What made you quit FFXI?

[orson]

I'm done just another lackluster update followed by nerfs and crazy grind content. I hope the game gets better but it's just brutal atm.

[Juna]

for me personally I enjoyed the elitist attitude the game had pre abyssea

when the game shifted more towards you can kill pretty much anything easily solo if you wanna farm some exp, it should be easy to see SE doesn't give a SHIT anymore about the game, ( like they ever did but its was nearly impossible to image that it could be worse

show up to even to farm keys for a few hours.... I had more fun afking every 30 mins for hnms dunno seems like they are trying to appeal to the absolute brain dead. think I will pass

[Celebrindor]

one thing I will say or agree with about the direction of the game pushing people away is that the game has ceased to be a Final Fantasy game. Look at the results, and I believe most will agree with me.

What are the hallmarks of the old FF games? Storyline and increasing access to more and more parts of the world you play in. Zilart and Promathia lived up to this tradition. ToAU, while beloved by so many (including myself) started the transition to a battle-only game. Go around, kill shit, get shit. Forget writing a captivating story, just throw out more NMs and cool gear. Give all players easy access to all locations of the game, rather than having to "earn" access to the pinnacle zones of the expansions. Abyssea was the death nell of any resemblance of a FF game and transitioned to just another MMO. Like I said, its become a "kill shit, get shit" game.

Story and progression are missing now. Its easier to just regenerate old zones with colored skies and new music than to truly create a full expansion that changes the game as fundamentally as the first 3 true expansions did.

I beg you, ask why you chose FFXI over other MMOs. Was it the graphics? The interface? The PvP? I'm guessing no. And as more and more people quit, I'd wager most got sick of the rat race of gear vs. storyline.

I still hold out hope for a true expansion that will bring the excitement that gathering in Mhaura the first day of ToAU brought, or the sense of accomplishment the accompanied that first time you zoned into Sky, or the tension of the Airship battle for CoP. I think it could revive the game for so many of us that have played for a long time.

Then again, they've got us already. And they don't truly expect an influx of new players to impress. We're looking at entropy in Vana'diel- and no amount of gear will fix that.

[Alvein]

for me personally I enjoyed the elitist attitude the game had pre abyssea

when the game shifted more towards you can kill pretty much anything easily solo if you wanna farm some exp, it should be easy to see SE doesn't give a SHIT anymore about the game, ( like they ever did but its was nearly impossible to image that it could be worse

show up to even to farm keys for a few hours.... I had more fun afking every 30 mins for hnms dunno seems like they are trying to appeal to the absolute brain dead. think I will pass

I'm sorry but I have to disagree, the elitist attitude is what made me completely dislike the game in the past. I can't tell you how many times I was not allowed to lot things because "it's a waste on you." that BS, got so frickin sick of it. Whenever I quit playing this game I can feel like I finally have had fun playing, and I didn't have to spend 5 months in a single frickin zone week after week for the possibility of a claim for the possibility of a drop for the possibility of lotting against someone else for it, and for the possibility of actually winning the lot. Sure there's a huge sense of accomplishment, but I'll take little accomplishments every day over huge disappointments nine times out of ten.

[Alarial]

Where is the "Not adding VW loot to the treasure pool" option for reasons to quit?

[Isiolia]

What are the hallmarks of the old FF games? Storyline and increasing access to more and more parts of the world you play in. Zilart and Promathia lived up to this tradition. ToAU, while beloved by so many (including myself) started the transition to a battle-only game. Go around, kill shit, get shit. Forget writing a captivating story, just throw out more NMs and cool gear. Give all players easy access to all locations of the game, rather than having to "earn" access to the pinnacle zones of the expansions. Abyssea was the death nell of any resemblance of a FF game and transitioned to just another MMO. Like I said, its become a "kill shit, get shit" game.

A little bit of rose-colored glasses there. XI has never been that story focused, in part due to how segregated activities tend to be in it. ToAU required progression to access Salvage. Abyssea requires progression to fight Shinryu even.
For the vast majority of your playtime, XI has always been a grind. The newer content may lack the pure story portions to try and do in between that, but the meat of the content is still there. Frankly, XI's storytelling is meager compared to games like Guild Wars or TOR that meld XP and storyline to the point that you're rarely ever stuck repeating content to grind your way up.

