FFXI Update History JP Beta to CoP: A Player's Perspective

[Wizerd]

The final fantasy name must be the only thing they have going for the first year or so...because it sounded like a pretty fucking subpar MMO.

being the only MMO for non-PC gamers probably helps.

And to think that we bitched so much about endgame and all that now...those patch notes sounded like something nightmares are made of. 12 ammo max, party kill being well below 200 exp, ACC being 1/4th of what it is today post 60 in a world without sushi...competition to exp in fucking davoi for god's sake.

That must make 100 people caedarva mire seem like l33t exp.

good thing for not having any perspective? going from "max level -1" to "max level" right now takes ~40,000 XP. in the first year of FFXI going from "max level -1" to "max level" took ~8,000 XP.

hunting VT mobs without high accuracy for 3k/hr isn't really such a big deal when 2-3 hours of XPing got you that last level just the same.

no doubt most of the changes made the game better but a lot of the changes weren't necessary till the game started evolving.

not necessarily. Though Shia does not mention this, (I believe the update was shortly after he made these posts) I'm sure many of you remember when exp for each lvl 50+ was much higher, but SE adjusted it so the increase was not as great. iirc, before the patch, the exp tnl by lvl 55 was already 20k+ and increased by great bounds each lvl. I remember this well because I was in that lvl range right when they adjusted it and was quite relieved. (Though I remember many who already obtained 75 were very angry)

The point is, back then the exp to go from 54 to 55 was quite a bit more than 8k so at 3k/hr it would have been pretty rough. I know for me, prior to the update, lvling in the 50s took quite a while in crappy parties only getting a few k per hour.

I had Monk leveled to 75 and Ninja to 67 at the time and I was relieved for this exp lowering update. I didn't understand why people were mad.

The Exp to get to levels above 51 were:

10,000 -> 51
11,000 -> 52
13,000 -> 53
16,000 -> 54
20,000 -> 55
20,000 -> 56
20,000 -> 57
20,000 -> 58
20,000 -> 59
20,000 -> 60
30,000 -> 61

And then it went up from there, by 1k per level I believe. The above might be off slightly but I think it's correct. It was a damn while ago.. It was the worst, because 55-60 was never a good set of levels to hunt in. Kuftal started to get too low, and Cape Teriggan was too small. Valley of Sorrows was packed back then also. Overhunting when I leveled Monk wasn't an option either, because all we had was Meat Mithkabobs. I remember having to have a Bard to hunt Toramas at 61. You had to be like 62 to hit them decently without it. Keep in mind not a lot of people could afford gear back then either, so not many had Scorpion Harnesses and such.

Fun times indeed. Some things I wish were never updated, hehe.

[Ryko]

Though I remember many who already obtained 75 were very angry)

Damn right I was >_> I had 3 75's by that time.

[layoneil]

At the point that the xp got changed in that range, sushi was already in the game and 4-5k/hr parties were easily obtainable.

He is talking about much, much earlier than that.

yup. i did my first job when 50-75 sucked big time, even made two of my best friends quit (one at 66, the other at 70). but we were doing 4-5k/hr most of the time back than and most mobs gave 200+ XP per kill.

struggling to get 200 XP from one mob, 3k/hr being the best you can do is mostly during the import/JP days.

[Janice]

Got stuck at limit 1 quest 2 months after NA release. Got past it 3 weeks later and lvled to 58 in 2 days. Went insane and then quit. Seeing 20k tnl every lvl makes you go crazy

[rithridan]

Oh man, nostalgia ahoy! This made me remember way back when I was but a nooby THF, I remember lots of lfp frustration during my 40-45 era (making me quit for a few months) Looking back on it, I wouldn't even have invited myself now XD dual dex rings+drone earrings, dagger/sword (+dex ones, like mithran scimitar and greed later on) no SA, TA or WS gear. I still have my 200+ sword skill just from that XD

[Tamashii]

very nice find. good read. thx.

