months of casual play, easy.
Of course, the Abyssea storyline is actually pretty awesome and when you learn the big twist stuff near the end its just great.
Really looking forward to the new expansion.
What...? They're still expanding it? What about XIV?
Yep, getting a new xpack next year. 2 new jobs, a new continent, etc. Very cool.
XIV is getting a massive revamp with 2.0. Basically it'll be a whole new game; and many of the changes they've made since launch have improved it dramatically anyway; but still, 2.0 isn't just an iterate content patch; it's effectively the game completely remade.
The direction the team that is currently in charge of XIV has taken things since they took it over from the clusterfuck it was at launch says that they know what they're doing; but whether or not the game can be salvaged, new game or no, remains to be seen.
What they have shown off for 2.0 looks quite impressive though. It looks, basically, like what XIV should have been in the first place; an evolution of their core successes of FFXI into a next gen engine with some new gameplay features. For whatever reason, whoever was running the show for the game initially had something else, something far shittier in mind, which gave us the current XIV.
XI is still the far (far) superior game right now; but XIV is much improved...but more or less I'm paying the sub to get the legacy pricing when 2.0 comes out, assuming it is worth the time.
EDIT: And as Chocobo said, pretty much the entirety of XI's story is soloable now. There are very few missions that can't be soloed,and when they are it is usually due to a mechanic requirement of needing two people to turn keys, and that's like only a very very small handful; I can only think of one or two off the top of my head; but every boss is more or less soloable in the story missions for every xpack, except maybe the ToAU one; but even then, if you're just talking about missions and not assault, you can probably solo it with the right job combo.
You know what I would play? A Crisis Core-style prequel to FFX where you follow Jecht, Auron and Braska on their pilgrimage.
Also I believe this FF3 port would be the first time every main Final Fantasy game has been available on a Sony Console. That's interesting.
Heck yes. I'd like to see if Sin looked any different last generation. And IIRC, the damage at the Calm Lands was caused by Braska's final summoning. That'd be something to see. Plus it'd be nice to see more exploration of the time between Zanarkand and Spira at present, clarification of stuff like how long a Calm lasts, how many summoners have actually defeated Sin, and even what Yevon really was. That stuff all got alluded to plenty, but was never really the focus of the main game.
But that inevitable ending
would be even worse than having to watch Zack die. Jecht becomes an aeon and then Sin, Braska kills himself summoning Jecht, Auron becomes an unsent trying to avenge them. Just doom doom dooooom.
Can somebody explain this soloable business? I mean does it involve shitloads of grinding to be able to solo it, etc.?
Nope. Well, I guess shitload is subjective; but you just more or less need to be 99. Of a job that can usually handle itself. I wouldn't try doing it with White Mage; but any DD'er with a good solo sub like Dancer or Ninja can do it all. Beastmaster, for example, has an extremely easy unlock, and is super soloable and really powerfully in general.
And it's not hard to get to 99 anymore either. I mean, your first job will take the most time because you need to get up enough to get your sub, then level another job to 30 and unlock whatever job it is you really want to take up (assuming it isn't a base job), then go with that. You also want your sub adequately leveled (meaning to at least 49) etc. And you have to to the level cap breaks every 5 levels starting at 50; but they're all soloable too now (except the 95 one); but you only have to do that for your first job.
This all sounds like a lot, but honestly its' really not; FFXI has this tendency to make everything sound a lot more complex than it actually is. And getting xp these days is so absurdly easy compared to way back when, that yeah, within a month of hard playing, or two of decent playing, you could be at 99 with the proper things unlocked like airships, warps, etc, to do everything in the game (more or less, the newest stuff is generally not soloable; but it also doesn't have any real story attached to it).
After your first 99, having all your breaks done, etc, subsequent 99's go way faster because you don't have to stop in xp parties to do a cap break, and you can just go nuts. Plus if you spend any time on your first 99 at the cap getting merits, they apply to all your jobs so it just makes them more powerful when you switch.
I don't know how different things are or how drastically they've changed things. All I know is that back when I played, soloing was impossible at around lv15. The absolute best case scenario, you could fight and kill something that took 10 minutes, that would kill you if you slacked off for even a second, and you'd get like 50 exp out of a needed 5000. And if you did die, you lost 100 exp. So yeah, soloing was impossible. Which meant there was next to nothing to do if you weren't in a group.
If things really have changed that much, then kudos for them. I would almost be tempted to come back, if just to run around again. Because god damn, when that game wanted to wow you, it would wow you. First airship right, anybody?