I don't disagree that SE is kinda tossing out barebones, minimum-development type content for the most part now, but some of it fixes other issues the game had. It's not that they can't make game-altering change - arguably, the level cap rise has done plenty of that - but more that for the limited budget, they can make more "content" to keep people putting in time and money by not spending much on cutscenes that most people will watch once and be done with.

Far as excitement...I think that's less and less likely purely due to an increasingly jaded playerbase. It's not just content, it's how we approach it. Right now, anything they add will just get .dat mined, tested, indexed, added to various wikis, and the merits debated. Not that I'm condemning those things, just, that's how it is. You won't get that magic back without going to another game, if at all.

[drwaffles]

FFXI is a better game now, but not a better experience. I think that has a lot more to do with what we as people were like back then than it does with the decisions taken by the development team. Let's be honest about this - back in the so-called 'golden age' of FFXI, the vast majority of those of us that have fond memories were carefree teenagers who had the luxury of being able to spend hours every day playing the game, and as a result it became an incredibly important part of our lives. Most older players have now matured past that point (through necessity or otherwise) and the game doesn't require that kind of time commitment in order to progress any more, so of course it's not going to feel as significant or special.

As Isolia said, I don't think that kind of 'magic' is ever going to manifest itself in XI again because an integral part of it has nothing to do with the game itself. I'm also of the opinion that we'll never be able to experience anything like it in any other game either, because we're older, wiser and have much greater experience of the MMO genre. It's a melancholy thought, but also quite liberating in a way.

[Aurara]

FFXI is a better game now, but not a better experience. I think that has a lot more to do with what we as people were like back then than it does with the decisions taken by the development team. Let's be honest about this - back in the so-called 'golden age' of FFXI, the vast majority of those of us that have fond memories were carefree teenagers who had the luxury of being able to spend hours every day playing the game, and as a result it became an incredibly important part of our lives. Most older players have now matured past that point (through necessity or otherwise) and the game doesn't require that kind of time commitment in order to progress any more, so of course it's not going to feel as significant or special.

As Isolia said, I don't think that kind of 'magic' is ever going to manifest itself in XI again because an integral part of it has nothing to do with the game itself. I'm also of the opinion that we'll never be able to experience anything like it in any other game either, because we're older, wiser and have much greater experience of the MMO genre. It's a melancholy thought, but also quite liberating in a way.

I honestly couldn't agree more. I had so much time in HS to play, literally hours upon hours...but once i actually got to college, i realized i could have more fun/enjoy myself more without having to play ffxi, along with the fact that i had started to become bored of the game and decided to play super casual.

[orson]

FFXI is a better game now, but not a better experience. I think that has a lot more to do with what we as people were like back then than it does with the decisions taken by the development team. Let's be honest about this - back in the so-called 'golden age' of FFXI, the vast majority of those of us that have fond memories were carefree teenagers who had the luxury of being able to spend hours every day playing the game, and as a result it became an incredibly important part of our lives. Most older players have now matured past that point (through necessity or otherwise) and the game doesn't require that kind of time commitment in order to progress any more, so of course it's not going to feel as significant or special.

As Isolia said, I don't think that kind of 'magic' is ever going to manifest itself in XI again because an integral part of it has nothing to do with the game itself. I'm also of the opinion that we'll never be able to experience anything like it in any other game either, because we're older, wiser and have much greater experience of the MMO genre. It's a melancholy thought, but also quite liberating in a way.

This is the truth the audience of FFXI has matured the game has matured as well but not enough to keep a lot of that audience willing to keep paying massive amounts for a grind.

[Kohan]

I suppose my point of view is different due to my not having been a teenager when I began. I was already out of school, had completed my higher education, and settled into playing on as hardcore of a basis as could be managed while working full time. Though I've always endeavored to defy the gimp's mantra—that "having a life" means you're supposed to play like shit—it has always kept me behind the best, but I've never stopped enjoying myself.

Saying that the excess of time is the sole factor isn't accurate, I believe, as it's also how you used that time—namely, doing nothing but HNM camping, continuously grinding, or whatever else you did that was like those things. Many burned themselves out, but that never happened to me, even when I was in HNM Linkshells. Of course, I was never in the most hardcore ones for the aforementioned reasons, hence my being insulated from such suffering.

