FFXI's Golden Age?

[antihero]

yo im happy for you and imma let you finish but NA PC release was the greatest period of all time

i just don't think there are enough oldfags around for the poll to show it

[Limlight]

yo im happy for you and imma let you finish but NA PC release was the greatest period of all time

i just don't think there are enough oldfags around for the poll to show it

fuck yea, it wasn't about stealing ls banks or ninja lotting ridill's/ebodies. Was about chillin with the crew doing stuff that was so retardedly hard back then that looking back it makes you cry. (hi2u spending 8 hours to farm 10 g1 papers with the entire linkshell and us dying over and over and over lol)

[Celeras]

Importer days pre-NA release was not only the best time for game balance, it was also the peak of the community and home to the most challenging encounters.

Hands down, if you imported you'd agree. Nothing compares to the release of Artifact Armor, genkai 1, and an unkillable Serket with his AoE hitting the entirety of Garlaige.

[SchuldigGER]

golden age of FFXI was the time when we got new big Drama threads on BG every day with quartermasterd e.bodys and CFH'ed tiamats imho

[Kerberoz]

MPK nerf/economy nerf/CoP nerf/ToAU release was the start of the downward spiral, imo.

[thetruepandagod]

the age of cop was probably the most exciting time in this game for me excluding the initial rush beating all the limit quests, nothing cooler then a full alliance with PL's running through xarc constantly dying.

[Hookah]

The "Golden Age" of anything is when it's new and fresh to you, like all those wonderful memories that some of you have from when you're a kid. Experiencing things for the first time, it's all so new and exciting, Meeting Again type shit.

I would venture that pretty much everyone is going to vote for whenever they first started, so Buckethead is essentially right. Most of the oldfags are gone now, so ToAU era will probably win out.

It's kind of funny, myself and a lot of my friends, most of whom are no longer playing, always used to say that ToAU was the worst thing to happen to the game, ruined it for the most part.

I voted for the NA ps2 release era. Although I started like a week after the NA PC launch, I was playing on borrowed time until the ps2 version came out. My PC at the time couldn't run the game, so I was playing on my friends laptop until I could get it on my ps2, so I couldn't get into it for real till then.

[Ferien]

I would venture that pretty much everyone is going to vote for whenever they first started, so Buckethead is essentially right. Most of the oldfags are gone now, so ToAU era will probably win out.

It's kind of funny, myself and a lot of my friends, most of whom are no longer playing, always used to say that ToAU was the worst thing to happen to the game, ruined it for the most part.

Oldfag here (week after NA PC release), voted for CoP era. At that point, for me at least, the game was still new and fresh, endgame and events were still exciting and interesting, and most of all, the game was still somewhat difficult and people were still developing the strategies we use today. It encompasses the time XP went from SC>MB to Arrowburn to Axeburn, sky went from RNG only to BLM only and people started considering using melee (but it was still taboo), and HNM went from JP-only to NA-vs-JP to NA-vs-NA. Missions were new, interesting, and most of all, hard, and we wouldn't even dream of low-manning NMs, not only because it was thought to be near impossible, but because everybody still needed the items (Rostrums, anyone?). Also: Big Kills.

It was the point at which most of us were either just hitting 75 or building up our first 75. The game was still new and fresh but we knew enough to start tinkering with the old ideas, and ToAU (new xp camps, new gear, job adjustments especially) hadn't come out yet and really made things, IMO, too easy. Don't get me wrong, I think ToAU was great and I think it was good for the game as a whole, but it was around then that the game lost its sense of wonder.

[Charismatic]

DEFINITELY CoP era, I think most of the people who don't vote for that period simply weren't playing at that point.

[Altanass]

I'm gonna have to say the golden age was from EU release through to the end of COP. The game still felt fresh, and it was fun exploring the game world with friends. A lot of friends left once ToAU came out and the rest of them left when WotG came out.

The aspect of COP which I loved the most (although most would say i'm mad) is the endless failed runs through Promyvion, Aqueducts, Riverne and the run through Sacrarium. It was fun sitting on the edge of the seat, following instructions from the leader about where to go or to hurry. It was so much different from the usual xp parties where you camp at the exact same spot for hours on end with no fear.

I never got any sense of that in ToAU or WotG, perhaps because the storyline/missions were not implemented in the same style as COP.

[Limlight]

equally for the most pure "fun" the mpk fests between jp's and na's, and rival na shells at fafhogg, greatest shit to watch ever.

[Sobie]

Kudos by the way, for the thread topic - I daresay nostalgia is what still keeps a lot of playing. It's nice to revisit some of those times.