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
I don't know how different things are or how drastically they've changed things. All I know is that back when I played, soloing was impossible at around lv15. The absolute best case scenario, you could fight and kill something that took 10 minutes, that would kill you if you slacked off for even a second, and you'd get like 50 exp out of a needed 5000. And if you did die, you lost 100 exp. So yeah, soloing was impossible. Which meant there was next to nothing to do if you weren't in a group.
If things really have changed that much, then kudos for them. I would almost be tempted to come back, if just to run around again. Because god damn, when that game wanted to wow you, it would wow you. First airship right, anybody?
I played it again about a year ago and had a friend rush me through CoP. It was fun but I'm actually a little sad I missed out on the epic alliances that CoP required. (Though I hear that even with 18 players they still were hell.)
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
I don't know how different things are or how drastically they've changed things. All I know is that back when I played, soloing was impossible at around lv15. The absolute best case scenario, you could fight and kill something that took 10 minutes, that would kill you if you slacked off for even a second, and you'd get like 50 exp out of a needed 5000. And if you did die, you lost 100 exp. So yeah, soloing was impossible. Which meant there was next to nothing to do if you weren't in a group.
If things really have changed that much, then kudos for them. I would almost be tempted to come back, if just to run around again. Because god damn, when that game wanted to wow you, it would wow you. First airship right, anybody?
Yeah it's drastically different than that now.
But yes, that was the game for years; the only jobs that could reasonably solo past 15-ish were BST and uh...maybe BLM if you always knew where worms were at your level
Now enemies, solo, give roughly twice the xp per kill, as before; the level range in which you still get xp was more or less doubled, meaning at 20 you're still getting xp for 12's or whatever (that's not entirely accurate, but general idea), and since xp was doubled you're getting decent xp for them too for zero challenge. In virtually ever area in the game there are "manuals" that direct you to kill x number of a given enemy and when you do it gives you a big chunk of xp (and by big i mean pretty big), that you can just repeat; there's xp rings that buff your xp; people run level sync parties to spam manual pages for massive xp in very very short amounts of time (seriously, i'm talking like level 30-50 in 3-4 hours, no joke); then there is abyssea which is its own xp ballgame.
It's night and day; and all the old stuff that still made if feel worthwhile is still there. There's some people who bitch about it, talk about the "good old days" when it took 6 months to level to 75, because that was somehow "better"; but they're easily ignored.
You can now play on your terms, and don't have to waste hours hoping for a party invite to do anything. At any given time you can do anything you want really, and it's awesome.
But, it is still a 10 yr old MMO with all the quirks that brings, and is still not for everyone. Ease of xp'ing aside, it still doesn't hold your hand, and still requires a lot of wikia reading to know wtf you're doing on any given mission/quest.
Why XIV didn't copy XI's class system wholesale still bugs the hell out of me.
It was XI's best game mechanic card and they fucking ruined it. That they also weren't able to do an epic story or even get the music right pales in comparison to that first point.
Two months? I don't know, is that including getting gear? I remember gearing being a PITA back then but it's been like 4 years since I last touched FF11.
Two months? I don't know, is that including getting gear? I remember gearing being a PITA back then but it's been like 4 years since I last touched FF11.
Dunno, when I played it last, I got from 75 to 85 in two months thanks to the Abyssea zones (which have an awesome soundtrack too). But I have very little free time these days to devote to an MMO so I'm probably an outlier in that regard.
You can get 75 to 85 in a hard night of playing, pretty easily, if you find a good abyssea alliance.
It's really no thing. I'm not sure how you could stretch that over two months.
And gear isn't a huge deal since so much of what you do in parties is 1) done in alliances where you're level synced anyway; gear tends to lose stats or 2) in abyssea where you get massive buffs for virtually free, constantly, so gear is less of an issue.
Obviously better gear is going to serve you well; but gear on the cheap is easy to come by, and since the cap is 99 now, a lot of lower level stuff that used to be super expensive is no reasonable. There's "sets" you can buy at 77 that will be more than good enough all the way to 99; and for pretty much any campaign content; you don't need to farm empyrean seals and whatever. If you're doing grounds of valor solo or in an alliance, you get buffs from finishing pages pretty quickly that tend to more than make up for any lack of gear.
Honestly, all around, the biggest drag int he game left really, is skilling up; and even that is made a lot easier through various means. there's food that buffs skill gain rates (pretty much double, by all accounts), that is somewhat pricey, but worth it; somewhat rare equipment (that you can still solo) that gives buffs to skill gain rates (again, more or less double, by all accounts; and it stacks with the food); grounds of valor rewrads can be increased skill ups; if you buy the abyssea pack you get the destrier beret which makes skills you need between levels 1-30 completely trivial, etc.