[Deader2818]

Honestly, I just got tried of the people I played with. Thought they were friends, but just turned out to be people who latch onto who ever would do the most for them while they had to put in as little work to help out as possible.

Tried to make me feel bad when I broke LS and quit, but I helped them get almost all the stuff they got, helped each one of them make an empy, while I had 4 and my g/f at 4 and neither one of us ever asked for their help on them so they really had no reason to bitch.

Honestly, not going to miss any of them, lol.

[Kainos]

Reading thru this thread brings back a lot of memories. I've been ffxi free for almost a year now and looking back at it I think it was an addiction. Obviously not as serious as substance abuse but I feel mmo addiction has some validity to it.

For me I feel it was a need to escape into adventure. Society and civilization has evolved to the point where life is relatively easy. I doubt many of us live in any type of 3rd world hardship. Ffxi was an outlet to explore a type of world that I'd like to think once existed where the globe wasn't entirely mapped out for us. Perhaps I feel like this bc it was the first mmo I played.

But to enjoy the best the game had to offer and continue to play at a high level with like minded players takes a toll. 2007-2010 was literally a blur to me. Attending events every night for 4-5 hours and playing entire weekends to grind and catch up. Everything else in life came in 2nd. I still can't pinpoint exactly what it was but that shit was addiction. Replace the amount of time spent in ffxi with any drug and u will be classified as an addict.

I applaud anyone who can balance it but it can be a danger to people like me who have extremist personalities. I can't say I regret it but I do chuckle to myself when friends and family bring up events during that time period and get a blank stare. Looking back it feels like I stepped out of a time warp. I wonder if anyone feels the same or perhaps I'm just crazy

[shepardG]

No, Kainos, you just described how i played when i discovered ffxi. i mean not sleeping, eating and smoking like shit, never going out with friends, waterbottles full of cigarette butts, just horrible horrible addiction. I tapered it off somewhat, but up until 2011, i was still login right after work, play till 11 or 12, get up at 0430... that is just stupid. I think you hit the nail on the head with your post.

[Limlight]

I played as a teenager and throughout college (hnm grind.....), it was fun but I'm glad how the game was turning out. The real life friendships that I made over my first ever (and last) mmo will probably last for the rest of my life (we have a get together every year for those who live far apart, and some of the people i've met from ffxi I see on a weekly/monthly basis).

Hopefully they realize the error they're making and keep it a casual game, personally i'm beyond caring anymore. It's just not worth investing too much into a game anymore when I have my career/possibly getting married in the future, which is a sentiment that many of the people who started playing when I did share.

Still I would like to continue playing and keep it casual and still get things done (aka finish my 2 relics to 99 just for completion sake). Honestly I'm just apathetic anymore, even if they don't reduce the trial. I'll continue to work on it until they're done and continue to play until the servers shutdown forever. I've had too much fun to stop and I just don't have the time to start a new MMO with so much RL stuff in the near future. Cheers to you all! Just wanted to say thanks to those on BG who have made and will hopefully continue to make my gaming experience fun and interesting

ok continue to troll on~

[Celebrindor]

guess I'm different. Or maybe like other posters. I started at age 27, when I was already established in a career and married. I played (and still play) between 3-4 hours a night, 4-5 days a week. No crazy weekends, and I never play when my kids or wife are awake, so I never take time away from my family. Since my time is so regimented, never really did any camping of kings or world spawns. This has never changed, nor would I want it to. This has resulted in me being just at the cusp of being a typical BG'er- not fully elite, but in my opinion well above most who play the game. Its a nice place to be.

I do miss the storyline. Yes, its not as in depth as the console Final Fantasy titles..it never could be nor could we ever expect it to be! But I do believe we can expect more than we have been given in the past 18 months. Prior expansions have shown us this. The attrition rate spiking recently coincides with this fact, although likely for many other reasons of course.

Just give me one more good expansion. The Far East of Tenzen. The Southern Continent of the Mithra. The far Northern Regions. Something completely new again, something to give the game new life. SE HAS given us some nice new mobs with WotG, Abyssea, and Voidwatch, but there's not that excitement we felt with the Zilart, the Empty, or a whole new Contient of Aht Urghan.

