Where to start?

[Odesseiron]

I know BG isn't exactly a WoW board, but I figure I'm already registered here, and "know" a lot of the people that post on here, and know that most people's opinions are reliable. I won't make this too long, but please bear with me.

A little backround. I played FFXI for about 6 years, sometimes casual, most time hardcore. I loved the game and all it was about, except the massive timesink that it was. Had to be logged in for hours on end to litereally get some things done. A few years back after finally having enough of the endgame scene, and my life taken over by the game, I sold everything off, and haven't really looked back. I tried to restart once about 6 months ago, but it requires so much work that I already did, and nobody does or wants to help lowbies anymore, it's a crapshoot. I gave up shortly after.

I did try WoW a few years ago ( I think right after TBC came out) and I was still playing XI at the time. I didn't like it, thought it sucked and was boring. Probably because it wasn't like XI. I did like some of it's qualities, like being able to do some stuff in a short period of time and have the satisfaction of logging out and accomplished something. The xp system is great, and you can solo a ton. I'm sure there's plenty of other great stuff in there as well. I used the 14 day trial and gave up. Didn't find it to be fun.

More recently I tried FFXIV. While I'm still active, it's only because the free time is continuing. The game is extremely boring to me me, and I find absolutely no fun in playing it. I haven't logged in in weeks. With Cataclysm having just come out, I was willing to give it another shot. I'd be willing to pick up Frozen Throne and Cata, and give it a serious try.

My best friend plays this game casually and would be more than willing to help out, and has on many ocassions tried to convince me to play. I know he'd show me the ropes and help out. I don't remember any of what I played in 2005 or 06. I really want to give it a serious shot. I know there are millions of players, so the population is much more vast than FF will ever be. SO there may be those players to help out

My tl;dr question is this basically. To you vets out there, where and how would you suggest that a person with plenty of MMO experience start with this game?

Any input you can offer is greatly appreciated. I already reinstalled the client + TBC, so just want to get some input before I do anything else. To be honest, back when I originally tried it, I think I wanted to hate it just because I played so much FFXI. I can easily get past that now and appreciate the game, I think.

[Dryr]

I had a similar history with ffXI, except I quit and sold everything off, started again, quit, started again dual box and finally sold off again x2.

I tried wow at launch and quickly quit. I leeched on someones account on and off for a month or two a year.

Wow has gotten much better. You can still log on to solo for small amounts of time, and starting this year you can log in and run group events with very little wait times that last 30 mins - an hr and be done after a shot at epic gear. If you're into PVP (I hate it) that is a huge draw for some as well, again low wait times and horde v. ally battlegrounds give points for very decent gear that changes like 3 times a year.

That is one great draw for the game. Every few months, there are improved gears that are obtainable. When the third expansion came out, the top gear level was 200, just before the latest expansion, the top level was 277? with "heroic" tagged uberness>> That difference makes the raids where ppl strived for 200s in 25 mans, to being able to sail through as an 8 man group even though the level cap was the same(ffxi had the same gears for like 5 years as I recall, mostly because it took that long to get some of them).

The game can be very casual, but it also caters to the hardcore wiith full on raids and arena team pvp endgame (as opposed to the more casual battleground pvp and heroic difficulty dungeons that are more casual). Also, there are thousands of quests/chores for the collector-minded players to adore with all kinds of achievements to unlock, pets to collect and mounts to earn.

start any server you want, race is not fail factor like ffxi made it(you can pay to change race, server and even faction, not that it matters).

If you like the thought of pvp servers here's some advice-

Burning Blade is horde dominant
Kel' thazud is Alliance dominant

IT MATTERS!@!

So, in summary;
I loved FFXI>I hated WoW>loved FFXI>Tired of FFXI>Liked WoW> Starting to "like" like WoW

It sux you just missed the promo they had going that would have gotten you all the expansions and a free month of play for $60 total, now it will cost you over $80; ;

[Vandole]

i've always enjoyed your posts, you seem like you'd be pretty cool to play an MMO with. if you feel like playing join me, sonomaa, and qalbert on windrunner(alliance side), it's alliance dominant and i'd love some more forum people in the guild.

we're also all levelling low level stuff right now cause of the expansion, and we'd be more than willing to get you up to par as fast as possible.

honestly getting from 1-cap takes about 3 weeks. Qalbert started WoW less than a month ago and he hit 80 in about two and a half weeks.

[Correction]

There's never been a better time to roll a new character. 1-60 takes less than 24 hours played and most of the revamped azeroth zones are a real joyride.