[Senoska]

I found this rather funny. SE lives in their own world of flowers pixies and unicorns while all of us are crying for a change. They think everything they do is great but the NA and JP side both disagree with their actions. All of this looks like a downhill slope besides a few things. I dislike SE.

[Skjie]

I also remember when mining was profitable, and there were no RMT anywhere. I mined for most of my income.

I remember the event that teleported you into dungeons as lvl1 to try and find a ??? to get some lame prize. Except, it gave you superlong sneak/invis and you didn't lose xp when you died, and when you hped, you could be teleported right back for free.

hi2u mining Ifrit's Cauldren 15+ hours a day.

[Khamsin]

I also remember when mining was profitable, and there were no RMT anywhere. I mined for most of my income.

I remember the event that teleported you into dungeons as lvl1 to try and find a ??? to get some lame prize. Except, it gave you superlong sneak/invis and you didn't lose xp when you died, and when you hped, you could be teleported right back for free.

hi2u mining Ifrit's Cauldren 15+ hours a day.

When I did that event, something happened that allowed me to repeatedly port there without a partner until I actually touched the Goal Point. So I just never "finished" it, and just kept going back in, running around until I found a mining point, drop invis, mine until dry, then suicide and repeat.

Great times.

[Mifaco]

I also remember when mining was profitable, and there were no RMT anywhere. I mined for most of my income.

I remember the event that teleported you into dungeons as lvl1 to try and find a ??? to get some lame prize. Except, it gave you superlong sneak/invis and you didn't lose xp when you died, and when you hped, you could be teleported right back for free.

hi2u mining Ifrit's Cauldren 15+ hours a day.

When I did that event, something happened that allowed me to repeatedly port there without a partner until I actually touched the Goal Point. So I just never "finished" it, and just kept going back in, running around until I found a mining point, drop invis, mine until dry, then suicide and repeat.

Great times.

thanks for contributing to beastmen victory. There was some weird glitch in that where the beastmen had total and complete control of every region the event occurred in (even Vollbow).

[qatsi2]

There was some weird glitch in that where the beastmen had total and complete control of every region the event occurred in (even Vollbow).

One of the funniest things about that event were going to a goal point and seeing two or three bodies clustered around it because they were too jittery to wait for some mob to turn around.

[tiberion02]

this thread is amazing and makes me feel really FFXI-old.

Sure I've been gone for a year but I remember some of these and the message board talk surrounding them.


-I watched the live stream of the first public dynamis run with massive death.
-Remember the pictures on POL site with dynamis statues in Ronfaure Forest and Gustaberg? <They threw us off there!>
-Having even ONE elemental staff was fame worthy.
-The INSANE amount of racism in the first 2 monthes of NA release. Valkurm was a practical fucking warzone.
-Creating level 1 mules from other nations to sabotage conquest (that made me laugh even back in the day)
-Debates going onthat Asura was the only server where NA's had a chance since no well established JP player would transfer over. (lawl @ asura being one of the most gilseller infested shitholes available)
-Only decent lvl 74-75 leveling grounds being Ullikumi's room (where party's wouldnt DARE take on a monster so tough), and not soon afterwards, some HP (Hidden Power) players like Mareko and Tuan posting SSs of chain 22's on Weapons in Sky, which really changed alot about how ppl did business @ lvl 75.
- A high speed cactus NM has been added (took ppl a week to figure out how to pull it lol)

Seriously though, lol@the person who didnt know Sky Gods were normal monster types back in the day.


It is amazing how much the game changed during the time I was beta testing, playing, and stalking in my WoW days. Some of the major problems exist TO THIS DAY, which amazes me.

[Don Katsu]

I was on BLM when they made that exp change... it was nice and all but I felt like I was robbed days of work on WAR and RDM. I took a break from exping after BLM figuring they might change something else. I didn't want to wait so I leveled SAM

and again RDM maat (job I did maat on) sucked.