There's a lot of things that would play into how quickly you get to 99, among them how quickly you grasp the basic gameplay concepts and such. WoW, this is not. If you have help, even though most of the important stuff can be solo'd, helps a lot, either from a friend, PA'er, or if you can get in a LS. What time of day you can play; there's several peak times on any given server because they are global servers; so you can hit US peak, Japan peak, Europe peak; so there's less of a lul in population throughout the day like there is in other MMO's with regional servers. I mean, I can't promise one could get to 99 in two months, but with effort, I think that's a reasonable timeframe. Though if you're completely soloing your levels and not joining alliance/abyssea, while still completely viable, is still a lot slower; so how often you party makes a difference too.
If you can't devote a few hours to it; XI is hard to play. I don't mean you have to devote a few hours every night; but you can get a lot further in one 3-4 hour stretch than you can get in 4 1hr stretches; just by the nature of the beast.
Yeah, if you're the sort of gamer that can only play in tiny increments, XI is really rough to try to progress in.
And I know I'm sounding like a salesman with my XI posts; I just love the game a lot; but am fully aware it has a pretty large barrier to entry and isn't even remotely as accessible as most mmo's these days. It's not for everyone, in fact it's probably not for most people.
If you can't devote a few hours to it; XI is hard to play. I don't mean you have to devote a few hours every night; but you can get a lot further in one 3-4 hour stretch than you can get in 4 1hr stretches; just by the nature of the beast.
Yeah, if you're the sort of gamer that can only play in tiny increments, XI is really rough to try to progress in.
And I know I'm sounding like a salesman with my XI posts; I just love the game a lot; but am fully aware it has a pretty large barrier to entry and isn't even remotely as accessible as most mmo's these days. It's not for everyone, in fact it's probably not for most people.
True, and I should add that I enjoyed those two months very much even if I wasn't able to do much. The game is still very fulfilling. I also managed to get Alchemy to 90 in that time too, plus complete the main storyline for Bastok and Sandy and CoP.
DisruptedCapitalist on
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
I'd say yeah. That is, assuming you liked things about the combat of FF13. The story doesn't make much sense, but it improves on the gameplay pretty well.
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PSN: rlinkmanl
PSN: rlinkmanl
You can't stick anything to them until they're knocked down.
I dunno, Blue Mage without also rolling Beastmaster would drive me insane.
...and not just for I'll the time I spend sitting around in battle hoping that the monster hits the Blue Mage(s) in the party. No White Wind or Mighty Guard ever? Blasphemy!
Speaking of the Fiesta, I am finally in the final part of the game. I don't know what sidequests I'm going to bother doing. I realize that the summons are still useful without a summoner, but I don't know that I need them. (White Mage, Red Mage, Ranger, Dancer.)
Switching to a White Mage with Dance was nice. Red Mage still kind of sucks but can be a secondary White Mage. My Ranger also has White Magic, and my Dancer is tearing shit up with Rapidfire.
Ahhh...
PSN: rlinkmanl
It isn't very friendly to a new player, and even though so much of the game is much easier to get around in, and do things in, particularly solo; it still requires a hefty investment of time and effort to get to a point where you can be mostly self sufficent (for doing the main storylines, there are many at this point).
Also there is no real active PA community. There's a few people playing (myself included) but scattered about servers (though Carbuncle was always the 'offical' PA server).
Also also it has the most asinine account setup/login system on earth.
But IMO it's one of the most rewarding MMO's out there if it is your "thing". Every accomplishment feels earned; even with it being easier these days to do things like hit the level cap and such. Nothing, still, is handed to you.
I love it, and I come back to it regularly and am playing a ton now in fact. Also the story(stories) is actually quite good; some of the best from Final Fantasies, again IMO. They're just locked behind the gate of a very deep MMO that requires MMO investment.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Just to make it clear, Prishe is pretty much as awesome as Dissidia makes her out to be.
Also I believe this FF3 port would be the first time every main Final Fantasy game has been available on a Sony Console. That's interesting.
I'd love an offline version of FFXI, if only to see the storylines I missed out on after I quit (which was somewhere in the middle of the ToAU story). I thought the story from the original game, and especially from Chains of Promethia (including Prishe), were great and up there with some of the best to come out of the franchise. The level of dedication to finish those stories though... always a bit much. I remember getting groups together to help out random linkshell/guildmates through some of the Tavnasian Safehold area quests, which went through some difficult level capped areas. In a game where death can actually reduce your level, that was a tough sell.
