Thinking about coming back.

[BRP]

If you found what you did on FFXI fun, then come back. Really, don't take pessmistic people seriously. They are addicted little idiots who like to think the worst case scenario is already happening... like gil sellers being unbeatable at ulli or something.

To spit some facts... server populations has hardly drop, maybe increased. The ratio of high level to low level has increased on the side of high level, but there are still more people levels 20 to 60. Getting exp post-60 has become very easy, for any job really, but there is a lot of elitism for merits at 75(but a NIN won't have a problem)... overall, there are a lot of very eays and rewarding monsters to grind off of now. The amount of content in updates is as its always been, now with some actual job fixes SE has been doing. There are more gil sellers, but things have hardly changed, expect to see more people in sky.

However, none of this will determine if you will have fun or not... if you care too much about imaginary swords or the kind of competition you get from chinese people who sell gil, you will probably not enjoy it. If you are willing to try new things, that take less time to do but are less rewarding then some previous content, you are more likely to enjoy it. The storyline has gotten very interesting if you are into it. A lot of quests involve small effort and can be done while seeking. It might be awhile until the big, new endgame area is released... there might be two, but, I'm thinking it(or one) will be released in the next two updates.

PS. If you can forget for a moment you are 75 and only care about getting stronger, the amount of content that opens up is interestingly large. Don't forget you are playing a videogame, not trying to increase your grades at school.

[raginbull]

Largely I wanted to experience content I missed out on as well (much of Dynamis, namely Xarc and Beau, vast majority of HNMs, all of sky, mostly everything end-game, in addition to BCs such as Divine Might, ZM14, Bahamut v. 1 and 2, etc.)

Dynamis is probably the only thing you can really count on being able to do once you reach 75. HNM are all highly contested. Sky is essentially closed and reserved for gilsellers only.

Only dynamis?
Assault
ENM->Ouryu->Baha2
Limbus
Sea
Apoc Nigh
ISNM
Ashu Talif Assaultish things
Choco Raising (lol)
Challenging fights like Vrtra, Jorgy, and Hydra
Etc

you leave out that he'd be basically paying for the game and a monthly fee (remind me why we're even paying for this shit again?) to talk to some friends. you can do that for free on aim.

Ok you run a MMO for profit with 5 updates a year and make it free. Good luck.

Max youre a great poster and all that but most of the stuff you listed doesn't count.

[Lordwafik]

Only dynamis?
Assault
ENM->Ouryu->Baha2
Limbus
Sea
Apoc Nigh
ISNM
Ashu Talif Assaultish things
Choco Raising (lol)
Challenging fights like Vrtra, Jorgy, and Hydra
Etc

It's a 1 time quest, doesn't really match the rest of your list as end-game events, that's like telling someone to come back for a Maat fight.

[BRP]

Only dynamis?
Assault
ENM->Ouryu->Baha2
Limbus
Sea
Apoc Nigh
ISNM
Ashu Talif Assaultish things
Choco Raising (lol)
Challenging fights like Vrtra, Jorgy, and Hydra
Etc

It's a 1 time quest, doesn't really match the rest of your list as end-game events, that's like telling someone to come back for a Maat fight.

The OP mentioned Divine Might...

[Lordwafik]

Yeah, but guess who's not talking to the OP debbie downer?

[JoOeetheplatypuS]

Only dynamis?
Assault
ENM->Ouryu->Baha2
Limbus
Sea
Apoc Nigh
ISNM
Ashu Talif Assaultish things
Choco Raising (lol)
Challenging fights like Vrtra, Jorgy, and Hydra
Etc

It's a 1 time quest, doesn't really match the rest of your list as end-game events, that's like telling someone to come back for a Maat fight.

Yeah, but look at the stuff he listed. >_> Plus its a long series of things to go through, he probably didnt finish CoP. Though its 1 time content, its a LOT of it.

Max youre a great poster and all that but most of the stuff you listed doesn't count.

Limbus, Challenging Fights, Sea, ENM->Ouryu->Baha2 all definately count. The others are things he didn't take part in and/or require 75.

[Lordwafik]

Yeah, but look at the stuff he listed. >_> Plus its a long series of things to go through, he probably didnt finish CoP. Though its 1 time content, its a LOT of it.

Ya he's kinda uninformed, I think if he knew that they were 1 time fights he wouldnt mention them in the same reguard as what you've put in your list. Sea/Dynamis is ok, Vrtra/Hydra might be misleading all depends what LS you're in. I don't even know HNMLS's that go after either these days, lol

[JoOeetheplatypuS]

Yeah, but look at the stuff he listed. >_> Plus its a long series of things to go through, he probably didnt finish CoP. Though its 1 time content, its a LOT of it.

