FFXI Merry-go-round

[Ymaro]

I was just wondering something today. I personally have subscribed/unsubscribed to FFXI probably at least 10 times in the past 6 years. As newbish as this is, I have still not gotten a single job to 75 after about a month of playtime on this character (although I have like no jobs not at lvl 10, and have started new char on different servers with friends ect). I just always get interested in another Job, or an event, or fishing....something, probably to not get bored trying to find pts etc. I have a good feeling about this time, but that is beside the point.

The question is; How many times have you quit/restarted FFXI? Also, you may pick on me for never getting to 75 lol.



65whm/54smn Ifrit

[Kaelia]

Quit just once for personal reasons as a 60 WHM. Restarted 3+ years ago and deleted Kaelia because I wanted nothing to do with the character itself (same personal reasons), but I liked the name/Hume F/straight haired model better than my other options, so I remade her exactly the same. I'm a little ADD though as far as making characters go. I remake mules often, and occasionally level them, though my main focus is always Kaelia. I may even end up leveling an alternate character(s) all the way (toying with the idea of leveling a character on a separate server though can't decide which as I have no close friends on other servers), but I'll never truly restart again, not worth it at this point.

[miokomioko]

I started playing upon North American PC release as a Mithra and was like lv.70 RNG and 65 MNK with pretty much everything else at 37. Nothing too spectacular.

At about that time (4 years ago?) I was getting ready to move off to college and had a pretty big breakup occur (5-year relationship I think?). I figured I would be really busy with school and probably trying to create a new social life for myself so I decided to sell off my character and be done with FFXI. I got it appraised for like $600 at the time, which wasn't bad profit. However, by the time I sold everything I owned and got it all ready to transfer to the guy... fucking World of Warcraft was released. Everyone was quitting FFXI and going to WoW because it was the new MMORPG. Thus, my character was re-appraised for $150. Pissed, I sold it anyways and proceeded to get back with my girlfriend and moved 5 hours south.

Upon sitting in my new college apartment, realizing I hated everyone in southern California and had nothing to do, it dawned on me that it was probably dumb to sell my account and contacted the buyer about possibly buying it back so I had something to do in my off hours. He had sold it a while ago to someone else and all he could do was tell them I was interested in buying it. That took too long so I bought the game again, made a new Hume character, and got back in contact with friends and my linkshell who PL'd and donated me a bunch.

Apparently, some chump in Italy bought my character and played for a month while pretending that he was a friend of mine that I gave my account to, which no one believed. Then, he quit and cancelled the account completely. What the hell? I took the $150 I got for my old account and bought whatever gil it could get me to get back on my feet with all my progress/access/rareex/jobs/levels gone since there seemed to be no chance to reobtain my old character. Oh well.

So, all in all, I quit once and started from scratch 4 years ago.

[Sol-Blackguy]

I've quit and restarted at least three times during key moments in the games history. Before inflation, during the peak of inflation, and finally quit again during the recession. I started to realize that I could be doing something more fun and productive than logging in and farming 10 hours a week and xping for only 4 hours a week. Elitism, RMT, and SE being retarded has ruined this game and almost all MMORPGs for me.
At this point I feel that no one is a hardcore mmorpg gamer, they just think they are. If you're going to play a game, it should be fun, and not require a bunch of work just to have fun. Some people may claim that the journey is more fun than the destination, but do all the pitfalls in the journey validate the very destination. I managed to get 2 jobs to 75, but looking back, I could have had more fun playing Wow, from journey to destination.

[bungiefan]

I haven't really quit, but I also have no jobs at 75 after 6 and a half+ years of account activity. I've only got 3 above 30, which would be BLM 68, WHM 46, and SCH 35. I'm still working on unlocking DRK, but have all the other jobs unlocked, many at level 1.

78 days 6 hours of playtime right now. Probably a week of that is sitting AFK in the Easter event.

[Mici]

I started the game on NA PC release, fell in love with it and after about a year had my first 75 and decided I would not quit until they shut down the servers. So far I have found no reason to go back on that.
My wife although quit twice and took 3 years to get her first 75, which she now hates and pretends she doesn't have.

[jimbobsonofgod]

Halloween PC launch here.
Took a 3 month break for college finals.
And that's the longest I've been away from the game since.

[Raen Ryong]

My wife although quit twice and took 3 years to get her first 75, which she now hates and pretends she doesn't have.

Bard?

I've taken the odd break for a week or two but I've never quit nor levelled any mules. I'm very objective (all of my job levels are 75 or 37 or 40 or something specific, never random) so all of my focus goes into my main.

[VZX]

5?6?
I dunno, I took break a lot due to 3rd/4th year courses require a lot of concentration. So I didn't want to commit seriously on old content's endgame events (sky, especially).

[SephYuyX]

Playing since JP PC Nov 02 release, never quit or cancelled. I take around a 3 month break every year though.

[Silenka]

I've played since the first Vana'diel Collection release (up to CoP), and haven't quit or taken any significantly long breaks.

[Zimbabwe Justice]

I started playing a few days after the Halloween event. I played off and on for 6 years, until I quit this March for good. I never got a job to level 75 since I was always busy doing stuff, like trying to make money and failing. I never quite got how to make nice gil, everyone is always ranting about how easy it is and then I try their methods and it never worked out for me so I've always sort of had half-assed equipment the entire game. I have always been in school the entire time I played the game, so I didn't really have a lot of time to play, on top of real life demands, homework, and other games. Partying always took way too long to get anything done in so I never really bothered. I tried jobs like bard and white mage but never got too far. My highest job is still 65 SMN, followed by a 50 SCH and 46 PUP. I'm actually thinking of starting again as soon as I get a job. I tried playing WoW but it wasn't the same. It's a fun game but it doesn't give me the same kick FFXI does, no matter how much I dislike FFXI(which is a lot, it's a pretty terrible game).