But yeah, offline version. Or at least make the storyline stuff soloable. That might work too.
"No.. I was wrong. This must be what going mad feels like."
Once it, the Vita PS1 emulator and FFX HD are out, the Vita will be able to play the first ten mainline games. Though it'd be nice if they released proper ports of V and VI on it, considering the poor quality of the PS1 ports.
They removed the level cap areas for pretty much everything. You can solo all of the original stuff, zilart, chains, probably most of taou and Wotg. (This is, of course, ignoring some obvious multi person gates and such.)
With how fast you can level and such, I bet you could start up a fresh character and see most of the good stuff within two months of casual play, easy.
Of course, the Abyssea storyline is actually pretty awesome and when you learn the big twist stuff near the end its just great.
Really looking forward to the new expansion.
What...? They're still expanding it? What about XIV?
Yep, getting a new xpack next year. 2 new jobs, a new continent, etc. Very cool.
XIV is getting a massive revamp with 2.0. Basically it'll be a whole new game; and many of the changes they've made since launch have improved it dramatically anyway; but still, 2.0 isn't just an iterate content patch; it's effectively the game completely remade.
The direction the team that is currently in charge of XIV has taken things since they took it over from the clusterfuck it was at launch says that they know what they're doing; but whether or not the game can be salvaged, new game or no, remains to be seen.
What they have shown off for 2.0 looks quite impressive though. It looks, basically, like what XIV should have been in the first place; an evolution of their core successes of FFXI into a next gen engine with some new gameplay features. For whatever reason, whoever was running the show for the game initially had something else, something far shittier in mind, which gave us the current XIV.
XI is still the far (far) superior game right now; but XIV is much improved...but more or less I'm paying the sub to get the legacy pricing when 2.0 comes out, assuming it is worth the time.
EDIT: And as Chocobo said, pretty much the entirety of XI's story is soloable now. There are very few missions that can't be soloed,and when they are it is usually due to a mechanic requirement of needing two people to turn keys, and that's like only a very very small handful; I can only think of one or two off the top of my head; but every boss is more or less soloable in the story missions for every xpack, except maybe the ToAU one; but even then, if you're just talking about missions and not assault, you can probably solo it with the right job combo.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
Heck yes. I'd like to see if Sin looked any different last generation. And IIRC, the damage at the Calm Lands was caused by Braska's final summoning. That'd be something to see. Plus it'd be nice to see more exploration of the time between Zanarkand and Spira at present, clarification of stuff like how long a Calm lasts, how many summoners have actually defeated Sin, and even what Yevon really was. That stuff all got alluded to plenty, but was never really the focus of the main game.
But that inevitable ending
Nope. Well, I guess shitload is subjective; but you just more or less need to be 99. Of a job that can usually handle itself. I wouldn't try doing it with White Mage; but any DD'er with a good solo sub like Dancer or Ninja can do it all. Beastmaster, for example, has an extremely easy unlock, and is super soloable and really powerfully in general.
And it's not hard to get to 99 anymore either. I mean, your first job will take the most time because you need to get up enough to get your sub, then level another job to 30 and unlock whatever job it is you really want to take up (assuming it isn't a base job), then go with that. You also want your sub adequately leveled (meaning to at least 49) etc. And you have to to the level cap breaks every 5 levels starting at 50; but they're all soloable too now (except the 95 one); but you only have to do that for your first job.
This all sounds like a lot, but honestly its' really not; FFXI has this tendency to make everything sound a lot more complex than it actually is. And getting xp these days is so absurdly easy compared to way back when, that yeah, within a month of hard playing, or two of decent playing, you could be at 99 with the proper things unlocked like airships, warps, etc, to do everything in the game (more or less, the newest stuff is generally not soloable; but it also doesn't have any real story attached to it).
After your first 99, having all your breaks done, etc, subsequent 99's go way faster because you don't have to stop in xp parties to do a cap break, and you can just go nuts. Plus if you spend any time on your first 99 at the cap getting merits, they apply to all your jobs so it just makes them more powerful when you switch.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
If things really have changed that much, then kudos for them. I would almost be tempted to come back, if just to run around again. Because god damn, when that game wanted to wow you, it would wow you. First airship right, anybody?
I played it again about a year ago and had a friend rush me through CoP. It was fun but I'm actually a little sad I missed out on the epic alliances that CoP required. (Though I hear that even with 18 players they still were hell.)