Then you hit the 60-70 push and you'll probably quit if you don't have at least one other entertaining person to talk to while you crawl through the wasted ghost town that is outland at the moment.

Then 70-82 hits and you're happy again.

Then you notice it's 4 million exp to 83 and will need that entertaining person to live through the grind to 85.

Then you'll want a guild you can stay in forever, because switching guilds will fucking suck in Cata, along with grouping/raiding outside of one for the foreseeable future.

[samalis]

A=DSYTG=H

[Falisa]

Gonna have to disagree with the comment about outlands. Felt like the 60s FLEW by on all of my chars, especially my first, and when lvl 70 hit, it slowed to a crawl.

I really enjoy WoW, probably the most enjoyable MMO out at the moment that I want to put time into. But no matter how much I've played over the past year, I still can't find myself being attached to this game as much as I was with FFXI and I kinda miss it. I'm not sure what would make it happen, but the entire time I played it, I felt like if something better came along, I would leave in a heartbeat. (IE: Give me C9 KOREA DAMN YOU)

[Odesseiron]

Thanks all for the feedback. Gonna go to BestBuy today and pick up FT and Cata. Vandole, I'll make a character there, just be prepared to show me the ropes, as I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing in that game. I'm sure I can convince my best friend to make a character on any server, as he just wants someone else he knows IRL he can play with. When I've got everything straightened out, I'll let you know!

[Qalbert]

fuck yeah

[Correction]

Gonna have to disagree with the comment about outlands. Felt like the 60s FLEW by on all of my chars, especially my first, and when lvl 70 hit, it slowed to a crawl.

I don't know if you've leveled a character since the 4.0 quests in azeroth came out, but TBC zones are horrible now compared to the pace you see from 1-60. Yes, you are now entering outlands with better gear on your character than you were in the pre-4.0 days but when the best quest from 60-70 is still the bombing runs, you grow a little weary of collecting bear arses and picking sparklies off the ground. At least when you're doing it again in Northrend the quests are better located near each other and you aren't doubling back nearly so much to the same hub. TBC was never a horrifyingly bad place to level, but it's fallen to dead last on the enjoyment scale now that 'vanilla' content is better.

[Falisa]

I guess my experience is different since I did nothing but dungeons in TBC which gave like 50% per run, and then wrath dungeons barely give 10% a run.

[Jakson]

How fast can you expect to hit cap (or some other meaningful level...?) if you play almost completely solo and only occasionally duo?

[Correction]

Starting from level 1? I hit 60 on a fresh server with a rogue in 24 hours played. 80 took 3 more days played. 80-85 is probably another day's worth of doing quests solo, depending on how much you die. So five total days played is a good amount of time if you level efficiently, especially in outland/northrend. Divide that by the number of hours per day you're going to put in to levelling and add whatever time you intend to spend cruising the AH or levelling a non-gathering profession.

[Odesseiron]

Okay, so I made my character. Name is Odesse. On Windrunner, Worgen. So friend me up whenever you're ready! I'll be uh... doing quests and shit I guess!

[Syntex]

If you have any questions PM me, I am a 5+ year FFXI vet and been playing wow since BC release so I can help you with anything you might have questions with if they can't help ya or are not online and whatnot.

[Kaylia]

But no matter how much I've played over the past year, I still can't find myself being attached to this game as much as I was with FFXI and I kinda miss it. I'm not sure what would make it happen, but the entire time I played it, I felt like if something better came along, I would leave in a heartbeat. (IE: Give me C9 KOREA DAMN YOU)

Can't top our first love.


I agree it's hard to get attached to this game, but at the same time, that's what I like about it. I can quit it anytime without a second thought and only come back when I want to play. It feel a lot more healthy than daily 4am camps because you're undermanned or something.

[Syntex]

Can't top our first love.


I agree it's hard to get attached to this game, but at the same time, that's what I like about it. I can quit it anytime without a second though and only come back when I want to play. It feel a lot more healthy than daily 4am camp because I had a job that couldn't be replaced.

QFT.

FFXI has this thing about it that I will never shake and even to this day still have a feeling of wanting to play it.

But FFXI camps are stupid, slow, not fun, and boring and the fights themselves are all done with the same setup and support. Where is the variety? It was fun but when your doing the same thing, different boss 3 years later it doesn't make sense.

I know they added a lot of stuff recently but a lot of the mechanics of FFXI benefit the rich, people who played since beginning or those with way too much time on their hands.

WoW is nice because of what Kaylia said, its a pick up and play game and prolly the easiest of all MMO's to get in and drop.

[Thuronn]

^ "QFT... now I will quote you and agree with you."