[Thorny]

quit 3x due to bans, always came back, leveled about 30 jobs to 75 by now

[Tagus]

This is a post I found a while back from December 2004 from someone named Ginthaeriel giving his reasons for quitting. I'm not going anywhere because I actually enjoy the game, but I've become a little bit obsessed with this quote for some reason.



quoted from Ginthaeriel

"I'm a lowbie (quit when I was a level 50 paladin) who never even had to encounter a gilseller in my time playing (since I quit before the gilsellers started coming in).

I quit because this game was a waste of time.

You spend an hour looking for a party, and when you do get one they all disband because the WHM leaves. You fight the same old monsters hitting your same old macros ctrl1, ctrl2, ctrl3 every single fight, then you rest for five minutes. You have to put up with other parties moving in on your group, and then when's all said and done you have to farm your ass off just to get *required* items, not uber items- *required* items. What kind of twisted game makes you get some sort of incredibly rare and expensive luxury item just in order to get parties?

The game gives pathetic rewards for incredible amounts of time clocked into the game. I'm sorry, but if you really think that the fact that you actually managed to make it through the timesink as a reward in itself, then you are a moron. Rewards shouldn't be based on how much time you spent on it, rewards should be based on your own personal talents and skills. I would feel a lot better about myself after I aced an exam or painted a beautiful picture than spending nine hours camping leaping lizzy and finally getting the pop.

Games were meant for enjoyment, and if you find enjoyment from the relief after suffering, then you are by definition a sadomasochist. This game is equivalent to self-flagellation. Sure, it feels great to stop getting whipped, but you know what feels even better? Getting a blowjob.

I'm sorry if I offend you, but any attempts to justify this game is self-delusion based on attachment to your character: this game is a tedious stinking waste of memory. Monotony is not fun, the entirety of this game is nothing but. The same areas, the same mobs to kill (crabs, crawlers, crabs, mandras... oh and did I mention, crabs?) the same damned amounts of EXP, the exact same strategy to every single mob (set up for SATA, provoke, sentinel, cure III, provoke, shield bash), the exact same equipment everyone else is wearing, the exact same avatars, all this is not really worth standing in a three hour long queue for.

This game has absolutely no skill. In fact, being at the commonly accepted highest possible level of skill is considered the norm. Anyone who doesn't know how to SATA, or pull, or have incredibly tricked out macros, or whatever, is considered a noob. You have a set of abilities which never change across the board. At first, when I started playing this game, I went totally overboard trying to be the most knowledgable character on my job (Paladin). I would read forums, guides, ask higher level paladins whether I was doing a good job, get the best equipment for my level, check other paladins, etc. Then when I realized that a paladin who wore a leather ring, didn't have the RK/TK shield, and didn't even know that sentinel drew hate could get by just as well as I did... well, what's the point? I might as well just make a WHM named "flaminghomo" and piss off every character I can by spamming protectra and curing the blackmage and letting the tank die and refuse to raise him. I'm still going to get invites anyways.

This game may not be the most frustrating and timesinking, as I've heard everquest is. But it *is* the most tedious and boring. This game is a chore to play. If you want a chore, I suggest you go do something productive instead. Games were not made to require eight hours of play, thats what a job is for. It took me nearly nine months to realize that and as a result I am never touching another MMORPG ever again in my life. Maybe if they evolve the concept to the point where they're not actively robbing you of your money by psychologically mugging your soul until its too beaten down and psychotically obsessed with your character every month. Guild Wars seems like a step in this direction.

You might argue that your enjoyment is yours. I understand that, and if you want to continue spending eight hours a day for years just so you can see a little message on a screen saying "You have made level 75" when in the end it's nothing but digital information stored in a server and it represents nothing but the fact that you can now either be totally useless at killing a monster (or find it pathetically easy, as the case may be) after waiting twenty four hours just so you can attain a weapon that you'll never use... well be my guest. I'm not stopping you.
__________________
retired because I think this game sucks."




endquote

[shaddix]

restarted once, i had a level 40 blm uhh like a couple months before cop release, I got pissed because I couldn't afford spells/gear so I downleveled it to level 15 or something. Then i quit, started back like 2 years ago or something.

[Kongolo]

never, been on since Aug 2005

just few breaks when things forced me not to log in

[Mici]

Bard?

Red Mage

[Epical]

I quit for 8 months in November 2005 to start BGWoW and then came back in June 2006. I've taken small breaks here and there, but nothing worth mentioning.

[darkepyon]

I started during NA PC launch and played on and off for a bit until April of that month. I just couldn't get into the game back then. Tried again just before ToAU came out, but was invited into the Japanese beta of Phantasy Star Universe. Quit at the jungles both times. This seems to amuse poeple to no end. After I got bored with PSU and Sega's drip-feeding of content, I came back (again) in 2007 to give it a fair shake and have been here ever since.

[Faye]

FFXI History, roughly:

NA Release - made elvaan, got to WAR30, unlocked SAM... went to Korea for the summer and parents canceled content ID's! Immensely discouraged to the point of not wanting to return (also, game was a lot harder back then)
Restarted two(-three?) years later, made Galka named Kable, deleted
Restarted one year after that, made Galka named Kable, probably played 6/12 months
This march - got Kable to 74 DRG
This april - made Faye :3

Today: Still no 75! All my friends make fun of me, but I had/have intense job ADD, and gear/gil OCD, lol... I realized after making a new char with my friend last month that I learned a lot, though, by reading these kinds of forums for years and talking to players in-game. Still learning every day!