Yeah it's drastically different than that now.
But yes, that was the game for years; the only jobs that could reasonably solo past 15-ish were BST and uh...maybe BLM if you always knew where worms were at your level
Now enemies, solo, give roughly twice the xp per kill, as before; the level range in which you still get xp was more or less doubled, meaning at 20 you're still getting xp for 12's or whatever (that's not entirely accurate, but general idea), and since xp was doubled you're getting decent xp for them too for zero challenge. In virtually ever area in the game there are "manuals" that direct you to kill x number of a given enemy and when you do it gives you a big chunk of xp (and by big i mean pretty big), that you can just repeat; there's xp rings that buff your xp; people run level sync parties to spam manual pages for massive xp in very very short amounts of time (seriously, i'm talking like level 30-50 in 3-4 hours, no joke); then there is abyssea which is its own xp ballgame.
It's night and day; and all the old stuff that still made if feel worthwhile is still there. There's some people who bitch about it, talk about the "good old days" when it took 6 months to level to 75, because that was somehow "better"; but they're easily ignored.
You can now play on your terms, and don't have to waste hours hoping for a party invite to do anything. At any given time you can do anything you want really, and it's awesome.
But, it is still a 10 yr old MMO with all the quirks that brings, and is still not for everyone. Ease of xp'ing aside, it still doesn't hold your hand, and still requires a lot of wikia reading to know wtf you're doing on any given mission/quest.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
It was XI's best game mechanic card and they fucking ruined it. That they also weren't able to do an epic story or even get the music right pales in comparison to that first point.
Dunno, when I played it last, I got from 75 to 85 in two months thanks to the Abyssea zones (which have an awesome soundtrack too). But I have very little free time these days to devote to an MMO so I'm probably an outlier in that regard.
It's really no thing. I'm not sure how you could stretch that over two months.
And gear isn't a huge deal since so much of what you do in parties is 1) done in alliances where you're level synced anyway; gear tends to lose stats or 2) in abyssea where you get massive buffs for virtually free, constantly, so gear is less of an issue.
Obviously better gear is going to serve you well; but gear on the cheap is easy to come by, and since the cap is 99 now, a lot of lower level stuff that used to be super expensive is no reasonable. There's "sets" you can buy at 77 that will be more than good enough all the way to 99; and for pretty much any campaign content; you don't need to farm empyrean seals and whatever. If you're doing grounds of valor solo or in an alliance, you get buffs from finishing pages pretty quickly that tend to more than make up for any lack of gear.
Honestly, all around, the biggest drag int he game left really, is skilling up; and even that is made a lot easier through various means. there's food that buffs skill gain rates (pretty much double, by all accounts), that is somewhat pricey, but worth it; somewhat rare equipment (that you can still solo) that gives buffs to skill gain rates (again, more or less double, by all accounts; and it stacks with the food); grounds of valor rewrads can be increased skill ups; if you buy the abyssea pack you get the destrier beret which makes skills you need between levels 1-30 completely trivial, etc.
There's a lot of things that would play into how quickly you get to 99, among them how quickly you grasp the basic gameplay concepts and such. WoW, this is not. If you have help, even though most of the important stuff can be solo'd, helps a lot, either from a friend, PA'er, or if you can get in a LS. What time of day you can play; there's several peak times on any given server because they are global servers; so you can hit US peak, Japan peak, Europe peak; so there's less of a lul in population throughout the day like there is in other MMO's with regional servers. I mean, I can't promise one could get to 99 in two months, but with effort, I think that's a reasonable timeframe. Though if you're completely soloing your levels and not joining alliance/abyssea, while still completely viable, is still a lot slower; so how often you party makes a difference too.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
I'm lucky if I can devote 30-60 minutes a night to a game these days.
If you can't devote a few hours to it; XI is hard to play. I don't mean you have to devote a few hours every night; but you can get a lot further in one 3-4 hour stretch than you can get in 4 1hr stretches; just by the nature of the beast.
Yeah, if you're the sort of gamer that can only play in tiny increments, XI is really rough to try to progress in.
And I know I'm sounding like a salesman with my XI posts; I just love the game a lot; but am fully aware it has a pretty large barrier to entry and isn't even remotely as accessible as most mmo's these days. It's not for everyone, in fact it's probably not for most people.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
True, and I should add that I enjoyed those two months very much even if I wasn't able to do much. The game is still very fulfilling. I also managed to get Alchemy to 90 in that time too, plus complete the main storyline for Bastok and Sandy and CoP.