On an individual note- Isiola I always love your posts. Have since starting to follow them on RDM boards on KI. Always insightful, always make me rethink my positions. Never has changed. I probably am looking at the "golden age" of the game through rose colored glasses, but I guess its hard not to when you have such fond memories of a certain time of your gaming life and the friends from that time. Thanks for the reality check ^)

[drwaffles]

I applaud anyone who can balance it but it can be a danger to people like me who have extremist personalities. I can't say I regret it but I do chuckle to myself when friends and family bring up events during that time period and get a blank stare. Looking back it feels like I stepped out of a time warp. I wonder if anyone feels the same or perhaps I'm just crazy

Nah, I think a lot of people on this board can relate to that. I certainly can - through high school, 6th form and the first year of uni I don't think I ever took a single non-mandatory break, not even for a day. My new character has 400 days' play time racked up over the past almost-3 years, even though post-2010 I've been a hell of a lot less hardcore than I was on my old character. The weirdest part for me is that, rather than looking back on it and thinking "Christ, what the hell was I doing?", I can't honestly say I really regret it. Maybe it's because my XI years were so far removed from my life now that it almost doesn't feel... real? Not sure, but I'll take it. Better to be glad that you had some amazing times and met some fantastic people than to regret something you can't change.

(And honestly, real life isn't all that great anyway )

[Talint]

It was a lot of little things. Raising the level cap, Wings of the Goddess sucking, my sheer inability to get along with strangers, dancer sucking, endless dynamis, real life changing, never really being as elite as I should have been, Salvage drop rates...

...those aren't little things, as I type them out.

I've been mulling about returning and seeing everything that's changed, but I won't have my buddy to play with, and be damned if I have to try and socially connect with FFXI players again; that shit is way too fucking hard.

[dannyl]

Similar how people in the corporate world coin the phrase; work - life - balance, applies the same to the game. FFXI is no different than any other game out there. Meaning that on paper, you're still playing a game. It may be a much more involved game, but from a life stand point, or even from friends and family, its simply a game. Whether or not you see playing a game as a waste of time is entirely subjective. For me, its a hobby, and its entertainment. You can compare it to something as simple as tv or movies. You don't gain too much from that, so what different would it make if you spent the same time playing a game you enjoy. ? On a side note, I play BF3, came from Bf2 so its what I do typically after work or on the weekends when I want to get some kill action. If I were to substitute my entire ffxi playtime with that game, would it still be considered an addiction? The fact that one is a MMO and the other isn't really doesn't matter, its still entertainment from the outside world.

Bottom line is balancing your life with the game. If you're in high school or even college, this game is certainly not recommended unless you've perfected the balance. Real life priorities simply have to be first. Accomplish those, set the stage in your life and career and then hop on this. I enjoy reading this thread because it keeps me grounded and somewhat controlled. I read some people had extreme cases and some don't, and it allows me to look at my situation and whether or not I need to see the light in continuing to play or not. Can I be doing some more productive in real life? Absolutely. The way I also see it is we only have one life to live (as far as we know) so its best you enjoy it. Whether it be with your family, and friends or even playing games or watching movies or traveling! Whatever it is, do it!

If I were in my 20s, I'd be playing this in limited quantity, those years are great in being out there, meeting people, forming your foundation in life. Where I'm at today, I don't mind playing ffxi all weekend long because I feel I've earned my time to do so because RL for me, is very demanding. Anyway, just wanted to throw in my 2cents on this thread that I've lurked

[Lestat]

Quit when they downgraded the leveling system to the extent of fully leveling a character in days instead of months, when i saw characters using there af1 at level 90 and not having a problem with killing mobs in abyssea. Abyssea mobs are easier then their lower level kind outside of abyssea. Mainly how easy everything has gotten it no longer held the appeal when i first played the game when it came out in playstation 2. That and i really really missed the balanced parties getting happy for getting beyond chain 10 before having to rest, and magic bursts and how everyone had to know the details of there job in order to make the party succeed. That was fun, now it takes a monk and a white mage to pretty much rape anything in game and it really pisses me off it came to this.

[Ezekial]

No one quits FFXI! People only take breaks, and everyone always ends up coming back eventually.