I also remember the horrid prices of NQ Elemental Staves in porpotion to the amount of gil I had.

[Khamsin]

The INSANE amount of racism in the first 2 monthes of NA release. Valkurm was a practical fucking warzone.

Still is.

"JPONRY" anyone?

[inafume]

The level 1 dungeon trips were probably the best event the game has ever had. The giant trees were second in my opinion, even though I didn't fight them. But it was scary in Yuhtunga when I first saw one run by during my xp party.

It's a shame that the game's events now are all stupid and/or rehashes of earlier ones.

[volcanicweather]

-The INSANE amount of racism in the first 2 monthes of NA release. Valkurm was a practical fucking warzone.

Bigtime QFT here. I remember leveling PLD hardcore during PC release and sometimes I would get a tell for a party in Kanji and reply with Roman characters, only to get a tell saying "sorry JP only" and they wouldn't invite me. It was that bad.

Also, totally forget about getting an invite while seeking for a party during JP time unless you were a BRD or, to a lesser degree, RDM. I remember falling asleep while seeking on a semi-useful job in PLD and coming back after waking up the next morning and not having a single invite several times.

Either the early NA players bonded together and created a static or became friends with some JP players who carried them through the game and helped them. I did the latter in the beginning and around level 50 I became excellent friends with a person who had been playing since JP PS2 release who helped me tremendously (he still plays to this day and is my best friend in-game).

[Skjie]

I also remember when mining was profitable, and there were no RMT anywhere. I mined for most of my income.

I remember the event that teleported you into dungeons as lvl1 to try and find a ??? to get some lame prize. Except, it gave you superlong sneak/invis and you didn't lose xp when you died, and when you hped, you could be teleported right back for free.

hi2u mining Ifrit's Cauldren 15+ hours a day.

When I did that event, something happened that allowed me to repeatedly port there without a partner until I actually touched the Goal Point. So I just never "finished" it, and just kept going back in, running around until I found a mining point, drop invis, mine until dry, then suicide and repeat.

Great times.

Yeah, that's what we did too. As long as you never touched the ???, you could mine for weeks easily and cheaply.

[Swatt]

yea. Ragnarok's first NA Kirin

i was pretty annoyed at being subbed in only for Elemental Seal nuke, cuz according to Kirashi(i still don't like you), BLMs can't dmg Kirin(lawl)

so i piled on Elemental gear instead of int primary

screenshots of my log and resisting once. keep in mind this was before merits were introduced =p

http://nickzkcin.com/nick/kirinwind.jpg

http://nickzkcin.com/nick/kirinwind2.jpg[/img]

[Swatt]

-The INSANE amount of racism in the first 2 monthes of NA release. Valkurm was a practical fucking warzone.

Bigtime QFT here. I remember leveling PLD hardcore during PC release and sometimes I would get a tell for a party in Kanji and reply with Roman characters, only to get a tell saying "sorry JP only" and they wouldn't invite me. It was that bad.

Also, totally forget about getting an invite while seeking for a party during JP time unless you were a BRD or, to a lesser degree, RDM. I remember falling asleep while seeking on a semi-useful job in PLD and coming back after waking up the next morning and not having a single invite several times.

Either the early NA players bonded together and created a static or became friends with some JP players who carried them through the game and helped them. I did the latter in the beginning and around level 50 I became excellent friends with a person who had been playing since JP PS2 release who helped me tremendously (he still plays to this day and is my best friend in-game).

if you can speak in roumaji, they'll invite you =p i had a seacom saying I'm Singaporean and I can speak a little Japanese, and still managed to get invites almost every night during JP prime time. then again I was a blm, and people still did skillchain PTs(I have never done a manaburn PT)

[Lordwafik]

I never had as much of a problem getting pts, I live on JP time, and back then BLM were the equivalent of our BRD now a day, so when I lfg'd i'd have a few invites within minutes. Don't speak JP? They didn't care, so long as I could MB.

Occasionally I'd have the JP onry tell, but meh.