Ya he's kinda uninformed, I think if he knew that they were 1 time fights he wouldnt mention them in the same reguard as what you've put in your list. Sea/Dynamis is ok, Vrtra/Hydra might be misleading all depends what LS you're in. I don't even know HNMLS's that go after either these days, lol

I said challenging fights, not rewarding fights >_> A lot of HNMlses will go at them once every few months for fun, they just wont grind them like fafhogg.

[chiz]

Player base is definitely dwindling, I know my LS as well as most every other end-game shell on Fairy has seen similar trends. Fewer people at king camps, lower #s for Dynamis, scrambling to claim mobs like Tiamat etc. Not all bad imo, but much of FFXI end-game requires #s.

Personally I enjoy smaller groups and playing with my close friends, less headache, less waiting. That's probably why a lot of people quit though, too much waiting, not enough action/fun. Maybe one day mobs will roam around unclaimed, the hard part will be getting enough people to kill em. :D

[Shuemue]

I'm still having fun.

[Kyreth]

Wait a month. See what's happening. If you like what you see, come back.

ToAU defintely made the higher levels much more tolerable, with exp bonuses and better places to go chainhappy in. It's certainly not aimed at the people who fap to how many HNM's they kill, however.

[Shuemue]

Why wait a month? It's not like it's an incredible expense to burn $15 on a month's subscription to see if it's fun. The guy should at least have the content IDs for everything up to CoP, so add another $20 for ToAU.

[Kyreth]

Reason I said "Wait a month" is to get a chance to read up on ToAU, see if the RMT-hunters actually do anything, etc.

If S-E suddenly banished all gilseller groups to eternal prison sex as the bitch for Galka wearing sandpaper-coated strapons, it'd certainly brighten my opinions on someone returning.

[Shuemue]

My point is that it's just a game, not a marriage. It's a cheap whore whom he can stroll up to, pay $35 for a few hours of slap and tickle and never see her again if she's a shitty lay.

[Plow]

My point is that it's just a game, not a marriage. It's a cheap whore whom he can stroll up to, pay $35 for a few hours of slap and tickle and never see her again if she's a shitty lay.

cuz everyone wants a piece of that kinda action!

[Flight_93]

At least on unicorn I've seen gilsellers dissappear.

Fraps of KA window or all "rmt are disappearing on our server" = moot.

[JoOeetheplatypuS]

At least on unicorn I've seen gilsellers dissappear.

Fraps of KA window or all "rmt are disappearing on our server" = moot.

I didnt say all of them. Some are though. And anyways, camping KA isnt integral to enjoyment of this game. In a sense I'm glad gilsellers monopolize it so I'm not tempted

[Tajin]

My point is that it's just a game, not a marriage. It's a cheap whore whom he can stroll up to, pay $35 for a few hours of slap and tickle and never see her again if she's a shitty lay.

A few hours in FFXI get you nothing. lets see

-level subjob
-level "main"
-unlock adv.
-G1,G2,G3
-AF coffer hunts


Sure, a few hours... >_>

[Okuza]

Consider this: the current release date for Vanguard is 2/1/2007. If you're considering returning to FFXI because you're a big FF fan, this won't mean anything to you. If you're considering FFXI because it's currently the only decent MMORPG title, I suspect it will make a big difference. A returning player will unlikely be able to experience any 75 content before Vanguard is out unless he's gobs of free time and lots of motivation.

I will definitely be buying Vanguard at it's release and playing it for a while. I'll probably keep FFXI account for a bit -- come back now and then to do Dynamis and keep in touch with friends -- but if I Vanguard is as good as I think it will be, FFXI will get the axe.

I'm really fed up with SE's ego-war with RMT. I want the problem to just go away -- fix the monopoly issues (instance dynamis, change claim method on H/NM, change pop methods for sky, etc.). Until SE makes those changes, I'm looking for a better source for my MMORPG fix. ^~

[Correction]

I quit because of the time sinks essentially, but those were caused by the competition from gil selling teams

If this is your core reason for quitting then rejoice and stay away, it's not really gotten better. I'd assume that if you came back you'd want to gear a WAR or a THF to 75 again, and while prices have dropped on a lot of gear have fun getting the end-game gear for either job, which these days is still largely from sky/3kings, and on many servers even 3kings is a communist party.

Find a new game to play you might feel better about it in the long run.