[Xanthe]

Oldfag here (week after NA PC release), voted for CoP era. At that point, for me at least, the game was still new and fresh, endgame and events were still exciting and interesting, and most of all, the game was still somewhat difficult and people were still developing the strategies we use today. It encompasses the time XP went from SC>MB to Arrowburn to Axeburn, sky went from RNG only to BLM only and people started considering using melee (but it was still taboo), and HNM went from JP-only to NA-vs-JP to NA-vs-NA. Missions were new, interesting, and most of all, hard, and we wouldn't even dream of low-manning NMs, not only because it was thought to be near impossible, but because everybody still needed the items (Rostrums, anyone?). Also: Big Kills.

It was the point at which most of us were either just hitting 75 or building up our first 75. The game was still new and fresh but we knew enough to start tinkering with the old ideas, and ToAU (new xp camps, new gear, job adjustments especially) hadn't come out yet and really made things, IMO, too easy. Don't get me wrong, I think ToAU was great and I think it was good for the game as a whole, but it was around then that the game lost its sense of wonder.

OG here as well. Not quite NA release, but I've been playing since 7/8/04, so a few months prior to CoP release. I still remember doing the dungeon crawl event after barely beginning the game and being sent to Oztroja and Beadeaux, places I'd never even heard of, let alone visited yet. I remember my long-time perma static (<3 the Cling) going from 30 to nearly 70. I also remember a certain Mithra nearly having an aneurysm after going 0/8 on Promyvion - Holla. I remember SMN armies on Kirin and Jormungand. And who on Carbuncle could forget King Behemurgh? I'll agree, the time going through CoP might not have been the pinnacle of FFXI, but it was certainly when the game was more about the magic and memories than it was about grinding and accomplishment.

[Limlight]

Kudos by the way, for the thread topic - I daresay nostalgia is what still keeps a lot of playing. It's nice to revisit some of those times.

nostalgia for some, friends for others, and equally others are just gear whores lol.

[McGoonagle]

Kudos by the way, for the thread topic - I daresay nostalgia is what still keeps a lot of playing. It's nice to revisit some of those times.

Yeah, but nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

[Xerlic]

Golden Age imo was CoP era. At this time on Titan, there weren't that many EG shells and HNMs weren't really contested. And, the EG shells actually got along. Plus, in hindsight, finishing CoP before they dumbed it down completely was a pretty nice accomplishment and kinda fun.

My most fun times were probably between NA PC release and NA PS2 release. That was the time before my RL friends and I reached endgame. It was a time where we would stay up until 3AM farming coffer keys for AF. Nowadays, I skip most of my AF since a majority of it is useless and the pieces I do get are easily solo'd. But back then it was actually an accomplishment and you got a sense of satisfaction out of helping friends. But, as was mentioned before, this isn't really the Golden Age of FFXI. Just me playing the nostalgia/meeting again card.

[Mayareira]

CoP was the first expansion for many here and I guess the nostalgia factor kicks in (and Zilart for JP's, it did have a lot of new content). Stuff people glorify today about CoP in this thread were mostly the reasons why player base was shrinking rapidly back in 2005- early 2006. Early 2006 I thought the game was going down for good because /sea all at peak times would return a shocking 1700~ people at peak times, compared to 2500+'s of the past.

Back in 2004-2005 if you've asked players what they hated the most, they would probably place drop rates to the top of their list...no single soul would enjoy farming a coffer key for 5-10 hours. It may sound like an "accomplishment" today but it really isn't.

"Do you remember how laggy Jeuno was? Good times..." - Well, its lag people..

"Grinding...ahhh, that was fun..." - It was actually the thing that pushed you away from the game back then. /sea all 41-44? No rdm found? keep seeking!

CoP missions were fun, but once they are over they are over for good.

ToAU had a very difficult task, it was a rescue mission of a MMORPG that was sinking without a trace. Many people who quit back in 2006 were expecting a server merger no later than a year. They were totally tired of the grindfest and repetitive tasks. If ToAU was a CoP or WoTG'ish expansion we probably wouldn't be discussing this here today.

[barber2006]

golden age was rusty caps.

[Plow]

Before the ps2noobs.

Also early 04 sky era when you could run up there for 4 hours and have a damn good chance at getting 2 sets of pops for every boss.

And early CoP was crazy fun.

[Gergall]

DEFINITELY CoP era, I think most of the people who don't vote for that period simply weren't playing at that point.

CoP made all my RL friends quit. ToAU added the best events. I love Assault and Salvage, and I like Einherjar a lot too.